Freedom and Independence to Follow My Dreams

by Diana McCollum

(This first appeared as a blog on Windtree Press)

I live in a country the, USA, where I can enjoy the freedom and independence to follow my dreams.

My dream is to write and publish stories that I love for others to enjoy.

The job of writing is an independent job. I don’t have a ‘boss’ or a time clock or a paycheck! Once I sell a book to a publisher, I will have a boss, a deadline for revisions and a paycheck!

For now I am my own boss, which is fine with me. Except for the fact my boss is sometimes lax in cracking the whip and getting my butt in the chair and fingers on the keyboard.

My beginning art class

As an independent writer I can pursue writing courses, business courses and learning as much as I can about publicity from sites such as Canva. I can enjoy my other artistic pursuits which includes, but is not limited to, acrylic painting on canvas.

I am immensely thankful that I worked for a company who took care of their employees. Not only in the present day, but thinking ahead to the employee’s retirement. Because of the retirement investments of 22 years being employed by the same company, I am in a comfortable spot in life. Not wealthy, but not worried about finances. Comfortable.

When I retired from MCM Construction my husband and I were able to move to OR and take care of my mom. I started following  my dream of publishing books. I took classes. POV Author Services offers beginning and advanced writing classes, also classes on the business side of writing. I met with writer friends and went to conferences.

Then the pandemic hit and everything moved to online, Zoom ,or Facetime. I learned a whole other way of learning and visiting. Of course, no more meeting at the tea or coffee house with friends. Instead, once in a while we met in smaller groups on front porches or backyards.

Along the way I’ve found out a lot about myself. Writing does that for you. I encourage one and all to write in a journal. Every day, once a week, you choose. Believe me you will find out things about yourself you never knew.

Maybe you will find you have a story in you that is waiting to be put to paper, or typed into the computer. Ideas for stories can come from anywhere. Newspaper and magazine articles are a good source for ideas. Special events which happened in your own life or the life of someone you know. Or an interest in a certain subject. Or a picture of my old chair could surely stimulate the imagination.

With me it was paranormal, witches and magic.  My Pennsylvania grandmothers both had superstitions they lived by. Having lived their whole lives in PA, sometimes in PA Dutch country, and the superstitions abound in Dutch country.

One grandma believed to cure warts you only had to find a tree stump with rain water in it. On a full moon collect some of the stump water to douse your wart and it would kill it.

Both grandmothers and my mom believed things came in threes: death, accidents, good fortune, found money, etc.

There were lots of sayings about brooms. Jumping over a broom stick with your intended seals the marriage, a broom stick across the doorway keeps evil and bad luck out, a broom in the corner is for sweeping away bad juju. And on and on it goes.

My mother’s grandfather and her uncles made brooms. My mom and her sister had to take the straw to the creek and tie it in bundles and walk on it in the water to soften it for processing.

Listening to my mom and aunt talk about broom making got me thinking. Where do witches get their brooms? And so my first idea for a story was born. That specific story is yet to be written, although it is outlined. H-m-m? Maybe I’ll start that one next!

In the meantime, I do have a few books and short stories for you to enjoy.  For more information check out my website.

Old Skool Romance Traps

When does contemporary romance become historical?

This question was recently posed by another writer on social media...and it got me thinking. If you don't want to become a relic, it's worth doing your research when writing contemporary romance, even about things you, as a writer, think you already know. Consider the idea that what you know may be twenty or thirty years outdated. Are you up to date with how younger people communicate?

There's a trap for older authors aged roughly 40 plus (ahem, I'm one of them), when writing contemporary romance with characters aged in their 20s. The pop culture references authors unintentionally make can be quite outdated. The characters, if they were real, would probably have been born around the time Buffy the Vampire Slayer was made, or they may have been toddlers. They may never have seen this TV series beloved of Generation X, unless their mothers were fans. Am I blowing your mind yet?

But the big problem I've seen with a few recent contemporary romances is the lack of realistic technology or online communications.

Keep in mind your twenty-something characters would not:
- remember a time before ubiquitous internet access
- have any trouble using a computer or online apps
- use paper maps to get around a new city
- communicate with friends by landline phone calls
- remember a time before everyone owned a mobile/cell phone.

Your younger characters would:
- have a cell phone on them at all times (except if they lost it, which could be disaster!)
- use text messages and/or instant messages on various online apps
- have played online multi player video games as teenagers and probably made friends online
- watch YouTube or streaming services instead of TV, or be 'multi screening' using apps on a phone while watching a movie
- have tried online dating or met someone special online.

Twenty-something characters wouldn't use email as a communications method of choice except at work, or when contacting their parents (or grandparents). They’d have certain groups of friends contactable mainly by social media, maybe around the world from where they live. They would buy clothes online, use Uber or other apps to get around, get into ‘flame wars’ on topics they're passionate about on social media, or may have dealt with online bullies.

I think I'm pretty up to date with technology and social media, having worked in online communications including years at a university. But I’m now in my early 40s and I don't have the natural duck-to-water affinity for it my kids are already displaying. I think before sending a text message or Facebook Messenger direct message, not shoot them off at random at all times of the day like younger people. I don't use Snapchat or some of the other instant messaging apps that I know are springing up constantly. So I know I need to do my research.

Examples of contemporary romance traps

Re-reading older contemporaries can be a weird experience fraught with plot holes and unintentional hilarity. Some situations are just ludicrous because they simply wouldn't happen now.

A couple of years ago I read a category romance that left me confused and shaking my head less than half way through. The 20-something heroine in a big city started her own business in events management. She was apparently poor or at least didn't have much capital to throw at advertising. Guess what she did? She grabbed her laptop (she didn't seem to have a cell phone) and designed and printed hundreds of brochures to hand deliver and letter-drop to local businesses.

Can you spot the plot hole yet? Where was her social media? If she had an online network, she could have shared her business information instantly with thousands of people. Brochures would cost a few hundred dollars whereas a social campaign would cost virtually nothing. Where was her website? Did she have an Instagram account with photos of her previous events? Where was her Patreon or GoFundMe account to raise money?

Another women's fiction book I read a few months back made me laugh for all the wrong reasons. A famous man was hiding out in a seaside town in the off-season, which meant that he'd dropped off the face of the earth. No one could find him, no one in town recognised him or took a photo on their phone to post online. Someone had to run to the post office to send a letter before it closed for the day instead of sending an email or text message. A couple of chapters in, I realised the book had been originally published in the 1990s. The plot simply didn't make sense anymore, in a world where anyone could Google the famous man and communications are almost instant.

New social trends to watch

I watch social media trends and it's the odd, new things that catch my attention. A journalist I follow recently started a Twitter thread about her health issues. She was in pain and was having trouble getting treatment. By the end of the day, she'd used her online network to reach tens of thousands of people, including health professionals. She crowdsourced her diagnosis and had word-of-mouth referrals to several specialists!

I'd strongly recommend that writers keep an eye on younger people, online and out in the world— maybe go hang out on a university campus for a while, or in a major city at lunchtime. Grab your kids or nieces and nephews and question them about what they'd do if they wanted to meet someone, or if they wanted to find a new restaurant, for example.

I can't explain exactly what's wrong with some contemporary romances, except to say they're not really contemporary but quite nostalgic. As a reader I have trouble understanding a supposedly modern heroine who doesn't know how to use a computer, or who doesn't own a phone. It's incongruous and weird. SMH (shake my head).

BTW (by the way) all of the above is irrelevant if your characters are Amish or lost in a remote jungle somewhere! If that's the case, happy low-tech writing to you. :)

About Cassandra O'Leary

**Winner of the global We Heart New Talent contest run by HarperCollins UK. Nominated for BEST NEW AUTHOR in AusRomToday 2016 Reader's Choice Awards for excellence in Australian romance fiction**

Cassandra O’Leary is a romance and women’s fiction author, communications specialist, avid reader, film and TV fangirl and admirer of pretty, shiny things. Her debut novel, Girl on a Plane, was published in July 2016. 

Cassandra is a mother of two gorgeous, high-energy mini ninjas and wife to a spunky superhero. Living in Melbourne, Australia, she’s also travelled the world. If you want to send her to Italy or Spain on any food or wine tasting ‘research’ trips, that would be splendiferous. 

Read more or sign-up for Cassandra's newsletter at cassandraolearyauthor.com