Tag Archives: Ashwood Trilogy

The Night Before the Book Launch

Cynthia Kraack Posted on by

Twas the night before the book launch, when all through the house

All the creatures were stirring, except there’s no mouse.

The clothes are all hung in the closet with care,

In hopes that they’ll fit and no one will stare.

 

The husband is nestled all snug in his chair

Watching a home run derby that isn’t there.

And Rocky with his chew bone and me with my book

Have just settled in to have one last look.

 

When out in the Twitter world there rose such chatter,

About Cynthia Kraack at Magers and Quinn. Such clatter.

Down to the basement I flew like a flash,

Practiced once again, swore to make it a smash.

Reality Rings 

Enough fun with words. I should be practicing the readings from Leaving Ashwood one more time. Book and notes on a music stand with the timer on my phone tearing through seconds and minutes. The fourth launch will be totally different than any of the others. For one thing, this book is being launched in Minneapolis, not St. Paul, and on the same night as the MLB All Star Game which starts at the exact same time as my reading. Strike six friends who have tickets to the bigger show.

As a writer you have to hope there will be another book to launch. Maybe that was part of the reason behind selling your publisher on a trilogy. But there are no guarantees in the arts. While my next book will be released early in 2015, I’m going with an indie publisher. I expect the experience will be different.

So we’re partying July 15 at Magers and Quinn with a guest reader and music by The Patience Band. Steve McEllistrem is playing hooky from KFAI Write On! Radio to read from his new book. Speculative fiction meets dystopian fiction with musical accompaniment.

If only I say “incantation” and not “incineration” in the last reading. One more practice.

#MyWritingProcess

Cynthia Kraack Posted on by

A funny thing happens when your new book is released—suddenly there is no time to write. This Fourth of July weekend my family found other sources of entertainment and I divided my hours into segments for writing, book release activities and relaxation. Overall, the decision was right.

Ellen Shriner (wordsisters.wordpress.com) invited me to become part of the #MyWriting Process blog tour. Ellen is serious about writing. Her main work is creative nonfiction. Her professional work is in communications. She has taught writing. She and Elizabeth de Grazia explore a wide variety of topics.

If you’re interested in how other writers manage their creativity, or just curious about writers, click on #MyWritingProcess and enjoy reading.

My published books are speculative fiction. I also write contemporary fiction. Leaving Ashwood completed the Ashwood trilogy that follows a family for 25 years after a global economic collapse. My first novel, Minnesota Cold, won the 2009 NEMBA in Fiction. I have had a number of short stories published as well. In 2010 I completed a M.F.A. at the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast Program in Creative Writing.

What is my writing process? Here are today’s best answers to the four questions.

#1: What am I working on?   Aside from marketing Leaving Ashwood, I am revising a contemporary novel for an indie press. Unfortunately we don’t have a working title to share. I wish I were revising a second contemporary novel. When I am short on time, I write small inserts for that novel. Some of the text will remain backstory; some might be included in the next version.

At any time I am also producing new short stories. I usually have one new story in development. In the past year I assembled a submission calendar and send out a handful of stories each month. I am working on pulling together a short story collection. Last, I have a memoir project about my great-grandmother in an early research stage. Like many writers I teach and do presentations.

#2: How does my work differ from others of its genre? Most speculative fiction has a strong socio-political bend. The genre has also developed a taste for thriller pacing and action. My writing also explores relationship challenges in a future world—what makes a family, gender roles in times of change, the fate of vulnerable populations. The Ashwood trilogy is a family saga as well as all those things speculative fiction must be. I create strong female protagonists whose influence is often intellectual and emotional.

#3: Why do I write what I do? I write fiction because I love fiction. I’ve been a newspaper reporter, a corporate communications professional and a freelancer. While many writers talk about their work being cathartic, my writing may be a way for me to push through concerns about the future. Both of my contemporary novels are about losing a parent. Both were started while my parents were alive. My speculative fiction deals with surviving in a time of infrastructure collapse, about a global depression, about staying relevant regardless of age.

#4: How does your writing process work?  “Where do you get your ideas?” and “Do you write every day?” are the two most common questions I am asked. Truthfully, my stories are often spontaneous.

The second part of that question is thorny. For many years I wrote about six days a week. If nothing flowed, I would use Julia Cameron’s The Artist Way Morning Pages Journal and write three pages. Because of significant family events, that time has shrunk to about four mornings and a few afternoons including time working on my blog, marketing activities and true writing. My typical working times have always been early morning or late evening.

I wrote Minnesota Cold without any planning. I knew the main character and had written a short story about her life. Then I wrote until the book was done. Then I rewrote the book in a different voice. Then I got serious. It was a tremendously inefficient way to write a book. For the Ashwood trilogy I created the dramatic arc of the three books then wrote a few paragraphs for each book about the main character, the family and the world in which the story would happen. I outlined one of the books and found that didn’t work for me. I created a storyboard for the other two books with a few paragraphs about critical events or changes and found this approach clicked. I’ve used the storyboard technique for my second contemporary novel.

It is critical for me to be able to create a “What is this story about” page which will hopefully be distilled to a one sentence description later. A writing group of established writers continues to be important. Their input often drives significant rewriting or subtle changes.

When a large piece is complete I like to set it aside for a few months then read it from start to finish with a highlighter and colored paper flags nearby. From this read I draft questions, study characters, develop revision direction. I also assemble a set of fact sheets at this time to keep track of simple facts and plot points. Then I tackle rewriting. And tackle it again. And again. When I feel the project is nearly complete I ask a very small group of readers to read the manuscript. Then I rewrite.

The process is always a work in change. I learn with each project what worked or needs improvement.

Next Writer: Gary Lindberg has agreed to grab the baton and join the #MyWritingProcess blog tour.

I’ll use his own words to introduce Gary: “I am a recovering filmmaker with over 100 national and international awards, including writing and producing “That Was Then, This Is Now”, starring Morgan Freeman and Emilio Estevez, for Paramount. Since turning to writing novels, chiefly thrillers and historical fiction, I have published an unbroken string of four bestsellers, the first of which was The Shekinah Legacy, which was the #1 bestselling thriller on Amazon in 2012. In late 2012 I founded a publishing company called Calumet Editions, which has now published about a dozen talented authors in many genres—mostly fiction, but also non-fiction.”

Gary is a fascinating person…and writer. It’s hard to believe that this gentle soul manages to kill off so many characters in every thriller. His writing process description must be interesting.

Thanks for reading. Please come back to visit. My posts are always much shorter.

Skin in the Game: Marketing Expenses

Cynthia Kraack Posted on by

A business blogger tells writers to take responsibility for their own marketing, to have skin in the game. Kirkus invites publishers of all sizes to submit books for review with the stipulation that “authors must have zero financial responsibility for the book’s publication (note: this does not include marketing).”

Small publishers do what they can to support their writers and remain financially viable. At AWP 2014, a literary publicist said most publisher expect writers to use advances to pay for promotion of the book. Large publishers while placing major marketing budgets behind big name authors do also create a solid backdrop for all other authors to go out and sell. Advance reader copies, a sales force, point of sales items, website pages, the power of a big imprint are significant. Most writers published by small presses receive a handful of free advance reader copies, pay their own publicist and bear the cost of book travel.

Of course the small press might be looking for sales of seven hundred or fifteen hundred books over a year to break even versus ten thousand in ninety days so there is less pressure. Unless the author wants to cover expenses like that publicist’s contract, printed marketing materials, and travel. Added to the hundreds of hours spent writing the book, writers do have a very lot of skin in this game.

What does it cost to market a book? There are companies willing to sell self-published authors all kinds of services ranging from around a thousand dollars upwards to twenty or thirty thousand.  Think of what is needed in today’s market: website, social media presence, publicity, travel, free give aways. With over a million new titles released each year, grabbing an audience of a thousand or two thousand readers is part strategy, part magic.

Harvesting Ashwood sold over 4,100 electronic copies in six months.  The royalties weren’t much because of discounts and distributor expenses. My publisher feels the groundwork has been laid for Leaving Ashwood this summer. A possible publisher of a second novel to be released later this year feels the same.

The dirty little secret for most writers is the road to success is a whole lot like the South Park’s Underpants Gnomes model– Phase 1: Sell book to publisher. Phase 2: ? Phase 3: Big Profit!

Life Balance

Cynthia Kraack Posted on by

Yesterday was a life balance day. I worked intensely to meet a self-imposed deadline related to Christmas then kicked all the way back. First a birthday dinner with our son, then two wonderful hours spent reading while watching The Voice.  On my desktop a new project (“A Christmas Story”) has been untouched for two days. In the mess on my physical desktop two cover mockups for Leaving Ashwood screamed for attention. But my mind wasn’t willing and a whole lot of little aches from a good morning workout pushed me toward goofing off.

What I should call that is two hours of achieving balance which sounds a whole lot better than two hours goofing off. January’s Simple magazine arrived last week with the entire issue dedicated to the elusive topic of achieving balance. When I was a corporate manager I taught other corporate types all about setting priorities and living purposeful lives in Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. I knew the tools and theory behind a life with balance, but had two kids, demanding parents, and a fledgling creative writing life. So in that era I kept three “To Do” lists, each on a different color paper, representing the different buckets of my world. No matter how much I wanted to begin with the end in mind, life balance remained another pressure without much pleasure.

Writing doesn’t forgive days spent away from task. Writing group gathers whether you met the Sunday deadline for circulating materials. Publications don’t flex on submission deadlines. If you don’t write, stories are as attractive as cars without tires. Writing is not unlike dragging around an unfinished graduate thesis while academic deadlines approach or disappear. Walking the stage is a personal goal and responsibility. Do it or don’t do it.

I still make weekly lists. One is for the stuff of life like buying my son a birthday card and is written on whatever notebook needs to be finished. One is for my work with lots of time for writing, less time for meetings, submissions, research and such. This one is written on specific legal pads.

Last night I goofed off. This morning I feel guilty (a little) and refreshed (a little). So at least my feelings are balanced. Cross off ‘write new blog’.

 

 

Of Puppies and Revisions

Cynthia Kraack Posted on by

Rocky recently joined our household. He is a fur ball of energy. We’ve laughed over his insane play, grown tired of his sharp teeth testing toes, rewarded outside pooping, and begun teaching the many lessons a puppy needs to co-exist with humans. (I promise this will turn to writing strategy and not be a gushing puppy love piece.)

The puppy training bible recommends owners remember that everything done in these early months establish the rhythms and rules of a dog’s entire life. The writer, probably sitting next to a calm adult dog, encourages patient and thoughtful responses to cute, but crazy, puppy actions. Rocky is our fifth consecutive furry family member so we’re not strangers to this process. Patience and thoughtfulness can be tough challenges at five in the morning or after the third accident of the day.

Revising the last book of the Ashwood trilogy, the puppy bible writer’s words come to mind.  Slow down, treat the manuscript carefully, be thoughtful, don’t let frustration push action.  That makes sense. Right?

Writers have their own revision processes. Boman Desai, the kind of writer who handles words like a musician searching for dynamics, shared one part of his process with a MFA literary fiction workshop group. He circulated copies of worksheets, each with a sentence on the top and lines and lines of subtle changes—maybe placing a comma in a different place, replacing a word, adding a single syllable adjective to create new rhythm. Some of the sentences went through more than a dozen changes, others a handful. The Memory of Elephants, the novel for which he is best known, is well-crafted literary fiction.

Jodi Picoult has four people reading her work as she writes then incorporates their recommendations in revisions. She says she writes until she is sick of the book and knows there will be more revisions as the books moves through her publisher.

Revision work is challenging. It is like cooking an incredible meal then not sharing it until each course  has been broken apart,  seasonings or baking times adjusted. Sometimes the entire order of the dishes must be changed; sometimes a favorite must be scrapped.  And what I want to do is set the table and invited my friends to sit down.

The puppy bible writer inspired a breakthrough moment: Is it possible to turn the concept of “working on revision” to patiently moving through the second creative phase of writing a book? With each book I am changing my revision style and understanding that if I push beyond looking at the mechanics of sentences and paragraphs, discovery is a delightful part of the process. Maybe Rocky’s training will mark a time of growth for me as well–from dutiful revising writer to author engaged in a continuous creative process.

 

 

 

 

Music and Writing

Cynthia Kraack Posted on by

Some nights, silence is the best music as words become sentences and paragraphs fill the page. Some nights the womanly voices of Adele or Bonnie Raitt lure creativity onto a blank page then another and another. Or maybe lost in the beat of Justin Timberlake or Dave Matthews or old Rolling Stones, a new chapter rolls to completion.

There was a time music was a required part of my writing routine. I had to be in a private place where I could listen to a specific CD without earphones. Unlike time at the gym when music improved my activity level, bringing the sound right into my head didn’t inspire. My feet might be tapping, but most likely my fingers weren’t doing the same on the keyboard.

Through a difficult revision of the last book of the Ashwood trilogy, George Winston was comforting. The piano reminded me that I needed to move toward a deadline even if winter sun on snow-covered trees could be stared at for hours.  Indie Crystals in the Deep was strangely the right backdrop for new work on a novel centering on conversations between an adult daughter and her father.

Writers tend to have strong feelings about writing in their version of silence, in the chatter of coffee shops, with public radio’s continuous soft voices, or accompanied by music. The challenge for any of us is truly writing through the many sounds of the world.