The advice I heard when I first started writing fiction, was this: “Write what you know.” Well, that didn’t work out very well, because I soon discovered that I just didn’t know enough.

So what to do?

I ventured into new territory and took some chances. I began writing what I knew absolutely nothing about, and guess what? I discovered I could learn all kinds of new things.

My first story was about cutting. When I first heard about young people who cut or self-abused in other ways, I was shocked. Then I wanted to know why. It was complicated, but self-abuse was a growing issue–still is. Since Sliding on the Edge was published, there are a lot of other young adult books that address it, and in my opinion, the more that’s written about this, the better.

With Double Negative, I had a chance to explore the issue of illiteracy. I discovered that 1 in 7 people in the United States can’t read. They can’t read a newspaper in print or online. They can’t read instructions on medication. I also discovered a lot of programs that are available for those who want to learn to read, so while that 1 in 7 statistic isn’t positive, the fact that there’s help out there is.

With Shattered, I stepped into a very large sea of uncertainty. I’d lived with people who were disabled, but I wasn’t disabled myself, so I had to do a lot of research in addition to drawing on the experience of those I knew very well and loved. What this book has taught me is probably more than any of the others. I’ve posted before about how people with disabilities are under-represented in books. Like any group, they deserve to have stories, and not stories that depict them as different, but stories that depict them as people.

So what do I want to learn about next? The story’s on my C-Drive, but it has a way to go because this topic is really a big challenge for me. It’s something I hate to read about and something that I dread happening. Unfortunately, it happens all too frequently. I’m still not sure I want to move forward with this project, but I’ve carried it around in my head for a while now, and based on previous experience, it probably won’t go away until I put the story out.

If you write, do you stick with what you know, or do you explore themes and topics you want to learn about?

The winners of the Rafflecopter Giveaway have received their gifts. Congratulations to J.M. on winning the $35. GC. Congratulations to Diane B. Jess H,, Christine R. and Nancy P. on winning the free eBooks of Shattered.

Quote of the Week: The heart and soul of good writing is research; you should write not what you know but what you can find out about.  Robert J. Sawyer, Hugo and Nebula Award-Winning Author

We all know this is the first #IWSG Wednesday and now this is the first time I’m going to show off the cover of my new book, Shattered: A Story of Betrayal and Courage. I’m giggling, so it’s good there’s no audio accompanying this post.

I fell in love with this artwork. If you notice in the upper left, there’s a hidden image and it’s just subtle enough to be foreboding, but not eerie. Something’s going to happen in this book, and it has to do with that image and the girl in profile.

Since I’m fascinated with book covers, I’ve read some articles about what makes a good book cover. Here’s a quick list of what I found.

A book cover should

• grab people’s interest on a first look
• make people curious
• relay information about the book so that potential readers will open it and see what’s inside
• focus on one main idea and not put in every little detail
• appeal to the readers the book’s intended for
• be unique AND OF COURSE
• encourage potential readers to buy the book

I think this one meets the criteria, but I’m really close to this project, so give me your opinion.

And now for the monthly #IWSG post

October 6 question – In your writing, where do you draw the line, with either topics or language?

The awesome co-hosts for the October 6 posting of the IWSG are Jemima Pitt, J Lenni Dorner, Cathrina Constantine, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, and Mary Aalgaard!

This is an interesting question, and I think it’s a tricky one to answer. My first thought when I read it was “I won’t write about anything that I’d be ashamed to put my name on.” But maybe that’s too vague. That doesn’t mean I’d avoid edgy topics–in fact, I’ve done the opposite; it just means that if I do tackle a topic that’s controversial or taboo, it has to be for a very good reason–perhaps to open that topic for discussion and expose it for what it is. Sometimes exploring the darker side of things in our world can help to weaken or even eliminate it. 

Since I write a lot for teens, I’ve chosen to write about things that they’re experiencing and having to deal with: loss of a parent, abuse, cutting, injustice, homophobia. If they see a character navigating these treacherous waters, perhaps they’ll recognize that others are going through similar difficulties, and that will give them hope of managing to do so as well.

As to language, anything that legitimately tells a story so that it sticks with the reader is okay with me; however, that definitely doesn’t mean I’m up for gratuitous swearing. That turns me off in any storytelling medium. Again, because of the category of fiction that I write, I choose to stick with cleaner language and find better ways to develop “skanky” characters. Their behavior is often the most vivid way to show the reader their true nature.

I’ve answered this question on the IWSG Blog Post today, but with a different angle. Hope you’ll stop by and check it out. This question should produce some interesting answers for October, so visit the blogs and read what our members think.

Quote of the Month: “Some people say, ‘Do not judge the book by its cover!’ People can say anything they want to say, but for me, the cover does matter.”
― Toba Beta, syfy writer from Indonesia

For about a year I live with this new book banging around in my head. Then the next year I cough it up onto my C Drive, research, research, research–write, write, write. If you write anything and want it polished, the next step is that phase we lovingly call editing. So some weeks go into that.

The big leap is submitting it. That’s usually a few weeks of pacing like a tiger in a zoo and a lot of monologues.
“Will they take it? Of course, they will. But what if they hate it?”
“Why don’t I hear? I should have heard by now. The book’s not good. I should have written something else.”
There are a lot more of these, but you might already be familiar with them if you’ve gone through this process.

Then the email comes and it’s a “Yes.”

I sign the contract. They set the publication date and viola! But that’s not the end, is it? No. Now just before publication, I have all that scheduling to do, all that shouting about this newest addition to my list.

So here I am in the final weeks just before publication. I can tick off several jobs as done, but I still gasp at what’s left.

My first Giveaway is complete thanks to those of you who were here every week in August for my Character Reveal. Thank you again for sticking it out a whole month. September, I set up a series of posts that tell more about the background for this book, finally, I could reveal the title was Shattered: A Story of Betrayal and Courage. I wanted to be sure the publisher didn’t change it. I’ve had that happen before.

The cover art comes next, but before it arrives…You guessed it. More pacing. Will it be something I love? What if I hate it? When will it come?

I still don’t have the specific pub date, so I have to guess a bit about when to do certain promotional bits. But I’m very practiced in tiger-pacing, that’s what I’ll do until I know about these final details and all of the scheduling is in place.

If you write for publication, do you relate to any of this? What do you do just before publication?

Next Week….The Cover! (I hope)

This title has been a long time in coming. At first, I called it The Girl Who Learned to Fly Again, and I used that while I wrote the story. But the more I thought about it, the less that seemed to work, so for a long time I just called it Flying Woman.

I had this image of a young woman sailing down snow-covered mountains, hair streaming behind, joy radiating from her. Here was a person who loved what they did and it showed.

Well, Flying Woman didn’t fly with me or anyone else I ran it past. Finally, the real title came, but not in a flash. It more or less crept up bit by bit. I remember starting with the image of snow-topped roofs, and the slow trickle of water that form icicles under a wintery sun. For a while, I carried that image around with me, and then I thought about what happens when you snap off one of those long thin chunks. Sometimes they shatter, don’t they? And there was my metaphor.

My young protagonist was going to have a lifetime dream taken from her in one terrible moment. Her dreams were going shatter. Her body as well. So the title became…

Shattered: A Story of Betrayal and Courage

Nineteen-year-old Libby Brown is on her way to the winter Olympics for her shot at the Gold. But on a last practice run, an out-of-bounds snowboarder collides with her, and she wakes up in a hospital unable to move her legs. Terrible accident they say, but was it? Or did someone want her off the U.S. slalom team? Libby must find the truth or remain shattered forever.

So there it is. I have a title and the cover artist is working on how the final package is going to look. Now’s when I start getting excited and really anxious. I love covers. To me, they can make or break a book. I can’t wait to share it with you.

If this were a fantasy, I could let my imagination run free. I do that when I write for young kids, and I love it. However, since I wanted this book to be as realistic and accurate as possible, I did a lot of research.

I attended a presentation by Karen Trolan, a woman who lost the use of her legs in a small plane crash and still downhill and water skis. She’d written a short biography about her experience as a paraplegic, and I read that to get a first-hand account of what it’s like to go from someone with the use of all limbs, to one who has to rely on a wheelchair. The image of the sit-ski on her cover is one that helped me describe this adaptive equipment.

Of course, I did a lot of Google searches. The world of paraplegia is well represented, and so I was able to find excellent information about a subject I knew little about.

I also interviewed one doctor and a clinical specialist in spinal cord injuries when I started to draft this book. They both gave me some very Real Facts about what paraplegics face. They also made it clear that Hollywood hadn’t gotten it right, hinting that they hoped I would.

Making the story real and yet making it appealing for readers was my biggest challenge in writing this story. How could I avoid the Hollywood cliches, yet keep a reader reading? And most importantly, how could I give an honest portrayal so that anyone who experienced what my main character did would identify with her?

I was fortunate that these very busy experts were willing to give me so much of their time. After I’d spent several hours talking to them and asking questions, I had no choice but to finish the project and see it into print. I felt as if I couldn’t let them down.

The biggest test is going to be my paraplegic readers. Will they think I got it right?

I’m in countdown mode and hope to see this book in print before long. If you haven’t already offered to lend a hand with my launch, just leave me a comment if you’d like to add your name. Any help is appreciated!

There’s a lesson for all of us when it comes to the topic of adapting. If we’re not flexible and adjust to new situations, we’re likely to fail in reaching our goals. When I first started thinking about writing this new book, I imagined a young girl who would never participate in the one sport she’d always dreamed of being the very best in–downhill skiing. By the time I’d written her story, she showed me just how wrong I could be.

Along the way, I found so many examples of people who not only learned new ways to take part in their favorite sport(s), but also branched out and became stars in different ones.

This video features adaptive equipment for indoor rowing, something that helped train two people to medal in the Paralympics. Very inspiring.

As writers, we’re always encouraging each other not to give up, even when we’re up to our eyeballs in rejections. I think we can add “adjust to the changes” in this business of writing to part of our mutual support. And these days there’s one heck of a lot of that to do, isn’t there?

Although I don’t have a firm publication date from the publisher, I’m putting out the call for help with my launch in October. I’d so appreciate SPACE ON YOUR BLOG, TWEETS, FB POSTS, INSTAGRAM POSTS. If you’re up for doing a REVIEW, that works as well. Just leave a comment with your preference and I’ll be in touch.

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