Writers in the Storm

Today Writers In The Storm welcomes Charlotte Carter! Since it's Labor Day weekend she's keeping things relaxed, easy and ever so sweet by sharing her wonderful spiced nectarine recipe.

Charlotte is a multi-published author of more than fifty romance, cozy mystery and
inspirational titles. Her books have made Waldenbooks Best Selling lists and have been translated into a half dozen different languages. Her awards include winning the National Readers’ Choice, Orange Rose and Romantic Times Career Achievement contests.

By Charlotte Carter

Everyone I know is going to get a jar of Spiced Nectarine Jam for Christmas this year. Again. They have for past four years.

We have a dwarf white nectarine tree in our backyard. About four years ago it started going crazy producing fruit. One year my husband, who prepares and freezes the fruit for my jam making (bless him!) saved all the pits. He had harvested FOUR HUNDRED nectarines!

Even total strangers have received the gift of Spiced Nectarine Jam. Last year I filled 25 jars; I’ll do that and more this year. Three more batches to go!

The nectarines are positively, absolutely Organic. No spray. No fertilizer. Hardly any extra water. (My husband isn’t exactly fond of gardening.)

Since it’s hard to send jam via the internet, I thought you might like the recipe. The jam’s really yummy.

Spiced Nectarine Jam

4 Cups prepared fruit
7 ½ Cups sugar
1/4 Cup lemon juice
1 tsp each of cinnamon, cloves & allspice
1 packet of Certo

Combine fruit, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, cloves and allspice in a large pan. Bring to a rolling boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add packet of Certo. Stir to cool and skim foam for 5 minutes. Pour into jars. Use either self-sealing jars or cover with melted household wax. (This recipe can be used for Spiced Peach Jam.)

Happy jam making....

Do you garden? What do you preserve from your garden? Do you have any easy recipes to share?

Don't miss Charlotte's upcoming books

Montana Love Letter, Love Inspired, 10/2012
Home to Montana, Love Inspired, 3/2013

By Laura Drake

Press On Regardless. I know you’ve seen this phrase before. It’s one of those old sayings, and like dialog tags, they become invisible after awhile. But it’s more to me – it’s my mantra.

We start this writing journey, naïve, excited, and hopeful. Actually, we’re that way because we don’t know enough to be scared. And that works wonderfully. Like a young woman, pregnant for the first time. Older women shake their heads and think, “If she only knew what she was getting herself into.” But at the same time they smile, and wish just for a moment, they could feel that thrill, of everything ahead.

So you begin. You open a Word doc, and start typing. Along the way you learn about the characters, you learn about the plot, you learn about POV. You’re still excited, but you now have RULES. They’re walls that define your direction. That’s okay, you think, I need structure, because I'm so going to sell this book.

Time goes on. You learn more. You’re in the middle of the book (or the second, or third) and the walls have closed in. Your story is lost and you’re wandering a maze, trying to find it, wondering why this seemed like fun in the beginning.

If it helps, every writer goes through this – almost every book. I wish I could tell you that it gets better.

If you know me or if you’ve read WITS long enough, you’ve seen that I’m driven. I get up every morning at 3 am (even now that I’ve retired) and I write every day. I’ve sold 4 books now. I’m in the middle of writing two more. Sounds impressive, huh?

I have to let you in on a little secret: I’m scared. Every single 3 am I sit down to write, every new chapter, I’m afraid. I’m afraid I don’t know what happens next. I’m afraid the maze is going to open up to a blank wall, and I’m too far in to find my way back. I’m not kidding – seriously afraid.

I’m no different than the person who has good ideas, but who, sitting in front of a blank screen, freezes up and never writes. Except for one thing:

I Press on Regardless.  I sit down, every day, afraid that THIS is the day that nothing will come out.

But guess what? Something always does. Some days what comes out is crap. Some days something comes out that is so perfectly what I wanted to say that I’m in awe that I wrote it. Many days, it’s just (hopefully) decent writing.

What I’ve realized through pressing on regardless is that my fear is an illusion. You’ve heard the acronym for fear:

F – False

E – Evidence

A – Appearing

R – Real

It’s true.  It’s the little man, behind the curtain, flipping a switch to make flames come out of the huge scary mask. It’s not real.  I know, it feels real. Every single day.

I believe that women can understand how fear works better than men, because we experience PMS.

No, really. As a teenager, you’re ruled by the hormone-induced mood swings, right? They’re REAL.

But sometime, maybe your late twenties, you get blasted with the emotion you stand back and think, ‘What’s this about?’ You look at a calendar, and the light bulb goes off.  Oh.

You discount the emotion your brain is conjuring, and you go on with your day. As you get older, you recognize it faster. The emotions never stop (well, there’s menopause, but that’s a whole different post.) The emotion always just as strong. The difference is, you learn to press on regardless.

Fear is the same. It never stops feeling real, but you can push through it. I promise, it’s just like the Wizard behind the curtain, or PMS (I have no idea how I put those two together, but it kind of works, doesn’t it?)

You don’t need to know everything about writing to be a good writer. You don’t even need to know what’s going to happen next. All you need to do is to sit down. Today. That’s it.

And when you get scared, Press on Regardless.

By Susan Spann

It’s autumn, time to get organized!

Words like “organization” and “business plan” throw many accomplished writers into fits – but every author should write a business plan - and this guest-blog series is going to teach you how. In the months to come we’ll walk through the process step by step, with concrete examples and exercises to help you organize your publishing path.

Why should authors have a business plan?

A business plan can help new authors clarify the proper publishing path for their debut works. For experienced authors, a business plan serves as a road map, helping keep the project and related endeavors like marketing and platform-building on schedule, assisting with organization and helping the author track the results of his or her efforts.

What does a business plan cover?

Some authors write a single business plan to guide their careers. Others prefer to work on a smaller scale, and prepare a business plan for each individual work. Still others take a hybrid approach – preparing an individual plan for each work that fits within an overarching framework.

Most career authors have a plan in place, so this series will focus on helping authors prepare a one-book plan for a current work in progress (or completed manuscript that hasn’t yet entered the publication process).

But I haven’t finished my manuscript! Isn’t it too early for business plans?

Not at all. It’s never too early to treat your writing as a business – and you wouldn’t open a brick and mortar business without a plan!

Conversely, it’s never too late to prepare a plan if you haven’t got one. Even if you’ve already self-published or contracted to publish your work traditionally, a business plan can keep your business and marketing efforts on track – or put them there, if you’re wandering in the weeds!

Traditional business plans have seven components:

1. Executive summary
2. Business description
3. Market strategies
4. Competitive analysis
5. Design and development plan
6. Operations and management plan
7. Financial factors

An author’s business plan parallels this structure, but with a few significant differences that reflect the nature of writing as a business. We’ll look at each section in depth in the weeks to come, with advice about how to prepare the section, real-world examples, and exercises designed to help you write a practical business plan that works for you.

But do I really need one?

A business plan is not a legal or ethical requirement for publication. Many authors do fine (and some very well) without one. But the publishing paradigm is shifting, and business-savvy authors with plans adapt more quickly and tend to outperform the ones who simply want to write and “take everything as it comes.”

The decision is yours – but I think the exercise is well worth your time.

Just to be clear: a business plan is not a book proposal. A proposal is a tool authors use to sell a book “on spec” (before the book is written). By contrast, a business plan is the author’s personal (and often private) “road map” for writing, marketing, publishing and promoting a work.

Don’t be scared of business plans.The writing takes a little work but it’s not nearly as difficult as it seems.

Tune in next month, and we’ll start our in-depth tour of author business plans and how to write them. If you stay with me – and do your homework – we’ll get you ready to start 2013 with your very own author business plan!

Got questions? I'll try to answer them.

Susan Spann is a publishing attorney and author who practices in Sacramento, California. CLAWS OF THE CAT, the debut novel in her SHINOBI mystery series featuring ninja detective Hiro Hattori, will be published by Thomas Dunne Books in Spring 2013. Susan blogs about writing, publishing law and seahorses at http://www.SusanSpann.com