Post Conference: Follow The Yellow Brick Road
POST THE 2012 ACFW DFW CONFERENCE
Post the ACFW Conference and once home you think I could have had my nose to the grindstone ready to church out my book. I was exhausted that Sunday and resting I did not fully get rested for several weeks. Between all the information, meetings, networking and rules I learned about writing and the business my mind or brain was nothing Mush for nearly six weeks. I had a difficult time just trying to process it all. But God used that time wisely with me. In time everything I learned began to fall into place. And the Conference was the jump start my career needed.
GOD’S CHRISTMAS GIFT 2012: OUR PLACE Novel
It was not until the holidays between Christmas and New Year’s that one of God’s gifts arrived in a most unusual way. After visiting a family style take out restaurant in Mansfield I came up with a novel idea of a Contemporary Harlequin Romance that almost wrote itself in less than 10 days. That’s where OUR PLACE became a gift of starting, writing and finishing a first draft novel.
What happened to SILENT NIGHT? That novel is still active but was part of the mush I tried to write through post the conference. Similar to HER LEADING MAN I became bogged down where to start it and how deep (too deep) of subject matter of where it started. Harlequin Love Inspired does not mind and does encourage theme or serious subjects in their books but I was writing too deep for what are traditionally 110-120,000 word novels and not the 55-60,000 word smaller novels for Harlequin.
SILENT NIGHT and that series of 3 books still has potential, still rests in my stack of 3″ binders of researched novels but trying to condense what was probably a 120k word novel into 55,000 words was not working. At the time I was not capable of doing so but it was a solid part of my growth and learning process. Even OUR PLACE needs an extensive rewrite as I wound up ‘head-hoppng’ too much – an older literary style of ‘omnipresent’ writing. But it was a gift from God to write something better than I had written before and have a completed novel of about 65,000 words.
OUR PLACE is a story about Brianna Watson, who has two children and is a hostess at the restaurant who gets a second chance at love with another divorced man, Wesley Pine who has because of the economy changed professions and feels less than what he suspects is her type. Wes is a plain but honest man where Brianna is a stunningly beautiful woman. Sadly most of the types she fell for in her past either left or were abusive with her. She wants something better for her children and herself. She recognizes Wes may very well be that man. The books pattered after a family restaurant near my home where I often picked up take-out and have friendly interaction with the owners, managers and staff. The book nearly wrote itself in less than 10-days.
NEW YEAR AND NEW GROWTH IN 2013
As 2012 became 2013 I though I had hit a home run with the OUR PLACE Manuscript. But it needed a content editor to critique the story and work with me on my deficiencies. Yes, Deficiencies. While I had mastered 7 of 10 critical learning issues I had three that still needed work.
HIRING A CRITIQUE-EDITOR
Hiring a Content Critique Editor was the smartest move I ever made. I sought the counsel of several members in the ACFW and was led to Joy Avery Melville of Schoolcraft Michigan. Joy is a writer herself and a critter for several writers. She had an opening, was willing to work with a would be writer, and we entered a contract for both OUR PLACE and later HER LEADING MAN.
Working on OUR PLACE it was confirmed I had those 7 great skills down pact but lacked in the other three. About the same time I started to wonder what my specialty genre would be for Harlequin. I wrote Romantic Suspense as in the SHADOWS OVER OLSON series, and SILENT NIGHT was also turning that direction. Both were stories similar to Frank Peretti and Colleen Coble’s style of work. Just by contrast of common names, let me be clear: MY WORK IS NOTHING LIKE PERETTI OR COBLE. I’m not that good. Not even close. But it was in the similar genre.
OUR PLACE was a Harlequin styled Contemporary novel and I enjoyed writing it. The mentor books I read that prepared me for contemporaries were Margaret Daley, Arlene James, and Leeann Harris. But in the process between OUR PLACE and what became HER LEADING MAN I read three Historical Romances by Noelle Marchand, one by Colleen Coble (from 2002) and another from Lena Nelson Dooley in 2011. I liked the Historical feel of a period setting, lifestyle and characters and wondered if I might enjoy writing a Historical Romance novel.
THE ERA AND YEARS I HOPE TO SPECIALIZE IN WRITING
Looking at the guidelines for Harlequin Love Inspired books and their Historical line I noticed a lot of titles in the 1700s, and 1800s but few in the 1900s. Allie Pleiter wrote a World War I love story but I knew the genre included post World War I to World War II. One of my favorite time periods to read and write about is the 1920s to the 1930s. HBO has seen success with BOARDWALK EMPIRE and Hollywood has scored decently with the remake of THE GREAT GATSBY so I wondered if I might write a series based in the mid 1920s.
Earl Hamner wrote THE WALTON’S originally as SPENCER’S MOUNTAIN and John Boy originally as ‘Clay-Boy.’ The depression is an interesting era with the entertainment of radio and trying to live through hard times. While I’d eventually like to work into that era I thought the time frame just prior to the depression from 1925 to 1929 might be a good place to start. Its post World War I, its during the time of Prohibition, Pre the depression, and an era where women had the right to vote, began to enter the workforce and the era of Dixieland Jazz, Popular Standards music, Radio, and Silent Movies. Sound was on the horizon by 1929 and it was an interesting shift of culture and yet challenges for business in that age.
I began to research some small Texas towns of my father, grand father and great grand father’s times and with a wealth of personal information, photos, and recorded memories since the 1960s I decided to write THE STARS AT NIGHT series with the first book of HER LEADING MAN. With Joy’s help I am writing a chapter at a time and working through my challenges to become a leaner writer in proper and present writing rules and/or styles.
CHALLENGES TO OVERCOME
Joy assessed my writing from OUR PLACE and suggested writing exercises and book examples to correct the deficiencies. I resource books by James Scott Bell, Jeff Gerke and Randy Ingermanson to study. I joined THE BEST SELLER SOCIETY and studied tutorials from February through April to tighten and correct the concepts that had yet to take root. So far I seem to have overcome:
1. ‘Head hopping’ (being too omniscient with each character)
2. Staying on one Point of View (POV) per scene. and developing Deep POV.
3. Show more and Tell less. Add description.
4. Formatting.
Hiring Joy was the smartest and most useful maximization of my resources. I love having a critique editor and an objective, experienced and knowledgeable set of eyes and suggestions how to write the type of book Harlequin will want. That they expect.
HISTORICAL or CONTEMPORARY?
For Published Experience Writers, H/LI was willing to allow them to write series in each category every other year, but for an pre-published writer they wanted us to stick with one genre and build a readership base or what Michael Hyatt at the 2012 Conference called ‘building a tribe of followers.’
So I have the Contemporary OUR PLACE ready to edit and I also have HER LEADING MAN the historical in development. When I finish both I will have two manuscripts to shop and weigh in pros and cons of writing each.
THE GOOD NEWS
The good news? My Critique-Editor sees improvement in my writing and writing much more salable Christian Fiction. At present we are editing HER LEADING MAN’s manuscript.
EDITING
Part of my education in the spring of 2013 was to value the process of editing. My mentor hero of Colleen Coble, Stephen King and Sandra Brown all note how valuable a pre-publisher editor can be. Colleen sent me a letter stating she had at least 4 edits of novel before it goes to her publisher and then another three edits within the publisher. I’ll admit I was depressed reading others work in the first to second quarters of 2013. What I was not factoring in was that my first drafts were anything but the completed work of 4-7 edits for those published writers. I discounted myself unable to write perfectly from the first draft. But that was an unrealistic expectation I had to overcome. And slowly, I’m overcoming that misconception.
Under the guidance of Joy Avery Melville I have learned chapter by chapter what is essential and what needs more work. Its also been a learning curve how to read an edit and how to actually edit without rewriting an entire chapter. It takes discipline and strength to do what one’s editor specifically asks for. It too has been the best investment of my career so far.
THE GOAL: A COMPLETED AND READY MANUSCRIPT
Where I hoped to be published in 2013 I am closer to the goal into the 4th Quarter of this year. I had to learn and grow at the deficiencies in order to go where I want in subsequent novels to where I’m writing 3-4 70,000 word works per year and hopefully one 120k work as well. To get there I must be a proficient writer mastering the rules and seldom break those rules. The goal is to write 4 books a year and try to keep that pace up over the next decade or longer.
WHERE TO FROM HERE?
The road from here is to Complete both the Historical and Contemporary Novels, have them read by my agent of preference and then shopped to Harlequin Love Inspired through their senior editor Melissa Endlich. I hope that will be in late 2013 to 2014.
FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD!
I believe Harlequin is the yellow brick road to Oz (starting and maintaining a published career). I’m convinced of that. And multiple journeys with other series. It has a hungry public for a 6-8 hour novel read several times a year and I’m almost ready to fill some of that void. But if I am to have any other success I have to grow as a writer and at some point down the line I can cheer for myself more confidently I am finally an Author! Author!
THAT’S WHAT’S HAPPENING BEHIND THE SCREENS!
That’s a peek behind the screens. We’ll look at my mentors, influences and heroes who have contributed to where I am today. In subsequent posts I will pay tribute to each of them. For now, thanks for coming along for the ride.