It's Going to Be Okay

First, a HUGE congratulations to my friend Tonya Kappes, author of Carpe Bead'em and The Ladybug Jinx. She is celebrating 1,000 sales today in only 9 weeks. She is part of the amazing writing community at The Writer's Guide to E-Publishing, a site I highly recommend for the latest scoops in the indie world and great old-fashioned camaraderie! (If I type 'the' in my address bar, that's the site that comes up, I go so often!)

In other news, it was a meh kinda week for the writing ego of moi. I keep freaking myself out because I am NOT like other writers in style and tone. For example, I read a tip lately that only "new writers" describe what a character is eating. You know, what's wrong with a little realism? Especially when you use it for characterization. In Chapter 2 (old Chapter 3) my MC is eating a pre-fixe lunch of a terrine with lemony asparagus followed by a salad. His stepmother's boyfriend (who MC did NOT know existed, let alone was tagging along on their Christmas trip to Paris) is eating the same thing. Although the terrine is a soft, meat-loaf consistency, the boyfriend is using the American convention of smashing every bite with the side of his fork, leaving his knife perfectly pristine on the table next to his plate. And he's talking with his mouth full! And you know what? I'm keeping it! 

It gets so confusing. It's a conversation at a lunch table in a swanky 4-star Parisian hotel. How could I not comment on the food? Here's the truth, people eat, sleep, talk, and have sex. Somewhere in there they also work. What's wrong with a little realism to balance the fantasy of a love story? My characters eat: different foods and in different ways. My female lead skips lunch by eating a granola bar when she's stressed and my MC calls her out on it. One of the scenes in Confessions of a Shopaholic that sticks with me most is Becky trying to cook a curry. I can't cook a curry. I don't even know really that I like curries. But I enjoyed the comedy of everyday life. When I read Sophie Kinsella's book, Confessions of a Shopaholic, I loved it so much BECAUSE it was unlike any other book I had read up to that point. 

This morning I read Konrath's piece about authorial intent. Just be deliberate, he says, and too bad for the people who don't like it. Alright. I agree. 

With that, I am going to work on polishing my new Chapter 1 (original Chapter 1 was cut entirely into the deleted scenes bin) which is my old Chapter 2 and have it up on my reader site for Sample Sunday. I also need to get the back cover copy to my awesome cover artist. I was stressing over that, but my paperback will never be sold in stores, so really, what does it matter what the back of the printed book says? For that matter, I am going to heavily subsidize my printed book pricing to promote my ebook, so maybe I will just break the mold entirely. Why not make my back cover of the book a letter to my readers, thanking them for buying this book, a nice picture of me, and encouraging them to email me for a free copy of the ebook? My business is best in electronic media. The more people I can convince to read my books in electronic formats, the better off my business and the businesses of my colleagues will be. 

Wow, I feel like a major DUH!!!! is coming on. Off to work on new and improved back cover copy. 

"CANCELLED" arriving SEPTEMBER 2011. A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby.