Reviewers Are The Bee’s Knees!

Once again I have revised my book - The Story of Rachel. For the third time. I want to thank the people who reviewed this book in December up until now. Reviewers are like colonies of bees pollinating the literary fields - they promote growth. Of course the comments sting sometimes. But they can also spur a new author, who takes heed and who cares that their work is absolutely the best they can do, to re-work it once more. Believe me, I feel like I have worked on this book for about a million times.
But your comments almost consistently, flamed Tinderbox and Ladylike. (pun intended) Some people found their antics amusing but most people commented that it was too much like ‘the inner goddess’. Having a degree in psychology, my thought was Freud’s id, ego and superego. But the reviewer buzz was to ditch them. So farewell Tinderbox and Ladylike.
Another comment concerned ‘head hopping’. I’ve have been reading about first person POV and deep third POV. And I totally GET the reviewer complaint. I have gone through the book and removed the legs from my keyboard which had been crouched ready to hop into anyone’s head who would allow it in. Or is the analogy more like an Exorcism of a head hopping demon. I don’t know but it’s gone now. And again that is thanks to the reviewers and what I have learned.
So keep reading and commenting reviewers because you help us writers hone the craft and produce better work.

Pandora

Why did I choose a sex club set in Canada’s largest city - Toronto - to be the backdrop and common thread linking my three books? It is, after all just an adult playground, totally fictitious. Don’t visit Toronto and try to find it in the yellow pages. When I wrote the books, I had in mind a setting like Eyes Wide Shut for the elegance of the setting but without the dark, underlying theme.

I’ve done a little research and now I know that Eyes Wide Shut is based on a novella written by Arthur Schnitzler - Dream Story - in 1926. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/157409.Dream_Story?auto_login_attempted=true

Of course, I have placed this book on my reading list. According to the description, It is the story of a married male doctor’s dream, part of which involves visiting a secret sex club and making hard choices. The fact that Arthur Schnitzler was a close friend of Sigmund Freud’s adds to the appeal. I was a Psych major in university.

And then there’s the Greek legend of Pandora. She was the first woman created by the gods, endowed with beauty and wisdom. She was given a box and forbidden to open it. Of course she was curious. Who wouldn't be? Just one peek? She opens it and all manner of evil fly out to plague mankind. She despairs at what she has done but there was one item in the box she discovers hadn't escaped. HOPE. Hope for mankind in dealing with the evil and hardship.

And this is where my three books come in. Hope for love when it seems to have passed by my main characters. And hope wins out. At the risk of getting schmaltzy, this mirrors my own life. Not that I’m going to orgies with Tom Cruise. He’s never asked. But that I didn't give up hope, found the love of my life in Desmond and am now living my dream life, writing and creating.

So what about you, fellow writer? Is there a movie which has inspired your writing, or a book? And readers, is there a book you would like to see made into a movie? As a reader myself, how about Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel series of books made into a movie.  There’s always hope, right?

Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award... waiting...IS NOW OVER!!!

It's now 8:20 AM EST..
February 13, 2013....

I sit here waiting for my buddy, mah main man, Jeff Bezos and his posse out there in Amazon Land to post the first round winners in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards contest.

Hard to believe that it was a month ago, at midnight that Desmond and I were uploading and such for The Story of Rachel. And now... we wait...

The last post I saw was that I won't be able to see anything until noon my time, as Jeff and his crew are still enjoying their beauty sleep out on the Pacific coast....

Rats...

Ungh...

This is the first writing contest I've ever entered, and I didn't think that it would have the all encompassing effect on me that it has.

In the past month, I have seen books go up on Amazon by authors as unknown as me, and sell 50k copies in 30 days. Another one sold 5K copies in a day.

I've sold twelve.

This writing is a lot harder than I thought. Not only producing the book, learning as I go- and yes, I'm impatient to win my Nobel prize, even though I don't really know how to use a semi-colon. I DO find it fulfilling, yes.

The reviewers blogs have been a real lifeline for me. The encouragement, and the honesty have kept me going.

But today... well, today is a tough day. Tough morning so far, and I'm afraid it will be an even tougher afternoon.

I wonder... has Joe Konrath, John Grisham, Stephen King, Colleen Hoover, E.L. James, J.K. Rowling, and all the other uber successful authors... have they ever had days like the one I'm having today?

Sigh.

*******************************************************
UPDATE   UPDATE    UPDATE    UPDATE    UPDATE    UPDATE     UPDATE   UPDATE
I do NOT have to crawl under a rock!!! I made the top 20% of admissions, and I'm in the second round!!!!

Oh man... this is some emotional rollercoaster.... wow!

The Pain of re-writes

did she have to do a massive re-write too? Please share that bottle!!!

Newfoundland, Canada... Where Michael Evans grew up... it's so lovely

N

Some thoughts about Jeff Bezos and Amazon.com

It crossed my mind as I was composing my request for help on a problem I was having with Amazon’s e-book publishing  just what this division of a hyooge nourmous corporate entity is doing. 

Being an American outfit, they’re making money. Yup. I’d love to own a piece of the action. 

But what do they actually do? What am I trying to say here?

It’s this:

Amazon.com is providing creative people, artists for that matter, with a venue to achieve their dreams. 

Providing artists with a way to achieve their dreams. 

And they’re doing it for free. I haven’t given them a penny up front. 

In the past few days, I’ve uploaded a book to their contest in the wild and crazy hope of hitting a prize worth $50,000.00. Yeah, that’s like hitting the lottery; especially when I read the works of so many other writers and authors out here whose skills and talents are what I aspire to. 

Even so, I get a chance to go head to head with them. Like Rocky Balboa getting into the ring with Apollo Creed, I just wanna go the distance.

And all it cost was some sweat and tears. Not a drop of  blood thank God! And I’m getting in the ring with the likes of Grisham, Clancy, Walker, Scott, Kellerman (Mr. and Mrs.) and a host of incredibly talented people. Not to mention Stephen King. Alice Walker. Collen Hoover. DD Scott. I could go on and on and on...

Somewhere back in the 1990’s I saw Jeff Bezos on Letterman. All he did was laugh at how his company was losing millions of dollars of investor equity every month. I thought he was such a fool. I had no confidence in what he was trying to achieve, and I couldn’t see him having a shot at unseating Borders. 

Sheesh.

Saw him on 60 Minutes, riding some toy tricycle down the corridors of Amazon HQ having a blast. Laughing and laughing.

Whudda fool.

I sit here now, for the first time in almost thirty goddam years feeling a bit ashamed of myself. 

That guy; that ‘fool’, has given me a new lease on life. 

Jeff Bezos gave me hope. 

He did it by giving me an opportunity to make money, to build a future. All I have to do is work at my dream. 

All I have to do is work. 

I have to develop my craft as a writer- and because of the people I’ve met here online I have so many people helping me. And like Mr. Bezos, they don’t realize they’re doing it. After listening to them, I simply have to work at getting better at my craft.

One brief example- in the process of uploading my book for the Amazon Breakthough Novel contest, by perusing the forums, I had the opportunity to learn about semi-colons. That I paid attention to, and as a result, my book is better. 

I have to work to create the best book I can.

And throw out my crap and start all over again. And again. And again.

And dream.

Dream. 

When I listen to the guidance on the web, and have the best work I can produce, I have a tool at my disposal- a tool that cost millions and millions of dollars to build and maintain that’s available to me- free of charge. To turn my production into money. 

Yeah, yeah, I gotta market my ‘stuff’. I got it. Selling’s important. I get it. 

And oh God how I love to write. I was born for this...

But I don’t have to go to a vanity press and drop a few grand; I don’t have to maintain an inventory of printed books; I don’t have to scrounge for meetings with book buyers. I don’t even have to bug publishers or agents! 

I have to look for readers.

Readers. And that’s what writers crave.

For the past eight months, I’ve woken up energized and motivated.  Because I’m chasing my dream.

And I’m but one of over a million people out there- a million writers and authors- chasing a dream.

Wow.

Jeff Bezos, his investors, and most importantly the team he’s assembled, has unleashed a tsunami of human creativity.

And he’s making a fortune doing it.

 Wow.

Good for him.

If you are reading this, and you’re trying to fix a plot line, polish an opening paragraph, tighten up your blurb, learn about punctuation so that your book is better, you know what I mean. 

You’re chasing a dream. You’re running it down.

And while your running after your dream, look at your feet! And thank the people- the slew of people at Amazon.com. From Jeff Bezos and the investors that believed in him while losing millions, to the person that replies to your support request. They built and maintain the path you, and I, are running on.

And I will never, never ever, be able to repay them. How can you repay a dream? How can you repay Hope?

Drudgery and Dreams!

The last six weeks have been an endurance test for me! I survived and am still sane, well almost. In the first part of December my first book, The Story of Rachel was reviewed by a bunch of great people who posted reviews on Amazon. I listened to suggestions they had, despite the fact that overall it was a 4.3 star, and decided to take it down and fix it.

Then Amazon announces their Breakthrough Novel Award contest! Well, it was time to really look at the book...I removed 25K words of a 45K book and then put it into the contest as an 80K novel. TONS of revisions, more characters added, sex scenes toned down in graphic details and lots of comedy added. What's more my main characters took on a life of their own and started to show me their stuff - the result, I love them. I laugh with them and cry with them. I still feel that way after all the time they've spent in my head (edit, EDIT, REVISE, EDIT some more). I feel like Homer on his epic Odyssey.