Birthdays - Janet Lane Walters

 Some people wonder why I chose to do my blogs here on the 17th of each month. That's because my birthday falls in that day so the date is easy to remember. Remembering things easier is a blessing when the years begin to creep up on you. Actually, they don't really creep. They hit like a frieght train and all those little things you used to do become difficult and even impossible.

I do try to avoid this by telling people I'm only a day older than I was yesterday. Works for me but leaves them scratching their heads.

So here I am another day older. Next time I'm back, I'll write something about creating worlds either contemporary, historical or fantasy. After all we're writers and are in the business of drawing readers
into other worlds

The poor pangolin

Hellllooooo (sing-song, soprano voice). How are you enjoying the summer so far? Hot enough? I live in the country north of Toronto and it is hot. 48 Celsius with the humidity. It feels like the Sahara desert and a Florida mangrove swamp all rolled into one. Thank God for air conditioning!

I’ve been quite busy these last few weeks, promoting and marketing and then marketing some more, my newly released book, The Twisted Climb. It’s been a yo-yo kind of experience, just like my sales numbers. I’m trying to ‘sell’ the eBook as hard/soft as I can to friends and family but so many of them say, “I’ll wait until the paperback version is published.”

How do you politely tell them not to be a cheap tard? That’s my polite version: tard without the bas in front of it. I mean, for under four bucks, you can enjoy the results of one year’s work. That’s a bargain, isn’t it? Please - if you have any suggestions about how to politely sway these tards, I’d love to hear from you. Your comments and thoughts are appreciated and welcomed!

Before I change the subject, I have to say something about the cover designer for Books We Love, Michelle Lee. Her work is outstanding. The Twisted Climb (pictured here) is in the young adult genre and Michelle’s selection for font and character representation is absolutely spot-on. The book contains drama, suspense, fantasy and paranormal events and the cover is a perfect reflection of that. Michelle Lee, you rock!

In my last blog, I talked about the pangolin, the only scale-covered mammal in the world. They are a slow-moving creature, covered in scales similar in composition to human nails, and without teeth. Without teeth? Yup. They have a tongue that begins somewhere in the abdomen and, depending on the species of pangolin (there are eight), it can extend up to two feet. Now don’t be thinking naughty things all you romance writers. Pangolins only eat ants and termites. Teeth are not required.

Unfortunately, the pangolin is on the endangered species list because they are being eaten to extinction through illegal trading/selling in underground black markets. Sad but true. In many third world countries, and under the guise of medicinal/quackery black magic, pangolins are slaughtered by the thousands. Some say that eating baby pangolins will enhance virility, prevent hair loss and eliminate migraines. Others say that grinding pangolin scales will enhance virility, prevent hair loss, cure dandruff and a multitude of other nonsensical conditions. In reality, pangolin meat and scales do nothing to enhance the human body. The truth is that continuous slaughtering of the pangolin will only augment the ignorant traditions and will ultimately result in the extinction of the species. Personally, I say no to that.

I’ve written a series of five children’s pictures books about these gentle creatures (still on the hunt for a publisher). It is my great hope that these books will place the pangolin in a new light, one where they are appreciated and not viewed as a black market quackery by-product.

J.C. Kavanagh

The Twisted Climb

author.j.c.kavanagh@gmail.com

www.facebook.com/j.c.kavanagh.com

Rejections!

Oh the pain of being rejected! Almost every author has experienced rejection: from literary agents, publishers and editors. Many are cringe-worthy. And if you let it, they can affect your self-confidence. But being rejected happens to every writer, even best-selling ones. Here are a few famous rejections of well-known works:

"Overwhelmingly nauseating, even to an enlightened Freudian...the whole thing is an unsure cross between hideous reality and improbable fantasy. It often becomes a wild neurotic daydream… I recommend that it be buried under a stone for a thousand years." - Lolita by Valdimir Nabukov

"The girl doesn't, it seems to me, have a special perception or feeling which would lift that book above the 'curiosity' level." The Dairy of Anne Frank by Anne Frank

"First, we must ask, does it have to be a whale? While this is a rather delightful, if somewhat esoteric, plot device, we recommend an antagonist with a more popular visage among the younger readers. For instance, could not the Captain be struggling with a depravity towards young, perhaps voluptuous, maidens?" – Moby Dick by Herman Melville

"For your own sake, do not publish this book." - Lady Chatterley's Lover by DH Lawrence

“Do you realise, young woman, that you're the first American writer ever to poke fun at sex" -

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos

“You’re welcome to le Carré – he hasn’t got any future." - A fantastically incorrect prediction by one publisher, sent to his colleague, upon turning down The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John Le Carre

"We are not interested in science fiction which deals with negative utopias. They do not sell." -

Carrie by Stephen King

“I am only one, only one, only one. Only one being, one at the same time. Not two, not three, only one. Only one life to live, only sixty minutes in one hour. Only one pair of eyes. Only one brain. Only one being. Being only one, having only one pair of eyes, having only one time, having only one life, I cannot read your M.S. three or four times. Not even one time. Only one look, only one look is enough. Hardly one copy would sell here. Hardly one. Hardly one." - Letter to Gertrude Stein after receiving one of her manuscripts in 1912.

"If I may be frank, Mr. Hemingway — you certainly are in your prose — I found your efforts to be both tedious and offensive. You really are a man’s man, aren’t you? I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that you had penned this entire story locked up at the club, ink in one hand, brandy in the other." - The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway.

So how to handle rejection? In an interview, Beck McDowell, author of the YA thriller, THIS IS NOT A DRILL, says, “Don’t let the rejection get to you. Don’t take it personally. Keep writing. If one book doesn’t sell, get busy writing another one. Process is more important than product; your efforts are never wasted when you’re teaching yourself to write. Read great books like King’s ON WRITING and Lamott’s BIRD BY BIRD. Read constantly in your genre, marking passages that impress you and studying those that don’t measure up. Attend local and regional writers conferences to hear what agents, publisher, and other authors have to say. Read everything you can find online about making those first few pages sing, researching agents and writing a query letter. But keep going. Keep writing. Keep dreaming. Keep hoping. Break a plate, make a wish, and start a new chapter – in your life and in your work.”

Mohan Ashtakala is author of “The Yoga Zapper –A Novel,” a fantasy novel published by Books We Love.