Saturday, July 23, 2016 by Lynne Heinzmann

So, my workshop class was not wild about “The Wisdom of Elephants.”  They said that, although the piece was cleanly written and contained decent characters, descriptions, etc., it was overly-sentimental to the point of being maudlin.  Bummer.  Fortunately, they gave me many useful suggestions of what to do to repair the piece, but I think I have quite a bit of editing to do.

BLOCK ISLAND HYGEIA HOTEL - 1907

BLOCK ISLAND HYGEIA HOTEL - 1907

Eugenia Kim was an excellent alumni workshop leader.  She gave us assignments to do each evening, ones that taught us about specific elements of craft: character, setting, etc.  I took copious notes so hopefully whatever information I was unable to absorb at the time, I’ll be able to pick up when I reread the notes later.

While at the alumni conference, I MIGHT have made a connection with a literary agent, but I want to wait until I know for sure before I blog anything more.  Fingers crossed!

Yesterday, I wrote to Nayt at New Rivers Press, asking him when I should expect the new round of edits, when the galleys would be ready, and what the expected publishing date was for Frozen Voices.  Just a few months now!

Thursday, July 14, 2016 by Lynne Heinzmann

Tomorrow I leave for a writers’ conference on Enders Island, off the coast of Mystic, Connecticut.  It is an alumni workshop for folks like me who graduated from Fairfield University’s MFA/Creative Writing Program.  This will mark the third year that I’ve attended this conference and I find that I get a lot out of it each time.  For the past two years, the workshop was taught by Michael White, the director of the MFA program.  This year, he stepped down as director and is not teaching the class either.  Eugenia Kim, another professor in FU’s MFA program will be doing the honors and I am looking forward to seeing what she does differently from Michael.

The conference runs Friday afternoon to Tuesday night but we’ll be staying all day Wednesday, too, to give ourselves a little recovery time.  I love these workshops but they are quite exhausting.  For the class, each of us alumni students—there are eight of us, in total—had to submit 15 pages of a piece we are currently working on.  I submitted a short story called “The Wisdom of Elephants.”  I’m trying to learn how to write a good short story so that I may use them to apply for various grants, publications, and contests.  We’ll see how Eugenia Kim and the rest of the alumni class feel about “Elephants.”

Tuesday, June 7, 2016 by Lynne Heinzmann

I was just thinking...

When Kaitlyn returns, I’ll see if she would be interested in designing Frozen Voices bookmarks and “Lynne Heinzmann, Author” business cards.  She started working on both of them before she left for her trip, but I’d really appreciate her assistance to help me get them ready for any book readings/signings I may have this winter.  The book is due to be printed in November so hopefully I’ll be able to schedule some appearances for just before Christmas, a good time to sell books!

BLOCK ISLAND NORTH LIGHT HOUSE - 1907

BLOCK ISLAND NORTH LIGHT HOUSE - 1907

Monday, May 30, 2016 by Lynne Heinzmann

I just sent my edits and book cover comments back to New Rivers Press.  It feels good to have that done!

Every time I reread Frozen Voices, I find myself wanting to tweak things, here and there.  It makes me realize that novels are never truly “done.”  Like many things, there is always room for improvement.

Meanwhile, I was trying to “improve” my website and I managed to accidentally delete the Larchmont photo from the home page and cannot figure out how to get it back.  Kaitlyn, the website designer, is still on her world tour, not due back for another two weeks, so I guess I’ll have to wait for her return to repair the website.  Sorry for the blank screen. I’ll fix it ASAP!

Thursday, May 26, 2016 by Lynne Heinzmann

BLOCK ISLAND WATCH HILL LIGHTHOUSE - 1905

BLOCK ISLAND WATCH HILL LIGHTHOUSE - 1905

Dukie is much better today and Laura called from the rehab facility, sounding better than she has in months.  Thank God!

Now, all I have to do is plan a memorial service for my father and review edits for Frozen Voices by the end of this holiday weekend.  No problem.

Tuesday, May 24, 2016 by Lynne Heinzmann

Nayt said, “No problem,” to my request for a postponement to May 31st for the return of my edits.  Phew!  I’m very relieved about that.

Meanwhile, the vet couldn’t figure out what was wrong with Dukie.  He’s home with us now after receiving a shot of heavy-duty antibiotics. The vet also gave him prescriptions for more antibiotics and for some pain killers.  I sure hope they work.

Monday, May 23, 2016 by Lynne Heinzmann

…And then life interferes.  In the past two weeks, my personal life has gone haywire to the point that I’ve had little or no time to review the edits from New Rivers Press.

My younger daughter, Laura, who’s had substance abuse issues for years, ended up in an alcohol/drug rehabilitation facility located outside of Portland, Oregon.  I hate having her so far away and am very worried about her health and happiness, short-term and long-term. 

Then my father died.  He’d been suffering from medical complications due to dementia but his sudden death was still an unexpected shock.  We are in the process of planning a memorial service to be held in Florida in a few weeks. 

And today Duke, my twelve year old beagle and best buddy, is sick…really sick.  He has a fever of 104 degrees (101 to 102.5 degrees is normal for a dog), won’t eat, and seems to be in considerable pain.  We have an appointment with the vet in a few hours.

So, I have to ask Nayt at New Rivers Press for an extension on my edit review deadline.  I hope the delay won’t adversely affect their production schedule, but I’m afraid it is unavoidable.

BLOCK ISLAND MAP - 1900

BLOCK ISLAND MAP - 1900

Tuesday, May 10, 2016 by Lynne Heinzmann

After a months-long hiatus, Nayt from New Rivers Press contacted me today, sending me the next round of edits.  This time, Frozen Voices was edited by Joan, a professional editor, as opposed to the student editors who had previously been working on it.  Reading through the edits from Joan, I was struck by how her comments about the novel differed from the students’ notes.  She seemed to focus a bit more on the over-arching themes of the work while the students seemed to look more at the individual scenes.  By combining these two perspectives, I feel like FV will benefit greatly, having been carefully examined on at least two different levels of thought.

Now I need to read through all of Joan’s edits and decide which ones to accept and which to reject.  With just a cursory review of her comments, though, I am fairly sure that I will be accepting most of her suggestions.  They seem quite insightful and appropriate for what I was trying to accomplish with this novel.

Nayt also sent me two different versions of the artwork for the cover of FV.  The designer stayed with his mirror-image version of the Larchmont, showing the ship as a silhouette on the water and then again as an outline in stormy waves underneath the ship.  One of the versions is done in sepia tones and one is done in blue-gray tones.  I prefer the color of the latter one.  It looks more “frozen” to me.

I am a little concerned about the font used for the cover.  The letters are quite thin and actually become illegible from just a short distance away.  I think I’ll suggest bolding the font or switching to a different font.

Nayt requested that I return my comments on the edits and my reaction to the covers by May 25th.  That shouldn’t be a problem.

Sunday, December 27, 2015 by Lynne Heinzmann

PILOT HOUSE OF A STEAMSHIP - 1899

PILOT HOUSE OF A STEAMSHIP - 1899

Wishing everyone a wonderful Christmas season and a happy, healthy 2016!

Since both of our family’s dogs recently had surgery (they are doing fine and recovering quickly), we could not board them and therefore had to remain home for the Christmas Holiday.  It turned out to be a blessing in disguise since we were able to have some wonderful, quiet days, hosting visits from some close friends and family members.  Christmas Day itself was spent at home with just the four of us: my husband, my two daughters, and me.  We opened presents, had breakfast (our younger daughter made us a cinnamon breakfast pastry that was a thing of beauty), and then took the dogs for a walk in a local park.  Mid-afternoon dinner was a relaxed affair, followed by some music-making (my husband is an excellent fiddler), and then watching some James Bond movies with family popcorn and candy.  A very enjoyable day.

Last weekend and this weekend, as we visited with friends and family members, it seemed that at some point during each visit, I ended up talking about how Frozen Voices is going to be published next year.  I guess I’m really excited about it!  This is literally a dream come true.  And everyone I talk to about FV is so encouraging and happy for me, it makes the experience that much more special.  I am so glad to be able to share this amazing journey with everyone and feel truly blessed.

Tuesday, December 8, 2015 by Lynne Heinzmann

Today, I received an e-mail from Meghan, my liaison from New Rivers Press.  She apologized for not being in touch as much lately.  Apparently she and the rest of the Team at Minnesota State University Moorhead are in the midst of finals and other end-of-the-semester obligations and haven’t had time to do much else.  I certainly remember how that felt and then how glad I was to go home for Christmas vacation.  Most years, I went home from college with a cold or worse, run down from lack of sleep and an overabundance of assignments to complete.  I definitely wish Meghan and Company much success completing their school tasks and then a restful, rejuvenating Christmas break.

I also received an e-mail from Nayt Rundquist, the Managing Editor at NRP.  Nayt said he’d received the edits from the Team.  He said he’d be editing Frozen Voices once again and would send me his notes by mid-February for me to comment on and return by the end of that month.  Then the designer would have until the end of March to lay out the whole book, which Nayt and I would review and return to the designer by mid-April.  The designer would make his final changes by the end of May, with the final round of editing done by the second or third week of June.  Publication is set for sometime in November.  It sure takes a lot of work to produce one book!

Nayt also mentioned the book cover, saying he’s waiting to see cover images from that designer.  He said that the designer has been working with two design professors and Al Davis, too, and that he’d let me know when he has more to share about the book cover.

I noticed that no one at NRP commented on Kaitlyn’s book cover, which I sent to them over a week ago.  I think I’ll resend it and ask for opinions.  I’d really like to know what they think about Kaitlyn’s cover and whether or not they feel it would be good for FV.

Chris and I were looking at book covers in a store today, mostly best-selling hardcover fiction.  The covers seemed to run the gamut from being very representational of the novel’s story to being more symbolic of the type of novel.  A historical fiction cover contained sepia-toned photographs of the main characters whereas a modern day spy novel cover had a silhouette of a man wearing a trench coat, carrying a pistol.

What makes a good book cover?  I actually Googled that very question and received quite a wide variety of responses.  I’d be interested to hear what the folks at NRP think about the subject.  As usual, I’m finding this whole publishing journey to be a fun, learning experience.

Thursday, December 3, 2015 by Lynne Heinzmann

Kaitlyn published the website last night and then today, I sent out Facebook messages inviting people to check it out and let me know what they thought.  I posted one notice on the Fairfield MFA Facebook page and another on my own Homepage.

Within an hour, I’d received over a dozen messages from friends and family, saying that they liked the website a lot.  One MFAer, who I don’t think I’ve had the chance to meet yet, offered me some excellent advice about a few changes she thought I should make.  I like her suggestions, agree with them, and think I’ll try to implement them soon.

I also sent an e-mail to Meghan and Company, telling them about the website/blog.  I hope they enjoy reading the blogs about all of the hard work they’ve done and how much I appreciate it.  What a great Team to work with!  I e-mailed Kaitlyn’s latest cover design to them, too.  Kaitlyn updated it yesterday, shifting the ship up the cover a bit.  I really like it.  I’m curious to see what the Team thinks about it and sincerely hope they like it, too.

OUT FOR A PICNIC - 1910?

OUT FOR A PICNIC - 1910?

Sunday, December 1, 2015 by Lynne Heinzmann

I inserted a bunch of photos/images into the blogs and I think they really enhance the text and give the flavor of the book.  Unfortunately, while putting in the photos, though, I somehow screwed up the order of the blogs and was unable to reorder them correctly.  I sent an e-mail to Kaitlyn, asking for help, but it made me worry.  What if I mess up the website/blog while she’s in Asia?  I guess I’m going to have to learn this software better or, as my daughter Julia says, get better at looking up the solutions to software problems on the Internet.

I’m hoping to publish the website in the next few days.  I’m anxious to get it “live” and see what folks think about it.

Sunday, November 29, 2015 by Lynne Heinzmann

This was a fun and productive weekend, as far as Frozen Voices is concerned.  Yesterday, Mom, Chris, and I went to an old bookstore and an antique store, looking for images from the turn of the last Century.  We bought dozens of old photos and postcards showing people and local places from around 1907, the time setting of the novel.  I plan to scan them and then put a photo or postcard image in with every few blog posts to make them a little more interesting.   We really enjoyed looking for the images…  Almost like a scavenger hunt.

PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG WOMAN - 1902

PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG WOMAN - 1902

Then today, I uploaded dozens of new blogs to the website, trying to follow Kaitlyn’s instructions.  It took me a little while to figure out how to work Squarespace, but I did eventually manage it.  Now, I just need to scan/inset the photos and postcards.

Thursday, November 26, 2015 by Lynne Heinzmann

Happy Thanksgiving!

As part of their celebration, Chris’s family conducts a little show-and-tell after Thanksgiving dinner, where family members gather and talk about what they’ve been doing during the course of the past year.  This year, I got up in front of 25 to 30 family members and told everyone about Frozen Voices: where the story’s idea came from and how I’d won the book prize.  Then I showed them the various ideas for the book’s cover.  The two favorites were the mirrored-image ship from NRP and the latest draft from Kaitlyn.  Those are my favorites, too.

I enjoyed doing the brief presentation to the family.  I liked talking about my book and I felt like it was good practice for giving book readings/talks after the book is published next year.  I just hope every crowd is as friendly and encouraging as the family was!

Wednesday, November 25, 2015 by Lynne Heinzmann

 

Kaitlyn said that she’d try to come up with a new draft for the book cover and boy did she deliver!  Today she e-mailed me a cover with my name and the ship steaming out of the harbor on the bottom of the cover, the book title in the middle, and photos of the four narrators at the top.  It looks great!  With just a little tweaking, I think it will be exactly what I want.  I’d like the ship a little higher on the cover and my name superimposed on the water under the ship rather than being placed on the hull of the ship.

I e-mailed Kaitlyn to say that I loved the new cover.  When I showed it to Chris and the girls on the way to Rockport, MA, for Thanksgiving, they all liked it, too.

Yahoo!  I think we are zeroing in on a good design.

HARRY HOUDINI - 1899

HARRY HOUDINI - 1899

Tuesday, November 24, 2015 by Lynne Heinzmann

 

Tonight I had my second meeting with Kaitlyn, the website/blog designer.  She showed me the changes she’d made to the website based upon our last meeting. I like the website/blog even better!  It looks clean and simple, without a lot of links to this or that, and without a lot of clutter, which is a lot like my writing style—very straightforward. Since the last time we met, she’s added pages for appearances (none listed so far!) and contact info, too.

While she was here, Kaitlyn showed me how to manipulate the contents of the website/blog and sent me a Squarespace invitation so that I may update things while she’s on her trip to Southeast Asia.  She leaves Sunday night.  I sure hope I don’t do anything that messes up all of her hard work while she’s gone.

Kaitlyn and I also talked about the book cover.  She explained to me what she didn’t like about the composite I’d come up with (it was too busy/cluttered) and I explained what I was hoping to end up with as a cover (a striking image that captures the essence of the story).  She said she’d try to come up with another draft before she left on her trip.

I’d like to finish work on the website/blog and the book cover soon so that I may move on to working on other books, too.  I know there will still be a few more rounds of edits for Frozen Voices, but I feel like once we publish the website/blog and agree on a cover, the lion’s share of the work will be behind us.  We’ll see…

Sunday, November 22, 2015 by Kaitlyn Lamb

A COUPLE ENJOYING THE SNOW - 1907

A COUPLE ENJOYING THE SNOW - 1907

Using some of the book cover designs from the NRP Team and the design from Kaitlyn, I cut and pasted a mock-up of a cover that I think would capture the true nature of Frozen Voices.  It shows the silhouette of the ship at the top, which fades into dark/stormy water in the middle with “Frozen Voices” and “Lynne Heinzmann” superimposed on it, and then the soggy photos of the people are placed at the bottom of the page.  And there’s frost around the edges of the cover.

I know the book cover I put together today is terribly executed.  All of the cut lines are visible, the text font is all wrong, and the wrong photos are shown, but I sent it to Kaitlyn anyway.  Hopefully, it will help explain what I’m looking for.

Yesterday, I searched the Internet and found several appropriate images from around 1900, showing men and women, who look like my characters.  All of these photographs were classified as being “free domain” and “available for commercial use,” so should be suitable for the book’s cover without danger of copyright infringement.  I sent them to Kaitlyn, too, for use on the website/blog as well as for the book cover.

Friday, November 20, 2015 by Kaitlyn Lamb

I contacted Kaitlyn this afternoon about designing the book’s cover and, within a few hours, she sent me a design for a cover that I really liked!  She took some of the photos of the narrators and put them in seawater, as if the photos had been lost in a shipwreck.  Brilliant!  I feel like this is really beginning to captivate the focus of the novel—on the people.  Now, if we could just incorporate an image of the ship, too…

Wednesday, November 18, 2015 by Kaitlyn Lamb

I sent an e-mail to Meghan today, telling her my thoughts about the proposed book covers.  I started the e-mail by telling her I liked those two covers very much (frosted sky/sea and mirrored ship silhouettes).  Then, I included this one-sentence summary of FV, thinking it might be helpful to the cover designer to assist him in focusing the cover on the book’s main theme: Frozen Voices is a captivating tale of four lives, intertwined and changed forever by the worst accident in New England’s maritime history.

In my note to Meghan, I added, “I was wondering if the cover could reflect more of the human aspect of the story.  Show silhouettes or fuzzy images of people or have some people visible on board the ship.  Although the shipwreck is the event that brings the characters together, it doesn’t happen until three-quarters of the way through the novel.  The novel is about the people more than about the ship.”

A few hours later, I received a reply from Meghan.  She said she’d spoken to Dan, the cover designer.  He said that he may be able to add some silhouettes of passengers to the mirrored ship design but besides that, “nothing else would really work.”  Since most of the photographs were not pictures of the real people, he felt uncomfortable using them without having clear copyright approvals.  Dan also said that the fuzzy effect may take away from the quality of the book cover’s look.

I think I’ll contact Kaitlyn Lamb to see if she’d like to take a shot at coming up with a book cover design.  I really liked what she did for the website/blog and would be curious to see what she’d suggest for the cover.

FORMER TRAIN STATION IN PROVIDENCE - 1901

FORMER TRAIN STATION IN PROVIDENCE - 1901

Tuesday, November 17, 2015 by Kaitlyn Lamb

Tonight I met with Kaitlyn Lamb, the young woman who’s designing my author’s website/blog.  She showed me what she’s come up with so far and I was thrilled!  The design is nice and simple and just what I was looking for.  The home page contains a copy of the photo showing the Larchmont steaming out of the Providence Harbor.  Then there’s a bio page, a page about Frozen Voices, a contact page, and a link to my blog.  I especially liked the logo she developed, using my name and an old-fashioned fleur-de-lis.  Kaitlyn said she could incorporate that same logo onto business cards and bookmarks for me, too.  She’s going to tweak a couple of minor details and then meet with me again in a week or so to turn over the website/blog to me.  We should be “live” by around the First of December.  How exciting!