Saying Good-bye to 2017: 12/29/17

IWSG--12/6/17

Welcome. It’s the first Wednesday of the month, making it IWSG time. Thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh and co-hosts for putting this on. For those of you who don’t know, IWSG stands for Insecure Writer’s Support Group—a monthly online gathering for posting about this crazy thing called writing. Please join us. 

For me it’s a weird time of year—just coming off the hectic schedule of NaNo, where for the first time ever I failed to meet the 50,000 word count—turns out it’s not a good idea to go away for a week when you’re supposed to be pushing out almost 2,000 words per day. Now it’s December, where I’m crazy busy for a whole different reason. Christmas is coming and I’m hosting this year and my husband and I thought now would be a good time to gut out our whole kitchen. Maybe a part of me really does like the time crunch. Hopefully this turns out better than NaNo. I’ve got seventeen people expecting a meal from that kitchen in a less than a month. Right now there’s no working faucet and just drywall on the walls. Pray for me. Seriously. Right now. 

Anyhow…

For those of you who don’t know, I’ve been a psychiatric nurse for years and one of the groups I lead over and over is on relaxation—closing your eyes and deep breathing, counting to ten, that sort of stuff. It’s funny how you forget to apply what you teach to yourself, at least I do. So this month I’m going to deep breath. I’m going to count to ten. I’m going to finish the book I started for NaNo, even if it takes me three months to do it instead of one. I’m going to enjoy my Christmas gathering, which will probably end with all of us washing the dishes in the bathroom sink.

Until then--

Mel

11-28-17

We have a farm. Did I ever mention that? It’s small. Really, I shouldn’t even call it a farm, but I’d been told once that as soon as you have animals of the hoofed variety you get upgraded to that. My husband and I met on a farm and it’s been in our blood ever since. Even when we were in a microscopic apartment in the city, we wanted to have one, me more than him, probably. Almost three years ago that dream came true. We were living in the house that was supposed to be our starter home. Sixteen years later and we hadn’t moved on. We were doing the best we could there. We had chickens, a small orchard, and a garden. I’d thought it was enough. Until someone literally knocked on our door and wanted to buy the place and we started to think that maybe, just maybe we could finally get the land we’d dreamed of. We looked and looked and were just about to settle for living in a microscopic apartment again, this time with three kids, when we found it. Our farm. It’s a little over six acres with a creek running through. You’d drive right by it and not know it was there, and I did, literally, hundreds of times. It’s tucked behind a row of houses so it’s very private. We moved in three years ago on December fourth. Even though it was winter, the first thing we did was to plant a few trees that would be the start of a new, bigger, orchard. I can still see the neighbor’s faces as we were out there in the cold, digging. Or when we pulled in with the chicken tractor in tow. They’ve gotten used to us by now, though, which is good, because we are literally right behind them. We have an orchard here, and a garden, a berry patch and some nut trees. In the Spring we get a couple of pigs that occupy the freezer all winter. We have chickens, both meat and egg layers. And the sheep. We have four, all East Fresian Dairy sheep. You haven’t lived until you’ve have sheep milk yogurt—it’s like eating custard, it’s so rich. Some mornings I go out to do chores, grumbling about how I can’t believe I have to do this and other mornings I go out to do chores thinking I can’t believe I get to do this. Most times the only difference is my attitude. How about you—ever lived a dream you’ve spent your whole life praying for?

11/24/17

11/21/17

Writing Lesson Number Four: Don't Force It

Birthday Reviews

IWSG: November 2017, Writing Lesson Number Three

Halloween 2017

                       

Five Year Goal Review: October 2017

Welcome. Some time ago I signed up to be part of the brainchild of Misha Gericke: the Five Year Project. She created it with the idea that if you have goal and work towards it, visiting it each month, having that accountability, that that goal might just become a reality; given enough time. Five years-worth of time. I’m all for goals, so I signed up a little over two years ago. Initially, my goal was to have the novel I was working on at the time, The Newstead Project, become a bestseller. And while that goal is still on my list, it didn’t feel big enough, broad enough. Crazy, right? Like having a bestseller isn’t enough. But for me it wasn’t. I’ve been to bookstores. I’ve seen Amazon. There are many more than many books out there that have been bestsellers. And saying bestseller signifies money. It’s never been about money for me. I’m a pretty content person. I don’t need any more than I already have. What it has been about is influence. In so many ways this culture breaks my heart on a daily basis. A little background on why I say that. I’m a psychiatric nurse, meaning I work with people who have just tried to kill themselves. And if that wasn’t heart-wrenching enough, I also do ultrasounds at a clinic for people thinking about abortion, trying to show them there’s a better way. In both cases I weep with them. I love them. I want so much more for them than what they’ve been given. They, each of them, are the heartbeat behind my characters, my stories. Their cries are my cries. I want for them what they want; rich, full lives full of love and hope. And while I believe I’m making a difference on a small scale with what I do day-to-day, I know there are people out there I’ll never meet who are just as broken as those girls who come into the clinic, as that kid who just slashed his wrist. I want to love them, too. And so Black and White was born. It’s a publishing company created by my husband and myself. It started as such a small thing, and in a lot of ways it’s still small. It’s nowhere near the world-class publishing company that has become my new five year goal. At this point it’s just a seed, a dream. A goal. Over the past year or so others have joined us in this dream. We now have seven authors (including myself), three illustrators, and a composer. We have sole rights to produce patent-pending Ubooks :

 

 

We’ve won awards for two of our publications: Jellyfish Jones, which one Children’s Book of the Year from Author’s Circle.

 

And The Newstead Project, Novel of Excellence, Paranormal, also from Author’s Circle.
 

 

Just seeds. Just a dream. Just the sort of thing that changes the world.

 

 

 

Want to join us? You can. Right now we’re accepting submissions for short stories of all genres for Ubook publication. Also, beginning on Halloween we’re opening for submissions for Sisters Grimm—a fairytale anthology to be released Halloween 2018. I’m really excited about this one. Jessica Gadra is illustrating each story, which will be amazing. You definitely want to get in on this one. Trust me. Find out more here.

 

 

 

 

 Or support us by reading our stories. All of them are free. Find them here. And if you love them, share them. Your help is appreciated more than you know.

 

Until next time--

 

 

Authenticity vs. Filters: Writing Lesson Two

I’m not into selfies. I’m just not. I’m more of a be in the moment type of girl, and from what I’ve seen selfies have kept a lot of people from that. I know it has in my house. Now, I’m not naming names, but I have a certain eleven year old daughter who’s constantly taking them. And that’s fine, normal even, from what she tells me. What isn’t are the filters. Have you seen those things? My perfectly beautiful daughter takes a picture, hits a few buttons and bam—she’s got flawlessly glowing skin, perfect make-up and shining eyes. She even has flowers in her hair. It’s completely fake. And she doesn’t need it; like I said, she’s lovely.

Those of you who’ve read this blog for any amount of time know I value authenticity above almost everything. We’re all insecure about something. We all have issues. What’s the point in pretending we have it all together when none of us do? Any one of us can get that filter and make ourselves look that fabulous. But what happens when we’re out in public without the cameras and people really see us for who we are, giant pimples and all? No thank you. I’d rather you knew the real me right from the start.

I think that desire for authenticity is why I write the way I do. My characters are real to me. They have flaws, real ones, ones I don’t mind displaying to the world. They make mistakes and suffer the consequences for those mistakes. I hate books where the characters are beautiful and perfect—with flawlessly glowing skin, perfect make-up and shining eyes. Completely fake. Completely filtered. Who wants to be around someone like that? Because that’s what you’re doing when you’re reading a book—you’re spending time in that world, with those people.

With all that in mind, the writing lesson for today is this: How to develop authentic characters.

For me, it's watching people. Real people. Truly see them without any filters. I always keep a journal nearby and jot down things people say, expressions on their faces, positions of their bodies. What are they feeling, and how is that displayed? How are they interacting with each other? This has been especially beneficial when I’m in an environment I’m not used to. I worked in a jail once, mainly for this exercise. It worked. Marcus (one of the characters from the Newstead books) has so much more depth than he would’ve had otherwise. Now, I’m not recommending that to everyone, but there has to be someplace you can go that’s out of your element and watch people, pen and paper in hand.  Forget Facebook. Where can you go to get the inspiration you need to make your characters real to you and to me?

 

 

A Lesson in Writing: Part One

A few weeks ago, I started a Meet-up group. It was kind-of a random thing and kind-of not. I used to host a monthly writing night through SCBWI, but stopped a year or so back when time and life got in the way. It was too bad, really. Writing can be so solitary; it was refreshing to have that time to share with like-minded people. The kick in the pants came when my daughter transferred to a local college. She went to every group she could, trying to find “her people”. I was inspired. Who are my people? My thoughts went to that quiet group. Those were my people. I needed to find them again.

As I said in the beginning, I went to Meet-up and registered my group: Writing in Black and White and waited as the numbers slowly began to climb. My people! They needed me as much as I needed them!

I started planning our first gathering. My last writing night was held at the local Panera, but I’ve changed a bit since then, become a bit quirkier, I guess. I decided to have the new location be at a steampunk coffee shop down by the canal: Steamworks. It’s perfect. We met for the first time last night.

I was surrounded by great coffee and new/old friends. My people. We talked, we wrote, and while I was doing that, I thought of this blog. A lot of times I don’t write anything because I truly don’t think I have anything to say. You’re busy. You don’t want to read my rambling thoughts. But then last night as I sat next to an illustrator who wants to turn writer, and I taught her the very beginnings: how to get inspired, I realized I do have something to say, something worth reading. So, that’s what I’m going to do here on the Fridays after those meetings: I’m going to review the lessons taught and the lessons learned from the night before. So grab a cup of coffee and join me. I could always use more of “my people”.

First, this lovely woman had a blank notebook and a pencil that she was staring at while the rest of us plunked away at a fast pace on our computers. You could see the anxiety on her face, growing by the second. I pulled out my phone.

“My inspiration comes from lots of places,” I said, “But I’m a visual person. I’m guessing, as an artist, so are you.”

She nodded, relief on her face. She wasn’t looking at the blank paper anymore.

I scrolled through my pictures, showing her the *one that inspired Rachel, one of the main characters from my series. “See,” I said. “See how that woman looks scared, how she’s pulling her shirt in, how she’s trying to cover herself as best she can?”

The woman nodded. She saw.

“And look how she’s in a hurry, almost running to get away. What do you think she’s thinking? What do you think she’s feeling?”

“She’s scared.”

 I nodded. “Now show me some pictures that inspire you.”

She got out her phone and scrolled down. Within five minutes she was looking at a picture of an old building, wondering who worked there, what they did, and how life would have been like in those days. Within five minutes her paper wasn’t blank anymore. She was scribbling, writing as fast as she could.

What inspires you?

Let’s look at some pictures, and as you do, ask yourself questions.  

 

 

Who lives here? Who owns that car? What are they like? Are they poor/rich? What are their dreams? Have they lived there their whole life? Are they just waiting to move out? Is that why they bought that old Bug--and tried to fix it up with spare parts they found? What is their story? I want to hear it, don't you?

 

 

 

 

 

How about him? Is he running away--or is he just out for a walk? How old is he? Is he an only child? Who are his friends? Why is he alone? Does he want to be? Is he lonely? Is he lost? Tell me about him. Help me to know him. Help me to love him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One last one:

 

Who are they? Did they just meet, or have they known each other forever? Did they grow up next-door and only recently realize that what they've been looking for all along is right there? Are they afraid to reach out again, to let themselves try, just one last time?

 

See how protective he looks? She how he's looking at her--and how she's looking at him? To them, in that moment, there's no one else in the world. She in him and him in her. Do you feel that? Because that's what this exercise has been about: feelings. Drawing them out, writing them down. People, all of us, are feeling creatures. We want people to make us want to give a damn. We want something to love, to fight for. As a writer, it is up to you to give that to them and you can't until you feel it first in yourself. Try it. Your future readers will thank you for it.

 

Until next time--

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All pictures on this post have been obtained from Canva. Try them--highly recommended.

*An American Girl in Italy by Ruth Orkin

 

 

Sisters Grimm Announcement

 

Hello everyone! I'd like to make an announcement:

 

 

We are taking submissions for a fairy tale anthology, Sisters Grimm, beginning on Halloween 2017 until New Year's Eve 2017. Accepted submissions are requested to be between 250-1000 words. We are looking for dark fairy tales. Think Brothers Grimm. To be true to the title, we are accepting submissions from females only for this anthology. Each accepted piece will feature original artwork by Jessica Gadra and an original musical score by Nathan Moran. Due to the unique nature of Ubooks, each story, while part of the anthology, will stand on their own. Have a breakaway hit? You alone will reap the reward. Send completed tales to: submissions@blackandwhitepublishingco.com  

 

I can't wait to read your tales!

 

 

 

 

 

IWSG: September 2017

It’s the first Wednesday of the month, making it IWSG time. Thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh and co-hosts for putting this on. It’s a great spot to shout your insecurities to the world. To realize you’re not alone. I’ve been part of this group for years now, so it feels like I’ve pretty much laid it all out there. But some insecurities just don’t seem to go away. Like the fear of rejection. I haven’t submitted anything to an agent/press for a long time, so I thought I was over this one, or removed from it, anyway. But then I got a stinger. A few weeks ago I submitted an application to participate in a conference as a publisher. It’s the first time I’ve done it from the other side of the table. After some time I received a rejection. The same dull pounding came back. A rejection? Why? Because our publishing company is too small, too new, and frankly too out there. And then I remembered why I left the traditional publishing world in the first place. Too cookie-cutterish. Now I know that sounds like sour grapes, and maybe part of it is. But part of it’s not. I kinda like being too out there. How about you?

 

 

Five Year Goal Review: August 2017

It’s here again: The last Friday of the month. Which makes it time to review some goals. For those of you who are new to this site or don’t know, I particiapate in Misha Gerrick blog challenge: Five Year Goals. I tend to need accountability when I commit to something, and this offers me that. Thanks to Misha for putting this on each month. If you’d like to join us you can. Here’s the link.

My goal is to run a world-class publishing company. I’m a little over two years into this thing and so far it’s going good. We’ve just added another illustrator to the mix: Jessica Gadra. You can check out her work at: www.jessicagadra.com . She is amazing. She specializes in pen and ink with watercolor fairytales and that’s what she’ll be doing for us. Her first project will be The Gift by Liz Daniels. Look for it in January. And while I’m excited about that, I’m even more excited about another opportunity that having her on the team has created. A long time now I’ve wanted to do a fairytale book. I’m not talking the happy, sweet kind, no think Brother’s Grimm. Dark. I’ve written a few myself but it never felt like enough. And I didn’t have any cool illustrations…  

Drum roll please…

Beginning October 31, 2017—Halloween—Black and White will begin accepting submissions for a Ubook fairytale anthology to be released the following Halloween: Sister’s Grimm. We’d like the stories to be true to those roots: gritty, dark fairytales—but like all good fairytales there has to be a moral at the end. The tales should be between 250 and 1,000 words. And the authors need to be women. Sorry guys, have to stay true to the title. Each selected story will have an original musical score by Nathan Moran and original illustrations by Jessica Gadra. This is going to be awesome! For those selected, a contract will be offered, which includes payment of 25% gross of all revenue received. (And the cool thing about Ubooks is that each story is a separate video, so if yours is popular, you get all that revenue. It’s not divided among all the authors of the anthology.) Submissions will close on 12/31/18-New Year’s Eve. Email your tales to: Submissions@blackandwhitepublishingco.com

I can’t wait to read what you’ve written!

Goal Review: July 2017

It’s Five Year Goal review time. Thanks to Misha Gericke for putting this on each month. If you don’t know, this is a group of motivated people who have gone out on a limb and spoken a dream to the world. And review it each month, again, for all to see. My dream is to have a world-class publishing company.  I feel very ridiculous saying that. Who makes their dream that big? I guess I do.

   How it’s going: Good. Right now I’m waist deep in a project that I’m super excited about. I’m turning my first novel, The Newstead Project, into a Ubook. Now, for those of you unfamiliar with the process, that doesn’t sound like anything special. Ubooks are incredibly labor intensive, so this project of mine is going on a year in the making. There are 12,544 frames in this book, each one hand made. 120 chapters, each one timed and spaced and set to music by yours truly. The goal is to have it completed on September 3, exactly seven years from the day I started writing it; which leaves me a little over a month to pull this thing off.  Do you think I can do it? Here’s hoping.

   See you in August with an update,

 

 

IWSG: June 2017

Welcome. It’s IWSG time again. Thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh and co-hosts for putting this on each month. If you’d like to join us, you can sign up here.

The insecurity I’m focusing on this month isn’t so much about good things or bad things, it’s more about yes vs. no. I used to be so good at only saying yes to things I really wanted to do. That mentality freed up so much time. But now I’m in a strange place. There are so many good things to say yes to. Yes to kid's summer soccer camp, because of course they’ll want to do that, right? And yes to swimming lessons--heaven forbid they drown—and yes to another animal (or two)—they’re so cute—who could say no? And yes, yes, yes.

And now my life is too full to breathe.

This happens every once in a while to me and I have to sit down and wipe the slate clean and start over, which is hard. It would’ve been easier to say “No” in the first place. How do you tell someone you changed your mind about that adorable lamb they’re holding onto for you? Okay, maybe I’ll get the lamb. But then something else has to go. Do you see my dilemma? How do you choose between so many “good” things?

Help!

 

 

May 2017: FIve Year Goal Review

Today is the last Friday of the month, making it time to review some goals. A little over a year and a half ago, I joined this wonderful online community (waves hi to Misha and others) which not only allows me to visit this goal monthly, but also provides such wonderful encouragement. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, or if you’d like to join in, you can find out more/sign up here.

My goal, initially, was to write the next great American novel. About six months into this five your project, I changed that goal: to running a world-class publishing company. I’m not arrogant, I promise; not delusional. I know the impossibility of what I just wrote, both things, actually. But I also know I serve a God who somehow makes the impossible happen. And that’s what I’m counting on.

With that in mind…

Today, just now, I found out that both of my goals have been blessed. The Newstead Project, my first novel, just won the Author’s Circle Novel of Excellence for paranormal novels. I’m blown away! When I submitted it for consideration, I did so out of personal love for this story. I am beyond thrilled that others have some book-love for it, too. With that in mind, I’m pleased to announce here, for the first time, that I’ve been working a little over a year on making The Newstead Project the first full length Ubook novel. It will be released this September. This will bring the story to a much deeper level, with a streamline voice and mood-stirring music. I can’t wait for you to experience it.

I said doubly blessed, didn’t I? Jellyfish Jones, Black and White Publishing Co.’s first ever Ubook won as well. I am pleased to announce that Jellyfish Jones just won the Author’s Circle Children’s Book of the Year. This one wasn’t such a surprise. The story is superb, the illustrations charming, and the original musical score by Nathan Moran was perfectly done. Not to mention the narration (nudges daughter Hannah, who did a wonderful job). It has always been my goal to publish only that which is excellent, and I am thrilled to see that that excellence was awarded today.

So, how is it going? Well, we’re not World-class yet, but I’d say we’re on our way.

 

 

 

 

IWSG: May 2017

Today is the first Wednesday of May, which makes it IWSG time. Thanks to Alex J. Cavanaugh and co-hosts for putting this on each month. If you’d like to join us, you can sign up here.

May and September have always been full of meaning for me as a writer. I began this whole writing adventure on a warm September day, and saw that adventure reach it’s fulfillment a year and a half later in May, when my first novel was published. For that reason, I try to publish my very best, my very favorite pieces in the months of May and September. And this May is no different. Two days ago my email subscriber list received Haunted, first published as part of the anthology Parallels: Felix Was Here, in Ubook form. It will be released to the general public on Monday, May fifteenth. This story is very personal to me, and is probably the most important piece I’ve written, or will ever write. I finished it in less than a day, which is nothing short of miraculous. So why bring it up here, when we’re supposed to be discussing our insecurities? Because along with Haunted being my most important story, it was also the most difficult to let be published. It may be the most difficult thing I’ve ever done. It’s a laying of myself out there in a way I cannot take back. Frankly, it’s going to piss a lot people off. But that’s okay. I’ve made peace with that. It’s a story that needed to be written, and no matter how deep my own insecurities may be concerning that, it wasn’t a story about me. It was about him. It always has been. If you’re interested in reading it for yourself, check back here on the fifteenth, or go to setbooksfree.org on or after that day. But be warned, it will haunt you.

I just want to take this opportunity to thank Dancing Lemur Press/Freedom Fox Press for including Haunted in the anthology. It was a brave thing to have done.

The Release of The Open Book

 

 

Liza has called and The Open Book has responded. Now only two questions remain: Was it a good idea for the three of them to be in one place? And what if Liz wasn't the one who planned it that way? Read it here.

And a previously released favorite:

 

 

 

 

On Meadowbrook farms live three sheep, fifteen chickens and two little girls with their parents. So begins this delightful tale by Liz Daniels where playhouses come in all shapes and sizes, but don't necessarily last forever. Read it here.

 

Kickstarter: Day 4

 

Day 4

 

Sometime after I turned forty (don’t get any ideas—it was only four months ago J),  my philosophies changed. Before that, everything had been about the future. Saving for the Future. Planning for the future. Getting things in order for the future. And then, like a light had flipped, I realized I was living in it; the future I mean. I started enjoying my life. Now, I’m not saying I’m blowing all the money I’ve saved for retirement, but I am living life. Every six weeks I do something. It might be a weekend trip with one of my kids, a massage, or a writing retreat in the woods. Whatever it is, I’m not waiting for later to live.

Until tomorrow.

 P.S.  I’ll be counting down over the next 17 days, offering some exclusive items, like original storyboards by Gail DiCarlo and setbooksfree.org T-shirts, cinch sacks, and bumper stickers. But I’ll be offering additional items here, for you, my loyal blogging friends. Including:

*$100.00 Amazon gift card:

 

**The cover storyboard for Garden House:

***Personalized dogtags

To qualify, share this link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1531528220/ubooks-musically-enhanced-video-books to your blog/facebook/twitter. Then post the link on this blog in the comments or email the link to: melanie@melanieschulz.com. There is no limit to how many ways or times you can share, but please forward the link, so it can qualify for the official drawing at 12 midnight on the twenty-first.

 

*For this option to be available, 100 entries must be entered.

**For this option to be available, 100 entries must be entered. Valid for US residents only.

***Valid for US residents only.