Bobby Hutchinson

As a writer, I’m often asked to address groups. It always puzzles me, why anyone would believe that because you write, you can also talk. The two are totally different abilities. In fact, if a writer is deep into a project, friends and family will readily report that spoken communication is well nigh impossible.

Now add in self publishing. The writer, a self admitted right brain creature, is expected to navigate complex left brain functions in order to get his book up on Amazon. Sweating and swearing, often resorting to outside help from someone with a techie bent, he finally manages. There are critical comments about the formatting, but it’s a miracle the book is actually up.

But is he done? Ohhh, no. Now he finds out that he has to advertise the damned thing by tweeting, blogging, doing virtual book tours, keeping up a clever Facebook presence. And if he’s asked, giving a talk to the local book club. (See writing and talking above.)

There are enormous advantages to self publishing, and I’m grateful. But there are moments when the old system has a nostalgic appeal. It used to go like this, back in the dark ages before Amazon stepped in and made it possible to actually make a living as a writer.

The antiquated system in a nutshell:

Write the book.
Send it to an editor by special delivery at the Post Office.
After a time (like four to six months) do the inevitable revisions.
After a time (six to eight months) get the first portion of the advance
Write a short forward from the author.
Rant about the terrible cover the publisher has slapped on the book.
Write another book while waiting for the second portion of the advance.
See if it’s possible to extend one’s line of credit with the bank.

Holidays are nostalgic for me, making me remember celebrations from the past. I grew up in the town where I now live. It used to be called Natal. Now it’s Sparwood. The name may have changed, but the industry remains the same. It’s a coal mining town.

My Grandfather came from Scotland to work in the mines in 1900. My father worked underground all his life, and my son still works at the mines. At the Blue Collar B&B, I often have miner’s staying. (I believe I’m the only B&B in North America that asks for men’s pants and boots to be left in the entrance porch. It’s caused a bit of consternation among regular guests.)

Mining is always an up and down industry. At the moment, it’s a little down here in Sparwood, which reminded me of a particular Christmas when I was a child. So I wrote a very short story I thought maybe you’d enjoy reading on your computer.

A THOUSAND TINY CANDLES

The dream of any writer is to make a best-seller list. That dream came true when I published The Baby Doctor on Amazon’s Kindle. Within 24 hours of launching the free download for Amazon’s KDP program, The Baby Doctor hit the best-seller list for Romance. To my amazement and delight, it stayed there for the duration of the launch.

These are the things I did to assist the climb up the list.

1. I paid particular attention to the book’s description when enrolling it in Kindle’s publishing program. I used all but one of the allowed 4000 characters, including an excerpt from a dramatic childbirth scene.
2. The book has an engaging cover—who can resist a newborn baby?
3. I announced the book’s forthcoming appearance several times on Facebook, Twitter and my blog, reminding readers that it was free.
4. I used all five of KDP’s free days for the launch, going against general advice to use only one or two.

There are those who think hitting a best seller list with a free book is cheating yourself out of income. Once the launch was over, The Baby Doctor began selling immediately, far surpassing comparable sales of other books I’ve published.

My heartfelt thanks to all you avid readers who downloaded The Baby Doctor, and huge bouquets to those of you who let me know you enjoyed it. You’re the reason writers write!

If you haven’t grabbed a copy of The Baby Doctor yet, go to:

http://www.amazon.com/BABY-DOCTOR-Doctor-Series-ebook/dp/B008MTIS2S/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1346804069&sr=1-1&keywords=the+baby+doctor

bobbyhut@telus.net

Ever wonder where romance writers get their ideas? What made them decide to be writers? Are the hot sex scenes written from personal experience? Are the characters based on real people? Is there a formula to writing romance? How does a writer keep on keeping on, creating one book after another?

I wanted to answer those questions and many more, so I’ve begun posting a series of interviews on YouTube. In these first videos, my dear, irreverent friend, Joanne, asks the things she’s most curious about, and I’ve told the entire, unabridged truth, so help me God.

Do you have questions about the writing process or what it’s really like to be a writer? I’d love to do my best at answering anything and everything you’ve wondered about. Just post your questions in my comment box, or email me at bobbyhut@telus.net and I’ll do my best to answer. And for those intriguing, naughty questions you’re too shy to ask, Joanne will undoubtedly ask them for you in upcoming videos!

 
When I was a little girl, I didn’t dream of becoming a romance writer. My big dream was to be a mommy. I announced regularly that I wanted twelve kids. (I settled wisely for three.) But even now, I can’t pass a baby without feeling that old familiar attraction.

So when I began writing romance, naturally I included babies whenever possible in my stories, especially after my lovely daughter in law invited me to be present at the birth of my first grandson.

Miraculous doesn’t begin to describe being present when a baby is born. (For some reason I was too preoccupied during the birth of my own sons to fully appreciate the process, go figure.)

But on the face of the doctor delivering Laine, I saw reflected the same awe, and joy, and delight that I was feeling. How amazing to be in the presence of miracles day after day.

But that day I also saw the tragedy that can be a part of birth. A nurse from an adjoining delivery room hurried down the hall with a tiny bundle engulfed in a blanket. Tears streamed down her face, and I realized that newborn had died.

Intense joy, and terrible sorrow. Imagine going to work every day not knowing which one would prevail. What courage it took to choose that job.

And that was the moment The Baby Doctor was conceived.

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Pick up your copy of THE BABY DOCTOR today at Amazon!
(FREE TO DOWNLOAD 8/1/12 – 8/5/12 ONLY)

 
 

The idea of writing a book can be a daunting proposition. Even if you’ve done it many times before, it still sometimes makes you want to go to bed until the urge goes away.

That’s when an outline helps. Granted, outlining can take almost as much time as writing the damned thing, but it’s like having a GPS on a long journey. The GPS can end you up hopelessly lost, and so can the outline.

But you can reprogram. You can plug in where you are at the moment, and get directions to where you ought to be. Or, you can change the outline to accommodate the shiny new idea you’ve just had.

Have you ever been so lost you’ve never found your way back?

Me either. And even if you had–what a great idea for another book!

Is writing a discipline, a compulsion, a joy? It depends. When I first began to write for publication, I was terrified, and terror doesn’t do much for creativity.

I’d written a short story in my head while training to run the Vancouver Marathon, and I copied it down and sent it to a major woman’s magazine’s short story contest. The day after I finished the marathon, a letter arrived saying I’d won first prize, $5000.00. And they wanted to see something else I’d written.

I had nothing. That short story was the first I’d attempted. Utter, abject horror overwhelmed me. How could I write a second story that pleased them? I came near to abandoning writing altogether, admitting that the first story was a total fluke and I was not a writer.

Pride and a stubborn nature saved me. I forced myself to write another story, a terrible one, and then another, and another, until finally there was one that just might be okay to send. I did, and they published it. I gave up short stories and wrote a book, which seemed infinitely easier. That first book sold to Harlequin, and I wrote another, still having fits of terrible insecurity, but doing the work anyway.

I was learning a valuable lesson. The more you do a thing, the better you get at doing it.

Aristotle said it a little differently. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an art but a habit.”

You’re on the sixth chapter, and your creativity has gone on holiday. You stare at the screen and you haven’t a clue where to go or what scene should come next.

This is what you do to prime the old pump. Depending on what genre you’re writing, think of the writer you love reading in that genre. Romance? Nora Roberts comes to mind. Now use your imagination–which I know you have because you’re a writer.

So pretend you’re Nora. It’s been said about her that she can write a book while waiting in line for a restaurant table. Get right into her skin, channel her writing mode and suddenly chapter six flows from your fingers with ease.

Pretending is what we do as writers. It’s second nature to us, so why not use it as a writing tool?

“You’re never who you used to think you are,” sings Eric Clapton. So be whoever you want to be.

Get ready to surprise yourself.

In a recent interview I was asked why I write. Not an easy question to answer, because it’s really saying, who are you? Beneath the social trappings, underneath the veneer, what makes you do what you do?

We’re observers rather than participants, we writers. We watch and listen and eavesdrop. Our favorite question is, “and then what happened?” Everything is story to us, our own lives and anything we can glean about the lives around us. We’re junkyard dogs, digging in rubble to find the tasty morsels that will nourish our habit.

Do we write to be read? Sometimes, but not always. Do we write for money? Sometimes, but not always. We write because we can, because we must, because its the single thing we know best.

Writing is our unique way of putting the world in order. Not so that it will make sense, that’s far beyond our scope. Stories all have a beginning, a middle, and ending, that’s about all the sense we make of anything.

And the most glorious phrase in all the world for us is, Once Upon A Time. We’re not so hung up on They Lived Happily Ever After, because it’s far too general. Nope, we want to know the details.

What—Happened—Next??