A Finely Written Book is Like a Finely Constructed…Meatloaf?

Posted by Joanne Huspek

Egads! Two posts in two days?

October, it’s fall, harvest-time, when the temperatures struggle to reach a respectable 70 degrees, and what do I think of? FOOD. Comfort food.

(No, I’m not blog hopping from here to here. Although I’ve been amazingly busy outside as well as in.)

After I think of fall comfort food, like Yankee pot roast, four-alarm chili, and chicken noodle soup, my mind naturally drifts off to thoughts of NaNoWriMo and how I must get off my lazy behind and plot out VY2. November 1 is not that far away; in fact, it’s closer than you think.

With all of the bounty of my back yard begging to be dug up, picked, and/or cleared away, today I woke up with a wildly urgent craving for meatloaf. It could be the result of having put the last of my tomatoes into the crock pot last night for a slow stewing. I awoke this morning to a house reeking of tomatoes and garlic. And thus the longing for meatloaf at 7 a.m.

Meatloaf, you say?

Contrary to popular belief, meatloaf is not a peasant food. A good meatloaf has texture, from the blend of roughly chopped carrots, bell peppers, and onions (all of which come from my backyard), and flavor, from the careful melding of delicate herbs and spices. The optimum meat mixture should be coarsely ground and gingerly mixed, not smashed into the consistency of gruel. It doesn’t have to be ground beef, but can be ground veal, pork, turkey, buffalo, or a combination of any of the above.

My culinary meanderings got me to thinking: a finely written book is much like a finely constructed meatloaf. I could serve myself well to think of writing in the same terms.

When writing, I tend to take my main characters and pummel them into literary glop, turn them inside out and upside down in an effort to have the reader see what I see.  This is unnecessary. As I have said elsewhere, I am the Queen of the Back Story. I really shouldn’t smash down my meat, but instead lightly interweave it with the other ingredients. After all, a good story leaves out a little, a certain je ne sais quois that keeps the reader hooked and compels them to keep reading until the big reveal.

Likewise, meatloaf isn’t just meat. A phenomenal, gourmet meatloaf tastes good because of the other ingredients. Are they fresh and crisp? Are they unusual or the same-old same-old? Something as minor as the choice of breadcrumbs, for example, can alter the flavor. Italian, croutons, sourdough – all of it can change the basic recipe.

I’ve gone from a one-person story and a single timeline to the realization that it takes all of the elements with their own story to make the larger vision work. Each element has to be unsurpassed, perfect.

Mmm…I’m hungry.

After my quick trip to the market, I’ll attempt to put my meatloaf making skills to work in my writing.

Posted in editing, music, violin, writing, women, life, NaNoWriMo, people, rewriting, womens literature, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Toiling Away Not Toileting Away

Posted by Joanne Huspek

All of my writing friends/nags would be so proud of me. I’ve spent the last two weeks working diligently on the fourth edit of Finding Cadence. This, even though parts of the book were giving me a severe headache. I persevered and chopped out entire blocks of meaningless words, redundant words, and of course, a motley crew of dreaded adverbs. I took words I used several times and found new words I could use in its place. I found a few intriguing words used in other novels, and placed them (with loving care) into my own.

I took out some characters, a lot of dream sequences, and mindless rumination. I expounded on characters that received a brief glossing over (they are now more prominent and have a place in my MC’s journey), added a potential love interest, and took a completely different angle on my girl’s problems.

Last night, I worked non-stop for five hours! It was 8 o’clock when I noticed it was dark . I hadn’t eaten. The cat was looking for his supper and my dog needed to go outside so badly, I could see her twisting her legs in anticipation.

After untangling myself from laptop cords, my physical notebook, and an empty cup of green tea, I came to a sudden realization. I could do this full time. No really, I could!

I can’t believe I’m finally on the third part! Time marches on.

And so, after I put this edition to bed, it’s off to map out my VY outline for NaNoWriMo. Yes, there will be a sequel!

Now, back to work.

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You CAN Judge a Book by Its Cover

Posted by Joanne Huspek

Hola, my lovelies…

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but that’s because I’ve been busy, busy!

Here’s the update:

VIRTUALLY YOURS: I’ve decided the spruce up the first 50 pages. About half of my betas complain of one thing: that they are lost in those first few pages. (The other half get it.) There are a lot of characters and the story lines are interconnected and it’s hard to get the gist of the plot until the characters and the plots are established. I KNOW THIS. But, it’s a great story (I think) and with a little tweaking, it could be better.

I have a few more small publishers I’m going to query, and then, da da da daaaaah! I think I’ll take the plunge and e-pub. Perhaps by the end of the year.

This means I’m giving it another once over (or two) and make it really, really tight. It also means I’m developing a cover, which is where some of my attention has been going. I’ve had some really boffo designs thrown my way, and it’s hard to choose, but I think I’m going to go for the eye-catcher.

Which is why this post concentrates on covers. No matter what they say, covers ARE important. E-book covers are especially important. I’ve been perusing the offerings at Smashwords, and with the exception of the book description, which have to be brief, professional word candy, the covers are a vital necessity. We need a visual effect to draw us into the story.

There is always a deal maker and a deal breaker. I can’t tell you how many novels I have purchased because the covers feature a photo of the Golden Gate Bridge. Conversely, there are books I have walked away from because the art work didn’t grab me.

Maybe the Holy Bible can get away without cover art, but rarely will any work of fiction do without. Covers on e-books or print, must draw the reader to open the book, or to click on the link for more information.

That being said, I find it mildly humorous that many print cover books are exactly alike. It’s not just the Harlequin romance novels either, most of which feature bodice ripping hunks and voluptuous main characters. Most mystery/thriller type books are in dark colors with bold typeface. Paranormals are often black, with Gothic type. I’ve noticed in my genre (women’s literature) that there are so many books featuring a photo of a body of water (lake, stream, ocean) and the back of a woman’s head and torso as she is overlooking it. Or just the back of her legs.

I’ve seen two books featuring an Asian storyline with nearly the same cover: the back of a Japanese/Chinese woman with chopsticks in her hair. What is weird is that the titles are very similar as well.

I attended a workshop at the San Francisco Writers Conference given by an editor at Grand Central. Even the big houses make big boo-boos when it comes to reusing covers. She held up two different books by different authors with the exact same cover art, released at almost the same time. Ouch!

This proves that tried and true formulas may not be the best.

As for me and my work, VIRTUALLY YOURS, doesn’t conform to the romance genre. (It’s mom-lit, remember?) It’s so different (as some of my rejection letters have indicated), it defies being firmly pigeonholed. My cover is going to have to be as different as the words inside. I had an idea of what I wanted, but the people who are designers and have sent me cover ideas took it down a completely different path.

In a word, I’m pleased. I hope you are too. 🙂

Posted in editing, music, violin, writing, women, life, NaNoWriMo, people, rewriting, womens literature, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , 4 Comments

Time to Get Busy!

Posted by Joanne Huspek

Summer is OVER!

No, you don’t get it. Summer is soooooo over… I’m so loving it.

Most of you know we run a business. Heck, I’d be a bag lady if I had to rely on writing for a living, so I have to do something. Even with my talents in other areas (jewelry, gardening, art, etc.), these pursuits are not to be relied upon to provide a box of macaroni and cheese at the end of the day. Summer is our business’s bread and butter – and pickles, and steak and lobster, and cereal and ice cream – and we have to use those receipts to live on the rest of the year.

You don’t know how many times during a cold and wintry (and cash-strapped) January that my husband emerges from his office shaking his head, saying “I’ve got to sell the motorcycle (or insert large object of his affection here) to pay the taxes (or college tuition or insert other large ticket item here).”

So when the going is sweet and cash is flush, we attack it will all the gusto two persons of our middle age can stand. It’s been raucous, it’s been crazy, it’s been seven days a week for the last three months.

The rush is officially over. Now my adult children are back on the Left Coast, leaving me with a quiet, clean house. Tthe teenagers are back in school, and I actually have a minute to breathe. I’ve also been able to finish the books I started reading back in May, so reviews are forthcoming.

And I’ve been doing a very good job of sticking to writing. Staying away from the time-sucking social media has helped. You know I love you, Facebook and Twitter, but I can’t get a thing done if you’re on my desktop! So instead of following my gaggle of interesting peeps, I’ve been holed up in my bedroom plotting out new twists and turns.

More later. I’ve got to get back to work.

 

Posted in editing, music, violin, writing, women, life, NaNoWriMo, people, rewriting, Uncategorized, womens literature, writing Comment

A Farewell to Borders

Posted by Joanne Huspek

Last week, I decided to make a trip to Borders and pay my final respects. Actually, I wanted to see if all the publicized horror stories reported in the papers were true: That a trip to Borders was like watching a ghost town appear right before your eyes, that the remaining employees were zombies with the customer service helpfulness sucked right out of them, that the sad sales floor resembled a pool of piranha circling in anticipation of the last 75% sign to go up.

I have to report that none of the above were true.

Certainly, my local, favorite Borders in Birmingham is the upscale, flagship store. Two stories, brick and glass, roomy, it had a kick-ass coffee bar and lots of comfortable chairs. Although southeastern Michigan suffers in this bad economy (and suffers, and suffers some more), the stores and the people of Birmingham have yet to get the memo on the recession. The Birmingham Borders has always teemed with customers, the parking lot just as full in the middle of July as it is during the Christmas rush, when I’ve witnessed car wars for spots and the resultant fender-bending crashes.

Borders was stuffed full of customers the other day when I went to bid farewell.

Okay. I know. I don’t need more books. With a “To Read” list towering over me, threatening to topple and break my leg, what I really need is time to finish reading everything I have set out to read. I entered Borders with the sole intent of taking a short trip around both floors and maybe scoring a few pretty notebooks for my purse.

Somehow, I got caught up in a mood. Not a sober mood, but a celebratory mood. I wasn’t sure if I should feel embarrassed, or if I should join in. Have you ever been to a funeral service where people are laughing and having a good time? You want to remember the good times, but you also want to maintain an air of somber respect.

This was the Birmingham Borders last week.

So the coffee bar was shut down. So the books were pulled into the center of the store and the store fixtures stacked on top of each other. So the computer screens were dimmed. You’d never know a fire sale was going on in the face of impending bankruptcy. I’d never seen so many families with young children poring over books. So many older couples holding hands, their baskets full of books. Even the single shoppers like me were picking up the books, running our hands over the spines, checking out the covers and blurbs. (I myself prefer a physical book over the electronic kind, as I find reading from the page easier on my eyes.) Perhaps our rapture was over the discounts (at 20 – 40%, not exactly deep), or maybe it was because we all loved the books.

Which led me to wonder, especially in a high-revenue store like the one in Birmingham – WHAD HAPPENED??? At one time, a big-box company like Borders was going to eat up all the small booksellers. Independent book sellers, while a staple in trendy places like New York City or San Francisco, are like finding the proverbial hen’s tooth in metro Detroit.

It was only a few months ago that Borders (based in Ann Arbor) announced they would be moving to downtown Detroit as a cost-cutting measure. That announcement brought hope – something like the hope before chemo. Now all we have is the wake before the burial.

As for me, I came away with more than a few pretty journals. I bought several classic books I had wanted to re-read but didn’t have in my library. I bought some 2012 calendars, hoping that next year will be better for book sellers, authors and readers. I bought some light, trashy romance novels. I figured I needed a happy ending where girl gets guy and both ride off into the sunset.

Then I went home and tried to figure out where the nearest Barnes and Noble is, and prayed for their continued existence in the modern world.

Posted in music, violin, writing, women, life, people, womens literature, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Monday Morning Mash-Up

Posted by Joanne Huspek

I AM A LAZY WRITER!

Okay, maybe I’m not lazy, but I have the procrastination moves down pat. Okay, maybe I’m not the World’s Biggest Writing Procrastinator, maybe I have Writing ADD.

Nope. I’m lazy.

Why do I say this? The Internet tells me so.

Maybe not in so many words… The one good thing about being a writer and having access to the Internet is Monday morning. Honestly, I could turn off my computer the other six days, and Monday would be the key I’d want to waste my online time on.

(Of course, I’d have to adjust that rule for Donald Maass’s Tuesday Twittering. For a minute.)

I started this post last Monday before life got crazy; however, it’s not any different this Monday. For example, here’s a really good article on self-publishing by Bob Mayer, who’s one of my new writing gods. And for all you sh**** writers out there, there’s this article on the slash and burn. And of course, since I’m in the revise and revisit mode of my novel, this article likening the process to the infestation of bedbugs makes for an interesting read.

And the twitterverse is buzzing over BookEnds strategy for e-pubbing. Lots of comments on that one, folks.

For a wry look at the writing process, one can always find a laugh or two, and a gem of knowledge, from the Rejectionist.

Monday morning has now morphed into Monday afternoon (a scorchingly hot Monday afternoon), so I’ll take this moment to shut down the salt mine and go for a few hours of writing time – in air conditioned comfort.

See. I’m not really lazy. Just overwhelmed.

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Writing Outside the Lines

Posted by Joanne Huspek

Just when Real Life sucks all the energy out of your Writing Life, Real Life II comes crashing in like a hippo in a bakery and totally flattens all of your cupcakes.

Really.

One of my other “hobbies” is making jewelry. I’ve always been an artist, and doing any number of things with my hands is a necessary part of my day. I play guitar and violin (poorly), have always drawn, painted, thrown pottery, written poems and stories, knit and crocheted, sewn…well, you get the picture.

This year, I joined the Michigan Silversmith Guild and am displaying my vast collection (nearly two years’ worth) of twisted and wired creations during the upcoming Ann Arbor Art Fair. I am hoping to unload enough to at least come out even on what I spent in supplies. For those who know me, my passions are not performed out of love of money, but love of the art. So…I’m not holding my breath. If I can recoup some of my investment, I’ll be happy. If not, c’est la vie.

I’ve spent the last month or so shining up my baubles, cataloging them on a spreadsheet, tagging them with microscopic tags and placing them in teeny-tiny plastic bags in anticipation of the show next weekend.

And of course, it’s been hot, and of course it’s been busy, and of course, other things happen that can knock a writer off course.

Like having a friend die. Death is awful, and there’s been a lot of it in my life lately, and this wasn’t exactly news. The death wasn’t as bad as having to see the body before the hospital removed it from the room to the morgue. In a word: awful. But I’m always shaking out the cloud to see what the lining looks like. Silver, yes. I can use some of my experiences of the last couple of weeks in my writing.

All of this Real Life discord is in the past (I hope). So now to writing.

In addition to all of the projects I have on the front and back burners, I have decided to write a paranormal romance short story. Before you say, “But you don’t know how to write a paranormal romance!” let me say this: Sometimes it’s good for a writer to think outside the pen.

That’s right, scribble in the margins. Take two lines instead of one, or write two lines on one blue ruled line. Use a red Sharpie. Write outside the lines. Explore.

I recently took Jeremy Shipp’s writing class (again). Jeremy Shipp writes fantasy, and most of the people who took the class write fantasy. I write mom-lit, an older version of chick-lit, meaning sassy female situations with children. So why did I feel the compulsion (twice) to take a writing class from an author who doesn’t write in my genre?

Because he’s good!

Let’s face it. A good writing coach can help you no matter the genre. A good writing exercise can open up a world of possibilities you might not have thought possible otherwise. It really doesn’t matter if the exercise has anything to do with your genre. Reading a variety of books can be just as enlightening, once you deconstruct what makes the book good.

That’s why I decided I would branch out when it comes to reading. I read my first paranormal romance this year. I had never before been drawn to the idea of vampires, blood-suckers, or dead people, but was given a book and took it out for a spin.

I found I liked it.

Back to the paranormal romance: It’s not my genre of choice, in fact, I don’t think of my “usual” writing as being romance (though there are romantic elements at play) but I decided to give myself an exercise.

It’s coming along nicely.

Perhaps I should stick with what I do best, but it’s good to stretch your wings and push the envelop a little. You never know what you’ll find on the other side of the flap.

Now if I could find time to finish the other works in progress, I might have a nice little library.

Posted in editing, music, violin, writing, women, life, NaNoWriMo, rewriting, womens literature, writing 2 Comments