Waiting game
I’m sitting here waiting for the 2nd showing of the day on the condo. Another one to go after that today. Not a bad thing, but a bit nerve-wracking. We’re up to 6 showings, which means that we’re getting close, I hope, but each one is scary and exciting and takes a bit out of you. It’s all part of the waiting process for selling, a process that can take days or months or heaven-help-us years.
Plus I’ve been sick this week, which means a lot of laying around and waiting to get well. Nothing like a 5 day weekend ruined by a good old case of the flu. I’m recovering as fast as I can, but even so more waiting.
It seems like a lot of life is waiting. I waited 10 years to get my first novel published, longer than that to meet the right person to spend the rest of my life with. Waiting in line, waiting our turn, seems to be indoctrinated into our psyche at a very young age.
Even when you’re waiting, try to remember to live life! I spent the week in bed, reading more Gardner books for the new biography, I’m finishing up this blog post while waiting for the next showing and going to get groceries during the next. Be sure to fill up your days with wonderful things in 2010.
When There’s Nothing Left To Talk About
I have this theory that the publishing business is its own worst enemy. It’s only my theory, and I could be wrong but I’ve come to the conclusion that publishers feel there’s nothing else to say.
I understand this is a very simplistic viewpoint, but as the internet is expanding, traditional media is contracting.
Why are newspapers in so much trouble? Popular thought says that you can get your news online and 24 seven on cable. So what do newspapers do? Cut back on content, cut back on reporting staff, but back on features and special sections. So there is nothing left to read. And since there is nothing left to read, the self fulfilling prophesy that spells doom for the newspaper business is happening. I suggest that more content, more features and more specials are exactly what people want. Certainly in modern form…electronic editions and formats no one has even considered yet, but more content. Not less.
And books…publishers lament the fact that only a handful of established authors are selling. So they’ve cut back on new authors, chopped b list authors until there’s very little except the big names, at the top of every bestseller list. Because apparently there is very little left to say.
And again, I contend that if the traditional book publishing business would get their heads out of the dark ages and band together to market the current fiction works…if they offered more, not less, in all formats, there would be a rebirth of new works and new writers. New ideas, new thoughts and new readers. But there seems to be no collective effort to save the book business. There is apparently very little left to say.
I suppose that with the Internet, Twitter, social networking and 24 cable news, with all of the specialty cable channels and new media that our needs for information and entertainment will be more than filled, but it still bothers me that traditional publsihing seems to have decided to throw in the towel. Apparently they think there’s nothing left to talk about.
Latest and Greatest!
Sitting here this Wednesday morning, watching the snow fall and wondering what I was going to blog about when the publishing gods intervened and I received a jpeg of my newest cover.
So here’s a first look at the wonderful, fabulous, awesome cover of “Tomb with a View.” The book will be on store shelves July 6. Perfect timing considering the Independence Day holiday and that the ghost featured in this book is none other than President James A. Garfield.
President’s Day with Judy
In honor of President’s Day, Toni suggested I talk about mysteries involving presidents. Elliot Roosevelt wrote many books with his mother and father as main characters; Eleanor even more than Franklin in her own series. Franklin’s were more focused on his “man” John Lowell Endicott, known as Blackjack. Franklin and Endicott went to Harvard together, and share many interests. Through the books involving FDR, Endicott is the active partner. Eleanor does more sleuthing on her own, with the help of the Secret Service, and sometimes the help and sometimes the hindrance of the FBI.
These books are fun because Elliot fills them with information about the people who surrounded his parents, and offers an insider’s view of the Roosevelt White House. It is great fun to read about J. Edgar Hoover and Lyndon Johnson as seen from the viewpoint of the Roosevelts. One wonders just how much Elliot was aware at the time of his parents views. But the reader certainly gets a feeling of being in the White House and among real people through the series.
FDR himself was involved in the construction of one mystery: The
President’s Mystery Plot. He came up with the idea: how can a man disappear with five million dollars in any negotiable form and not be traced. His friend Fulton Oursler was the editor of Liberty Magazine, and proposed that they give the idea to the mystery writers of the day, so they did. Each writer contributed a chapter to the mystery, and thirty years on, Erle Stanley Garner brought it to a conclusion. It is a lot of fun to read, and only Perry Mason himself could come up with a solution!
Another Roosevelt who shows up in just three mysteries is Teddy. Lawrence Alexander has Teddy solve mysteries in The Big Stick, Speak Softly, and The Strenuous Life. These are fun books, too, as the larger than life Teddy makes a great sleuth. I don’t know if Alexander has as much authentic background as Elliot does, but Teddy feels real in the books. It is easy to imagine him taking on criminals and using his brain to solve puzzles.
Then of course there is Margaret Truman, daughter of President Harry Truman. There must be something about being the child of a president that lends itself to the urge to write and solve mysteries! And maybe it only exists in children of Democratic presidents, which may be because they admit to loving mysteries. FDR frequently talked about how he read mysteries to relax during his time in the White House, and I remember the excitement in the mystery world when Bill Clinton was shown walking off a plane carrying a Sara Paretsky book. At Malice the year he took office there was even a t-shirt with the slogan “At last a President who has a clue!” Maybe Chelsea will turn to writing some day.
Margaret’s books range through a great deal of Washington, involving many landmarks and institutions, from the first one Murder at the Kennedy Center on through the National Cathedral, the Pentagon, the House, Watergate, the FBI, etc. Some of her books star Mackenzie Smith, a law professor, and Annabel Reed, a gallery owner, while others stand alone, but involve a Washington landmark.
To get a look into a more modern White House, read Julie Hyzy’s three books about White House assistant chef Olivia Paras. In State of the Onion, Hail to the Chef and the newest, just out Eggsecutive Orders Hyzy takes us backstage in the White House. While she herself has never worked there, her research is painstaking and you would think from reading the books that she is just taking time from her day job as chef at the White House to write the books. Great reads. (And if John had thought to bring me Eggsecutive Orders when he and Toni came up this weekend, I’d go read it now. Oh well, something to look forward to. Sorry, to which to look forward.)
Not presidential, but still federal government can be found in R.B. Dominic’s books about Ohio congressman Ben Stafford. These are great books, with a lot of info about the life of a representative, both in Washington and back home in Ohio. R. B. Dominic is another name for the great writing team of Mary Jane Latsis and Martha Hennisart, better known as Emma Lathen. I love their books about John Putnam Thatcher, Wall Street banker, but find the Stafford ones fun to read as well. I’d like to have Stafford as my congressman, actually.
From looking in Detecting Woman, I find there were two books written by Barbara Mikulski about a Norie Gorzack, a Polish American U.S. Senator, but I have to admit I have never read those. Since they came out in the early 90’s my guess would be libraries or used bookstores would be the only way to find them. Actually for all by Hyzy you will have to search to find these. Unless you want to come visit me, and spend a day or two in my library, where you’ll find all but Mikulski. But remember, I don’t like loaning my books out, so be prepared to spend a few days. I do have an extra bedroom, so if you aren’t allergic to cats, you are set.
Well, even though John missed bringing me the new Hyzy, he did bring two new Alys Clare books, a new G.A. McKevett, Nancy Atherton’s newest Aunt Dimity book, and Katherine Hall Page’s Body in the Sleigh, and it is a federal holiday, so no work for me today, so enough of this writing, it is time for reading.
Snow day
Ugh, this is my 3rd snow day this week. I’ve worked exactly 1 day in a week. Sigh. I do like to work more than this. To make it worse, I am here by myself, so it gets rather dull after a while. I’ve got the house clean, even more so since the house is up for sale. The laundry is done and all my bills are paid. That means I have to stop with the procrastination and write.
I know many writers who procrastinate. That’s why they invented computer games, I believe. Something to take your mind off of what you should be doing. In my case, it’s an excuse to play Sudoku and Scrabble. I spend hours on the book. I’ve been reading a stack of Perry Mason books, and a variety of his short stories. All of that is fodder for the book.
But with the problems I’ve had in the past month (my sister’s stroke) I haven’t put as much time into writing. Fortunately, she’s doing better now. She has an appointment today to learn more about what the next steps are for her. She has no symptoms other than that splitting headache, which is slowly dissipating.
So snow days haven’t exactly been the best work times for me this month, but I hope to get back on track with my upcoming spring break (it’s hard to think of that when there’s 10″ of snow, but it’s 3 weeks away!)
Good news: We have two couples coming through to look at the condo this week, and we hope one will make an offer.
Disney World
Inbetween book signings this past week I visited Disney World. The staff, from the shop clerks to the dancers, singers and other entertainers were wonderful. I can’t imagine, from the waiters at Epcot to the people who introduce the acts, that there is a more well trained staff anywhere. These people know how to please.
But the physical plant looks worn. Shoddy. In need of not only repair, but some new adventures. These people own the Muppets. They own the Marvel Comic characters, and they’ve had some fabulous hits like UP in the past couple of years. Yet they’re still pushing Honey I Shrunk The Kids.
The buildings are showing a lot of wear, and the place has a dull finish…like something out of the sixites.
Universal Studios is building Harry Potters theme park, and Disney is still promoting projects that are decades old.
I heard that revenues were down at Disney. Obviously, at my age, I’m not their target audience, but I think they are in dire need of an update. Anybody else been there recently?
Don
Storming my Brain!
Back from a week of brainstorming in Sarasota and once again, I’m reminded of how important and energizing the brainstorm experience can be.
There’s nothing like sitting around with four trusted author friends and tossing around ideas. This past week, I had the opportunity to put my little gray cells to work on women’s fiction, a thriller, a domestic cozy mystery, and inspirational romantic suspense as well as my own paranormal books. It’s a great way to get my brain moving and stretch my imagination and no matter the genre, brainstorming other peoples’ ideas helps me to learn story structure, drama, conflict and the oh-so-important ins and outs of characterization.
Yes, it can sometimes be frustrating. Like the time an hour-and-a-half session was just ending when we hit upon that One Special Thing that would make a fellow author’s book click. Or the time we couldn’t work out a story problem at all. In fact, that was so discouraging, the author finally decided that her story was completely unworkable–that is, until yesterday, when all of us in the brainstorming group got an email that announced she’d come up with the answer. Of course, it was always there. Right in front of our eyes. But we were too focused on the minutia of plotting to see it.
That, too, is a lesson to be learned.
In addition to our traditional brainstorming sessions, we also spent some time each evening doing tarot readings for our characters. This is my favorite part of brainstorming! Writers are so wonderfully intuitive and so incredibly creative. Give the same tarot card to any one of them and you’ll get five different readings, each valid and filled with insight. It is truly a collaborative and awe-inspiring experience. And we did a lot of laughing, too.
In fact, the only complaint I have about brainstorming is that I have to wait another year to meet with my group again.
How about you other writers out there? Do you have a trusted group where you can bounce your thoughts and explore ideas, no matter how goofy they may seem?
I, for one, am grateful that I do!
Monday with Judy
I really have a tough time coming up with ideas about which to blog, as I have said before. I kept trying to think of something all weekend, and nothing came to me. So I gave up and read. (Always a choice for me.) Since I have one six shelf bookcase and two three shelf bookcases stuffed with TBR books, it is much easier to find a book to read than an idea to write about.
But one of the books I just finished, Close Quarters by Michael Gilbert, gave me the inspiration I need. Rue Morgue Press reprinted this classic, for which much thanks. It is Gilbert’s first book, written in 1938 but not published until 1947. The “Close” of Close Quarters is a cathedral close, almost as good as a locked room for limiting suspects. Diagrams are included and a crossword puzzle helps solve the mystery; two particulars of classic mysteries that add a lot of enjoyment to the genre, in my humble opinion.
I have long admired and read Gilbert, but I never found this first book until Rue Morgue reprinted it. The mystery world owes a debt of gratitude to Tom and Enid Schantz for their efforts to bring back to light some of the classic mysteries of the past. Thanks to them, authors such as Catherine Aird, Manning Coles, Stuart Palmer, Craig Rice and several others of the Golden Age of mysteries are available to new readers. (These are my favorites of those they have put back in print.) I hope they continue to make these writers available to us for many years to come; I have gaps in my collections of some of them, and they have introduced me to authors previously unknown to me, such as Joan Coggin, Constance and Gwenyth Little and Glyn Carr.
Since I like to read a variety of types of mystery it is good to have the classic sub-genre available when I want to escape to the twenties or thirties and to the intellectual puzzles set by masters such as Michael Gilbert. He wrote many forms of the genre so reading him can give the reader a variety: police procedurals, spy novels, classic detective stories, courtroom dramas and adventure tales. One could never say: “There’s a new Michael Gilbert out” and have fans know what type of book it would be, except that it would be well written and a great read.
He also wrote great short stories, and though I personally am not a short story fan because I like spending more time with a character and getting to know him/her through a longer format, Gilbert satisfies that need for me by having the same characters in the stories. His spies Calder and Behrens are featured in his collection Game Without Rules, and are developed enough even for me.
Gilbert wrote more than 40 books during his long life (he died at age 93), and won many an award, including being named Grandmaster by the Mystery Writers of America, receiving the Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievements from the Crime Writers Association of Great Britain and being honored at Bouchercon for his life of crime (writing, that is). ( I plagiarized this information from the introduction to Close Quarters written by Tom and Enid, by the way.)
In this world of Kindles and now whatever the Apple thing is called, I for one am extremely grateful to Tom and Enid for continuing to publish the old-fashioned way. I don’t think I’ll ever want to replace a real page turning book with an electronic version. It was Jean-Luc Picard’s love for real books that made me a fan of his during the Star Trek: the Next Generation shows, and I hope the future contains real books for many centuries to come. So here’s to Rue Morgue and St. Martin’s and Penguin and Berkley and whatever other publishers still making our world better by printing books! And of course, to authors who write them; live long and prosper.
Me Month
After all of the commotion in the past month (sister with a stroke, staging and putting the house on the market, and more), I’ve declared February to be me month. Don’t bother to look on the calendar. It’s not there. They’ll still tell you that Tuesday was Groundhog’s Day and this is black history month. But on my calendar it’s time for me to relax and enjoy for a bit.
Tonight I did laundry and read a book. Nothing too special, but it was a pleasant change to pick up a book from the shelves and read for pleasure. At the moment, my research is causing me to read 150 books by Erle Stanley Gardner, but a good Elizabeth Peters did me good, like a day at the spa. I’ve had a nice cup of hot tea and I’m ready to watch it rain, sleet, snow and whatever is in store for this weekend.
I needed to recharge. I came down with a cold after all of the misery of the past month. I think that was my body’s way of telling me to slow down. And I’m listening. I hadn’t written much this month, because of all the stress and now I’m feeling ready again. My research assistant sent me 20 pages of information about the Perry Mason Radio show, which I need to weave into my narrative of the 1940s.
I encourage all of you to take a day (or month) to relax. It’s definitely worth your time. I hope to be able to tell a good story next week about family and Facebook — Jeff
This And That From The Entertainment Industry
Along with most of you, I watched (and continue to watch) the NBC network’s late night troubles. You can’t miss it. Untill the Olympics or a national emergency it remains the most entertaining drama in the country. And it’s implications go much further than a popularity contest. The American public convincingly showed the entertainment world that they wanted drama, sitcoms or some other polished form of entertainment at 10p.m. The numbers for Leno were weak. And the American public also showed that they wanted more sophisticated hosting in post eleven p.m. televisions shows. Conan lost half of Leno’s Tonight Show audience.
Now as a writer, I applaud the idea that the viewing public wants scripted plots, where stories are acted out. Network and Cable television will take home a valuable lesson. Don’t mess with success.
I also notice that home movie viewing is up. While retail giants like Hollywood Video movie rental chain are in Chapter 11, Netflix and Redbox are showing record profits with cheap rentals and streaming videos. So not everyone is watching the reality shows (or the Leno show or Tonight show.) People are actually watching movies with dialogue, characters and plot.
And the power of movies may be stronger than ever. Avatar is getting rave reviews and record box office business, but being blamed for glamorizing smoking? Yep.
In case you didn’t notice, Sigourney Weaver’s character, an ecologist, smokes. Now alarmists are claiming that the smoking trend among young people might start going up.
Remeber that I Tunes was supposed to do away with CD sales? Lady Antebellum’s second album, Need You Now, sold 481,000 CDs last week. Come from nowhere Susan Boyle sold 701,000 in November and of course Taylor Swift sold twohundred billion trillion records. I don’t get her, but that’s for another time.
Finally, I Pad looks like it might be something worth exploring.
Just when we are told that no one reads anymore, we are introduced to a tablet with the capabilities of reintroducing reading to the young tech crowd.
Finally, they say that traditional books are almost a thing of the past. Don’t tell the people I met while signing last week.
I sold more books than I’ve ever sold. And yes, one lady at a Barnes and Nobel walked up, pulled out her Kindle and bought my book online. Pretty cool!
