Author! Author! S.C. WYNNE

It's been a very long time since I did one of these Author! Author! posts, but I've got some friends, Romans, country--well, people dear to me with books coming out in the near future and Discoverability being the issue that it is, I thought maybe I'd start throwing in the occasional interview with a vampeer.

Get it? VamPEER. Like Vampire only... Okay, never mind.

So today we have the lovely and talented S.C. Wynne author of Starting New from Riptide.

One of the things I like about S.C.'s work is the sheer versatility. She tackles the tough issues and then she can turn around and write something nutty and humorous like Assassins are People too. That's not all that common.


****S.C. is offering a signed print copy of Starting New (and she might even throw in another book, who knows?) to one lucky commenter below. 


And without further adieu, meet S.C. Wynne.

JL - Who are you again? No, but seriously, do you agonize over writing those author bio thingies? Share your favorite author bio. (By which I mean bio for YOU)

SC - I hate writing the bio thingies. I have no idea what to say about myself. If I had to choose one I guess it would be this one:

S.C. Wynne never knows what to say about herself, so writing an About Me section is challenging.  She loves red wine and is obsessed with coffee. She hasn’t won any awards for writing although she did win one for reading once. She’s not a world traveler…yet.  The books she writes are light and romantic with a healthy dollop of humor, and just a dash of angst. 

S.C. is not curing cancer, but does think reading stories that make us happy can’t help but improve our lives. She falls in love with every character she writes and hopes her readers will too.  

JL  - Are you a fulltime writer?

SC - Well, I write full-time, as in every day, all day. BUT, I don’t make a living doing it yet. I own a coffeehouse with my husband. I’d love to make a living writing full-time but building a career takes time. Sometimes I want to stomp my food and scream : “I want a golden goose of my very own, daddy!” But then I remember I’m not five and I continue to hone my craft. 

JL - Have you ever broken a bone? Have you ever broken anyone else's bones? Have you ever

wanted to? Do you want to break my bones now? Huh? Do ya? 

SC - would never hurt you, Josh. Not in public. Where there would be witnesses. I broke my little toe once. That is so boring though. I should lie. Yes, I work for the mob and I beat the crap out of a tailor this morning. He didn’t pay up and the boss doesn’t take kindly to that. No, I’ve never broken anyone’s bones. But if anyone tried to hurt my kids I would rip their head off. I guess that would still not qualify as breaking bones though. 

JL - Readers may not know that your day job is owning a coffeehouse. Share what you consider the best recipe you ever created. Seven and Seven does not count!

 SC - Awww, man. Okay, I think my favorite drink is the Black Cherry Espresso Bean. I won’t give you the exact recipe because I have no doubt Starbucks is watching everything I do, but suffice to say it has chocolate, espresso, ice cream and other really, really good stuff in it. 

JL - What was the most interesting or surprising thing you learned while researching STARTING NEW?

SC - That the New Testament doesn’t ever truly address or condemn homosexuality.  I’d always assumed it directly denounced homosexuality, but it doesn’t. There are possibly three passages in the New Testament that might refer to homosexuality. But when you start looking at the details and the translations of the original Greek it is anything but a clear condemnation of homosexuality. You have to look at the usage and meaning of the words during the time the Bible was written.

This site has some great detailed info on the subject if anyone is interested. https://www.westarinstitute.org/resources/the-fourth-r/what-the-new-testament-says-about-homosexuality/

JL - How did you and the Mister meet?

SC - We were both Navy Seals. One day I was underwater surveying a sunken Russian submarine when my leg was trapped by a steel beam. Thank God, Mister was there. I’m kidding. That would be so cool though. I think I just got a book idea. No we met through an online Christian dating service. I know! It’s crazy. AND, while I’m happily married for over 20 years I would not recommend it. There were a bunch of weirdoes and fake people in that group. I’m amazed and happy that I got lucky with my husband. Not THAT kind of got lucky!!! Get your minds out of the gutter people!! :D

JL - What do you love most about writing? What do you like least?

 SC - What I love most: The stories. The pure freedom to write whatever the hell I want.  I love the M/M genre to read and write. What I hate most are reviews. I have a thicker skin now than when I first began this journey. I dismiss one and two star reviews filled with rude gifs as sad, bitter people. I’m not a fan of spewing, whether it be all over me or out of me. If you can’t be constructive, I have no interest in your opinion.

 

JL - Fashion magazines always ask this question: What is the one cosmetic or grooming tool you cannot live without? And do you have any idea why all these fashion models are always pretending the one tool they can't live without is their EYEBROW GROOMER? 

SC - Eyebrows are life!!! Without them we have no expressions!!! I’m looking at that question you sent me right now with my brows up to my hair line. But how would anyone know that if my eyebrows weren’t properly groomed???

 JL - OH, THEY KNOW, SC. THEY KNOW!!!! Next question. Readers of this blog love funny food allergy stories. Can you share any amusing near death experiences brought on by a food allergy?

 SC - I’m sorry… the readers of this blog like what now?? I don’t have a story like that. I apologize for not almost dying from my food for the amusement of your crazy readers!!

JL  - How very disappointing. We probably lost half our readers with that!!!!  There’s probably no use continuing, but okay. Whatever. What do you think is the most important thing to remember when creating fully realized main characters?

SC - Main characters don’t have to be perfect. In fact, they shouldn’t be. Real people are flawed. Even good people have issues. And bad people have good qualities too. Basically what I’m saying is people are complex. Show that in your stories.

JL - Getting back to your food allergies...okay, never mind. Do you eat breakfast? Did you know it's the most important meal of the day?

 SC - I always have breakfast. It’s called coffee. Oddly enough that is also my lunch. Now you have me thinking I need coffee. I’ll be right back.

JL - Come back!!! What are you working on now? What's out next?

SC - Cowboys are involved in this one. I’m tweaking it and expanding it based off of interest from a publishing house I’m hoping to get into. We shall see. But either way this story will be published because sexy cowboys need a voice. Who will stand up for them if not me?

JL  - Do you believe in extra-terrestrial life?

SC - Have you not been watching the presidential race? Of course I do. See how diplomatic I am that I’m not actually pin pointing either candidate?

JL  - STARTING NEW deals sensitively with a number of complex themes including the potential (as perceived by some) conflict between Christianity and sexuality. Do you consider yourself a spiritual person?

SC - I’m spiritual but not religious. I don’t like organized religion and actually find that other people tend to get in the way of my relationship with God. I find the recent climate of one party trying to own God annoying and false. If there is a God and God is love, than he loves all of us.

JL - Tell us something surprising. Anything. Go on. Surprise us!

SC - I’ve developed an unhealthy obsession with watching Wincest videos on Youtube! Only fans of Supernatural will know what the hell I’m talking about!

***


So there you have it!


And here's a little info about Starting New:

Life hasn’t been good to Francis Murphy. He’s survived twenty-one years of homelessness by hooking and taking handouts where he can find them. When the local shelter is vandalized, he’s forced to seek food at the Grace and Light Church, where he runs into the pastor’s son, Randy.

Randy Wright believes the best in others. He's immediately drawn to Francis, even though Francis is hardened and wary. When Francis is attacked by one of his johns, Randy and his family take him in and offer him temporary work. Randy always thought he was straight, but something about Francis has him yearning for more than just friendship, and realizing he might be bisexual.

Francis is attracted to Randy too, and Randy and his parents say they’ve always believed in gay rights. But talk is cheap. What are the odds that these Christian parents will remain open-minded when it's their own son in a relationship with another man?

Remember to comment below for a chance at winning a signed copy of Starting Over!

He did the mash, he did the monster mash...

I mentioned in an earlier post that I'm working on this crazy extra project called The Curse of the Blue Scarab. I call it my "monster mash-up," because that's what it is. It's a literary mash-up of a 1912 horror novel called The Mummy by Riccardo Stephens.


Now you may be wondering what the heck is a literary mash-up?


And here's Wikipedia to explain it:


A mash-up novel (also called "mashup" or "mashed-up novel"), is a work of fiction which combines a pre-existing literature text, often a classic work of fiction, with another genre, such as horror genre into a single narrative. Marjorie Kehe of the Christian Science Monitor renders this admixture of classic text as "somewhere between 60 and 85 percent original text, with new plot twists added by contemporary co-authors". These "twists" often include horror fiction elements like vampires, werewolves or zombies.


That's pretty much it in a nut-shell. However a key point is that these works are almost always works that have fallen into public domain. Meaning, they are no longer under copyright.


Now given that in my case the book is already about a mummy, you might wonder what it is I'm bringing to the mix besides a male/male romance? Well...time will tell.


How on earth does it work? Sometimes better than others.


But, for example, here's the original opening bit of The Mummy.


I was sitting at breakfast one February morning, about nine o’clock, two years ago, with Mudge, my servant, ex-sergeant of Marines, at my back telling some yarn about what he said he had done at Ladysmith.

Though 1 live in the West End, it is only in a little flat over a grocer’s shop, in a small side-street off Piccadilly, where my patients are principally the servants (and principally the men- servants—butlers, coachmen and such-like) from the big houses and clubs.


A couple of news-boys began yelling something through the morning fog, about exclusive information and special edition of the Daily Tale. I knew nothing would satisfy Mudge till he got a copy. So I sent him out.

Presently the outer door was pushed open, and a man's voice asked loudly whether the doctor was in.

“Second door right-hand side of lobby,” 1 shouted, and the man was in before I could swallow another mouthful.






And here is a rough idea of the opening of The Curse of the Blue Scarab.

I remember the fog was particularly thick that February morning.

Pressing its formless face to the steamy window panes, grey and dreary as a specter, it crept down the chimney, dripping and hissing onto the smoking logs.

Drip. Hiss. Drip. Hiss.

An otherwise unremarkable start to the day that was to change my life forever.

Bird, my servant, an ex-sergeant of Marines, was spinning some lengthy and involved yarn about his exploits at Ladysmith while I attempted to read my magazine and finish my breakfast before the business of the day began.

“Those were weary hours. Lying on that hill while the bullets hailed down on us. I can still hear ‘em cutting through the air and clacking on the rocks. You couldn’t hear yourself think...”

“One can only imagine,” I murmured.

My name is Armiston. I’m a physician living and working in the West End. This sounds grander than the reality which is a little flat over a grocer’s shop in a small side-street off Piccadilly. My patients are principally the servants (and principally the men-servants—butlers, coachmen and such) from the big houses and clubs.

“Nine hours we clung to that pile of stones. Cartridges dwindling and men dying. I can tell you hope was fading…”

“I feel as though I’m there beside you.” I turned the page of the magazine, studying the dubious claims in the advertisement for Madam Harper’s hair tonic.

In the street below a couple of news-boys began yelling about exciting information  exclusive to the special edition of the Daily Tale. I knew nothing would satisfy Bird till he got a copy. So I sent him out.

Drip. Hiss. Drip. Hiss.

Presently the outer door was flung open, and a man’s voice demanded whether the doctor was in.

“Second door right-hand side of lobby,” I shouted, and the man was in before I could swallow another mouthful.

It's the same and yet... It is transformed into something new. And hopefully amusing.




This is my relaxation in between working on FAIR CHANCE, the final book in the All's Fair trilogy. That one's turning out to be a rather tense book, so mummies and supernatural goings-on are kind of a relief!

New Releases: MAGIC AND MAYHEM and NIGHT WATCH

First things first.

Magic and Mayhem:  Fiction and Essays Celebrating LGBTQA Romance is now available for preorder at Amazon or Smashwords right now. When you buy the antho you help support the event known as Gay Romance Nothwest Meet-Up, and I think we can all agree we need many more such events.

Look at this line up:

STORIES:

“Broken Art,” by Dev Bentham
“Caroline’s Heart,” by Austin Chant
“Demonica,” by Megan Derr
“The Hollow History of Professor Perfectus,” by Ginn Hale
“Fade to Black,” by Josh Lanyon
“Charmed By Chance,” by Alex Powell
“Sun, Moon, and Stars,” by E.J. Russell
“Slack Tide,” by Karelia Stetz-Waters

ESSAYS:

“Romance for the Rest of Us,” by Jessica Blat
“Sad Queer Characters and the Revolution of Joy,” by Austin Chant
“Dear Rose,” by Rose Christo
“How to Get LGBT Romance Books Into Libraries” by Marlene Harris
“So What is “Character-Type Love Match” Anyway?” by Nicole Kimberling
“My Road to Romance,” by Susan Lee
“To My Future Self,” by E.E. Ottoman
“What I’ve Learned,” by Jordan Castillo Price
“Dear Len,” by Radclyffe
“A Letter to My Former Self,” by Rick R. Reed
“Five Things We Learned Running A Queer Romance Event (and the One Thing We Still Need to Do)” by Tracy Timmons-Gray


My "assignment" was Soldier and Tattoo Artist. :-)

I think I'm almost as excited to read the essays as the stories. 

So that's one exciting piece of news. And then we have a little bitty story from me called Night Watch.

Three years ago investigative reporter Parker Davidson barely survived a brutal attack by his psychopathic ex-boyfriend. It’s given him a dim view of romance. 

When Parker’s ex escapes from a maximum security prison, LAPD Lieutenant Henry Stagge is tasked with making sure that Parker doesn’t end up a victim a second—and final—time. 

Most cops believe Parker got what he deserved, but over the course of a few very tense hours, Henry begins to wonder if there’s more to Parker than he thought. 

Second chances happen in the strangest places—and at the strangest times.

 

You can pop over to Smashwords or Amazon and conveniently buy them both at the same time.

There's more to talk about (I know I missed last week's blog, but that's what happens when the writing frenzy starts) but we'll leave it there for now.

The Curse of the Restless Writer Brain

It never rains but it pours.


Having regained my usual ruthless optimism and energy, I'm busily working away at three books right now. Yes, three. I went from unable to formulate complete sentences on paper to working on three books at one time.


Want to know my secret?


Bananas!


Yes, I'm drinking this banana coffee smoothie thing in the morning and it's just fant--


No. I wish I had a quick fix I could offer my equally burnt-out writer friends. I think it was basically just having a bit of time to breathe and swim and read and chat with friends...and catch up some of the stuff that was making me nuts.


That last is always a temporary state of affairs though. The problem with being a self-employed writer is no sooner do you complete one task -- arrange for Italian translations! -- then a new challenge occurs -- just lost narrator for The Mermaid Murders!

But thanks to the bananas, I'm rolling with punches and punching the rolls. Or something.


One of the projects was what I think of as a "throwaway" project. Not that it's not a real project--these are inevitably the projects that end up being the most work--but it's a project that can be relegated to the back burner if needed. And it's a project which I figure won't bring in a lot of money, so it's very much just for fun. And a healthy writer brain needs a few of those in order to keep cranking.


Anyway, I decided to experiment with Kindle Unlimited for the launch of this one. And I wanted to discuss why--given that I'm a staunch and vocal opponent of KU and Amazon's exclusivity policy.


I've had a couple of people challenge my stance given that I've never actually done Kindle Unlimited. Maybe they think I'd change my mind about it if I saw How Much Money You Can Make with it!!!!


See, I think I probably make more money than most authors in Kindle Unlimited, and I believe that I will actually make less putting this crazy little project into the program. But I don't know. And there is some very interesting data on the numbers (and on author earnings in general).

I'm sort of an anomaly in my genre as it is thanks to primarily writing mysteries and crime for an audience that typically doesn't read a lot of mystery and crime. So it's possible my success is an anomaly too. I don't know. Hence the experiment. I'll compare my preorders and first month earnings for a couple of my regular releases versus this KU release and we'll see what happens.

That's reason number one. I haven't seriously ever tried KU before, so I may as well find out exactly what I'm "losing" by taking my high-falutin' stance on the program.

(I can tell you this though. Regardless of what the earnings are, the book goes straight into general distribution when the KU time period is over.)

The second reason is this question of Discoverability that haunts us all in indie publishing. Given the tidal wave of STUFF (good, bad and indifferent) pouring out daily through the various bookselling channels, it gets harder and harder to find new readers. Now why do I need NEW readers when I have so many wonderful loyal existing readers? Because a writer's long-term survival is largely based on continuing to sell backlist, and you need new readers for that. The existing readers already have your (my) stuff in every conceivable form up to and including the coloring book. ;-)

Again, I have my doubts about this experiment because I suspect a lot of the readers who subscribe to KU are loyal to price point rather than author. But maybe I'm wrong. If I'm wrong then it's useful to know that.


Anyway, the book I plan to experiment with is The Curse of the Blue Scarab, which I'm calling my monster mash-up. It is in fact a literary mash-up of a 1912 novel called The Mummy by Riccardo Stephens.


I'll talk a bit  more about the project in detail later on, but I wanted to reassure readers before I list this for preorders that I'm not planning to make this book an Amazon exclusive permanently nor are any of my other titles present or planned going into KU.






******************************************
UPDATE 8/10/2016 -- SCRATCH THAT


I changed my mind and decided that it was not fair to do one of the year's "big" books as a KU title--especially when it would mean having the books unavailable to other sites for about six months (taking into account the lengthy preorder phase on that one--the 90 days doesn't start until the book actually goes live). So instead I'm doing this next post WW2 historical mystery novella as my KU project. That will sort of skew the results because this won't have as long a preorder run and it's not a novel AND it's historical which is a typically smaller audience for me, but there you go.

Books and Black Orchids

My writing slump seems to have passed.

Partly, I'm sure, that's due to catching up on all the stuff that was mentally weighing me down. Everything from buying screens for the front windows of the house to arranging for the Italian translation of The Mermaid Murders.

But mostly I think my renewed enthusiasm for writing is due to two things: spending time with friends and family AND reading.

More precisely, reading within the M/M genre.

Last year I read an essay by Matt Bell in the NY Times titled "Influence Looming" wherein he muses "Novels have two primary sources: writer's life experiences or their art experience."

It's a real balancing act. The best fiction is that perfect blend of art and reality. Too often the aspiring author confuses writing fiction with the dutiful documentation of memoirs--and rarely are our own lives as fascinating to others as we imagine. But there's also the danger of being unduly influenced by the work of your peers. You don't want to sound like a third generation recording of a what was once a live performance.

Still, it's important to read in the genre you're working in, and regardless of the medium, all artists are inspired by each others' work. Part of how a genre evolves is through this process of influence. So yes, it was interesting to catch up on what's been happening in the genre over the past couple of years -- sample some of the rising stars and see what old favorites have been up to. There's some great stuff out there, although it feels harder to find those nuggets of gold given how very wide and very deep that river of content has grown.

Anyway, the only thing better than reading is talking books and writing with friends. Especially

talking over cocktails. I discovered something called Black Orchids at our local Yard House and our martini shaker has not been silent since (kidding -- no shaker is involved in this recipe).

Black Orchid
 

 1 ounce Skyy Raspberry Vodka
 1 ounce DeKuyper Blue Curacao
 1 ounce DeKuyper Watermelon Pucker
 Splash: Cranberry juice
 Garnish: none 

I'm not going to share too much information about what I'm working on because I've got several projects going now and only two of them are absolutely certain to be finished this year.

One is Fair Chance, the final book in the All's Fair trilogy. HOWEVER that book won't be released until next year--please don't give me a hard time about it because I have no control of my publisher's release schedule.

The other project is So This is Christmas. It's that long promised Adrien English holiday novella.

(I know, you'd given up hope of that ever happening, but just because it takes me a while doesn't mean I'm not going to follow through on the books I promised.)

Yes, it's a mystery and it picks up right where the holiday codas end. And...and...I think that's pretty much all I'm going to say at this point!

Cheers! Have a Happy Weekend!

A Blog Post

I find myself at a loss today.

I was going to try to avoid anything remotely political or even socio-political, and instead mention that I've put together a print collection of my historical novellas. Three of the novellas have previously been in print, but had been allowed to go OP. And the third, "This Rough Magic", has never been available in anything but digital.

I read an article recently in Publisher's Weekly about "digital fatigue" and the ongoing decline of ebook sales. I've never stopped loving and collecting print books, so I have no idea whether digital fatigue is a real thing or not. Clearly declining ebook sales are real and can be graphed, but they don't seem particularly relevant to me. My sales have stayed pretty steady -- there's just that little problem of not being able -- motivated-- to write.

I'm still not exactly sure what's going on there. Am I just giving into laziness now? Am I more burnt-out than I realized? Or is this a natural lull in my productivity? I don't know. There's really no one to consult.

Is it depression? Is it a product of the fear and anxiety the TV serves with my morning coffee? Yesterday yet another young black man was shot to death by police. And today comes the news that five police officers were shot to death by snipers. The world seems increasingly violent and irrational -- and going on Twitter sure as hell doesn't help.

The world has always been violent and unpredictable. You don't need to be a history major to know that much. And the world is always in flux. Some things get better, other things get worse...and there's no guarantee we won't blow ourselves and the planet up in the near future.

But really...that being the case, what are our options? We can go on Twitter and harass and blame each other for not caring enough or not expressing ourselves properly. We can perpetrate our own violence in the name of...what the fuck ever. We can tune out entirely.

Or we can continue to do the best we can with the resources we have.

We can try to practice the tolerance that we preach. We can stop jabbering on Twitter and try actually contacting our political representatives. We can focus on improving the space around us -- and leading by example. Not in a grandiose way, but in a simple treat-others-as-you-wish-to-be-treated way. Because if that actually ever could happen all across the world? All our problems would be solved.

Just treat the people around you the way you want to be treated.

Don't be so godawful stingy with your understanding, your forgiveness and your compassion. It's not like any of us are in a position to judge. (And anybody who thinks they are in a position to judge is a big part of the problem.)

Today I am focusing on what is right in the world. What is good.

1 - Law and Order (because anarchy doesn't work)

2 - Gardenias

3 - Mockingbirds

4 - Tacos

5 - Love

What do you have to say for yourself?

Happy Fourth of July!

The news just keeps getting better, doesn't it?

Brexit.

SRS, UK?

You know you're in deadly serious trouble when The Donald congratulates you on making a smart move.

Yeesh. And now there's talk that Britain's leaving the European Union might encourage Texas to secede from our Union.

So there IS a ray of hope.

Hahahahaha. Just kidding, Texas. You know we love you. Especially now that the Supreme Court delivered your wake-up call.

But seriously (or SRS, as the nieces inform me) I am so very weary of people trotting out the Founding Fathers like demi-gods and then proceeding to completely misunderstand and misquote everything they fought for. (That would be everything the FFs fought for, not these modern day posers.)

I'm not going to get into that, though. (I know, breathe a sigh of relief.) The Founding Fathers, like everybody else in the world, were not always united in thought or deed. Believe it or not, they didn't always share the same aims and goals or even ideals.

It's like they were M/M Romance writers!

How did they resolve those differences? Well, they didn't take out their dueling pistols. I can tell you that much. They, you know, debated and talked and voted. That kind of thing. Grown-up stuff.

You probably already know that there was a good deal of debate over crafting the Declaration of Independence.

Or maybe you don't. But yeah, these educated and experienced men did not all agree. For example there's an apocryphal story that Alexander Hamilton objected to Jefferson changing John Locke's sacred trinity of the pursuit of "life, liberty, and estate" to "happiness."

The final version of the Declaration of Independence reads thusly:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. ——


Happiness. Can you imagine that?

There are a ton of essays on why and where Jefferson came up with the idea of pursuing Happy. But I think the why and where are pretty much irrelevant. For whatever reason the pursuit of happiness (which, clearly, was not to be defined as the pursuit of monetary self-interest--or else Locke's wording would have stood as was) makes me, well, happy.

It's sort of...grounding. Centering.  It's a reminder that we weren't -- aren't --  all crazy with greed and self-interest. If it's true that Hamilton bitterly contested Jefferson's wording, they worked it out by vote or debate. Consensus was achieved.

(Which is a positive thing because, though I guess it's tactless to point this out, let's not forget how it went when Hamilton did resort to pistols over words).

The Pursuit of Happiness.

I like it. I like that they argued about it, but then conceded that Happiness was more valuable than Property. You can debate what "Happiness" means all you want, but it clearly wasn't -- isn't -- "Property."

So Happy Fourth of July! Happy Independence Day.

May you be ever successful in your Pursuit of Happiness.

A Volunteer Gardener with a History of Mental Health Problems

Not actually all that amusing, is it?

I'm not being funny. That quote, from an article in the Guardian describing the alleged murderer of a British MP, seems to sum up my feeling this week that the world has gone crazy. Not that the world hasn't always been a crazy, violent place, but this last week...

There was the murder of that girl singer on The Voice by a deranged fan, the horror of Orlando, and finally--because no week is complete without hearing about some atrocity perpetrated on a child--the snatching of a toddler in Florida by an alligator.

Now, granted, I don't know how anyone could be shocked or shattered to find the world an unsafe place after Sandy Hook in 2012. If the slaughter of twenty kindergarten children didn't wake you up to the fact that no one is safe anywhere, I don't know what would. If it's open season on little kids, why wouldn't it be open season on everybody else?

It's going to be a very long haul until November, and the best thing for me--and for readers of this blog--is that I avoid watching the news because I've developed the unhappy and unproductive habit of screaming at the TV. Especially when it comes to discussion of the 2nd Amendment.

Here's the thing. I come from a gun-owning, gun-loving family. I've got a disproportionate number of military and law enforcement genes bobbing around in my bloodline. I grew up with guns. To some extent I even buy into the myths and legends of gun culture. But when idiots start talking about how all this could be prevented if only everyone was packing... ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Besides which, we already DID that. Been there and done that. It was called the Wild West, and why in God's name, would we want to return to the 1800s? Are we also supposed to give up in-door plumbing and electricity? For the love of God. Why would any society look at one of its most violent periods and think, yeah. That's the direction. BACKWARDS.

Heck, why stop there. Let's go back to being Cave People and just slam our fellow citizens over the head when we have a point to make.

I have to be careful what I say here though because I probably sound more bitter than I intend. I don't think I'm bitter so much as exasperated. Because while people love to talk and post pictures and quotes and so forth--Oh! somebody wrote a song! Somebody made a film!--they seem largely incapable of ever getting around to pushing for actual change. Ya know, like through legislation. Through law. Because all the touching photos and moving quotes on Facebook don't actually change anything. We're all preaching to the choir and I'm so sick of it.

 It's not that I have nothing to say about Orlando, but that I fear if I begin I won't be able to stop.

So I'm going to press the pause button. I'm going to leave it at this: If you really do care about some of the events of the past week, please make an effort to vote. Educate yourself and then get out there and vote. Because it really does matter--and for those of us in the States, November could make a difference. Yes, the world is a crazy, violent place, but it always has been. It's up to us to decide how crazy and how violent it will be during our own lifetime.

Ramblings and Ruminations

Yep, I paid to license this
 

I was going to chat about creativity today. Creativity and what it's worth. But I don't have the energy.

There's been a lot of discussion recently in the blogosphere about piracy and pricing and publishing in general. Nothing new, except maybe the increasingly militant tone of some readers. I think a lot of it began when an author received a note from a reader informing her that the reader had enjoyed her latest book, but had returned it because she felt the book should have been free. That all books should be free. (I'm summarizing.)

It's not surprising that some readers feel this way. The surprising part is that the reader thought such a message would be received with anything but rage on the part of the author. Maybe it was a deliberately antagonizing move. Or maybe the reader honestly doesn't get it.

There's a surprising amount of that going around. I've read some fascinating comments from non-writers about what writing is and isn't -- and why it is or isn't worth anything.

The idea that storytelling isn't worth the paper it's printed on (or the cyber space it occupies) is a new one. It's a new one in any culture and at any time period. But it does seem to have taken hold in this century. Now, largely it's taken hold because it's self-serving. People very often try to justify the shitty things they do by coming up with elaborate reasons for why it's actually okay. And a lot of the reasoning for piracy smacks of that. Lots of grandiose talk about defining legal terms and artistic obligation and so forth. Most of it missing the point that piracy is illegal pretty much everywhere on the planet because most people, including governments, think it's not cool to steal from artists. Most cultures value art and artists. Heck, even the Nazis valued art and artists -- they were just rather particular about which art and artists.

By the way, when I talk about "piracy" I'm not talking about sharing a book with your mom or ripping a CD for your girlfriend. I'm not talking watching YouTube vids or downloading the file of an out-of-print book from a dubious source or snitching a Google image for a blog post. Yes, all that IS piracy, but it's also inevitable and -- in my opinion -- harmless. Not everyone agrees, but I don't have a problem with low level sharing. No, what I think of as piracy are torrent sites and massive sharing -- and the startlingly self-righteous and hostile attitude that frequently accompanies it.

I mean, you can rationalize it however you want--and I've heard some mighty high-falutin' arguments as to why piracy is A-OK--but the bottom line is the pirate is someone who has decided (for whatever reason) that what he or she wants trumps what the artist wants and hopes for. Debate it any way you like, but in the final analysis the argument is What I want is more important than what you want.

Which doesn't exactly make the artist feel good. It doesn't inspire the artist to create more art, let's put it that way.

One intriguing argument posited was that art is created for the purpose of sharing it with others. Now that's a non-artist speaking. Most art is created for the artist. Pure and simple. I write for myself. Most authors do. Most painters paint for themselves. Most songwriters are writing for themselves. I guess acting--maybe all of filmmaking is the exception? Playwrighting? Hm. Musicians are first and foremost creating music for their own pleasure...

Not Vivian Meyer -- but licensed thru Shutterstock
 

 My point is the act of creation is separate from the act of sharing, let alone the act of selling. Many artists do not share and would not think of selling. Their art remains purely private. It's still art and its still valid whether they ever share it or not. I give you Vivian Meyer.

I would continue to write even if I couldn't sell my work. But would I continue to publish? Hell no. Publishing is a HUGE amount of work and effort and expense. Why on earth would I continue to share my stories if I wasn't being recompensed? Writing the story satisfies my need to create art. The selling of the story...that's a whole other step. And I think that part of the equation is often missed in these debates about what art is and the role of the artist.

Then again, I could be wrong. I think fan fiction writers and much of fandom art is created with the idea of sharing--driven by the idea of sharing. Payment in that case is feedback and engagement. And it's possible that at different stages in an artist's life, feedback and engagement mean more than they do at others.

Another startling argument was the one that no one should have to pay for "ideas" or "imaginings" or "stuff that comes from other people's heads." This sort of falls in with the idea that an ebook is not a physical book and therefore it's not worth anything.

But a bard sitting with his harp singing his tales of gore and glory was still a storyteller and was still recompensed--even revered--for his time and effort and words. There was no physical product to be handed round. The thing of value was the story itself.

And pretty much anything you can think of starts out as an idea, as stuff from other people's heads. Okay, not the natural world. Not a wild flower. But a garden does.

Maybe the problem is thinking of storytelling as a product versus a service. Maybe if we could get across the idea that storytellers are providing the reader with a service she or he cannot provide for himself, it might make more sense? After all, a doctor is not leaving you with a product like the milkman does, but we still believe doctors need to be paid. And typically more than milkmen. Teachers...is there a more valuable service provided than that of teachers? But all too often they hand our own product back to us in its nearly original form. :-D An accountant does not leave you with a physical product...or maybe she does, but it's in the same way that a story can be printed out, yet doesn't have to be printed in order to fulfill it's purpose.

I guess I find the debate -- not the debate, but the hostility toward the idea that an artist would wish to be paid for their work -- dispiriting because I'm having trouble "creating" right now. I don't feel inspired. I don't feel like writing. It's now been two months and when I think of writing I think of how much work it is. How much time and energy and effort go into crafting fiction. If I could just  lean my head against my monitor and transmit complete and readable sentences that would be one thing, but that's not how it works. Furthermore, a monitor makes a very uncomfortable pillow.

So yes, I wanted to chat about what creativity is and what it's worth...what role inspiration plays versus discipline and training. But I find it all very, very wearying. Which gives you an idea of where I'm at from a producing-fiction-for-your pleasure standpoint.

But I saw a picture today -- a book cover -- and I was (briefly) grabbed by that urge to write, to create a story to amuse and entertain myself. Because the act of writing is a powerful and at times pleasurable thing. It is satisfying to create a story for myself. I started thinking about literary mashups and so forth.

Why would a picture of a vintage book jacket stir me to want to write something, anything? I have no idea--and that is the mystery of creativity.

and this I snitched off the internet

I No Speaka the Language

Do you ever notice the dreadful portrayals of immigrants in some of those 40s and 50s films? (If you think progress hasn't been made, just watch an old movie once in a while.)

Anyway, I had a little run-in with Amazon this week, but I'm actually excited about it because it forced me to climb out of my comfortable box (er, not literally, but that time might be coming) and consider new publishing possibilities. I have no idea how this will turn out, but one thing I've learned is you can't be afraid to try new things when it comes to your publishing career. Sometimes you have to take that leap of faith.

Here's the situation. I got one of those nastygrams from "Logan" at Amazon alerting me that Antico Veleno (Terreno Pericoloso Vol. 2) (Italian Edition) (ID: B00M4P6WBA) is listed on Amazon.it at EUR 2.99 and at EUR 2.89 on Lafeltrinelli-IT!

And of course the penalty for this is DEATH!!!!!!

Okay, no. But the penalty is you have to lower the Amazon price or raise the other price so that Amazon is never higher than a competitor OR potentially face the penultimate punishment which is Amazon can remove all your titles.

The problem is that I never listed a title at Lafeltrinelli-IT and can't control their pricing -- in fact, I'm not even sure it's a real site. It could be a pirate site or a portal to other vendors or who knows what. Again, I don't have an account there, which leaves me with the sole option of lowering the Amazon price.

Now you might think to yourself, it's only a dime, what's the big deal? But it's a little more complicated because first of all, well, the ruthless arrogance of Amazon is pretty damned offensive. It never fails to appall me. Secondly, that drop knocks the royalty rate from 70% to 35%. And thirdly, Amazon already charges something called a delivery fee, which lowers author earnings roughly about 4% on average.

(And yeah, again, it's just a few cents at a time, but stop for a second. Imagine if your employer arbitrarily decided to give you an ANY % pay decrease simply as a cost of doing business?)

But that IS the cost of doing business at Amazon and we (me) don't tend to really think about it, but 4% is still real live money and I'm still a real live writer trying to earn a real live living off my work.

Therefore I tried to, you know, communicate with the Borg Zon. I tried to point out that I don't have any way of controlling a site I'm not affiliated with, and that it might not be a legit site to start with -- is Amazon telling me that I would have to price match a pirate site?

The long and the short of it is yes. That is exactly what Amazon is telling me. Price match or face the consequences this is a recording.

Which seems kind of...well, at the very least unjust, doesn't it?

So I was in the process of escalating the argument (knowing full well it was an utter waste of time and energy) when I suddenly thought hold your horses.  Because...other vendors sell to foreign lands...I sell a surprising number of Italian titles through Kobo and I've been meaning to escalate my presence and promo efforts at iBooks (which sells to 51 countries versus Amazon's measly 12) and these other companies don't charge "delivery fees" and do pay higher royalties in most cases, and I hate Amazon's monopoly of publishing (including their insistence on exclusivity), so here is a way to begin to loosen Amazon's stranglehold on my own career, without seriously endangering my finances.

And the more I think about this, the more excited I am.

What if I just remove my self-published foreign language digital titles from Amazon?

YOU CAN'T FIRE ME. I QUIT!

But seriously. I'm sure I'll take a financial hit and there will be a big learning curve--and it will be inconvenient to my existing readers--but there are potential long term benefits that WAY out weigh the short term losses.

And to me this is what being a successful entrepreneur is all about. You have to be willing to leave the path. You have to be willing to take risks. And you have to be willing to put your money where your mouth is, i.e. invest in new strategies.

So that was my week. How was yours?

Happy...Memorial Day?

I was going to write a quick hey-there-have-a-great-long-weekend! post when I remembered what we're celebrating on Memorial Day.

The ultimate sacrifice.

The sacrifice of a life for a cause. Some of those causes have been more noble than others, but that's not the real point. The real point is that brave men and women died to uphold whatever cause their country deemed worth dying for.

We have been at war on multiple fronts for over fifteen years. My youngest nephew has never known a time this country was not at war. How can that be? But so it is.

I've been following a debate in the news as to whether young women should have to register for the draft. My dismay is not that women would serve in combat--nor that we still have a draft that we could reanimate at a moment's notice--it's that so many of our lawmakers can consider with equanimity the likelihood of still another impending conflict, one where we'd have to draft every remaining kid.

But I don't want to be a big downer for those of you about to reap the reward of a much-deserved three day weekend. It's just...the original heading of this post was Got Plans? And I couldn't help thinking that...so did all those people whose sacrifice we're acknowledging come Monday.

Humans = strife and strife = war. I think war is part of the human condition. We're an early planet, relatively speaking, and conflict is in our genes. But the least we can do is take a few moments to consider what all those global "conflicts" mean--and that the price is more than a few hot dogs and hamburgers sizzling away on a grill.

In Golden Days of Yore -- And a Free Audio Book!

I think a writing career was easier back in the day when none of us expected to be successful.

I read a heartfelt post yesterday by a talented and hardworking author who confessed to feeling like a failure because he hasn't had the success he pictured. I'm not sure what he pictured...being able to support himself at writing fiction? But back in the day, we used to consider ourselves successful if we managed to get published at all. And if someone read us, corresponded with us? Good heavens! We had MADE it.

Now days writers expect to earn a living at writing. Even though all data indicates earnings for writers are dropping (am I the ONLY person in this genre who reads those Author Guild updates?!) people are so certain that earning a living penning fiction is a reasonable expectation, they feel like they have failed when they can't do it.

If you're doing what you love, if your endeavors bring you satisfaction and happiness, you're not a failure.

You know what failing is? Allowing others to define you--and your concept of success. Not making time to do the things that you love and you find meaningful. Neglecting the real live people in your life because you're so focused on this goal of "success."

Anyway. This pressure to succeed is a creativity killer. Not to mention a real downer in my newsfeed.

I'M KIDDING. TRYING TO INTERJECT A LITTLE HUMOR INTO THE FUNEREAL PROCEEDINGS, OKAY?

So. It's been about three weeks since I pulled the plug--No! I'm just postponing, taking a breather--on the last project. And true to my word, I've been focusing on my long-term game plan because, as previously mentioned, cranking out a new book every 90-120 days is not sustainable.

Or rather, not sustainable for me. Your mileage (and readership and earnings) may vary.

I'm in the midst of taking a number of online courses dealing with promotion and blah-blah-blah. No, I shouldn't say that because first of all, I LOVE learning new stuff--and these are all great courses--and I feel kind of accomplished because I'm getting stuff done. Stuff that needed to be dealt with.

What kind of stuff? Well, right now I'm focused on translations and getting more stories into print. Neither of these are big money makers, but as I've said elsewhere, maybe they'll pay for my food stamps in my old age.

Speaking of...well, nothing previously mentioned, but I need a segue... would you like to take an online course from me on writing mysteries? I mean, I'm not Robert Crais or James Patterson, but I know a thing or two about writing mysteries -- for niche and for mainstream publishers...and making a fairly decent living at it. I've got the credentials and I've got plenty of experience in teaching. So...maybe. Is there interest in such an enterprise?

Anyway, that's where I'm at. I'm taking professional development courses and toying with ideas for the future that don't involve me cranking out books like an aspiring data entry clerk trying to beat the clock.

Oh! I finally--how many years has it been--figured out how to use Mailchimp. I have just under two thousand subscribers on my regular list, and that's a nice beginning, but I've started up what I am going to curate as a VIP or premium list. This will have monthly chitter-chatter and more about what's happening in general versus the quarterly updates on what's new to buy. It will have more freebies and giveaways and books for review and that sort of thing.

That list can be joined here. (You'll notice there's a very cool and exclusive giveaway for my VIPS.)

I'm not saying that I won't be returning to social media, but... well, we'll see. If the past few months have proved anything, it's that the big attraction for most of you is very simply the books. The stories. The characters and their journey. And that is exactly the way I want it. The way it should be.

So happy reading! And...I'll be in touch.



 

  

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Writing My Next Book

Yesterday was the one-year anniversary of signing the final docs on our current home.

I bring that up because I believe it's kind of relevant to what's going on in that shiny, spinny little orb I call my brain.

The SO and I celebrated with Chinese food (we finally have a good Chinese restaurant--well, take out--place again!) and good wine and Curse of the Jade Scorpion (which is one of our favorite Woody Allen flicks). It was a quiet, happy evening in our still-feels-new home. Lovely.

I fell asleep at nine o'clock, which is late for me these days. At the beginning of April, I came down with the flu (one of those respiratory things) and I haven't really felt 100% since. I was flat out sick for three weeks and the exhaustion has persisted. For a while I was going to bed at eight at night and sleeping until eight or nine in the morning. Which is unheard of for me. My natural waking time is 5:30-6:00ish even on vacation. I was craving naps in the afternoon. Even green juice --my never fail cure all -- didn't help a lot.

I was -- and am -- exhausted.

And of course I have a book due. Because that's how it works in publishing these days. I write for my bread and butter and I ALWAYS have a book due. Of. Course.

Initially I wasn't concerned because the book was largely outlined and based on my own trip to Scotland (well, minus the murder and mayhem). It's a cozy mystery, and that's a genre I know very well indeed. It was fun reliving my own trip and listening to my favorite folk music and watching documentaries on the auld country...but then I got sick and fell behind and the Dark Thoughts Came.

The darkest thought was the most obvious one: hurtling at full speed down a never-ending highway is not actually a strategy. What is my strategy? Do I have a plan for the future?

Yada yada yada.

By week three, I knew that well or not, ready or not, I had to begin writing again.

And...I couldn't do it. I was falling asleep at ten in the morning. I was falling asleep at my keyboard. Hm. But that made sense because I was still coughing, still recovering, still obviously a bit under the weather. Not to worry, Camille. We can fix it in post.

I couldn't help noticing however that when I woke in the morning, even before I opened my eyes, I was filled with a sense of anxiety. Depression. Something close to dread. A feeling that was vaguely familiar.

Where did I know that feeling from?

Oh yeah. Five years ago when I burned out.

Gulp.

I hadn't even noticed I was off the map and here I was teetering on the edge of the abyss again. I'm not burned out--I loved every minute of writing The Mermaid Murders and A Case of Christmas. But I'm close. Way too close to that edge.

The last time it happened was simply a matter of writing myself to a standstill. Fourteen stories in one year, including four novels--two of them to mainstream publishers. That'll do it to you. This time it was different. This time it was getting sick and having time to think...and while I highly recommend thinking on a regular, even daily basis, it forced me to realize a number of things I had been too busy writing to really consider.

Like the fact that I had not had time to deal with the business side of my writing career since Summer 2014.

A writing career is not just about selling your writing. But that's what mine has been for the past couple of years. In 12 months I've written three novels, a novella and a short story. I moved house. I went to Scotland. We had a dramatic REVEAL. And a slew of other stuff happened too. And while I can hire someone to answer emails and send books for review, I can't hire someone to plan the rest of my life, or even the rest of my career for me, and that's sort of what has to happen. It has to be me and it has to be now.

Also I had to realize that I've fallen back into the habit of overcommitting. It is so damned hard for me to say no, to disappoint people. But if you overcommit, you risk failing and disappointing them anyway, so sometimes no really is the best answer for everyone.

 On the bright side of all this is the fact that I realized in time what was happening to me. I actually listened to what my body and brain were trying to tell me. The message is STOP. It's not conducive to short term success or financial security, but that's the message and I'm heeding it. Okay, maybe a little belatedly, but I am listening. I can hear perfectly well when I'm upside down.

So that's where we are right now. I'm taking a break from pretty much everything while I break up the engine and examine all the parts. I'm considering a number of plans and projects and I'll be sharing those here...and maybe on social media. I'll be asking for your input and thoughts as well.

Even if I'm a bit scarce for a while, you know me, I get in these chatty moods and next thing you know I'm blabbing away everywhere. What I'm trying to say is don't be alarmed if I go off the grid for a bit. And while I may juggle a few projects, I'm not cancelling anything. Next year will still be almost exclusively devoted to sequels and series books as promised, starting with The Monet Murders in the early winter.