Continue reading »]]> Branding is tricky. Advertising specialists spend months, if not years, testing out different logos, tag lines, colors, and fonts on focus groups and company executives. My son came up with the new colors I’m using for my website in about five minutes. All right, maybe ten. With me standing over his shoulder saying, “hmmm, maybe a touch darker? No, lighter.” He fiddles with the slider testing out variations of the shade, fools with the placement of the little dot, nudging toward the bluer end of purple, slipping the pink closer to purple. And voila! I’ve got new colors. Colors that were made just for me.  We quickly jot down the exact red/green/blue numbers so that they are not lost forever.

I disappear back to my work, while he (home from college with little to do until he can find a summer job) fools around some more, finding the right picture, putting it at just the right angle with the right cropping, before calling me back up to his bedroom to pick among a few fonts that he’s chosen. Within an hour of proposing that my son might be able to help me design a new banner for my website, I’ve got colors and a logo, which I may live with for the next few years of my professional life, if not longer. It goes not only on my website banner, but on Facebook, my stationary and business cards. Now a purple quill pen in a square pot of ink will say to people Meredith Bond.

Is this me? I guess so. I’ve asked a few friends and my discerning husband. They all love it. I haven’t decided if I love it. I certainly like it. I love quill pens, both aesthetically, and, oddly enough, to write with. I love fountain pens better, but the quill is graceful and elegant. It says old world. It says classic. And it has a touch of magic to it as well. So, yeah, maybe it is me. I certainly like the messages it sends.

What do you think? Is it me?

Before I let you go, I would be seriously falling down on the job if I didn’t remind you all that this coming Wednesday through Friday is the Beach Book Blast where you can get the books of fifteen authors (!!!) for free (like mine) or for a reduced price. You have got to check this out, it’s a great way to load up on your summer reading for very little money! You can like us on Facebook (click here) or check out our website (click here) and register to win a Kindle Fire!!! How cool is that?

Continue reading »]]> When you go to the supermarket, do you shop the sales, or do you buy by brand? If you need a shirt, do you first look to see if it’s on sale somewhere, or do you just go out to your favorite store and buy what you need regardless of the price? If you’re like me, and I imagine, a lot of people are, you first check for sales.

If this is the case, why would anyone ever spend money buying ebooks? There are so many free ones out there in probably the exact genre that you want to read, so why buy a Sherrilyn Kenyon for $7.99 when you can get another paranormal romance from a new author for free? Ok, maybe you love the world Kenyon has created and are dying to find out what happened to Nick, that’s valid. But while you’re at Amazon shelling out all that money for the Kenyon, why not also download a few other books for free? Maybe you’ll discover a new author.

But would you spend money — anywhere from .99 to $2.99 or higher — on an unknown indie author? Maybe not. Millions of people don’t anymore. They don’t have to. Those authors are giving away their books for free. What does that do to all those indie authors who want to get paid for their hard work? Are they going to be able to sell their books if so many other authors are giving their work away?

I certainly can’t take the high road here — I gave away over 1800 copies of Magic In The Storm this past weekend and I’m going to be giving away (hopefully) a lot more on the 23^rd and 24^th of May. Why? Why am I willing to give away my work and potentially make it so that another author may not sell her book?

I do so with the hope that a number of people who downloaded my book will a) write great reviews about it on Amazon so that others do buy it and b) so that when I come out with my next book, they’ll remember my name and make it an automatic buy.

Is this a bad thing for the market? Maybe. Am I, therefore, not going to do it? No.

I am going to offer my book for free because the reason why I write is to add joy to their lives. Yes, I want to get paid for my work, but even more importantly, I want to transport people into this world that I’ve worked very hard to create, and I want them to dwell there, happily, for a few hours. That’s why I write.

I have no desire to take away another author’s sale, or even my own. But I do want to establish my brand. I do want people to associate my name with good writing and a good read. If I have to give away my work for a few days to achieve that, then I’m going to do it.

What do you think? Are we killing our own market by giving away our work or are we being good business people?

Continue reading »]]> It astounds me how wonderful people can be — and how supportive.

I joined a group of writers called the Writer’s Guide to E-Publishing (WG2E) Street Team a little while ago. These people (none of whom have I ever met in person) are the most supportive group of writers I’ve met outside of the Washington Romance Writers.

I’ve been told that the WRW is unusually supportive, but I’m beginning to think that maybe they’re not. That maybe writers are just fabulous people who are out there to support one-another. Am I naïve? I hope not.

The WG2E Street team is always tweeting and posting on Facebook to promote each other’s work. We give encouragement when it’s needed and lots of kudos on successes. We help each other out on everything from beta reading (it’s where I found my fabulous beta reader) to social networking (how to tweet and use twitter to your advantage).

And now, a bunch of us from the WG2E Street Team are getting together to hold a really fun “event” — we’re calling it “Beach Book Blast”. Eight of us are going to be offering our books free or at a greatly reduced price May 23^rd through 25^th (Magic In The Storm will be free on the 23^rd and 24^th because I’m also going to make it free on May 11^th and 12^th to celebrate my birthday <g>).  We’ve put together a website (click here) to give anyone interested more information and we’ve got a Facebook page (click here).

Eight books and short stories. All different genres from paranormal romance to inspirational mysteries! You have got to check this out — as I said, it’s Amazing!

Continue reading »]]> Wow, another fabulous WRW retreat is over. Just like that, in the blink of an….zzzzzzzz….. ok, well, maybe my eyes didn’t stay closed for long enough this past weekend, but I sure did have a great time.

Somehow, this year I didn’t hear as many terrific talks as I usually do — I think I was pitching my work and then talking with Joyce Lamb through one of the talks I had wanted to attend. The good part is that I have been given the opportunity to send my work to an agent (always a Good Thing), and Joyce has promised to interview me for her amazing blog, Happily Ever After, at USA Today, (I’m so psyched!!!).  I did, however, attend a few wonderful talks.

Kathy Gilles Seidel always gives a thoughtful talk at the retreat, and this year she was joined by Pam Regis, author of “A Natural History of the Romance Novel.” The talk was about the ritual death, aka black moment, in the romance novel, but I don’t see why what they said can’t be applied to any genre fiction. What they said really got me thinking, not actually so much about the black moment of my books, but about what they called the “markers” of ritual death — the foreshadowing of the ritual death, the lead up to the ritual death and the imagery that is used in these markers as well as in the black moment itself. This can be imagery of winter, of falling, darkness, being restrained, sadness or even depression. Using these words and imagery — and repeatedly, for we all know that you need to use something like this a number of times to really make it smack the reader upside their head — to build up to the ritual death andmake that moment in the book all the more powerful. So you know what I’m going to be working on this week in my WIP!

I also attended a very good talk by Jill Marsal of the Marsal Lyon Literary Agency, who spoke on the state of the publishing market right now — tons of great information I can’t wait to share with my next publishing class!  Although I still find it amusing that all of the agents and editors at the retreat said over and over again, “Don’t follow the trends! Write a book you are passionate about. Write a book that will blow me away and I’ll buy it (from the editors)/sell it (from the agents) no matter what genre it is. But, these are the trends we are seeing currently….” and then they’d tell us. Why tell us if it doesn’t matter? Aren’t they just perpetuating the idea that we should write to these trends? It leaves me kind of scratching my head.

And, finally, there was Robyn Carr who gave the key note speech on Saturday night that literally had some people in tears — good tears! Tears of agreement. Tears saying yes, we know it’s hard; yes, this business sucks and if we could stop writing we would, but we can’t — we just can’t stop the voices, stop the characters who need their stories told, stop their nagging. Personally, it’s not the voices that are nagging at me, but the ideas. I have so many ideas for stories that sometimes I think I’m just going to explode if I don’t write them down. So, I write, which leads to too many other things which just reinforces what a dreadful, difficult business publishing is. As Robyn said, she wrote some of her best books after she quit. Well, naturally, she may have quit, and I think she said she did so a number of times, but you know she always came back — she had to.

However, Robyn did leave us with some inspiring thoughts, with which I will leave you this week:

“Ninety percent of being successful is working hard, showing up on time, and being nice to others.”

She told us to “write earnestly, honestly and fearlessly every single day.” And that, I think is the best advice I’ve heard in a long time.

Now, finally to sleep, for tomorrow I get back work, back to getting out that story that must be told and making it the best damn story I can write.

Continue reading »]]>      We’re getting there!! Slowly, but surely. 

Notice anything strange here?

Yup, I’ve lost about two months worth of blogs! It’s all my fault, I tried to do some fancy coding and messed it up. I’ll get them put back up (happily, I keep copies of all my blogs on my computer).

I’m also working today with my fabulous friend who is going to help me make this look great. So, keep watching!   An update will be posted tonight (tomorrow morning at the latest!).

Thanks for your patience!

Merry

Continue reading »]]> I’ve been asked a number of times this week why I don’t separate the publishing course I teach into one on how to get traditionally published and one on how to get self-published.  There’s a very simple answer to that — I don’t believe we should completely dismiss the traditional publishing market. Yes, we live in quickly changing times, where writers have so many more possibilities. There is this wonderful new kind of magic with which we can publish our own work, but as with any magic, there is a price that must be paid in order to use it.

Traditional publishers are still the only game for millions of readers — readers who want to feel a physical book in their hands; readers who enjoy the sound of a page turning and who don’t want to lose that special relationship that we have with a physical book. They want to walk into a book store, browse and walk out with something they can’t wait to delve into. And they’re not interested in downloading it to their Kindle, Nook or iPad, because many of them don’t own one. These readers should not be dismissed or forgotten about, which is exactly what writers who completely ignore traditional publishing without even giving it a try are doing.

The people I teach are not only writers, they are brand-spanking-new writers. Some of them who take my course haven’t even finished their books yet. Heck, some of them haven’t even begun. They’re taking the course because they want to see what is ahead of them at the end of that long road of writing. So, should I tell them that it’s ok to write their book and slap it up on Amazon and see what happens? No, a hundred times no.

I have no idea if their book is going to be any good and neither do they. It is the people who write whatever and throw it out there that muddy up the marketplace for the rest of us who work ourselves to the bone — working on craft, editing, rewriting, editing again and again and again and then sending our work out not only to editors, but beta readers as well. We who take our work seriously, who call ourselves professional writers and take pride in our work.

Now, I’m not saying that there may not be a gem among those who haven’t even written page one of their books. They may have that innate talent that put the rest of us to shame. But they may not, and it doesn’t help the rest of us when they put their garbage up for sale next to our slogged over manuscripts.

So, I tell my students and the administrators that if they want to be a professional writer, they have to try the professional route first. Write the book. Edit it and make it as perfect as they can get it. Then, write the synopsis and a fabulous query letter and send it to 15, 25 or 50 agents and editors. At the very least, they will get feedback telling them what they need to work on to make their book publishable. And in the best case scenario, they’ll get a publishing contract. Then, I tell them, if all else fails, self-publish and be proud of what you’ve produced. Be proud to put your hard work out there to be judged by readers who have embraced this new technology and who can’t live without their e-readers. Pay the price for the magic, and you will be given all the power you so richly deserve.

Continue reading »]]> I’ve been asked to put together a course for very beginning writers to teach them how to get started writing and how to organize themselves. I thought of a four class course: Day 1) Organize your space and time; Day 2) Organize your thoughts on paper; Day 3) Organize your thoughts virtually; Day 4) Organize your writing.

So, on the first day of the course, I want to discuss where people write, and how they find the time to fit writing into an already busy life. This is my desk:

As you can see, it’s not very organized. I’ve got a pile of stuff on my left (all related to my writing), I’ve got a pile of folders behind that (all related to my teaching), and I’ve got a pile of stuff on my right (all related to my household expenses and miscellaneous stuff). This is organized, but not the uncluttered space that you would expect to be needed for creativity. And yet, it works for me. I’ve got my computer at eye level and my keyboard on a keyboard drawer at just the right height, so I’m completely ergonomic. And my desk is in our home office, which is only used by me for most of the day (when my children are home, they’re hidden away, upstairs in their rooms at the opposite end of the house where I don’t hear them). This works for me.

So, where do write? Do you have a desk? Do you sit in a comfy chair? Do you use a laptop or do you write on paper? I would love to know so that I can give my students options. There isn’t one right way to do it. What works best for you?

Continue reading »]]> The crisis, the point of no return, the middle of the book, whatever you want to call it — that’s where I am now in my WIP (work in progress). I’m writing the third book in my YA trilogy, The Children of Avalon. I’m really looking forward to getting the series finished — it’s something I’ve been working on for over two years now, maybe three? Actually, that’s not a lot of time, considering I’ve written two books and am half-way finished the third. And in between writing the first two books, I started a completely different book (and when I say completely different, I’m talking women’s fiction/mystery with a paranormal element. I’m talking a book so strange, I had to stop writing it to figure out just what it was that I was writing. But that’s a whole other blog post!).

So, this book that I’m writing is called Fire. Yes, the first was Air; the second is Water; and this one is Fire. They each have a subtitle which explains a little more (Merlin’s Chalice, Excalibur’s Return and Nimuë’s Destiny, in order.) And each of the elements relate to one of the protagonists (there are three, one main one for each book). I love this trilogy. I think it’s loads of fun. Very light. Not a lot of thinking involved. Not a heavy moral, although there is a deeper thing each kid is looking for or striving toward in each book, but I don’t think I smash my reader over the head with it — at least, I try not to.

But I’ve reached the middle, which means that it’s time for me to stop and figure out what I’ve got and where I’m going with this baby. Yes, I’ve started the book twice. The first time was boring and nothing very exciting happened. I realized this about a quarter of the way through, so I stopped then and rewrote the beginning to include a fight scene which essentially changed the whole first quarter of the book — for the better! I was happy with it, despite the fact that it meant I needed to rework everything I’d already written. But that’s ok. I’m totally fine with that as long as it makes the book better, and I’m convinced it did. But now I’m in the middle and looking toward the end.

And I’m looking at my word count.

31,600 (120 pages) including the big fight scene right at that 50% mark. That’s not going to be a long book. Sigh. Why do I always do this to myself? And it’s always at this point in the book that I stop and realize that what I’ve got, while not bad, is not going to be nearly long enough?

Only with Magic In The Storm, have I ever written a book that was a long as it was supposed to be. Somehow that book came in too long and I ended up cutting stuff and it’s still over 100,000 words (over 400 pages)! But I just couldn’t cut any more out of it without taking out big chunks of the story, which I felt were essential.

But Fire. It’s short! What am I going to do? Yes, after reading through it, I realize that I’ve forgotten to put in a subplot which has been running through the first two books, but that’s going to be maybe a scene? A few sentences here, a look and a giggle there (yes, it’s a romance subplot, but not involving the heroine of the book). And I need to make a secondary character less secondary and more fully developed — he’s the heroine’s love interest, even though he’s not a major character. But even that won’t add a lot of words.

So here I am stuck in the middle. I have already completely trashed the second half of the book as I’d planned it out before I started writing (I plan out everything before I start to write), and figured out a whole new second half (except the very ending, that’s staying the same — but that I’ve had planned out ever since I conceived of the trilogy, oh, so many years ago). But what am I going to do — just writ a short book? What do you think?

Continue reading »]]> There was a fascinating article in the NY Times on the 17^th of March all about how our brains react to fiction. Called “Your Brain on Fiction”, the article explains how our brains react to the different descriptions we use in our writing. The best example the author, Annie Murphy Paul, used was the difference between “he had strong hands”, which apparently does nothing for us, and “he had leathery hands” which immediately lights up the sensory part of our brains.

Using words that not only describe how something is or generally what it looks like, but invokes a sense really spikes a reaction. So while I could have written “it was really hot” in the beginning of Magic In The Storm, I have “heat swirled around them, threatening to burst into flames”. Instead of “she cried”, I’ve got “barely keeping the tears from her voice”. More evocative. More sensory.

So many times we’ve been told to use the five senses in our writing. Now we’ve got empirical, hard facts proving to us just how important this is.

What I find so fascinating about this, aside from all the really cool stuff neuroscientists are doing now, is that they say reading a story which sparks the senses in our brains is as exciting to us as experiencing these things in real life. We get that movie playing in our heads, we experience the highs and lows our characters are going through, we “see” what they see, “feel” what they feel. We get a complete experience just from diving in between the pages of a book. Can you get any better than this?

As a writer who works hard on that deep point of view, on making that experience as real and exciting as possible, I don’t think anything could be more exciting than this. Is evocative writing easy? No way! It takes writing and then rewriting and then editing and then rewriting some more to create that experience, but in the end, it’s so worth it. So get out there, people, and spark some neurons!