My Author Ideas Notebook

Okay, so it's not just a notebook. It has a related box of files too. But overall I've got stuff sorted into separate folders. "Stuff" here means pages I've ripped from my old magazines or catalogs, where the people are so striking, hitting a chord with me.

When I don't have a fix on my lead character in my newest book, I can look through my Characters manila file folder and search out the ones who seem to want to tell their story at this moment. Then, where before I had no one visualized to populate my story, now I have more than enough vying to be the main character. A nice problem to have.

Same thing goes for other authorial topics. Here's my list of things I collect, set aside, waiting for an opportune moment to be put to use:

1. Characters - See above discussion. If you just throw out magazines and catalogs, and aren't the pack-rat saver I am, then visit Pinterest. It hypnotizes me for days. I have to limit my visits for that very reason. I have one obit (somewhere) that reads like a Hollywood movie. That person really knew how to live each day. Inspires me in my real life as well as in my writing life.
2. Character Names - I've bought like four baby name books that I need to completely go through and compile my list of favorite boy and girl names. I've also saved an old Louisiana telephone book to get some great Cajun names from. 
3. Places - this can be a magazine travel article about a geographic location on a map or a photo of a house that strikes my fancy.
4. Careers - give your readers a tale about someone with an interesting career.
5. Great First Lines - I love these, amassed from my own reading or via an Internet search for same. Sometimes they can be inspirational. Sometimes they make me feel insecure as an author. Ha!
6. Plots - Whether you subscribe to the one-plot theory or the thirty-seven plots or the seven or whatever, it doesn't hurt to have them somewhere handy to jog your brain. Try melding two. Try "upgrading" one with a new and different twist.
7. Clothes - sometimes an outfit can spur me on when developing a certain character.
8. Words - I'm a certified geek. I subscribe to two word-of-the-day offerings, plus I'm a copy editor with a daily relationship with Webster's. What can I say? Words speak to me. Single words even. So I keep three Brainstorming files. One is an email folder. One is a Word document. One is a physical file, in case the electricity or the Internet is down. These word entries can describe a person, a place, a mood, be used as a stand-alone title or part of a multiple-word title, not to mention in the blurbs and descriptions of my ebooks.  Have you ever played that game with your writing buddies where you each pick one word, then all the selected words are to be used in one 250-word piece, written on the spot in the next five minutes? It's totally fun. And so illuminating. Each short-short will be unique. Because each author is unique.
9. Cars - I love cars of all vintages. So I save clippings of some. One, a picture of a Jeep, reminds me of this girl who drove past the DART bus I was riding to work. I don't have a picture to memorialize that, of course, but the Jeep does that for me. Even if I don't mention the vehicle in my latest novel, it helps me visualize the girl driving it. So I'm using it for characterization more than as a mode of transportation for my imaginary friends.
10. Themes - I gravitate toward the emotional resonance of a theme. So I love to find these to help me nail them in my own writing.
11. Emotions - I have a book regarding emotions and how to show them, plus lists of gradations of them, like anger, from miffed to murderous. Helps me to broaden my range of emotions expressed.
12. Scenes - If I happen to overhear a wonderful conversation, I get it down. For later.
13. Relationships - I save magazine articles touting relationships. I do have to weed through some cheesy ones to get to those that work for me.
14. Psychology - I happen to like the psychological aspect of things, so I've saved my son's psychology textbook for my writing applications.
15. Taglines - I save great ones to help me formulate one for each of my books.
16. Favorite Movies - I have a growing list, but I have yet to see a pattern as to why I like these movies. You know, something the author/screenwriter did to engage me, which I should be able to reproduce in my own works. To me, they are all different and special in their own way, so I get lost in the magic and can't seem to work on a formula that defines my particular viewing pleasure (other than generics, like a happy ending, some humor, some romance, some action, some intrigue, yet something that won't leave me in bed that night with the lights still on).
17. Favorite Books - Same thing here. I've been trying to find out the authors' magic touches in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged and in Nora Roberts's First Impressions and The Fall of Shane MacKade. Again I get lost in the weave of the storytelling web ... which says something in and of itself.
18. Quotes - I'm a quotaholic. I have my own ebook compilations of quotes (Volume Four coming soon). Each are about ninety or so pages long with maybe ten quotes per MSWord page, so I've gathered nine hundred pithy sayings within each offering, times the four volumes to date, or a total of 3,600 aphorisms that are all my favorites. I also subscribe to a couple daily quote emails too. I love quotes. They can summarize a life's philosophy or a theme or a plot-in-the-making or a conflict with just a handful of words.
19. Archetypes - This list of various types also helps with character development.
20. Enneagrams - Ditto.
21. Astrology - Ditto. Plus gets into financial and social atmospheres too.
22. My Happy Places - These are good for inserting into random scenes, like an overpass interchange, a movie theater, a farmer's market, etc. I just keep a running list in my physical Brainstorming notebook.
23. Push My Buttons - This list is my particular collection of nemeses who I've had the misfortune to run across in my lifetime, such as manipulators, liars, con artists, bullies, coattailers (my own word to describe slackers who want to ride on the accomplishments of my hard work), scammers, judgmental people, yada, yada. Good for conflict ideas in the sagging middle parts of books.
24. List of Interests - I have myriad curiosities, so my list of things that interest me continues on. I find it helpful in career hunting for my characters.
25. Branding - Knowing about this helps with creating covers. I'm not a marketing guru, but I keep a few articles handy that help me out with this.
26. Cover Art - I love the Amazon emails that depict covers. Some I like. Some I don't. I keep a folder on each to help me sort out what to use for my own book covers.
27. The Best of the Best - I keep good notes of each writing book I've read and am compiling a Plotting Checklist for my own use, but I also plan to upload same to Amazon too. This won't encompass all the tips I've read and collected, but it will cover the ones most useful in plotting. Especially for someone like me. I'm actually a hybrid. I'm a pantster who, in general, has at least three or four of the seven main plot points figured out before I start writing a new book. Still, I've read enough about plotting versus writing by the seat of my pants to realize the final edit will be less onerous if I plot beforehand. Sold!
28. Marketing - Again, not my expertise, but I save other authors' emails promoting their work. They all have their unique points, but they all also promote their work via emails. Good stuff to know.
29. Formatting - I have a fellow author buddy who is no longer local and is (was?) a professional formatter, and she was kind enough to tell me that my layperson's formatting of my ebooks looked pretty good. She actually shared her time and expertise to walk a couple of us through her formatting process. Let me tell you, that is a tedious feat and involves downloading two (free) software programs. I'd have to relearn it all over again each season as I upload a new ebook. For my purposes, I'll stick with MSWord Styles and autogenerating tables of contents. When money is no object, I'll hire my friend (or someone she recommends).
30. Bios/Blurbs/Descriptions - I've saved some tips on each of these, mainly dealing with SEO, that I've run across over the years. More updated info is probably on the Net. I'd suggest you search there for help.
31. Hobbies - Make a list of those you enjoy or those you want to do more of or find out everything about. These are good to slip into a scene to add detail. They can even serve as your main character's occupation or for a secondary cast member's day job.
32. Music - Songs can be so helpful to inspire a mood or even a whole book.
33. Art - One writing class I took years ago had us searching the Net for artwork we loved that spawned a story to be told. Very appealing to me. I have an artwork folder that never ceases to invigorate me.
34. Poetry - I'm a wordy novelist, so I'm amazed and stunned that poets can relay so much with so few words. But, there again, those are well-chosen words. Something we authors can make use of too. Of course, the two artistic expressions are different as well. While poetry can be all about the flowery prose and euphemisms and ethereal communication, that doesn't work so well in a fiction piece. In little smatterings here and there of five words or less, maybe ... But we live in the seven-seconds-of-attention generation. Readers can lose interest fast if explosions, murder, sex, etc., are not happening on each page.
35. Cooking - I love to cook, especially when I have the time and the money. But we authors can parlay those things we love into our writing too. First it adds a layer of detail to our scenes. Second it nicely works into our writing the two oft-overlooked senses of smell and taste. I love Robert B. Parker's Spenser series anyway, but the nice touch that Spenser cooks is much appreciated and enjoyed.
36. Voice - I'm currently reading a book released in 2003 entitled Finding Your Voice: How to Put Personality in Your Writing by Les Edgerton, which I am enthralled with. I'm savoring every page, and so it's taking me longer to read this one as I learn, get inspired and take note of the homework assignments that I'll do when I reread the portions I highlighted. And there are many of those. Exciting stuff here. Makes me happy to be an author.

I hope I've encouraged you to create your own stash of go-to ideas. Want to share some of yours?

"If your vocation isn’t a vacation, then quit, leap, change careers."

Denise Barker, Author, Blogger, Copy Editor
Books that Build Character(s)

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What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in comparison to what lies inside of you. Ralph Waldo Emerson
When you give someone a book, you don’t give him just paper, ink, and glue.  You give him the possibility of a whole new life. Christopher Morley
The best inheritance you can leave your kids is an example of how to live a full and meaningful life. Dan Zadra

My Perfect Day: Can You Imagine a Life Without a To Do List?

It is amazing what works in one area of your life, like your career, works in another, like organizing/decluttering your home.

I've been reading craft books on writing. One author proposes fifteen-minute increments for just about anything creative.

Funny, so does FLYLady.net about getting your house company-ready.

I love it when I find those universal applications for all of life.

So, what would my perfect day look like? It is pretty much what I've already noted over the years. The core remains the same: writing, reading, researching, creating, with a loving supportive family unit, in an efficient and pleasing environment.

But I'm enlarging that to include that the house is fully decluttered and organized. Maybe not worthy of a magazine shoot, but an author's haven of peace and beauty and inspiration. Plus my yard is groomed, no tree limbs scratching off my roof shingles, no weeds taking over the yard or leaves preventing the grass from popping through. No dead bushes due to a two-year-long Texas drought.

As much as I enjoy working in the yard, I see delegating that at some future time. But who knows? Once I no longer need day jobs, I may enjoy a relaxed morning of mowing, edging, trimming, raking, without deadlines looming or incoming dark clouds to rush me. We'll see.

Of course, in my dream life, maybe my house mortgage is paid off early (wow!), but definitely I earn more than enough money to pay my monthly bills from my royalties. So each twenty-four-hour period is my own to determine how I spend my time each day.

I so look forward to doing what Nora Roberts has the freedom to do 24/7/365: write, read, research, create. In the meantime, I treat myself to a portion of that life daily, as much as my current schedule can accommodate.

Can you imagine a life without a To Do list? I can. And it makes me very happy to plod along, fifteen minutes at a time, possibly twice a day, to clear my list of entries. Eventually I'll get there.

What does your perfect day look like?

Denise Barker, author + blogger + copy editor

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

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http://bit.ly/BNDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/SMASHWORDSDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/KOBODeniseBarkerEBooks

Added a Page for Each of My E-Books

I don't know if this helps with the SEO or not. But I did it anyway. I figure one more mention of my books to be found within the internet can't hurt, right?

It's an author thing. For traditionally published or Indie.

So if you have a blog and not a website (like me), make it work for you like a website would. Add one Page per book within your blog or create one website per book. Whatever works best for you.

Denise Barker, author + blogger + copy editor

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

http://bit.ly/AMAZONDeniseBarkerEbooks

http://bit.ly/BNDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/SMASHWORDSDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/KOBODeniseBarkerEBooks

Indie Authors, Remember to Update Amazon Author Central after Each New Upload

Yesterday, I uploaded my eleventh e-book. Today I updated my Amazon Author Central page to include my latest offering.

As an Indie, we wear so many hats. For me, I am the author, the creator. Once done with a story of whatever length, I then become the developmental editor, eyeing the big elements, the order, the need for scenes/characters in the overall plot.

Thereafter, I morph into the copy editor, focusing on minute matters, such as commas, to make sure I communicate well with my reader. Speaking of, then I read through my tale, as its first reader. Just to make sure I didn't miss any large or small components.

At that time, I transform into the one-woman design/production department. Here I play with my cover a last time, maybe adding a tagline, plus preparing a description and choosing some key words.

When done, I proceed to the online forums and start uploading.

Anyway, thought we all needed a reminder about keeping our Amazon Author Central page current.

So much to do, so much to forget...

Denise Barker, author + blogger + copy editor

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

http://bit.ly/AMAZONDeniseBarkerEbooks

http://bit.ly/BNDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/SMASHWORDSDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/KOBODeniseBarkerEBooks

Write Great Fiction: Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell

Great book. I recommend all authors read it, study it, apply it. Do the listed exercises even.

I finished reading this selection a week or two ago. I had made twenty-five double-sided pages of notes while digesting the info therein. Then over the last few days, I've been reducing those first handwritten nuggets to six double-sided pages of solid tips for me to put to use as I create my future novels.

So when I say that what I'm about to quote from Plot & Structure urged me to write this post, then it must be pretty awesome. And it is.

'Know thyself,' the sages admonished, and that's still good advice. Especially for writers. By knowing yourself truly and honestly, by writing with passion and intensity...you'll find your writing is not only fresh, but a joy. You'll have you. And that's enough to start writing.

In other words, write true to yourself and your writing will be unique.

But what struck me, and what is not spelled out in Plot & Structure, is that while our writing may be fresh to others, it will not seem so to us. Don't let that hinder you.

This is what I want you to take away from this article. Just because your writing doesn't wow you, it could still amaze others. So share it. Your words may reach someone and work wonders in a person's life.

Also in Bell's book, and in further support of my interpretation above, is this quote by William Saroyan:

I don't have a name [title] and I don't have a plot...I have the typewriter and I have white paper and I have me and that should add up to a novel.

Love that one! For those who like mathematical formulas, it goes like this:

Author + Computer/Typewriter/Pen/Pencil + Paper = Story.

So never discount the Author component.
 

Denise Barker, author + blogger + copy editor

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

http://bit.ly/AMAZONDeniseBarkerEbooks

http://bit.ly/BNDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/SMASHWORDSDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/KOBODeniseBarkerEBooks

Authors' Anytime Tip

The answer to career and lifestyle quandaries is simple, really. We only need to know the WHAT that we want. The HOW and WHY aren't necessary--in fact, they can be obstacles to action.

Mike McManus, Founder of the Source Experience

While we are storytellers and may need to now the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How of our tales, the above quote reassures us that we DO NOT need all that info to pursue our careers.

So no matter whether you will only go the traditionally published route, or you are all-Indie (like me), or you are going Indie while you await that traditional contract, remember the brass ring we all seek:

• To type up the creations that live in our minds.
• To enjoy the process.
• To celebrate each The End.
• To memorialize each In The Beginning.

Best wishes, all!

Denise Barker, author + blogger + copy editor

http://bit.ly/DeniseBarkerBlog

http://bit.ly/AMAZONDeniseBarkerEbooks

http://bit.ly/BNDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/SMASHWORDSDeniseBarkerEBooks

http://bit.ly/KOBODeniseBarkerEBooks

Looking for a Photographer?

I ran across a wonderful photographer in my newest online author group.  Check out Elise VanCise photos here:  http://www.wix.com/fictionrulz/elise-vancise-photography and Elise VanCise the author here: http://gladiatorspen.blogspot.com/.

Enjoy!

Denise Barker, author + freelance copy editor
Good Ole Boys, a love story
A Copyediting Checklist for Novelists

The Amazing, Creative, Wonderful, Unknowable Mind

Having just "finished" (are they ever, really?) my debut novel, and feeling confident enough to upload it, added to writing the first draft of the prequel to my debut novel a mere twenty days ago during NaNo, it strikes me as miraculous how our minds work.  One inconsequential decision in one book, led to something I used in the second.  Never knowing how the first connected to the second.

I'm a pantster.  Meaning I go with my gut.  Never plot.  Except for in my head.  Letting things stew, mull, ferment.  Then with a sufficient nudge, I begin capturing my idea more permanently.  If my subconscious sends me a signal to put in, say, a moose, I do it.  Without questioning.  Then forget it.  And wouldn't you know?  Later I grab this brilliant idea passing through my brain cells on this perfect use for that moose, complete with an underlying meaning as well.

How cool is that?

Writing is about discovery.  It entails maybe ten percent participation by the author--sitting down, typing something, anything, to warm up the muse, signaling the conscious and the unconscious minds to start gathering things.  Then while you do what you can with no plan, no safety net, no map, you receive these wonderful nuggets, bread crumbs leading you to The End.

The sheer mystical magical mystery of it all places me firmly in the state of awe and wonder.

I am so blessed to be an author.

P.S.
Courtesy of A Word A Day, this was too timely not to share: 

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

My stories run up and bite me in the leg -- I respond by writing them down -- everything that goes on during the bite. When I finish, the idea lets go and runs off. -Ray Bradbury, science-fiction writer (b. 1920)

Two Things

Being a copy editor (grammar and spelling and clarity and chronology and fact-checking, etc.) and having been a legal assistant (details, details, details, plus grammar and spelling and clarity and chronology and fact-checking), I'm very sensitive to word choices and their exactness and fit within the context of phrases and sentences and overall story structure.  And I can point to a reference book or two which backs me up.

First, I use "pantster" not "pantser" to describe us plot-challenged novelists.  Say it out loud and you hear the second T.  It is a word built like "teamster" or "gangster" or "youngster" with the "ster" suffix.

Second, I am an author, not a writer.  It is a fine distinction but here is my argument for using same.  I create, therefore I am an author (the "au" is a truncated prefix for "author" and/or "to hear/listen" and/or "self" which my mind combines to mean "self-generated words, spoken or written" and the "thor" meaning "God/Creator" further emphasizing the creation part).

The writers, I maintain, are directed to bring to life someone else's idea.  Thus the term "screenwriter" is usually an independent freelancer who takes an author's book and adapts it into a screenplay for either a movie or a live theater production.

A copywriter is just that, someone who writes copy (think advertisements, whether for print or for radio/TV, etc.).  That writing assignment, job if you will, is at the urging of the person who hired them.

A ghost writer is, again, one hired to do a task at the prompting of the employer, the author, who needs help with his vision, his idea, his plot, his story.  I've never heard of a ghost author.

Web11 defines "author" as one who originates or creates.  While I may write, I am not a writer.  Not in the strictest sense of the word.  Not that you can't be a writer AND an author.  But there is a difference.

My Novel-Writing Mode

If you are an author, you've been asked before if you are a plotter or one who writes by-the-seat-of-your-pants.  I'm the latter.  Although at first I do have vague ideas about the beginning, the ending, the three try-fail scenes.  But I'm more fluid about sticking with them as-is.  After all, imagination is King and allowed to reign free for the most part with me.  Thereafter, as things jell, my plot becomes more rigid, more set.

I'm definitely a character-driven author (again as versus a plot-driven work).  So I get my stories from people, real-life ones I see in 3-D or ones depicted in magazines or stills--or blogs.  One such photo, that launched itself into my mind and right into a fast blip of a short movie clip, came out of a magazine ad (for what, I do not remember).  But there was a woman in a flannel lumberjack shirt, standing relaxed in front of her open door, coffee cup in hand, gazing at the snowcapped mountains.  That tale still resides in me, awaiting release.

One was a beautiful tan self-assured girl in safari garb driving an open Jeep which passed my DART bus on my way to my less-exciting day job.  I've posted about her before.  I'm still gonna write her story at some time--"her" story in the way my creativity sees it, that is.

I get ideas from TV shows and books and movies, too.  I love Murder, She Wrote (TV series) and J.D. Robb's In Death (book) series.  I love how each protagonist is a good person, trying to do right, amid all the wrongdoing they see.  Plus my first-ever written story, a short-short creation in response to a required homework assignment for my seventh grade English teacher, was a mystery.  So, I definitely have at least one mystery to be written from within my DNA.

While I love my characters I embellish, there are some other loves of mine that I pair with them.  Being an entrepreneurial-author type, I like to choose different careers for my guys in my novels.  So you probably won't find a doctor, a lawyer or an Indian Chief among them.

As for settings, I love my Deep South roots.  So you will see that reflected in my tales.  But I yearn to see Paris, France and other European sites (also found in my genetic makeup), so that is inevitable as well.

Then there are those topics where my own interests lie, so my personal research/learning would end up being info/knowledge used for later books.  Again, I'm tied to mysteries, thus drawn to Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids.  Overlay that with just a general awe over creation itself and you would understand why landscapes pull me so, like sunsets and sunrises, and nature walks and hiking through parks, etc.

If you are a fledgling author, do not despair.  Ideas will come to you as you read a newspaper and ask "What if . .  .?"  What if I took my next-door neighbor merged with my boss and my mother and put this newly created conglomerated individual in this scenario from today's news, what would happen next?  What would the life of my rich (or poor) friend look like from an insider's viewpoint?  What if I took a traditionally male job and put a woman in it?  What if I took a marriage and made the woman the breadwinner and the man the at-home caretaker?

Examine the works of others you love which work on many levels.

I love Firefly (the Joss Whedon TV series--too short-lived!) and the follow-up Serenity movie, not to be confused with the supposed first episode named "Serenity."  I still watch it over and over on DVD.  If you study Joss's character cast, you see a bunch of neat twists and turns just with the makeup of his cast.  You have Serenity herself, the ship, which acts as much as a main character as it does for the setting, the cowboy past comingled with the spaceship future.  Genius.  Double genius.

You have Mal, the ship's captain (a necessary character), but this one is flawed and we love him all the same.  He has his yes-man subordinate, Zoe, who acts as his conscience and will speak up when she feels it necessary.  She's the fighter/warrior married to the wimp-like ship's pilot, Wash, and their relationship is hot and inspiring.  We have the onboard renter, a professional companion, Inara, who secretly loves Mal who secretly loves her, amid all the whore-bashing rhetoric he flails her way, which definitely appeals to the more tormented love seekers who watch the series and may yearn for the Zoe-Wash marriage, but are currently not there yet, still in flux.

To round out the ten-character cast (I'm counting the spaceship Serenity), there is the shepherd, aptly named thus, and this crew is in need of his and His help.  You need a mechanic on any ship, and who doesn't love Kaylee?  She's our naive, sweet, optimistic young girl with the heart of gold.  Her down-to-earth girl-next-door good looks are just as beautiful in their way as Inara in her decked-out, bejeweled, Glamour Shot, model-perfect version.

Jayne is the guy you love to hate.  He's our in-house nemesis that you end up policing even while you are fighting a greater terror, like the Reavers.  Simon and River Tam were a brilliant addition to the cast.  First, it makes for an uneven pairing of the crew/cast, and it certainly added an interesting element to the "Out of Gas" episode.  Second, River is an entertaining conundrum, going from insane-acting person to superior IQ intellect to cockney-accented foible.  She's great.  Third, the brother is a doctor taking care of his patient, but his patient is smarter than he is.  I find him an odd mixture of hero and wimp.  Probably as Joss planned.  Fourth, it adds another element to an enemy to be fought, both within their ranks and from without.

Joss, you are another of my mentors.

Still, for those newbie authors, don't be intimidated by the genius that is Joss.  Follow it like you can do the Eight Archetypes or other external guideposts.  Not to be discounted is the factor of you.  You have no farther to look than inside yourself.  Write about characters that personify your greatest values.  Write about situations where the good guys or underdogs win.  Write about causes you wish to elevate to make the world a better place.  Write about what you love.  Move your readers to care, to shed a tear, to write a donation check, to improve themselves somehow.

You CAN make the world a better place for you having been here.  Do it.  Write from the heart.  Start now.

This Author’s Partial To-Do List re Indie Publishing

This blog spot is as much for me as it is to share with you.  The following is a compilation of ideas I’ve garnered from my reading.  I read A LOT.  And I can see one line out of a whole newsletter that spurs me to activity or to capturing an idea on paper.  Being Indie-published, I am the sole person in my publishing company.  Therefore, I have lots to do.  It helps to write stuff down.  Here goes.

If you are like me and have uploaded e-books for the Kindle and Nook, have you considered recording an audio version of your book “as read by author”?  I understand all you need is a computer-compatible microphone and you can create an MP3 (maybe some software is involved).  Like I said, this is on my To-Do List.  I don’t have the experience yet.  But I need to add that knowledge to my base.

This idea works for me currently as all I have e-pubbed to date are nonfiction How-To books, so I can read it well enough to entertain my readers while they are driving to work or cleaning their kitchens.  However, when I get to the novel productions, I am not the one to create the different voices required to distinguish all my characters.  Someone more gifted in that area would need to read my taped novels.

How about a vlog?  Create your own video and upload it to YouTube?  Great marketing tool.

When I go to print books, I want freebies.  I like theme-based pencils, erasers, bookmarks and such.  Start thinking of what promos you would like to help market your creative works.

Even now, with my e-books, once I start uploading my novels, I intend to have bookmarks at the back end that the reader can print out on plain card stock (or heavy white paper) and cut apart with a paper cutter.  This is all a work-in-progress, but my current thinking is to have my book cover on each and maybe one of four or five great one-liners from my story per bookmark, since I should be able to put five per 8-1/2x11-inch page. 

I love the idea of giving more, so this works well, even for e-book versions.  I already have my Lagniappe page at the end of each current e-book, which “success formula” is printed on the reverse side of my business cards as well. 

I was reading a bio about a local author who will be speaking at an event soon and checked him out on Amazon and was surprised to see his blog compilations for sale for a monthly fee.  I use Blogger.com for this site and it seems to offer the same option for providing a book of your blogs.  Worth checking into.

 Best wishes in ALL your endeavors. 

2011 - My Quantum Year

I have no reason to explain the sudden, intense, quantum focus on my dreams or the shift in my thoughts to what I want, nonjudgmental thoughts, the I-can-have-anything thoughts that have been with me since the start of 2011.  The best way I can describe it is:  “The Bermuda Triangle of unidentified good forces has conjoined to spur me on.”

Let me explain.  I have always been a workaholic.  Thinking “work comes before play”--which of course means I rarely stop to play.  Other than those wind-down moments before sleeping at night.  Of course, I'm a book lover and movie addict, so what looks like play in these areas, I have labeled "research" or "study of an author's process."  So maybe it looks like I play more than stated here, but that's because I'm in such a cool career.

To say I have now taken my condition and multiplied it by three would still not adequately correspond the depth of that bulls-eye viewpoint and the height of its fancy.

In one way, it is totally directed on my new career:  as an author.  Fiction and nonfiction, but primarily fiction.  Even though my first two works out in e-book format are nonfiction.  Yet that footstep into one future part of my whole unknown has unleashed so many other tentative inclinations in other areas.  Success begets more success, no matter where that specific success is found in the pie chart called Life.

Examples of my success-oriented thinking involve:

My house.  REALLY getting it organized.  Taking itty-bitty baby steps there, for I wear three hats (author, copy editor and daytime jobber), but any progress is a milestone within my limited “off from work” time frame.  Making a list of all the repairs and improvements it needs, inside and out.  Not a wish list, mind you, but a written To Do reminder.  Like it’s really gonna happen.  Because it is.

My looks.  I’m not a fashion maven and my makeup leans to the natural look.  So for me to focus on hair, eyeshadow and blush, plus new clothes is out of my usual spectrum—especially with the career shift and simultaneous change in earnings.  But in the back of my mind, THIS YEAR, I am considering a haircut that I didn’t give myself, girly yet casual dresses (think French), painted nails, taking the time to don jewelry.

Menu plan.  I don’t think I’ve ever done that consistently.  Not even sporadic attempts, other than a few vacations spent at home where I wanted to play around with cooking.  Now I am so much more attuned to seasonal fruits and veggies, to what I am craving, to the local Farmers’ Market.  You can add grateful and thankful, too.

Sunshine.  Outdoors.  Since I am both an author and a freelance copy editor for one major NYC publishing house, you can imagine how comfortable I am being indoors reading (or writing).  My gift to myself is spending at least fifteen minutes outside in the sunshine daily, other than the weekly (sparse) lawn maintenance.  Besides the Vitamin D it gives me, I believe there are undiscovered emotional and physical benefits as well.  Not to mention other presents Mother Nature bestows on us:  dirt, grass, flowers, trees, butterflies, etc.  I read somewhere that people exposed to large animals (horses, for one example) are healthier than the rest of us.  Just from my limited experience of being around horse people at the traditional workplaces, I can confirm that they didn’t get sick whereas I did.  And I consider myself very healthy.

Learning New Things.  I want to be fluent in French and Italian.  I would love to take a layman’s cooking class, as compared to one to teach me to become a chef.  I can think at this present moment of seven areas in which I would love to earn a degree:  French, Italian, Creative Writing, Philosophy, Seminary (not to become a member of the clergy but for the sheer knowledge of it), Architecture, Gardening.  That didn’t touch on my love of painting or cooking or my long-term desire to make my own quilt(s).

This year is my quantum year.  Everything is multiplied this year.  Good or bad.  So shoot for the BEST, for it will be compounded.  I wish this for you.