Episode 26

Stereotypical Behavior

We stereotype every day all the time. One glance and I already know all about you — it’s called stereotypes. We have a great deal of information to process on a minute-by-minute basis, and as humans we often create quick categories to drop people into just to make the day a little easier. That is normal and fine, as long as it stays in your head or in a journal entry. Once you begin describing people on paper, more work and research is required.

A woman in the Chanel suit alights from the Lexus SUV in front of Saks Fifth Avenue.
What do you think about her? Is she a good person? Is she someone with whom you can be friends?

Stereotypes work in our heads, they do not work in fiction, non-fiction or God help you, business or marketing. Many stereotypes come from assumptions based on your own local experiences either from direct contact or assumptions passed down from family and neighbors. Assumptions based on “the members of this group always behave this way” or “the members of that group always look that way.” “Those people” — an especially nasty phrase when uttered by a political candidate — can be of a different nationality, creed, color or just shop at a different store. (By the way, does anyone know what is “different creed?” Is it a bad credo that rhymes with Speedo?) You already know about the perils of judging a person by the color of their skin, got that. The new challenge in stereotypes is assumptions about a person’s socioeconomic and job status. Can we discern to a great extent, what a person is like and what their socioeconomic background is just by looking at their clothes, car and hair? Sometimes we can — and sometimes our assumptions meet with dismal failure.

The boy wearing sandals and an old Burning Man tee shirt, what kind of person is he? He could be here to deliver the mail or he could exist solely for
comic relief. Nope. He is actually the CEO of a start-up company. The woman dressed like a bag lady? Nope, she is not here to get her com-
plimentary bag of food from the food bank; she is a famous author notorious for resembling a bag lady.

People do wear uniforms to help others discern who they are and what they can do for you, while they wear that uniform — firefighters, police officers, store clerks, maintenance workers, cowboys, tour guides. But many don’t. Socially we are better at pushing past stereotypes, in writing it takes a bit
more consciousness.

Dolly Parton was once asked if all those blond jokes insulted her. “They would,” she replied. “If I were a real blond.”

Prompt:

Write about a place you’ve never been to. Don’t research the place first. Pick a location and write a fictional or even non-fictionesque (totally not a word but it sounds good) style story about this place. Maybe do some research after and compare! See how close, or how far off you really were.

Bring Our Your Dead:

Dee Solberg: http://ramble-inn.blogspot.com.au/2012/02/angus-and-lilly-2-revised.html

Angus and Lilly 2-revised

Angus was lying naked, bruised, and bleeding in a ditch the first time I saw him.  His emaciated, huddled form lay beneath the rags the angry mobs had left him in and he shivered violently.  With the cart stopped, I slowly approached him.  Anyone else would have left him there because the mobs were downright deadly.

If I were anyone else, they would mount our heads on a spike.  I am safe though.  I run the last boarding house and  a supply stop before pilgrims embark on their journey to the Promised Lands.  Angus flinched and cowered as I slowly, cautiously approached.  It was obvious by his build that he was a former ‘clysm war soldier.  It was the only reason a mob would have been out for his blood.  I started talking to him soft and low, as if coaxing an abused stray.

“I’m not here to hurt you.  I’m trying to save you,” I told him softly.  My voice rasped over the tears clogging my throat.

“You’re risking your life, just leave me, I’m broken.”

“I’m a coward.  No one will hurt me, or there will be no final outpost before the Promised Lands.”

“Why help me?  I’m a ‘clysm soldier!”

“I was part of the med team that discovered the government’s drug induced treachery regarding your team.  I know you are innocent of intent; that you didn’t know they pumped you full of a drug that destabilized you.  I’m helping you in hopes maybe you will decide to help me at the boarding house when you’ve healed.”

He looked at me for a moment as though judging my intent though never met my gaze, “I’ll need help getting into that cart.” Then Angus rose, half stumbled into my arms, and snuck into my heart.

Word of the week

DWILE FLONKING

When summer comes or charity fund-raising is involved, English pub games often veer from mere eccentricity towards total lunacy. These are the days of marrow dangling, passing the splod, Portuguese sardine racing, conger cuddling, rhubarb thrashing, and dwile flonking.

The game is officially played by two teams of twelve players, though there is great flexibility in numbers (the terminology and rules also vary from place to place). The fielding team gathers in a circle, called a girter, enclosing a member of the other team, the flonker. He holds a broom handle (usually called the driveller), on top of which is a beer-soaked rag, the dwile or dwyle.

At a signal, the girter dances around the flonker in a circle. He must flick (or flonk) the dwile with the driveller so it hits a girter team member. His score depends on which part of the body he hits — the usual scoring is three points for a hit on the head (a wanton), two for a hit on the body, (a marther), and just one for a leg strike (a ripple). If after two shots the flonker hasn’t scored he is swadged, or potted, which means he has to drink a quantity of beer from a chamber pot within a given time. After all the members of one team have flonked, the other team is put in. The winner is the team with the most points after two innings, usually the one with more members still upright.

Shout Outs:

Ash and Chris- A big congratulations on their wedding.

Episode 25
Newbie Writer’s Podcast

The Urban Myth Jungle

Urban legends?

They are important to writers in two ways:
One, to use them to your advantage, create a rift on an urban legend and create a whole new work.
Two, to know them is to not mistake them for the truth and foolishly report the legends at fact.

Urban legends are fascinating; they are the folktales of our modern culture.
Unlike fiction or a comic story, which must have a plausible framework to
create the story and to give it structure, an urban legend creates framework
by insisting the story is true. I know a woman who is the aunt of a boy who
went to school with me. This is pedigree enough, and the teller launches into
the story of:
The woman (the aunt of a boy who went to school with me) who dried out
her poodle in the microwave.
Or the uncle who woke up in Vegas in a bathtub of ice and one less kidney.

You know these stories, you hand them around during a break at a conference
or as a way to start a conversation with a group of strangers at a party.
There is nothing wrong with passing along a “fabulously-true-because-you-
heard-it-from-someone-who-knows” story, but be more careful in writing these
down, or citing the stories as “fact” in a school or business paper. And also
know that in a good fictional story, the situation and resolution must make
more sense than the “true” urban legend ever did.

Bring out your dead

Dianne Solberg mums piece. Patti Gray Wolf

She awoke with a start, not sure of where she was. Curled into a ball on the damp ground, she shivered. Cold had settled into her bones and her whole body ached, but that didn’t matter. Pain had been a part of her life from her earliest memories, after her mama died. She felt the stinging bites of insects, but didn’t bother to brush them off her skin.
Pushing up to a sitting position, she stilled her breathing and listened. Was he out there looking for her? Probably so, seeing as how, when he wanted her, he always came for her late in the evening and took her to his place until late the next morning. Soon as he saw she was gone, he’d be out the door looking for her. So would Pa. Goose pimples prickled her body, and her stomach cramped. She tried to pray, but her fear whirled around in her head leaving her dizzy.
Struggling to stand, she realized she was clutching the chain that ran between the shackles on her ankles. It hurt something awful where they cut into her flesh. If she could just get rid of the things, she wouldn’t be slowed down so much, but Pa’d made sure they were locked on good and tight.
Which way out? Pa’s was back up the hollar and past the old Hyde place, but she knew better than to go home again. She had to be careful not to get herself turned around in the dark and end up back at the farm. These woods weren’t familiar to her, but she knew he and Pa knew them like the back of their hand. Got to get out of here. Got to get away.  Somebody had to stop him before he hurt . . . What was that noise?
Suddenly a heavy weight slammed into her pressing down on her chest, pinning her to the damp earth. She felt her head smash against a rock, felt a warm wetness ooze down her scalp and quickly, numbness moved up her body. Unconsciousness was coming. She’d felt it–welcomed it–too many times before, that fading away into darkness. But, not now! She had to get out–
She had to find her baby.

Word of the Week

Bloviate:

This word — meaning to speak pompously — is almost entirely restricted to the United States; it doesn’t appear in any of my British English dictionaries, not even the big Oxford English Dictionary or the very recent New Oxford Dictionary of English. Yet it has a long history.

It’s most closely associated with U S President Warren Gamaliel Harding, who used it a lot and who was by all accounts the classic example of somebody who orates verbosely and windily. It’s a compound of blow, in its sense of “to boast” (also in another typical Americanism, blowhard), with a mock-Latin ending to give it the self-important stature that’s implicit in its meaning.

The word is actually much older than Harding; Fred Shapiro of the Yale Law School has recently turned up several examples from the middle of the last century, such as this one from the Debates and Proceedings of the Convention for the Revision of the Constitution of the State of Ohio in 1851: “The bloviators attempt to disturb the proceedings of this Convention”. This and other examples suggest it was at first a local word in Ohio, Harding’s home state. Bloviate may be a back-formation from the noun bloviation. This would fit with the US fashion in the early nineteenth century for expansive mock-Latinate words like sockdolager, hornswoggle and absquatulate.

There’s a gap in the citation record in the middle years of this century. The word only began to be used again in the 1960s, even then at first always in reference to Harding. This may be linked with a number of biographies of him that appeared about that time. The word only returned to any sort of regular use in the nineties.

Prompt  

Have you ever not said something and were later glad you didn’t?
Write about the times you wished you kept your mouth shut.
If you need to increase the tension in a fiction  chapter or lift a sagging story line, allow your  character to blurt out some inconvenient truth to the wrong person.  It will keep things lively.
Ever do that yourself?
Happy Writing!

Shout Outs:

Philippe Perez- @p_perez
Han Girl @han_grrl www.girlwandering.blog.com

Something was wrong. It was like an irritating itch I couldn’t scratch, preventing me driving the story forward. And then I realised. One of my principle character’s names wasn’t right.

Our characters’ names are important – they define them in our mind, form the basis of the many layers it takes to build them, making them feel real.

When writing An Unfamiliar Murder, I opted for a combination of traditional and conventional for my lead, DCI Helen Lavery. This mix defines Helen: a strong, independent woman with a passion that pushes her to go that extra mile, occasionally adopting unorthodox methods to make a difference, to keep us safe. Yet, she is also a mother, juggling the challenge of single parenting teenage sons with managing one of the most responsible and demanding jobs in the police force.

In the sequel, the point of view fluctuates. We follow the police investigation through Helen’s eyes, and the rest of the story through another female protagonist. The latter is the name that was troubling me. When I first picked it, it seemed right, but as her character developed it became obvious that it didn’t fit at all.

I considered other character names that remain with me, long after I finished the book/series:

‘Professor James Moriarty’         –              Sherlock Holmes novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

‘Lincoln Rhyme’                                –              Jeffery Deaver’s The Empty Chair et al/Lincoln Rhyme series.

‘Temple Gault’                                  –              Patricia Cornwell’s Dr Kay Scarpetta series.

‘Heathcliffe’                                       –              Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights

‘Granny (Esme) Weatherwax’    –              Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.

An eclectic mix. And this is just a quick brainstorm. I’m sure I could easily come up with others.

So, what makes a strong, memorable name? As always, there is an element of subjectivity in our perception. Our brains often link the words in our memory, relating it to someone we once knew, colouring our judgement. Sometimes a name can fit like the perfect glove, and then, as the character develops the glove gets loose, worn at the ends, and slips off.

Choosing names isn’t easy – I always feel obliged to research them – to ensure that they aren’t linked with a major a case in the past, or claimed by a famous actor or academic. I have now settled on another name, but still wonder at the formula that makes those all important memorable ones stay with us…

Jane Isaac’s first novel, An Unfamiliar Murder, is out on Amazon.com, Amazon.uk and Kindle worldwide now. Jane is still very much a Newbie and with a day job, a family and a very demanding black Labrador, she squeezes her writing into every spare moment she gets. You can catch up with her at www.janeisaac.co.uk

Episode 24
Newbie Writers’ Podcast – Slushed at the Pub!

Guest  Jesse Potash

Pubslush.com

We created PUBSLUSH because we know how difficult it can be to overcome the challenges associated with the publishing world. Authors like Stephen King, Dr. Seuss, James Baldwin, Vladimir Nabakov, and Beatrix Potter are just a few of the many prolific writers that faced rejection. Considering Peter Rabbit almost didn’t make it to publication doesn’t exactly speak to the strengths of the existing system, let alone inspire the confidence of hopeful writers.
With that said, rejection is often warranted and ensures the quality of content available. We merely seek to offer a unique platform for authors to prove their merit. We figured if enough people express interest in reading a book, then that’s good enough for us!
PUBSLUSH is named for the industry term, “the slush pile,” where unsolicited books are set aside. The idea is to read “slush” in hopes of finding something intriguing. However, as the industry evolves the system is becoming increasingly inefficient, and many great books are never even seen. What’s worse is that many great books are seen, but still fail to make it to publication because of bureaucratic complications. It begs the question, how many amazing books are out there that haven’t been discovered yet?
PUBSLUSH is our answer to aiding the existing talent discovery process. The idea is a direct tribute to JK Rowling, and the many other authors who struggled. We are also inspired by TOMS Shoes, who pioneered the one for one movement.

PUBSLUSH Press is full service, social publisher that uses crowd sourcing as the first step in the publication process to discover promising, unrepresented writing talent and gauge market viability of new book ideas. Readers decide what books get published, and for every book sold, a book is donated to a child in need. Using the power of social media and community support, PUBSLUSH ensures only high quality content is discovered and distributed, while authors benefit from ongoing support associated with a legacy publisher. PUBSLUSH is entirely about giving: giving a voice to aspiring authors, giving the power to decide what books get published to readers, and giving books to children without access to literature.

The PUBSLUSH process is simple:
1. Writers submit the best 10 pages and a summary of their manuscript. It’s free!
2. Users read, share, and support (aka preorder) their favorite submissions. They’re only charged if a book is selected for publication.
3. Once a book reaches 1,000 supporters, we publish it (ensuring only the best books get published)! PUBSLUSH provides all the services and support of a legacy publisher, at no cost to the author.
4. For every book sold, a book will be donated to a child in need.

Prompt:

I started working for a new client this week – Monday felt like  the first day of a new job.

What was your first job?  What was your first day on the job like?  Are there patterns to a new job?  Is the first day on the job similar to the first day of school?

Write about your first day on the job. What will you never do again, what surprised you?  Was there anything you regret?

Happy Writing!

Word of the week

HUGGER-MUGGER

World Wide Words

This word — meaning confused or disorderly and also secret or clandestine — was in the news recently, having been used to refer to a woman thief in New York who waits for men coming out of downtown bars, cuddles them and pinches their wallets. A similar usage is on record from Singapore in 2002, showing that journalistic catchword creation may know no geographic bounds but is limited in scope.
Though the origin of this curious expression is far from certain, one thing the experts are sure of is that the second half has no link with the term for someone who robs people in a public place.
More typical examples were in the Sunday Times in February 2006: “The only problem with a tropical paradise miles from the hugger-mugger, hurly-burly of the great grind is that it is cut off from news of the hugger-mugger, hurly-burly of the great grind.” and in the Daily Record in October that year: “They were the home front in the war against terror and anyone who objected must be an enemy of the state and hugger mugger with Osama Bin Laden.”
Hugger-mugger is a classic example of a reduplicated word, one in which its two halves are very closely similar in form. Some smaller dictionaries simply say “origin unknown”, but it’s known there were earlier forms that may have influenced each other to create it, including hucker-mucker, hoker-moker, hudder-mudder and Scots hudge-mudge. The two parts may be related to huddle and to a dialect term mucker, to hoard money or conceal things.
The original idea was of secrecy or concealment. The meaning of disorder or confusion came along later — as late as the nineteenth century as an adjective — but has largely overtaken the older one.

World Wide Words is copyright © Michael Quinion,

Bring out your dead

Excerpt from a Pubslush submission. Very much alive!

Being a biracial kid can be hard, especially when you have a name that screams, “I’m white,” and a face that screams, “I give manicures.” The first line out of the incredibly witty book, A beautiful Mess by Ali Berlinski, the literary lovechild of David Sedaris and Carrie Bradshaw. The book A beautiful Mess is a compilation of comedic yet sentimental essays about Ali’s very unconventional life. In it she talks about what it was like dating a celebrity and growing up in a family that is almost identical to the cast of modern family, except more multicultural, and trapped in a telenovela. It’s not everyday you meet someone with a gay-deaf brother. Clearly, her life is far from ordinary.

However, at the end of the day her problems are just like everyone else’s- divorced parents, single parents, parent issues, sibling rivalry, heartache, loss of a loved one, cancer, and yes, the ultimate cliché- finding happiness. Read her book and laugh at life’s misfortunes. Her life is a mess, but a beautiful one that’s sure to entertain!

A beautiful Mess is available exclusively at Pubslush. Preorder a copy today and discover the next hot book before all the hipsters catch wind! Plus, for every copy you buy, a book is donated to a charity supporting children’s literacy initiatives worldwide.
Here is an excerpt and this is the link to her page: http://www.pubslush.com/book/view/84

Sadly, my infrequent visits to New Jersey, coupled with Brian’s ability to read lips, made it easy for me to elude learning Sign Language. Not that my dad’s family made much of an effort either. To this day, my dad will sign the first letter of each word and shake it in the air as if that were the appropriate sign. Simultaneously, he’ll verbally say the words, making sure to stretch the pronunciation, the way one does when they think someone doesn’t speak English, “ARRRRRE YOOOOUU REEAAADDDYY?” Unable to differentiate whom he’s talking to, my father will not just do this to Brian, but all of us. Whereas my father obsesses over my brother’s deafness, I forget. Only when I jump out from behind hoping to scare him, do I remember. Nope. Nothing. Damn.
One of the great things about Sign Language is that it’s highly interpretive, and thus perfect for inside jokes. Like any other language, its subtleties allow for many comical misunderstandings. Take for instance the sign for “coffee,” which is ironically similar “to make out”. Both signs require two closed fists stacked on one another, the difference being a slight twist in the wrist for make out versus a circular motion for coffee. If I’m not careful, I’ll wake my brother up and ask him if he’d like to make out. After the second time, I’ve just started to ask him to make out. Regrettably, he always refuses.
I told this as an anecdote at a dinner party and had a girl ask, “Then what’s the sign for hand job?” moving her hands as if grinding a peppermill. Everyone at the party shrieked in horror.
“I’m not sure why you’re still giving hand jobs, but that is definitely not how you
give one.”
“That’s how you give someone an Indian burn.”

Shout outs:

Stauroylla Papadopou- @ stauroylla88 on twitter

Graham McArthur – @GrahamMcArthur on twitter.

Newbie Writers Podcast.
Episode 21- Conferences and Questions.

Writing conferences What I learned.  That Damien is right, forget Facebook and use Twitter to connect with readers, new readers, who may want your book.

And I do not have an accent.

The book you were discussing is Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, who won a posthumous Pulitzer.

I think we can both speak to these questions:

6. Does your own writing ever make you laugh or cry?
7. What made you fall in love with writing?
8. How do you feel while you are writing?
9. What other authors do you admire?
10. Do you listen to music when you write?
11. If you were not an author what would you be?
12. What are your other interests and what do you like to do when you’re not writing?
13. What are the last five books you have read?
The Immortal Life of Henreitta Lacks by Rebecca Skloorr, Build Your Writer’s Platform, by Teresa Le Yung Ryan (who is here at the SF Writer’s Conference)  Own Your Niche by Stephanie Chandler (who we interviewed last week, and who is at this conference as well).  The Hanging in the Hotel, by Simon Brett and Another Quiet American, Brett Dakin (about Laos).  I also write up what I’ve been reading on my web site.

14. What do you get out of mentoring emerging writers?
15. What do you sacrifice to write?
We discussed this – sleep and TV
16. What is the most demeaning thing that has been said about you as a writer?
17. What do you consider your biggest failure?
18. What do you find to be the most challenging thing about writing?
19. What is your schedule when writing?
20. (The holy grail) What do you think makes a good story?

Word of the week:

DRUNKARD’S CLOAK

We are in the northern English city of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the late 1640s, during the Cromwellian Commonwealth following the Civil War. The city fathers became unhappy, as many municipal authorities had before and many have since, with the levels of drunkenness among the local
men.

A nineteenth-century drawing of a drunkard’s cloak
An impression of the punishment, from Glimpses of the Wonderful of 1854.
Click on the image to enlarge it

Their punishment for the offence was novel. If putting the offender in the pillory or stocks failed to induce sobriety, they had their law officers take a cask, remove one end, cut a hole in the other end for the head and two in the sides for the hands and force the convicted drunk to parade around town wearing this heavy garment for a set period. This was the drunkard’s cloak.

Bring out Your Dead:

Dionne Lister wrote this when she was 11.
Silver Waters of Brumbie Land (play sound)
In five more days Diamond and Ginger Fire knew how to gallop and canter and jump fences.  Being able to do that, they were allowed to go up past the two trees that were a little way up the mountain.  Even if they could go up there and they were allowed, Ginger Fire’s mother was still scared that he would fall or something would happen to him because it was very slippery and slopey.

When they were going up the mountain there was a rabbit and Ginger Fire ran after the rabbit and slipped.  Down he fell. When he neared the bottom his head hit a rock.  Diamond galloped as fast as he could, being careful not to slip the way Ginger Fire did.  Diamond, Mercury, Silver Sunlight and Ginger Fire’s mother were standing around Ginger Fire.  To Diamond’s shock, Ginger Fire was dead!!

Later through the day Diamond was grieved at the death of his best friend; most of the day he was feeling sorry for himself.  He was really in despair.

Writing Prompt:

Writer’s Block:  When your imaginary friends won’t talk to you.

Write about writer’s block.  Believe it or not, when you are really stuck in your work, try writing:  I am really stuck, over and over.  Or try writing non-stop for ten minutes.  The act alone can help you break through.

Shout Outs:

Ciara Ballintyne http://ciaraballintyne-fantasy.blogspot.com.au
Peter Hobbs http://peterhobbs1.wordpress.com/
Jane Isaac http://www.janeisaac.co.uk/
Emma from Exceptional Editing and Proofing. http://www.exceptionalediting.com.au/

Where to Find Us:

Catharine: http://www.yourbookstartshere.com @cbramkamp
Damien: http://www.newbiewriters.com @newbiewriters

Episode 20

F-Bombs Away! With special guest Dionne Lister

And here are more questions to answer

Plus a bit about conferences instead we’ll chat about Triberr.com

Special Shout Out:

Talk about Anne and www.becauseofbipolar.com.au Throw your support behind her. @AnneNaylor

I think we can both speak to these questions:

6. Does your own writing ever make you laugh or cry?
7. What made you fall in love with writing?
8. How do you feel while you are writing?
9. What other authors do you admire?
10. Do you listen to music when you write?
11. If you were not an author what would you be?
12. What are your other interests and what do you like to do when you’re not writing?
13. What are the last five books you have read?
The Immortal Life of Henreitta Lacks by Rebecca Skloorr, Build Your Writer’s Platform, by Teresa Le Yung Ryan (who is here at the SF Writer’s Conference) Own Your Niche by Stephanie Chandler (who we interviewed last week, and who is at this conference as well). The Hanging in the Hotel, by Simon Brett and Another Quiet American, Brett Dakin (about Laos). I also write up what I’ve been reading on my web site.

14. What do you get out of mentoring emerging writers?
15. What do you sacrifice to write?
We discussed this – sleep and TV
16. What is the most demeaning thing that has been said about you as a writer?
17. What do you consider your biggest failure?
18. What do you find to be the most challenging thing about writing?
19. What is your schedule when writing?
20. (The holy grail) What do you think makes a good story?

Word of the week:

defenestrate
www.dictionary.com
de·fen·es·trate
[dee-fen-uh-streyt]
verb (used with object), de·fen·es·trat·ed, de·fen·es·trat·ing.
to throw (a person or thing) out of a window.

verb
throw through or out of the window; “The rebels stormed the palace and defenestrated the President”
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
**www.worldwidewords.org**

Bring out Your Dead

To Die, To Sleep.

Twas the dawn of a new day,
When all the world awoke but one.
With the creep of sunlight it marked decay,
The decision wasn’t hers to die, to sleep.

Twas four times death marked its spot.
The world stopped to wonder what that achieved.
She became the lone soldier they forgot.
When will the world lay down to die, to sleep?

Twas the chance to feel Deaths touch.
The human soul is not Gods’ to reap.
No-one daren’t say “In God we Trust”.
Avenge her death when I go to die, to sleep.

Twas a time when goodbye is not enough.
And the world sighed as her soul went to leave.
Such a little world that could hold so much love.
Her only escape from pain was to die, to sleep.

Twas when time went on as if all were forgotten.
When pain turns to remembrance as it reaches its peak,
For she has now become the Chosen
The pain that was attempts to die, to sleep.

Writing Prompt:

Writer’s Block:  When your imaginary friends won’t talk to you.

Write about writer’s block.  Believe it or not, when you are really stuck in your work, try writing:  I am really stuck, over and over.  Or try writing non-stop for ten minutes.  The act alone can help you break through.

Shout Outs:

Scott Fletcher, Kevin Mcleod and Dano Songs.
Tweep Nation, Justin Bogdanovitch.

Where to find us:

Dionne Lister: http:/dionnelister.wordpress.com @DionneLister
Catharine: http://www.yourbookstartshere.com @cbramkamp
Damien: http://www.newbiewriters.com @newbiewriters

Episode 19- I wish to propose.

Guest:
Stephanie Chandler
Authority Publishing
877 800 1097

Our guest today is Stephanie Chandler

Stephanie Chandler is the author of several books including Booked Up! How to Write, Publish, and Promote a Book to Grow Your Business, From Entrepreneur to Infopreneur: Make Money with Books, eBooks and Information Products, and The Author’s Guide to Building an Online Platform: Leveraging the Internet to Sell More Books. Stephanie is also founder and CEO of http://AuthorityPublishing.com, which specializes in custom publishing for non-fiction books, and http://BusinessInfoGuide.com, a directory of resources for entrepreneurs. A frequent speaker at business events and on the radio, she has been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, BusinessWeek, Inc.com, Wired magazine, and many other media outlets.
Stephanie, you advise writers to create a book proposal even if they are self publishing can you tell us more about that?
A book proposal is required when pitching a manuscript to literary agents or editors in pursuit of landing a traditional book deal. Similar to a business plan for an entrepreneur, writing a book proposal forces the author to dig in and do some important research while also planning the details of the book.
Though you can certainly self-publish a book without a proposal, this is where many new authors make some big mistakes when releasing their first books. Writing a proposal helps you differentiate your work from the competition, identify a need in the market for your materials, develop marketing plans, and create a concise and compelling manuscript.
Can you walk us through the steps?

Elements of a Book Proposal

1) Overview
An overview is typically two pages, summarizing the book, the market demand, and why you’re the best person to write the book. Even though it’s the first section in a book proposal, I usually write the overview last because it is a summary of the rest of the elements of the proposal.

2) Synopsis
This is a compelling summary of your book, typically two or three pages long. It should hook the reader and compel him to want to read more. You can also view this as an extended version of the sales copy used on the book jacket. If you’re pursuing an agent or editor, this is where you can really get their attention. The exercise of writing the synopsis helps you position your book as a must-read, while developing key talking points about why your book is great. (And it is great, right? If not, then use this opportunity to go back to work and make it great!)

3) Market Demand
Here is the place to identify your specific target audience. Better yet, quantify that market. Look for statistics on how many potential readers are out there. For example, if you have written a business book for women, find stats on how many women business owners are in the U.S.

4) Competitive Analysis
Identify five or more books that are potential competitors of your book and explain in detail how your book is different or better than each title. There are many benefits to this exercise. First, competing titles demonstrate that there is a need in the market for your subject matter. Second, this is where you can focus on differentiation for your book. You will want to understand the competition so that you can ensure that your book stands out. If you do nothing else, make sure you spend time analyzing the competition so that you can answer the question, “How is your book different from the rest?”

5) Marketing Plan
Every author needs a marketing plan, which should be in motion long before the book is in print. Agents and editors look for authors with a “platform,” which means that the author should come to the party with a built-in audience of people who are ready to buy the book. A platform can include speaking to thousands of people each year, running a high-traffic blog or website, maintaining a large mailing list (thousands of people) or having other networks that can generate impressive book sales.
Another important consideration is that agents don’t want to see what you will do, they want to see what are doing–the marketing efforts you’re making long before the book becomes reality. And remember, even if you’re self-publishing, there is an important lesson here. If you want your books to sell, you should begin building your audience early. Book marketing requires ongoing effort. Some tactics to consider for your marketing plan include blogging, social media engagement, professional speaking, writing articles, working with joint venture partners, building a mailing list, conducting media interviews, and spending time in communities where your target audience can be found.

6) Chapter Outline
Even if your manuscript is still in progress, a solid chapter outline demonstrates the flow of the book and the materials covered. Below each chapter heading, include a brief synopsis of the content within the chapter. A chapter outline should have a logical flow of information with compelling chapter titles.

7) About the Author
Here is where you should convince the reader that you are the right person to write this book. This should not be an extended biography about where you grew up and what schools you attended–unless these details are relevant to the book. Instead, it should focus on your experience as it relates to your book. Mention any previous media coverage you have received or involvement in any groups or associations that reach your target audience.

8.) Sample Chapters
When reviewing non-fiction books, most agents and editors want to see two or three sample chapters. These don’t need to be in order, but they should represent your best work.
The truth is that writing a book proposal is hard work, but the exercise of doing so will inevitably help prepare you for success–whether you plan to pursue a traditional book contract of self-publish your work.

Bring out your dead

Picasso could never paint what I have seen,
Nor Beethoven play to my heart.
There’s a place in your heart where the words still linger,
Like the warmth of a long summer day.

In his mind the world of inks and dyes collide,
To paint a self-portrait only he believes.
A picture based on guilt and pride,
The unsteady hand tries to shows us what he sees.

So tell me a different story,
Tell me something filled with joy,
Use words that I don’t normally hear.
For when the words that are remembered,
And the listening ears that finally seem to hear…
Use the words that I can paint one thousand pictures.

Word of the week

http://www.worldwidewords.org
—Michael Quinion–
G K Chesterton called the cleerihew a “severe and stately form of free verse”, but then he had been a close friend from schooldays of the man who invented it, Edmund Bentley. Indeed, Chesterton illustrated the first book of whimsical verses, Biography for Beginners, which Bentley published in 1905 under the name of E. Clerihew.

The cover of the first edition of Bentley’s book of clerihews

The form is slight but not slighting, conventionally consisting of a quatrain with the name of the biographee as the first line. The lines are of unequal lengths, rhymed AABB, often written in a flat-footed or mangled way more reminiscent of prose than verse. The first, which Edmund Bentley is said to have composed during a boring science class at St Paul’s School, was:

Sir Humphry Davy
Abominated gravy.
He lived in the odium
Of having discovered sodium.

Clerihew was Bentley’s middle name, which was given him (and which he in turn passed to his son Nicholas) to perpetuate his mother’s maiden name, Margaret Richardson Clerihew, Clerihew being an old Scottish surname. It was applied to the verse form by others and seems to have first surfaced in its own right as the name in 1928.

Another example:

Sir Christopher Wren
Said, “I am going to dine with some men.
If anyone calls
Say I am designing St. Paul’s.”

Someone who creates clerihews is a clerihewer, an appropriate term for a person who hacks such lines out of the living language.

Writing Prompt

All this information can be overwhelming to a newbie writer. Take a few minutes and write about what you do when you do nothing. Maybe you are doing it right now. What is your favorite thing to do when you do nothing? Write it down, and remember it when you get overwhelmed.

Stephanie can be found: http://AuthorityPublishing.com, which specializes in custom publishing for non-fiction books, and http://BusinessInfoGuide.com,
Catharine can be found: http://www.yourbookstartshere.com @cbramkamp
Damien can be found: http://www.newbiewriters.com @newbiewriters.

Newbie Writer Podcast
Episode 18- It’s My Birthday and I’ll Podcast if I Want To.
Answering questions

Traveling with the iPad, comments etc.

The Good: the iPad is marvelous for travel. It’s small, light and I carried it with me at all times ( I did buy a new travel purse, not to be confused with my good purse nor with my everyday Dooney and Bourke purses). I carried the iPad and my camera and money and if I wanted, a water bottle, but the bottle was too heavy.
The iPad turns on as soon as the cover opens, so making notes in Pages was easy. I opened it up, made a few notes, and closed it. For someone who previously traveled with a Mac Book, this instant access is like a tiny miracle.
I recommend the Pages app for 10 dollars because even though the journal apps are fun, they aren’t as easily transferrable to my main computer. I added photos to the journal entries to keep track of where and what I was doing.
The key board takes getting use to, but I became fairly proficient. It does work on busses, planes, trains, most modes of transportation (not motor bikes, you must stick with texting while perched on the back of a motorbike).
I loved the long battery life and I loved carrying one device that included email, all my books and writing. I was able to download two books from Amazon and read them immediately while in transit (from Vietnam, I tried this last year while in Syria and the books didn’t download until I arrived home, so this is an improvement).
I traveled in January 2012 – I was not the only traveler carrying an iPad. I saw people carrying iPad’s in Vientiane, while waiting at the boarder in Laos, on the plane to Bangkok. This seemed to be the new traveler accessory, considerably more flattering than a waist pack.

The Bad: The key board features the auto fill function, just like the tiny key boards on the smart phone. The auto fill is very difficult if you are writing down foreign place names.
It will also thwart your efforts to employ polysyllabic words, so there is a great deal of back spacing involved during data entry. And the foreign words and phrases are not found in the spell checker.

The Ugly:
The worst thing about the iPad is that though I could upload all my photos into it during the trip so I could see and edit on the spot, I could also organize the photos into albums, which I spent time doing – but it was on busses and planes, so it gave me something interesting to do. The problem is that when I hit the synch command to send all these great photos and albums to the main computer , the albums did not synch and the photos ended up just consolidated into one huge event. I was not happy at all.

Damien:
1. What scares you about writing?
2. What do you see yourself doing in terms of your writing in five, then ten years time? Do you see yourself making writing a fulltime career?
3. What do you sacrifice to write?

Catharine:
1. When did you know you were going to be a writer?
2. What sparks the ideas for your books?
3. How personal is your writing?
4. What is the one (most important) piece of advice you would give someone who wants to be a writer, or is a newbie writer?
5. What is your favourite thing that you have written (maybe one or two paragraphs called Bring our your living rather than Bring out your dead)? I would be very interested to hear you read a tiny bit of that work (not reams of it, of course).

6. Does your own writing ever make you laugh or cry?
7. What made you fall in love with writing?
8. How do you feel while you are writing?
9. What other authors do you admire?
10. Do you listen to music when you write?
11. If you were not an author what would you be?
12. What are your other interests and what do you like to do when you’re not writing?
13. What are the last five books you have read?
14. What do you get out of mentoring emerging writers?
15. What do you sacrifice to write?
16. What is the most demeaning thing that has been said about you as a writer?
17. What do you consider your biggest failure?
18. What do you find to be the most challenging thing about writing?
19. What is your schedule when writing?
20. (The holy grail) What do you think makes a good story?
Damien and Catharine, you don’t have to answer these questions. I have just been thinking about what I would ask you both, if I had the chance.
Thanks Damien, for having me on the show. It was a blast.
Happy writing.
Anne

Bring out your dead
Or Catharine’s favorite pieces:

Death Watch

Grief makes you hungry

Not for justice

for taco flavored Doritos
and bags of the new bites –
bite size comfort candy in
Reese’s, Heath Bar, Rollo, Goodbar
Yellow bags of tasty trash, we unconsciously eat them
by the handfuls
between hours of watching
the rise and fall
of scattering breathing by
the loved one

cookies
more chips
a bowl of “Cowboy Casserole”
that by law
should be filled with rattlesnake and buffalo
we dared my brother-in-law to eat a spoonful
he only found lima beans

The Mexican restaurant down the street
plays the soccer game loudly
followed by juke box music of an artist
who is big in Mexico City
but just background noise tonight
the noise carries comfort
California normal

it’s not a matter of questioning
the order of the universe

in a half hearted attempt
fruit was offered one afternoon

we looked up at the sky
and asked for the potato chips
the cupcakes
those cookies with coconut and chocolate

sugar to serve up more tears
life is so fucking short
pass the dessert
we will eat that first.

From Ammonia Sunrise – Finishing Line Press)

Word of the week:

RANNYGAZOO

It’s a century-old term, now rare, for a deceptive story or scheme, pranks, tricks or other irritating or foolish carryings-on. If it’s familiar to you, especially if you’re not native to its former US heartland, it may be because you are widely read in the works of P G Wodehouse. He used it a lot, and is credited with being the first person to commit it to print.

Prompt:

We are a visual culture. The automatic response to, how was your trip? Is to immediately inflict all 1,397 photos on the hapless inquirer. But often we don’t capture the essence of experience through photography.
I have a picture of me and an elephant, but what is interesting is the story of how the elephant rolled me into the Mekong. Twice.
What have you done recently that was memorable but has no accompanying photos?
is it possible to experience something and not have a photo of it?
Write about an adventure that does not have an accompanying photo.

Shout Outs:

Justhost.com
The Tweep Nation!
Jennifer Sosniak: http://www.jennifersosniakbooks.com/

Where to Find Us:

Catharine: www.yourbookstartshere.com @cbramkamp
Damien: www.newbiewriters.com @newbiewriters

By now, many of you will know that my book was released early, just two weeks ago. When I got the email to say it was published, I was thrilled (after recovering from spluttering my tea into my lap in surprise) and did a little dance of excitement around the lounge. This is finally it, what I’ve been working towards, 18 months of my life’s work.

An hour or so later, I noticed a warm hue as a rash started to creep up my neck. I had let my baby go, cast her into the world. But what if nobody likes her? Eeek!

I read about other writers. It appears that even well known writers like Elly Griffiths, just released her fourth crime thriller, and Peter James bestseller author of over 25 books feels that bout of anxiety when their book first enters the world. A couple of reviews later and some feedback on Face book, and I relaxed into the journey.

Last weekend I got the most wonderful parcel through the post: my personal copies of An Unfamiliar Murder. Holding my book in my hand for the first time felt like one of those times when your life is put on hold to allow you to step back and savour the moment – a memory to keep close forever; like getting married, having a child, passing a special exam.

Most of us Newbies worry about what others will think and sometimes this forms a barrier to sharing our work. But what we don’t realise is that many artists feel this way, initially. And we live in a subjective world. How often have you been to a movie, read a book, watched a show that you considered great – only to have a friend or colleague say that they didn’t like it, it wasn’t their thing?

I firmly believe that if you write about what you know, something you are interested in, something you would like to read yourself, then there will always be someone out there who will engage and enjoy. And if you never share, you’ll never experience that adrenalin rush of clutching your book for the first time. I’m sure other authors out there will agree with me – it’s worth its weight in gold.

Twitter:                @JaneIsaacAuthor

Face Book:          Jane Isaac Author

Website:           www.janeisaac.co.uk 

Jane Isaac’s first novel, An Unfamiliar Murder, is out on Amazon.com, Amazon.uk and Kindle worldwide now. Jane is still very much a Newbie and with a day job, a family and a very demanding black Labrador, she squeezes her writing into every spare moment she gets.

Episode 17

Newbie Writers Podcast

January 21  (Catharine is eating locusts from street vendors)

Guest Jane Isaac and Lyle Perez.

The Ultimate Newbie Experience.

Jane is the living proof of a newbie becoming a published author.

What was the process involved? What sparked the story idea?

Dionne Lister asks: What has been the best part of the process for her? What was her reaction when she found out Rainstorm Press wanted to publish her works?

We pick Lyle’s brain on the initial reaction to reading Jane’s draft, what was it that made him want to publish it? What tips for new writers can be drawn from this?

We find out how Rainstorm Press is going and any new authors to look out for.

Jane’s been apart of Newbie Writers since 2007, certainly longer than I have. We ask what her thoughts on how Newbie Writers has changed, how it’s progressed.

Prompt:

“Nothing happens unless first a dream” – Carl Sandburg
spend twenty minutes on your dream. What do you really want to write? Not what sells, not what you think is “you” not what you think is trendy, just what you want to write, what you want to spend a year messing around with.
Really, twenty minutes – go!

Bring out your dead:

Contributed by Anne Naylor of www.becauseofbipolar.com.au
Too late she discovered she had married a psychopath.
It was the day after their wedding and they were in the presidential suite of a luxury hotel. They were finally on their honeymoon, about to start life as husband and wife.
He sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her towards him. Magic was about to happen. They slid under the covers. He kissed her gently, then pulled the blankets over her head. She was confused. Why was he holding the blanket so tightly. He knew she was claustrophobic. She struggled against him, but he was too strong. He wouldn’t release her.
A foul stench filled the air. Surely not. He couldn’t have. He wouldn’t have. But undeniably, he had. The assault on her senses was silent, but deadly. Finally, after an eternity, he pulled back the blankets and she gasped as she gulped unpolluted air.
She was furious. Shocked and horrified. She berated herself for marrying a psychopath. Well, if not a psychopath, then a fifteen year old boy masquerading as a twenty-five year old man. He laughed, clearly very pleased with himself. ‘Welcome to marriage!’ he said. ‘What do you mean?’ she replied. She stared at him, bewildered. ‘It’s a Dutch oven’, he explained. A marriage ritual. It’s good luck.’
She thought it was surely a bad omen.
‘You’ll pay for this one day’, she said.
(And twenty years later, she did.)

Word of the week

www.worldwidewords.org

FUSTILUGS

In those moments when only insults will do, how good it is to turn to the inventive but unsung genius of everyday folk, whose local dialect is so often full of expressive abuse. This word, meaning a grossly fat or slovenly woman, is an excellent example.

It still has some small currency, mostly in Yorkshire I believe, though at one time it was widely known across a swathe of England ranging from Cumbria to Devon. That it will almost certainly be unknown to the object of your obloquy will add relish to your utterance, though it might not be too hard to work out it isn’t complimentary. It has rarely been written down outside dialect glossaries, but it did appear in 1621 in a long passage full of terms of opprobrium in The Anatomy of Melancholy by Robert Burton: “Every lover admires his mistress, though she be … a vast virago, or an ugly tit, a slug, a fat fustilugs”.

Shout Outs/ Sponsors:

Jane shouts out to the entire Twitter gang!

Damien says hi to Dianne Solberg and her Mum!

Rainstorm Press deal: newbie40 is the coupon. Gets you 40% off ANY purchase you make at www.rainstormpress.com

Where to find us:
Damien: www.newbiewriters.com
Jane Isaac: http://www.janeisaac.co.uk/
Lyle Perez: www.rainstormpress.com

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