Ute Carbone
  • Home
  • My Books
    • Book Club Fiction >
      • The Fall Line
      • Dancing in the White Room
      • The Tender Bonds
      • Blueberry Truth
      • The Lilac Hour(short story trilogy)
    • Comedy >
      • Secondhand Love (Annie Hoff)
      • Georgette Alden Starts Over ( Annie Hoff)
      • Confessions of the Sausage Queen (Annie Hoff)
      • The P-Town Queen (Annie Hoff)
      • Afterglow (Annie Hoff)
    • History >
      • The Whisper of Time (novella)
    • Anthologies >
      • Shared Whispers
      • Passionate Cooks
      • Recipes from the Vineyard
      • Poets Unbound
      • Poems from the Cranberry Room
  • Inside the Writer's Garret (My Blog)
  • About me
  • Poetry
  • Contact
  • Annie Hoff
  • My Photography
  • Dream River Press

Inside the Writer's Garret

On writing and life, with a little chocolate thrown in from time to time.

A long post with a short bit of news

7/3/2019

8 Comments

 
Picture
As I sit in my garret writing this blog post on a hot July day, I've got to say I'm feeling kinda hopey. I don't always feel this way. A string of rejections can cause despair, a project that just isn't moving forward frustration. But, once in a while, if you stay with it and you're lucky, something plus something actually adds up to something. And when it does, you start to remember all the reasons why you sat yourself down and began typing a bunch of words that added up to a bunch of sentences that, eventually, over time, got to look something like a real completed novel. You remember why you sat down and rewrote and revised and then revised again, until you got to the place where you'd taken it as far as you can go. And, even then, the story wasn't completely finished but you heard a little voice in your head--saying closer, your closer, you are almost there. 
You remember why you felt such despair when the book contract got cancelled, when you were left sitting in the cold with only a pile of novels and you, metaphorically at least, considered lighting them aflame because the conflagration might just keep you warm enough to continue.
Each book is a journey, some journeys more scenic than others and some more fun. Some are long and arduous. This is the story of one such journey.  The life and times of one book that I wrote a long time ago, a book that's been there and back again. 
The book is called Dancing in the White Room. For marketing purposes, it has been called both women's fiction and contemporary romance. 
It's  the second book I ever wrote and one I did not set out to write on purpose. Let me explain. A long time ago, I wrote my first book. I polished it and polished it again. As I was revising, I took a writing workshop, the same kind of workshop I would later go on to teach. The workshop's focus was on first draft writing, and since the book I was polishing was past the first draft stage, I decided I'd write a few short stories. So I played with a few ideas.
I get ideas everywhere, and the idea for Dancing in the White Room came, as stories often do, from a coming together of a few different ideas from a few different places. First, I wanted to use my experience as kid--I grew up at a mom and pop ski area--which had a big influence in my young life. I spent some time doing ski patrol work and I've been a lifelong ski enthusiast. So this was sitting in my pocket, saying use me I'm kinda interesting. Problem was, I had an idea but I did not have a story. Until...I read Into Thin Air, a book about a tragic climb gone wrong in Everest in the 90's. I knew nothing about climbing or the climbing world, but it struck me that it was related to the ski world I did know about. And something had struck me--a short paragraph written somewhere mid-book about what lousy spouses climbers make. And I began to imagine the woman left behind. A character named Mallory who was in love with a man named PD Bell came along.  I had my story idea.
I began writing. Short stories have pretty tight structures, beginnings, middles and ends built around a premise. After a while I released I wasn't working with just a premise. I was building a world. And building a world meant I was, gulp, writing another novel. I thought about scraping it as too much at the moment--I was still revising that first novel-- but I decided to keep on writing. And soon, I had two novels.
I was on a novel writing roll, so I wrote a few more novels. I'd send my manuscripts out, get some nibbles and ultimately get rejected. Until, one day,  I found a publisher. A book got published, then another. I dusted off Dancing, revised it yet again and....got a contract!
It was edited and revised again. It was published. I got excited about the story and wrote a few more books to make a series. The second book was just about to go to the editor when the little publishing company closed it's doors. I got the rights back and the book was back on my computer's unpublished file. It was not a good time for me. Sigh.
But, fast forward, and another publisher has popped on to the scene. It's a really tiny enterprise and it consists of people I have worked with before. I published a rom. com under my pen name with them last December. And, in October, Dancing in the White Room will get a second chance at a book life. It's been a long journey, but I'm feeling pretty hopey right about now. 
More Writer Insecurities
more on Dancing in the White Room
8 Comments
Barbara Conrey link
7/3/2019 03:56:47 pm

I love this!

Reply
Ute
7/10/2019 09:49:38 pm

Thanks, Barbara!

Reply
P.J. MacLayne link
7/3/2019 10:38:57 pm

Congrats on finding a publisher!

Reply
Ute
7/10/2019 09:50:20 pm

Thank you

Reply
Tresa Jones
7/4/2019 06:25:27 am

I remember the first drafts! How wonderful that you kept it alive and finally birthed it into readers’ hands!

Reply
Ute
7/10/2019 09:51:38 pm

Thanks Theresa! And thanks for being there for all those early drafts! Wildwomen are the best💝

Reply
Sussu link
7/8/2019 03:33:11 pm

Write what you know. Throw the dice. And do it again. I admire your steadfastness :)

Reply
Ute
7/10/2019 09:52:55 pm

Thanks. You really do have to be steadfast in this business. And sometimes downright stubborn

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Welcome 

    This writing journey, this life,  is a long road full of pitfalls and wrong turns. Also, incredible beauty, kindness and friendship with those I've met along the way.I'm so glad you're here to share the road..


    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    September 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014

    Categories

    All
    #amwriting
    Cooking
    #life
    #np
    #poetrythursday
    #ShortStories
    Writing
    Writing With Courage

    RSS Feed

    older posts at blogger
    Posts at Coffee with Friends

    Subscribe to my newsletter.

    * indicates required
    Email Format
    More on my Books
    Ute Carbone on StoryFinds
    Find me at Story Finds
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
Photos from Jacopo Marcovaldi, tjuel, tsaiproject, tiswango, g23armstrong