My WOW blog tour starts on June 6

I’ve been preparing for my book’s WOW blog tour. It will start on June 6 and run for a month, and I expect to have about fifteen stops. So far WOW and I have developed a list of twelve blog topics and I’ve started working through five of them already. However, I know already I’ll have to cut them quite a bit. WOW recommends each piece be no more than 300 to 500 words.

So what is WOW (http://www.wow-womenonwriting.com). They state on their About page on their website:

"WOW! is a global magazine, designed to support women's creativity, energy, blood, sweat and tears, throughout all stages of the writing process. We envision Wow! being a favorite watering hole for professionals, the up-and-coming, and the recipients of our labors--the avid readers.

Our concept is unique, as it fills in the missing gap between writing websites and women's magazines. We are dedicated to raising the overall standards within the writing community, and devote an active profile within writing industry associations, organizations and websites.

WOW! is committed to excellence in every way, in our work ethic, in the products and services we provide, and in our relationships with our readers, contributors, freelancers, interviewees, advertisers, and subscribers. We strive to be fair, honest and courteous in all of our dealings.

Ultimately, WOW! hopes to contribute to the love, enjoyment and excitement of producing quality writing--so that the reader in all of us will never want for good material, in any form."

I got started with this site by entering one of their writing contests that they have every so often. And I’m pleased to say I got an honorable mention, a critique of my piece, plus a bunch of nice prizes. Then I offered to host a couple of authors on my blog – one last year and one the year before. It was fun to get to know those women authors virtually and support them in any way I could. Now I’m excited to have my own tour at other blogger’s sites. Of course it’s a great way to promote my book, Leaving the Hall Light On, “toot my own horn,” as WOW says, and to find out about the many wonderful women bloggers out there.

Look for more information about this up and coming tour. I’ll have a schedule posted here soon.

Journaling can be a risky business

I had dinner last night with three of my former work colleagues whom I get together every few months or so. We talked a bit about the workplace I left just about a year ago, making me feel very glad I made that decision to leave. 

Toward the end of our evening one of the women shared with me that she'd like to do something besides work -- something creative. I suggested classes at El Camino City College and South Bay Adult School – in jewelry making, pottery, painting, or even a language, but she said she’d like to get into writing. I asked her if she journaled, and she actually physically moved away from that subject. She said she couldn’t write down anything private for fear of it getting into the wrong hands.

Of course that’s the fear of all of us who journal, but it hasn’t stopped me. At first I wrote in notebooks – the finer the better. I especially love the ones I bought in France and later found at Banner Stationer’s in El Segundo – Clairefontaine. The pages are very thick and slick and don’t show through to the backside when written on in ink. Also the covers are in beautiful jewel-tones. I always feel like I’m writing in a very special place when I write in those notebooks. 

However, a few years ago – after being so careful to clutch my notebooks close to my chest any time I was out and about – I left one in the seat pocket in front of me while on a flight home. And personally going to the airline’s lost and found didn’t get the notebook back. Now I use my notebooks for taking workshop notes. I write my journal entries on my computer. Of course that doesn’t guarantee privacy. To combat that I have a separate folder for my journal documents only accessible with a password.  The only way I’ll ever forget my password is if I lose all my marbles – probably not very likely.

So I told my friend not to be daunted about starting her journal writing -I suggested she start wrting about fifteen minutes a day. I’ve been doing in regularly for over twenty years and have never felt violated. Also I've found it to be a good way to kick start any kind of writing piece. My forthcoming memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On, all began with my journal entries. 

Tina Fey and I have something in common

I read “The New Yorker.” I have been for years, but I’m always about two months behind. There’s so much to read in each issue and so little time. Usually I read while I’m on the elliptical trainer or treadmill at the gym, so it takes me about a week to get through an issue.

Last week I read an article by Tina Fey, called “Confessions of a Juggler,” in the Feb. 14 & 21, 2011 issue in which she writes about juggling being a mommy and having the career of a lifetime, and having to answer the question that keeps coming up for her as she approaches age 40: should she have another child. She thinks it’s rude that people always ask if she’s planning to and at the same time she doesn’t want to ignore her five-year old daughter’s wish to be a big sister. She also wants to make sure that her daughter doesn’t have the entire burden of caring for her aging parents on her own. With that she states she needs a “backup.”

I went through those kinds of thoughts when I was considering getting pregnant after Paul was born, and even when I found out I was pregnant I had misgivings. I had a great job at the time with great career potential, and although I was only in my mid 30s, anyone past 30 was considered old to be having a child in those days. I also didn’t want to go through another Caesarian delivery – it was just too painful.

Then, I didn’t consider the need for a backup, but now I know how important having one is. In fact, I wish I had had a pair and a spare. Now poor Ben has the entire burden of caring for Bob and me in our old age.  Of course, I never thought about one of my children dying before me – that’s a parents darkest nightmare  – a place where none of us should ever have to go – but it indeed happened to me. So thankfully I have Ben – probably one of the nicest and most loving people I know.

And, now I’m happy to hear Tina is pregnant. I hope she’ll even consider having a third child as well. A backup is great, but you can’t beat a pair and a spare. 

One month to go until launch. So what’s on my list of to dos now?

Last Friday at exactly 6:29 pm, my publisher sent off my manuscript to the printer. And exactly one month from then, my book will be launched. And right now I’m feeling overwhelmed with thoughts of what should I be doing to get ready, and even if I know what things I should be doing, will I know how to do them?

When the book I co-authored, Blue Collar Women, came out in 1994 I don’t remember doing anything to market the book. My co-author had done the research so she did a few radio interviews and that was it. She used the book in her college classes, but other than that, sales were poor. I certainly don’t want to have a repeat of that poor success. With that book I didn’t even get fifteen minutes of fame.

So far in preparation for my new book’s launch I’ve actively participated in Facebook – I have a friend page, I have a fan page, I joined two poetry groups, I joined a group of other parents who had an adult child die, and I regularly comment on pages related to my book’s subject – most notably The Compassionate Friends. And I’m on all of these pages every day in one way or another.

I also have a Twitter account though instead of using Twitter directly I have my blog and fan page posts appear on Twitter. Perhaps I need to change that, and comment on Twitter a few times a day as well.

I also have a blog that I post to at least three times of week. Usually my posts relate to my book, but once in a while I like to share about my family and post the photos I take when I walk along the ocean.

And, that’s not the end of it – at least for the short term.

We need to finish the Book Trailer.

I need to create a Press Kit that I’m happy to say, my friend with PR experience has offered to do for me.

I need to follow up with the Easy Reader local newspaper about the article they promised to do for me. And that reminds me there a couple of other publications to contact about getting articles in them as well.

And, right at this moment I need to start planning my first booksigning event. I’m going to do a little research. I’m going to attend a couple of other signings going on at the Pages bookstore to find out how other authors do these things. I imagine I have a lot to learn out there.

Plus, my husband says he’s going to plan a launch party to be held at our home on Mother’s Day – launch day. I hope he’ll invite all of you to come.

An online class – is it worth the convenience?

I just finished a ten-week online novel writing class. I must say at the outset that I liked the convenience of working from my computer at home and not having to drive twelve miles once a week up to the Westside of Los Angeles about twelve miles in all the evening traffic. But, those are the only two advantages I can think of.

However, I missed the one-to-one interchange and give and take with people in a classroom setting. I couldn’t get their personalities from their written comments. And since I had worked with the instructor before, even her wonderful outgoing personality didn’t show through from the comments and lectures and other documents she posted online.

Of course the material for the class was adequate but it was just that – material, with no room for discussion about it. We did our writing assignments and posted them on time every week. And we posted a comment on at least two of our classmates work every week. Even though I found that quite enough work for me since I was very much involved with caring for my husband and his broken foot throughout the entire ten-week period, other students commented on the work of many more of their colleague’s work, making me feel a little guilty.

Perhaps because I came into the class at the third level and missed the first two levels that took place last summer and fall, my experience was less than wonderful. I needed more information about the books the others were writing, and I think I would have gotten that information had we discussed them face-to-face in a classroom – even though I was a later comer to the class. I couldn’t read everyone’s work every week, so I skipped around to get a taste of the work of several people. Not a good way to get the whole gist of the stories that I read.  And I’m sure my classmates felt the same way about my work. There was no way, because of how the assignments were structured, for any of us to post our scenes in chronological order.

However, this class pushed me to get a lot of novel writing done. I wrote the equivalent to the assigned 300 words a day – some days I wrote more and some days less, and I’m left with a good chunk of writing done. And I even have a lot of comments that will help me in fleshing out the scenes I have and creating new ones later on. I can’t tell you how many times I thought about dropping the class because I was so overwhelmed over my husband’s accident – it happened during the first week of class. But, I’m really glad I stuck it through. 

Next time, though, I’ll take something held in a classroom and not online, no matter how long and inconvenient the drive to school is. I must be too old fashioned for this online stuff.   

 

Music is here now for you listening pleasure

A few days ago my computer guy – and I kid you not, his name is Guy – and I spent a couple of hours figuring out how to add a music player on this site so that I can showcase my son Paul’s music. And Voila! The music player is now here. Just go to the second tab above, the one titled In Memory of Paul Sharples, open the page, scroll down to the bottom, and click the little triangle on the box to play. Unfortunately I can only showcase one piece at a time, but I promise to change the tunes often.

I’ve also created two more tabs. The next tab has endorsements for my memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On. Hopefully after you’ve read the book, you’ll write one that I can post. The next tab is for the book trailer, but since that is still under construction, you’ll have to keep checking back to see if it’s posted yet.

Please enjoy Paul’s tune – composed and performed by him.

Paul playing piano at Grandma's house

Building a book trailer

I’ve decided there is never an end to the things that need doing in getting a book published and out there to the world. My latest chore is developing a book trailer, and when I began – just days ago – I really didn’t have a clue about how to do it.

I actually thought about having a trailer some months ago when I saw the one for Alice and Richard’s book The Art of Aging. And then when two of my Lucky Press author colleagues came out with theirs, I decided it was time for me to get a move on. And since I’m a me-too kind of person, I didn’t want to be left out. Their books will be released after mine, and their trailers are already on YouTube.

So I asked my son Ben if he would work on it with me – he of course with his acting talent and his experience in writing, directing, and producing short films – he was the logical choice. And like a good son, he said he’d be glad to help – which really meant doing most of the design and production work.

We met on Thursday and talked about a script. Obviously for a piece about two minutes long, not much of a script is needed, but the details need to be thought through carefully. I brought a review copy of my book, and while we ate our burger bowls at The Counter in Marina del Rey, we each marked photos to include in the trailer – my idea is to have a background that is a montage of the photos that tell the story. Ben had the brilliant idea and some words to typify a beginning, middle, and end of the story.

And since Ben is in the business of making films he felt he could call upon a couple of his friends to help out. One of his friends has the skills and access to the equipment needed to produce the piece. And although I had originally thought that either Ben or his wife Marissa, also an actor, would do the voice over, Ben called another one of his friends who is more experienced. Both agreed to help out. Wow, am I lucky.

Then yesterday I spent the afternoon shipping off music and pictures to my two producers who worked into the wee hours of the night to come up with a draft. Needless to say I sent them more than they used, but they definitely picked out the right stuff. Their initial product is beautiful. No voice over yet – I’m still deciding on what the voice will say – but the look is beautiful and very heartfelt. Of course throughout I’ve had the help of wonderful photographers whose work is in the book and will be shown on the video. Plus I took a few of the photos myself.

Picking the music is another issue. I decided early on to have Paul’s music in the background, and I mistakenly sent my producers the wrong tracks. So for the draft Ben and Frank used one that wasn’t composed by Paul and that had a lot of saxophone playing besides Paul’s piano. Today I spent some time listening to what I think were his latest compositions and sent that off. Hopefully it won’t be hard to take out the music from the draft piece and include another piece. My goal is to have only Paul at the piano in the background.

Another one of my original ideas was to have a couple poem excerpts read as the photos and music plays on screen. But, seeing how short two minutes are, I’m reconsidering. Perhaps it will be statements that typify the beginning, middle, and end of the story. I have a few days left to decide on that.

I’ve discovered a process has been associated with each step of my book’s creation. I drew my material from my journal entries, using my poem manuscript as an organizing tool. I did my revisions and reviews based on the processes I learned by working proposals in the aerospace company: revise, review, revise, review until done; storyboard the entire manuscript, and save every hard and soft version until the book is published. And by the time this trailer is finished I’ll have a process to share about doing that. In the meantime there’s a lot of lessons to be learned.