Author: R.J. Keller

And the award goes to…

/ R.J. Keller / 5 Comments

My cool new blogging buddy, Bunnygirl (a very talented writer…check out her stuff), recently gave me this cool award. It’s my first one ever, so I’m pretty psyched. Now I have to be a good girl and do the following:

1) Put the logo on my blog.
2) Add a link to the person who awarded me.
3) Nominate 7 other blogs.
4) Add links to those blogs on mine.
5) Leave a message for my nominees on their blogs.

Numbers one and two are no-brainers. The logo is rad-looking, and Bunnygirl’s blog was already linked here. But choosing seven blogs out of the rest of my blogroll…not so easy. I only list those blogs I love and visit regularly. So after much consideration, here they are (and please don’t be offended if yours isn’t listed):

1. A Trillion Kisses, maintained by a cool Austrailian lady who thinks we look alike. Since she’s wicked pretty, that made me very happy.

2. Barefoot Adult, the funny and touching chronicles of a wife/mother/writer as she balances all that she and life have put on her plate.

3. Blogfish, my buddy Elle’s blog. She’s the kindest, coolest person I know (at least among those people I know whom I’ve never met) and she’s really handy with a toothbrush.

4. Kit Courteney. She’s British (and I love just about every dialect they’ve got), she’s got a cat who thinks she’s a dog (just like mine), and she’s a great writer.

5. Blog Ing, because it’s through him that I found the Word Count Union.

6. Papayas and Peas. I’m not a vegan, and I don’t play one on TV, but Jen–a wicked cool chick who, with her equally cool hubby, also lives in Maine–has recipes there that make me think it wouldn’t be a bad thing to become one. If only chicken was a vegetable…

7. Zoe Winters, the revolutionary. Viva La Resistance!

Here’s a link to your award. Pass it on if you feel so inclined.

Blatant

/ R.J. Keller / 7 Comments

I received an irate email from a Waiting For Spring reader last Saturday; we’ll call her “C”. A friend of hers (hereafter known as “S”) printed out the e-book and, when she was done with it, passed it around for her friends to read. At chapter 26, C threw the book down in horror and disgust. (Well, I don’t know that she actually threw the book down. Since it wasn’t a book at all, but rather a stack of printer paper, I tend to doubt it. That would’ve been pretty messy. But the image strikes my fancy, so I’m sticking with it.) After plowing through twenty-five chapters of foul language, steamy sex, drug use, violence, minor blasphemy, and a sympathetic openly gay character, what could have so offeneded this Christian woman that she could bear to read no further?

Its “blatant pro-choice message.”

I have to admit, I’ve always expected strong reactions to chapter 26. It’s not necessarily graphic, but it is emotionally intense, and C isn’t the first person I’ve heard from about it. Still, I was quite surprised to read the words “blatant pro-choice message.” I was also a little nervous. Not because of C’s negative reaction (sorry C), but because she thought there was a message at all. Ripped from the headlines novels typically irritate me. That’s what “Law & Order” is for. I hate it when an author uses their characters and fictional world as a thinly disguised soapbox. When I encounter that sort of thing in a novel, I immediately throw it down in disgust, because I don’t like being manipulated. And I shuddered to think that’s what someone thought I’d been trying to do to them.

The truth is that, although I do have strong personal opinions about this issue, Waiting For Spring wasn’t written to give voice to them. It isn’t meant to be pro-choice. It isn’t meant to be pro-life. It isn’t meant to be pro-any political issue. It’s honest to goodness slice of life reading, with all of life’s beauty and horror and joy and pain. It’s about confronting and dealing with life’s shit head on, before you get buried in it. It’s about what happens when you don’t do that.

Imagine my surprise–and relief–when, on Sunday, I opened up an email from “S”. She confessed to being surprised at C’s reaction to chapter 26. Why? Because S thought it was blatantly pro-life.

Indie Pride

/ R.J. Keller / 7 Comments

Two of my new blogging buddies–Bunnygirl and Zoe Winters–have got me all fired up. I feel just like Pat Benatar, only without the big hair and mullet backup band. Not that I’d turn down a mullet backup band right now. I’d love to have one following me around everywhere I go…but I digress.

Wednesday’s post led to quite a discussion of traditional vs. independent publishing. Actually, Zoe’s been talking about it all week long and Bunnygirl stirred things up at Mr. Nathan Bransford’s blog last week with this comment:

What I find interesting is how many people think the only reason to write is to be published, and that publication legitimizes ones efforts somehow.

Why is that, exactly? I suppose it’s validation. Before a book hits the shelves, smart people with pretty degrees on their walls have all had to give it a thumbs up. That’s gotta feel pretty good. But what makes them do so? Artistic merit? Puh-leeze! You only have to browse your local Barnes and Noble to know that’s not necessary. Nope, the publishing industry is just that…an industry. It exists to make money. Peruse any agent’s blog and they’ll tell you that what they’re looking for is What Will Sell. That’s cool. That’s their job. But it means there’s a lot of good writing out there that’s being overlooked, and that sucks. In fact, it fucking sucks like hell.

That’s why so many of us have turned to self-publishing, a world where there’s no money to be had and even less respect.

Bunnygirl: POD and e-pub get a bad rap because there is so much awful and unedited dreck out there. To publishers’ credit, at least when they put out something bad, it’s well-edited for common errors. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t any gems out there in indie publishing formats and I think a movement is growing to support more indie work.

Zoe agreed, adding:

Indie Bands and filmmakers are seen as “cool.” Indie authors are seen as “writers not good enough to get a publisher.” It’s time that perception was overturned.

Exactly! So how do we do that?

1. Write well, edit well, and polish. Let an honest crit partner check it out. Listen to that feedback and polish your work again. If it isn’t good enough to submit to an agent or an editor, then it’s not good enough to put into your readers’ hands.

2. Get your words out there. Post excerpts of your stuff on your blog or website. Offer free e-books and free audiobooks, even if you’ve got hard copies for sale.

3. Get your name out there. Submit your work to e-zines and other websites that support talented unknown writers, whether or not there’s a paycheck involved.

4. Support those e-zines and websites by reading them regularly and by spreading the word about them. Support and encourage other good indie writers. Comment on their blogs, buy their books, tell others about them. Let’s build a community.

Personally, making lots of money has never been a goal of mine, and it’s certainly not the reason I decided to try for publication in the first place. I just want my work to be read by as many people as possible. I love the feeling I get when someone has been moved or entertained by my words. That is why I write. It’s the only validation I need. If that’s why you write, then chime in here. Let your voice be heard.

Why Can’t This Be Love?

/ R.J. Keller / 15 Comments

It happened again. A few weeks ago an agent I queried asked for a partial. I stuffed the obligatory First Thirty Pages Along With A Two-Page Synopsis into an envelope, sprinkled in some cosmic good thoughts, and sent it away. Late last week I got an emailed rejection. Although my writing is “quite good” and my heroine “unique and compelling” (examples were sited that made me think she might have meant it), the agent “just didn’t fall in love” with it and didn’t think it was (drumroll please)…Marketable.

I wish an agent would fall in love with my manuscript. Waiting for Spring is kinda hot, and sometimes comes on a little strong, but ultimately it has a heart of gold. Maybe it needs to get an agent drunk first so she (or he) will at least sleep with it. That might lead to a semi-hesitant on-and-off romance that eventually blossoms into true love.

The good news is that there are plenty of readers out there who are nursing what is at least a serious crush on my book. I’ve sold more copies on my Lulu storefront in the past two days than in the previous two weeks combined and it’s still being downloaded very steadily. Even more exciting–to me, anyway–are the very passionate responses I’ve been getting from people who’ve read it. When someone refers to one of my characters as they would a real person they’ve grown to love–and not as a character in a novel whose actions I have set in motion…well, that’s about the best feeling in the world.

So if you haven’t had a chance to read Waiting for Spring yet, g’head and give it a go. Read a few excerpts, or see what readers have said about it. You can read it in its entirety for free HERE ; download the free e-book; or read along as it’s serialized at Sid Leavitt’s Readers and Writers Blog. Who knows? You might just fall in love.

Why Can’t This Be Love?

/ R.J. Keller / 13 Comments

It happened again. A few weeks ago an agent I queried asked for a partial. I stuffed the obligatory First Thirty Pages Along With A Two-Page Synopsis into an envelope, sprinkled in some cosmic good thoughts, and sent it away. Late last week I got an emailed rejection. Although my writing is “quite good” and my heroine “unique and compelling” (examples were sited that made me think she might have meant it), the agent “just didn’t fall in love” with it and didn’t think it was (drumroll please)…Marketable.

I wish an agent would fall in love with my manuscript. Waiting for Spring is kinda hot, and sometimes comes on a little strong, but ultimately it has a heart of gold. Maybe it needs to get an agent drunk first so she (or he) will at least sleep with it. That might lead to a semi-hesitant on-and-off romance that eventually blossoms into true love.

The good news is that there are plenty of readers out there who are nursing what is at least a serious crush on my book. I’ve sold more copies on my Lulu storefront in the past two days than in the previous two weeks combined and it’s still being downloaded very steadily. Even more exciting–to me, anyway–are the very passionate responses I’ve been getting from people who’ve read it. When someone refers to one of my characters as they would a real person they’ve grown to love–and not as a character in a novel whose actions I have set in motion…well, that’s about the best feeling in the world.

So if you haven’t had a chance to read Waiting for Spring yet, g’head and give it a go. Read a few excerpts, or see what readers have said about it. You can read it in its entirety for free HERE ; download the free e-book; or read along as it’s serialized at Sid Leavitt’s Readers and Writers Blog. Who knows? You might just fall in love.

The Dark Knight

/ R.J. Keller / 9 Comments


My husband, my son and I went to the midnight showing of The Dark Knight in Augusta. As much as I love to write and as much as I love movies, I suck at writing movie reviews, so I won’t attempt it. I’ll just tell you why you should go see this movie.

1. Heath Ledger’s performance.

Yes, I know I’m biased and, yes, I know it’s what everyone is saying. But everyone is saying it because it’s true. I expected to watch the movie with a tinge of sadness, knowing that it’s the last role he completed; but from the first moment he came onscreen I actually forgot that it was Heath Ledger up there. I forgot that he’s gone. He really was the Joker, in all his creepy, sadistic, hilarious glory. Simply put, he was brilliant.

2. Everyone else’s performances.

The returning cast–Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Gary Oldman–were superb; Aaron Eckhart was amazing, as usual; and Maggie Gyllenhaal was a welcome relief from Katie Holmes’ yawn-inspiring turn as Rachel Dawes. Even the minor roles were cast well.

3. Awesome special effects.

I usually blank out during car chase scenes, and big explosions don’t do much for me (I know I’m in the minority here), but Christopher Nolan knows what he’s doing. Even if you’ve seen the Eighteen Wheeler Flip Over in the trailer, you’re gonna be amazed by it on the big screen. And when buildings blow up…damn it, you feel it.

4. Oh yeah…and it’s a great story with lots of depth. More than the typical good vs. evil. More, even, than the now common blurring-the-lines-between-good-and-evil. And it’s entertaining, too.

As I said, we saw TDK at midnight in Augusta, Maine. Not a big city as cities go, and yet the two theaters showing it were chuckerblock full. (Apparently not an uncommon phenomenon.) When the credits rolled, there was thunderous applause. And when Heath Ledger’s name flashed before us, a group of comic book nerds (I use this term with honest affection) literally stood up and cheered, and the rest of us joined them. I’ll admit it: I cried right then. Partly because there were so many comic book nerds who originally balked (very frequently and very loudly) at Mr. Ledger’s being cast as the Joker, and this was a huge vindication for him. But mostly because that was the moment I remembered–again–that he’s gone.

Something old, something new, and a sweaty bear

/ R.J. Keller / 2 Comments

Well, I’m off to a roaring start on my “new” novel. In terms of word count I’m ahead of the game, which is cool, but even better is the fact that I’m really excited about how the story itself is going (although ask me next week and I might tell you that the story sucks, my writing sucks, and life in general sucks).

It’s called The Wendy House (yes, that’s a reference to Peter Pan) and it’s a prequel of sorts to Waiting for Spring. It tells the story of Brian’s parents, Wendy and Rick. The trick, of course, is that at the beginning of WFS Wendy has been dead for fourteen years, and anyone who’s read it will know that.

I wanted to explore the idea of someone being a mother vs being a person. Brian (in Waiting for Spring) has spent most of his life idealizing his mom, which is not an uncommon thing when someone loses a parent, and is even more intense than it normally would have been due to Rick’s irresponsibility; so the reader gets an idealized image of her. But I wanted to see what kind of person she really was, to see the actual person behind the idol that Brian will never know; because let’s face it, most of us never really know our parents as anyone other than Mom or Dad. I also wanted to get to know Rick better, to see where he came from, so as to understand how he got to the point he did (abandoning his kids after his wife’s death) without making excuses for him, which has also been very challenging.

Something else I’m enjoying this time around is showing a glimpse of a Maine mill town while the mills were actually running, when there was at least a modicum of prosperity, before everyone’s property was auctioned off to the highest out-of-state bidder. (Not that I’m bitter or anything.)

In my earlier post, I gave a link to a new writing blog I set up for posting information about this new project. I’ve decided to delete it, though. I’m having a hard enough time keeping this blog and my photo blog updated in between my writing, my family life, and my job-that-pays; I don’t think I’ll be able to keep up with another one. I’ll use this as my all-purpose blog. And, if you’re wondering why I haven’t had any recent convenience store customer stories it’s because I haven’t had many customers in the past week and a half. Our store is undergoing some very major construction, including the temporary removal of our gas pumps (check out some pictures here at my 365 photo blog) and as a result our business has dropped considerably. I almost posted a story of how my coworker “E” and I spent an entire overnight shift singing and dancing (very badly) to my new Coldplay CD, drinking Shirley Temples, and generally making complete asses of ourselves…but it really was a You Had To Be There experience.

Fear not! Construction is scheduled for completion in another four weeks or so, at which time we’ll have a Grand Reopening. Why should you care about that, when most of you don’t live within visiting distance? Because I’ve agreed to dress up in a teddy bear costume for the occasion. That’s right, I’m going stand by the road, completely covered in fur (in the mid-August heat), waving to drivers-by, trying to entice them into the store. I’ve been told that a fair amount of ass-shaking is expected of me as well. If I survive the ordeal, I’ll post a full report (complete with embarrassing pictures) here.

And now, speaking of Rick and his irresponsibility, Chapter 16 of Waiting for Spring (in which Brian has a chance to, um, confront his father) has been posted this morning at Readers and Writers Blog. Also new today is Chapter 28: The Garden of Eden of Ginny Good. Check ’em out.