Tools of the Trade...

Thanks for the congrats everyone! We've blogged about how we work, what we write, where we look for inspiration and research, but what about what we work with? You know that electronic extension of our creative minds, the computer.

I started out writing pretty much the same way everyone else does, in school with a notebook and pencil. I have twenty year old notebooks with complete stories in them somewhere. Now days it just isn't practical to pen the old fashioned way. You've got options. Typewriter or computer? More and more agents and publishers are going electronic leaving typewriters in the dust. That leaves a computer for all your writing endeavors. Easy choice right? Wrong. I don't think I want to find out, but I'm sure some tech guy knows exactly how many different computers there are out there. So what do you choose when you decide to invest?

My writing space is a relative omelet of chaos. Like Nichole I can find what I need when I need it without searching, no matter how cluttered things are. My computers are the same way. I have three personal ones (laptops), a Dell, an Acer and a Ascentia something or other. Why three? (My husband asked me that when I started drooling for the little Acer. I'm a gadget hog.) See, "Jax"(I tend to name everything.) the Ascentia was the very first computer I had. (He bought it for me back when he was a welder and I know the kind of sacrifice it cost him to buy it.) It uses the square floppy disks and is so antiquated it should probably be in a computer museum somewhere. (My ten year old types reports and paints pics on it.)

When I started writing seriously my mother gave me "Max" the Dell for Christmas. I still do a lot of my rough drafts on it because of the screen size. I can't really save anything in it. (It's been acting crazy since I totalled my car and it went ping-ponging against the car seat.) To replace "Max", the hubby bought an Acer Mini for Christmas. (Which the kids and i have affectionately named "Dinky") I keep everything on a flash drive and memory card so I can float between the three of them.

I tend to do my writing in little snippets of time, before dinner and at the park while the kids play, etc. Sometimes it isn't practical to take any of my laptops with me. (Sand) For that I have "Twinkie" a BlackjackII (did I mention I love gadgets, lol). I love that I can edit documents or sketch in details to vamp up later on my cell phone. Point is a good computer is like a sword that must become an extension of self. After all, you plan on saving a good chunk of your brain in there! So what tools do you use? Now that I've bored all of you silly. I'll let you get back to your regularly scheduled Paranormal posts.

Beth

Work space: cluttered or neat?

"If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what is the significance of a clean desk?"

— Dr. Laurence J. Peter

I'm sitting in the midst of another South Dakota blizzard.  For those keeping score, it's the second one this week.  YUCK!

To be perfectly honest, I hate the snow.  I hate the cold.

But, the weather has forced me to be inside and evaluate where I am.  Right now, I'm sitting at my desk, looking around, wondering if I should be cleaning instead.

I'll be the first to admit that my desk is a mess.  My office is a mess.  It's a bit of a dumping ground for everyone else's stuff, as well as my own.  Our house is small.  Seriously small when you consider there's me, my loving husband, our teenage daughter, three cats and one dog that lives inside.  Two other dogs are "outside mutts" until the temps become too cold for that.

I also key off the weather.  A lot.  When the sun is shinning, I seem much more productive.  When the snow blows, I don't seem to get much done.

So I'm sitting here at my desk looking at the clutter.  I have sticky notes all over my monitor and the shelves above.  They decorate my dry-erase board that hosts the outline of Ghost Mountain (a trick I learned from Bonnie Ramthun).    Various papers seem to erupt from who-knows-where.

Interestingly, I know where everything is.  I can find a note in this stack of paper within seconds.  I know what books are where (even if they are under a pile of other books!) and can find them easily when I need them.  What looks like chaos to anyone else is my creativity overflowing.

What about you?  Is your workspace clean or cluttered?  Can you find everything easily or must you search?  Does the clutter make you calm cause you stress?

Blessings!

Nichole

(Self) Publishers

Since Beth had such awesome news (applause) this week, I thought I would talk about publishers. There are some great websites that help you filter out the bad ones from the good ones. I don't mean the big houses versus smaller presses. Independent presses can be just as sparkly as the New York giants. But there are nasty people out there who prey on writers so you have to do your homework. Learn how to spot cons and scammers at Preditors and Editors. Also, check out Writer Beware.

Here's a great site that defines the many different types of publishing. Traditional, subsidy, vanity, and a few others.

Here's two types of publishing you may want to steer clear of:

1. Vanity Presses. These are "publishers" that you pay to publisher your work. This is not how the game is played. People should pay you for your work.

From Wikipedia:
With vanity publishing, the author will pay to have their book published. Since the author is paying to have the book published the book should not have to go through an approval process as it would in a traditional setting where the publisher is taking a financial risk on the author's ability to write successfully. Editing and formatting services may or may not be offered, and they may come with the initial publishing fee (or more correctly, printing fee) or might be at an additional cost.


2. Print on Demand. Same concept, only the trick is you don't pay much up front. You pay to have each book printed. Then you go door to door to sell them. Not cost effective.

From Wikipedia:
Print on demand (POD) is a printing technology and business process in which new copies of a book (or other document) are not printed until an order has been received.POD fuels a new category of publishing (or printing) company that offers services directly to authors who wish to self-publish, usually for a fee. These services generally include printing and shipping a book each time one is ordered, handling royalties and getting listings in online bookstores. The initial investment for POD services is usually less expensive for small quantities of books when compared with self-publishing that uses print runs. Often other services are offered as well: formatting, proof reading and editing, and so on. Such companies typically do not spend their own money on marketing, unlike traditional publishers.


And for a laugh, read J.A. Konrath's experience with POD

Keeping the Rambles going...

First off BIG HOORAYS FOR BETH!!!!! I'm doing the jealous dance as we speak.

Ok, since were doing ramblings, I'm just going to ramble a bit about my book.

I've hit a huge stumbling block. Wanda and the Detective just aren't walking along the way I envisioned them going. They want to wander around with each other. I was totally ok with them eventually becoming more than friends, but it was going to be a process in the book. But for some reason they both insist that they were together before Wanda's attack.

She keeps going on and on about the Detectives smell. Not really surprising considering she's a ware creature, but she's honestly getting annoying. One of the bad things about having empathetic abilities.... the emotions that you can pick up aren't always made by a real person. (Another reason that I don't watch soap operas) I've started to smell him. Wouldn't be so bad if he didn't smell like "Old books, stale beer, and warm earth". I suppose I'll come to appreciate it.


That's not the only problem I'm having. I have no motivation for my killer. I know WHAT he is, but not WHO. I'm really hoping that it's not one of those things where I don't find out what's going on until the readers do.

And I can't get her out of the DAMN hospital!!!!

okok, I"m done now. I feel much better

Rambling onward...

A lot has happened over this past weekend. I submitted my paranormal romantic suspense Blood Shield and I found out yesterday it was accepted. Yay! Now comes the hard part. New territory to be learned in the form of contracts, edits, working with an actual editor, forcing my flighty (and very busy) self to stick to a deadline. Am I crazy for looking forward to it? Nah.

The rainy weather has provided me with means to stay in all weekend and write (Instead of work on the house remodel.) Yay, maybe I'll get Bite Me finished and Wolf's Bane. Then there are all those contest entries and crits I've promised. However you spend your week, have a wonderful one!

Smile!,
Beth

Nichole's Ramblings

We don't have a topic this week and I'll take full responsibility for that.  Oh well, we can use this week for personal ramblings or whatever may be on our minds.

My mind this week is blank.  I have a serious case of the "blahs."  I'm ready for Spring to spring.  I'm ready for green grass and blue skies and chirping birds.  I want 70 degree days and to wear flip-flops without freezing my toes off.

Of course, I get none of that today.  I have a sky the color of used BBQ charcoal, sleet, and winds that could pick up a woman on a bicycle (that would be a Wizard of Oz reference to those who are lost and confused).  There's a blizzard warning in effect for the next 18+ hours and they've even closed the interstate and schools.

So I sit here.  Wanting the warmth and feeling the cold.  It doesn't put me much in a state of mind to get writing done.  It doesn't put me in a state of mind to do much of anything, to be honest.

But I did get an interesting request this week.  I was asked to be on a short-story panel for Mayhem in the Midlands.   That makes me nervous.  I mean, I'm excited about going to the conference, but I'm not sure that I'm qualified to speak on a panel.  I only have one short story published.  Is that enough to put me on a panel?  The organizers at Mayhem seem to think so.  I'm not so sure.

In a fit of indecision, I sought advice from my writer-pal Lori Armstrong who told me to go for it.  (And in big, all-capital letters with a few exclamation points, even!)  I think I will.  But I still don't feel qualified.  I guess I'm afraid that I'll get up there and either have nothing to say or will say something that will forever label me an impostor.  Maybe I would feel differently with more than one story published.  Maybe not.

For those of you who have "been there, done that," how did you handle it?  Is this first-time-on-a-panel jitters?  Or am I truly not qualified?  I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Blessings!

Nichole

Paranormal heroes and why we love 'em

The hero. Sigh. You can’t have a great book—or even a bad book—without some sort of hero. Let’s face it. As much as we complain about the men in our lives, try to change them, try to gently boss them around, and annoy them, we can’t live without them.

Our heroes.

So then, why, as writers, do we agonize over what our heroes look like, sound like? What character traits shall we bestow on them in the plotting process as if we were fairy’s giving a blessing at birth. Should they be a hunk, a guy-next-door type, should they have a disfigurement? The possibilities are endless. But what they should have is an overwhelming drive that won’t let them give up and a touch of humanity.

I have a WIP about a werewolf. Yeah, he’s drop dead gorgeous, all blond curls and sexy bod, yada-yada, but he’s allergic to broccoli AND he’s in love with a vegetarian. Intriguing and funny, no?

Humanity. That little, special touch in a character that makes him relate to a reader. It makes the reader want to root for the guy when he’s on his last leg. It’s the shining something that the reader will say “Come on, give ‘em a break!”

Why? Think about the guy in your life again. Is he Superman, is he a James Bond type, is he away on a super secret mission to save the world? Probably not. He’s a “good” guy, a “stable” guy and as much as we drool over literary heroes, we’d prefer our men hands down. Because of their humanity. There’s that indefinable something about them that drew you to that one guy.

Right?

So, now matter how dark and broken a hero is, or how funny and sexy, wimpy with glasses, or battling the bulge, these guys deserve our respect and a second, third or twentieth chance. Yup, heroes in books are wonderful to read about, cathartic to write about, and good for the soul to drool over, but chances are, deep down, the writer has planted a seed of truth about a real life hero they know.

Just ask. They’ll tell you.