What’s a Nice Girl Like Me Doing Writing in a Genre Like This?
Posted: July 11, 2016 Filed under: Books, Fiction, Stories, Western, Writing | Tags: Delilah, I Had to Do It, Kaye Lynne Booth, Western, Writing 2 Comments
I recently sold I Had to Do It, a flash fiction story of the western flavor, to Zetetic: A Record of Unusual Inquiry. And of course, my regular readers know I’ve written a western novel, Delilah, as well, for which I’m diligently seeking a publisher at present. It might seem that I am leaning toward becoming a western writer, and I’ll admit, I do enjoy writing western.
But I’m an eclectic kind of gal by nature. My palate savors many cuisines, although I’m partial to Oriental and Latino foods. I listen to various genres of music, being heavy on the rock, but also enjoying metal, hip hop, country, pop, and even classical. I watch a wide range of movie genres, as well. On that same note, I read most of the genres, and seek opportunities to try genres that are new to me, but horror has always been my favorite. In fact, in 2012, when I began my M.F.A. in Creative Writing program at Western State Colorado University, western was one of the few genres which I hadn’t read.
In that first class, the first thing my instructor asked was, “In what genre do you usually write?” I considered the short stories I had written to date, many of which, I wasn’t sure what genre they fell into. The only experience I’d had with western was 850 words worth, I Had to Do It, and it hadn’t sold. But the idea was for us to write outside of our comfort zones, and western was the genre I was assigned for my first excerpt.
I’m not sure why I didn’t think I would like writing westerns. I’m a native of Colorado and proud of that, but I’ve never been a cowgirl per se. I enjoy western films. Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns are the best, but Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and The Quick and the Dead are right up there, too. But as I said, I hadn’t really read much in the western genre. But then, I wrote the excerpt for Delilah. After that first semester, revising my excerpt according to the feedback from my instructor and my cohorts, I started thinking that I might not be too bad at writing in the western genre. Three years and several rewrites later, Delilah is a story I’m rather proud of. The rejections do sting a bit, but I’m confident that if I endeavor to persevere and keep submitting it, eventually it will land with the right publisher, and it will be accepted. And if not, well, there’s always independent publishing. Delilah is a good story, and it’s well written, and I want very much to be able to share it with the world. One way or another, I will get the book published.
And yes, there will probably be other westerns in my future. I seem to have a knack for it, at least, so I’ve been told. I already have an idea for a western romance, although romance is another genre I never thought I’d find myself writing. I guess we’ll see.
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What Ever Happened to Heather Hummingbird?
Posted: March 25, 2016 Filed under: Children's Books, Stories, Writing | Tags: Children's Books, Ethan Eagle, Heather Hummingbird, Kaye Lynne Booth, Publishing, Writing 5 Comments
There are some of you who have been following my writing endeavors for some years. If you’re among that crowd, you’ll remember when I announced I had a publisher for one of the books in the My Backyard Friends series of children’s stories. I was very excited and proud to broadcast on the book’s progress at the time, but I haven’t mentioned Heather Hummingbird for quite a while now. It dawned on me the other day that there are many of you who were waiting for the release of the book. I even had a list of pre-orders in anticipation of it. You deserve an explanation as to what happened to Heather, so let me tell you what happened.
All through my limited writing career, I have done things on my own. A negative experience as an undergrad turned me away from a major in English that would have sent me down the path to becoming a writer the right way, and I got a major in Psychology, which I’ve never really found a use for instead. And when I first set out to be a writer, I failed miserably, because I couldn’t afford the submission process via snail mail, which is all there was back then. Yeah, I’m an old lady.
But the development of the Internet changed all that, opening up opportunities for writers that didn’t exist previously, and I began writing a series of children’s stories with animal and bird characters based on the creatures that visited the backyard of my Colorado mountain home on a daily basis. I met an illustrator online. She’d become a member of a social writing site, called Writer’s World, which I was administrator of. She offered me a very affordable deal to illustrate that first book, Heather Hummingbird Makes a New Friend, with beautiful handcrafted illustrations. I immediately fell in love with the cover illustration she produced, and down the road, she arranged for the publisher she worked for to offer me a contract.
Now you see why I was excited? I thought that was the best stroke of luck to ever hit me. I had a publisher fresh out of the gate. I was ecstatic. I spread the good news across all of my social networks, announcing to the world that Heather Hummingbird was coming. Little did I know, I had embarked on a nightmarish fiasco into the world of publishing.
When the publishing date the following year came and went, and nothing happened, they said it had been pushed back. And it was pushed back again and again for the next two years, each time I broadcast to my friends and readers the updated release date. But I wasn’t hearing anything from the publisher or the illustrator. She’d sent me three illustrations and the cover, but that was it. Nothing more was forthcoming, and no explanations.
If I wanted to know what was going on with my book, I had to contact them via e-mail and ask. They didn’t even tell me when the release dates were pushed back unless I wrote to inquire. In 2013, the release date passed, although all edits had been completed, my illustrator answered an inquiry, saying the date had been pushed back again and she was no longer able to illustrate by hand. She sent me a digitally illustrated cover and ask if this would be acceptable. I didn’t like this cover as much as the original, but I thought it would do, so I agreed to have her do the digital illustrations.
The next release date came and went, and when I inquired, the publisher sent back an email informing me I would be getting a different illustrator. I inquired as to the reason for this change, thinking perhaps my illustrator was no longer with the publishing house, but this was not the case. For some unknown reason they had decided to have someone else produce my illustrations, which I had already paid the original illustrator for.
At this point, I was more than slightly annoyed. I expressed my displeasure in the arrangement and the publisher got snotty and said she would release me from the contract. So, that is how it was resolved, and I’m still trying to collect my money from the original illustrator. It feels foolish to say that seven years since Heather started out on her venture, I’m stuck with two covers and three illustrated pages, none of which I can use, no illustrator and no publisher. But that’s it in a nut shell. I still don’t have a published book.
So, where is Heather now, and what lies in her future? Well, I shopped her around to a few publishers, to no avail. At Western State I was taught that you have to get back up on the horse, so after one rejection, I pulled up the manuscript and re-read it with fresh eyes, in order to revise before sending it out again. On that pass, something profound struck me. Heather Hummingbird Makes a New Friend, was not Heather’s story at all. It wasn’t Heather who learned a life lesson in this story, but rather, she was the teacher. So, I did the revisions, rewrote the synopsis, and changed the title to Ethan Eagle Makes a New Friend. After all, Ethan is the character that learns about friendship from Heather. Once that was done, I launched it into the submission process once more, so we’ll see.
There you have it. I don’t know how many are out there who even remember there was a Heather Hummingbird book, but at one time I had a whole list of pre-orders from people wanting the book. I am sorry that I wasn’t able to fill those orders, and I thank all of you for your support. If anything ever does come of Ethan and Heather, you, my readers, will be the first to know. Thanks for hanging in with me.
Acceptance or Rejection – Which do You Prefer?
Posted: June 27, 2016 | Author: kayelynnebooth | Filed under: Commentary, Fiction, Opinion, Promotion, Publishing, Western, Writing | Tags: Acceptance, Creative Fiction, Fiction, Flash Fiction, I Had to Do It, Kaye Lynne Booth, Rejection, Western, Writing | 1 CommentI could go into another post about rejections. Lord knows, I’ve gotten plenty. But I’ve always been one to see the glass half-full side, rather than half-empty, focusing on the positive side to everything, so I think I’d rather talk today about acceptances. I don’t think anyone will disagree when I say acceptances are much better than rejections. You don’t have to be a writer to figure that one out.
You don’t get them as often as rejections, but they’re a lot more satisfying. But there’s a reason I want to write a post on acceptances. If you follow me on Facebook, or Twitter, or Google+, you may have seen my very recent post announcing that my flash fiction western story, I Had to Do It, has been picked up by Zetetic: A Record of Unusual Inquiry.
It’s true this isn’t a big paying publication. I’m certainly not going to get rich from this one little 850 word story. Flash fiction never pays a lot. There’s simply not enough words to make the pennies add up to much, even with higher paying publications. But, I was still elated when I received the acceptance, because my story found a home and people will now read it, and because it is still one more publishing credit for me. I can’t explain the rushing feeling of excitement and pride that small note from the editors brought me. I think most of all, it was thrilling to know that someone else really liked my writing. It was a affirmation of my own belief that my writing really is pretty good.
That probably sounds silly to those who have not yet received an acceptance. (Never fear. It will come.) But we writers are an odd lot, and we are filled with fears and self-doubt. Filled with it. Most of the time we can keep these elements of our inner beings at bay by simply pecking away at the keyboard or filling up sheets of notebook paper, but every once in a while we let our guards down and that’s when they strike. The fear and self-doubt simmer in us, just down below the surface, until they see an opportunity, a weakness, and then they reach up and grab a handful of us and don’t let go.
I think just about every writer worries that the only person in the whole world that really thinks their writing is good is themselves. Friends and family don’t count because they may be saying they like it so as not to hurt your feelings. When you receive an acceptance, any acceptance, it tells you other people do like your writing, and motivates you to get busy writing more.
It’s a good feeling. One I think every writer needs to experience. It can’t happen unless you submit relentlessly and write, write, write. That’s my advice. Write your heart out and then submit like crazy, and never, ever give up. The notes that say, “yes”, make it worth surviving all the ones that said, “no”. So what are you waiting for? Get writing!
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