Staying Curious

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This blog post is going live during Black History Month 2021. Last year saw a great deal of social unrest and the rekindling of the Black Lives Matter protests. By coincidence, the book I’m currently writing (Mailboat IV) features a person of color in a major role. (Not a black person, but a member of a minority group which also suffers discrimination, and so the parallels were hard for me to ignore.)

With all these events coming together, my thoughts turn to the problem of racial discrimination in my country. The unrest, demonstrations, and riots we saw in the past year struck me very hard. And so, I’ve gone on a mission to try to sort out my thoughts and feelings about racial discrimination.

I write positively about police in my novels. I have friends who work in law enforcement. And I also have friends who are people of color.

As protests around the country turned to riots, my stomach churned. I literally felt as if I were sitting in the corner of a room, watching my friends having a screaming match.

Understanding racism, and sorting out my own thoughts and feelings on the matter, may be a life-long pursuit. But I wanted to jot down my thoughts so far, and share them in hopes it’ll help someone else on their own journey.

Why Do People of Color Suffer So Much Police Violence?

After Michael Brown was shot and killed in 2014, it came to light that there was no national database tracking lethal shootings by police. The Washington Post went about to rectify that problem, and you can see their ongoing project here: Fatal Force.

You can see in their findings that, while more white people have died overall, people of color have died at a disproportionate rate.

“[Black Americans] account for less than 13 percent of the U.S. population, but are killed by police at more than twice the rate of White Americans.” ~ Fatal Force, by The Washington Post

I’ll admit, beyond looking at the numbers, I haven’t yet researched the question of why this is happening. It’s something I do plan to educate myself about.

But one likely root of racial tension is feelings of “other” and “them versus us,” both in terms of “they are against us” and “they are not one of us.”

And for that, I think I have at least one answer:

Curiosity.

Stay Curious

I have always been an intensely curious person–especially when it comes to people who are different from me. I grew up in an extremely homogenous environment, but instead of getting comfortable with sameness, I became curious about different-ness.

Your skin is a different color than mine. I want to learn more about you.

You speak with an accent. I want to know where you’re from and learn about your culture.

You wear a gun and a uniform and a bullet-proof vest. What on earth is that like?

You date someone of the same sex. I want to watch your relationship and see how it’s different from–and the same as–my relationship with my boyfriend.

You were assigned male at birth, but now you’ve come out as female. I want to watch your transition and see how you interact with life in a new way.

You grew up in a religion much different from mine. I want to understand what you believe and how it affects the way you live.

Your political views aren’t the same as mine. I want to try to understand where you’re coming from.

I have to say, curiosity this vast has been a great boon as an author. So long as I stay curious and humble and ask questions, I can create a vast array of characters.

And by staying curious, I get to meet all kinds of people–so that my fiction keeps benefiting the variety of my relationships. The more people I meet for research purposes, the more people I count as my friends, and thus the more diverse my circle of acquaintances.

Stop Talking; Start Listening

Like anyone, I sometimes see something different from what I’m used to and I want to reject it out of hand. It’s just too unfamiliar. Maybe I’ve even got notions already swimming around in my head about what this person is supposed to be like, because of some narrative I’ve heard from… somewhere.

This, of course, is called bias, and the experts claim we all have it, whether we realize it or not.

But then I breathe and remind myself that we’re all just people. I remind myself not to judge until I’ve walked a mile in someone else’s shoes. I remind myself to stay curious instead of shutting people out.

Whether I’m spending time with a cop or with a person of color or literally anyone else, I’ve found that accepting them just the way they are helps them open up and be themselves. I feel absolutely privileged when people who were strangers a moment ago start telling me their life stories. Start trusting me with thoughts they would only tell a close friend. I’ve had it happen again and again, with people of literally every description. I’ve seen people’s hearts, and that matters to me.

Only once you truly understand people, on both sides of a given conflict, can you identify the problems that may exist. Only once you truly understand those problems can you fix them. Until then, it’s only a shouting match.

Be quiet. Listen. Understand. Stay curious. You’ll probably find you have far more in common with “different” people than you thought. I keep returning to the words of a very dear friend of mine, an African-American woman. We were discussing racism, and her comment was simply this: “At the end of the day, people are pretty much the same.”

Over to You

The comments are open to discussion, but I want to remind you to be kind. (Inappropriate comments will be deleted!) This is a space for coming together as brothers and sisters. To practice that curiosity and openness I was talking about.

As another suggestion, go ahead and leave a prayer, a positive intention, or words of kindness. Let’s spread a little love and inspiration.

Mailboat IV, Releasing August 1, 2021, features a person of color as a key character. I had such a great time getting to know someone from that community in order to write this character as best I could.

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January 13, 2021January 4, 2021

Staying Flexible When Life Is Uncertain

As I write this in early in 2021, I can say that I used to have a writing schedule. It was heavily dependent on getting out of my own house to work. And then a pandemic came along, and both my routines and my schedule were torn to bits. (I know many of you can sympathize!)

But I’m big into trying to make lemonade out of lemons. (Or better, yet, lemon bars, lemon merengue pie, or even lemon cookies. Of course with powdered sugar! What kind of question is that?)

So what did my writing schedule used to look like? What’s it like now? And what have I learned from having life turned upside down?

My Ideal Writing Schedule

Before a new virus upheaved everything, my schedule was both simple and effective. Every morning, I walked to my coffee shop (the same one where I met Charles!), bought a latte, and claimed my favorite chair in front of the fire. (Sometimes I staked it out until an unwitting usurper finally left.)

Chair and fire secured, I sipped my coffee, sank down into my story world, and started to write.

I’d generally write for three or four hours, then pack up and walk home. In the afternoons, I’d transfer to my co-working space, where I would address various admin tasks such as marketing my books, answering emails, etc.

And then rumors started trickling in. A new virus had been detected in China. It was spreading at an alarming rate. It was only a matter of time until it came to the US…

My Pandemic Writing Schedule

Covid-19 arrived in Montana in March 2020. The governor ordered a state-wide shutdown. If we weren’t essential workers, we all went home.

I’ve tried working from home before. I already knew I was terrible at it! That’s why I have my coffee shops and my co-working space! It took me the better part of 2020 to refigure all my routines into something that worked again.

One of the biggest changes I made was choosing two days to be my “write-a-thon” days. These were my days to shut out all the admin tasks screaming at me and simply focus on my words.

But the other major change I made was hiring a book coach. (Yes, I’m that terrible at working from home! You can meet Jacquelyn in the blog post I wrote about her.)

Now on my writing days, Jacquelyn helps keep me on track to make sure the words get written.

What I’ve Learned

2020 was a year that challenged us all, in many different ways. (Can we even feel gratitude for such a year? I wrote a post about that during Thanksgiving 2020.)

I hated losing my schedule and routines. But 2020 really challenged my problem-solving capabilities, and in great news, I was the one who came out on top.

I had to learn to stay flexible and be creative. I can’t go to my coffee shop anymore? What can I do instead that would be just as effective?
I had to adopt new routines. My tried-and-true routines were gone. It was devastating. I had to keep innovating to find my way through.
I had to iterate and optimize. It was frustrating. I already knew what worked for me. (I.e., getting out of the house!) But I just kept trying different things until I found something that worked.

In great news, I feel ready for the next event of near-apocalyptic magnitude. (Because we all know life can never be boring.) 2020 tested my skills, but I came out equal to the challenge. And you know what? I’m proud of me.

Over to You!

How did 2020 challenge you? What new skills did you learn?

Leave your thoughts in the comments below! I love hearing from you.

Hey, at least we had plenty to read in 2020! Here are today’s best-sellers from my online shop:

December 30, 2020December 28, 2020

How I’ve Developed as a Writer: Book I Through Book IV

As I write this, it’s the last week of 2020 (thank God!) and I’m about half-way done writing Mailboat IV (coming June 5, 2021), which marks the half-way point in the Mailboat Suspense Series. (There should be seven or eight books in the series all together.)

With all that in mind, this feels like an appropriate time to look back on the path I’ve walked to get here and reflect. Today, I’m curious to ask the question, “How have I developed as a writer?”

My Fans Changed Everything

I’m not sure my writing style has changed much over the course of four books. (Maybe my readers can tell me different!) And I don’t really think that my writing methods have changed much, either. Furthermore, even though I published the first book back in 2016, my plans for the overall series haven’t changed either. I’m still following the overall plot that I imagined years ago when the inspiration first struck.

But what has changed is the fact that I now have fans–something I barely had when The End of the Pier (Book I) released! I also have a very close connection with those fans. We love to talk! My readers love to tell me what they think of the series and what they want next. I, in turn, often shift course in response to what they say, even while staying true to my original vision.

Here are some examples:

The Tone of the Entire Series

The first thing I ever shifted in response to fan feedback happened before I published Book I. I was running a blog at the time, chronicling my adventures as I worked on The End of the Pier. A high school teacher from the Lake Geneva area ran across my project and expressed her enthusiasm. “I can’t wait to share this book with my students!” she said.

And that’s when I decided there would be no bedroom scenes, and I’d keep the language to a PG13 level.

As you can see, my tiny group of early fans had massive influence on the series. I was still feeling out who my audience was, and so the feedback from my earliest readers really shaped the direction I took with the tone of my books.

Aaaagh! It Can’t End There!

Now that I have thousands of fans, there are two comments I received very frequently. The first is, “Those cliffhangers! They’re killing me!”

As I’ve explained many times, I didn’t realize at first just how broad the scope of this story was. The Mailboat Suspense Series is one, overarching story that touches on the lives of dozens of people, and by and large they all get a turn to share their voice.

Thanks to that, there was just no way the story was going to fit into one book. And so I made the decision to split the story up into multiple volumes. And yes, that resulted in cliffhangers.

But after the first two books–which end very dramatically–and the third book–which has a little bit more of a landing place where the reader can breathe– I’ve changed my approach to those cliffhanger endings. My readers like to feel like they’ve arrived somewhere. They liked the ending of Book III better than Books I and II. And so I’m leaning more and more towards giving each book something that feels more like an ending, even while the overall story continues.

When’s Your Next Book Coming?

The other feedback I get literally all the time? “When is your next book coming out?!” A book that I spent one or two years crafting, my readers can finish in a day. As soon as it’s done, they want the next!

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not that great at time management, especially when it comes to big projects! That’s why I finally hired Jacque, my book coach. (She has an entire article over here.) With her keeping me on track, I think I’ll finally be better at fulfilling my release date promises to my readers. That’s a huge sigh of relief for both you and me!

Whodunnit and What Happens Next

But finally, I’ve shifted my books based on what my readers say about the plot and the characters. Whenever I release a book, I ask my readers lots of questions–most importantly, “Who do you think The Man Upstairs is?” Based on your guesses, I’ll shift the plot a little this way or a little that way. It’s my goal to keep you guessing as long as possible!

But I’ll even respond to ideas you suggest. One reader asked about a character who appeared for only one chapter in Mailboat I: The End of the Pier. I never meant for that character to appear again. But that one reader wanted to know more. And so… Mailboat IV sees that obscure character return. And boy, do things get turned upside down because of it!

So for me, the biggest change from Book I to Book IV has simply been writing while my fans watch and wait. It’s very different writing all by oneself, when there’s no one to please but me. Writing can become intimidating once you have a following! But it can also be reassuring. I can simply ask my readers what they want next and what they expect next. In that way, these books are almost literally tailor made.

Let’s Talk!

That’s my look back on five years and almost four books. (Five, if you count The Girl on the Boat.) And like many people, I can’t wait for 2021! (It’s gotta be better than this year, right?)

Here are my questions for you, which you can answer in the comments below:

1.) How do you feel you’ve changed in 2020? How do you feel you’ve changed over the past four years?

2.) Do you think my books have changed from Mailboat I: The End of the Pier to Mailboat III: The Captain’s Tale? If so, how?

See you in 2021!

You can see for yourself whether my writing has changed! Here are the first three books:

Tag: 2020