Coleen Kwan

Show, don't tell. I'm constantly struggling with this one, but movies can often provide good examples of how to show without telling.

Recently I watched Crazy, Stupid, Love, and right near the beginning of the film is a scene of a teenager babysitting a girl. The teenager mucks about with the girl, chasing her around the living room, where the girl accidently knocks over a framed photo. There's the sound of glass breaking. The teenager tells the girl never mind, she'll look after it, and the girl bounces off. Alone, the teenager picks up the photo. It's a picture of the married couple she's babysitting for, and the glass has splintered down the middle. Slowly, the teenager slides her hand across the glass to cover up the wife's image.

It's a really short scene, but it shows so much:

• The  teenager isn't too grown up; she's still just a big kid
• She has a crush on the dad
• She's rather sweet and naive

And of course the splintering of the glass down the middle of the photo echoes the previous scene where the married couple are having one of those awful 'date night' dinners where they have absolutely nothing to talk about.

In fact during this dinner the wife (Julianne Moore) tells her husband (Steve Carell) she wants a divorce. The audience doesn't see this bombshell being dropped. All we see is the couple driving home after the dinner and the husband choosing to roll out of a moving car rather than talk to his wife about their marital problems.

Those opening scenes are so cleverly done. I loved the movie (though I have no idea why there's an extra comma in the title).

Today I'm reposting a great infographic from copyblogger's post 22 Ways to Create Compelling Content When You Don't Have A Clue


Like this infographic? Get more content marketing tips from Copyblogger.

My fourth review for the 2012 Australian Women Writers Challenge:


Reading this book was like drinking a mug of cocoa in the depths of winter — warm, cosy, and satisfying. Elm Tree Road is the second book in the series which started with Cherry Tree Lane. It’s the kind of English historical saga I used to devour as a teenager. ETR is the story of Nell, the second of three sisters who are forced to run away from home because of their brutal father. Nell is pregnant by her lover, Cliff, and they plan to run away up north and get married. Renie, Nell’s younger sister, is going with them, but Mattie, the eldest sister, must somehow fend for herself.

So Nell finds herself moving far away from her hometown to Lancashire and married to a man who becomes less lover-like with each passing day. Alone, isolated, and impoverished because of her husband’s niggardliness, Nell endures her hardships, hoping better times will come for her and her family. Set in the 1910s, this story reminds us of the limitations upon women’s lives even at a time when technology was increasingly changing society. Nell is a product of her times. Even though she’s experienced the sharp end of women’s lack of autonomy, Nell herself says of running a house — “That’s a woman’s main job.” But when forced to she’s also capable of defending herself, showing her determination not to be cowed by any man after the harsh treatment of her father.

Nell endures hardships and tragedies with stoic endurance. When she does something illegal (but perfectly understandable) at the midpoint of the story, I kept waiting for some kind of punishment to fall on her, but it never does (or maybe it will in a later book).

I read this book very quickly because of its indefinable page-turning quality. This is an engrossing, heart-warming story which I’m sure will please Ms Jacobs’ legions of fans.

Note: It isn’t necessary to read Cherry Tree Lane first. I didn’t, and still enjoyed Elm Tree Road.

Generally I enjoy the editing part of writing. It’s a chance to correct mistakes, to flesh out characters, to add the missing nuances. Editing allows the critical, analytical left brain to take over and fashion something solid and meaningful out of the messy first draft that the creative right brain has produced. I like editing, but it feels as if I’ve been mired in editing for weeks now, and it’s a bit like eating your favourite meal five nights in a row. After a while you just want a change.

I’ve been working on edits for my steampunk novella coming out in June, Asher’s Invention. They’ve been relatively straightforward. But I’ve also been editing the sequel to Asher’s Invention and trying to make it as near to perfect as I can before I submit it. As well, I’m working on a third manuscript after a revise and resubmit. So I’ve been in editing mode for many weeks and feeling the pinch. What can I do to stop it feeling like a chore?

1. Don’t put pressure on myself. Unless my editor needs work returned by a certain date, don’t put a deadline on finishing my editing.

2. Do something else writing-related. I’ve started planning a new book. I don’t know if that’s what I’ll write next, but it’s giving my right brain a workout. I’ve also written a book review and a guest blog post. And I’m currently halfway through a great writing course which is giving me lots of food for thought about my edits.

3. Do editing in small blocks of time. Work on the edits for 2 hours then step away from the computer and don’t even think about writing.

Looking at the points above, I think No 1 is the most important. I’m constantly reading about how authors should be putting out a new title every 4 to 6 months for maximum exposure. I read about prolific writers like Maya Banks who last year wrote 8 to 10 books and professes to be a one draft writer who hates doing detailed plotting, and Rachel Aaron who increased her daily word count from 2K to 10K, and it's easy to feel I'm not pulling my weight.

On the other hand this post at The Creative Penn suggests writing fast is overrated. The comments on this post prove that every writer is different, and so am I. I’d like to write faster, and I’m still going to aim to improve my daily word count, but not at the expense of enjoying the whole experience.

A few articles that caught my attention recently while surfing the internet:

More than once recently I've tried buying ebooks only to be denied because of my geographic location. This seemed so absurd to me. For a while there I thought it was something to do with the Parallel Importation Regulations (because the authors I was trying to buy were Australians), but apparently this is not the case, as Tim Coronel explains in his article Why can't Australians buy the ebooks they want?

It appears Australians are also paying more for their ebooks than customers overseas, according to Crickey E-book prices in Australia and overseas.

Self-published author Dr. Debra Holland reveals the costs she incurred in publishing one title in this post . By far the biggest expense was for her editor, but that's money well spent IMO.

And finally on the lighter side, check out Medieval IT Helpdesk for a chuckle.

There are some books that make me sniffle, but in a nice, pleasurable way, because I know that whatever the setback it will be temporary and by the end of the book everything will be set to rights. And then there are books that make me want to cry out to the author, "Nooo, that's too sad. How could you do that?" Usually it's the death of a character that triggers this response, but it is the way the author builds up to this event that stirs the emotion so fiercely.

I'm still recovering from reading Anna Quindlen's Every Last One, even though it's been a couple of days since I finished it. This was such a harrowing book for me it gave me nightmares. Quindlen doesn't indulge in grisly details, but that makes her writing even more resonant and suspenseful. Definitely not a book for lazy weekend reading.







Other books that have made me cry in the past:
The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons - a sweeping love story set in Russia during WWII. So much suffering in this book, but it was the escape of the hero and his brother-in-law from a POW camp that had me choking.

The Twisted Sword by Winston Graham (book 11 in the Poldark series). My attention tends to wander when a book goes into long descriptions of a battle, but this book had such a gripping, intense description of the Battle of Waterloo where a much-loved character meets his end. Again, it's the events leading up to the death that make it such a powerful piece of writing.

After all that suffering, I need a break, so I'm re-reading Barbara Pym's Jane and Prudence.

When CEO Cameron McCormac cajoles pretty Peppa Grant to attend a dreaded family Christmas party with him to deflect attention away from his love life, he thinks he’s picked up a children’s entertainer, but in reality Peppa is one of his employees, a voice talent at his recording company. By the time he realises his mistake, it’s too late as they’ve already spent a sizzling night together, and before long they’ve embarked on a secret affair.

Both Cameron and Peppa have been hurt in the past. Cameron is still struggling to come to terms with the death of his wife, and has decided the only way to protect his heart is to avoid emotional entanglements. Peppa has been dumped by her boyfriend after their dream of having a child ended. As the affair with her boss hots up, she knows it’s only a temporary fling, but she reasons it’s a good way to heal her broken heart. And besides, Cameron is irresistible.

The romance between Peppa and Cameron is sweetly depicted. At times funny and moving, their interactions rapidly move beyond the purely physical as they both realise the hidden depths and hurts buried within the other. Peppa fears never having the family she dreamed of, while Cameron is still haunted by the death of his wife and finds himself unable to connect with his extended family. 

*** SPOILER ALERT ***

I have to confess that Cameron was not a very nice guy at times. His coldness when he told Peppa in no uncertain times that he wanted nothing to do with their baby made me want to clock him over the head with something. Yes, this guy had a lot of growing up to do (and his aunt wasn’t doing him any favours either), so when it finally dawned on him that he was being a callous d*khead about everything, it was gratifying to see Peppa make him go through a lot of grovelling.

*** END SPOILER ALERT ***

This contemporary romance was entertaining, fast-paced, and satisfying. One Perfect Night makes perfect reading!

A year ago on 2nd Feb, I received an email from Angela James of Carina Press which began "I'm sorry I'm unable..." As soon as I scanned those first few words I screwed up my eyes and tried to stop reading. A couple of months ago I'd submitted a contemporary romance to Carina Press, and I was so sure this was another rejection. But then as I skimmed through the rest of the email, I began to read strange phrases like "offer to publish" and "deal sheet", and it dawned on me that it wasn't a rejection but an acceptance!

In the year since I received that wonderful email, I've learned a lot about writing and about publishing. The thing that strikes me the most is that there's not such a big difference between being published and unpublished as I used to think. Before I was published I used to think writers were basically in two separate camps - one for published, one for unpublished. Now I realise that everyone has their own ladder to climb and getting your first book published is just another step along the learning curve. One year on, I'm still suffering from self-doubt, wondering if my writing sucks. I'm still getting rejections, and they hurt just as bad. And I'm still getting to grips with marketing, promotion, and social media. But most importantly my writing has also improved, and not least because of my editor's efforts. Here's hoping my improvements bear fruit this year!