Creeping Closer
Earlier this week, I mailed my galleys back to Bethany House.
I had struggled with my dedication and acknowledgements, but finally finished both those pieces of the manuscript. I also did a final read-through and, after making a few tweaks, I gave my final approval. Home Another Way is out of my hands.
I hadn’t reread what I’d written since March, and before that, the previous May. So, while much of my novel was very familiar to me, I have to admit to being surprised by some of the things I’d written – yeah, I guess I didn’t remember writing them. Not much. A sentence here, a short paragraph there, mostly things I’d done during the editing this spring. I found myself drawn into the story at parts, much more than I ever expected to be – it is, after all, my story, and I know all too well what’s going to happen. I even teared up in a couple of places.
So, now, I wait. My editor will check my tweaks and add any other last-minute changes, then I suppose Home Another Way will hop in line for the printer. The countdown until October 1st begins.
Deja Vu…in the Writing Sense
Sometimes I feel like I’m writing the same things over and over again.
I’m not talking plot, not really. But words, phrases, ideas. You say, “Of course you’re writing the same words over and over again – there are only so many.” And yes, that’s true. But, still… I wonder what readers will remember from one book to the next.
For example, in Home Another Way, I have a dishrag somersault off the sink. In my WIP, Things Found in the Morning, I just wrote that a package of pills somersaults down Abbi’s leg. Or, in Home Another Way, my protagonist Sarah Graham spends six months sleeping on a couch. In Things Found in the Morning, Matthew sleeps on a sofa. Different reasons, obviously. But, will readers think, Gosh, does this woman have and aversion to beds?
Other similarities. Home Another Way: small town in Upstate, NY. Things Found in the Morning: town in South Dakota. Again, probably not a big deal. I know some authors spend their careers writing novels set only in small towns or only in big cities. I do plan to set my third novel, tentatively titled Life In Boxes, in New York City. And my forth novel, The Yellow Place, will split time between 19th century Arles, France, and modern day somewhere (not a small town – probably a college town, population about 50,000 or so).
Maybe I’m over-thinking this (I probably am, since I have that tendency). I can’t wait to go to the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers Conference in August. Each attendee gets four appointments with agent, editors and authors. Since I already have an agent, and I already have a publisher, I plan to see as many authors as I can, just so I can ask them these sorts of questions. I’m paying for these 15 minutes, so they have to listen to me 
Photo by Zinnia Naqvi, www.myspace.com/zinniaphotos; used under the Creative Commons license.
The Vanity of Amazon Watching
My novel is currently ranked #1,891,522 at Amazon.
It didn’t occur to me to look for my ranking number until Bethany House sent me its marketing binder; there was an article about Amazon rankings in it, telling me that as soon as one book is sold or pre-ordered, I’d be ranked. So, I popped onto Amazon to see what my ranking was. After all, my pastor’s wife had ordered five copies, and another friend had ordered two. I was surprise to see Home Another Way ranked somewhere around 400,000. That’s pretty good, I thought, for a novel from an unknown author that hasn’t been released yet. I was happy with it!
Two weeks later, my ranking was well into the millions. And, with the exception of a brief bounce to 650,000 after my high school Latin teacher pre-ordered a copy (thanks, Mrs. Grey!), I expect it will stay firmly planted there until the actual release.
I’ve been told that a ranking below 100,000 is good. Who knows if I’ll see that. But, in the end, Amazon rankings will fade away – oh, vanity of vanities! – and I’ll only be left with Christ and His righteousness, and nothing of my own merit. Praise God He doesn’t look at the rankings!
Discoverer and Discoveree
I’ve been discovered!
Rel, the owner of the blog, Relz Reviewz, posted a comment today telling me she found my book on the Bethany House Web site, and added her own “coming soon” post on her blog. I was so excited – my first discovery, so to speak. At least, the first I know about.
But, I’ve discovered a gem in Rel’s site. It’s devoted to Christian fiction reviews and author interviews. If you’re looking for information on the most recent releases in the CBA market, stop by and visit Rel!
Hitting the Road
My WIP, Things Found in the Morning (but if you you’ve read my blog long enough, you know that title will change), is set in South Dakota. Why? Well, I needed a certain climate, certain adoption laws, a certain sized county with a certain amount of law enforcement, and a certain demographic. So, after completing all my research, South Dakota was the winner.
Now, my first novel, Home Another Way, is set in a small mountain town in upstate New York. I live in upstate New York. I know people who grew up in small mountain towns like Jonah, people whose homes really did have dirt floors, and no indoor plumbing, and who kept their bathtubs on the front lawn and carried them into the kitchen on bath day because their houses were too small to keep them inside all the time. To get an idea of how Jonah looked, I spent a day driving around the back mountain roads, snapping photos of ramshackle buildings. Setting research was easy-peasy.
I know nothing about South Dakota, other than what I’ve read on the Internet. I know authors write about places they’ve never been all the time, but because of my writing style – I use quite a bit of sensory descriptions – I think it’s important for me to have firsthand knowledge of the sights, sounds, and smells of my chosen setting. Plus, I have this annoying penchant for accuracy.
So, I’m heading to the Mount Rushmore State.
Since, as I discovered during my research, SD is one of the only states without Amtrak, and Greyhound takes 43 hours (I’m certainly not bringing a 7-year-old on a nearly two-day bus ride), and it costs $860 per person to fly to Pierre, I’m going on a literal road trip. My father (semi-retired and always up for an adventure), Jacob, and I are driving to South Dakota next month. We’re sticking an air mattress in the back of the van; I’ll sleep while my father drives, my father will sleep while I’ll drive, and we’ll get there in 24 hours.
Sounds like fun, huh?
I’ll certainly be blogging along the way.
