I got a Shout Out from my writer friend, John Grabowski, last week. He didn’t tell me about it beforehand, so I stumbled upon it reading one of his latest blog posts. His posts are thoughtful, well-written and interesting, so I hope you’ll check him out. Here’s a brief excerpt of John’s blog post. He mentions me at the very end.

Worth 10,000 words

“Author portraits on the back of books are interesting to contemplate. They tell a lot about what the author (or perhaps the publisher) is trying to say about the book they want you to buy with your hard-earned money.

There are a number of different styles of author portrait. Some authors seem to eschew formal headshots at all and use pictures that seem to be taken by family or friends on vacation. These have a way of saying, “I’m just me. Here I am in the everyday.”…

Others take professional headshots, but try to look very approachable, even humble, despite the fact that they surely must have huge egos to become as famous as they did. These photos have an aw-shucks kind of quality that seems to say, “Thank you for even considering buying this book.”

(More interesting author photos with great comments from John in the longer post, and then the big surprise at the end–at least for me:)

“…Perhaps the best portraits are simply those that are natural and felt by their subjects. Twice I’ve seen pictures of my writer friend Susan Gabriel, author of the novel Seeking Sara Summers, and both times they look so similar that I can only conclude this is Susan as she really is—no pretense, just real and caring. Kind of hard to argue with that, eh?”

Yep, that’s me.

Read John’s entire blog post here.  Thanks, John.

Here is a recent email from a reader of  Seeking Sara Summers. 

You have exceeded my expectations as a writer. Your book SEEKING SARA SUMMERS is gorgeously written, and the words come from the beauty of your soul. You speak from the heart with natural ease, and your book is beautifully written. I am so happy to have waited to have access to your book, as your story has been worth every second. [i.e. she got it from the library.] You have my permanent support as a reader, as your writing is full of quality, tenderness and beauty. I hope that you never stop writing, as your book is very moving and touching.

PS: After seeing the artichokes from the cover, I now have a terrible craving for them, and am going to have to buy the canned ones later today. I tried cooking fresh artichokes one time with my girlfriend Jamie, but we both struggled with making them , and parts got burnt . (We tried frying them in a pan. ) Do you know the best way to cook artichokes? Until I find out from you, I am going to get the canned ones.

Needless to say, writers love to get emails like this. Sales for the book, especially since it is an indie book, have been pretty astounding. Indie books, on average, sell about 50 copies. Through an almost fulltime marketing effort, however, I’ve sold 3,000 copies in three years and sales are still going strong. Thankfully, the proceeds have been instrumental in helping me keep writing. Buying books really does help authors keep going! A huge thank you to all of you who have read the book and supported me by buying a copy, or two, or three. (You know who you are!)

P.S. There are other ways to prepare and eat an artichoke, but here is what I do. While they can be pressure cooked if you have one (I don’t), I steam them for an hour or so until pierced easily with a sharp knife (make sure you don’t run out of steaming water!). Put melted butter in a small dish, squeeze in a slice of lemon, salt to taste. Pull off the leaves, dip the fleshy end in the butter and pull off with your teeth. Eventually you run out of leaves and have the heart remaining. Clean out the inner inedible material with a sharp knife, put the remaining heart into your butter dish, cut up, marinate for a few minutes and eat. Heaven!

Author website.

According to The Atlantic magazine, for better or for worse, the age of the e-book is upon us. Analysts estimate Americans will buy on the order of 6 million e-readers this year—and by 2014, an estimated 32 million people will own one. What does the proliferation of Kindles, Nooks, iPads, and other e-readers portend for the publishing industry? What does the e-reader mean for writers, for storytelling, for the place of fiction in the cultural landscape? They put this question to travel and fiction writer, Paul Theroux.

The Atlantic: How would you characterize the state of fiction today? Are we producing more or fewer good writers than in the past, and more or fewer good readers? How have the writing life and the reading life changed since you were starting out, 40 years ago?

Paul Theroux: Fiction writing, and the reading of it, and book buying, have always been the activities of a tiny minority of people, even in the most-literate societies. Herman Melville died in utter obscurity. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s books were either out of print or not selling when he died. Paul Bowles was able to live and write (and smoke dope) only because he wrote for Holiday, the great old travel magazine. Nor are writers particularly highly regarded. A few years ago, Boston—a city of writers and thinkers—needed to name a beautiful bridge and a graceful tunnel. The first was named for a recently deceased social worker and civil-rights activist, the second for a baseball player. This happens in most U.S. cities, partly from ingrained philistinism and also from the non-reader’s fear of books, of writers in general. Many aspects of the writing life have changed since I published my first book, in the 1960s. It is more corporate, more driven by profits and marketing, and generally less congenial—but my day is the same: get out of bed, procrastinate, sit down at my desk, try to write something.

To read the rest of the article go here. I agree with Paul Theroux. Writers stay the same, no matter what happens in the technological world. We get up and face another day of trying to create stories, articles, poems and plays that we hope will resonate with our readers. What do you think? Are you writing or creating something today?

P.S.  Seeking Sara Summers is also available in e-book format on the Kindle, as well as iBooks and Barnes and Noble (on the Nook).

Happy New Year, everybody!

I bet you would never guess that I’m a person who likes to check statistics. Every morning, cup of tea in hand, before I start to write, I log onto Google analytics and see how many people have visited my website, (I usually have 60 to 100 people a day) and then I check mybloglog.com to see how many people read my blog the day before (approx. 50 – 80 and growing), then I check different sources to see how book sales are going for my debut novel, Seeking Sara Summers.

For the last few months more ebook copies of Seeking Sara Summers have sold on Kindle, ibooks and nook, than the “real” book. This is an interesting change, at least to me. There was also a huge bump in electronic sales right after Christmas that’s still going strong, which makes me wonder how many of us got Kindles,  ipads and Nooks as gifts. I got a Kindle myself, after I swore I would never forsake “real” books, but I have to admit it’s starting to grow on me. I will never give up my library card or my support of our local independent bookstore. Yet, good or bad, we seem to be having an ebook revolution these days. 

That said, I am grateful to have readers, whatever form of my writing they read! Heartfelt thanks to anyone out there who’s read Seeking Sara Summers! My next novel, entitled Temple Secrets, is now finished and I hope to have some good news to pass on about that one soon.

What about you? Have you crossed over into the world of ebooks or do you still prefer “real” books?

With every good wish,
Susan

My interview on Book Talk, Creativity and Family Matters was quite enjoyable. I wondered what I would talk about for an hour, but it seems I had plenty to say about creativity, my writing process, Seeking Sara Summers, as well as offering my take on the current world of publishing, getting an agent, and the dilemma of how to set aside time to write.

 Anjuelle Floyd, also a writer, asked some great questions and had a lot to contribute, as well.

 If you’d like to sample a bit of the interview, you can listen here. As always, I’d love to hear what you think.

Subscribe to this blog here.

To anyone interested:

Saturday, June 12, 2010, I am being interviewed on Book Talk, Creativity and Family Matters.

Call in time is 12 Noon PT, 1pm MT, 2pm CT, and 3pm ET.

The call-in number is: (347) 215-7740, if you want to listen or call-in. You can also listen to interviews after the fact, simply click on the link below.

Here’s the link to the show page.

The format is fairly laid back. I will talk about my book, Seeking Sara Summers, and discuss my process for writing, and how I came into writing.

 The interviewer is Anjuelle Floyd.

I’ve had an author website since 2006. Finally this year I had it updated so that it looks more professional. Please check it out and let me know what you think.

Since I think it’s fun to share photographs, I also put up a few small photo albums of my trip to Italy, my time living in Colorado and trips to various places in the southwest, a fan album and a book cover album. 
 

This photo is of me on a street in Florence, Italy. I’m on my way to rent a car to drive to Assisi for an overnight visit and from there I went to Siena for a few days and then to the coastal villages at Cinque Terre.
 

I had dreamed about going to Italy for years. I went there, in part, to do research for Seeking Sara Summers because some of the novel takes place in Italy. I love doing research that involves travel! The novel I’m working on now is set in the Georgia low country, near Savannah, which is a little closer to home. I feel a road trip coming on!
 

If you have a website, let me know the address so I can visit your site. And, like I said before, I’d love to hear what you think of my new design and content.

Onward and upward!

Susan

Subscribe to this blog here.

My trusty assistant, Anne, just pulled the name of the winner of the autographed copy of Seeking Sara Summers from my cowboy hat. The winner is…(drumroll, please): slorunnermom.

Thank you to all who entered. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Just a reminder that anyone who comments on this post or the one from last week will have their name put in my trusty cowboy hat for a chance to win a free autographed copy of Seeking Sara Summers.

The drawing will be on Valentine’s day!

If you subscribe to this blog while you’re at it, I’ll put your name in twice. (Please verify your subscription to qualify.) If you already subscribe, just tell me in your comment that you’re already a subscriber and I’ll put your name in twice, too.

Many, many thanks to all of you. Good luck with the drawing and Happy Valentine’s Day!

P.S. If you are a email subscriber and want to comment, simply click on the name of the post and it will take you to the actual blog.

It was never in my life plan to be a blogger. I started this whole endeavor in July of 2008 to serve as a launching pad for my first book, Seeking Sara Summers.

It has been a wild experiment, to say the least. I’m not sure how purposeful, successful, or relevant this blog is in the grand scheme of things, but on most days, according to statistics, I have between 30-60 new readers. I have a small but growing list of folks who subscribe to my blog via email. Many others, obviously, who stop by from time to time. It’s not catching on like wildfire, but it’s catching on like most things in life, by blowing on the embers.

I’m not sure how many people actually order my book after visiting my blog, so that part is still an experiment, but the main benefit I’ve experienced is that I’ve met some wonderful new friends, as well as reconnected with some old ones. (You know who you are!)

I wasn’t sure what the focus would be at first. I have a lot of interests. But I have at least two passions. One is to write the best stories I can write (I am a novelist, after all) and the other is to support/inspire/encourage other artists and creative types to go for it, get unstuck and be creative, daily, weekly, monthly, always!

Thank you to all of you who read this blog faithfully, semi-faithfully, or even occasionally. I get emails from a lot of you whenever something resonates, and a few even comment on the actual blog. (I’d really like to get more comments, so if you’ve been holding back, please challenge yourself to take the next step. I never judge your comments because I am so thrilled whenever you share your thoughts.) Also, if you’d like the weigh in about what things you like to read most, I’d love to hear from you. Ask for what you want. I promise I’ll listen.  

So to celebrate my 100^th post, I’m taking out my ol’ cowboy hat (what can I say, I used to live in Colorado!) and I will put names in the hat of anyone who comments on this post. The winner will get a free autographed copy of Seeking Sara Summers (I’ll have Anne shut her eyes and draw the winner).

The drawing will be on Valentine’s day!

If you subscribe to this blog while you’re at it, I’ll put your name in twice. (Please verify your subscription.) If you already subscribe, just tell me in your comment that you’re already a subscriber and I’ll put your name in twice, too.

Again, many, many thanks to all of you, my readers. As a writer, I’d be nothing without you.

P.S. If you are a email subscriber and want to comment, simply click on the name of the post and it will take you to the actual blog.