Author Archive
The Joy of Books!
By Dame Toni
I don’t have television.
That’s not to say I don’t have a television–as it happens, I have two. I just don’t currently have a way to watch them.
Since those darned publishers expect me to actually write the book before they pay me for it, and I still have a hundred or so pages to go, I find myself with what is euphemistically called “a temporary cash flow issue.” So, I am doing without a few things that are not absolutely necessary. And, in my house, when it comes down to a choice between premium cable and premium cat food, Simon and Sandy outvote me two to one.
I figured, “How bad could it be?” I turned off the cable.
I know many authors who claim not even to own a television, or to watch it so rarely that they are completely unaware of what’s on. But when you start a discussion about the effective use of morally ambiguous characters, sexual tension or sparkling dialog, they will happily jump in with examples from Breaking Bad, Castle and Harry’s Law.
I admit it – I love television. I’m from the first generation whose mothers gratefully used the TV as a pacifier. I found an old, grainy picture of me, circa 1960, propped in a walker in front of one of those tiny-tube-in-a-huge-box models, with the only light in the room coming from the television and its reflection on my face. My rapt expression is just short of hypnosis. Maybe not short.
But, until the last year or so, it was something I watched when it was convenient. I would rather be out and about and, if that meant I missed an episode of my favorite show, so what? With a couple of exceptions, I could not have told you which show was on which night. Then, something happened. I started looking forward to Thursday so that I could see (my fiancé) Simon Baker on The Mentalist. I planned Sunday evenings around The Walking Dead.
I got a real wake-up call when a question on a consumer survey asked me how many hours a week I spent watching television, and I really sat down to figure it out. I had a hard time making myself check the accurate box, even knowing the anonymous results counters would not know who I was, or give a fig if they did.
So I felt kind of virtuous about turning off the cable. It would be good for me. I’d have more time to read. I’d have more time to write.
And, after a period of adjustment, it worked.
Not so much for the writing–the number of hours I write a day has never been influenced by television. If I’m on a roll, I don’t stop for Grey’s Anatomy. If I’m not on a roll, I’ll take any excuse, up to and including cleaning the cat box, to stop.
As for the reading…total success. I am working my way through the NINE novels I agreed to judge for the Rita Awards and have finally made it past the sixth installment of The Wheel of Time (I had to start over at the beginning to avoid confusion. I mean, just how many characters can one series have?).
I am apparently the last Urban Fantasy author in the world who had not read The Hunger Games, and now I know why everyone is so excited about the upcoming movie.
I throw out magazines AFTER actually reading them. That backed-up stack of my friends’ books that I haven’t had time for no longer seems like the impossible dream.
Once my advance check comes, will I turn the cable back on? Probably. Oh, who I am kidding—DEFINITELY. But I don’t plan on ever having to check that embarrassing box on the consumer surveys again!
Three “A-ha” Moments
“Aha” Moment #1:
And, no, I don't mean the 80's band.
I heard a parable the other day.
The Devil decided to have a garage sale. He had a huge spread of curiosities and collectibles for sale, including lots and lots of tools.One of the browsers noticed that there was one tool that, rather than being displayed with the others, had been set off in a corner. He pointed to the item and asked the devil, “How much for that one?”
“That one’s not for sale,” the Devil replied.
“Why not?” asked the customer.
“Because it’s the most powerful tool I own,” the Devil replied. “I can do without the others, but that one I will never sell.”
“Really?” asked the customer, his curiosity buzzing. “What is it?”
“That,” the Devil replied, “Is discouragement.”
“Aha” moment #2
A few days later I was doing some reading and came across the following quote:
You can succeed at Almost anything for which you have limitless enthusiasm. The world belongs to the enthusiastic…Some people freeze in winter; others ski.
- John Mason
Aha moment #3. 
This morning, I was asked to do an exercise during which I wrote down a list of things that make me truly happy, and I included, “When I’m writing and get so caught up that I forget my surroundings and lose track of time.”
Together, these three “aha” moments combined to give me a simple resolution for 2013.
EVERY DAY, REMEMBER HOW MUCH I LOVE TO WRITE.
Thanks, Universe. I needed that.
Be Careful What You Wish For…
By Dame Toni
I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.
Douglas Adams, English humorist & science fiction novelist (1952 – 2001)
News flash: Life doesn’t stop for deadlines.
I probably have no business complaining about having a deadline. Having a deadline means I have a contract, and having a contract means I am being paid to write. And while, in my rational moments, I recognize that this is a good thing, I’m now down to 72 hours and there are several big chunks of my book missing. As in completely missing. As in not written yet. 
In some novel I read (can’t remember the title right now) there’s this chapter in which an author goes into a kind of writing trance and writes around the clock for three days. He’s so engrossed in the process that he’s not even aware of how much time has passed, or if he ate or slept (his family has been dropping off food and drink, taking away dirty plates and cups, and throwing a blanket over him when he naps on a loveseat in his office). At the end of the three days he looks at his finished (brilliant) manuscript and barely remembers how it came to pass.
*Sigh.*
I wish I could snap my fingers and go into that kind of trance. In the past, I’ve gotten carried away while writing, but never for more than an hour or two. And, even if I could make it happen at will, I live alone, so there is no one to toss the occasional sandwich at me.
And then there’s life. A cat disappears and evokes hours of fruitless searching. The company that I’ve been trying to talk into hiring me as a permanent, part-time employee has their own killer deadline, and the office manager calls me in a panic. Because I need to demonstrate my reliability (and pay the past-due cable bill), I agree to help out. The car breaks down. The roof leaks, and the weather turns rainy. I run out of cream for my coffee and have to go to the grocery store. Fox airs the series premier of Terra Nova. My brother has a family emergency and needs my help.
Those of you yearning for book deals, first, be careful what you wish for. Second, impose deadlines anyway. Yup. Make your own. And, when life happens, deal with it.
An old critique partner of mine, back before she got published, had been writing aimlessly for years. She spent a lot of time at it, but if you asked her what she did, she would say, “I’m a housewife.”
Once she started working with our critique group, she started making deadlines for herself, so that she would always have new pages to show us. One day she came to a critique meeting and told us a story. She said that she’d accompanied her husband to a formal business function, and was being introduced at the opening cocktail party. When someone asked her what she did, she said, “I’m a writer.” She didn’t plan this consciously, it just came out. She told me and our other critique partners that, once she started giving herself goals and specific deadlines, she started to really feel like a writer for the first time.
She had tears in her eyes when she told us about it.
So, if you haven’t already, go ahead and make yourself a deadline. I dare you.
Ask A Published Author
By Dame Toni
It’s my day to post, and my schedule has decided to bite me in the you-know-what. I only have a few minutes here and there to stop by – no time to write a full article. BUT, I can drop in from time to time and answer questions. So…
I’m the President of a local writer’s organization, and at each meeting we have a feature called “Ask a Published Author.” No question is too silly or naive, and we will admit when we don’t know the answers to the hard ones.
Ask me anything you want about writing or the publishing industry and I drop in and out over today and the rest of the weekend and do my best to answer.
I’m looking forward to seeing your questions….
Dame Toni
Bye-bye, Borders
By Dame Toni:
So it’s going to be ninety-something today in Connecticut. And I don’t have air conditioning, in my home, or in my car.
This is not as horrible as it sounds – I live about eight feet from a lovely spring-fed lake that, even though it is summer warm, is still in the 70’s and very refreshing. The problem is, although I have a number of wonderful examples of modern technology surrounding me, none of them works underwater (although I have been known to put my AlphaSmart in a big Ziploc baggie and take it kayaking).
Luckily, we only get a few days of the “Triple-H” (hot, hazy, and humid) weather each summer, but they always seem to fall on days when I am running behind on a deadline. I could go somewhere cool and write, I suppose. To get there I will have to get into the sauna on wheels that is my Toyota Corolla. But, it might be worth it, even if I do have to stand in front of an air conditioning vent for twenty minutes after arriving at my destination before getting down to business.
So, I took a look online to see what one of my local writers’ groups is up to today. This particular group is about 75% women who have teenagers at home, still young enough to entirely disrupt Mom’s attempts at writing, but old enough to be left without supervision. They get together at various bookstores and coffee shops, plug in their laptops and iPads, and work as a group. I’ve found this to be productive in the past, so I thought I’d see where they are working today.
Alas, they are looking for a home. Because normally, they would be at their regular table at Borders. And it’s closing. Today. (The café staff offered to help them steal the table on their last visit.)
What does this mean for writers? Will print runs get smaller? Will less people buy books? Is this a herald of the apocalypse?
My plan to move into a Borders store after the apocalypse may require some revision.
A lot of people who know a whole lot more about the industry than I do have chimed in on this. Some forecast gloom and doom, while others predict the resuscitation of the indie bookstore, since some people will always prefer to browse the shelves.
I don’t know which predictions will turn out to be right, but I know I’m sad to see Borders go. I remember when the first Borders opened near my home in California. It was an easy detour on my way home from work, and I made that detour a lot, as my credit card bills from that era will attest.
Then, when I was living in Miami, a huge chunk of my first novel was written in the café at the South Miami Borders near my office, where I spent most lunch hours pounding away at my keyboard.
My first book signing was at Borders.
I think I’ll just find a shady spot and work on my iPad between swims. Maybe tomorrow (supposedly even hotter) I’ll go somewhere else to write. But today, it just doesn’t feel respectful.
If you have a Borders memory you’d like to share, leave a comment. I’d love to see how other people feel about this event.
