Being a Writer vs a Regular Person by Zina Abbott

I am a writer. Even before I wrote American historical romance, I wrote grievance files as a union steward. I wrote family history and other short stories before that. 

The photo of the older woman in front of a computer on the above is not me. However, if she was dressed in a T-shirt or sweatshirt, and her hair was more mussed and auburn (okay, salt-and-red pepper, heavy on the salt), she could pass. However, I have not been writing much since I published my most recent book on December 8th, almost a month ago. 

I spent the first two weeks after publication working heavily on marketing--both for my own books and for the three multiple-author series for which I was then writing. After, with Christmas only a few days away, I started acting like a regular person, not an author with obligations and deadlines. Even my title on this blog header is in a different, more wonky font than my usual "Western" font. I told myself, as soon as Christmas is over, I'll start writing. Then, it was I will start right after New Year's Day. Another week is almost past and other than a few necessary multi-media obligations, I'm still in "regular person" mode--not writing my next book.

Maybe not entirely. Even though I have not been writing, I have been doing author-y tasks. One of my first, which I tackled New Year's Day (After watching most of the Pasadena Rose Parade) was to copy and paste to save for my records how I did as far as sales and royalties for the year. The above, which I shared on my newsletter, shows my ten top books in relation to royalties earned. I was pleased that one of my 2023 publications, Lauren, which had not been out quite a year, placed in the top ten royalty earners.

The all-time top ten as far as Kindle Unlimited page reads pretty much matches the above, except Lauren scooted in front of Otto's Offer and Diantha.

However, it was a different story when I looked at royalties earned by sales--both ebook and print. The smaller covers in front represent the royalties from sales. The books that surprised me were my own little trio of romances for Train Wreck in Jubilee Springs--Two Sisters and the Christmas Groom, Kate's Railroad Chef, and Nathan's Nurse. They did really well on sales. After 2017, I have been the only one writing for the Sweethearts of Jubilee Springs series. I had considered pulling those three books (published in the end of 2019 and early 2021) and put them into a stand-alone series. After reviewing this data, I realize it needs to be done--soon.

Only Kendrick, my most popular book, held the same position on both charts.

I also identified my second top-10 most popular books based on royalties earned--in other words, books number 11 through 20. A Shopkeeper for Christmas surprised me. Then again, I used it often as a promotional book, often at a reduced price. It all added up. Three of my Sweethearts of Jubilee Springs books--Dead Set Delphinia, Aaron's Annulment Bride, and Bargain Bessie, have been around since 2017, and all have done well. I was pleased to see another of my 2023 books, Elise, in my top twenty.

Even though these were not "writing," having this information helps me as a self-published author know what I need to focus on more during the coming year.

Other non-writer tasks that felt like I was being a regular person (but not really):

I have an older Windows 10 computer that I nurse along because (in case you cannot figure out from the graphics you have seen so far, just in this post) I enjoy doing graphics. I have a 1998 Microsoft photo-editing program that they stopped making in 1999. It will work on a 64-bit machine, but nothing higher. When it comes to 64-bit computers, I do not think they are making them anymore. I will not go to Adobe Photoshop because I HATE that program. I guess I have been using Microsoft products for so long, the logic used by Adobe makes no sense to me. I do not find it intuitive or user-friendly.

Therefore, I regularly--especially after a year has ended--back up my computer on at least two external hard drives and delete non-working files, especially the large image files. All my folders with images and research documents for blog posts? Backed up and gone off my computer. All my "snippet" record of receipts for paid bills? Same. I keep this machine clean so my photo-editing works better. Before I did this, I backed up the entire computer--system and all--on a third back-up drive. It takes time--lots of time. However, my computer is working much quicker and more smoothly.

I decided to prepare my writing income and expense files for 2024. I backed up 2023 on all three drives, and I will do taxes on my other computer (my "writing" computer).

Then there is dealing with all the emails. I get them all year, but this time of year, with all the stuff everyone has been trying to sell, they feel personal--like a personal affront. I am getting to this blog post late because I spent over four hours clearing emails. Well--true confessions--that and following my usual "down the research rabbit hole" tendency. 

 

 

Example. Ancestry is advertising their six-month subscription on sale again. I finally decided, since it is not as convenient to go my local family history center where I can access it for free, I needed to sign up. It is a business expense. Yes, I expect to use it for family history. Yet, as part of my usual book research for some projects, I also love to look up census records, etc. Need the 1880 census records for Sonora and Copperopolis, California? I've got them. With access to Newspaper.com and Fold3 as part of the subscription--both excellent historical research sites--I decided the cost was worth the expanded version. 

 

Then, also part of the offer, I could add four others to my subscription. I added hubby, two daughters, and a daughter-in-law. Then, I had to text each of them to tell them so they did not think the email they receive is advertising spam and delete it. I was too late with hubby, but we recovered the link to his account. All little tasks like this take time--non-writing time.

 

After I paid for Ancestry, my "research rabbit hole" tendency really kicked in. I had to get on and check my own DNA results--again. They had a update, including a new feature of traits they projected based on my DNA. Have freckles? Yep, I have plenty. Hair color red? Yep. Well, it was auburn, but still... It even predicted I like the taste of cilantro. The only conclusion it predicted I don't agree with is that I am not more of an extrovert. I see myself as more of an introvert.

It was research, yes, but a very "regular person" type, not much writing done there.

Then another non-writing activity I worked on was developing a new cover design for a personal series I plan to write starting this year. I promised it at the end of Sabrina. That was another reason I needed to clean up my computer hard drive--so my photo-editing program for this project would perform more smoothly.  I keep finding great multiple-author series that interest me, so I have made several other commitments. I must work my own series books around them.

Unfortunately, as much as I enjoy designing covers, I do not find it to be as intuitive as it seems to be for other cover artists. Either that, or I am more critical of my own work. Instead of spending 2-3 hours and ending up with a cover I am pleased with, I will spend possibly twice that long to get to something I like fairly well. Then, I come back to the project a few weeks--or months--later and work on it some more. I might to that two or three times before I get a cover I decide is the final-final. Some of my covers I've been pleased with, some not so much.

So far, I like how the current cover I'm working on is turning out. I am not ready to share it yet. I plan to have my cover reveal on my next newsletter. 

So, what would I have been doing if not writing this blog post after spending hours clearing emails? I would have been quilting. It is for a friend--a fellow quilter who regularly donates lap quilts to the local nursing home. She is having health challenges. So, it was time she received a quilt.

Two days ago, after completing the main quilt design, I tore my entire house and storage building apart looking for sashing material. For non-quilters, "sashing" is the wide fabric strips that frame the main quilt design. 

My friend and I have different tastes in fabrics. I like muted colors. Autumn colors. Colors that look like they came from the swamp. She likes light, bright, and cheerful colors--lots of florals. Often over the years, when I came across fabric remnants that were her style--not mine--I gave them to her. So now, when I needed something for a quilt intended for her, nothing I had in my stash worked.

Yesterday, instead of doing what I am doing today, I went to my local Jo-Ann's Fabrics. That was a mistake. I found something I thought might work. However, this Jo-Ann's is in the process of being closed for business. They had whatever fabric remained on a bolt on sale for 70% off if a shopper bought at least six bolts. I checked every bolt of quilting fabric, and after I settled on my choices, I spent a fortune. When I got home, I decided the fabric I originally picked out for the sashing did not work. None of the rest of the fabric worked, either, because they were colors and designs that I like.

Off I went to Walmart. I paced back and forth along the single partial aisle that held quilting fabric. Several times, I perused their limited selection. Nothing looked right. I avoided the reds, because I do not have much red in the body of the quilt. Finally, the red with yellow and white daisies yelled, "Hey! I'm bright! I'm cheerful! I'll make good sashing for your quilt." I bought two yards. 

All day that project took. Unfortunately, by the time this regular salt-and-red pepper-heavy-on-the-salt person returned home, she was too tired to quilt or do anything else.

Just as soon as I finish the quilt and give it to my friend, I will get over thinking like a regular person, and I'll get back to my writing schedule. Soon. I cannot put it off much longer--I have deadlines looming.

If while reading this post, you saw any covers of books you have not yet read and would like to learn more, please CLICK HERE to find the link to my Amazon author account. 

Also, if you do not receive my newsletter, but want to sign up in time to get in on my cover reveal for my own series, please CLICK HERE.

THE JANUARY JOURNEY

Post by Doris McCraw writing as Angela Raines

The author as Helen (Hunt) Jackson

Each January I visit the final gravesite of Helen (Hunt) Jackson. In many ways, it helps me set my course for the coming year. Now, lest you think this is a huge journey, it's not. In fact, I visit her site throughout the year. It is about six miles from my home. However, in January I think about how her life and work have had an influence on my writing career.

View from Helen's Gravesite
Photo property of the Author

To illustrate I thought I'd share some of the events from her life that have an impact on me.

1.  She didn't start writing until later in life. (After the death of her first husband, and two children over a period of  twelve years from the death of her first son in 1854 to her second son in 1865)

2.  She began writing poetry, then moved to essays, and then novels. She added non-fiction books with the publication of "Century of Dishonor"

3.  It is said she wrote from around 5am to Noon every day unless ill.

4.  When she took up a 'hobby' as she called it, she devoted herself to see it through. 

5.  Although known for her work on behalf of the Indians in her later life, many of her early essays dealt with the way children were treated.

6.  She loved nature and wrote about her various journeys and observations.

7.  Although intensely private herself, she was a keen observer of human nature

Alternate view from the gravesite
Photo property of the author

There is much more about this amazing and complex woman that continues to draw me into reading her works and studying her life. When I stand by her gravesite I feel the pull to try to follow in her footsteps.

In honor of Helen and her poetry I humbly share one of my own.

Recapture the Past

Recapture the past
You lose what you have become
Days come to an end

Time and Circumstance

A tree is a tree
Beauty, strength and survival
Time and circumstance

Yes, I'm still writing. Hope to have a couple of novels out in 2021, (Yes, I do write slow.) But I did have a short story included in a Western Anthology this past year. Check out ' Gilbert Hopkins is going to Die' in the "Under Western Stars" anthology by the Western Fictioneers.

Amazon ebook

Doris Gardner-McCraw -

Author, Speaker, Historian-specializing in
Colorado and Women's History

Angela Raines - author: Telling Stories Where Love & History Meet

Books: Angela Raines Books

THE DEVIL'S IN THE DETAILS--MAIN CHARACTERS by CHERYL PIERSON

Are you the kind of reader who likes to have a detailed description of the hero or heroine in romance books? What about other secondary characters? And do you feel the same way about characters in books of genres other than western historical romance, or romance in general?

To me, there is a big difference in how much character description is needed in romance novels versus other genres, and here’s why.

When we read romance, we put ourselves in the story, empathizing with both the heroine and the hero. Of course, we need enough description to let us be familiar with them both, but this might be a case of “less” being “more.”

In our personal lives, we have preferences in how our romantic “leading men” look, speak, behave, and so on. If our preferences are toward the tall, dark, and handsome hero, it will be hard for us to be vested in a story with a hero who’s short, fair, and ugly. Or one who has habits we personally don’t find attractive.

I knew a woman who didn’t like blond heroes. If he had blond hair on the cover, she’d color it brown or black with a marker. In the book, if “blond” was mentioned, she’d mark through it and write whatever color of hair she’d decided he needed. I asked her about the heroines. “They’re all me,” she answered. “I don’t pay attention to their descriptions.”

It made me wonder how many others felt this way.

Stephen King had mentioned at one time in his book ON WRITING that “description begins in the writer’s imagination, but should finish in the reader’s.”

https://amzn.to/2EdXjVy

And in genres other than romance, character description is different and maybe more important, because the reader doesn’t have any preconceived expectations of the story, such as romance readers do.

When I taught creative writing classes, this description was one I used to illustrate how so much could be packed in to a short amount of words without being an info dump.

https://amzn.to/2T4bXZU
This is the beginning of St. Agnes’ Stand, by Thomas Eidson, who also wrote The Missing. Take a look:

He was hurt and riding cautiously. Thoughts not quite grasped made him uneasy, and he listened for an errant sound in the hot wind. His eyes were narrowed—searching for a broken leaf, a freshly turned rock, anything from which he could make some sense of his vague uneasiness. Nothing. The desert seemed right, but wasn’t somehow. He turned in the saddle and looked behind him. A tumbleweed was bouncing in front of the wild assaults from the wind. But the trail was empty. He turned back and sat, listening.

Over six feet and carrying two hundred pounds, Nat Swanson didn’t disturb easy, but this morning he was edgy. His hat brim was pulled low, casting his face in shadow. The intense heat and the wind were playing with the air, making it warp and shimmer over the land. He forced himself to peer through it, knowing he wouldn’t get a second chance if he missed a sheen off sweating skin or the straight line of a gun barrel among branches.

And then this, a couple of paragraphs down:

He had been running for a week, and he was light on sleep and heavy on dust and too ready for trouble. He’d killed a man in a West Texas town he’d forgotten the name of—over a woman whose name he’d never known. He hadn’t wanted the woman or the killing. Nor had he wanted the hole in his thigh. What he did want was to get to California, and that’s where he was headed. Buttoned in his shirt pocket was a deed for a Santa Barbara ranch. Perhaps a younger man would have run longer and harder before turning to fight and maybe die; but Nat Swanson was thirty-five years that summer, old for the trail, and he had run as far as he was going to run.

I absolutely love this. Can you feel that you’re right there with Nat Swanson as he’s riding? There are no wasted words, and this is just such an eloquent, masterful description of not only Nat, but the situation and the physical place he’s in as well as the dilemma he’s faced with.

Another excellent way of describing a character and setting the scene at the same time is from another character’s POV. This passage is from Jack Schaefer’s iconic classic, Shane—from the eyes of Bobby Starrett—when Shane first rides into his life.

https://amzn.to/2BWlIin

This is just the very beginning of the book—there is more physical description of Shane a few paragraphs later, but I chose this passage because it lets us know what’s going on in a few short sentences—and that is real talent.

He rode into our valley in the summer of ’89. I was a kid then, barely topping the backboard of father’s old chuck-wagon. I was on the upper rail of our small corral, soaking in the late afternoon sun, when I saw him far down the road where it swung into the valley from the open plain beyond.

In that clear Wyoming air I could see him plainly, though he was still several miles away. There seemed nothing remarkable about him, just another stray horseman riding up the road toward the cluster of frame buildings that was our town. Then I saw a pair of cowhands, loping past him, stop and stare after him with a curious intentness.

He came steadily on, straight through the town without slackening pace, until he reached the fork a half-mile below our place. One branch turned left across the river ford and on to Luke Fletcher’s big spread. The other bore ahead along the right bank where we homesteaders had pegged our claims in a row up the valley. He hesitated briefly, studying the choice, and moved again steadily on our side.

This is tough, because we’re seeing it through two “lenses”—Bobby is nine years old, and this is what he sees, but it’s filtered by the adult Bobby who’s now telling the story of what happened all those years ago.

In writing the story this way, the reader gets the full impact of experiencing the fears, the situation brings, the joy of having Shane there, and the anguish of his leaving all through the eyes of a nine-year-old boy, with the adult overview that lets us know that Shane was not a hero—but he was to Bobby and those small time settlers who needed one so desperately. Yet, leaving was the only thing he could have done and kept Bobby’s view of him untarnished and intact.

Because we don’t know how the story will end, and we don’t know what to expect, we are learning about Shane’s character right along with Bobby so we are actively looking for details and descriptors the author might give us along the way—it will affect our opinion of Shane and let us know if Bobby is a reliable narrator, and it affects the outcome of the story.

I bring this up because in romance, seldom does the description have such a direct effect on the story itself, unless our main characters have scars, afflictions, or disabilities that might have some direct bearing on the story and its outcome.
So what do you think? Do you like a lot of description and detail about the WHR heroes you read about, or would you rather “fill in the blanks” for yourself?

As far as heroines go, most people I’ve talked to are not as concerned wither physical description (maybe because each person sees herself in the heroine?) but are more concerned with her personality traits—is she likable? Is she determined?

If she is not a fierce match for the hero, the story line is doomed.

And what about our hero? Though he can get away with more “questionable” traits, he has to be endowed with almost superhuman strength to overcome everything that’s thrown his way, and that is description that must be thoroughly detailed—not left to the reader’s interpretation.
(I apologize for the Amazon links being all over the place--I could not get them to "stick" under the book covers.)