Reaching Out and Meeting People

Last week, I had the privilege of attending three separate events over a five-day period. All were very different and by the end I was exhausted, but it was worth the effort.

The first event was a cultural roundtable hosted by local city representatives. The goal was for different cultural groups to meet one another and share our needs. I and my colleague represented the Delta Literary Society. While our needs center around gaining publicity for our events, it was interesting to hear about the challenges that other groups are facing. I was surprised to see twenty different groups attending that night: the police pipe band, quilters, potters, artists, acting groups, rockhounds, heritage groups, and so forth were all there.

At the second event, I was part of a panel of five people who talked about writing. We each read from our books to a lovely group of people. This was a new event hosted by our society, and we’re grateful for the terrific support we received.

Two days after that, I attended a craft fair that ran from ten until four. Again, I met some delightful folks, sold books, and answered questions about publishing and marketing.

I’m sharing all this to help the writers and introverts out there understand the importance of connecting with others in person. I know it’s scary and feels risky at times, but starting with just one small event can make a big difference in your confidence and in achieving your writing goals.

Writing is a solitary business in the early stages. If writers want to take their work to the next level, however, then they need to reach out and ask for feedback from others. Taking workshops and courses can be useful as well, and I do recommend attending some of them in person. Producing a published book is also a joint effort. Very few writers can do all of it on their own. And then there’s the marketing and promotion side of things. You can only do so much from your keyboard at home.

Other than my weekly critique group meeting and facilitating creative writing workshops on Saturdays, I’ve been enjoying a quiet week. My grandkids are sick today, though, so I’m off to take care of them. Their busy parents are accountants who are working long hours to meet the April 30 deadlines.

Until this week, the last few days were gloriously sunny, so we managed to enjoy several afternoon walks. With all the tree blossoms, daffodils, and tulips that have sprung up in our neighbourhood, it’s the perfect time to exercise outdoors. The tulips in the photos are from our garden. I didn’t even know we had them until now. We moved in exactly a year ago and I don’t remember seeing them. I was probably too busy unpacking to notice. But I’m noticing now. 😊

Beginnings and Endings This Spring

Two days ago, I finished the edits of my urban fantasy, tentatively titled, When Darkness Draws Near. I’ve been working on that book for so long (since before Covid) that it feels surreal. As I mentioned last time, there will be more changes down the road, but for now it’s ready to submit to agents and editors.

I wrote a query letter and synopsis last year, which has been critiqued by numerous people. I’m going over them again and researching the list of potential agents I’ve compiled over the past two years. The work never stops, does it?

Also, on Tuesday, I finished my volunteer work with the organizing committee for this year’s Bookfest 2024. It was a pleasure to work with such a professional and organized group of volunteers. The festival was great fun and I had a blast catching up with folks I hadn’t seen in months. There’s nothing better than being part of an event in your own community, where so many people know you.

I’m now switching gears and doing more activities with the literary society in my area. I was asked to be on the board last fall, and their festival is coming up in April. Today, I spent two and a half hours putting up posters in our community and there’ll be more volunteering next week. As the new kid on the block, I look forward to meeting many people.

Two weeks ago, we were babysitting our sick grandkids and as a consequence my spouse and I came down with colds. All is well now and I’m looking forward to hosting our Easter dinner on Sunday. We’ll do an Easter egg hunt inside the house, which will be the girls’ first experience. I’ll take photos 😊

We’ve gotten into the habit of walking nearly every day. The photos are just a sample of the sites we often see only minutes from our house. Tree blossoms line the street on one side of the shopping complex we frequent. The slough and the ducks are on the other side. As the weather improves, I’ll take more photos of life in beautiful Delta.

Meanwhile, to those who celebrate, a very Happy Easter, and I wish all of you a peaceful long weekend, however you celebrate.

3 Reasons to Write More Than One Book at a Time

It’s been a productive couple of weeks on the writing front. Happily, the grandkids have been healthy and going to daycare every day, which means I’ve had time to work on two of the three urban fantasy novels in my trilogy.

I’ve found it beneficial to work on more than one book in a series simultaneously. One reason is that events in book one are so fresh that I remember many more details. This makes it easier to insert new tidbits of flashback and build on subtle but important nuances or situations in book two. Secondly, it helps with the flow of both books. I’m less likely to create repetitive events and names. Third, I’ve found that while writing the second book, there are things I wanted, or needed, to change in book one for clarity and continuity.

The standard wisdom is not to write the second book when one is submitting the first book to agents or publishers. If you’re writing a trilogy, the recommendation is to only prepare outlines for books two and three. A complete manuscript could result in having to rework major components, so you’d be wasting your time.

For me, however, a first draft is like a detailed outline. It’s important to write the actual story to see if it even works, what the word count is, and if key elements have been introduced when they should be for pacing purposes. Because I don’t write quickly, I’ll probably only have a basic outline in place for the third book anyway, but we’ll see. The entire submission process could take quite a while and even then it might not work out. In that case, I can turn to self-publishing and release the books one after the other on my own timeline. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

Meanwhile, plans are shaping up for a couple of spring events, one of which is a local event called Bookfest 2024. For those of you who live in the Lower Mainland, please check it out the details on the Tri-City Wordsmiths page HERE. There are still some details to tweak and things that might be changed.

Also, until February 19, I’m offering the fifth installment in my Casey Holland mystery series for $.99. Some of the participating authors in this BookFunnel event will be selling their entire series while others are offering a single book for you to try. Here’s a little bit about Knock Knock:

When a home invasion kills senior Elsie Englehart, security officer Casey Holland is devastated. She’s supposed to be watching over elderly bus riders in an area frequently targeted by thugs. Determined to keep others safe, Casey escorts a senior to his home, only to come under attack by an armed intruder. Hospitalized and angry, Casey struggles to regain control of her life, despite interference from family and colleagues, and the postponement of her wedding. Yet another home invasion compels Casey to take action, but at what cost to her health and her relationships?

What I’ve Been Up To

Another terrific Christmas craft fair season has ended for me. Four weekend events in a month is a lot, but it was great fun talking with people. It was especially gratifying to chat with people in their teens and twenties who were not only readers but interested in writing. The final craft fair this past weekend is one that I have attended for ten years. It warmed my heart to see how many customers came back to buy the next book in my Casey Holland series.

Prior to that fair, I thought it was time to move on and try new events, but with so much repeat business happening, I’m having second thoughts. On the other hand, I won’t have a new book out for a couple of years at least and am not sure I’ll be continuing with the series since my urban fantasies are the priority these days.

Speaking of which, I’ve finally completed another edit that incorporated comments from beta readers. The process began in mid-summer and took longer than anticipated to finish, yet there was no need to rush through the edits. January will be devoted to going through the manuscript once more before I take the next step.

I’d love to catch up on reading, but sadly my house won’t clean itself. I’m also retrieving boxes of Christmas decorations from storage today, to decorate the house in time for a family birthday celebration on Saturday. And there’s still shopping to do.

We had a serious rainstorm earlier this week and discovered a small leak in our roof, so that will need to be taken care of as well. Needless to say, life is moving along at a relatively fast pace, as it usually does in December. I know many of you can relate to all the activity. I think I’ve mentioned before that Boxing Day here in Canada is one of my favourite days of the year. It’s when I put my feet up, relish the quiet, settle down with a good book, or just have fun thinking of story ideas. Okay, and maybe a little editing…

Christmas Craft Fair Season Underway!

Christmas craft fair season is one of my favourite times of the year, and not just because I have the chance to sell books. At these fairs, I get to shop for great gifts, chat with vendors and customers, and enjoy the great vibe these fairs bring. Vendors help other vendors, customers love to have books autographed, and some even want to take a photo with me. Several times, I’ve found myself answering questions from aspiring writers and providing tips. It warms my heart when a teenager comes up to me and says, I love to read and want to write stories. I’ve also enjoyed continuing sales in the weeks or months after a fair, where a reader wants to pick up the next installment(s).

It’s not always a bed of roses, though. Money must be paid (sometimes quite a bit) often months in advance, which is always risky. Circumstances can change and you won’t know if you’ll be ill or facing a sudden emergency, and not all organizers will refund your money for last-minute cancellations. The event’s location, advertising, and the organizer’s ability to stay on top of things can make or break a fair, and several factors are out of your control. So far this year, I’ve been to one great one and one poor one, but that’s the chance one takes.

I have two 3-day events coming up here in the Lower Mainland, and for those who live in this area, or who don’t mind driving, here’s some information. I’ll be at the Deer Lake Winter Festival in Burnaby from Nov. 24-26. This is a new event for me, so I’m excited to see how it will turn out. If the print is too small to read, more information is available on my website.

The following weekend, from Dec. 1-3rd, I’ll be at the Coquitlam Christmas craft fair, which I’ve participated in for several years.

I’m really hoping that the guys who sell the most amazing baked goods and the couple who made handcrafted chocolates will be back again this year. They alone make the fair worth while 🙂

If you live in the area, drop by, and find some great gifts!

What I’ve Been Up To, and Questions

The last writing event I attended in person was back in May, which feels like a long while ago. Now that September’s here I’m ready to get back in the groove. On Sept. 13^th, I’ll be one of several speculative authors reading from their work. This is exciting because I’m down to the final edits of my urban fantasy, tentatively titled When Darkness Draws Near and will be sharing an excerpt for the first time.

Three days later, I’ll be volunteering at the Crime Writers of Canada table for Vancouver’s annual WORD event, a festival for readers, writers, and publishers. If any local folks are interested in attending, you can learn more about this free HERE. The UBC Robson location is new from previous years, so we’ll see how it goes.

As part of my ongoing BookFunnel promotion efforts, I’m offering a $.99 sale on my only backlist title, which I haven’t offered through BF before. Fatal Encryption was originally published back in 2008 and is set in Port Moody, where I lived for over 36 years until recently. This is the story of 28-year-old Alex Bellamy, a computer-savvy accountant who’s between jobs and trying to find his path in life. Through his girlfriend, he’s offered a temporary job at a department store to help with their hacking problems, but the hacking ties into a murder on Halloween night. The more Alex learns, the more involved he becomes, and his girlfriend isn’t helping matters. You can find the link HERE.

My ongoing audiobook research has presented me with a dilemma. Last night, I watched an online Q & A session about creating audiobooks for free through Apple Books. The catch is that they use an AI generated narrator.

My research so far has revealed that a human narrator would cost approximately $2,000 per book and that’s with splitting the royalties 50/50 with the narrator. The cost would be twice as much if I pay the narrator the full price upfront. So, I’m looking at over $14,000 for the entire Casey Holland series. Popular narrators have their own followers and charge $300+ an hour. I very much doubt I’d break even with that kind of expense.

Part of me has an ethical issue with using AI. I prefer to pay for and work with established narrators, but I can’t afford them. On the other hand, the person who was giving the Q & A session has published eight books (mainly novellas) with them and is very happy with the quality. His readers apparently like it too. Apple checks the narration themselves to make sure everything flows smoothly. They seem committed to bringing out quality books.

My spouse says we can’t stop AI and that this is the future. He pointed out that technology has always brought change and we adapted. He has a point. I used to pay my rent and buy food by typing in a secretarial pool and using fax machines. They don’t exist anymore. I adapted. I used to work in a department store that doesn’t exist anymore. I adapted, and so on. But AI is foisting a larger change on the world than anything technology has given us so far. As my spouse also pointed out, isn’t it better to learn to work with AI tech and begin to understand it rather than run away from the tidal wave of change that’s coming?

We have a good friend who is blind. Our friend says there aren’t that many audiobooks, and he’s been waiting for mine for years. A customer at a craft fair I recently attended said the same thing about the lack of choice and would have purchased my books if available. Should they not have the opportunity to access more books? Some readers won’t care if the books are AI generated, but others will.

So, should I go ahead and do this? Would you pay to listen to an AI generated book? Apple Books wants authors to keep the price as low as ebooks, so in my case it would be $4.99 per book. Also, they ask for only a six-month commitment and after that I can delist the audiobook if I want. If I understand last night’s discussion correctly, I can also simultaneously use human narrators on other platforms, if I choose to do so. I especially welcome comments from those of you who listen to audiobooks.

The Writing Life: Good and Bad

I’ve been settling into a writing routine these past couple of weeks. It’s been a creative, peaceful, and fulfilling time while I work on two different books. I’m pleased with the candid, detailed comments I received from beta readers for the urban fantasy. They’ve helped me put issues into perspective, but it’s also requiring major editing on my part. On Monday, for example, I spent three hours rewriting chapter eight, thinking and pondering comments. It was grueling, but the chapter is better for it.

I’ve also been catching up on blogs from other writers and learned that things have become more challenging lately. Aside from the ongoing scams and pirated books, writers now have to contend with the dubious use of AI.

A horrific example is provided by well-known writer and blogger, Jane Friedman, who some of you might be familiar with. Jane’s an author who not only gives many workshops but offers useful tips in her blogs. Recently, she discovered that someone(s) has been writing what she calls garbage books, possibly AI generated, and attaching her name to them for sale on Amazon. The books have also appeared on her Goodreads page. Needless to say, people have complained about the quality of the books, thereby harming her reputation. It turns out that this has happened to other popular authors. It’s only because of Jane’s clout that she was able to have the books taken down, which was a struggle in itself. I won’t go into more detail as she tells the story more clearly in her account HERE.

Two years ago, I bought a terrific book called Newsletter Ninja by Tammi Labrecque. I joined her Facebook group, and on Monday she posted that a book promotion company has been using the Newsletter Ninja name to sell their services. Since Tammi has nothing to do with this company, she’s fighting to have the Newsletter Ninja name removed, but so far has been unsuccessful.

Those of us who’ve been writing for a long time do it because we’re passionate about stories and happy to share them with others. Writing, editing, publishing, marketing, and selling is hard work, but when we have to deal with the crap mentioned above it feels overwhelming at times. Outside of my physical and blogging community, I’m an unknown author and unlikely to be targeted right now, but what happens if I grow beyond that? Will I be targeted, attacked, and maligned for my work? Will my name and reputation be trashed for profit, or just for fun? For the writers out there, how do you cope with this new reality? I’ve love to hear your thoughts.

I want to leave this on a happier note, so here are more flowers from our backyard, all taken earlier this year, to brighten your day.

Returning to Creativity

This year, I’m going to enjoy August. This time last year, a major bathroom renovation was underway at our old home, but life’s pace has finally slowed and I’m spending time lots of time with the grandkids whose first and third birthdays will be celebrated on Saturday.

And finally, I’m starting to get back to writing. It’s both energizing and a relief to be able to do this. While I wait for the final beta reader response on my urban fantasy, I’ve started to write the second installment in what will be a trilogy. I’ve also started writing my first paranormal cozy, which is great fun. To think about plots, characters, themes, and settings is a luxury compared to electricians, plumbers, movers, and banking appointments.

On the business side, I’ll explore converting my Casey Holland series into audiobooks. Whenever I sell books at the larger Christmas markets, some customers ask if they’re available as audiobooks, so I need to do this. I have no idea how it will go, but I’ll do the conversion through Draft2Digital and see where it takes me.

Also, A Gold Satin Murder is on sale for $.99 until Aug 19^th. Here’s a short blurb:

Transit cop Casey Holland has never met a bus passenger like the charming artist and exotic dancer, Eduardo. When he’s charged with murder, Casey’s search for answers takes her and her best friend Kendal to a troupe of strippers known as Man Cave. While the men are busy peeling off their clothes, Casey’s peeling back layers of secrets and betrayal. Nuttier than her usual adventures, the risk is just as deadly in this seventh installment of the Casey Holland transit mysteries.

Here are the links:

Amazon: http://a-fwd.com/asin=B0B8LRFZDT

Kobo U.S. https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/a-gold-satin-murder

Apple: https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/book/id6443255297

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-gold-satin-murder-debra-purdy-kong/1141951058?ean=2940166433930

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Debra_Purdy_Kong_A_Gold_Satin_Murder?id=FxF_EAAAQBAJ

We plan to take some day trips around this area and visit the farms offering fresh produce and berries. Below is another new flower on our new property. New blooms are still appearing all the time. It’s really quite wonderful. 😊

Settling Into Summer

Welcome to July, possibly my favorite month of the year. Here in Canada, we celebrated Canada’s 156 birthday on July 1^st and since this is July 4^th, Happy Independence Day to my American friends, colleagues, and readers. I hope it’s a great one for you.

As many of you know, this past spring was one of the most hectic periods of my life. While things have slowed down considerably, there are a couple of final tasks ahead. The new owners of our Port Moody come take possession of the place next week, which means handing over keys, a lawyer’s appointment and final cleaning. On the health front, I have one more CT scan coming up next week as the surgeon wants to ensure all of the mass in my chest was removed. While a CT scan isn’t horribly invasive, I hope this will be the last test for some time.

Meanwhile, we have more new plants appearing on our Ladner property. The previous owners clearly put a lot of thought into having various plants bloom one after the other, starting back with the crocuses in April.

On the writing front, I’ve spent the last few days converting my ebooks into print versions through Draft2Digital. D2D will make them available through Ingram Sparks, Amazon, and other sources, which is fabulous since I never could get the four book covers (from my publisher) to meet Amazon’s guidelines.

This hasn’t been a problem with D2D, although I need to have two of the later covers adjusted slightly by my jacket designer. It’s good to know that American readers can now request the books through their libraries. Next up, I’m finally going to start the process of converting to my series into audiobooks, again through Draft2Digital.

I always have more energy to tackle these tasks in summer, another reason for loving this month. The extra light and warmth also makes reading outside in the evening possible, and that’s another favorite summer activity. How about you? Do you feel energized with your reading and writing in the summer, or is it more difficult because of all the fun distractions available?

Another Plant Mystery, Another Book on Sale

Happy Summer Solstice! We have gray skies here in the Lower Mainland today, but the sunshine is coming.

Just when I thought I had every plant identified at our new home, I discovered this lovely purple bush, which actually is more tree than bush, I think. The flowers are gorgeous, but we have no idea what it is. Any thoughts? And recently, I posted

Recently, I posted a photo of a single clematis. Needless to say, things have really bloomed as you’ll see below.

Last week, we went to our old home to do some cleaning and sell two pieces of furniture. It was surreal but also gratifying to see the bright orange sold sign on our house. It will be hard to take one last look at the place. We were married in our backyard, raised our babies there, and gave a home to numerous pets. A younger family will be moving in, which makes me happy. The house needs to be filled with kids and pets again.

Now that the moving tasks are coming to a close, I find myself focusing more on writing. I’ve heard back from two beta readers on the urban fantasy and am eager to start the final revision. I’ve written 26,000 words for book two in this trilogy, which is both fun and challenging, as it should be.

Meanwhile, the 6^th installment in my Casey Holland series is on sale for $.99 and part of a joint BookFunnel sales promo. The Blade Man explores some of the anger and/or mental health issues bus drivers face every day. While dealing with the increasing violence, Casey is determined to make her wedding happen this time, no matter what.

This joint promo features 24 authors and includes samples and excerpts of mysteries, suspense and thrillers. I’m offering the full novel, which you can find HERE, or the other links if you prefer.

Amazon: amazon link: http://a-fwd.com/asin=B083XQGDNH

Links to other platforms: https://books2read.com/u/3LDre1