Alchemy

Alchemy: The seemingly magical power or process of transmuting.

www.thefreedictionary.com

I haven't been writng much this summer. I've been spending time with family, focusing on other areas of my life that need some work, and have been working hard at getting a fix of social interaction that I deprived myself of for months while working on and submitting my manuscript. I've also been reading. A lot.

And so, you ask, if I want social interaction, why am I reading? Well, because reading provides me with social interaction in a different way. When I read, I get to know the characters in a story. I fall in love with them, laugh with them, hate them, cheer for them, and learn things from them. Reading provides me with a whole new world of wonderful experiences and adventures. When I read, I'm in the story, part of it, along for the ride, and if it's a great book, I become immersed in an alternate world and I love it. I get to live all these lives that I could never have had time to live, could never have imagined. I live all these different lives. So fun.

I've just finished reading a book called Alchemy by Mike Wood. I've had some interactions with Mike online through the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, and then through a writer's critique group I joined. Mike is a very funny guy with a warped and twisted sense of humour similiar to mine, and it was because of his sense of humour, that I was brave enough to join the critique group in the first place. Wanting to support the other writers in the group, I bought copies of books from those who had either published or self-published. Mike's book is called Alchemy. Brave and determined guy that he is, he self-published. As I know it, and I'm sure he'll correct me in the comments section if I'm wrong, Mike didn't want to go through all the crazy stuff you have to endure in traditional publishing, and he had enough faith in himself to push forward in the self-publishing route. I'm glad he did. Alchemy is a great read. And the themes are so close to those in No One In Particular that I was blown away.

Alchemy is a story about Al, a teenage boy who is moving through a period of transition in his life. Exploring themes of love, loss, acceptance, the bigger picture of life, and what it means to be humane, it takes the reader back to their adolescence with all the angst, humiliation, hopes and dreams that give that time of our lives such vividness. I laughed as I read it. I cried. I re-experienced my adolescence and got to experience new adventures. There were sections I read, where I could only think that Mike is a genius in his approach to writing, capturing joy and sadness at the same time. I don't want to give anything about the book away, so you have to read it if you want to see for yourself what I mean. It's the kind of book you walk away from feeling better about life, being more amazed about the big picture, feeling happier. And, as a bonus, you get to learn more about Cape Cod, re-experience the thrill and panic of a first kiss, learn about Manatees. I would like my son to read this book as well, because I believe it provides wonderful lessons about acceptance and love, things that this generation we are raising need to learn.

I guess I could have interviewed Mike for this blog, but my summer laziness is influencing me. And I have a couple of promised interviews that are first in line. I may ask him to join me later at some point for an interview, cause he'd be great. In the meantime, if you want a great escape, like smart humour and want to be taken away, you can order Alchemy through Amazon at http://amzn.com/143925382X or Barnes and Noble at http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Alchemy/Mike-Wood/e/9781439253823/?itm=1&USRI=alchemy+mike+wood or through Create Space at https://www.createspace.com/1000252714

Alchemy. The power to transmute. To turn lead to gold. You did it Mike. Congrats!!!

Happy summer Lazing! Lisa

The Publishing Industry is Tanking?!

Just a short note tonight while I take a break from the b#*ch that is my pitch/query/potential blurb for the back of my book. Articles on the web abound on the fact that the publishing industry is hurting, no one is reading, and sales are slumping . . . except for YA fiction (young adult), where the demand for books is increasing.

Hmmm.

Let's examine this problem.

Ten years ago, there was a dearth of young adult fiction. As someone in my friends from Seattle writer's group mentioned yesterday, it was only a few years ago that the market for teens and adolescents changed. It used to be that if you were a kid, you read books written for a kid. Remember 'Dick and Jane'? I loved those books. Once you reached 12, or 13, though, it was on to the adult books, because aside from Judy Bloom, and the Outsiders, the choice of reading was limited. Some smart cookie in the publishing industry eventually figured out that teens wanted variety, and the dawn of YA was born. Apparently that smart cookie left the industry for a better paying job, and now we're left with the rather more dense publishers and agents, who haven't figured out that variety is the spice of life, and there's only so many Zombie/Vampire/Harry Potter rip-offs a teen can read before they bail out of the culture that is today's publishing industry.

Publishers and agents seem to be afraid of anything new, anything that doesn't fit into their smart little boxes of categorized genre. It's easier to spin off the success of something that's already been done, someone that's already had a success, rather than to take a chance on something, or someone new. And so, authors that have had one best-seller can sell a piece of crap second book, banking on their name, and their publisher's backing, and the public buys it, trusting the publisher and the author. I've done it. It did it as recently as last week, trusting the author, and trusting the publisher. I bought a piece of junk. With no warrantee. Grrrrr. I guess it's fair marketing, but it certainly doesn't inspire any faith in Jane/Joe reader. And it doesn't inspire any faith in me as I push forward, looking for an agent or publisher who is willing to take a risk on someone new, something new.

I'm a reader, and I'm tired of same old, same old. I don't want to read the next Sex and the City Spin-off. I want something different. And that doesn't mean the same sort of characters in the same place with a new set of shoes, that means something about women that's funny, but waaaaaaaaaay different. Maybe that's why I read the English and Irish markets of books as well. I'm sic, sic, sic of New York women wanting diamonds and Gucci. And I'm still waiting for the Canadian Publishers to move their heads out of their arses, as they realize that some of us in Canada aren't great literary aficianados. We want to see some Canadian spunk. Just like there was in the Olympics.

Knowing what I know now, I have no doubt that there are incredible authors out there who've been waiting 5, 10 and even 15 years to be published. It's time the publishing industry hired a few more smart cookies. It's time for them to take a few more smart risks. It'll be that, or all of us who are too impatient to wait, too determined to have our voices heard, will be taking over the self-publishing industry, and when Joe/Jane pubic finally figures out where the really interesting stuff is, they'll be following us, and the world will start reading once again.

Apparently I'm not good at the short blurb, and now you know why I've written a novel.

Waking up this morning, I just want to add that I in no way want to slam any authors who have written YA Vampire or Zombie books, or any other genre, because that isn't fair. The overflooding of anything in any market, tends to lead to a drop in followers. Us humans get bored easily, and unless something is of very high quality, we're more than happy to move along.

Thank you to those who are commenting. It is appreciated. I haven't yet figured out yet how to reply. And if nothing else, if I've stirred up some discussion, I believe that's a good thing. :)