Thanks for the Feedback!

I just finished listening to the audiobook of Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well by Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen. I thought they did a great job reading it. It was engaging and kept my attention through the information and the voices.

While it would have been more useful when I was a manager, the elements apply to many aspects of life—including working with friends and family as well as colleagues. I also liked that it had a practical, actionable side. The tools they offer are useful and I do recommend the book!

Giving feedback is pretty much at the heart of what I do. And over the years I’ve had to learn to temper the ways to give feedback/critique that will let the concerns reach the author as well as stay true to my own style. After working with authors over many books I discover the shortcuts of how they prefer to hear the news—by phone first, by a short email, by detailed notes—and how they want to address the work.

When starting a project with new authors, it’s important to lay out the options and make it clear what the goals are. And even though I do my best, it's true that sometimes the deliverable doesn’t match the expectations of the author. Then further negotiation might begin as I try to understand what the author really wanted.

The heart of Thanks is all about communication and the responsibility of both parties to ask questions and make sure you’re listening to (even more than just “hearing”) both sides of the discussion. It explains coaching, evaluation, and appreciation; how we need all three elements at various times; and the importance of understanding which is being delivered; along with which you are hearing. Sending/hearing mixed signals won’t help you improve.

Making your end goals clear (lining out the responsibilities of the editor), delivering on those goals, and then talking through any questions or concerns is an essential rhythm in the process of a critique.  And the fun part can be the discussion afterward!

This is a book I’m going to have to listen to again (actually, for me it might have been better in print for notes, but a second listen might help things sink in), and I’m going to look for the Difficult Conversations, which the authors also wrote.

I hope others get a chance to read/listen to this. And I do hope that the next time I receive feedback I take the time to understand the intent of the giver--and think about what is useful to me.

Now on to the next title!

A dog's life...

I was having dinner with my niece this evening, and she’d overheard a discussion about my lack of blogging/updating the site.

After showing her the site she was delighted to see her old calendar had appeared on it. She also wanted to see something new—and about dogs. 😊

She has a gorgeous (cute, handsome, smart and many other adjectives) silver lab named Beau and wanted a picture of him here.  So meet Beau! (as a puppy)

But it did remind me that I’ve had to research something about dogs a couple of times this year. When do you capitalize the breed name or not?

For some it’s easy—if it has a place name (German shepherd, Yorkshire terrier, Afghan hound) the location is capitalized, the generic (beagle, poodle, spaniel) is lowercased.

Mostly it’s simple, but funnily enough, I get stuck on Labrador retriever a lot! In the full name it is capitalized, but what to do about Lab? I’ve looked this up multiple times on multiple sites giving multiple explanations before finally printing myself a note. 😊  

It’s a Lab!

After NINC conference...

Despite being a strong introvert, I do love going to conferences. I can geek out, share enthusiasms, learn things, teach things, get advice, give advice and talk about books and craft and writing for hours at a time! And then retreat and not talk to anyone for a few days (normally that is, won't be going that path this week!).

With NINC (Novelists, Inc), I come back with action plans, larger goals, lists and more!

I'll be working through a number of them over the next weeks, and will share as I get organized. 

But one of the points/plans/goals was to share more here! Tips and advice and struggles and good things. So I'm going to try to do that a little more often.

Hopefully,it will help others as well as let me organize my thoughts.

And yes, even though the picture above from yesterday shows a moment of relaxation, I did get a bunch of work done and am getting on track for the week with lists and plans and more things to do...

Thanks to all who shared knowledge and good words!

Enjoy!

The Strength of the Pack...

I went with a friend to see the new Jungle Book movie today and I’m not sure how I feel about it. Actually, I should probably wait till nephews have seen it and ask their thoughts! :)

For now, we both thought the imagery stunning and the CGI wonderful. It was hard to believe it was all greenscreen, shot in studio! There seemed to be depth and distance and I thought the kid must have run for days to get all those scenes and leaps and twists in. Neel Seethi (the young boy) did a good job pulling us into the story and reacting to the animals. (We were a bit torn on that—my friend liked him more than I did!) I was especially impressed to see shadows moving over him as the CGI animals walked by.

And the voices were also appealing and effective in their various personas. Idris Elba and Bill Murray in particularly conveyed menace and a lazy intensity as needed! And as soon as Christopher Walken started up we just sat back to enjoy the performance.

But we were both torn by the pulling in of the previous songs. The new visuals emphasized the power of the natural world, the animals and the tensions there. Despite the fact the animals talked and didn't eat each other, it seemed "realistic." Then came the songs. Both “The Bare Necessities” (which I still want to be the Bear Necessities!) and “I Want To Be Like You” were lifted straight from the musical cartoon version that I remember from long ago. How did they fit in with the overall mood that was being shown until then? I’m not sure they worked for me.

Overall, though, even if I got swept into the visuals, what was new to this story? What will make it more memorable for the new generation? What was the new spin? Despite a few changes, I didn't feel there was anything new uncovered.

In some ways it reminds me of when an author tries to pull in too many ideas to the story. “It’s going to be vivid and strong and dark! But I need these funny bits to make readers interested. And these romantic bits to keep some other readers.  Oh, and I need to put some explanation here. And this is just nice writing so I want to keep it.”

Sometimes putting all those aspects together can work and make the story truly compelling.

However, I do feel that more often than not it gives a disconnected feeling so that readers can’t settle into the story as a whole but instead get swept from emotion to conflict to setting and back to another element. Sometimes I want to tell authors first to trust the story they are telling to bring them to the end, and then work to figure out if all the elements are necessary.

Still, it was a good way to spend a Monday--even one where the sun was actually out and the day was getting to be a lovely spring one! :)

Enjoy!

Some favorite OldSchool Romances...

While at the Washington Romance Writers Retreat this past week I was on a panel with Sarah MacLean, Monique Patterson and Patience Bloom about why those old, crazy, awesome titles were unforgettable and how it's hard to get them now.

I don't think we quite resolved why it isn't as common now (though some argued it was, just not as always discoverable or done as well!). Still, the words that came out were Primal, Intense, Cohesive, Alpha, and we want more. 

Anyway, my list isn't really comprehensive--it's just some of my favorites that I read in the 1970s and 1980s.  If you know of any others, do feel free to add them!  And I'm not swearing they'd all hold up. But still, I think I'm going to have to re-read The Tiger's Woman again at least... :) 

Old school Romance Authors

Celeste DeBlasis – Tiger’s Woman, Proud Breed, Wild Swans

Mary Stewart – This Rough Magic, Airs Above the Ground, My Brother Michael,

Madeline Brent – Tregaron’s Daughter, Moonraker’s Bride, Merlin’s Keep (and Modesty Blaise!)

Georgette Heyer – Fredericka, The Grand Sophy, The Masqueraders, The Devil’s Cub

Sergeanne Golon – Angelique

Elizabeth Peters/Barbara Michaels – Amelia Peabody, Jacqueline Kirby, Vicky Bliss & more!

Taylor Caldwell – The Romance of Atlantis, Melissa,

                                    Grandmother & the Priests, The Listener, Dear & Glorious Physician

M.M. Kaye – Far Pavilions & the Death in series

Victoria Holt - Shivering Sands, The Night of the Seventh Moon, The Pride of the Peacock

Laura Kinsale – Flowers from the Storm, Prince of Midnight, 

Eva Ibbotson – A Countess Below Stairs, Magic Flutes, A Company of Swans

Jayne Aiken Hodge – Marry in Haste, Savannah Purchase, Red Sky at Night,

Anya Seton – My Theodosia, Dragonwyck, Green Fires

LaVyrle Spencer – Hummingbird, Twice Loved

Elizabeth Pope - Perilous Gard, Sherwood Ring (a touchYA)

Eleanor Farjeon – Silver Slippers, The Curlew, Martin Pippin

Just re-reading this means I might have to be searching my shelves again for these and others....

Happy reading to you all!

The WRW Retreat was loads of fun!

I always come back from a conference both exhausted in mind and energized in spirit. Being around women (and those few men!) who love books, writing, creative outbursts, laughter, and interactions just makes me smile. Even just writing about it was fun!

Some favorite things from this Washington Romance Writers Retreat weekend...

Mindy Klasky wasn't there for the weekend but did come to the lunch. And it was wonderful to see her recognized with an award, and also get to spend time just talking about careers, new house, books, and opportunities. I loved working with her, and am delighted to see her enthusiasm and career doing so well!

Mary Blayney and I (and a group of others!) got to geek out about our love for Lois McMaster Bujold and argue over where to start others on reading them! :) 

I got to eat two meals with Sarah Morgan and listen to her heartfelt and emotional speech about "making the moments count" in your books and in your lives. She was inspiring and wonderful and loads of fun!

I don't believe I had ever said more than "hi!" to Laura Reeth before, but now I do feel as though I know her a bit! She taught me some more about Instagram (so beware world!) and now I have to find the time to take some more photography courses. Maybe that one in Ireland.... :) 

I also did a wonderful panel with Sarah MacLean (my second panel with her I think!), Monique Patterson  and Patience Bloom (and a train ride with her!) on Old School Romances (i.e crazyawesome titles from the 70s and 80s and more). I came down with my list of favorites and added a few more to it. I think I'll post the list another day!

There were great workshops --even if Sarah MacLean's were standing room only!--and I liked Maria Geraci's talk on characterization. 

It was fun to meet up with authors I knew before like Geri Krotow and Heidi Hormel as well as new ones!

The Romance Jeopardy was great! I got co-opted on to the Miss Fisher's Flappers (a 20s theme carried out very creatively by all the groups), and wore my short black wig with pizazz I think! :) Our team didn't win (it was unfair! and Sarah MacLean got bruised!) but The Legend and the others who ran the parade were lots of fun. And superorganizer Diane Kowalyshyn made the whole retreat feel smooth and organized! 

I had a great conversation with agents Danielle Barthel, and Shira Hoffman heading to the conference (thanks Lisa Fontaine for driving us!).

And loads of fun passing by NSA and going in to Fort Meade and eating pie with Kim Lowe when heading back to the train on Sunday! 

And thanks for all those members who were welcoming, friendly, good conversationalists at meals and volunteered their work! Stephanie, Lauralynn (sp?), Sharon, Gabriel, Diane, Barb, Merry, Taylor, Tanya, Angele, Tara, Mary and everyone else whose name I've forgotten! 

I'm feeling energized and exhausted still, but eager to see what's next!

Thanks, Washington Romance Writers, and now I know why everyone wants to keep coming back! :)

Computer problems can ruin your month...

About a month ago my computer started acting up. You all know how it goes, first it reboots in the middle of a sentence, then it does it twice a day, the blue screen starts showing up and so on.

So you do the usual stuff--check disk, search for malware, delete unused programs, empty recycle bin, and try to tidy things up a bit. And, of course, make sure that you've got everything backed up while you still have a working computer! :) 

And then the day when it doesn't turn on and you get that sinking feeling. Yes, I have a laptop as backup, but I love my dual screens and comfortable chair and ability to have notes and edits up and about and surrounding me!

I ended up getting a semi-new desktop computer (my tech guys couldn't quite figure out my problem) and now I'm in the battle of setting up the desktop and personalizations. 

Even though I'd backed up data, I'd forgotten to get pictures of my ribbon setups in Word and Excel, and StartUp and Desktop personalizations and stuff. 

So here's my advice to you all:

Back up! Use Dropbox or other programs, back up your important pictures and music and be ready for the worst!

Change your automatic backups in Word to every minute if you can! Just it case...

Check out saving your favorites in the menus on Google and Internet Explorer toolbars

Take a picture of any personalizations you made so you can remember how to put them back that way!

Make a list of the programs you've downloaded and use often (or rarely). Update it when you can. That way you can re-install them all at once. 

And if at all possible make sure you have a spare computer, laptop or desktop, because when you've got projects due you'll need to be able to keep working!

What else do you recommend? Any favorite tips or tricks to make sure you can keep on working?

Now to go back to hooking up those speakers....

It's a new year!

Scheduling in the New Year…

My six-year-old niece knows the importance of scheduling—who’s going to get her from school, when the practices, games, parties are, and when she gets overnights at her grandparents. In fact, she’s so on top of scheduling that she creates her own monthly schedule for her American Girl dolls as to when they can spend the day and sleepover with Granddad (apparently my dad is the most trusted of all the grandparents with the "kids," which is a bit of a surprise to my mom!). She also makes up daily lists of what they can eat and when they can nap and so on.

And with the new year, I’m once more inspired to try out the latest variations of my own schedule. I have the wall calendar, the dry erase three-month calendar, the Wunderlist, the electronic calendar and more. Each has its benefits and detractions. The Wunderlist and electronic calendar can give me nudges, but the visual aspect of seeing my next three months planned out on the wall calendar can’t be denied.

Still, I’ve also begun creating a one sheet paper (still so versatile and useful!) of all the projects I’m expected to do for the month with the goals for each day, to make sure things get done. It’s the most portable, goes from laptop to desktop and apartment to library to family, and gets the most battered, but so far it’s working out best of the various things I’ve tried.

Inevitably things will fall by the wayside, but that’s the beauty of a schedule. It can be erased, adjusted, tweaked and even tossed when it doesn’t work. There’s always a new app, a new pad, a new list to be made.

And you know? As long as there are enough things to fill up that calendar/schedule/app, I’ll make it work!

Do you have any favorite apps or methods of juggling your work/writing with your regular life?

Enjoy the new year!

Friday photo - a new year...

I know some have flowers all year round, but truly, not so here in NYC! So I was took joy to see these flowers blooming on New Year's Day as I walked through the park.

On the one hand, I'd like to say that we need to take it as a lesson to celebrate and grow, and show our strengths when the weather favors us, and to prepare and consolidate when it's unfavorable, until we shine again. On the other hand, the perseverance needed to bloom even when it's bad out is something to be admired.

So maybe I should just forget wondering about a lesson and enjoy the beauty and grace of roses blooming long beyond the season and making people stop and smile.

Have a wonderful year in whatever you do! :) 

Friday Photos - Fall is coming!

Fall is my favorite season. I admit I love the flowers of spring more, and the potential and greenery and blooms of spring. But there really isn't anything nicer than a vivid fall day when the leaves are turning, the sky is that incredible fall blue, and there's a freshness to the day just after the rain. 

So here's a memory of a beautiful fall day that was just perfect for walking outside!