WadeScripts
First Lines in Stories: You Be The Judge
Do you like stories that start fast? In the middle of the action? That cause you to want to keep reading?
I do.
I appreciate when an author pulls me in early with an interesting and engaging inciting incident. It makes me want to turn the pages.
Drilling down even more, I’ve become more interested in the first line in a story or article. They offer hints as to where the story is headed and what you’re going to get.
Many authors tinker for days, weeks, and months on their first line prior to publication.
Recently, I wondered how I’d done with my first lines, now that I have published six fiction books, eight non-fiction books, and over a dozen short pieces. When I took a look, I was happy with some and realized others could be better. Can’t we all get better as we continue to write?
I have compiled my first lines below. I hope you enjoy them, and I hope as readers and writers you will read and write many engaging first lines.
My Books in Order – First Lines
The Christmas Heist: Book 1 in The Christmas Courtroom Trilogy
The county courthouse was opening for business two hours late.
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The Legally Binding Christmas: Book 2 in The Christmas Courtroom Trilogy
The twelve jurors shuffled into the courtroom and down the two rows of seats they had occupied for the past three days.
The Christmas Redemption: Book 3 in The Christmas Courtroom Trilogy
A blunt object pressed against Hank Snow’s back and nudged him forward, toward a one-story building with a large sign that read, “County Jail.”
Deadly Declarations: Book 1 in the Indie Retirement Mystery Series
Yeager Alexander’s motto for retirement living was, “Ain’t dead, yet,” but when he heard a siren and saw an ambulance, lights flashing, heading for one of the residential buildings at the Independence Retirement Community, he said aloud, “Waking up dead is rarely a good thing.”
Death by Podcasting:
In six years of podcasting, Raspy Fuse had received many text messages, but never a death threat.
Deadly Gold Rush: Book 2 in the Indie Retirement Mystery Series
The narrow alleyway walls muffled the gunshot as uptown Charlotte slept.
The Write Quotes: Book 1: The Writing Life From my essay in the book titled: Lessons Learned From the Quotes in this book
One of the biggest lessons I learned from the quotes in this book is that no matter how much or how little money writers make (or loose) in their writing lives, or how demanding writing can be for them, they grab for their pens and fire up their computers mostly for the love of it.
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The Write Quotes: Book 2: Learning to Write From my essay in the book titled: Lessons Learned From the Quotes in this book
One of the biggest lessons I learned about the topics covered in this book is that these authors have been through the grinder and know what it’s like to learn to write.
The Write Quotes: Book 3: Writing Process & Tools From my essay in the book titled: Lessons Learned From the Quotes in this book
One of the biggest lessons I learned about the topics covered in this book is that there are as many writing processes as there are writers.
The Write Quotes: Book 4: Storytelling, Inspiration, & Research From my essay in the book titled: Lessons Learned From the Quotes in this book
The three biggest lessons I learned about the topics covered in this book are that story ideas come to writers in many ways, writers cannot always explain where or how their ideas originate, and the stories they tell are often underpinned by some form of research.
The Write Quotes: Book 5: Writing Techniques & Characters From my essay in the book titled: Lessons Learned From the Quotes in this book
I am excited to report that this book has sold more than one million copies and that Oprah has put it at the top of her list of best quote books ever, saying “Book 5 of The Write Quotes series is a must-read for anyone seriously thinking about writing a book.” Also, none of this is true, but it’s a heck a hook, right?
The Write Quotes: Book 6: Writing Community, Revision, & Editors From my essay in the book titled: Lessons Learned From the Quotes in this book
When I retired from the practice of law, I wanted to spend time with people who liked to write and who were good at it.
The Write Quotes: Book 7: The Emotional Writing Journey From my essay in the book titled: Lessons Learned From the Quotes in this book
Before you strike the match to produce the next great work of literature, you now know at least three things from the quotes in this book: One, the universe loves to dump on writers. Actually, she enjoys it. Two, if the universe weren’t already a most sizeable antagonist, writers make life more difficult with their self-doubts. And three, writers are tough. They persevere to persevere.
The Write Quotes: Book 8: Publishing & Book Marketing From my essay in the book titled: Lessons Learned From the Quotes in this book
The authors I interviewed in this book offered me inspiration–that feeling that your goals are attainable if you put in the effort–and a valuable education on how to put a book in the world and sell a few copies along the way. But also, they offered me their publishing stories and humor, a few laughs about their experiences in the world of publishing and marketing.
Published Short Stories – First Lines
The Deliberation [published in the North Carolian State Bar Journal, First Prize]
The door banged shut behind the six of us and we stood still, measuring the jury deliberation room with our eyes.
The Cape Fear Debacle [published in Pamlico Writer Magazine, First Prize]
I’ve often wondered what made my dad think that he and a friend could take four young boys on a trip down the Cape Fear River without much planning.
Tried and Convicted [published in Flying South competition]
One of my handlers told a detective that I had some bad shit go down in my personal life and that’s why I hate the court system, but that’s the trouble with what’s true and what’s not.
Shelby [published in Bearing Up: PSPP April 2018]
My wife says my legal career is divided into two parts: before and after Shelby.
Two Good Swings [published in Exploring: Spring 2019]
In the fictional movie, Little Big Man, Dustin Hoffman played 121-year-old Jack Crabb, a white man with a remarkable but hard-to-believe life story set against the backdrop of the Great American West.
Southern Tides [published in That Southern Thing: PSPP Spring 2020]
When I think of the South, I think of Wrightsville Beach, where warm waves lap up on miles of white sand separated from the North Carolina mainland by Harbor Island and the Intracoastal Waterway.
What Luck These Friendships [published in Luck and Opportunity: PSPP Spring 2021]
It’s DOWN…. the STRETCH….they COME!
Water Lessons [published in Trouble: PSPP Fall 2021]
When I was a toddler, my mother tried to kill me.
The Application [published in Lost and Found: PSPP Spring 2023]
Completing an application is meant to be an exercise toward a more perfect, hopeful, exciting, and fulfilling future.
Riding the Memory Trail [published in Sooner or Later: PSPP Fall 2023]
Two weeks before we took the final, emotional step of selling our house of 30 years and transferring the deed to a couple who, we hoped, would do what we had done—turn that house into a home, we had a yard sale.
Yahweh’s Football Team [published in High Country Writers Headwaters III]
In our first two weeks as college football players, my classmates and I suffered deceit, kidnappings, a gun fight and racial insensitivity.
Published Articles – First Lines
Border Wall Advocates Should Remember Charlotte’s Cemetery Fence [published in The Charlotte Observer]
Charlotte named a road after former mayor Stan Brookshire, but in 1969, if he had voted a different way, we might have Brookshire Fence rather than Brookshire Freeway.
I Hope We’re Not Losing The Handshake [published in The Charlotte Observer and Other McClatchy newspapers]
I grew up in the South, which meant I was raised on manners. “Yes, sir” and “No, sir,” and “Yes, mam,” and “No, mam,” were ingrained in me by my parents, passed down to them from theirs.
47 Things Longmire Author Craig Johnson Taught Me About Writing Fiction [published in writersdigest.com]
Many great writers don’t know how to talk about their craft, or worse, they are unwilling to do so.
The Gold History that Inspired Deadly Gold Rush: PART III
In this post, I discuss real places from the Charlotte Gold Rush era that inspired the scenes in Deadly Gold Rush.
The Rudisill Mine
I picked the Rudisill Mine as the focus for the novel because of its importance to the Charlotte Gold Rush and its staying power. Mining on the Rudisill load lasted one hundred years, from the early days of deep shaft mining to the late 1930s.
Located in what is now the heart of booming South End, the gold vein extends from Summit Avenue (formerly Gold Street) down to Bank of American Stadium where the Carolina Panthers play professional football. The mine is a historical relic hiding in plain sight.
There is a concrete cover over the pump shaft that sits in a gravel parking lot, backing up to the Wilmore neighborhood, just like the novel said. This pump shaft head is the only ground-level reminder of the major producer of gold in Charlotte.
A prospector—some say a hunter stalking deer—found gold on Rudisill Hill in 1826, leading to early efforts to mine the gold with shallow digs, pits, and trenches.
Then along came Rivafinoli, and then Penman, and then the mine changed hands many times over the next one hundred years.
The Carsons were the last to own the operating mine before it shut down in the 1930s—remember, Carson Street? It was one of the streets where the characters searched for Penny’s gold coins.
In September 1965, the director of the Mint Museum of Art made a public plea that the Rudisill Mine be reopened as a tourist attraction. He suggested it be equipped with shuttle cars and reinforced for safety, and he tried to shame the city for letting this piece of Charlotte history go ignored. He also complained the city had changed the name of Gold Street to Summit Avenue.
It took a few years, but the city listened enough to solicit studies. The probable condition of the Rudisill Mine, as described in a report to the city in the 1970s was: “Except where thick veins have been mined out, tunnels are likely to be very narrow, allowing only single-file passage of a man and possibly a wheelbarrow.… Commonly, low ceiling height will require a man to walk in a stooped position or even crawl.” The report also described tunnels packed with rubble and decaying timbers. Added to that was the problem of the underground water that filled the mines. Not a good report to promote the building of a gold mine museum.
In other words, the Standish family dream was an unrealistic venture from the start.
But a few things did happen to bring attention to the area.
The Gold District
In 2014, a nonprofit known as The Gold District of Charlotte, Inc., was formed to promote the district in Charlotte’s South End. So far, they have helped put historical signage in place, helped obtained favorable zoning, generated interest in the history, and created a 2030 Vision Plan—the date 2030 being two hundred years after Rivafinoli arrived in Charlotte.
In addition to street names and markers that honor gold mines and gold miners, a commemorative marker was placed at the site of the Rudisill Mine. While I was doing research for this novel, the marker was there, but then when I went back for another visit, it looked like a truck had sideswiped it and knocked it down. I was told efforts were being made to put the sign up again. Perhaps the Rudisill Mine just can’t get the respect it deserves.
The Charlotte Mint and the Mint Museum
Charlotte’s gold mines and expanding population of gold seekers in the 1800s led local leaders, with the support of President Andrew Jackson, to put pressure on Congress to place a branch mint in Charlotte. In 1835, Congress passed an act to establish branch mints in Charlotte; Dahlonega, Georgia, and New Orleans, Louisiana. Charlotte’s mint was the first branch to open in 1837 and was located where the federal courthouse sits on Trade Street today.
On March 28, 1837, the mint struck its first coin, a half-eagle, followed by the quarter eagle. An eagle was worth ten dollars, so the quarter-eagle was two-fifty and the half eagle was five dollars. And to make you remember what they were making, they hung a gold eagle above the entrance, but more about that below.
Of the three denominations of gold coins made at the Charlotte Mint, the quarter eagle is the most difficult to collect and requires patience. Maybe that’s why it took Penny Penman so long to compile his collection.
Operations at the Charlotte Mint continued until April 20, 1861, when production was halted with the seizure of the mint by Confederate troops.
For the next four years, the flag of the Confederacy flew over the golden eagle, but the inside was turned into a military headquarters, begging the question: what happened to the gold? As tempting as it was, I decided not to turn this into a Confederate gold treasure story.
When the mint reopened in 1869 after the Civil War, it never made another gold coin but instead operated as an assay office.
In 1895, a federal courthouse and post office were built next to the Charlotte Mint, and in 1913, the mint’s assay office closed, and the US Treasury vacated the building, leading in 1930 to a plan to demolish it to make room for an expansion of the post office.
But when demolition began in 1933, the Charlotte Woman’s Club undertook an effort to save the mint—or, at least, its structure. With the club’s fundraising efforts, a donation of land by E.C. Griffith in the Eastover neighborhood, and construction done by Depression-era CWA workers, the Mint Museum of Art, North Carolina’s first art museum, came to life in September 1936.
In December 1935, The Charlotte Observer reported that a committee of five local chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution were working to recover the gold eagle that “formerly spread its wings above the entrance to the old mint building for presentation to the Mint Museum of Art.” The old bird was found, bought, and readied for restoration—the paper reporting an on-again, off-again prognosis for the project over several months given its condition. Finally, the eagle made of oak that stood five feet tall with a fourteen-foot wingspan was restored. The August 23, 1936, Charlotte News showed a picture of the eagle under the headline “Mint Eagle Will Grace New Mint Museum.”
Another article shared with me by Ellen Show, director of Library and Archives of the Mint Museum, gave me an idea for the novel. The October 14, 1936 headline commented on what the artist faced when he undertook to gild the eagle with gold leaf: “Bees Found in Eagle at Mint.”
The gold eagle proudly protected the entrance to the Mint Museum until it began to fall apart in 1971. Once again, local women came together to save the mint’s symbol. This time it was the Charlotte Debutante Club who raised the money, but instead of wood, the new eagle was built of fiberglass impregnated with polyester over a foam core to last longer.
A July 8, 1972, article in The Charlotte Observer featured a picture of the eagle being lifted with a crane to “its new nest” over the front door of the former US Mint and Assay Office with the headline “The Eagle Flies.”
According to museum staff when I took my own tour, the bees have continued to be a problem. In Deadly Gold Rush, I used artistic license and turned the bees into hornets.
The museum expanded several times, first in 1967 and again in 1985, and there is a new entrance on the opposite side of the building from where the eagle flies. But still, the eagle flies.
Today, the Mint Museum of Art offers permanent and rotating exhibits, community and cultural programs, and they have on display a complete set of every coin minted at the Charlotte Mint. If you walk the halls and grounds and use your imagination, you can wander back in time to the Charlotte Gold Rush era.
If you’d like to learn more my novel Deadly Gold Rush and how to order it, please see the home page of landiswade.com. The novel will be available in print, eBook, and audiobook. Kindle Unlimited readers can get the eBook for free HERE.
The Gold History that Inspired Deadly Gold Rush: PART II
In this post, I discuss several interesting people from the Charlotte Gold Rush era who inspired the characters in Deadly Gold Rush.
The Rivafinoli Passage is a real place in South End. It’s not much to look at—a good place for a murder in a novel—but you can find it on Lincoln Street, a small side street in South End off South Church Street. And yes, on a brick wall at the entrance to the alley there is a mural of Queen Charlotte, who was married to insane King George.
Who was this Rivafinoli character, anyway?
Accounts vary, and are likely embellished every time someone writes about him, but he’s been described as a flamboyant Italian aristocrat and mining expert who hailed from Milan, Italy, with the titles of count and chevalier.
Rivafinoli (sometimes spelled “Ravafanoli” or “Ravafinoli”) came to Charlotte around 1830 at the age of forty-three with significant mining experience in large South American mines. He brought with him more than fifty experienced foreign workers and the financial backing of New York investors and the London Mining Company.
Rivafinoli made improvements in underground mining techniques at Charlotte’s largest commercial mines. He dressed in the finest clothes, and lived in a luxurious home at the corner of South Tryon and Morehead Streets, from which he departed daily with his gold-headed cane to inspect his mines accompanied by a manservant.
This bigger-than-life character left a trail that’s still celebrated today. John Short, in a piece in The Charlotte Ledger, said, “The next time you look at the Corporate Center in the Charlotte skyline, think of the mine shafts below and the cane-walkin’, wheelin’, dealin’, kiss-stealin’ son of a gun who captured Charlotte’s imagination in the first half of the nineteenth century.”
But truth be told, even with his trappings of wealth, his titles, his mining successes, and his storied reputation, the count’s time in Charlotte passed quickly. He slipped away in 1832 or 1833, leaving a mountain of debt in his wake.
Into Rivafinoli’s void stepped thirty-six-year-old John E. Penman.
John Penman, who is the ancestor of the fictional Penny Penman in Deadly Gold Rush, showed up in Charlotte and went straight to the Mecklenburg County Court of Common Pleas, where he, like Rivafinoli had done before him, filed a declaration to become a citizen of the United States, renouncing his citizenship to his home country. The gold tug was that strong.
He was reputed to be a Methodist minister, although it is unclear whether that was before or after his Charlotte gold mining adventures. Either way, the spiritual vocation was nothing like his gold mining lifestyle.
Described as a daring wheeler-dealer and a bit of a rascal, Penman was often in the company of unmarried women, who he referred to as his sisters. He liked fine wine and parties and was generous with his money, having once placed fifteen hundred dollars in the Methodist Church collection plate after his miners struck a rich vein on Rudisill Hill.
Like Rivafinoli, he was known to enjoy the finer things. He had a manservant named Goodluck, who groomed him every morning, saddled his horse, and rode behind him at a respectful distance. One of his associates, a man named Penworthy, often accompanied Penman to one of several local taverns.
Records show Penman coming and going during the 1830s and 1840s to dodge debts and chase the next big find, but by the end of his days as a gold miner, he had the reputation of one of the most experienced miners to operate in the Charlotte region.
Perhaps John Penman quit because the mining got too hard, or maybe he decided it was time to minister to his Methodist flock
In part III of this series, I will discuss real places from the Charlotte Gold Rush era that inspired the scenes in Deadly Gold Rush.
If you’d like to learn more my novel Deadly Gold Rush and how to order it, please see the home page of landiswade.com. The novel will be available in print, eBook, and audiobook. Kindle Unlimited readers can get the eBook for free HERE.
The Gold History that Inspired Deadly Gold Rush: PART I
The first gold rush in the United States sprung from twelve-year-old Conrad Reed’s discovery in 1799 of a seventeen-pound gold nugget in Little Meadow Creek in Cabarrus County, North Carolina, not too far from Charlotte, the city where I grew up and heard stories about Charlotte’s gold rush days.
Conrad was playing in the creek that ran through his father’s farm when he spied the shiny yellow rock the size of a shoe. He picked it up and found it was heavier than he expected. He showed it to his father, John Reed, who showed it to a Concord silversmith, who told him the rock was worthless.
Unfazed, the Reeds used the rock for three years for what author Bruce Roberts in The Carolina Gold Rush called “the world’s most expensive door stop.” That doorstop turned out to be one of the largest nuggets ever found in the eastern United States. And, yes, the story Yeager told his friends was true. A Fayetteville jeweler swindled ole man Reed by paying him $3.50 for a nugget that was worth several thousand dollars at the time.
When John Reed discovered the jeweler scammed him, he went to the creek and found more gold, and with several partners, they began to search for gold on the surface with slave labor, leading in 1803 to a slave named Peter discovering a twenty-eight-pound nugget just under the surface in Reed’s Meadow Creek. It was believed to be the largest nugget discovered at the time in the United States.
When word spread about Reed’s good fortune, farmers bought gear to search for gold on their properties, leading to discoveries in Anson, Montgomery, Mecklenburg, and other counties in the state. From around 1804 to 1828, most of the domestic gold coined at the United States Mint in Philadelphia came from North Carolina, and the excitement resulted in thousands of foreigners coming to North Carolina to make their fortunes.
Around 1830, the Western Carolinian of Salisbury and the Miners’ and Farmers’ Journal of Charlotte regularly published articles and advertisements to satisfy the public’s thirst for information on gold, including where to find it and how to get at it. Other state newspapers fueled the rush with tall tales about nuggets found that were too heavy to lift.
During the early days of the Carolina Gold Rush, miners engaged in what was called branch or placer mining on the surface. Several decades later, miners dug shafts and mined gold underground, by following the vein of gold.
Today, Reed Gold Mine is a State Historic Site where visitors can tour underground mine tunnels, see the restored ore-crushing stamp mill, and pan for gold.
The Charlotte Gold Rush featured in my novel Deadly Gold Rush grew out of the frenzy created by Conrad Reed’s discovery.
The April 8, 1929, headline in The Charlotte Observer read: “Streets of Charlotte Literally Paved with Gold.” In the early 1800s, all those newcomers hoped that was true.
The first recorded attempt to follow a gold vein below the surface in Mecklenburg County was by Samuel McComb on his farm in 1825, and it made him rich. The McComb Mine, which later became known as the Saint Catherine Mine, was near where the Carolina Panthers football team plays today, with shafts to a depth of more than one hundred feet and tunnels in many directions. The Rudisill Mine featured in Deadly Gold Rush dug vertical shafts as deep as three hundred feet, with horizontal tunnels connecting them.
Gold fever led to close to sixty mines popping up across the county, making Mecklenburg the county with the most mines in the state. Many of those mines went by the names of their landowners, but others were more creative, such as the Black Cat, Queen of Sheba, King Soloman, and Yellow Dog.
Working the mines was a tough way to earn a living. Miners often turned their pay into liquor. One northern observer could “hardly conceive of a more immoral community… Drunkenness, gambling, fighting, lewdness, and every other vice exist here to an awful extent.”
And yet, even though Charlotte was a lively place—with the taverns and the “Sons of Temperance” making their cases against each other—Charlotte did not devolve to a Wild-West-style saloon town. Businesses thrived by selling to the miners.
With the Charlotte Mint’s arrival in 1837 and the numerous mines being worked in the Charlotte area, Charlotte became the mining capital of the United States.
In Part 2 of this series, I will discuss several interesting people from the Charlotte Gold Rush era who inspired the characters in Deadly Gold Rush
If you’d like to learn more my novel Deadly Gold Rush and how to order it, please see the home page of landiswade.com. The novel will be available in print, eBook, and audiobook. Kindle Unlimited readers can get the eBook for free HERE.
The Marketing Elephant in the Room that Writers Try to Ignore; Why and How They Should Snap Out of It
Earlier on this blog, I wrote a post entitled: All The Book Marketing I Did Not Know And Other Ways I Misunderstood How to Sell My First Three Books, Part I
Now that I am 9 months into the launch of my fourth book, the novel Deadly Declarations, I have some updates to share on the topic of book marketing and launching a book for sale. I could have called this post “All the Book Marketing I Did Not Know, Part II,” but I like the image of writers at their computers ignoring the huge marketing elephant standing in the corner. Sooner or later, that elephant is going to step on them if they don’t pay it some attention.
Coming to Terms With Reality – The Universe Doesn’t Care About Your Book As Much as You Do and That’s Okay
It takes courage to put a book in the world, but even more bravery to promote it, and then when you schedule an event and just a few people show up, it takes some real daring-do to stand up and talk about your book with vigor.
Why? Because you want the world to love your book and it can be embarrassing to throw a party that few people attend.
Fear not. Those empty room book signings have happened to the best. John Grisham had a trunk full of books left over after his first novel’s book tour. Thankfully, he laughed about it and kept writing. Now, his events are standing room only.
Promoting and selling books is difficult. There will be good days and bad days, but probably more bad days than good, and it may takes years and years to make a decent profit, if that is the goal. Bottom line: We authors need a reality check so we can enjoy the ride.
38 Helpful Articles About Writing and the Business of Writing: Check Out The Charlotte Readers Podcast Community Blog
There are many ways to learn how to write better in your chosen genre. Options include undergraduate and graduate programs, writing organizations (in-person and online), craft books, writing groups, critique groups, writing coaches, editors, writing buddies, online articles, online videos, watching and listening to authors read their work, reading books in your genre, and more.
One way that we add to the mix of writing resources at Charlotte Readers Podcast is by encouraging authors to submit to our Community Blog, where we feature blog posts on our blog page of the podcast website, link them in our newsletter and talk about them on the podcast.
In this post, I link to 38 articles that appear on the Charlotte Readers Podcast Community blog as of August 28, 2022, with a brief description of the topics and brief excerpts. I encourage you to click on and read the articles that appeal to you and if you are an author with information to share about the craft or business of writing, we encourage you to submit HERE.
Procrastination: A Novelist’s Friend or Foe?
You may have heard this writing advice: “Write every day, even if it’s just a paragraph. Exercise your writing muscles. Get in the habit. Stay in the habit.”
But what if this writing advice, like Julia Cameron’s advice for morning pages, is not for you? What if, for some inexplicable reason, you become a novelist who procrastinates? What then?
Should you be ashamed of yourself? Should you chide yourself for your lack of discipline? Or should you embrace procrastination, find the humor in it, and see where the devil takes you?
So You’re Thinking About Starting a Podcast or Writing a Book: Are You Crazy or Have You Always Been This Daring?
As I reflect on reaching the milestone of producing and hosting 300 podcast episodes on Charlotte Readers Podcast, there is a lot to digest. Like why did I do something I knew nothing about and try to write a full length novel at the same time. The idea seemed crazy and destined for failure. But here I am, 300 episodes later, having interviewed 310 authors in 300 episodes, in 30 states and four countries about their books, stories, or poems, and I have my fourth book and first full-length novel to show for it. As Augustus McCrae said in his dying days in Lonesome Dove, “aw God, Woodrow, it’s been a helluva ride.”
I’m not dying (not today, anyway), but I thought my podcasting days might be over at 300 episodes–and like Augustus, it had truly been a helluva ride. But the demands of podcasting had increased with success, it was getting harder to do the podcast alone and it was becoming more difficult to find the time to do it well and do the other things I want to do, like write my next novel. I had to ask the question: Do I give up the podcast, or do I pivot? This blog post is about why you should do what’s creatively crazy, why and how I did it in starting a podcast and writing a full-length novel, and how and why I pivoted rather than quit the podcast.
What is a Bookstagram Tour and Why Should Authors Give it Try?
Many authors struggle with questions of how best to market and sell their books and if you are one of them, you are not alone. We search for creative ways for our books to be seen, to find our readers, and to get honest reviews for our books. After the toil of completing the book, the marketing and sales part should be fun, but it’s enough to drive an author crazy.
Ever heard of a Bookstagram Tour? I hadn’t–or, at least–I hadn’t paid much attention to the idea, until I was studying how to launch my recent novel, Deadly Declarations. I asked Cindy Burnett with the Thoughts from a Page Podcast what she knew about these tours and she connected me to Suzy Approved Book Tours. I connected with Suzy–actually Suzanne–I booked a tour, and you know what? It was fun, generated attention for my novel, and resulted in a variety of photo shoots for my book cover.
In this post, I talk about how my tour worked, what I enjoyed about it, and I provide some fun images from the tour.
How to Complete a Novel?: Don’t Quit, and Find Your Through Lines, the Ones that Excite You
At a recent book event for Deadly Declarations at Park Road Books, someone asked me this question. How do you write a novel?
I laughed before answering the question, not because the question wasn’t a good question, but because it was a question whose answer cannot be summed up at a book event.
There are thousands upon thousands of books, articles, courses, conferences, and websites with information about how to write a novel and the same number of authors times ten who are imminently more qualified than me to deliver the answer. I chose to stay away from discussing the mechanics of how to write a novel and describe what helped me the most in completing my novel.
Writing Routines: What Works is What Works for You, But it Doesn’t Hurt to Steal Writing Routines from Other Writers
The North Carolina Writers’ Network’s Spring 2022 Newsletter served as the prompt for this blog post. It’s full of flash memoir pieces by writers about their writing routines, and as you might have guessed by the title of this post, writers go at their routines in many different ways.
Trustee Michele Berger, an author who appeared on Charlotte Readers Podcast, wrote the lead for the newsletter, with a title that read: “Whatever Keeps You Writing.” Her advice about dropping the word “should” from the guilty writer’s conscience when thinking about a writing routine was spot on and could just as easily have come under the title I chose for this post: “What Works is What Works for You.” Michelle said we should listen to ourselves. It is great advice, but since the network was kind enough to provide perspectives on writing routines from many different writers, I expanded the title of this post to point out that it doesn’t hurt to steal writing routines from other writers if you think they will work for you.
The Thing About Online Book Reviews: Tips for Readers and Authors
Question. How often do you receive this request: If you liked this book, please leave an online review.
Answer: Every time you finish reading a book, and sometimes, simply because you bought it, and sometimes, because the author bumps into you or emails you or sends you their newsletter and not so subtly makes the request for an online review.
Personally, I’m guilty as charged, but I understand that as a reader, the invitations to review an author’s book–which can feel more like solicitations–can become wearying. So why do it? We know what’s in it for the author: more reviews of their book. But what’s in it for the reader?
Understanding Online Ordering and the Supply Chain that Supports Independent Book Stores
I learned something helpful I’d like to share about how to support independent book stores when you order your books online. I stumbled into this ah-ha moment while trying to understand how the Bookshop.org online preorder link works for my upcoming novel.
Did you know that by ordering your print book online through Bookshop.org (which is affiliated with IndieBound.org), you can designate a local independent book store to receive the profits on the book? Me neither. And it’s really cool. And get this. If you don’t designate a particular store, Bookshop.org puts aside money in a pool that they send to independent book stores. This means that if you want to order online, there is an independent book store option to do so.
Drafting, Revising, Editing and Proofing: Best Practices for Battling Gremlins
As a recovering trial lawyer turned author who wants to be, as Mary Poppins might say, “practically perfect in every way” with the final manuscripts for my books, I must confess that despite all the steps I take–which I plan to discuss in this post–Gremlins are tough adversaries. On the one hand, they encourage me to try to achieve perfection by questioning my work and if that weren’t enough of a burden, when I think I’m finished, they fill the work with mistakes.
With regard to perfection, I’ve learned that authors can become their own worst enemies when trying to produce the perfect work product. They can work a project to death, and in doing so, find themselves going in circles. They can lose sight of the whole for fear of the few.
In my first book, I revised a particular paragraph so many times near the end of the project that when I finished with it and was completely satisfied, I realized I was back to the same language where I started. I went in a circle, trying to achieve what I thought was perfection.
All the Marketing I Did Not Know, and Other Ways I Misunderstood How to Sell My First Three Books: Part I
When I wrote my first three books–The Christmas Courtroom Trilogy–I thought I did what an Indie author is supposed to do. I focused on writing good books, meaning I wrote many drafts, revised them many times, and then hired an editor who encouraged me to work even harder. I then hired a copyeditor to comply with the style manual. And while that was in process, I worked with an illustrator who created eye-catching covers that matched the themes of the books and a book designer who pulled each book together in print and eBook. I then worked with my editor to upload the books on IngramSpark (for access to book stores and libraries) and to the Amazon platform (because that behemoth does rule the world).
Job well done, right?
50% right. 50% wrong.
Learning to Write A Novel: For Me, It Started as an Accident that Turned into a Passion That Turned into My Upcoming Novel, Deadly Declarations
In the spring of 2022, my novel, Deadly Declarations, will be released, and though I’ve written three books previously–The Christmas Courtroom Trilogy–they were all novellas. This is my first full-length novel. This article discusses how I went from being a practicing lawyer to becoming a practicing novelist.
Why do lawyers think they can write novels?
I’ve asked lawyers turned authors who have appeared on Charlotte Readers Podcast why many lawyers believe they have what it takes to write a novel. After all, law schools don’t teach novel writing. Senior partners don’t mentor young associates on the craft. Judges set page limits on briefs. And clients don’t like lengthy contracts. The practice offers lawyers few opportunities to understand how hard it is to write a story as long as 300 pages. So they presume it isn’t hard.
Maybe the answer to the question is arrogance, the misguided belief that it can’t be as hard as practicing law. Or maybe its confidence, the kind that comes with writing every day in the job. Or, possibly, it’s based on hope, the hope that they can build on their skillset in such a way to escape the billable hour and become the next John Grisham, John Hart, or David Baldacci.
I didn’t have arrogance, confidence, or hope when I started writing the story that turned into my first book. I didn’t even know I was writing what would become a book. It was an accident, that turned into a passion, that led to the novel that will come out next spring.
Book Publishing Options and How Being Patient is a Painful Part of Publishing: Me, I’m a One-Third-Patient-Author
Every author knows that publishing a book requires a large dose of patience. Number one, it takes a patient writer to pursue and land an agent and then have their agent pitch and land a reputable publisher. Number two, with that done, it takes another load of patience to wait on the production process to grind along as you peer into the future at a release date you can’t jot down on this year’s calendar. You slog along thinking about how to promote your upcoming book, then get anxious, then promote your upcoming book, then get anxious again, until finally, the big day arrives when your book makes it into the world. It can be a three step process that can take years and years.
I have come to realize that I am a one-third-patient-author when it comes to publishing books. Here’s why.
Writing in Color with Bestselling Southern Author Rick Bragg
Rick Bragg is no stranger to honest writing and his tongue doesn’t hold back, either. Ask him a question about writing. Any question. He’ll treat you like family, the kind who deserves the non-abridged version to your query, and he will do it without pretense, because even though he once was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard, the Ivy didn’t seep into his pores.
Sometimes, he’ll supply you with a direct answer, like what detergent to use to get pond mud off your jeans. He recommends Purex. Other times, his answers are an In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida length expose on how to kill bad writing or make words turn into true stories. Whether you understand the answer, you smile. The reason you smile is the answer is straight, and clever, and built to fit inside a working writer’s toolbox, with emphasis on the word, “working.”
When a group of non-fiction writers gathered on Zoom at the May 2021 Looking Glass Rock Writers’ Conference, Rick Bragg explained why he harps on “Writing in Color,” saying, “I have never, in my time on this sorry ol’ earth, heard anyone say that they greatly enjoyed a piece of writing because it was so exquisitely dull.”
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