Susan Gable's Blog

I'm way behind in posting the Trippin' with Holly & Susan episodes here, but I thought this one speaks to most of us. (Most of us women, anyway. Not sure if guys think about these things. Guys? Any of you worry about this? :-) )This is the great Toilet Paper Debate - does it go over or under?Holly and I invited other authors to participate in this one, and amusingly, they all -- along with Holly and I -- roll OVER.Check it out, and weigh in.

Writer conferences can be a ton of fun, even for normally introvert folks like me...and many of my fellow writers! The beauty of a writers' conference (or a readers' conference, for that matter) is that these people are all your tribe! We'll give you a few quick tips if you go to any of these.You all have stuff in common. Everyone at these things love books! Holly and I have attended a number of conferences in our time, and gathered up a number of stories. We'll share a few of them in this episode of Trippin' with Holly & Susan.Including the story of when Holly almost killed Nora Roberts at a conference. Think I'm joking? Nope! Watch our video to get the full scoop.

In Episode 2 of Trippin' with Holly & Susan, we talk about how we came to love books. We've both been reading forever, and we have a lot of "childhood friends" that were in the form of books. We also talk about some newer books for kids, libraries, and teachers who share their love of reading with their students. (I was one of those teachers!)Did you also start reading as a child? What were some of your favorite books?I'm going to add some links here to some of the books we talked about in the video.

I have been bugging my good friend, Holly Jacobs, about doing something like this for at least a year and a half now. It's always come down to the issue of time - neither of us have anywhere near enough of it.But she came up with this great idea when we scheduled to do an all-day writing workshop in Syracuse. What if we used the hours we'd be in the car to work on making a vlog? Or travel show. Or readers/writers educational channel. Or whatever the heck it was/is that we're creating.Brilliant! She's trapped in a car with me and can't get away!So we're going to be bringing you episodes of Trippin' with Holly & Susan twice a week - on Mondays, because that's Holly's "glee day" (she loves Mondays) and on Fridays, because like most normal people, that's my glee day.If you have any questions about writing, books, life...write it in the comments, or send me an email. (Susan @ SusanGable DOT com.) We'll be looking for stuff you want to hear about from us.Come along with us! Roadtrippin' is a lot more fun with friends!Here are a few of Holly's books:

It seems like romance is divided up into two classifications: steamy (aka “spicy) and sweet (aka “clean.” Which begs the question – the other kind is “dirty?” Really?) When I try to book promotions for my novels, those are usually the two options.But some of us don’t fall into either camp. My books aren’t hot and heavy. But I can’t label them as sweet because my characters swear (confession time – so do I, sometimes) and I tend to leave the bedroom door open.Why do I leave the bedroom door open? Because my books follow the development and growth of a romantic relationship. For some of us, there’s a lot of meaning the first time you shed your clothes and get intimate with someone. That’s a big turning point in a relationship. It’s a scary, vulnerable moment, too. Everyone worries going into that situation.Do you remember the first time you took your clothes off in front of someone and got intimate with them? For some of us, it was a long time ago. I was married for a long time. After my divorce, when I started a new relationship, let me tell you…that moment can definitely be scary. How you both handle it says a lot about each of you. (One generally hopes that the fear is leading up to the big reveal, not that your partner is horrified after you shed your clothing! Though that’s often part of what’s feared.)Since it’s a big turning point, I feel the reader ought to be in on that journey as well.I could close the door and pick you up the next morning. Or later that afternoon, or whenever. But I feel like you’d miss something. Something important (besides sex!) likely happened during that time.My books are about way more than sex. They even cover more than just the romantic relationship. I border between romance and women’s fiction with what I write. You’ll meet the family members and other folks who matter to my hero and heroine.But the sex matters, too.I do have one book where I closed the bedroom door – my very first book. After that, I opened the door.I’m not sure what to do going forward. Because I’m in this middle ground of not spicy, not sweet. Maybe it is time to reevaluate my thinking and writing and shut the door going forward. (Writing those love scenes can be...excuse the unintended euphemism but totally appropriate word…hard.)I know the readers who want sweet aren’t happy with the on-screen love scenes. The only really bad reviews on my first-in-series A Hero to Keep on Amazon are from people who thought they were getting a “clean” or Christian book, and instead found sex and the occasional swear word. I ended up putting a disclaimer in the description because I don’t want to disappoint or upset readers! But what about everyone else? Do you get upset if you pick up a book that was listed with “steamy” romances, only to discover that there’s one, maybe two, love scenes, and those aren’t as heavy duty as you’d expected?

My good friend and fellow romance author Holly Jacobs and I will be roadtripping to Syracuse, NY to deliver a writing workshop on June 2, 2018 with our friends at the CNYRW. (That's Central New York Romance Writers.) Holly and I have fun wherever we go, and because we often come at writing from very different perspectives, it's great to give other writers information that's from different points of view. For more information on the workshop, visit the CNYRW website!

I have a new favorite television show.This is Us. It's a character driven show, and I love character driven. (I write character driven, so…) The really good character driven shows are rare, and this one is really good.Generally speaking, I'm also a very linear writer.This is Usjumps around in time, taking us back to the early 80s (perhaps another reason I love the show? ) then to present day in our characters lives, and it does it so well, so seamlessly, that it doesn't bother me at all.The characters are real. They're flawed people (like all of us) struggling with their relationships. It tells the story of triplets born in the early 80s, so now adults, and their parents/family dynamics. We have 2 fraternal twins, Kate and Kevin, and the brother, Randall, whom their parents adopted the same night as their birth when the third baby in their original trio didn't survive being born. Randall is black, which leads to some interesting emotional dynamics in the story.Randall is the smart one struggling with his adoption and reunification with his dying birth father, Kate struggles with her weight and trying to connect with her new boyfriend, and Kevin is the handsome actor struggling to be something more.The parents in the 80s are equally intriguing as they deadline with their relationship and raising these 3 kids.A recent episode had a scene where the young mom was thrilled to get a new washer and dryer, and that totally connected with me.When my son was young, and even earlier in my young married life, I didn't have a washing machine of my own. Most of the time, I hauled my laundry to my parent's house every weekend to do it. (Thanks, Mom!)The first Christmas I was married, my husband gave me a Mr Coffee machine (I don't drink coffee, never have!) and a set of knives. Not exactly what a woman wants as gifts for her first Christmas as a married couple. I threatened to use the knives if he ever gave me appliances for Christmas again.I should also mention that my birthday is very close to Christmas.Fast forward a few years. (8 years?) Our son was 5 years old. We'd moved from New Jersey to West Virginia. We didn't have a pot to...well, you know the rest of that saying. But for my birthday and Christmas gift that year, I got a washer and dryer of my own.They were the absolute cheapest washer and dryer Lowes had to offer...and they were beautiful!  I'd never seen anything so beautiful. Best Christmas present ever in the history of Christmas presents!So I totally understood the mom's delight in her new washer and dryer.If you haven't checked outThis is Usyet...what are you waiting for? It's a wonderful show.PS - my washer and dryer are now 20 years old. My now-ex has done some repairs on the dryer a few times over the years, but knock on wood, they're the gifts that keep on giving.  (Giving me clean clothes every week.) I'm going to be sad when they finally give up the ghost because...well, we have a history, these machines and I, and I tend to get far too attached to inanimate objects like that. Too many memories attached to them. (Plus...we all know that they don’t make them to last like that anymore!)So with Christmas just a few days away, I wish you a very Merry Christmas, and I wish you gifts you love like I love my washer and dryer.

Thanksgiving may very well be my favorite holiday.My earliest Thanksgiving memories go back probably to being around five or so. I lived in New Jersey, which meant all our television stations came out of New York City. We only had off-air television back “in those days.” Remember that?My mom would be working in the kitchen early on. We always ate around 1 pm, so that bird had to be in the oven early to be ready on time. The stuffing (which is absolutely my favorite part of the meal. Our recipe goes back to my great-grandmother, who cut it from a magazine.) had been prepared the day before. My dad would help with chopping all the celery and onions for the stuffing.The pie, pumpkin only when I was a kid, though later expanded to include apple because my dad prefers that to pumpkin, were homemade as well, also cooked up the day before.So the television would be on, set to NBC, because they carried the Thanksgiving Day parade. The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. Accept no substitutes, folks, as this is THE parade just like NYC is THE City.The preshow came on, and there would be acts from Broadway plays, mainly the musicals. That's something I miss on my television now - all the ads for Broadway plays. At this stage, the house didn't smell yet, as the cooking was just getting going.I'd call my mom into the living room for certain things. (We couldn't pause television in any way back then, either.) The Snoopy balloon. A particularly good marching band. A celebrity I liked.The highlight of the parade for kids came at the very end. Santa Claus! In my home, that was the official start to the Christmas season.Once Santa had arrived at the Macy’s store at the end of the parade, we were free to sing Christmas carols. (No Christmas before that!)At this point, I'd be jumping up and down in the living room, calling, “Mom! Mom! Come quick! Santa's coming!”By the time Santa showed up, the house was filled with delicious smells - roasting turkey, the sagey scent of stuffing. The potatoes would be in a pot on the stove at that point, along with rutabaga. (We didn't do sweet potatoes at my house, we did rutabaga.) That meant the cooking was getting critical, but Mom always came out to see Santa.Many years my maternal grandmother and grandfather, along with my aunt and cousin, would drive up to our house for the meal. Sometimes we went to their house. Other years it would just be us, my mom, dad, and sister.Is it any wonder those foods bring memories and comfort? That I still cook a full Thanksgiving meal now, almost just as my mom did (I cheat on the pies, always have.  Hey, nobody doesn't like Sara Lee!) even when it's just my son and I?I have a lot to be thankful for, not the least of which are the wonderful memories of Thanksgivings long ago, when life was a little slower.

Sometimes we need some help to boost our productivity, whether we're talking about writing or some other activity. Here are a few ways to up your productivity:1.  AccountabilityYou need a way to hold yourself accountable.  To set a goal and have a way to track it and hold your feet to the fire.  A partner is a good way to do this, someone you report to on whatever basis works for you.For me,  I found that daily goals and reporting my results to critique partners who were also writing was a huge help. Mutual support works.You can use social media as your accountability tool. If you put your goal out there in public, there's pressure to make things happen.You have to know yourself to know what will work best for you. If the idea of public “embarrassment” with the world knowing you didn't hit the mark is paralyzing to you, using social media isn't a good strategy for you.You'll also need some way of tracking your progress. I used to use index cards, one per week to track my progress on my WIP. Now I use a spreadsheet - one less scrap of paper to clutter up my desk. For some people, just this tracking device is all the accountability they need. This is about finding what works for you.A weekly meeting with a critique partner may be helpful. The pressure to bring pages to exchange is another way of holding your feet to the fire. This works with a partner you meet with online as well as in person.2. SprintsI love the sprinting technique. This can be done by yourself, with a partner, or group.Basically you're going to set a short period of time - using a timer - during which you are going to do nothing but the specific task. For me, it's writing. Start the timer, get your hands on the keyboard (or however you do it! ) and write until the timer goes off. (That's my Death Star timer! How cool is that?)It's that easy. This allows you to focus. It allows you to overcome fear. It's only 10 minutes. (Or however long you choose.) You can do anything for 10-15 minutes.Then you do another sprint. And another.This is a way to make use of small bits of time in your day, time you may have dismissed before as “not long enough” to accomplish anything.If you're doing them with a partner  (and you can check in with those partners via email, text, chat, social media - whatever works for you!), it adds both an element of support/companionship and accountability as well as competition. “I got 600 words that time, what did you get?” (Again, only use what will motivate you! If the competition element is too much pressure or you're working with someone who gets cutthroat about it...don't use that element. )3. Incentives MatterIncentives matter is a mainstay of economics and everyday life. There should be a carrot attached to working hard and achieving your goals.Again, this is highly individualized. I know some writers who literally give themselves a gold star on a calendar every day they meet their writing goals. It's a highly visual way to see their accomplishments and gives them satisfaction. Maybe just seeing your goal acknowledged in your tracking spreadsheet is enough for you.  If so, that's fine.You can add weekly rewards, as well as an incentive for finishing the book. Maybe you can only have a Starbucks treat once a week, IF you've made your goals. My long-distance critique partner and I are going to try to do bi-annual writing get-togethers for plotting purposes. But we can only have such a special treat if we're actually producing books.That's a pretty good motivation for me!Find what works for you. There's nothing wrong with “bribing” ourselves into increased productivity.

Google Docs/Sheets/Drive (Apps and online access - Free)I've know about the Google apps for a while, and have dabbled with them here and there, but it's only recently that I've fully embraced using them, and they're making my life - and my writing - so much easier.I'm actually wiring this post in Docs now,  lying in my bed, on my cell phone. The beauty of this is I can access it from any device.  I can move to my desktop, my tablet, whatever device, and simply pick up where I've left off. Think how convenient that is for a WIP. You have an appointment somewhere, you didn't think you'd be waiting too long,  and you find yourself sitting in the waiting room for an hour.  You didn't bring your laptop because you weren't going to be long. With the Docs app on your phone,  you can spend that time productively.At a recent conference I attended, I didn't bother with either my laptop or tablet. I used my cell phone, a Bluetooth keyboard, and Docs to take notes at workshops. Then I could share my notes easily with critique partners, friends, even with you! Check out mynotes from the Author Branding workshop given by Robin Covington.  The ease of sharing like that makes critiquing and collaboration easier, too.For those of you who use or want to try out dictating your work, Google Docs’ speech-to-text capabilities are really awesome. In fact, I've shifted to using it now. This may very well speed up your productivity. It will require some cleaning up afterwards, but hey, that's what we do with editing, right?For those of you who say I can't write on a cell phone screen because I can't see enough of the text, well that would be exactly the point. When you're drafting it's much better to not see too much of the text. That way you're not tempted to go back and edit or treat. It's kind of like the old Alphasmart that only let you see a few lines of text. Honestly I can view more on my Galaxy 5 screen than I could on that.Give it a try. I think you'll like it.2. Duolingo  (App - Free)Have you wanted to learn or improve your foreign language skills?  Then you need to check out Duolingo. This free app is a powerhouse!  It makes learning a language fun and easy. It incorporates reading, speaking and listening all at the same time. The app uses the microphone on your phone to have you repeat sentences and words to it, then evaluates your pronunciation. You get instant feedback.It currently offers around 25 languages for native English speakers to learn. (In more Geek Glee, they're working on Klingon. I think that might be a little beyond me.) They're offering Spanish, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Vietnamese, and many more.Check it out.  Learning a language is good for your brain, and this makes it easy and fun.3. Videostudio  (Software - Purchased from Amazon, around $60)It seems like everything is all about video these days. Social media loves video. For me, this is another fun area to play with. I started making videos by using PowerPoint and creating presentations that I turned into video. Then I progressed to using Movie Maker on my PC. But that didn't give me the flexibility that I wanted. So I recently bought VideoStudio, which is a piece of software from Corel. Since I'd already been using Movie Maker it wasn't that steep of a learning curve and there are lots of great tutorial videos online to show you how to use it.If you're looking at getting into video, check it out. And I'll probably be making some tutorials about how to make video soon.4. Wegmans (App - Free)If you don't have a Wegmans grocery store near you, I'm very sorry. Those of us who have them love them.Wegmans has themost amazing app. In it, I can create a shopping list that will include the aisle and the price of the products. So if I'm particularly organized I can have an entire grocery list and know how much I'm going to spend before I get to the store. Sometimes I use the app for comparison shopping if I'm out in another store. I can simply add a product to my list and see what it's costing at Wegmans and decide if I'm going to buy it where I am or buy it at Wegmans later on.I can add products from previous shopping lists, I can scan the barcode of a product, or I can type a word into their search feature. I can pull up a list of all my recent trips to Wegmans. Wegmans will even offer suggestions if I want, of what should go  on my lists based on past purchases.Now that may seem creepy. The app needs access to your camera for the barcode thing. And it will recommend stuff to me? They know all that stuff about me ? Yes, folks, this is information they already have about you if you're using a shoppers card, so why shouldn't you have access to that information as well? This is about letting technology make your life easier. You can even refill prescriptions from a link provided inside the app.If you love Wegmans and you're not using their app, give it a try.5. Wix  (Websites. Free and Paid options.)If you're looking for a really easy to use, good looking, highly functional website tool, I can't recommend Wix highly enough.Despite only average tech abilities, I've always done my own website. It's not just because I'm part control freak, but that plays in. I want to be able to update it, change it, whenever I want. I don't want to wait for someone to do it for me.Wix is very easy to use. They even offer a free option, so if you're looking to create a small website, say for a wedding or family reunion, etc., the free option might be all you need. I'm using a paid option, and finding it well worth it.I’ll share more cool tech apps as I find them.Geek Glee! Tech fun. We do love our cool toys.