Karen’s Blog

Horse Trading, and Is Your Writing Really Ready?

Back in July, I blogged about how I was shopping for a new horse. I compared the process to figuring out which of the multitude of writing projects you might want to work on next. Then a few weeks later, I whined about my broken ankle and how difficult it is to wait–for an ankle to heal or for a writing career to get up and running.

Well, my ankle is now ready for prime time (or horseback riding), but my search for a new riding partner has thus far not borne fruit. It’s not for lack of trying. It turns out to be harder than I thought to find a horse in my price range with the kind of training I’m looking for. To find one that’s not too young and not too old. To find one that’s been actually ridden and worked recently rather than hanging around getting fat out in a pasture.

So far, I’ve seriously considered more than a dozen horses. Sometimes I never even went to ride them because my trainer and I looked at video and saw they wouldn’t work for me. Others we rejected because the owners refused to send us recent video. If horse is a couple hours drive away, I want to see video first. I’d hate to drive all that way to see a horse and have it turn out be a waste of time, time I could have saved if I’d seen the way the horse moves.

While there were a few I’ve gone to look at which were nice, but I just didn’t click with, there have also been several with peculiar stories:

•   There was the 8-year-old that I’d thought was trained, but had barely had a few months under saddle
•   There was the 11-year-old that hadn’t been ridden in four years. I wouldn’t have even visited this horse, except every time I asked the owner about how much work the horse had done, the story changed until I finally found out the truth when I went to see it.
•   There were two with unusual medical problems—no fault of the horses, or the owners (they were honest), but it sure explained how cheap they were.
•    My favorite was the “imaginary” horse. I responded to an ad and the seller sent video of a wonderful mare. But when my trainer and I tried to make plans to go see the mare in person and ride her, we were told someone else was buying the horse. The seller said if I sent half-payment, she would cancel the other deal and put the mare on a horse trailer for me. Sight unseen. Um, no.
•   There was the lovely gelding that the seller insisted on full price for, which I reluctantly agreed to, then she refused to take a cashier’s check as payment. Cash only, she said, because she didn’t have a bank account (!). I said no thanks.
•   There was the seller who had sent pictures of her gelding including closeups of the horse’s feet (the condition of the hooves is a very important consideration). The pictures she herself had sent showed chips, cracks, and nail holes from previous shoeings, yet the seller said the horse had great feet that never chipped, cracked, or needed shoes. My farrier gave that one a thumbs down.

I always like to turn my personal stories into object lessons for writers. In this case, I can see a bit of an analogy between the various horse traders and writers I’ve known who have finished a manuscript. They think they’ve got a wonderful, polished piece of work. They’re absolutely certain their manuscript is in fantastic shape, ready to hit the marketplace. They’re anticipating a huge advance for a book as great as theirs is. They’re also sure they won’t have the least problem selling it.

Then reality hits when they submit their books to agents or editors. It gets rejected again and again: Not right for us or Not suitable.

It could be that your book just didn’t click with an agent, like those two horses I rode that were nice, but not for me. But it’s more likely you didn’t put in your time with that book to make it irresistible.

Sometimes buyers are glad to put in the time on an untrained horse if they see its potential. By the same token you might find an agent or editor who will see a gem in the rough with your book and be willing to help you get it polished. But just as there are far fewer buyers out there with the skill and inclination to re-make a green horse into a show-ready champion, you will be hard-pressed to find an editor/agent who’s willing to make your rough draft manuscript into a polished bestseller.

So put that training on your horse…er, polish up that manuscript. And improve your chance of finding the agent or editor of your dreams.

Buy the first two books of the Tankborn science fiction trilogy: Tankborn and Awakening. Buy Clean Burn, a crime novel featuring private investigator Janelle Watkins.

October 1, 2013
My Grand Book Tour

With the recent release of Clean Burn, I embarked on a grand, coast-to-coast book tour. I made numerous stops at Barnes and Noble locations and independent bookstores, autographing stock on hand and meeting and greeting store managers and my adoring fans. Well, maybe fans-to-be. And although I did visit both coasts, I only waved at all those folks in between as I flew over traveling to and from Washington DC.

Here I am at the Roseville CA B&N showing off a newly autographed copy of CLEAN BURN.

My numerous stops on the “Left Coast” were four Barnes and Noble stores in Northern California, plus one indie store, An Almost Perfect Bookstore, which didn’t have copies in yet. I plan to return when they get stock in. On the “Right Coast,” I visited the Bethesda MD Barnes and Noble and the marvelous DC independent, Politics & Prose (pictures below).

What made the DC-area “tour” especially fun was the addition of my grandbaby tagging along. I was on babysitting duty, and so had to bribe the munchkin with books. Of course, I delight in giving my grandbaby new books, so this wasn’t much of a burden.

Both stores had marvelous children’s sections, with much to entertain the youngsters. The B&N had a train table that kept my grandbaby well occupied. Politics & Prose had a pillow-filled nook under the stairs with a box full of well-worn books to thumb through. We ended the day with Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs from B&N and Bark, George from Politics & Prose. Grandbaby adores both.

One thing I’ve got to say, booksellers are the best. Whether they work the children’s section at a chain store at B&N or in mysteries at an indie like Politics & Prose, it’s always so delightful to meet them. Thanks to all the booksellers and community relations managers who helped make my book tour grand.

Autographing CLEAN BURN in the children’s section at the Bethesda MD B&N

Showing off a freshly autographed copy of CLEAN BURN at Politics & Prose in DC.

September 21, 2013
Deadline Hell

Your regularly scheduled blog will return when The Denking Book is Done. And whoever stole my rewrite fairy wand had better return it NOW.

Meanwhile, a kitten to soothe you.

September 12, 2013
Happy Book Birthday to Me-e-e!

Hip, hip hooray! After all the waiting-waiting-waiting, the book birthday for Clean Burn has finally arrived. Here’s a short blurb:

Wry, smart, tough private eye Janelle Watkins swore off investigating child abductions four years ago, when she left the San Francisco PD. But when two clients with missing children beg for her help, Janelle can’t say no. Even though it means returning to the scene of her nightmares – her hometown of Greenville.

Forced to enlist the help of her ex-partner and ex-lover, Greenville County Sheriff Ken Heinz, Janelle soon finds herself playing with fire in more than one way, and in a race against the clock to find the missing children before it’s too late.

Here’s what some bestselling authors have said about Clean Burn:

“Karen Sandler’s Clean Burn is a taut, timely thriller ripped from today’s headlines. Blisteringly paced, authentically told, here is a novel that demands to be read in a single sitting. I can’t wait to strap on a side arm and join Watkins for her next case.”
– James Rollins, New York Times bestselling author of the Sigma series

“Clean Burn is a guilty pleasure. Curl up for a snappy pace, and an ex cop P.I. heroine with attitude, and a haunted past.”
– Lynn Hightower, author of The Piper and The Debt Collector

“Chilling, engrossing and addicting from page one! Karen Sandler weaves a tight, tense mystery, and with Janelle Watkins gives us an honest, tough, and flawed heroine – I can’t wait to read what comes next for this exciting character.”
– Brenda Novak, author of When Snow Falls and When Lightning Strikes

Published by Exhibit A Books in the UK, distributed in the US by Random House, you should be able to find copies in chain stores like Barnes & Noble as well as your local indies.

If you’d like to save yourself the petrol and the footwork, you can order Clean Burn online at Amazon or Barnes and Noble or other online bookselling establishments. Or try these great indie bookstores: Sacramento’s Avid Reader, Reno’s Sundance Books, or DC’s Politics & Prose. If you know of other fab independent bookstores in either the US or UK, please share them in the comments.

And watch out for the confetti and the helium balloons. They’re getting pretty thick in here. 🙂

August 27, 2013
Taking Responsibility for Your Pets–Or Your Fictional Characters

Almost three-and-a-half years ago, I had to say goodbye to my orange long-haired cat, Charlie. He was a wonderful cat, and sorely missed. But after a few months, I started thinking about how much I like having three cats and decided I would be open to the possibility of adopting another kitty.

As circumstances would have it, a feral cat had kittens right outside my son and daughter-in-law’s apartment. My son and dil coordinated with a local cat rescue organization and planned to capture the kittens and bring them in. Sadly, they could only grab one before the rest of them scattered.

Still working with the rescue group, they got the little kitten fairly comfortable with humans, then arranged for me to adopt him. Rather, they arranged for me to adopt her–there was a little confusion about gender, even after the kitten arrived at my house. It took me calling the vet and confirming that yes, she did a neuter and not a spay, to establish that the new addition was Zak, not Zoey.

It had been a long time since I had adopted a kitten and a feral kitten was a…well, a cat of a different color. He lived in my office for a few weeks, and whenever something startled him (which was often), he would race into the corner under my printer, completely out of reach. He would burrow under the covers at night, keeping me awake. He would play fetch with a toy mouse. And sometimes he would hide somewhere in the house, terrifying me that he’d gotten outside and was lost.

He’s now one of the best cats I’ve ever had, although at 13+ pounds, he can be quite a lapful. He still dips a paw into his water dish to lick it off and test it before drinking. And although he doesn’t play fetch, he’ll still run around the house carrying that mouse in his jaws.

What does this have to do with fictional characters? Well, they may not be living, breathing beings, but they can be as complex and problematical as a finicky feral kitten. You have to consider characters them from every angle, and take as good care of them as you would that pet cat.

How do you “take care” of a fictional character? You get to know them inside and out. You write dialogue for them that fits them, give them actions that are realistic for their personality, write a storyline for them that allows them to achieve the goals you carefully set up for them. You make them seem as real as that wide-eyed kitten I adopted.

You don’t make them a prominent character at the beginning of the book, so your reader thinks they’re important to the story, then drop them partway through, never to be seen again. You don’t introduce them a hundred pages in, as if they’re an afterthought. If it’s a minor character that’s intended to have a small role, that’s okay. But even minor characters must be necessary to a story, and have their part to play out. They can’t just be dropped in and dropped out at a whim, any more than you would adopt a kitten for no particular reason, then return it a week later.

Okay, maybe I’m stretching the cat analogy a bit. I am this close to being a cat lady and could go on and on about felines until your eyes glaze over. But I’m also a fanatic about characters, about every one having a purpose, and each character behaving in such a way that makes sense. When a character acts out of character in a book, it spoils the story for me.

So, cats or characters, make a commitment. Take responsibility. Give them the care and feeding they both deserve.

August 17, 2013