Keeping Characters Honest

Worked on The Band this morning. Had to insert J.J.'s reaction to his earlier advice to his brother. Remembering every thing about a character that can affect how he reacts to a situation is often tricky. I was talking with my writer friend Cindie about this problem. She is doing a chapter by chapter synopsis to help her to remember key issues to the plot as time passes for her characters. Sounds like a good idea. I'll have to think on it.

Made the final arrangements for the WNEA Shopping Extravaganza slated for Nov. 12th. Cindie and I will share a table for the sales of our books. I'll have copies of After the War, Before the Peace and Hannah, but I'll have to have bookmarks ready for Abby-Finding More Than Gold. I've created a flyer with a picture of the book cover, a synopsis of the story and how to buy it. Feedback on it has been positive. This ebook marketing is sure a learning experience.

Went to see the movie Life As We Know It today with Pattie S. It was a fun movie. A very predictable plot, but the dialog was excellent and of course the delivery by the main characters sold the movie.

Tonight was our monthly reading at Denny's only three writers showed up - Cindie, Karen and me. The stories were good and the conversation was lively. Karen has a new computer program that polices her writing. It actually tells her if she's using too many passive words or negative sentences. Sounds like a good investment.

So, thinking about marketing again, I'm reminded of a quote by John Wanamaker as quoted in David Ogilvy, Confessions of an Advertising Man - "Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, and the trouble is, I don't know which half."

Writing - Good ~~~ Marketing - Yuck

Another delightfully busy day. Moved J.J. along on his descent into frustration and guilt. I'm hoping his rationale is believable. I was talking about my first book 'After the War, Before the Peace' today and it was strange to point out that the character J.J. is Michael Farrell's great-grandson. Michael was the main character in my first book.

I'm getting good feed back on the 'Abby' flyer I created, as well as the business cards with the pictures of my three novels. This marking ebooks is a whole new ballgame for me, so I'm open to trying anything.

Got a call from Dave today. He had a speaking engagement in the L.A. area and sold 25 books!! Hurray for him. Pales my 5 sold yesterday, but I'm soooooo happy for him.

Also got a call from Kathy who came to one of our novel meetings. She has gone with Author House to publish her Christian romance novel. She seems very pleased with their procedure and pricing. I hope all works out well for her. Self-publishing is wonderful in that a writer can finally control the publishing of his/her book. I'm glad I did it with my first one, but I won't do it again. Virtual Tales Publishing has been a dream to work with. The release delays I've experienced with Awe-Struck Publish, along with no print book, has left with a wait and see attitude on working with them. I'm hoping things will turn out well.

In thinking about my quote of the day, it's marketing that is one of my concerns, so these words of wisdom from Winston Churchill seem to fit my mood. "Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an an amusement. Then is becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public."

Meeting The Readers

Had a great day! Started with breakfast under the London Bridge with good friends, then it was home to work on my latest novel 'The Band'. In today's writing I started the main character J.J. down a road that will nearly destroy him. It will be interesting to see if I can take this character that has been presented as a good, responsible man and have him become a lost, despicable husband, brother and friend. It's going to be interesting and I can only hope it works.

Then, I had a call from a gal named Shirley from the London Bridge Women's Club. She asked me to speak to her group on Jan. 12th. I'll have about 25 minutes for a presentation and a Q and A session. I'm so looking forward to it. Maybe, 'Lita - A Meandering Story' will be in print by then.

This evening, I had a speaking engagement to speak to one of the Lake Havasu City chapters of Beta Sigma Phi. I only had about 15 minutes to speak. I tried to cover my background and credentials. Then I gave a quick presentation of Journaling. They were a great crowd and provided a lot of interaction with their comments about their experiences. Sold a few books, too! I am really grateful to Sandee Honisch, an old Simi Valley, Cal. friend, who set up the engagement for me.

I continue to get nice emails from the email blitz I sent out regarding the release of 'Abby- ...' . I'm hearing from old friends who are sharing what is going on in their lives. I'm truly blessed in the friendship and support of writers from such a broad band of genres and countries. This Internet world is a wondrous thing!

So, all in all, it was a productive day for this writer. Tonight I leave you with the thoughts of Ben Jonson - "For a man(woman) to write well, there are required three necessaries: to read the best authors, observe the best speakers and much exercise of his(her) own style."

'Abby' is published!

Finally, 'Abby-Finding More Than Gold' is released at www.Awe-Stuck.com . Unfortunately, at this point, it only an ebook, but at least it's available to my readers. I'm getting some good reviews, so I reckon some folks are buying it.

Awe-Struck Publishing has done a nice job with the cover and the editing. I hope they do as well with some marketing on their end. I've got some speaking engagements on the books and a tentative book signing at Hastings.

I'm now working on novel six of the Farrell saga. I have the 1950s generation of Farrell boys in a rock and roll band. Part of the family is now living in Hawaii. Gosh I sure hope some of these get published. I think they are an interesting and likable clan.

I've been kind of in a funk lately as to the meaning of life and what the hell I've done, or haven't done, with mine. Good friends are helping me get some answers.

So, I'll leave you with this quote - "Life is short, art long, opportunity fleeting, experience treacherous, judgement difficult." - Hippocrates, Aphorisms