In the Act of Being a Writer Again

I'm not complaining, I hope you know, but it is hard to market behave like a publisher, a marketer, a regular person, and get any writing done. September, October and November 2012 taught me that.

In December, I've somehow managed to work on incorporating an editor's comments and fixes into my next project, Time of Death, and get it almost ready to go. I spent a couple of hours on it today without the need to think about Christmas gifts, a trip to see my nephew graduate from college, the Gaskin family Christmas gathering, or a dandy little 24 hour stomach bug. All of which have also taken their turn lately. It was a good couple of hours, reminding me what I'm about.

Time of Death is an interesting piece for me. It is the true story of murder and miscarriage of justice in Chapel Hill in 1963-65. I celebrated my 13th and 14th birthdays while the story spun itself out, for me the perfect age to absorb all of its lessons. A tiny bit of it became the kernal of my novel, Until Proven. I hope it will be interesting for readers of one to read the other, to see how imagination remakes facts in the service of some other truth.

My remaining To Do list:

• Get a cover designed
• Proofread and proofread again
• Format for various ebook sellers

Your To Do list:

• Watch this space for a publication date!
• If you haven't already done so, check www.lystrabooks.com and Lystra Books' Facebook page.
• Have a great New Year's Eve and a grand 2013!

In the Act of Borrowing from Myself

I posted this on my website, www.lystrabooks.com, and I like it enough to add it here. Think of giving this gift to your favorite writers, whoever they may be, this holiday season!


As a publisher and author,** I have read a lot about how books come to be bought and sold. There are detailed marketing plans and some clever ideas out there, but here is how it works: readers buy books that are recommended by a trusted person. Don't you?

Of course that trusted person could be a famous reviewer with a national following, but he or she is more likely to be a friend or family member. Sometimes he or she is a total and anonymous stranger. I've gone to Amazon just to read reviews, haven't you?


So if you've read a book that pleases you, make the author smile. Write a review for www.amazon.com or for www.goodreads.com. Tell five people. Buy it for a friend.

The author who has sold millions of copies and the one who has sold tens of copies have this in common. They were readers before they were writers. And when they put the hours, days, weeks, months and years into a book, all they want is for one reader to like it and to tell another reader about it.

I promise that's true. You may be thinking that Fame and Fortune must be involved, because why else would someone spend years on such an uncertain enterprise. I will promise you something else. F & F are rare in this crazy enterprise. Where they do exist, it is because way back in the misty past, one person liked a book and told another person about it.

So ultimately, if you love to read, it's worth your time to make a writer smile. It is what keeps him or her going.

**Until Proven: a Mystery in 2 Parts, written by Nora Gaskin, published by Lystra Books and Literary Services, LLC.

When Do I Get to Write Again?

I'm beginning to come out of the publishing tunnel. I've learned so much, getting Until Proven: A Mystery in 2 Parts out for the world to read (and in time for Christmas, too!) but it has been all-consuming for months.

Now I know what to expect when I do it again. Now I know what none of the numerous guides to self-publishing bother to tell you. Hence the tunnel.

Two nights in a row, I dreamed that I was running around in public places without much in the way of clothing on. You know, a good old anxiety dream. And I developed a twitch in my upper lip. I had to fight off a head cold. Could these things be related to the last details of publishing? You think?

I worked on Until Proven for more than three years before I declared it "ready" and shipped it off to the book designer at the end of June 2012. I never doubted that I had a good story and I am confident that I told it well. So why the nerves? Because now the book is in the hands of the judges--my readers. You.

The responses have been gratifying. The cold didn't develop. The questionable dreams have stopped. The lip doesn't twitch when I smile.

And my imagination is bugging me. It won't take three years for the next piece of work into the light. I have two things, one short and one long, waiting for reworking, reimagining and polishing. All for you. Watch this space.

In the Act of Yikes! It's a Book! (Almost)

October 1 was my target date for publication. Yesterday, October 1, Kelly the book designer sent me the edited and reedited version of the text ready for uploading. Right on time.

My last task was to give her the information for the copyright page. Done this morning before 8:00. Okay, I was a day late.

Still need the final version of the book jacket. Then I get to learn how to shove a novel up the pipeline to become a printed book and up a different pipeline to become an ebook. I'm excited about doing those things. There may be a little cussing, but I promise not to throw any computers or scare the dogs.

I lay in bed this morning, just enjoying the sense of being so very, very close to this goal of a lifetime.

But I can't get too cozy with it. I have a non-fiction piece to get out into the world asap, two novels to rewrite and publish, and the characters from a story I don't know yet knocking around in my head wanting to get out. That's what really excites me.

So how many copies of Until Proven will you be buying for Christmas gifts? It'll be the hot new thing.

In the Act of Catching Up

For me, when Steve starts back to school, summer's over, and he'll be getting out of the house at 6:00 a.m. starting next Monday. I'll miss him, but I get in the back-to-school mode, too, and get a burst of energy for getting things done.

Often summers aren't especially productive for my writing but this one was a bit different. I found a copy editor and book designer who inhabit the same body. Yay! I sent her my "finished" manuscript (rewritten from January through mid-June, based on my wonderful writing group's edits and suggestions) by June 24. Then I took off for 10 days at the beach. Yay some more!

The copy editor persona sent the first half of the book back to me right around August 1; I made corrections and tinkered with the text and sent it back to her in less than a week. I'm awaiting the second half, and also awaiting the emergence of the book designer persona. I am eager to see what she comes up with for a cover design.

Did I mention, the target date for Until Proven, to be in the world is October 1?

You might think I'd be feeling the glow of accomplishment, the satisfaction of bringing all the characters into being, the wonderment that a story like this one could come out of my head. It's actually been a little difficult to find the glow etc. Perhaps because there is still so much to do. Perhaps because it's just one of those things that has to be anticlimactic. I kinda hope that moment is still out there for me. If not, no biggie.

Meanwhile, here's what I need to do:

• Hours more research on how to market a book
• Translate that research into a plan
• Execute the plan so that everyone on the planet wants to buy and read Until Proven

That's where you come in. If each of you will tell 10 people and each of them will tell 10 people and each of them ... Heck, nothing to it. So now that we're caught up, will you please get busy?

IN THE ACT OF DREAMING UP A CHARACTER

I know, hearing about other people's dreams tends to be boring and yeah, whatever. Nonetheless, I have one to tell about. I dreamed up a character. I haven't been looking for a character. He has no business distracting me from working over the current manuscript, but there his is. A writer can't ignore this kind of thing. I was having lunch with a gentleman some twenty years old than I am, making his eighty-something. His face was that of someone I used to work with years ago but I don't identify the character with that person. We met at a restaurant and he said "well, you could give me a kiss" so I kissed him on the cheek. His skin was dry. Then he ordered a double martini and we sat down at a table. The restaurant staff hovered over him, anxious to please. He grumbled. I wanted a glass of water but nobody noticed. When the staff disappeared, he proceeded to talk. What I remember is he said, "in the old days, you could order a customized car so everybody got his own car. Now they're all gray." Okay, followers and readers, tell me about this guy's life. Let's write him a story.

Pay Attention!

I'm working on my manuscript a lot these days. And when I don't have it in front of me, I've got it going in some part of my brain. Good things come from that: the right title, the better word, the easy solution to a plot problem. I don't think I've discovered the true names of some important characters and I'm hoping that they will come to me in the shower, in Weaver Street, on a walk. Somewhere, anywhere. Layered with that, I'm thinking about "my" non-profit, EmPOWERment. I ran the Finance Committee meeting on Friday, must make the monthly Treasurer's Report next Thursday at the Board meeting. And I've just been elected to the Chatham County Affordable Housing Advisory Committee. I've been busy with email about that, trying to catch onto the ways and means. So I scraped the rear fender of my car against the garage door. Sheesh. No damage other than the streak of beige paint on gray metal. It's embarrassing. I'll get it fixed. And I'll do my best to declare the driveway a no-thinking, time out, live-in-the-moment zone. I've been warned.