8.9.15 – Sunday Smatterings

By JT Ellison

There were lots of things going on in my world last week!

First of all, hats off to the courageous, competent Metro Nashville Police Department for neutralizing what could have been such a tragic situation.

The poli-sci geek in me was having a field day this week over Nashville’s municipal elections. Taking the future of your local community in your own hands is critically important, and I can’t wait to see how this mayoral campaign shakes out and (hopefully) moves Nashville to even greater heights.

In the publishing realm, have you been following author Steve Hamilton’s saga? Earlier this week, Hamilton announced his departure from St. Martin’s Press, citing a lack of support in his publisher’s marketing plans, and signed with Putnam (with whom Catherine and I publish the Nicholas Drummond series). It’s hugely unconventional for an author to buy back their rights, pay back their advance, and exit a publishing house so close to a new book’s pub date. It’s a bold move, but ultimately it’s one that should pay off for Hamilton–and his readers.

What exactly happens between me typing “the end” on a manuscript to you holding the book in your hands? The lovely Diana Gabaldon explains it ain’t no small task.

Did you read GO SET A WATCHMAN? What did you think? Well, if the novel was something different you envisioned, then you’re not alone. And if you bought the book from this Michigan bookstore, your pocketbook might be in luck.

I’m all about working smarter, so I was really digging this blog post on habits of highly organized people. So many good nuggets in here.

Are you people watching True Detective Season 2? Good grief, this plot’s convoluted. Just . . . no.

Looking for a surefire way to get your favorite author’s next book? You can “follow” them on Amazon, and you’ll never miss another book again. This should greatly enhance your status at the watercooler, as your friends and colleagues deem you “the font of culture” for knowing all the things. Who doesn’t want to be the font of culture?

I like free things. You like free things. I like books. You like books. My publisher MIRA is blending all of these wonderful happenstances into one nice giveaway, celebrating the summer season with some reading goodies and 10 fabulous books (one of which is written by, ahem, moi). Go get you some free stuff!

And this week on the Tao, I had the privilege of hosting my longtime friend and wicked talented singer/songwriter/musician, Les Kerr, in a musical edition of 7 Minutes With…

And, of course, here’s an overview of what happened in book world this week.

That’s all I’ve got. Keep reading, folks!

Via: JT Ellison

    

8.6.15 – 7 Minutes With… Les Kerr

By JT Ellison

I’m so happy to do something a bit different, and welcome my friend Les Kerr to the blog today. Les and I go way, way back, to my pre-writer days, when my husband worked for The Tennessean alongside Les’s most wonderful (and, sadly, late) wife, Gail Kerr. This friendship has stood the test of time through festivals and libations and conferences, with joy and heartache as constant companions. Les is an incredible singer/songwriter/musician, who plays gigs all over the south. If you ever have a chance to see him play, don’t miss it. He’s wonderful, and I’m so happy to introduce you to him today!

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Set your music to shuffle and hit play. What’s the first song that comes up?

“Silver Lining” by Kacey Musgraves

Now that we’ve set the mood, what are you working on today?

Preparing for a radio interview this afternoon and a songwriting show tomorrow.

What’s your latest album about?

The title song of the album is called “Contributor.” I was inspired to write it by the men and women who sell Nashville’s street newspaper, The Contributor. The album is a collection of songs about various topics, including the late New Orleans poet Everette Maddox (who was a friend of mine), trains, grief, the importance of a handshake, and other subjects. Of the ten albums I have recorded, only two are about a recurring theme: Christmas on the Coast (2002) and New Orleans Set (2010).

Where do you write, and what tools do you use?

I scribble ideas whenever I get them on anything from paper napkins to the pad I keep in my car. Ideas have occurred to me in conversations, restaurants, bars, while driving and even in the shower. After I settle on the idea, I work them out and seriously in my home office. I use a legal pad, a pen and my guitar. My favorite songwriting pen is a wooden fountain pen my wife gave me on our first anniversary, but if I’m travelling or it’s out of ink, any pen or pencil will do as long as I can get my thoughts on paper.

Since I don’t read music, I often record the lyrics and melody on a hand-held Tascam digital recorder as soon as I find what I’m happy with so I won’t forget the melody.

What was the first album that struck a chord with you? (pun completely intended)

Elvis’ Golden Records by Elvis Presley.

What’s your secret talent?

When I was growing up on the Gulf Coast, sailing was my sport. While it’s been a long time since I was an active sailor, I could probably dust off those skills and handle a boat. Many people do not know that about me, so I suppose that would be a “secret.”

Which album or artists have been pumping through your headphones lately?

I wore headphones during my radio news career and use them in recording studios now, so when I listen to music for pleasure, I prefer to listen to speakers. The music in my car, where I listen the most, right now includes Kacey Musgraves’ Same Trailer, Different Park (she is a refreshingly moving and entertaining songwriter), B.B. King Live, Elvis Presley (his first RCA album), Jimmy Buffett, Louis Prima, and Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs.

When did you know you wanted to be a musician?

I can’t remember not wanting to be a musician. As a child, I stood in front of the television set imitating whoever was on (my mother’s bridge club friends loved that!), then singing along with records and eventually learning to play guitar and starting a rock and roll band in high school. After getting a degree in journalism from Ole Miss and working in news for seven years, I made the commitment to move to Nashville and pursue music professionally.

Who is your music idol? Have you met him/her? If so, did you completely nerd out or keep your cool?

There are many musical heroes to me. Elvis Presley was the biggest one and I regret that I never met him. I did see him perform in concert three times, and I am grateful for that.

I’ve actually met a few of my other heroes: Roy Acuff, Bill Monroe and B.B. King. With Acuff and Monroe, I interviewed them during my radio career, so it is my hope that I was cool (on the outside, at least). With B.B. King, I was able to shake his hand and chat with him on two different occasions. Each time, we talked about being from Mississippi and had very pleasant and brief conversations.

What’s your favorite bit of performing advice?

Here are two pieces of advice that I have tried to live by:

1. When Minnie Pearl was nervous about her first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry, the “Solemn Old Judge” George D. Hay, the founder of the Opry, told her, “Go out there and love the audience, and they’ll love you back.”

2. In Will Rogers’ autobiography, he writes: “I learned the secret of the show business: I learned when to get off. It’s the fellow that knows when to quit that the audience wants more of.” I put that one in a little frame and I keep it on my desk. It not only applies to performances, but I use the same philosophy when I write my blog.

What do you do if your creative juices aren’t flowing?

As I mentioned, I write ideas on scraps of paper and I keep a stack of them on the coffee table in my office where I write. If none of those ideas move me, I pick up my guitar and just start playing songs I enjoy, whether I wrote them or not. It was the joy of music that got me here and it helps to remember that.

Also, I read a lot. Everything from books about professional and personal development to biographies and books on various topics, like the history of New Orleans’ unusual street names.

Finally, I try not to put myself under any pressure to write. I’m a performer, too, so if I don’t have a song to write, I work on my guitar playing or singing.

Are you creatively satisfied?

I am happy that I can write songs and find outlets for them to be heard, either on my albums or by playing them at shows. That is very satisfying and something for which I am very grateful.

What would you like to be remembered for?

Just being remembered is enough, but specifically, I would hope people remember that I care about my friends, family and loved ones. I do my best to show that now.

Alright, now for the really important questions:

  • Beach or mountains? Beach
  • Coffee or tea? Coffee
  • Skydive or bungee jump? Neither. I’ll stay in the plane or on the ground.
  • Chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate
  • Winter or summer? Summer
  • Cake or pie? Pie
  • Cats or dogs? Dogs
  • Pens or pencils? Pens
  • Truth or dare? Truth
  • Mp3’s or vinyl? Vinyl

_________

Here’s a little more about Les’ new album!

“Contributor” is the title song of Les Kerr’s new CD, scheduled for release in Summer 2015. In addition to the title song, eleven other songs not related to the newspaper will be included. The subject matter of Kerr’s songs reflects the Mississippi and New Orleans influences identified with his music. A native of the Mississippi Gulf Coast and a frequent traveler and performer in New Orleans, he refers to his music as “Hillbilly Blues Caribbean Rock and Roll.”

The blues influence is evident in “The Blue and White,” inspired by a diner in the Mississippi Delta. His love of New Orleans music and culture is reflected in “More to Life” and “Inspiration and Bar Scotch,” and Coastal culture comes through in “The Gail” and “Seductive Eyes.” The album will be available at www.leskerr.com and though Tunes, Amazon, and other internet download sites.

You can watch the music video for “Contributor” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDP3m_-7nko

Via: JT Ellison

    

Letting Go

By Allison Brennan Today I’m blogging at Writerspace. I’m a bit contemplative this week. My 19 year old daughter is in Scotland for a month. She’s at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival through a program for Theater or English majors to see a series…

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Via: Allison Brennan

    

Summer News and workshops, STFA in print!

By noreply@blogger.com (Alexandra Sokoloff)

–>

Yes, I’m still alive! I know, I was beginning to have doubts myself.
This year has just been non-stop. They always are, I guess, but releasing three books in a row within months of each other, and getting ready to release a fourth next month – I’ve never done anything like this before and I am TIRED, but starting to crawl my way back to the surface and start to engage with, um, people again.
So, what’s in the works?
First off, I’m writing Wolf Moon, book 4 in the Huntress series, and there’s something I have to clear up right away. I’ve come across a completely unanticipated problem: people who are reading the Huntress books are assuming they’re a trilogy – and worse – calling them a trilogy in reviews. I’m always grateful for reviews, and they’ve been almost universally stellar, thank you all who have taken the time! – I couldn’t ask for better ones! But wow, this is so NOT a trilogy, and having that idea out there is understandably confusing to readers who pick up Cold Moon expecting an end to the series. Cold Moon is definitely not the end, and I thought it would be pretty clear in the way the book ends that there is another one coming. It’s funny, though, how there’s no real way to counteract that assumption once people start repeating it. So yeah. Book 4 is coming, and I’m not going to say much right now, but it’s really different from the first three. (Why am I constantly doing this to myself? I wonder…)

Blood Moon Cold Moon
And a quick note for AUSTRALIAN readers: Huntress Moon is on sale throughout August on Amazon.AU – just 1.99! http://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B00NKTTDH4
Next – it’s nearly killed me to get it done, but yes – the PRINT workbook of Screenwriting Tricks for Authors, STEALING HOLLYWOOD, will be available as soon as sometime next week. I know some of you have been waiting for this one for practically ever – well, it’s completely worth the wait! But – make sure you’re on my regular mailing list if you want to get the release announcement (and discount on the new ebook). If you’re not sure, it doesn’t hurt to try signing up again; you won’t get double announcements, the extra email will automatically drop from the list. http://alexandrasokoloff.com/newsletter-form.php

For the rest of the summer (Scottish summer, that is…) – well, it’s August, so I’m taking a bit of a break next week to go down to London to see Benedict Cumberbatch in Hamlet.

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Sorry, lost it for a minute there. But yes, I’m so excited I can barely sleep. It’s my favorite play, and there’s one actor per generation who is simply born to play it. I think we have our answer here. And yes, I will report back!

–>


And Craig and I are gearing up for the Bloody Scotland crime writing festival, followed frighteningly soon after by Bouchercon in Raleigh. Lots of events going on at both, and I wanted to let people know about upcoming workshops as well, since I’m doing a bit more teaching in the fall than I usually do, so here’s the lineup:

–>—September 11-13 Bloody Scotland
Stirling, Scotland

I’ll be teaching a master class in story structure at Bloody Scotland, as well as a self-publishing workshop. I’ll also be paneling on Film Writing (and Film 101 for Authors!) as well as on the issue of the depiction of violence against women in books, film, and television.

Fans of Craig Robertson can also find him appearing on panels and compering Crime at the Coo: a cabaret pub night on Saturday, featuring Bloody Scotland authors performing song, dance and poetry. Yes, I’ll be singing, too!

—October 8-11
Bouchercon World Mystery Convention
Raleigh, NC
Craig and I are both on the program.

—October 31-November 1
805 Writers Conference
2-hour Screenwriting Tricks for Authors workshop
Ventura, CA
Craig and I are both on the program.

—November 7
Land of Enchantment Romance Writers Association
All-day Screenwriting Tricks for Authors workshop
Albuquerque, NM

November 13-15
Shetland Noir
Shetland Islands, UK
Craig and I are both on the program.

Hope you’re all having fabulous summers. Would love to hear what you’re up to!
— Alex

Via: Alexandra Sokoloff

    

Anatomy of a PhD – the research proposal, part 2

By PD Martin

ImFine

Now onto the third instalment of my PhD series…also in retrospect! This blog finishes off my look at the research proposal.

In my last blog I compared this first research component to ‘drowning in language’, ‘time for yet another research topic/focus change’ or more simply ‘OMG’. When we left off I was faced with the reality of probably ditching my current research topic completely and starting from scratch. And that’s what I did.

“Literary” crime did seem to represent a good area for further research. What makes a novel “literary” anyway and who decides? You might think a novel either is or isn’t literary (with a capital L), but it’s not that simple. I waded in, and this is where I got to the language issues. Why does academic language have to be so…academic?!!! At this stage, I started to doubt my ability to get my head around some of the issues. Was I just dumber than I realised?

I read Mikhail Bakhtin’s The Dialogical Imagination and for chunks of it was left with not much more than WTF? But I kept going, wading deeper and deeper into the abyss of literary theory, the history of literature, aesthetic pleasure, the Frankfurt School and mass culture. The history of crime fiction, including detailed analysis of more literary-styled crime novels like The Maltese Falcon, Chandler’s novels, Umberto Eco, Paul Auster’s The New York Trilogy. I crammed a lot of research into those few months (like most PhD students!). In the end, I had a non-exhaustive and historically defined ‘list’ of some of the elements that make up “the literary”. I won’t go into detail here, but I think it’s useful and hopefully interesting to at least mention them:

  1. Readership/audience – popular fiction is read by the masses whereas literary fiction is read by a smaller group of educated people (completely snobby!). Furthermore, readers of popular fiction are passive readers whereas readers of literary fiction are active. Don’t get me started! This topic alone would be enough for an exegesis.
  2. The role of character and narrative form – literary novels are more character-driven and popular fiction is more plot-driven.
  3. Bakhtin’s concept of heteroglossia and double-voiced discourse – is there a “literary” language and a crime fiction language? How do novels use multiple narrators and dialogue to produce multiple voices?
  4. Uniqueness versus generic conformity – literary novels are unique, whereas popular fiction follows formulas.
  5. Aesthetic pleasure – something that’s often identified as being part of a response to art, and therefore to the more artistic forms of literature.
  6. Socio-political critique/commentary – literary novels try to change society by highlighting society’s shortcomings.
  7. Sales – some people believe if a novel sells well, it’s not literary…but how can a novel’s sales figures change what it is?
  8. Literary novels are harder to read – they’re denser textually, have multi-layered meanings and require deconstruction. They may also require multiple readings.
  9. Voice, language and style differences – literary fiction tends to feature more poetic prose, often treats dialogue differently and uses more interior monologues.
  10. External evaluation – if a novel is reviewed in certain prestigious publications or wins literary awards (e.g. the Man Booker, Miles Franklin, Nobel Prize) it’s definitely literary.

I’m not saying I agree with all of these (far from it), but they are areas for research. Lots of options…too many options. With only 20,000 words for my exegesis (research component) I had to narrow it down. So, I decided to focus on five elements — the role of characterisation compared to narrative form; Bakhtin’s concept of heteroglossia and double-voiced discourse; socio-political critique; voice, language and style; and external evaluation (e.g. literary prizes). And to support my analysis of these characteristics, I will be examining four crime novels that have some literary elements Peter Temple’s Truth, Martin Amis’s Night Train, Benjamin Black’s Christine Falls and Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl. Still a lot to wrestle into 20,000 words so I may end up cutting it even more down the track.

I presented all this at my school’s postgraduate conference in June and submitted my final proposal (and the other accompanying documentation) two weeks before my 1 August deadline. Yay! And it’s been accepted! Double yay.

So what now? Well, now it’s onto the creative component for the next twelve months. I can sit back and relax…well, it will be relaxed for me because I’m back in the zone I know, writing a novel (novella). However, the writing style will be very different to what I’ve done in the past, so it will be more challenging than my ‘normal’ time-to-write-a-book phase.

I know I’m only six months in, but so far this PhD is the best thing I’ve done in my career. I love it!

Via: P.D. Martin

    

8.2.15 – Sunday Smatterings

By JT Ellison

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Go Set a Publication Date – super cute piece by author Mardi Jo Link about the nightmare of having your release date up against a legendary book. http://www.

Some inspiration from Don Winslow ‏@donwinslow, whose book THE CARTEL is absolutely killing it, and being made into a movie with Ridley Scott directing: “Dear aspiring writers: It took me 19 books and several decades to have this terrific year with The Cartel. Keep writing. Never give up.”

Some excellent, calming advice from Mind, Body, Green: 3 Zen Principles That Will Rock Your World (And Make You Happier!)

Tools and Toys ( a blog you should be reading if you like elegant, cool things) has a great list of books that everyone should read. Some old faithfuls and some new ones, too, but all in all, a great list: Some of Our Favorite Reads

As an introvert, Everything I Am Afraid Might Happen If I Ask New Acquaintances to Get Coffee was both hysterical and hit very close to home for me. http://

A couple of links to things from the Tao this week:

7 Minutes With… my dear friend Kim Law

And some major news on the Nicholas Drummond Brit in the FBI front – a TV deal! 7.28.15 – The Kind of News I Like To Share

Finally, as always, this week in publishing: News From the Book World

Via: JT Ellison