Signs of Spring

The signs of Spring for me are birds singing, sun shining, and characters talking. There is nothing worse (for a writer) than silence, yet that is precisely what I had been facing in February. Silence. Cold. Snow. Depression. I don't like it. No one does. But the fact it that sometimes the voices in my head, or yours, stop for whatever reason and they take their own sweet time coming back around for a visit. Or, even better, an extended stay. I need my voices. I need my characters chattering away in my brain, screaming at me to write them. I do not handle the silence well.

In February I don't think I wrote a word. IDK. I know it felt empty and sad, so I don't think I wrote anything. March was almost as equally dismal. I do not know how much I wrote, but it was minimal. I DID have enough energy to take Misaplaced Affection out and ponder over its flow. I then took it apart, separated it into three documents and proceeded to rearrange and restructure it. Readers seem to like easy rather than hard. Readers seem to like chronological rather than time-jumps and flashbacks. Readers seem to like one point of view. (POV) I LIKE readers to like me and my writing.

BUT, I am me and I can't change myself to be "popular". I need to stay true to writing what I love and writing what I think has meaning, and hope that people will like it. Although, having said that, I DO want to try to keep in mind what readers like because if you all constantly get lost because of POV changes and time jumps then more than likely you may stop reading my writing all together. I can't have that! So give me feedback. I appreciate it. Even if it is, "I really could not relate to the character,"  or "You lost me with all the flashbacks." I take into consideration everything people say. Some of it I can change. Some of it I will NOT change. I have my own style. I have my own "brand", as it were. I call it the "Wade Kelly" style.

What do you think of if you hear that? "Wade Kelly Style"

Do you think:
1. POV shifts
2. Flash backs / time-jumps
3. controversy
4. layers & subplots
5. events or situations that cause you to stop and think
6. unpredictability
7. memorable characters
8. stories worth waiting for
9. Oh, I'll need tissues for this one
10. (fill in the blank)

I hope some of those I listed come to mind when you think of me. These are some of my goals as a writer. I want to include these as I write. There are other writers to go to for carefree, easy reads. Others you can auto-buy for fluffy weekend reads. My goal is to reach deeper than that. I am learning how to write better. I am learning how to write deeper. I WANT to be the author you go to when you want to think. HELP ME! Help me become a better writer. E-mail me your thoughts. I love that. writerwadekelly@gmail.com  Tell me what works, what doesn't. I know that the things I write are not for everyone. It happens. There are books I have read that I just didn't like. It happens. But my goal is to provide a quality product.

I love and appreciate all of you out there who take the time to write a review on Goodreads, and Amazon, and ARe, and Dreamspinner. Reviews are important, but they take time to write so thank you if you have done that. And thank you to all those who buy direct from the publisher. DREAMSPINNER. Buying direct gives me more royalties. More royalties means I eat. Writing is my job, basically. I am a mother, and a wife, and spend most of my day taking care of my family's needs. Writing has become my job now that I get paid. And getting paid from writing insures that I do not need to go get a job else where. As long as I have an income I can continue to do this. The term "Starving Artist" has meaning to me now because artists do not make much. I am an artist. I paint words. If I had to live on writing I would probably starve. LOL. But as my readership and fan base grows, so does my ability to do this as if it was a full-time job.

I went to the Rainbow Book Fair. That was neat. And in less than 2 weeks I will be in Tampa for Rainbow Con. If you can join me, please do! Authors, not just me, need the love and support of readers. There are a bunch of writers gathering for this event with panel discussions, readings , and Q&A. I have never done a Q&A so come on down to Florida and sock it to me. (But be kind. I cry easily.)

I have been writing as much as I can. I wrote some this morning. I have just under 50,000 words for Misplaced Affection. It seems to be shaping up well, but I will warn you I think it is going to be more of an emotional ride than previously anticipated. IDk. When it is done I will get a beta reader to tell me how it stands. (Tina? You up for that?) My word count though is probably going to be 110k so as you see I am only about half way done.

Names Can Never Hurt Me…. This one I am dying to hear your feedback on. I want it released already! I personally think it is a great story. It is long. Around 118k right now. I should get the first edits soon. They were supposed to get some to me weeks ago, but the editors are backed up. Dreamspinner is super busy and I guess that is good for me because my publisher will not be going out of business any time soon. They are rocking busy! Cool. But you all, and I, have to wait longer. Last year when I was editing The Cost of Loving, it took about 16 weeks from the start of "edits" to the publication date. Once the finial edit is done (there are normally three) then I get a "galley proof" about a week or two later and a pub date about a week after that. It will appear on the Dreamspinner "coming soon" page about a month before it is released. That said… I MIGHT get a galley proof by the end of May/ early June and have a pub date for you by the middle of June. It seems like forever, but it is already April. June is two months away! July therefore is only three months away and most likely NAMES will be out in THREE months. OMG! That isn't long at all! Not really. We can do it. We can wait. Right? So… when I get that cover, do you want to see it right away, r should I hold it back until early June? I will probably get it this month because i wanted to use it on PROMO stuff at Rainbow Con and RT. Is thee months too long to tease you with a cover and an excerpt? I hope not.

Anyway… thanks for stopping by. Thanks for taking time to read my posts. I hope you enjoy Spring! I think it is here to stay. IDK. Maryland weather is unpredictable and often we get crap out of the blue. I don't know about you, but i want the blue to stay!

hugs,

Wade

Rainbow Book Fair 2014 and my upcoming "events"

Howdy. Yesterday I attended the 6th Annual Rainbow Book Fair in New York City. I have been there before, but NOT as an author with actual "fans" and people who come up and say, "I really liked your book." That was surreal and thrilling. People recognized me, either from Facebook, or from my book covers and asked if I was Wade Kelly. OMG! What a rush. I swear I was on an adrenaline high most of the day!

I did a reading from JOCK. I read a shortened version of page 28-30. (Cole and Ellis' first kiss.) Lynn, my wonderful friend, recorded it, but we are having a delay in posting it because of the file size. (I'll post soon I hope.) It was very fun. I was nervous, but Lynn said I did well. I was super happy that My friend and fellow author Jeff Adams got to the fair in time to hear me read. He is such a dear man. It meant a lot to have these two wonderful people in the audience as I read, knowing they were there for me. I just adore my friends!

Anyway… I really had a great time at the fair. I met LOADS of people! I talked all day!!!! People were friendly and open to stop and talk. I did a drawing for a free audio book and a man named John won. (I emailed him directly.) I was chuffed to have 19 cards in my raffle for the audiobook :) On the raffle card there was an option to be kept up to date via e-mail, 13 of the 19 checked YES. Of the "yeses" 10 had never read my books. I find this a fun fact! I had people stop by and find me interesting enough to get e-mails and they had never read my books before! YAY!! So cool. I only hope I am not too boring and they don't "unsubscribe" too quickly.

Overall, I had a positive experience at the book fair and afterwards Jeff, Lynn, and I joined the NY author meet up group to have drinks at the Ivy on 8th ave. (Group included authors Damon Suede, Taylor Donovan, Kate McMurray, reviewer Monique Thompson, Madeline, Deb, Tina, and other people I can't remember the names of.) I had a delicious cosmo with my dinner. It was a noodle dish with chicken and a ginger sauce. oh my. We talked, laughed, cried a little (well, I did) and then called it a night. I am such the partier that I was in bed by nine! hahahaha.

So, first conference where I went as an AUTHOR, done. CHECK!!

Next up… Rainbow Con in Tampa!

To kick this event off, Rainbow Con is having a "blog hop" like many do. On April 1st, I will be featured on Pants Off Reviews by Darien Moya. (I told him I loved his name.) So stop by there on Tuesday to see what I have to say about Rainbow Con!!!

I also started some of the edits on Names Can Never Hurt Me. I got the blurb edit. Small, but better than nothing. Dreamspinner is backed up with lots of book edits so they are behind on mine. Oh well. I guess they just have too many of your favorite authors writing books to keep up with. That is a good thing! Be patient. As soon as I have cover art and a date and editing news I will let you know!

Next, after I post my blogs and write a blog for Mr. Moya, I will be editing chapter 1 of Misplaced Affection and posting it. check back soon, or subscribe to the right in the box that looks like:

BRB,

Wade :)

Rainbow Con in Tampa

Hello,

It has been a little over a week since I last posted a blog. Before that, I posted on Feb 4th. Wow, *said unenthusiastically* I really haven't talked to you all much this month. Why? I guess I'mm too blah and I have nothing interesting to say. Although, at any given time, I probably would consider myself boring anyway. So… what to talk about now? RAINBOW CON!!!

Although I will be at other conventions this year, I want to start by talking about this one. Why? Because I got an e-mail this morning about which panels I will be on and when I will do Q&A and READ from my books. What a cool thing to wake up to. I am sure I will do something at Rainbow Book Fair, but I don't know the schedule and I don't know what I will be doing. (Probably a reading since I have a table there.)

During RAINBOW CON!!! I will be there April 17-20th. Check out the link, I am ON the author list. It is a good feeling being on a let somewhere! Believe me! As far as the schedule goes at the moment, I will be at the following "sessions":

1. Author Q&A on Thursday afternoon. Where? IDK.
2. Author reading Friday afternoon. Where? IDK. What am I reading? IDK.
3. Panel topic "Handeling Criticism" on Saturday at 5pm. … LOL. I think I picked this because I probably do NOT handle it well.
4. Panel topic "Religion and Genre Fiction" on Sunday morning at 10 am. HAHA. Oh my! What a topic.

If you are there and are interesting in hearing anything I have to say, please stop by. I don't like to be the only one in the room listening to myself talk, although that happens every day.

#4 is an interesting one especially given the post Dennis Niekro posted on Facebook this morning about  the eruption of anti-gay legislation nationwide. It is a scary time we are in my friends. The article is very interesting and I encourage your o read it. What I commented on his post was, "Thank you for sharing Dennis. This is very messy indeed. Many of the examples on the article can come across as outrageous, but they are well founded arguments. It is scary to consider what people COULD and will throw back as a way of fighting against change. (At this point, gay-rights change.) It's fighting the level of evil int he world." Perhaps these people are int he dark ages (as someone pointed out) but the dark ages got lots of people killed. There is a saying "never underestimate the power of stupid people in droves". (Or something like that.) If you have a large enough group of anyone, things can happen. OR, if you have the right tyrannical leader. Don't dismiss the "radical right" because they are backward and "in the dark ages", but instead listen and be aware of their stance. You have to know what you are up against in a war, correct? It is a war for freedom, but freedom doesn't come easily.

In the article it gives bullet points:

Here’s a few scenarios for you:

• Don’t feel like paying women a wage equal to men? Or hiring women at all because in your religious opinion, all women should be housewives? No problem.
• Hate people of color? You don’t have to hire them or rent to them or anything. If you own a store, you can dust off that old “No Coloreds” sign and put it back in the window. Go ahead and add “No Gays” if you like. And according to the law, you can also re-add “No Chinese, Jews or Irish either” like they used to have in the olden days. Just have an asterisk — “* = The Lord My God Commands It“.
• Let’s say you’re an EMT. And you come across a gay person bleeding out after a traffic accident. You don’t have to treat them if you think they should die. Same thing if you object to people being Jewish or Romani or ginger.
• Or let’s say you’re a cop answering a domestic abuse call. You see a husband beating his wife. You’re free to say, “Fine — it’s there in the Bible, men are allowed to beat their wives. Sweetheart, you need to submit to him. Call me if he uses a stick larger in diameter than his thumb.”
• Or a state-employed poll worker who believes that only white men should be allowed to vote, for people of color bear the Mark of Cain…

Although I would consider myself "religious" as far as the term goes, I would also not see myself siding with these views or arbitrarily throwing around the phrase "IN JESUS NAME". These are radical extremists to me, but the thought that these examples COULD happen is valid. People do scary, awful things int he world. Beware this is NOT a happy world we live in much of the time. There is always going to be people fighting for freedom, and always people sneaking up when you look away to try and steal that freedom away!

Ukraine is in turmoil right now for the same reason: FREEDOM. The people have a leader that will not listen to their cries. It is basically war. (and this changes often since the goings-on change by moments) War is real and isn't going away just because some individuals have won a petition for same-sex marriage. (Note: I am not implying that Ukraine is in turmoil over gay-marraige) Other countries are killing and jailing homosexuals. Americans can be very comfortable across the ocean and forget that war is all around.

Do not close your eyes, liberal-left or religious-right, I do not see an "agreement to disagree" an easy compromise that either will shake hands over. FREEDOM TO LOVE and marry whom you wish is not going to remain on the table if the "happily married" forget the insanity UNDER the table who is willing to shake it at any cost. Stand firm. Stand strong. Stand aware.

And now I don't need to talk about anything at RAINBOW CON!!!… LOL! (Kidding) Thank you Dennis for posting this article. Ryan Field is normally the one I see posting current events and articles on everything pertinent to life and liberty. (He seems to know a lot.)

So… where are YOU going to be? Will I see you in Tampa? Will I see you in a couple weeks in New York at the Rainbow Book Fair????? Please come up and say hi! I have ordered some swag to take to these events. I will have books for you to buy. I will do a drawing for a free audio book. I will give out free hugs ;)

Ciao for Now,

Wade

xoxoxox