Waiting for a Sign

Here we are, on approach to Summer Solstice, and I have Karen Carpenter’s, “Merry Christmas Darling,” stuck in my head.

It's not because Tom is away, tracking an album in England—he’s having a brilliant time and I've needed the solitude. No, it’s because of the line, “Greeting cards have all been sent, the Christmas rush is through… “ It speaks to that moment after a hectic time when things finally start to slow down and you can take stock of your emotions.

As it relates to me at this moment: the screenplay polish of Delta Legend is complete. It honors the novel while ratcheting up the action and suspense needed to carry a film. 

It’s been a while since I’ve faced the Hollywood firing squad and I’m waiting for that moment of brave, a sign that I'm really ready to do this again. If you can't handle rejection, better go find some other place to play.

Whatever comes, it’s been extremely satisfying to incorporate the growth of the novel back into the original spec. They really do compliment each other and it's ready should the need arise. 

I plan on taking a very short break before getting back to the business of writing the next installment. Only this time, there won’t be years between novel and film—they are happening simultaneously. I've written about this before but a screenplay really is a beautiful blueprint for a novel.

This is going to sound crazy, but whenever I get beaten down from going it alone as an indie author/publisher/one-woman marketing team for Delta Legend, I visualize handing the keys to Calvin and telling him, “You gotta drive this thing.” Without hesitation, he nabs the keys and says, “I got this.” And he does.

As writers, we sometimes feel like we’ve given birth to our characters. Most of the time, however, I feel as though characters come out of the ether. Needing their stories to be told, they find me. Calvin, Mei Li and the gang—this is their time. Beyond a niche market, young adults of color need to see themselves as protagonists and heroes of contemporary stories that appeal to a very wide audience. 

As I'm writing this post, UPS just delivered the latest box of physical books … at 8:15 p.m.?  It wasn't due here until June 9th. 

When I hold this book, I am reminded how very fortunate I am to have had the opportunity to tell this story. For all the push-back against self-publishing, it has afforded many of us an opportunity that would have been impossible otherwise. Prior to digital publishing, if no one in traditional publishing found value in your story, that was it, game over. How many writers went to their graves leaving behind an unpublished, type-written manuscript wrapped in brown paper and tied with string? (I warned you I was being sentimental.)

Thanks to Ellen Oh and her merry band of #WeNeedDiverseBooks upstarts, the tide is turning. Querying with my African American protagonist would likely be a bit easier in the current climate. But thanks to independent publishing, Calvin's story didn't have to languish on the back burner, waiting for this day to come. One need only look at the demographics of reviewers on Goodreads and Amazon to see that Delta Legend easily transcends any notion of a niche market.

I am blessed and grateful, and yes, proud. Turning a screenplay into a novel is not often done. Independently publishing that story has been a tough row to hoe, but I did it. And I'll do it again if I have to.

Thinking back to when I was finishing the novel, I did readings with a class of at-risk students from the projects. Remembering how they went from showboating and mouthing-off to quiet and engaged in a matter of pages. The way they embraced Calvin and expressed shock that someone was writing a story they could actually relate to. When one of the toughest guys in the class came up to me afterward to ask what the word "imbibe" meant… How could I not do this?

Seems UPS just delivered that sign I was waiting for. 

An Open Letter To Agents, Publishers, Booksellers, and Librarians Regarding Diverse Literature.

Thanks to the incredibly powerful #WeNeedDiverseBooks Campaign, many of you will soon be heading off to BEA 2014 with a renewed sense of what is marketable.

As you do, please remember that for every wonderfully talented author appearing on BookCon’s, We Need Diverse Books panel, there are countless numbers of us who were out ahead of this movement, yet could not find a champion willing to be in our corner.

If you are truly invested in finding and promoting diversity in literature, you’ll need to rethink the way you view independently published authors of these books. Most of us are talented, hardworking, and brave individuals who refused to let the “no’s” of traditional publishing keep us from telling our diverse stories. We are one of the greatest resources of diverse and multicultural literature available. 

I hope you will keep this in mind the next time you are approached by an independent author of a diverse book. Our champions are found in those who recognize and promote quality literature regardless of who published it.

Kelan O’Connell

#WeNeedDiverseBooks

A big thank you and congratulations to the team of writers, publishers, and bloggers who worked to bring the message of  #WeNeedDiverseBooks to the world. This wildly successful social media campaign caught fire and has already had an impact: BookCon quickly adjusted their 2014 line-up, adding a We Need Diverse Books panel to the schedule. Now that's a successful campaign with immediate results.

This was my initial post for #WeNeedDiverseBooks.

A friend asked me if I was crying in this pic. No! I was simply very tired and it showed. I've been pushing hard to wrap up a polish on the original screenplay version of Delta Legend along with writing the newest  ____ Legend for both screen and manuscript. Yep, I'm kinda busy.



But I wanted to take a moment to celebrate this great event and relate my own experience.

When I began querying with the novel version of Delta Legend, it never occurred to me that my African American male protagonist might be a roadblock to acquiring an agent and landing a publishing deal. My take was that I had something unique and viable; a story that would appeal to readers of all ages and races. Only when the "Not right for my list" rejection letters began stacking up did I even start to wonder. Then came two rejection letters that alluded to the fact that my male protagonist of color would be a tough sell in the current market—this was 2010/2011.

When I tell people this, their initial reaction is shock followed by anger. Who would say such a thing? Well, if I wanted to, I could probably go back and figure out who. But why? I ceremoniously burned every physical rejection letter and dumped all email rejects in the virtual trash bin the day I vowed to publish Delta Legend myself—my Scarlett O'Hara moment. "As God is my witness…" yeah, yeah.

If I'd had more time to think about it, I probably would have worded my statement for this event a little differently. As is, it gives the impression that I hold a grudge against those two agents, when in fact, I will be forever grateful to them. They had the balls to speak the truth, and that truth ultimately set me on a different course. Most agents simply declined with the safe and generic, "Not right for my list." Of course, not every rejection of Delta Legend was because Calvin was black, but I'm willing to bet plenty were.

Publishing is a business. Period. And one that's been challenged by the game-changing landscape of digital technology. Agents and publishers have to make difficult choices about what they believe will sell. And what was selling like hotcakes at the time I was querying with Delta Legend was Paranormal Romance and Dystopian stories featuring white female protagonists.



When I look back, the irony is rather funny. Here I was peddling a protagonist of color during a time when the hottest thing going was not only white people, but extremely white people! Yeah, them.


When the original screenplay version of Delta Legend got nowhere in Hollywood back in the day, it probably wasn't that my hero was black. The bigger roadblock was that I was a previously unproduced writer trying to sell what amounted to a monster pic with a monster budget—the odds of that happening in Hollywood are slim to none.

Now, as I wrap up the screenplay polish and prepare to pitch once again, it will be interesting to see how having a dual platform is received. Who knows, maybe this time I'm driving a "vehicle" that's got legs.

Okay, I was pressed for time so a pic from Eight-Legged Freaks will have to do. I was hoping for a shot of Wilma Flintstone driving their great car. Guess what, the only image I found was one where it looked like Wilma couldn't handle driving because, well, that's a man's job. So you see, things do progress. 

Back to the literary side of things. I can feel the tide turning with regard to diversity in books. It's all about supply and demand. Thanks to #WeNeedDiverseBooks, the demand is finally being taken seriously, inspiring change and moving people to act. While this makes me really happy, there's an insidious Catch 22 that has yet to be addressed in all this: There are authors who, like myself, ultimately self-publish because our diverse main characters were not considered marketable by traditional publishing. Yet many libraries, bookstores, and bloggers continue to shun independently published books, further perpetuating the state of lack when it comes to diverse/multicultural literature.

I didn't go it alone because I wanted to, I did it because I had to. In the end, it's made me a stronger writer with a true appreciation for everything that goes into bringing a book to the people.

So, as you go forth in support of #WeNeedDiverseBooks, remember to stay open to books by Independent Authors. A good book is a good book. Period.

Here's my "do-over" for #WeNeedDiverseBooks.

From Screenplay to Novel and Back Again

In a two-part post titled, Driving In Reverse, I wrote about the journey of turning my screenplay, Delta Legend, into a novel. From the number of views that article gets, I'd say there are quite a few other screenwriters making the transition.

Now that Delta Legend is out in paperback and growing a whole new audience, I've gone back to do a major polish on the original spec. Revisiting the source material after such a long time has been interesting to say the least. Obviously, having written a novel, I'm a different writer than I was when I wrote the screen version. I'm relieved to report that the spec wasn't as inchoate as I'd anticipated and I wouldn't be completely mortified if an original version were unearthed in an archeological dig of Hollywood.

When I wrote the screenplay, Delta Legend, I was living in Los Angeles with my then husband, Michael Bertram. We met working at Skywalker Ranch in Northern California. While neither one of us had lofty ambitions of a Hollywood career (he'd already been there and returned) as magical as Skywalker Ranch is, it can also be a lovely little fish bowl. When the opportunity arose for Michael to take a more challenging position with a major studio, we left our beautiful hippie house on the Petaluma River in Marin and joined the hive in Los Angeles. Talk about culture shock.

Image from WikiMedia.org

Originally a playwright, I decided to adopt a "When in Rome" approach to finding myself in LA. As Michael began carving out a career in Post Production Sound at Fox, I immersed myself in learning to write for television, and eventually features. I truly had no idea of the fortress I was naively preparing to storm.

I met and teamed up with Bob Crane (yes, his dad was that Bob Crane, with all the fame and notoriety that brings). Bob was dating Michael's sister, Leslie, at the time and we ultimately wound up in-laws. He was also my first Hollywood "connection." He'd co-written the only authorized biography of Jack Nicholson, co-written a screenplay that actually got made into a TV Movie, and was a regular contributor to Playboy. Bob was far more experienced in writing and all things Hollywood—he'd grown up in that culture. We clicked and had a similar sense of humor. So when we came up with the idea for a mockumentary-style book based on the OJ Simpson case, we went to work.

Bob Crane fends off a tiny spider in typically subtle fashion.

Bob and I reveled our own private writer's bullpen, working five days a week. It was some of the most fun "working" I've ever had. We brain-stormed, laughed our asses off, lunched at Jerry's or Solley's, and drank a gin at the end of the day, congratulating ourselves on our brilliance.

I thought if I can do this for a living, I will have died and gone to heaven. Our book, No Stone Unturned did not land a traditional publishing deal and self-publishing wasn't even on the map back then. We also pitched a TV spin-off concept around town but no one was biting. No Stone Unturned was ultimately serialized in the now defunct print magazine, 111, and online in the first incarnation of MidnightBBQ—a company name I still use today.

I soon returned my focus to cranking out specs for the "Must See TV" era and tried to get "people who knew people" to read them and take them over the wall. I eventually landed a writer/producer gig on a documentary-style series about night workers and went on the road with a crew, shooting all across America. Hearing Ed Asner speak the V.O. dialogue I had written was a thrill. But, alas, as with lots of shows, We Never Close never saw the light of day, and "close" we did.

Check out the size of that monitor, not to mention the chin. 
With my assistant Jasmine in the Writer's Studio, Studio City.

After seven years of toiling away in Hollywood with lackluster results, I boxed up dozens of TV specs along with a few features and called time of death on my screenwriting career, and ultimately, my marriage. Michael had found his place in Hollywood. I had not. Longing for home and missing the lifestyle of our past, I returned to Northern California and didn't write a single creative word for several years. I opened a shop called The Junkman's Daughter, went back into catering, dabbled in branding and marketing for the wine industry, returned to school for HR Management and did pretty much anything and everything to make myself forget that what I truly wanted to be was a writer.

It was the loss of my dynamic sister-in-law, Sandy, to breast cancer that finally pulled me from my state of denial. This life we've been given does not come with any guarantees. If there's something you want to do, you'd damn well better get to it. And what I wanted to do was give my strongest story, Delta Legend, a chance at life outside the cardboard file box of unwanted specs.

A lot of water had passed under the bridge of my writing career by the time I finally sat down to write the novel version of Delta Legend. But if you think any experience in life has been a waste of time, think again. It's been said of my work as a novelist that I bring "vivid imagery" to the page—I have my seven years in Hollywood to thank for that.

The original spec of Delta Legend was a straight down the line teen horror. If you've read the book, you know the story has become so much more than that as a novel. Incorporating all that growth back into the screenplay was challenging—a bit like trying to pack nutrient-dense ingredients into your favorite donut and still have it taste delicious.

 Dun Well Vegan Doughnuts, Brooklyn, NY dunwelldoughnuts.com

While it's been fun wearing the screenwriter hat again, I'm eager to get back to my preferred gig as novelist and give my full attention to ______ Legend. Coming full circle from spec to novel and back again has made me a stronger writer in both mediums. The two versions of Delta Legend will soon compliment each another.

The original spec was a sound and solid blueprint from which to build the novel. The discipline of screenwriting brings concise story structure and a cinematic quality to the book.

Post novel, the screenplay now has a back-story richness it didn't before, and while the bulk of this remains unseen, it's not unfelt. At the time of this post I'm taking one more pass through the screenplay. Let's hope one day there will be an "Option" option. If so, there's a solid script ready to deliver.

A Lovely Day In Locke

I couldn't have dreamed up a more magical place to do a reading and book signing for Delta Legend than the Moon Cafe Art Gallery in Locke, California. Locke and neighboring Walnut Grove not only hold the key to the legend in Delta Legend, they hold a special place in my heart.

Last Saturday, I had the privilege of participating in TEN DELTA AUTHORS held at the Moon Cafe. To be counted among this diverse and wildly talented group of authors was not only an honor, it was an incredibly fun time.

Chris Spencer, Shorty, Jeff Gillenkirk, James Motlow, joseph ernest coulombe
D.R. Wagner, Randall Marcus Gutierrez, Sally Ooms, Bill Corp (also Sally Small). 

Photo by Jeff Kan Lee. His grandfather's business
was headquartered here during the last century.

The Moon Cafe is a relatively new venture by artist and art teacher, Brock Alexander.  It's a wonderful collective featuring the work of local artists, including Brock Alexander, James Motlow, Deborah Mendel, Chris Spencer, Stuart Walthall, and Russell Ooms. This lovely gallery space is bringing a hip new vibe to the local art scene and many of the artists cross over into the literary world with their own books.

Jeff Gillenkirk and James Motlow whose book, Bitter Melon,
is listed at the end of Delta Legend. Photo by Margie Ganger.

My thanks and gratitude to everyone who made TEN DELTA AUTHORS such a huge success: All those mentioned above, as well as, Kim for working the desk and selling our books, Margie Ganger for taking lots of great photos, and Stuart Walthall for doing a brilliant job as MC. Thank you all for your hard work and for welcoming me into your world. Special thanks to Sherry Stanley for introducing Delta Legend to the organizers of this event.

3 photos by Terry O'Connell

And a big hug to my away team, Tom, Terry, Pat, and Jackie—all of whom made it safely back to the mothership after a much deserved beer at Al the Wop's.

2 photos by Margie Ganger

My mom's first book signing. 

Location, Location, Location

I confess I'm more than a little jealous of authors whose novels involve full-on world-building. It's not part of my skill set, though I often wish it were. What an amazing talent to be able to create a completely new and wondrous world in which to place your characters and have their story play out. More importantly (here comes the writer's envy) to be in control of that world and not be limited to the realities of an actual physical location—one readers might know.

As a novelist, seems Urban Fantasy Adventure is more my thing. In Urban Fantasy fantastical things happen in the modern world as we know it. Delta Legend could really be considered a Rural Fantasy Adventure, but let's not add yet another option to the already overflowing toy box of genre choices.

The setting for Delta Legend goes by both the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and the California Delta. I refer to it by both names in the book. It was definitely challenging to describe this unique area in a way that would give people who've never been there a visceral sense of the place. But that's my job, right?

As a novelist, I have to accomplish two very important tasks right off the bat. I have to place you, the reader, in a location then quickly hook you with the characters and story line. If I fail, you won't engage and the wheels start to come off. Worse yet, I won't stand a chance of taking you along for the ride of suspended disbelief.

Luckily, I have a couple things going for me when it comes to this issue of location. One, I have a background as a screenwriter, so I write visually. And two, I spent a good deal of time in the California Delta from the time I was 15 until I was in my mid 30's.

Author smiles with self-satisfaction

In her Goodreads review of Delta Legend, literary blogger, Laura Thomas, said of the author, "Her descriptions of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta are almost visual. You can feel the sluggish dark water on your skin and the cold silty bottom between your toes."

Creating a sense of isolation in our modern world can be challenging considering the sheer number of humans crawling all over the planet armed with multiple means of connecting. And let's face it, if anything like what happens in the book were to actually happen in the Delta, it would be extremely hard to keep it on the down-low. But that's where the all-important suspended disbelief comes in. The heart of the Delta retains a sense of isolation due to its vast expanses of farmland and seemingly endless waterways that snake on for 1000 plus miles. That's right—one thousand.

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is about an hour away from the Delta. When I was 15, my parents bought a used 1969 Nautaline houseboat that was berthed at Korth's Priates' Lair Marina on Brannan Island. Like several Delta marinas, Korth’s is a family owned and operated business that’s carried on for several generations. I incorporate this concept with Heron's Harbor, the home base in Delta Legend, placing it in the Miller family for three generations.

Korth's Pirates' Lair Marina is far more upscale than the fictional Heron's Harbor of Delta Legend, especially with all the lovely additions the latest generation has added. Not that Heron's Harbor is a dump, it's simply a generic mash-up of typical marinas one might find in the Delta.

Writers love to bring stories full-circle. It gives both the storyteller and the audience a sense of completion. The older I get, the more I find things coming full circle in my own life. On a recent trip to the Delta to deliver books, I stopped by Korth’s marina on a whim. I wanted to walk around the place that holds so many fond memories for me. While there, I was introduced to the work of a very talented photographer, Lauren Korth. And yes, Lauren is the great-granddaughter of the couple who founded the marina back in 1937. Her amazingly beautiful photographs of the Delta put mine (included here) to shame. Take a moment from words about the Delta to see some truly wonderful images of it by Lauren Korth Photography.

Pretty great, huh?

A few weeks after my trip, through a posting on Facebook, I discovered a short film Lauren Korth made this past summer and posted to YouTube. Again, she captures this unique region with a personal and artistic eye. This video is Lauren's labor of love to bring attention to the California Delta.

If you just watched it, you undoubtedly noticed several shots of signs at the end that say, "Stop the Tunnels." These are currently posted throughout the Delta. The Tunnels project is a plan to divert even more water from the Delta to supply Central and Southern California. While I make it a point to refrain from being political in Delta Legend, at the end of the book there's a brief note from me that speaks to the fragile nature of the Delta and the need to protect it.

Like Lauren Korth and others who know and love the Delta, I don't believe The Tunnels Project is a good solution to California's water crisis—at least not good for the Delta itself. I would hate to see this magical place sacrificed as the result of uncontrolled and unsustainable growth in regions that have no water source of their own.

It's hard for people to care about saving a place they know nothing about. Lauren Korth's photographs and film are her contribution to bringing awareness to the California Delta, the place she calls home. At the end of the day, Delta Legend is simply a fictional romp, but I hope that by the time readers reach the last line of the last chapter, they feel like they know this magical place and its inhabitants. And maybe, just maybe, want to add their voice to the movement to save it. 

My Little Paper Boat

When I was in the 2nd and 3rd grade, my neighbor friend, Vince, and I used to make little paper boats during class whenever it was raining—probably when we were supposed to be practicing our times tables.

On our walk home after school, we would float our little paper creations in the raging river (rain-filled gutters) excitedly watching to see whose boat would sail the best and travel the farthest. Sticks in hand, we'd run alongside our vessels; at the ready in case our boats needed assistance navigating a leaf pile or avoiding a treacherous storm drain.

The boat builders.

Author posing pious while Vince wonders if his First Communion certificate came with any cash.

At long last, Delta Legend is finally a real book you can hold. It feels like I just placed my little paperback boat into the stream and I'm eager to see how far it will travel. For now, it's available through the button here on my blog, as well as on the Delta Legend website. Also through Amazon, of course. But soon it will be available in a few Bay Area and Sacramento Delta Area independent bookstores and other retailers. I'll list them just as soon as they are on the shelves.

The arrival of the paperback is the beginning of a grassroots movement that will be interesting to watch. Not just for me as an author, but for other screenwriters who are presently turning their specs into novels. Also for those bloggers and fans who were among the first to embrace and promote Delta Legend back when it was only an ebook struggling to stand out in the massive sea of self-published authors.

So yeah, it took me WAY longer than I thought to bring the book into the physical world.  


But I was determined to make it as good as any traditionally published book out there— even if it killed me.  

Of course, I'll still be making the most of social media, but there's now a more personal component to the grassroots marketing campaign that's underway. It involves meeting people face-to-face, speaking about the book, and doing readings. I experienced this a bit when I was finishing the novel and did some readings. I'm looking forward to getting back to that. Only now, many of the people I meet will have the book in hand. I have been asked to sign someone's Kindle before, and it's just wrong.

While I'm grateful for every opportunity social media marketing has afforded (I've connected with some awesome book bloggers and readers) there's something deeply satisfying about connecting with people in person.

So many of you have signed up to be a part of this grassroots movement, it's amazing—complete strangers, who having read the book, eagerly pick up their own stick to help keep my little paperback boat steadily rolling along.

When someone you know recommends a book they think you'll love—there's no better advertising in the world. That's what people are doing for Delta Legend and I am eternally grateful.

Me with my stunt double. It was far too dangerous for me to "play dead" considering how much work I have ahead. Special thanks to my dear friend, Connie, for a hilarious photo shoot.