down the writer's path

No Plot? No Problem! author comes to town

Well, the contest is on and I’ve logged in 1,574 words toward the 50,000 needed. If any of you Houston readers have decided to join in on the fun—I know a few of you have—you might want to think about attending Chris Baty’s booksigning later this month.

Chris Baty is the founder of the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and is making the rounds promoting his new book No Plot? No Problem! The book came out of his experience as founder and participant of the annual Nanowrimo event and is full of tips, tricks, and strategies to get that novel out of your mind and onto paper.

Here are the booksigning details:

Chris Baty
No Plot? No Problem!Thursday, November 18, 2004
7:30 pm
Barnes and Noble
7626 Westheimer

If you’re looking for a local writer’s group, you might check the Thursday night group that meets weekly at the same Barnes and Noble. I understand several are also participating in the Nanowrimo Contest. The folks get together for critiques and shop talk. They also plan to visit with Chris on the 18th. For those of you in the northwest area, the Northwest Nanowrimo writers are planning a get together this Friday. I’ll post details tomorrow.

If you’re involved in this year’s Nanowrimo’s contest, Chris will also be meeting with the Houston contingent but I don’t have all the details. I’ll post them when I have them confirmed. Right now I have to conjure up the next scene on my way to fifty thousand words.

News Flash: First book review--Fallen Angel Reviews--in for Divided Loyalties

Came home last night to find an email from Fallen Angels Review saying the review had been posted on my new book, Divided Loyalties. That was a knot-in-the-pit-of-the-stomach moment. Thankfully, to paraphrase Sally Fields, "she--the reviewer--liked it. I particularly enjoyed, "Vikk Simmons has an amazing ability to make the reader care for these characters." The book is on Awe-Struck's "Coming Soon" page with a August 7, 2004 release date. August 7th happens to be my parent's 62nd anniversary. Hope it bodes longevity for my book, as well. I'm still learning all about e-books; I do know the book will be available in several formats, including those for e-book readers, on disk, and in a downloadable file to read on-screen or to print. So anyone should be able to find a format that will work for them. The publisher, Awe-Struck, has a very user-friendly site full of information for potential readers. Clink on the upper righthand "Where to Begin" section on the home page to learn about the company and their books, and how to read them. (Note: Check back for the rest of Kimberly Morris's interview tonight and tomorrow.)

What do BookExpo, Clinton’s My Llfe, and President Reagan’s funeral have in common?

Well, that combination's quite a stretch, some of you may say, but I ask you to hear me out. Two days before President Reagan’s death, former President Clinton gave the keynote address to this year’s Chicago BookExpo. For those of you who may not know, BookExpo is “the” place to be if you have a book coming out during the next fall or spring publishing cycle. Clinton’s book, My Life, is scheduled for release June 22. The reason for his speech? Marketing. His job? To instill a fervor in the crowd and talk among the publishing community—as if there wasn’t any already—so they would hand-carry his book to the multitude of readers, the willing and the unwilling, ready to plunk down the hefty price of a hardcover book to learn all. This would be a “tell-all,” right? The media, knowing timing is everything, had already moved into place. Book excerpts had been contracted, audio streams made available, and all were poised, ready and waiting, for the gun to go off.

Books Matter: Harry Potter and the bottomline

In past years, there's been some doom and gloom expressed over the decline of reading and the “literacy” of the American population. Books don’t matter, they say. They have no real relevance in today’s world. Really? No so, according to Paul R. La Monica, CNN/Money senior writer. Fact: “Since the first book was published in the U.S., shares of Scholastic have outperformed the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq.”

Books matter. They matter in ways you haven’t considered—or want to consider. Books have an impact on the bottom line, particularly if the company is a publishing company.

The Chick Lit Challenge

Before you get too excited, know we are not talking chewing gum here. Nope, it's the latest hot trend in women's fiction that inspires today's post. Chick lit imprints have been popping up across the literary landscape and female readers have been grabbing the books as fast as their spines hit the shelves. As I mentioned over at Blog Trek, it would appear some folks have a few qualms about this latest phenomena women's fiction. Take a look at Anjula Razdan's article in the March/April issue of Utne:

The Chick Lit Challenge (Promo) Anjula Razdan

"But a lot of people are still worried about the influence of the popular genre of fiction known as 'chick lit.' You know, those ubiquitous novels with pastel-colored dust jackets bearing whimsically retro images of cocktail glasses, trendy purses, and spiky heels. With titles like Running in Heels: A Novel, Shopaholic Ties the Knot, and Thirty Nothing, chick lit relays breezy tales of spunky professional urban women worrying about their bosses, their weight, their boyfriends, and their Jimmy Choo shoes. The genre is wildly successful -- and that, oddly enough, is the problem."

I'm sure the writers, as well as the readers, will be pleased to know that the books have been identified as the latest in popular trash. I guess the question is: Can a New Millenium woman have her trash and retain her feminist membership card, too?

Read 'em and weep...?

Book covers and design: Whose art is it?

Okay, reader Mike Perry raised the question about cover iterations and what authors have to go through. He asked: Do you see many changes to the artwork as the book matures? Is it something you decide relatively early on in the process and it stays kinda static?

Well, for many—make that most—authors the answer would be “not much.”

Nancy Drew bigger and better or just one more retread?

Scanning Publisher's Lunch this morning, I discovered Nancy Drew is being trotted out one more time but as a woman for the 21st century. USA Today's Gary Strauss commented on the "heavy dose of 21st-century hipness and relevancy" being injected in the Nancy Drew series, beginning with four new books coming in March. (S&S plans to issue six books a year.) 'She tools around River Heights in an environmentally friendly, gas/electric hybrid car. She uses computers to solve detective work. And she tells her crime-fighting tales in first person.' Meanwhile, the first Nancy Drew mystery still sells; THE SECRET OF THE OLD CLOCK is said to have sold 150,000 hardcovers last year (that's what it says)."
USA Today story

As I read this I recalled Houston's mystery writer Joan Lowrey Nixon's comments in an interview a couple of years ago. She spoke of the inspiration she received as a young girl from reading the Nancy Drew books. (On a sad note, Joan--a 5-time Edgar winner--left us last year but her lifetime achievement in writing is a source of inspiration for other writers and a continued pleasure-filled reading experience for young adults and children.) “Nancy Drew was ahead of her time because she was so independent,” said Joan. “She had that independence kids craved. She didn't have to ask permission for anything. She just did it."

Will the "hip, new" Nancy Drew catch on? She will if Simon and Schuster and Her Interactive have anything to do with it. They've already licensed the name and have Nancy Drew "apparel, video games and backpacks." Now USA Today reports the publisher and Warner Brothers are considering a film. Will The Case of the Branding of Nancy Drew make it to the silver screen soon? Probably not, a woman of the 21st century must go DVD.