Keeping An Open Mind

Back in October, a post on the Tinkey's Goldfish Facebook page said, "Approaching a story with an open mind and an imagination gives you a better insight and depth of the book or novel that you are reading! This is the same approach that one should use when writing a report or a short story of your own!"

I feel like stapling those words to my forehead.

An open mind is exactly what I'm trying to keep after yesterday's conversation with Bryony's editor. The book still has a couple of trouble spots for her. It was a good talk; we are more on the same page than I originally thought, and it helps that she really likes the story. I think we've even worked out a viable solution, for one area, at least.

The challenge is keeping the story intact while implementing the suggestions. I'm guessing she has more faith in my abilities than I do today, but I've called out for feedback and, despite some grumblings in the loyal ranks for tampering with my story, I am receiving some valuable suggestions.

For those staunch defenders of the original draft--few of them writers--I remind them that one reason editors are necessary is that they approach the work with fresh eyes, which none of us have right now.

Moreoever, if the story wasn't worth whipping into the best possible shape, WriteLife would not exert so much energy into getting it there. We're all on the same page (lol!) and coming into the home stretch, so....

I'm approaching Bryony with an open mind and imagination, the two qualities that led me to write it in the first place.

So, Is There Really Going to be a Book?

LOL! Yes, there is. It’s been four months since I returned Round Three Bryony Edits to WriteLife, but word is that my editor is finishing up a comprehensive edit, and I should see the manuscript again soon. In the meantime, there is plenty of Byrony pre-publication bliss to keep me happy: * Just saw the proof for the business cards, and they took terrific! * My editor posted a quote from Bryony on her site. Woo Hoo! * My publicist, Dulcinea Hawksworth, has talked to people eager to review Bryony AND * The first person to review it (a university English professor) sounds positive AND * Dulcinea is lining up venues interested in a Bryony event AND * I'm to appear at a pre-event in April (details as we get closer). * Fundraising for the Big Brothers Big Sisters Bowl for Kids’ Sake on March 25 is slow, but happening. * I’ve met a number of terrific people willing to be interviewed for the BryonySeries blog. * Sarah Stegall, Bryony’s web administrator, has added a music room page to the Bryony website (http://www.bryonyseries.com/) and is working on a humane society page. Plus, the board of trustees page is updated. Check them out! * Stephen Tuplin, Bryony’s filmmaker, has begun some initial shooting for the Bryony trailer in a REAL Victorian mansion. * A small press that MIGHT be interested in the Bryony cookbook is reviewing those files. We're getting closer....

Logo, Makeover, and First Appearances

Wow! Bryony is getting busy.

First, the official Bryony logo and tagline is complete, thanks to Bryony's illustrator, Kathleen Rose Van Pelt (http://www.imaginarylinesstudio.com/) and CAL Graphisc, Inc (http://www.calgraphicsinc.com/).

To view, click onto Bryony's Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bryony/115857775121196?ref=sgm

My publicist, Dulcinea Hawksworth, has scheduled a makeover for this Friday afternoon and is coming with TWO cameras in tow--I don't own one :(--so she can take lots of pictures of the "new me" to post on the Bryony sites.

Now, this a little daunting for me because I don't wear makeup (I have chronic hives), but Dulcinea insists it's part of my packaging (see http://bryonyseries.blogspot.com/2011/02/i-am-commodity.html), and that the make-up is very hypo-allergenic.

I trust Dulcinea's judgment and, besides, it's should be a nice bonding time with my two daughters. Rebekah, seventeen, can heckle me in person, and my web administrator, Sarah Stegall, who lives out of state, can heckle me long-distance, via camera phones.

I have a dressmaker!!!

Last week she came to my house and measured me for my first, three Victorian outfits: two walking suits (spring and fall), and a ball gown. Yesterday, we purchased our first patterns and several yards of shimmering burgundy/black fabric, on sale.

Her future plans--sooner than later--is to kidnap me for a day (sans her children--two small boys who "helped" us yesterday look for patterns) and flee to a much larger, out-of-town fabric store.

Last, but certainly not least, Bryony has two upcoming events. Because any profits of the Bryony cookbook will be donated to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Will and Grundy Counties (http://www.bbbs.org/), Bryony is supporting the 2011 Bowl for Kids' Sake in two ways, by helping to fund event costs and through pledge-sponsored bowling on March 25.

If you live in the area and want to become a sponsor, form a team, join an existing team, or pledge a bowler, visit http://bfks.kintera.org/ for details. It takes $1000 to match one child with a positive adult mentor, so any help is welcomed, appreciated, and put to good use.

Bryony will also participate in an April 10 event at the Universalist Unitarian Church of Joliet (http://www.uucj.com/). I don't have details, but will share them when I do. Although WriteLife LLC does not yet have a release date for Bryony, the entire Bryony team is eager to start spreading the word.

To view sketches and biographies of the Bryony team, visit our website at http://www.bryonyseries.com/ or click here: http://www.bryonyseries.com/About_Us_FFC4.html.

I wonder if the spring walking suit is appropriate for April 10. I certainly hope so!!!

I2E Club - Interview with Cindy Grady of WriteLife

The Best Publishing Fit for Bryony

In the beginning, I did query several agents regarding Bryony, but after receiving my first batch of rejections, I read and thought some more about my options and goals for the novel and pulled back from the query process.

While many new authors do find agent representation quite early, I learned an average of eleven years and several novels pass before some writers attain it. Although freelance writing is a business for me, I wasn't trying to launch a commercial fiction writing career. In short, at nearly fifty, I had no desire to wait eleven years only to see another novel in print while Bryony languished inside my computer.

I had simply written a story I found entertaining and felt others might enjoy it, too. I also wanted to create an illustrated book format for Bryony and to present the story in its best shape. If possible, I wanted the editing process to have a friendly, collaborative feel, similiar to my other writing experiences.

So, I queried several new, small presses and received a request for Bryony's first four chapters. Then, I learned about WriteLife LLC. So when the press with the four chapters fell behind in production, I queried WriteLife LLC. I'm glad I did.

In the past year, Bryony has undergone three rounds of editing. I have been pleased with each result. A week ago, the publisher emailed me and said when my editor is finished reviewing my changes, she will have a better idea where Bryony fits into the company's publishing schedule.

For Bryony, so far, WriteLife has been a good option. The story has received a thorough editing, yet my story and characters are intact. My husband can't understand why I won't save the previous drafts. Yes, I will keep my editorial notes for future reference, but for me, there is only one authentic draft, and that is the published one.

Meet Bryony's Illustrator, Kathleen Rose Van Pelt

Last summer, an acquaintance of mine called me one day and asked if I would write a story for the newspaper on her cousin and her amazing art.

“Is she local?” I asked. She was not.

“Has she ever lived in our readership area?” Again, no, so I politely explained the newspaper would not allow me to write a story about the artist if she had no local connection. My acquaintance insisted otherwise. “Just look at her art,” she said.

Reluctantly, since a story was impossible, I clicked onto http://www.imaginarylinesstudio.com/ and was instantly enchanted by her line style and carefully placed spots of color. It was perfect for Bryony. Might Kathleen be interested in creating the cover art for the book, if and when I had a publisher and if the publisher agreed?

My acquaintance assured me it was possible and then suggested I contact Kathleen. I did, and she was open to the idea. We began working together in earnest when WriteLife accepted Bryony for publication.

Our collaboration was simple and unstructured. Basically, Kathleen read Bryony, loved it (although she’s not a fan of vampire stories), and worked from her inspirations. It was her idea to add the interior black and white drawings.

Kathleen made everyday seem like Christmas. I’ve never had so much fun signing onto my computer! Every morning, I couldn’t wait to see if she had sent an image. I’ve adored watching my story come alive under her hand.

Samples of Bryony’s artwork are posted on the Facebook page underphotos: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bryony/115857775121196?ref=sgm.

Check out Kathleen’s interview Wednesday.

Denise M. Baran-Unland

Page Breaks

Despite incessant, over-the-shoulder nagging from my sixteen year old daughter that I was way past my bedtime, I grimly reset all the mesed-up page breaks for the first few chapters. I just HAD to make a dent in repairing those flaws before I could sleep.

For the next ten days, I ruthlessly reset those breaks page by awful page, printed each one to check margins and copy errors, and reset and retyped when necessary. I held my breath when I finally e-mailed my manuscript to Cindy Grady, WriteLife’s managing editor. I'd never make a living as a copy editor.

I spent the next two months catching up on homework, features, press releases, and Staked!, the third novel in the Bryony series. My inbox was often full of cover drafts and interior images from Kathleen. The book was coming alive!

In the meantime, my children caught a mild form of the writing bug. Daniel, 14, started a werewolf story, and Rebekah, 16, worked on her historical romance. Timothy, 19, began a story detailing the adventures of a pedantic old man whose is world is turned topsy-turvy. My twelve year old niece sent me chapters of her novel as she completed them. At the end of April, round two drafts arrived, along with a two-page letter from the editor that worked on it. I was pleasantly surprised.

Happily, I made the adjustments, added the requested scene, and sent back the manuscript within three weeks. I devoted the next couple of weeks, including all of Memorial Day weekend, to finishing a draft of Staked!

Why WriteLife LLC

WriteLife LLC defined itself as a cooperative publisher, so that made me nervous. I had already visited several cooperative publishing sites and those companies work like this. The author goes through the traditional submission process. Upon acceptance, the publisher pays a portion and the author pays a portion. However, various writers’ forums warned against cooperative publishing. Those sites felt the publisher should always pay the costs.

Yet, this one seemed different. There were no upfront costs and no exhortations to sell, as I had found with some vanity presses. Royalties were 50 percent of the net. Then I
read warnings about print on demand, net royalties, and even e-books.

As I read and researched, I watched the industry change. Print-on-demand was losing its stigma. Several self-published writers did well with their books. Traditional publishing houses laid off employees. Bookstores closed. E-book readers hit the market and initial e-book sales did better than originally predicted. Several major publishers were now offering net royalties on e-books.

In general, I like cooperatives. I have belonged to food cooperatives and home school cooperatives, and my family tends to collaborate on projects. One draw for me was that David Martin published his Fine Lines literary journal with WriteLife. What I liked about Martin was that, as a high school English teacher, he encouraged troubled young adults to write.

I had previously taught creative writing and two levels of feature writing at a homeschool cooperative and founded and operated a rather eclectic, church youth group, so Martin’s story, and his trust in WriteLife inspired me. I ceased submitting for several months and prayed for guidance on finding a home for Bryony. WriteLife kept coming back as the answer. So, I submitted. I learned in early December that Bryony was on it was to WriteLife’s lead editor. It was a Merry Christmas, indeed.

Why A Bryony Cookbook

Well, why not?

Even before I began submitting Bryony to agents and small presses, my kids and I talked about all the fun, additional products the novel might inspire.

Although I’ll probably never see bendable dolls with their own line of clothing (too bad, since we could make a fortune on all those lost, little shoes) or a Simons Mansion dollhouse (I REALLY want one), the cookbook idea took root inside me and flourished.

A cookbook was a common fundraiser for many organizations—just look at what Kathy Carey did for March of Dimes-- and Bryony was full of food references: balls, formal dinner parties, and 1970s-style family dinners. So, why NOT a cookbook? Surely, there was a group out there who wouldn’t mind being the recipient of anything we made from it, even if only enough to purchase a book of stamps.

Soon after WriteLife accepted Bryony, I scrolled through the manuscript and jotted down all the food references I could find. I organized them into topics. I researched publishing options. I made a list of possible organizations to contact. The first was Big Brothers Big Sisters of Will and Grundy Counties. I contacted its chief operations officer and, once she approved of the project, the recipe collection began.

Submitting Bryony

Although I had been a journalism major and had freelanced a dozen years for a newspaper, I had scant knowledge of the book industry. I thought authors simply packaged their manuscripts, sent them to publishing houses, and waited for the ensuing rejection or acceptance.

To my credit, before I sent that first query, I researched the submission process, including how to properly format a manuscript. Being technologically impaired, I only knew how to do certain things by hand. It took an entire weekend to change my single-spaced manuscript into a double-spaced one and to manually set each page break.

Feeling like a guppy out to sea, I bravely sent my first Bryony query and, four weeks later, happily accepted my first rejection. I had officially joined the ranks of other hopeful authors. I was on my way.

After two months and several more queries passed I decided I wasn't doing too badly. I had two more agent rejections, one agent request for a full manuscript, and small press request for a partial. Both happened near my birthday, so that was pretty cool, at least until my manuscript returned, rejected, from the agent. The small press remained quiet, so I researched some more and sent out a another batch of queries, which I promptly regretted.

Why did I regret it? There was something about the process that seemed inconsistent with my goals. I only wanted to share an entertaining story with others who wanted to read it, and I wanted to encourage other people's writing efforts. I wasn't against marketing my work, but I wasn't trying to break into high-profile, commercial fiction, either.

I also wanted Kathleen R. Van Pelt's illustrations, but that's another post.

Self-publishing seemed the preferable alternative, but I hesitated for two reasons: I couldn't afford it, and I feared unprofessional editing. Then, I interviewed an author who used WriteLife LLC.

The Experimental Posts and Play Lists

Because the dates of posts one, two, and three don't match when I actually posted them, I am writing this post to check the date when I should be editing two other stories.

Maybe, it's my general lack of technical knowledge, but if I post a piece at midnight or even two a.m., I'm baffled why the date and time posts incorrectly. So much for organized, advanced planning!

On another note, writelifellc.wordpress.com had an interesting post this morning about play lists. Until I saw another author post her inspirational song titles, I thought I was the only one who found that certain music inspired scenes, moods, and even characters' personality traits.

However, my song/artist list for Bryony is rather disversifed and eclectic, so I doubt it will ever make a good movie soundtrack. While composing the three books that comprise the Bryony series thus far, I listened to classical piano music (no surprises there), Sanctus Real, Switchfoot, Seabird, Remedy Drive, Crystal Gayle, ELO, the Partridge Family, and tin whistle compositions on YouTube.

I have started the notes for Bryony's prequel, Before the Blood, and I finding myself drawn to Queensryche, Guns and Roses, and Al Stewart. Hmmm.....