Touring the Wine Country

I did that once, after an RWA Board meeting. Carol Prescott invited me to come along while she picked up several cases of wine from the small wineries favored by herself and her splendid husband, Thane. I got to hear winemakers and an expert consumer discussing the grapes on a small hillside and how they gave forth the best of wines. Mostly, they could have been speaking Klingon. I know nuzzink about wine except this one thing: If Thane and Carol chose it, the wine will be excellent. Best of all, the vineyards were located near the Russian River. The scenery is heartgripping there, and it’s lost none of its beauty since I saw it on that day with Carol. And the coast rose she chose for the long drive back to San Francisco was perfect: sea and sun and sky. So Carol was the guiding light for Phase Three of my vacation

This was to be an “Editorial Retreat” of sort, with exciting plans to lounge in the hot tub and discuss the use of semicolons in fiction. Alicia Rasley found the house, which is located where the Russian River empties into the Pacific, There were wonderful views from every roon and the two decks. The weather was perfect.

So we all did the usual stuff: sat around talking and drinking wine, eating, trying to pick up WiFi. Unwinding. Managing Editor Theresa Stevens is a knitter and apparently a good one.

But we didn’t always relax. Alicia and I ganged up on Theresa and won her promise to read Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond Chroncles. (These are not stories about my cat, although I expect he wishes they were,)

Two writer friends suggested we meet for brunch at an off-road diner reputed to be excellent. It was. But the friends arrived nearly three hours late! I was sure the owner and waiter would toss us out, but enormous tips saved the day. Along with the excellent Eggs Benedict.


When we needed supplies, we drove along the river to the little town of Guerneville. A good place to stay, by the way, only 90 minutes north of San Francisco, especially if you love canoeing, kayaking, and other river activities. And if you want to visit (in my case revisit) the 70s!

We never did have our Hot Tub Editorial Meetings. Of course, why waste our brilliance when it can be conveyed on Alicia and Theresa’s excellent blog about writing, editing, submitting, and related publishing activities.
http://www.edittorrent.blogspot.com

Only I fell in love with the hot tub. It was on the deck just outside my room. The pulsing water felt wonderful. But I was there for the stars. We city dwellers forget how star-crowded the sky is when there is no wash of light to blank them out, Truly, I haven’t see the milky way since Girl Scout Camp. Just to look at the stars in their twinkly beauty thrilled me. Every night there was at least one “falling star,” probably space junk burning up in the atmosphere. Still beautiful, though.

So that was my bliss, a wholly Zen experience each night that reconnected me with the universe. Sometimes we get all caught up in small but troubling things, or large troubling things. For me, a little perspective helps. We’re so much smaller than those stars, yet we are made of stardust. And we are part of something far greater than ourselves, something we don’t presently understand. Anyway, being with those stars made me happy.

The Cover Art Gods Are Smiling (Maggie)

I think I have an interesting topic for you this week. A refreshing change, yes? It's all about cover art, and that is one important topic to those of us in the book biz, and often an area over which we have little control. But I've been very blessed with beautiful cover art time and time again, and almost always, with art departments who really take my suggestions to heart.

Pardon me, I just need to move this--URGH!--huge dog off of my lap. Ugh!

Okay, that's better. Now where was I? Oh, yes, cover art. I've had some beautiful covers, and I think I'm going to blow some up and frame them and hang them around my new and improved house when it gets done.

Meanwhile, the book in question is titled BLOODLINE. It's another vampire novel, and it's due for release in May of 2009. My editor sent me the initial concept for the cover, and I loved it, but I had a few suggestions.


I thought the heroine's jaw was a little too masculine. I thought it didn't really shout "Vampire" and maybe some fangs would help. I also thought there was a sad lack of cleavage where there was plenty of opportunity for cleavage, and Goddess knows, I'm all about cleavage. It's my best feature! (Insert evil grin here.) I wanted it to look a little more dangerous. And the background color looks like it would fit better with an Autumn release, rather than a late Spring one. It really is a beautiful cover, but there were these tiny things that I thought could come through a bit more strongly. So after reviewing this art with my editor and my agent, and looking it over and making notes, and trying to think of the reaction of a reader browsing through the stacks at a bookstore, I compiled my suggestions, sent them off to my editor, and waited to see what the final result would be.





Here is the revised version of the cover. I'm not sure how, but they definitely softened the jawline, even while giving the heroine a far more dangerous look. The background color is blood-red now, which I love, and even the moon, which I barely noticed in the first cover, has that blood-red tint, which, I think, makes it stand out more. The heroine has fangs, so it's obviously a vampire novel from the very first glance, and she has collarbones (which make a woman seem a little bit more vulnerable, I think) and cleavage, which just makes the book more sexy. In the first version, the heroine has the look of a princess, awaiting her prince's rescue. In the second, she looks like she's going to spring up and grab said prince by the front of his shirt (if he's wearing one) and have her way with him. This reflects the book a lot more closely. Though Lilith is vulnerable at first, being without her memory as the book opens, her true personality soon comes through. And her personality is modeled after the original Lilith-she who could not be tamed. So it fits. Although, the heroine is a bit prettier on the first one, isn't she?

What do you think? Which one do you like better? Which one would tend to make you pick up the book?

There's a lot that goes into the development of the covers. The tagline on the front, those two lines that give you a hint of the story's premise, is something we discuss at length. Ideas are batted back and forth until we all agree on one that we hope will grab you. It's HARD to put a gripping storyline into a handful of words! Then there's the back cover copy, that bit that gives you a more in depth idea of what the story is about. I usually get some version written by someone in NY, and it's often based on my original synopsis. The synopsis is the document I write before I start the book, telling the editor the story from beginning to end before I write a word of it. The problem is, I rarely stick to the synopsis. Characters tend to take off in their own directions on me, and I change my mind a lot as I'm writing. So that first blurb is usually way off, through no fault of its creator. So then my agent and I brainstorm and analyze and between us, we come up with a revised version, or sometimes a whole new one. And then my editor looks at both and adds her expertise. We go back and forth, we polish and tweak and revise. And finally, we all agree.

It's very involved, and it's definitely a team effort. And the same process often happens with choosing titles, except on those rare occasions where one of us comes up with a brilliant one right off the bat, and we all love it immediately.

What do you like to see in a cover? The hero? The heroine? The background? The color, title, author name? A piece of jewelry or nature scene on the front instead of a character? Do you pay any attention to those taglines on the front? (I think they're actually called "shoutlines" but I could be wrong. It's happened once or twice.) What draws your eye to a book on the bookstore shelf? Is there a cover that stands out in your memory? (And I mean BESIDES Christina Dodd's infamous three handed heroine on the first printing of CANDLE IN THE WINDOW. Which I'm proud to say I own.)

Let's talk cover art! I'm dying to hear points of view from people not necessarily immersed in the business. You're the ones these covers are designed to impress, after all!

Best,
Maggie

Stifled (Tara Taylor Quinn)

Ever hear those words, 'Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law?' I had. On television. When the bad guy was getting arrested. I don't know about you all, but I never felt sorry for the guy. I 'wanted' him to talk. To speak the truth. To let justice be done. Because he was clearly bad and it was his duty to hang himself.

And that just goes to show that if you live long enough, what you think will be challenged. And you're probably going to change your mind.

Last year a thing or two I posted here was brought against me in a court of law. In a personal matter.

And since I posted here last week, I've learned that, once again, my words here are going to be used against me in a court of law. Kinda makes a gal afraid to open her mouth! (Or her fingers as the case may be.) It's the second time in a year my words on Storybroads.com have been copied and presented as evidence. You'd think I was slandering people here!

But lest you all start to fear that associating with me could get you in trouble or hurt in some way let me assure you, I'm not spreading lies or being attacked for my views. This isn't about opposing viewpoints or opinions. The blog is just one of many sources being gleaned for personal information, in an attempt to build a case against me.

This morning, I tell you all this, not to drag my laundry here (I actually love doing laundry as my mother can attest to. When she was here last week, she wanted to help and I found ways to do hers and mine and Tim's all on my own. Not because she's bad at laundry. She isn't! Everything I do with clothes I learned from her. We even fold most things the same. I just needed the calming, peaceful feeling I get when I take care of my loved ones clothes.)

Oh, here, I digress again. My good friends Patricia Potter and Lynn Kerstan can tell you about my forages around the block to get someplace right in front of me. Anyway, I am posting today about a sensitive subject (to me) because I simply don't know what else to say. Every topic that came to mind, everything I had to say, reverberated back in my brain as something that could be twisted and used against me in a court of law. I feel stifled. I do not know what I can share with you all.

Except the truth.

I am not a bad guy. I, for obvious reasons, don't print every detail of every experience I write about here. The purpose of this blog is to develop a family-like community between authors and readers, to entertain, to provoke thought among us who share a like interest in the world of reading and writing, to allow people to get to know a bit about the typists behind the stories they love to read - not to be an arguable database for a court of law.

There are a lot of details, aspects of my life, that you guys don't need to know. Don't even want to know. You have them, in some fashion, in your own lives. You don't need to come here to get more. They are things that won't lift you up or contribute to your lives in any way. So I don't explain those details. But what I do write is the truth.

I had a load of things to share with you today. Some great pictures. But I sit here afraid to post them. Afraid to give 'them' any more ammunition with which to attack me. If I say 'this' they could say it meant 'that.' I guess, before I even get to court, they've already won, huh?

Or not. I'm going to leave you with two things that are real and true that I want to share with you:

Here she is, TTQ in reality:

And...my lesson this week has been one in true love. Real, down and gritty love at work. Tim and I face some pretty tough challenges outside of the miracle of being given this second chance to live with that first love that just doesn't go away. And this week those challenges emulated in a physical project that we'd promised ourselves we'd start and finish. I was going to tell you about the project, but...well you know that part. What I will say is that it was long and arduous and taxed us physically to the point of not being sure we could go on. But the cool part was that when Tim was drained, empty, looking at the unfinished portion of the project and knowing that it was more than he could handle, too much for him to complete at that time, I somehow found the energy not only to continue, but enough to give him a spark of it, too. I talked him into just a little bit more work because it would have been more work to clean up and drag everything out again, than to actually use the stuff that was out. And so we labored. I watched the stuff that was out dwindle and counted the pieces, the time, the increments, having just enough strength to finish up with what was out. And then, when that was gone, I had to quit. I didn't have another ounce of strength. Another muscle that could move in any direction but supine. The project wasn't done, but there wasn't anything out that had to be put away and dragged out again. I couldn't go on. I couldn't finish. And that's when Tim had a resurgence of energy. Adrenaline had come - a spark from the fire that I'd had earlier, kept alive in him - and now he had surplus, his fire was burning brightly again. He shared that spark. And together, laughing and talking, we finished the project. Completely. Because that's what love really means. When your partner reaches the wall, when challenges, life, are too much, you step up and share your fire (a fire perpetuated by the life the two of you share). And when you hit that brick yourself, your partner is there, continuing to share a spark from the fire that just doesn't die.

I thank all powers that be (not a religious statement, I promise) for that fire that doesn't die.

Deadline Times Three! Suzanne Forster

Deadline Times Three! (Suzanne Forster)

First, let me wish a Happy September to all our Storybroad readers and commenters. I only wish I had a blog for you to read and comment on this morning, but I’m under some unexpected deadline pressure.

It isn’t a book that’s due, it’s a story proposal and because I’m one of those more-is-better people, I have two proposals in the works. I couldn’t help myself. I love both ideas! Plus, there’s the one-page overview for another Spice book that I’m putting together. And I also have a deadline today for an on-line project to promote my upcoming October release, THE PRIVATE CONCIERGE.

The good news is I’m close on all these projects. The bad news is they’re due TODAY!!!!!!!! So, call me officially in the zone. Some people might call it crazed but I like to think of it as … okay, crazed.

Until next week!

Suz

The End (Anne Stuart)

The end of what, you may ask. The end of the first draft of SILVER FALLS. I've been slaving away like a madwoman, tearing my hair, rewriting and rethinking and looking at it sideways and upside down. But we're coming into the homestretch. I've printed up the first 280 pages, plus sent it to two good griends to get their feedback, and I'll take it with me when I drive my sister and mother 95 miles down to Dartmouth for my sister's hip replacement. I'll read through it in the hotel room the night before, and in the surgery waiting room tomorrow, scribbling all over the sucker, considering whether to give one character a POV, considering whether I want to change who the killer is (I've done that before). Then back for a day, then off to a hotel for a marathon, to finish the draft in four days.
You'll love my marathons. I keep track of my battles, my page counts, the garbage I eat, the craziness of an insane push to finish a book with room service. (The hotel has the room service, not the book).
I've done this on and off for years. The first time I tried it was with my second historical, SHADOW DANCE. The longest period of time was for PRINCE OF MAGIC, where I wrote half the book in five days. I still have a copy of my marathon report for that -- I'll dig it out and upload it because it's a hoot.
In the meantime, for the big push I'll be taking my Clairfontaine notebooks ad Pilot pens, my Alphasmart, my Mac, Lagoud. I'll be bringing notebooks and my iPod and diet lemonade and my bathing suit (swimming in the hotel pool is a necessity to keep me from beating my head against the wall).
Comfortable clothes, clean underwear, my wrist splints and an open mind.
So let me tell you why I'm having trouble with this book. It's a serial killer book, and because of that I can't get into the wild, romantic adventure of it. It's fascinating, compelling, the characters are complicated and intense, the murders really nasty, the threat real.
It's just not a whole lot of fun.
I need to be careful when I get an interesting idea -- I should do research before I decide to write about it. Serial killers are seriously gross, dude. And toning mine down just weakens the book. I have to grit my teeth and write it .
But it's going to be brilliant, even if I have to wrestle the damned book to the ground and sit on it.
Finishing a book is always an intense, fast, insane undertaking. I've fought and won before, I will this time. So wish me luck.
Think of me like a Valkyrie, read for war.

I shall ride into battle with this PITA book and I shall conquer!



Ridiculous trivia question -- what's the name of the divine cartoon that illustrates my battle with my muse (who this time around tends to be Elmer Fuddish)?

And a question for the day -- anybody got advice for someone about to do an absolute blitz of hard work? Food suggestions, drink suggestions, music suggestions, life suggestions?

I'll report back in on Monday. Wish me luck.