FEET OF CLAY

     Daniel in the Book of Daniel interprets Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon’s dream. The king dreams of a sculpture made of gold, silver, brass and iron—seemingly strong but flawed because his feet are made of both iron and clay. The clay will cause the sculpture to topple. Recently newspapers talked of Michelangelo’s David and the unexpected weakness of his feet. Feet of Clay has been employed for millenniums to refer to a person’s weakness of character.

Peter Paul Rubens

     Today we talk of Achilles Heel as a failing that can cause a powerful figure to perform ineffectively. Greek mythology relates the prophesy that the baby Achilles would die at a young age. Thetis, his mother, took her child to the River Styx, believing its magical powers would shield Achilles from harm. Thetis immersed the baby in the water holding him by his heel—the water bathed every part of his body except his heel—a physical failure. Achilles lived through many battles but during the Trojan War died from a poisoned arrow shot by Paris that become fixed in the one weak spot his mother could not protect. 

     In folklore, a Golem is created from inanimate matter—clay or mud. Raw material that leads to an unfinished human. It is often employed today to describe someone blundering, and dense who may carry out man’s orders under some conditions but is hostile and destructive under others. 

   I don’t read many biographies anymore. Bios often show the feet of clay, the Achilles heel, the sometimes destructive artist I had previously respected and admired and I find it affects my enjoyment of their work. It’s hard for me to separate the shallow, often despicable person described in the page of a book from my personal image of the painter, actor, or author whose work I once treasured. Many people can compartmentalize and separate the artist’s work from his or her behavior, I find it difficult. How about you?

Shelter

Last March, I wrote about a weird experience I had at a hotel in The Ghost and the Rational Woman. It was weird in that I never actually saw a ghost (or heard, or felt, or whatever) but I was nevertheless spooked.

I carried that “spooked” feeling home with me, and for weeks (months) afterward I had trouble sleeping. Finally I did the only thing a writer can do in a situation like this: I wrote a ghost story. And today, I’m happy to announce that Shelter will be released on October 14. In honour of the release, I will be running a Goodreads giveaway from October 9 to 23, but if you’re curious and don’t want to wait, just comment below and I’ll enter your name for a chance to win one of two e-copies of Shelter.

Oh, and just so you know, I’ve just returned from staying at that same hotel, and everything was fine. No ghosts. Not much sleep, either, but only because I was so busy!

Here’s the back cover blurb for Shelter:

After six long months on the run from her abusive husband, Ash Gantry finally finds a place to call home in Albans, Ontario. It doesn’t take long for her to fall for the small town with the big heart. But more than the town itself, more than its inhabitants, it’s the house on Hawk Street she falls in love with.

But while her heart wants to stay, her head tells her to keep moving. If she keeps moving, her husband will never find her. Only, she’s tired of hiding. Tired of running. Tired of being afraid.

Let him come. She’s staying.

Then she discovers that her new home hides a dark secret, one even more dangerous than the man hunting for her. By the time he finds her, she may already be dead…

Marcelle Dubé’s Shelter crosses women’s fiction with suspense and a frisson of modern gothic. Dubé is the author of Ghosts of Morocco and the Mendenhall Mystery series, including The Shoeless Kid, The Tuxedoed Man, The Weeping Woman and The Untethered Woman.

Comment, and I’ll enter your name for the draw, which will take place on Friday, October 7.

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Saying Goodbye and Other Things That Make Authors Cry

Being an author is a peculiar profession. It requires allowing the entire world an opportunity to look inside your mind and publicly announce what they think of it. It's like going grocery shopping naked, and inviting whoever happened to be there to review your every stretch mark and cellulite dimple.

WHO WOULD DO THIS?

Well, me. Us. Authors. The innately, irrevocably cuckoo ones who long to create more than we care about the penalty for creating. For me, the author-life is an extremely emotional and soul-baring experience.

Here are just a few writerly things that have made me cry in the last 30 days:

1. I got a glowing review for an upcoming release!

2. I got a loathing review for an existing release.

3. I balled my eyes out while researching the Great Depression.

4. I was invited to attend a book festival where I will meet RL Stine!

5. I wrote a proposal that flopped.

6. I got a new contract offer!

7. I arrived in New Orleans for the World Mystery Convention!

8. I had to leave New Orleans following the World Mystery Convention.

9. My new release: A Geek Girl's Guide to Justice is finally here!

10. A Geek Girl's Guide to Justice is finally here, and it's the last book in the series

Basically, my author life is an emotional mess, and I'm on a perpetual roller coaster of acceptance and rejection. I'm wound up, stressed out, and passing my pajamas for casual wear these days. I'm sleep deprived, caffeine addicted and probably less than twenty-four hours from my next outburst, but I'm happy. I'm chasing my dreams and embracing all that comes with it because I'm an author, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

A Geek Girl's Guide to Justice, Geek Girl Mysteries, book 3

Mia Connors finally has this #adulting thing under control. She's set to launch a massive project at work, her social calendar is filling up and, if you can believe it, she might finally get the guy. But when one of her grandparents' close friends is discovered floating in the lake—D-E-A-D—all she's after is justice. And there's only one person who can make that happen.

Deputy US Marshal Jake Archer is working undercover when he gets the call about a murder in Horseshoe Falls. The vic may have been close with Mia's family, but it doesn't take long for Jake to discover that he had far more enemies than friends.

Horseshoe Falls is abuzz with news of the murder, and Mia's determined to get to the bottom of things, despite Jake's direct order to stand back. Jake didn't open his heart to the possibility of a future with someone just to let her get herself killed. Now they have to contain the panic within Horseshoe Falls, apprehend the fugitive and figure out how to salvage their relationship—before Mia finds herself in the crosshairs.

Writing is Hard

After seventeen years, fifteen published books, three unpublished manuscripts (languishing on my hard drive), you'd think I'd know that writing is hard. The thing that no one tells you is it never actually gets any easier.

Writing is HARD.

Today, I hope to finish my POS first draft for the seventh book in my Cold Justice Series. I'm pretty sure Nora Roberts coined the POS phrase (Piece of $h#t) along with her famous line about not being able to edit a blank page. It's a useful reminder of what a first draft should be like--but not what I usually produce. By the time I get to the end of my first draft the story is generally in pretty good shape because I constantly edit as I go along (which also slows me down).

I've had rough time this year, writing wise. I've been forced so far out of my comfort zone I'm sitting naked and cold on a railway platform at rush hour. That' OK. It's good to have yourself shaken up once in a while. I'm hoping that it will translate in being more productive when I get back into my comfort zone.

Right now I'm grateful that I'm my own boss and don't have a deadline looming over me that I have to meet or forfeit my contract. My readers generally know I'm a pretty slow writer, and I would rather give them something worthy of their attention and money, than rush out the next book. ("Rush" being a relative term :))

The current WIP has major plot holes, characters that need to be added, loose ends that are veering toward a frayed hem, and an uncertain ending. I'm not just writing this blog post to whine (although I'm good at it). I want to tell other writers, maybe those with less experience, but also those with more, that WRITING IS HARD and sometimes the words or story won't come. Life gets in the way and sometimes you need to divert your attention in a way that destroys your ability to concentrate on your story. Don't judge yourself against others who seem able to produce through any circumstance. We can't live other people's lives. They can't live yours.

Just don't let the fact writing is hard be a reason to quit.

I grew up in a working class family, and there was a certain amount of guilt attached (did I mention "Catholic" working class? :)) to the fact I earn a living by sitting at a desk and making up stories. But knowing the mental and physical effort I put into every story, I don't feel that guilt anymore. Authors work hard because WRITING IS HARD. Not everyone sees that--they see the potential for success and riches, not the hard grind and hours honing a paragraph only to delete the whole thing and start again.

Writing is also my greatest joy. My mental escape. The brain puzzle that keeps me ticking over. So, I'm going to finish this POS draft today, and then go back and fix the plot holes, add the characters, snip the loose ends, and figure out an ending that works.

Wish me luck :)

PS: One book I've found helpful recently is, Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport. 
I haven't done all the exercises, but I have found it easier to block out some of the daily distractions without any associated guilt. 

Which Banana’s What, and Other Tragedies of Modern Communication

by Janis Patterson

All right, I admit it. I spend far too much time on Facebook – partially to keep up with friends/family, partially to see what’s going on in the world and what other people think about it (rightly or not), and partially with a sick curiosity to see how some people have mangled the language. The latter I watch with a horrified fascination, as one would an inevitable train wreck.

I don’t think of myself as a particularly well-educated person. I don’t have a college degree. High school was little more than an unpleasant endurance contest. There are literary and cultural references that go right over my head. Math – well, we just won’t talk about that. But – compared to some of the people on FB, people whom you think would know better, I find myself to be a most learned person even if I couldn’t tell you what a past progressive or a pluperfect anything is if one bit me on the ankle.

I know everyone makes an occasional typo, especially when writing in the grip of some strong emotion. However - ! The odd ‘wierd’ for ‘weird’ or even ‘wired’ or something like that is hardly remarkable or even especially noticeable. Some of the words, however, are so egregiously misspelt that even sounding them out doesn’t give any clue as to their meaning, which may or may not be interpreted by context.

Sadly this phenomenon is growing through the popular world rather than decreasing, which is shameful. We make education available – at no charge to them – to every child, kindergarten to high school. There are educational shows on educational/public broadcasting that deal with all kinds of studies. Almost any information is available on the internet. There are libraries, for Heaven’s sake, just chock full of books on the English language. Community colleges and even universities now have to have remedial English courses – both continuing education and for credit. There is absolutely no reason in the world for people to be so bad in their usage of English.

Unless, that is, they don’t want to change, and really don’t care about how ignorant and low-rent they appear to the world. Unfortunately, this disregard of proper usage is spreading, not shrinking, and has now infected the literary world. I realize that the Typo Gremlin is alive and well and appears at least one or two times in just about every book published. One would have to be a complete tartar to find that unacceptable. (Which it should be, but hey – this is reality we’re dealing with!) What really is unacceptable is when a plethora of typos, misspellings and other egregious mistakes run rampant through a book, sometimes several to a page. There used to be a belief that these errors were solely the province of self-published books (some people say ‘trash’), but in my own and others’ experience traditionally-published books are running almost neck and neck if not outstripping many self-published books in errors accrued.

It affects our real lives, too. I have taken to carrying a big black Sharpie with me to correct the egregious misuse of apostrophes, and even began a semi-humorous group called the American Association Against Apostrophe Abuse. What is painful is when you find someone creating an error (such as Banana’s – 50 cents a pound) and ask them which banana’s what only to have them stare at you without having the slightest clue as to what you’re talking about. I have been known to cry in such situations.

So how does this affect writers? I know that even if they do know proper grammar, spelling and syntax, most people don’t speak in perfect English using only complete, diagramable sentences. So – how can we make our people sound real while still staying within nodding distance of correct grammar?

Like my betters, I will take refuge in ambivalence. I believe the prose part of your book should be as grammatically correct as possible, but if the words go between quote marks (or as a first-person direct thought) they can be anything as long as they fit the character. The last is the most important part – you can’t have a dowager duchess talking like a field hand, or a street-wise ghetto kid talking like an English professor. At least, not without a plain and viable plot reason!

In real life… I don’t know. I hate to see the language degrading almost before our eyes. But languages change, some people say. Nothing remains static. I agree with that – to a point. Change is evolution, a process over time – not immediate conscienceless mangling.

One final thought - perhaps if we really got serious about wanting to have people look through grammar books, maybe we should hide a Pokémon in some of them.

The Lady is a Plot Device

I like B movies. I grew up on the hyper-colored and noisy sci-fi, action, and fantasy films of the ‘80s, then discovered the depth of the post-war noir B movies that made so much mood with so little. Eventually, I worked as a crew member on films ranging from studio funded to micro-budget.

That career is long behind me, but when seeking out an evening movie to watch, my first impulse is to reach for a B movie that probably went straight to video in the first place. Most of these are action films of some variety with ninjas or cyborgs or rogue cops seeking vengeance. And here’s where the problem starts. Usually, this quest for justice is prompted by violence toward a woman who is close to the hero’s heart.

Skimming through the streaming options, looking at the plot synopses of these films highlights how much the woman is in peril (or dead), setting the man off on his journey. Paraphrasing: “Leader of a biker gang vows revenge after a rival gang kills his wife…” “When officer Joe Jones’s wife is kidnapped by cartel members…” and on and on. I know I’m not the first to point this out and others have done much more extensive analytical work in this area (Susan Sontag and Laura Mulvey come to mind).

I’m not fond of seeing women in this kind of danger, or harmed physically merely for the sake of the man’s motivation, and I try to avoid these films. But sometimes it sneaks up on you. Just the other night, my brother and I settled on a modern ninja film after passing on a lot of other typical storylines, only to find ourselves back in the standard revenge plot. When the hero’s loving wife announced to him early in Act I, “I’m pregnant,” my brother and I both groaned with despair, knowing she would be sacrificed to the sake of the man’s plot and lust for revenge. We were right - she didn’t make it past the next five minutes.

And that’s why I love romantic suspense. The woman is important. She’s 50% of the main characters. Yes, she can be imperiled and yes, the hero can come to her aid, but she’s not just a function of the plot. Her wants and needs are just as important as the man’s. Chef Hayley, the heroine of Countdown to Zero Hour, isn’t a soldier, but also isn’t completely helpless when it comes to standing up to the danger. The heroine of One Minute to Midnight, “Bolt Action” Mary, has a special ops background and rescues the hero more than once.

I don’t know if this plot device in action/adventure films will ever change, but I plan on staying as far away as possible. Reading and writing women who are participants in their story is so much more satisfying.

What about you? Can you watch these films without the plot device bothering you?

HYBRID AUTHORS – WHY THE INCREASING TREND?

You’ve all heard of a ‘hybrid author’, right? Authors who publish via both the traditional and indie routes? After months of debating whether it would be the right decision for me, I have jumped on the bandwagon of the ever increasing number of hybrid authors.

Let me tell you why…

My debut series, Vengeful Love, was published by Harlequin’s Carina Press earlier this year. I loved the experience. From getting the deal and starting up a relationship with my editor, to seeing the finished product. But, as a debut author, I didn’t have my next deal lined up before the series was released. I found myself in a dilemma—readers were calling for my next book and, though I had a complete manuscript, the traditional process meant it would likely be 12 to 18 months before my next novel would be released (although some digital only imprints will publish on shorter timescales).

Therein lies the main motivation behind me becoming a hybrid author. TIMING. If I put out an indie title, I can choose my own timeline. I can give readers what they are asking for, and keep momentum between traditional deals. Timing is a huge positive associated with indie (or self-published) releases. But it was not the only thing I had to think about.

My greatest reservation was that I would not be handed a readymade TEAM of editors, designers and marketeers. I would have to find my own team and how would I know if they were any good? Actually, it was not as difficult as I thought. I asked my indie author friends for recommendations. Most editors will provide a free sample of work and designers have a catalogue of covers you can use to help you make the right decision. It is actually great to be able to FREELY MAKE DECISIONS about your book.

Perhaps my biggest concern, is that responsibility for marketing now rests solely with me. Whereas traditional publishing houses have a loyal following of readers willing to take a chance on their books, indie authors must work very hard to build their own BRAND. (That said, even with traditional publishing, authors these days are required to market themselves heavily through social media and other channels.)

PRICING and ROYALTIES. I am grouping these two together because I consider them related. In terms of pricing FLEXIBILITY, the traditional route leaves an author with little or no influence over the retail price of a book. The reverse is true of self-publishing. Indie authors can set their own prices and utilise mechanisms such a price PROMOTIONS and Kindle Unlimited (i.e. free to subscribers of Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited library in return for royalties). Royalty percentages are also significantly higher for self-published authors. However, indie books are commonly priced lower than traditional books. This, together with more regular price promotions, tends to mean the average retail price of a book is less for indie authors.

Related to pricing and important to remember, is that an author choosing to self-publish will have initial EXPENDITURE for covers, editors etc. whereas a traditional publishing house would generally assume these costs.

Another consideration is access to PLATFORMS. While most platforms (e.g. Barnes and Noble, Amazon) and formats (ebook, print, audio) are available to indie authors just as they are to traditional publishers, there is significantly more work for one author to spread him/herself across multiple platforms, whereas traditional publishing houses are already set up to do this. Also, while physical stores may sometimes pick up self-published authors, they are much more likely to acquire traditionally published paperback books.

Finally, let us consider READERSHIP. While traditional publishing has loyal followers, these days there is a huge indie-supportive readership out there, a community traditional authors may not find themselves part of.

Let us put all this together in a visual and see which route scores best.

Category	Traditional Publishing	Indie Publishing
Time from writing to publishing		X
Building a team	X
Choice of covers, artwork and marketing strategy		X
Ease of establishing a brand following	X
Ability to set prices and flexibility to utilise price promotions		X
Royalties		X
Initial expenditure	X
Ease of access to multiple platforms	X
Readership – brand loyalty / indie-supportive community	X	X

In summary, you can see both the traditional and ‘new-age’ routes have positives and negatives. Looking at this table, it may not be difficult to see why many authors are choosing to combine the benefits of both routes and become hybrid. Perhaps the greatest benefit is that there are two tranches of readers, those loyal to traditional publishers and those supportive of indie authors. Even acknowledging some crossover, being hybrid affords authors access to a much greater readership by combining both.

My first indie title and standalone novel, Scarred by You, releases on 24 October 2016. For more details, follow me here:

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