Woot! Woot! My Book is UP!

It's not out yet, but it's UP..... on Amazon! (And Chapters in Canada! Which is like B&N or Borders.... oh look it's also up at Borders)


What do you think of the cover? I love it, love, love, love it! From what I understand, the cover illustrator entered in into the annual for the Society of Illustrators and was accepted.... now I don't know much about that but my publisher seemed really excited!

Unfortunately it won't be out in time for Christmas as it has a Spring release date, but I'm thoroughly excited to see it OUT THERE.

What I still find kind of funny is that this was the second book I sold to a publisher. The first is still with its publisher and getting ready. The second one just moved faster, not sure why! But after speaking with the editor on the Green Guide, she said that the book was going into production this coming week. Wow! It's, like, really, really real!

Book Review: Bird by Bird

Right after I finished and submitted my manuscript last week I surfed by Joshilyn's web site where she mentioned Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. I'd been a little flustered, not sure what to do now that I was done writing that book... and I immediately glommed on to the fact that I Had To Read That Book Now.

I had it around somewhere... but I couldn't find it. I went to two bookstores (including a used one) and couldn't find it. Everyone was looking for "mommy's bird book". It was finally located in the kitchen bookshelf (every room has a bookshelf!) and I dove in.

I loved it like the first time I read it.

I offer you this great review by Karen L. Alaniz.

Writing Your Book Proposal - Part 1 (of 3)

Recently I gave a talk on writing book proposals and I thought I'd share some of the info here for all you future authors wondering where to start.

From Book Proposals That Sell by Terry Whalin: “According to a survey from the Jenkins Group Inc … 81% of Americans feel they should write a book …” and yet, only 2% of the population has ever actually written a manuscript, let alone gotten it published.

Writing fiction and non fiction is very different. At least it is for me. In fiction I feel like I can experiment, start from the middle, work my way through the story. But with non-fiction there is a lot more structure. It needs to be logical, it needs to have a straight forward plot.

Writing from word 1 through to word 50,001 may not work. You need to build a framework and then fill it in so you can be sure not to miss portions of the book or run into structuring issues.
Some things to think about AFTER the lightening strike IDEA and before you start the proposal.

To flesh out the idea before you put it on paper:

Readers very selfish, “what’s in this for me”. Publishers are also selfish, “what’s in it for me and will my customers (readers) like it.” The big question your proposal needs to answer, “will it sell”?

Why publishers like book proposals:

• You are looking for a publisher to make an investment so this is almost like asking a bank to finance a project, except you are assuming no financial risk. $50,000 per book. Sales projections are calculated so that the publisher can factor costs right down to the amount of ink needed to create the book.
• A proposal is a snapshot of the project as a whole and are used to take the book through the approval process from editorial, planning, concept, marketing meetings. All decisions are done by committee.
• Proposals show how well the author knows her subject and that she has recognized that the publisher needs to examine many different aspects of the project

Stay tuned tomorrow for some more...

Summer Fun

I'm bearing down on a deadline and guess what... I LOVE IT.

I love this book, I love it's structure, I love it's message.

Researching and writing it has been hard work. There have been many nights that I didn't get to bed until after midnight when I had to get up by 6 am to go to work. There were lunch hours I had to race home to do a phone interview or sit at my desk reading a research book.

I've learned so much with this book. Every time I'd sit down to do some research I'd uncover something really cool to add.

But you know what? In ten days when this book goes to the editor... I'm going to take a LONG NAP.

Stratosphereic Mental Illness Number*

I am ignoring the big red button that says panic. That's right. I'm sitting here NOT thinking of a big red button. Try it with me.

Do NOT think of the big red button.

It does not exist.

How's that working for you?

There really isn't THAT much to panic. Just a manuscript that needs to be read and re-read and everytime I find something new to put in it and I wonder if I have everything in that it needs and I feel that NO I certainly do NOT and there must be more to find and I'm below word count anyways so let's just put that in there ... or should it go there ... or here, or what about here and I think maybe I'll make a WHOLE NEW CHAPTER but then is it duplicating info from somewhere else, do I sound like a broken record...

And lather, rinse repeat because that is what life feels like at the moment.

I am SO taking a break when this book is done. At least until I get the edits back.

*I think Joshilyn has patented the Mental Illness Number Ranking System.

Seven weeks till summer...

Image from FlickrAs a child, though the weather said it was 'summer', I never - really - accepted that until I finished up school for the last day of the year. Summer, in which case, technically started for me sometime in April, but that's not when summer starts in our house. Summer, officially starts on the first day of school holidays for the kids.
So, I have seven more weeks until I'm being driven batty every day by 'mum can I have a drink, mum can I have an ice pole, mum I'm bleeding, mum he cheated, mum she pushed me, mum she's not sharing, I'm telling mum, I'm telling mum, I want, I can't, I will, I won't....'
That's seven weeks of freedom, in many ways - I have one class until the holidays, and that's it ;)
In these hallowed seven weeks, I'm going to make sure I've got enough books to read at the park, enough pads of paper to make it through swimming classes, enough plasters and reward stickers, diluting juice, bribes, loose change and all of the other bits and pieces that every parent needs to get thorugh the summer. Sanity is, of course optional, and is probably going to be a frayed rug, again, by the end of the holidays, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I deliberately don't book during the summer, and ask my clients to plan accordingly, because the summer is for the kids.
What are your plans for summer?

Edits... I love the pain....

This week I received the first edits back on my first book. It's exciting. It's thrilling... and yes, it's a little painful. But it's a good hurt.

I've always said that I think I have the thickest writer skin on the planet. Go ahead, kill my darlings.

Of course there's always the thought that I like a good editor because a good editor makes ME look better. And yet, it never seems to be the other way around. You don't hear anyone saying "hey, that writer made that editor look really good!"

Now, this is only the first bit of the manuscript. I had a great phone conversation with one of the senior editors about how to handle the edits... and I'm so psyched to get started!

I think the best part is that between submission and getting the edits back I had a feeling about something. Not necessarily something I'd done wrong. Ok, yeah, something I'd done wrong... and that was the main concern. I've been thinking about how to make it better, now I can.

Fear and Doubt in Calgary

Recently I mailed off the contract, author's questionnaire and a headshot to my new publisher, Storey Books.

After the thrill of two weeks of back-and-forthing between publishers, I had the contract. It was in the mail. Then it was in my hands. Then there was signing and reading and a questionnaire to answer... a headshot to have printed. Then it was done.

75K

Half due on Feb 29/08. The rest due in June.

And now is when the fear begins to take hold. Because Holy Crapola I'm Writing Another Book And Surely Now They Will Find Out I'm A Big Fake. Yes, I've ushered over 200 articles through to completion, yes I've written a 50K non fiction book already, yes I have good chunks of the book already written and researched....

But now it is all IN WRITING.

Now it is an expectation and (thank you, dad) what I fear most is not meeting someone's expectations.

Hello dear publisher/editor, if you are reading this, please ignore. This is normal. I used to do this with each article too but I got them done and done well thankyouverymuch.

I know that Shirley Jump has talked about being afraid during the book writing process. I Googled shirley jump fear (in case, dear Shirley, you wonder why that search string showed up in your stats) and I found this article:

Projecting Confidence When You're Terrified

My favorite is number five:

Believe in Yourself (Even if You're Pretending): "When I want to project confidence, I pretend that I am my worst competition. I envision myself as the most qualified, beautiful, and well-spoken candidate for the job," says writer Sheri Wallace. If necessary, talk to yourself in the mirror and remind yourself that you are a good writer.

That's what I do. Feel the fear, do it anyway, freak out on the inside. Really, whenever someone says I'm "accomplished" or that I've done a lot, I think "you really should see things from in hear because we're not sure what's going on and the hamster is about to run out of water".

But, again, I go back to Shirley, who is not old, but who is wise. She wrote Keep Doubt From Stealing Your Dreams.

In it she featured the quote:

"Doubt is a thief that often makes us fear to tread where we might have won."

I really think doubt is a thief. There's that evil, mean, nasty voice inside our heads that is constantly telling us that we aren't good enough. That we are just faking it, that we really have no business doing what we are doing. That voice? That voice really makes me angry.

If you ask my husband, he'll tell you that I do not like to be told what to do. He gets to sometimes because we're a team and that means sometimes you let someone tell you what to do. (I know, not the technical definition of team, which is somewhat more warm and fuzzy) But others? Oh no. You don't tell me what to do and more importantly, you sure don't get to tell me what NOT to do.

So now, instead of telling myself "Heather, you are a great writer!" My self-talk is more along the lines of "Look you evil, nasty little voice inside my head. You sit down. It's not your turn. It's my turn, I'm doing it. You can go pound sand because this book is being written and written well and you get no say in it. While you are sitting down there, you just worry about something else, like keeping your job. You know your cousin 'intuition'? She knows when to talk and when to shut the heck up. Read a page from her book, would ya?"

It's all peace and love in my head, can't you tell?

Mamas Need Resources!

There are over a bazillion resources for Writing Mothers, both in print and on the Internet. Since I've seen probably half of them (which is precisely 1/2 bazillion), I want to do something constructive with all that time, and pass on the ones that have been the most helpful to me personally.

Rather than waiting until I've compiled a big list, I thought I would just post them here as I think of them, tag them with "Resources" and call it good.

What do you think? Yes? Hopefully you'll find the resource you need, when you need it.

I'm going to start with my all-time favorite. I'm always shouting from the rooftops about this book. It wasn't the first writing book I ever read (how I wish it had been!!), but it was the one that helped me get my first article published. And it is STILL useful, relevant, and gosh-darn it, friendly. Yes, friendly. You'll see what I mean when you get it.

Ta-da!

(Here's the link to Shirley's book on Amazon.)

I tell you, this is the best holiday gift I could ever give you. Much better than the green and orange sweater vest I was crocheting for you.

Enjoy!

p.s. Shirley Jump is the author of How To Publish Your Articles, and guess what?? She is a Mama with a whole bunch of book contracts! Yes, she went from being a highly successful non-fiction writer to a bestselling novelist with 29 published books! And guess what else?? She's coming to MNABC! That's right - I will get to interview her and will post it here. It's coming soon, I swear! So if you have any questions for her, you can include them in the comments of this post.

Should books have content warnings?

The Internet is buzzing with the latest study showing that Americans aren’t reading books. Are we really that surprised? With the amount of written information thrown at us daily at via junk mail, E-mail, text messages, billboards and the Internet, who has the time to read books?

As writers, instead of asking why people aren’t reading our books, we should be asking ourselves this question: How we can encourage more people to read? As my writing instructor recently pointed out, our goal as writers shouldn’t be to simply put books on the shelves. We need to move those books into the hands of our readers. How do we do that? What is holding back our prospective readers?

I’ll go first. I got out of the habit of reading books in college. (So much for higher education!) Everything that I read was either assigned by my professors or touted as the latest and greatest self-help tome. I no longer read for pleasure; everything in my twenties was about self-improvement. If I wasn’t improving my mind, I was working on my soul. But I lost something along the way … the ability to escape into a novel, the ability to dream.

I’m not sure when I shook off my intense sense of drama and realized that it was okay to relax. Sometime in my thirties I set aside my self-help books and decided to read for fun. But it was hard. I discovered that the last time I actually read for fun, I had my school-assigned Scholastic book order form to help me out. I had no idea where to start. I didn’t even know in which section of the library to begin. And I suspect that I’m not the only one.

I propose that there should be a rating system for books, similar to the ones currently in use for movies, television, and music. This would save time for the harried prospective reader. If your new murder mystery was rated PG for violence, you wouldn’t have to worry about blood splatters and excessive gore keeping you up at night. You’d have the chance to brace yourself for a stream of expletives (and hide the book from your youngest child) when you bought the latest novel, R-rated for language, by that hilarious but highly irreverent humor columnist.

I realize that a book rating system could lead to an over-zealous societal backlash of book-banning or that certain books (and patrons) could be ostracized by placing them in a special “adult” section. But, handled properly, a book rating system might be worth it.

What do you think?

(Thanks for giving me a guest slot, Heather!)