Baseball Teams and Breakout Novels

Welcome, author Drue Allen, who's patiently awaiting the upcoming release of her debut novel. Today she's got some fascinating insights into our future readership. She's included a video clip, and I encourage you to watch it. And that's saying a lot, because my normal tolerance for clips is in the 2 minute range, and this one runs five. And be sure to leave a comment, because Drue's offering a great prize to one lucky commenter.

Tomorrow’s Readers

What do baseball teams and breakout novels have in common?

I’ve become something of a baseball fan recently—and not ONLY because the Texas Rangers are in the pennant race. It’s exciting to hear the crack of the bat, sit in the stands and cheer, watch the fireworks each time Michael Young smashes a homerun.


Writing is a little like baseball. You want to hit one out of the ballpark, but doing so requires focus and determination. In truth it probably requires more than merely writing an excellent book. We also need to know what TOMORROW’s readers will want to read.

How much time do you think passes by the time I write an 80,000 word manuscript, send it to my agent, she sends it to a few publishers, they get in a bidding war over it, a contract is signed, and I’m given a slot? I’m a quick writer—some people say I’m obsessive-compulsive, but I find that terminology harsh. Best case scenario for me is six months to write, then another six months from agent through contract negotiations. At that point we can tack on another twelve to eighteen months for production before the book actually appears on a shelf—if things go well.

So when I open up a brand new document, as I did last week, and begin a sparkling new story—I need to envision what readers will want to read two to three years from now. What will seem fresh and exciting to them?

Keep Reading...

Have I mentioned that writing rocks? It certainly does. I love it, and I’m awed by the entire process.

This idea of envisioning what my reader will want to read in two to three years is a bit daunting though. Some days I feel as if I’m attempting to write science fiction. The enormity of this task was brought home to me this week when I was directed to the following video.

It’s entitled “Did You Know?” I’ve watched it five times now, and I’m still fascinated. Researched and designed by Karl Fisch, Scott McLeod and Jeff Brenman, I believe there’s something there for most everyone—but certainly for anyone trying to communicate. To date, it’s received over 2 million views on youtube. So even though it wasn’t designed for writers, I think it bears a little attention in this discussion.



Part of our job includes envisioning our audience. I write romantic suspense, a wonderful blended genre—and one that is constantly changing, both in content and in readership. As I watched the video, quite a few items jumped out at me (and the song is catchy too). For instance, I learned—
• China will soon be the #1 English speaking country in the world
• 1 of 8 couples married in the U.S. last year met on-line
• There are over 200 million registered users on MySpace
• There are approximately 540,000 words in the English language today, five times as many as there were during Shakespeare’s time

WOW! Each one of those facts astound me, and they each change the picture in my head when I envision my reader and my novel which will appear on the shelf in two years. (Okay, maybe not the last fact, but it is very cool and gives me pause each time I choose a word.)

I also think Fisch/McLeod/Brenman do well when they end their video with “So What Does It Mean?” They don’t even attempt to interpret their findings, but rather leave it to their viewers.

So how did I interpret what I saw? I immediately started thinking about my readers . . . the ones in 2012. The ones who will be reading the book I just started writing. The video reminded me that instead of becoming caught up in minutia such as whether my book will appear in hardback, paperback, ebook, Kindle, or on someone’s IPhone . . . perhaps a wiser use of my time would be to spend it considering my reader’s background. What do they consider a romantic gesture? Will they recognize my male lead as heroic? Can they buy into the basic premise I’ve so carefully laid down on page one and will it thrill them in the way I intended?

I believe romance in its truest form doesn’t change. When you strip away the trappings of our time—technological and societal—romance remains the same. I teach collegiate age young adults, and they still love a good story. The question for me is whether as a writer I have the ability to catch and hold their attention long enough to place my tale of love in their hearts and minds.

As authors, when we do that, we’ll have earned ourselves loyal readers. Kind of like true baseball fans—ones who stick with their teams through good seasons and bad.

I’m interested though. What do you think of when you picture TOMORROW’s readers? Are they different from today’s readers, or pretty much the same? Does technology change our conception of romance? Leave me a comment here on Terry’s Place, and I’ll pull a random name and send you a small Texas package. I’ll even be sure to include a Texas Ranger souvenir. Winner will be announce here on Thursday, so remember to check back! (Note: Drue will be at work, where she can't access the blog, but she'll respond to comments as soon as she gets home.)

Drue Allen’s debut novel, The Cost of Love, will be published by Five Star Press in March, 2010. For more details visit her at http://drueallen.com.

Public Speaking Anyone?

What I'm reading: The Alibi, by Sandra Brown.

First -- sorry this is late. For the better part of the last two days, I've been trying to figure out how to encode this template so that it will display only the first part of a post, and then the reader can click to read more. I've gone to help forums, inserted codes, tested posts, deleted codes, talked to my daughter in Ireland -- to no avail. I can get the "More" link, but either the entire post still shows up, or else the link take you back to the main page. Most frustrating. I'd hoped to have it functioning because tomorrow, I'm going to be posting the next installment of "Homicide - Hussey" and it's lengthy. Ah well. Anyone know a good geek? The frustrating part is that my daughter tested it on her blog, and it works -- almost. You have to click "more" twice, but we inserted the code exactly the same in my template and it doesn't work there. One more example of how I have this ongoing issue with technology, I guess.

Update! I got it working. Took two days and lots of help (which is pathetic, considering all I had to do was copy and paste code).
Keep Reading...

I finished the next draft of my synopsis, but it's still too dry for my taste. I'll let it marinate for a while and see if I can kick it up a notch before sending it to my agent. My next project: A non-speech.

I'm going to be the featured speaker at a fund raising event for the Ridge Area Arc on January 24^th. Sometime last year, my MWA chapter sent a notice that they were looking for an author for their annual event, and I said I'd be willing. When I got the invitation, I was surprised that it was a solo gig, not part of a panel.

It's a "tea", being held in Sebring, a couple of hours away from here. According to the organizer, the expect about 125 people, mainly middle-aged to senior women. My assumption is that these are people who support the cause. Previous speakers were much more well-known than I am, so I'm laying odds the draw wasn't me.

I confess I'd never heard of the Ridge Area Arc, so I did a little Googling. This is what their website says.

Ridge Area Arc in Avon Park, Florida is a private, not for profit 501(c)3 organization, which was founded in 1957 by Franklyn and Mary Ellen Ward. At the time their son, Rob, was born there were very few places to work with disabled children. Many families sent their child away to a distant institution. The Wards did not want to send their son away and sought a way to provide the needed educational resources and training. They also realized other families in the area needed these services. Thus, the Ridge Area Arc Day School began in 1957, and served 17 children ages seven and older from Highlands, Hardee and DeSoto counties.

In 50 years since the day school opened, Arc now provides 12 services to approximately 150 individuals with developmental and other disabilities from Highlands, Hardee and southern Polk counties.

But I'll be speaking to supporters of the program, not to the residents. The folks I've usually had in the audience for my talks have always been interesting in writing, but I'm thinking this group won't be interested in me explaining how I had to learn about voice, pacing, POV, and dialogue mechanics. If anything, they'll be readers. I'm puzzling about what to talk about. My 'How I Got Into Writing By Mistake" spiel ought to work as an opener, and given the age demographic, touching on how it's never too late to start learning something new is another tack to consider.

I know when a speaker walks up to a podium carrying a folder, I try to judge how long they'll go on by how thick the stack of papers looks when they take out their speech. I start watching them turn pages, or move sheets from one pile to another instead of listening. I'm no good whatsoever at writing formal speeches, but I suppose I ought to at least have some notes with bullet points. They told me to speak for 20 minutes and leave time for a short Q&A. Frankly, I'd rather have a short talk and a 20 minute Q&A session.

Maybe after I tell them my "writer by mistake" story, I'll read my 'job interviews' with Ryan and Frankie for When Danger Calls. That would look like I have a prepared speech, right? Between now and then, I guess I should time things so I don't drag on to the eyes glazing over stage.

Come back tomorrow and follow more of the adventures of "Homicide--Hussey".

And, technology strikes again

What I'm reading: Home is Where the Heart Is, by Suzanne Brockmann

After I finished yesterday's post, some power from above decided I'd had enough good news for a day, and I got a warning pop-up about the USB cable on my battery back up power supply. Before my trusted IT hubby could get there, loud clicking noises ensued. Then a pop. Then bad smells like something electrical burning.

He sent me away while he worked. His report: Power supply shorted out. Sparks. Not good. He did hook up my laptop to my desk monitor, and to the wireless keyboard so at least I don't have to type on the laptop, but I'm still working off my laptop, which is NOT a replication of my PC.

MOST of my files are backed up externally. But not ALL my files. Some might not have been updated in longer than they should have. (I'm thinking all my financial writing records, neatly organized into the IRS Schedule C categories).

But, nothing we could do on Thanksgiving day, so we bummed around until it was time to leave for dinner, had a very good meal (excellent curried butternut squash soup) and came home to Netflix.

This morning, we brought the computer into the Office Depot's Tech department, where for a flat fee (not a LOW flat fee, but reasonable), they ship it off to their central repair facility, diagnose and fix what's wrong. Normal turnaround time is a week, but it's a holiday, and I'm never that lucky. Until then, there's no way to know if the data on my hard drive survived the sparking and burning stuff.

Another fun glitch -- when I went to buy touchup paint for my car, the dealership had to order it. They don't stock it. Today, several weeks later, hubby decides he wants to have a go and see if the paint will cover the bumper scrapes from too-high curbs. He opens the paint. And yeah, it's the wrong color. Not a 'wrong shade', but a totally different color. It'll be Tuesday before they get in a replacement.

Today's Gratitude List
1. The curried butternut squash soup at The Everglades
2. That we were home when the computer shorted so the house didn't burn down
3. (again). My IT hubby.

Technology and Me

I admit to learning how to type on a manual typewriter. I remember rotary phones. I remember phone prefixes that were words, not numbers, and 4 digit phone numbers. I remember life when if you had a television, the console it resided in was a major piece of furniture, although the set itself was very small.

I thought computers were nifty gadgets. We started with an Apple ii, back when the debate was Apple, Atari, or Tandy. We got an answering machine. A VCR (which I learned how to program without difficulty, thankyouverymuch). And when I found myself having to drive on deserted roads at wee hours of the morn, or late at night, I got a cell phone for security. It was about the size of a tv remote and lived in the car for emergencies.

While we have yet to do the Wii thing, we did have Pong and Space Invaders and Pac Man. I'm happy with my 500 versions of solitaire and some Mah Johngg. I have two iPods--almost the original and the 1 inch shuffle. I know how to shop on line. Heck, I maintain my own website and have mastered about 1/4 of what this blogger account can do.

So, when I tried to move along with the times, I was surprised to find it so stressful. First, the cable box fiasco, covered in an earlier post. I finally told the guy to move the box to the other television, where my husband is now discovered all the reasons I didn't like it, especially since we're not ready to pay for a DVR system. It's got a kazillion channels. You can program 'favorites' so the remote won't scroll through all 300 of them, but...it won't scroll backward. On all our other systems, you told the remote which channels were worth showing, and the rest were relegated to 'manual only' (and for the record, hubby is the only male on the planet who didn't put the sports channels into his list). No more. And you can't tape one show and watch another unless you upgrade. Not paying money to do something I've always been able to do.

Last night, I decide to tape a show so I could go to bed and read...BUT...the cable guy apparently didn't put everything back the way he found it, so I couldn't run anything from the VCR to the television, no matter how many times I went through the setup menu.

And then there's the new cell phone. It took several HOURS to get the computer to recognize it existed, and I'm still not sure it synced everything. I have yet to get it to send a single email, although the guy at the store said it was all set up (and since the phone has a camera, why not use the email to send pictures to myself so I can post them here?) Getting the phone to take a clear picture is something else I haven't mastered. Once I got the computer and the phone to talk to each other, I could transfer the picture I took last Thursday at the command center. It's not too sharp, but that's because it was in a dark room and I was shooting a wall of television monitors. I've added it to yesterday's post.

Today, I'm going back to the cell phone store and let them explain email to me. Again. It's not that I see a great need for emailing via phone, but it's part of the package and it bugs the heck out of me that I can't figure out how to make it work.

Back to that aging and technology thing

What I'm Reading: All the Way Home, by Jenyfer Matthews

What I'm writing. Chapter 5, and my guest blog column for June 12 at Title Magic.

Admitting defeat, yesterday I took my new phone and the two pages of instructions I'd printed from the manual. The ones where the steps on the page didn't match the steps on my phone menus. I learned I'm totally out of it when it comes to understanding technology terminology. Sometimes it's nice to be a little old lady, because the kids at the phone store don't expect you to have a clue, and they're very patient.

When I bought the phone, the sales guy took my old sim card and transferred all my contacts to my new phone. I could press 'contacts' and there was my list in all its jumbled glory. And the phone made calls to those folks. As I mentioned in Saturday's blog, however, I couldn't get some of the features to work, such as the personalized ring tones. After all, it's nice to know immediately if it's your agent calling. Or your husband.

Well, guess what I learned. All those contacts were "on" my phone, but they weren't "in" my phone. Or is it the other way around. Seems that the sim card list isn't really integrated into the phone's memory, or something like that, so I had to copy any contacts I wanted to edit and once they were in the phone, the step by step menus worked. And there are even different icons so now I know who's inside and who's just hanging on my sim card. Which I'm supposed to sync with my PC, which is somewhere I'm not ready to go just yet. I can see me crashing my entire computer. Or exploding my phone.

Maybe I'll just find the instructions for solitaire. The phone's supposed to do that, too.

More about that age thing

What I'm reading: Hit Parade, by Lawrence Block

What I'm writing: Chapter Three -- again or still, depending on what I decide.

Yesterday, only half on a whim, I decided to get a new cell phone. I never wanted to be totally connected. As a matter of fact, time away from the phone and the internet can be golden, so most of the time my cell isn't even on. I use it 95% for long distance calls because they're free, which is because I never come close to using my minutes. Mine roll over, but I roll off almost as many as I add each month. And I find people who are texting all the time to be rude. I was at a writer's conference banquet, and during the keynote, people at my table were busy texting. (I hope not each other!). But, I got a phone that is connected to the Internet, and as far as I'm concerned, with all the stuff it does, it ought to at least do the laundry or make coffee, but I guess I didn't go high-end enough. I stuck to a mid-range phone. On sale. With rebate. It does have a nifty qwerty keyboard in case I want to be rude the next time I'm at a banquet.

Trying to decipher the 40 page "quick start" guide (Making A Call was on page 10!) made me feel more than tech-challenged. Finding where to plug the charger was enough of a setback. How was I supposed to see that slot when it has a cover on it? And testing the dreaded texting feature. I could get it to fill in the "To" field, but nothing I did seemed to move the cursor into the box to write the message. The instructions and the on-line tutorial (like, since when do you have to go on line to learn how to use a PHONE?) simply said, 'fill in the "To" field, then type your message. HELLO. There's another step in there. Eventually, like all those monkeys typing Shakespeare, I hit the right button. Probably won't be able to do it ever again.

Then I thought I'd try to give my husband his own private ringtone so I wouldn't have to check the display if I was driving. Nothing in the quick start mentioned it. Nothing in the tutorial mentioned it. I downloaded the 350+ page manual and found the instructions on page 76. I followed them (after finding out they invented an OK button that nothing else mentioned), and they didn't work. To prove I wasn't totally inept, I did manage to follow the steps to add speed dial numbers (and why do they call it dialing?) Then I tried another feature -- Voice. I Pressed a button and told it to call someone. Lo and behold, it DID. Scary.

I finally found the list of ringtones in the phone and picked one. I dutifully registered my new purchase. They sent me a temporary password as a text message to my phone! This after I had to type my email four times. Of course, my phone was off, and in another room. If I told the computer I couldn't access my phone, the message said they'd snail mail me my password. What's wrong with email? I mean, I was on line doing all this stuff. So, I get the phone, find the message, type in the password (no cut and paste from a phone to a computer), and then the next computer screen tells me to change the password before I can access my new account. I do, and my reward for this is a Free Ringtone. Woo Woo.

Accessing the ring tone means installing some new software, which, error messages to the contrary, seems to work, so I look at my choices for ring tones. I chose the Songs Everyone Knows list. There were 45 songs on the list. I recognized 7 of them by title. Could probably hum about 4. Nothing like feeling old and out of touch. I think I'll continue my policy of not giving anyone my cell phone number. I'm not sure I could figure out how to answer it before it rolls to voice mail, and I KNOW I haven't figured that one out yet.