The Irony of e-Books

Within the past ten years, big chain book stores like Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million, and Borders put small book stores out of business. A lot of people were enraged by this. Even a movie with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, You've Got Mail, added this theme in the form of Fox Books putting Kathleen Kelly's independent book store, The Shop Around the Corner, out of business. For a long time, the chain stores have been top dogs.

Then e-Readers were invented. First Amazon came out with the Kindle, then it exploded from there. Barnes and Noble has four different versions of the Nook, with a fifth likely on the way. People stopped just being angry about independent book stores going out of business, but also became disturbed at what they thought would be the imminent disappearance of the physical book altogether.

I work at the Barnes and Noble in my hometown as a bookseller (I shelf books, zone, and work at Customer Service). I've worked there for over a year now. Last Christmas, we made a killing in Nook sales. We beat our expected dollar amount in store sales every day by several thousand dollars. But at the time, I couldn't help but think that we were shooting ourselves in the foot. How would we ever beat our own sales next Christmas? (We still have yet to find out on that one.) But that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Because of all the Nook sales, many more people have switched to buying e-Books instead of physical books. Therefore, in-store sales are way down. Barnes and Noble is still making a ton of money right now, it's just not their physical stores that are bringing in the cash anymore.

I'm not saying that Barnes and Noble is going to shut down all their stores. The Amarillo store is definitely still remaining open (and about to make several big changes to the store interior, so be on the lookout for that). Don't panic.

However, I do foresee it happening eventually. Book stores are really going to have no choice but to switch to full digitization at some point. Then Barnes and Noble and all those other big book stores will be just like Amazon. But after those big stores are gone, who is left to fill the void?

Is there a void to be filled? Yes. All those people who hate e-Readers and prefer physical books (myself included, though more moderate on the e-Reader hating) will still create a demand for them. That's when independent book stores will begin to crop back up, catering to the needs of the soon-to-be, but very much appreciated, minority of book readers.

So the irony is that the big chain book stores stomped out the little, independent book stores. Then they came up with e-Readers and shot themselves in the foot. But they didn't completely kill themselves off. Rather, they put themselves in their rightful place--in the digital world--and have allowed for the little book stores to return. Essentially, the e-Reader will eventually balance out the battle between lovers of big or little book stores.

An Observation

So today was my first day as an author's assistant for Linda Castillo. I feel totally cool being able to say that (especially since I technically have two jobs again, but one of them is way more fun. And easier). I was also amused when I ended up telling our Customer Relations Manager at Barnes and Noble, because he knows all the local writers as well.

In short, I'm stoked.

There's a lot to be done at this job, especially email captures from fanmail. Unfortunately, I'm limited to about two hours of work every Friday (just so that I don't end up costing too much). But there are going to be plenty of fun, writerly projects to keep me busy. I'm really looking forward to the experience. It'll be useful when 1) I'm a published writer myself and 2) when I also take the position of an editor.

Which leads me to a bit of reflection on how I got here. Naturally, being able to read story books by age 5 and loving it led to trying to write, which led to writing fan fiction, which led to trying to write original pieces. After that, I took an internship program through my high school that allowed me to intern with three local writers. Because of my experiences, I'm now an editor on the staff of my college's creative arts journal. And through my connections with one of my mentors, I'm now an author's assistant for another writer. As well, I've finished the outline of a fantasy trilogy that I've begun to write.

I'm highly satisfied with how far I've gotten. And it'll only get better from here.

It seems that writing is not a solitary profession, as so many think. It requires a lot of networking, as well as reading and a (ton) of writing (obviously). The networking part is turning out to be a lot of fun. I can only hope that it will lead me to new experiences in the writing world. And I definitely think I will.

Book Titles

While at work at Barnes & Noble the other day, my co-worker came up to me and started complaining about overused words in book titles. He said that his biggest peeve was when fiction writers used any variation of "rise" in their titles. He wanted to write a spoof book entitled something like "The Rise of the Arisen Arose", only it was a lot longer than that. I've actually always had a problem with Romance titles. Most of them, I find, are variations on the same thing. My peeve titles are anything with the words "seduce", "duke", or "highlander" in them.

I confess that I do tend to judge a book by its cover. If it looks like your typical David Weber Sci-Fi or Robert Jordan Fantasy cover art, I won't touch it. But I also judge a book by its title. Titles that attract me are generally short, sometimes hint a little at what kind of story it is, or that is very unusual. The word that catches my attention the most is "shadow." That's partly how I found The Night Angel Trilogy, one of my favorites. All the titles have "shadow" in them--Way of the Shadows, Shadow's Edge, and Beyond the Shadows.

So I wonder, how do writers entitle their books? Before they wrangle with their editor about it later, I mean. Is it based on personal preference? What's popular, unusual, or never-before-used? To my writers out there, what is your style? To my readers, what to you look for?

The Good, the Great, and the Unpublished

There's something both inspiring and terrifying about other (published) writers. I personally want to be Suzanne Collins and/or Alison Goodman when I grow up. Reading their work just does something to me. It motivates me to write to the point that I can barely stand not to. It's like I see them flying in the sky above me, and I want to flap my wings and join them way up there. But they are both also so great that I freeze up when I think, how could I ever be as good as they are? Then it's a decision between folding my wings back up, and at least flapping them tentatively. I choose to at least try.

So when I read their work, I analyze it (as all we readers/writers are prone to do). How did the writer get me to like that character so much? Why are my feelings mixed up about this one? Why was I surprised so easily by that twist, when looking back I can see that I should have known all along? And... what does this stylistic choice say about this writer?

At first, I subconsciously assumed that these writers like Stephen King, James Patterson, Terry Brooks, Nora Roberts, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and James Dashner must exude something like godhood from their personalities. Their writing was just too good for them to be otherwise. But now I've met a few writers (actually several, but I haven't read every one's work). So far, I've read the works of Jodi Thomas, Deborah Elliott-Upton, and Jennifer Archer. I find it incredibly difficult to picture these living, breathing, normal people in connotation with these words on these pages. What is in their minds that causes them to create this story, give these characters their particular personalities, add that certain twist?

I'm currently having the greatest difficulty with Through Her Eyes, Jennifer Archer's latest Young Adult novel. As I read, I try to find her fingerprints in the words. I've seen very few. First is her dialogue: it actually tends to remind me a little bit of the way she speaks, or maybe the way she has related stories to me. The only other thing is one I wouldn't notice except that she's told me about it: the style of putting a coma between two clauses with action verbs that are normally joined with 'and'. For example, the sentence: I sit next to her, cross my arms. (Apparently this gets on her editor's nerves a little bit, but don't tell her I said anything.) Other than that those familiar things, I could be reading any author in the world.

These probing questions carry over into my own writing as well. When I'm rereading my work, I think, do I speak like that? Is this thought the character's, or simply one I would have in this situation? How did something like this come out of my mind?

If, let's say, I somehow got amnesia, and someone handed me my own work to read, I would think it had been written by any other author in the world.

So are writers generic? I've read in several articles on writing that authors take the opportunity to become someone else when they write. 'I just lose myself in writing' isn't just some analogy. When I come up for air after a long writing binge, I look around and think, how did I get here again? Oh, that's right. Our identity is narrowed down to a picture on the back of the dust jacket and a quick blurb about location plus number of pets. When someone reads our work, we could be anyone, and they would never know that after we close the laptop, we drive off to work at the Post Office, or in a cubicle, or to sell other writers' books.

And yet... what sets those great writers apart from the rest of us? Obviously, they are different from those of us on the bottom of the ladder because they've actually been published. They're different from the next rung up because they have more than one or two books on the shelves. But then there are some who have written two or three books, and they greatly outwrite some who take up two shelves.

So what separates the good... from the great?

Published!

It's about time. On November 29, I received a message from the Legacy, one of their contests in which I entered my short-story, informing me that my story was on of those chosen to be published! I'm so happy to finally have achieved published status! If you want to check it out, click here. Just scroll down to Weaponless and enjoy reading.

In other news, I just reached my goal of reading 50 books in one year. Oorah!

I also wanted to share my favorite short-story that I've found in the Legacy. The link is here. Scroll down to Split by Joseph Westley Ammons.

Dabbling

College can be summed up in one word: crazy. Because of that, I thought I would have to lay aside all things writing in order to focus on my major, which is Spanish. And yeah, I really have, starting with working two jobs over the summer. I've been beyond busy for the past four or five months.

And I admit that right now I'm wasting valuable time and laptop battery charge on procrastinating. Because I have an English research paper rough draft and a History quiz to work on. Put I really don't want to do it right now. And anyway, I've been meaning to catch up on this blog for a while.

Two interesting events --one pretty big, the other kinda small, though it's impacted my writing life just enough-- have recently dragged me back into writing. I can't get away from it, but I don't mind that. It gives me hope that this passion will never die.

The first was an email from a man named Rich. Here is a copy of his email.

Summer,
I’m a father of a 13 year old who is a voracious reader and writer. I’ve been searching for avenues to further her skills, get more eyes on her material, get her good feedback and continue to encourage her. I came across one of your blogs and your web site and was impressed with your approach and what you’ve accomplished so far. I’m particularly encouraged that you are a sister in Christ and appear to have your heart in the right place.

I’m sending you this email to ask two things. What recommendations would you have for me and/or my daughter, Naomi. I would also ask, if you have time, to take a look at a sampling of her work and provide any feedback you may have. She’s pushing one of her stories up to her recently set-up blog:
http://NaomisRoughDraft.wordpress.com

Honestly, I was tickled to death to get this email. I totally didn't expect that anyone beyond my friends was actually reading it. To sum up my reply, I wrote out six or seven bullets of advice for her (really, everything I could think up on the spot). I also offered to read and critique some of Naomi's work if they wanted to send it to me (since I'm better at line-by-line critiquing). I haven't heard a reply, but maybe I will sometime. I'm just happy to have gotten the email in the first place. It makes me feel as if I've become planted firmly in the writing community. I encourage my writing readers to go to her blog and give her some feedback.

Second thing that happened was that I noticed posted around the English department at WT some notices about this thing called the Legacy. They just had a short-story contest called something like "Strange and Dark Tales" that required the participants to write a short-story that is six hundred sixty-six words long. That is 666 and is a Biblical reference to Revelations and the Mark of the Beast, for you non-Bible-reading types. Basically, it's supposed to be spooky (I think it's funny). I noticed it a while back, but didn't deign to enter because of my busy schedule and so dismissed it. Anyway, my boyfriend, Ross Wilson's, mom, Jo Ann Ross, (yay, commas) entered her short story called Public Face Personal Hell that she wrote in college into it. I didn't even know she writes, so I'm really happy to hear that.

She inspired me to go check out the Legacy again. While I was up in the sound booth at my church, waiting for it to start (because I got there really early that Sunday, for some reason), I went to the webpage and looked up the other contests. I saw that the next on coming up was just your general fiction-and-non-fiction-short-story-plus-poetry kind of contest. The requirement for the short-stories was that they be less than 4000 words long. That reminded me that I had a short-story I had written for my PRO class called Weaponless that was around 3000 words. I believe I mentioned this story in another blog, but I don't remember which one, so as a recap, I've sent it in to one short-story contest and haven't heard back on it, and --through the help of my mentors-- have seriously overhauled it into something decent since then. But I was so frustrated with working on it, that I put it away all summer and didn't touch it. So on Sunday, I pulled it up on my laptop, went through it, and fixed some glaring errors. I thought the plot itself was alright, if I didn't mind some hints of cheesiness in the beginning, so I sent it in. (Okay, I honestly had to persuade myself to do it. Ick.)

So here's hopin'. I should know by November 25 (thank God for short waiting time).

But since I first started this blogpost on Monday, Jo Ann heard back on her shorty-story and has won publication in the Legacy. She didn't win the whole banana, but that's awesome! I'm really proud of her. So here's to Jo Ann!

Oh, and in other news, I have an idea for a new apocolypse novel. It's still very basic, so we'll see where this goes. Also, when I picked up the 2009-2010 (last school year) copy of the Legacy, I found a non-fiction article by my English teacher, Dr. Jessica Wilcox, and a fiction short story by my sister that I didn't know about! It's called Passing on the Peace Pipe if any of my WT friends happen to want to pick it up and read it.

Critiquing

Do you remember how, when you first started writing, you just had to show that piece of work to anyone that would read it? And do you remember how most of your family and friends would respond to it?

"Oh, I like it. It's good. Keep going."

It just made you think you were the best writer in the world, didn't it?

I know it did that for me. When I was little (like, 13 or so) I thought I was good enough to start posting fanfics on fanfiction sites like zeldalegends.com and fanfiction.net. Then, I had other writers -who of course couldn't see me and had no problem with it- tell me the brutally honest truth. That really, I sucked at it. I have to say that I'm kind of grateful for people under pen names like Fox the Cave II who brought me down to size. But at the same time, that particular person did it in a very rough manner that could have been refined.

So what writers need is a happy median, between the people who won't tell you anything other than "It's good" and people who tear you completely down. That's why it's really good to make friends with writers. Don't just show your work to your friends or other writers you don't know, but to the combination of the two, your writer friends. They're the ones who understand that you're asking their opinion because the work needs improvement and you want their feedback, because you know that they know what they're talking about. They're also not so distant from you that they don't mind ripping you to shreds and leaving you bleeding ink.

So I was very fortunate to find people like Stinger-VXR42, SPG Inc., Irish Redd, Phantom, and The-One-True-Koneko who were my happy median writer friends. They were very good at constructive criticism, as well as helping me up when I began to falter. Now I have three mentors and couple of extra writer friends to help me out as well.

So tell me, do you have any specifc writer friends that you go to for critquing? Who are they?

What Makes a Writer?

You've probably heard it before; several times if you're a writer. At least once if you're not.

"What do you do?" or "What do you like to do?"

"Oh, I'm a writer."

"Really? That's so cool! What do you like to write? How many times have you been published?"

"Errm..."

One of my three mentors (I'll not specify which for this example) occasionally talks about how unimpressed she is with people who 'claim' to be writers. You know, the ones that show up to every writer group meeting, drink coffee, chat. The ones that bring the same piece of writing over and over, sometimes barely changed since the last meeting. The ones that enter few to no contests, that have never been published. Should they really be allowed to call themselves writers when they don't do anything?

Well, should they? Mostly, I don't really think so.

But then, wouldn't that mean that I'm not a writer either?

Here's the breakdown of my writing life: Besides in the writer group of which I am president at my school, I've been to a grand total of three writer group meetings. My writing often peters out so that I don't even open up my stories file for long periods of time. I have entered three contests and only placed in one of them. I've finished one short-story completely. I've never finished a novel, or even gotten to the end of one. I've never been published.

So am I a writer?

I think I am. Here's why.

I believe that being a writer doesn't just have to do with the tangible evidence, the number of words written, the amount of clips one possesses, the bound pages that signify publication. I think it's something in the mentality, in the heart, or even in the very soul.

My mentality: No matter where I go, I see something and I catch myself thinking up a story about it. My mind works like a writer's without my volition.

My heart: I love writing. I love doing it more than anything. And I mean absolutely more than anything.

My soul: I would die if I had to stop. It is something like my life source. As C. Astrid Weber said, "The coroner will find ink in my veins and blood on my typewriter keys." It's in me.

So. If someone came up and asked me what I do, could I claim to be a writer?

On The Job Hazards

You would normally think writing a tame job, where you can't possibly get hurt, right? Well, recently, I realized that isn't quite true. There are plenty of hazards. They're just easily overlooked.

Papercut - Doesn't happen too often in normal life, but a writer works with paper quite a bit. I've gotten paper cut plenty of times, the worst one being last Thursday. I was helping fold newsletters for Jodi Thomas's fan club and got a wicked cut on my palm near my thumb. It was sore for a couple days afterward. I think I should get worker's comp. for that one.

Ink poisoning - Ever accidently stabbed yourself with a pen? I have. It hurts! And something like that in excess can lead to ink poisoning. Fortunately, I've never experienced the actual poisoning myself.

Lead (graphite?) poisoning - Okay, so pencils, especially mechanical pencils, don't have lead anymore. So you can't technically get lead poisoning. But I've been in a situation where I've been stabbed with a mechanical pencil and had about a centimeter of graphite break off under my skin. That stings like nobody's business! I had to use a needle to get it back out.

Eye sight loss - Rereading those edits over and over takes a real toll on your eyes. I've had to get glasses recently due to this.

Seizure - Yeah, this can really happen. On some videogames, they've had to start adding a warning that brightly flickering lights can cause seizures in some people and for users to take caution. The same can be said of using the computer in extreme excess (especially if you keep flipping over to Facebook because you don't want to work, like I do).

So now you know that writing isn't as tame a sport as many think. But the extremity of the adventure is well worth the danger.

My Muse

Muse
n.
a. A guiding spirit.
b. A source of inspiration

Sometimes I hear other writers mention things about their "muse". For example, in an excerpt from Deborah Elliott-Upton's blog on criminalbrief.com: "HGTV is giving away another Dream Home. This one is in New Mexico in a space on the map where the crosswinds seem to invite everyone’s Muse to come and play. I’ve been to several writer’s conferences in the Albuquerque-Santa Fe area and have always come away with more ideas than when I arrived." But I first read it mentioned in Inkdeath, by one of my favorite authors, Cornelia Funke. So, after reading Deborah's article, I looked up "muse" to see what exactly it is.

Really, it's precisely what I expected. So, I assume every writer has a muse, their inspiration, of sorts. But, personally, my own muse would be tailored to my own personality. My muse is wicked and tricksy. Just like me. She (I can't help but put a gender on it) shows up right when I can't write down my ideas.

The worst is when I'm in the shower, which is where I always come up with ideas, no matter what. Can't really bring a pen and paper in there to be prepared. Then she comes around usually when I'm in the middle of class and can't forgo my classwork to write my ideas down (but I did do that in Spanish class, because we had a substitute teacher today). The most inconvenient time is right as I'm falling asleep. Like last night, I wrote a song chorus in my mind and had to force myself to get up at about midnight, grope around for a pencil, find my notebook and write it down. I'm glad I did, though, because now I can't remember what it was for the life of me.