Award Winning Hank Quense Discusses Book 2 of the Zaftan Trilogy

About the Author: Award-winning author Hank Quense lives in Bergenfield, NJ with his wife Pat. They have two daughters and five grandchildren. He writes humorous fantasy and scifi stories. On occasion, he also writes an article on fiction writing or book marketing but says that writing nonfiction is like work while writing fiction is fun. A member of the Science Fiction Writers of America, he refuses to write serious genre fiction saying there is enough of that on the front page of any daily newspaper and on the evening TV news. Altogether, Hank has over forty published short stories and a number of non-fiction articles.

Hank’s previous works include Tales From Gundarland, a collection of fantasy stories. Readers Favorite awarded the book a medal and EPIC designated it a finalist in its 2011 competition. His Fool’s Gold is a retelling of the ancient Rhinegold myth and Tunnel Vision is a collection of twenty previously published short stories.

Follow/Contact Hank here:

Hank’s website: http://hanquense.com
Hank’s Blog:strangeworldsonline.blogspot.com
Strange Worlds website:http://strangeworldsonline.com
Follow him on twitter: http://twitter.com/hanque99
Facebook fan pages: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hank-Quenses-Fiction-Writing-Page/102293491907?v=wall

 

Blog Note: Previous interview provided in full by Hank Quense.

Zaftan Miscreants: Book 2 of the Zaftan Trilogy

Book Summary: The Zaftans and the folks from Gundarland are at it again. This time, the encounter is in deep space and two powerful fleets of warships face off. While the fleets challenge each other, a pair females struggle to survive. Sam is a new type of android with an organic brain. She is perplexed by her unexpected ability to experience emotions. Her primary one is loneliness caused by the officers she is supposed to work with. They treat her with contempt. Klatze, a young and beautiful zaftan officer (see portrait in her dress uniform) blessed with talent and ability -- unheard of in the zaftan navy -- comes to the attention of the fleet's commodore, Gongeblazn. He lusts after her and her continuous refusals to have sex angers the commodore and his lust turns to thoughts of vengeance. Sam and Klatze each face unique situations that test their mettle and their desire to survive in the midst of chaos.


What's different about this book? Why should people buy it?

Zaftan Miscreants offers a wealth of unusual characters. The four main characters are an android, a ship's computer, a beautiful alien who is a societal misfit and another alien who is a well-adjusted murderer. If that isn't enough, one minor character is an ancient robot who is a religious fanatic and is the one who paves the way for the appearance of the Mechanical Messiah. I'd say that defines 'different'.


Does the book have a reader's guide to help book clubs discuss the novel?

Yes, it does. The guide is designed to help reading groups delve deeply into the philosophical issues addressed by my book and characters. Here are two questions from the guide.

1) Is Klatze suffering from delusions of grandeur because she thinks that she has "ability". Does she need intensive indoctrination in the arts of assassination and treachery to get her to fit in with normal zaftan society?

2) The author seems to have an unhealthy fixation on the repulsive aliens. Is this an indication of a mental disorder? Can it be caused by an incident in his childhood? How would Freud diagnose the problem? What would he recommend to alleviate the situation?


Does this book pick up where Book 1 left off?

No. Book 1 sets up the initial contact between the two worlds and leaves both with the felling that it is only a matter of time before there is a war. Book 2 starts 300 years later and continues the mistrust that permeates relations between the two worlds.

Zaftan Entrepreneurs: Book 1 of the Zaftan Trilogy was filled with humor and satire. Does it continue in Book 2?
Even if I wanted to, I can't write stories any other way. So yes, Zaftan Miscreants is filled with humor and satire.


Where can we get a copy?

I'm glad you asked that. I have a complete list of sellers on my website: http://strangeworldsonline.com/ZM-main.html

 

 

 



The Joy of Editing by Author Patti Larsen

About the Author: Patti Larsen is a middle grade, young adult and adult author with a passion for the paranormal. Her YA thriller series, The Hunted, is available now. The first four books of The Hayle Coven series, Family Magic, Witch Hunt, Demon Child and The Wild are also out now. Her YA paranormal novel, Best Friends Forever, and steampunk series, Blood and Gold, are due early in 2012. She is a full time writer and a part time teacher of her Get Your Book Done program. Patti lives on the East Coast of Canada with her very patient husband and four massive cats.

You can find her:

On her website www.pattilarsen.com

On Facebook www.facebook.com/pattilarsenauthor

Her writing blog www.pattilarsen.blogspot.com

On Twitter www.twitter.com/#!/PattiLarsen

On Amazon.com and Goodreads

The Joy of Editing

Patti Larsen

The title may make you cringe or gasp in horror, but I assure you, I’m not being facetious. I love everything about writing, from plotting, to titles, outlining, research... every single bit. 

Including editing.

How can I love editing you ask? The tedious, torturous foray into self-flagellation and abuse? The very task that can make or break a writer, sending them down into a black pit of despair, wailing as they fall that their work sucks and will never be good enough?

Well, I do. And I can because I don't fall for the lies. Oh yes, believe me, that black pit is a lie. Think of it this way. Everything that little voice (your ego) tells you (you suck, you can't, it's terrible, why bother) is a lie. Got that? Excellent. So why allow said voice to make your editing process hell? Yes, it takes time to edit. Yes, if you weren't well prepared to begin with you may have a huge job on your hands (another reason I outline by the way--saves in edits). But, like the writing of the thing, editing needs to be a happy, positive experience, an exploration of your work. A loving taking apart and reassembling of this precious thing you've made. So a particular scene doesn't jive after all.  Don't throw it away. It may be a scene from something else. Instead, craft another with as much care as you did the first and admire it for a bit.  

See how beautiful it has become? Treat it like a joy, a pleasure, polish it like a fine gem. Even the painful stuff is positive in the end. You're making your vision the best it can be. Aside from doing the first draft, editing is the most awesome part! You get the chance to turn it into art. Embrace it no matter what and the ego will run out of you. It has to. It can't stand against that much love. Does this sound hokey? I won't apologize. Because like all the other odd, crackpot ideas I use day to day, it works.

Isn't that all that matters?

If you treat every edit like an opportunity to explore your work and ideas rather than a punishment for ‘doing it wrong’, you’ll learn to love it too.



Roxanne Bland's Blackrose Press

Roxanne Bland Bio: A lifelong fan of fantasy and science fiction, Roxanne Bland began her writing career in 2001. Born in Akron, Ohio, she grew up in Washington, D.C. She received her A.B. from Smith College and her J.D. from Tulane University Law School. She currently works as an attorney and lives in the Baltimore, Maryland area, and is the owner of Blackrose Press.

Thank you, Nora, for hosting me today on your blog. I hope someday I can return the favor.

I’ve dreamed of Doing Something Literary with my life since I was a teenager. Back then, the dream took the shape of a bookstore, the kind where you could drop in, drink herbal tea, eat scones, read in big, comfortable, well-loved chairs, and occasionally even buy a book. The inventory changed over the years, but it essentially boiled down to fantasy, science fiction, horror, mysteries and thrillers. In other words, genres that I liked to read.

Little did I know that after decades, my dream would finally come true, albeit with a twist: Instead of a bookstore, I now own a publishing house.

Blackrose Press opened its doors in 2011. I publish speculative fiction and am especially interested in cross-genre works like my current project, The Underground, a paranormal urban fantasy/science fiction blend. I decided to go POD and ebook because given that I don’t have a literary or publishing background, I figured it was a good way to learn some aspects of the business. Not to mention that I don’t have the space to store 1,000 or so books from a normal print run. At present, since I still have my day job, I expect to publish one, maybe two books per year. Though I’m not accepting submissions at this time, I hope to add more authors as Blackrose matures.

There is a saying that a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. I see my founding of Blackrose Press as the start of a journey. I’m taking baby steps, and I will make mistakes, but I believe that what I learn will ultimately enrich my life in expected and unexpected ways.

Thanks again, Nora!

Check out Roxanne’s blog “Of Werewolves and Other Strangers."     

Fun with Words by Author Harper Hull

Please welcome author Harper Hull.

Born and raised in the mystical wastelands of northern England amongst harpies and dragons, Harper now lives in the sultry, sweaty southern United States with his Dixie wife, fighting off the giant spiders and man-eating vultures. He has work published or about to be published in four continents and can't wait to hit that dark, mysterious fifth. He has fallen off a boat, been hit by two cars, literally been scared of his own shadow, and traveled in an elevator with Kirsten Dunst. Favourite things include the writings of JG Ballard, the music of (the) Pixies, Scapa Flow, tiramisu, winter coats, and microbrews. If you ever read anything he is responsible for he just hopes you enjoy it.

More info at: http://harperhull.weebly.com/index.html

Readers! Sometimes it can be refreshing to take a break from your usual reading material of choice and swim out into unknown waters, as you surely know. Too much of a good thing can warp your mind without you even noticing the change. As a young lad, I went through a heavy fantasy phase and was convinced there were strange creatures living under our shed and that one day I'd climb the neighbor's fence to retrieve a ball and fall into some strange, faraway land. After a long trawl through a selection of classic horror novels I will be positive that everyone on our street is up to no good in their basements with butchers tools or demonically enchanted wheelbarrows and that the back bedroom is haunted (it actually may be.) Switching it up with some complex political drama, modern western or a surrealist dark comedy can be just the tonic for an overindulged mind.

I think the same can be said of amateur writers. If you find yourself bogged down in the flotsam and jetsam of that 250K word sci-fi epic and are temporarily sick of creating new flora and fauna for your incredibly detailed new world where every character has a rich back story going back to their (probably traumatic) birth, push it aside for a wee while and let your imagination stretch a bit with something a little bit different...

You know what can be fun? Hearing someone else turn your short story into an audio story. Unless you regularly read your own work aloud, it can be quite the revelation.

One of my favourite places for both the quality of the stories and of the production is Tales of Old. http://www.talesofold.org/

Every few days a new tale goes up, being either historical fiction or alternate history. In the last month alone, there have been adventures set in Ancient Rome, World War 1, Elizabethan England, post-revolutionary Russia, and conquistador era South America. Real swashbuckling stuff and a great listen.

How about not only having your story recorded but also performed? I give you Liar's League, http://liarsleague.typepad.com/ a cool and contemporary group based in London whose motto is 'Writers write. Actors read. Audience listens. Everybody wins.' Every month they host a night of 'live fiction' where professional actors read stories to an eager crowd of lit fans. You don't have to be near London to take part, the League accepts stories from anywhere, and you can watch the video of the event online from the comfort of your armchair. I had a friend go along to an event last year to hear one of his stories done and he had a blast. Every month is a different theme, by the way, so check their website for details.

Looking for something more unique? There are some very unusual venues out there, as I discovered last year when I stumbled upon a place where they would print stories on large paper placemats and put them out on tables in Californian coffee shops. Alas, that venture seems to have disappeared, and I imagine a lot of these ideas can be fleeting in execution. However, they're always worth a look and will usually put a smile on your face or, even better, make you think really hard for a moment or two.

My current favourite is The Safety Pin Review http://safetypinreview.wordpress.com/ where, if you can express yourself in 30 words to the host's delight, he will wear your super-flash-fiction on the back of his leather jacket and walk around in public as people's reactions are captured on film. The stuff that Simon Safety Pin chooses to wear is, quite honestly, brilliant prose and I am delighted every time a new issue appears. The current fashionable fiction is called 'High Five' by Brian Hurley and goes 'Everything below our wrists should explode in a bloody pulp, spattering our faces with a fine red mist as we writhe in astonishment and clutch our mutilated stumps. Ready?'

Talking of fashionable fiction, I have to mention Fix It Broken, http://www.fixitbroken.com/index.html an online literary magazine run by a fine fellow named Greg. Again, the quality of the work on display here is very high and you won't be disappointed; at least one of the half dozen or so short stories each issue will thrill you in some way. The twist here is that every issue the lead story is made into a t-shirt - some very talented artists create a design inspired by the prose and a super-cool lit-shirt is born. I was lucky enough to be the first ever t-shirt story at FIB and have the garment hanging proudly in my closet. One day I think I'll frame it like a sports shirt.

Probably the most aesthetically pleasing place your work could end up is at the English magazine Fuselit. http://fuselit.co.uk/index.html They are another themed publication and accept flash fiction and poetry. The standard is high and the publication itself is a thing of beauty, an absolute marvel of design and creativity. The current issue 'Jack' is printed on pumpkin paper with a colorful foldout cover. It also includes a bonus mini mag 'Hijacks' and a CD. The previous issue was created with handmade paper from Bhutan and had a cutout game on the front cover. The one before that was hand-stitched with white thread and had individually painted covers with a tracing paper overlay. Fuselit is art in both content and appearance; I feel I'm not doing them justice with my very matter of hand descriptions. Please, check their site and see for yourself!

Finally, let me point you towards a brand new wordy thing called Fender Stitch. http://fenderstitch.com/

They had their first issue go live on October 29th so I can't give you any ratings of the work (as the date as of writing this piece is October 27th) but I was excited enough by their blurb to include them in here.

I quote - 'Fender Stitch is an online review of short fiction that publishes the most entertaining short stories we can get our grubby little paws on. Two stories are published each month, and each story is Fender Stitched into a full multimedia experience. Because, as it turns out, we want to entertain you without exhausting or boring you. So sit back with a hot cup of Joe, a glass of wine, or whatever floats your boat; and enjoy what we have to offer.'

Sounds cool right?

What to Do When You Hate What You Write by Bestselling Author Cara Lockwood

Cara Lockwood is the USA Today bestselling author of nine novels, including I Do (But I Don’t), which was made into a Lifetime Original Movie starring Denise Richards and Dean Cain. Her books have been translated into several languages and are sold all around the world. She’s written in many genres and also created the Bard Academy series for young adults. Recently, she’s begun offering freelance editing through www.edit-my-novel.com, which is an official sponsor of National Novel Writing Month (http://www.nanowrimo.org/). You can also read more about her work at www.caralockwood.com or www.bardacademy.com.

The worst demon a writer will ever face is his or her own critical eye.

Every writer I’ve ever known has at some point or another had a crisis of confidence. Anxiety and insecurity are truly at the heart of nearly all kinds of writer’s block.          

In a bout of self-loathing, Stephen King famously threw away Carrie in disgust. His wife saved the bestseller from the garbage by digging it out, reading it, and declaring it worth saving.

So, how do you move past confidence-killing insecurity if you don’t happen to be married to Stephen King’s wife?

I’ve got a few ideas. I’m no stranger to writing anxiety. I’ve published nine novels, and yet, there are times even now, when I look at a rough draft and want to hit “delete.”

For the thousands of you participating in National Novel Writing Month this month, how do you get over the biggest hurdle of all – when you hate what you write?

Here are some suggestions:

Don’t throw your manuscript away. Just put it away for a couple of days.  

If you’re at the point where you want to give up, just take a break for a while. We all have good writing days and bad writing days and you don’t want to trash everything on a day that you just happen to be feeling down. Give yourself some room to get perspective.

Get feedback from an experienced editor.

Writing is a solitary pursuit and sometimes you can easily lose perspective on your own work. Enlisting an experienced editor cannot only help you break through writer’s block, but it can also take your novel to the next level. I’ve been really blessed in having great editors in my career, and I really think they have made the difference for me with several novels I had thought couldn’t be saved.

It’s a big reason why I do freelance editing work. I’m hoping to help others as my editors have helped me.

An editor can also help you find a new path forward. Maybe some small changes (adding or subtracting a character or changing a scene) can breathe new life in your novel.            

Join a writing group.

Now that we have a thriving online writing community, it’s easier than ever to find other writers like yourself. A writing group is invaluable for getting honest and constructive feedback and bonding with other writers who understand your pain. Sometimes, just having the opportunity to vent your frustration can help you find the confidence you need to get back to writing.

Tell your critical inner-editor to take a break.

Sometimes, you have to tell your inner critic to be quiet in order to push through and finish. Think of that inner voice like a heckler at a play. Tell him to sit down for the second half. Even a truly bad manuscript can be improved with editing, but if you don’t have any words on a page, you can’t edit them and make them better. I’ve finished my share of truly awful first drafts. But, that’s why we call them drafts. They’re not supposed to be perfect. They are drafts and should be refined and edited and improved.

Read a book that will inspire you.

Go back to one of your favorite authors and read or reread a book that might be similar to the novel you’re writing. Sometimes, you can find inspiration in reading. I still learn new things about writing from other authors, and sometimes, when I’m really feeling stuck, I’ll read one of my favorite authors who will inspire me to jump into writing again.

Find a writing cheerleader.

Before I wrote my first novel, I Do (But I Don’t), I started and stopped a half a dozen manuscripts. I would start a novel, then I’d put it down for a while, and later when I picked it up again, I was usually so discouraged by what I’d written that I’d just give up on that project . Finally, when I began writing, I Do (But I Don’t), a romantic comedy about a divorced wedding planner, I enlisted the help of one of my avid reader friends to help me get through my rough patches.

I asked her to be my “writing cheerleader” and help me stay on course. She was a great writing partner. Every week, she’d read the pages I wrote, and then she’d continue to bug me until I got her the next chapter. It was just the inspiration I needed to keep going.

Remember that every writer, no matter how experienced or successful, feels like you do at some point.

Sudden loss of confidence happens to every writer. I’ve never met a single writer who could honestly tell me they didn’t feel at some point that they should give up on a manuscript or on their whole careers. The difference between the published writers I know and some of the unpublished ones is that the professional writers found a way to keep writing. They didn’t give up. If you truly believe writing is your calling, find a way to keep going.

Questions? Comments? Email cara@caralockwood.com.

Robert Dunbar, Author of Willy, Guest Blogs On Writing and the Horror Genre

“This book is so stupid I can’t even understand it.”

That’s still my all-time favorite “reader” comment – Zen-like in its purity.

Any writer is apt to have a somewhat weird relationship with both the critics and the public. No matter how often (or loudly) we insist that we write for ourselves alone, we’re all of us constantly compelled to find out whether the world has confirmed our talents or not. You know it’s true. The moment we’re alone, we’re forever googling our latest title, and we can pretty much always be spotted flipping through magazines at newsstands. I’ve never known a writer who didn’t succumb … never known a writer who couldn’t be plunged into the blackest despair by a bad review or who wouldn’t feel elated over a good one. It never fails. Reviews are the mirrors in which we constantly check ourselves, however surreptitiously, and the Internet only ramps these inclinations up a notch. Years ago, a writer only heard from the public if someone at a cocktail party happened to recognize you from a television interview or a magazine profile. Now everyone – and I mean everyone – has a platform from which to declaim their opinions.

Sometimes this can be a bit daunting. But the occasional deliciously idiotic attack notwithstanding, I’ve been lucky, and even the negative remarks offer validation of a sort.

Actually, I enjoy the attacks. No, really. They’re so … intense. People have posted warnings that no one should buy my books because I’m “abnormal.” Got to love that. Others have publicly insisted that all my good reviews are evidence of a “conspiracy.” Hang on. It gets worse. And wackier. For weeks, one gentleman at a popular message board kept calling me “retarded,” really working himself up into a state. I’ve never been quite sure what the poor soul meant by this, but the level of discourse spoke volumes.

See what I mean? Validation.

I can’t help but believe that – at least to a certain extent – we are defined by the caliber of the people who hate us. What’s the Churchill quote? Something to the effect, that having enemies only proves that you stand for something. Trust me: there’s never been any shortage of people within the genre who were outraged by my work. Or sometimes just by my existence. Forget the writing. Apparently, even my opinions are radical. When I launched Uninvited Books and announced a goal of “celebrating literary distinction in dark fiction,” you would have thought I’d spit on the flag. Talk about hate mail. Yet all of our releases have garnered the most amazing feedback.

You can peruse some of this at www.UninvitedBooks.com.

The reviews for WILLY have been especially stirring, which I wasn’t expecting at all. It’s such an intensely idiosyncratic book. So personal. So complex.

But sometimes these things happen in the strangest way.

I believe I’d pretty much lost faith in WILLY by the time the book came out. There’s a lesson here, I know, about trusting in one’s process, but I’m still struggling to absorb it. (The damndest thing about personal growth is that you never get to stop.) I certainly wasn’t expecting much in the way of support from within the genre and figured horror critics, if they bothered to acknowledge the book at all, would simply blast it for being too subtle. (After all, my primary champions have always been drawn from the ranks of what we used to call the “little and literary” journals.) But the way it worked out, I’ve wound up feeling both chastened and inspired. 

The Press about WILLY:

http://www.dunbarauthor.com/page11.html

Still …

You wouldn’t think this needed to be such an issue. Is it so shocking a concept that horror should also be literature? Shouldn’t all works of fiction aspire to reach the highest levels?

Obviously, Henry James thought so. So did Edith Wharton and Willa Cather. For that matter, so did William Faulkner. Scores of authors come to mind, names to conjure with. Extraordinary talents have flourished in the darkness, artists of the caliber and diversity of Shirley Jackson and Ray Bradbury, Algernon Blackwood and D. H. Lawrence. Consider the works of Franz Kafka or Gustav Meyrink. What are they if not brilliant horror?

So why does the stigma of the L word still exist?

Why has horror devolved into the only genre where the word “literary” is routinely applied in a pejorative sense? I believe this has to do with a reactionary faction who feel empowered to dictate what the genre must be, who would rather see it dead than progressive. They’re the literary equivalent of the Tea Party members of Congress. And can you guess what sort of fiction such people enjoy? Let me give you a hint. It ain’t sophisticated. We’re pretty much talking ZOMBIE SHARK here. And so much of the genre has fallen into the habit of catering exclusively to their tastes. We could argue endlessly about when this happened or why, but what we can’t do is pretend it’s not the case. This mandated mediocrity – what I think of as “the rule of dumb” – has largely driven serious literary practitioners into the arms of noir and suspense and mystery and has had much the same effect on intelligent readers.

Be brave. A few intrepid souls still labor in the horror mines. Peter Straub and Thomas Ligotti, Laird Barron and Greg Gifune: such extraordinary talents are like beacons in the darkness. There are so many others. And lately the critics – weary of dross – have begun to appreciate gold again. Gradually, the readers are beginning to find their way back.

As I said, I’ve been lucky, and my luck seems to be holding. With WILLY continuing to attract attention, the new edition of MARTYRS & MONSTERS is already creating an impact of its own. Any writer who claims not to love this sort of thing is lying. In a world where artists perpetually struggle against terrible odds, just knowing that people out there appreciate your work can be all that keeps a writer going. So what if it’s a little weird?

All the best relationships always are …

Robert Dunbar is the author of the novels THE PINES, THE SHORE and WILLY and of the collection MARTYRS & MONSTERS. Find out more about his work at www.DunbarAuthor.com.

Author Karen A. Wyle's Twin-Bred & Giveaway Contest

Karen A. Wyle was born a Connecticut Yankee, but eventually settled in Bloomington, Indiana, home of Indiana University. She now considers herself a Hoosier. Wyle's childhood ambition was to be the youngest ever-published novelist. While writing her first novel at age ten, she was mortified to learn that some British upstart had beaten her to the goal at age nine. 

Wyle is an appellate attorney, photographer, political junkie, and mother of two daughters. Her voice is the product of almost five decades of reading both literary and genre fiction. It is no doubt also influenced, although she hopes not fatally tainted, by her years of law practice. Her personal history has led her to focus on often-intertwined themes of family, communication, the impossibility of controlling events, and the persistence of unfinished business.

You may find Karen on her Facebook Author Page, on Twitter @WordsmithWyle, on her author site, and on her blog, Looking Around.

Many writers know from childhood that they were meant to write. Many others come to writing late, often after raising families or developing other careers. I'm one of those who did both.

From early childhood, I considered myself a writer. I had a poem (not a very good one) published in the local paper when I was in 3^rd grade. When I was 10, I decided to write a novel as a labor of love for my 5^th grade teacher. It was my ambition to be the youngest published author ever, and I was somewhat crestfallen to learn that a 9-year-old girl had claimed that honor. I completed the novel, despite this setback. I wrote two pages a day, longhand (of course – this was in 1965), in pencil, and stopped at 200 pages or thereabouts. It had its acceptable passages, but was mostly dreck (although, if I am ever psychoanalyzed, the analyst could paddle happily about in that book for several years). I began to realize my novel’s failings when the teacher, to reward my achievement, read parts of it to the class during story time.

I tried to write a second novel – about an orphan, I believe – at age 14, but stopped after 40 pages. For the next few years, I concentrated on poetry, of varying quality. I still considered myself a writer, but felt I had not yet found my proper area of focus.

Then came college. Cue ominous music. In my junior or senior year, I took a seminar in writing short stories. I wrote at least two stories and some shorter assignments. (I found them while visiting my parents last summer. They weren’t bad.) One day, in class, the instructor commented casually that I had done a pretty good job at something or other, given that I was “not a born writer.” Through all my shifts and doubts, “born writer” was the one belief about myself I had maintained. For whatever combination of reasons, I let that teacher’s assessment crash down on me like a boulder from a cliff.

I am not sure whether I wrote another poem. I know I wrote no more fiction for many years. I did become a lawyer. I came to concentrate on writing appellate briefs. I took pride and some comfort in my frequently confirmed ability to work with words. I described myself as not a writer, but a wordsmith.

At age 36, very pregnant with my first child, I wrote what was almost a poem – a picture book manuscript, just 88 words long, called “Mommy Calls Me Acorn.” Over the next 19 years (and counting), I wrote more picture books. They tended to be short on character and plot. I told myself and others that writing anything with characters and a plot was beyond my talents.

A few years ago, I took a plane somewhere, and got to chatting with the man in the next seat. I don’t remember how I came to tell him the story of that college class. I suggested a way to interpret or explain the instructor’s comment: perhaps she meant that I was not a born storyteller. He raised an eyebrow. Apparently, he thought I had told my story well enough.

Just before November 2009, my older daughter, a wildly talented young artist, heard about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and decided to take part, her senior year in high school (and one college visit) notwithstanding. She won – and produced a wonderfully entertaining novel. I began to toy with the thought of trying NaNoWriMo myself -- someday. Someday came the following year. I gave myself permission to start without knowing whether I could possibly succeed. Give it a few days. See what happens.

What happened was that the facility in writing I had gained, over many years of producing words in quantity, made it surprisingly easy to sit at the keyboard, or go for a walk with pad in hand, and have events and characters and dialogues emerge. There was, of course, effort – but it was natural. And while my characters didn’t throw me the wildest of curves, they frequently wrote my scenes for me.

I "won" NaNoWriMo by passing the 50,000 word mark by the end of November (actually making it to 60,000), and spent the next ten months or so expanding and revising and editing my science fiction novel, Twin-Bred. And editing. And editing. . . .

During that process, my goals for the book changed. At the start, I was busily researching the process of finding an agent and/or publisher. I wrote and rewrote query letters, made long lists of agents, and followed agent blogs. Somewhere along the way, I started hearing about the recent changes in the publishing industry and the surrounding landscape. I learned how much more practical it had become to publish one's own work, as a POD (print on demand) paperback and/or an eBook. I read many a blog post about the pros and cons of self-publishing, and gradually became convinced that for me, it made eminent sense. I am thrilled, tickled, and delighted to be self-publishing Twin-Bred this month. I have rough drafts of another novel and a short story awaiting my attention, and I intend to self-publish them in due course.

I cannot generally endorse the view that all trials and setbacks are disguised blessings. There is too much in human experience to which that statement can't even remotely apply. But for me, it has often been true, and I believe it is true of my long detour away from and back to my identity as a writer. This -- not thirty years ago -- is the time to be writing fiction.


eBook Giveaway: Simply leave a comment with your name for this post. Please make sure your user profile you sign in to comment with has an email attached where I (Nora B. Peevy) can contact you. On Sunday, October 30, 2011, I'll announce the winner here. The author will email your ebook to you afterwards.

Suggest a song and win an eBook: Karen A. Wyle is running a special promotion for Twin-Bred. Be the first reader to suggest a song for a Twin-Bred playlist and if I agree with your selection, your name and song choice will be included in an appendix to a future edition of the book!

Please send an mp3 file or a link to a YouTube video where I can hear the song, to Karen A. Wyle at kawyle@kiva.net. (At the same time, please let me know if you'd like to be on my email alert list, so you can hear about upcoming releases and events.)

I'll post occasional updates about the playlist on Twin-Bred's Facebook page.

Purchase Twin-Bred here:

Amazon: The Kindle Edition & Paperback

Barnes and Noble: The Nook Edition

Createspace (paperback)

Smashwords