Since I’m sharing lots of location photos and quotes from the book this week, I thought it only fitting that I share a little throwback photo that is book related as well. This one was taken in August of 2005 on a little Mackinac Island getaway for our 10th wedding anniversary. And THIS BENCH is the one at the end of the book where a pretty important conversation takes place. Only it’s nighttime in that scene. But this is the exact bench I envisioned. Right across the street from the elementary school. Almost at the end of the boardwalk. Gosh, I love Mackinac Island.
I seem to have a thing for benches in my books, huh?
As I’ve mentioned, Goodbye, Magnolia was written back in November of 2008 during NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. From their website: National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to creative writing. On November 1, participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 PM on November 30. Valuing enthusiasm, determination, and a deadline, NaNoWriMo is for anyone who has ever thought fleetingly about writing a novel.
I have always loved to write and felt like I was much better at saying what I wanted to say on paper than verbally. In high school, I was all about writing notes to my friends. There were no cell phones or even emails back then, so that’s what we did. My school was in a different district than a lot of my close friends from church, so we would write each other during the week and exchange notes on Sundays and Wednesdays. Some were just quick descriptions of what I did that week or what my biggest crush said or did, and some were my deeper thoughts and feelings poured out for my friends on a weekly basis.
As far as writing creatively, I can remember writing silly stories for fun when I was maybe ten or eleven, and I think I was 9 when I won a creative writing contest in the 4th grade and got to go to a nearby college to receive a certificate. I vaguely remember that, but I know it was a medieval story about two brothers and a princess. Pretty sure my mom has that packed away in a tub somewhere. If I ever find it, I’ll be sure to share that masterpiece here. 😉 But I never saw myself as someone who would pursue writing someday.
Jake took part in NaNoWriMo once or twice before I did. He’s always been a creative writer – stories and lots and lots of poetry – and has had a zillion stories in that brain of his for as long as I’ve known him. We joke now about how he was the one we always thought would publish a novel someday, but now his interests lie elsewhere, and I’m the one writing novels.
Honestly, that first year (2008), I only did it to see if I could actually write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. It was one of those things that you challenge yourself with just to get that feeling of completing a task. But I never expected to fall in love with writing like I did. I never expected it to make me happy, almost giddy at times. I never expected to be sitting at my keyboard with tears streaming down my face, like Joan Wilder in the movie Romancing the Stone.
This photo was taken at the halfway point. November 14, 2008. I was already way past half of the required word count, which I was pretty excited about.
At that point in my life, I thought photography was it for me. It’s funny how something comes into your life and changes things. Changes you. I knew from the moment I wrote this book that it was special. Maybe every author says that about their own books, but I don’t care. I’m saying it. I’m a sucker for a good romance and Goodbye, Magnolia is just that.
One of the themes in the book is trusting God with your future, trusting His plan. It’s kind of exciting, right? I’ve had things happen in recent years that threw me for a loop, for sure. But when I got past them, I was a better person, stronger for having gone through them. And I could look back and see how God led me through it. That’s how I feel about this whole writing thing. Writing is healing for me. Writing is hard work and frustrating at times, but so worth it.
Last month, I was contacted by Family Fiction magazine for an interview about my young adult novel, The Truth About Drew, which came out last year. I was surprised, nervous, excited, giddy, elated. It was a very good day around here.
I discovered Family Fiction sometime last year when I went browsing around the internet looking for other YA Christian authors and websites. Their website was one of the first I stumbled upon. I clicked through many author pages, browsed their books and features and book trailers, and I thought how cool would it be to have my name next to all of these authors someday.
So when they contacted me, at first I didn’t think it was the same site I was so fond of. I had to check the email several times. But when I clicked the link at the bottom under the editor’s name and it took me to the familiar website, I knew it was real.
I responded right away to let the editor know I was in!
Not only would I be interviewed for their May issue of Family Fiction Edge, an online magazine, which features books in the suspense, speculative and young adult genres, but I would have my very own profile set up on their page. And that little thought I’d had about being listed among all those talented authors … well, it came true!
Sometimes I am so overwhelmed by how good God is to me. It can be the most discouraging day and something like this will happen that just knocks my socks off. So unexpected. But I know God’s got it all worked out. He knows how hard I worked on “Drew” and how much it has touched people’s hearts. I can only pray that this will allow the book to make its way to more readers.
This looks like a pretty good place to be right about now. One can only dream.
Reality for us right now is saying “no” to a vacation and saving our pennies so we can pay for what needs fixed on our house in order to sell. I know it’s the responsible thing to do, but some days I wish I didn’t have to be. Some days I want to say “the heck with it” and book a week with my husband at an all-inclusive resort or rent a cottage on a lake somewhere or take a road trip to the Grand Canyon (I will see the Grand Canyon. Oh yes, I will!).
My brain is in need of a break, though, that’s for sure. Writing, editing, book formatting, proofing, marketing. I seem to have developed “book launch amnesia”, because I went through all of this when I published The Truth About Drew last year, but I must have forgotten. It can be really hard and frustrating and overwhelming at times. I think I’m through the hard and frustrating part (editing, line editing, copy editing, book formatting, ebook formatting) and now I’m on to completely overwhelming.
I am a bit overwhelmed. I’ve got this great book and I want to share it with as many people as possible, but how do I do that? How do I get the word out? I’m no marketing genius, but I know how to share on social media. And I’m not a gifted salesman or public speaker (obviously, that’s why writing is perfect for me!), so how do I promote the book without sounding like all I’m saying is “BUY MY BOOK! BUY MY BOOK!”. It’s tricky, this marketing thing.
But I do want people to buy the book. Of course, I do. I love my sweet story and I want to share it.
And I want to be able to make a living with my writing, or at least contribute to our income, which requires me to sell my books.
I’m also overwhelmed in a good way by the positive reaction from those who have read advanced copies of Goodbye, Magnolia. I’d love to think that the word of mouth about the book will do all the selling for me, but I know that’s not realistic. Wouldn’t it be nice if it was? 😉
Again … overwhelming.
These are some of the things that are racing around in my brain lately. Especially as book launch gets closer (less than THREE WEEKS from now!), I have mixed emotions. I’m nervous and excited and giddy and terrified and hopeful and proud and scared. But mostly I’m just happy. Because writing makes me happy. And I hope the stories I write will bring some happiness to all of you who read them, too.
Today is an exciting day around here! I thought I’d wake up to the sun shining and birds chirping. Instead, it’s grey skies and SNOW! But I DON’T CARE! It’s BOOK TRAILER DAY!
I’ve had it in my mind since I finished writing this book that I wanted to put together a book trailer to promote it. And the vision I had in my mind was so clear. Pictures from some of the weddings I photographed over the years hanging on twine. “Magic hour” light shining from behind them. Close-up shots and lots of bokeh (that pretty background blur). So, I browsed through photos on my computer, had some prints made, and begged Jake to use his big camera with its video capabilities to shoot it for me. Last month, we made it happen. And it turned out just like I imagined.
The getting there was a bit of a process. I edited the entire thing myself on my ten year old Mac, but the iMovie program exported it in such low quality. I was crushed and shed a tear or two after all the work I put into it. But all was not lost. Hubby to the rescue! We sat down last night and recut the entire thing together using his computer with a better video editing program. And it looks glorious!
Without further ado … here is the official book trailer for Goodbye, Magnolia. Enjoy!
A few behind the scenes tidbits:
• The pictures on a string were totally inspired by my cousin Sarah’s wedding. She also happens to be the beautiful bride on the cover of my book. Hi, Sarah! 😉
• Several photos in the video are from Sarah’s wedding as well. I was trying to stick with the yellow color scheme as much as possible.
• The cute wedding couple toward the end … stock video footage that I chose just for that yellow sash around her dress.
• The voice over … yeah, that’s me. I don’t love my voice, but as my mom said, “This is your baby. Might as well be you doing the talking.”
As I’m putting the finishing touches on Goodbye, Magnolia, Jake is helping me put together something special for the book. The above photo is just a little sneak peek of what’s to come. I’m super excited about it and can’t wait to share when it all comes together.
I am wiped. So exhausted and drained. The editing process on this book has taken a lot out of me. I’m not sure why. Jake and I went to dinner the other night and I tried to pinpoint what it is that’s making things so difficult for me this time around. This is what I came up with.
Fear.
I’ve already been through this process once before and I was nervous and scared, but nothing like I am now. There are a couple different fears running through me right now. Of course, the natural fear that people won’t like the book and will leave horrible reviews. I think I’m fairly good at seeing those, especially the constructive, well thought out ones, from the other person’s perspective. But my prayer this time is that I won’t take what people say too seriously, especially since this book is so much “me”. If someone says something negative about Maggie, I don’t want to take it personally as if it was said about me, but I’m afraid I might.
Also, I think there is an underlying fear knowing that this book is going out into the world and the world includes my ex-fiancé and his family. The “ex” in the book is mostly seen through Maggie’s memories, so he’s not so much in the story as he is in her thoughts and feelings and the way she deals with letting him go. And the details about him are sort of vague, the way memories of someone might be after not seeing them for a long time. But he’s “the bad guy”, if you will. I don’t necessarily see it that way anymore. We were just kids when the relationship ended, so things look a lot different to me 20+ years later. And, while this is fiction, a lot of the emotions Maggie experiences over that lost relationship are taken from my own life.
So … there’s that.
Yesterday, I finally sent Jake a text that said, “DONE! DONE! DONE!” I was so over it, and I wanted to get on to the fun stuff. The book is now formatted for print and I’m excited to get that uploaded and get a proof copy once I get the final cover design finished. Jake and I also spent an hour or so last night working on a little something to promote the book! It’s so pretty. The fun stuff!
I’m taking a few days off to spend with my family for Spring Break, which starts today at 2:30 p.m. Yeah! No big travel plans for us (Florida, I want to be sunning myself on your beaches right now!), but looking forward to some wonderful time with Jake’s side of the family and celebrating Easter together.
All my book talk lately has been about Goodbye, Magnolia, but for those who don’t already know, Magnolia is my second book. The first was a young adult novel called The Truth About Drew. I’ve been trying to get my son, Zach, to read the book ever since it was published. He had to choose a book for quiet reading time in his English class and he chose The Hobbit instead. 😉
Recently, he finished The Hobbit and when it came time to pick another book, both he and his friend Nate decided they wanted to read my book. Yay!
Yesterday, Zach took it to school with him. He showed some friends and pointed out that he was the guy on the cover. They were like, “No way! That’s not you. Your mom didn’t write that.” He opened the book and showed them the note I wrote to him inside. I asked him if he was embarrassed that he was on the cover and that they were giving him a hard time. He told me that he was more proud than anything. That boy. My heart was bursting.
His friends then told him they wanted to read it and Zach said, “Go buy it!”
This is not my typical “Hello, Monday” post, but I’ve got exciting news to share. A date has been set for the release of Goodbye, Magnolia. Mark your calendars. MAY 19, 2015 is the day to order your paperback copy of the book.
The eBook, however, is NOW AVAILABLE for PRE-ORDER through Amazon. If you order now, it will be automatically delivered to your Kindle on release day, May 19th! I’m so excited about this. PRE-ORDER HERE TODAY!
You might be wondering why I’m sharing Christmas themed pictures in March. In the months leading up to my book launch, I’m sharing some pictures of actual locations from the book and things that inspired scenes in the book over on my Facebook Author Page. Yesterday, I shared these pictures from a wedding I photographed back in 2005, a lovely Christmas themed wedding, which is the inspiration for the first wedding in the book.
I must admit, sharing pictures like these is the only thing keeping me from going crazy right now. Let me back up …
Several months ago, I thought it would be a great idea to put together a little Launch Team for the new book. I started a private Facebook group and then did nothing about it. It was a great idea in theory. But I was afraid to make that idea a reality. Because it’s hard for me to ask for help.
I’ve always been the type of person who tries to figure things out on my own. If something breaks, I will look it up online and try to fix it myself. Perfect example … my computer hard drive died several years ago. No need to take it to the Apple Store to have it fixed, I’ll just fix it myself. Yeah, I’ll just order the new hard drive, look up YouTube videos, TAKE THE COMPUTER APART, and fix it myself. What? Yes, I really did that. See the post HERE. I’m a mad woman.
But when it comes to writing a book, well, you can write the book alone, you can edit it and fix every error and add new chapters and delete some, but that only gets you so far. You have to get outside opinions and feedback to help you see things about the story that you might overlook because you’re too close to it.
For my first book, The Truth About Drew, I had three family members read it. That was it. I was still learning how all this publishing stuff worked and I was super protective of the book. My love for that book was so great, and I was afraid nobody else would like it as much as I did. I was very wrong, but we build up those kinds of fears in our minds and that can be the roadblock that keeps us from putting something wonderful out into the world.
For the new book, Goodbye, Magnolia, I knew I wanted more people to read it before I finished the final edit. So, I added some family and a couple friends to that little private Facebook group I created and put out a call for Launch Team members on social media. I didn’t want a huge group of hundreds, just a dozen or so to help me. Baby steps over here. Posting about the team was scary for me. Almost as scary as releasing a book. It’s one thing having family and friends read it, but putting it in the hands of people I’ve only met online … terrifying! I love both of my books, but this one, this is the one that made me want to pursue writing. This sweet little story of a wedding photographer was the one that made me realize that writing makes me very happy. So, this book is the one that was the hardest to let others read. Especially since it’s not in its final form yet.
So, why am I going crazy right now? I told Jake that I would not touch the book while the Launch Team is reading it. I gave them a date to read it by and I’m trying so hard to be patient, but you have no idea how much I’m itching to open up that file and start editing again.
And my fears … they were completely unfounded. My little team is so great! I’ve heard from a few of the ladies already. They are loving the book and have given me so many great thoughts and insights into the characters and the story.
