and here is a corrected version of my lengthy response, which I didn't know how to edit, since I'm not a power Wordpress user. So, to get it right, here it is on my own blog, but please read his first!
Lizza's musings: I didn't know what a "pantser"
was! I had to look it up.
(https://thewritepractice.com/plotters-pantsers/) I like to think I'm a
plotter, but there is something pansteresque about my process. I think I wrote
about five different endings for my novel, and submitted it with a plot twist
that came right out of that weird space we all inhabit when we're exhausted and
suffering from severe "Magic Number Seven Plus or Minus Two.” With regard
to your post, I am still mulling over our conversation today over pizza, in
which we compared our thoughts on how we are drawn to a book - from mild
interest to a compulsion to read. I agree that marketing is an energy drain.
Anything that takes a writer away from writing had better be worth it. So how
to self-promote, in today's publishing world where midlist authors have to
cultivate the art of essentially saying, "READ MY BOOK!?" I think a
recommendation or blurb from a major author is a plus. I will read a book that
is praised by Curtis Sittenfeld or J. Courtney Sullivan or Chris Bohjalian or
Diana Gabaldon---who else? Wally Lamb. Liane Moriarty or Laura Moriarty (who,
in fact, are not related to each other). Diane Chamberlain, Meg Wolitzer, Donna
Tartt (when is she ever going to write another book?) -- and, yes, Jodi
Picoult.
So now that my response to your post has turned into a
personal digression and a list of my favorite authors, here is a plug for you,
Paul Dale Anderson. Take a good, long
look at who I read. Anyone who reads my response, consider my list... And
YET--- I firmly believe that those with my reading preferences would also not
only enjoy but become addicted to the Winds series --- and I daresay that even
though they are by no means chick lit, they are definitely literary fiction
within the realms of genre-bending. They are marvelous. I asked you yesterday,
in that phone call about a review for Amazon, "HOW am I supposed to review
your books?" And this segued into my question, "Paul Dale Anderson,
how do you do it?" How indeed do you do it? I see your workflow above; I
am more than honored to be one of your deviations. (smile) But you simply have
an extra chip, rather like the individual who can replicate music by ear with
no sheet music. You write by ear. By soul. And yes - by discipline. But you
have a great gift. Yup, I'm your girlfriend, but I'm also a fierce critic and I
am extremely fussy about what I will read. You get it right - the tone, the
cadence, the storytelling. And sadly, I'm not the person to promote you. I want
to hear you interviewed on "All Things Considered." I want to read an
article about you in a scholarly book selection periodical. You've already
nailed it with a great review of Light from Kirkus. I want a blurb from Stephen
King to appear on the jacket of your next book. I want every indie bookseller
in the country (how many are left?) to hand-sell your book, and every librarian
to talk it up.
So - anyone from the Rockford area reading this, do show up
at the Nordlof Center on October 28 for the event you listed: a talk followed
by a showing of the movie Psycho. I promise you that this panster will scare
the pants off you, and leave you wanting more!
