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New, New, New

I have updated just about every page on this site! Whew! I know I don’t have a lot of pages, but still. The About page is new, the My Writing page is new, I posted the first chapter of Hex, and I updated all my sidebars. I had planned to do this much earlier this year, but…well, I didn’t. :)

I’ve taken down the Twitter widget because I never use Twitter, but I’m very active on Pinterest if anyone wants to look me up, and while I’ve not had a great history of keeping current on Goodreads, I’ve still been better at it than at updating this site. But I’m planning to be here on the site more often in the future, so come back soon!

Happy 2013!

Time to dust off the site! If you’ve found your way here, I’m happy to have you! I let my domain renewal lapse a couple months ago, but now I’m back in business and ready to get things up to date and up to speed. New Year’s Resolutions and all that.

So I hope to be seeing you soon. Have a great 2013!

Musings: Historicals

Every spring, daffodils bloom in a corner of my yard near where a house used to be. Once in a while a chunk of the old foundation or a piece of netting from a screen door turns up beside those flowers, but the house was torn down thirty years ago, and it was unlived-in for another twenty-plus years before that. And every spring, I look at those flowers and wonder about the housewife who probably planted them.

For me, writing and reading novels with historical settings has a lot to do with those daffodils, and with all those tiny relics of the past. When I see those flowers, I feel a connection to this unknown woman who planted them. They are a legacy she left behind, one which bridges the gap between times to remind me of a common human thread. That’s what history and archaeology are all about, linking us with our brethren from long ago, reminding us of our deep human connections. And it goes further than that, I believe. When we open ourselves to this true purpose of studying history, we gain a deeper appreciation not just for our connection to peoples of the past, but to other people in our modern world, and gain a deeper sense of our own potential and possibilities.

Historical novels are a part of that. They may be fictional, but they are, when well-written, built on the firm foundations of the past. Studying history is sometimes mired in dates and analysis. Historical novels are the daffodils. They are a way to look back and see the simple wants and needs of men and women like you and me, to appreciate the things that don’t make it into the history books. They may not be vital to understanding history, but they are a means of connecting to humanity.

Musings: Accepting Your Unique Writing Process

Some writers work fast. Some writers work slow. Very slow. There’s a lot of pressure in the writing/publishing world to write on at least a book a year pace. There’s pressure from readers, too, as we can see from the way some readers bemoan the length of time they have to wait for George R.R. Martin’s books, for example.

And we unpublished authors don’t escape the pressure, either, as we watch writers we’ve known for years sign book deals and rack up adoring fans. We scramble to squeeze more writing hours into our days, but find ourselves spending less time with the people we love. We skip steps in our writing process, thinking they’re slowing us down, but end up with an inferior product. We cut back on novel reading to give ourselves more time to write, but find ourselves out of touch with the market and uninspired to create our own magic.

Recently, I’ve come to accept the way I work. No two writers work alike, and you have to be true to your own process. When discussing voice and style, we always emphasize the importance of finding your own, a voice and style that is all yours and not an imitation of someone else’s. Why can’t we do that with the writing process? Trying to be more efficient, trying to make your process better, is one thing. Trying to throw out everything that helps you write well just because it’s not “fast enough” is something else.

Chances are that the way you write reflects your personal learning style. I first discovered learning styles while doing research on how to tailor lessons for my kids (who I homeschool), and it completely altered the way I look at myself and how I work. Using myself as an example: I tend to write slow because the story doesn’t reveal itself to me all at once. Writing is very much a layering process for me; I get my ideas on paper, then see connections between them, get those on paper, and see even more connections. It can be very frustrating to realize something that should have been obvious from the beginning. Especially because it triples the amount of time and work I have to do.

But when I learned about the visual-spatial learning style, it suddenly made sense. Unlike auditory-sequential learners, visual-spatial learners don’t think, well, sequentially. Auditory-sequential learners can take an idea or fact and progress easily onto the next logical step. Visual-spatial learners tend to need a bunch of ideas or facts that they can “spread out” in their minds before they can make connections between them.

I have a theory that many slow writers are visual-spatial learners. I’m sure quite a few faster writers have visual-spatial tendencies, too, but that’s not the point. The point is, our writing process is what it is because it’s hard-wired into our brains. Your writing process stems from a vital aspect of what makes you you. For example, if you were an auditory-sequential rather than a visual-spatial (or vice-versa), you wouldn’t be writing this exact story. Your learning process itself would change the way your work unfolds.

So if you write every day and are dedicated to your craft, but still seem to move at a snail’s pace, don’t beat yourself up–this is what I’ve learned. Embrace your process, don’t fight it. For me, my work has gotten better for recognizing it.

Musings: Writing Through Tragedy

Writing through tragedy…I’ve tried to write this post a dozen times. It’s a hard process to write about because it’s a hard thing to do. It’s been said before that writing through personal tragedy can be theraputic, even if you can’t use these pieces for publication. And agents caution against sending them your tragically-inspired but unmarketable manuscripts. I can’t really add anything new to that. What I can offer is my own testimony–one writer’s account of writing through tragedy.

The topic has been on my mind lately because today, my daughter (who was stillborn) would have been one year old. We knew about her severe genetic condition prior to her birth, which in some ways made it easier when the time came, but it also made it a long, drawn-out ordeal. I can’t offer any sage wisdom, only offer up the things I learned along the way. And yes, I found writing theraputic. As writers, it is through the written word that we explore concepts, situations, angles on the world. I think that’s why writing through tragedy has such value for us. I wrote in my journal, I worked on my wip…And any tragedy is going to stir up raw, passionate emotions–the stuff of good fiction. It opens your eyes to deep things you don’t always think about, makes you think of how fragile the world really is. Even if what you’re writing is a different situation than what you’re going through, those dramatic thoughts and feelings can be useful in adding dimension to a book.

In whatever form it takes, I think the ultimate professional benefit of writing through tragedy is to connect with people, even help them, somehow. Plugging raw emotion and contemplative prose into your wip builds a sense of camraderie between reader and writer, even if indirectly. But as I said, writing was theraputic for me as well. In a tragedy, it seems like there’s this almost universal desire to do something, to help somehow, to contribute in some way–especially when the tragedy revolves around your own child. And one way writing was theraputic for me: I wrote my daughter a story. In that terrible time, there wasn’t a lot I had control over, and even though her genetic condition was no fault of my own, a parent always feels like it’s her fault when something is wrong with her children. Writing this story for her was the one thing I knew I could do right. And that feeling of being in control of something helped enormously.

So no, I haven’t reinvented the wheel with this post, but sometimes examples of experiences carry more weight than rote instruction and advice. And as novelists and fiction readers, we’re always on the lookout for a story to connect to in some way. This is mine.

Musings

Author Websites

It’s done.

Or is it? I’ve had a lot to think about in redesigning my site, spent several months researching what I wanted and how I wanted to do it, and I’ve come to realize that Dan Gillmor is right when he says in Mediactive, “You’ll never be finished…Your home base will always be a work in progress because you are a work in progress.” It’s a concept that certainly applies to authors who are designing web homes, but it overflows into our work* as well, and it also applies to readers, in a sense**. This concept of being works-in-progress has broad significance.

But my question for today is, what is it to build a home base–an author website–that reflects oure evolving personas? And since an author’s primary motive in having a website is to build a following of people who will buy her books (in the future, in my case!), we must next ask how we can be true to these personas while attracting readers to our books from our sites. The key, I think, is honesty–in our goals, in our tone, in our committments. And the ability to decide for oursieves what we should or shouldn’t include on our sites. If we decide to blog twice a week because it’s standard advice, we’re not being honest, are we? Our false enthusiasm, our scouring for something–anything–to write about, trying to fit into the author mold…this is something I and many others have done before. It is honesty in a sense; it is an exploration of the images we want to project. But as we grow, we should strive for greater honesty.

Some author websites will be extensive. Others will merely act as portals to our presences on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, and the like. What’s important is not only to decide which suits us best, but to recognize that what suits us now may not suit us a year from now. A successful website should be flexible enough to accomodate our ever-changing personas.

What makes a website flexible? First, we must keep in mind that our website is our base of operations. People can come here to learn about you, from you. That said, there are a plethera or ways people can learn about you, even if all you’re doing in some cases is directing visitors to your Facebook or Twitter feeds. The point is, directing people to go there from your website tells teh something abotu you in and of itself–it tells them which media you update most frequently, for one. There are lots of things you can do inside this box. You can use your site’s blog for brief news and updates whenever these crop up, a place for monthly musings, a place for giveaways, as a daily sounding board, or whatever fits the way you live online. You can include links to your other online activities in a sidebar, or if it’s extensive, you can put these on a separate page on your site. you can use a features page to discuss your favorite writing resources or your favorite authors or as a link list containing your other essays and articles. you can write a long bio for your about page or a short one with a link to your group blog as “a way to learn more” about you.

We know that an author website contains four or five basic parts–a home page, an about page, a writing page, contact info, and sometmes a page or section to share miscellaneous info relevant to you and your work. As you can see from above, this basic format offers a lot of flexibility. Your site’s actual content can be long or short, but it must be thorough, and it must be accurate. This, I believe, is the key to a good website rather than a rigid formula that dictates exactly what to include and when. Once more teh focus is on quality, not quantity, of content. Not all author sites fit this requirement–how many times have you visited an author blog or site and left disappointed in its lack of good information? A good website should be thorough by answering the readers’ basic questions: who are you, what have you written, why did you write it, when did you write it or when can they get it, where can they get it or where is it set. You can be as succinct or expansive as you want, but when you use the 5 Ws, that’s a good start to quality content.

And to that end, I do hope you’ll find this site’s latest evolution to be thorough, accurate, informative, and sometimes entertaining. Please let me know ifyou have any suggestions fo improving the site. I’m also interested in any links or other resources (or your own advice) about successful author websites. A work-in-progress (like me and this site!), after all, can only change for the better by being open to new ideas, to learning all there is to know.

* Since writing is a reflection of ourselves the changes we undergo as people will reflect in our work. Thus, while each individual novel will at some point cease to be a work-in-progress an author’s body of work will shift in mood, tone, and theme as the author matures.

** People are not static, so as they grow, their reading tastes may change. They may continue to read in one particular genre, but there’s a lot of variety within each genre–especially now, as subgenres blossom and fade and genres meet and mingle in fascinating new ways. Book reviewers, then, provide a valuable service by helping readers identify the traits they enjoy in a book at this stage of their lives. I once wrote a brief post relating to this idea.

New Excerpts and Coming Changes

To avoid any ado…

1.)   I’ll be pulling the old Hex excerpt from this site and replacing it with what you’ll see below.

2.)   Accompanying this switching of excerpts, a few changes will be coming to this blog and site. At one time, I blogged quite a bit, but since my blogging has dwindled, I’m modifying the feed into a monthly “column” of sorts called Musings, where I’ll spend a little time once a month trying to be insightful and witty and, you know, stuff. I just can’t keep up with a blog anymore—obviously, judging from my lack of posts. But I am on Twitter now. I’m still new and getting my bearings, so please stick it out if you decide to follow me, and I promise I’ll try to figure it out. You can find me under the name KatieVLovett.

And now for the excerpts.

(The longer excerpt previously included on this page has been removed while I do another round of revision. These new excerpts are the opening paragraphs of each of my point-of-view characters’ first point-of-view
scenes. Sorry for the patchiness of these excerpts; my revision methods are weird and all over the place, so these are the things I’m able to share right now—and again, sorry they’re so disjointed.)

#1

Hexeri.

It was witchcraft, it was magic, it was holiness and sin, the cloud of gray and grim that hung over the autumn land. Hexeri. As if nature itself was held in thrall by the otherworld—and it was. Stina knew that. She was a Lutheran after all. She knew that forces dark and light waged war in that other realm, that good would one
day triumph, that love would conquer all. She held fast to that belief as she clutched her cloak tight beneath her chin, spreading grain for the chickens on the ground.

#2

Notes, a hundred thousand notes, filled Varick’s ears. But each song belonged to the same woman. She had hair of pale sun and eyes of pale sky and gown of pale green and soul of black coal. Her voice had the beauty of heaven’s nine choirs, but the menace behind those perfect notes, the vice within her words, marked her as a demon from hell. And Varick was in her arms, wrapped in her hate and swathed in her hair. He was a prisoner of her embrace.

#3

Stina Warman was a summer rain in all its many forms and ways. She was the cool, wet mist on an upturned face; she was the gray of silver damask in the billowing sky above; she was the downpour you could not
ignore, soaking you to the bone; she was the calm that comes after the rain, when the skies are milky and the air is clean. She was the storm under which Johann Oppenheimer wanted to spend the rest of his days, but someone had built a roof over him.

Ponderisms, New Stuff, and Congratulations

Behold:

  1. I have decided to pull Hex from submission. I received some sage personal feedback from two agents and form rejections from all the rest, and I realize that Hex just isn’t ready yet. I love this story. I believe in this story. I know, really and truly know, that this is a story worthy of publication…but not yet. I see that now. So I’ll be going back to work on that after…
  2. I’m working on a new project. A newer new project. I’d been working on my time travel steampunk novel when this new project came along, and it was going pretty well. But you know how you’re working on a story when all of a sudden another story idea jumps out of nowhere and bitch-slaps you, demanding to be written? That’s what happened to me. I’m not really sure about this one. I mean, I love the idea, am having a blast writing it, but it’s kind of weird. I’m not sure how you’d market this one. It would appeal to fans of urban fantasy and paranormal romance, but it’s not either one of those things. It’s a truck stop romance set in a world infested with oversized crustaceans and giant squid, and it’s called The Octopus That Drank Lake Michigan.
  3. With this new novel, I have a pretty diverse collection of stories in some stage of being in progress. I’m trying to figure out how to make this site reflect all of these weird and different from each other stories and still have a unified feel and look. And I’m thinking of altering my online presence in other ways. I used to be an avid blogger. I still enjoy blogging occasionally, but time constraints which I never used to have are making it difficult to blog with both quality and frequency. I’m still going to keep the blog, but how do I want to use it? And do I want to turn to a social networking site as my main way of connecting with other writers and, later, readers? I’ll be figuring out all of this sometime and reporting on the changes when they come.
  4. Lastly, I guess I can share this now, since she’s gone public with it on her own blog. Way back in 2006, I first became friends and critique partners with AG Howard, and after years of hard work, she has now signed her very first book publishing contract with Amulet in a 2-book deal. Hers is a YA novel about what happens when the descendant of Alice of Wonderland fame finds herself on her very own Wonderland adventure. So congratulations, Anita! Here is the link to her announcement. She’s planning to do a series of posts about the submission process soon. I love reading about authors’ journeys to success, so I for one am planning to tune in for those.

Have a lovely day!

Spies

I’ve been wondering how one goes about becoming a spy. Do they major in espionage in college? Do they go to job fairs? Do they have resumes? And what about their employers? Do they post openings on Career Builder? Put signs up outside their offices? “Now Hiring Spies. Apply Inside.”

I wonder how one is hired to be a ninja…

New Writing Gig

After spending a very enjoyable year writing for Debuts and Reviews, I was sad to see it go. The URL still houses a wonderful blog, but the reviews are pretty much gone, and with them my outlet for writing about the sort of books I love.

But a new opportunity has arisen: I will now be writing a speculative fiction column for the Cincinnati edition of the Examiner. For those of you who read my reviews on Debuts and Reviews, this is a little different. Examiner.com is a news site, and I am essentially a reporter. These are third-person articles which top out at 400 words or less. It’s a change and a challenge, and I’m excited about it. It lets me explore topics I never got to write about for Debuts and Reviews, such as local events and other fun stuff. My first post is live, so please do drop by, especially if you enjoyed my reviews at Debuts and Reviews or if you’re local to the Cincinnati area.

As for how this will affect my fiction writing schedule, I don’t see potential for a lot of problems. Writing for Debuts and Reviews was always a great way for me to take a break from my WIP and yet still use those creative writing juices. I always found that writing reviews helped my fiction rather than hindered it, and lately, I’ve really been feeling the need for an outlet like that. I think writing for Examiner.com is just what the doctor ordered.

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  • Note: In the past, I have been active on a number of sites/forums which are either no longer in existence or I am on no longer. Such places include but are not limited to LiveJournal, LibraryThing, Examiner.com, and Debuts and Reviews.
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