I once read that a writer is someone who writes stories. An author is someone who sells books.
It took twelve months to complete the first draft of my manuscript. Five revisions and six months later, those three hundred and ten pages circled through the literary community in search of a home. Days turned into weeks and before long, twelve months had come and gone. My manuscript was still homeless. Finally, I received ‘the call’ in the fall of ‘06 and thought I’d won the battle, right? Aah!!
The war hadn’t begun, yet.
Why didn’t someone park me, this neophyte writer down in a chair somewhere, and tell me all the things that come after the book is sold? Even if they had, I probably won’t have really understood what they were saying. Think about it from this perspective, a mother shares the birth experience with a mother-to-be from start to finish. At that point, does the expectant mother really comprehend the miracle of life? No, but she will just as soon as she goes through it herself. There are simply some lessons only experience can teach you.
With an already hectic schedule, how would I ever find a way to pile on my plate the other necessary components that have absolutely nothing to do with the creative aspect of writing such as deadlines, industry networking, and the granddaddy of them all, promotion? There are a few more I could add to the list, but you get the picture. Now combine all of the above with the responsibilities I had before the book. It’s a wonder I haven’t voluntarily committed myself into the nearest mental institution.
To sum it all up, I’ve learned two important lessons on this short literary journey. First, it’s not for the faint at heart. On any given day, it can test the fortitude of the mightiest. Secondly, if you can’t accept constructive feedback or rejection, might wanna keep the day job. This isn’t the gig for you.
So, you might ask, what do I plan to do now that I’ve been through the baptism by fire?
If faint heart ne’er won fair lady, then fair lady ne’er won with a faint heart.
My family needs my undivided attention now, and I won’t be posting here probably for about a week or two. I just want you to know that I’m not abandoning the blog and that this is only a temporary lull.
Victoria Rowell, best known as Druscilla Winters on CBS’s daytime series “The Young and the Restless,” first penned her memoir, The Women Who Raised Me, last year. It went on to become a best-seller and won many awards. We first featured her here in March, where we talked briefly about her background as a foster child and an actress.
Now the paperback and audio versions of The Women Who Raised Me are available at bookstores everywhere. And if you order them from Victoria Rowell’s website (see below for addresses), you can get her to send you an autographed copy. Victoria Rowell is fast becoming a writing powerhouse, with more books and even a novel on the way! Read on for all the juicy details.
Connie Briscoe: Your memoir, The Women Who Raised Me, received widespread recognition in the literary community and hit the major bestseller lists including the New York Times and Essence magazine. Do you have plans to do more writing in the future? If so, what kind of book might that be? Fiction, nonfiction, more memoirs?
Victoria Rowell: Yes, I plan on writing two companion books—The Men Who Raised Me and The Perfectly Imperfect Inheritance. Currently I am working on a novel, which will be my next book, Secrets of a Soap Opera Diva. I am also happy to announce that the audio book version of The Women Who Raised Me is complete, which is read by me and went on sale May 1, so please log on to www.victoriarowell.com and get your copy. It’s a great Mother’s Day gift!
CB: It sounds perfect for Mother’s Day. Was writing what you thought it would be? In other words, was it harder or easier than you had imagined to open up and put your thoughts and feelings on paper?
Victoria Rowell: Actually this was the hardest thing I have done in my career. Ballet was hard, but writing has been the hardest because of the solitude nature. Revisiting people in my life was also a challenge. I can say it was really joyous and painful at same time.
CB: What time of day did you do most of your writing and what was your favorite writing spot. Why do you think that was?
Victoria Rowell: Morning time. For The Women Who Raised Me (hardback), I was really under a tight schedule. I had a serious deadline to meet so I would get up around 4:00 a.m. and write prior to going to the CBS set for The Young and the Restless tapings. By nature, I am a morning writer.
CB: What were you trying to accomplish by writing your memoir? Who were you hoping to reach?
Victoria Rowell: The purpose of writing my memoir is to thank all of the extraordinary women throughout the country for sharing their lives. I wanted to share the fact that too often our mentors do not get enough recognition. I also wanted to shine light on the ordinary people doing extraordinary things…the millions of mothers and mentors who go unheralded. I want The Women Who Raised Me to be a call to action so I have listed resources in the back of the book. Anyone who is willing can be a mentor, a volunteer or foster parent if your heart and mind are in the right place. Connie, I really think we achieved that in the hardcover, which, as you stated, is a New York Times and Essence magazine bestseller! For more information on my book, you can visit www.thewomenwhoraisedme.com.
CB: My children were adopted out of foster care at ages 6 and 8, so I’m well aware of how important good foster care homes are. What is the message about foster care that you hope we get from The Women Who Raised Me and your work supporting foster children.
Victoria Rowell: I want all to be aware of the fact that 98% of foster parents are doing a great job! Unfortunately, the media tends to write about very discouraging stories. It is very important that I write about the majority. My ambition is to smash this myth that all foster parents are not doing their job, when it’s really only about 2%.
CB: Thanks for doing that. It’s so important. What’s next for you in film? Anything in the works?
Editor’s Note: At times, the feed below does not work, but you can always access the IndepthYOU show by clicking on the BlogTalkRadio link at the bottom of this post. If the feed is working, ENJOY!
____________________________
On this day I’m letting others do the talking. You’ve probably heard of BlogTalkRadio but are you familiar with the IndepthYOU show on BlogTalkRadio? Each segment profiles “people who have created, invented, written or developed something that could improve our lives and/or change our way of thinking.” And the show is heavy on publishing industry types.
A number of authors and others in the publishing biz have been featured–from bestselling author L.A. Banks to book marketing guru John Kremer–many of them appearing in the widget above. And they give lots of advice about getting published and promoting your books. The director of public relations at Lulu.com and the CEO of IUniverse, two of the leading self-publishing programs, discuss their services. Tee C. Royal, founder of the literary group R.A.W.Sistaz talks about the book club and how writers can promote their books. And so many more have appeared on the show talking about books and publishing.
So put your feet up, scroll on down and take a listen.
Karen Siplin is the author of His Insignificant Other, Such a Girl and Whiskey Road. She also contributed a short story (”Nice Jewish Boy”) to the anthology This Is Chick Lit, edited by Lauren Baratz-Logsted. His Insignificant Other was a 2002 Borders Original Voices selection and named one of Cosmopolitan magazine’s sexy summer reads. Such a Girl was a main selection of Black Expressions Book Club. Karen has a degree in film production from CUNY’s Hunter College.
Connie Briscoe: How do you come up with your story ideas?
Karen Siplin: I like to write about issues that are significant to me in some way, issues I want to explore. Whiskey Road, for example, is about the relationship that develops between a black female celebrity photographer and a white small town contractor when she ends up spending some time in his rural New York town. I’ve traveled through a lot of provincial towns in the United States with my husband, and we were always aware of the way white people stared at me. Sometimes, we weren’t sure if the looks were unwelcoming or just curious. With Whiskey Road, I wanted to explore this idea that black people can’t just pick up and move anywhere in the United States without this uncertainty following them.
CB:How do you come up with your characters?
Karen Siplin: My characters come from my imagination. But pieces of them (especially my secondary characters) come from people I know or strangers who catch my attention either because they have an interesting look or enormous personalities. Sometimes my main characters come to me through a line of dialogue or a thought that pops into my head while I’m walking or taking a shower. They sound a certain way in my mind, and I try to create a character around that voice.
CB:Sounds like you draw from your real life quite a bit.
Karen Siplin: I try not to write autobiographically, but some aspect of my life always makes its way into my books. Either a retelling of a single experience I’ve had, or someone I know has had, or a quirky personality trait I find endearing or maddening. The main character in my second novel, Such a Girl, is a hotel telephone operator. I was a hotel telephone operator for a while.
CB: Do you think that you are strongest in developing plots, creating characters, writing dialog or something else?
Karen Siplin: I’ve been told writing dialogue is my strength and I agree. I have a degree in film production and my main interest was in screenwriting. I think that may be how that strength was developed.
CB:Interesting, because your descriptions are very visual. As you described the plot in your first response, I actually saw it as a film in my mind’s eye. When and where do you write best?
Karen Siplin: I write best at the New York Public Library but I rarely go there! I’ve become so dependent on my computer and all of my various notes that I can’t work without them for long periods of time. After spending a few years lugging my laptop everywhere, I’ve done some damage to my shoulders, so I can no longer carry my “writing stuff” everywhere. I’m most inspired during the quietest time of the day—early morning.
CB: I think most of us women end up damaging our shoulders or coming close at some point in our lives by carrying laptops and heavy shoulder bags.
You contributed to a chick lit anthology. Do you consider your novels chick lit? Is chick lit a dying breed?
Karen Siplin: I considered my first two novels chick lit. My third novel isn’t chick lit, and I’m not sure there’s a suitable label for it. I don’t like labels anyway, even though I understand they can make life easier when trying to market books.
I don’t believe chick lit is disappearing completely. It’s been around for ages but it was just called something else and there was a lot less of it. I think the market became oversaturated and I think books that weren’t really chick lit were getting chick lit type covers just because. Now that publishers are toning down the number of chick lit books that they’re publishing and it’s being referred to as commercial women’s fiction instead, it seems as if it’s dying out.
CB:What’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not writing?
Karen Siplin: I love reading books in almost every genre and watching good TV. I’ve also rekindled a passion I’ve had much of my life for 19th century and early 20th century architecture. My husband just gave me two wonderful coffee table books on mansions in New York City and North Shore Long Island, and I spend hours perusing them. I’ve been wondering whether I’m too old to seriously consider a second career in architecture, and I daydream about buying land somewhere to build a modest Beaux Arts style mansion. I think that would be a very time-consuming (not to mention expensive) hobby, so it’s still just a daydream.
The weekly guest column, Connie Briscoe Presents, will not appear today. I have an interview with Karen Siplin, author of His Significant Other, Whiskey Road and other titles just about ready for you, but I need to get her to clarify a couple of things before I post it. Karen is pretty quick about getting back to me, and hopefully her wonderfully insightful and forthcoming interview will grace the site tomorrow or soon thereafter. So check back!
Also, some of you may have noticed that the posts have slowed a bit the past couple of weeks. No, it’s not your imagination. And no, I’m not really sleeping at the wheel. The deadline for my next novel is fast approaching–always a crazy time!–and a few other commitments have crept up on me. I’ll continue to post here at least a couple times a week and I plan to pick up the pace again in mid-May, once my deadline has passed. I’ve got lots of plans and ideas for Page One, and they will start showing up over the summer, so stick around.
One of our guest authors mentioned the websiteAgent Query as the place where she found her literary agent. So I went and checked it out and realized that I have come across this wonderful site before. It’s chock full of information about literary agents and it seems legit. You can search the database of agents with your own terms, and I found that my agent is listed as are other agents I know about. If this website had been around when I was starting out, I would have spent a lot of time on it.
Agent Query claims the database includes more than 900 “reputable” literary agents and their contact information. Agent profiles also include information such as the genres the agents specialize in and some of the authors represented along with the authors’ book titles (although this is not always up-to-date with the agent’s most recent acquisitions). In summary, the listings tell you everything you need to know about the agents short of whether he or she will represent you. And for that you’ll have to get busy querying the agents. For more on that see, How to Find A Literary Agent.
Agent Query has some very good articles for aspiring authors. I particularly like the one called “Beware of Scammers.”
Here’s a short excerpt–
How do I tell a reputable literary agent from a questionable one?
Legitimate literary agents make their professional livelihoods from the commissions they earn through the sale of their clients’ books to publishers. Reputable agents do not charge fees to review manuscripts, they do not refer writers to fee-charging editorial services, and they do not charge their clients up-front fees to cover the costs of doing business. Reputable agents earn their money through a 10-20% commission of the sale of book rights to domestic and foreign book publishers. Real literary agents with real book sales have real publishing contacts. They know editors. They know what editors like to read. And most importantly, literary agents know what specific editors want to buy.
Agent Query also has information about large and small publishers, writers’ conferences, grants for writers and much more. And it’s all free!
In February and March, book publicist Cheryl Malandrinos was featured in interviews here on Page One along with her partner Dorothy Thompson in All About Virtual Book Tours). They were so forthcoming with informative and helpful details about virtual book tours that their interview ran in two parts.
Today you can join Cheryl Malandrinos for a virtual book tour workshop as she discusses blog tours and answers questions from callers on Blog Talk Radio. She will be the guest of Dennis Griffin, today April 18, at 11 a.m. Pacific/2 p.m. Eastern time. The show will be archived on the site shortly after its completion and can be played back or downloaded. The number to call in is 646-478-0982.
So join Cheryl if you can. The show is bound to full of useful information about virtual book tours, and you get to ask an expert questions.
Carleen Brice is a fiction and nonfiction author and also editor of the anthology Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number: Black Women Explore Midlife. She is a two-time finalist for the Colorado Book Award in nonfiction. Her first novel, Orange Mint and Honey (don’t you just love the title?) was published in February of this year to outstanding reviews from Essence magazine and others.
Connie Briscoe: You had been very successful writing nonfiction, including Walk Tall: Affirmations for People of Color, which sold more than 100,000 copies. Why did you decide to write a novel?
Carleen Brice: Fiction is where my heart is, but I think I was too chicken to start out with fiction. Writing a novel seemed like something other, more “special” people did, like going to the moon or something. My husband encouraged me to give it a shot, and I’m glad I did!
CB: How did you come up with the story idea and title for Orange Mint and Honey?
Carleen Brice: I set out to write a mother-daughter story about forgiveness and redemption. As I worked on it, it evolved to include the themes of gardening and music. The title comes from the orange mint the mother grows and uses to make tea, which she serves with honey. It’s symbolic of bitter and sweet coming together.
CB: Interesting. How much did you draw from your real life for the novel?
Carleen Brice: I have felt all the emotions the characters express: jealousy, resentment, love, joy, surprise, sorrow. And the characters have bits and pieces of my personality and the traits and personalities of people around me. But this novel isn’t directly autobiographical.
CB: Do you think that you’re strongest at developing plots, creating characters, writing dialog or something else?
Carleen Brice: Characters and dialog are my strong suits. Plot is definitely hardest for me, but I’d say that now after two novels I’m starting to get the hang of it.
CB: What has the publisher done to help you promote the book? What are you doing yourself, if anything?
Today I bring you writing tips attributed to one of America’s most talented and well-known authors—Kurt Vonnegut, who penned works of satire and science fiction such as Slaughterhouse Five. I once had the pleasure of being photographed at my house by his wife Jill Krementz, for a photo book of authors called Black Writers: A Book of Postcards.
Vonnegut passed away last year but these writing tips, which I recently came across, are timeless and so worth sharing. There’s something here for every author or aspiring author, no matter how many books you’ve written or dreamed of writing.
Writing Tips—eight rules for writing fiction:
Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
Start as close to the end as possible.
Be a sadist. Now matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.
—Kurt Vonnegut, Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons 1999).
(I can’t be 100% certain the rules are actually from Vonnegut, as my source is the Internet. But the tips are widely cited and the source mentioned. At any rate, the rules are right on the money regardless of the source.)
I've written both fiction and nonfiction and hit most of the major bestseller lists including the New York Times and Essence magazine. And I'm still trying to figure it all out.
Nevertheless, this blog is where I’ll share what I know about writing and promoting books. For more detail on what's here, check the
about page.
With an already hectic schedule, how would I ever find a way to pile on my plate the other necessary components that have absolutely nothing to do with the creative aspect of writing such as deadlines, industry networking, and the granddaddy of them all, promotion? There are a few more I could add to the list, but you get the picture. Now combine all of the above with the responsibilities I had before the book. It’s a wonder I haven’t voluntarily committed myself into the nearest mental institution.
CB: It sounds perfect for Mother’s Day. Was writing what you thought it would be? In other words, was it harder or easier than you had imagined to open up and put your thoughts and feelings on paper?
