How I Got to Where I Am and What a Crazy Ride It’s Been

by Daniel J. Barrett

I have absolutely no business publishing a book at age 66 but here I am. How did I get here? Is there anything worthy to share with my fellow writers?

I’ve had a varied career over many decades. I was in banking. I worked for an international manufacturer, traveling worldwide as the manager of planning. Marketing said I was the only finance person who spoke English and not finance. I went on to become a financial consultant and grant writer.

I wasn’t any more prepared for writing grants than I was for writing books when I started. Being a grant writer meant reading 10 newspapers a day and keeping current to win financial awards. I made the grants readable so anyone could understand my proposals and their goal--to serve the most at-risk youth. It worked. We won $200 million dollars to help kids. Learning on the job paid off.

Six years ago, I decided that I was tired of television, other than watching baseball, and I started reading books. I’ve read 1,600 books over that time. Why? I wanted to learn what made a great book fun to read. I’ve read over 450 different authors. Were they all good? No, but a publisher thought they were. It was their decision.

Two years ago, I took the plunge and began writing novels. I’ve always learned the hard way, so I transferred my fearlessness in writing grants to my desire to create fiction. What I didn’t know about writing novels now makes me cringe. Did you know you’re not supposed to use semi-colons in fiction? I didn’t. Quotations, punctuation, and contractions became a Berlitz course, and when told to fix something. I did. Being pigheaded and stubborn with my desire to publish actually paid off. Here I am.

Like a present from heaven, Black Opal Books sent me an email and told me that Conch Town Girl had promise. I brought the novel up to publishing standards and they gave me a contract. I revised two other books and received another contract. I have just finished my fourth book in two years and will be sending that in shortly. As soon as Conch Town Girl was released, I had to learn the publishing and marketing side of being an author. All while continuing to write grants full time.

What is the point of this blog? Never give up? Don’t worry what people tell you or think about your writing? Be true to your heart? Stay on course? If you start something, finish it?

I wanted to prove that I could do anything I wanted when I put my mind to it. I can. You can. Anyone can. We teach this to at-risk kids. They don’t get an opportunity to have someone tell them they can be anything they want, at age 15, or at age 66. Colonel Sanders, age 65, started Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1955 and sold it 10 years later to John Y. Brown, Jr., the future Governor of Kentucky. Colonel Harlan David Sanders became a multimillionaire and international icon. You can will your way to success. Just try.

Daniel J. Barrett was born in Rutland, Vermont and has lived his entire life in Troy, New York, ten miles north of Albany. He is a graduate of both Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y. with a BS in Finance, and from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y, with an MBA in Management. Dan has had a varied career with extensive international experience, traveling worldwide. You may contact him at  www.DanielBarrettAuthor.com.

Julie Chapman grew up in Key Largo, a tenth-generation Conch, raised in the Florida Keys by her grandmother, Tillie, since Julie’s parents were deceased. Then one night Tillie has a car accident and ends up in a coma, leaving Julie and her best friend Joe to wonder if it really was an accident. As Julie and Joe start digging for the truth, they uncover some dark and desperate secrets that can not only cause them a good deal of trouble, but also cost them their lives.

Author, Know Thyself (and Your Brand)

by Anne Marie Becker  

True confession time. On a weekly (sometimes daily) basis, I toy with the idea of diverging from writing romantic suspense to straight-up contemporary romance.  Yes, these would be stories without stalkers, dead bodies, or law enforcement officers. Without imminent danger, destruction of property, or the evil machinations of chilling villains. (I heard that collective gasp.) 

However, I recognize that, at least in part, these thoughts are my brain’s desire to run away from home, a way of creating distraction when I’m tired of the story I’m working on. Whether I’m in the throes of editing or trying to dig myself out of the sagging middle of my story, the grass looks greener over there, where writers don’t have to research deadly weapons or nuances of the law to make their stories work. While part of this desire for change may stem from a need to try new things, I realize the pros and cons of making such a decision.

Writing is a business—a challenging business where a sea of authors are attempting to keep their heads above water while thrusting their books above the waves, hoping they’ll be noticed. In such an environment, being untrue to your author brand can be deadly. To build your audience, it’s important to know who you are as a writer, and what your readers have come to expect from your work. After all, a book is a contract between you and your reader, promising a satisfying story. 

Recently, on one of the writer loops, an interesting link came across my inbox. This article from Forbes seems to prove that building a brand leads to success, especially if that brand is tied to a series. It seems to be working for Lee Child, anyway.

I released my first Mindhunters book nearly three years ago (*waves to debut class of 2011*). Now, as I near the end of my six-book Mindhunters series and look forward to starting a new series, I fight the distractions and remind myself of who I am. I am a romantic suspense author. I write thrilling psychological twists and chilling villains. In the new series I’m about to start, I’m going to be digging up dead bodies and hunting killers again. Because I actually do it pretty well, and because my readers expect it of me.

Who are you as a writer? What kind of brand are you building, and how are you working toward solidifying your place in readers’ hearts? As a reader, do you have a favorite series or author who has earned your loyalty?

Dark Deeds (Mindhunters, Book 4):

Walking away from sexy Detective Diego Sandoval was one of the toughest things security specialist Becca Haney ever had to do. But her past is a direct threat to his future, to the career he’s working so hard to rebuild. When he’s assigned to help keep her safe from a human trafficking ring, he’s determined to stay by her side and learn about the woman behind the passion—scars and all. But Becca has another admirer. Known only as “the Fan,” he believes he’s the perfect partner for her—and he’ll kill to prove it. When the stakes are raised in the killer’s deadly game, Diego will be called upon to save lives—including Becca’s.

Anne Marie has always been fascinated by people—inside and out—which led to degrees in Biology, Chemistry, Psychology, and Counseling.  Her passion for understanding the human race is now satisfied by her roles as mother, wife, daughter, sister, and award-winning author of romantic suspense.  She writes to reclaim her sanity. Find ways to connect with Anne Marie at www.AnneMarieBecker.com. Sign up for her newsletter to receive special offers and sneak peeks of her books.

The Reinvention of Me

By Douglas Corleone

Sometimes failure is a good thing. Although you’d never hear me utter the words “blessing in disguise,” I suppose that’s what you could consider the bad news I received in 2011 when my agent asked my editor whether she’d like to read my proposal for the fourth Kevin Corvelli novel.

“Actually, we’d prefer to see something new from him.”

The moment I heard those words I experienced both a pang of grief and a jolt of excitement. Grief for the series of legal mysteries that I’d spent the last half-decade writing and promoting. And excitement about the possibility of a fresh start. A new series, a new setting, a new hero. Maybe even a new genre. I thanked my agent and promised I’d have an idea to her by Friday.

Truth is, I could have blurted my new idea to her right then and there over the phone. The idea for Good As Gone had planted its seed two years earlier, after reading a one-page article on a real-life private investigator who specialized in retrieving children kidnapped by their estranged parents and taken overseas to countries that don’t recognize U.S. custody decisions. I had immediately envisioned a Taken-style thriller that would transport my new tough-guy hero to exotic locales where he’d be pit against criminals from every walk of life, from Eastern European gangsters to Latin American narco-paramilitary forces.

Roughly a year later the book was written, the contract signed, and I was no longer just an author of quirky legal mysteries set in Hawaii. The advance I received was far greater than anything I’d hoped to get for a fourth Kevin Corvelli novel, and I was suddenly full of hope that my reinvention as an author of international action thrillers could be the catalyst for the writing career of which I’d always dreamed.

When the cover art for Good As Gone was first revealed to me, I was blown away. It looked as though it could serve as the one-sheet for a new blockbuster film starring Matt Damon or Daniel Craig. For the first time I could picture a novel with my name on the cover sitting in the bestseller racks in supermarkets and international airports. As much as I enjoyed writing the Kevin Corvelli books, I’d always known he’d never get me to where I wanted to be as a writer. Kevin Corvelli was cool and he was comfortable and his stories provided me the opportunity to show off my neurotic New York sense of humor. But he wasn’t the larger-than-life figure that could enthrall a wide audience and someday be portrayed by Ryan Reynolds on the big screen.

Simon Fisk, on the other hand, has that kind of potential. A former U.S. Marshal whose six-year-old daughter was abducted ten years earlier and never found, Simon Fisk is the type of haunted lone wolf who can leave behind a significant body count and still win the hearts and minds of readers. Of course, whether he (or I) will ever be even a moderate success remains to be seen. But ever since Publishers Weekly – who’d panned me mercilessly in the past – compared Simon Fisk to James Bond, I’ve at least felt as though I am in the game.

(Update: Since I wrote this article, which first appeared in Crimespree magazine this summer, I’ve been tapped to write the fourth book in Robert Ludlum’s Paul Janson series. I’ve recently begun work on Robert Ludlum’s The Janson Equation, which will be published by Grand Central in 2015. The second novel in my Simon Fisk series, titled Payoff, will be published by Minotaur Books on August 19, 2014.)   

About Douglas Corleone 

Douglas Corleone is the author of contemporary thrillers. His debut novel ONE MAN'S PARADISE, introducing hotshot defense attorney Kevin Corvelli, was a finalist for the 2010 Shamus Award for Best First Novel and winner of the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award.

Douglas Corleone's first international thriller, titled GOOD AS GONE, featuring former U.S. Marshal Simon Fisk, was hailed by the Huffington Post as "a heart wrenching, adrenaline producing adventure that...leaves the reader gasping for breath at the end."

A former New York City criminal defense attorney, Douglas Corleone now resides in the Hawaiian Islands where he is at work on his next novel. 

Visit the author online at www.douglascorleone.com.

About Good As Gone

A heart-pounding tale of international intrigue about a man whose mission is to find a young girl who is as GOOD AS GONE…

 

Advice to Newcomer Authors

By Heather Graham

My first piece of advice to any newcomer is to take my advice if it works for you—and ignore it if it doesn’t. 

I haven’t given any yet, not really. 

So here it is. 

We go to all kinds of workshops and panels and we hear how many experts work. I should qualify what I’m saying. If an FBI agent tells you something that an FBI agent would do, I’d go with it. Or if an arms specialist told me about a gun, I’d go by what he says.

But we read subjectively and have different pet peeves and the way we write can be just as subjective. Story boards are great and you can go to wonderful workshops on them; for some people, it’s easier to keep notes, or even immerse themselves in their manuscripts. Some will tell you that you need an outline to get started while other authors like to sit down and go and see where their characters and words lead them.

But if you’re ever in a workshop and someone—even someone who is extremely successful—tells you that you must work in one way or another, that someone just might be wrong. There are authors who will tell you that they must have certain music playing; they must have coffee at hand, or that they must set the mood. They must be alone—they can only concentrate in perfect silence. 

You may not like the distraction of music. You might not mind the chaos of working in the middle of Grand Central Station—or your house, which just might feel and sound like Grand Central Station at times. 

We all work differently.

So, there really is no right way to go about writing. 

I’ve seen authors go to conferences and hear conflicting advice or believing that they have to take every piece of advice or adhere to everything they’ve learned. Now, most of the time, the person speaking is going to give great advice. And most of it will be valuable. The writer (and the “old” writer) must listen and learn and then create a filter. Everything that is useful to them needs to be held and what just won’t work in their methods or their lives, they have to let go. 

Trying to take every piece of advice is like trying to please every single reader out there—it’s not going to happen.

This goes back to where your friends/critique partners or even editors that read your work. One may love a protagonist and hate a plot twist. Loathe one character and become annoyed by another. Some have an instant dislike of first person or present tense. 

A writer has to use his or her own filters or be lost in a jumble of confusion. Study your own work—decide what you feel. Often a writer will realize that a character who shouldn’t be is abrasive. Or there is a hole in the plot that a truck could drive through. Listen, learn—and be honest and a little brutal with yourself—and weigh every piece of what you’ve heard with your belief in yourself, your book, your characters, and your plot. 

Remember, too, your mother/best friend/husband/sister can’t buy your book. An editor can, so if an editor suggests something you’re not sure about, you really might want to make the changes.

(Unless your mother/best friend/husband/sister/etc. happens to be an editor!

If these words are helpful to you, use them. If not, please filter out! 

BIO: New York Times and USA Today best selling author, Heather Graham, majored in theater arts at the University of South Florida. After a stint of several years in dinner theater, back-up vocals, and bartending, she stayed home after the birth of her third child and began to write. Her first book was with Dell, and since then, she has written over one hundred novels and novellas including category, suspense, historical romance, vampire fiction, time travel, occult and Christmas family fare.

She is pleased to have been published in approximately twenty languages. She has written over 100 novels and has 60 million books in print. She has been honored with awards from Walden Books, B. Dalton, Georgia Romance Writers, Affaire de Coeur, Romantic Times and more. 

Heather has also become the proud recipient of the Silver Bullet from Thriller Writers. Heather has had books selected for the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild, and has been quoted, interviewed, or featured in such publications as The Nation, Redbook, Mystery Book Club, People and USA Today and appeared on many newscasts including Today, Entertainment Tonight and local television. 

Heather loves travel and anything that has to do with the water, and is a certified scuba diver. She also loves ballroom dancing. Each year she hosts the Vampire Ball and Dinner theater at the RT convention raising money for the Pediatric Aids Society and in 2006 she hosted the first Writers for New Orleans Workshop to benefit the stricken gulf region.  

She is also the founder of “The Slush Pile Players”, presenting something that’s almost like entertainment for various conferences and benefits. Married since high school graduation and the

mother of five, her greatest love in life remains her family, but she also believes her career has been an incredible gift, and she is grateful every day to be doing something that she loves so very much for a living. 

The Unseen, The Unholy, The Unspoken and the Uninvited are available now.  Let the Dead Sleep will be released in March, 2013.  The Night is Watching,  The Night is Alive and The Night is Forever will be released in June, August and October.

Visit Heather at her website and blog.