Author Larry Brill and Book Giveaway

 Our guest author today is Larry Brill. Larry spent 25 years as a TV news anchor and reporter, picking up numerous awards along the way.  After leaving the business in 2000 to set up a video and marketing consulting business, Larry penned his first novel, Live At Five, a gentle lampooning of the TV news business. His second novel The Patterer, carries the same theme back in time to explore how today’s news clichés might play to an 18th century London theater audience.

How One Writer Beat the Distractions Trap

or

Confessions of a Fiction Procrastinator

This should be a great week to put in some serious time and finger grease on my latest novel-in-progress. (Would it still be elbow grease if your effort were confined to typing?) I am between projects in my “day job” as a creative director and video producer, so I have plenty of time on my hands to write fiction. Therein lies my downfall. Too much time and no specific deadline is Kryptonite to my writing.

Which is why I hate Facebook. And Twitter. And email. And the Internet in general. They are the thieves I face whenever I sit down at my computer. This week I also hate clear, blue sunny skies in need of admiring, lawns in need of mowing, and cats in need of a good scratching. In other words, I hate all the distractions that pull me away from my story. There are so many and I am, by nature, a serial procrastinator.

You see, I work out of a home office with one computer for all my personal and business needs. It’s convenient in so many ways, except. Except that Work (capital W) I do in the daytime frequently spills over into the evening, while taking care of bills and budgets and other household “paper” chores frequently encroaches on the hours I should be attending to the clients’ needs. And lost in the midst of juggling all that, multi-tasking in the worst possible sense, is the time I need for fiction. 

When I wrote my first novel, Live At Five, I was still working a morning shift at the NBC affiliate here in Austin. It was a lot easier to schedule time for fiction back then because I had a routine. Get up and go to work. Come home and complete tasks that fall into the category of life maintenance. And the hours between dinner and bed were reserved for writing. Fewer dinners out, no TV and no DVD. The schedule was set and I blocked off the hours (unofficial but fairly rigid) to find time for work, life and fiction. [LiveAtFiveSmlpic}

Now, without that structure, it feels like I’m painting, as if I’m smearing colors, one for each of those parts of life, onto a single canvas. They all run over each other and blend into one. I’m not whining, it’s a beautiful bit of art, my life is, but like an abstract painting it’s hard to focus on any one element. And when I can’t focus on fiction, both my writing and I suffer.

Which is why I love the National Novel Writers Month. If you haven’t yet heard of it, NaNoWriMo is a thirty-day challenge that starts on November 1st and runs through November 30th. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to write a 50,000 word novel in that time. You can register online, and each day that you add words to your novel you upload them to the site to keep track of your progress. You can set up a buddy list to monitor each other’s progress and egg each other on. And there are a number of other ways they inspire you to keep at it.

It’s like having a deadline on steroids.

1,666 words a day (average) to make the grade.

And the best part? The words don’t really matter. It’s quantity versus quality. Though in the two times I’ve taken up the challenge, both successful, I found that, for the purposes of a first draft, some of my best prose came out of a wild stream of consciousness under the threat of missing my deadline.

The NaNoWriMo challenge forces me back into the kind of writing schedule that has helped me not only complete, but publish two well-reviewed novels. For some reason, the discipline that I lack eleven moths out of the year takes a vacation every November. And so does the serial procrastinator inside me.

Larry is giving away a signed paperback to a US resident, or if you're an ereader, you can choose to get a pdf, whether you're in the U.S. or international, so leave a comment. Then zip over to Larry's website to learn more about him and his books.

Emeralds of the Alhambra

Today we have a guest poster: Dr. John D. Cressler. Dr. Cressler spent 8 years at IBM Research and 10 years at Auburn University before joining Georgia Tech in 2002.  Emeralds of the Alhambra is the TED talk presenter’s debut novel.  Connect with John on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and GoodReads.

Dr. Cressler will be giving away a paperback copy of his latest book. Later in this post, he'll tell you how to enter your name for the giveaway.

Dr. John D. Cressler, Author of Emeralds of the Alhambra

 As a non-fiction author, professor and scientist, I come to the noveling business from a unique vantage point. For my first ten years of writing, I published five non-fiction books. My great love remains, however, historical fiction, and in 2009 I decided it was finally time to write a novel. Emeralds of the Alhambra, my debut historical novel, an interfaith love story set in medieval Muslim Spain, was just released by Sunbury Press. That transition from non-fiction author to novelist was a fascinating one, and exceptionally rewarding. While I suspect I will never return to writing non-fiction, I do think my fiction benefits from my non-fiction career. Let me explain.

Writing non-fiction and fiction are very different, in many obvious ways: tone, narrative style, subject matter. I find that writing fiction requires much more contact with my material, a daily obsession of sorts. What I most enjoy about writing fiction are the nearly constant unanticipated discoveries in plot and character, the unexpected twists and turns.

 Emeralds, before pen ever met paper, I first mapped out the plot in several dozen pages, to bind the themes and characters to historical events, describing in bold strokes what I thought should happen. The magical part of the creative process with fiction is that inevitably the characters and plot threads begin to deviate from plan, assuming a life of their own. I love this! On an almost a daily basis, as I was driving to work, thinking about my characters still, retracing the plot threads, thoughts would spontaneously jump into my head: “Well, of course, she needs to do this!” or “Obviously this needs to happen.” These were things that I had never anticipated during my initial planning phase, but were birthed from the creative energy of noveling. While the broad strokes of the story remained at the end of the day, the nuances of plot and character evolved in fascinating ways. That creative aspect is unique to fiction, profoundly satisfying, and something I never experienced writing non-fiction.

All that said, I do believe my background in writing non-fiction has served me well as training for my fiction writing. Writing non-fiction forced me to be a detail person, comfortable with facts and figures and dates and people. Emeralds tells an epic story, so being able to balance multiple intricate plot threads with a large cast of characters was key, and my non-fiction writing made me quite comfortable doing that. I think my scientific background (physics and math), my vivid imagination, and my artistic sensibilities also helped me in my description of the magical art and architecture of the Alhambra Palace in Granada (the setting for Emeralds).

In addition, topical relevance was always a big deal with my non-fiction. I attempted to craft books that people needed to read, that were relevant to their lives. Especially in my non-fiction sculpted for general audiences (Silicon Earth and Reinventing Teenagers) this was always my key concern. With Emeralds, this aspect of relevance was also priority #1. I wanted to tell a great story, yes, but I wanted it to be relevant to a modern reader, not just a good yarn set in antiquity.

After quite a bit of research, I found a period of history that suited my goals perfectly: medieval Muslim Spain. As all would agree, our modern world is stained with the blood of religious conflict and fanaticism, and yet somehow we managed to forget that for hundreds of years in medieval Spain, Christians, Muslims and Jews found a way to live together in relative peace, sharing languages and customs, whispering words of love across religious boundaries, embracing a level of mutual acceptance and respect unimaginable today. Together, they launched one of the great intellectual and cultural flowerings of history. My fiction is intended to break open this fascinating time period in an engaging manner (a love story). Relevant to 2013? You bet it is!

Is my fiction better for having non-fiction roots? Definitely. While it is fiction full-steam-ahead for this author, my non-fiction background will always be treasured as a foundation for better, more relevant novels.

Thank you Dr. Cressler.

And now, here's how to win a copy of Dr. Cressler's book. 

1.You'll need to be located in the U. S. 

2. Answer the following question in your comment.

Question to qualify U.S. commenters to be eligible to win a signed paperback:

What was it about medieval Muslim Spain that makes it especially relevant for modern readers?

Headstrong Girls Dabble into New Territories

 Our guests today are June Williams and Enid Wilson. Enid has been a long term friend of Straight from Hel, and June visited here last year to promote Honor and Integrity. They, with Debra Anne Watson, are co-authors of "Headstrong Girls," a new collection of writings inspired by Jane Austen.

June, Enid and Debra Anne met online in a Jane Austen community. After reading each other's stories for years, they decided to publish a collection together, with each person writing one third of the content – and collaborating on a tag-along story.

Helen: Enid, long time no see, where have you been to?

Hi, Helen and friends of Straight from Hel, I’ve been busy at work and then recently I went for a road trip in Florida, not to mention, I got my first tooth extracted when I returned.

Helen: Yikes, that sounds painful. I hope you’re better now. But Florida? You could have come to Hel. 

I’m better now, after being scolded by my dentist for eating too much sweet food. I blamed Florida, haha. I wish I could have gone to Hel, but my boyfriend is a “beachaholic.” Do you have beaches in Hel? *wink* It was great fun to see alligators and manatees in the Everglades, Key West and Fort Myers, not to mention the glamorous people on Miami beaches and on a cruise to Bahamas.

Helen: That sounds great fun! So the road trip provided you with a lot of inspiration?

Definitely. For example, I’ve dabbled into writing a short film script in the new book Headstrong Girls. It’s a time-travel piece, featuring some greedy people trying to kidnap Jane Austen into the future. It was very difficult to write, but quite satisfying. June is more knowledgeable than me about different forms of writings.

June: I’ve studied writing and journalism; written for advertising, magazines, and technical manuals; and dabbled in drabbles, short stories, novels, and film scripts. A film script has very little description – almost nothing about clothing, appearance, setting, or tone of voice. In a real movie, those things are determined by the director and actors; the writer has to give them room for their artistic interpretation. Scripts also have few thoughts for characters; if a character doesn’t say it or show it by his actions, then it’s not in the script. Often, the audience has to decide what a character is thinking. Honestly, I am very grateful to not have to write too much detail – I’ve seen some authors write pages of nothing but two people kissing and thinking. Bah, humbug!

Helen: Too much description can be a turn off! What about the short stories in the book? How are they different? We’ve both veteran and newbie writers visiting this blog. It will be good to hear your take about the differences.

June: Unlike a novel, a short story usually starts in the middle of a storyline and ends abruptly, with very little exposition and introduction. Since most of our stories in the book feature characters from Jane Austen novels, we could easily get away with little introduction, especially since some Pride and Prejudice characters – Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth Bennet, George Wickham – have almost become archetypes of hero, heroine, and villain. In Headstrong Girls, we started with characters and put them in challenging storylines and settings. For example, Debra Anne put Darcy and Lizzy in a South African preserve. Enid created a smarter Charles Bingley who schemed to court Jane Bennet behind his snobbish sisters’ interference, and I had a Wickham with many false names romancing wealthy and unsuspecting young women. But we could have started with storylines and then picked the characters – not necessarily Lizzy and Darcy. That’s a fun creative exercise for writers, to pick the least likely characters to do things.

Helen: So how did the three of you split up the work for creating Headstrong Girls? 

June: This is my second time publishing, but it’s different from the first time – I’m doing more proofreading and formatting of the final product. Debra Anne is the newbie, but she is a veteran editor, so she catches almost everything, especially missing commas. Enid is the one with the whip, just kidding, chasing us about deadlines.

Enid: Me with a whip? That’s an inspiration for another story. We all speak the same language but still had some language discussions. In a story set in 1812, I used the exclamation, “Bullock!” June thought it was supposed to be “bollocks” until Debra Anne explained that “bullock” once meant “cheat,” which fit the story scene.

June: Yes, it needed nearly ten emails before we agreed on what to do about “bullock.” And then, in a modern story, Debra Anne had a character exclaim, “Oh my god!” which I thought should have been capitalized – until I learned that English has changed in just the past few years, and god/God now depends on several factors.

Helen: That sounds like another stimulating discussion, about god/God. So the fruit of your labor and heated debate is available now?

Enid: Yes, Headstrong Girls, a bit of mystery, a bit of love, all inspired by Jane Austen, is available in any good ebook store. We are giving out an ebook to one lucky reader here.

June: Just leave a comment here about some heated discussions you have with your writing friends.

Helen: Entry is open to worldwide readers and closes on 18 March 2013. Happy reading and writing! Thank you, Enid and June. 

Enid and June: Thank you, Helen!

Helen: I hope everyone will link over to Amazon or Smashwords and take a look at Headstrong Girls, buy it, read it, and, if you like it, write a review. Again, thank you Enid and June for such a fun interview.

Writers, Don’t Let Rules Box You In

Carolyn J. Rose is the author of several novels, including Hemlock Lake, Through a Yellow Wood, An Uncertain Refuge, Sea of Regret, A Place of Forgetting, and No Substitute for Murder. She’s now at work to a second substitute teacher cozy mystery, No Substitute for Money, and hopes to have it out this summer.

She grew up in New York's Catskill Mountains, graduated from the University of Arizona, logged two years in Arkansas with Volunteers in Service to America, and spent 25 years as a television news researcher, writer, producer, and assignment editor in Arkansas, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington. She founded the Vancouver Writers' Mixers and is an active supporter of her local bookstore, Cover to Cover. Her interests are reading, gardening, and not cooking.

Please help me welcome Carolyn J. Rose

Writers, Don’t Let Rules Box You In

Rules.

Regulations.

Guidelines.

Like it or not, we all live by them.

At least some of the time.

And to some extent.

Some rules are imposed on us by nature, others by family, school, society, and government—there are requirements for food, water, and shelter, mealtimes and curfews, assignments and tests, traffic laws, taxes, etc. If we ignore the rules, or flaunt them too often, there may be consequences—illness, accidents, fines, incarceration, or worse.

Then there are the rules we make for ourselves—some for excellent health or safety reasons. We avoid certain areas of town after dark, we check to make sure our doors are locked, and we read ingredients to prevent allergic reactions.

There are also rules—sometimes ill-conceived—that we make in an effort to enhance relationships. We let that other person select the movie or pick the restaurant or control the remote. We hold on to a particular hairstyle or color. We espouse a candidate or political party—or at least pretend to until we’re alone and marking a ballot.

There are rules based on superstitions. We might avoid stepping on a sidewalk crack or refuse to walk under a ladder. We might knock on a door exactly three times.

And then there are rules we make simply because we’ve reached an age where we can set standards for ourselves—no matter how ludicrous others may think they are. One friend has a policy of never seeing a movie that her mother-in-law recommends. Another won’t eat orange vegetables. A third refuses to dine at a restaurant that advertises both Chinese and American food because he’s convinced neither kind will be good. And a book club member won’t read a book if she finds a simile on the first page.

Lately, I’ve made an effort to be more flexible and easy-going about rules. (Except for the one about refusing to go to any place that requires me to wear a dress.) I fear that the more rules I develop, the more difficult it may be to discard or alter any of them, and the more rigid I may become.

As a writer, rigidity—outside of an effort to meet production goals—can be deadly. Too many rules about number of point-of-view characters allowed in a story, complete sentences in dialogue, paragraph length, or the “correct” words for attributions can have the same effect as drilling a hole in your head and pouring cement on your brain.

To free up my writing, especially in a first draft, I work to define my writing—and my characters’ thoughts and words—less by rules followed than by rules broken.

That, I confess, sometimes makes me uneasy. But uneasiness sparks creativity.

And, if I get too apprehensive or too insecure, I can always grab for a few guidelines.

Leave a comment and tell me about one of your rules—the best, the worst, the most vital, or the silliest—and get in the drawing for an e-copy of one of my books.

Read Angel Sometimes for Free

Today, Angel Sometimes is free to read for all Amazon Prime members. If you're not a Prime member, it's still only $3.99 to download to your Kindle or Kindle app. 

Free is a pretty good deal! I'd love for all of you who are Amazon Prime members to download it. 

Just before her thirteenth birthday, Angel Sometimes' aunt took her 800 miles from her home in Oklahoma, gave her $50 and left Angel on South Padre Island, Texas. Four years later, Angel hitchhiked to Austin and got a job swimming as a mermaid in a bar in the music district. At twenty-two, she has friends and a place to live. When a homeless girl is beaten and a waitress killed, Angel realizes she will never be whole until she confronts her parents. To do that, she needs three things: her high school diploma, a car and a gun. She has a car. She's finished her final test for her GED. The only thing she needs is the gun and she knows where to get one.

Duffy Brown

 Today, Duffy Brown is posting here on Straight From Hel. Recently, I reviewed the first book in her Consignment series, Iced Chiffon. She agreed to guest post before I'd even written the review!

One thing I especially like about Duffy is that she says that while others girls dreamed of dating Brad Pitt, she longed to take Sherlock Holmes to the prom. Plus, she has two cats, Spooky and Dr. Watson. I could tell you more secrets, but I think I'll let her do the talking. Please welcome Duffy Brown.

Scoring the best deal ever!

Consignment shopping is the fun of wearing designer clothes on the cheap. I could never afford a Coach handbag or an Armani jacket but I do love the expensive look and great quality. Most of all I love bragging to my friends how much I paid! The conversation goes something like, “Oh, isn’t that a great Kate Spade purse.” And my reply is, “I got it at the Snooty Fox for forty bucks!” instead of the usual three-hundred and fifty!

For years I shopped consignment stores then decided I needed to work at the Snoot since I was there all the time looking for deals. My kids were some of the best-dressed on campus and I did it for K-Mart prices.

Don’t you love the name Snooty Fox! The Snoot is an upscale consignment shop. How many times have you bought something, wore it once, decided it wasn’t your color or didn’t fit the way you liked and you were stuck with it? Well, that’s where the Snooty Fox comes in. You can sell your green plaid jacket that you just had to have but then decided you hated at the Snoot. There is a customer out there who will love that jacket and pay you good money for it.

How this works is that you open an account and hand over your clothes. The Snoot chooses which clothes they will take. They clothes must be cleaned, pressed, on a hanger, gently worn, in very good condition, and within a two-year style period. The price is a third to a fourth of retail and you get half of that when the item sells. Not a bad deal for something hanging in the back of your closet!  

Consignment shopping is a lot like solving a mystery. It’s all about the hunt for the perfect scarf, skirt or shoes. I think that’s why mystery and the Consignment: Murder series seemed like a perfect fit. The hunt is on!

I’ve gotten other good deals but for consistent, over-the-moon bargains, consignment shopping is it

But what about you? What stores do you shop for deals? Is there one deal that was your all-time best score that you still have bragging rights on?

I’ll give away three Iced Chiffon totes from the answers. After all, free is the best score ever, right!

Thank you Duffy! I love giveaways. And I loved your post.

Duffy Brown conjures up who-done-it stories of her very own for Berkley Prime Crime. Iced Chiffon debuts this month, October, 2012. She also writes romance as Dianne Castell and is a USA Today bestselling author.

For a chance at a copy of Iced Chiffon, remember to leave your answers to her questions in the Comments section.

Stats for Angel Sometimes

I'm not a Math person, I admit. But here are the stats for the recent 3 day giveaway of Angel Sometimes. Angel was free for three days, July 27^th, 28^th and 29^th.

Somehow, I'm not sure how, Angel Sometimes always seems to be listed with these category/tag words:

Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Genre Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers > Suspense

So…with those tag words, here are the stats:

7/27/12:

About 2 p.m.: #73

About 6 p.m.: #43

About 10:30 p.m.: #36

7/28/12:

About 5:30 p.m.: #25

About 7 p.m.: #22

About 8 p.m.: #21

7/29/12:

About 7:30 a.m.: #17

About 1 p.m.: #18

As far as I can tell, it never made the Top 100 Free in Kindle Store.

Frankly, I'm not sure how important it is to know the stats. Interesting, though. One thing you can deduce from these stats is that I'm not real good at remembering to check them.