Help for The Haunted has
been on my kindle for over a year. I think I found it on BookBub for $1.99. I’d
been meaning to read it for some time, and I decided to finally start because I’m
interested in writing a ghost story, and I thought might benefit from reading
what looked to be a promising novel.
I wasn’t disappointed. It takes place in 1980s New England,
where Sylvie is trying to come to terms with her parent’s murder. Sylvie’s mother was “gifted” – she could pray
for haunted souls and somehow bring them peace. Sylvie’s father also worked in
the paranormal, and together they provided “help for the haunted.” But shortly
before they’re murdered, a book is released about them that calls their
integrity into question. Plus, they’re having HUGE trouble with their older
daughter, Rose, and the dad of one of the girls they supposedly helped is very
bitter towards them.
So Sylvie thinks she knows what happened. Then, she realizes
how little she knows, but she also gets that she is the only one who can find
out. Sylvie narrates this story, and her character is merely middle-school age.
Yet Sylvie is very wise – “special” – like her mother was, and she comes to
question not just her upbringing, but everything she once believed to be true.
This is a ghost story for sure, but it’s one that questions whether or not
ghosts exist.
I liked this story, and I thought the twist at the end was
well done. I did think the pacing was pretty slow; the chapters were very long
and it took a while to get to the exciting part. The build-up was drawn out, so
it’s a good thing that there was payoff at the end.
Sylvie was a great character, and John Searle’s writing is
quite skilled. If you’re looking for a creepy, sometimes disturbing, sometimes
uplifting story, try Help for The
Haunted.
In the latest issue of Glamour, Tina Fey talks about her most recent role in the movie, Sisters: "Woman-child, I think, is in reference to the fact that there are many male comedians who play man-childs—man-childs is a word. I do think it’s fun to be able to play a character that’s in no way aspirational and in no way a role model, and the more female characters there are on-screen, there’s less pressure on every character to represent everyone. I love playing people who are flawed." I think she makes an interesting point.Whether it's books, movies, or TV, there is more pressure for female characters to be inspirational and ground breaking. Why is "man-child" even a word, but "woman-child" has just been made up? Comedians like Mindy Kaling and Amy Schumer have also recently played woman-child characters, so maybe it's becoming more of a thing. On a different note, I recently got into a debate with my husband. I said that Katniss Everdeen was one of the meatiest female literary characters, ever. He disagreed, so I was like - okay, then who? He said Juliet and Lady Macbeth, but my cynical laughter quickly shut him down. "They are simply there to support the male protagonist," I said. "I'm talking about female characters whose primary objective is not to be with, or to assist, a man." Then he asked me for some other examples, and I had a hard time coming up with any. Scarlet O'Hara? Maybe I'm just out of touch. Are things getting better, and more equal, for female roles/literary characters? What do you think?
CBB Promotions is hosting a blog tour for The Standout, and it started today! You can read reviews, excerpts, interviews, and guest posts, plus, you can enter to win a $25 Amazon gift card! Super Cool!!
For the full tour schedule, visit my blog tour page at CBB Promotions. Click here.
“The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been
dead for several weeks before we came to realize the gravity of our situation.”
(Secret History, 1)
That is the first line of one of my favorite novels of all
time. The Secret History is also one
of the most successful novels ever, and it launched the career of Donna Tartt,
who went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for her most recent book, The Goldfinch. I love that first line
because it immediately drew me in. I’m wondering who Bunny is, and why did he
die? I know the story takes place during winter, in the mountains, and I’m
curious who this “we” is that the narrator speaks of, and what, exactly, is their
situation?
I’ve heard that the first line is the most important line of
your novel, and if it’s not absolutely fabulous, with a huge, explosive impact, agents and publishers will
stop reading immediately. I find this sort of hard to believe, because I’ve
read lots of novels with lackluster first lines, yet they turned out to be good
books, nonetheless.
Still, as a writer I feel that first-line pressure. The
first line of The Standout is “I
wanted to jump, but I didn’t have the guts.” I guess this line was interesting
enough to keep people reading, because my book got a nice amount of nominations
on Kindle Scout, and it won a publishing contract. But I doubt it will go down
in history of best first lines ever.
It’s a difficult balance. This week a story I wrote was
being workshopped in the grad-school class I’m taking. Actually, it’s the first
chapter of a novel, about a woman whose sister dies. I reveal that this sister
dies right away. The revelation isn’t in the first line, but in the first paragraph, and
that’s been the major criticism so far. They say it ruins the suspense. Since
the sister dying is merely the inciting incident that leads to a much bigger,
more suspenseful storyline, I figured it was okay. I mean, you have to draw
your readers in immediately, right? But maybe I’m doing it wrong.
For the same class, we had an assignment to come up with
five “first lines” of novels or stories. Here are mine:
Even before I opened that manila envelope, I
knew my instructions would be to kill Tania, my one true love.
Abby can’t say what compelled her up those
rickety old steps, through the crooked, unstable door and into that abandoned
house, only to find a box of Stephen’s childhood photos.
First I smell the evergreens, then I open my
eyes and see pine needles looming above me; is it sap that covers my naked body
with mucous, or is it something more sinister?
I never believed I could kill so carelessly, but
things happen, and now I’ll never be free again.
Joanne used to laugh when Ryan said he knew
voodoo, but that was before she dumped him, before she woke up the next day
with appendicitis, before she inexplicably went blind in her left eye.
My instructor liked the last one best. If anyone would like
to comment, I’d love to know your opinion. How important is the first line of a
novel? Should it reveal the action, or does that ruin the suspense?
So yeah, I read The
Fault is in Our Stars, and I loved it. I laughed, I cried, and I asked
myself over and over, “How can I write a book this good?” Of course, this
question led me to an unfortunate answer. I am not John Green, and thus do not
have his sense of humor, his philosophy of life, his life experience, nor his
unique perspective. So I can’t write a book like he wrote, but I decided I could write a book about life, loss, and
love, only through my own personal lens.
I believe that being alive qualifies me to write a book
about life, and I’m in love with my husband and my children, so that area is
covered too. But loss? I’ve been pretty lucky, actually. Of course, there have
been tough times and depressing periods, when it seemed there was no way past
whatever obstacle I faced. I can also remember being a teenager, to have that
raw feeling of wanting everything. I believed nothing was impossible and my
number one fear was that my “real life” would never begin. I recalled that while
I wrote The Next Breath, and I pictured
being young but knowing my days were numbered. I imagined falling in love for
the first time, with a beautiful boy who had lungs that failed him.
Robin, my main character in The Next Breath is very healthy and exceedingly strong. Her
strength is both her biggest burden and her greatest strength. She doesn’t
always realize how strong she is, but it is through her strength that she is
able to love and stay with Jed, who is not healthy. Years later, it is also through
her strength that she finally confronts the demons that came with losing him.
But there are lots of novels with characters like Robin,
right? So I asked myself, “How do I make this story unique?” First, I decided
to use humor whenever I could. Jed reminds Robin that “Comedy is tragedy, plus
timing,” and I couldn’t agree more. Whether she’s going for her morning run,
competing with her siblings in a one-armed game of pool, getting breakup hair,
or simply ruminating on her life, Robin is always finding humor in her
situation.
Another way I decided to make The Next Breath unique was by drawing from my own experiences. I
majored in theater in college, and I spent years acting and performing. It was
fun to remember that time of my life, but writing “Jed’s” play was tough; it
had to be profound, emotional, and well-written. It had to be a satisfying way
to complete Robin’s character arc. Oh, and it had to make sense. But I knew if
I could achieve all that, I would have written a book like no other. It would
be a book that I could be proud was uniquely my own.
Finally, I did a lot of research. Jed had cystic fibrosis. I
wanted to describe his disease accurately, so I read a lot of personal accounts
of what it’s like to have CF. Eva Markvoort’s blog, 65_Red Roses, was
especially compelling and descriptive.
She was so tough, honest, and loving. She was committed to living life
fully, for however long she had. And, she was generous enough to describe her
life so vividly, that I, along with many others, felt like I knew her just by
reading her blog.
I tried to give Jed some of her fortitude, wisdom, and
kindness. I felt like a better person for having “known” Eva Markvoort through
her writing, and I aimed to make Robin a better person for having known Jed.
So that’s the story of how I didn’t write The Fault is in Our Stars, but how I did
grow and learn while I wrote The Next
Breath. And that, if nothing else, makes me happy.
The countdown to The Standout's November 10th release has begun! To celebrate, The Next Breath is only 99 cents, but this price won't last! Download your copy today, because tomorrow it's back to $3.99!
Click HERE to download The Next Breath (which received Honorable Mention for Women's Fiction in the 2015 RONE Awards!)
When I started my Kindle Scout campaign, I wore my new purple Birkenstocks for good luck. I guess it worked, since The Standout was selected. I decided it's the color. So on any landmark day, my footwear will be purple. Luckily, I have new purple boots, from Italy no less! (I did not go to Italy myself, they were a gift from my Mom and Stepdad.)
Anyway, the pre-sale page for The Standout is up. If you nominated it, you can download your free copy now! Click here right now and do it!
It's been almost a month since I received the fabulous news that Kindle Press has decided to publish The Standout, and on Monday (10/26) the pre-sale page goes up, so people who nominated it will be able to download their free copy.
This is of course, very exciting for me. But I have also realized that I need to see my Kindle Scout success more as an opportunity than as a final destination. In the last month I've become acquainted with other Kindle Press authors (very friendly bunch of people) and I've checked out the sales ranking on many books published by Kindle Press. Some do great, but some do not. Some seem to get promoted, but some do not. Obviously, I need to work hard and promote my book as much as I can, so that Amazon will want to work hard for it and promote it too.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. I want to dispel a couple of myths first.
Kindle Scout is a relatively new program, and before I put my book up, I read as much about it as I could. A couple of different sites I went to stated that the books aren't judged on quality, and that once they're chosen, they receive no editing.
Wrong, and wrong.
In the last few weeks, several more books have been selected for publication. Some had been in "Hot and Trending" pretty much the whole time. A couple were not. I don't know what Amazon looks for, but they do actually read the books before selecting them. When I talked to my contact at Kindle Press, she mentioned the editors' comments on The Standout - which said to me that more than one person had read it and liked it.
I also received editing services. They were mostly copy edits, very minimal, because I submitted a very clean manuscript. But there was one suggestion about a line of dialogue, which was quite helpful and showed good insight into one of the major characters.
Everyone has been very friendly and approachable. The other authors I've "met" via Facebook all seem quite satisfied with Kindle Press thus far. I expect there are exceptions - there always are - but so far I haven't heard any Kindle Press authors say anything negative about their experience.
I remain a little overwhelmed. There are literally over a million books available on Kindle, and being published by Kindle Press is not a guarantee of success. Every day I get half a dozen emails from places like Book Bub, Book Gorilla, Book Sends, etc., about all the books that are on sale, and I'm reminded what a saturated market this is. Yet, I love it. I love reading and I love writing, and even though I'll admit to being deeply competitive, I love meeting other writers like me.
So, if you nominated The Standout, don't forget to download your free copy, come Monday. Let the true journey begin!
So, I beat the odds, and The Standout will be published by Kindle Press! I couldn't be more excited and I'm still sort of in shock.
I promised a run-down of my stats:
I was in Hot & Trending 74% of the time. There were two stretches of seven days or more when I was in Hot & Trending for more than 170 hours (a week.) There were three days total when I wasn't in Hot & Trending at all, and the rest of the time I was in it for at least part of the day.
By the end of the campaign, 41% of my page views came from people directed to my link and 59% came from people just visiting the site.
I received around 1080 page views by the end.
What worked?
First and foremost, I was lucky. Now, I have a long history of being unlucky when it comes to book marketing and publishing, so this is a really big break for me. I did a lot of things right, but so did a lot of other authors whose books didn't do as well.
As far as tangible things that worked, here's my list:
The title: I didn't think about it at the time, but having a book called The Standout in a situation where it's competing with other books for nominations couldn't have hurt me. It's just asking to be noticed.
The cover! My cover artist, Christa Holland at Paper and Sage is amazing and deserves a lot of credit. She designed a beautiful, noticeable cover that I believe got me a lot of page views.
My visibility campaign: Candace at CBB Book Promotions got the ball rolling for me, and the first week-long stretch of Hot & Trending is due to her. I looked at it like this: One way or another, The Standout was getting published and I was simply doing my promotion pre-release. It worked, and a lot of people noticed The Standout.
Facebook. I started by sending a message to 50 of my friends who I thought would be the most receptive to my Kindle Scout campaign. Several of them spontaneously posted for me. Later that week my mom and my husband posted for me. Towards the end of my campaign I had several more friends post for me, and I tried to space it out. I also posted on my own timeline twice, and every time I wrote a Kindle Scout Diary blog, I posted that too.
Having a publishing history: I've already published several books on Amazon, and that seems to have helped, as many other Kindle Press authors can say the same. I made The Holdout free for two days during my campaign, it was featured on Pixel of Ink, and sales took off. Thank you Pixel of Ink!
Putting forth my best effort with my book and author page: I like to think I wrote a good book, and that the presentation is really professional. That's certainly what I was going for.
So there you have it. I hope that helps any of you Kindle Scout authors who may be in the beginning or middle of their campaigns. Good Luck!!!
Tomorrow is the final day of my Kindle Scout campaign. That means only one more night of waking up at 3:00 AM, wondering if I'm in Hot & Trending. Now I can look forward to dreaming about whether or not Kindle Press will actually publish The Standout. From what I hear, most authors get emailed the verdict pretty quickly, much sooner than the fifteen days that's allotted. Still, I expect the wait to be excruciating. No, no. Waterboarding is excruciating. This is just angst-inducing.
I was talking to a good friend, telling her how nervous I am, how devastating it will be if I don't get picked.
"It doesn't have to be devastating," she said. "You'll just do what you always do. You'll pick yourself up, self-publish, and move on."
She's right, and that was good to hear. But I still find myself wondering (obsessing) about who gets picked and why. Since my campaign started, three books have been chosen for publication. What do they have in common?
Their most recent pick is Blood of the Forgotten Coast, by William Shelly Gwynn:
Before that came Five Spot, by Cindy Blackburn:
And then there's There is a Land: a Novel of Haiti, by Ted Oswald:
They all have very professional looking covers, they were all in Hot and Trending for most, if not all, of the time, and they are each authored by someone with writing experience. None of the authors are new to publishing. All three of the books are classified as a mystery or thriller. I read the opening pages of each, and they were all well-written.
But that's just three out of seventy-seven books. Of all the published books, there seems to be a pretty even distribution of male to female authors. It would be useless to look at the genre breakdown, since until recently, the only genres allowed were Mystery & Thriller, Romance, and Science Fiction/Fantasy. Now they also allow Literature & Fiction, and Young Adult.
But how many books have been turned down by Kindle Press?
I'm not going to count how many books are currently up for nomination. But a brief glance over the categories tells me there are around 260 listings. Since many books are listed in more than one category, I'll estimate there are over 100 books up now, and at any given time. Of course, every day new books are added while other campaigns ends. It seems to me that Kindle Press averages slightly fewer than one book a week to choose for publication. Mathematicians, feel free to dispute me on this because I'm terrible at math, but I'm guessing about 95% or more of the books up for nomination DO NOT get picked. So if The Standout isn't chosen, I'll be in good company.
However, I have to say, my chances are still better here than with the normal route to publication - you know, finding an agent to pitch my manuscript to one of the big name publishers so I can be famous for having written the next Gone Girl. Is Amazon perfect? NO! Do I appreciate the opportunity, no matter what the outcome, HELL, YES!
And now, my final plea: I will REALLY, REALLY appreciate your nomination. If you haven't already, please click here right now to nominate The Standout.
Thank you! I will be back, once the verdict is in, with a run-down of my stats and my final thoughts on what worked, or what didn't work. Stay tuned!
I've reached the final countdown. It will be great to be done, but I'm sure I'll be a mess during that waiting time, looking at my inbox every five minutes for the verdict from Kindle Press. I keep telling myself that I'll be fine whether they publish it or not. Self-publishing The Standout, like I have with my other books, is not the end of the world.
And win or lose, I'm happy I tried. I had no idea how supportive everyone would be. So many people have posted for me, encouraging their friends and family to nominate my book.(This actually works well and has put me in Hot & Trending more than once.) I've always been terrible at self-promotion, but one benefit to doing this campaign is I've forced myself to toot my own horn. (Oh, BTW, if you have nominated The Standout yet, please click here right now and do so! Please & thank you!) Anyway, the enthusiasm and encouragement I've received has been extremely gratifying.
And I'm all about gratification, instant and otherwise. That's why today, in honor of "five days left," I'm going to list my five favorite comfort foods.
#5: Mac & Cheese
I'm talking about the homemade kind, with melted cheddar, cream, dry mustard, and garlic breadcrumbs on top. Once or twice a year I'll make a batch and freeze most of it, and then defrost small portions to enjoy throughout the winter. It's especially good accompanying seafood.
#4: Chicken Enchilada Casserole
I learned to make it from my mom. She told me to use a grocery store rotisserie chicken, cut it up and season it, and layer it with corn tortillas, cheese, green chile sauce, onion, and cilantro. I'm not above making this every month or so.
#3: Tuna Melt
The Uptown Diner (now closed) in Minneapolis made the best tuna melt ever. I can't replicate what they did, probably because I don't keep that much butter in my refrigerator. So again, I make them like how my mom does, which is also really good. They're open faced, on English muffin halves. Served with tomato soup, they remind me of childhood: Tuesday evening dinner, after I got home from dance class.
#2: Chocolate Cake
Every year for my birthday I make my own chocolate cake. My husband always offers to either make or buy me a cake, but I always refuse. I like to experiment with recipes from my Chocolate Cake Doctor cook book. Maybe by the time I turn 70 I'll have tried them all, but I doubt it. The chocolate midnight cake is so good I've made it multiple times.
#1: Spaghetti
It's my favorite Sunday night meal! I make it often, so I often skip the garlic bread, and lately I've started mixing in bean sprouts with the noodles, which is actually really good. I also love spicy meatballs. The only concession I can make there is reduced fat pork sausage. What else can I do?
Honorable Mention: Sriracha Sauce
I would put it at number one, but it's a sauce, not a food. I use it like little kids use ketchup. I put it on everything I mentioned above, except the chocolate cake. But does anyone know of a good Sriracha/chocolate cake recipe? Let me know!
So my days are down to the single digits on Kindle Scout. I have to say, it's gone better than I ever imagined. I still doubt I'll get picked, but it won't be for a lack of trying. I was in Hot & Trending for over a week (thanks again, Candace's Book Blog), but yesterday morning I fell out of that desired category.
Looking at my stats, I discovered that over half of my page views came from people who were already on the Kindle Scout site. For this, I need to thank Christa Holland at Paper and Sage. She designed my cover, and I have received so many compliments on it. I can't stress the importance of a good cover. If it doesn't look professional and compelling, people won't click on it, and most likely, Kindle Press won't publish it. Christa has designed four covers for me now, and I love her work. Authors, I strongly recommend her. Her covers are fabulous, her rates are extremely reasonable, and she's super-professional.
Before I launch into my nine favorite films (in honor of my nine days left on Kindle Scout), I'll make my usual plea: PLEASE NOMINATE The Standout. It's super-quick & easy, and you'll get a free copy if it's chosen. Don't miss this Black Swan meets Project Runway thriller! Click here right now to nominate The Standout!
#9 - Miracle on 34th Street and It's a Wonderful Life
I'm sort of cheating here, by having a tie, but I just couldn't choose between these two equally cheesy yet wonderful Christmas movies:
Miracle on 34th Street is such a classic, and I love the court case where they prove that Santa Claus exists. In addition, it has probably my favorite line delivery of all time, when the drunk wife Mrs. Shellhammer says, "I would love to have Santa Claus come stay with us. I think it would SIMPLY charming!" (see video above)
I've seen It's a Wonderful Life literally dozens of time, and I still always cry when Harry Bailey says, "To George - the richest man in town."
#8: Babe
I recently watched Babe for the first time in years, this time with my children. It stood the test of time. I'm a sucker for a strong ending. "That will do, Pig, That will do." I can't go into more detail without giving spoilers, but heck. I actually get choked up, thinking about it. I guess that make me a hypocrite, because I also love bacon!
#7: Dead Poet's Society
I was young when this movie came out and it inspired me. And, speaking of strong endings, Dead Poet's Society has my second-favorite ending of any movie, ever. I wanted to jump into the screen and scream, "Oh Captain, my Captain!" #6: Terms of Endearment
There's some undefinable element about this movie that I love, but other parts are easier to name. Shirley MacLaine's scene where she demands that her daughter get pain medication? Debra Winger's scene where she tells her son that she knows he loves her? PURE GOLD.
#5: Citizen Kane
Call me pretentious, but I have to name Citizen Kane as one of the best, because I used to teach Film Studies, and this film is like a complex puzzle. Every time I showed it (around 40 times) I noticed something new, yet I could never remember the order of the scenes. It's amazing, to not be able to predict something that you are so incredibly familiar with.
#4: The Graduate
This is another one that I showed in Film Studies. It's rare that a movie can be so funny, deep, and complex, all at the same time.
#3: Tootsie
Dustin Hoffman is my favorite actor and the entire movie is hilarious, but the montage that ends with Bill Murray's line, "That is one crazy hospital!" is the most brilliantly orchestrated segment of a film that I can think of.
#2: Broadcast News
I admit to being a James Brooks fan (he also did Terms of Endearment.) This movie has some of the most quotable lines ever: "I can read, while I sing, I am singing and reading, BOTH!" The love triangle drew me, but the issues about media responsibility still resonate nearly thirty years after the film's been made.
#1: On the Waterfront
"I coulda been a contender!" The movie is campy by today's standards, but Marlon Brando's acting is unforgettable, the cinematography incredibly innovative, and the politics underneath the film are fascinating. Plus, this movie has my FAVORITE ending, ever. It's even better than Babe and Dead's Poet's Society, which says a lot.
Now please, give me my amazing ending, and nominate The Standout on Kindle Scout. Here's the link again.
On the first day of school I told my ninth graders a story. There is a jealous baron who must travel, but before he leaves he tells his wife, "Do not leave the castle. If you do, I will punish you severely when I return." Well, the baroness decides it's worth the risk to go see her boyfriend, so she crosses the river, has a good time, and leaves to go home before her husband finds out. But once she gets to the river, she encounters a madman who says, "If you try to cross the river, I'll kill you." The baroness goes for help, first to her boyfriend, who says, "I don't want to get involved, so I'm not helping you." Then she goes to a boatman, who will only take her across the river if she can pay him, but the baroness has no money. Finally she goes to a friend and begs her for help. But the friend says,"Sorry, you got yourself into this situation. I'm not helping you." The baroness goes back to the river and tries to cross anyway, but the madman finds her and kills her. The End.
I ask the kids: who is the most responsible for the murder of the baroness? Overwhelmingly, they say the baroness herself.
This blows my mind. "What about the madman?" I ask. "He's the one who actually killed her!"
"But he's crazy," they say. "And besides, he warned her that he'd kill her if she tried to cross."
"The baroness is a twat," more than one student remarked. (And yes, I then lectured them about using appropriate language and about my opinions on misogyny.) "Her husband told her not to go. She deserves what she got."
I pointed out that the her husband was most likely abusive, since he threatened to "severely punish her." Didn't matter.
One kid said, "If you're one the South Side of Chicago and your mama tells you not to go outside and you stand out on the sidewalk for a smoke and get shot, then it's your fault."
I congratulated him for his ability to apply fiction to a real-life situation.
A lot of my students lead very difficult lives, so in a way it doesn't surprise me that see the baroness as responsible. Doing so probably helps them believe that making the right choices will keep them safe. I hope that it does.
The point of the exercise is to practice class discussion and to use a story as means of exploring personal beliefs and opinions. In that sense, I think it was a success.
****
I am now HALFWAY through my Kindle Scout campaign. It is going well, especially since Candace from Candace's Book Blog is helping me out. Authors, I strongly recommend doing some sort of promotion like I've done. She put together a book blog campaign for me, and to pique reader's interest there's a giveaway for an Amazon gift card. It's definitely helped me get noticed.
But I still have a long way to go. Please, if you haven't nominated The Standout on Kindle Scout yet, click here right now and help me out! If my book gets published you'll get a free copy!
Today is Labor Day and tomorrow will be the first day of my sixteenth year teaching high school English. Oh, and it's day 11 of my Kindle Scout campaign.
Lately when I wake up in the middle of the night my mind is racing. Have I done my seating charts? Will my lesson plans work? How will I drive people to my Kindle Scout page? What am I going to have for breakfast tomorrow?
Some answers are easier than others. I'm glad to be a third of the way through my campaign, though I can't say I've found any sure-fire techniques for getting nominations, other than asking people on Facebook. That's been the most effective thing so far, especially when other people post for me. On Friday my husband, Rich, posted. It was his first time Facebook in months and the response was awesome! It's amazing how many people genuinely want to encourage other people's success.
Anyway, I needed a break, so yesterday I took Eli to the Minnesota State Fair and we had a really good time.
We started the day at the Miracle of Birth center, where we got to pet a baby pig.
After that we went to the pickle stand. "Ah, sweet pickle flesh!" (Those were Eli's words, not mine.) I've never liked pickles but Eli LOVES them!
It rained for a while, but that didn't stop us from trying out the paddle board simulator. Now I want to paddle board for real!
When we were looking for lunch options, Eli was horrified by the elephant ear stand. "But they're endangered!" Always the animal lover, he was relieved to find out that elephant ears are actually cookies. With all the exotic food choices, like alligator, I don't blame him for jumping to conclusions.
Once the sun came out we went on the river raft ride, and we got much wetter than we did from the rain.
We couldn't skip the giant slide. (The lone slider in the pic is Eli.)
Then it was time for my yearly state fair tradition. I love to eat mini-donuts while sitting directly underneath the bungee ride. You couldn't pay me to go on the thing. Nope. I get my thrills vicariously, while eating donuts, of course.
But Eli was inspired by the bungee ride, so our last stop of the day was the for him to do the kid's version. I kind of wish that they have this tame-downed version for adults!
So that's it. Wish me luck teaching ninth graders tomorrow, and if you haven't already, please click here right now and nominate The Standout on Kindle Scout.
Every evening at eight o’clock, a whistle goes off. It’s neither particularly loud nor long, but even still, it’s a whistle. When a whistle goes off, you take notice. But that’s not the issue. We don’t know where this whistle is coming from, or why it’s happening in the first place.
Our house is small so we should be able to figure it out. For the last few evenings, at around 7:58, Rich, Eli, and I take different posts, trying to pinpoint the whistle’s source. For example, last night Rich was upstairs, Eli was in the hallway, and I was in the living room, by the game drawer. (Pauline was in her bedroom with the door shut, because the mysterious whistle scares her.)
No matter where we stand, the whistle is never incredible close. I’m not sure how this is possible, because our house is more cozy and cottage-like than it is cavernous. And we’ve dug through every area where we might have put a tool or device with an alarm. We’ve checked our computers, phones, Ipads, etc.
Nothing.
As Rich said, eventually the battery of whatever it is will run out. I guess that’s good, because it means the whistle will eventually stop blowing. But it’s also bad, because we might never know what's causing the mysterious 8 PM whistle, and I hate not knowing.
It doesn’t feel like a stretch to compare our whistle to my Kindle Scout campaign, even though I discovered that I can access a stats page that tells me how many page views I’ve gotten and where my traffic is coming from. It's all still a mystery though, because I don’t know is how many actual nominations I’ve gotten, and I certainly don’t know what Amazon is looking for when they make their final decision. Is it my book’s number of hours in Hot and Trending? The professionalism of my author page? The quality and/or marketability of my novel? It’s probably a combination of the three, but those last two are incredibly subjective, and the possibility of getting published feels so impossibly close, yet entirely intangible. What’s more, I have to know that I might never know what makes a Kindle Scout nominee successful.
Yet I’ll keep searching. That whistle is calling me. I have to try.
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If you haven't yet nominated The Standout on Kindle Scout, please help this struggling writer out, and click here right now! It's easy, free, you won't get SPAM, and if my book gets published by Kindle Press you'll get a free copy.
And I'll be sooooo grateful!
Plus, The Holdout is FREE today! Read Robin Bricker's story from the beginning! And watch out, because The Next Breath goes on sale on Sunday.
To get your free Kindle download of The Holdout, click here.
Before I launch into how my Kindle Scout campaign is going, let me digress a little.
A few weeks ago I took my daughter, Pauline, to Barnes & Noble, with the promise of buying her first chapter book. When we got there, Pauline ran excitedly to the section for five to seven-year-olds, and her enthusiasm only grew as she looked around. There were books about fairies, and ballerinas, and horses. But when we found the Magic Kitten series by Sue Bentley, all bets were off.
I mean, it pained her to leave the other books behind, but Pauline HAD TO HAVE that Magic Kitten book.
On our way out the store, Pauline cried, "Oh Mommy, isn't it EXCITING that there are so many good books to read!"
It was a proud-mother moment for me. Because yes, I think the fact that there are SO MANY good books to read is as about as exciting as the world gets; I really, really do. It's why I'm an English teacher, it's why I have dozens of books of my Kindle yet I still buy more, it's why I love going to the library, and it's why I'm a writer.
But the volume of good books is also intimidating, because as an author, I know the competition is fierce.
But this Sue Bentley is a genius. We've read several Magic Kitten books by now (we also found her shelf at the library) and they're well-written and full of little-girl ingredients, like dance competitions, friendship conflicts, and of course, a magic kitten. I wish I'd written them.
Which leads me back to the fierce competition thing. I've looked at Kindle Scout quite a bit in the last few days, having been weaker than I'd hoped when it comes to checking on my Hot and Trending status. I've also joined a Kindle Scout group on both Facebook and Goodreads. So I'm very aware of all the excellent, competent authors who are pursuing the same dream as me. I also know that we won't all get what we want, not this time, anyway.
All you can do is keep plugging along, hoping that the next book you write will be your Magic Kitten, and the world will finally sit up and take notice.
So, if you haven't nominated The Standout yet on Kindle Scout, please click here, right now! Help me get my magic kitten!
I have always wanted to be hot and trending. Now I feel like my life, or my writing career, depends on it. Which is silly. It's really just my sanity that's at stake.
Okay, I'll back up. Around eight months ago I found out about the Kindle Scout Program, where readers "nominate" your book in the hope that Amazon will publish it. If Amazon is your publisher, it could mean increased marketing and having a leg up in the huge playing field that publishing has become.
Sign me up! I thought. They only accept romance, science fiction, and thrillers? No problem. I turned the book I was working on into a thriller. (Since then they've broadened the categories to Literature and Fiction.) I need a cover, super-short book description, and flawless editing? I did my best. I want to be published by Amazon so much so that I'm willing to set myself up for tremendous disappointment if my book isn't chosen.
Well, my campaign started, and even though self-promotion comes about as naturally to me as writing left-handed, I contacted my Facebook friends and begged them to nominate The Standout. A lot of them must have done it because I got into the "Hot and Trending" category a few hours after my campaign began.(Thank you everyone!) I checked back after more than a day had passed, and I still was hot. And trending. But now I'm afraid to look.
Because how long will it last?
Maybe the fact that I wore my new, purple clog Birkenstocks on day one helped. They're definitely trending. The lady at the shoe store said they're a limited edition. And I've been ramping up my workouts lately, so of course, I am HOT.
But I know that my "hot and trending" status could easily become an obsession. I really don't want to feel cold and clueless, so I've resolved not to look at my page, unless I'm copying the link for promotion. However, out of sight does not equal out of mind.
Keep me Hot and Trending! Click here now to nominate The Standout!
