Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

Do any readers have questions for our authors?

If so, ask here!

As a new author, I am so hungry for reader feedback.

I would like to know (readers)--what gets you to come to a bookstore reading? Do you want to hear the author talk or just read or both?

(Answering as a reader first) To me, it is more interesting to hear the author answer questions or talk about what was behind their writing. I read the book to, well - read the book. No offense, but having the author read it seems a little redundant.

Anna, I'm in your shoes as a new author. I've been very lucky lately through sites like this one to have gotten some great feedback. I'm learning that it will come with time.

Dickens made author reading a popular idea. Mark Twain tried it and bombed. Not that he couldn't read, just that people didn't come to see him for that. Dickens, on the other hand did well with it, but he was not quite the lecturer or as entertaining as Twain.
So, wouldn't it depend on what the author is most comfortable with?
j

Reader feedback is very important, especially for a new author without a track record, and I'm very grateful for websites like Goodreads that give the little known author a venue to connect with readers. As a reader, I love talking about the books that I love, and I enjoy writing reviews. Meeting an author and hearing them speak about their process and perhaps read from their latest work can very often make an important connection to the work that might not be there for the reader before, it makes it more special.

j,

I think you make a very good point there. In many cases it might be more interesting to hear an author talk about things rather than having him read.

In others it might just be the other way around.

Yes, I can see that.

ok I have some questions for any author or authors that want to answer it.
When starting a story, do you ever just start writing something not knowing where it's going to go? Do you always know how your stoies will end? How do you start with your story, do you do a rough sheet of ideas/scenes you want and start to piece them together like a puzzle?
What type of system is there for doing research for you books?

Steven
As an author, your questions have been posed to me multiple times but as a lover of the craft, I love to answer them.
When I first began to write 'Necromancer' I was writing because I love to write and I had a story to tell. I had no idea where the story was going to go or how it was going to end. I was following the story of my main character the same way he was seeing and experiencing it; for the first time.
However, by the time I was half way through 'Necromancer' I knew where I was taking the story and what I wanted the end to be. Each fork in the story led to more, and now I have ideas for a dozen more books.
Because I write epic fantasy, there isn't a whole lot of research involved...but there is a great deal of imagination and creation. I become thoroughly involved in the characters and world that I have created.

I hope this answers your question

Dune Elliot

Steven:

This was my answer to similar questions, when  A Terrace on the Tower of Babel  was featured in the 6/10/10  Indie Spotlight:

On the days that I wrote, usually 3-4 out of 7, I would spend several hours at the computer. After a good draft of a chapter was complete, I would read it aloud to my wife. This is a good way to catch grammatical and syntax errors; also to evaluate the flow of the prose and character voice. Because of the complexity of the story-line, I began with scenes briefly described and populated on large Post-It Notes much like a storyboard one would use to make a film. I used a large white board in my office to diagram the entire book out by scenes, which I then organized into chapters. With the Post-It Notes, I could move scenes around as necessary to physically think through the plotting of the book. From this overall picture, I began to construct more detailed outlines. The research? Vast. It is what one would expect of an important news report that just happened to cover roughly five-seven years of breaking stories involving several ethnicities, multiple technologies, different political and religious points of view, and minute-by-minute events painted on a first-person canvas of fifteen character’s cognitive senses. All while ensuring that the result is very tactual, immediate, something like a cross between East of Eden and Bonfire of the Vanities.


You can find an in-depth look at A Terrace on the Tower of Babel with reviews and more at  www.nelswrites.com

There's an old saying about writing a novel (I forget who said it) but it says, "Writing a novel is like driving a car at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the entire trip that way."
Every writer is different. I need to know where I'm going first, but I know lots of authors who don't.

My sister found one that would apply to a lot: finishing your first novel is like rowing across the Atlantic in a bathtub.   But I would definitely agree, each novelist has their own approach, and for the most part, so do varying genres.

I've gone to a few author talks and they explain their process. The first couple shocked me because their process was so different from mine. I always know how my book starts, ends, a couple of key points along the way, who the main characters are and my wordcount target.

The personalities do take on a life of their own and many new people pop in, new crises arise and surprising twists appear, but my ending remains the same and my key points stay and that helps me say "I'm 1/3 through the story, am I 1/3 through my word count". This gives me a sense of progress as I write and helps keep boundaries around my story telling.

I think I'm a bit anal, but it works for me :-)

I work a lot like you, Laura. I usually have my premise - which is usually a key scene in my mind that made me want to write that particular story - and many times I then decide how it is going to end. Then I sort of unroll it backwards to the front, throwing in ideas and twists for good measure.

Since I am writing to a rather specific word count for my adventures - they are always 64 pages - I am outlining most of it so I can keep track of my progress and word count.

However, most importantly, I found that the more I plan it out, the easier and faster it is for me to write. Typically, when I have what most people call a "block" I realized that it is only because I am undecided as to what to write. The clearer my goal, the easier it is for me to get it done.

Steven wrote: "ok I have some questions for any author or authors that want to answer it.
When starting a story, do you ever just start writing something not knowing where it's going to go? Do you always know h..."

I start out with "what if ..."

Sometimes I have the ending in mind, but there have been plenty of times when I discovered that the story just doesn't go that way. I know some people do a detailed outline; I don't. What I *do* is make sure that I have continuity. If something happened in year A in the first story, then I can't have it happen in year B in the next. Historical events need to fit into the timeline correctly, as do mores and behaviors.

I do have a minimum word count in mind, but I don't have a "target" per se ... the book is finished when it's finished.

Beyond that? I go where the story takes me.

j wrote: "Dickens made author reading a popular idea. Mark Twain tried it and bombed. Not that he couldn't read, just that people didn't come to see him for that. Dickens, on the other hand did well with i..."

@J - amazed that Mark Twain couldn't pull 'em in! I always picture him as the quintessential storyteller, and he has so many quotable quotes that I "hear" him as being very good in public. I'd pay handsomely to hear him read any one of his books!

I used to be Head Writer, and eventually, Exec. Producer, of a live prime-time TV "magazine" show. Have you every thought of how most big talk shows USED to have authors on frequently (Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, etc. etc.)- and now virtually none of them do? As someone who worked in television for one entire career, I believe this is for 2 reasons: 1) perception by TV shows that people were reading less and less, and authors, who at one time could become celebrities, were shunned. And 2) authors and publishers have always had this problem: it used to be that publishers usually did an author tour, with PR people in at least every big city, to promote almost every new book. Publishers/authors could count on some newspaper, radio and local television. Books and press kits were sent ahead, BUT (and I know this from first-hand experience), most hosts would not read the book before the interview. And of course, the home-audience hadn't read the book, so the poor author became a talking head, without illustration, discussing a book no one had read! Tough job!

I simply created the role of "literary producer": I got to know the various publishers' PR people, and commandeered virtually every author who came through the show. I DID read the books, and I provided fresh notes for interviewer so they would not be asking the same stale prepackaged questions. Wherever possible, I begged, stole or borrowed footage to cut an "author intro" on video (now called a book trailer).

I must tell you, authors were so grateful to encounter someone who had actually read their books! And then, they didn't have to describe what their book was about to set up the interview, because I had done it for them on video.

Here's what I learned:

Those authors who are best at public appearances, who can command an audience, are those who are by nature, extroverted, colorful, opinionated and articulate. Their book is subordinate to their personality, not the other way around. There are many accomplished writers (JD Salinger for example) who are (were) just no good in public. There are authors who would sell more books if they stopped doing interviews!

I enjoy Stephen King's books, but I'm afraid that his TV/vid readings and many interviews are not as entertaining as his ideas and "voice" on the printed page.

It would help most authors (and I am now one myself) to have a "newsworthy" or "current affairs" hook as well as their new book.

In other words, if you can talk about a popular or controversial topic from a point of authority (as I imagine Mark Twain could have), and have it be almost of secondary importance that you've written a new books (which, remember, no one has yet read), then I think you will have an easier ride in the media.

I wish it was possible to see a TV interview with Mark Twain! He had such colorful, witty, funny, profound things to say about almost every topic under the sun. Personally, I'd love to hear him read from "Tom Sawyer" or "Huck Finn," but I'd almost rather watch/hear the interview and read his books for myself.

Timothy James Dean
Teeth - The Epic Novel with Bite

Stevens question has made me think! My first book was a true story so not really relevant, my new one due out on the 11th of july is a 'grow your own, help book', again not relevant.
As I said, the question got me thinking, I am not actually concious of any substansive difference in the way I tackled the thriller, 'The Day the Ravens Died'. I know I went back and wrote two completely new chapters, 1and2 to set things up better. The original opening was condensed and became 'the prelude' to catch the readers attention. As for the main 'plot' I had the idea and built up to it and around it as it went along, fitting the pieces together, each piece of the puzzle pointing to another, although often this is not obvious at the time to the reader or the characters.
So, I can't claim to plan my story, equally it certainly isn't a collection of random ideas, truth is I'm darned if I know! I'm well into the follow up to 'Ravens' and it seems to be 'coming together' in the same way, the main theme and a series of other events, some seemingly unconnected yet effecting the outcome.
All I can think of is, as my body slows down my brain takes up the slack to compensate for the lack of physical stress and excitement which dominated my earlier years. EEKK I must have been an adrenalin junkie, now I imagine the senarios instead of being there!
Does any of this make sense to anyone? at least I've sort of figured out why I write, if not quite how I put a thriller together which will hold a reader for over 100,000 words.
All the best, Paul Rix [oldgeezer:]

Timothy--
That's how Twain's audience felt, too. Mark Twain could fill theaters. He didn't read from his books, he gave lectures based loosely upon them. As I understand from the bits of his autobiography, lecturing is what he lived on. When money ran short, he would go on a lecture tour so he could pay the bills. He didn't like lecturing, but the audience loved him.

Steven wrote: "ok I have some questions for any author or authors that want to answer it.
When starting a story, do you ever just start writing something not knowing where it's going to go? Do you always know h..."

Hi Steven,

My writing process is fairly organic, I dive in and start writing...it's usually started with something as basic as a conversation, a question, some random idea ticking inside my head...some things have rattled around in my head for many years as stories I've told to myself or told to friends way back when we told scary stories around a campfire or while sitting on someone's front porch sneaking stale cigarettes when we were young and foolish, or just being impressionable...

I often start handwriting everything that comes to mind in a salt n' pepper notebook dedicated to the story, and transcribing my notes to the computer as I go along, and during this rough transcription the scene takes on more shape as things come to me while typing along. For the most part, the scenes that come into being are not in order as they occur, so it is a bit of a puzzle fitting them together, and it gets really interesting once I start connecting things together and more of the story reveals itself once they click into place and the flow becomes less rocky...I love it when I print up the manuscript for the first time and start cutting it up with the scissors and taping things together and then go back to the computer and dig in for the siege of cutting and pasting, rewriting and enjoying EVERY MINUTE of it.

The book is done when I say so, and many times I have no idea how it's going to end...unless I write the ending first, which sometimes I do, but mostly, I'll start somewhere in the middle and work my way around and out. Sometimes I'll say "it's done" set it aside as a rough draft for a period of time (a day or a year, depends) and when I go through the editorial process, I discover something new and off I go, filling in the blanks that I just discovered and the story becomes richer for the extra effort.

My books are connected through the characters relationships with one another, but they're not written as a series, they stand alone, one character with a small part in one book might have a larger part in another, it's all about how people influence one another. Many of my books came into being all at once, and often I have to stop along the way to check something like a character's age at the time that this and such happened to them, or when so and so was born, or this one and that one first met...

Research happens as things come up and I want to get my facts straight...or in some cases, I'll take liberties as every story has more than one side to it... my recent release The Fractured Hues of White Light actually started in 1981 when I was at college taking a childhood psychology class, I wrote a paper about autism, which I found fascinating on a personal level, and the subject also produced a poem for the creative writing class I was taking at the time...the paper is long lost, but the poem still exists on the original lined sheet pulled from my notebook. I believe it still resides in the notebook that I wrote the first notes for the novel when it came into being many years later in the year 2000.

Everyone has their way of doing things, this is mine...thanks for the questions!

Steven wrote: "When starting a story, do you ever just start writing something not knowing where it's going to go?..."

Hey Steven! I've been a successful professional writer for many years, and have read a mountain of books on writing novels and screenplays, as well as having gone to many seminars.

Short answer to your question: the process is different for every writer. Some writers (and teachers) are plot driven: that is, plot points need to happen on a certain schedule. The writer needs to know what genre he is in, study its conventions, and develop accordingly.

Some use cards (or the digital equivalent). They put events or scenes on 3 x 5's, and keep at it until they have the whole tamale summarized. Then they shuffle the cards around, to change what happens to whom, when, and do not write until they have them in final order.

Some write numerous synopses, or story point form, and then flesh this out.

I do think the genre affects how you write. Thrillers, for example, are high on plot and low on character development. They need to work like a machine, with clever surprises and twists built in. Plot-driven stories are often heavily planned.

Some write elaborate character descriptions and "back stories" (who they are, how they got to the place the story begins, quirks of their nature, and so on. I do some of this with my major characters).

John Irving ("Garp", etc.) has said that he thinks through a story, usually for a year or two, until he has it organized in his head. Only then does he put a word to paper!

Years ago, I met James Clavell ("King Rat," "Shogun," "Gai Jin," "Tai Pan," "Noble House," etc.), and he was kind enough to read my writing and encourage and mentor me. (We had both spent time in Asia and the South Pacific and shared fascination with world stories and other cultures).

James told me that he wrote with only a general idea of where his story was going, but apart from that, he did not want to plot it too closely. He said at one point, "I was writing about Hong Kong, and two coolies were talking to one another. One says, 'did you hear about the Russian freighter that limped into port last night?' And as the writer, I'm thinking: 'ooo, interesting! I wonder where this is going?'"

James said that he liked to discover what was going to happen in much the same way the reader ultimately would, because he gained a freshness and vitality that very plotted books lack.

I happen to be more of this school: I've tried the far more organized ways and they bore me! A bored writer can't string a good tale. I'd say I went this way with Teeth - The Epic Novel with Bite, and drafted what is becoming an entire trilogy before I came up for air, because this is my nature.

To take on the novel is to write a big story. I wrote bits and pieces for years, and have all these fragments in folders still on my computer.

At the beginning, I found myself writing into dead-end after dead-end, and did that too many times. Unlike those who plot fully first, this muddle-your-way-through can "waste" lots of time and effort! But maybe it's not a waste, because it's through these false starts and many stops that I evolved my characters, and figured out in the school of hard knocks to the head, where I was going.

You have to be really committed to wanting - no, NEEDING - to write a book, because this deep work is difficult, even agonizing.

I'd heard many writers say that at a certain point, their characters came alive and began to tell the story themselves. I heard this with my ears, but didn't really get it - until, at last, it happened to me. And then, oh hallelujah and eureka!

Johnny, the hardened WWII surfer-turned-sniper from San Diego, his sidekick Footy, a colorful Australian, and their POW, Katsu, a Japanese captain of samurai descent, began to think and talk, and want their own way. They became as real as my friends.

In addition, the "great antagonist" (I won't call him the villain), "the Father," the 4,000 lb. crocodile, based on a real man-eater from the time and place of my story, came alive! He stopped being some long-dead thing in a photograph, and began to swim through the murky recesses of my imagination. I even had a couple of nightmares about him. The crocodile began to speak to me (in a very ancient, reptilian sort of way that was more about what it saw and felt - and wanted to kill!).

Then I knew, my story had life, and I would finish it - come hell, high water, or both.

Eventually (and what a day!) I held a completed, bound book in my hands! Now I feel more than anything else that I "channeled it." The story told itself through me.

Of course, rewriting and editing are far more cerebral games, and require their own discipline. But if you (Steven or anyone) wants to write a book or other work of fiction, my best advice would be: keep writing!

As Ray Bradbury said, the only failure in writing is giving up. Never give up, even when you hit the inevitable dead-ends! Take a deep breath, pick a different entry point into the story, and write it from there.

Very important: don't let yourself get into re-writing parts of your story until you get a finished 1st draft out! Do you know how many writers I've met who never finish their book, because they're still rewriting the opening?

Don't worry too much about the beginning either. I believe there is no doubt you'll have to rewrite the opening, and maybe a middle part will end up being the beginning, so why not just crunch through until you've written "The End"?

Gut the book out! Don't even worry if it's good or not until you're done.

Most first drafts are crap, so don't get discouraged when you read what you've written. It's going to be rough!

Put that first draft aside, if you can, for a month or two. Amazing what's going on in your subconscious while you're working on other things! And what a fresh, recharged head can do. Then come back and read your manuscript all the way through.

Then begins another long and both thrilling, and daunting, process.

But in my opinion, getting that first draft done is the most difficult part (we're not talking yet about marketing, agents, publishers, or distribution! First you need to have the very best novel you can write).

Parting shot: I'd be careful about how much you "tell" your story to others while you're deep in the creative ocean. Being a writer is a highly creative, but somewhat fragile, calling. I've heard wannabes tell whole novels in bars that I'm sure they never wrote.

I heard established writers talk about this, and again, I didn't really understand until I was doing it: guard your creative energy! Protect your self, and your story. Be tight-lipped, or you could spill the best of what should be going on the page!

There are those (and some might even be in your house or the one next door) who won't like your story, or don't want you to succeed with your book, for whatever motive. The critiques from some "friends" can be the most discouraging, the hardest ones to take. I had one old friend suggest, after I'd spent three years and more on my current project, "why not write a novel on this economy instead?" I said, as kindly as I could, "This book is what I've poured my life energy into. Why don't you go...write that other one?"

I will talk about my stories, read an MS aloud, and begin to email bits to trusted friends/readers, only when I think I'm done. Then I'm always amazed by the mistakes I've made, and things I thought were crystal clear that others didn't get at all. BUT the point is this: you're the author, and you have your magnum opus to create. You have to do it, on whatever scheme of writing works for you, before you can share it!

Get thee into thy writer's cave, and don't come out (except for food and drink when you must), until it's done!

Julie wrote: "Timothy--
That's how Twain's audience felt, too. Mark Twain could fill theaters. He didn't read from his books, he gave lectures based loosely upon them. As I understand from the bits of his autobi..."

Interesting... wonder how he'd do on Twitter and You Tube?

Timothy wrote: "j wrote: "Dickens made author reading a popular idea. Mark Twain tried it and bombed. Not that he couldn't read, just that people didn't come to see him for that. Dickens, on the other hand did w..."

T. wrote: "(Answering as a reader first) To me, it is more interesting to hear the author answer questions or talk about what was behind their writing. I read the book to, well - read the book. No offense, ..."

Twain probably bombed because he was in Connecticut. The Second Coming would bomb in Connecticut. I imagine London being a lot more inviting for literary events, though I'm probably just believing a stereotype.

Hey, I've got an idea that will be fun and help all of us imagine that we're promoting our books:

What's the first line of your novel?

I suggest this in partial response to the question about whether 'tis better to plan your novel or to just leap into it and follow your headlights through the fog. (In brief response, I tend to do both. I start off with a sentence that begs up the next sentence. I keep going for as long as the flow goes. But at some point I get a feel for what the story's about, and then I start to plan.)

I wrote a novel that flowed out of this first sentence:

"Frankenstein sat near you in the fifth grade."

from Frankenstein on the Cusp of Something.

Glenn Cheney

Good topic, Glenn. Here's the opening line from my novel, "A Touch of Deceit," --There was a time when Nick Bracco would walk down Gold Street late at night and young vandals would scatter.

Nice. It definitely pulls one into the story.

Here's the first line of 'Necromancer', an epic fantasy novel:

They urged their horses on, faster and faster, hooves merely a blur beneath them.

Thanks. Actually Dune, your first sentence by itself is very strong.

Gary wrote: "Thanks. Actually Dune, your first sentence by itself is very strong."

Thanks Gary, I appreciate that.

Twain was incredibly popular as a lecturer. that is what his audience came to see. He was also very good at reading, but that is not what people expected to hear. So, after about three weeks of it he sent his manager home and finished the tour with what he was known for. Maybe I shouldn't have used the word 'bombed'. It seems to have given the wrong connotation.
if you're really interested in knowing something about the man, I spent 20 yrs writing a novel about him. It will clear up a lot of misconceptions.
Or, read his autobiography. A classic of American lit.
j

Glenn wrote: "Hey, I've got an idea that will be fun and help all of us imagine that we're promoting our books:

What's the first line of your novel?

I suggest this in partial response to the question about w..."

"Who did this to her?"

Glenn wrote: "Hey, I've got an idea that will be fun and help all of us imagine that we're promoting our books:

What's the first line of your novel?
Glenn - what a fun idea!

Here's the beginning of my novel Evelyn's Drum:

A frantic, hoarse whisper as the moon hung like a pale, bloodless finger -
“Here, kitty. Here kitty, kitty.”

Evelyn's Drum by Joel Arnold

Very important: don't let yourself get into re-writing parts of your story until you get a finished 1st draft out! Do you know how many writers I've met who never finish their book, because they're still rewriting the opening?

I'd say there's an exception--if you reach a point where you want to go somewhere that an earlier part of the story has blocked, don't be afraid to go back and rewrite.

Sharon wrote: "Glenn wrote: "Hey, I've got an idea that will be fun and help all of us imagine that we're promoting our books:

What's the first line of your novel?


The living sculpture could no longer control its body, even to blink its eyes or turn them away from the horror in the mirror.
Homecoming

Angelina felt the heat of the sun on her face and half opened her eyes.


A Terrace on the Tower of Babel

My dystopian novel, The Book begins with four words: "Don't read The Book." It goes on to explain itself & if you've read the back cover by that point you'll understand that statement to mean more than what it sounds like.

When I write, I outline. Heavily. Like a crazy person. I outline each chapter individually, filling lines and lines with detailed information about what is supposed to happen, description, research info and sometimes bits of dialogue. When my outline is completely finished, I begin writing. By that point, the story is so full and complete in my head, that the writing is a breeze. I've already "seen" it all happen - I just need to write it all down.

Here's the start of my current thriller, 'The Day the Ravens Died' A classic example of the stresses of a 'normal' day which turned out to be anything but normal.

Angela Bates was having a bad morning, her husband had left much earlier than usual for his job in the city, because of this her normal routine had been upset and she had dozed off again, now the kids where playing up, as a result she would probably be late getting them to school.

How many of us have started a day off like this?
My intention was to 'paint' a picture of ordinary, every day life to set the scene for an extraordinary sequence of events which followed. Read it if you dare!
All the best, Paul Rix [oldgeezer:]

This is the first paragraph of my romantic suspense, The Serpent and the Stag.


The click of the latch shattered the silence. Sarah Williams glanced up from her mother’s still form. She had been sitting there for hours now, tugging her back toward life. Elizabeth was losing strength. Her last, desperate grip on life was slipping away. Sarah glared at the man who now entered the room.

I'm sensing an innate self esteem issue with just giving us the first line of your novel and stopping there. You shouldn't. As far as I can tell these are all worthy lines. "The click of the latch shattered the silence." That tells the reader so much in that one line. I've actually developed a blog around this exact premise. One line, or one paragraph or one scene. I think most readers are sharp enough to know one sentence can only pique your interest. And that's a good thing.

Here's the first sentence from Secrets In The Shadows, the first mystery in the Leroy's Sins Series.

"We all have secrets."

T. L. Haddix

M. wrote: "My dystopian novel, The Book begins with four words: "Don't read The Book." It goes on to explain itself & if you've read the back cover by that point you'll understand that statement to mean more..."

We all have very different writing styles, and I couldn't pick someone more different to me than you. It is interesting to me that you do this, as half the fun of writing for me is to see the story unfold as if I was one of characters. I do have a general idea of where the story is going and what the end may or may not be, but mostly I just let the story tell itself.

I like it.

In most of my writing, the opening scene comes first, and the rest is pretty vague. I'm working on one that I carefully plotted, and it's just not coming. I'm on the verge of throwing out all my notes and starting over from the opening paragraphs.

Gary, Glenn asked us to post our first line. That's why people are stopping. It has nothing to do with self-esteem and everything to do with honoring the request.

As for my first line, it's an eleven-letter word that is often best spelled in polite society as $(@*$&*%!$% -- or something along those lines.

The first sentence of Watch The Hour:

The men carrying the coffin trudged up the hill, heads bent, faces red and wet with perspiration and shoulders hunched under the weight of their burden, the steady tromp of their feet raising clouds of dust.

Susan, you misunderstood my post. Read it again. People kept writing more than one sentence--they continued on with the first paragraph and I was simply saying that they didn't need to do that because their first lines were really quite good. I was trying to be encouraging of their first lines and supportive of their work.

The first sentence from The Light of Asteria: Kailmeyra's Last Hope.

Malachi stood at the base of the mountain staring into the chasm of hell.

My novel is very much under developement. So much so that I haven't even settled on a name for it yet. But right now the first line is:

The police stood waiting outside my door as I drove up.

The opening line of my novel, No Place to Die, is "Dinner was almost ready when Beverly Thompson was snatched from her garage on a beautiful Wednesday evening early in February."

Gary, I re-read it a few times. "I'm sensing an innate self-esteem issue with just giving us your first lines."

I understand (now) you were trying to be encouraging, but that's not how I read it the first few times.

Okay, okay! I admit it! I'm utterly lacking in confidence. I'm terrified my book isn't good enough, that it won't stand up to critical eyes.

But what else can I do? I can't give up on myself, can I?