Repeat Mammogram--Scary!

I woke up Thursday morning and wandered into the kitchen for breakfast. As I sat, bleary-eyed, eating my cereal and berries, the phone rang. It was someone from Greenville Radiology telling me that my recent mammogram had changed since the previous one. I needed to go in and have further tests. I felt as if I was in a dream, writing down directions and instructions in slow motion.

Luckily, they had a cancellation that very day. I had just enough time to finish eating, walk Mini Me, shower and get over to the Patewood Medical Campus. As I wandered through the neighborhood, I wanted to tell anyone who'd listen that I had an abnormal mammogram; it seemed like telling the story might weaken its clammy hold on me. No one was out, though, so I didn't get to test out my theory.

We arrived at Patewood just in time to register and be whisked back to the Breast Center, where they separated us, the mammography waiting room being reserved for patients only. As I waited, I looked at the two or three other women sitting in the tastefully upholstered armchairs lined up along the walls. It seemed to me that we were all isolated in our own cells of terror, even though none of us were screaming or crying.

Soon, a female staff member came to escort me to a beautiful dressing room with a small tv, a mirror, and a dressing table complete with upholstered Parsons chair. I exchanged my blouse for a mammo gown, and she showed me exactly what was worrisome about my mammogram; a dark area indicated a mass of tissue that might or might not be something ominous. Then, she explained that they needed to take more films and see if the offending tissue would flatten out--meaning it was okay--or if it would stay stubbornly firm, which would warrant a trip to ultrasound.

We took the films and I went back to the dressing room to await the results. In just a few minutes, the tech returned and told me the tissue had flattened out. She even gave me a letter stating that my new mammogram was without significant abnormality.

I dressed and went to tell Gary the good news.

Patewood was fabulous. The speed and efficiency were the best I've ever experienced. I liked the process of staying in the dressing room while the films were read. Best of all was finding out my results immediately. I would recommend Patewood Breast Center to anyone. I've had mammograms in multiple facilities, and this was the best experience ever.

Birthday Today!

Today is Gary's birthday. We're off to the movies, a trip to the Greenville County Museum of Art, and dinner at a new-to-us Italian restaurant. Our plan is to skip lunch in favor of popcorn and candy at the movies. Plus, there's a lemon cake in the fridge downstairs and ice cream in the freezer.

New Yahoo Group for Women Who Want to Own a Business

I just started a Yahoo group for South Carolina women who want to become business owners but just aren't quite sure how to go about it. I hope it will foster some interesting discussions, give great hints, and generally promote women-owned businesses in South Carolina.

Subscribe HERE.

New Gateway Laptop

My old laptop developed a nasty habit of dying with no warning at random times, although it did seem to die more frequently during Scrabble games I was winning than during ones I was losing. Anyway, I needed a new computer, so we bought me a Gateway NV53 with Windows 7. I'm typing this blog entry with it.

Great computer, fun operating system, although the new Word interface is a little difficult to get used to.

Making Jewelry at the Crafty Hands Club

The Lake Rabon Crafty Hands Club met yesterday and made jewelry, mainly necklaces and earrings. The craft appears deceptively simple. It takes skill and vision, just like any other art. In this case, you need good eyesight as well as vision--some of those parts are tiny!

It's an addictive craft. Once I get the beads out and lay them on the black mat along with my limited set of tools, the rest of the world seems to drop away.

At lunch, we feasted on homemade cookies. Then, we went back to work on our bead projects. It's been a long time since we had a postprandial session. I was gratified that we worked so intently and produced such professional-looking pieces.

Technology Gets the Best of Me

I set up an event with Schmap-It and set it to Tweet every hour until the end of the month. Everything was going well. I was getting tons of hits on the event map and things were moving along smoothly until I got a message from a Facebook friend that the Tweets were also going out on Facebook every hour. I had opted to let Schmap access Facebook as well as Twitter and it was tweeting to Facebook. I ended up having to delete the entire event; I hope that stopped the Facebook tweeting.

I guess I'm not the tech wizard that I thought I was.

The Secret in Their Eyes--movie review

On a lighter note than my last post, we went to see The Secret in Their Eyes last night. It was great! I give it a 5 on a scale of five. It's an Argentinian film, so be prepared for subtitles if you go to see it.

A court employee sets out to write a novel about an old case that has niggled at his mind for years. In researching the book, he reawakens old passions and tears open old wounds.

I loved the Argentinian flavor of the film as well as the artfully-painted, three dimensional characters.

Trouble in Paradise

Well, I do believe the honeymoon is over. After almost three years in South Carolina, I've finally come across some antagonism in the ranks of my close acquaintances. I've experienced occasional rudeness before now, of course. You can't help but find some harsh personalities in the course of daily interactions with the general public.

This, however, is the first power struggle I've had to deal with close up and personal. It will be interesting to see if my Texas way of handling things works here in the deep south.

Russian Spies--Victims of Downsizing?

I've been loosely following the story of Russian spies deported from the US. Some have lived here so long and under such deep cover that they have grown children--US citizens--who didn't even know their parents were spies.

I keep trying to imagine what it would be like to live in a foreign country for years, work at a normal job, raise a family--all the while waiting for the call to come alive and do your clandestine duty for the motherland. I have to believe that's the kind of operatives these spies were, moles who wait for a command to go out and destroy a predetermined target. Because, if they were the kind put in place to provide ongoing information, they had to have been doing a terrible job. None of them appeared to have jobs that would afford them any more access to top secret information than I possess. And believe me--I certainly don't have access to anything that could be remotely considered secret.

What I think probably happened was that these people came to the US, burrowed down into the fabric of American life, and then--Boom!--the cold war ended. All of a sudden, there wasn't nearly as much call for spying as there had been. But, what are you going to do? Leave your nicely feathered US nest to go home to Russia and try to make a life in the chaos that reigned over there as Communism fell and near-anarchy rose? My bet is that these people just quietly kept on with their lives and waited for a call they knew wasn't likely to come. It finally did come, though. It's just that the slightly accented voice on the other end of the line said, "You're being traded," rather than, "Carry out your mission of destruction silently and swiftly." What a shock that must have been!

Timken Center Presentation A Success

Gary Melara's presentation yesterday at the Timken Center in Clinton, SC was very well attended. The staff had to pull out an extra chair or two as stragglers piled in. Afterwards, several people expressed an interest in exploring business ownership and we were invited to speak in other counties as the need arises.

We are both dedicated to helping as many people as possible get into businesses that meet their individual goals, needs, and expectations. It's the best way I know to get this country back on its feet economically.

Gary Melara to Speak at the Timken Center on Wednesday

Gary Melara will speak on Self Employment Options at the Timken Center, 1840 Torrington Rd, Clinton, SC on Wednesday, July 7th at 10:00am. It's open to the public, so y'all come!

On Twitter Autoresponders

I just read a blog post trashing Twitter auto-responders and the people who use them. First, let me say here and now that I don't have a Twitter auto-responder and have never used one. Honest!
With that little bit of housekeeping out of the way, I believe I can safely comment on the phenomenon. Here it comes. Are you ready? I don't think there's anything wrong with using an auto-responder on Twitter! To me, it works this way: out of the blue, person A follows person B on Twitter. Then, person B sends an automated thank you to person A. What's wrong with saying thanks for the follow? Especially when you don't know the new follower from Adam?

The problem--for many people--apparently shows up when the automated thank you comes with a link to person B's website. Sensitive Twitterers don't take kindly to having links foisted on them, it seems. What I can't understand is why it's okay to just jump up and follow someone, which is--in effect--like eavesdropping on their daily conversation, but it's not okay for the person being eavesdropped upon to share a link in response. Etiquette in the information age gets curiouser and curiouser!

Re-Published The Dark Side of Town on Kindle

I re-published The Dark Side of Town Kindle edition yesterday and it's already available for download again. Kindle made a new royalty arrangement that required re-publishing. Hope the change didn't inconvenience anyone!

Kindle has changed--and greatly improved--their publishing platform. Check it out; it's bright, friendly, and easy to use.

Ross Perot on Quitting

Most people give up just when they're about to achieve success. They quit on the one yard line. They give up at the last minute of the game, one foot from a winning touch down.
~ Ross Perot

Ol' H. Ross was right on this one. So many times, people just sit down and give up when they could achieve their goals with just an iota more effort. It brings to mind those poor people one sometimes reads about--the ones who freeze to death a few yards from shelter. What causes them to plop down and say, "I'm not moving one more inch?"

I think it could be called a lack of vision. They can't see how close they are and so they assume the smartest course of action is to simply lay down and die. Or--even worse--they can see exactly how close they've come to their goals, but can't put one foot in front of the other even once more.

For most of us, though, it probably does boil down to an inability to see outside our own boxes and realize that with just one more degree of effort, our world could begin to change in ways too wild to imagine. There's a book about putting in that one extra degree of effort. It's called 212 by S.L.Parker. You can buy it from GiveMore Media. I highly recommend both the book, the philosophy, and Give More Media. They truly went the extra mile for me a while back when I bought the book as a gift for a client; I'm sure they'd be happy to help you, too.

The Pond is Leaking--Again

After several weeks of being greeted by a gloriously full pond every morning, I went out early yesterday to find the roots of my water plants exposed. Since the bottom pond had just been re-lined and the top pond's level was just fine, we decided the leak must be in that most common place for loss of volume: the waterfall. So, we shut off the pump and are now waiting for the stones to dry so Gary can clamber into his hip boots and try to block off the water's escape route.

It's always something! But, it helps to remember we would survive even if every drop of water leaked out of that water feature. Besides, what would I fret over if I didn't have the pond?

Only in grammar can you be more than perfect. ~William Safire

I tweeted Safire's facetious quote today. At first glance, it appeared to be just a humorous quip. But, as I worked my way around the web to this blog, my mind kept returning to his words until they came to seem quite wise, indeed. What a succinct way to remind us that perfection can exist only in a paper world!

In the world where I live--the world of ponds with algae, deers that eat ornamental plants, and dinners that don't quite turn out--perfection is merely something for which to strive. And, that's not necessarily a bad thing. If we were to achieve the beau ideal, what would be left for us to work toward?

It's important to remember we will always fall short of unreachable goals. We must, therefore, either set our sights on realistic achievements or forgive ourselves when we cannot attain the impossible. As we used to say back at the Med, "Just do the best you can." It's all any of us can do. Really.

Check out my revamped blog on franchising

I have decided to revive my franchising blog. I was including posts on business in this blog, but they seemed to simply muddy the waters here. So, I've moved all my thoughts on franchising to Jan Melara on Franchising. Check it out if you're looking for one woman's observations on the franchising world.

Memories of Orange, Texas

I grew up in Orange, Texas and lived there for several years as an adult. I still love the place. There's a quality of joy there that compels me to return time and time again in my thoughts and in my writing.

Orange is hot--and muggy--to a degree that no other place on earth is. Visitors tend to find it miserable, but I think it's good for the skin. Or maybe my skin looked better during my Orange years because I was younger then. Anyway, I remember it rained least a few drops almost every afternoon. And, the storms! Thunderstorms there were things of beauty and power, not piddly little shows like in the rest of the country.

I loved my time in Orange, but I also love forging new memories and new bonds on my lake in South Carolina. For now, I'll content myself with Orange memories and Laurens life.

Book Review: China Saga by C Y Lee

I'm reading China Saga by C Y Lee. It's a fascinating story of one family's journey through the perilous waters of China's emergence into the modern world.

Lee's prose is almost invisible. He is one of the authors who came to mind as I wrote yesterday's post. He breaks some of the "rules" but does it so beautifully that no one could fault him for anything.

Even though Chinese culture is virtually unknown to me, I feel its essence in every chapter of China Saga.

On Rules

Visit any critique group and you'll find people virtually yelling about the so-called rules of writing. Yet, read any best seller and you'll find just about every rule broken at least once.

So, what are the real rules? In my humble opinion (and it's pretty darn humble) the only rule is don't break the same rule repetitively. In other words, once or twice is cute; more than that is annoying.

So, in a nutshell, here are my rules for writing:

Try to show not tell. But, telling is okay sometimes.
Try to use strong verbs rather than propping weak ones up with modifiers.
Don't let great strings of adjectives swish around your nouns unless you really, really have to.
And finally, for heaven's sake, just let your characters speak rather than laughing or sighing their comments.

So there you have--my rules of writing.

Facebook Ads Doing Well

The ads I placed on Facebook are getting good results. I think I've got a good idea of how to optimize them now.

I still need reviewers for The Dark Side of Town. If you've bought a copy, please post a review!

Obama and the Franchisees

Here's an interesting article on a couple of franchisees who met with Obama and talked about small business: ARTICLE

Gary to Speak at the Timken Center in Clinton

Gary will speak to a workshop group at the Timken Employment Transition Center on June 7th. He'll be talking about self employment options. This wonderful opportunity is the result of a networking event put on by the Laurens Chamber of Commerce. As a result of that same event, we have discovered a wonderful resource for employers, the Gleamns Human Resources Commission.

I am now a huge fan of both Gleamns Human Resources Commission and the Laurens Chamber of Commerce.

Working on Errand to Cozumel

I've started writing again now that the new business is getting into more of a groove. Things are heating up there, but the activity is becoming more manageable--kind of counterintuitive, but the truth. As the head of marketing, my job is basically going to a monthly networking event for free food, music and conversation. As far as sales go, I've scheduled routine times for call blocks now, so they don't sprawl through the day. Meetings with established clients are fitting into pre-set time slots now, too. So, I'm writing once again.

I'm making good progress with the editing of Errand to Cozumel. I've reached the part where I began to rush through to the end before, so I want to take my time and expand the build-up a little more. I've been able to digest the critiques from CC and use them to improve the book immensely so far. Let's hope I can keep up the good work in this critical portion toward the end.

Click here for a preview of Errand to Cozumel.

Reduced Price for The Dark Side of Town

I've reduced the price for the paperback edition of The Dark Side of Town. My husband said the original price seemed high for a trade paperback, and I really thought so, too. I had set it at the original price-point prior to making some formatting changes.

So, now I need to start my marketing efforts. I have an ad on Facebook which is getting fair results. I think I'll try to place the book in some local shops as well--probably on a consignment basis. I need to figure out why the paperback edition is not yet available on Amazon; I've got a message about the problem out to the staff there. As soon as it's active on Amazon, I'll start trickling the book out to select reviewers. If you would like to be a reviewer, shoot me an email at rescuediverjan@yahoo.com
or leave a comment on this blog explaining why you want to be selected to recieve a reviewer's copy of The Dark Side of Town.

Preview Errand To Cozumel

I've put the first chapter of my newest book, Errand to Cozumel, up for preview. It's a thriller about an ordinary woman who gets caught up in an undercover operation.
Take a look at it here.

Carolina Franchise Expo in Charlotte!

The Carolina Franchise Expo will be held in Charlotte, NC on October 15th and 16th.
Be there or be square!

Check it out or register to attend here.

Facebook Ads and The Dark Side of Town

Well, The Dark Side of Town is off and running. I've got the Facebook ad up; the maximum number of people have clicked on it for two days now. Right now, the cover on the ad is the Kindle cover, not the paperback cover. So, people click on one cover graphic and see a different one when they arrive at the site to buy the book. I think I'll change the graphic to match and see if that lessens confusion.

Click here to take a look at the paperback.

Click here for the Kindle edition.

The Dark Side of Town Available in Paperback

My novel, set in Naranja, Texas (based on my home town of Orange, Texas) is available in paperback now. Here's what it's about:
When seventeen-year-old Junie Robards finds her daddy’s car parked in a different spot than usual late one evening, she figures it’s evidence he snuck out for some diet-busting fast food. A young black woman’s death on the same evening, however, leads Junie to question the actions of some of the most powerful men in her small Texas town, including her own father. Junie’s struggle to find out what really happened the night of the murder uncovers a long-held secret with the power to destroy two families.

Click here to buy The Dark Side of Town in paperback.

Novel set in Orange, Texas now on Kindle

The Dark Side of Town--a murder mystery set in a town based on Orange, Texas--is available for sale in the Amazon Kindle Store today.

Click here to check it out. And, if you do read it, please post a review!

Proof Copy Winging Its Way to My Door

After several agonizing hours of uploading and re-uploading cover graphics and interior files, the second proof copy of The Dark Side of Town is on its way to me. The first proof had no title page or ISBN page. I guess I must have uploaded the wrong PDF. So, I re-did everything, paid for another proof copy and am now awaiting the results.

The book is set in Naranja, Texas in the 1970's. Naranja is based on Orange, Texas, the town where I grew up. So, all you fans of If the Devil Had a Wife, be on the look out for this novel about Orange!

Trying to Self Publish The Dark Side of Town

I'm working on the cover art and the interior file for my young adult novel, The Dark Side of Town. It's a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. Luckily, my husband is a tech wizard, so I think it will turn out well in the end.

What a job, though!

Bitter Blackberries

I've been picking blackberries in our neighborhood for a couple of weeks now. The ones by the side of the road are a little tart, but altogether edible. The ones that have sprung up in our back flower bed are slow to ripen and bitter on the tongue

Online articles on what makes blackberries bitter say it's a matter of ripeness. The riper the berry, the sweeter the taste.

Maybe I'm just being too eager for blackberries from my own garden. I guess I should count myself lucky to have good berries nearby, if not in my own backyard.

Jobs and Enterprises

My tweet for today was a quote from Michael Gerber: "The entrepreneur builds an enterprise; the technician builds a job." What does he mean by this?

I think it means you can choose to work in your business or not, but you must work on your business or risk failure.

The starving artist is a figure we're all familiar with. He lives for art, plying his craft every waking moment. He spends no time at all on marketing and never bothers trying to work out favorable deals with his suppliers. His art may be the greatest stuff ever created by man. But, he starves to death because he spends all his time and energy working in his business rather than working on his business.

To make a successful enterprise--a going jessie, if you will--you've got to look at the whole picture. You have to tweak marketing, boost sales, and put efficient processes in place even if you're the marketing director, the salesperson, and the operations manager all rolled into one. Without this kind of of big-picture vision, you're just working in a job. And, it may be a short-lived job.

Great Ideas and Execution

Many great ideas go unexecuted, and many great executioners are without ideas. One without the other is worthless.
Tim Blixseth

Although this quote is unfortunately worded--executioners?--it is apt. So many people have wonderful ideas. And so many of those dreams never make it to reality. It takes a Thomas Alva Edison to bring ideas to fruition. He was someone with not only a dream, but the guts and gumption to make that vision real.

And then we have the people with the gumption to make dreams come true, but who lack the creativity to conjure up a lofty goal. I suspect these are the people who grind away at boring jobs for twenty or thirty years only to wake up one morning and find their life gone.

The solution? For the idea-less: Buy into someone else's dream and make it your own. For the dreamer: Hire others to wrestle your vision into reality.

Success

"Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential." --John Maxwell

What John Maxwell said is so true! Say you want to bake pies, have always baked pies, and bake the best pies this side of the Mississippi. Will that make you successful if you open a pie business? Not necessarily.

Why not? Because there's more to the pie business than baking. There's marketing, customer service, quality control, cost analysis... The list goes on and on. If you don't have a strong desire to succeed in supplying pies to the world, you may not succeed in the pie business.

On the other hand, take a man who's never set foot in a kitchen, much less baked a great pie. But, say that man has a burning desire to bring his mother's pies to the world's doorstep. He can buy ovens and hire bakers. His vision for the future of pie baking is likely to put his pies in stores across the country while the person who simply loves to bake is still sitting in the kitchen dreaming as they wait for the pie to brown.

My Story is Out Today!

My flash fiction story, Covered Dish Supper, is available online today. Go to Everyday Fiction to read it.

Enjoy!

More on Financing a Franchise

So many people wonder how they'll finance a franchise business that I've decided to post another article on finance options. Click here to read the article.

Article on Financing a Franchise

Here's a good article on franchise financing in these difficult times.
Click here to read it.

Tao Drmmers

We saw Tao, the Japanese drummers, last night at the Peace Center. They were fabulous. A few years ago, in Austin, we saw Koto Drummers and were impressed by them. Tao, though, blew us away. The program said this group of artists lives together. It's obvious their entire lives are devoted to their art.

The deep bass of the big drums, the precise rhythms, and the muscular bodies of the drummers gave the show a sort of artistic athleticism that was irresistible. I was surprised when the show ended; it seemed we'd only been there for a song or two.

Wild hairdos and vaguely primitive costumes gave the show a prehistoric feel. If they come to your area, go see the show and step into a primitive world.

Underemployment

Underemployment is on the rise, according to the Gallup organization.
Read about it
here.

To find out how to become self employed instead of underemployed,
click here. Or, just call 864-498-4141.

Busy Working on My Business

Well, our new business is really buzzing now. I'm having to organize my time a little better. No more two hour breakfasts!

I still have time to do everything I want to do, though. The pace is just a little faster. That's the beauty of a business that fits our lifestyle; we can work on it and still have time for the things we love.

Too bad I still have time for the things I don't love quite so much, like laundry...

Spicy Pickle in the News

Click here for an article about the Spicy Pickle franchise.

Spring is Here

Don't be surprised if a cold snap rushes down from the north and plunges the east coast into a deep freeze. It will probably happen in, oh, eight days or so. That's when the seeds I planted yesterday should be most vulnerable.

I worked most of the afternoon, putting dirt laced with fertilizer and "moisture control beads" into pots on (and hanging off of) the lower deck. It should be a riot of color down there in about sixty days, if the seed packets are to be believed. This afternoon, I'll steal out in the dusk and do the same for planters on the upper deck. The bird restaurant we're running up there needs some color.

All that effort generally causes freezing temperatures to hit and kill plants all along the coast. Those bizarre spring cold snaps you read about in the news? I'd be willing to bet they perfectly mirror my sporadic planting efforts. This year, I took a neighbor's advice and waited until after Easter to sow my seeds so as to outsmart old man winter. I've got extras, though. Just in case.

Guaranteed Financing Program for Franchises

Click here to read about a new SBA program for guaranteed loans to franchisees.

Bad Day Yesterday

Church was nice, yesterday. Flowers and grass cloaked the world in pastels, the choir did a masterful job, and the hand bell chorus stayed in perfect time.

Then, we came home. I checked my email and found two rather negative messages there, one a rejection from the agent I had most wanted to work with, the other from a recruiter I wanted to network with. The agent's reply I took in stride and even found some brightness in. The recruiter's email was a different story. It made me rethink this email networking. There's just no substitute for good old fashioned, face to face communication, is there?

Then, our newfangled phone system went on the blink and my hubby spent hours fixing it. So, we couldn't go on the boat ride we'd planned.

To top it all off, my husband trotted down to the lower deck, steaks in hand, only to find the grill out of propane. Supper was not on time.

While writing this, I've realized yesterday wasn't so bad. We have so much: computers, a fancy phone system, a boat docked at the end of the lawn, a barbecue grill, each other, a church family as well as a regular family, a sweet dog, wild birds that feed outside our breakfast room window, fish in the lake and the pond, steaks to barbecue. The list goes on and on. Little glitches are just that--tiny bumps in a long road. We could be living in Haiti,surrounded by the rubble of our home and without basic necessities.

Today, I'm not going to let the bumps overshadow the beauty of the journey. It's all good!

Financing Your Business

Click here for a how-to article on financing a small business.

Happy Easter

Have a Happy Easter everyone!
Enjoy your religious services of whatever denomination and then have a meal with loved ones. Spend the afternoon amidst the wonders of nature and sleep well tonight.

Want to Explore Your Options?

To explore your self-employment options, call me at 864-498-4141 or visit my
Esource website

A Place for Telling

In the writing community, there is a stigma associated with exposition. New writers--old ones, too--are constantly admonished to "show, don't tell." In other words, write like this: "He took Lizabet into his arms. His lips felt cool on her neck." Not like this: "Ned and Lizabet embraced."
But, lately, I've noticed a backlash of sorts. Expositionists are pushing back. They say, "You can't show everything. Books would be way too long."
Who is right? Neither side. There is a place for both showing and telling. How much of each is a question of style.

Book Review: If The Devil Had a Wife

If the Devil Had a Wife: A True Texas Tale by Frank Mills published by Roslyn Group LLC

Written in a journalistic style, this book is--as the title says--a true tale. It depicts Rachel Stark's quest for the truth of her family history. I was especially interested in the story because it is set in my hometown, Orange, Texas, and gives the goods on one of the most prominent families in the state. The fact that I grew up on the same block as Nelda Stark, the wife mentioned in the title, made the story even more delectable for me.

"Frank Mills" hints at serial murder, misappropriation of millions of dollars, spousal abuse, and a paternity mystery. Information is dribbled out slowly, almost forcing the reader to keep turning pages until the end. This would be a good read even if it weren't about my neighbors.

My Story Will be Out April 14

My very short story, Covered Dish Supper, will be in Everyday Fiction on April 14.
Put that date in your calendar--it will only run for one day. That is the nature of Everyday Fiction. They put a new short story up every day. If you subscribe, they'll send a new story to your inbox daily.

Critique as a Learning Tool for the Critiquer

The obvious way to learn from critique is to have someone else tell you what could be improved in a piece you've written. That is certainly a fast track to better writing. Even more intense is the experience of having multiple people critique your work. Then, you get the additional education that comes from sifting through different--sometimes completely opposite--suggestions. It can help crystalize your style to decide which comments you'll act on and which you'll leave by the wayside.

So, many writers critique others simply as a quid pro quo; they do the critique in hope of getting one back. There is a lot to be learned from critiquing another writer's work, however. Do you tend to use gerund phrases to begin your sentences? (i.e. "Jumping over the hood, he started the engine.") There's nothing like reading a few bad introductory gerund phrases in someone else's story to see why they can be anathema. How about said bookisms? Do you have trouble tearing the "he laughed" and "she snorted" type of tags out of your dialog? Just critique a few stories where they are used excessively and you'll root them out of your own work with enthusiasm. The opposite is true as well. You may find gems of sentence construction while critiquing another's work. Or, maybe they've come up with a way to show a character's evil side that you can adapt and make your own.

However you use it, critique is an essential part of the writer's life. I highly recommend Critique Circle for anyone who writes.

Another story to be published!

I received an email this morning from Everyday Fiction. They will be publishing my very short story, Covered Dish Supper.

The message included some lovely comments from three of their editors. Here's what they had to say:

Engaging plot, seamless pace, adept characterization, and terrific attention to detail. Well done!
-- Jana Seely

A sweet romance from a senior perspective.
-- Elissa Vann Struth

Is this romance, or is it humour, or both? Either way, I enjoyed it, particularly the unexpected and clever ending.
-- Camille Gooderham Campbell

So, take a look at their website and keep an eye out for Covered Dish Supper. It will probably be the only time you'll ever see a romance written by this author.

Lenten Luncheon

I'm late posting today because I spent the day in town. I got to Whiteford's Giant Burger, the local senior citizens hangout, at about 8:15 and gobbled down a biscuit or two before taking off for the church.

In the kitchen at First Presbyterian, ten of us "Kitchen Witches" chopped, diced, baked, and fried for three and a half hours. We cooked a meal for fifty using only one frying pan. It was a really large frying pan, but still... To do what we did with only one frying pan shows ingenuity, skill, and dedication, in my opinion. I don't know what happened to the other frying pans--there are bound to be more of them in a kitchen that size.

In other Laurens news, the lumber yard next door to the church now sells grits as well as honey. They have the honey advertised on one side of the sign and the grits on the other side. I can only assume they do it that way in order to catch customers both coming and going.

Blurb For My New Book, The Go-To Girl

Here's a little bit about my book-in-progress, The Go-To Girl. Feel free to tell me what you think.

Nat Rutledge is just an ordinary nurse working at an everyday job—until a dying patient tells her there’s a microchip inside his denture.

When ex-CIA operative Bob MaCaferty tells Nat Rutledge RN there’s a microchip hidden in his partial plate, she thinks it’s bound to be the morphine talking. But, the chip shows up on x ray. And, there’s a boatload of cash hidden just where Bob said it would be. Nat takes on the job of delivering the dental plate to Bob’s contact in Mexico. The errand will entangle her in a shadowy web of Mexican drug cartels, difficult for even a trained agent to navigate. Can this small town girl escape its far-reaching tendrils?

Cool New Website

I just discovered a great website,Query Tracker. It has the scoop on agents and publishers: who they've published, what they want to see, percentage of partials requested, percentage of fulls requested, percentage of rejections and response times, plus comments from other authors who've submitted to them. Sort of like a Duotrope's Digest covering agents and publishers.

Blog Hijacked!

My franchise blog was hijacked! I woke up this morning and wandered over to the computer for a look at Jan Melara Franchise Coach. Oddly, the computer was off, even though I had left it on. I switched it back on and waited forever for it to reboot. Finally, I was able to click on the link to the blog. The familiar page showed up and then, within seconds, was replaced by another page. I blinked a couple of times and clicked on the link again, only to be rerouted--to yet another page this time.

I called my husband, the resident IT expert, and we frantically searched the web for information on blog redirection and hijacking. As I had suspected, our search led us to believe one of my newish gadgets was to blame. It turned out to be one called "How to Cook Anything."

I removed the code and the redirection stopped. Thank goodness we found the problem! However, in the process, we lost the link list for this blog. I've replaced it and repopulated with what I hope are useful links, but I may have left out some that were there before the accident.

Authonomy

I removed The Dark Side of Town from Authonomy just now. I achieved my goal of stimulating some interest from agents and publishers. I can't give each of them an exclusive look at the book, but I can at least take it down from a very public site. So, now it's time to sit back and let the agents and publishers make their decisions.

Said Bookisms

To me, there isn't much that screams "newbie" more than the said bookism, especially when overused. Here's a good article on the dreaded creatures.

Characterization Through Clothing

Characters should be three dimensional. How do you make them come alive when all you have is words on a page?

Clothing can help, if you pay attention to detail. Instead of putting Jane into slacks and a shirt, try having her shrug into a silk blouse and tug Cruel Girl jeans over her slim hips. Or, she might wear a plaid blouse, ripped at the shoulder, and get her sneakers caught in the leg of her cotton pants.

I hope you saw two very different women getting dressed. By choice of verb and description of garments, bits of their personalities were revealed.

Hit a Roadblock!

I'm revising my newest novel, The Go-To Girl, and seem to have hit a brick wall. A critiquer from Critique Circle told me she couldn't picture the setting of one of the scenes, so I want to rewrite it to include a better description. I keep avoiding doing it, though--to the point that I find other things to do than write.

For instance, this afternoon I'm going to work in the yard! Scary thing to pick over writing, huh? But, that's how blocked I am. The best I can do is promise to think about the scene while I'm gardening. Or, maybe I shouldn't think about the book at all...

Interesting online format

Here's an article in an interesting format for an online magazine. Check it out by clicking here.

Drug Gangs in Mexico

I just read a bit of a book on Authonomy about Mexican drug gangs. I'm seeing more and more about them in all kinds of places lately. They figure prominently in my newest book, The Go-To Girl. I hope that's a good thing and not a tired topic by the time I can get the book out there!

My Story is Out Today!

My short story, Obedience, is available at Halfway Down the Stairs.
It's about a young nun who has some decidedly unorthodox ways to sort out differences of opinion about nursing ethics.

Waiting

I've had several people tell me waiting is the hardest part of being an author. Waiting for replies from agents and publishers, waiting for critiques from crit partners, waiting for publication when accepted, waiting for the check when published.

I think the the best thing to do in all these situations is forget about the manuscript that's in limbo and work on something new. That's why I'm trying not to even think about The Dark Side of Town for now. Instead, I'm going to concentrate on my newest effort,The Go-To Girl, and on our new franchise business, The Entrepreneurs Source.

To help keep my mind off the book which can't be named, give me a call at 864-498-4141 and let's have a chat about franchises. Or, visit my franchise blog: Jan Melara, Your Franchise Coach.

My Thoughts on Book Marketing

My experience on Authonomy has opened my eyes. I thought all serious authors realized marketing would be a big part of the writing life. Man oh man--was I wrong. There is an ongoing controversy about marketing in the forums there. The "purists" seem to think marketing a book is somehow beneath them. Their view is that a book should stand on its own merits, free from any efforts at publicity or jockeying for position.

While I agree that a good story, well written, should trump all other considerations, I am also a realist. How will anyone know your book is a great tale, written in a can't-put-it-down style? Are they supposed to hack into your computer to get at it? Obviously, some marketing is necessary to make the reading public aware your book even exists. Even if your work is picked up by a big publishing house, you are going to have to be involved to some extent in marketing and publicizing efforts. Anyone who is unwilling to participate in those activities might as well give up on selling any books, in my humble opinion.

A New View of Your Prose

Here's a fun way to get a new insight into your prose using a word cloud. Paste your text into a box on Wordle's website and click "go." In a few seconds, a word cloud will appear on your screen. It's a graphic display of the most frequently used words in your selection. I put in the first two chapters of The Go-To Girl, my novel-in-progress. It was obvious exactly what each chapter was about. Amazing and fun.

Click here to try it yourself!

Not on Topic, but important

We went to a Pecha Kucha presentation at The Warehouse Theater in Greenville, SC on Thursday night. A wonderful group of architecture students presented their class project: quick, affordable emergency housing for disaster victims. They can convert shipping containers, those big metal boxes we often see whizzing by on railroad cars or being loaded onto ships down at the docks, into basic shelter--with surprising efficiency--for homeless people. Check out their website: Seed Haiti

Secrets of Synopsis

A synopsis seems like such an easy thing to do; just write out a summary of your book and keep it down to two pages or so. Then, you sit down and start writing. A couple of hours later, you've got ten pages of material and still don't feel you've captured the essence of the book.

Here's my secret for clearing this hurdle. Keep a summary of chapters as you write them. Weave those summaries together and voila--you've got a synopsis!

Check out this article on how to write a synopsis: The Fearless Synopsis

Be Ready for Action When You Query

For some authors, there is a great temptation to query before a manuscript is polished, or in some cases, even before it's finished. Let me add my voice to the the horde of others crying out for patience in this matter. I had an agent request a partial less than five minutes after I sent my query. Another agent requested a full one day after my query. If I hadn't been ready with a full manuscript, I would have been in an embarrassing position with both those ladies.

So, resist the temptation to query before it's time.

Agent nibbles and Franchise Sales!

Well, two agents have contacted me about The Dark Side of Town. One, Kae Tienstra from KT Public Relations and Literary Services, asked if I had an agent yet. I replied that I didn't. I haven't heard anything else from her. Her blog said she has some three hundred emails in her inbox, so I know she's probably overwhelmed. I just hope my reply didn't get lost in that mountain of mail. Or maybe she was just asking and didn't mean anything by the question.
The other agent, Mollie Glick from Foundry Literary + Media, asked for a partial within minutes of Ms Tienstra'a inquiry. I know she's busy, too.
The waiting is killing me, but at least I have our new business to think about. We signed the papers on a single unit franchise of The Entrepreneurs Source yesterday morning at ten thirty. We are now the proud owners of a business that's in the business of selling franchises. We're off to a franchise Expo in Raleigh, NC. this afternoon and already have one lead. WooHoo! Bring on the wheeling and dealing!
If you want to represent my book or buy a franchise, I'm your woman.

How I use critique

One of the hardest things a writer must do is accept constructive criticism. It's not fun, but it's one of the best ways to grow.
Our books are our babies. We nurture them in our minds, tentatively jot them down, polish and cosset them along until finally one day we present them to the world. And then, the world finds flaws in them. How dare they?
But, wait, maybe that one little thing would sound better that other way. And, that one bit might be a little confusing now that you mention it.
I usually take in what all my critiquers have to say, thank them profusely,then wait a few days. After a week or so, I sit down to edit. Anything that stuck in my mind as a problem, I repair.
I used to print out each critique and pore over it as I edited. Then, one day I noticed I was going in circles trying to please everyone else. That's when I adopted my "use what sticks" method. It works for me.

The self publishing venture is a no-go!

I've messaged Amazon Kindle to remove my book from their publishing queue. My book's been "in the pipeline" for days and days now. So much for being available for sale in thirty six hours!
I've been hearing less than stellar things about the quality of CreateSpace's printed books. And, scuttlebutt has it the ISBN number they give you is really just an identifier exclusive to the Amazon site.
I'll try the traditional route once again.

Still not available on Amazon!

Still getting the same message on Amazon's DTP site: your book is being published. I'm getting frustrated. Why is my book taking so long? I will give it a couple more days. Then, I'll email to ask what's up.

Update on self publishing experience

Well, it's been more than forty eight hours since I "published" The Dark Side of Town on Amazon's Kindle Bookstore. The book is still not available for sale, although there is a note on my dashboard saying that most books take twenty four to thirty six hours to be published. I'm beginning to wonder if my book was mis-formatted or had some other error.
I'm still working on formatting the book for Createspace. It needs to be in PDF and I am having to access my husband's technological abilities for that. Margins are the work of the devil! I see why Createspace offers help (for a fee) with this aspect of self-publishing.

I've decided to self publish The Dark Side of Town

A forum post on Authonomy made me rethink my position on self publishing. Previously, I was of the opinion that self publishing is bad, evil, and the first step on the road to ruin. After reading the aforementioned forum post, I've decided it's just good business. Instead of waiting for a publisher with a roomful of unsolicited manuscripts to pick mine out of the pile, why not go ahead and let the reading public have a go at it? About the only difference I can see is that I won't get an advance payment. I believe the royalty schedule is more to my advantage, though. So, it may all even out in the long run.
Watch for updates as I explore self publishing options.

Sign on to Authonomy and support my book! Please.

Hi everybody! Here's the web address for Authonomy, Harper Collins's answer to the slushpile. If you'd like to support my YA mystery, The Dark Side of Town, go to this website:
http://www.authonomy.com/
Sign up and then put my book on your bookshelf. Here's a link to The Dark Side of Town page:
http://www.authonomy.com/ViewBook.aspx?bookid=15839
Just click on "Back the Book."
Please. It could put my book on the desk of a Harper Collins editor.

A Slugfest for Authors

I've just signed up for Authonomy, Harper Collins' new way of dealing with the problem of the slush pile. It's an intriguing twist on solving an old problem. Basically, they've decided to let us all slug it out and they'll read the five who come out on top every month.

Wow. What a concept.

I like the idea of competing, but I'm not sure about the contestants also being the judges in this bout. Of course, if I come out at the top of the heap, I'll be touting the method on street corners.

If I lose, I think I'll just go back to the old fashioned method of shopping my manuscript around to various agents and small publishers.

It's a rough old world out there, folks.