Category: Author Events

Where Do You Go For Your Book Fix?

Walls of Books

Walls of Books Bookstore Dog

Bookstores are my happy place. I have noticed though that each bookstore has a different feel. Some are warm and friendly, some are more modern with sleek lines and more minimalistic, some are geared toward adults, some more toward children. I have been to a mystery only bookstore and I have been to the Haunted Book Store. I am not sure if those last two are still around but I will do some research and let everyone know. I will try to visit them again.

The first time that I visited Walls of Books, I was looking for Diane Mott Davidson’s Goldie the Caterer series. I found them. I bought all of them. From then on, I was known as the lady who bought all those books. Which reminds me, I need to finish this series.

I discovered this bookstore a couple of years ago. It’s located in Ankeny, IA in a strip mall and it’s part of a franchise so I am sure you can find more in other locations.

It is an interesting place, not just because they have a bookstore dog. (To be honest, I was a little intimidated to see this dog running around the store. I like dogs but I can feel uncomfortable around strange dogs.) This one is gentle and most of the time it lies down near the owner and allows people to pet and talk to him. Lately, I haven’t always seen Isa in the store. Maybe he gets a day off occasionally.

This store is set up with bookshelves all the way around the room with stacks of shelves running in between. In the middle of the room is a leather sofa and chairs for anyone who wants to take a minute to look through a few books before they purchase them. It also has a second room connected with more books.

The main room has children’s books lining the back wall. As you walk into the store, the books start on the furthest wall to the left and weave back and forth through out the room. All the fiction books are in alphabetical order. All the fiction genres are mixed, so if you know the author’s name, you can find what you are looking for easily but there is no separate mystery, romance, horror, or sci-fi, fantasy section. I like to slowly walk through the stacks and find something that calls to me. When you reach the end of the fiction books, there are young adult and classics on last two rows on the furthest right.

In the second room, you will find a couple more chairs and new books, autobiography, biography, historical, non-fiction, and any other genre that doesn’t fit in fiction. I like the fact that this smaller bookstore thinks of the comfort of the customer compared to a local big name box store that pretty much removed any comfortable seating.

In the center of the store in front of the check out counter is a small row of tables with featured books and book related items for sale.

The staff are all pleasant and a mixture of younger and older employees. The fiction section is both used and new books. If you are looking for something special, you can ask someone to order it for you.

You can sell books as well as buy books there. They don’t pay cash, but they do give credit and you can use that credit toward half the purchase of a used book. You keep track of your credit, and you can spend it at any time.

The store has a pleasant atmosphere. There was a man proposing to his future wife there one day. Maybe they met there. Guess I will never know but I did watch with a few other customers and clerks.

Tell me about your favorite bookstore. Where is it located? Why is it your favorite? I hope to add more stores as I visit them. The Des Moines area has several bookstores now so watch for more tours soon.

Coming soon: A book review for Silence for the Dead by Simone St James.

Also, if you are in the area, the Des Moines Public Library has another AVID event tonight at the central library. The author is Jack Carr and it’s at 7:00 PM. I try to get there by 6:00 to make sure I get a copy of the book and a seat. They do sometimes have standing room only. Will post more about this event later.

Happy Reading,

Virginia

What is Better Than New Books? – Free Books and Book Festivals

I attended an online author event recently with local authors. I won a copy of this book from an author I have never read. Tracey is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary fiction. Her debut novel, On the Island, spent nine weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. Thanks so much Tracy Garvis Graves. I look forward to reading this. Free books are always a good thing.

Saturday was the Des Moines Book Festival so I sat at the Sisters in Crime Booth at the event. Here I am with another SINC member – Julie Fridinger.

The Book Festival is a fairly new event for Des Moines. In the beginning someone said they hoped it would become as popular as our Art Festival. It hasn’t grown to be quite that large yet but after this Saturday, I think it is on it’s way.

The Book Festival is part of the Greater Des Moines Partnership

The author pavilion featured Sequoia Nagamatsu, NoViolet Bulawayo, Chris Bojhalian, and Sarah Penner who presented talks during the day. There were hands-on workshops from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM in two different rooms that featured Bookstores, authors Kay Fenton Smith and Carol McGarvey who offered food samples along with their – Baking Blue Ribbons book. Django a local restaurant who showed how to build a better Cheese and Charcuterie Board. True Crime and tasting wine with John Brassard and Madison County Winery and way too many to list on this post.

There was food and adult beverages available.

A live stage set up with Musicians and performers.

A VIP area was available for some lucky attendees.

A Kids’ Zone featured face painting, story time, a magician, and more.

There was also a Des Moines Architecture Walking Tour with the Iowa Architecture Foundation for a chance to learn more about downtown buildings.

They had a local author alcove with booths for authors to meet, greet, and sell their books. That is where our SINC booth was for the day. I was there for a couple hours in the afternoon. Met many people, most were readers. Had fun talking about SINC and books. I introduced our group by telling them we were all about murder. That seemed to get their attention.

The event was held at Capital Square, downtown. Does your community have an event similar to this? If you are local and have never attended, I would recommend it. I have been involved from the beginning because of the writer’s organizations I belong to and I do remember several years ago it was held in the summer, outside, and it was not nearly this well organized.

The last hour of the event, I attended the author talk with Sarah Penner. I am currently reading her first book – The Lost Apothecary. She was promoting her latest book – The London Séance Society. I got that one autographed and she promised an author interview if I can wait until mid May. Of course, I can wait.

Sarah Penner is the first author for the library’s AVID (Authors Visiting in Des Moines) program. There are six more authors who will speak over the next few months and I do plan to attend as many of those talks as possible.

Her talk was interesting. She is from Kansas and used to work in the finance industry. She worked in London for a while and the setting for her books is actually not far from the office building she worked in there.

She never expected her books to take off so quickly and when her publisher offered her a contract for books three and four, she gave up financing to write full time. She now lives in Florida.

A local news lady was the moderator for her talk. Everyone laughed when her first question was where Sarah got her red pant suit.

Several years ago, I got to be a moderator for AVID for Eloisa James. It was great fun and I felt honored because most of the moderators over the years have been big-wigs around town. Like, the Hubbell family, or reporters from the Des Moines Register and people from Meredith publishing.

Hopefully Sarah will remember when I send my interview request in May and I will share more about this author at that time.

I hope your weekend was as fun and exciting as mine. I hope you’ve found a little time to read and look forward to our next chat.

Until next time,

Virginia

An Evening with Susan Elizabeth Phillips

I had the pleasure of meeting Susan Elizabeth Phillips at an author event at the Franklin Library in Des Moines last week.  It was wonderful.

I met her several years ago in Anaheim at a Romance Writer’s of America National Conference. I attended her workshop and it was very informative and entertaining so I knew her talk would be memorable.

She write’s humorous romances with quirky characters. Most of her hero’s are sports figures. Her heroines are strong women who sometimes find themselves in awkward situations but it always works itself out in the end. If you have shied away from romance thinking you might not like it, I would encourage you to check out this author.

I arrived a few minutes early and met a handful of my Iowa Romance Novelist friends. We sat in a group toward the front. She introduced herself and then she acknowledged our organization. I have never had an author do that. She introduced us to the crowd to let them know about our local authors and to help us maybe attract a few new members.

Most authors stand up front and speak about how they started writing or where they got the idea for their last book. She did do a little bit of that but most of the evening was spent with her reading excerpts from her books and awarding gifts to the first person who guessed the correct book. Even though I have read a few of her books, I soon started feeling inadequate. These women were very familiar with her work and it quickly became a very lively event.

She explained how some of the children in earlier books were brought back and she told their stories.  The more she talked about the books, the more I wanted to read them. It was not a good thing for someone like me. I am a bookaholic.

That night I did buy two books and had her autograph them. What hooked me on Natural Born Charmer is the fact that someone is walking down the street in a beaver costume in it. I have to find out what that is all about. I bought First Star I See Tonight because it is her most recent book.

Since then, I have purchased most of the rest of her collection. It will take me a while to catch up and I know I will enjoy every minute.

But before I can start reading those, I had to finish the one I have been reading.

It is a cozy mystery with a protagonist who is a mystery author. Her ex-husband was a college professor and he owned a huge home close to the campus. After his death, he surprised her by leaving his home to her. She decided to make it into a writer’s retreat. She invites writers to spend one week a month there to work on their own books while she as the author in residence encourages them. It was the first in a series and I did enjoy it. The characters were likeable and it kept me guessing until the end where she did hint that her husband’s death may not have been a heart attack like she was originally told; so a little  mystery to come.

I continue to work on my projects. Working on the second draft of the novel I finished before I went to Tennessee. I put it away and have just taken it out so that I can look at it with fresh eyes.  I meet with my critique group Sunday so need to have something to share with them then.

I am also developing my mystery series. Not a lot to talk about at this point but moving forward.

Until next time, keep writing and reading.

Virginia

How To Get the Most Out of a Writers Conference III

Hopefully you’ve had a wonderful time at the conference and you’re pumped to start writing. That is usually how I feel after several days in that environment. This year, I have scheduled an extra day off work to catch up at home and devote a day to writing before I have to go back to the day job.  It is my treat to me.

Now take a breath, unpack, and do those things you have to do after a few days away from home. Before you settle into writing, take a few minutes to evaluate your experience.

Pull out your goal sheet you prepared before the conference.

  • Did you meet your goals?
  • Were there some that you did not meet?
  • What was the best memory?
  • What did you learn?
  • Do you need to follow up with a pitch session?
  • What would you do differently next time?
  • Would you want to attend this conference again?

Hopefully you had a wonderful experience networking and plan to keep in touch with some people you met. Might friend them on Facebook. And did you share your blog site so they can start following you there too?

Well this is the last post about conferences. I hope it helped with even one new idea.

I will be attending the Spring Fling in Chicago in April. Hopefully I will see some of you there.

Next week I will list more conferences happening in June to allow you time to sign up.

April will be all about plotting. My local chapter of RWA, Iowa Romance Novelists,  will have a program “Plotting without a Net” with Leigh Michaels speaking. Leigh is a multi-published romance author who has also taught classes at the community college in Ottumwa as well as the Writer’s Workshop in Iowa City. If you live in the Des Moines area and would be interested in checking us out, we meet the third Saturday of every month at the West Des Moines Community Center on the second floor from 10:00 to 1:00. Hope to see you there.

Keep writing forward,

Virginia

How To Get the Most Out of a Writer’s Conference II

Now that you have set your goals and decided on which conference to attend, You need to get your hands on a brochure. Most conferences will have this information on their website. It will list all of the workshops and programs.

  • Keep your goals in mind and choose workshops that are relevant.
  • Most are Q&A sessions or panels but some conferences will have hourly workshops to help with craft or the business of writing. Should be able to find something for whatever level you are with your work.
  • If you plan to pitch to an agent or editor, try to attend their panels to get to know them better before you meet.
  • At night they sometimes have sessions that are a little more laid back. I attended ‘Love is Murder’ one year and got to listen to true ghost stories from the authors. One of them was Charlaine Harris. Now how awesome is that?
  • If you catch yourself wanting to attend sessions that are scheduled at the same time – pick the one you want to see the most and purchase the recorded sessions, if they are available. Most conferences have started doing this.

Next post we’ll get into what to do before your one-on-one session with an editor or agent.

Hope you are working on something – happy writing.

Virginia

 

How to Get the Most Out of Attending a Writers Conference

Before you do anything, take a few minutes to think about what you want to accomplish by attending a writers conference.

  • Do you want to learn more about the business of writing?
  • Are you wanting to become a better writer?
  • Is networking of interest?
  • Are you published and want to promote your work?
  • Do you just want to have some fun?

Any of these are legitimate reasons to think about attending a conference. But as you know if you have done any research, conferences are not cheap. You have your registration fees, travel and hotel expenses, meals, and who can go to a conference without buying some books? So to save yourself from signing up for the wrong conference, you will need to do some research.

Before you do that though, sit down and make some goals for what you want to get out of a conference. What are you looking for? Put it down on paper and be specific. When you get home afterwards what do you want to have achieved?

And then look for a conference that fits your needs. You might start your search online, get recommendations from friends, and if you belong to any national writer’s organizations – check those resources, also magazines like ‘Writer’s Digest’ or ‘Writer’ list information about upcoming workshops and conferences.

If this is your first conference would you feel more comfortable in a smaller more intimate setting or are you ready to jump into one of the mega conferences like RWA’s National or the mystery writer’s Bouchercon.

Just wanted to give you something to think about. I will post later this week about the next step in preparing for a writers conference.

Until then, what do you do specifically to prepare or do you just pack a bag and go? Hopefully I can give you some suggestions that will help make your next conference experience more memorable.

Happy writing,

Virginia

Nanowrimo

Yesterday I attended the David Corbett workshop and it was motivating. We had lots of new faces who came from long distance to attend. The furthest was Chicago but also, Kansas City, Iowa City, Omaha, and northern Iowa. David based his workshop off of his current non-fiction book – The Art of Character. He had some great insights on using your feelings and emotions to create characters who are more than flat paper dolls you move around in your scenes. For more in depth details, do check out his book.  

The workshop was perfect timing. I always leave inspired to write and with this being November and Nanowrimo, that is exactly what I intend to do.

I am working on a romantic comedy that I have had half finished for a while. The characters keep calling to me so finally decided if I am ever going to be able to write anything else, I have to finish this project.

We have a very active Nano group here in central Iowa. We have write-ins every day in both the Des Moines and Ames area. I plan to attend this afternoon in West Des Moines to set my word count on fire. Maybe if I can get that flame hot enough, I can put – The End to this project.

Just so you know. Amy Tan will be in Des Moines on the 11th as the final author for the 2013 AVID program. She will be at Hoyt Sherman Place at 3:00. Hope to see you there.

Have a great week writing.

Virginia

David Corbett Workshop

My local chapter of RWA and Sisters in Crime are presenting one day workshop next Saturday in the Des Moines area. If you are close, you don’t want to miss this one.

Join Iowa Romance Novelists for a one day workshop with Edgar-nominated author, David Corbett as he presents: The Art Of Character.

Date: Saturday, November 2, 2013 from 10am – 4pm

Place: Des Moines Area Community College, Building 7, Ankeny, Iowa.

Cost: $40 – College Students, IRN members, SINC-Iowa members

$60 – groups of 10+

$75 – All Others

         (LUNCH IS INCLUDED!!)

Description:  In this workshop, David Corbett will guide students through the five stages of characterization he details in his critically acclaimed new book,The Art of Character. With the goal of helping students apply these techniques specifically to their own works in progress, he will lead the class through exercises that:

* Explore unique and compelling ways to conceive the character from the outset.

* Enrich the character through examination of one’s own personal experience.

* Deepen the portrayal by exploring the five essential qualities of compelling
characterization.

* Create character biographies that rely on dramatic scenes, not descriptive
information.

* Explore the interaction of the character and her role in the story, especially the

protagonist.

* Develop techniques for rendering the character on the page: point of view, voice,

dialog.

Register:  http://iowaromancenovelists.org/workshops or, for more information, email: iowaromnovel@yahoo.com

“Corbett has been quietly crafting some of the best novels of the new millennium. Human characters and tragic consequences. Corbett is one of the giants of tomorrow.”

   —Bookspot Central

For more information about David Corbett, check out his website at:
http://www.davidcorbett.com/

P is for Perfection

 

 

 

 

“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft.” – Anne Lamott

 

 

I was lucky enough to meet Anne Lamott a while back when she was an author for the AVID event here in Des Moines. AVID is Authors Visiting in Des Moines and is a program that the local library funds each year. They bring in a handful of authors who speak and sign books from April through June. It’s an event I look forward to each year and try to attend as many talks as possible.

 

Anyone who writes has heard of Anne Lamott and her ‘Bird by Bird’ book on writing. If you have not, you need to get it and read it now. She is one of the writing guru’s I turned to in the beginning. The title came from when her brother attempted to write an essay on different birds. He waited until the last minute to write it and then found himself stuck not knowing how to actually do it. His father told him to not look at the big picture, to take one bird and write about it and then another and another until he completed the report.

 

I suffer from perfectionism in many areas of my life but especially in my writing. I use it as my crutch or my excuse. If I only have 10-15 minutes to write, it’s easy for me to say it isn’t worth it, what can I possibly get done in that amount of time? Even when I do schedule my writing time, I often catch myself editing the life out of my work and ultimately stopping my forward momentum. Then I can’t figure out why I can’t go forward. Just as if I was a log stuck in quicksand, I get stuck trying to be perfect and instead of finishing the project, it sinks and is never seen again.

 

I have murdered too many projects because of perfectionism. Like another writer friend Shirley Damsgaard, who writes a witch mystery series as well as the Jess McConkey books told me, “Sometimes you just have to write the damn thing.”

 

I am so there now. I will spill the words out and worry about mopping up the bad stuff with revision.

 

As Nora Roberts said, “You can’t edit a blank page.” So I have to get past thinking my first draft has to be perfect.

 

Are you able to write that first draft and not worry about how bad it is or are you like me and tend to fix it as you go, never getting far from your beginning?

 

How do you cope with writing that first draft? What are your secrets?

 

Here’s to writing to the end this week, and not worrying about perfection.

 

Virginia

 

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