Early Writing Days

 by Charlotte Hinger

I confess that Donis's post about the not-so-good-old-days sent me down memory lane. The above picture is of me and two of the daughters and our beloved evil little dog Puppies. More about Puppies later. 

Donis talked about traveling with children years ago. There were no seat belts and a number of times the girls and I would take off at night to meet Don's truck and go on one of his trips. It was an unbelieveable treat for the daughters to pile into the roomy sleeper. A treat for me, too, to be relieved of the tedium of tending to kids and then to eat in truck stops. Later, the third daughter, Mary Beth joined the crew.

Somehow we usually ended up traveling at night to meet him. The sleeping arrangement in the car was predetermined. Cherie was the oldest and she slept in back on the floor of the car. Michele slept across the seats and little Mary Beth was squeezed in the not so roomy area above the seats in the back. Right up against the rear window. If I had to brake suddenly, Mary Beth would be thrown down on top of Michele, and she would tumble down on top of Cherie. 

There were no safety precaustions. And at that time insurance regulations for passengers in commerical vehicles were very loose. Don was a bull-hauler. He hauled cattle and loved doing it. After twenty years, he bought the truckline and managed to keep it going for twenty-three years. But he never lost his love of being on the road. 

We sang on these trips. Don had a great voice with a wonderful range and am amazing memory for county western lyrics. Although Michele aquired a double degree in English and Journalism, she also started a band, The Trucker's Daughter that specialized in roadhouse county music. 

I've drawn on my background as a trucker's wife a number of times for short stories and novels. My first published short story, "Alone At Night" was published in Overdrive, a magazine for owner-operators. To this day, I remember the thrill of having the editor call to tell me they wanted to publish my story. Then they bought another one. I was in seventh heaven!

My mystery, Hidden Heritage, began with an incident at a truckline. It was selected by Kirkus Reviews as one of best 100 mysteries that year, and one of the best 100 fiction books. My latest short story, "Lizzie Noel" published last year in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine was set in a truckstop. 

It goes to show that writing what you know not only provides a wealth of background details, there's an emotional component that comes with living the life. 

M

The Great Unknown

 

I spent Thanksgiving in a raft on the Colorado River, with my daughter Michele, her husband, Harry, my granddaughter Audrey, and her husband Pete. We camped out overnight in twenty degree weather. I had no idea what I was getting into. The others were experienced white water addicts. This was essentially a float trip. But still . . . 

The river part of this excursion was a lot of fun. Camping out was miserable. What's more, at my age, it's not a good idea to risk getting too cold and lowering one's immune system. Harry said later this was the coldest trip they had ever taken. 

On the whole--especially since I survived--I enjoyed the trip and decided afterwards that I live too cautiously. I'm very self protective.

Nevertheless, if I had known what I was doing, I wouldn't have done it. And I would have missed out.

In a way, the adventure was reminiscent of my entry into the writing life. When I began I didn't have the slightest idea what I was doing. I had never had a creative writing course. I didn't know any writers and there were no writing groups in my community. It was literally the great unknown. 

I taught myself to write from books that I checked out from our local library and from the Writer's Digest Magazine. I sold the first short story I submitted to a magazine that was marketed in truck stops: Overdrive. Then another to the same publication, then one to Woman's World. 

I've had a lot of breaks and made a lot of mistakes. 

Nevertheless, if I had know what I was doing in writing I wouldn't have done it. And I would have missed out.

There was no internet chiding me that I would be foolish to try because of the odds. No bombardment of statistics. No writers groups to mock my plots, my characters, my choice of words. I was foolishly optimistic. Writers Digest told me monthly that if I persisted I would succeed. 

Now publishing is looking far off into the Great Unknown again. People are reading a lot, but the books they are reading were bought by publishers before Covid hit. I understand a great many of us are turning to the classics. How will this trend affect the industry's coming list? What books will the great houses choose to entice the buying public?

As for me, I'm relying on the best advice I ever got. Irwin Applebaum once said "Write what you really want to write. There's so little money in the business it's stupid to do it for any other reason."

Multi-Author Signings

Last fall I participated in a multi-author signing. It was sponsored by the Loveland Public Library, which is a state of the art facility. There were over fifty authors present with their books on display.

These kinds of events can be very frustrating for the newly published if they have wild expectations for sales. Unless you are a big-name author, chances are you'll be lucky to sell a couple of books.

So why go? There are many reasons to attend and here are a few cheery tips, warnings and observations to make the most of these events:

1. Just because someone doesn't buy your book on the spot doesn't mean he won't buy it later in a different format. On-line offerings are less expensive. 

2. Note the number of persons who explore the displays with a pen and pencil--taking notes. They might plan to download directly from the library. Electronic services through local libraries have exploded. Hoopla, Overdrive, Freading, Librivox, and OneClickdigital are sites that allow instant access to material.

3. If you've published a number of books, bring all the titles. Browsers usually ask "what is the first book in the series?" And that's the one they will want to buy! Not your latest. Multiple titles also demonstrate that people buy and read your books and the publisher finds it worthwhile to stick with you.

4. Put some thought into your display. Buy little bookstands. Make the collection colorful. Some of the authors tables at this event were works of art. Print out a little sign with prices and lay it to one side so customers won't have to ask.

5. Concentrate on getting browsers to stop at your table. Yes, lure them with chocolate. There is no way they can buy books from fifty authors. A little boost to their blood sugar and some pleasant conversation (about your books) can be a welcome pause in the lengthy time it takes to survey the tables.

6. About that pleasant conversation! Make each person feel good about not buying your books. What? Sounds crazy? It's not. Most folks feel guilty about not supporting local authors. People who have done you the enormous courtesy of stopping at your table should be encouraged to read flap copy, the blurbs on the back, and a few sample pages. Get the books in their hands while you talk. Then encourage them to look at other tables before they purchase. After doing so, you and your books will stick in their minds. Not the surly author who sighed and looked cranky when the overwhelmed buyer didn't shell out.

To be continued....at my next posting.

The Title Dilemma

Oh what to call the precious gem. Actually, I'm convinced books are precious only in the eyes of the author. Once a book reaches a certain place in the production process and is subjected to the ideas of the marketing team nothing is more unnerving than the process of choosing the best title to maximize sales.

I'm used to houses changing my titles by now. The title of the first short story I ever published was changed from "Night Song" to "Alone at Night." After all, it was for a trucking magazine, Overdrive. And from then on it was strictly downhill. Or was it? Through the years, I've found the reasons for title changes fascinating. Come Spring was originally A Different Spirit. The reasoning there was that A Different Spirit sounded occult.

Bound by Blood was changed to Deadly Descent because my editor pointed out that clerks don't have time to read all the books and it would end up in the vampire section. I had envisioned the "Bound By" series. Bound by Blood, Bound by Death, etc. It's now the Lottie Albright series and each books has a distinctive name, although all have two alliterative words. I'm very glad. I have trouble keeping track of which books I've read in some series. John Sanford's Prey series comes to mind.

The academic book I'm publishing with University of Oklahoma press has been especially troubling. I worried about the first word, Nicodemus. It's about the ideas of three men who played a critical role in founding the town and I was afraid the descendants of people in Nicodemus would be distressed that their family wasn't mentioned. There are a number of books that could be written about the original colony and I hope those familiar with the genealogy will consider doing it.

Mine is about A.T. Hall, Jr., John W. Niles, and E.P. McCabe and its all about politics. I think the final title will be Nicodemus: Reconstruction Politics and Racial Justice in Western Kansas. The sub-title will narrow the focus an people's expectations.

I'm very, very happy with this one although Post-Reconstruction Politics would be more accurate. I started by wanting Creating a Civilization because African Americans had to do just that after they migrated to the High Plains.

This has been a hard book to write. Tracking down documentation is a lot of work. It's sort of like the sleuthing process in a mystery.