Somewhere Over the Sun

Tomorrow marks the start of BookExpo America 2011. Not much is certain about what will come of it, aside from my earnest attempts to meet people in the book world, get my name out there and garner interest in my writing. I’ll be showing off book reviews from Somewhere Over the Sun, as well as start the process of shopping around (getting in touch with agents) my second book, Bright and Blue. That means I’ll be telling people what it’s about. Which means you get to know what it’s about.

As a writer, I’ve been told to show and not tell, so let me just show you the very beginning of the book, which gives a fairly clear picture of what it is about. Enjoy!

Spout no longer knew anyone left on Earth.

All his remaining acquaintances; an ill-tempered cousin; a  Chinese waitress whose name he couldn’t help but intentionally mispronounce; his very first girlfriend from elementary school, Lucy, whom he hadn’t spoken to in forty-eight years; they had all left on the very last flight twenty-three minutes before Spout woke up. Everyone that remained on the planet, the few of them that did, were all strangers to him. Even his daughter had left.

  He had wanted to wake up early and say goodbye, but had not made it on time. Spout did not oversleep, nor did he intentionally miss the departure. He simply would not allow himself to leave the house without his keys, the habit engrained too deeply into the fibers of his fingers to be forgotten. By the time he finally found them in between the beige, pin-striped couch cushions that his wife had hated so long ago, the sky was already pin-striped by plumes of rocket-fuel smoke.

I have held this information back (the synopsis, in essence) because of something I call the reaction bias. Whenever you tell someone about an artistic idea that is in progress, their reaction will affect how you feel about the idea, and it is inevitable that it will cause some sort of change in your inspiration; it will make the idea less yours. You’ll adjust it to what someone else says, how excited they are or aren’t, and you start trying to please others rather than pleasing yourself until the idea is formed, and then making the necessary improvements.

That’s my theory, anyway. And now that the idea is pretty much done (I’ve finished the second round of edits, with more on the way), I feel comfortable disclosing it to all you lovely readers.

I read somewhere that authors live three books at a time. Promoting the one that came out, editing the one you just wrote, writing the one you’re…um…writing. It was more eloquently express by the guy I’m paraphrasing. Anyway, what I’m trying to get at is: I’m gonna go start writing my third book.

Cheers.

To give you a sneak peek at the glamorous life of a career writer, here are some of the things I’m currently working on:

• Second draft of my second novel (still unnamed). After finishing the first draft early this month, I went through and made a few edits and gave myself notes. Now I’m working on fixing what needs to be fixed, both on a small sentence-to-sentence scale and on a larger character development and plot hole scale. So far, I only know what I think of the novel, which has made improvements a little difficult, since I’m having trouble identifying the manuscript’s overall strengths and weaknesses. Outside perspective is crucial for improvement. While I wrote Somewhere Over the Sun, I had the constant input of two brilliant editors, so the rewrites were easier: I knew what to fix. I do have a beta reader who’s working her way through the manuscript now and will share with me her thoughts hopefully by the end of the month.

• Query letter for the aforementioned second novel. No agent or publisher’s going to read a manuscript without being sold on the idea first. To all you aspiring young writers, the earlier you start honing your query letter skills, the better off you’ll be.

• A short story entitled, The Rabbi Sent an E-mail. Upon its completion, I’ll be submitting it to various literary journals and magazines. Increasing my publication credits and overall exposure is a good idea at this point in my career. Plus, I like writing shorts and haven’t given myself the chance to in the year and a half since I began my life as a writer.

• Portfolios for BookExpo America 2011. This four day event is the main focus of my travels this summer and will be crucial in determining the next few months of my life. I want to network with as many people as possible at this event, and I’m gathering some materials to be able to hand out to agents/publishers/editors/anyone at all in order to draw interest and take the next step into traditional publishing. These portfolios will include a cover letter (I’m trying to determine what would be considered appropriate content for a cover letter aimed at no one in specific, since cover letters are meant to be more specifically targeted; possibly a this is who I am, this is what I’ve done, this is what I plan to do kind of thing), the first ten pages of my second novel, customer and critic reviews of Somewhere Over the Sun, The Rabbi Sent an E-mail, and some other writing samples, such as the first two pages of The Ministry of Lost Hours, which will one day become my third novel. Speaking of which…

• Outline for third manuscript, The Ministry of Lost Hours. Still in baby phase, but occupying some mental capacity.

• Maintaining a blog, which is my main marketing tool as a writer. Any writer will tell you that the best way to sell books is via positive word-of-mouth. Any marketer will tell you that the hardest marketing tactic to artificially achieve is positive word-of-mouth. I can’t get people talking about my book unless they read it, and I can’t get people to read it unless I’m talking about my book.

• Since I would be a hypocrite if I didn’t take my own advice about taking books as lovers, I’m attempting to read 50 books this year. You can track my progress on Goodreads.

• And just for good measure, I’m communicating with my readers. I have this other brilliant marketing tactic/thing that makes me feel better. Quite a few of an author’s sales come from friends and family. Turn your readers into your friends and they’ll be more likely to want to buy your book. Added bonus: you have more friends! Approachability, that’s what I’m all about, dear readers. Speaking of which, would you like a postcard (I’ve already received a number of requests (thanks to all those who’ve messaged me their addresses/city requests!) and I’m very happy to add these postcards to my busy plate of things to write)?