You’re not an author, you’re my mom

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books6 Comments

Today’s guest article is by Chelle Cordero, author of “Bartlett’s Rule,” “Forgotten,” “Within the Law,” “Courage of the Heart,” “Final Sin,” “Hostage Heart,” and “A Chaunce of Riches.” It’s a pleasure to welcome a prolific author from Vanilla Heart Publishing with a humorous take on the writing life.

You’re not an author, you’re my mom

by

Chelle Cordero

Working as a writer is a hectic and often surreal lifestyle. You live by the power of words, both real and fictional, and you accept the responsibility of those words, the emotions they evoke and the lessons they convey. Although I’ve never participated in NaNoWriMo (a challenge to write a 50,000-word novel in 30 days) I can well understand the thrill of accomplishment. Every time I finish an article, a new novel, or edit a writing project, I am thrilled with the same sense of accomplishment.

It’s an amazing feeling to see your name on the cover of a book or see your byline in a national publication. As awesome as it feels to see your name, it is incredible to realize that people are actually reading your words. I’ve had an editor or two (for my non-fiction work) pass along letters they’ve received citing my articles and commenting that they found the information useful; that’s a wonderful feeling. Even more exciting is seeing a site like Amazon taking pre-orders of novels that haven’t yet been released (the ranking system shows that pre-orders have been placed) – people are actually buying books because I’ve written them and they are getting them as soon as they are available.

I’m still me. I am a wife, mother, community volunteer, housewife, sister, aunt, and friend as well as being a writer. I walk in the mall and I’m not hounded by fans because most people don’t recognize me as an author. Every so often I do get someone noticing my author pic on the back of a book and realizing it’s me or an email to me as a writer asking for advice on writing. My friends and acquaintances do call me if they see my name in the paper or the time I did a spot on a local news channel (as a participant in Operation E-Book Drop).

I often read and re-read my own articles and books and sit there thinking “I really wrote that?” Most times I like what I’ve read, perhaps that is just egotism? I guess I am in that in-between stage where I know that I am just an ordinary everyday person and yet craving the acknowledgment of what I’ve accomplished to date. I yearn for fan mail (please! chellecordero@gmail.com) and yet I felt embarrassed the first time someone brought a book up to me at a signing and asked me to autograph it – and I didn’t even know the person!

There is a feeling that is difficult to put into words, even for a writer, which overwhelms you in a crowd where everyone is speaking about their jobs. Then they turn to you…

I’ve often had a thoughtful acquaintance turn to me and ask “So how is your book doing?” and I respond “Which one?” and they’re shocked. Or it’s even funnier when someone I’ve known for years suddenly realizes that I’m a writer – “You wrote a book?” There is no way of comparing my “desk job” with that of my son-in-law’s title as “Infrastructure Analyst” or to my kids’ EMS careers (she’s a paramedic and he’s an EMT).

I try to surround myself with other writer and editorial friends – we understand each other. Whether I connect with these friends on Facebook or in-person at my local RWA chapter, I feel “normal” because of the association. Most of the authors signed with my publisher, Vanilla Heart Publishing, are supportive and friendly, we have a tight group. My writer friends know when to call me on it when I make excuses and also know how to bolster my fragile ego when I need plaudits.

Then while I am feeling particularly talented and good about myself I over hear my daughter chatting with a friend and listing some of her favorite authors. I attempt a “guilt trip” –“What? My name isn’t included?” The answer I get is “You’re not an author, you’re my mom.”

…I chuckle and still feel pretty good.

Chelle Cordero, Author

Chelle Cordero Website

Chelle at Vanilla Heart Publishing

Glacier Centennial Book Now Available

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books

100 YEARS – 100 STORIES Celebrating the rich history of preservation and enjoyment through personal recollections or the land. Stories and experiences from 100 people whose lives have been enriched and who have been inspired by the grandeur and beauty of Glacier National Park. All proceeds from sales of this book support the Glacier Centennial Program. 371 pages. Black and white photography.

Available for $19.95 via the Glacier Association

–
Upcoming, December 3: Author Chelle Cordero puts a humorous spin on the writing life.

—Malcolm

Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn Glacier National Park3 Comments

Those of us working at the Hotels in Glacier National Park, Montana, enjoyed trips across the border into Alberta for shopping, boating, horseback riding and hiking in Waterton Lakes Park. Our trip wasn’t complete without a visit to the Prince of Wales Hotel that sits above the town of Waterton with a superb view of the lake, and the mountains of Glacier Park beyond.

Early this year, author Ray Djuff (“View with a Room,” “Waterton and Glacier in a Snap”) released a thoroughly researched book about the hotel called “High on a Windy Hill: The Story of the Prince of Wales Hotel” via Rocky Mountain Books.

The title is certainly apt. On that hill, the wind seldom stops. Like the major hotels in Glacier, “The Prince” (or “PW”) as we called it, was built by the Great Northern Railway. The 90-room, 1927, Swiss-style structure is now a historic site. As a hotel employee during the 1970s, the Calgary-based Djuff knows the area well.

The descriptions, historical information and photographs are a nice addition to any Montana/Alberta tourist’s collection.

—Malcolm

UPCOMING

December 1 (on Writer’s Notebook): – A Tuesday Teaser for “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”
December 3: Guest article by author Chelle Cordero
December 8: Interview with author Helen Macie Osterman

Sarah Palin Saves Local Bookstore Owner’s Butt

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books, satire2 Comments

from Morning Satirical News:

Junction City, November 25, 2009–Brisk sales of Sarah Palin’s Going Rogue are saving the Main Street Book Emporium from the scrap heap of local businesses that go belly up after Walmart comes to town.

Jim Exlibrius, founder and owner of the 20-year-old bookstore conveniently located kitty corner across a busy intersection from the Krispy Kreme, told employees this morning that his butt and their jobs are safe through April Fool’s Day because Palin’s bestselling book is flying off the shelves “like bats in a tornado.”

“I almost lost my shirt after my window display for Audrey Niffenegger’s spooky “Her Fearful Symmetry” scared away all my customers,” said Exlibris. “Now, I’m making money like a blind water salesman in the Sahara Desert because every woman in this town has always wanted to ‘go rogue’ and ever man in this town has wanted to know a woman who ‘went rogue.'”

According to informed sources at publisher HarperCollins, the Main Street Book Emporium has sold up to 25% of the 2.5 million copies of Going Rogue now in print. Exlibris told reporters that he expects Junction City readers will force HarperCollins to make a tenth trip back to the printer to keep up with demand.

“I not only asked Sarah to come to my store for a book signing so huge that it will make J. K. Rowling look like a wannabee, I urged her (Sarah) to stay here as my wife,” said Exlibris. “How can a man not love a woman who writes, ‘With the gray Talkeetna Mountains in the distance and the first light covering of snow about to descend on Pioneer Peak, I breathed in an autumn bouquet that combined everything small-town America with splashes of the last frontier.'”

Police reports show that since Going Rogue was released earlier this month, more fights have broken out at the Main Street Book Emporium than Mona’s Biker Bar, Hot Balls Miniature Golf Magic Lane, and Ghost-of-a-Chance Cemetery combined.

“If we didn’t have a continuous presence at Krispy Kreme,” said Chief Kruller, “people would have been killed or worse at that bookstore. Jim just can’t keep enough Sarah on the shelf to satisfy everyone.”

Sources at city hall indicated that if Palin comes to town to do a reading and signing, Mayor Clark Trail is prepared to give her the key to the city as soon as he can find it (the key).

“He thinks it was in his gone-fishing trousers and must have ended up at the bottom of Miller’s Pond after last year’s incident with that school of rogue crappies,” councilman Calvin Knox said.

The Albino County Literary Club and Pecan Pie Society complains that its winter discussion schedule has been “more tangled than kite string in a Charlie Brown tree” because members sent to Exlibris’ store to buy one thing keep coming out with a sack full of Rogues.

“Just a couple of days ago, I sent them there to buy Jeff Shaara’s new new book No Less Than Victory, and they came out with Going Rogue, proving, I guess, that winning isn’t everything,” said society president Marianne Stemple.

Exlibris confessed to Star-Gazer editors that reporter Jock Stewart is the only man in town who refuses to buy Palin’s book, and “who the hell is more rogue than he is?”

Stewart reportedly maintains that when Palin buys his book, he’ll buy her book and even try out a halibut taco, a reindeer sausage and other delights from the land of the midnight sun Exlibris is giving away free with every copy of Going Rogue through the Black Friday weekend.

-30-

Copyright (c) Malcolm R. Campbell, author of Jock Stewart and the Missing sea of Fire where you’ll find Jim Exlibris, Chief Kruller, Councilman Knox, Mayor Clark Trail and–of course–Jock Stewart are all going rogue.

‘Notes in a Mirror’ author coming Dec 8

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books, fiction2 Comments

I’m looking forward to interviewing Helen Macie Osterman, author of the new thriller “Notes in a Mirror” on December 8.

This compelling book, released November 15th by Weaving Dreams Publishing, is set in a grim, 1950s mental institution where the treatments are as archaic as the dark. cold buildings.

The author worked as a nurse for 45 years. During her training, her rotation took her to such a hospital for three months where she witnessed hydrotherapy, Insulin coma therapy and electroshock. These were once accepted treatments for the mentally ill, and they are part of the world protagonist Mary Lou Hammond and Kate Stephens are plunged into at the fictional Hillside State Mental Hospital.

But there’s more. Somebody is trying to contact the sensitive Mary Lou. Is it her imagination, a former patient, or perhaps the mad house is driving her mad. This 213-page mystery will keep you guessing while making you thankful you were never committed to Hillside–or the real-life institutions on which it is based.

As the Osterman writes in her introduction, “The treatments provided were primitive and sometimes dangerous, but at the time, considered state of the art.” The author’s experience as a student nurse in such an institution gives her the knowledge to make this an accurate and chilling novel.

—Malcolm, author of “Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire” and “The Sun Singer”

Book Review: ‘Her Fearful Symmetry’

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books

Her Fearful Symmetry Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
–William Blake, “The Tyger”

When an acclaimed author (Audrey Niffenegger) takes a phrase from an inscrutable poem (“The Tyger”), readers (such as myself) are apt to expect a great story. Without a doubt Niffenegger’s prose is elegant, her place descriptions (London and Highgate Cemetery) are exceptional, and her intricate plot has great promise.

That promise is not fulfilled.

Niffenegger speaks of ghosts that dissipate in to the ether, so to speak, because they haven’t been dead long enough to figure out how to keep themselves together and harness their intent. I like this viewpoint within the story. Unfortunately, it also describes the story.

We are introduced to several sets of twins who, as it turns out, are so focused on being twins that they (in one case) do fearful and silly things and (in another case) are relatively boring. In each set, one twin wants freedom and the other wants the status quo. Interesting? Could have been, but it wasn’t.

At best, most of the characters were totally dysfunctional with the possible exception (oddly enough) of the man with OCD who lived in the flat upstairs, up above the American twins who come to London when their aunt (Espeth) dies and leaves them an apartment up above Robert who works as a volunteer at the adjoining Highgate Cemetery. He was Espeth’s lover both before and after she died.

Like ghosts without sufficient practice and power to organize themselves and enjoy the afterlife (with or without haunting the living), the plot becomes weaker and weaker as the novel goes on until on the final pages it evaporates altogether. Yes, there’s a grim resolution to it all, but it’s a weak one and we no longer care.

I suspect the author fell in love with the cemetery and wanted to write a story about it. Naturally, the dead came to mind. But they weren’t strong enough to frighten us or make us care about the symmetry.

View all my reviews >>

Other Blogs:

Morning Satirical News: Talking to a real reporter about Operation E-Book Drop

Mythrider: Natural, But Not Human (our poor perception of the natural world)

Sun Singer’s Travels: Writing one word at a time

Copyright (c) 2009 by Malcolm R. Campbell, author of the comedy/thriller “Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire”

Brief Review: ‘Place Names of Glacier National Park’

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books, Glacier National Park1 Comment

Place Names of Glacier National Park Place Names of Glacier National Park by Jack Holterman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This reference book, in dictionary form, presents an exhaustive list of Glacier National Park’s place names. Included in the commentary for each name are references to where the name came from, alternative (or older) names for lakes and mountains, the Indian names, details about the personages involved, and a lot of other forgotten lore you won’t find on topographical or hiking maps.

If you love the park, this book by the late Jack Holterman, a scholar of the Blackfeet Language and a long-time historian of the area, will take you deeper into the mysteries of the place. The names and commentary are, in many ways, a miniature history of the people who discovered and safe-guarded this popular, yet threatened national park.

I was honored to be one of the editors of the original version of this book published in 1985 by the Glacier Natural History Association (now called the Glacier Association). The book went out of print for a while, so it was especially nice to see it return several years ago. It’s an excellent resource and a very interesting look at the park.

View all my reviews >>

—Malcolm

Your Library: Myth v. Fact

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books2 Comments

from geekthelibrary.org…

Myth: I’m already funding my library by paying my late fees and purchasing items at book sales.

Fact: Late fees and book sale dollars provide a very modest contribution to libraries and support replacement of materials lost and items not returned. Fees and fines are not sufficient to support operating or program activities.

I worked my way through school as a student and graduate assistant at the libraries of Florida State University and Syracuse University. While college library funding is different than your public library’s city budget allocations, I saw first hand how far the fines and fees we collected at the desk did NOT go.

Whatever you geek (love, like, adore), the library is there to support you. Today, I needed to find an old book about Glacier National Park. My local library didn’t have it, but they found it quickly within our regional library system.

geekbanner

Sometimes a discussion beats sales

On By Malcolm R. CampbellIn books

I went up to the Maysville, Georgia, public library today for a Jackson County Authors Showcase. Along with me were authors Caine Campbell, Pamela Dodd, and Jackie White.

Including the assistant librarian who sat in on the whole event, there were four authors and four in the audience, two of whom had to leave before it was over. I sold one copy of “Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire.”

A waste of time? Not at all. The two people who came both had a lot of questions; one of them has a grand daughter interested in writing and wanted to know if we had any tips. Of course we talked about our books, how we got started, and how we try to market our work.

I had a good time. Plus, it was nice to get away from the house on a sunny Saturday and drive 30 minutes on a country road from my small town to the next small town north of here.

The discussion was worth a lot. Oh, and the library gave each of us a fancy jar of pears, something a starving writer doesn’t buy for himself!

—Malcolm

P.S. Don’t forget this is National Book Store Day, the day in which each of us is expected to go out any buy a pickup truck full of literature from (hopefully) a locally owned store.
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New Jock Stewart satire posted at the Morning Satirical News: “Love is the Morning and the Evening Star”