Yes, I did it again, and no, you don’t have to ask. I am bad. Ironic, isn’t it? Day Four’s topic was about letting people or “life” get in the way of writing and the next two days I allow it to happen to me. Another instance of ‘do as I say, not as I do”; however, we are all human and sometimes we have to bend our own rules for special circumstances. As long as we get back on track, the occasional slip won’t be detrimental to our creative selves.
    I hope you will forgive me for backsliding and will enjoy today’s segment, “When do you think a writer should start working on his/her platform and marketing plan?”
    If you think writing the book was difficult or that writing query letters and synopsis is a pain, you don’t know the half of it. Even pitching to publishers and agents is a breeze compared to the marketing you will need to do upon the book's release. In my opinion, a writer should start learning about marketing as soon as they are serious about publishing their work. It’s always good to know what you are getting into before you jump in.
    An author must realize that a signed contract means he/she is now a small business. You will need to follow the same rules as other businesses, including registering your business according to your state/county rules and registering with your state to collect state tax, if you are in a position to sell your own books. As I said on Day Four, the U.S. for Small Business Administration at www.sba.gov is a great resource for information on starting a small business. This site can guide you to local resources where you can obtain free counseling. They also provide classes on how to create marketing plans at a minimal cost. Some locations have free marketing roundtables where small business owners can get together once a month and discuss what they are doing and ask questions about marketing.
    One thing an author must understand is branding. What does it take to gain name recognition? All businesses have a brand. Something that sticks out so people will recognize the business and the product they provide. The same thing goes for an author. Even with the larger publishing houses, you will have to do a lot of this work yourself. There are ways to get started on name recognition even before the book is sold to a publisher.
    Join local writers’ organizations. I am a member of several organizations. Some are genre specific, such as Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, national and local. I also found that many large cities have local writers’ associations. I am a member of Chicago Writers Association and their affiliate InPrint. These organizations support writers from all genres. All of these organizations are great educational resources. Not only do they provide educational programs at meetings and offer workshops, but the chance to network with other authors can be very beneficial.
    Going to conferences is also a good way to learn about marketing. Look at displays, watch how authors handle themselves during panel discussions, and meet people who have experience in the business. Again, try to find a conference that is genre specific to your works. (See the Upcoming Events section of this website for upcoming mystery conferences.) Once you feel your manuscript is ready, choose conferences which include pitch sessions where you can meet potential agents and publishers face-to-face. I met my publisher at the Love is Murder Conference in Chicago.
    When you feel you are close to submitting your work, you may want to consider starting a blog. This will give you more name recognition and will allow others to see samples of your writing. There are several websites (see the Links page of this website) that offer free website or blog pages. As you can see, I created this website and created a blog page on the site. Other authors prefer to have their blog separate from their website. 
    The free websites can be “played with” for a while before they are released. I worked on my website for nine months before I actually released it. I didn’t want to put it out too soon, but the time I had to “perfect”, it provided me with the learning curve I needed to understand how to use it and update it.
    Social media is another tool for branding. However, it can be challenging for many, including me. It takes time to learn how to use each site and it takes a lot of time to keep up with it after the publication or your work. My advice is to learn as much as possible about it before the release of your book. There are several good resources for this. As I said before, many of the Small Business Administration locations have classes and many do have social media classes at a minimal charge. Libraries are a good source for social media classes and many times are free. 
    Recently, I heard that Twitter and Facebook are two of the best social media sites to use, as they are the most accepted by the public. Susan Gibberman (resource librarian at the Schaumburg Library) turned me on to www.HootSuite.com. This is a great place to manage your social media sites. I plan to learn more about this marvelous tool in hopes of saving myself a lot of time. 
    So be warned. The use of social media does take a big chunk of your time, so using the media that is most beneficial to you is very important. It will take discipline on your part to manage your social media. You want to get your name out there, but you also want to have time to finish that next book.
    I hope sharing my experiences with you has been helpful. If you ever have a question for me, please go to the Contact ME page of this website and submit it. I’ll be more than happy to share what I know with you.  Of course, this can be done in the reverse. If you have a tidbit to share with me and my readers, either add a comment to this blog or use Contact ME.
   Of course, never forget that we all are learning on a daily basis. We are never too old to learn something new.

Until next time.

    “Now that you are published, do you find it easier to tell people you have to write when they want to visit or ask you to do something?” is our question for Day Four. To me this has everything to do with asserting yourself and letting others know you are “at work.” If you had a job outside your home, would these same people call you at your office? 
    I will say that it does take your loved ones and friends some time to realize that you are not doing this as a hobby. You seriously want to become a published author. They need to realize, as do we, that this is not going to happen overnight. Just because we don’t have a contract or an agent the day the first draft is complete, doesn’t mean it won’t happen someday.
    My husband has been supportive of my efforts through this experience, but he didn’t really get enthused until I was offered the contract for Perfidy. Then it was real to him and he was more than anxious to brag about his wife, the published author. I did have a period of time when he interrupted me to chat while I was obviously busy at the computer. All I did was simply ask him to take a seat and I explained my need to concentrate and not be interrupted. He took it very well and leaves me alone when I am writing—especially if my office door is closed.
    If anyone sabotages my work, it’s usually me. The biggest distractions I have now that Perfidy is published are the things I have to do to market myself. At this time, I am agentless (Is that a word?) and I am with a small publisher, so I have to do most of my own marketing. Just the time it takes to answer emails, update my website, and work with social media is tremendous. I am seeking the means to conquer this so I can spend more time on future endeavors, but it isn’t easy.
    Here are some things you might look into which I am learning to use. I have worked with Facebook for a while. My youngest grandson convinced me to create a Facebook page two years ago and it has been a wonderful way to keep up with family. However, I just discovered the Fan Page. I’ve set it up, but now I have to figure out how to use it and the information it contains. I also recently started using Twitter. I’m still not too sure about that one. Fortunately, Susan Gibberman, Resource Librarian at the Schaumburg Library, turned me on to HootSuite.com. Of course, I need to learn how to use it now, but she says it will help me manage my other social media sites.
    An organization that I have become a member of since I decided to become an author is the Illinois Small Business Development Center at McHenry County College. You can look at the national site www.sba.gov in order to find a college near you who has an office for this educational organization. They not only help you learn how to start your business, because once you sign that first contract you are a business, they have classes on such things as social media. McHenry County College also has a workshop called “Social Media Roundtable” where persons from all sorts of small business can get together and discuss social media and how to use it to the best advantage.
    It is difficult to keep the distractions at a minimum, especially after your book is released. That is why I started looking into marketing before the release. I also wrote as much as I could, because I knew once Perfidy was released, my time would be at a premium. Tomorrow, I will discuss the question “When do you think a writer should start working on his/her platform and marketing plan?”

Until next time.

    Holy cow, Day Three is nearly over. A full day, but I’m still determined to get this out to you before midnight. I hope you know this is a wonderful challenge for me to do this daily and I hope it is helpful to my faithful readers and future authors.    
    Today’s topic is about whether I start with the characters or the story line when I began to write Perfidy. I also want to cover some details about whether Perfidy is character driven or plot driven and how I developed my characters.
    First of all, when I came up with the idea for Perfidy, the real-life stories of two missing women caught my eye—Stacy Peterson and Lisa Stebic. With a first novel, I really didn’t know who my characters would be and I certainly didn’t know them personally yet. So, it seems the story line is what gave me the jump-start. The fact that Stacy’s husband was a cop inspired me to involve the police department in-depth. 
    As a side note, I do want to say that I am in full support of the families of Stacy and Lisa and hope that they can find them one day to bring closure to their heart breaking stories. That is why I do not mention their husbands by name, especially Stacy’s husband. I feel he has made a spectacle of himself with no real concern for what has happened to her. Now that I’ve vented, let’s focus on characters.
    To get to know my characters, I started large index cards one for each of my recurring characters. On the index cards, I started out with their names and a description of each—age in Perfidy, hair color and style, eye color, height, weight, etc. this gave me a real visual as I developed their personalities. I also listed some background on each—how many siblings, parents and their occupations, where they grew up, etc. Back-story is a great tool in developing the character’s personality. All of us are a product of our backgrounds and so are our characters. As my recurring characters go through life changing events, I add those events to the cards. I certainly don’t want to get to book five and say that Erica’s mother advised her on something; when I’ve already indicated in book two that her mother is deceased. 
    Next, I listed all of my characters in a spreadsheet. I used one worksheet for major characters and one worksheet for minor characters. This included names, short physical description and where they fit in the story. Listing them helped me to keep track of names so I didn’t use the same one twice and to keep track of how I spelled each name. This was also a great way to keep track of minor characters. I can always reference the first lists to make sure I don’t repeat names or characters in subsequent books in the series. If Jack dies in book three, he’d better not show up again in book six.
    Tracking your characters and making sure recurring characters change according to their experiences is very important, especially in a series. Whether it’s a repetition or a mistake as I noted in the previous paragraphs or a place that doesn’t exist in a real life city, fans will notice these things and they will tell you about it. 
    I have found that in subsequent novels in the series, that it is more comfortable working with my characters. I know them well now and I have my favorites. I feel my stories are character driven rather than plot driven. As they are crime novels, it doesn’t take much to find a crime story to write. Just turn on the nightly news or check the internet. But to take those stories and make them real, I need great characters. They must be people the reader can love or hate, empathize with or not, cheer for or boo. That is why I invest so much time in making sure I know them as intimately as I know myself. This is why I chose to write my series with a new protagonist in each novel.

    Using a different protagonist in each book gives me the freedom to give my reader an intimate look at all of the recurring characters. In Perfidy, the protagonist is Mandy Stevenson. She is the daughter of Captain Robert Stevenson, the head of the Homicide and Robbery Division. He assigns Brent Freeman and Erica Barnes to assist the missing person detectives in finding his wife. Erica Barnes is the protagonist in the second book of the series, Inconspicuous. You met her in Perfidy, but you get to know a lot more about her in the second book. You will also see the other police officers who were introduced in Perfidy. My hope is that this will not only keep the series fresh for the reader, but for me as the author.

As I wrap it up for today, I invite you to make comments on this blog or to go to my Contact Page and ask any questions or make comments on the content. Tomorrow, I’ll discuss the question, “Now that you are published, do you find it easier to tell people you have to write when they want to visit or ask you to do something?” That one will be brief, but will lead into a discussion of social media.

Until next time.

    Here we are on Day Two and I’m ready to talk about the changes I’ve made after writing my first novel, Perfidy. I’ll also discuss some of the things I did to make improvements in my skills.
     When I started writing Perfidy, it had been twenty-five years since I’d taken my creative writing courses in college. Over the years, I kept up with my personal journals, but most of my writing was in the field of business. I spent most of my adult years as a secretary or administrative assistant. Although creative, business writing and fiction are different animals. Business writing must be concise and to the point where fiction can be more elaborate and descriptive.
     As I thought about the story, I wanted to tell in Perfidy, I came up with a first chapter that set up the story and I wrote the climactic scene. Now, how was I to fill in the middle and do the wrap up at the end. 
     One of the questions asked last Saturday was “Is the current opening chapter the first one you wrote?” I had to answer, yes, sort of. Chapter One is the original chapter revised to make it tighter, but not the original Chapter One I submitted to the publisher. 
    When I wrote the first chapter, I had in mind to have the protagonist, Mandy, file a missing person report and go from there. My dear friend and fellow author, Tricia Zoeller, liked the first chapter, but thought it should come later. So I created this great sexually tense first chapter between the antagonist and her accomplice (no names used) and made the original Chapter One, Chapter Two. I took it to my critique group and was asked if the novel was a mystery-romance to which I said no. 
    I immediately rewrote the chapter to show these two tense individuals out in the lake disposing of something I do not reveal to pull the audience in. Everybody liked it. Then it went to the editor. She felt I might be revealing too much and suggested I shorten it to a half page or one page.
    I chose the half page option, called it a Prologue and now Chapter Two returns to being Chapter One thus making my original first chapter the first one I wrote, but tightened up per my editor.
     The second question we were asked was “How much time did you spend on your first five chapters?” I had to say too much time.
     As I said in a previous paragraph, I wrote the beginning and the climax first and then tried to fill in the middle and the end. I will admit this was a very disorganized way of writing. It made it difficult to keep track of things I’d already mentioned in previous chapters, so I read and reread Perfidy from the beginning too many times, but I had to make sure it was flowing properly. 
     Another thing that slowed me down by reading the manuscript from the beginning was the irresistible urge to edit as I read. By the time I did that, I only wrote one or two new chapters when I probably could have written five. 
     After a few months of this disorganized writing (which bugs someone as organized as I am), I decided I had to do something to help me write without frustration. The first thing I did was create an Excel Spreadsheet to keep track of my characters. In it I have a worksheet of main characters and a worksheet with minor characters. Since I’m writing a series with recurring characters, it’s important that I make sure I always spell their names correctly and don’t put too many Amy’s in the same manuscript.
    The second thing I did was get a large file box and large index cards. I have a file of recurring characters. One each card is the name of the character, their age in the first book in which they appear and a description. With each subsequent novel, I will add information to these cards on events that have taken place in their lives. I don’t want to tell you in Book Two that Erica’s mother died two years ago and then have her mother giving her advice in Book Five.
     The last thing I use to keep things straight is a timeline. I simply find a calendar on Word and use it to jot down a word or two of what happened that day. There’s nothing worse than reading a book that starts out on May 5th and then find out you are into July when you think it should only have been two days.
     Sue asked us if we now handle our writing process differently. Absolutely, starting with the fact that I came up with the three previous organization tools during the time I was writing Perfidy. Now I know to use them right away and I don’t have as much trouble keeping up with where I am in the story.
     In writing my second novel in the series, Inconspicuous, I found myself writing it from beginning to end. I still didn’t use an outline to organize my thoughts as some authors do. It just seemed like the story was there and it just flowed. When I went back through it, I did add more to the personal stories and a few chapters that I felt brought more tension to the story. However, Inconspicuous only took nine months to complete the final draft, where Perfidy took two years.
     Book Three, which is still unnamed, I completed in six months. I was traveling into Chicago from the suburbs on the train, came up with the idea, and wrote a rough outline of the book. Did the use of an outline speed up my process? Maybe a little, but I think part of it is also getting to know my characters in the first two books and prepping them for future novels helps too. By that point, I didn’t have as much to figure out.
     My advice for new authors would be that you have to find your style. Diane always outlines, but I know many others who just write. Some authors take a year or more to write a book and others a month. You have to do what fits your lifestyle and your comfort level. 
     Like your first child, your first novel is the experimental one. You’ll make lots of mistakes and have to do more work than you will in subsequent works. Take advantage of organizations such as Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America. They support new and established authors with many educational opportunities. This is also an opportunity for you to network with other authors and learn from their experiences.
     Tuesday, I will be talking about characters versus story line. See you then.

Until next time.

    On Saturday, January 12, 2013, I was privileged to serve on a panel with D. M. Pirrone (Diane), facilitated by Sue Myers and sponsored by Love is Murder and the Schaumburg Township Public Library. The subject matter was our experiences as first-time published writers—how we got through it and advice on timesavers and mistake avoidance. We had a fabulous, very responsive audience, and I thought maybe I should reach out and share this information with those who could not attend. Since this panel discussion took over an hour in person, I am going to break this up into daily segments with the intent of providing all of the information to you by next Saturday, January 19, 2013.
    I’ll start at the beginning, a good place to start. The first question asked was: When did you decide to write this book, how long did it take you to get that final draft completed, and how did you meet your publisher?
    Always a late bloomer it seemed, I didn’t begin my college career until I was twenty-nine. I’d had in mind since my senior year of high school that I wanted to be a psychotherapist. I loved my psychology classes and had always had a curiosity for how the brain functions and why people commit heinous crimes against other people. Unfortunately, I also discovered that becoming a psychotherapist wasn’t exactly what I expected. 
    During my college days, I also discovered my love for writing and for literature. As much as I enjoyed my psychology, sociology and criminal justice classes, I really loved to write and was darn good at it. Over the years, I have contemplated writing something—I knew there was a novel in me. Of course, a divorce and other life events kept that from the forefront of my mind. It wasn’t until I married my husband, Paul, and all my children were grown that I revisited this desire.
    I quit my full-time job in October 2008 and took a year off to get started. It took me another three months to decide what genre to write. Mystery seemed to be the most comfortable and interesting for me. Writing mysteries would give me a chance to use the knowledge I gained in college, and researching criminal behavior simply fascinates me. At this point in time, a young wife named Stacy Peterson had disappeared, her cop husband claiming she’d run off with another man. This was the “germ” that sparked my creative juices to begin work on Perfidy.
    It took me two years to complete my final draft. That’s fast compared to some other writers. Diane’s novel, No Less in Blood, was a fifteen-year adventure. During the second year while I was perfecting Perfidy, I took on a part-time job, and started working on books two and three of the series. I also started querying agents with no luck. 
    I found a class through McHenry County College’s online program on Getting Published where I was told to send my manuscript directly to the publisher unless they specified not to do so. I sent the manuscript to several publishers and then attended a conference called Love Is Murder held in the Chicago area. At this conference, they have what they call, Pitch-a-Palooza where you can speak with agents and publishers. This is where I met my publisher, Sue Eggerton owner of True Grit Publishing an Imprint of Weaving Dreams Publishing. By March 2011, Sue offered me a contract to publish Perfidy.
    Perfidy was released in November 2012. This is four years, one month from the time I decided to get started writing to publication. I was very lucky, because it usually takes much longer for this to occur. 
    My advice to up and coming authors would be to have patience. If you don’t have patience, this process will be very painful. You must accept the fact that your first draft will not be perfect and will in no way be ready to publish. You must accept criticism gracefully, knowing that people are trying to help you, not hurt you. Use the critical advice you feel is pertinent and dismiss the rest. Be persistent in your quest, but always take another look if you have a hand full of rejections. Most agents and publishers won’t explain why they are rejecting you, so you must be vigilant in looking at your work to see where there may be flaws. Sometimes hiring a good editor will assist you in this quest. 
    Most of all don’t stop writing. Many bestselling authors will tell you their first novel is in a drawer or on a shelf somewhere unpublished. Some wait until they are well established before they push to have it published. 
    I hope this introduction to our panel discussion is helpful. Stay tuned for Monday’s Day Two entry when I will discuss the process of writing Perfidy in more detail. I will be sharing my writing process and how it has changed over the span of four books.

Until next time.

    The holidays are over and winter has finally come to Chicagoland—I think. Anyway, this is a good time to stay indoors and peck away at the keyboard.     
    I’ve already started a short story trying my hand at some paranormal prose. I’m also thinking of creating a private detective series. Of course, the Circle City Mystery Series is my first priority, but that doesn’t mean I can’t channel my talents in different directions.
    Perfidy is doing well and I am getting a lot of very positive feedback from readers. Many acquaintances who’ve read the book have told me they love it and can’t wait to read the next one, Inconspicuous (September 2013). These comments have sparked me to push myself harder to produce even better works. The third book in the series is in the hands of the publisher so I hope it will be accepted soon.
    Of course, one thing that makes it difficult to make time for writing is the amount of time spent promoting myself and Perfidy. I will be at the Schaumburg Township District Library on Saturday, January 12, 2013 with author D. M. Pirrone author of No Less in Blood. We will be speaking on how we went from the first word to publication. I love doing this sort of thing. I hadn’t really thought I’d like public speaking, but I do. I plan to follow up with libraries and other local bookstores to set up talks and book signings. But when will I have time to write?
    With the necessity to use social media, appearances, phone calls and the like, it is easy for an author to get so busy that the writing suffers. I didn’t write anything except a blurb in this blog during the month of December. I was so glad that I didn’t have anywhere to be that last weekend of December through New Year’s Day. I was able to find my creative energy again. 
    So, keep an eye out for a variety of works from me soon. I hope those of you out there who purchased Perfidy will send feedback via the Contact Page of this website or through comments on the Barnes and Noble or Amazon websites.
    Thank you for your support and have a wonderful and productive New Year.

Until next time.