HelenKay Dimon

As you read this, I’m probably driving to, from or attending this event::

Everything You’ve Always Wanted to Know About Romance Writing But Were Afraid to Ask
Saturday, March 31, 2007 at 11 am
Valley Center County Library
Panel: HelenKay Dimon, Leanne Shawler, & Linda Thomas-Sundstrom

For more information, check here.

If you’re in the San Diego area, stop by and say hello.

Normally I skip over magazine articles with titles like Ain’t No Mountain High Enough This time, while looking at the pretty pictures in Elle, I saw this one by Louisa Kamp and kept reading because the subtitle said: “Why do some people get ahead while others are perpetually stuck at the bottom?” I’ve wondered this myself. After all, it’s not hard to see how some authors have careers that take off with very little initial promotion (Shannon McKenna and JR Ward) and others don’t. Then there’s the question of why some people get published and others try and never get there. Frankly, I wanted to see if Ms. Kamp had any insight.

If you have the April ‘07 Elle, take a look at this article. It’s interesting. Ms. Kamp uses her experience today at 39 to look back to when she was 23 and an editorial assistant for The New Yorker. She calls on some of the other young writers who worked with her at TNY to get their ideas too. Basically, she tries to figure out where her ambition went and investigates the idea of ambition at the same time.

She references a professor Alex Stajkovic, PhD and his theory that “all human behavior” is defined by three factors: (1) skill; (2) the desire to achieve using that skill; and (3) the belief that you can achieve. His point is that to have ambition, you need the last two. He defines this as the “fire in the belly” idea.

I’m thinking there is a fourth that might be implied by the other three but needs to be stated: the willingness to sacrifice to achieve. I don’t think it’s just a matter of wanting it, having the skills to achieve it and believing. It’s also a matter of being willing to push yourself to uncomfortable levels to get there.

I remember having a conversation with a published author when I was still unpublished. She said: “If you’re good and you want it – really deep down want it and are willing to work to get it – you’ll get published. It might take some time, but you will.” This author and Dr. Stajkovic seems to be saying the same thing. From listening to aspiring authors talk, it seems to me many have the skill but not the drive. I’m not trying to be offensive. I’m just stating a fact. It’s the “I don’t have time” excuse. The reality is that you do if you want it. You make time. Of course, I’m not sure which is worse, lacking the drive or lacking the skill. Not having the drive is a waste of talent. Not having the skill is a much different problem. An awful one made worse by the fact that those who lack skill often don’t know it or refuse to believe it. Figuring out which group you’re in is the trick. Starting out, I remember worrying that I fell into the “lack of skill” category. Really, the skills were there. They just needed polishing…still do. I wanted it and believed but wasn’t working very hard at it. Once I made writing a priority, I sold. it took 18 months, but I sold.

If the article is right and ambitious people are never satisfied, that they always set new goals and never rest on their laurels, that could explain why some careers take off and others bump along. Still working on that one.

There’s this book I keep seeing. It’s by a debut author. Looks good. Getting great reviews. Been optioned for a movie. But…it’s a hardcover. I’m fine with picking up hardcovers, but it’s a risk. For this one, I’m going to get it anyway. The price is good on Amazon. And, again, the book has appealed to me from the first time I read about it.

The book is The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz. The publisher describes it this way:

Meet Isabel Spellman, private investigator. This twenty-eight-year-old may have a checkered past littered with romantic mistakes, excessive drinking, and creative vandalism — but she’s good at her job as a licensed P.I. with her family’s firm, Spellman Investigations. Invading people’s privacy comes naturally to Izzy and all the Spellmans. If only they could leave their work at the office.

Izzy walks an indistinguishable line between Spellman family member and Spellman employee. Duties include: completing assignments from the boss, aka Mom and Dad; appeasing her chronically perfect lawyer brother; and setting an example for her fourteen-year-old sister, Rae (who’s become addicted to “recreational surveillance”). But when Izzy decides to get out of the family business in search of normalcy, there’s a hitch: she must take one last job before they’ll let her go — a fifteen-year-old, ice-cold missing person case. She accepts, only to experience a disappearance far closer to home, which becomes the most important case of her life. The Spellman Files is an unforgettable introduction to the Spellman family in all its lovable chaos.

Anyone read it?

If you’re looking for an alternative to March Madness (ie, the college basketball tournament), there is a literary tournament going on. It’s called The Morning News Tournament of Books. Powell’s sponsors it. It’s described as: “…an annual battle royale amongst the top novels in ‘literary fiction’ published throughout the year.”

The Tournament is in the middle of the Semifinals right now. Something called the “Zombie Round” is next. I leave it to you to figure out exactly what that is.

In case you’re wondering, the contestants this year were (and I have read exactly one of these):

Half of a Yellow Sun, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
One Good Turn, Kate Atkinson
Arthur and George, Julian Barnes
Brookland, Emily Barton
English, August, Upamanyu Chatterjee
The Lay of the Land, Richard Ford
Pride of Baghdad, Niko Henrichon, Brian K. Vaughan
The Road, Cormac McCarthy
The Emperor’s Children, Claire Messud
The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo, Peter Orner
The Echo Maker, Richard Powers
Against the Day, Thomas Pynchon
Firmin, Sam Savage
Absurdistan, Gary Shteyngart
Alentejo Blue, Monica Ali
Apex Hides the Hurt, Colson Whitehead

Feel free to play along at home.

Yesterday was a big day in romance novel land. The RITA (RWA’s award for best published books of the year) and the Golden Heart (RWA’s award for best unpublished manuscripts of the year) finalists got their calls. I didn’t enter so I totally forgot about announcement day until I signed on and saw that I had over 1100 emails in my inbox. The romance loops went wild as people got their calls and the congratulations started coming in.

You can check out the Golden Heart list. I wanted to point out one finalist who is listed on my sidebar links. Congrats to Cindy Procter-King!! Her manuscript, Her Hometown Man, is a finalist in the Long Contemporary category. Congrats and good luck to all of the finalists. Whether or not your Golden Heart manuscript eventually turns you into a published book, this is a huge accomplishment and great honor. Good job!

The RITA list includes some great reads. There are a few Brava titles on the list which is just great to see – congrats to Sylvia Day (in the novella category) and Jill Shalvis (in the contemporary single title category)!!! Also, Erin McCarthy who is a fav author of mine is a finalist for Heiress For Hire . Huge congrats and good luck to all of the finalists.

Many review sites and periodicals give grades in reviews. As a reader, my eyes immediately go to the letter then I read the review. When paging through the Entertainment Weekly book reviews, grades play a huge part in the order in which I read. Going page by page is just too boring. In general I start with the main review. This week, two books on Jamestown hold this honor. After that I skip to the mini-reviews. These are 4-6 books in the same genre that are set out in a special box. This week the “special box” focuses on comics. The title is From Superheroes to Absolute Zeros. From there I check the bestseller charts and then onto the other reviews.

The “others” is where the grading comes into play for me. I start with the low grades (D range), then do the high (all the forms of A), then end with the Bs and Cs. This week all of the “other” reviews were As and Bs except one. One got a D-. The book is the March 27th release The Alibi Man by Tami Hoag. The review starts like this: “Could Tami Hoag have been as bored with her own book as I was?” It goes downhill from there with comments about “flimsy” characters and bad dialog. I haven’t read the book, but I certainly found the review entertaining.

Every author I know checks Amazon and B&N for the ranking of their releases. If someone says he/she never checks, I assume the person is lying. It’s just one of those things authors do. Much like breathing and procrastination.

Not that the rankings actually mean anything, of course. The Wall Street Journal drove that point home in an article yesterday called A Few Sales Tricks Can Launch a Book To Top of Online Lists. This article talks about a PR firm that will, for a good size fee, make your book soar to the top of these rankings. More than likely the book will only stay in that position for an hour (or less), but…

The article describes it this way:

New York public-relations firm Ruder Finn says it can propel unknown titles to the top of rankings on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble with a mass email called the Best-Seller Blast. Popular authors such as Mark Victor Hansen of the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series recommend your book in messages to fans, and offer a deal: Buy the book today and you’ll get downloadable “bonuses” supposedly valued at thousands of dollars — such as recordings of motivational speeches and contact information for important people. Orchestrating even 1,000 book purchases in a single day can drive a title from obscurity to the top of the charts.

Critics say it’s bunk. A few throw around the “s” word – scam. I’m thinking scam is a bit strong. The method isn’t exactly new. The problem here is with the result. From what I can tell you pay money for something rather illusory – an online ranking number – rather than for something tangible and helpful such as creating a real buzz. But, I guess if having the lowest possible ranking is your goal (even if it’s for a short period of time), then this option is out there.

I’m over at Access Romance’s All A-Blog today. The topic is…well, it’s kind of all over the place, but it’s basically about the RWA-sponsored magazine for booksellers and librarians called Romance Sells and the “sister” website called Have We Got A Story For You.

I’m not much for books that ponder things. By that I mean those of the All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten variety. Are they considered part of the self-help genre? Don’t know. Just know I avoid them. I consider myself somewhat thoughtful. Not sure why I’d need a book to tell me things I should already know, but whatever.

Despite this, I did buy a book that falls into this category. It’s called What I Know Now: Letters to my Younger Self. As the title suggests, this consists of highly successful and famous women writing letters to their younger selves about “wisdom they wish they’d had when they were younger.” Women from politics, business, sports, media, the creative arts…and Vanna White (not sure which category she falls in) are represented. Nora is in there. So are other novelists and authors – I make that distinction only because the book does in describing what some of these women do for a living.

I’ve paged through the book. It doesn’t take long since it’s small and less than 200 pages long. While I’m not a convert to the pondering genre (or whatever we call it), some of the letters were pretty interesting as were the circumstances to which the letters related. Page through it at B&N, or wherever you buy books, and check it out. I’m thinking it’s one of those perfect gifts to give to female friends and relatives.

This post combines two of my favorite things – shopping and procrastination.

When it comes to writing, I’m a pantser. I don’t do a 150 page outline (like Suzanne Brockmann). Don’t have a posterboard with colored sticky notes on it indicating plot points (like Alison Kent). Don’t do storyboards with pictures from magazines or character charts (like the ones included in the RWA Conference Handout book that scare the beejesus out of me).

Instead, I start with a kernel of an idea – sometimes a scene, sometimes a fragment, sometimes a character idea. Then I write. I do about three rough chapters before things start to click. From there I double back, sketch out a rough idea/plot and define the characters. Then I start writing again. I’ve tried to do this other ways. Doesn’t work. Though it’s a convoluted and difficult process, this is the way writing fiction works for me.

Those starting kernels pop into my head all the time. While I’m writing a book I get ideas for future chapters of that book and for other books. Since I have the short-term memory of a gnat, I’ve learned to write this stuff down the minute it seeps into my brain. To prevent writing on my hand in lipstick during these moments, I carry around these small journals. Honestly, I collect the things. Knowing this habit, people have given me some beautiful journals as gifts. I love them. And, they are a huge help to my writing process.

So, when I found these cute slim journals over the weekend, I got all excited. Thought I’d share. I got them in a store, but they’re on the Crown Publishing/Random House website. I bought the Four Season Pocket Pads and the Wall Flowers Pocket Pads. They’re the perfect size for your purse, they’re lined…and, yeah, they’re pretty.

Consider it my shopping tip for the day.