Thanksgiving 2013 (US Version)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Be safe. Be grateful. Be seeing you.

Online Author Chat this Tuesday!

I interrupt the usual silly fare of the Blog Mansion for an important announcement:

Join me, Johnny Worthen, this next Tuesday at 7 pm PST / 8 pm MST at the Omnium Gatherum website for a live author chat.

I will be discussing BEATRYSEL, writing, publishing, Magic and future projects. But I will take questions about anything. Want to know how to make a fantastic Chickan Masala? Ask and I'll tell you. Want to know my feelings about the NSA? They know, but I'll tell you too.

Plus - we're giving away free books! how's that for a slice of greatness?

It's really easy, just set an alarm for Tuesday evening, turn on your computer (like it's ever off, amirite?) go to the OG site (see below) and join in. It's that easy. Win a book. Ask a question. Hang out.

WHAT: Live Online Chat and Book Giveaway

WHEN: Tuesday November 26, 2013 @ 7 pm PST / 8 pm MST

WHERE: http://omniumgatherumbooks.com/author-chat/ <---click here Tuesday

WHO: Everyone's invited, Johnny will be there

HOW: The magick of the internet

Please come!

More (same) information at: My web site,  Facebook & Goodreads.

10 Things I learned at the 2013 Tony Hillerman Writers Conference

I spent my forty-fuggin’-seventh birthday in a car driving down to New Mexico, Santa Fe to be precise to attend the Tony Hillerman Writer’s Conference, also known, for some reason as “Wordharvest.” I’m unsure why they need two names, but whatever. I went last year and it was great. I went back this year and dug it again. It’s limited to like only a 150 people so you probably didn’t get to go. As a public service, here is a list of what was buzzing in my head while I drove home after the conference.

Anne Hillerman, our hostess
(photo quality: potato)

1 – It’s good to have an agent.
    Agents are so helpful. They get you published by the big five and make sure your subsidiary rights are addressed. Though there are bad ones, the good ones are worth every penny of their commission.

2 – Writers are good people.
    The best thing about the Hillerman Conference are the people. No doubt about it. It’s small enough to mingle with everyone, big and small, thin and fat (me there) and actually get connected. I handed out business cards to everyone with fingers, and except for the guy in the buffet line who had a conniption when I tried to pass him the pasta tongs but dripped a drop of sauce on his cowboy boots, everyone was wonderful. That one guy was a complete prick though. He can die in a fire. That’d be alright. I mean, it was an accident and I even wiped it off. Jerk. Fire’s too good for him.

3 – Westerns are coming back, if they haven’t already arrived.
    It was a western writers conference so what else are they going to say? Westerns and western mysteries, procedurals and such, are celebrated there. Remember the name Hillerman Conference. Like Tony Hillerman. Actually, it’s not like Tony Hillerman it is Tony Hillerman. If you don’t know him, go get acquainted.

    Nevertheless, it’s true I think that westerns are coming back. There were plenty of writers there to prove it, Steven Havill, Margaret Coel, Anne Hillerman (debuting at #10 on the NYT best-seller list, I might add) and Craig Johnson who’s books are now the basis for the A&E Longmire series. I hung out with all these folks, by the way. It was cool. If by no other metric than Craig Johnson’s success, I’d have to say that Westerns are alive and well. Too bad I don’t write any (yet).

4 – Don’t spend more than three months on a rough draft of anything.
    Writers conferences are always full of advice. Yep, they’re always full of it. You’ll get a bunch of rules and ideas from author and then the next one will effectively contradict everything the previous one said. There aren’t really rules to writing. No one can tell you precisely how to write your book, outline or freeform, characters or plot first, start at the end or the beginning. It’s all subjective. However, when I hear another author say something that I agree with, that will actually help my personal writing process, it’s wonderful confirmation. Such was this twice echoed direction to blaze through the rough draft as fast as possible. Put the black on the white, edit later. Three months sounds about right.

5 – It’s good to have an agent.
    Once you have an agent, you can offer your manuscript and they will accept it. If it’s not perfect your agent will offer professional editing to get it ready for publishers who’ll either snatch it up or edit again for you before snatching it up.

Think these agents are hard to catch? Try a literary agent.

6 – Social Media is important if only to make a presence so the first thing Googled about you isn’t a mugshot of a toothless Memphis meth-dealer with your same name.
    That kind of sums it up. It’s also useful for promotion and getting in touch your fans (when you get them). There’s a lot of it and it’s a pain in the ass and will suck up all your time from now until the end of your career if you let it, but unfortunately, unless you’re already somebody, it’s necessary.

7 – It’s good to have an agent.
    Agents will get your newly acquired book reviewed in all the right places. Publisher’s Weekly comes to mind. Does Oprah still have a book club? Let’s call her and find out.

8 – The best place to write is from your private ranch studio loft overlooking a majestic western landscape, mountains, horses, and deer (elk optional).

    I’m of two minds on this advice. It was repeated twice maybe not as advice but as personal preference. First, it’s coming from authors who’ve made it, who’re living on the proceeds of their writing. Gentleman writers who don’t Twitter or FaceBook. For the beginning, intermediate, or modern writer, this “advice” is not much help. However, I took it as a challenge. It is a goal, an ultimate measure of success to strive for. While I’m eating Top-Ramen every night, stealing WiFi from coffee shops and begging free refills, I can envision myself watching a sunrise over the Rocky Mountains through a wall of windows, knowing my next book will find a home, my agent’s on it, and I have all day to crank out five pages before turning my attention to the mounds of fan-mail the postman threw his back out carrying up to the door every day.


9 – Write every day.
    Another rule that was repeated. It’s a luxury to be sure to write every day and hearing it from authors who write full time, with no other job, is a little biased, but it’s still great advice and another one I believe in, but of course, I write full time. Poverty sucks.

10 – It’s good to have an agent.
    It is pert near impossible to reach the top echelon of publishing without an agent. Touted aberrations aside, the gates are still guarded by agents who are human and busy, selective and political. With the right connections they line up at your door. Without them, welcome to the wilderness, where on a clear morning we can look out from the weeds, over the meadow and see the sunrise reflected off the glass windows of a private study in the loft of a stately mountain ranch.

The Herd

ELEANOR Cover Reveal

Today is a big day at the Blog Mansion. A rare event indeed because today, for the briefest moment, since the wind is still and the neighbors not looking, we may glimpse Eleanor, my beloved Eleanor. Don't look too long or too hard, she scares easily.

I proudly present to the world the first cover for my upcoming young adult/paranormal  series - ELEANOR.

Eleanor is a modest girl, unremarkable but extraordinary,
young but old, malleable but fixed.
She is scared and confused. She is a liar and a thief. 
Eleanor is not what she appears to be.

 

ELEANOR Coming Spring 2014 from Jolly Fish Press.

And one for the mobile readers.

<<< >>>

My Six Favorite Things about Halloween!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

This is my favorite holiday and not just because I wrote BEATRYSEL, a fantastic literary horror novel perfect for Halloween reading now available on Amazon. No I've loved this holiday my whole life.


Six things I love about Halloween:

1 - THE SEASON: Autumn has always been my favorite season, probably because of Halloween. I love the colors and the smells, the change in the light and the cooling temperatures. I love fresh harvested apples and pine-nuts in the stores. The moon has a special brightness in the fall, made magic when full and seen between high racing clouds.

Yeah.... this is where i live. (Utah)

2 - COSTUMES: Halloween drags us out of ourselves. We are encouraged, if not required to imagine ourselves as another thing, be it a pirate, ghost or a toad-stool. What a cathartic exercise to imagine ourselves not ourselves.

Okay, you don't have to be these people, but you get the idea.

3 - JACK-O-LANTERNS: Like costumes, pumpkins bring out the artist in Halloweeners. For at least one night a year, we all designers and sculptors. Every year I am impressed with what my family and neighbors manage to do with an orange vegetable.

Look! He's eating a little pumpkin! Can you believe that!

4 - THE OCCULT: Halloween is the last truly Pagan holiday. There is no white-washing it; on All-Hallow’s Eve, the Devil gets his due. If only for fairness, it’s nice to have a holiday that celebrates the darkness, revels in the macabre and supernatural.

Blessed Be!

5 - CANDY: Like the nuts and apples that are the season, Halloween is chocolate and candy-corn, caramel squares and “fun-size” snacks. I love handing out the treats at the door and sneaking them between visits. 

Caramels - the best Halloween candy ever. EVER!

6 - TRADITION: I love the ancient ritual of sharing, a throwback to the times of raiding bands: at a time of harvest, strangers demand a tribute at my door. Woe to me if I refuse. Trick or treat. The dead are near.

Coming soon.... ELEANOR.

Cinderskella – Mom, Daughter, and aggressive industrial food-products

Bethanie and Amie Borst

In a first for the Blog Mansion, we have a mother daughter team, Amie and Bethanie Borst co-authors of Cinderskella, a young adult book about anorexia.

Amie: It’s not about anorexia.

Johnny: But look at the cover. Isn’t this about eating disorders?

A: No….well except that one scene when Cindy is forced to eat chicken livers. And the one where she has to eat pickled pigs’ feet <gag>.

J: Please not on the carpet. The rats have sensitive stomachs. What’s your book it about?

A: Cinderskella is about a girl dealing with the loss of her mother while learning to live with a skeleton curse. She also has some awful step-sisters and a horrible, terrible step-mother…not to mention a crush on the cutest boy at school. While facing such perils as pickled pigs’ feet, a wacky fortune teller and a few quick trips to the Underworld, Cindy’s determined to break the curse—even for a single night.

J: Well I assumed it was about eating disorders, so I made this fat-filled buffet to put some meat on you guys.

A: Have you seen me lately? Trust me, I don’t need any more meat on my bones!

J: Is Cinderskella meant for young adult or middle grade? What’s the difference anyway?

A: Cinderskella is a middle-grade book. There’s a pretty big difference, actually. For starters middle-grade is usually intended for a younger audience (8-12 year olds) while young adult is geared for 13 and up. Also the themes, characters, challenges, plot and content is toned down a bit from their YA counterparts. Basically no kissing in MG.

J: Its your debut right?

A: It sure is! Bethanie and I couldn’t be more excited about it!

J: Is it a series?

A: It is! Book two in the Scarily Ever Laughter series is Little Dead Riding Hood, due out fall 2014.

J: Not that it’s remotely out of place, not with all the weapons hanging on my walls, Zulu spears, water-cooled machine gun, Sting, but what’s with the bow, Bethanie?

B: I’m an avid archer. Maybe I’ll even make it to the Olympics someday. In case you didn’t know, my bow’s name is Stormy because she’s black and white like a storm trooper.

J: So you’re ready for the Hunger Games.

B: I AM the Hunger Games.

J: Warning taken. When did you guys start writing Cinderskella?

A: Bethanie came home with the story concept when she was 9 years old, so that was 2010. We wrote a very basic first draft and I sent it through my crit group. From there the story grew and Cinderskella was ready to send to publishers in 2012. Jolly Fish Press was one of three to offer a contract. You can read the full story at Ann Marie’s blog. http://www.annmarie-meyers.com/2013/10/what-do-skeleton-and-cinderella-have-in.html

J: How is it to write as a team?

A: It definitely has its challenges. The hardest part for me is trusting Bethanie’s ideas. They’re so wild and out there I worry that they won’t work. But as we plot and create, draft and write, I learn her ideas really are a home run. I need to trust her instincts and learn to just roll with it. My ideas are safe. And lame.

Better living through chemistry.

J: Here’s the lovely Janette with some snacks. Mmmmm, some lovely Dow Corning Pizza-like Pocket Samplers®. Have one Amie.

A: What’s a Dow Corning Pizza? I’ll stick with Ray’s New York pizza. But thanks.

J: Oh, would you prefer some deep-fried Twinkies? The Deep fried HoHo’s melted.

A: Got any twix? I’m a chocolate gal.

J: I thought you were a gourmet?

A: Me? A gourmet? LOL! I do love to cook, but I’d hardly call it gourmet.

J: I’ve got some re-hydrated MSG derivative frozen treat®.

A: Fantastic. That’ll go great with the lyme-scaled water laced with ecoli we have here in our county.

J: Try and be friendly, see where that gets me. Okay, so tell me about Cinderskella’s illustrator?

A: Oh that’s Rachael Caringella. She’s super talented. Plus she has a blog. And pink hair. I think if we lived close we’d be great friends

J: I always ask my author/competitors, how did you get started? What was your break to get published?

A: Beat you to the finish line! Kidding. I’ve always been a writer (your audience can read that story at Sherry Gammon’s blog –  http://wwww.wordpaintingsunlimited.com ) but it all started in 2008 with a YA paranormal romance I’d written. Obviously that book isn’t published. But I kept writing. While Cinderskella is my first published book, I’d had a few articles published, one with Catholic Charities. That was probably one of the most rewarding articles I’ve ever written and I’m glad it’s helping so many families. (http://www.catholiccharities-md.org/family-navigator/pdfs/navigating-the-storm.pdf)


You can follow Amie and Bethanie on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/AmieAndBethanieBorst

You can find Amie at her blog www.amieborst.com, Twitter, www.twitter.com/AmieBorst and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/AmieBorst.

J: Well I feel dumb. I was told that you had a big good food/bad food thing going and I can't even rattle you. No need to keep trying. Better clean up.

A: What the...!

J: Okay Bethanie, see that moving pile of processed cheese over there? Not the one on the left that just burped, but the other one. The one on the right that just gained sentience? Yeah, put an arrow in that for the good of all humanity. I doubt we’ll be able to make it to the door if you don’t.

J: You missed. I can’t believe you missed!

J: And now it’s gotten Janette. Great. It’s so hard to keep employees.

Janette.
She's used to this kind of thing by now.

CINDERSKELLA GIVE-AWAY!!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Kim Williams-Justesen ties books, family and yarn together

Kim Williams-Justesen
tying it all together

Kim Williams-Justesen and I are neighbors. We met downtown for a pleasant walk as while she worked out some of her stress with having a new book launch.

Johnny: What is that?

Kim: Knitting needles. I knit. I like to knit when I'm stressed, and I'm stressed a lot these days!

J: You have many talents.

K: Well thank you!  I do. I write mostly, but sometimes I just have to knit.

J: What’s in the bag?

K: Yarn. A few dozen balls of it.

J: That’s a lot.

K: I knit fast.

J: Are you nervous about your new book The Deepest Blue coming out?

K: I'm nervous about the release event. The book is all done, so I'm not so nervous about it.

J: What’s it about?

K: Mike hasn’t spoken to his mother in years, and what few memories he has of her are painful. When Mike’s dad is killed in a car wreck, Mike wants to stay in his hometown and live with Maggie, his dad’s girlfriend, who has been like a mother to him for the last five years. But Mike’s mother reappears in his life and demands that he return to her custody and live on the other side of the country with a family he doesn't know. The law is on his mother’s side, and Mike will have to grow up quickly and take on the legal system to have the life he wants. This deeply moving story of a young teen's difficult family relationships reflects the reality of many children and teens with strong emotional ties to adults who have no legal rights in the instance of death or divorce.

It's about standing up for yourself when you know what's best for you. It's about how we make families for ourselves and understanding that blood is not necessarily thicker than water.
J: The Deepest Blue has some pretty adult themes in it. You go into custody and legal machinations. How do you temper that for a younger audience?

K: I had to be sure that I kept the story in the point of view of Mike, the main character. I had to make sure that I stayed faithful to his perspective on all the issues. He doesn't understand the ins and outs of the legal process, so he just talks about his experience from an honest place and he doesn't pretend to understand all the legal craziness.

J: Did you just knit a sweater for that tree?

K: Absolutely! Notice I make the stripes horizontal so it has a more widening effect around the trunk.

J: Uhm. Okay. never mind. Boy books. There’s supposedly a stigma about having boys as the main character of a YA book. What do you think of that.

K: I think that's ridiculous. Boys need books told from their perspective. They need stories about their experiences. There are some awesome YA books which feature female main characters, but there are also amazing stories featuring male  characters, too. Ultimately, what matters most is a solid, well-written story, not necessarily the main character's gender.

J: That wasn’t your bike.

K: So? Bikes have a right to be warm too, don't they?

J: Where did you get the idea for The Deepest Blue?

K: When my oldest daughter was 15, she asked my husband (her step-dad) to adopt her. It's a long story, but basically, she knew that her step-dad was a healthier choice for her. Her biological dad wasn't happy, but he ultimately went along with it. His second wife, however, was pretty nasty about it for a long time. Then later, when my step-son turned 15, he asked me to adopt him. I don't think I spent more than 1/10th of a second thinking about it. Again, there is a long story as to his reasons why, but ultimately, I adopted him as well. After watching my two oldest kids go through the process, seeing their strength and dedication to what was best for them - well, that was pretty darn inspiring, and it led to The Deepest Blue.

J: Tell me about Motherhood in The Deepest Blue.

K:  You've hit on a key issue in the story. What makes a mom? Or either parent for that matter? In my family, adoption is a big word. I was adopted as an infant. So was my husband, my sister, my sister-in-law, and several of my closest friends. While I have met members of my biological family, my "real" family are those people I was raised with. I've always looked at the "nature vs. nurture" argument with curiosity. Then having gone through two step-parent adoptions in our family, I began to take a very close look at who nurtures, how we nurture, and what that means in terms of defining family. I had been my son's full-time mom since he was two, and my husband has been my daughter's full-time dad since she was four. But the role of step-parent is different, and has legal limitations. I didn't need a legal document to tell me that my son was mine, and I didn't need to give birth to him to love him. Likewise, it's true there are biological parents who don't fully accept the seriousness of that job or are not able or willing to do it.

Nothing is safe

J: You’ve worked with a few publishers. How’s that been? How’s Tanglewood Press?

K: Some publishers are amazing to work with, and others - well, not so much. Tanglewood is among the amazing publishers. They have been delightful to work with, supportive and professional and easy to work with. Interestingly, they rejected The Deepest Blue almost two years before they accepted it. When they rejected it, I put it away thinking I would work on revisions later. I had several other projects going on at the time, and a year and a half after the rejection, I had sent another manuscript to Tanglewood. A few months later, Peggy Tierney from Tanglewood called and said "I have some good news and I have some bad news." The bad news - she was passing on the other manuscript I had sent her. Then she said, "Where is 'The Deepest Blue'?"  I said, "It's on a thumb drive." Peggy said, "No, I mean, is it under contract? Have you submitted it elsewhere?" I said, "No, it's on a thumb drive."   She made an offer to buy The Deepest Blue, and here we are, 22 months later, celebrating the release of my novel!

J: I alway want to know how authors get their break. How did you first get published?

K: I started by building writing credentials. I wrote for magazines, I wrote for one of the early internet success sites, CitySearch, and I wrote for local publications (Wasatch Parent magazine, now called Utah Parent). I wrote for anyone who would let me! My first real publication came through a woman I met online. She was looking for help with a workbook she was writing on Borderline Personality Disorder. I had personal experience with the disorder, and after exchanging a few emails, she hired me to coauthor it with her. While I think many writers find success with a book right away, I served an apprenticeship, built credibility, and really learned my craft from the ground up.

J: So was The Deepest Blue an easy sale after that?

K: The Deepest Blue collected almost 40 rejections before Peggy offered it a second chance. I don't think there is such a thing as an easy sale. If it was easy, everyone could do it, and I don't think that would be good for books or publishing.

J: You don’t have an agent either. Do you think we need one?

K: There are so many publishing options these days that I don't think an agent is as necessary as it used to be. I have worked with an agent before, but the chemistry wasn't there. Of the eight books I've sold, I've sold them all myself. That being said, I do believe an agent can do things that are difficult for us as authors to do. For example, many large publishers offer foreign rights contracts, but you can't get into the larger houses, and therefore get to those foreign markets, without having an agent. I am actively looking for an agent currently, but I'm not waiting on that agent to sell my work.

J: Someone going to upset when they see that.

K: It’s art. I think every Mini needs an angora sweater.

J: Okay. What are you doing to promote your book? There was your book launch, which was great, but else are you doing?

K: Wasn't that party great? And did you see all the book cozies I crocheted that night? Besides the signing, I have promotional events on my website, my Facebook page, and my blog. Every time I get a new review, I promote it. I've also signed up for events through some of my local writing organizations. I'll be speaking my League of Utah Writer's chapter meeting, and I've been asked by the Utah/So. Idaho chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) to speak at an event called The Inside Story at The King's English Bookshop. I'm also sending out informational packets to schools and libraries for workshops and signings. I've done book marks, post cards, and posters as well, so I'll pretty much do anything, including knitting a cover of my book, to promote it.

J: Where on the internet can people find you?

WEB PAGE
TWITTER - @kwjwrites
FACEBOOK
BLOG
AMAZON
BARNES AND NOBLE
TANGLEWOOD BOOKS

J: This is really getting out of control. You have to stop knitting.

K: I crochet a little too. See here’s a picture.

J: I hope your book is a great success.

K: Me too. My yarn budget is off the chart!

The Deepest Blue
by Kim Williams-Justesen
Available now