Books by Melissa Bowersock

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Information, Please: The JustAnswer Experience

When I was finishing up one of my last novels, Stone’s Ghost, I realized I needed some help. My main character lived in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, and owned a Sea-Doo rental shop on the lakeshore near the London Bridge. Part of the story concerned his dealings with a difficult customer who manhandled one of the rented Sea-Doos. As I was writing, I took a wild guess at ways a customer could foul up a Sea-Doo, but I really had no idea. When I got to the editing stage, I knew I needed to check the facts to make sure I was telling a credible story.questionsI did the usual searching online but after several days and scores of sites, the specific information I needed was not coming up and I realized I had to do a much more targeted approach. I found JustAnswer and decided to give it a try.justanswerOn their website, they describe their 4-step service like this:

1. Ask a question
Enter your question, and create a user account.Place a refundable good faith deposit.JustAnswer will send an e-mail notifying you of any answer or request for information from an Expert.A positive rating pays the Expert and tells us you’re happy. If you got great service, consider adding a bonus. That’s all. We guarantee your satisfaction.
2. Name your price
3. An Expert answers, often within minutes, usually within a few hours
4. Rate the answer
They boast of having over 100 categories and they run the gamut from legal to medical to electrical and plumbing to relationships and clock repair (separately, not together). Since I wasn’t having much luck elsewhere, I decided to give it a try and typed in my question about small watercraft.
The “name your price” aspect is based primarily on urgency; the quicker you need an answer, the pricier it will be. Mine wasn’t all that urgent — I still had plenty of editing to go — so I chose a less expedient degree and my price was $19.

I got a response back the very same day from a marine mechanic. JustAnswer provides the expert’s credentials and experience, and my guy had 39 years of experience and was a Certified Master Technician. Seemed like just the guy I needed.

My initial question had not been very detailed, so my expert asked me to clarify exactly what I was after, and we went back and forth a couple times before I was able to really zero in on what I needed. (If I knew what I was talking about, it would have been easier, but then I wouldn’t have needed the help, would I?) In any event, we got to the crux of the issue in just a couple of exchanges and by the end of the day, I had my answer. Perfect! I paid, rated my expert and went on to clean up that portion of my book. I was a happy camper.

Will I use JustAnswer again? Definitely! This will be my go-to place for those picky little things that I need to be authentic for my books but things for which I don’t need to do an online course to learn the entire discipline. As far as I’m concerned, this is a gonga deal.

Originally published by Indies Unlimited on 2/6/2014.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Author Interview: Phyllis Lawson

MJB: Today I’m sitting down with Phyllis Lawson to talk about her new book, The Quilt of Souls. As I understand it (I have not read the book yet), the story is of your growing up and the legacy of your grandmother who made very special quilts. The fabric that she used for her quilts came from people who had passed on, thus imbuing the quilts with their stories and qualities, and paying homage to them. I find this to be amazingly personal craftwork. How did your grandmother develop this idea? Was it her own idea or did she learn about it from someone else?

PL: The making of quilts was a skill that was passed down from her mother.  My grandmother was born in 1883.  Her mother was Choctaw Indian and African.  My great grandmother’s quilting skills were based on both her Native American and African culture.


MJB: A great many people in the US have that blend of Native American and African. It will be interesting to see how those two very different cultures were comingled in the quilting process.

You have one of these quilts. Do you know of everyone who is represented there? Can you tell their stories?

PL: I know about 75 percent of the individuals whose cloths are represented in my quilt; my grandmother passed on to me their stories.

MJB: I would guess that your grandmother had her own amazing story as well. Did she tell you about her early life and about moving beyond the yoke of slavery?

PL: Yes.  My grandmother had a very interesting story to tell.  Even though she was born about 16 years after slavery was abolished, she told me the stories that her mother passed down to her including the brutality of slavery. Some of these stories were of her sisters and brothers who were born years before and were sold to other plantation owners.  All the quilts that she sewed over those many years were all hand-sewn.  She also was the primary caretaker for my grandfather who was considered disabled.  As a result, she plowed and farmed, tilled and reaped the land single-handedly.  She was in her 70s at that time.  In addition, she made quilts for anyone who asked. 

MJB: Like so many of her generation, she simply did what needed to be done without complaint. That kind of wide-ranging hard work seems so foreign to us today. I have a feeling this book could point up all the things that we, in our time, can be grateful for.

How long did it take you to write this book?

PL: About 16 months from start to finish.  I had made a promise to myself long ago that once I retired from the military, I would put my heart and soul into telling Grandma’s story.

MJB: Were there any parts of the book where you struggled?

PL: Yes, many parts.  Particularly when looking back on those days sitting under the old oak tree with my grandmother as she told the stories.  Most of them were of how these individuals endured the pain and suffering of that time.  I actually felt their pain as I wrote the earlier chapters of the book.  I cried a lot and laughed a lot as well. During that time, not only are their stories of the quilt, but also of all the colorful characters that I came in contact with over those nine years.  It was very impactful looking back over the years that I spent with her, watching her cry as she told some of the stories.  Imagining how painful it must have been for her.  Losing her family and friends in the most horrific ways you could ever imagine.  Even with all this pain in her heart, she still found the will to love and care for anyone who was in need regardless of skin color.  Her death at 103 and my time spent with her shortly before she died was heart wrenching for me to revisit.  Maintaining Grandma’s dialogue and regurgitating many of her truisms was also difficult.  Trying to keep her voice consistent and in a manner where the general public could understand was challenging.  Remembering them was easy; putting it on paper was tough.

MJB: It sounds like an extraordinary, bittersweet experience, and she sounds like an amazing woman. I’ve learned that the height of love that we feel for someone is reflected in the depth of the pain we feel when they are gone. That’s obviously very true of you and your grandmother.

What part of writing the book came easily?

PL: Reminiscing about my grandmother was very easy.  I have never met anyone like her in all my life.  Even though the stories themselves were heart breaking, it was almost as though I could hear her every word as I put these stories to paper.

MJB: Have you always wanted to write, or was it just this story that drove you to the keyboard?

PL: I wrote poetry as a way of soothing the struggles that I had to endure during my teenage years.  The love of poetry eventually turned into a love of story writing.

MJB: We all know writing can be therapeutic. What did you learn about yourself during the writing process? What did you learn about human nature and the human condition?

PL: During my teenage and early adulthood years, writing was my catharsis.  It was a way to soothe my anger, my hurt and the abuse that I had to endure as a teenager.  The most prolific realization that I encountered during the writing of this book was realizing that I had developed forgiveness.  I didn’t ever think that I could forgive my mother for the physical and mental abuse that I had to endure once I was returned to her home.  To see my life on paper and be able to chart my progress was truly amazing. I was able to see myself as I grew into adulthood without carrying all the negative baggage from my past.  I could have easily turned into the angriest person on the planet.  I was able to recognize how those valuable life lessons my grandmother passed on to me impacted my choices.  This was particularly true in my early teen and adulthood years.

MJB: It sounds like you have found the best possible combination of benefits from writing: story-telling and your own personal growth. I don’t think there’s any doubt that writing about our lives gives us a unique and compassionate perspective.

If you could hand this book to your grandmother, what do you think she would think about it? What might she say to you?

PL: My grandmother never took credit for any of her good deeds.  She would definitely defer to the person who wrote the book and all the other hands that were involved in making this book a reality.  As you read the book you will gain a better understanding of this statement.

MJB: I wrote a book about my aunt who was a prisoner-of-war during WWII. The entire time I was writing, I was very conscious of what she might think of the book, and therefore I was very careful about what I wrote, being true to the facts without embellishment. Did you feel similarly that your grandmother—and/or other relatives who have gone on—was watching over your shoulder? Did that make it easier or harder to write the book?

PL: These were the most powerful moments in writing this book.  I could actually feel the presence of all those souls whose stories are captured in this book.  So many nights I shed tears.  Somehow I knew they were somewhere smiling down saying thank you for telling our stories.  I often wondered whether I was actually conveying everything about them that I wanted others to know.  Even now it seems that I have shortchanged them somehow.  Writing this book has been a spiritual journey through and through.  I’d sometimes take my quilt and wrap it around my shoulders.  Sure enough I could feel the spirits of those folks who lived so long ago.

MJB: That sounds wonderful. I have a feeling all your ancestors are very, very proud of you. A book like this is the greatest homage we can pay them, and keeping their stories alive means the experiences live on for others yet to come. It’s a moving tribute.

Anything else you’d like to add?

PL: This book speaks to anyone who has faced oppression or suffered from difficult times. All people will respond to this book because it tells a story of innocence encountering a harsh world. The book will also appeal to anyone with fond memories of their grandparents.



MJB: Now, where can people find out more about you?



Thursday, March 12, 2015

SELF-E Selection

I got some good news the other day. A month or so ago, I submitted my book, Stone's Ghost, to the SELF-e program here in Arizona. If you're not familiar with it, this is how the program is described on their web page:

SELF-e is an innovative collaboration between Library Journal and BiblioBoard® that enables authors and libraries to work together and expose notable self-published ebooks to voracious readers looking to discover something new.

The idea is to make the e-book available to library patrons for free, giving both the book and the author wide visibility and exposure. I submitted Stone's Ghost because it takes place in Arizona (near the haunted London Bridge in Lake Havasu City, Arizona), but the reality is that the book will be available on a much wider scale than I had thought. Here's the e-mail I received:

Congratulations--your book, Stone's Ghost, has been accepted into Library Journal's curated SELF-e collections! As your book is a featured selection we look forward to sharing it with subscribing libraries all over the country on BiblioBoard Library and helping to build a base of new readers. 

We anticipate the first Library Journal SELF-e curated collection will be available to libraries in mid-2015 and we will contact you when your book is available to readers nationwide.  
 
Your book will also be available to readers throughout your state in the Indie ARIZONA module as a "highlighted selection." The Indie ARIZONA module will launch when we have enough accepted books from ARIZONA.  Consult the "Where" page on the SELF-e site for more information about upcoming module releases. 

Hugh Howey has even weighed in on this thing:

"The SELF-e approach to curation combined with simultaneous user-access via public libraries will encourage books to be discovered and even go viral."

Pretty exciting stuff. I'm guessing that every state either has or will have a module of its own and that this will be a seamless national program once it gets up and running. Can't beat that kind of availability. I will definitely be looking forward to seeing how this pans out, seeing if readers take advantage of the program and if that exposure turns into more interest for my other books. Stay tuned for more information--and results--as I get it. 

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Agents: Got One? Need One?

In a lot of the book forums I frequent, I often see posts by newbies asking plaintively how one goes about getting an agent. The traditional publishing segment, of course, continues to bleat out its timeworn advice to writers: get an agent, get validated by being traditionally published. It’s interesting, isn’t it, that the only way to get “validated” is by doing things their way, playing by their rules? But that’s another post.
sticks-agent
A much more interesting note is the fact that recently traditional publishers have found that combing through the growing ranks of indie writers is yielding a double bonus for them: these writers have already gambled on putting their voices out there and for some the public has responded positively. The traditional publishers are now taking a new look at the indie boom, since they’re finding (1) good books, already vetted by the public, with (2) a built-in following. The publishers are definitely seeing—and jumping on—the opportunities of the growing indie movement.

But the ones who are still dead-set against it? You got it. The agents, the very ones who are being marginalized by this new tete-a-tete. After all, if you can put your book out there, gather a following and possibly, eventually, get picked up by a traditional publisher, who needs an agent?
sticks-noagent (2)
I had one once, through sheer serendipity. Eons ago, back in the middle Paleolithic, I used to write my books in longhand on blue line. By the time I got done with one, I was pretty well sick of it and I had no interest in typing it up (on a typewriter [electric, not manual. It wasn’t THAT far back!]). Luckily my mom was a good typist and volunteered to do it for me, so I shipped my 15-pound manuscript off to her.

Unbeknownst to me, she not only typed up my book but liked it well enough to shop it around to a literary agent she knew. He liked it, as well, and agreed to represent me.

All of a sudden **bam** I had an agent!

Initially things went well. He dutifully made copies of my ms and mailed it out to various publishers. He would let me know when he received a response of note, usually a rejection letter with nice encouragement, i.e., “Doesn’t fit our program at the current time, but has promise and we hope you will keep us in mind on future projects,” or something of that nature. As he was pitching the first book, I was writing the second. When he notified me that he had negotiated a contract for the first book, I was, understandably, over the moon.

Unfortunately my book took a little longer to make it through the process to publication than it should have. The company that originally bought my book went under; it was bought out by another. In the aftermath, the second company had to go through the backlog of contracts and decide which ones it wanted to keep and which ones it didn’t. I was lucky; it kept mine.

But it took four years before the book came out. In the meantime, of course, I was writing and figured my agent was earning his keep by sending out my second book. It was a jolt when I got a letter from my publisher asking if I had any other books they could see. Well, yes, of course I have other books. I promptly sent them my second book. They liked it and bought it. So now I’m thinking: what the heck is my agent doing?

Come to find out he was busy looking for properties for movie projects. He told me to quit writing westerns (both my first two books were western romances) because they didn’t translate well to the big screen. He had many ideas for what I should have been doing, but no interest in promoting what I was doing.

Needless to say, it was time to go our separate ways. That was back in, um, 1987. Since then, I’ve published 11 other books by various means, both traditional publishing and self-publishing. And I haven’t had an agent for any of them.

Do you need an agent? Only you can answer that question. The answer for me has been a resounding NO.


This article was originally published by Indies Unlimited on January 30, 2014