When Art Meets A Good Story...

The Queen's Plate is approaching, and for the second year, Woodbine is holding a contest for the "Official Queen's Plate Artist."  Seeing as one of my "real" jobs is painting horses, with a preference for racehorses...entering the contest was a natural thing.  I made it to the top five, and now it's up to a popular vote to determine the winner of the contest.  I've written about my painting, and the great story behind the filly in it, on my art blog.  Take a peek! 

Cinderella, Cinderella... the story behind the painting.

To vote, visit the Queen's Plate website!

*Poke*Poke* Is It Dead?

Well, two years and change, is that all it's been? I admit I abandoned the idea of finding a traditional publisher for the LGN (that's "Late, Great, Novel" if you're new here).  I've been following people doing the indy publishing thing, and reading a lot of self-published e-books in the last while.  My novel isn't going to be the worst one out there, and another horse racing novel is not going to kill anyone.  Maybe some people will even like it.  I don't have illusions about getting rich - I don't even expect to make any money.  I just want to say, after all these decades, I did it. So, why not?

Potential Cover?

I just finished what had better be the last edit, and even knocked down the word count a little bit, to 123,698. At the very least, these days, it's easy enough to publish electronically - whether or not I try and do a print version remains to be seen.  Next I need to come up with a cover image - it seems stupid not to use one of my own paintings.  Now hopefully I can find one that actually exists that will do the job, or my plan will be further delayed! I guess I also need to write a blurb, which I've been finding difficult.  I've read a number of them that I don't feel do the book justice, so I'm trying not to end up in that same situation!

On the side I've also been working on making the sequel better, so I'll have a follow-up ready to go. I've even surprised myself by pondering a third book - I just can't seem to let go of these characters.

Next steps are the scarier ones - actually working through getting it published. And the real work?  Self-promotion!  Thanks to many years as a professional artist, I know that full well!

"Track Life: Images and Words" A Review, and, A Tiny Bit of My Fiction Sees the Light of Day

Unless you're new here, you know that I look forward to a few days in Saratoga Springs, NY, each summer with some of my artist friends.  This year that plan was foiled thanks to my committed barn help backing out on me without enough time to find an appropriate replacement, so I had to miss out.  Hopefully next year I'll get things back on track, so to speak!

Three years ago, one of the members of our little group, fine art photographer Juliet Harrison, published her first book of photos from the Saratoga experience.  2013 saw a bigger project come to fruition, as she brought together contributions from artists, writers and industry stakeholders to create a combination of her photos, poetry, and prose relating to a variety of experiences involving Thoroughbreds and the track.  I was among the contributors, and a short excerpt from Fifty Sovereigns is part of this publication.  Maybe it's just a small thing, but I find it exciting anyway!

Rather than repeat myself here, I'll share my review from GoodReads.  You can find the book on  Amazon as well as Juliet's website, which I've linked to above.  The book would be a wonderful gift for someone else, or just for yourself. 

Track Life: Images and Words by Juliet R. Harrison

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Disclaimer:  I might be somewhat biased as a reviewer, being not only a contributor, but also a friend of Juliet’s – perhaps even a friend who is at least partly responsible for her foray into the world of Thoroughbred racing. That said, I believe this book is a fascinating combination of picures and words that will appeal to a broad range of people.  It offers a glimpse into the world of those of us for whom racing is a passion, perhaps one we question with its long hours of thankless work. It also shares words from those on the other side of the fence – the fans who are in awe of the beauty of these animals, and those who are driven by picking a winner in a sport with a rarely predictable outcome. Saratoga features prominently in many of the stories shared – also being where the photos were shot – and one thing is common among them. The town, the track, is a magical, must-see destination. Will you be joining us next summer?  ☺



View all my reviews

126,121

Back away from the keyboard....

It's not a newsflash that I could go on editing the LGN forever.  This latest edit hacked out a few more words, but really, I know I need to stop.  I know I'm obsessive.  I started to laugh at myself when I was doing the whole add and take away the comma thing.

I think now I just need to come up with a gameplan.  As 126K is still a significant length, I've been pondering if I could divide it into two or three smaller parts.  I mean, George R.R. Martin kind of has a running tale, right?  Ha!  Yes I know there's no comparison.

The self-publishing/e-book route is getting the most consideration in my brain these days.  I am not looking for fame and fortune.  At this point, I really just want to say I've done it. Just like I want to say I've evented.  You know, before I'm 50.  Which means I need to get on it!  That goes for both publishing and eventing.  :-D

Yes I should be painting, which is actually something from which I make money.  Hmm, I need a book cover....

An interesting note....much of what has been hacked is included in this blog, in the very early posts.  So if, down the road, you decide to read the book, and like it, you can always find more bits and pieces here!

Really, Woodbine, What Were You Thinking?

The RCMP at Last Year's Plate

It's Plate Day, and despite plans to be there, I am spending my afternoon watching my horses, painting, and keeping tabs on Horseplayer Interactive.  I'm not a happy camper with WEG at the moment.  Thanks to changes in the media department, I didn't snag a media pass as I have in past years.  The individual who was so kind as to make sure I had a pass in the past, so that I could take photos for paintings, was among the layoffs this year (thank you, Ontario Liberal Government).  The individual I had to deal with instead, has never been the least bit helpful to me at all.  I mean, let's face it, doesn't everyone at least deserve the respect of an answer to an email or phone call?  I really don't care if you've decided I'm a nobody.  If I ran my business that way, well, I'd be working at Tim Horton's or Starbucks because I would have no customers.  Anyway....I could whine and feel sorry for myself for quite a while about this, so I've been trying to distract myself by working on a painting of 2011 Plate winner Inglorious - from my *own* reference photos.  My thanks to that considerate individual, I hope he's got a better job and is doing well.

Anyway....this year, I guess the marketing Powers That Be decided they needed a signature drink for the Plate.  I mean, the Derby has always had the Mint Julep, right?  Trust WEG to be decades behind.   So what do they call this drink?  The Blue Diamond.  Um....what?  Okay.  It is pretty.  What exactly that has to do with the Plate, I have no idea.  Shouldn't it be called the Gold Sovereign?  I think they should have just hired me.  ;-) 

All right....enough griping!  Time to turn on the TV and watch the big race alone in the comfort of my studio.  There haven't been very many Plates I have missed attending in the last 35 years, and if things had come together with my friends, I still would have gone, but I didn't really relish battling the crowd solo when I know I can't get any decent race photos.  I must be getting old!

(Go Nipissing!  I hear it's pouring rain at the moment...at least that no longer affects the track surface...and it will cool things off for the horses!)

Writing for Today's Attention Span

I was pondering this as I was mucking stalls this AM (yes, I do a long of pondering as I do stalls!).  I received the expected response to the query I mentioned the other day - 30K too long.  I have no problem accepting that, and on the one hand I know if I want to pursue writing fiction for publication, my best bet would be to work on another idea, and get it polished for submission.  On the other, I know that to develop the world, characters and story the way I want....well, it's not going to happen in 60,000 words.

After spending the better part of the last year reading George R.R. Martin (Game of Thrones, if you've been living under a rock), I have picked up a couple of quick reads.  Both are by the same author, and labeled "romance/suspense."  Not really my thing, but well, in case you haven't guessed it, the draw was horses, and they're even set at the racetrack.  They have been reasonably entertaining (despite my propensity to pick at the horse details...I've been trying to work on that!)....but I admit I find them superficial, especially after living in the complex world of Game of Thrones. 

Now, I know that's the genre, but it seems when one spends time on blogs and forums reading about aspiring authors vying for agents, all anyone really wants to consider is these light quick reads.  Personally, that's not the kind of book I really enjoy.  Am I in the minority?  I grew up reading J.R.R. Tolkein, Leon Uris, John Irving, James Clavell, Scott Turow - books that required considerable time investment.  I might have read a Dick Francis for fun every now and then, but I relished these epics.  In this world of Twitter, Facebook, and other social media....is epic fiction too hard to sell?

Epic horse fiction....yeah, I know.  Happy reading!   

A Whole New World

So, how long ago was it I said I needed to start sending out queries?  Well....last night I did my first one.  I'm not considering it a real query, because I'm taking advantage of an opportunity presented by a particular agent on her blog.  Not really a perfect fit, but it got me over that hump of just.doing.it.  It has also kicked my butt to start researching agents who may be more appropriate, and thus hopefully I will send out a few more in future.  Today I've been madly re-formatting the manuscript....ahhhhhh.  I should be painting, but it's a rainy afternoon, the ponies are in, and with this writing thing I have to go with the courage when it hits!  Haha!

I have been pondering, again, that at 130,000 words (yes I've actually got it down to that), no one's going to touch it.  As a result I expect I will find a way to self-publish it, not because I expect to make any money from it, but because I think there are a handful of people out there who might enjoy it, and well, I'll be counting on my friends to blog and tweet and FB about it!  We have this thing called the interwebz, we must make it work for us!

In the meantime, I have to laugh.  Sending out that query, I'm ready for a whole new world of rejection!  It's all part of the experience....

Do Something You've Never Done Before

Isn't that supposed to apply to every day? Anyway, I'm not sure I manage that, but a little while ago I was reminded about the Thoroughbred Times Fiction contest, held every two years by the publication. I've always wanted to enter, but as a self-proclaimed failure when it comes to short fiction, I've never managed to put something together. After the last go-round I contemplated adapting an excerpt from my LGN to submit, so when I saw the information pop up this time I figured I might as well have a go. A couple of hours ago, I submitted my entry. Who-hooo! Naturally today was the deadline, though technically I didn't wait till the *very* last minute!

I'm trying not to have expectations, of course, but it would be very cool to place. Perhaps I can garner my little story some attention that will lead to the illusive publication! Or at the very least get me off my behind and do that whole querying thing that I've never even attempted!

Happy New Year!

Oh My Goodness - Done Early!!

When I was in school, I was the queen of the last minute. I did my best work when it was under intense pressure, staying up till some ridiculous hour the night before the lab report or paper was due. I always pulled it off, and got good marks, thus perpetuating the behaviour!

I'm not sure I've really changed that much. It is a surprise, then, that some three days early, I've reached the 50K goal of NaNoWriMo. This is the third year I've participated and met that objective. To be fair, the last two years I was also doing a daily painting project, so in comparison, this year was a breeze! Only the rest of my normal life to contend with!

A good part of why this year's story was easier was because of what I mentioned before - I was using characters and a setting I was familiar with. The main character was new, and the story as well. Even with some of the old characters, it was interesting how - well, one in particular, in this case - surprised me. I wasn't sure she was going to do something, even though she kept talking about it, and then she went and did it. Something got in her way, anyway, though. Sounds like life rearing its head! :-)

Now, perhaps, I'll manage to get back to some painting! I'd better, because well, that's my *real* job, and I'm in desperate need of some new work!

The First Quarter

As a race can have more than four quarters, I'm going with that title even though I'm not a quarter of the way to my wordcount yet! I've hit just over 8200 words, so I'm ahead of the game. ;-) I kind of feel like I'm cheating, because for my story I chose to taken the setting and some of the characters from my LGN (the long-suffering novel that inspired this blog) and throw them twenty years into the future. The main character is new, but many of those around him are old friends.

NaNo lets us upload a book cover, so I decided to do one this year. My NaNo name is Bellarush, if you're wondering! The image comes from one of my paintings.

It's That Time of Year Again!

Forget Hallowe'en, it's almost time for NaNoWriMo again! I have to admit I'm not very prepared this year....not that I ever am! I don't have a great new idea...so I'm just going to be playing around with something. We'll see how it goes.

I was just checking into the site and see my 'win' from last year wasn't recorded. I must not have validated it properly or something. For all I know, I completely forgot to validate it! Oh well...what can you do!

Who's in??

Do Me A Favour, Would You Tell Me When to Stop, Because I Don't Know How to Quit...

132,747.

I really never thought I'd get the wordcount on this longsuffering novel that low! Still long, by publishing standards...though once again I sit with three paperbacks on my headboard that are all greater than 150K...though only one is a first novel.

The thing is...I can be a bit competitive. In this case, with myself. Now that I've gone through and hacked an amazing number of words, I want to start all over at Chapter One, see if I can hack some more, because I'm sure as I got closer to the end, I became more ruthless. Of course, I should probably read through the silly thing once more anyway, to make sure it's still coherent!

I have to admit this week I've been trying to be realistic. If I'm *smart* I will try to write a novel of more appealing length, query that, try and get it published - put this one on the shelf. Chances of getting a book that "breaks the rules" published are much greater when it's not a writer's first attempt. My problem is, it's taken me much of my life so far to write this thing...what makes me think I have something else in me?

Oh well...maybe I'm like the perpetual student...destined to be a perpetual closet novelist! Off to dust one of my NaNoWriMo projects to try to prove myself wrong.

(My apologies to Switchfoot for the title, inspired by lyrics from "Playing for Keeps!")

So...Are Rules Really Made to be Broken?

Okay....is this close enough to a Vampire? Especially now that he's registered as Bat Out of Hades? :-D

I'm kind of excited, because I have the good old LGN down to 153K, and I told myself I'd be happy if I made it to 155K. Some of the trimming is good, I'm sure - it makes for much tighter writing - I just hope I haven't messed anything up in the process. Then, of course, I decide it's time to read Twilight - mostly since a few months ago both my sister-in-law and best friend/fellow writer said I should - and discover it's so many pages, apparently they stopped numbering! Seriously, the paperback I have from the library isn't numbered right to the end, so I don't really know how many pages it has. Five hundred, maybe? Either way, it's much longer than everything you read a YA novel should be in order to get published, at least for first-time authors. And guess what? This is a debut novel. Just goes to show, I guess, if you catch the right agent and/or publisher's eye, it can happen.

Someday I will write a YA novel. My last NaNoWriMo stint was an attempt at that. Problem is, there are no vampires, zombies or wizards. I wonder if I just gave all the horses names like that, if it would improve my chances?

Pruning, or Amputation?

In my quest to decrease my word count, I hacked out most of an early chapter, removing a whole event. That was hard, but I had to ask myself, was that section really necessary? How much did it add to the storyline? In my first draft, that part wasn't there - I'd added it to add some conflict and expand on some characters, but if you didn't know it had been there, would you miss it?

The joy of things these days is we have the internet. I don't know how many novels I've read where I wished I could read more, I just liked the characters so much. So why not post some of the cut sections on the blog? When you buy a movie on DVD these days, you inevitably get cut scenes.

I've been thinking about Saratoga this past week, trying to start planning the annual trek. So perhaps a little clip making reference to the Spa would be appropriate.

Lise glanced over to where her parents stood with the winning owners. She and Emilie had come with Claude and Anne, and Lise knew they didn’t plan on staying long. “We’ll probably have to go soon.”

“Oh, stick around for a bit. The way you’re skyrocketing to stardom, how often are we going to see each other from now on? Dean and I could drive you back. You too, Em.”

“I really should go with them,” Lise said. “I’m heading back to New York in the morning.”

“Yeah, and you probably don’t have to get up half as early as you normally would, so I’m not buying that excuse. But I guess it’s good to know New York hasn’t corrupted you, when I couldn’t.”

“You should come down for a weekend,” Lise said.

“Now that would be fun – if I could afford it.”

“Saratoga!” Emilie chimed in. “Road trip!”

“You’re sixteen, Em!” Lise said.

“So? You’re eighteen. And Faye’s just twenty, so she’s not even legal down there.”

Faye was looking thoughtful. “I might have to work on that.”

Lise felt a twinge of regret as she looked out from the back seat of her father’s Jag when he drove out of the backstretch, aware she was once more leaving the comfort of Woodbine behind. It was odd to feel like a visitor, making such a short stay. Tomorrow, it was back to Belmont. In three short weeks she had achieved renown there, but she still felt out of place. Before her string of winners in New York, she’d been a spectacle – a woman in a man’s game, Canadian, and the daughter of a major owner in her home country. Now, though she may have been forgiven some of those things, the scrutiny had only escalated. She hadn’t anticipated this part of her chosen career, and couldn’t imagine ever getting used to the public aspect of her inadvertent popularity.

164K

Well, it would appear I still have some work to do in the ruthless editing department. Wasn't that a show, the $164,000 Question? Am I really dating myself here? Naturally there is not $164,000 at stake here; not for me, anyway. I knew I wasn't going to make my goal of 150K...there just wasn't much I could hack away in the last two chapters, so it's back to square one. I did, however, write what I think is a rather nifty potential query letter. Ironically it's quite short and concise. Is that false advertising?

I have to admit these last few days - despite the warm temps and lovely sunshine - I've been in a "why bother?" sort of mood. My time would be better spent painting. Except that when I paint I feel more or less the same, and think I'm better off just working with the horses, because that I can sort of do, and they seem to actually appreciate it! All except for my own mare, that is! Ungrateful child....

"Good to know you have the whole hotwalker thing to fall back on..."

Fifteen for Fifteen

Anyone with an eye on the horse racing game has probably watched Zenyatta's 2010 debut in yesterday's Santa Margarita Handicap. I like to store bits and pieces of races in my head for future reference, to perhaps use in some scene somewhere along the line. From a strict racing perspective, I thought Smith's ride was kind of dramatic – did he really have to go inside and weave through horses like that? He said he didn't want to "tax" her; was the wild steering job really easier on her than a straight run on the outside? He never hit her, so I think it's safe to say she would have had enough to go around horses. From a fiction perspective, well, that race was great. The kind of ride Lise would have smacked Pete up the side of the head for. ;-)

"You never should have got caught between those two horses."
"What was I supposed to do? Take her down the middle of the racetrack?"
"Anything would have been better than getting yourself in that position."
"I should have let her set the pace."
"Either way, it worked out. You pulled it off."

Zenyatta is now on a 15 for 15 undefeated streak, one away from equaling the record shared by two of racing's greats: Citation and Cigar. For me, I'm having a "life imitates art" momment, because I've written this exact scenario in my novel. Maybe I'm feeling a little robbed, or maybe it serves me right for languishing over this story for so long that it's not out there yet! It's ironic that if it ever is published, readers will no doubt think I've borrowed from events in the last few years – bits here and there – when in fact, the storyline has been in place for (gulp) a couple of decades.

Meanwhile...the ruthless editing continues. I'm at chapter twenty of twenty-five, and down to 170,000 words. If I can get it to 150,000 when all is said and done, I think I'll be doing well, but whether or not that will still scare off agents remains to be seen! Wish me luck...

Just When You Think It's Not Going to Happen...

This time last week, I was pretty sure I was throwing in the towel on NaNo this time around. I had far too much ground to make up, and far to much other stuff to do...and far too many unexpected real-life twists were preventing me from maintaining my normal schedule. Friday I was scheduled for a gallery sit at our FASM gallery in the Milton Mall, where I'm taking part in a show this month. If I was going to have a shot at getting to that 50K, I needed Friday's four hour stint at the gallery to be productive! We weren't talking the 1,667 words a day needed to maintain a steady pace throughout the month, I needed to put out 5,000 words a day to make it there on time.

Lucky for me...I hit my stride. I kind of had to throw my MC into a bit of trouble, and that revived the story enough to let me really roll. And it's not polished, nowhere near perfect, but last night I was close enough to actually making the total ahead of schedule, that I pushed and wasn't going to be happy unless I made it. It wasn't as late a night as the one before, when I was up for the same reason - trying to get those words down as fast as I could! So sometime after midnight last night, I plugged my copy into the word verifier on NaNo, and finally...FINALLY! got the fireworks. Okay, so they're not like the fireworks we saw in Dubai. In fact, they're pretty static as far as fireworks go. But considering I thought I was a goner, to be done, and done *early*...wow, that felt good.

And I like this story better than last year's. This one has more potential. It's somewhere in between the LGN and last year's effort when it comes to storyline. Not quite a rags to riches horse racing plot, but something like that. It might merit some actual attention to see if I've got something there. And while I was sort of hoping it would fit the YA genre, I'm not sure it worked out that way.

The one thing I did with this story was write in a tense I absolutely never thought I'd write in. I've never been a fan of first person present - maybe there's another name for it, but I hope you know what I mean:

“Why don’t you just try him with your other mare here? You never know. She’s got lots of milk, and she’s pretty laid back, isn’t she?” Ben, our vet, says.

Dad nods, slowly, but I can tell he’s skeptical. It’s a little too much like Disney. He glances at me, and I shrug.

“Kinda don’t have anything to lose,” I say. Stranger things have happened. Like having two foals to deal with in the first place.

I think I maybe ended up enjoying it. It's kind of how I tell my informal stories, like if I was relating something that happened out in the barn. And now, of course, everything I write (such as this blog post) sounds a lot like that!

Who knows, maybe I'll go back to the beginning and start reading and hate the whole thing. Or maybe there's hope. We'll see!

Almost on Track

I've had a kind of up-and-down first week with this NaNo thing. With everything else that's going on right now - three art shows starting up, a horse to ride, commissions to do, on top of my usual responsibilities - I fell behind pretty quickly on my word count. Then on Friday this cold virus that I'd somehow been able to avoid finally caught up with me. The interesting this is, all I seem to be able to manage with the cold is - well, the horses of course, because I have no choice - then writing. I'm not quite caught up, but I'm pretty close, and hope today I will get there. I'm envisioning a Zenyatta-like run here: a bit of a poor start, hanging back, watching the others race ahead, then finally starting to move up, heroically weaving through traffic, and then hitting with a powerful turn-of-foot mid-stretch to gallop on by...hmm, nice analogy, don't you think?

I'm certainly at the point in this novel WIP that I have to get things moving. I've laid a foundation of sorts, spent lots of time in the MCs head, and now I need to pick it up a bit. It's the point when I realize, hey, 50,000 words isn't a lot...especially for someone like me who would really prefer to write an epic! I'm not sure it will ever be the kind of novel anyone else will want to read, and seeing as there are no vampires or zombies or wizards, probably not destined to be popular YA fare...but I'm having fun all the same. I think I'm indulging the inner wise-cracking teenager in me...the one that never really went away!

Uh-Oh - It's Almost November Again!

I've perhaps been floundering around in the writing department of late. If you follow my studio/horse blog at all, you'll know we've been through some tough times on the farm, and that always knocks me off my game a little. It's also been busy for me in the art world, but more with admin stuff - not a lot of painting going on, and a list of commissions to get rolling!

I failed to achieve my goal of continuing to work through that poor LGN (aka 'Fifty Sovereigns,' the novel to which this blog is dedicated!) and hacking the word count - I'm about halfway through that task. That of course means I haven't bravely queried. Yet. Or just skipped that and self-published. Last night, however, I did complete the first revision of 'the sequel' just to be doing something. If I'm true to my usual M.O., there are many more before I deem it "done!" I actually think it's just because I like to 'visit' with my characters, make their lives difficult, and miss them when I'm not around!

I'm going to attempt NaNoWriMo again this year. I haven't looked at what I wrote last year since I finished it - some things need some time to sit and stew a bit! One day I'll start a rewrite. I actually managed to come up with a new idea for this year, which I think I like a lot better. Now I just have to make it into a novel! I'm thinking about trying to make it a YA - I think the LGN is bordering on that, except for the length. If it ever gets published, it will be the horse-crazy teenagers (and older!) that are most drawn to it.

So...the countdown begins! At least this year I'm not attempting to do a painting a day as well!

Boldly go!

Ruthless Editing

Last week I went through every computer-owners worst nightmare - especially as it falls into the category of "I should know better!" My computer died. I am usually pretty diligent about backing up, but for the last while my backup drive has been a little flakey. A poor excuse, I know, but with the insanity the real life horses in my life have been throwing at me lately, I just didn't manage to get out to remedy that situation. And I really didn't acknowledge the subtle cues my little MacBook was throwing my way that suggested something might soon go awry....

Long story short...my hard drive had a meltdown, taking with it my most recent photographs (including the Queen's Plate) and editing of the 'sequel' to Fifty Sovereigns. Ouch. My tech friend has not given up entirely on the data recovery, but a week later, it's hard to be optimistic. I will be pleading with other photographers if I want to paint the Plate winner this year, and the writing, well, there's only one answer to that. Do it again! Sigh.

In the meantime, I decided to go back to this "LGN" of mine and take a stab at reducing my horrendous word count, so that at the very least, I won't be totally embarrassed when I start querying. Though I'm not sure how far I can take it, and if ultimately, I will be looking at going the self-publishing route (bleh!) I've decided either way, I will query, for the sake of experience. I have some experience when it comes to rejection, from my life as an artist. I've received the odd rejection letter from juried exhibitions. Thankfully I've received my share of acceptances too, though I'm not going to hold my breath for such a response when it comes to the writing world. Whole different ballgame, that.

So...that's where I am. I'm hoping to push through this rewrite/edit before my trip to Saratoga at the end of the month, and then look at forging ahead with some queries come September. August will have to be devoted to some painting, with a couple of very big gigs coming up in that department. I may post some of what gets cut from the novel on here, so that it will live on, somewhere! It's hard to let go...but it must be done!