Autumn Musings

You could stand on your front porch with two of your friends and watch something going on across the street. All three of you would see different things. You might notice the two children hiding with the dog, one friend might see that the female was scared and the other might notice that while they both were yelling that it was the male who kept backing up. Three people, three differing perspectives.

Ever had a discussion with your spouse and they simply aren’t getting what you are trying to explain? Several years ago, we had a fire in the house. There was a lot of smoke damage which led to the old wall paper coming down and my hubby having to hang more. We had the paper picked out and he was preparing the wall to put it up. I’d gone shopping to one of those stores where if you see something you like, you get it because it won’t be there when you go back. I’d found a bunch of wall type stuff that either exactly matched the border pattern or would go well with it. I had fun shopping! I came home with three bags of stuff. While my husband thought it was all cool and would look great, he could not understand WHY I got it right then when the wall paper was still on the roll. I, meanwhile, knew that it wouldn’t go up for a bit, but that by the time it could, I’d have figured out exactly what would go where so it could go up in a flash and the room would be ‘finished.’ We went round and round and it came down to a cliched Mars/Venus thing…or… two different perspectives!

Autumn. To me it means the deadline is approaching when all my authors’ books need to hit the printer and that Christmas is coming. To my hubby it means one thing: Hunting season! To my daughter, autumn means walks in the woods, falling leaves, cooler weather and school. To her boyfriend it means football and raking a ton of leaves and getting the house ready for winter. Same season…very different interpretations!

Perspectives will vary in character development as well. Too often, it seems that writers forget this and that the author’s viewpoint varies little between characters. Sure, the two main characters might have very different viewpoints, but everyone else seems to be peering through the exact same lens and, as a result, it doesn’t work or seems skewed. Bottom line, it doesn’t read as realistic.

People’s viewpoints or perspectives change as they age and characteristics become more set. Some guys are neat, some clean when ‘Mom’ comes over and others look around, shrug and think all is fine because they don’t even ‘see’ the laundry pile, empty cans and the dead plant. I know females like that as well. It is important for writers to realize that when there are numerous characters in a novel, that each will bring it’s own viewpoint to what is going on around them and that each will have their own unique way of handling a situation. Letting your characters own their own viewpoints, perspectives, idiosyncrasies and habits will allow them to have depth, be a solid entity and make them come alive.

Readers are the same. Each can and will bring their own experiences, emotions and attitudes to your characters when reading. One person’s ‘favorite’ character in your writing might be another’s least liked. It really may not matter that one is written to be likable and another is not because a reader will always view them through the lenses that are bases on their lives.

A few ideas to keep in mind…

Word Gardens

Writing is, very much, like having a garden. You plant your seeds, water them, talk to them, fertilize them, wait a bit, weed the sprouts, water them some more, stake flowers up when they’ve been trampled, thin the plants, move around a plant or two so that it looks better, weed out the crabgrass, water when it doesn’t, stress when it rains too much, and, eventually, sit there with dirty knees and grubby fingers and be dazzled.

Gardeners learn by trowel and error. ~Gardening Saying

You learn to deadhead so the plant will bloom yet again, you cut a bloom or three to take inside, and then realize the garden looks better for it. You learn that upon seeing it for a first time, the looker cannot tell you had to move a plant, compost one that didn’t make it through the hail storm or that the for-get-me-anyway smells absolutely horrid and your daisies ran away from it!

There is a satisfaction from seeing hummingbirds, butterflies and hummingbird moths sharing your calla lilies, butterfly bushes and phlox. There are smiles in every palm-sized tomato I pick and more as they migrate to neighbor’s kitchens. What is a garden, if not to share the bounty of vegies and blooms?

A rainbow of soil is under our feet;
red as a barn and black as peat.
It’s yellow as lemon and white as the snow;
bluish gray. So many colors below.
Hidden in darkness as thick as the night;
The only rainbow that can form without light.
Dig you a pit, or bore you a hole,
you’ll find enough colors to well rest your soil.
~Francis D. Hole (1913–2002), “A Rainbow of Soil Words”

A poem is planted, the seed of thought sends forth shoots, that, with brainstorms, the light in one’s eyes and a sprinkle of energetic scribbling blooms that one, perfect flower. Ah but flowers fade, need to be deadheaded (which let the plant bloom again) and ‘played with’ a bit. Perhaps this verse here, that planting there nudged between the red and blue… verse six between verse one and two.

The writer is a gardener, you see. Every review a chance to show off the bouquets, and then prune or cut back, encourage and flaunt! It is said that a garden never looks the same two glances in a row. So too, it is with a poem: author or readers–the words may lie untouched upon the page and yet, the time between one reading and the next is colored by happen-chance, a kittened- smile or a pot of overdone coffee. Very much like a storm’s hail, a blustery day or a a week with a dry well. With care and tending both gardens and writing will endure the storms and spring rains, And each, upon a new viewing has something completely new to offer the discerning viewer!

I like to jot down thoughts and ideas as I tread life’s garden, for then sometimes when I am weary I can turn a leaf and find what my mood was on a certain day and that changes a train of thought and brings back sunshine. ~Helen Rose Anne Milman Crofton, My Kalendar of Country Delights, “September Nineteenth,” 1903

The searing heat played havoc with the garden until I, brain-numb from editing, tossed the pen and grabbed the shears on my way out to the garden. There, without mercy I cut, beheaded, de-budded and hacked at the over-grown and the ‘in desperate need of’ cutting back. Afraid, I’d over done the onslaught, I worried a bit, but knew the plants would grow back, if not this year, then in the next. Not too different than the character I’d just performed a theoretical lobotomy on; changing their focus, motivation and destiny in a few swoop of several pages. Feeling somewhat like I’d had a cathartic cleansing, I then washed the dirt from my hands and went back to hack heads off dead plants–only this time in the book.

Funny, a few weeks later, lo and behold, the garden’s in full bloom, yet again and the character, having shed the unnecessary plumage I’d buried her in, went on to do exactly what she needed to, wanted to do!

The law of harvest is to reap more than you sow. Sow an act, and you reap a habit. Sow a habit and you reap a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny.~~James Allen

Harvest time comes round with that last great burst of foods for canning, and sharing, the ‘invite the whole block’ meals and the plotting and planning for the next garden-generation. The plucking, the plowing under, the reinventing, the tilling, the layering, the mulching…much like the revision/editing of a novel. When the last word is written; tis then the true work begins! What worked, what didn’t, what bloomed and which needs to be plucked out and tossed? Was the garden at its prime all we envisioned or was there still more we could fertilize and revamp? Did the bees move from flower to flower or did some plants wither along the way? Were there plants/story lines that never bloomed or plot holes left by the side-tracking moles burrowing through our minds?

The harvest is in, the nights grow cool. Still, after a few weeks, there will be one final harvest: the last flowers plucked, the last paragraph rewritten, the final batch of still green tomatoes bagged and the last proof gleaned for any stray weeds of omission.

It is only through books that we partake of the great harvest that is human civilization across the ages.~~Ibrahim Babangida

Wynwidyn’s Brightest Leaves- Our Newest Novels to Share!

First off, we’ve been busting out bums getting The Writing.Com Anthology finished and sent out to as many people as humanly possible before Christmas. Phew! A labor of love, indeed! It is worth to it to be a part of such a brilliant collection of writers. The stories are short and profound. The poetry is powerful and discreet. The cover is beautiful!

We’ll share Requiem:Book of the Fallen. It is the latest novel in the Requiem Series by Supernatural/Gothic/Suspense writer Adriana Noir. Requiem: Book of the Fallen takes place with pulsating characters in an austere future. It is the journey of a fallen angel engaging in a battle with other fallen angels, demons, his past, and the human condition: all for the souls of humanity. Then there is Ava to consider.
“The time has come. The battle for our souls has begun…”

Feel a little more down to Earth? Are cops in motorcycle gangs tough enough for you? Mara McBain is stunning us again with her latest Crime/Action/Suspense novel titled Club Justice. It is book #2 in The Trinity Falls Series.

  Perhaps it is a story of a Witches family history that will keep you intrigued and concerned. Carrie Rogers adds her twisted tale of Twisted Fate  to the Wynwidyn Press library.

All of these awesome titles, and more, are available from Wynwidyn Press at wynwidynpress.com and Amazon.com .

ALSO-

KEEP YOUR EYES PEELED AND YOUR NEWSPAPERS OPENED FOR

WYNWIDYN PRESS AUTHOR

BOOK SIGNING EVENTS

ALL OVER THIS LAND!

Grand Ribbon Cutting with Brighton-Pinckney-Lakeland-Hell Chamber of Commerce

We have been so busy, busy,busy here at Wynwidyn I almost forgot to tell you all about our ribbon-cutting with the Greater Brighton Area-Pinckney-Lakeland-Hell Chamber of Commerce. The place was packed! We went drank so much coffee and cider, and we ate many doughnuts that Robin bought from the Pinckney Bakery downtown. There was even a bowl of apples for the health conscious. It was an intriguing opportunity to talk to the owner of Ed Bock. I found out he was only 25 when he was offered the chance to buy the store. Now that I think about it, the store might be older than he is! He is a very community conscious business owner. Ed Bock is a landmark in Pinckney and I can see why he was picked to own it. I met his wife, who is a journalist from The Sun Times. She was very proud that The Sun Times was the only completely locally owned,  operated, and focused newspaper in the area. I met two insurance investors who surprised me with their honor. They were quite proud that their company, for over a hundred years, had never invested in any risky ventures, and had an impeccable record of integrity. I met an attorney. I met the most amazing seamstress who could custom design any pattern, or make any measurement, or alternation on site alone. She could just look at someone and would know exactly what your measurements were, and how much material to use. I met a bunch of crafty people who were small business owners in the area. Some people were just good at schmoozing. (Links coming in the morning)

Authors Carrie Rogers and Wayne Burkhardt were there to make us look official!

Robin and guest

What a happy crowd

Wayne Burhardt

All in all, we had a wonderful reception!

Wynwidyn Press presents Mara McBain

Wynwidyn Press would like to present our rising star author Mara McBain. Her first novel Club Justice is an intriguing adventure involving a motorcycle gang and an undercover investigator.

Her second book in the series is Club Ties which will be available in December.

Look for Mara McBain’s books available on the WynwidynPress web page.

Wynwidyn in the works

In the wonderful world of Wynwidyn we are a crew of busy, busy bees. The Press is up to 13 new books coming out in the next few months. There are books for babies, children, fearless adults, and poets. It is all very exciting!

Recently, Wynwidyn Press became a member of the Greater Brighton Chamber of Commerce. This has opened up a few new opportunities for us. For instance, if you live locally you may begin to see the publications of press releases regarding Wynwidyn Press. Robin and I will have the opportunity to network and meet even more interesting people.

Robin Moyer was also interviewed on WLPN. The link to that will be posted as soon as possible.

We also added a couple of maps in the office that have pin marks to represent the locations of all the Wynwidyn Press authors. It looks pretty impressive already!

Another creative touch Robin added, besides the Autumnal decorations, was to change over the authors leaves on the tree to autumn colors, too. The dragon in the tree doesn’t seem to mind.

A couple of people from Ed Bock’s have poked their heads into the office today wanting to know what this place was about. We were happy to tell them.

The Writing.Com Anthology is the next big project we are working on. It will be a beautiful collection of a lot of gifted authors. Keep your eyes peeled for more release dates.

Until then, write on!

Competition

What with all that is going on in the Olympics and new world records being set every day, I have been thinking about competition in general and how it can spur people to rise to new heights; how it can push them to accomplish great things and how even a sixth place finisher can set his own personal all-time best.  That guy is a winner every bit as much as the one who took home the gold. Why? Because he did something he’d never done before and broke his own record, not by mere thousandths of a seconds, but by three whole seconds.

Competition should get people to try harder, to be better and rise higher in what they do.  It is about excelling and taking the opportunity to be the best.  Why then, I continue to wonder, does competition sometimes bring out the worst in people? Why the need to cheat or lie or con to stay at the top?

I was always taught, as a manager, to teach my crew to be able to be as good as I was, to enable them to succeed and climb up any ladder, corporate or otherwise, that they were mentally able to climb.  Competition can bring out new ideas, ways of doing business that are fresh and ground-breaking.  It should foster a common goal to be the best and to do the best job for those whom we serve.  Not the other way around.

Many a gold medal athlete has been ‘the best’ and had their moment or moments in the sun.  What do they do after that? They often teach or coach others to do what they did and then, happily, watch their proteges beat their best times or add an extra twist and set a whole new bar for the next generation.  Often the ‘old guard’ still trains and competes neck and neck with those whom they have shared their knowledge and talents. Together they push forward, encouraging each other every bit as much as they compete against each other.  This is what brings out that ‘best’ in their skills, character, and as human beings.

Going for the gold is not something reserved for twelve days every two years.  It is something one strives for every day.  So go after your golden moments with honor, strength of character, skill and that bit of magic you hold deep inside.  You may still not be THE best, but I assure you, you will be YOUR best!

I’m going to succeed because I’m crazy enough to think that I can!

I don’t know who said that; I wish I did.  Bit it is true!  In this day and age, in this time of economic uncertainty, I’ve started my own self-publishing small press.  Slowly, but surely, I am building an author list. It will take time, being slightly crazy and having uber amounts of determination, guts and belief.

 

One of my favorite poems of all time is by Edgar Guest.  Here it is in part:

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done,

But, he with a chuckle replied

That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one

Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.

So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin

On his face. If he worried he hid it.

He started to sing as he tackled the thing

That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

 

Another favorite of mine is:

TRIUMPH is just UMPH! added to TRY!

 

Yup, believe in that one too!

 

One of the things I’ve learned sitting behind the ‘publisher’s desk’ is that one of my most important jobs is ‘encourager.’  I hear questions like

“I want to write a book and I think I can.  Do you think I can?”

or

“I really want to get my book published, but I can’t afford it right now.”

or

“My family isn’t terribly supportive of this idea and now they have me worrying that…”

Sometimes, as a part of the ‘encourager role,’ role is listening and then imparting (or doing my best to impart) the courage part of the word.  New projects, new adventures, new businesses take that initial vision, a bucketful of guts and a whole lake of I wills swimming around with I cans. 

Today I was on the phone with an author who has a dynamite idea for a series of books, has the basic outlines in place, just doesn’t have the funding…yet.  Her family is extremely hesitant to help her out but she is not giving up. Well, she isn’t now.  She’ll keep working on the books so that when the time comes, she will be ready to go forward.  Might be a month from now or maybe two years from now. 

The point is that she isn’t giving up on the idea,  She still is working towards it tho and quite frankly, the dreams we work the hardest to accomplish are the ones we appreciate the most and get the biggest thrill out of!  I can attest to that first hand!

Another poem comes to mind, one by Danish poet, Piet Hein:

Put up in a place that is easy to see

the cryptic admonishment: TTT.

When you feel how depressingly slowly you climb;

it is well to remember that

THINGS

TAKE

TIME.

Yep they do!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Proofread vs proof-read

Someone mentioned to me recently that I obviously don’t know how to  ‘proofread’ my website because I had the word, proofread, spelled ‘proof-read.’  Silly me to try to make a point that proofing a manuscript is more than spell-checking it; it requires READING it. 

Spell checkers are a marvelous invention, but they will not catch mistakes where the wrong spelling of a word is used.  When proofreading, your eye must look for the instances like lying prostate during a prostrate exam. HUH? *grin*  Reading the work aloud helps.  Reading it backwards helps. 

“Did John get too work today.” He asked? <——–Spell checks didn’t catch this. “Did John get to work today?” he asked.

“I here the winds hear were terrible.  Its sad that the tornado came.  It’s path was devastating. It is to bad you’re house was in it’s path. You’re insurance should cover it. Your meeting with the adjuster today, right?”  <——-or these.  “I hear the winds here were terrible.  It’s sad that the tornado came.  Its path was devastating. It is too bad your house was in its path. Your insurance should cover it.  You’re meeting with the adjuster today, right?”

No one is perfect. And these are little things.  But they grow exponentially  when they are in your book or paper.  Simple fix.  ProofREAD! *smile*

I Love Being a Pole Barn Publisher!

Our open house yesterday was a smashing success! We had fifty-two people here at one point and there were people everywhere!  Last week someone ‘elsewhere’ tried to disparage Wynwidyn Press for being located in a ‘pole barn.’  We got so many comments last night about what a wonderful little place we have here, how it is so creative and how it exudes such a warm and inviting feel.  I was told that it was a clever thing to do as it obviously keeps the overhead down, but that once inside, one would never know it was a ‘pole barn.’

Sure made me happy and we have all worked hard to make this place exactly what it is and to reflect who and what we are. 

But it also has made me think about the world and websites and how it is what one says and does that truly reflects the depth of a person or their company.  I’ve been told that I should answer any and every question someone might have on my company website.  I disagree.  I think a website should have enough to get someone’s attention, give them the basics and then, if they are interested, they will call.  If they have questions, we can answer them. In detail.  I would far rather talk to an author.  Any author should have more questions.  I would.

Not every self-publishing company will appeal to every author.  That is why there is room for all of us.  We offer different packages and options.  We compete, sure, but isn’t that what should make each of us better at what we do? Competition should be a healthy incentive to always do our best by our customers.

Meanwhile, back to yesterday…

So much fun to see the kids that came curled up in various places reading the Alyndoria books.  Various authors came to check us out!  Mara McBain came as did Adriana Noir! It was fun seeing and meeting fellow writing.com authors! Author Peggy Grigowski came and helped out and was such a phenomenal help! Thanking you all!