Thanksgiving is coming. People are coming to my house to celebrate. I enjoy the planning that goes into the feast. I’m thankful that it’s one day of the year when no one gives me a hard time about my control freak tendencies. Everyone will have a place to sit, all the food will be ready to eat at the same time, and I’ll have most of the kitchen clean before everyone is done eating. Yet no one will say, “Do you always have to be so fastidious?” Attention to detail will be appreciated for a change. We’ll enjoy a meal and share our blessings because all kidding aside, my family gives me plenty of reasons to be personally thankful.
But how am I professionally thankful? What am I most thankful for as a writer? I could say readers. I could say getting to do what I love. Those are great answers and certainly sources of gratitude. What would I put at the top of the list though?
Ideas.
I am most thankful for the many kinds of ideas. There are of course good ideas, the ones that push a story forward. And there are bad ideas. I once had a character filling out a long survey, which made for very dry reading. I’m still thankful for the ideas that let me laugh at myself. I’m thankful for cute ideas. My kids have said things that I’ve worked into stories. I’ve received some wonderful suggestions over the years. They make me thankful for shared ideas. I’m even thankful for dumb ideas, like some of the things my brother did as a teenager. “Bush surfing” and “mud sledding” give me potential additions to future material. Above all, I’m thankful that I don’t have to worry about running out of ideas.
For fiction. I have serious doubts about ideas for blog posts. I mean, come on. Right now I’m trying to pass off thinking of ideas as an idea. Did it work?
Sunday, November 20, 2016
Thursday, October 13, 2016
What's Next?
I have something of a love/hate relationship with this question. On the one hand, I’m a planner. It’s in my nature to constantly ask myself what I should be working on right now so that I know what I’ll work on after that and when I can get to the other thing that I can do while I’m waiting for this and so on. I always want to be working toward some goal, usually several.
On the other hand, I’m sort of insane. I spend too much time thinking about and revising my plans to make sure everything I do still fits into a plan when “life” happens. Sometimes my favorite goal is having good goals. I have, for example, already spent a lot more time planning what to write for this month’s blog post than I will spend actually writing it. It’s possible to make the argument that I’m really dedicated to creating good content or that I… Let’s just stick with dedicated.
I was thinking about what comes after my Coffee and Donuts series long before I finished that series. I have a rough draft of the next book. The part I haven’t figured out is whether or not I’ll release it with a pen name. My children (one of them in particular) have been asking me for some time to please, please, please write something that is not a love story. My next two releases will be children’s novels. They are a pair of adventures with no love interests in sight.
This is a temporary reprieve for the kids. I’m also planning a new Christian romance. I expect it will not be part of a series, but it’s currently a few pages of notes and imagination. I have time to revise that plan. I’m hoping it will be finished sometime next summer.
In the meantime, I’m about to release large print editions of the four main Stories From Hartford novels. This sounded easy. Just change the font size, right? I only predicted a couple of days for the project. But changing the font size changes the page count, which increases the spine, which requires a larger gutter and a new cover file. I also need to register new ISBNs. And revising all the books at once lets me clean up a few things that weren’t uniform in the originals. Every time I tweak something in one book, I have to tweak the other three to match. Yeah, I have to. It’s part of the plan.
On the other hand, I’m sort of insane. I spend too much time thinking about and revising my plans to make sure everything I do still fits into a plan when “life” happens. Sometimes my favorite goal is having good goals. I have, for example, already spent a lot more time planning what to write for this month’s blog post than I will spend actually writing it. It’s possible to make the argument that I’m really dedicated to creating good content or that I… Let’s just stick with dedicated.
I was thinking about what comes after my Coffee and Donuts series long before I finished that series. I have a rough draft of the next book. The part I haven’t figured out is whether or not I’ll release it with a pen name. My children (one of them in particular) have been asking me for some time to please, please, please write something that is not a love story. My next two releases will be children’s novels. They are a pair of adventures with no love interests in sight.
This is a temporary reprieve for the kids. I’m also planning a new Christian romance. I expect it will not be part of a series, but it’s currently a few pages of notes and imagination. I have time to revise that plan. I’m hoping it will be finished sometime next summer.
In the meantime, I’m about to release large print editions of the four main Stories From Hartford novels. This sounded easy. Just change the font size, right? I only predicted a couple of days for the project. But changing the font size changes the page count, which increases the spine, which requires a larger gutter and a new cover file. I also need to register new ISBNs. And revising all the books at once lets me clean up a few things that weren’t uniform in the originals. Every time I tweak something in one book, I have to tweak the other three to match. Yeah, I have to. It’s part of the plan.
Sunday, September 18, 2016
Connecting the Dots (again)
Not Complicated was released earlier this month, which means all four of my Coffee and Donuts books are now available. This feels like a good time to write about what makes this series a series. How are these books linked?
In a lot of series, each book picks up a timeline shortly after the end of the previous book. (I could put in a plug here for Stories From Hartford being a fine example, but I won’t.) The Coffee and Donuts books, however, happen at the same time. They all start on the same day and end on the same day and even share a few settings. This makes the characters occasionally pop up in each other’s stories, even though they don’t know each other.
They do have a few mutual friends. In the opening scene of Said and Unsaid (1), Alexa is sitting with Linda, Suzy and Joyce. Linda is Molly’s mom in Not Complicated (4). Suzy is Maddie’s mom, also in Not Complicated (4). And Joyce is Austin’s grandmother in Sofie Waits (2). Austin even shows up briefly in the first book, then that scene is repeated from his perspective in the second book. (See Excerpt 2 and 4 for details.) Anyone paying attention can pick up a few other places where characters from other books are recognizable. But I also had some fun slipping in some uncredited roles. Here are a few.
From Sofie Waits (2):
[Monsignor Loy] just kept smiling. “You two have been delightful. I must mingle some more now. Have a good day.”
As he moved to a young couple by the donut table, Sofie was left wondering if he meant she and Amber were delightful or his Tuesdays with Amber and Joe.
This scene continues in Said and Unsaid (1), as the young couple by the donut table is Tracker and Alexa.
From A Perfectly Good Man (3):
I made my way through the building to wave at Monsignor Loy before I left. Then I tossed my cup in a trash can by the door and stepped into the bright sunshine of a summer day. There were flowering trees along the sidewalk, the scent of coffee followed me from the parish hall, and a little boy was laughing hysterically on his dad’s shoulders. The idyllic scene was marred by the feeling that I was running away from something and by the uneasiness of not knowing what it was.
The little boy is Emmet from Not Complicated (4). There’s a line in that book that shows him being lifted onto his dad’s shoulders.
From Not Complicated (4):
A pretty woman with a blond ponytail showed up with two fresh drinks. “Griffin got a little tied up and asked me to deliver these,” she said. “Your food should be ready any minute. Can I get you anything else in the meantime?”
“No, thanks,” I said, offering her an appreciative smile. She had an open friendliness about her that was nice to see even if only for a moment.
Molly is at The Sleepy Crab in this scene. The blond woman is Heidi from A Perfectly Good Man (3).
From Sofie Waits (2):
He crossed paths with Monsignor Loy on the sidewalk. “Good morning, my sheep.” The priest smiled and smoothed his beard. “Are you alone today?”
“Looks that way,” Austin said.
“Physically but not spiritually, of course.”
“Of course.” Austin nodded at the correction that was not insignificant. He was trying to rely on God to find a time to talk to Sofie. The reminder helped. It was harder to be impatient with God than with Sofie.
“I hear there’s a bug going around,” Monsignor Loy said. “I hope that isn’t the reason you’re without family.”
“No. They were all fine last night. I’m sure they’re just coming later.”
Monsignor Loy is the only character who appears in all four books. The bug he mentions here is a reference to the one that hits Linda in Not Complicated (4) and Tracker in Said and Unsaid (1) around this time.
From Said and Unsaid (1):
I noticed a couple about to pass us on the other side of the street. They were holding hands. I began to panic that Tracker would think I was wishing I wasn’t holding leashes because I was getting ideas about him holding my hand and he wasn’t thinking anything like that and didn’t have any intention to ever be thinking anything like that and he was probably freaking out about me getting ideas like that when he only wanted to be friendly and hadn’t planned on walking halfway around the city with his lazy, or maybe just old, dog. I needed to say something.
That couple on the other side of the street is Heidi and Tyler from A Perfectly Good Man (3). They notice Alexa, too.
From Sofie Waits (2):
[Austin] passed a couple in the parking lot on his way to his car. He didn’t know what was going on between them and didn’t care, but he felt a slight pang of jealousy because the guy appeared to have the girl’s rapt attention. His life would be a lot easier if he could get Sofie to stay in one place long enough to spell out exactly where he stood with her.
The couple may or may not be a couple. The woman is Heidi from A Perfectly Good Man (3). Who is she talking to after church on the 3rd Sunday?
There are other instances of overlap, but I don’t want to give away all the secrets. Feel free to read the whole series to look for more of them.
In a lot of series, each book picks up a timeline shortly after the end of the previous book. (I could put in a plug here for Stories From Hartford being a fine example, but I won’t.) The Coffee and Donuts books, however, happen at the same time. They all start on the same day and end on the same day and even share a few settings. This makes the characters occasionally pop up in each other’s stories, even though they don’t know each other.
They do have a few mutual friends. In the opening scene of Said and Unsaid (1), Alexa is sitting with Linda, Suzy and Joyce. Linda is Molly’s mom in Not Complicated (4). Suzy is Maddie’s mom, also in Not Complicated (4). And Joyce is Austin’s grandmother in Sofie Waits (2). Austin even shows up briefly in the first book, then that scene is repeated from his perspective in the second book. (See Excerpt 2 and 4 for details.) Anyone paying attention can pick up a few other places where characters from other books are recognizable. But I also had some fun slipping in some uncredited roles. Here are a few.
From Sofie Waits (2):
[Monsignor Loy] just kept smiling. “You two have been delightful. I must mingle some more now. Have a good day.”
As he moved to a young couple by the donut table, Sofie was left wondering if he meant she and Amber were delightful or his Tuesdays with Amber and Joe.
This scene continues in Said and Unsaid (1), as the young couple by the donut table is Tracker and Alexa.
From A Perfectly Good Man (3):
I made my way through the building to wave at Monsignor Loy before I left. Then I tossed my cup in a trash can by the door and stepped into the bright sunshine of a summer day. There were flowering trees along the sidewalk, the scent of coffee followed me from the parish hall, and a little boy was laughing hysterically on his dad’s shoulders. The idyllic scene was marred by the feeling that I was running away from something and by the uneasiness of not knowing what it was.
The little boy is Emmet from Not Complicated (4). There’s a line in that book that shows him being lifted onto his dad’s shoulders.
From Not Complicated (4):
A pretty woman with a blond ponytail showed up with two fresh drinks. “Griffin got a little tied up and asked me to deliver these,” she said. “Your food should be ready any minute. Can I get you anything else in the meantime?”
“No, thanks,” I said, offering her an appreciative smile. She had an open friendliness about her that was nice to see even if only for a moment.
Molly is at The Sleepy Crab in this scene. The blond woman is Heidi from A Perfectly Good Man (3).
From Sofie Waits (2):
He crossed paths with Monsignor Loy on the sidewalk. “Good morning, my sheep.” The priest smiled and smoothed his beard. “Are you alone today?”
“Looks that way,” Austin said.
“Physically but not spiritually, of course.”
“Of course.” Austin nodded at the correction that was not insignificant. He was trying to rely on God to find a time to talk to Sofie. The reminder helped. It was harder to be impatient with God than with Sofie.
“I hear there’s a bug going around,” Monsignor Loy said. “I hope that isn’t the reason you’re without family.”
“No. They were all fine last night. I’m sure they’re just coming later.”
Monsignor Loy is the only character who appears in all four books. The bug he mentions here is a reference to the one that hits Linda in Not Complicated (4) and Tracker in Said and Unsaid (1) around this time.
From Said and Unsaid (1):
I noticed a couple about to pass us on the other side of the street. They were holding hands. I began to panic that Tracker would think I was wishing I wasn’t holding leashes because I was getting ideas about him holding my hand and he wasn’t thinking anything like that and didn’t have any intention to ever be thinking anything like that and he was probably freaking out about me getting ideas like that when he only wanted to be friendly and hadn’t planned on walking halfway around the city with his lazy, or maybe just old, dog. I needed to say something.
That couple on the other side of the street is Heidi and Tyler from A Perfectly Good Man (3). They notice Alexa, too.
From Sofie Waits (2):
[Austin] passed a couple in the parking lot on his way to his car. He didn’t know what was going on between them and didn’t care, but he felt a slight pang of jealousy because the guy appeared to have the girl’s rapt attention. His life would be a lot easier if he could get Sofie to stay in one place long enough to spell out exactly where he stood with her.
The couple may or may not be a couple. The woman is Heidi from A Perfectly Good Man (3). Who is she talking to after church on the 3rd Sunday?
There are other instances of overlap, but I don’t want to give away all the secrets. Feel free to read the whole series to look for more of them.
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