Reflections by Mary Anne Graham
I'm hoping the answer will be NO. Or perhaps, H..E..Double Hockey Sticks..NO!
My Blog is Up over at All Day, All Night ... Romance Divas. It's the other place insane enough to let the Duck Lady swim over and give a Quack Out on a regular basis.
This month, I'm blogging about Sexism. I discuss the Fall Network TV Schedules and the insidious Anti-Romance articles popping up lately. Is there a connection?
Put on your tinfoil hat, pop over and leave a comment.
My blogging insanity is at an ebb today because I dug down deep and cranked out A GOOD ONE for All Day, All Night, Romance Diva's -the Marianne's Blog. That post will be out and about on the 18th - which begins a minute after the stroke of midnight tonight. Yeah, you should absolutely stay up to read it. Yeah, it's that good. I'll post a link on this blog for sure and after it comes down at ADAN later this week, I'll repost it here. It bears repeating.
But what would the weekend be without a dose of QA insanity? This week, the witty, wonderful wierdos on Twitter - myself included - participated in a fun # (hashtag). Some of the ones I particularly liked appear below. To check them all out, go on Twitter and enter the hashtag in the search. Of course, you should IMMEDIATELY FOLLOW ALL THESE FOLKS -
***#replaceawordinafamousquotewithduck***
@angeldodger "I want your clothes, your boots and your Duck."
@valsadie "Don't ask me about my Duck, Kay."
@_jax_ "A man is never more truthful than when he acknowledges himself a Duck." - Mark Twain.
@rodwinery "Power corrupts. Absolute Duck corrupts absolutely." Lord Acton.
@Im_bonafide "Ask not what your Duck can do for you. Ask what you can do for your duck."
@amirhalbakri "All for one & Duck for all."
@SarahBurnett "The rumors of his Duck have been greatly exaggerated."
@Perry_e "Another one bites the Duck."
@taguan "You want the Duck? You can't handle the Duck."
@quackingalone "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a duck."
@xunes "Duck the halls with boughs of holly."
@RichardWiegold "A large Duck is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of." Jane Austen.
@zelda_pinwheel "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the Duck."
@edovebragg "The first rule of Duck Club is: you do not talk about Duck Club."
@sboulton "I'll make him a Duck he can't refuse."
@KillBen10 "They may take our lives, but they will never take our Ducks."
@YesYvonne "You shall know the Duck and the Duck will set you free."
@demeIza2 "All the world's a stage and all the Men and Women merely Ducks."
@jarnoglenn "I get by with a little help from my Duck."
@WJKrembi "You're going to need a bigger Duck."
Again, the hashtag is full of teh funny, and I've only repeated a few of 'em above. Go forth and check them out and the next time a funny hashtag is trending, play along!
I read an interesting post at Dear Author the other day. It was an interview with Carrie Feron, the Editorial Director at Avon. That house publishes 8 original print romances and 4 digital first romances each month via Avon Impulse. Yes, Virginia, it's one of the biggest publishing houses on planet Earth.
When Avon set up a digital first arm, the team thought the books for Impulse would be by unknown authors. But in today's world, the business execs were surprised when their existing authors wanted in on the digital line. It turns out that 1/3 to 1/2 of Impulse's ebooks are by existing Avon authors. (I'm not surprised. I'm not sure why Avon was either.) Avon's also learned pricing lessons from indies and will sell the digital books for less than $5.00.
Although all of Jane's interviews at DA are interesting, parts of this one were particularly intriguing. Ms. Feron said that what she is particularly looking for is a strong voice. That means she will know who the author is from reading the first page of a book. "If you have a strong enough voice, you can make your own niche."
Ms. Feron also said that she's seen a lot of Regency stuff and is looking for something that hasn't been done before. She thinks readers are jaded so she's looking for old themes spun a new way. But the most startling thing she said is this: "She feels that a lot of authors self censor too much."
I'm an indie author but I'm smart enough to know that the big publishers have made fortunes predicting what readers want. (I don't think the big houses always got it right and I think they seriously screwed up when they got too big to take direct submissions from authors. If you make your money from selling widgets but think you're too important to deal with the companies that make them, then sooner or later you're going to lose access to your product.) But despite all of that, we should always remember that publishers built empires from predictions just like these. So I think that smart writers would do well to listen when free advice like this is passed along.
Thanks a million to Dear Author for the post. If you're not already reading the site - shame on you. You should check it every day and you should pay attention!
Now, what the Avon digital guru said of import was that she wants a strong voice and writers should tell take all the risks necessary to tell their stories full throttle. I believe that means that writers should keep it real and be sure the voice that comes across on the pages is their own. Trying to pretend to write in a way that doesn't come naturally or to "copy" the style of another successful author won't work for me and it won't work for you either. A fake style comes across as fake to the readers. If they don't believe your voice they won't like your story.
But Ms. Feron had more to say - she felt that too many authors censor themselves. And it's flat out wrong for a writer to fail to tell their story exactly the way it should fall naturally. Anytime an author fails to listen to her muse, the author is going off track. Inspiration likes risk and risk takers. Why take the risk of putting a story out there but refusing to tell the whole story?
The way the book comes to you from your muse may be risky in theme. It may barge right into a supposedly forbidden area. Or it may be tee-totally shocking. So you draw back as you write or edit. You change the book and make it "safer." Oatmeal is safer than a steak but which would you rather have for dinner? Playing it safe puts a book right in the middle of the pack - and it's a big ole' pack.
When you write a book that takes risks, you will offend some people and you will turn some off. Not everyone will like it. But some people will love it. All of my books take risks and not everyone agrees with some of the things the characters go through. But in every case the story went the way it should have gone. My voice is over-the-top and the characters who populate my stories are going to go through some traumatic events on their way to their happily ever after. But they'll get there - every time.
Frankly, I think that Ms. Feron's advice isn't just good for writers when they're writing. It's also excellent advice for the best way to approach life. The person I am may not be everyone's cup of tea. But I am who I am and what I am and I don't change that for anyone. And I always say what I think. Life is too short for me to worry about saying this to person A or offending person B.
So in writing and in life, I think we'll all get farther if we take the risks that need to be taken, do it in the way that feels natural, and take it all the way.
"Evel" Dick Donato was removed from the house this week because of "a personal matter." As a result of the ouster, Dick's playing partner and daughter, Daniele, got a golden key. So she's safe for the next few weeks.
Interesting.
Did anyone really believe that Dick and Daughter hadn't spoken for the last 3 years? I think that their pretend feud was designed to give 'em playing room. It also meant that a lot of the houseguests probably felt free to confide in Daniele about her Dad. If their heads were gonna be on the chopping block, she might've known.
I'm guessing that either Dick made up a crisis or behaved "Evel" enough to get tossed out. He'd likely guessed that his ouster would get his daughter a golden key.
Has anyone forgotten that in his season Dick tried to throw the vote to his daughter? Now, he likely thinks it's her turn to win the game. So Daddy gave her a golden chance.
If I'm right about the scheme, it's an awfully nice thing for an "Evel" guy to do.
Big Brother premiers on Thursday, July 7th at 9pm. Goody.
Trapping a group of people who have opposite personalities and lifestyles into a house with no entertainment but each other? That's my kind of fun - as long as I'm watching and not playing. It's even more fun these days because the current generation is used to being so connected electronically. Think about it - no TV, no Computer, no Cell Phone, no iPad or Kindle. They can't Tweet or Facebook.
The trauma --
I love watching the contestants playing mind games on each other for fun and profit. And it's always interesting to try to predict who'll be the new couple doing the down and dirty. There's always at least one - and sometimes two. I'd be damned suspicious of a man who wanted to do the bedsheet boogie when the whole country is watching. If he'll do that, I predict nude photos will be plastered all over cyberspace before y'all have been back in the real world for a month.
This year they're bringing back past duos. Now that's gotta be fun. Will they still be together when the season starts? How about when it ends? Will any of them be exes? Of course, it won't all be couples but I'll bet they'll be my favorite. It's a romance author's dream entertainment - Forced love or forced hate - it's bound to be fun.
I'm looking forward to seeing the cast!
On Thursday night, I'll be curled up on the couch with the remote waiting for 9 pm and singing - "Let's do the mind warp again...."
Those like me who struggle at the keyboard, turning out book after book, used to be travelers on the same highway - the Road to Publication. In the digital age, writers are still travelers, but we're walking a different road. Today anyone and everyone can publish so it's not about publication any longer. Now writers travel the road to discoverability.
It's a major change that took the explosion of an industry to craft. But the change has been so sudden that writers recently attending The Writers League of Texas Agents' Conference were shocked when keynote speaker Jane Friedman began her speech on the state of the book by showing an image of a giant mushroom cloud. The title of Friedman's address was "Is The Book Dead? Who Cares?"
Friedman's speech tracked the revolutionary changes in the book industry. Borders is bankrupt. The biggest bookseller on the planet, Amazon, announced May 18th that it now sells more ebooks than paperbacks and hardcovers combined. Friedman says that the book as we have known it is dead.
Who is Jane Friedman to make such an epic pronouncement? She's the CEO and co-founder of Open Road Integrated Media. And from 1997 to 2008 Ms. Friedman was the CEO and President of HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide - one of the biggest publishers in the world. She's credited with having invented the "author's tour" which "became a staple of the industry." That background gives Friedman the platform to make any prognostication she wants to make about the book industry.
A new study conducted by Northwestern University's Kellog School of Management & the Univeristy of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign asked 307 adults between the ages of 19 and 103 to describe their regrets. Specifically, participants were asked to describe in detail one decision that they came to regret.
Regrets about romance led the list and women were much more likely to have romantic regrets than men. Around 44% of women described relationship regrets as compared to only 19% of the men.
"It speaks to something psychologists have known for a long time. Women are typically charged with the role of maintaining and preserving relationships, so when things do go wrong, it's very spontaneous for women to think, 'I should have done it some other way,'" said senior study author Neal Roese, a psychologist and professor of marketing at Northwestern. "It's how men and women are raised in this culture."
Men were more likely to have regrets about work or education. The work regrets centered on failing to take a risk and accept a different job or working at an occupation that they didn't feel passionate about.
The most interesting part of the study is that the long-term regrets were much more often about what participants didn't do. Yes, Virginia, the long term regrets centered on the risks not taken. And the study noted that the biggest basis for the regrets were that people didn't try - what people rember are the times they failed to go for their dreams.
Yesterday is over and none of us can change the past. However, we can and should think about our regrets and learn from them so that we can change our future.
"Regret is an essential part of the human experience," Roese said. "You should listen to the lessons your regrets tell you, which is quite often how you could have done things differently or how you could change things."
This is something that we can all change - starting today. If you're single or single again and regretting the one that got away - look him or her up. Facebook and Twitter have made the world a much smaller place. Finding that someone and giving them a Holla' won't cost you a thing. If you regret that you didn't go for your Masters or that you didn't study psychology instead of business - get online and enroll in a class now. Even if you can't afford a big education budget, you can probably afford to take that first step.
And if you're like me, and your regret is not working hard at your writing so that you could become a full-time author, then today is the day to dedicate yourself to that too. Work on your writing every day. Make progress - at least some progress- on your WIP every day. Don't let a single day go by without being active on Twitter, Facebook, Your Blog.
And if you have a book or two out now - market by doing all of that social networking, but don't forget the best way to market - track down blogs - lots of blogs- and comment. When some of your thoughts hit home with another reader, they're likely to click your blog and check out your list of books. Before you know it, you may have made another sale.
Today is a good day to turn a past regret into a future success. Let's all give it a shot and see how far we can go. If we try, we may fail. But if we fail to try, we'll always regret it!
Is this a list that no one wants to be on or what?
The first author to inspire me was one who surely inspired more future romance authors than any other. The late, great, Kathleen E. Woodiwiss who unfortunately passed away in 2007 is considered by many to have created the historical romance genre. Her book, "The Flame and The Flower" came out when I was only 10. Even I wasn't that precocious. It was a few years later, when I was 16 or 17, that I first read TF&TF. I found it in my library's paperback collection but soon bought my own copy. I went on to read all of the author's work, over and over.
TF&TF is a book that stays with me, even today. Now the politically correct police try to denigrate it as a bodice ripper. I always saw it as a tale of female power. For most of the book Brand danced to Heather's tune and by the end his fire was tamed by her tenderness. That's the lesson I took from Ms. Woodiwiss and recall in all of my books.
Another author who inspires me is fortunately still with us. Johanna Lindsey. I'm reading one of hers on my ereader right now. She wrote her first book in 1977 and has published over 40 novels. I've read most of them. I've enjoyed many of her works, but the ones that inspire me the most are 2 of the early books in her Mallory Series - "Gentle Rogue" and "The Magic of You." GR is James and Georgie's tale and TMOY is Warren and Amy's.
...continue reading "A Quack Of Gratitude To Authors Who Inspire The Strange Duck Lady"
Jessica Galbreath, fairy artist and founder of Fairy Day says:
"This holiday is for everyone who believes in the magic of fairytales. It is for those imaginative souls who dare to dream impossible dreams. It is for the children of the world, wide eyed and open to the magic that surrounds them. It is for adults too, who long to capture a bit of that magic they remember from thier own childhood."
If you want to capture some fairy magic, I suggest you pick up my novel - A Faerie Fated Forever or that you get the whole 3 book series - available in a bundle AT A BUY 2 GET 1 FREE PRICE - The Forever Series.
Everyone who reads romance must believe in fairytales so this is our day. Today, we all get one of the magical sprites to ease our way and change our impossible dream into our inevitable reality. Inhale the fairy dust and dance amidst the sparkles and watch your special fairy send you a wonderous wave of good fortune and magic joy.
Stieg Larsson, James Patterson, Michael Connelly and... John Locke?
Locke is a 60-year-old man from Louisville, Kentucky with a background in business and private investments who has sold more than a million copies of his 9 western/crime novellas. He only charges 99 cents but sells a copy about every 7 seconds. And Locke performed his amazing feat of sales wizardry in only 5 months.
Locke has now written a new book that will likely fly off the virtual shelves faster than any of his other titles - "How I Sold 1 Million eBooks In 5 Months." Achieving such success is amazing. Having a spirit generous enough to help others join you proves that Locke is in it for much more than the money.
Dig it? I do. Locke's success proves that even if you aren't a spring chicken, if you write what people want to read and sell it for a fair price you can achieve any dream. Even - possibly - financial security for a family with a job that is more dream than work.
A million cheers to John Locke for his membership in one of the most exclusive clubs in the world. And a million thanks to him for proving that indies can run with the big boys and girls
My sales have been going up each month as I work more on social networking and marketing. I've discovered that it's easier to sell books if people know you have books for sale. But I'm still a mighty, mighty (did I say mighty?) long way from Mr. Locke's Million Club achievement. I guess I'll have to pick up a copy of his book!