Evelyn Marsh on Sale

by Scott W Clemens | Apr 18, 2018 | Author's Blog

EVELYN MARSH on sale three more days.

The Way We Get Ideas onto the Written Page

by Scott W Clemens | Mar 1, 2018 | Author's Blog

I don’t know if the medium is the message as Marshall McLuhan so famously declared, but it certainly changes the way the message is composed. I learned cursive in fifth and sixth grade. My handwriting was and is almost unintelligible by anyone but myself. My teachers complained.

During the summer between elementary school and junior high I took typing lessons. At first I wrote longhand and then transcribed onto an old Remington manual typewriter. Later, I switched to a manual Smith Corona, and in college to an electric Smith Corona. In those days I always wrote longhand and revised with interlinear notes and circled passages with arrows showing where to move a sentence or paragraph. But I found I could never compose straight onto the typed page. The loud clack of the typewriter interuptured my thoughts.

It was a tedious process and anytime I made a major revision, removed or added a paragraph, I had to retype the entire manuscript from that point forward. When I finally transcribed onto the typewriter I would use a carbon copy so I’d have two copies. If I made a mistake I used white out and typed over it, and as the technology improved a new type of paper and a typewriter ribbon, half black, half white, we’re developed that allowed you to lift off a letter from the page when you did a strike-over, which did nothing to correct the carbon copy.

I wrote a novel, short stories, wine articles and teleplays in this way. It was a time-consuming process. In the late 70s and early 80s I was writing wine reviews and feature articles for Vintage magazine, and Wine & Spirits Buying Guide, and any typed pages I turned in were then sent to the printer and had to be transcribed into the printer layout.

Then along came the personal computer. In 1982 I bought a suitcase-sized Osborn computer with a 5 inch black-and-white screen, and 5 ¼ inch floppy disks that could hold 64 KB, enough for several articles. All of a sudden I could write three times faster. Corrections could be made instantly without having to retype pages, and I could make as many copies as I wanted. Furthermore, these computers were almost silent. No longer was noise a distraction and I could compose straight to the screen. The word processors even checked my spelling and grammar, and a dictionary and thesaurus were only a click away. Later, with the advent of the Internet I could fact check on the fly.

I’ve owned more then a dozen computers. For the past decade I’ve used various MacBook Pro laptops. Yet for all their advantages computers have always had a major drawback for me. I’ve been lucky enough to live by the ocean for most of my life. In the late 70s I enjoyed writing on my deck while listening to the waves roll in. But laptop screens aren’t bright enough to see outdoors.

I thought this problem would be rectified with the advent of the Kindle Ereader and Eink a decade ago. However no manufacturer has stepped forward to offer a simple word processor with Eink technology. So I remain confined to working indoors, when I’d rather be on the deck or at the beach.

Today’s computers offer beautiful graphics. I appreciate it every time I click on a YouTube video, or sort through photographs, or read an article supported by sharp, colorful graphics. However, all this gadgetry comes at a price. I’m a champion procrastinator, and my little writing machine is now an entertainment center. It comes with access to the news, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, movie reviews, book reviews, webcams, music, games, reminders of appointments, and bills to pay. I can’t tell you how often I’m distracted by the stuff behind the curtain. In a lull between paragraphs I’m likely to say to myself, “Now I’ll just check to see if so-and-so has responded to my email.” An hour later I might get to work, or decide it’s time to take a snack break. The Internet is a bottomless well. It’s easy to spend your day mindlessly web surfing.

I’ve been stuck at about the two thirds mark in writing my new book, Seal Cove. Part of it is caused by the distractions available on the same machine I use to write. Part of it, I suspect, is the posture required to type on the keyboard on my lap. I imagine one composes differently if standing, like Hemingway did, or sitting rigidly at a desk, or lounging in an easy chair, or in bed. It’s said that Dickens composed in his head while walking late at night.

So until someone invents an Eink word processor, I’m going to try an experiment. I’m going to compose longhand and dictate into my laptop (Steinbeck dictated the first chapter of Cannery). But direct dictation is another skill and might take some getting used to.

My hope is that composing without online distractions will move this book along. In the meantime, dear reader, my apologies for the delay.

The People in My Head

by Scott W Clemens | Oct 20, 2017 | Author's Blog

Reading books allows you to live life through another’s eyes. So does writing books. As a result I’ll never write a story about social injustice, or hopelessness. It would make me too depressed. There are plenty of things in this world that inspire outrage, or anger, or pity, or disgust. If you read a book that centers on any of those themes, you’ll be done with it in a few hours, perhaps unsatisfied, but relatively unscathed. If you write that same book you’ll have to live with those characters and situations for months or years, and that can be very unsettling. My novel With Artistic License is a story about Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. In it the main character is going through a divorce. To write fictional characters you have to put yourself in their place and see the world through their eyes. By the time I’d finished writing the novel I felt like I’d gone through a divorce myself, though I’ve been happily married for 40 years. The characters in my current work-in-progress have their problems, but no one’s situation is hopeless, and there are amusing moments, which keeps this writer happy.

I was hoping to finish by the end of the year, which now seems doubtful, but at least I’ll be spending that time with characters whose company I genuinely enjoy, whose problems are nothing too dire. As usual, I’m covering new ground. To be very successful as a writer (defined by the number of readers one has) it helps to stick to one genre. That way you can build a base of supporters. So far I haven’t covered the same ground twice. With Artistic License is a literary novel leaning toward dark romantic comedy. Time Management, a novel, is part fantasy, part historical adventure. Evelyn Marsh is a novel of psychological suspense. The one thing that ties them together is a wry sense of humor and uplifting endings.

Speaking of Evelyn Marsh, an audible edition will be coming out very soon. More on that in the next post.

Enter to Win a Goodreads Book Giveaway

by Scott W Clemens | Sep 4, 2017 | Author's Blog

In this era of unconstrained publishing, many authors give away their work for free. In principal I’m against the practice. I know of no other profession where the creator is expected to work for free. The average cost of my books runs to less than a penny a page, which I consider a bargain. Nonetheless, when you’re an unknown quantity it’s hard to get anyone to pay attention to creative work; there’s just too much available to winnow out the wheat from the chaff. Brand awareness has become more important than ever.

So in an effort to alert potential readers to my work, in the month of September I’m giving away four copies of Time Management, a novel, and five signed copies of Evelyn Marsh on Goodreads. You can find them here:

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Time Management

by S.W. Clemens

Giveaway ends September 15, 2017.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Evelyn Marsh

by S.W. Clemens

Giveaway ends September 21, 2017.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway