Hard at Work

by G.M. Malliet

They've done it again. Usually, it's Money Magazine with its "Best Places to Whatever" lists that drags me away from where I'm hard at work, checking out Lady Gaga's twitter status rewriting that paragraph on page ninety-five of the WIP, that paragraph where each of several synonyms I've tried doesn't sound right and I end up back where I started with the lame-sounding, lumpy, and somehow totally graceless word, "indulgent." Sometimes writing the word in color and a different font helps: indulgent. indulgent. indulgent.

Sometimes not.

Time well spent, as I'm sure you'll agree. Although the time used to insert my author photo into a photo of Oprah was at least good for a laugh.

At some point before I realize it's the entire paragraph that's the problem, I decide I really need to check out the headlines over at Yahoo!, in case I've now missed some crucial world-changing event. And there go the next ten minutes, because I've spotted this headline: The Coolest Small Towns in America.

I would wager there's not a writer or an artist alive who can resist the promise of future happiness hidden behind this link.

Does this explain why regional mysteries are so popular? Although someone once advised me against writing a regional mystery, as it was "too hard to sell," this falls into the same category as telling Louise Penny no one wants to read a book set in Canada. Louise, having wisely ignored this advice, has of course practically had to add a new room onto her house to display the awards for her Canadian mysteries starring Chief Inspector Gamache of the Surete du Quebec.

What exactly is the appeal of the regional? Maybe it lets us, readers and writers, travel somewhere we might only dream of living--and might not actually like if we did live there. The particular lure of the small town for writers is that it might just contain everything we need to get the WIP moving: The promise of seclusion and quiet. Of unobtrusively friendly folk ("How's the book comin' along, Gin?" "Why, jes' fine, Jeb!"). Of gorgeous scenery to provide much-needed inspiration. Reliable repairmen. Clean air, room to breathe. All that.

These "best" articles can function as a sort of Rorschach test for writers. In this particular list, I personally skipped right over Ely, Minnesota (too cold in winter) and Cuero, Texas (too hot in summer). Likewise, any place where I might be expected to cook whatever someone just caught, shot, or trapped for dinner is out. Whale blubber and trail mix constituting any part of my daily caloric intake, also a no.

The place on this list that jumped out at me was Nyack, New York (just the right weather mix), partly because of the tagline applied to it ("Creativity around every corner"). I've driven around the Hudson River Valley, and much of it does live up to the hype. And, with "Creativity around every corner," I bet I could come up with a way better word than "indulgent."

But I have a quibble about one lovely small town missing from the list: Staunton, Virginia. Isolated, but not too--it's got a train station so you can get out of Dodge if you need to. Small-townish, but with an edge, and some very nice shops and restaurants.

Do you have a favorite pick from the Yahoo! list, or your own favorite small town?

p.s. Be sure to read the recent interview with our own Lisa Bork, who sets her "Broken Vows" series in what is undoubtedly her favorite, a fictional small town on the Finger Lakes.

Photo of Medicine Creek, beneath the Wichitas in Medicine Park, Oklahoma, from the Medicine Park Chamber of Commerce.
Photo of Me/Oprah courtesy of Oprah.com
Postcard image of Nyack, NY, from americanart.si.edu.
Photo of Staunton, VA, from Virginia.org.

My Happy Folder

By Deborah Sharp

Who needs the New York Times? Publishers Weekly can go pound sand. And Oprah? Who'd want to sit on that stinkin' couch of yours anyway?

I have something even better than anointment from that Holy Trinity of book arbiters: A Happy Folder.

Recently, I had one of those days when I couldn't write a thing that didn't suck. When I pouted that PW hasn't reviewed my books, even though they've sprinkled their stars upon fellow Inkspot authors. When I pondered hanging up fiction and returning to journalism.

Then I remembered that newspapers are sounding a death rattle, that nobody's hiring, and that friends and former colleagues in the media are losing jobs right and left.

In other words, not a happy day.

Until I got an email from a reader, telling me she loved my book. I thought back to why I left the news biz. I wanted to make people laugh, to bring some levity to a post-9/11 world that felt sad and deadly serious. And here was somebody writing to tell me I'd managed to do just that.

That's when I got the idea of sifting through my emails to create a feel-good folder. I'd fill it only with nice notes from readers. Here's one, from a woman in Birmingham, Ala:

My doctor had been concerned about my rising blood pressure, from stress of constant terrible news on TV. Your book was the perfect antidote: I laughed, felt like I actually knew your very real characters, and was so thoroughly relaxed that my blood pressure went down!

Here's another, from a reader who discovered the Large Print editions of my Mace Bauer Mystery series:

I get migraines from eye strain. It has been a long time since reading was fun for me until your books.


And another one, from a woman who said she's eagerly awaiting Book 3:

I couldn't wait to write and tell you how much I loved your book... funny, clever, LOL, great read ...

After paging through my Happy Folder, the day didn't seem so depressing after all.

PS to Oprah, if you're reading this. I didn't mean it about your couch.

How 'bout you, fellow authors? Do you have a favorite reader e-mail? Readers, have you ever heard from an author that a note from you made his or her day?

Goals and Dreams

Last year I watched with amusement as Ellen DeGeneres set out to entice the elusive George Clooney onto her television show. She eventually succeeded. This year Ellen set her goal to be on the cover of Oprah’s magazine. It was almost too easy. Then Ellen needed a new goal.

Goals are a very hot topic in life. We all know about New Year’s resolutions, which are just a different term for goals. Weight loss is always associated with targets or goals. And who hasn’t been asked in a job interview about their short term and long term career goals?

Writers talk a lot about goals. Some make themselves sit for a certain amount of time each day, writing words—whether they’re publishable words or not. Others force themselves to write a certain number of words per day, no matter what. Ever wonder if some days they write #*!!**# over and over?

Often writers give themselves one year (or two or more) to finish a book. They talk less about what the term “finish” means. Is it 80,000 words, perfected, proofread and ready to publish? Or is it an unedited stream of narrative, description and dialog that will need another year (or more) of revisions before it can be marketed?

When I decided to write a book, my goal was to write a mystery that a publisher recognized by Mystery Writers of America would deem worthy of publication. (Note that my goal was not to be published—that’s a goal fraught with peril, IMHO). For Better, For Murder will be released in September. For Richer, For Danger will follow in 2010. The third book in the series is ready for market, too.

Now I need a new goal. It can’t be too easy, like the Ellen/Oprah magazine cover. And it has to be measurable, reasonable, and attainable. Otherwise, it’s not motivating, and a goal should be motivating. And fun, because life should be fun.

I could write more books in this series. That would be fun, because I love these characters. They talk to me in the shower and the car and sometimes even when someone else is talking to me. But I don’t see any point to it yet, so it’s not motivating. Maybe if the sales on my first book go wild by year end, I’ll get busy on book four. Still, I need a goal now.

I could set a goal to write a different standalone book or series. Now here’s the rub. I don’t feel like it. Plus the characters from my Broken Vows mystery series might get jealous and stop talking to me.

I’m thinking about a goal to write a saleable screenplay. I have no experience or training in writing one of those either. But I love movies almost as much as books and I bought a book on how to write screenplays. That’s a start. And I understand and appreciate formulas, which seems to be what Hollywood is sticking to at the moment. Who can blame them? Formulas work.

And if my screenplay should by some miracle get the green light, maybe I could get Ellen to set a goal to entice George Clooney to star in the movie.

Dream big, right?!