Books

Summer reading list tradition continues

My summer reading awaits. (Photo by Cynthia Price)

My summer reading awaits. (Photo by Cynthia Price)

One of my favorite ways to unwind throughout summer is to sit poolside with a good mystery and a stack of magazines.

But I can’t quite escape the idea of summer reading lists. I always had one in high school and so each summer I make a list of books I should read – and want to read. It forces me to read outside my favorite genre.

Here is my list for the summer –

All the Light We Cannot See Anthony Doer’s novel has been on The New York Times bestseller list for a year. It’s about the lives of a blind French girl and a gadget-obsessed Germ boy before and during World War II. I’ve been on the waiting list at my library for a few months. I’m now 34th on the list. At one point I was 117 so I am making progress.

So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed For the past three years, Jon Ronson has travelled the world meeting recipients of high-profile public shamings. The book is “a deeply honest book about modern life, full of eye-opening truths about the escalating war on human flaws – and the very scary part we all play in it.” I read a review of it and was intriqued by it. I don’t know if I will read it in its entirety, but I’m definitely going to heavily skim it.

The World Between Two Covers A beguiling exploration of the joys of reading across boundaries, inspired by the author’s year-long journey through a book from every country. Ann Morgan writes in the opening, “I glanced up at my bookshelves… The awful truth dawned. I was a literary xenophobe.” The book “welcomes us into the global community of stories,” and I’m looking forward to exploring from my armchair.

You will notice it’s shorter than in past years. It’s summertime, and I don’t want to be overly ambitious. Plus, too many of my favorite mystery writers have new books. I’ll see you at the pool.

And if you have a suggestion for a book, please post it as a comment or share it with me on Twitter @PriceCynthia.

5 tips to promote yourself as an author

The mystery writers group to which I belong (Sisters in Crime, Central Virginia chapter) received some great marketing advice from Rachel Thompson. She has 17 years of marketing experience and four books on Amazon. You can find her on Twitter @BadRedheadMedia.

A lament of everyone on the call was that the marketing effort we put forward has to be effective because an author’s time needs to be spent writing.

Here are five tips –

  1. If you are on Twitter, use the appropriate hashtag. Choose one that is a term that people are likely to search on. For example, in our group, it would be #mystery.
  2. Often on social sharing sites, as authors we reach out to other authors. That’s fine, but Thompson said, “Really, we want to connect with readers and book bloggers.” In other words, we need to reach those who are going to read our books.
  3. Passively sell your books. To do this, change the header of your website or any of your social sites to show your books. You can take it a step further and include a link to where your books are sold.
  4. Create a schedule so you stay on top of sharing content. “In order to sell books, there has to be a consistent presence,” Thompson said.
  5. Brand the author, not the book. You will write many books, so it’s important to focus on you as an author and not on your latest book.

“We want to connect with readers and book bloggers.”

Writing a novel draft by draft

Tweet: Writing a novel, draft by draft, will help you write better. Each draft focuses on one area of writing. http://ctt.ec/2P6na+

You can fix garbage but you can’t fix a blank page.

That was the advice of Mary Burton at a recent writing workshop sponsored by the Virginia Romance Writers with Sisters in Crime.

She should know given that this year she will write four novels. Burton is a USA Today bestselling author, who has written 23 novels.

When Burton first began writing, she would share a chapter with a critique group, but she quickly discovered for her that the stopping and starting process wasn’t conducive because she would lose the thread.

Now she simply plows through and writes a complete first draft, which she refers to as “sloppy copy.”

To ensure that she gets through the first draft, she writes daily goals on her calendar. Some days it might be to write 10 pages, other days 15. The point was that having goals made it real.

“There is nothing better than an external deadline,” she said.

During the sloppy copy phase she doesn’t edit. She does in subsequent drafts. Once the first draft is written, a subsequent draft will focus on structure, another on pacing, until she gets to what she calls “The Big Read.”

It’s at this point that she prints her novel on three-hole paper and puts it in a binder to read away from the computer. “Your job is not to be nice,” she said. “You have to be the editor.”

Each draft will lead to a rewrite and ultimately should lead to a novel that is published.

Are You Sitting at the Table?

In Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In she talks about the importance of sitting at the table.

I had been meaning to read the book for some time, and I’m glad I finally made the time, if only for this point. She encourages individuals, women in particular, to not wait to be invited to sit at the table.

She cited an example of an important business meeting where a few women sat off to the side. That also meant they were not included in the conversation and the decision making.

As an introvert, it’s more natural for me to want to sit off to the side and absorb. However, I learned early on that I not only need to sit at the table, but that I must “raise my hand and keep it up.”

If an agenda is available ahead of time, I review it to determine the areas where I might best contribute.

Another way to think about being seated at the table, is to not wait to be told what to do. To succeed, Sandberg says, it’s important to seize opportunities and make them fit for you.

In my last position, I seized an opportunity to develop the organization’s social media strategy and jump start it. It was a great learning opportunity, and has proven invaluable as I now have more communications platforms available to share content.

Through NFPW and other organizations I have seized opportunities by volunteering for positions that not only helped me gain new skills, but also provided me with leadership roles.

Are you ready for a seat at the table?

4 Books to Read This Holiday

The holidays are a great time to tweak your career or prep for a career move as I recently wrote. I also find the holidays to be a perfect time to catch up on all the books I have been meaning to read.

My list is longer than I would like at the moment because I have attended meetings and listened to TedTalks where speakers referenced books or had written a book. I’m sharing my list in case you are looking for inspiration.

Thrive by Arianna Huffington. This is the first one on my list, and yes, it’s by the founder of the Huffington Post. She makes a compelling case on the need to redefine what it means to be successful in today’s world. She wrote it after she fell from exhaustion and broke her cheekbone.

The Innovators by Walter Isaacson. If you want to know how innovation happens and what role disruption plays, this is the book to read. It tells the story of the people who created the computer and the Internet.

Lie Spotting by Pamela Meyers. This book focuses on how to become a lie spotter, which can lead to truth seeking and ultimately to trust building. I watched a TedTalk and was fascinated by what she shared.

Mavericks at Work by William C. Taylor and Polly LaBarre, who is a co-founder of Fast Company, one of my favorite magazines. The authors write that the only way to stand out is to be truly original. You can be inspired by the companies and people profiled in this book.

What books would you recommend? Feel free to post a comment with the title and why you recommend it.