Linda Kleczkowski, presenter.

Saturday, June 22, 2013, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm
at Cherry Valley District Library, 755 E. State Street, Cherry Valley, IL  61016.

Registration closes June 17, 2013.  Space is limited.

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Darn it!! My F segment of the ABC Blog Post Challenge should have been for farewell!! And I spent all that time doing research for Focus. Oh well, hopefully someone will find some value in it.

So consider this my G segment of the  ABC Blog Post Challenge for goodbye. Now that was easy!

This is my final post as In Print Newsletter Editor/Website Administrator. It has been my pleasure serving In Print in this capacity for the past two years. I am turning over the newsletter and website to very capable hands. Bob Francis has had experience as a sports writer and radio writer, he writes fiction and the occasional poem and he knows more about computers than I do!! Which isn’t saying a whole lot but yay!

This isn’t my LAST post by any means though (sorry folks). I will be posting under my personal blog linda’s pensieve from now on. Thank you all for your support. True to my addiction to volunteering I have already taken on other duties, specifically Teens In Print and the Academy Expo 2013 for Alignment Rockford so you WILL be hearing from me…whaaaaaa haaaa haaaa haaaaa.

I’m sure I am not alone in my struggle with finding and keeping focused in my writing. Although at times it does feel very lonely out here. Sitting in my office, all by myself; no one to talk to except my dogs….wait, wait, wait. It’s FOCUS I’m writing about not loneliness.

Even Doug has trouble focusing!

There is the general overall type of focus like making the time and commitment to FOCUS on your writing. Oh, and by the way there are all kinds of terrific books out there that can help with time management and scheduling. One I recommend is …..I’m doing it again aren’t I? Setting aside time, creating a routine, avoiding distractions, these are all helpful tools for keeping your focus ON your writing. Jeff Goins says it much better than I could in his blog post “How to Stay Focused Writing”.

But what about focus within your writing? (Imagined conversation with The Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins) Um, I’m not writing a high school term paper here. I’m writing a novel, thank you very much! Oh, sorry. Well what is your novel about? It’s about a girl and an oppressive government. Can you be a little more specific? It’s about a young girl who protects her little sister by taking her place in some brutal Hunger Games. So it’s about family? Well, yes but not really. She has to fight other young people in order to win the games. Is it about survival? Well, there’s some of that in there as well but not exactly. I’m confused. Your story isn’t really about family and it’s not exactly about survival, why should I read it? Because it’s a great story about the tenacity and power of the human spirit to overcome evil. Ah, I get it now.

Did you catch that? Had Suzanne Collins focused more on the family aspect of the story or on the survival aspect, The Hunger Games would have become a very different tale. Focus not only helps in the planning of a story but it can help in the revision of it too. I just finished reading The Whisper by Carla Neggers. Throughout the entire story, Neggers kept throwing in small scenes that hinted at romance between the two main characters as well as many other characters. But to what end? The romances had nothing at all to do with the outcome of the story. I can’t make up my mind if The Whisper was supposed to be a romance driven mystery or a mystery with some romance scenes thrown in for titillation effect. Neggers would have done well (imho) to cut the number of characters in half and focus on the murder mystery instead. Needless to say it was a disappointing read.

What do you do to maintain your focus or steer it back on track when your story seems to have wondered off into the woods? Or if you’re like me and you keep rewriting the same scene or can’t get past that scene because you have no idea where the story is going? In my research I have found several techniques meant to help you re-define your focus and get back to writing that bestseller novel you’re working on.

• Go back to your logline or if you don’t have one yet create a logline
• Create a summary paragraph that sums up what your story is about
• Brainstorm with a trusted friend to determine what main point you are trying to get across

Some questions to ask when you feel you’ve lost focus in your story.

• So what?
• What is the point of this story?
• What am I trying to say?
• What is the most important idea or piece of information that I am trying to convey?

For more helpful information on finding focus in your writing, check out Lit Reactor’s article, “The Only Question Every Story Must Answer“.

I also found a wonderful visual representation of developing a focus for your story called “My Angle on Finding Focus in Writing”.

This blog is my sixth in the series complying with the In Print ABC Blog Post Challenge.

My grandmother, Edythe Evelyn Berkshire Liggett Johnson, was born on January 9, 1906 in Council Bluff, Iowa. Descended from good English stock, she was born third into a family of seven children. She grew up on a farm where they raised chicken, milked cows and tended to a very large vegetable garden and an orchard. Edythe grew up to become a school teacher and raised five children of her own. She died on November 28, 2000 at the age of 94.

To most people, I’m sure Edythe’s life seemed typical for that era in the Midwest but to me Edythe was an extraordinary woman. When the stock market crashed in 1929, Edythe was only 23 years old, married and had two children. When World War II broke out in 1939, Edythe and her family endured food rationing, air raid drills, and scheduled blackouts. Braving the stigma carried by divorce in the 1940s and 1950s, Edythe supported her five young children with a job at Time magazine.

Quite a few years before Edythe, my gramma, passed I had the foresight to record a few of her childhood stories with the intent of writing a family history someday. Unfortunately, my own life got in the way of that idea and gramma passed without my even transcribing the tapes. I do still have those recordings, however, and although I failed to capture enough of her life to warrant an entire memoir I can still immortalize some of her memories in a short story or a fictional novel.

I have also begun to encourage my own mother to start documenting some of her life stories. Not only will this be a wonderful gift for future generations of our family but with any luck it might inspire a story or two as well.

This blog is my fifth in the series complying with the In Print ABC Blog Post Challenge.

I don’t know about you but my most persistent block to any kind of creative project I think about undertaking is my own brain; You’re a technical writer, you’re not artistic. Where did you get the idea that you were creative? Give it up, will you, you’re not creative you’re just weird.

A very talented friend recently loaned me a fabulous book entitled The Creative Habit written by the world famous choreographer Twyla Tharp. I am not even half way through the book and already it has stirred up memories, emotions, and reflections. The part of the book that has had the most poignant effect on me so far (and because this is the D installment of my ABC blog post challenge) is one Tharp calls “Your Creative DNA”. Tharp believes that everyone is born with creative potential, that it is “hard-wired into our imaginations”. She calls this our “creative code” and believes that it is as engrained in our genetic code as the color of our eyes or hair (before Lady Clairol of course).

At one point in this chapter, Tharp offers a questionnaire with the intended purpose of helping the reader understand their own creative DNA. It is a lengthy piece that I have yet to complete but it was the very first question that started me on a roller coaster of personal rediscovery. Tharp asks “What is the first creative moment you remember?” Since I am in a writer’s frame of mind, I immediately think of the teenage angst-filled poems that I used to write in high school. Talk about vapid and depressing, but it felt natural, compelling, the only way for me to deal with some of those confusing emotions.

Right behind that memory though came a cascade of younger versions of myself in various creative endeavors:

Pathetic attempt at art

• Painting a lion’s magnificently maned head on the back of an army fatigue jacket that I used to wear (after watching the movie Born Free I became obsessed with lions)
• Endlessly sketching little facial profiles with overteased hair (see pathetic photo)
• Performing as Carmen (complete with plastic rose between my teeth) in a third grade drama class
• Dancing in my garage with the big double door open as if I were on stage with the curtain up
• Hours spent at our little Wurlitzer electric piano working out melodies by ear
  

  Wurlitzer electric piano

Wow! I had forgotten all my adolescent attempts at artistic expression. Before I knew it, though life set in and I had to start thinking of supporting myself. Without any formal artistic training the creative side of me fell by the wayside. I became a grownup. A laundry list of unsatisfying jobs, a stint in the Air Force to gain SOME kind of marketable skill, many rewarding years spent as a mom (which takes all KINDS of creativity), I could go on but I won’t bore you. What I found though was that I couldn’t escape from my creative DNA, any more than I could deny my taste in music or the types of stories that interest me. My creativity kept bubbling up to the surface, asking me to play with it, teach it, honor it.

This simple little trip down memory lane is changing the way I look at myself. I’m beginning to feel that I’m not a creative wannabe, as my internal critic would have me believe, but rather that I have been running from my creative code all my life. I need to stop running. I am fortunate that my muse has not yet tired of trying to engage me but she may not have infinite patience. Tharpe also writes in her book about having or developing rituals that you instill with psychic relevance to prepare yourself for entry into the creative mindset. I haven’t discovered any precise rituals yet but I am working on it.

Are you running from your creative DNA as well? What is the first creative thing that YOU remember doing?

What inspires you now?

This blog is my fourth in the series complying with the In Print ABC Blog Post Challenge.

The greatest rules of dramatic writing are conflict, conflict and conflict.  ~James Frey

When I started writing this post, I thought I would approach it in a very academic way, going through all my books on writing, googling conflict, and trying to come up a different way of discussing something that I realized has been covered ad nauseum in dozens of other writing tomes. It is an aspect of writing that I and many writers struggle with so I asked myself, what works for me? The answer to that is, examples. Below I have taken three story ideas and presented them in two different ways, A and B, to try to get my point across.

Storyline #1

A – Pretty kitty wakes from her morning nap and stretches. She is hungry so she saunters over to her food bowl, sniffs the dried pellets and heads to the back door to find something more savory for breakfast. Kitty slinks through the pet door out into the garden. It isn’t long before she spies a tasty little cardinal sitting in a tree at the other end of the garden. Kitty silently creeps to within range of the bird, crouches and with a twitch of her tail pounces on the unsuspecting bird. Dinner is served kitty thinks.

B – Pretty kitty wakes from her morning nap and stretches. She is hungry so she saunters over to her food bowl, sniffs the dried pellets and heads to the back door to find something more savory for breakfast. Kitty slinks through the pet door out into the garden. It isn’t long before she spies a tasty little cardinal sitting in a tree at the other end of the garden. Kitty begins to creep down the row when she hears something coming toward her. Not knowing what it is she dashes to a nearby tree and scampers up the trunk. Once up there kitty sees that the noise she heard was nothing more than the neighbor dog but now the bird is gone. Kitty looks around and sees another bird sitting on a branch just slightly above her so she starts to quietly move up the tree and along the branch.

Storyline #2 (The Hunger Games)

A – Katniss Everdeen lives in an oppressive world where every year the government forces two teenagers from each of the 12 districts to participate in a combat game to the death. This year Katniss’s younger sister is chosen. Katniss is distraught. At the sound of her sister’s name she collapses into a heap, curls up into a fetal position, and never speaks a word again.

B – Katniss Everdeen lives in an oppressive world where every year the government forces two teenagers from each of the 12 districts to participate in a combat game to the death. This year Katniss’s younger sister is chosen. Driven by her need to protect her younger sister, Katniss volunteers to take her sisters place in the games.

Storyline #3

A – Winnie the Pooh feels a rumbling in his tummy. “Hmmmmmm, I think my tummy wants some honey,” says Pooh. So he goes to his honey pot and eats until he is full.

B – Winnie the Pooh feels a rumbling in his tummy. “Hmmmmmm, I think my tummy wants some honey,” says Pooh. So he goes to his honey pot but finds that it is empty. “Oh bother,” he says. “I wonder if Piglet has any honey,” as his tummy rumbles again. Once at Piglet’s house he finds that Piglet isn’t home.

So, which storyline, A or B, would you be more interested in reading in each of these examples? Were I to take a vote I think it would be pretty unanimous that the Bs would win. But why? Because there is more going on in the B renditions, there is more potential, there is CONFLICT.

Conflict Creates Story Energy

Conflict in a scene represents the motivating cause that sets a series of events in motion (The Plot Whisperer by Martha Alderson). According to Techniques of the Selling Writer, conflict is the centerpiece of scene structure a. Goal, b. Conflict, c. Disaster. The opposing factor (conflict) to your character reaching his or her goal causes tension, interest, and energy. For example, John applies for a promotion at his work. Now if John were to simply receive the promotion without any opposition the energy flow in your story would die right there. But what if John finds out that Shane has also applied for the same promotion? Now you have tension and your readers will start asking questions; What is John going to do now? What will Shane do?

Types of Conflict

Conflict comes in many different forms:

• External
  • Antagonist (villain or enemy)
  • Environment (nature, the world around us)
  • Society (expectations, norms, restrictions)
• Internal
  • Fears
  • Inadequacies
  • Unfulfilled desires

Not All Conflict Is Equal

Does any kind of conflict work? Well let’s look at this example:

A young boxer steps into the arena at Madison Square Gardens for the first time. On the other side of the world Hurricane Hector slams into the coast of Japan.

Make sense? It could but at first read the two aren’t related. In order to keep your story moving the conflict you introduce has to matter to your protagonist. A more relatable scenario for our protagonist might be:

A young boxer steps into the arena at Madison Square Gardens for the first time. On the other side of the ring is a mountain of a man known as Hurricane Hector.

Conflict + Reaction = Character Development

Now that we have a character and a situation ripe with relevant conflict, is that all there is? Not quite. If our young boxer in the example above took one look at Hurricane Hector and just stood there we wouldn’t have much of a story would we? In order to keep your readers interested they have to identify with your protagonist and care what happens to him or her.

A young boxer (YB) steps into the arena at Madison Square Gardens for the first time. On the other side of the ring is a mountain of a man known as Hurricane Hector. YB instinctively takes a step back at the site of his monstrous opponent. He feels his heart race as his legs begin to buckle underneath him. Panic threatens to overtake YB as his coach crams a mouth guard into his mouth.

“It’s do or die time kid,” says his coach as the starting bell clangs.

“But I don’t wanna die!” YB mumbles.

“Then don’t,” as his coach shoves him into the middle of the ring.

Better, right? Why? Because there is energy, your protagonist has some depth, and your readers are now invested in the outcome of the fight.

Have Fun With It

In nearly all good fiction, the basic – all but inescapable – plot form is this: A central character wants something, goes after it despite opposition (perhaps including his own doubts), and so arrives at a win, lose, or draw. ~ John Gardner

Every good story is about a journey whether to a physical place or a trek within a character’s psyche. Either way, your protagonist will need to encounter opposition and conflict if the voyage is to be an interesting one for your readers. Explore what your characters are made of by adding some conflict to their literary lives and in the process you will spice up your writing as well.

In my last post, I wrote about the In Print ABC Blog Post Challenge and I promised to offer some information for those of you who have not yet delved into the world of blogging. As my background is in technical writing I have a tendency compulsion to break things down in very simple terms so I hope that is what I will accomplish for you here.

I think in this day and age, few people have not heard the term blogging but for anyone who hasn’t let’s start with a little background and a simple definition:

According to Wikipedia: A blog (a portmanteau of the term web log) is a discussion or informational site published on the World Wide Web and consisting of discrete entries (“posts”) typically displayed in reverse chronological order (the most recent post appears first).

From Mashable  (the largest independent online news site dedicated to covering digital culture, social media and technology) we get: Blogging is an interactive form of publishing content on the web. It comes from the term “web log.” The act of blogging dates back to the late 1990s, and has become a dominant way of self-publishing in the 2000s.

Basically blogs started out simply as online diaries containing articles, essays, perhaps photos, and even links to other websites. Today, only two short decades since the first “web log” was conceived, blogging has become a powerful tool in the social media arena for business, politics, activism, and marketing. The importance of a blog to you as a writer is:

• To create a web presence
• To build and showcase your writing portfolio
• Acquire a fan base
• Network with potential clients, publishers, agents, and other writers

How to Start a Blog

1.)    Decide What You Want to Blog About – many How-To-Blog sites say you need to find a theme or a topic that you are passionate about. But what if you’re like me, a million things that you’re interested in and a mind that bounces around from one subject to another like a ping pong ball? You could try the In Print ABC Blog Post Challenge. Personally I have found this to be an effective way to find and focus on a topic. Another option is offered in a list of blogging tips on A Beautiful Mess; give yourself permission to experiment. Set yourself a schedule for posting and write about whatever moves you, perhaps something in the news, or a product you use that others might appreciate, or how you get through writers block. Over a period of time you will begin to notice a pattern in the types of topics that interest you.

2.)    Choose Where to Create Your Blog – Two of the most popular and easiest to use blog sites for beginners are WordPress and Google’s Blogger. Each site gives you an option to start a free blog (yourblog.Wordpress.com) or (yourblog.blogspot.com) or for a nominal fee ($13 at WordPress and $10 at Blogger) you can purchase a custom domain name (yourblog.com). Both sites are quite user friendly even with limited online technical knowledge and, depending on how long you take to choose a background theme, are capable of getting your blog up and running in about an hour.
Of the two, several sources say that WordPress has more functionality and a larger variety of background themes to choose from, however some consider Blogger to be easier to use for REAL blogging newbies.

3.)    Write Your First Post and Publish It

Very simplistic I know but for someone just wanting to test the blogging water that’s really all there is to it. However, if you have some online experience and want to start a blog to launch or promote your writing career there are numerous articles, like this one from WikiHow, that go into more detail about choosing your blog ‘concept’, deciding on a name, keywords, and how to promote your blog.

Until next week which will be brought to you by the letter C, keep on bloggin’.

Blogging is a great way to get into the habit of writing on a regular basis. It can also be an important part of a writer’s platform for promoting your writing on the internet. To start off 2013 right, I propose a blogging challenge, The ABC Blog Post Challenge to be specific. I don’t know about you but my biggest problem isn’t finding the time to write it’s what should I write about. Some days I have so many thoughts swimming through my head that it is impossible for me to decide which one to choose and then other days I can’t think of an idea to write about to save my life (this is where I should tell you that my professional practice is to take notes when I have a glut of ideas so that when the well is dry I have a reserve, but sadly that’s not what I do).

The ABC Blog Post Challenge is simple; first decide how often you want to commit to posting on your blog. Oh wait, first you should probably HAVE a blog (more on that at the next blog post). Assuming you already have a blog, how frequently you want to post to it during this challenge is entirely up to you. If you choose to post daily then you will have completed the challenge in less than a month, 26 days to be exact. If you decide to post once a week then it will take you a little less than six months to complete and if you choose to post once a month…..let’s just go for once a week here.

The purpose of using the alphabet is to help focus your choice of subject material. Each week you choose a topic that corresponds to the letter of the alphabet you are on: week one is A, week two is B, week three is C, you get the picture. You can use the ABC method to find a category to write in, to determine a topic, or both, it is your choice. No prizes will be given out for this challenge, it is simply a technique to help you get motivated to write on a regular basis. I’ll even get you started with some blogging ideas below. I have already completed my first week of the challenge by posting this article, The ABC Blog Post Challenge, get it? Okay, cheap shot.

Categories and/or Topics (these are just ideas to show you how the alphabet can help with topic choice)

Autism – How Autism Has Affected My Life
Adjectives – Effective Use of Adjectives
Acting – Acting Out; Getting The Acting Bug
Art – Art I Love; Art I Make

Boats – Things To Look For When Buying a Boat; Family Boating
Babies – Bottle or breast feeding
Ballywicks (just kidding)
Beauty – Bulimia, Beauty Gone Awry
Behavior – Bad Manners
Books – Books I love; Books That Touched Me

Cats – Cat Lovers Versus Dog Lovers; My Cat
Common Sense – Teaching Children Common Sense; Teaching Adults Common Sense; The Lack of Common Sense in Our Government (I guess this topic touched a nerve)
Courage – Courageous People I Have Known
Citizenship – Being a Good Citizen
Commas – The Proper Use of Commas; Commas I Have Known
Children – Raising Happy Children; Home Schooled Children
Crafts – Crafts For Kids; How-To Crafts

Seven Crucial Questions When Structuring Your Novel (Bridget Birdsell and Danika Dinsmore): Based upon “Poetics” by Aristotle

Establish set-up – do this very quickly – hook: 1) Protagonist; 2) What is she? (fantasy); 3) Where is she?; 4) Supporting characters; 5) What is she doing?; 6) What do we suspect?; 7) Promise to readers based upon choice of genre

Novel = Character who has to solve a problem, need an antagonist, everything is mentioned for a purpose

ABC = Action, Background, Climax – Climatic Moment & Cathartic Moment (Little Death) – right after the climatic moment

Sequence Approach – begins with the status quo, each sequence ends with a power shift = new status quo

Reversals – heading toward a goal and then something happens to keep you from your goal – ticking clocks, complications & major reversals = new status quo; generally happens at the plot points

Looking for agents: “Publisher’s Lunch” and “Poets & Writers List”

Blueprint for Success (Laurel Yourke): Things to consider: What’s the number one thing? First two pages: What’s (who’s) at stake and why do I care? Inciting incident should be in the first sentence. External event is what causes the story to start, what begins the journey, external pressure points induce the internal pressure that leads to the action. It’s also important to know your ending, know your character’s arc, what do you want the main character to achieve? Build to the middle.

Pressure Point Plan: Two things from this: Realism and Causality – every event will drive the next
-Event – forced into action – the protagonist doesn’t want to do it
-What makes your protagonist change against his will?
-He must give something up – short term gratification? Independence? Security? Love?
-Characters – responding internally and externally to the pressure point
-Instantly comprehensible by the readers – crystal clear – direct; Immediately accessible explosion – needs no backstory – active voice

Revision: Well-constructed plot – “can’t take a single scene out of it without the whole thing falling apart” – Donald Maass

1. Check for plot points
2. Scene work – does it have a hook and a cliffhanger?

a. who, what, where, when, how – pay attention to these;
b. a hook is a worry; character should be worried all the time, revisit the worry, state the worry;
c. each scene moves the story along;
d. central question of the story – keep that in the scenes throughout

Logline – hit on the theme – it’s okay to say “my story is about justice (or redemption or trust or whatever)”: Who/premise? What’s at stake? Will they get what they want?

“A Story is a Promise,” by Bill Johnson

In Medias Res – Latin for starting in the middle – start in the middle of the scene with no explanation

Two – six or more pressure points arising from the inciting incident (list them). These grow the protagonist and reveal something about human nature.

Denouement – falling off – falling after the climax – climax is resolution of dilemma

Backstory – think of it as investing $10,000 – do you need to spend it right here, right now? “When eighty percent of the book is complete, then you can add backstory.” Donald Maass
Can be used to delay during tension (builds tension) – never use backstory on the first page.

$650,000 Advance (Laurel Yourke): Writing it the way you need it to be – poetic, psychological. Write the opening that you need. Why are you writing the book you’re writing? It means to me . . .

Scenario and Voice
- number one reason books sell is a great scenario – blockbustery
- if you have a great voice, you can get away with anything
- maximize your inherent strength whether it be scenario or voice

Metaphors: everyone can get better at metaphors – assess other peoples’ metaphors. Don’t repeat yourself, expand and tweak or stop

Lunch with Danika Dinsmore (literaryworlds.worldpress.com):

Ideas to inspire writing: backstory for your objects (particularly those important to your protagonist and the storyline, write a history of objects on your desk, draw maps, draw structures, put your character in a new scene and have her interact with the scene using free write, write a scene with no dialogue (add the dialogue later), your protagonist walks into your office and picks up an object-what is it? Then he takes an object out of his pocket-what is it?

The Triad: Strengthening Character, Plot and Setting in Unison (Christine DeSmet):

Tips:

1. Check out Dara Marks, “The Fatal Flaw”
2. Have strong scene goals for your character – easier to get in their head
3. Every single person in the book has to have a job. Decide what their job is – why are they in the book?
4. Write the book jacket copy and write a review for your book – point out the flaws, what’s missing?
5. Who’s got a problem? Asked on page one. What’s at stake?
6. Logline as first line
7. Fatal Flaw – go into action, people might know about their flaw and they don’t want that exposed
8. Mid-point crisis
9. Characters try to remake their setting
10. Have several deadlines so that you don’t have middle slump – use the rule of three

Hands-on Revision – Character (Christopher Mohar): Characters are our window into the world of the story, sympathetic to the villain, “strippers as mothers and daughters,” find the humanity in your characters.

Scene: Is it fresh/interesting? Is it related to the plot/story? Does it adequately convey the intended trait?

Aspects of creating the sympathetic character: rooting interest, vulnerability, redeemability, heroic qualities

How does voice reveal my character? Announces mood, education, culture, belief systems

Diction (what words we choose) diagram for characters:

This is a good process for all characters in your book.

What does your character care about that drives the story? What does your character attempt to do?
What obstacles/distractions are there? Antagonist’s intervention? Make it even worse.

Closing session: Check out: Noah Lukeman (queries, etc.), AgentQuery, Query Tracker, Miss Snark’s First Victim (name of the website), MeetMe, Hugh Howie author of “Wool” and his success online doing kindle/Amazon singles

Ten authors took part in panel discussions during InPrint’s second A World of Words book fair at Barnes and Noble in Cherry Vale Mall, Oct. 20.  Here are some quick insights and inspirations they shared.

• “I plot chapter by chapter. I know what clue is going to be where. … I want my readers to have fun and to be able to have a good night’s sleep when they are done.”

Patricia Rockwell writes two mystery series, one she describes as “acoustic mysteries” – Sounds of Murder, Voice Mail Murder – and one featuring a 90-year-old sleuth – Bingoed, Valentined. She is self-published and a member of the Independent Author Network. Find her at  www.independentauthornetwork.com/patricia-rockwell.html.

•  “I used two editors, and lost about 70,000 words in the process.”

Salahuddin Khan wrote Sikander the story of a young Pakistani man who travels to Afghanistan to join the mujahideen to fight the Russians in the 1980s. He self-published, but is now working with an agent. His blog is at www.sikanderbook.com.

•  “Small publishers really let you be hands on.”

Patricia Ann McNair’s fiction and creative nonfiction has been published in anthologies, magazines and journals. Her short story collection is called The Temple of Air.  She offers daily journal prompts at her website, http://patriciaannmcnair.com.

• “I worked with Pritzker Military Library in Chicago and they helped me find a traditional publisher for my book.”

Cyndee Schaffer’s Mollie’s War is based on her mother’s letters home from Europe during World War II. The research she did at the military library helped provide the context for her mother’s war experience. She promotes her book at www.mollieswar.com.

• “The Rockford airport is a spaceport in the book.”

Ted Iverson’s self-published science fiction book, Mission to the Stars: Book One: The Search for FTL,  takes the familiar surroundings of northern Illinois and imagines them in the distant future.

• “We decided to research the time period, the Dutch voyages, and the native tribes.”

Jim Applegate, with his wife, Marion Applegate, took a bit of family history and developed it into historical fiction in their self-published historical novel, Listen for the Lark.

• “There are two kinds of essays: story sharers and observers.”

Mike O’Mary, author of The Note, is also series editor for Dream of Things online and print anthologies at http://dreamofthings.com.

• “You have to be willing to be vulnerable. You have to be willing to dig deep.”

David W. Berner, a Chicago journalist, has recently published Accidental Lessons: A memoir of a rookie teacher and a life renewed. Link to his blog, “The Muse,” from his website, www.davidwberner.com.

• “Short stories are like affairs. A novel is like a marriage.”

Libby Fischer Hellmann, who writes both short stories and novels, is the author of A Bitter Veil, and of the Georgia Davis and Ellie Foreman mystery series, set in Chicago. Check out her marketing ideas at Wait… There’s More on her website, http://libbyhellmann.com.