6 Steps to Start Your #Publishing Company & Printing Books

Have you ever wanted to have a book in print, or your own publishing company? With the self publishing revolution of the past decade, it's now possible. This summer, I was bitten by the bug (or should I say book!) and took a slight diversion from historical fiction into the art world - though many of you know I'm an artist as well as a writer.  I’m very excited by my new project of producing The Creative Zone: An Adult Coloring Book Inspired by Stained Glass. Publication date is very soon, so I will keep you posted!These steps are by no means a comprehensive list, but it will give you an overview of what it will entail.Please note I am referring to sole proprietorship. If you want a more complex business set up such as a corporation, then you’ll want to take advice from a lawyer and an accountant before you move forward.

1. Choose a Name for Your Publishing Company

If you want to sell your books solely though Amazon or elsewhere online, you can simply publish your books through Create Space or another Print On Demand (POD) company - see Number 4 below. However if you want to get your books into a bookstore, you will not be taken seriously without your own publishing company. Common wisdom is also that the name should not just be an extension of your own name e.g. Mary Smith Press. A name distinctive from your own or the title of the book will look more professional.I chose D Street Press which has a local connotation for me. You will of course need to search online to see if your name is already being used.

2. Get a Domain Name

Aside from a general online search, one of the best ways of finding whether a name is being used, is by searching for the domain name. Because after all you will want to register the domain name yourself. Even if you don’t yet have a website, or have a website in a different name, it makes sense to snag a domain for your new press. I do this through GoDaddy. They are very reputable for hosting domains, and I’ve also had good customer service with them. But I have also read that they have a poor reputation when it comes to site hosting, so look elsewhere for that.

3. Register Your Fictitious Business Name with the County Clerk

Once you have the name, checked it’s not in use and registered the domain, you will need to register with your County Clerk’s office that you are doing business as (DBA) your fictitious name. In my county, this was a very simple process of filling out a one page form and paying the  $40 filing fee. You will also need to put a notice in a local paper for four consecutive weeks , but the County Clerks office will give you names and contact details of places to contact. Note that the smaller the paper, the less the fee will be. Mine cost $30 for the four week submission.If you are unclear on the rules in your county, then check with your local Small Business Association (SBA)

4. Choose a Printer

OK - now we’re getting closer to the book! Although there are numerous POD Companies out there, the two main contenders are Ingram Spark and CreateSpace. The latter is Amazon’s POD company.Quality wise they are close, but Ingram Spark have a slightly better quality reputation (this is always a subject choice). If you want to just go with online sales through Amazon, then Create Space is the simplest choice and I understand they will give you a little more handholding too. However, if you also want your books in Barnes and Noble, Libraries and numerous other distributors, then Ingram Spark is the one to choose. Another reason -  and for me it was the decisive reason - is that you will not be picked up by bookstores if you are published by Create Space. Call it snobbery over self publishing or what have you, but this is generally speaking the state of play at the moment.

5. Buy ISBN Numbers

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is the long string number code (13 numbers in the US) that the book is recognized by all over the world. If you work with Create Space, you can buy one of their ISBN’s for $10, but that can only be used through Create Space. It is in effect ‘their ‘ number.If you want to ‘go all the way’ then you need to buy an ISBN yourself. In the US, this can only be done through a company called Bowker. Go to the site MyIdentifiers.com. FYI In Canada, ISBN’s are issued for free! However in the US, it is most cost effective to buy 10 at a time, which is a hefty $295 (I was lucky to buy mine on sale for $250), but to only buy one costs $125, so …..

6. Submit Materials

Once you’ve chosen the POD company you want, then you have to jump through a few hoops filling out forms and making sure your files are up to their specifications. So be sure to look at all of these specs. before you set up your book in whatever Desk Top Publishing software you use. (I used Pages). The current top of the line software for this is InDesign from Adobe. But it’s a chunk of money to rent (not buy) as Adobe now have all their software  - Photoshop, Illustrator & ID though a monthly licensing fee. But you can even do your layout in Word. Once you have done that, then you will need to approve an e-copy and to be prudent have them send you a hardcopy to proof.After that is all good to go, the the POD will submit your work to Amazon , Barnes and Noble etc, and you are published!!As I said, this is a somewhat bare bones guide and by no means answers all the questions you will have before you start on this publishing journey. But there are many good sites to get info from. Here are three of my favorites:TheBookDesigner.com Joel Friedlander runs this site and is a veritable fountain of information on the subject. An excellent resource. He also sells templates in Word for book layout at a very reasonable cost to take some of the headache out of that part of the process.TheCreativePenn.com is another excellent site run by Joanna Penn. This is really a fantastic site for writers in general.JaneFriedman.com also covers loads of self publishing stuff in her blogs and her writers resource page is the most comprehensive I’ve seen.To add a couple more, Kristen Joy’s site TheBookNinja.com is great for finding out about webinars on publishing - many of which are free and packed with great info. Creativindie.com from Derek Murphy is another good one. He’s great at giving freebies too.If you have any other good resources you’d like to add to this list please leave them in the comments.So has anyone chosen POD as an option? What difficulties have you come across? What other vital points do you feel need including in this list?

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Muse Media: Change and Junot Diaz

 Muse Media: Change and Junot Diaz

#Muse Media is a series of  simple posts, looking for our muse by mixing prose with other media.  If this was in the form of a Haiku with an image, it might be called a Haiga. For the moment,  let's enjoy the prose of some wonderful authors.

“She would be a new person, she vowed. They said no matter how far a mule travels it can never come back a horse, but she would show them all.” Junot Díaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

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I love this gutsy quote. The "in your face " style epitomizes Diaz work.

Change is often hard, and I wonder how the woman in the quote going to succeed? 

In what ways do you manage change?

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Junot Díaz (born December 31, 1968) is a Dominican-American writer, creative writing professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and fiction editor at Boston Review. Central to Díaz's work is the immigrant experience. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, in 2008 followed by  This Is How You Lose Her, in 2012. He is reported to be working on another novel, entitled Monstro. He is a 2012 MacArthur Fellow.

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Why Was Evelyn Waugh “Apalled” By His Own Work?

This is a reblog of one of Robert Bruce's posts from his fantastic website 101Books.net which is the best book site on the web in my opinion.

Why Was Evelyn Waugh “Apalled” By His Own Work?

by Robert on May 7, 2015

The critics love Brideshead Revisited. As you know, it’s on the Time list–that’s why I’m reading it–but it’s also #80 on the Modern Library list of English-language novels in the 20th Century. Newsweek listed the novel as one of its 100 best books of world literature, and the BBC lists it at #45 on its literature list.

By all accounts, this is literature at its finest.However, the novel’s author, Evelyn Waugh, wasn’t a fan of his own work. In 1950, he wrote to Graham Greene saying “I re-read Brideshead Revisited and was appalled.”Waugh doesn’t even hold back criticizing the novel in the Brideshead Revisited preface:

“It was a bleak period of present privation and threatening disaster – the period of soya beans and Basic English — and in consequence the book is infused with a kind of gluttony, for food and wine, for the splendours of the recent past, and for rhetorical and ornamental language which now, with a full stomach, I find distasteful.”

Well, doesn’t that really just get you in the mood to read? The author himself trashing the novel in its very own preface.How should one interpret this?I think it’s pretty simple. We’re always our own worst critics. That’s just human nature.So when an author says something he wrote sucks, I believe you have to take that with a grain of salt. Too many authors expect perfection from themselves and feel like failures when they don’t achieve that impossible standard.Evelyn Waugh might not have been a fan of Brideshead Revisited, but most everyone else who read it is.And that’s good enough for me.Here is the original post on 101books.net

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#Author in Focus: Virginia Woolf - A Life of Her Own

Virginia Woolf - A Life of Her Own

Portrait of Virginia Woolf (January 25, 1882 –...

Author In Focus Bio:

Adeline Virginia Woolf was an English writer, and one of the foremost modernists of the twentieth century. WikipediaBorn: January 25, 1882, Kensington, United Kingdom Died: March 28, 1941, River Ouse, Sussex, United Kingdom Spouse: Leonard Woolf (m. 1912–1941) Movies: Orlando, Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, Golven, Simple Gifts, A Room of One's Own Siblings: Vanessa Bell, Thoby Stephen, Adrian Stephen

Virginia Woolf's Work and Life

Virginia Woolf’s career was filled with work that showed a desire to break free from the constraints she felt as a woman.

"A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction."~ Virginia Woolf

Opportunities for women in the 20’s and 30s were undeniably less than they are today. But coming from a privileged, intellectual background Woolf had far greater means  to express herself than many women of her era. In the period between World War 1 and II, she was part of a London literary circle known as the Bloomsbury group, which included writers, painters and other intellectuals. She may have had the privilege of a wealthy family, but from the time of her mother's death when she was only 13 yrs old, combined with her sisters death 2 years later, Virginia suffered the first of several nervous breakdowns. Depression plagued her throughout her life, exacerbated by the sexual abuse both she and her sister suffered from their two half brothers.

“I thought how unpleasant it is to be locked out; and I thought how it is worse, perhaps, to be locked in.” ~Virginia WoolfFrom an early age, she grew up surrounded by intellectuals which doubtless gave her the desire and ability to question her role in society and the position of women in general. But her depression and mood swings never left. They ultimately led to her suicide in 1941.

English: Portrait of Virginia Woolf

Virginia Woolf and Women's Fiction

Despite her mental health problems, or perhaps in part because of them, she managed to be productive in her literary work. Woolf strove to rid herself of her demons, and while her writing  can be non-linear and freeform  making it hard to read, she forged a unique place in women's fiction. Now, decades later, I can appreciate the example she set for all women, striving to find 'a room of one's own' in a metaphorical, if not a literal sense.

“For most of history, Anonymous was a woman.” ~ Virginia Woolf

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Author in Focus is a blog series featuring vignettes of some of the greatest writers of the 20th & 21st century.

“A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say." ~ Italo Calvino

9 Famous #Authors Rejected by Publishers

I have been submitting my manuscript to agents over the past few months so I thought this was a great post to reblog from  Bridget Whelan Writer to include on my site. Enjoy.

Bridget Whelan Writer

9 famous authors rejected by publishers (comfort for emerging writers)

Heart of litrature...

I enjoyed reading the article published by The Writers Circle website about famous authors who were not only rejected (in one case 800 times), but also had to suffer crushing criticism and they don’t even mention J.K.Rowling’s numerous rejections. I wonder if there are publishers who still wake up in the middle of the night remembering that they once held the manuscript of Harry Potter in their hands.How well would you have coped if you were told:“…an absurd and uninteresting fantasy which was rubbish and dull.” (It has since sold  more than 14.5 million copies and helped the author to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.)

“There certainly isn’t enough genuine talent for us to take notice.” (One of the most celebrated and admired writers of her generation)

“Stick to teaching.” (The publisher who offered that advice has been out of business a long time: she hasn’t been out of print for 150 years.)

Read the article in full HERE. Might be worth printing it out and sticking it on the wall somewhere so you can see it when you look up from the keyboard.

Have faith, keep going and never forget why you want to write: because you love it.

photo credit: 120/365. A Light Shines In My Heart. via photopin(license)

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Barbara Kingsolver: What is the Heart of a Novel?

 Barbara Kingsolver is an American novelist, essayist and poet. She was raised in rural Kentucky and lived briefly in the Congo in her early childhood. The novel which earned her a pulitzer prize nomination and an Oprah endorsement, was "The Poisonwood Bible"  published in 1998, and follows a missionary family in the colonial Congo.  She is now the author of 14 books and her most recent novel "Flight Behaviour ", deals with climate change.

How Does a Novel Start?

I talked a couple of weeks ago in my post on Ray Bradbury, about the short story, referencing one of his quotes. This week I'd like, through Barbara Kingsolver, to look at how a novel might come to fruition. We can look at what is the heart of a novel by looking at her inspiration for it's beginning.

“I woke up one morning with a vision,” she says. “I don’t know whether it was a dream, but it felt very dreamlike. And I saw – I don’t want to say it because I’ve made a point of not revealing the secret – the beautiful thing that arrives, that starts this novel rolling. I just woke up and saw that, in these forested mountains where I live.”...“I didn’t even understand what I’d imagined,” Kingsolver says, recalling that vision she had, “but I spent all day thinking about it and I’m enough of a biologist to ponder what it would really mean if that did happen here. I immediately saw the whole thing. Often there is a moment when I can see the novel sort of unrolling like a carpet in front of me and that did happen with this book. I think the novel is very much about how we understand and process what we see and how very true it is how we decide first what we believe and then collect evidence to support it, rather than the reverse. When you look at the conversation about climate change it’s baffling that everyone is presented with the same facts but people come away with very different convictions about what’s going on.”

This is one person's experience, but it struck a chord for me. A novel can start with just the tiniest of sparks, and from that it can unfold or unroll like a carpet, as Kingsolver says. Like the short story, and even more so, you need to have a feeling about the work and be totally immersed in that feeling, otherwise what the book is really about - it's theme - will be jumbled and confused. One can have more than one theme, but there needs to be a core sentence which you can refer to that tells us what the novel is about. You could call it the elevator pitch, but it is really the heart of the novel. "Flight Behaviour"  certainly has plenty of heart, and while I loved "Poisonwood Bible", I think "Flight Behaviour" is her best novel to date. [tweetthis]I think the novel is very much about how we understand and process what we see ~Barbara Kingsolver[/tweetthis]As a novelist, can you summarise your latest novel in one sentence? As a reader do you think it's important to know the theme? Does the theme of the novel influence you in buying the book?

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Do you Want to Start #Writing Like #Steinbeck?

 

This week marks the 75th anniversary of the the film release of Grapes of Wrath so I thought it was appropriate to re-purpose this post. If you want to start writing like Steinbeck, then take a look at some of the things he found important and include them in your writing. "Learn from the best"

John Steinbeck’s writing methodology was stringent and meticulous. When writer's you love talk about how they write, it’s hard not listen.Steinbeck really wanted Grapes of Wrath to be good  - exposing the exploitation of people in 1930’s Southern California, was a story he thought needed telling. I re-read the novel a while ago, and the style blew me away.

[tweetthis] "Nothing about The Grapes of Wrath is dated."[/tweetthis]

It's incredibly refreshing to read a book with such valuable social commentary that's also just a damn good story. Part of its success lies in the fact that we live, eat and sleep with the Joad family. Everything is personal, so we care about what happens to the characters, and it allows us to see the injustice very clearly, without the point being hammered home. Steinbeck simply tells a story.Below is part of John Steinbeck’s interview in the Paris Review*(Please note: Steinbeck died in 1968. A lot of the quotes were compiled in Steinbeck: A Life in Letters and published in October 1975 by Viking. Hence the Paris Review article was not until 1975.)The comments in italics are mine.

 ON GETTING STARTED

Now let me give you the benefit of my experience in facing 400 pages of blank stock—the appalling stuff that must be filled. I know that no one really wants the benefit of anyone's experience which is probably why it is so freely offered. But the following are some of the things I have had to do to keep from going nuts.

 1. Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish.

Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day, it helps. Then when it gets finished, you are always surprised.This is the most important one & can’t be said too often. One page at a time.

 2. Write freely

...and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the whole thing is down. Rewrite in process is usually found to be an excuse for not going on. It also interferes with flow and rhythm which can only come from a kind of unconscious association with the material. Don’t worry about anyone looking over your shoulder. Just get the work written. Good tip for all of us procrastinators.

 3. Forget your generalized audience.

In the first place, the nameless, faceless audience will scare you to death and in the second place, unlike the theater, it doesn't exist. In writing, your audience is one single reader. I have found that sometimes it helps to pick out one person—a real person you know, or an imagined person and write to that one.I’ve heard this before, and I think it's an excellent way to keep yourself on track. You can't write for everyone. So write for one.

4. If a scene or a section gets the better of you

...and you still think you want it—bypass it and go on. When you have finished the whole you can come back to it and then you may find that the reason it gave trouble is because it didn’t belong there.Rewriting – its all there is. But don't be afraid to write non-sequentially. Sometimes one just isn't in the mood to write about a dramatic moment, so switch gears and go to a section you do want to write today.

 5. Beware of a scene that becomes too dear to you,

...dearer than the rest. It will usually be found that it is out of drawing.Tough to give them up isn’t it?

 6. If you are using dialogue

...say it aloud as you write it. Only then will it have the sound of speech.Excellent tip. If you read it out loud it will sound strained immediately if it’s not working.On my writers resources page I refer to his book Working Days, which is the diary he kept while he was writing Grapes of Wrath. (He wrote his first draft in 6 months BTW!). It’s a great book for writers if only to show how persistent one has to be to make the end product worthwhile.Are these methods  you can work with? Do you have different ways of attacking the same problems? 

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*Paris Review has rich resource material in their decades of interviews of famous people, writers included.I first saw part of this particular interview in one of my favorite blogs www.brainpickings.org

How to Write like Chekhov

I recently came across this quote from Chekhov, and for me it summed up the key to writing. It's all in the words.  This may sound like a very obvious statement, but simplicity is not necessarily something you link with literary fiction.

One Word At a Time

For anyone starting a lengthy work, it's a marathon of words that lie ahead of you. But like Anne Lamott says in her iconic book, Bird By Bird, you are writing one word at a time. The word becomes a sentence, becomes a paragraph and pretty soon you have a chapter.

What Word do I Use Next?

This is where Chekhov comes in. The moon is shining is a perfectly fine phrase. We can see the moon, we know there will be a light cast on the ground or the field.  But you and every other writer this side of the Steppes could have written that phrase. But the glint of light on broken glass? Now there is a description that's worth writing.

How Else Can I write It?

Chekhov is throwing down the gauntlet and making us work for our writer’s crust. So let's see what we can do. If the glint of light is the moon, how else could we say that? The circle of light, the distant glow? No, it's neither, because it's just a glint. So fleeting glimpse might work - the fleeting glimpse of white, of light, or the fingernail moon, fingernail light. So we've given ourselves a few options.

On Broken Glass? What does that Mean?

We know the moon is not shining on a field. Unless it's a field of snow or ice. More likely it's a lake.

So the moon is shining on a lake.  What then is a different way to say a lake? A puddle? - not quite...

A shimmer or ripple of water. Ripple of water's not bad. What about the color?  At night, a body of water would look black, so the moon is changing the color from black to white.

So we could have the fleeting glimpse of white danced between the light and dark of the lake….Mmm… Bit wordy.

Let’s try again. The fingernail moon pierced the darkness of the lake.  Getting better. But still not the glint of light on broken glass.

Perseverance

Very occasionally you  find a phrase that falls off the end of your pen that’s the glint of light on broken glass. But more than likely, you will have to work your muse into helping you find the solution. As I've said before, all writing is rewriting, so if you start with the moon shone on the lake, and it sounds flat, just play with the words. One word at a time, as we've been doing.

 Showing is Experiencing

Show don't tell is the mantra of every writer, and the bane of every beginning writing. It is in essence what Chekhov is saying. Make me feel I am in the moonlight. And I do when I see the glint of light on broken glass. It's there in front of my eyes. I'm in the scene, not outside. And that’s crucial for your readers to experience the story for themselves, not second hand. To experience  the same thing as the character who can feel the hot breath of their pursuer on their neck as they come out of the woods and see the glint of light on broken glass. It stops them short, and makes them either pause and get caught,  or find enough light to see the one path that they can escape on.  It has in one fell swoop opened up the tension to be life or death in a way that “I ran toward the moonlight” would never have done.

 Simplicity

All of this is with the use of simple words. You don't need to be a walking thesaurus to create fantastic prose. Simple is usually better. While I like to learn new words, I hate reading a book where I need a dictionary by my bed stand.

So I'll leave you with the hot breath of the pursuer on my neck, as icicles of light dance on ripples kissing the boat.  I snatch the rope and disappear into the black night.

How would you have reworded the quote? What tricks do you use to try and find the right words for your writing?

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Go Tell It On The Mountain - from 101BOOKS.NET

 Robert Bruce whose site 101BOOKS.NET, is consistently voted the Best Book Blog. It is definitely my favorite book blog. He has kindly allowed me to reblog one of his posts about Go Tell It on The Mountain, but be sure to check out more of his work at 101books.netRobert is reading 100 of Time Magazine‘s greatest English-speaking novels since 1923 (plus Ulysses) and blogs daily. I have chosen Go Tell It On the Mountain, as it is a favorite novels of two of my character in my latest novel Under The Bed.

Book #19: Go Tell It On The Mountain

by Robert on June 15, 2011

Sometimes, when I read a book, I’m more taken by the writing than the story.It’s not that the story is bad–it’s usually powerful, in fact–after all, an author who can captivate a reader with his writing usually has enough wherewithal to create a unique plot.But, sometimes, when I close the book, when I read that last word, I stop and reflect more about the author as a writer than as a storyteller. And that was definitely the case with Go Tell It On The Mountain.From a writing standpoint, James Baldwin is one of the best authors I’ve read. I gave you an excerpt of his writing in yesterday’s post, and that’s just a small sample. Go Tell It On The Mountain is beautifully told.Here’s another passage that describes 14-year-old John’s spiritual tension as he struggles with believing in God and his hatred toward his father. It’s a theme that carries throughout the book. 

“He lived for the day when his father would be dying and he, John, would curse him on his death-bed. And this was why, though he had been born in the faith and had been surrounded all his life by the saints and by their prayers and their rejoicing, and though the tabernacle in which they worshipped was more completely real to him than the several precarious homes in which he and his family had lived, John’s heart was hardened against the Lord. His father was God’s minister, the ambassador of the King of Heaven, and John could not bow before the throne of grace without first kneeling to his father.”

But what of the story?Set in 1930s Harlem, Go Tell It On The Mountain centers on this 14-year-old boy, John, who is conflicted between a faith he doesn’t believe inbut still feels drawn to. His father, Gabriel–who is also a deacon and former minister at their church, “Temple of the Fire Baptized”–abuses John and his mother, Elizabeth. He’s a mean, hellfire and brimstone kind of guy, who claims to be “God’s annointed.”While I would say John is the central character, Baldwin also tells the story of three other characters: Gabriel, Aunt Florence, and John’s mother, Elizabeth. The book is broken up into sections that focus on on each character, shifting the story between their past and their present.Other than the writing, two other things stand out to me about this novel.First, the dialogue. I’m no expert on African-American dialect in 1930s Harlem, but Baldwin seems to capture it well. Consider this exchange between Aunt Florence and her brother, Gabriel. Aunt Florence, my favorite character in the novel, tells it like it is. In this situation, she’s confronting her brother about his past misdeeds.

“Look like,” she said, “you think the Lord’s a man like you; you think you can fool Him like you fool men, and you think He forgets, like men. But God don’t forget nothing, Gabriel–if your name’s down there in the Book, like you say, it’s got all what you done right down there with it. And you going to answer for it, too.”

Out of context, you might not appreciate that dialogue. But it’s a strong characteristic of this book. It’s another novel where I can almost hear these characters speak as I read. Baldwin really nailed the dialogue.Second, Baldwin draws heavily from biblical stories throughout Go Tell It On The Mountain. It’s easy to see how he was once a teenage pastor.I noticed allegories and illusions to biblical stories in many places. For instance, Gabriel is an Abraham-like figure–his first wife was barren, and unwilling to wait on God to provide, Gabriel sought out the company of a prostitute and fathered an illegitimate child with her.The main character, John, and his brother, Roy, are similar to Jacob and Esau in Scripture. Esau (read: Roy), the first-born, the legitimate child, who is a hellian yet remains the apple of his father’s eye.And John, the good son, the one that, though he’s illegitimate (unlike Jacob in the Bible) is more capable of making Gabriel proud. But Gabriel mirrors the blindness of Isaac in Scripture by overlooking the flaws of his elder son.James Baldwin (Photo: MDCArchives)James Baldwin is quoted as saying, “Nobody is more dangerous than he who imagines himself pure in heart; for his purity, by definition, is unassailable.” I’m not sure who Baldwin was talking about there, as I haven’t been able to source the quote, but it perfectly describes his characterization of Gabriel in Go Tell It On The Mountain.Your dislike for Gabriel–his arrogance, his brutality, his hypocrisy–will carry you through this novel. Though the story somewhat revolves around John, it’s Gabriel who carries this story. You’ll feel his presence on the characters throughout the book.Whether you’re a Christian or not, spiritual or not, this is a strong book. You’ll read a moving story about a young boy’s growth into maturity, despite the presence of an overbearing and abusive father.More than all of that, though, you’ll hopefully appreciate James Baldwin’s talent as a writer. For me, that alone makes this book worth the read.Other StuffThe Opening Line: “Everyone had always said that John would be a preacher when he grew up, just like his father.”The Meaning: The story dives into the gray areas of faith. Men who profess absolute truth but live in absolute hypocrisy. In that murkiness, though, Baldwin shows redemption is still possible.Highlights: James Baldwin has a cadence, a rythym with his writing that is simply beautiful. Amazing that Go Tell It On The Mountain was Baldwin’s first novel. Also, I think Baldwin does a excellent job of leaving the discussion open about Christianity and the church. Considering his upbringing, I think it could have been easy for him to come down hard one way or the other.Lowlights: A lot of the story occurs in the past, explaining the history of some of the characters. I would’ve enjoyed seeing a little more in the present, and a little more focus on the main character, John.Memorable Line: “John and his father stared at each other, struck dumb and still and with something come to life between them–while the Holy Ghost spoke. Gabriel had never seen such a look on John’s face before; Satan, at that moment, stared out of John’s eyes while the Spirit spoke.”Final Thoughts: James Baldwin could make an infomercial poetic. The guy could flat write, and that’s what made Go Tell It On The Mountain memorable for me. I would say that anyone who is a writer or claims to be a writer should read this book. It’s beautifully told.Robert's Menu: Home   About Me  The List  My Rankings   Frequently Asked Questions  Friends of 101 Books  Your Blogs  Archives

  I hope you will find Robert  @robertbruce76  or at his  website: 101books.net.  There's lots of great stuff there, not just a summary of each novel like this post. Oh, and while you're there, tell him A.K. sent you!

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The Next Big Thing week 15: Interview with an Author

The Next Big Thing is an author's Work In Progress project  from SheWrites. When I read Jeri Walker-Bickett’s  blog last week,  I immediately thought what fantastic questions for any author to ask themselves. So I was thrilled that afternoon, when Jeri emailed, and invited me to participate. A Big Thank You to Jeri.What is the working title of your book?‘Under The Bed’. It comes from the phrase ‘Red’s Under the Bed’, used in 1950’s America.Where did the idea come from for the book?I was set to write the sequel to my first book Radio Echo, catching up with the characters a few years after the end of WWII, but I decided to spread my wings as a writer, switched countries and found a completely different voice. The 50’s anti-Communist era in America struck a chord with me as part of the backdrop. In doing my research and seeing how widespread the effect of McCarthyism was, I didn’t want to focus on the more publicized Hollywood Blacklist, so decided to move cross country and settle my characters in New York.  What genre does your book fall under?Literary fiction. Specifically mid-Century historical literary fiction. Set in both the early 50's and late 60's, makes it a tricky time frame, as some camps argue historical fiction has to be 50 years in the past. Other’s say it can be considered historical fiction if the time period - and its depiction - is at the core of the story. I think if the work involves major political or social events of the time and the character’s role in those events are interlinked, it’s historical.Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?I'll let the two main characters in the novel comment on this.Midge: “I know Izzie said I was a pissy mess the other week, but I'm trying darling, I really am. Putting on a few pounds wasn't a crime the last time I looked, but pudgy is such an ugly word. And these Chanel suits don’t buy themselves. I was a very successful business woman before the shit hit the fan. Life Magazine was always doing some article on Boswell Designs. Seems a lifetime ago now... like someone else’s life.... Er,... where was I?  Oh yes... The actress would  have to play a younger me as well wouldn't she?  To do both roles justice,  I think Sharon Stone  would be marvelous. She’s got the same coloring too, don’t you think?”Izzie: “Do you think I give a shit who plays me in the film? How hard can it be to write some crap poetry, and take a few lousy photo’s in the East Village?  [Takes a hit on a joint]. OK, fine. So I do care. I bet that skinny-assed  Girl With a Dragon Tattoo actress would could make a stab at being me. Yeah, Rooney Mara. She’d be good.”What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?Two women, a generation apart, each burdened by guilt regarding the death of a sibling, find their own lives in danger during the Vietnam era, when the older woman’s brush with McCarthyism emerges during their collaboration on her autobiography.   Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?I will definitely look for an agent to represent me.How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? 11 months. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?I obviously wouldn't dream of comparing myself to these authors, but I have certainly been inspired by them. These came to mind, each for different aspects of their content.Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. This is one of my favorite novels and spans the narrators lifetime, who is in her 80's as she is writing.The novel pays particular attention to the pre & post WWII years, but goes far beyond that in  encapsulating a number of different story lines as well as time lines.Toby's Room by Pat Barker. Well know for her incredible "Regeneration Trilogy" ,  this is a sequence to Life Class,  though it's also a stand alone novel. Set during WWI, the novel is as much about the interpersonal relationships as it is about the era. However, the two are interchangeable and it is the societal times of the era on the life of the individual that, for me is the real correlation between this and Under the Bed.The Night Watch by Sarah Waters. This is mid 20th century fiction, set during WWII. But Waters deals with the time frame in a very interesting way as she goes from finish to start.  Who or What inspired you to write this book?After a friend told me about growing up with parents who were in the Communist Party in the UK, and what it was like as a teenager in the sixties to have your phone bugged, it made me think about the invasion of people’s privacy and what effect it has on them. Since 9/11 the invasion of privacy has became almost an accepted ‘right’ by Western governments in the quest to protect our freedom. CCTV tracks us constantly and emails are tagged continuously in the fight against terrorism. I questioned the end justifying the means. Eventually I decided to follow how anti-communist fervour has moulded certain key elements of American history, and chose to juxtapose the eras of the Vietnam War and McCarthyism, with 1969 being 'present day'.What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?The novel blends the struggle of the individual with that of the bigger picture of the political events of the time. Can we as both individuals or as nations, learn from our past? I believe we can, and yet, as we know, history repeats itself. ‘Under the Bed’ explores how an individual’s lack of control over their fate can be in the hands of the government, even a generation apart. But ultimately the fight for survival and coming to terms with past mistakes is up to the individual. Here are the authors I’ve tagged for the project. Check out their websites and you'll be able see their interviews posted there next week.Claire CappettaDoreen PendgracsHemmie MartinSusan CooperBridget WhelanSally O’Reilly I’d love  your feedback on the interview, so do leave a comment below. Or post this blog to your favourite social media.Connect with me on: -Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/artyyah/Twitter: @artyyahLike my Facebook page : http://facebook.com/akandrewwriterFor regular updates of my blog: Subscribe Here

10 Rules for Writing: Margaret Atwood

Every author has their favorite rules or ways of writing. Our work can benefit  from learning their process. In the same way it's accepted painters  learn from the masters , writers too can learn from other writers. ( I wrote in more detail about this in the post An Infinite Authors Resource .) The writer doesn't  have to be your favorite, but their work must be relevant. When you're having trouble with a piece of work - your blog, fiction or non-fiction  - don't reinvent the wheel or plagiarize, but  look at how someone else tackled the problem. For issues on social media, the internet or  websites, I'd go to  Sherryl Perry or Leora Wenger . If you want a slow build up of fear try Helen Dunmore's 'The Betrayal'. For a more 'in your face' scary scene maybe go to Stephen King. Margaret Atwood's 10 Rules for Writing Fiction1 Take a pencil to write with on aeroplanes. Pens leak. But if the pencil breaks, you can't sharpen it on the plane, because you can't take knives with you. Therefore: take two pencils.2 If both pencils break, you can do a rough sharpening job with a nail file of the metal or glass type.3 Take something to write on. Paper is good. In a pinch, pieces of wood or your arm will do.4 If you're using a computer, always safeguard new text with a memory stick.5 Do back exercises. Pain is distracting.6 Hold the reader's attention. (This is likely to work better if you can hold your own.) But you don't know who the reader is, so it's like shooting fish with a slingshot in the dark. What fascinates A will bore the pants off B.7 You most likely need a thesaurus, a rudimentary grammar book, and a grip on reality. This latter means: there's no free lunch. Writing is work. It's also gambling. You don't get a pension plan. Other people can help you a bit, but ¬essentially you're on your own. Nobody is making you do this: you chose it, so don't whine.8 You can never read your own book with the innocent anticipation that comes with that first delicious page of a new book, because you wrote the thing. You've been backstage. You've seen how the rabbits were smuggled into the hat. Therefore ask a reading friend or two to look at it before you give it to anyone in the publishing business. This friend should not be someone with whom you have a romantic relationship, unless you want to break up.9 Don't sit down in the middle of the woods. If you're lost in the plot or blocked, retrace your steps to where you went wrong. Then take the other road. And/or change the person. Change the tense. Change the opening page.10 Prayer might work. Or reading something else. Or a constant visualization of the holy grail that is the finished, published version of your resplendent book.NB: Margaret Atwood's rules for writing fiction, originally appeared as part of a feature in  The Guardian . I'd like to give a special thanks to Robert Bruce of  http://101books.net/ ( a fantastic site for book-lovers), who reminded me of her list in a recent post he did on Steinbeck.

------------------------------------------------I really love her dry sense of humor and sticking with the basics, like using a pencil, or your arm!  The rules could also apply to virtually any kind of writing.

OK, my turn...though I have made it easy on myself by only doing three.

A.K. Andrew's Top 3 Writing Rules :1. Write little and often. (Whatever  interpretation works for you)2.  Always carry a notebook (paper or electronic). Odd words or thoughts come  at any time day or night and trying to rely on your memory to recall them is hopeless. I've learned how to write small groups of words in the dark, then decipher them in the morning.3. Write what you enjoy. If you're not enjoying the process, your reader will never be engaged.What are your top 3 writing Rules?  (See I've made it easy for you too!) I'd love to hear your thoughts - and perhaps between us, we can come up with a really great new list of  10 Writing Rules.Note: This will be my last post for a month, so enjoy the end of summer and I'll see you back here near the end of September. Follow me on: -Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/artyyah/Twitter: @artyyahFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/akandrewwriterFor  regular updates of my blog: Subscribe Here