This post needed my logo. But it needs another one, too:

That’s because although I’m a proud Pittsburgher, I’ve lived below the radar for too long. Time to change that. And one way was to join the Best of the Burghosphere 2015 celebration, in conjunction with Most Wanted Fine Art and Sue Kerr, who I’ve known via social media for a long time now.

Here’s a bit about the project:

Most Wanted Fine Art is pleased to team up with Pittsburgh Bloggers to acknowledge and honor the contributions of bloggers through Pittsburgh’s blogosphere (aka “Burghosphere”) with an awards ceremony that also pays tribute to our love for all lists Top Ten.

Whether blogging is an art, craft or off-shoot of journalism, it is a labor of love and creativity that infuses our lives with new ideas and an unparalled opportunity to engage (and sometimes, outrage) our community. To be a blogger is to be among the best. There is no ranking, no competition and no criteria. The act of blogging is all that is required.

Now, come on. How can your favorite heavy metal editor not join in this sort of fun? It’s right up my alley!

And I’m glad I did.

I got to investigate LJSkool, which is an incredibly energetic, upbeat blog about parenting and homeschooling. Truth? It made me sad homeschooling wasn’t an option for me and my kids ’cause the way this family learns? Would have been perfect for the gang I’ve got. Of course, it would leave me next to zero time to work, but on the other hand, I’d be out living life and not hiding behind a computer all day. We’d be having adventures, challenging both myself and the kids, learning the way learning was probably meant to be done, through experience and direct contact, not blackboards and bell schedules and backpacks that are allowed in some classes and not in others.

Anyway, in the end, I’m jealous as anything. To have the freedom to teach, to explore this magnificent city of ours, to use it as a backdrop for learning… Definitely jealous.

So it’s my privilege and delight to award LJSkool the Best, Most Upbeat Homeschooling and Parenting Blog in the entire City of Pittsburgh.

I was sitting at the field with a book the other day. Not an unusual thing for me, even as autumn chills creep into the West of Mars landscape. The players add a layer. I either retreat to my car during practice or add a layer and a blanket.

But what I encountered in the book wasn’t so easy to deal with.

It’s a contemporary sports romance (and I’m looking for more recommendations, if you’ve got any) and it was credited to a big-name editor at a big-name publisher.

And I can’t say it’s badly written. But it’s not well-written.

(Shades of grey… you guys know I’m all about ’em.)

So what’s the difference between not badly written and not well-written?

Well, shades of grey, of course. I just said that. In this case, as the author’s describing the hero, in one paragraph he has stubble. It’s sexy stubble, of course, but it’s stubble.

In the very next paragraph, or maybe it’s two paragraphs later, he’s got the beginnings of a beard.

Hello? Which is it? Stubble, or the beginnings of a beard? They are different. Very different. Stubble is short. It’s a couple hours or maybe a day after shaving. It’s brush burn on tender skin. You can’t even feel past it to caress the skin underneath. It’s sandpaper.

But the beginnings of a beard… it’s when the hair is longer. Softer. When you can put your hand on your man’s face and feel the contours of his jawline again. Sometimes, it tickles.

Makes sense to me… but am I the only one who sees this difference?

So I put the question to my panel of experts, otherwise known as teenagers, over a meal of Korean barbecue. Because what else does a family discuss over a meal of Korean barbecue?

And they agreed. Stubble is stubble. The beginnings of a beard… well, my oldest said, it’s more than stubble. Longer. It’s what his coach is currently sporting (and I maintain it’s a good look on him, too).

An example! Good child. I have trained you well.

And then, of course, the conversation spiraled. If the character goes from stubble to the beginning of a beard within two paragraphs, what does he look like at the end of the day? Dredlocked beard? Dumbledore? How often does the guy have to shave? Does he walk around with an electric razor and where other characters rub their faces contemplatively, does he flip on the razor and rub it over his cheeks and throat?

I have a creative family, even though we didn’t discuss how the differences between stubble and the beginnings of a beard affect the mental picture a reader draws.

But the point, of course, is that instead of focusing on the storyline (which is rather cliched, to be honest, and one we see all the time in Rock Fiction), we’re making fun of this book because of imprecise language. And the kids, of course, know that if this manuscript had crossed my desk, I’d have said exactly this to the author. Stubble is stubble and the beginnings of a beard are the beginnings of a beard, and they paint very different pictures in a reader’s mind. Pick one, I would say to Steve or Stevie. But only one, at least right here.

Stubble is stubble. The beginnings of a beard are the beginnings of a beard.

Know the difference, all you Steves and Stevies. Know the difference.

Last weekend, don’t ask why, I sat on a band practice field at Penn State and tried to stay warm and dry. And my thoughts went like this:

Jan is dating Peter.
Peter is dating Jan.
Peter and Jan are dating.

Anyone else see the subtle difference, the way these statements shift the power between Peter and Jan, depending on how they are worded?

Just something to think about. Here, there, and especially during revisions.

Every word matters.

Guts. Cojones. Nervy. Courage. Daring. Moxie. Chutzpah. Intestinal Fortitude. Balls. Fearlessness. Gallantry. Valor. Nerve. Gumption.

Lots of names to describe shades of the same thing, no?

But yes, today, we’re talking about that which drives us to do things we maybe ordinarily wouldn’t. The shy man who swallows hard and asks a woman out. The character who picks up a gun for the first time and shoots the bad guy (oy, me and guns). The family who invites themselves to a life cycle event even though they can’t bring themselves to be polite to the hostess. The abused who finds her voice and speaks out against her abuser. The young child who knows he doesn’t fit in the world around him, so he runs away and finds out that he’s actually a prince in another dimension.

And on and on. (and yes, a couple of those are drawn from real life and no, I’m not a prince in another dimension.)

It’s the power of our guts, our courage, our whatever-word-and-shade-of-meaning-you-assign-your-characters that give fiction its fun. When a character acts in a surprising way, when they find their inner strength, their … well, fill in the blank from the list above (and, of course, there’s no way it’s comprehensive) — that’s when a fictional character becomes fascinating. It’s often these moments that let a reader make that emotional attachment to a character that lets the character come alive in the reader’s mind.

If you are struggling because your critique partners and beta readers (and you use them, right? Especially those of you who are working on your first couple of books?) tells you your characters are flat, this is the first place to look, and it’s that emotional tug on the reader that you want to focus on.

It doesn’t take a lot to show a character acting with guts. Anyone can reach for that gun. Commit the entire family for a life cycle event whose hostess you don’t particularly like, even though only your kid was invited. Open your mouth and let the words, “Want to grab dinner?” come out of your mouth.

It’s the wording you use that makes that emotional tie. It’s the blocking, the physical movements (for you non-theater types).

He opened his mouth. Like he’d expected, the words were stuck. He closed his lips, hung his head just long enough to take a breath, and tried again. As he lifted his head, he dropped his shoulders and caught her eye. She had a small smile playing at her lips, and that was enough to make all this easier. “C’mon,” he said. “Let’s grab dinner. I’m buying.”

(He upped the stakes! He offered to buy! You go, fictional dude I just made up on the fly!)

But that’s it, isn’t it? Because you see what he’s going through, his discomfort and his attempt to swallow his fear — and the way in which the girl makes it easier for him — that grabs you. He found his guts.

And now, this story about a young man who’s afraid to live his life takes on more interest. He’s taken a risk. Shown some guts. And we want to know how it ends.

We have lots of names to describe this state of affairs. Take a step back and look at how often around you people show these traits. Someone cuts you off on the highway? “Dude. That took serious balls.”

Your kid cuts school? “Dude. You got some serious chutzpah going on. Why don’t you spend the next three years in your room thinking it over?”

Your best friend goes dress shopping without you. “Dude. You did what?”

Showing your intestinal fortitude’s all around us (right now, your favorite metalhead is listening to country music. Why? I’m not quite sure. Daring, baby. I’m living on the edge.). People do it daily.

Make sure your characters do, too.

.
Oh, and if you come across any alternate dimensions looking for their princess or (God help me, but I’m old enough now) their rightful queen, send ’em my way, will ya?

Some Monday Things to start your week off…

It’s Rocktober at The Rock of Pages, so head on over and check out the fun. Today kicks off our first author guest blog, with my buddy Jessica Topper stopping in to talk about how she named Digger and Riff.

Sharon Cathcart and I are both offering our Rock Fiction on sale this month. I’ve set The Demo Tapes: Year 1 to free (everywhere but Amazon, of course, since they don’t like to make my books free) and Trevor’s Song to 99c. Grab ’em both at your favorite retailers (Sharon’s sale is a Smashwords-only sale, but if you’re not buying your books at Smashwords, you should be. Best royalties for authors in the business).

If you’ve been following me at the West of Mars Fans Facebook page, you know I’ve been writing again. My first goal was 100 words, which it had been since the end of the Pennwriters conference last May. That lasted… a day, I think, when my first day’s word count was something like 2200. Then the goal became 1000 words a day, and I settled in around 1500 words. There were two days between the start of my drafting blitz in September and last night when I didn’t make the wordcount. My fiction writing has to happen once my editing is done, which generally means after school and into the evening. So the first day I missed the word count, I was busy with the kids from after school until late. I think I wrote 700 words that day.

The other day I missed was just last week. An honest mistake that, I was told, wasn’t a problem until someone else made it a problem, sent me into a PTSD flashback and a migraine that levelled me for the day and into the next. I got a painful 330 words down. I also had a pretty fascinating bit of self-reflection.

In terms of editing, since that’s what you really all come here to hear about, November dates (and beyond) are still open. Grab ’em while the grabbing’s good. And yes, if you have a friend who’d like to break into editing, rather than shorting your regular editor’s income, send your friend to me. I’m always looking to expand the West of Mars subcontractor list and help more authors enjoy the .001% accuracy percentage we’ve established. And yes, I did the math. Me. I did math. We pay baseball players millions for a 33% return. Why are you dumping your editor over .001?

It’s been a long time since I went visiting, and today I’m pleased to be out visiting with author Rebecca E Neely, who it turns out lives near me! I mean, like REALLY near. Like… we go to the same restaurants.

Stop on over and see what I’ve got to say. You guys know me; it’s all fun and games. Except for when it’s not.

Hmm. Yeah, that makes perfect sense.

What happened to the Featured New Book Spotlight?

Yes, I’m swamped and yes, things are getting shoved to the side while I work on this edit.

BUT I love seeing the Featured New Book Spotlight active and talking about books. Call it just another way I have of giving back to my fellow authors. Call it selfishness because my favorite thing is seeing what song everyone picks. My second favorite thing? Reading the book description.

As a group, we authors are the most creative people I’ve ever met. One of the best parts of being an editor is that I get to see authors who push themselves, who dedicate themselves to the craft of writing. Who go places I don’t have the guts to.

For you authors, remember: unless you want to reserve a specific date, the Featured New Book Spotlight is free! It’s ONE QUESTION — how can you not have time for one question?

Best of all, I’ve heard from a number of authors who say this one question has caused them to look at their book in a totally different light. They learn new things about themselves and about their baby.

Or maybe the best is when I hear from readers, who saw a book featured here and bought it — and instead of letting it languish on the Piles of Good Intentions many of us have (mine is an entire mountain range of TBR goodness), they read it immediately. Some even leave reviews.

Featured New Book Spotlight. It’s here. It’s free. It’s designed to showcase you, the author, not me.

Grab hold. It’s just a spotlight. It won’t hurt you.

Remember last week, when I said I was behind? Karma decided to give me a good kick ’cause this week’s even worse. So we’ll keep this short.

I was talking to a client during the week. We’ll call her Stevie. (as opposed to the other client I was talking to. And the other one. And the other one And… man, you guys are a demanding lot! No wonder I’m behind! You value me!) She said she’d gone over her new manuscript a number of times before publishing it. She’d used a proofreader after me because I do line editing work for her. She’d read the manuscript out loud. Then backward.

And when she read the copy that was published… she found more typos.

Folks, typos happen. Human brains can only wipe so many out. (The computer services are even worse, as they are incapable of understanding nuance.) Mistakes happen. Keys get touched, caressed and … oops, pressed. The cat walks across the keyboard. I’ve got no proof for e-book conversion, but I swear the conversion process includes the insertion of at least three. Heck, when we moved this here website from one host to another, weird coding showed up and I haven’t been able to go over all 2000+ posts yet to remove them.

And did any of you see that ’80s movie about the Gremlins? Didja get the message of it?

Typos happen.

The best part of this digital publishing age is that you can go back and fix them. Your print book, you’re stuck with. But your e-book?

Did I say that typos happen? They do. If they are true typos (as opposed to usage errors), don’t vilify the editor. Don’t tell the world that s/he sucks (better to contact the author and suggest … well, me). Don’t fire your editor and then brag about it on Facebook (especially if you’ve friended your editor), or ask your readers if they hate typos. What are they supposed to say? “Oh, no, Stevie! I LOVE the mistakes in your books. They make the reading experience THAT much better!”

Everyone who’s literate hates typos. Yet they are a part of our lives — just look at any meme posted anywhere on the Internet. I challenge you to find one that’s typo-free, and that’s usually proof of a lack of grammar rules, not a real typo. And yet how many of you share those memes happily, despite the errors?

Think about that. Memes are okay. Perfectly fine. Heck, you’ll share them with the world because you’re willing to overlook six in a four-line meme. But you’re not willing to overlook six in a fifty-thousand (or more) word novel?

Anyone else see a bit of hypocrisy in there?

Don’t vilify your editor. Don’t fire her because of a few typos. Fire her because of usage. Fire her because she’s not good enough for you. Like attracts like and you’re a winner.

Typos happen.

I hadn’t heard from my cross-state music-loving buddy AJ Krafton in awhile. I figured she must be busily writing in a cave somewhere. And, of course, I was right.

Ash is back with a paperback release of The Heartbeat Thief, and… well, let’s get right to it. I have a feeling I’m really going to like her song choice.

Senza Fyne, Senzafine: The Musical Inspiration behind AJ Krafton’s THE HEARTBEAT THIEF

I’ve always been inspired by music. Words are powerful things but somehow, when they are sung, they gain an extra layer of strength and intent, especially when the singer pours their heart and their emotion into each note, each line.

I tend to listen to music that is emotionally-laden. My writing playlists lean heavily toward rock and metal—Type O Negative, Blind Guardian, My Chemical Romance, and especially the Italian band Lacuna Coil.

Lacuna Coil’s songs take me to a place where urban fantasy becomes real. Their song “Our Truth” from the album Karmacode even appeared in one of the Underworld movies. What can be more urbanly fantastic than a movie about vampires and werewolves and (quite literally) everything in between?

While I have lots of favorite LC titles, the top of the list is Senzafine, one of their Italian-language songs.

Senzafine is the Italian word for “without end” or “endless”. It’s the word that inspired the main character’s name: Senza Fyne. It also told her story.

It wasn’t only the title that inspired the character. The lyrics themselves and their underlying interpretation accurately portray the internal struggle Senza experiences and is the perfect companion piece to the story.

This video of Senzafine contains an English translation of the lyrics so that you can enjoy the song, even if you don’t speak Italian. (It also has live clips of LC, which makes me very happy. I love seeing them in concert!)

While the provided translation may not be perfect, it does get the gist of it. The female singer expresses her desire to break free of her life, her destiny. The male voice sings of darker things, the force that fights against the female. There is a constant battle between good and evil and the female admits that is sometimes hard to choose between them. There is also the realization that she must be prepared to live alone, dependent upon only herself.

And that, to me, sounds very much like the symphony of Senza’s determined heart.

Playing opposite to Senza is a tall, mysterious stranger who teases her with secretive smiles and suggestions of magic. From their first meeting, he calls her bien-aime, which is French for “beloved”. When she demands his name, he listens to the tolling of a nearby church bell before calling himself Mr. Knell.

But he has an older name. A much older name. And it will take Senza a very, very long time before she realizes just who he truly is.

The song “Senzafine” fits him, too. One particular verse fits Senza’s dark seducer perfectly. In fact, I believe the last lines belong to him.

Non c’e scelta senza me
Non c’e vita senza me

There’s no choice without me
There’s no life without me

And Senza utterly believes him.

I hope you’ll read The Heartbeat Thief and keep these words somewhere in the back of your heart. And when you finish, and you close the book, think back upon Senza and her struggle to escape her destined life. Think back upon Knell and think back upon those last lines. I hope you’ll find them as deliciously poignant as I do.

Most of all, think back upon your own feelings, and firmly resolve to resist destiny’s plans for you and choose your own, instead. The song will still be there to inspire you on your journey.

I’d never heard that song before; guess I’m only a casual Lacuna Coil fan (sorry, Ash!).

Ready for the book description? I sure am.

Haunted by a crushing fear of death, a young Victorian woman discovers the secret of eternal youth—she must surrender her life to attain it, and steal heartbeats to keep it.

In 1860 Surrey, a young woman has only one occupation: to marry. Senza Fyne is beautiful, intelligent, and lacks neither wealth nor connections. Finding a husband shouldn’t be difficult, not when she has her entire life before her. But it’s not life that preoccupies her thoughts. It’s death—and that shadowy spectre haunts her every step.

So does Mr. Knell. Heart-thumpingly attractive, obviously eligible—he’d be her perfect match if only he wasn’t so macabre. All his talk about death, all that teasing about knowing how to avoid it…

When her mother arranges a courtship with another man, Senza is desperate for escape from a dull prescripted destiny. Impulsively, she takes Knell up on his offer. He casts a spell that frees her from the cruelty of time and the threat of death—but at a steep price. In order to maintain eternal youth, she must feed on the heartbeats of others.

From the posh London season to the back alleys of Whitechapel, across the Channel, across the Pond, across the seas of Time…

How far will Senza Fyne go to avoid Death?

Yeah, this is cool stuff. What an original concept.

Get your copy now.
Amazon universal link to The Heartbeat Thiefhttps://viewBook.at/thief
(redirects international users to their local Amazon domains)

Aargh! What IS it with the Amazon exclusive books???

But remember: if you do pick it up, a few words in a review is a great way to show support for a book that touched you — good OR bad. (but it won’t be bad. It just won’t be.)

No pithy words of wisdom, no writing advice, no ties between real life and writing this week.

Why?

Because I’m living the example. E-mail’s been piling up — all of a sudden, eight million clients want me, and I love it, love to chat with my writers and friends, but welcome to freelancing, where life is either feast or famine — and I’ve got a ton of Featured New Book Spotlights to post for you. (Feel free to add to the queue, or to send in some Lines of Distinction for yourself or a friend!) And Rocktober over at The Rock of Pages. And I’ve had reason to dig through the archives here and discover the weird coding that popped up when I changed hosts earlier in the year. Oops. The editor’s website isn’t pristine. On my list to fix, I promise!

And then there’s real life. School. Activities. An upcoming life cycle event and optimism that a source of stress will soon be put to rest. And I’m writing like a fiend, trying for 1000 words a day but really, other than last night, when I had a township meeting, I’ve been getting in no less than 1400. School meeting two nights ago, and another one tonight. I’m not sure I’m going to have time for dinner; guess the kids are cooking.

Been busy. Feel like I’m behind in everything (have you SEEN my kitchen? Me, either. It’s buried under dishes, clean that need to be put away and dirty that need to be washed.) Falling off a cliff with no safety net. Drowning in everyone’s need for me.

And at the same time, it is exhilarating.

This is what success smells like, feels like, looks like. It’s that people have faith in me, so much so that my favorite clients speak up and tell me when I’m starting to go off the rails with stress. It’s that new clients come to me, seeking my help. Yes, there’s room on my schedule: November dates are currently up for grabs, although those unanswered e-mails? A lot of them are asking for November. Start thinking December, folks and yes, I have time for new people. Always. And yet, I’ll find a way for my existing folk, too. You all mean that much to me.

So… it’s nose to the grindstone right now. This is a huge part of the writing life, that time when you realize the only way to get it all done is to sit down, or maybe lift the desk into standing position (thank you, Varidesk! And oh, no! Look at that new desk that’d be perfect for my family room writing sessions…) and be like an old Nike ad campaign. Just do it.

As summer turns to autumn, as we all do what needs to be done, remember to head out to a nice grassy field, take your shoes off, turn your face up to the sun, and recharge. If a disc happens to be flying overhead, take a second and watch it there, hovering, falling gracefully into the hands that charge right at it, awaiting its arrival, stretching to make the grab, one-hundred percent left right there on the field with the turf beads or the dust from the lack of rain. Take a deep breath. The work awaits.

Be your best.

Okay, so I’ve exchanged only a few e-mails with LD Rose, but when you see her song, you’ll see why I like her immediately. I won’t hold you up; let’s get to it.

First off, I want to thank Susan for having me on this awesome blog! When I came upon this feature I couldn’t resist submitting my debut novel, since music and writing are intimately connected for me.

My debut dark PNR, RELEASING THE DEMONS, is actually named after a song: “Releasing the Demons” by Godsmack. The novel is about reaping vengeance and falling in love at the most unlikely of times. But this song relates mostly to the hero, Blaze, a former prisoner of war who’s still trying to put himself back together. When his torturers return to the Bronx for him, all of Blaze’s hard work at recovery falls apart as he hunts down each and every one of his enemies and serves them the karma they deserve. As a vampire-human hybrid, he constantly wrestles with both the leech and the normal inside him, and he isn’t quite sure which one will dominate his desires, particularly around the heroine, Valerie.

Oh, Sully. *fans self* Have you heard his solo album? Sinner’s Prayer, baby.

Oh. Ahem. Books. Releasing the Demons, by LD Rose. Here’s a closer look at what it’s about:

Blaze Knight has been through hell and back, but the nightmares aren’t over yet.

Five years after Blaze was maimed by Cyrus Chimola, a powerful vampire with a penchant for torture, he’s still trying to pick up the pieces of his shattered life. As a genetically engineered mercenary with the ability to bend fire to his will and to see in infrared, Blaze’s mission is to protect what’s left of humanity. When Chimola and his crew return to the Bronx gunning for Blaze’s blood, Blaze is forced to face the demons of his past. Hell-bent on revenge, he seeks the help of Valerie Medeiros, an NYPD detective who manages to steal his heart and save his life in more ways than one.

Motivated by her sister’s gruesome death, Valerie has made it her life’s goal to bury every vampire in the ground where they belong. When she brings in Blaze Knight for suspected murder, she discovers he’s not only innocent, he isn’t a man at all—he’s a half-vampire hybrid working with a band of brothers for the U.S. military. Valerie has a hard time trusting anything with fangs, yet she quickly falls headlong into Blaze’s life, a life full of darkness and horror she can’t even begin to fathom. The bodies are stacking up, but Valerie can’t seem to let go of this hybrid, a beautiful monster filled with pain, rage, and passion unlike anything she’s ever known.

In a world where the line between good and evil is blurred, Blaze and Valerie will find danger at every turn, risking everything they’ve come to know and love, including one another.

Apart from the song, I’d totally read this. I like the idea behind Blaze although I still think the ultimate slayer-vamp pairing is Angel and Buffy. Yeah, I’m old. We knew that. So do my knees.

Need a copy? Exclusive to Amazon, I’m afraid.

Amazon US

Amazon UK

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I had a dust-up on Facebook with someone I like and respect the other day. She’d reposted one of those memes (fortunately one with proper grammar. I know. A rarity!) and left a comment about it that bothered me.

I replied that it was better to withhold judgement until all the facts in the case were known.

We had a lot of back-and-forth discussion, but she held firm to her position like a fly on flypaper. Or maybe like she was mired in quicksand. That might be a better analogy.

Here’s why: Her position targeted one group of people, and only one group. For her, it’s black and white. If you are THIS, don’t do THAT.

And essentially, I agree. But as I tried five ways from Friday to explain, I also see the problem as being much, much bigger than that.

Here’s where the situation circles around to be relevant to us as writers. And yes, my friend is a writer, which is why I’m surprised she’s so unable to see the shades of grey in a situation that she sees as black and white.

As writers, we know that every single book opens in the middle. Something has happened and as we work toward resolution, we have to learn the backstory, too. We learn the reasons characters act as they do. We learn those shades of grey, we learn why the situation isn’t what we first took it to be. Almost unfailingly, we learn that our initial assumptions were wrong.

Many reviewers who pick up a copy of my Trevor’s Song hate Trevor in the beginning. You’re supposed to. Trevor’s a self-centered whiny jerk. He’s also funny as hell and so brutally honest, he’s often painful to be around. But if you keep reading, you realize it’s a front.

But you have to keep reading. You have to explore beyond the obvious. You have to put your assumptions aside.

You’ll see this most clearly in a mystery, especially a mystery that opens with the discovery of the dead body. We only know half the story. We know someone’s dead. We don’t know the how or why. It’s the hero’s job (and our jobs as the writer) to learn it. What’s the backstory? Why did this person act the way they did? Did the man kill his boss because someone else got the promotion, or did the man kill his boss because the boss was dealing drugs at his desk and one of his customers had started stalking the killer, gotten dirt on him, and blackmailed him into killing the boss?

Makes you look differently at the killer, doesn’t it? He’s gone from being petty and angry over a promotion to being pretty sympathetic. The boss was a dick. The killer wound up the victim of someone else, trapped in a desperate situation.

Circumstances matter. Situations matter. There are shades of grey in this world for a reason, folks, and that reason is to enrich our lives. To keep us from being a carbon copy of everyone else around us. It takes all kinds to make the world. It takes all colors to make fiction so vibrant and alive.

Whether it’s real life or fiction, we need to remember that. Look beneath the surface. Remember that old cliche about pointing one finger and four pointing back at you.

Things aren’t what they seem. As writers, it’s our job to tease those things out. As writers, it’s our job to take the unlikeable and make them likeable. It’s our job to realize that while stereotypes exist for a reason, what makes our writing super rich is the ability to transcend stereotype. To not step into the quicksand and refuse to move out when someone asks you to consider a bigger picture.

Embrace the world, embrace our differences. Explore what sets every person apart from each other. And remember that the facts in every single case are different and taking a stand against everyone, like a blanket, is only going to cause more hurt and pain than what you’re trying to prevent by opening your mouth in the first place.

Until you know someone’s story, don’t judge.

Until you know your fictional character’s story, keep writing.

Let’s welcome fellow Black and Gold lover Rebecca E Neely to West of Mars! Woot! How often do I get to say that around here? Not. Often. Enough.

Ready? Let’s go. Rebecca, what song makes you think of your book?

The song Somebody to Love You by Delbert McClinton makes me think of my romantic suspense, A MIGHTY GOOD MAN.

The song is exploding with a powerful mix of emotions—a keen sense of mystery, desperation and a down home, no holds barred warmth and passion. There’s the hypnotic mix of instruments, including the bass, a flute, and a tambourine. Too, the balance of tempos, slow and easy one moment, the next frenetic and high octane, takes me on a tumultuous ride—up and down, smooth and rocky, and I never want to get off this ride. The back-up singers add a delectable edge.

The lyrics capture exactly the struggles ‘Hank’ and Jack both face, and their challenges that are tied up in family and second chances.

SELECT LYRICS

You need a job so you can make some money
You need a nice warm place to stay
A sense of humor cause life is funny
A big stick to keep the wolves away

I recommend you get some life insurance
Be prepared to dial 911
Pay close attention to your high blood pressure
And stay away from the man with a gun

You got to find somebody to love you
Someone to be there for you night and day
Someone to share it with and be part of you
Love ain’t no good till you give it away
You got to give it away

And of course, the main attraction on this song is Delbert himself. His voice has a way of creeping into your soul, with its rock and blues and rhythm, and getting down to the nitty gritty of life and love and everything that truly matters.

For me, this song delivers the total experience that is A Mighty Good Man. Have you got somebody to love you?

Ooh, how can you resist? (Personally, I was sold when I found out she’s a Steelers fan. As much as I don’t like pro ball anymore, I’m still a Steelers fan. Make no sense? Then you’re not from here.)

Here’s the official description:

Her personal and professional life on the skids, a family emergency forces writer Hank Jerry to return to the small town and the aunt she left behind.

Fresh out of prison, Jack “Gent” Darcy is bent on cutting ties with the Creds, but when you’re a war counselor in a national gang, they don’t let you just walk away.

That raises more questions than it answers, huh? But at the same time, it says it all. Pretty clever back cover copy.

Get your own copy! It’s Amazon exclusive (exclusives suck. I know.).

And as always, the best way to say thanks to an author is to leave a few words of review… on your blog, at GoodReads, or at Amazon (if you and she aren’t friends). Need to borrow space? Drop me an e-mail. I’d be glad to post a review of a formerly featured book here.

Yep, it’s that time again. Actually, it’s a little late for me to get started on Rocktober. But here we are. The days are counting down and …

I have space at The Rock of Pages for Rocktober this year. Lots of space.

If you’re an author of Rock Fiction, come on over and write me a guest blog about anything, although we all seem to like the “how I named my rocker” posts.

If you’re a reviewer or reader, I’ll gladly reblog any reviews you’ve written. Send it on in HTML and we’ll get it up.

If you’re not an author, reviewer, or reader but want to do something else, holler. It’s Rocktober, so pretty much anything goes. It’s about what happens when books and music — all music, not just rock and roll — collide, so have at it.

As I try to do every year, let’s have this year’s Rocktober outdo last year’s.

Let’s welcome Rebecca J Clark to West of Mars! She’s got a new book out and it sounds like a lot of fun. Read on!

What song makes me think of my book?
Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off, because it’s the only thing that will stop my heroine’s young son when he’s having a tantrum, so it’s played throughout the story. It also serves as her motto when she’s feeling insecure and suspecting her husband has grown tired of her–she tells herself to “shake it off.”

Taylor Swift STOPS a tantrum? Well, it takes all kinds… and good thing that something stops a tantrum. Never-ending tantrums are the worst.

Ready to find out what the book is about?

She’s bringing sexy back…

Stay-at-home mom Darlene Ramirez appears to have it all: a sexy husband, a beautiful little boy, and a new home in the suburbs. But when Colton starts working longer hours and spending more time at the gym, she fears the worst. When a stylish new friend offers her a makeover, Darlene jumps at the chance to do her part to bring some va-va-voom back to the relationship and fight for her marriage. As she learns to walk in stilettos and seduce Colton with her sexy new look and attitude, her plan seems to be working… until she catches him in a lie and learns nothing is what it seems.

Will a great pair of shoes be enough to save her marriage?

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Remember, if you’ve liked what you’ve seen and you’ve bought and read the book, a review at any online site will help keep an author writing. Just a few words — it’s not that hard and it helps more than you realize!

I first noticed it a year or two ago: unless it was a fantasy set in a different world or a Regency romance, almost every book I worked on was guaranteed to have a gun in it. Mystery? But of course there were guns, and not merely the service weapons that cops carry and, hopefully, rarely remove from their holsters. No, I was seeing guns that were pulled out. Pointed at people, safety off and finger on the trigger. Guns that were discharged, often with muzzle flares and smoke coming off the tip afterward and even more often with no regard for that thing called aim. Or concern for collateral damage — you know, the people and things that will be killed, ruined, damaged by a bullet that didn’t hit its intended target.

There was rarely, if ever, anything approaching safety other than flipping the gun’s safety off.

Always flipping the safety off.

Now, I belong to a sportsmen’s club, almost exclusively so that my kid has a close and really darn good archery range. I have shot, on occasion, myself, although the 12 gauge shotgun in July — which definitely had a safety that couldn’t be flipped, at least by my fingers — proved that my elbow injury interferes with what is essentially a fun activity. There is something very satisfying about finding you measure up to a target, although those flying orange ones continue to give me nightmares. They don’t move nearly that fast when you are merely watching!

At my club, and at the clubs friends and family have taken me to as a guest, and at the club we’ve been to with the Scouts, and even on the archery ranges, safety is the Number One concern. Reverence for the gun, for what it can do, comes a close and related second.

There’s nothing approaching safety or reverence of the weapon in any of these books. Guns are … taken for granted. Everyday objects that are essential to keep the hero safe.

Now, maybe that familiarity is part of the culture. I’m not entirely certain. I know that my club is full of cops, who use the range to keep their skills sharp. So you’d think if there’s a setting in which guns would become second-nature, this would be it. But… nope. The number one rule is safety: always point the gun downrange. Never put your finger on the trigger until you are ready to shoot. And more. So much more. Safety comes first. Reverence for the firearms is a close and related second.

My neighbor is a cop. His wife was hit by a drunk driver on the highway a few years back, and the first thing that happened when the police arrived was she said to the responding officers, “My husband is on the job. This is his car. There’s a firearm in it.”

We don’t see this in fiction. We see people whipping guns out, firing at will. We almost never see characters open the action, eject the spent cartridge.

In almost every book, we see guns.

This bothers me.

It bothers me every time I flip on the news to hear of another shooting.

It bothers me every time I have to go to school or my temple. Cameras. Sign-in procedures. Show a driver’s license. Ring a doorbell. Wave to the cop on the campus.

Now, I’m not going to go so far as to say that as fiction writers, we have a responsibility to change this country’s gun culture (for the record, a lot of my international clients have guns in their manuscripts, as well). Every single person, regardless of who you are, has a responsibility to help change the gun culture.

The best way is through education. If you’re going to write a book that has guns in it, know what you’re talking about. Take a class at a sportsmens club; many offer classes to non-members. Talk to your instructor, make friends with someone who shoots. Since I joined the club, I’ve been surprised by how many friends and family have outed themselves to me as fans of recreational shooting. Every single one is willing to take me out, teach me a few things, give me practice. I’m grateful for their offers. These are ambassadors of firearms. The message is simple: educate yourself. Learn to do it right. Have fun with it.

Put yourself in your protagonist’s shoes. How does it feel to pull that trigger, knowing someone may die? How does it feel to be reliant only on a gun for protection? Most of these fictional characters don’t spend hours and hours on a range, perfecting their aim. Yet somehow, in the movies and in fiction, their aim is always true. The bad guy dies.

Ever stop to consider what you’d do if you missed? What you’d do if a gun was pressed to your own temple?

When I was in grad school, I had a friend. He wrote mysteries. Before he got to grad school, he drove a cab. He had guns pointed to his head. And let me tell you, his reaction, each and every time, was the sort of thing I have never seen in fiction. Ever. Because our heroes need to keep their cool. They can’t panic. They can’t give in to their body’s natural reaction.

How true to life is that?

So here’s my challenge. While I don’t believe it’s incumbent on us fiction writers to write firearms entirely out of our fiction, it’s incumbent on us to be completely solid in our fictional uses of them. That’s the first part of the challenge: write what you know. Old advice, right? Flip that around: learn about what you want to write about. Guns. Cooking. Fancy chairs if your hero is a wedding planner. Know your stuff.

But also, while guns are always going to be vital in certain books, see if you can come up with climaxes and penultimate scenes that don’t involve guns. Can we get away from the trope of the abused ex-wife who pulls a gun and shoots her abuser dead? Let’s think about what would happen in real life if that happened: the survivor would be taken to jail while the situation was sorted out. And the kids? Quite possibly (but not always) thrown into the system, at least temporarily.

To me, the kids are more important than being the one who is ultimately responsible for the ex’s downfall. Put the gun away. Find another conflict, another way to bring things to their highest point of tension and breaking point. Maybe it’ll lack the drama of a gun, but … well, think MacGyver. What sort of situation can you create that sets the situation on its peak, but doesn’t involve a gun?

I’ve been writing again — over 8k since last Friday, which isn’t bad when you consider how busy my life is — and there are going to be no guns in my manuscript. There could be, easily so. But I want my story to be realistic, and frankly, guns will be the antithesis to the world in which my story is set. They don’t fit here. People working problems out in different ways do.

So I challenge you: can you come up with a story that leaves the guns at home? Can you educate yourself so if you do use guns, the experts won’t laugh, shake their heads, and toss your book aside?

Small changes, yes. But if everyone makes a small change, won’t it add up to be one big change?

Let’s all welcome both Haley Whitehall AND the Featured New Book Spotlight back from hiatus! I’ve been busy editing over here at West of Mars, so hitting up people for submissions has fallen by the wayside. Thanks to whoever posted about the spotlight on Facebook; I’ve got a bunch of new books to share with you in the coming weeks (and hopefully months).

I’d like to thank Susan for having me on her blog again. I recently received the rights back to my first historical romance Midnight Caller, lengthened, re-edited, and re-released it. No matter how many romances I write in my career, I will always have a soft spot for Midnight Caller. I liked it before, but now I love it. I enjoyed improving a good story.

Midnight Caller is set in Kentucky right after the Civil War. Racial tension runs high, and a white woman loving an African-American man can be very dangerous. Emma never thought spending one night with Frederick would be all it took for him to claim a piece of her heart. She wanted a little freedom, wanted to experience passion after her loveless marriage. Frederick is the complete opposite of her late husband: muscular, caring, gentle, and midnight black. He works as a roustabout on the steamer the Comet by day and at night he moonlights by keeping widows company.

They both feel the pull to each other and try to ignore it…but the heart wants what the heart wants. I thought the song Can’t Help Lovin’ That Man from my favorite musical Showboat captured their forbidden love perfectly. The musical is set not long before my novella, and I’m sure the character Julie knows what my heroine Emma is going through. 🙂

I love hearing about authors who get their rights back and work to strengthen a book, even when it was good to begin with. You go, Haley!!

Ready for the book’s description? Do you even need it after that run-up and song choice?

Life without love is painful, but in the Reconstruction Era South forbidden fruit can be deadly. A fiery romance between a widow and an African American man has more consequences than either of them imagined.

Slavery has ended, but racial prejudice remains in Kentucky. Emma Bennett guards a secret that could destroy her life. Until now she never considered the price of her security. Becoming a well-respected member in Louisville had seemed a dream come true, but at what cost?

Her husband’s death from a carriage accident releases Emma from her loveless, controlling marriage. Now she has a chance to find happiness and raise a family. But before she begins courting again she wants to experience her freedom. At the advice of the leading socialite in town, she takes a black lover to fulfill her sexual needs. His raw masculine power awakens feelings she didn’t know existed. After the first touch, she craves more.

Frederick works as a roustabout by day and moonlights as a prostitute. He knows better than to fall in love with his white client, but Emma enchants him the first time he calls on her. To keep them both safe, he works hard to put up barriers. Unfortunately, he can’t protect Emma from the slimy Mr. Hawthorne, who wants her as his bride. Frederick vows to keep her safe even if his forbidden love costs him his life.

Buy Links:

Universal Amazon Link | Barnes and Noble | iTunes | Kobo | Smashwords | All Romance Ebooks

Social Media Links:

Website | Blog | Facebook | Fan Page | Twitter | Amazon Page | Pinterest

And remember: if you read it and like it, the author would LOVE a review! Even a few words at a site like Goodreads will help keep Haley in the business of writing books and creating new worlds for us all to explore.

…and there it was again. A post in a writer’s group on Facebook. “I got a bad review! Oh, no! What do I do!”

I don’t understand why it’s so hard for us to understand how to respond: you do nothing.

However, this turned out to be the exception. A few others in the group did a bit of digging into the reviews this book had generated. “You need an editor,” a bunch of people responded. “Every single review that’s been posted mentions the bad proofreading.”

So… I chimed in. “I’d be glad to proof your book for you. I actually do a fair number of proofing books that have been published but have gotten dinged for bad reviews.” The author asked for my rates. I gave them and told her that if they were too high for her, I’d work with her to reach something she could afford. Implicit in that was the idea that I ain’t working for Oreos. I extended the offer to anyone in the group in need of what I can do for them.

And then… the thread bogged down. The people who told her to do nothing, including editing her book. The people who loudly told her to unpublish the book and have it edited. A few told her to take advantage of the people offering their services (at that point, it was me and someone who offered to let a friend do it. No clue what the credentials were, which means there probably weren’t any).

My favorite was the author who said the reviews had been left by editors who were trying to drum up business.

Wow. Just… wow.

I doubt that author’s going to reach out to me, to be honest. Look at all that advice, and look at all those opinions. How does a person know who to trust?

By the time I gave up on it, people (again, of dubious qualification) were offering to proof this poor book for free. A debate was raging over the spelling of the title. But it’s a fantasy book, and in fantasy, you can take liberties with certain spellings.

But once again, it makes me wonder. It makes me wonder about so many things, I get bogged down, myself.

* What’s it take to raise above the noise and prove how very good I am at what I do and help more of these people?

* Is it worth hiring a staff of really good subcontractors to reach out to these authors and offer a Post-Publication Oh, No service? If so, what would be a fair charge?

* How the heck do I even find a staff of really good subcontractors? Most of the people I talk to have their own client lists, their own full calendars. The folk who are struggling often (but not always) reveal themselves in various ways to not be up to my standard with their knowledge base. Sorry, but if you’re sourcing on Facebook for help, you’re not West of Mars material.

And more.

I get both sides of the equation. I do. Good editing isn’t cheap. Finding a good editor isn’t easy, especially when you have been surrounded by the wrong people — the ones who bog you down in false flattery. That makes it hard to hear a good editor’s truth. It makes you feel like maybe you threw an awful lot of money away. That maybe you’re not as good as you thought you were.

I get it. I do.

But I also get the idea that if you want to make a serious go of a career as a writer, you can’t get bogged down in this false flattery. You can’t get bogged down by the bad reviews. You need to assemble the best team you can to help you be the best writer of the best book. Nothing else should be your goal. Ever.

So that when you are in that “Oh, no! Bad review!” panic, the advice to do nothing is the right advice. Because let’s face it: you can fix a poorly edited book. You can’t fix the online reviews that talk about how poorly edited your book is. (well, if you unpublish and then republish under a new title, you can, but even that has serious pitfalls.)

It’s your career. Get it right before you hit that PUBLISH button.

It was supposed to be a quickie road trip. In, out. Lots of time in the car and not nearly enough with the family. But when you’re with your favorite cousin (sorry gang, but ’tis true. Always has been), when air traffic goes down in DC, stranding a teen roughly the same age as your own and you want to be backup just in case the next three planes don’t fly (two didn’t), well, the short little visit got to be longer.

What’s this got to do with writing and editing? Well, I’m a day behind, that’s for sure! I’d planned to take last Friday off for the long trip down. And I’ll admit that I’d played with the idea of staying to yesterday. Just hadn’t expected to.

But more to the point. I run out of fingers and toes, those essential counting implements, when I try to think of the number of author friends and clients who have tried to write a short story or novella, only to realize there was more story there than they originally wanted to tell. Same thing for the friends and clients who outline before they write. The story takes hold and takes over.

And that’s my point today (although I really really want to rant about the misspelled book title. Seriously? People, you give literature a bad name!). To give in, to cede control every now and then. Let the story take you where it needs to go. Let it reveal itself, its twists and turns, its neat little character traits, to you. Let it be the proverbial onion that you peel away, layer by layer, ring by ring.

This is a first draft technique, to be honest. I’ve edited books where the author has let the plot get away from them and they haven’t been able to see it happening. (In these cases, I advocate scene cards) Their book turns into a hot mess and it’s next to impossible for me to straighten it out because at this phase, I don’t know what story you are trying to tell. Only you know which elements of the unwieldy plot are the ones you want to bring out. I can only make suggestions and hope they are the right ones.

Which means that yes, I advocate going nuts on your first draft. I say often enough that first drafts are for finding out where the story ends. Then, through revision and work with beta readers, figure out how to make the beginning and middle match your ending. (If you get into trouble along the way, or if you think you’ve got it but aren’t 100% certain, then you should bring in a content editor, either myself or a good friend of mine.)

Writing is a craft, remember.

But it’s in this early stage that short becomes long. This is the time to give control to the story. To extend your trip by a day because you truly don’t want to leave (is a move in my future?) or to turn a short story into a novel.

Then go back and winnow it down. Figure out what you put there because you, the author, need to know this information. Figure out what of that information helps you create a living, breathing character but is stuff the reader doesn’t need to know. Less experienced authors, you will be surprised by this! More experienced authors, you’re scoffing and saying yes, you get how it is. But stop scoffing a moment and go back to a time when you were struggling with this concept. And then take a good, hard look at your own manuscripts. Just to be on the safe side.

My extended trip gave me a lot to think about. It widened my horizons (and let me set foot in another National Park… another one I’ve got unfinished business with) and let me experience things I hadn’t expected to.

I’m a better person for it. And when I sit down to write and edit, it’ll make me a better writer and editor.

Happy writing. Happy revisions. And don’t forget to book your editing slots; fall’s filling up!

At the start of the summer, I decided that I was going to have a cardio summer at the Hoity Toity Health Club. It sounded like great fun: try to bike 300 miles and either walk or elliptical for 30. I had from the first day of summer vacation until the last to accomplish this.

And, me being me, the idea was really to see how many miles over 300 and 30 I could get.

But about halfway through the summer vacation, I realized something: while the challenge was a great way to motivate me to get myself back into the gym on a routine basis — the underlying reason for this silliness — I was neglecting something extremely important: strength training. And it was starting to show. Bones were beginning to dislocate, and I was having pain.

It was, of course, time to regroup, refocus, and yes, throw the challenge out the window.

I don’t like to say I failed so much as I came to realize I had to pursue a better path. I had to adjust to the circumstances and improve the situation.

So I did. No big deal. Fewer miles got walked and pedaled. Weights began to be lifted. I haven’t fully recovered my strength, but I’ve stopped the worst of the carnage.

Likewise, when we’re writing, sometimes, we have to throw the plan out the window and regroup. Yes, we may have to do it on the fly. Sometimes, we may get to the end of our first draft and look up and think, “Well, this ending doesn’t line up with the beginning.” We may have to work up a set of scene cards and take a good, hard look at the project from that viewpoint. Outlines may meet the recycle bin.

It’s not always as easy as waking up to realize that while you slept, you have a new dislocation that’s making it feel like someone sunk a knife into your butt and the pain’s radiating down your leg.

But sometimes, it is.

Doesn’t matter, though. What matters is that you can take that deep breath and do what’s best for your book. Yes, you may have spent hours or days or weeks on your outline, only to have to abandon it and fly by the seat of your pants. Maybe you realize that you began flying by the seat of your pants and deviated from the outline, and now you need to go back.

Doesn’t matter.

What matters is having the smarts and the guts and the dedication to regroup and realign. To delete pretty writing or scenes that make you laugh or cry.

Keep the focus on telling the best story you possibly can, and be ruthless in your pursuit of that goal. What isn’t important here is where you planned to end the journey. It’s what you learn about yourself, about your book, along the way.

I promise your book will be better for it. And just maybe, so will you.