Sierra Godfrey

The time has come

noreply@blogger.com (Sierra Godfrey) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 18:22:00 +0000

I've had this blog since 2009, and it's been fun.

I've had a lot of fun vomiting out my thoughts and fears and questions about writing and the publishing world. I've interviewed some awesome people and I made some really good friends and I learned a lot.

Most of all, I had really kind people leave comments and engage with me (YOU!). That was best part.

The time has come to migrate to a new blog on my newly-designed website, however. I've gone Wordpress.

So please come visit me there: www.sierragodfrey.com.

Sometimes it takes a while

noreply@blogger.com (Sierra Godfrey) — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 21:00:00 +0000

The other night my 11-year old cat, Max, caught his very first mouse!

He caught it in our garage and then brought it up to the living room where he could watch it/disembowel it/be praised for it in comfort. Alas, we removed it.

Here he is, post-mouse removal, but still very much in the glow of satisfaction:

What a handsome, splendid kitty! See? Sometimes it takes 11 years to realize your dreams! But did Max ever give up? No! It's in his blood to hunt mousies.

As it is in my blood (and hopefully your blood, too) to write until you reach your goals.

Fortitude, Bird Style

noreply@blogger.com (Sierra Godfrey) — Thu, 30 May 2013 09:30:00 +0000

There's been a sweet married birdie couple living in my backyard for a while. Mr. and Mrs. California Towhee, ground-hopping birds who have a nest in a tree on the side of my yard. They've been there a while, and they often come hopping right up to the sliding glass door to peek in and see what we're up to. (My cat does not like this and has bruised his forehead lunging into the glass like an idiot.)

A sweet little brown California towhee. He has a high chip-chip sound.

They've also raised a nest of little baby towhees, and although I suspected they had babies nearby -- the grabbing of an earwig and then flying off with it was a sure sign -- I didn't know where they were.

Last week, I heard a bout of mad cheeping, baby-style cheeping, and I got to the window just in time to see two large shapes falling from the tree, and a marauding scrub jay fluttering in the branches, and mama and papa towhee screaming and flapping at him. Twice they chased him off; twice he returned. Finally, from across the yard streamed a third towhee, and he aided his friends in chasing off the scrub jay. I ran out and did my best to chase off the jay too but I thought my presence stressed the towhees so I went back inside. (Also I did not want my head pecked.) The scrub jay, if you haven't guessed, had pushed the two babies out of the nest in an attempt to have a snack. I'm not a birder, so this was all high drama for me.

The babies sought cover under leaves, and they had feathers although they couldn't fly. I let them all be, not knowing what would happen to the babies.

A pretty, but very evil, scrub jay.

Four days later, we arrived home from Memorial Day weekend up at my mom's house, and again I heard a mad bout of cheeping. In a different corner of my yard, probably the same evil scrub jay was hopping around and he flushed out a towhee baby. The parents were again beside themselves. But this time, the jay managed to push the baby into the creek that runs through our backyard (really a glorified storm drain). I ran out, screaming, and the jay flew off. I got a shovel to get the baby out, but it was too late. Mr. Sierra put him on the grass so the parents would see him.

The awful jay came back and to my horror at the baby. The mama and papa towhee had to stand nearby and watch, and their soft chipping as they watched broke my heart.

It's a good thing I'm not a towhee.

I was pretty upset, but Mr. Sierra reminded me that this is nature. The towhee parents saw the dead baby before the jay returned to feast, and there was nothing they could do. They displayed an admirable amount of love and sorrow and protective instinct, but in the end, they understand that as birds, you've got to move on. Wikipedia tells me that towhees can lay eggs and they'll hatch pretty quickly; babies leave the nest in 8 days or so. That seems like a pretty quick turnaround and I don't know how often they lay eggs, but maybe they'll move on and lay more. They appear to live in my tree year-round.

After watching this awful drama, I had to think what it must be like as a bird to watch your baby survive being kicked out of the nest only to be drowned and then eaten by a mean scrub jay. Do they move on? Can they? Certainly humans would have a horrid time doing so, but do birds?

I don't know, but my guess is that Mr. Sierra was right. They have to move on and lay more eggs if you want anything in the world.

Naturally, I'm going to compare this kind of fortitude to how it is to write a book and see it through to publishing, either traditional or self. This is not to belittle the poor birds or to suggest that losing a baby to a nasty scrub jay is at all the same, but certainly if you want to make it, fortitude is in order. You get rejected, you've just got to go on. You get a nasty review, you've just got to go on. You've just got to keep doing what's important. And pray that the scrub jay gets his.

Brand Ambassadors

noreply@blogger.com (Sierra Godfrey) — Fri, 03 May 2013 16:27:00 +0000

Years ago, I worked with a guy who had worked for Apple, or so it said on his resume. His position was "brand evangelist." I remember thinking, an evangelist is a real title? WTF is that?

I don't know if he got paid for it, or if it was just an arrangement with Apple. But it was smart on Apple's part. What is was is someone who recommends Apple products--and not just recommends, but enthuses, and loves, and sings the praises of.

These days, we use the term "brand ambassador," which sounds much nicer than the religious overtone of evangelist. You might be wondering why I'm writing about this here. It's because anyone who is selling books needs to know about it.

We are told that blogging and blog interviews and blog tours and even book signings don't sell books long term. That is, they don't grow your readership. We are told it's really all about word of mouth. But how on earth do you get your book to be spread by word of mouth?

A story: at my local farmer's market there's this wonderful Afghani food vendor called Bolani. Bolani makes really delicious sauces and breads. Healthy, low fat, and drool-inducing. I've been a fan for a long time. A few weeks ago, I was at the farmer's market and stopped by the Bolani booth. The guy there offered me a sample, which of course I took (I'm not an idiot) and he asked me if I'd had it before. I launched into an enthusiastic account of how I've been buying their stuff since last summer and how much I love them, blah blah blah. I mean, I'm a brand ambassador for them. I tell everyone how good they are.

What does the guy do?

He turns, in the middle of me talking, to someone else, and starts speaking to them. He shut me off.

I closed my mouth with a snap. Wow, I thought. What a way to treat a customer standing right in front of you, telling you how much they love you. It was like telling me to go $#@%& myself.

Because now I had a bad feeling. I was made to feel like an idiot and that he didn't care at all that I spent money on his products. There was no way I'd be a) telling other people about them now, or b) buying their stuff when I had the choice. Notice how I'm blogging about it, too. Now everyone gets to know how they treat their customers.

I was no longer a brand ambassador for them. Which was too bad, because their sauce is tasty.

This has happened before at book or CD signings when I've met authors or musicians. The experience has been so disappointing that I haven't bought further books or music from them. Pet Shop Boys are famous for being utter dickheads (Chris Lowe, at least), but it's different when he's a dick to you. I went off them after meeting them. Two authors at a signing couldn't care less that I was there--and I can't say I ever read another word of theirs. It's why I no longer go to book signings--invariably, the author will turn away just as I get there or scribble in my book and shove it aside like it's on an assembly line. I don't want that. I've read their work and I want to see the person who's behind it all. I don't want to be treated like cattle.

I think authors are really missing the boat on readers as brand ambassadors. If you have published a book and a reader contacts you and enthuses and gushes and says "I adore you!" then you know you have a future reader in them. Don't ignore them. Don't turn them off. Make it a priority to answer them. (I am not speaking of anyone I know here.) Don't take my word for it. Social media expert Scott Stratten has harped about this for a long time.

So, what are you going to do about it if you have a book and enthusiastic readers? There are endless possibilities. Next week I'll do a post giving some ideas.

How to remember stuff

noreply@blogger.com (Sierra Godfrey) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 09:30:00 +0000

Some place, some time ago (we're doing good so far, aren't we?), I heard some person (I know, already) say that they write 5 things down each day. That's it. No long paragraphs that require thought and concentration (if you have kids you know you're bubbling your lips at 9 pm). No flowery paper and wood-paneled pens that you nicked from your boss's office. No rules. Just something.

I loved the idea, and I started doing it. Mainly because I feel like I'm missing the minutia of life. When I do my epic (only to me) end of year posts here on the blog, it's fun. But last year? I had a really hard time remembering anything. This is partly because I have a child under two, but that doesn't make the loss of my mind any less horrifying.

So, I opened up a Word doc ad typed the date. And then:

And I wrote 5 things, however silly, that happened that day. Because I didn't want to think about it too hard, I saved the doc and then opened it again and added to it the next day, with the new date and list above the first one. That's it. Maybe I'll save it by month, but likely by year.

Here's what I wrote that first day:

March 8, 2013

1. Older son (6.5 yrs) had a screaming meltdown on the playground before school because he didn't have a sweater to wear (in addition to his coat). I realized later it was about the lack of options that upset him. He ended up having a good day once I left.

2. I’m reading the Maeve Binchy book today, her last book before she died, and it’s so good. It’s not even written in a very modern style but it’s like falling into a comfy chair.

3. In Target, toddler (Rainbow Puppy, 23 months) heard a baby crying and was very concerned. He told me there was a baby crying and his mama should pick him up (“Pick up. Up.”) I asked him if I should go pick the baby up. He decided that would not be preferable.

4. I had a dehydration headache and was amazed to see that water really does take headaches away (in such cases).

5. I vowed (re-vowed, actually) never again to shop at JC Penney for refusing to stock 529 Levi’s jeans in size 12, curvy fit for large asses.

Remember, there's no rules here. I miss some days, so what. How do you journal? Do you journal at all?

My desk

noreply@blogger.com (Sierra Godfrey) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 09:30:00 +0000

Look at that pile of fur. Even though he is taking up my mouse space, I love it.

Truth in Words Essay Contest

noreply@blogger.com (Sierra Godfrey) — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 21:06:00 +0000

A good friend of mine is a lifestyle publicist and she handles PR for a lot of nonfiction books, including the really cool book, Nothing But the Truth. It's a collection of essays written by women and makes for a great gift/bathroom book/book to read while waiting for something, because the essays are short but pithy.

My friend asked me to pass on the following information about an essay contest. It's a pretty good deal because the essays are 1200 words or less.

Here's the info:

The winner of this year’s Truth in Words Essay Contest will rub elbows with big names in the publishing world, including ICM Talent, Random House and O Magazine. Notes & Words, along with its new partner, Nothing But the Truth, is serious about finding America’s next great essayist.

This year’s topic will be “transitions.” Organizers will be looking for 1200 words or less on stories ranging from starting a family, recoveries, graduations, aging, career changes/promotions, marriage and divorce.

Big Incentives: The Grand Prize Winner of the essay contest will receive a once in a lifetime opportunity: one-on-one consultations with representatives from ICM Talent, Random House and O Magazine. In addition, up to 30 semi-finalists in the competition will be published in the next Nothing But the Truth anthology available in bookstores and online December 2013.

The essays are due on March 18th, the same day tickets go on sale for Notes & Words 2013, an annual benefit that puts authors and musicians on stage together at the historic Fox Theater in Oakland. This unforgettable evening of live entertainment benefits Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland, Northern California’s only independent not-for-profit regional medical center for children. Details of the event can be found at www.notesandwords.org.

Nothing But The Truth is a series of anthologies chronicling women’s stories and voices co-edited by Christine Bronstein. The first in the series, Nothing But the Truth So Help Me God: 51 Women Reveal the Power of Positive Female Connection, included well known writers such as Jane Ganahi, Joyce Maynard, Deborah Santana, and many more. You can learn more about Nothing But The Truth at nothingbutthetruth.com.

All essay submissions will be accepted at submissions@abandofwives.com. See www.abandofwives.com or www.notesandwords.org for official contest rules.

Note from Sierra: The A Band of Wives website doesn't actually allow you to view the official contest rules without first registering, but Notes and Words has it. You should check that, but here are the salient rules:

Contest entries must be emailed to submissions@abandofwives.com

as a Microsoft Word attachment. Please attach a 100-word biography.

This year’s topic will be “transitions.” Organizers will be looking for 1200 words or less on stories ranging from starting a family, recoveries, graduations, aging, career changes/promotions, marriage and divorce.

3 Quick Ways to Relax

noreply@blogger.com (Sierra Godfrey) — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 10:30:00 +0000

I was talking with a friend of mine who leads a hectic life--I know, we all do, but hers takes a toll on her physically. She's supposed to relax. Trouble is, how do you do that in a busy world?

Oh, we all know ways, right? Stretch more, sleep more, read more, do pilates. But those are long term things, and you can't do them right now today. (The irony of right-now-today isn't lost on me or her, as we are people who do too much and then wonder why our shoulders are hunched up around our ears.)

We brainstormed and came up with three immediate, short-term fixes.

1. Rainy Mood.com. This is a gem. It's a super simple website: you go there, and it rains. Sometimes it rains hard, sometimes it thunders. It's wonderful and relaxing and perfect for when you need to buckle down and write or work or whatever it is.

2. Chai tea lattes. The spice in these things is so comforting--as is wrapping your hands around a warm cup of something. Starbucks does a good one but you can get these anywhere, and often the little independent shops do them best.Something about the spice just helps.

3. Self-compassion.org. This is a great website that teaches you to relax more, take it easy on yourself more. They have a series of great guided meditations that you can do--and if you're the crazy busy type like me, meditating isn't something that comes easily. This is a nice quick way to get back into the groove.

Hope these help and please leave your own quick-fix method in the comments! I'd love to hear about it!

On Solid Ground article published

noreply@blogger.com (Sierra Godfrey) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 17:49:00 +0000

I'm so excited to announce that my article, Landing on Solid Ground After a Free Fall into Freelance, was published today on mariashriver.com!

This article deals with my experience being laid off from my corporate job at seven months pregnant--a time that I'm sure you can guess rendered me nearly unemployable until after I'd had the baby--and my subsequent jump into the one thing I'd always wanted to do but was too chicken to: freelance graphic design and writing.

Now, I have a burgeoning business and it's been everything I could have hoped for.

My freelance website is: www.sierrafong.com.

Read the article: Landing on Solid Ground After a Free Fall into Freelance.

Two Godfreys Walk Into a Blog...an interview with Linda Godfrey!

noreply@blogger.com (Sierra Godfrey) — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 20:28:00 +0000

I am so excited today to bring you an interview with author Linda Godfrey. Linda and I are not, despite our superior surname, related. Oh, possibly somehow--I mean, we haven't discussed family trees, but as far as we know, there is no relation. But it doesn't matter because Linda is a dear person and you're in for a treat today.

She's recently released an ebook called God Johnson, and she's here to talk about that and how it got published.

Before we begin, long time readers of this blog (I say that like it's anyone other than myself or my mother) might remember that Linda once wrote my name on a Chinese take out menu and fashioned it into a fetching book cover and then stuck it where my book would go in general fiction in a bookstore. (Here's the post if you're interested.) I still treasure this picture.

Sierra: Your new book, God Johnson, is about unknown gods, hidden worlds and orange scones. Tell us about those hidden worlds and unknown gods, and don't skimp on the orange scones, please.

Linda: It came from thinking about how weird so many of the gods of antiquity were, and wondering what a lesser god would have to look like in order to make it today. I decided that a god resembling our most trusted national figure, Abraham Lincoln, would stand the best chance of netting a disciple. That's how he draws in my protagonist, Liberty Abbott -- along with promises to catapult her to superstardom and stock her pantry with unlimited orange scones. She learns, too late, that he is only one of an entire alternate universe of lesser gods left over from creation. They hang out mostly in their own space, which they call the Whetherworld, but intrude upon humanity as they like for feeding, entertainment and dating purposes. Even worse, each god has a secret Major Rule, and Liberty breaks God Johnson's just as she is starting to fall for him. To their mutual strong dismay, she must suffer a diabolical form of punishment the gods call "Wrath." The book is set in Madison, Wisconsin, a free-wheeling city affectionately known as the Berkeley of the Midwest - a place where humanoid scarab beetles, shapeshifting sphinxes, Lincoln doppelgangers and other odd gods can blend right in.

Sierra: That is such a coinkidink because I live close to Berkeley, California. And, I may have seen a humanoid scarab beetle or two before on Telegraph Avenue. Anyway, you mention on your website that God Johnson is three years in the making, and that's co-published with your literary agent (Jim McCarthy at Dystel & Goderich and Yassine Bukacemi also at D&G repping the ebooks). Take us through your process. How does your agent play a part in the co-publishing? Does he take a author credit?

Linda: I've been writing novels for about 10 years, and have three not-yet-pubbed fantasies lounging in a drawer to prove it. I came very close to representation and/or publication for two of them. I think my chief problem was figuring out the difference between nonfiction and fiction. I know that it sounds like a no-brainer - - one involves researched facts and the other you just make up, right? Wrong. They involve two different mindsets and to some extent, skill sets, and it took me a decade to begin to get it right.

When Jim offered to represent my nonfiction, I was reluctant to mention that I had penned several novels, as well. I had previously submitted one of them, however, to a genre publisher which kept it for a year and then wrote me a really great rejection letter. I couldn't resist showing it to Jim, and he agreed with the publisher the novel's time leaps needed some strong tweaking. I said, well I have another one that might take less work - -God Johnson! It's the sort of book Jim calls a genre-buster, though; urban fantasy meets paranormal romance and maybe a few other shady things. I suggested that we try an e-book format, especially since D&G now has a digital publishing division. They receive the traditional agency percentage but it's for formatting, uploading to vendors, placing meta-tags, updating, and fund collection and disbursement. These are all things that I suck at. I'm still the author, and my part in the process involved the costs of cover design and copy editing. (I'm a professional commercial artist so I did the cover myself.) Of course, there are so many publishing options available now that my route wouldn't work for every writer, but for me it was a perfect solution.

Sierra: If the agent/agency offers a co-pub ebook option, how does that affect traditional publisher submissions? For example, would my agent only push me toward that or both or whatever made the most sense for my career/genre?

Linda: I really did not feel steered toward epub at all and I know that Jim gave it his best shot at finding a traditional publisher. If the book does well I think he'll try another round. I was the one who suggested the e-book, actually. I'm very excited about it for a lot of reasons but a big one is that I get to keep a whole lot more of the sales.

Sierra: In the 1990s you wrote a newspaper article about an upright canine thing known as Manwolf. That article hit a nerve and took off. Where has it led you in your writing? What are your plans for future work covering the creature and others like it, like Bigfoot?

Linda: The Beast of Bray Road is the newspaper story that never dies. Stake it, shoot it with a silver bullet, it just keeps snarling back. My first book, however, was a historical true crime saga, still in print, The Poison Widow; a True Story of Sin, Strychnine and Murder. It's about the 1920s trial of a Wisconsin woman who fell in love with a college student boarding in her home. Between the two of them, they killed her husband by putting strychnine in his prune juice. Then she tried to kill her four beautiful children and things went crazily awry. Their trials were followed nationally. I spent six years researching the events and discovered she had a second life with people who never knew what she did.

"The Widow" found a regional publisher very easily and when they asked me what else I had, I replied,"werewolves." I also had a blog chronicling odd and unusual things, and all of this brought me to the attention of the Weird US series editors at Barnes & Noble who asked me to co-author Weird Wisconsin and author Weird Michigan.

I started my first novel, The Blue Grasshopper Lady, before I began any of the nonfiction books. One well-known agent liked it and asked me to revise it and send it back to her but I had no clue how to do that -- online writing resources had not yet blossomed to where they are now. I later ran into this kind agent in a bathroom at a writer's conference and, as we washed our hands at the sink, I couldn't help but commit the ultimate gaffe by introducing myself right there in the ladies room. She did remember the book and was very nice about it! I still didn't know how to fix it, however. By then I was busy writing nonfiction about strange things, people and creatures for various publishers, so I just kept going and continued to stuff my drawer with unpublished novels on the side.

As for future coverage of unknown creatures, or cryptids, that will depend on where my research takes me and whether I continue to receive enough reports from eyewitnesses to continue to make new contributions to the field. I must add, though that every time I think I've written it all and am about to hang up my investigative hat, something new always seems to come along. That factor and the mystery of these beasts are what I love about this field.

Sierra: Tell us about your work on Monsterquest (which I got to see you on while flipping through channels one night -- I was SO excited. My husband said, "Look, there's a Godfrey." And I said, "OMG I KNOW HER! That's LINDA!").

Linda: Yes, I've sort of become the national go-to person for werewolf documentaries in print and film even though I prefer to call them unknown, upright canines. I don't believe in actual, traditional werewolves! I do a lot of TV and radio appearances to keep people updated on the latest sightings and developments, and Monsterquest is one of my all time favorites. I was in the first season episode titled American Werewolf which was based on my book, Hunting the American Werewolf, and also in the fourth season episode on the Michigan Dogman. I've also been on shows such as Inside Edition, Sean Hannity's America, Lost Tapes, and William Shatner's Weird or What. It's something I never could have imagined when I was writing that original newspaper article as a small-town reporter back in 1992.

Sierra: What projects are next for you?

Linda: I'm working on another book about strange creatures for Tarcher/Penguin and also the sequel to God Johnson.

Sierra: What are some recent books you've read and loved?

Linda: My current favorite author is Daniel Abraham and I have loved everything I've read by him, especially the four books in his Long Price Quartet series and most recently his Dragons Path series. I'm also making my way through the late, great Kage Baker's The Company novels, and I'm always engrossed in nonfiction on the science/paranormal edge such as DMT: the Spirit Molecule by Rick Strassmann. For comfort reading, I revert to anything by Thomas Hardy.

Sierra: Thank you so much, Linda. You're a delight. To quote you, here's a Godfrey fist-pump!

Linda's bio from Amazon:
I was born a poor, freckled child. Now I write books about strange creatures, things and people, and sometimes illustrate them, to boot.

This is exactly what I told my 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Ione Kopitzke, I wanted to do when I grew up. I remember she replied, almost crying, "Oh Linda, I think you can do better than that." Her picture is now in the front of my book, "Strange Wisconsin: More Badger State Weirdness." Right next to freckled little me in my "L" initial blouse. That book won a bronze medal in the Independent Publishers 2008 Best Book Awards, and a Midwest Book Review's Editor's Choice. See how neatly life shakes out sometimes?

Before I started writing books, I received an art education degree from UW-Oshkosh, taught art and was a cartoonist and newspaper reporter. I live in southeast Wisconsin with my husband, youngest son and Lhasa Apso named Grendel.

You might catch me on an episode or two of HC's Monster Quest and other TV and radio shows. Check out Linda's website for updates.

Check out Linda's books:

Connect with Linda:

Superstastic Winter Writing Challenge Final Check in!

noreply@blogger.com (Sierra Godfrey) — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 18:19:00 +0000

So! It turns out that there's a reason you don't see many December/holiday writing challenges around and that would be because most peeps are too busy to do it. I certainly was. I really got back in the saddle this past weekend. So I sure haven't done much, although I will say I'm as driven as I ever was. But I'm glad I took a break.

So, how did you fare? If you entered the challenge and posted here on the first post, check and in and say how you did and I'll choose a random participant to receive the cookbook cache!

And if anyone wants to host a January one, I bet you'll have more takers :)

10 Things About Sierra and 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Sierra Godfrey) — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 21:39:00 +0000

I love doing my annual year-end posts. That's because I've done them for three years now and it's really fun reading over the past years. Here's 2009, 2010, and 2011 if you're interested (and because they're all about me, why wouldn't you be? I mean, I totally am.)

P.S. If you're looking for the final Superstastic Winter Writing Challenge wrap up post, check back here tomorrow.

1. I found a happy medium in my diet and shed 15 pounds.
One day last summer my friend and I and our kids were at the community pool. A woman walked by wearing bikini bottoms and a halter top bathing suit. She looked fabulous, with a pert, perfect butt. I said, "Even if I worked hard and trained all summer, I'd never have an ass that size." My friend suggested we join Weight Watchers online together. (In retrospect, was she calling me fat??) I agreed mainly as a lark to see if it worked.

It didn't.

I found the points thing rather unbalanced for actual nutrition That is, they heavily penalize you for eating a handful of almonds, but I found that my body thrives on the nutrients and healthy oils in almonds. I don't eat 50 million of them, but I do eat more then then paltry 5 you're allotted by the WW fascists. They also say brown rice is as bad as white rice--same point penalty. That makes no sense. So I should just eat sugary starch then? Worst of all, when I went to cancel my account, they charged me the full month even though I cancelled 2 days into the month. When I complained, they said "tough toenails." I remarked that this policy was very bad marketing and quite bad customer service. Their whole business is based on people failing diets and then returning to WW in shame, and now I wouldn't be returning, I'd direct my shame elsewhere. They didn't care. This is too bad for Weight Watchers since treating people badly doesn't induce them to return. Ah well. Not my problem.

Where were we. Anyway, then I read This is Why You're Fat by Jackie Warner. Because I wanted to understand what was going on in my body. The book is great--it helps you understand why and what happens. And I started eating right. In particular I stopped allowing sugar to be my main food group. Et voila, fifteen pounds. (Oh fine, I walked too and I ate right. But the sugar was the main thing.) I have some work to do from my holiday sugar binge, but I'm all right.

The old girl in better times. :(

2. I lost a cat.
My cat Ally passed away in February (or March...oh it's all a blur) at age 17. I'm not sure what she died of, but she probably had multiple problems and when something went wrong (namely, she started puking one day and couldn't stop), her body starting shutting down. She died at home with me. I would say peacefully but it wasn't really. She suffered all day, and was scared and upset. This was better than being furious and insane in the car and the vet's office, however. And my other cat wanted nothing to do with her, treating her as though she were a pariah who would spread a death virus if he got too close to her. And I had to bury her in the rain and her stiff body toppled into the hole in an ungainly and unseemly fashion...it was all awful. Just awful. But the main thing here is that I had her for a really long time--all my early adulthood. And although I found her really annoying at times, she was with me through good and bad. So she gets a spot on my list. Poor Al. In a house full of boys (even our remaining cat is a boy), she and I were the only girls.

3. My most listened-to song of the year was...
'Blue Skies' (Unquote remix) by Blu Mar Ten. If I heard this song every day for the rest of my life I'd be a happy girl. Every time I hear it, I fall in love, then I feel soul-searing pain and loss, and I emerge hopeful and alive. That's a rather tall order for a song, don't you think? Have a listen. I'm listening right now as I type this! When it's finished I'll replay it.

4. I have a baby who sleeps.
Can you believe this? All year, he didn't sleep. Six months ago, here's what I put on Facebook:

BABY FOR SALE

Pros:

is fourteen months today
thinks dogs make the world go round
fat and juicy
says "moo" and "hisss" fetchingly

Cons:

screams all night long-- last night most of the night
has massive molar coming in that makes him--and everyone else--unhappy
has a really ugly scream when it reaches hysterical levels (frequently at night)
does not travel well

But! In the nick of time, sliding in right before the year is out, he is finally sleeping. Not always, and not entirely consistently, but no more waking 3-4 times at night. No more screaming like a banshee! The funny thing is, a mere two weeks ago I posted this out of sheer despair describing him scream and my accompanying pain.

But we've really come a long way since then. I've taught him to put himself to sleep and he's learning well.

So. So! Heaven.

5. I was on TV.

It was a show on HGTV, I don't want to say which one in case adoring fans start clamoring for autographs and the like, you know that can get dreadfully tiring darling. We actually filmed in 2011, but the show went on hiatus and we were on their new season, which they didn't air until April 2012. It was fun. The glamorous hosts were exactly the same off camera as they were on, which is to say, fun and sweet. (The main host was actually a bit of a diva, but nice when you spoke with him.) When we filmed the show, Rainbow Puppy (now 20 months) was a month old, and I wore the only shirt that fit me and didn't look like a shapeless bag. I also had Rainbow Puppy in the baby carrier. I didn't realize until later that I was bouncing him up and down like a lotto ball non stop in all my scenes. (I totally just said scenes as though I filmed a movie. Where's my SAG card?!) I was sure I made awful TV--who wants to watch a constantly bouncing lady, you'd get a seizure. When it aired, Mr. Sierra and I sat and watched, cringing, but even though I'd my own worst critic, it wasn't so bad. It really wasn't! And our house has noticeably improved as a result of being on the show. Win-win.

6. I was reminded that despite blogging pretty heavily for about five years, I still have no clue what works. I tried different things this year: I tried to start a blogfest (no one participated), I tried not to post very frequently (no one cared), I tried to post pedantic writing posts (retweets were high and blog stats showed these got a lot of traffic, but no one commented, How to Write a Great Climactic Scene was a huge hit getter), and I tried being more personal and less writingish (no one commented and blog stats were low, although these posts - "5 Things I like" are some of my favorites). So I still don't know.

7. I wrote, revised, revised more, queried. I slaved over my query letter to death (let's just say I owe Janice Hardy and Kristen Lippert-Martin a kidney each; please don't simultaneously collect), and then pushed my baby out into the world. I got traction but not the winning kind. I pulled it back, had a long, long talk with myself and then did what I wanted with the manuscript, not what I thought everyone else wanted. The result? Something that works. Really, really works. There's a lesson in all this. When I discover it, I'll let you know.

8. I worked a LOT.
This was the year of slaving away on my freelance graphic design and technical writing business. The previous year I worked hard too, but I'd had Rainbow Puppy, and that event kind of dominated everything else. This year, I worked hard and designed a ton of websites, met wonderful clients (like the lovely Lorrie Thomson), and learned lots of lessons, some of them painful--like the one where you think you and the client have discussed what they want only to find they don't want that at all, and there was nothing you could do about it. Or you could, but they didn't want to deal with you. Anyway, I am so lucky to be able to do what I do. So lucky that it earns a solid place on this list.

9. I came to terms with my family's political preferences.
As we all know, this year was a huge election year and my, how divisive it was. One of the biggest shockers was discovering that most of my paternal family are Republicans, including my dear dad and my closest cousin. No offense to anyone, but I believe so strongly in compassion for all, and other basic female reproductive rights, and loads of other things that I think make our society better, and that they don't support those things does my head in a bit. I wondered, who are these people? But I had to realize that Republicans are like everyone else -- they're even loved ones I've known my entire life -- and they probably don't think their views are odious. They probably feel the same way about me in reverse. So you have to let these things go. Or just stop thinking about them in connection to the person. And be thankful that it doesn't actually matter how they voted, ~~because California was never going to be a Republican state in the vote count anyway~~ because I love them.

10. I realized how happy I am.
I had a hard time thinking of major things that happened to me this year. I stewed in the lameness of this for a few days until I realized it was a more subtle year full of many small joys, excepting the not sleeping part. This year my baby learned to walk, talk, and turn one. He grew into a little person. Quite a difference from where we were this time last year. I also watched my six year old son grow into a little adult, bounding into a whole new world of reading and writing and psychologically out-maneuvering his mother, and shouting "Booyackasha" at every opportunity. I read a ton, and I played lots of games. I worked a lot (see number 9 above) and I walked a lot. And I felt comfortable with my goals and where I am with them, even if that means I'm still working on them.

Happy 2013 guys and thanks for reading my slaver.

Superstastic Winter Writing Challenge Week 2 Check in

noreply@blogger.com (Sierra Godfrey) — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 10:30:00 +0000

Hey peeps! It's time for the Superstatic Winter Writing Challenge Check in, Week 2!

If you aren't familiar with what this is, there's plenty of time to tune in and join in. See this kick off post for information; then see this post for a list of the great prizes at stake.

So, how are we doing in week 2?

For my part, I've completely lost my head to the holidays and I haven't been writing. But! I also got feedback from certain awesome critique partners last week that my new first chapter is working, so I'm thrilled. I have two major goals now for the remainder of December, and then some big plans for pushing this baby out there in the world in January. My goals:

Revise midpoint scene
Re-read whole novel for POV changes and continuity.

That's it. I'm close and I'm thrilled! I have to say, this writing challenge and Meghan's original one at Writerland have been hugely motivating. Even if I did very little, I felt like I was doing something.

So where are you? How are you doing?

Struggles

noreply@blogger.com (Sierra Godfrey) — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 21:29:00 +0000

I am sitting at my desk right now, listening to my 20-month old son scream.

He's in bed, and it's naptime. He wants to take a nap--he's a great midday napper--but he does not want to take a nap if he has to know about it. What that means is that he prefers for me to hold him until he is completely asleep, and when I put him in his crib, he is already in the deep, wonderful waters of sleep oblivion. He never knows a thing. And that's the way he likes it.

Problem is, this has led to mucho night waking, where he wakes 3-4 times a night because he doesn't know (or conveniently forgets) how to put himself back to sleep when he wakes. Which, as you might guess, is insufferable.

So we have begun this: I finish our bedtime routine, and then instead of putting him in bed when he's asleep, I put him in when he's awake, which is what I should have &$%#@ing done when he was a newborn. (I didn't, because he would immediately scream then.)

So. It's pretty bad. He is objecting strenuously to the plan.

I didn't want his sleep to be this difficult, but I also know that if we're going to get anywhere near him falling asleep on his own, unassisted, then we need to start somewhere. I dislike this in the extreme. It hurts. I can't even eat -- although I am eyeing the wine cabinet. It's incredibly hard. It's really, really hard. It's hard like childbirth was, like toddler tantrums are -- even like how almost two years of sleep deprivation is hard.

Normally I'd never make a comparison to how hard writing and editing a novel is, but I'm totally going to, because you may already know how very, very difficult it is to create a marketable novel that is good enough. And by good enough, I mean one that someone else wants to a) sell and b) buy.

And good enough takes a lot of sweat and tears, just like baby-raising does. That is, raising of stubborn, extremely insistent babies -- not those little angels who sleep through the night from day 1 and give you nary a second of sass, tantrums, or struggle. Probably those babies are made of clay, but you get my drift. We all have a friend who has that baby. None of us like her.

Anyway, back to the novel writing. In the past two, no three, years, I've worked so hard on my current ms. I've discovered several times that it has problems that needed complete rewrites in order to fix. I've spent countless hours fixing them and thinking about the story, the characters, the plot. I've lived with this story, I've loved this story. I've dreamt it. This is how it goes. This is what you do with a baby, non?

But you do it, because the end result is a happy, well-adjusted novel that will put itself to sleep unassisted.

Well, I'll let you know how that part turns out, anyway.

Superstastic Winter Writing Challenge Check in

noreply@blogger.com (Sierra Godfrey) — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 18:00:00 +0000

Thanks to all of you who are taking part in the Superstastic Winter Writing Challenge! You can join in any time for this month.

I announced the Challenge on Monday and we're supposed to check in every Thursday, but a week hasn't technically gone by today so this is just a quick cheerleading post to say hi and how are you and how's it going so far?

And I also wanted to announce the super awesome prizes. At the end of the month, on December 31, I will randomly choose a winner--but you have to had commented on the first post to say you're in, and you have to check in on the last post to say how you did. The prizes? The following FABULOUS baking cookbooks:

Williams Sonoma Essentials of Baking
Home Baked Comfort
The Art of the Cookie

I have all three of these and I have to say, I freaking LOVE them.

So, how are you doing so far? Follow along daily and check in via Twitter. Use the hashtag #TTWC. We were going to change that, but it hasn't happened.....so just keep the same hashtag.

How to Write a Great Climactic Scene

noreply@blogger.com (Sierra Godfrey) — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 10:30:00 +0000

I recently removed a major element of my WIP. Removing major plot elements always leaves holes you have to apply mortar to and brick over, but this one was so massive that it required an entirely new climatic scene. Which was fine.

Except I didn't have a replacement climactic event.

There I was, with a heroine all set to apply newly-realized lessons, and to finally discover the last important pieces of information she needed to know, and with her ready to put the smack down once and for all on her antagonist....and I didn't have any place for them to do it.

The creative well was dry on this one. I needed a setting for all those above items to happen, but no place jumped out. Nothing. I had nothing. So I did what any stuck writer does: I turned to the Internet and watched the kitten web cam. After that, I watched some Limmy videos for a while. When I was done with that, I checked Facebook and Twitter...well, you get the picture. When I had exhausted all my usual diversionary tactics, I got down to work and researched what to do. And I came up with:

3 Important Points about Climatic Scenes

[1] The first point is a quick recap of what a climactic scene needs to accomplish. The climactic scene is a final showdown between your protagonist and antagonist. And the outcome must prove your story's moral premise and theme; it must contain a "moment of truth." A crappy or weak climactic scene will not accomplish the point of your story and it will leave readers feeling let down and disappointed.

So, after that little picker-upper, the next thing to do was refresh myself on the second point, which isn't actually a single point, but more of a header of many points.
[2] What should a good climactic scene contain? (this list is culled many other blog posts and books)

It should be an epic confrontation with a clear winner and a clear loser.
The hero must confront the biggest adversary.
The hero must save him/herself.
The scene should be resolved with action and conflict.
The climactic scene represents the dramatic highlight of the story.
The hero directly affects the outcome.
Often, this is done in a location we haven’t seen yet.
Sometimes there is a figurative or literal arena in which the showdown will occur.

Good. Now that I had those basics, it was time for the third point:
[3] The details of a good climatic scene. How to get the details? Well, I have to supply those, unfortunately But you get those by asking yourself these questions (thanks to Stavros Halvatzis for this):

1. What is the primary strength of my antagonist?
2. What is the primary weakness/fear of my protagonist?

Oh, now we're getting somewhere. Stavros (fab Greek name, Stavros, in case you were wondering) says the answers to these questions need to play into my protagonist’s chief weakness\fear while promoting my antagonist’s primary strength. I also need to ask myself what setting best enhances my antagonist’s chances of winning, while simultaneously increasing the chances of your protagonist’s failing.

Whoa. That hardly seems fair. And yet, that kind of conflict is going to make a great climatic scene.

Stavros adds, "improve your writing by exploiting an appropriate setting that strengthens the antagonist while simultaneously weakening the protagonist."

So whatever setting I end up choosing, I'll need my antagonist to be comfortable and on even footing when my protagonist catches up with him, so that the antagonist things he's on Easy Street. Then my protagonist can pull the rug right out from under him and triumph. Tribal drums may or may not be involved (probably not).

A Note About Settings for Climatic Scenes

All of the above was great for grounding my head in what the scene needs to accomplish. But I still needed to primarily consider the setting. A Writer's Digest article on plot and climatic elements recommends the following for choosing a setting:

"There’s nothing that says your climactic moment has to be in a different location. If it’s a sports story, for instance, the climax may occur in the same place as much of the rest of the book: the court or field. If the characters have been trapped in an elevator for the whole book, the climax will most likely take place in the elevator. So long as you cover all the elements, you’re fine. But why not take it to a new fun location?

Think about your story a moment. You may have a good idea for where the big showdown needs to happen. And even if you’ve thought of a place, considering other options will help you find surprising wonders or can verify that you have, indeed, found the right place for this crucial action.

What is the ultimate setting for the final conflict in your book? If you’re writing a thriller about a killer who preys on children, could the final standoff occur on a playground? If you’re writing a romance about flirtatious ornithologists, could the final will-he/won’t-he moment take place in the world’s largest aviary? If it’s a pirate story, the climactic scene had better be on the high seas.

There’s an appropriateness about your story regarding the “right” location for the big scene. Where is the perfect place for your book’s climactic sequence? If you’re still not sure, perhaps looking at each element of the climax will help you decide."

Hope the above helps. I put this post together primarily to help organize my own thoughts about climactic scenes. I hope it helps someone.

5 Things I love

noreply@blogger.com (Sierra Godfrey) — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 21:06:00 +0000

1. Call the Midwife on PBS. You are watching that, right? If you loved Downton Abbey, you will like this. Sadly, this British series appears to finished airing its first season, but that matters not because you can watch all the episodes on PBS.org. Even better? You can watch them on your Kindle or any tablet that connects to the internet. That is heaven.

2. The Paper Source catalog. Paper Source is a store with lovely things and great design, and their catalog is like crack, I tell you. Here are a few things that inspire me out of their catalog:

Owl and octopus gift wrap
Birch paper straws. I mean, birch paper straws!!! Come on! These are fabulous beyond belief!
Turkey rubber stamp. I need this and so do you. Who doesn't, is a better question? Can't you just picture this great old timey turkey drawing stamped over every surface as though a toddler had gotten hold of it? And don't even talk to me about this gorgeous fox rubber stamp, which I have to have for no discernible reason.
Bird on a wire photo thingies. Yes, God, yes!

There are many, many more things I love (and need) from Paper Source, but I am not a Paper Source catalog, so you must browse for yourself.

3. Walks in the November sunshine. Here in California, it's still sunny, but the light has an orange quality to it, and there's a slight kick to the air. It's sort of spicy and windy and promising of crappy, cozy whether to come. The time just changed, and you sort of know good things are ahead.

Here's a picture of the walk I took last weekend. I thought I was the luckiest girl alive. I still do.

4. Sandwich bowls. These were invented by my husband for our 18 month old son, who likes sandwiches, but not actually eating them. That is, he likes the ingredients but a sandwich is too much for him unless it's cut in bite-size chunks. And then, he just takes those apart and makes a grand mush of it all. So Mr. Sierra cut the bread, turkey, and cheese up and just made a bowl of it. It went over so well that I tried it myself and loved it. Probably I just like the idea of the name sandwich bowl. But how awesome is it not to have to pick up a drippy sandwich and have it slop all over? I can eat it with a fork like a civilized girl.

5. The election results. My worry with the presidential race was that people weren't bothered by the lying and cheating from Romney's camp. I personally don't believe that any person who wins the biggest job in the world is free from a certain amount of ego and spinning and pushing, but I do believe that Obama comes across as a honest guy who does genuinely cares. I also think he acts within his means--which sometimes doesn't seem like enough. Overall, I feel that I was served. I know others don't. My own dad is heavily conservative and thinks Obama will change us all into a communist country. So he's pretty angry. But from where I'm sitting, I'm rejoicing in the ideology of hope, change, and movement, and I saw none of that with Romney. And well done to the states that legalized gay marriage-- Maine and Maryland. Well done, you! Well done!

5 Things I Love: Birthday Post

noreply@blogger.com (Sierra Godfrey) — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 20:07:00 +0000

So today is my birthday and I thought in honor of my birthday, I would post lovely things that I like. Happy birthday to me!

1. Eos Lip Balm. Yes, these lovely egg-shaped little wonders are great on the lips and smell good, too. Packaging is a complete win--the second my 6 year old saw these, he wanted them too. Smell is a win, too with flavors that hearken back to the awesome old tin Lip Lickers-- remember those? How awesome were those?

Photo is from Gen Xtint.com

Anyway the Eos lip balm eggs above are available in tons of flavors, but I especially love the Alice in Wonderland pack of blueberry, vanilla, and watermelon. Not sure why they're Alice and Wonderfuland but I don't care, and the packaging comes with the delightful quote: "Very few things indeed were really impossible." Sublime.

2. Any magazine with Kate Middleton on it. Except the photos of her nekkid. Because I don't agree that we need to see that, especially when she didn't put her boobies on display for us all to see--just her hubs. But apart from all that, I freaking love reading about her and looking at her because she is so calm and collected and always put together. Doesn't she ever throw a strop and get really PMSy? Doesn't she ever have the runs? I know she does, but we never see it, and that's the way I like it.

3. The Communication Arts Design Annual, which comes out every fall and gets delivered to subscribers in a BOX. This issue is chock full of winning entries in Comm Arts' design entry categories like packaging, identity, brochures. I got mine the other day and have been guarding it and petting it and calling it my Precious. It's pretty much crack for designers.

4. The Grey's Anatomy season premier this week AND the series premier of Elementary. I've watched GA for years now and while it's getting slightly stale, having to wait all summer to watch more of the dramatic plane crash was annoying, so it's nice that it's back on. Elementary, now, oooh. Lucy Liu--YES. Johnny Lee Miller of Trainspotting fame? YES YES YES YES. Mr Ex-Angelina Jolie? Snore! Let's remember him as Sick Boy, shall we?

5. The start of fall. It began officially on 9/22. God, I love fall. Colors, smells, and cozy nights. I got out all my fall decorations right away. I'm ready for smoky chimneys and hot cider, aren't you?

Bad Bookstore Behavior

noreply@blogger.com (Sierra Godfrey) — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 09:30:00 +0000

Although I have no money to spend on books, I do anyway--because what is life if not filled with books? So the other day I took the baby and went to Barnes and Noble. We spent an enjoyable 45 minutes there, leaving with several books to our delight, including several new books for the baby and one delicious book on logos for me.

As I wheeled the kid out in his stroller, struggling and cajoling him to keep his remaining shoe on, I found myself checking furtively over my shoulder to see if any store employees would tackle me. You see, I had been a bit badly behaved.

Naturally, none of it was my fault. And upon reflection, it's the stuff I do almost every time I'm in there.

First, I was waylaid and detained by the New Fiction shelf. Surreptitiously, I pulled out my phone, shooting the baby a look to keep his yap shut about this. *Snap!* *Snap!* Yes, I took pictures of the covers so I could download them later on my Kindle. I committed the most egregious sin to bookstores everywhere. (Henceforth to be referred to as Bookstore Sin #1.) But the thing is, the covers are gorgeous! And I simply can't read hardbacks in print anymore! But Mein Gott, what a lovely bunch of cover art that's being produced these days! Look at this!

And to close up, here's what I was in design raptures about:

That is so cool, I totally judged it by its cover art and am going to read it. Then I'll be reading this one:

Here's a gorgeous use of typography on a cover, although I don't think I'll read this one--historical novels are not my cup of tea:

Alas, I didn't get more photos because an employee walked by. So I scurried away to hide among the fiction aisles. There, I committed Bookstore Sin #2. I used my superior powers of alphabetization and made a spade where my own book will go once it is published. That's right. I shoved Gail Godwin aside and a slim Goethe volume (which completely didn't belong there) and made room on the shelf for myself. I should have taken a picture, but the picture author Linda Godfrey took a few years ago on my behalf using a Chinese take-out menu will have to suffice:

That accomplished, I moved on to the Romance section, where I like to commit Bookstore Sin #3: checking for the published copies of my friends and acquaintances. This isn't a sin, no, you're right. But I am not a huge category romance reader so going over there with the sole intent of checking seemed wrong. Plus, one time I did it with my 6 year old whippersnapper in tow and he was all, "oooohhhh" when he spied some overflowing bodices and bosoms on the covers.

Anyway, I found Roni Loren's latest novel out, facing out on the shelf in the New section, no less!

I didn't want to commit Bookstore Sin #4, which is my baby chewing the toddler books with abandon, so we made our purchases and got out of there before further offense could be made.

How about you? What naughty things do you do in bookstores? And I don't mean having sex in the back corner next to the SAT guides, either.

5 Books that Influenced Me

noreply@blogger.com (Sierra Godfrey) — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 09:30:00 +0000

In this month's issue of O magazine, author Jennifer Weiner did an interview called "5 books that influenced me." I believe she meant influenced her writing, but doesn't every book a writer reads influence their writing? I'm embarrassed to say I hadn't read 4 of her listed books. But! I have read many others! Et voila!

5 Books that Influenced Me

1. My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell.
When I was kid living in Greece (on Santorini), a friend of my mother's gave me a copy of Durrell's awesome memoir about the years he and his family spent on Corfu in the 1920s. Gerald was the youngest by far of his three siblings; he was about 10 or 11 and his two brothers and sister were in their early 20s. The book (and its two sequels) are hilarious, mostly thanks to Gerald's family and a succession of visitors, all of whom were eccentric and hilarious. Gerald was an early naturalist, madly into creature collecting of all kinds. (As an adult, Gerald started his own zoo, the Jersey Zoo and dedicated his life to conservation.) This book and its sequels were written so well, with such humor. I still have the books, and remain impressed. I related at the time, but even as an adult finding the silly in everything is still relatable.

2. Coming Home by Rosamunde Pilcher
I love epic British wartime dramas, and Coming Home is exceptionally good. It's so good that I re-read it every few years--I make myself wait a few in order to forget parts so I can rediscover them again--and the love story, the plucky heroine, and the cozy, bucolic setting always get me. Pilcher plots the story wonderfully--and for an epic, it never gets boring.

3. Watermelon by Marian Keyes
This was the first book by Keyes I'd read and also her debut novel. It's not her best or my most favorite (and I've read all her books, I adore her so), but the first line got me like no other--and that's when I started paying attention to first lines. Her first line goes something to the effect of "The day I gave birth was also the day my husband left me." Man! I had to read about that!

4. Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson
Bill Bryson is an American who transplanted to England in his twenties and stayed there, married, had kids. He's proof that the dry, always delicious British wit isn't bred in. Notes is Bryson's memoir of his adopted country, and he tours it from bottom to top. At times the humor can come across as too cynical and harsh, but overall he's makes me giggle, and he inspired in me a whole new way of writing and seeing the landscape. You can't go wrong with any of Bryson's books, and I venture that A Walk in the Woods is better than Notes, but Notes remains my favorite because at the time I read it, I was actually traveling across England and Scotland so it was timely and I have great memories of it and the trip. I didn't read it on purpose, that was the great part--it was given to me at just the right time.

5. Toss up: Light a Penny Candle or Echoes both by Maeve Binchy
Hmmm. Looking at this list of books, I see either English or Irish writers, and one American who turned into an Englishman. What does that say about me? It says I like British wit and settings, but there's more to it: when I was about 9 I read every thing I could get my hands on--and because we were living in Greece at the time, that meant all the holiday reading the tourists left behind. The hotels would keep the books in a basket and I (and other ex-pats) were welcome to raid it anytime. Most of the tourists were English, and that meant I read a ton of British authors at a time when I was learning story cadence, grammar, and other fine writing points. Maeve Binchy's two epics, Light a Penny Candle and Echoes, are superb and I've reread them since I was a kid. As with Pilcher, Binchy (hmm, another common demon: the ch in their names) put heart into her stories--and that's more elusive than you think. Heart is what made both authors massive worldwide bestsellers, and it's not that easy to duplicate or else everyone would be doing it.

* Special edit: I didn't know when I wrote this post and scheduled it for publication on July 30 that Maeve Binchy died on July 30. I am deeply saddened by this news. (Link goes to a news page with more info about her life.)

So those are my most influential books. What are yours? I'd love to know! Please share in the comments.

Reponsibility

noreply@blogger.com (Sierra Godfrey) — Mon, 23 Jul 2012 09:30:00 +0000

"You're being rude."

"No, you're being rude!"

Uh oh. You can tell a lot about the speakers in that conversation. And one of is firing back with a pretty silly reply. Why? I have theories...

Over 4th of July, we visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is a lovely and humongous aquarium in the San Francisco Bay Area (well, Monterey Bay actually, but SF counts it in). Just outside the seahorse exhibit, one of the staffers was putting on a magic show. People began to assemble, and I sat down at the end of a bench with my sleeping baby in the stroller next to me, against the wall and out of the way. My 5 year old whippersnapper sat on the bench with me.

Meanwhile, a lady and her baby in an obnoxious stroller, the $1000 Stokke upright (yes), came along and parked herself and her ensemble right in front of the magician, right in front of all the people sitting on the bench including me.

I assumed she would move as soon as it got more crowded; it was pretty clear she was blocking people.

Silly me.

More people gathered, and it became clear the Stokke lady had no intention of moving. A bold older lady sitting next to me said, “Excuse me, can you move your stroller to the side so we can see?”

The Stokke lady, who also had a massive diamond ring on her finger—2 or 3 carats—at first pretended not to hear. But my seatmate was strong. She repeated it loudly until Stokke lady turned and said, “What?”

“We can’t see,” said my benchmate. “We’re sitting here, and you’re blocking our seats.”

Stokke lady smiled broadly and said, “Oh yes, I’d love to sit down, thank you.”

My mouth fell open in shock at such a countermove, but my benchmate was quick. “No, we’re sitting here. Can you please move your stroller over to the side so we can see?”

Stokke lady – I mean, a $1000 stroller!—said, “I was here first.”

Me, again, mouth open in shock. Strong benchmate lady said, “It’s very rude not to move so we can see, no matter who was where first.”

Stokke lady, in a predictable but nonetheless disappointing response, said, “You’re being very rude.”

I could see where this was going. I began calming my innate fear of public confrontation in preparation for jumping in. Luckily, I didn’t have to (although I would have! I think!) because the lady sitting next to my benchmate said to Stokke Lady, “No, she’s not being rude. We’re just asking you to move so your [massively expensive yet having money doesn’t mean you’re more intelligent!] stroller so we can see.” [Bit in brackets is mine, obvs, but she was totally implying it.]

Defeated and unable to think of a clever retort, Stokke Lady capitulated and began moving her stroller over toward my sleeping baby. To save face, she said rather stupidly, “I don’t know where I’m supposed to put the stroller!”

Ah! My chance! “You can put your stroller against the wall there, see how I did? See how that’s out of the way?” I said, in a masterly stroke of passive aggressiveness. I made sure to keep my tone helpful but clear, but I was prepared for battle should she make further comment or jar my baby (she didn’t).

The show started and all was well. Stokke Lady left after the show, all smiles, as though she’d never behaved badly. Upon later discussion with Mr. Sierra, I felt that it all boiled down to the fact that Stokke Lady was in the wrong and it was too much for her to admit it. All she had to do was accept the request gracefully (“Oh! Sure! Sorry!”), but her aggression and ridiculous argument made me think she must have known she was in the way, and was hoping no one would call her out on it. Maybe she feels entitled and isn’t used to getting called on her greediness. She did have that ring and that stroller. There was no reason for her put up such a fight, and then degrade herself by calling my benchmate rude. (Mr. Sierra tried to give her the benefit of the doubt, saying maybe it wasn’t up to Stokke Lady to accommodate every person who decided to sit behind her, especially as there hadn’t already been a crowd behind her when she got there; I refuted this because why not move so everyone can see rather than dig in your heels and act like an asshole about it? Mr. Sierra finally agreed because he had spotted Stokke Lady coming out of the Jellyfish exhibit, which is clearly marked “no strollers.” Entitled. Greedy.)

One of the major themes I’m working with in a new story is taking responsibility for your actions after you’ve done something wrong. It seems to be such a painful thing for people to do that most of us don’t. How many times have you honked at someone in the car as they barely avoid hitting your, or veer into your lane and narrowly miss slamming you, and then they honk back at you, as though you’d done something wrong? How many people do you know who have steadfastly ruined their lives because they were too stubborn to admit they’d made a mistake, or a bad choice, and were too proud to say they were sorry? How many young people have you seen fail to understand the concept of humility? How many lies have you told to avoid the truth, which will get you in trouble? Coming back from a low place and taking responsibility isn’t pretty and it’s bound to be painful. My guess is that the pain is so great that most people shy away from responsibility instead.

One of the best recent examples of taking responsibility comes from author Roni Loren, who went through a pretty bad time recently of nearly being sued for a picture she put on her blog. If you haven't read her post on it, you need to. It'll scare the bejeezus out of you, but after you're done obsessively combing through your blog for all pictures whether they're unauthorized or of your cat, you don't care, they're all going, please pay attention to the way Roni owns up to the whole thing. Look at what she says. This lady had to pay serious money for something she shouldn't have had to pay for...but she did it, and she says "I was wrong, there's no getting around that."

That's class. And that's strength of character, too, because she admits where she is wrong even though she made her mistake in innocence, and honestly tried to correct it once it was brought to her attention. She has every right to be indignant, angry, sad, and hurt that she still had to pay even though she'd corrected the situation--that goes against everything we're brought up to believe--but she still accepts responsibility.

Have you had to take responsibility even though it's painful? Please share. I'm really interested in people's stories about responsibility because it shows such strength of mind and character. It's something I try to drill into my older son's head because I want him to know that owning up to your nonsense is the way you grow.

That Moment

noreply@blogger.com (Sierra Godfrey) — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 09:30:00 +0000

There’s a reason certain love songs speak to us—because I think they capture that moment—that MOMENT—when you look at someone and know they love you back, or at least that the interest is mutual, and that moment is so exquisite. It’s why we read good romance stories. It’s certainly why I write them—all for That Moment.

You know the one. My fave author and BFF (in my head) Liza Palmer often addresses this through the one movie that most accurately sums up the hopes and dreams and wishes and anguishes of all the ladies everywhere: Sixteen Candles, in which Molly Ringwald lusts after Jake Ryan who doesn’t know she’s alive (oh but he does!), and she knows she doesn’t have a hope, and he’s got a hot and well-developed senior girlfriend and poor Molly is not only flat chested but a lowly sophomore and her awful family forgot her most special of birthdays. Oh my God! Who hasn’t been right there with Molly? Mein Gott, I spent my teenage years and most of my twenties feeling this way! But Jake Ryan—he notices her and by the time he’s leaning against his Porsche, waiting for her (!!!!) and he says “you” and she looks behind her! Looks behind her! Because he can’t be talking to me her! And she goes, “me?” and then he says, but she can’t hear him, “Yeah you.”

Oh my. That’s The Moment. In my stories, my character always learns and grows as a person, but my stories always, always try to capture That Moment. In fact, I think I write them with that ultimate scene in mind.

Sixteen Candles had a superb soundtrack, and That Moment is perfectly illustrated by the Thomson Twins’ If YouWere Here – who couldn’t listen to that over and over? I think songs do a particularly excellent job of summing up That Moment in 3 minutes give or take—but they’re lucky, they get beautiful sounds to make the job of telling the story of That Moment easier. A really good That Moment song is U2’s All I Want Is You (I melt inside when I hear this song). In my stories, I make it as difficult as possible for my love birds to get to That Moment, but when I do, I spend a lot of time on the scene because it’s just as much fun to write as it is to read. Here are two of Those Moments from a few different stories I’ve written:

The guy arrives by train and they’re running to meet each other at the station, and she watches him walking toward her, and has to wait and think about him and look at him, and lust after him, and worship him, but she’s not sure he feels the same way back. After all she doesn’t want to presume anything and he’s so fine and wonderful (obvs), how could he love her back? But then he finally gets to her, and of course he loves her back! He’s Jake Ryan! (This is from my current manuscript.)

The love birds are separated by their own pigheadedness and due to other circumstances, my heroine is running away from other people. She runs out in the snow, poorly dressed (of course) and she’s running and can’t feel her toes, and all her boogers have frozen in her nose and just when she thinks she’ll be one of those human popsicles that litter Mt. Everest, only on the side of the road in an American town (because she would be lame like that), she finds the hero’s house and he’s there! With a fire! And although they’re not speaking to each other, he takes her in and nurses her back to feeling her digits, and she’s not sure how he feels but by golly she knows what a massive mistake she’s made by leaving him. And of course he tells her he loves her. In fact, That Moment comes and she doesn’t even believe him because he’s such a Jake Ryan, and he has to do something in order to show her—he has to throw away an object that had plagued their relationship, and then she sees he means it.

I have more in older stories, but in general, I try to build up to That Moment so it's as full of relief, realization, growth, and truth as possible. Do you love That Moment too? What are some of yours? Or favorites in movies or songs?

Oh, and can I just say that I did have a total Jake Ryan once, but he was basically repulsed by me or something--I don't know, but he never leaned against any Porsches for me. So that didn't turn out well, and now I write to make up for it.

For now

noreply@blogger.com (Sierra Godfrey) — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 09:30:00 +0000

6 Tips for a Friendly Author Website

noreply@blogger.com (Sierra Godfrey) — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 04:09:00 +0000

I've done a lot of posts on web sites for both unpubbed and pubbed authors on why you'd need one or not. For some reason I simply can't fathom, I haven't been heralded as the next web site theory oracle. :) (jokey joke)

But: I do design web sites for many types of businesses, including pubbed authors. Here are 6 tips to making your website more user-friendly, with the goal of retaining your readers and gaining new ones.

6 Tips for a Friendly Author Website

Tip #1: Be Friendly to New Readers

I recently visited the web site for an author I hadn't heard of before. She writes in a category I love to read (women's fiction), so I was interested in her books. But on her home page, her books weren't front and center. Instead, praise took up the main space, and her books were listed by title out of site. Praise is good, but I don't care how much people love the book until I've seen whether the book is something for me. Praise comes second in my decision making factors.

The Solution: Make sure your home page is simple and draws the reader in for more first. Make things clickable. Don't make them wade through your reviews or bio first.

Tip #2: Make it clear what your books are, and provide links.
Put up pictures of your book covers, and make them clickable, because people expect to click on book covers. One author's website listed her book covers--but the covers themselves weren't links. The only way to learn more or --ahem-- buy one was to click on a "buy" link no where near the actual cover images. But there, only book titles were listed and no cover images! I didn't know the difference between her books, and I hadn't taken the time to memorize her titles after being shown covers, so I was frustrated with nothing to click on.

The Solution: provide pictures of your book covers, and let me click on them right away. Or, give me a "Books" link. This author had neither. I couldn't figure out how to get at her books easily. I left her site.

Tip #3: Don't use alternative terms for standard navigation items.

One author's site I visited recently used "Profile" for the author bio link. Use something simple, like "About" or "About me." The word "About" is understood instantly by everyone. So is "Bio." But "Profile"-- what is that? Profile of your books, or you?

The Solution: Don't make your site visitors think. Give them what they expect so they will click on things. When you make people stop to figure things out--even for a second--you lose their already short attention spans. Use web-standard terms. If you're not sure what those are, check around other websites and make a note of the terminology.

Tip #3: Don't separate out information that should be grouped.

This echoes the linking tip above. One mega best-selling, household name author, who has upwards of 20 books published, made a fatal mistake on her website. She has a Books page with her huge list of books. You can click on each book cover for more info. Is there a buying link on the list of books page? No! Is there a buying link on the specific page for the book? NO! Instead, there is a nearly useless separate page called "Where to buy books." Why? Why? I'm not looking in the menu bar for that. I'm looking on the book page for a link to buy. Give me what I expect, and I'll click it. Make it hard to find, and I won't. Not out of spite--but because it's harder.

Note, too, that if you make your visitor open up a new web browser, type in Amazon.com, and then cut and paste that book title into Amazon, you've already wasted three steps that didn't need to happen if you'd just provided a link. And guess what? No one likes doing the work.

The Solution: Just add links everywhere. It's not hard and links aren't obtrusive.

Tip #4: Make sure all your links work.

Nothing is more frustrating then clicking on a "subscribe" link and getting a page full of code. Hey, things go wrong. But quality check your site. It reflects personally on you if things are broken. Sad, but true.

The Solution: Whether you're doing your own site or having someone do it for you, perform a quality check by clicking on all links and playing with your pages. Links get broken. Sometimes a single letter is off in a link and it doesn't work. Pay attention--your website represents you.

Tip #5: Make sure your name is the largest piece of text on the page.

Why? Because if you make everything the same size, I can't pick out who you are. And you want me to. You want me to remember your name.

The Solution: Stand back about five feet from your screen and see what jumps out at you the most. If it's not your name, get back in there and fix it. Look at my name on this blog. Are you confused as to who writes this blog? Look at my website. Are you clear whose site it is?

Tip #6: Think through who might visit your site.

When I design web sites for clients, I always ask who they think their target audience is. This is a really hard question to answer, because you have to open your mind to varied scenarios. For example, you might think you need an author web site for potential readers, and therefore potential sales. But you'd be ignoring other types of visitors: people who are already fans and want to learn more and connect and tell other people about your work, or people who are writers but not necessarily readers, and writers want to share your info and further your name. Or, journalists writing an article and your name came up in a search.

Or, did you know your website might be useful enough to serve as a resource for people? Do you look at your site differently if you knew it could be seen as a reference tool? Likewise, let's say you have a list of recipes that you've posted from your books, which feature characters as chefs. Now readers might want to visit your site specifically for the recipes. You've built a cooking site and you didn't even know it. Those visitors may be readers, too.

The Solution: Brainstorm and make a list of everyone you can think of who might visit, and why. What can you do to give them what they're looking for?

BONUS Tip #7: Provide an index for information that you regularly feature.
This is really applicable to blogs--but again, blogs are seen as part of the greater website, when you've incorporated it in. What's an index? It's a list of your content. Let's say you have a running series of a certain topic--say, books you recommend. You do a series of blog posts about the books, and even tag the posts with a "Recommended books" tag. But you don't have an index of the books, and someone might want to use your blog or site as a reference tool because you regularly reference bloopers in Star Wars films (see tip #6 above). Give them an index of those references. Don't make people wade through tags or other convoluted info for your content.

You might be wondering, "How does providing lists of recipes result in more book sales for me?" A good website is about providing information that people want. You have a good website with good content, and people will be more likely to buy your books, because they like you. Make it easier for them.

The Solution: Create simple, bulleted lists of things you have a lot of.

Hope these tips help. Let me know if you have any questions.

How to Sell Books

noreply@blogger.com (Sierra Godfrey) — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 18:01:00 +0000

Last week I went to my local Farmer’s Market and nosed around a local nursery’s booth full of really wonderful looking herbs in pots. I’d never been to the nursery itself—never even heard of it despite it being in my town, so the booth was a nice introduction. They had fetching little tubs of thyme, basil, Thai basil, oregano. It was all lush and gorgeous. I really wanted some spearmint – for some reason I’ve had a hard time finding spearmint in stores to grow. Spearmint is best in cooking and baking.

They were out of spearmint. I asked after it and the lady said. “Oh, yeah, shoot, we didn’t bring the spearmint today.”

The Farmer’s Market is only once a week and I go every week because it gets the kiddos out of the house. “If you bring it next week, I will buy it,” I said.

“Oh, sorry. We’re not coming next week. We’re done until August or so.”

Wow, I thought. Okay, bummer.

Then a second lady in the booth said, “Yeah, and my back hurts.”

Woah, I thought. TMI. I’m just trying to buy some spearmint!

I shrugged. The ladies shrugged (I hope it didn’t hurt the one lady’s back to do so). I left without purchasing anything. I also left without:

An invitation to come visit their nursery and buy spearmint there
Enticement to visit them online or keep their name in mind
A personal connection
Incentive to ever buy anything from them again

These ladies missed so much opportunity. Bottom line: they missed out on sales. So when you’re marketing anything, whether books or herbs, there are some simple follow up actions to take. Blasting your product out there and hoping you catch some customers like chickens pecking corn kernels amounts to spam and little else.

Here’s what the ladies should have done:

Not mentioned the aching back as a reason to not provide me with product –very sad but I don’t care, nor should I care
Offered to have me come to their nursery where they would set aside spearmint for me or even give me a tour
Taken my name or number
Given me a business card
Introduced themselves by name

Now let’s imagine you’ve published a book. You’re talking to someone somewhere who asks about it. You give then the finely-honed pitch – a logline even—and the person, let’s call them Bob, says, “God I would love to read that! That sounds awesome!”

You: “Yeah, great, thanks.”

Bob: “Can I get it on Amazon? Is it in bookstores?”

You: “Sure.”

Bob scratches head and smiles. “Okay.”

You: “Great.”

Bob: “Okay, then, thanks. Nice to meet you.”

You: “You too.”

Bob walks away and forgets the name of your book because Bob has a baby at home and hasn't slept in two years and can’t remember anything. Later, he gets home and he’s talking to his wife and says “Oh, man I met this great author, she was so nice! And her book sounded amazing!”

Bob’s wife: “Really? What was it?”

Bob: “Um….can’t remember the title, but it sounded good.”

Bob’s wife: “Well who was the author?”

Bob: “Can’t remember the name.”

Bob’s wife: “Is it Jodi Picoult?”

Bob: “No. Some author. Anyway, I’m in the middle of the latest James Patterson, I want to go read that.”

Bob’s Wife “Okay.” (She thinks this is good news because then she won’t have to put out, and she’s exhausted from the baby to put out.)

So if you haven’t guessed already, here’s what you, the author should have done:

Had business cards on hand, maybe even a small printed postcard for the book with the book’s cover
Offered to take Bob’s name and email and then sign the book when he gets a copy
Said to him, “Yeah, it’s in local bookstores! In fact it’s in the [insert local bookstore here] – I know because I signed a pile of copies for them! And if you can’t find it or want it on your eReader, just do a search for my name at Amazon or B&N—here, let me write it down for you.”
Thanked Bob, made sure he knew your name.
Maybe even made a jokey joke about the book title.

Does that seem like a lot of work? Maybe. But you’re selling books. That’s what you do.

Thoughts?