Right now, knee deep in outlining the next book. Hard lesson learned  from The Last Track ( and another manuscript that preceded it that will likely never see the light of day ), before diving headlong into a big writing project, I like to be able to do two things:

First, summarize the entire story to three sentences. They can be long compound sentences, the sort generally absent in my writing, or very simple. But the mini synopsis must be concise, coherent and complete. And I’ll bounce that “blurb” off a dozen people. If I sense I’m losing them, that they “aren’t getting it”, then the concept needs more fine-tuning.

Second and more importantly, character sketches. In the hieararchy of development, character motivations matter first and appearance last. Description is a detail and can be added as needed, for flourish. Motivation is what impels a character to act as they do. Characters are not their khakis, Calvin Klein jeans or their Prada shoes. Nor are they black, white or trans-gender. That is incidental. No, characters are what they do, and that rests upon their motivations.

What makes someone tick determines their role in the story, and shapes their interactions with other characters. Most importantly understanding and accepting their motivations forces me to be efficient. Generally that efficacy means letting characters do what they must, consistent with their internal script, and getting out of the way.

And staying out of the way.

So I’m not quite there, but in another week I’ll be close.

More notable than the picture surriving in storage, and the tremendous changes everyone in the picture experienced over the years, were the response from everyone after the shot circulated amongst friends and family. Of the six living people in the photograph, five commented multiple times.

Now there are plans to take the photograph again this summer, and strike similar poses, but hopefully with a collective awareness of current fashion trends and hairstyles.

When we do reshoot this summer, I’ll post the photos side by side.

Until then, behold the over the calf socks, big hair and tragic footwear:

Huge thanks to everyone for taking the time to enter. Please note, there will be further giveaways of The Last Track on GoodReads.com in the near future.

On a personal note, I’m very happy there is a place where readers can share their opinions about books that publishers, be they large large or small, cannot sway with the threat of offering or withholding advertising dollars. It’s really all about the readers. Related lesson to self: bring the A-game, and do so every time.

‘Cause sooner or later, the Internets will have their day in the court of opinion.

Much thanks to Cyndy for the suggestion.

I believe the writer has two jobs. First, get out of the way of the story and let the characters do theirs. Second, and more importantly, listen to what readers have to say about the story, because well, they tend to have a lot of great ideas.

More importantly, readers actually pay for books.

Technically Treo still worked, incoming calls worked–a testament to its smart construction and design–right up until the moment of activating my new love, the Baybeh 9700 ( Blackberry Bold 9700 ).

After several days of relentless use, I must note that Baybeh 9700 is the finest Blackberry ever encountered. Though my main phone was the Treo, I’ve handled all sorts of devices in the course of duty at my day job. It’s light; it’s responsive and it just works–right out of the box.

Every weakness of the Blackberry in years past has been resolved. Configuring it to use any mail server and without paying for a Blackberry Enterprise Server license? Enter the email address and password and Baybeh does the rest. Low battery charge capacity? I can run this phone full out all day with all kinds of applications humming and it’s still over three quarters capacity. Poor camera resolution? 3.2 megapixels, bright flash and ways to override the automatic settings.

And speaking of the camera, behold my beloved Oedipus:

And so farewell, Treo. Hello Baybeh 9700.

Speaking of the day job, last week a colleague heard about the upcoming book release and let a number of people know about it. Definitely a nice surprise and show of support. Not that I hid writing explicitly, just followed the charter that my only priority during the day was addressing the community’s technical needs. Very few people even knew I wrote. Others in my life did know, but that only partially accounts for the outpouring of good tidings as of late.

Been very surprised at how many longstanding but infrequently seen acquaintances sent texts or email of congratulations in the past week; these missives arrived out of virtual air. Guess a lot more lurkers are out there checking the site than anticipated.

Anyway, The Last Track was nominated for the Best Read of 2010 on GoodReads. To vote, all it takes a is a quick and free registration on GoodReads.com–a really great site for a whole lot of reasons.

So please vote for The Last Track on GoodReads.com. Currently ( as of 11:19 PM EST ), it’s tied for fifth place. My thanks in advance.

The Last Track: A captivating and fast paced thriller

Over the course of the project, the manuscript evolved a great deal from the first draft to final PDF. My writing, whether intended or not, changed by virtue of the near religious adherence to schedule. While the genesis of a few characters were there from the earliest drafts, the story was definitely not. Feedback, I’ve learned, is almost always valuable, rarely ever critical. Routine check ins with readers after each draft made a huge difference to the finished product, forced me to try harder, and proved the single biggest determinant in the book finding a publisher that got the story.

Because while the manuscript changed over its journey from gestation to slush piles, my intention never did. There was always one clear and irrefutable aim. Write a book that hit hard, early, and never let up. To me, the most important thing is the reader’s attention. The ability to hold that interst is the real currency of an author. Without a real reason to continue, there may be a great idea, but there very little point sharing it with the nightstand a reader placed the book upon, unfinished–unlikely ever to bother finding their place.

And the neatest thing about the review, is that it sounds as if my intentions were actually realized; what I wanted to do, I actually got on the page.

Now back to writing number next . . .