On The Road Again

One of the most enjoyable activities in marketing my novels is going on the road visiting independent bookstores. The people who own and run these stores are always happy to support local writers like me, taking my books on consignment. Having my novels on the shelves in these beautiful bookstores is no less than a dream come true.

Besides Amazon, A Better Life and The Price of Secrets can be found at lala books in Lowell, MA; Andover Bookstore in Andover, MA; Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord, NH; Main Street Bookends in Warner, NH; Morgan Hill Bookstore in New London, NH; and Henniker Book Farm and Gifts in Henniker, NH. If you have an opportunity to visit any of these amazing bookstores, you are in for a treat.

Releasing my novels into the world is life-changing. Finishing such a long and involved project so close to my heart is not only incredibly exciting, but a bit traumatic. The people of my novels become part of my life, part of me, and it feels like I lose a little of myself when I let them go. For a couple of weeks, even with the excitement of publishing The Price of Secrets, I felt a little down. I had trouble focusing on my new novel, which is not a great feeling for a writer. Then my brother bought me a coloring book.

When I open to a new, pristine coloring page, there is a sense of newness, not unlike a blank page in a notebook. And there are decisions to make. Where to start? What color/tone to use? As with writing, I just begin. It doesn’t matter where I start, as long as I start. Start filling in the blank spaces and a picture gradually emerges. Not so different from writing. Creating a scene, a conversation, a character’s observations, coloring in a space, big or small, all add to the complete picture.

The more I think about losing part of myself by sending my work into the world, the more I realize it’s just a transition. It’s huge, but simply writing this post helps me know I am still here and I am whole. I will keep showing up to the page every day with faith and persistence. Keep getting words down, keep coloring in the story.

If Only It Were This Easy

My five-year-old granddaughter wrote and published her first two books last week: Spring is Here and The Chick Finally Hatched. After some discussion, she dictated her story as I typed, and once it was printed her sisters helped her color and illustrate, and voilà! She is a published author, so proud of her work. Going through this process with her, I thought, boy, if only it were this easy!

After working on my second novel for more than three years, I have lost count of the number of drafts I have completed so far. There was a time about a year ago I thought I was close to finished, that the story was just about as complete and true as I could get it. How wrong I was.

Throughout this process, I have been fortunate to receive a great deal of feedback—from family, friends, and my weekly writers’ group. How enlightening it has been to see my writing through fresh eyes. I am so grateful for their insights, their perceptions of my characters and their actions, and their tough questions. This close analysis, of course, is something you can’t do with a five-year-old, especially with her first foray into writing.

While my granddaughter didn’t have the benefit of too much feedback and too many questions about her story, as her editor and publisher, I believe it was just enough. Her process seemed so simple and straightforward compared to my process, but I believe that will develop in time. For now, these are her stories, and they are the very best she could tell them.

My goal is to publish my novel this summer. The more I work on it, the closer I get to the truth and the heart of it. And there’s the polishing, the language, all the nuances of storytelling. So much. It’s not meant to be easy, but I am grateful for the joy and sense of accomplishment writing brings.

Turning Points and Transitions

It’s the last day of August, fall coming on just a little too quickly, but welcome just the same.

A major focus for the past nine months has been on marketing and promoting A Better Life. What in my mind was a necessary evil became a joyful, enlightening and rewarding experience. The book launch, the book clubs, the press release, the readings and book signings, getting the book into independent bookstores, the newspaper and radio interviews, were all more than I ever thought I could do and more enjoyable than I ever anticipated. Now it is time to step back from promotion and return my energy and focus to my new novel.

The working title right now is A Thousand Secrets. It is too young, too early to talk about the story yet. There is a lot of work to be done and much to discover. It will take time. My goal is to have it published by December 2020. Whether I will find an agent willing to represent me and my work or whether I publish independently again remains to be seen.

It feels like just the right time for a transition. It feels like a new start. It feels like I have accomplished exactly what I had hoped for with A Better Life, to have people reading it and talking about it. I am so grateful to be on this journey of writing to publishing to marketing and back. Just like our four seasons, it is a cycle, and with the end of this season comes the beginning of another.