C. L. Norman

This week can be summed up in one word “Busy”.

I don’t have much to report unless you are interested in hearing about all the mommy duties and extra hours I worked this week. However there are a couple neat things to report.

Work

I work at the nook desk one to three times a week and this week was no exception. Monday the news came down that the price on “nook original” was being dropped and a new “nook lite’ was coming in and it’s price was even better. So lots to learn about at work and now nook is even more tempting. I find it incredibly easy to spend money and my job is one big temptation and they keep sweetening the pot.

Proud of my Brother

My baby brother graduated from Perry Technical Institute on Thursday and I am so proud. He has always struggled with school and to see him walk up in his cap and gown; receive his certificate; and walk with a smile on his face  was a great moment. My baby sister graduated last month and now the youngest of us (and there are 8 in the family) has made it through some form of higher education. It is a very cool moment for the family.

Hopefully next week will be a bit more interesting to share. At the very least I’ll be wishing you a Happy 4th. Have a good week.

        

• DO come in with a smile. Your’s might be the only one the bookseller sees that day.
• DON’T come in in the middle of a conversation on your cell phone and ask for help: or talk loudly on your blue-tooth. We don’t care to hear about your personal life and we will hear it.
• DO bring as much information about the book, you are looking for, as possible: title, author, and, for the best results, the ISBN.
• DON’T ask for the book with the red cover, about this big, that was up on one of the tables about three months ago. If you can’t remember the specific book, don’t expect someone who handles hundreds of books in a day to remember.
• DO feel free to be cleverly funny. We all like a laugh now and again.
• DON’T approach the customer service counter and say “I’m a customer. Service me.” and smirk. Especially to a female employee. It’s not funny. It’s creepy. Eww.
• DO browse the shelves and take your time. You never know what you might find.
• DON’T rearrange the books on the shelves as a joke. It isn’t a joke, it’s annoying.
• DO feel at home in the store. Books are friends. You want to be comfortable bringing your choice home with you.
• DON’T leave your used gum anywhere near the books; or anywhere other than the garbage can. Please.
• DO ask for help; either by phone or in person. Putting the book in your hands is the best part of working at a bookstore.
• DON’T say “I’m looking for a book.” and stop. We know you are looking for a book. You’re in a bookstore.

        

Howdy Friends. It has been a slow week of writing and watching the clock and wondering when my husband is coming home from work. He was putting in A LOT of extra hours and so I spent extra hours with the kids to give them more parent time.

Reading

I am trying out an ebook for the first time this week via the B&N eReader app for my PC. I prefer the print book still but the ebook was free and I like that price so we will see.

Writing

Speaking of ebooks, Barnes & Noble announced pubit! this week and everyone is buzzing about it at work and in my social networks. My writing group is considering trying to publish an anthology using that technology. There are a lot of things to take into consideration and decisions to make but it is still exciting all the same to have that option out there.

I submitted some stories this week and in the process I accidentally submitted the same story twice. I used the right word counts in the cover letters but the same title and the same file attachments. Seconds after hitting that send button I knew I had done it and then I panicked. How do I let them know I made a mistake and sound professional at the same time? I am such a worry wart but it was a small but good experience. I learned how to say Oops! like a professional.

Spider Tracks

Another great post by Dean Wesley Smith on Talent as a Myth. I like what he has to say about it and in fact, had already come to the conclusion that the hard work he talks about is the next skill I need to develop to continue in the writing field. My problem though comes from everyone telling me how talented I am but not believing them. My self esteem is very weak and I always think that when folks praise my writing clearly they are just being nice and they mean the opposite.

Discovered the site Adventures in Children’s Publishing and the character worksheet series. I found them interesting and while I am not sure I will actually use the sheet, I did find reading through the questions with my current MC in mind helpful.

J. A. Konrath’s press release for Shaken by Amazon got me thinking. I am still too new to this business to know all the ramifications or even be able to guess them but this is a neat development. So many changes coming down the line, it makes a writing career seem like a sandbox full of possibilities as long as one has the imagination to pursue them.

So my week went well, how was yours?

        

Working today, I realized something about the readers/shoppers of the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the store. I realized that they ‘own’ their section of the store. Or rather I should say we own it.

Readers of other genres are just want pointed to their favorite authors and they are good to go. They are pretty flexible to change. They realize that they are in a store owned and operated by other people.

SF/Fantasy readers are very attached to their sections being set up a certain way. Any changes or mistakes in the organization of the books earns a quick comment to the nearest bookseller. No bookseller handy? Then they ‘fix’ it themselves.

When I first started working in bookstores, I took extra interest in my favorite section of the store. I learned the do’s and don’t’s of shelving and displaying books there. I memorized which shelves the major authors were on as ‘bookmarks’ to the rest of the section. If given an option about where to work, I chose the fantasy section. Now I am unofficially in charge of the section. Now it is mine on a whole other level.

I pay close attention to how the customers shop, where they look for their books, and how they discover the next author to try. Readers of SF/Fantasy don’t tend to wander around the store looking for books on display or what’s on sale in the bargain section. They beeline for their section and lose themselves in the corridors filled with spaceships, elves, swords, and phasers. They have everything they need there and no need to explore further.

The SF/Fantasy section is mine. Thank you for leaving it as you found it and for pointing out that the Dragonlance books are suppose to be at the end with the RPG novels and not alphabetized in the main part of the section.

        

Another month has gone and a new one has started. May always feels like the beginning of something to me. The flowers are blooming, the weather is changing and warming up, and school is wrapping up. Everything is transitioning and in some ways this feels more like the start of a new year than January 1st.

Reading

I read Bewitched and Betrayed by Lisa Shearin. It is the fourth in the series and it just keeps getting better. Raine is the perfect protagonist who keeps landing both feet in a lake of trouble and sinks fast. Mychael, the perfect paladin, reveals that he has more than a touch of the rogue in him. Tam, the dark mage goblin, has a fairly small part in this book but a memorable one. Lisa also has a talent for writing in a traditional fantasy setting using modern language that pulls the modern reader in. I am already having trouble waiting for the next one.

Charlaine Harris’ new Sookie Stackhouse book, Dead in the Family, is out this Tuesday so you know what I will be reading when I get out of work then. The combination of the humor, the complicated love life, the who-done-its, and the ever growing cast of characters keep me coming back for more. I am very excited for this one.

Writing

I proved I could write a short story in a few hours Monday. I found out the deadline for a workshop I wanted to participate in was the date received by not the date mailed and suddenly I lost two days. I could have sent in one of the stories I have out in submission but that felt like “cheating” to me and so I wrote something. I read the first six pages on Wednesday night for the Open Mic Night at B&N and everyone seemed to enjoy it. However as I was nearing the end of what I was writing, yet again it seems that I am not writing a short story. I am writing either a prologue or the first chapter of something much longer. This is just further proof that I need to start writing (and more importantly finishing) novels.

Thursday I tried to start and finish my #flashfriday submission because I worked on Friday. All I managed was an intoduction to the protagonist. And then he wouldn’t stop yammering in my head. I have never had that experience before and it was almost unnerving and definitely distracting. After a particularly irreverent comment on a magazine I was putting out at work, I firmly told him to be quiet until I could sit in front of a computer. Since then he has been unusually well behaved for him and I need to smack him until he goes back to normal. Normal for him that is.

Writing Events

Saturday night, Patricia Briggs was in the store for a signing for her latest Mercy Thompson book, Silver Bourne.  I spent about 20 minutes chatting with her husband, Mike. He gave great insights into a writer’s life and especially their beginnings. Nap time will never sound the same again. I will be seeing them again at the end of May at convention in Missoula. Hopefully I won’t be so in awe of her writing that I can’t talk to them both as friends.

That was my week, how was yours?

        

Happy Sunday folks. Another week over and we are back together to talk about it.

Reading

D. D. Barant’s book, Death Blows, was released this week and I had to pick it up. This series starring Jace Valchek, FBI profiler from our world, stuck in an alternate reality where humans are only 1% among a population of vampires, werewolves, and golems, is a delight. This sequel is a fun continuation of the story that began in Dying Bites and delves into comic book history. The world of superhero supernaturals is explored and is very enjoyable. I recommend this series to fans of the urban fantasy/who-done-it genres.

Writing

Still struggling with bad habits. Remember back in November when I was so excited to be writing daily during NaNoWriMo? I am working on getting back to that and shutting my inner critic up. She has gotten very noisy lately, jabbering non-stop from her position behind the driver’s seat. Rude, much? Compliments on my writing has given her permission to try to take over the steering wheel. I am working on tying her up and throwing her in the trunk. If you have a spare roll of mental duct tape, I could use it.

Gaming

We started a new Pathfinder campaign this week. I am running the Kingmaker adventure path for a group of seven friends and family. This adventure is fun and different. It is a fairly open field for the characters to roam in. The quest structure is very free form, in face it reminds me a lot of Everquest 2 or World of Warcraft. Wanted posters, NPCs wanting favors, and location discoveries yield quests that award traditional loot and experience. I fully expect to have fun running through this campaign.

Other Tidbits

Dean Wesley Smith popped the myth that writer’s don’t need to practice here.

Barnes & Noble Explorations tells us how to know if you are a SciFi/Fantasy geek here.

The NovelDoctor has some advice for getting through those troublesome middle sections of our novels here.

Romance Writer’s Revenge has a case for pantsters here, not that I need convincing.

How wondrous fine was your week? Anything new happen? or was it the same-o, same-o?

        

Reading

This week I read Caitlin Kittredge’s Street Magic. I am an avid fan of her Nocturne series and have been wanting to try out this other series for a while and finally broke down and bought a copy.  I tried to be all responsible and read it only at night after I had finished the things I needed to get done but by the third night I was heading to bed earlier for more time with my book and the next morning I finished the book before getting anything else done. It was different but exciting. The central mystery of the story was engaging and well thought out. I really enjoyed it.

Tax Season

We finally filed our taxes this week and I learned a valuable lesson. We have always had H&R Block prepare out taxes and I have always been satisfied with their work. This year, my writing is in the shady area where I might be able to claim some deductions because of it and the tax preparers were not prepared to handle those questions. I learned that I can’t trust professionals to know everything about their fields. A good lesson to know. Hopefully I keep this information in mind when I meet with other professionals in the future.

Dr. Suess

Happy Birthday Dr. Suess. It is such a wonderful thing that children across America celebrate the birth and career of an author every year. I helped with this tradition by reading Green Eggs & Ham and The Foot Book during this week’s storytime. The children never seem to tire of the words of this wonderful writer. A personal thank you to him for One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. I was reading this book when I was 4 years old. Dr Seuss is the author that launched me into the world of books that I live in today.

Revising/Rewriting

Up to this morning I always thought there was something wrong with me that I never rewrote on as massive a scale as everyone else I have heard of. I touch up grammar and word choice, delete repetitive sentences, and in general only clean up my first draft. I don’t delete huge passages or shift around large blocks of text or any of those other drastic measures revision seems to involve. This morning I read an entry in Dean Westley Smith’s Killing the Sacred Cows of Publishing series and am now in the process of letting go of that feeling of wrongness, embracing my method, and working up the confidence to believe in my words despite them being the result of only one or two drafts.

Birthdays

My second child turned 13 this week. That brings the number of teens in the family up to two. I am bracing myself for the fallout of that event. Two teen daughters and only two parents. Things could get wild and crazy around here for a few years. I’ve been told my kids are easy and others are jealous, I have my fingers crossed that that trend continues.

How ’bout your week? Did it go well? Learn anything new?

        

Some days my brain takes longer to wake up. Add to that the cognitive processes I’ve devoted to a couple new writing projects and details slip through the cracks. This morning at 6:30am I slipped on some foot coverings, jumped in the car, and drove to work.

At the store I clocked in and went to my locker to store my coat and purse and a strange thought went through my head.

“My feet are comfy-cozy. And I’m at work.”

I looked down and realized that I was wearing my slippers. My cushy, brown leather moccassin type slippers. At work. Slippers aren’t usually part of the semi-pro look but for today, I made it work.

I think only one out of ten customers noticed.

        

Writing

After the workshops and panels at RadCon last weekend, I became determined to start treating my writing more as a business than as a sometimes hobby. To that end, I have submitted a couple short stories this week and caught up on my novel manuscript so that I may continue with that project.

Another aspect of that is getting myself organized so that I can track expenses and submissions and all the other details needed to be successful. To that end I am working again to get my household finances in order and find a system that works for me in tracking and budgeting them. I am notoriously bad with the details and while I do not have a lot of things to track for writing yet, my household accounts are a good place to start learning the skills to carry me onward.

In addition to the above I have also started reading through Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s Freelancer’s Survival Guide. I have only read through the second Money chapter at this point but I am learning a lot and learning that there is a lot I don’t know. Very enlightening and her advice isn’t just for writers.

On TV

I’ve been rewatching Stargate SG-1 this week. Every episode I try to identify which character is my favorite and I can’t make up my mind. Usually it is a toss up between O’Neill and Dr. Daniel Jackson but then Carter or Teal’c steal a scene and I am torn between four again. My favorite episode is still A Window of Opportunity. It is like Groundhog Day with science fiction elements. Fun.

Writing Group

This week my writing group met for the first time since we closed the group to all-comers. The meeting was all about hashing out rules for members and set up the structure of the group. I know it is necessary but I found myself wanting to get past all the back-and-forth discussion and get back to the writing. Soon enough.

Gaming

We started a new D&D game on Saturday night. I am DMing the old AD&D campaign, Night Below, and updating it for Pathfinder rules as we go. I don’t have any idea how well the conversion will go but we intend to have fun finding out. My 9 year old son is joining us for the first time and it is entertaining watching him play with the adults and the differences in how he approaches the puzzles in the game.

        

Work

Many hours were made available to the employees at the store this last week and I took advantage of them. I took as many as they would allow and as such I kept very busy with that.

As a part of the above, I spent two shifts in the cafe for training. The first day of training on the register left me hopeful that I could get the hang of it all. The second day of training at the bar left me lost and confused. I viewed the machinery and bottles and mixing containers as the paraphenalia of the arcane. Clearly only wizards could understand the vocabulary and methodology behind the mixing of those caffinated beverages the masses crave.

And I am not a wizard. I am merely a mundane temporarily transported into the magical world of the cafe.

Writing

Grrr. Arrgh.

Those words sum it up. Time has been at a premium because of work and other draws on my time. However, I had time to write if I wanted to use it. Instead I spent that time staring at the screen, mentally paralyzed by the fear that what I would write would suck or be so great someone might notice my writing. I need to get over myself and just write those stories that swirl around in my mind and heart. Stop worrying about how bad or good they will be until after they are down and complete on my digital paper.

Open Mic Night

I participated in my first Open Mic Night this week. I read five minutes of one of my short stories aloud in front of several of the local authors. I was scared and excited and very glad I did it. I have never read my stuff to anyone before. I have read aloud to myself before but in front of others things sound differently. New, more awkward, less awkward. Hearing the feedback from audience members afterwords was a bonus. I will definitely be participating in the next Open Mic Night.

Books

I read Spellbent by Lucy A. Snyder this week. While I enjoyed most the story and the characters, I found myself distracted by what I perceived as flaws or oversights in the book.

Early on, Jessie loses an eye and an arm. I thought the details about adjusting to the lack of an arm were done well. However the eye was a cosmetic injury with no affect on the character. I had to wear an eye patch in high school for 2 days and I know that it take a while to adjust to the change in vision and Jessie didn’t have to adjust. I found this oversight distracting.

The other problem I had was with the pacing. The first two-thirds of the book had a nice steady climb in tension but the last third became a frantic race to the end. A race that I had trouble keeping up with.

Macmillian vs Amazon

I read two articles today about this contretemps over e-book pricing, here and here. I am still enough of an outsider I don’t have enough information to form more than a gut opinion on the whole deal. Most importantly though I find this to be a herald of things to come. Upheavals and changes in the publishing world. Something to keep an eye on.

I, myself, am not a consumer of ebooks. Yet. I have tried various devices and feel to distanced from the words and uncomfortable with the medium. However, I do know that many others do not have this problem and ebooks will only get more popular as time goes along. This development is bound to have repercussions and growing pains.

How was your week?