Guest Blog Post By Jill Elizabeth - The Importance of Shiny Things

Jill Elizabeth posted this on May 21st, 2012
http://blog.jill-elizabeth.com/2012/05/21/the-importance-of-shiny-things/


The Husband is constantly accusing me of being too easily distracted by shiny things. You know, those things that catch your eye and pull you away from the conversation or task at hand. I admit – I am highly susceptible to distractions. Highly. Susceptible. I have conversations that must be nearly impossible to follow if you don’t know me/how my mind works. I’ve have, on occasion, had to stop and track my own conversational connections backward, to try to figure out how I made my way to the place I ended up. (Incidentally, it’s very fun for me to do this, because I like to see how my brain connects things. It does not appear so fun for other people though – they mostly just shake their heads and/or look at me strangely.)


I can only imagine how frustrating it must be at times to try to talk to me – I really do have the most ridiculous tendency to wander off, intellectually and verbally. I like to think it’s a sign of a furiously working mind that can’t keep up with itself and constantly reaches out for more. But maybe it’s just a sign of a short attention span. Who knows. A friend once told me about a show, either BBC or PBS, that was all about the bizarre interconnectedness of things – I always meant to look it up, but never did. See what I mean? Either working too fast or not working at all. Sigh. Plus, nice tangent there, on TV, huh? Because you know that five seconds after I wrote that I had to go to Google and try to figure out what the show was…*


Anyway, I have a point here, and I’m getting to it now, promise.

So all this talking about distractability and the role of shiny things in attention-getting (and -keeping) got me to thinking about titles and covers – which are, basically, the shiny things about books. (Nice segue, eh? Admit it – you had no idea where I was going with this post, did you? Teehee.) Let me track this one back for you. I was at a celebratory post-dance-recital dinner with The Husband, The Step-Daughter, and The Step-Daughter’s Best Friend the other night and a random giggle-inducing event led The Husband to lean over and say “that’d be a great title for a story” about a particular phrase (which I won’t repeat because I agree with him and want to develop the story before I give the title away). That got my brain thinking about – in order – my own writing (truth be told, most things do these days), my farthest along Work in Progress (which has a great title that I think is perfectly shiny), my other Works in Progress that have good titles (there are a couple), my other Works in Progress that do NOT have good titles (there are an unfortunate lot of them), how hard it is to come up with a good title, books I love that have great titles, books I have that have great titles, books I love that have terrible titles, how awful it’d be to not have people read your book because of a terrible title, how good titles are occasionally paired with terrible covers, how terrible titles and terrible covers keep me from ever picking up a book, how many of those terribly-titled and terribly-covered books are actually very good and how I’ll never know because I’ve never picked them up… By the end, well, I had a post idea AND I was mentally exhausted.


If you’re a reader at all you know what I mean though. Titles and covers are key. Sure, the blurb is important too, as is the first sentence. Without a good blurb/first sentence, I won’t buy your book. But without a good title/cover, I won’t even pick it up to see if the blurb/first sentence have potential. What a tremendous amount of pressure and importance to place on something that is (a) probably only a handful of words long and (b) designed/crafted by someone who is not you (because most of the authors I know aren’t also artists – graphic or otherwise). But let’s face it – we live in a world of snap-decisions and judgments based on few words and even fewer pictures. A world, in short, of shiny things.


But how do you know what the right shiny thing is going to be for your book? Because the grab-factor of shiny things is a moving target – it depends on the state of the world, positioning in the store, current events, and the mood of the people shopping. Shiny things are why I will never love online books/bookstores as much as real books/bookstores. When everything is two-dimensional and flat on my computer screen, I lose the all-important (to me) element of tactility (a Jillism, meaning the tactile nature of things) – it’s harder for a book to grab my attention because all the icons are the same size, the same weight, the same depth. It’s also much more difficult to browse online. When I’m in a bookstore, I wander the aisles (always starting with new releases in the categories I like – bestsellers (to see what has been labeled such, not because those are what I usually buy), new to paperback, sci-fi, fiction, mystery in that order), my eyes skimming over all the titles/covers/spines until something catches my attention. Until, that is, the shiny thing pops. That’s harder to do online – and nowhere near as much fun. Scrolling is just not the same as trolling, you know?


I have no idea what I’d put on the cover of my favoritely-titled (yes, another Jillism – although seriously, shouldn’t “favoritely” be a real word??) WIP. I can’t take a word/theme/image and develop a graphic representation – if I could, I’d be an artist, not a writer (or not JUST a writer). I am not a visualizer – it’s not at all a strength of mine. I also can’t explain or quantify why some fonts, words, images capture my attention (i.e., why some things are shiny and others are not). And yes, I’m a dork, I’ve tried. So I’ll have to rely on the publisher (god-willing) and/or agent (ditto) to come up with ideas – and I’m sure they’ll have their own opinions based on market research, and I’m equally sure that market research won’t actually be any more of a guarantee of my cover’s shininess than my much-less-documented walking-through-the-aisles-paying-attention-to-what-I-pick-up method, because I’ve done market research in previous incarnations of my professional life and I know all too well what it entails (and what it’s limitations are).


Who knows, anyway. Maybe it’s all just serendipity… Maybe the connection between people and shiny things is purely random, experiential, in-the-moment-ness. It’s possible that’s the case with me, because I know I’ve passed by books on some visits to the bookstore and then picked them up on others – I must have, because I don’t always buy the newest books. It’s still interesting to think about what makes the shiny connection click though. Maybe if I can figure it out in the book cover/title context, I can figure it out in my conversational life too. Otherwise I run the risk of constantly losing myself (and others) every time I see something new.

Sigh.

SQUIRREL!!**

*It was, in fact, called Connections – and it aired on BBC. There is also a quiz show – Only Connect – where you have to connect seemingly unrelated/random things. I would have cleaned up on that show. I always wanted to go on a game show – how cool would that be, to be able to use the random collection of facts sitting around in your head for something other than cocktail party conversation or marginalia? I used to think Jeopardy, but now I think this one would be much… UGH. See what I mean redux?!


**If you don’t get the movie reference, I’m happy to fill you in. If you do, well, you’re giggling already, so point made AND objective achieved.

BOOK REVIEWS: SELF PUBLISHED AUTHORS

As a Book Reviewer, I have read all kinds of books by many wonderful writers. Many are traditional books. But many are by self-published authors. Without the benefit of an editor, a self-published author can be alone with the editing process. A really great story can get bogged down with unnecessary wording. There is also the dreaded dangling modifier. Although writing is fun, it’s also a lot of work. Sometimes an author is too close to their story. The writer forgets that a reader needs to see what the writer wants them to see. Feel what they want them to feel. The setting, time period and characters and plot need to stand out early on so that a reader gets hooked right from the beginning. A reader needs to care about the outcome – grab onto a character and stay hooked.

Recently, I had to create a few really tough book reviews. I always try to find something good in the writing. Writers can be so sensitive. I certainly don’t want to discourage anyone. And everyone can learn. Improve. I am always learning. I find that the talent is usually there, but the stories are all over the map. I often have to re-read areas to figure out what is going on. Dig. Dig. Dig. Sometimes I will have to search through the manuscript just to find out the time period. An abundance of characters can also leave me looking to grasp onto someone, anyone. The other issue is that often writers tell a story instead of showing it through their character’s points of view. This dulls the story. The reader can’t connect with the characters.

I would suggest that a writer latch onto the many resources available for writers. If you can’t afford an editor, find a trusted friend to read your book – someone who will be honest with you. Reading groups can also be helpful. Sometimes putting your book aside for a few days or weeks can help a writer look at their manuscript with fresh eyes – often finding mistakes or areas that are questionable. You will now be able to see what your reader can’t if rushing through this process. And if you can’t see it then set the book aside again until you can. There is also Natural Reader, which will read your manuscript back to you. The Internet has great resources for writers - critique groups.

Every word should count.

As a book reviewer, I love to experience the wonderful array of books that I have had the privilege to review. Each writer is special and unique. There is so much undiscovered talent. The competition is fierce. So make your efforts count.

As writer I can benefit from my own advice. I deal with the same issues and always working to improve my craft. I have some great mentors and trusted allies. This support helps me to stay focused and to grow.

Don’t ever get discouraged. Get a backbone. And whatever you do - keep writing!

Where do you go when you Die?

When I was young, I was always told that when you die, there was a place in heaven for each of us if we were kind and generous to others.


It’s a nice thought and I’m one of many that believe in that concept. However, it does make you wonder once you pass on, where exactly do you go? Some people believe that once you expire, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. It’s just a matter of becoming part of the earth. I tend to think there is more to the other side. Why? It just seems that people who lapse into a clinical death will awaken again and describe such wonderful images and the relatives and friends that meet them. It sounds so wonderful. Yet, there are those who experience the same clinical death and tell horrifying experiences that makes me shudder. Why do different people see different things? Those types of questions won’t be answered until we experience it for ourselves.


Then, there is the occult side of things. That is what intrigues me as a writer. You are probably very familiar with this phenomenon. You know, the ghosts rattling chains in the attic and feeling the chill of a visitor from beyond as they hover around you. Writers are a strange lot at times…we are the ones that will drive by on a country road and see a cottage perched by a lake in the twilight and see a family inside, living their lives. What is the first thing a  does? They ask a question, “I wonder what they are talking about? What is their life like? Are they happy? Do they have secrets?”

Funny, that’s just how “The Pond” came to be.

In paperback for $16.95 and can be purchased HERE!

Also, available in kindle format for $2.99 and can be purchased HERE!

Moving and the Affect on Children

Have you ever moved? Sure, at one point or another, we all move at least once or twice and for others, even more. For adults, it consists of wanting or needing to move. The usual tools of boxes, masking tape, box cutter,tissue and newspapers will be in your near future if you have made the decision to move. Whether it is across town or international; it can be a pain. There is packing, unpacking, learning our way in a new city and making new friends. It takes a bit of time to get acclimated and then moving becomes a distant memory.


What is it like for children? Leaving the only place they’ve ever known since coming into this world is incredibly difficult for them. The next bone of contention is leaving best friends, leaving their school and every other familiar place or person that they’ve grown accustomed to. Children who experiencing moving are also experiencing a major life change. It’s difficult because they have never experienced change before.

Change is associated with facing the unknown to a certain extent. The routine and consistency is now being changed. Children are creatures of habit. The trauma of moving is usually alleviated after they make new friends, become familiar with school and establish new routines. The fictional thriller, “The Pond” introduces the idea of leaving a childhood home. Not only leaving that home, but leaving unfinished business of mourning a best friend. This “unfinished business” picks up right where it left off when the child returns as an adult with his own family to live in his childhood home. The premise of this idea came to me and I found it an interesting idea to explore. Be sure to pick up my book, “The Pond” to read more about moving back to a childhood home.

"The Pond" is available in paperback at amazon.com

Kindle Version of "The Pond" is at a special price of $2.99 and can be purchased HERE

The Trials & Tribulations of Newlyweds

For those of you that are married, do you remember the first several months of wedded bliss? When I think of newlyweds, the classic movie, “Barefoot in the Park” comes to mind. It’s a cute film about a couple that begins life blissfully happy with pollyanna dreams and as time passes, they become settled into real life.


What is real life? The usual points of contention which is how to spend money, bills, credit card debt, household duties and parenting issues. Oh, and a small issue known as problems with the in-laws! This problem has been parodied on countless television sitcoms such as Roseanne, The Honeymooners, The Dick Van Dyke show and more. While television has poked fun at this issue, the problem can be very real.
As a writer, I took this common issue and decided to use it to build tension in my book, “The Pond.” Although the mother-in-law is briefly mentioned in the beginning of the book, I find it lends the type of emotion I wanted for the opening. And, the fact that the main character and his family are moving back into his mother’s home causes the daughter-in-law additional anxiety. Of course, her husband fails to see the true extent of his mother’s short comings which makes it all the more exasperating. Can she remove the stigma of living in her mother-in-law’s home? Can she make it her own? Can she finally put her in-law issues to rest? Find out by reading my book, “The Pond.”