Story Included in International Holiday Collection

“The Christmas Tree Miracle” by Jeanne E.Tepper of West Bloomfield is one of the stories included in a new release, A Wish for Christmas, from the British publisher Alfie Dog Fiction. The holiday themed anthology presents an international perspective on the Christmas season by twenty authors from around the world. The selection of stories offers inspiration, romance, and laughter in settings across the globe. Tepper’s story, selected by editor and publisher Rosemary J. Kind, will appeal to anyone who has considered becoming a parent, but who thinks the options are limited.

Tepper is a published short story author and a veteran blogger. She currently writes for The Detroit News Parenting site’s “MichMoms” blog: http://blogs.detroitnews.com/parenting/category/michmoms/.

Alfie Dog Fiction specializes in publishing short stories for down load as well as in book form and has over 1200 stories on its website www.alfiedog.com. 

A Wish for Christmas is available in print or as a download through Amazon and other leading online retailers starting November 18.

Blogging for The Detroit News

Dear Friends:

I'm so excited to announce that I've been selected to blog for The Detroit News! I'm contributing to the MichMoms blog which is all about parenting and being a mom. I'll be creating interesting and informative posts about moms, kids, and all things parent. I hope you'll take the time to stop by and check out my first post entitled  "Puberty: Mother Nature's way of making sure we let go of our teen." I'd love to hear from you in the comments section.  I'll be posting links to my writing on my Facebook page and on twitter as well as here on my blog. The links are below if you prefer to follow me that way. 

Wishing you a wonderful day.

Jeanne

twitter: @brainmotes

www.facebook.com/brainmotes

What I Learned from Nanowrimo

The race is run. December 1st marked the return to normal after a spectacular literary sprint conducted by writers all over the globe. National Novel Writing Month, AKA Nanowrimo, the challenge to write 50,000 words in one month, came to a conclusion November 30. Now my blogging drought is broken and I am engaging in some serious navel gazing along with most of the other participants.

The first question most will ask is: "Did you win?" My answer is no and yes. Did I write 50,000 words? No, I produced just over 30,000, so I'm not technically a winner.  There will be no t-shirt or confetti or even electronic props. I did, however, win in the sense that I finally got down the vast part of a novel I've been dabbling with for over two years and I learned quite a bit about "my process."

Jack started walking around in my head about two years ago. He was the result of an exercise during a writing class I was taking. "Who walks in the door? And what do they see? What do they feel about us sitting here looking at them?" the instructor, Gwendolyn Jerris, exhorted. That's when Jack, the cowboy transplanted from Texas to Michigan walked into my head wearing his stetson and cowboy boots. His Mama taught him manners, so he has stepped politely aside several times in the last few years when another character waved his or her arms around and shouted, "Ooo, ooo, ooo!" in a Horshack-esque ploy for attention. When that character has gotten his or her due, he always returned, quietly asking for his story to be told. Nanowrimo finally gave me the opportunity to focus exclusively on Jack and his story. I wanted to say, "Gave me the chance," rather than "opportunity" but it would be a lie. I've had the time since I left my job in April. What Nanowrimo did was give me the focus I needed to pound out about three quarters of the novel. I'm sad its over and now the impetus has to come from within me. I'm happy that I've spent November giving a great character his due and will continue to do so in December. The goal is to finish before the end of 2012.

In his quiet way Jack allowed me to find out who I am as a writer. Writers talk a lot about the differences in their process. We pace around like divas and require absolute silence, classical music, or new age. Our coffee must be hot, cold, or decaffeinated. We constantly ask other writers, especially those with an agent or a publisher, what their process is. To entice the muse to cross our threshold, we contort ourselves in so many crazy ways. I learned that the muse shows up as long as I'm sitting at my computer. Its amazing how she shows up when the goal is 1500 words, do or die.

When the muse enters the room, the very most important thing I do is shut up the The Writing W(b)itch. Her haranguing about dialogue, plot, and even grammar will drive the muse away. I find that I must stuff the W(b)itch into a box and not let her out until its time for revision. This means that I write a lot of dreck and I mean pages of it. I expect to toss at least a third of the novel and cut out at least one character. But until I'm ready to do that, The Writing W(b)itch just gets in the way of getting the story down on the page, something I mentally refer to as "Brain Splat." Now, many of my friends are diligent  plotters. They have everything planned out before they start to write. I'd love to be a plotter. It appeals so seductively to my organization gene. Its a complete waste of time for me. I've outlined this novel at least three times and as soon as I write three sentences I'm already off the outline. This time I decided to just go with it and lean heavily on "Brain Splat."

The Brain Splat Method made trying to write this novel chronologically very difficult. I really started losing steam in the middle. To mix things up I'm writing scenes as they present themselves to me rather than where they will fall in the novel. I've already written what I see as the end of the book. I've also written parts of the middle and recently another one presented itself to me where Jack gets back with his male lover, Marcus. I'll probably write that one too. It may or may not make it into the first draft.

See how I used the words "first draft" there? That's because what I'm producing right now is a rough draft, not suitable for eyes other than my own. Once I finish this rough draft, then I will try to use all those wonderful plotting tools like character analysis and beat sheets to whip this amorphous pile of brain mush into a first draft that will not embarrass me in front of my writing buddies.

In the end, as crazy as it was to try to write an entire novel in one month, it was a fantastic experience for me. I was able to get a lot of pages out, most of which are really, really bad. (I'm not fishing for compliments, they really are really bad). More importantly, I learned that my process is as individual to me as my fingerprints. I was able to spend time developing it and getting comfortable with it. Now its time to push forward and finish this rough draft so I can let the W(b)itch out of her box.

This is The Writing W(b)itch. I let her out of her box for this blog post.

West Bloomfield Little Free Library

A month ago I read an article in Hour magazine about the Little Free Library. I had to have one. Through the generosity of friends who have donated materials, expertise, and time, I am close to achieving my goal. I have only to finish coating it with a protective coat of polyurethane and get my signage done and we will be in business. I am incredibly excited about this project.

In my imagination, I see people walking past the LFL while they are out with their kids or dogs, on their way to beach, or bus stop, and stopping to take a look.  What new adventures will they find behind the purple door and plexiglass?

Bar fight

This blog post is dedicated to Dr. Forté who just recently removed the wicked witch mole from my upper lip.  The mole, initially made famous by my September 2011 post entitled "Hair Management," was removed along with another lesion under my chin. Now I know why starlets go into hiding when they have surgery.  I look like I've been in a bar fight.  So, being a writer, I had to make up a good story to go along with the stitches on my face.  I hope you enjoy my flight of fancy.

My black leather duster creaked in protest as I leaned on the bar at the TGI Fridays.  To the average observer, the crowd looked like innocent people trying to forget their dull, grey days slaving away in cubicle farms. But as an agent of C.A.T.S.S. (Committee Against Thugs Smuggling Stuff), I knew better.  It was a hot bed of criminal activity and I knew my nemesis, Dr. Phloephekoekes, had been smuggling  synthetic cat nip through this all american eatery, right under the noses of the authorities.

"What'll ya' have?" asked the bartender.  The name badge read "Pablo" and his nose looked like it was acquainted with one too many fists. The lump in his front pocket wasn't because he was happy to see me. He was packing.

"Shirley Temple," I said.

"Amateur night, tonight," he snorted as he turned away to make my drink.  I glared at his back hoping his polyester vest would burst into flames.

As he set down the pink concoction in front of me, I noticed a ring on his hand.  I took off my mirrored aviators and took a closer look.  It was heavy and gold with a distinct design, a fluffy cat with emerald eyes.  I knew that logo.  It was Dr. Phloephekoekes' calling card. "Nice ring."

Pablo gave me the hairy eyeball then turned and yelled, "Hey, Jim, I'm takin' a break.  Watch the bar."  He moved like a tank as he left the bar, went around the corner and out of sight.

I turned and watched the crowd again.  I knew the enemy was here somewhere.  The doctor was a master of disguise.  Then I saw her, an exceptionally ugly woman in the corner.  Her hair was dyed blonde to the point of looking like straw, she had shifty blood shot eyes and her dress was a most unfortunate fashion choice.  Where was Joan Rivers when you needed her?  That had to be Phloephekoekes.  Why be beautiful and attract attention when you could be so ugly that no one wanted to look.  God, he was brilliant!

Wending my way through the crowded dining room, I kept my eyes on the "woman" to make sure she did not escape before I got to her.  He was even putting on act of being drunk, weaving in his seat and pawing his date who was valiantly trying to rebuff the attack.  As I approached I heard some of their conversation.

"You don't look much like your picture online," "her" date said.

Phloephekoekes weaved in his seat and put his hand high up on the guy's thigh.  "You do," he gave his date a sloppy smile and then did a little hiccup.  I wondered how many method acting classes he had taken.  He was unbelievably good.

"Fluffycakes, the jig is up,"  I shouted drawing my weapon.  I looked her in the eyes. Well, one eye, the other one was lazy and looking somewhere over by the bar.  Maybe that was the good one, I switched back and forth trying to figure out which eye to glare at.  Finally I just focused my gaze on the bridge of her nose.  "Tell me where the synthetic catnip is, Fluffycakes, and I'll go easy on you."

The "woman's" face wrinkled in confusion as her date stared at me in slack jawed amazement.  "I don't know what you're talking about," "she" slurred.

Losing my patience, I reached out to yank the wig off to expose "her" real identity.  "Her" head snapped back with my hand.   "God, this wig is stuck on good!"  I  yanked a couple more times and her head wobbled back and forth like a bobble head.  I let go and she leaned over, puked on the floor then passed out on the table.
"Oops."
Her date gazed at the unconscious woman then looked at me with eyes shining in gratitude.  "Thank you, thank you!" he called as he thew forty buck on the table then made his escape out the front door.

I heard a cackling behind me.  A beautiful brunette was standing next to Pablo.  All the men in the bar were staring at her, uh, assets.  "You've met my henchman Pablo the Taco.  Now you'll see where he got the name." She gave me an evil smile.

"Fluffycakes!  I knew I could drive you out of hiding!"

Her face grew angry and dark.  "Stop calling me that!  My name is pronounced flow-fay-keks, not Fluffycakes!  Pablo, turn her into hamburger!"

I made sure that Pablo's nose became acquainted with my fist.  The last thing I remember before waking up with stitches in my upper lip was a close up view of Pablo the Taco's ring.  The good doctor got away this time, but once the stitches come out, I'll be on the hunt again, protecting unsuspecting kitty owners from Fluffycakes and his evil intentions.

More News From the Front Lines

So I think that perhaps Free Lance Writer Land should really be shortened to Fiction Writer Land since I am not actively pursuing any freelance work.  I have spent zero hours looking for a gig and when I think about working for someone else, my enthusiasm drops to zero.  After being subject to another person's priorities and whims for so long, I am in full rebellion and want to do what I want to do.  Now do I sound like a spoiled princess or what?  Trust me, I get up every day and thank my lucky stars I married a man who is a go-getter, successful, and most importantly, patient.  He knows I won't become J. K. Rowling overnight.  Next month will be fine!

The last few weeks have brought starts and stops in the quest for more and better fiction.  Not a lot of new words.  I continue to work on a short story that explores prejudgement and prejudice - where is the line?  It created quite a stir in my writer's group - really touched a nerve, which is good.  Makes people think, but I wasn't prepared for the reaction and I was a bit defensive and rather irritated.  Could it be because I always think I'm right and can't understand why someone doesn't agree with me when I am so obviously, well, right? Really poor form in a writer's group. Sigh, I thought I'd be smarter by now.

I am also revising a story about a vibrator (yes, you read that correctly) that, surprisingly, does not involve sex at all.  Hmmm, what could that be all about?  I learned from this session of revision to re-read the entire story before re-writing it.  I had forgotten that I had changed the ending.  Sometimes I feel like a squirrel that forgot where the acorns are.  You can just see me in my little corner of my basement scratching my head and thinking, 'What was I doing when I wrote that?'

By the way, I've had many comments on the picture of my little corner of writing paradise.  Yes, I am sitting by a refrigerator.  It is the beer fridge, which is one of my life long dreams, but not really a great tool for a writer's arsenal.  So far I have managed not to indulge during the day.  Alcohol definitely does not help me write better, it just makes me sleepy.

The novel has come to a complete stop.  I am not sure it is a novel.  It was starting to feel very artificial to me, like I had to make up all of this stuff to make the story longer and be a novel.  The more experience I get writing the more I realize that I am not a plotter.  I like to write until the story is done.  I now understand more fully what Stephen King meant when he said story telling is an archaeological dig.  As you brush the sand away with the words, the form begins to show itself.  For me, that is the fun way to write.  I never know what is going to come out or where the story is going and I am as surprised as anyone else at the end of the day.  So I am going back to the first scene of the novel, re-writing it a bit and then I will write from there.  If it becomes a novel, so be it.  If not, oh well.  As my favorite person in the whole world says, "It is what it is."

One of the best things that has happened, also covered in a previous post, is that my story Guide Dog was picked up by Alphie Dog LTD.  When people download it I will actually get paid.  Not a lot, but it is something.  I am channeling my inner Sally Fields: "They like it! They really like it!" This may come as a surprise but I never really quite believe that a story that is picked up is good.  I am always thinking, "Yeah, but... (insert negative thought here)."  What makes me feel good about Alphie Dog is that I submitted two stories and they requested revisions on one before they would accept it.  I declined to make the revisions, mostly because I had been through it multiple times and I was done, so they just took Guide Dog.  Alphie Dog is most definitely screening the content, not just throwing anything up there.  My inner cheerleader is waving her pom-pons.

I cannot believe how great it is to be sitting in my basement with the beer fridge and the cat boxes listening to the furnace as I create new stories and characters.  I thought I'd miss work.  I don't.  I thought I'd be lonely.  I'm not.  I thought I would struggle to find things to write about.  Right now the brain is pretty full with a psychic cowboy, a three hundred pound black woman, an OCD woman trapped in her house, and a 10 inch neon green vibrator named "Old Faithful."  Oh yeah, and a romance about a garbage picker.  Rats, I always forget that one until garbage day.  I am truly a blessed person.  I am living my dream.  I encourage you to go live yours.

Update: New "On the Cusp- Guess Who's Coming to Breakfast"

What's life like living with a tween girl?  Which kid is going to show up in the morning?  The Princess or the dreaded Teenager? Check out my series entitled "On the Cusp" on www.greenspotblue.com.   Click here to go directly to the article.

Exciting News

I am very excited to announce that I have been brought on board as a regular contributor to the website Green Spot Blue.  This online community is dedicated to parents as people by bringing together information for their family lives as well as subjects they are interested in from the rest of the world.  I will be writing a column twice a month on the joys of living with a tween entitled “On the Cusp.”  My first column, “Goodbye to The Girl” is going live June 2.  You can read it by going to www.greenspotblue.com and clicking on the Life tab. I am looking forward to this new venture and hope that you will also visit me there.  

Jeanne

The week in writing 2/28/2011

So this last week has been quite an interesting one from a writing standpoint.  I didn't write a lot but I made some new connections and decided on a path going forward.

My sister, Carolyn, introduced me to a friend of hers, Sharon Struth, who went from being an accountant to an author.  You can check out her blog here.  She was very encouraging and offered a lot of helpful suggestions.   One of the things that I took away from our talk was that it is time to get some pieces ready and submit them for publication.  I admit I have been resisting sending things out; it seems very overwhelming for me and, frankly, I am afraid of the rejections.  So I braced myself and marched out yesterday and bought the 2011 Writers Market, which I will use to find appropriate publications for my work.  Then I'll have to write query letters and get some pieces out.  Yikes!  Just the thought makes me wonder what the hell I am doing.  Why at 45 do I find I have to go out on this bizarre limb?  I have a good job; things are going well; we are all healthy.  But, I also find if I don't write, I get cranky.  I am always wondering, "Did I reach a reader?  Did they hear me?"  I am completely addicted to the feedback I get on my writing, negative and positive.  So I labor on despite my doubts.  Sometimes I do think I am crazy, though.

On Wednesday I started a three week seminar sponsored by Springfed Arts, a local arts organization.  It is a small group of 5 or 6 writers.  The instructor, Gwen, and two students are all published, the rest of us are not.  Gwen's lesson for the evening was characterization.  She wanted us to build characters that were 360 and then let the reader make the call on whether they liked them or not.  We had to write a scene based on someone walking in the room.  Who is this person, what are they like? What details are universal so the reader can relate and what are particular to that character so they are set apart from the rest of humanity and are not a stereotype.  The funny thing in writing this scene is I did the first part easily, then Gwen asked us to go back and add the particular details and I drew a complete blank.  I have never had such a complete sense of writers block.  I think my mind was emptier then when I meditate!  Then, as is typical, I got in my car to drive home and it all flooded in.  I had the outline of a novel by the time I got home.  Crazy!  I have posted my scene below with reader questions following.  Please take the time to give me some feedback by posting comments on the blog.

On Writing

This past week has been somewhat less productive than I would have wanted.  But I did make some mental in roads and sometimes that is the most important thing.  I had some serious distractions, but that is something we must all work around.  So this week I submitted an entry to a flash fiction contest, finished a short story and presented it to my writers group, and worked out some plot issues on the novel. When I write it here, it sounds like a lot, but it was, for the most part, wrapping up loose ends, not really producing anything new of substance. Mostly, though, I came to grips with what I was trying to accomplish as a writer.  I have a really bad memory, so I will probably have to come to grips with it again, multiple times.

Believe it or not, part of the light bulb going off was reading the romance novel that I reviewed in my "What I Am Reading Now"  segment.  I was reminded that a good portion of reading and writing is for entertainment.  I had gotten very caught up in writing literature, which in my mind is different than just writing a good story that people enjoy.  Don't get me wrong, I do want to be a good writer, a really good writer.  Ultimately though, you can be an awesome writer and if your work is not engaging and fun to read, it doesn't matter, because no one will want to sit down and read it.

This was emphasized by the introduction to "The Best American Short Stories 2010" written by guest editor Richard Russo.  He related a tale of a question and answer period with Nobel Prize Laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer.  When asked

New for 2011

Well, I'm back after a long break for a vacation with my husband and daughter.  We saw family in Pittsburgh and Florida.  It was very relaxing to get away from the grind.

I had an opportunity to finish a short story while on vacation.  I know this blog is about writing a novel, but this idea kept popping up in the back of my head with it's hand up in the air.  "Pick me!"  it kept saying.  It was really quite insistent.  So I spent some time writing it out.  The seed was from a discussion about Christmas tree buying that I heard on the radio a few weeks ago.  It reminded me of our family joke about Christmas tree shopping, which is that it was my parent's annual divorce.  So the story is entitled "The Annual Divorce" and it does take place in a tree lot, but it is not about Christmas trees.

I admit that while I am writing pretty much anything, except maybe emails and blog posts, I am thinking at the same time "This SUCKS!"  I read Elizabeth Gilbert's (Eat, Pray, Love) essay on writing and she feels the same way, so I guess I am in good company.  I guess you have to power through the suckiness.  Once I finished, I had Michael read it back to me, and it did, in fact, suck.  So as with anything, it is back to the drawing board.  I will let it ferment for a couple weeks and then present to the Novi Writers Group.  Then revise, revise, revise.

As for the Novel (working title "Loss"), I have posted a synopsis on the blog.  You might notice the ending is missing.  That is deliberate, for one thing, that would be no fun.  For another, I think I know where it is going, but even my limited experience has shown you really never know where the writing will end up until you get there.  I do know where I have to start though, and that is establishing Claire and Frank's relationship.  Unfortunately, I overslept today, so that will have to wait until later, or tomorrow.  Such is the life of a working wife and mother.

What's new on the blog

Well, I have been busy rearranging the blog a little.  What has initially started as just an outlet for some of the stuff that I want to write about has quickly morphed into a story about my journey as a new author.  I will still be posting opinion pieces under the page "On My Mind," but the main page of the blog will be dedicated to the trials and tribulations of writing a novel.  Please sign up for an email subscription on the right and you will get an email when the blog is updated.  I will be updating and changing the look of the blog over the next few months too.  So keep coming back and checking it out.  Hope you enjoy!