One year ago Friday, August 1, a number of Minnesotans lives changed forever. Thirteen died in the Mississippi as the I-35W Bridge buckled and collapsed into the mighty river. Another 100 or so were injured, some severely. That night, the Minnesota Twins played the Kansas City Royals so that 25,000 fans wouldn’t pour out of the Metrodome and gum up even more traffic already snarled from the bridge collapse.

The most harrowing aspect was that a major bridge had come tumbling down in the United States of America. This, of course, was not supposed to happen here. But it most definitely had and the collapse of the I-35 Bridge had affected the lives of many, many people just by leaving a huge gap over the Mississippi River and altering traffic pattern until a new bridge could be built.

In my novel, a passing reference is made to how the Twin Cities are literally linked together by a vast network of bridges that cross the Mississippi, Minnesota, and Saint Croix Rivers, plus numerous lakes. The book notes that rush hour is always slow over the Wakota Bridge that ferries traffic on I-494 over the Mighty Mississippi. Without the bridge, the Twin Cities could not be melded together on the East side of the Metro.

When the bridge collapsed last year, cities all over the country got a brutal wake up call - this calamity could happen anywhere. Large numbers of bridges were inspected, some closed down for good. At the end of 2007, the Minneapolis Star Tribune ran an article on another bridge in dire need of replacement, the bridge spanning the Mississippi in downtown Hastings, MN.

Over the last weekend in July, large chucks of cement fell from the Maryland Avenue Bridge near 35-E and downtown St. Paul. Two vehicles were hit — one on the windshield, one on the hood — and debris from the chunks, which fell from the underside of the bridge, choked off traffic on Interstate Hwy. 35E for more than eight hours as crews inspected the overpass and knocked off other loose concrete as a precaution.

Bridges connect numerous cities across the United States. The only positive to come out of the Minneapolis 35-W bridge collapse was the inspection of similar bridges. Still, even having endured a national tragedy, the once proud state of Minnesota still doesn’t have enough money to fund and maintain crucial aspects of roads like bridges.

The GOP Convention scheduled for August 30 - September 4 in Minneapolis and St. Paul is a mere five weeks away, as family who reside there constantly remind me. On the one side is the argument  that suicide bombers, chemical or biological attacks, lone gunmen, terrorist attacks, riots, blockades, or all of the above could shut down the Republican National Convention scheduled for St. Paul/Minneapolis August 30 - September 4.

From the beginning planning stages, St. Paul officials and protesters have been engaged in a prolonged dispute over granting a request by antiwar demonstrators (the Coalition to March on the RNC to Stop the War) requesting a change in the route and time of a Sept. 1 march they want to take place right outside the Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul.

On the opposite side, officials claim they have up-to-date Intel on the plans of anarchists to disrupt the convention by blocking the 12 mile stretch of I-94 between downtown St. Paul and Minneapolis. If I were an anarchist, I would definitely let authorities think they had the upper-hand in the intelligence department and move deep underground.

Since winning the bid for the RNC, the Twin Cities have had difficulty recruiting enough law enforcement personnel (currently at less than 3,000), while complaining about the overtime pay such security will cost. No doubt the anarchists and others planning to cause havoc during the convention are well aware of this dilemma, as the shortage in security has been publicly discussed for months.

Do I want see the RNC disrupted by anarchists bent on destruction and chaos? No, if only for the selfish reason that I don’t wish to see my hometown humiliated on the world stage. But even growing up in Minneapolis/St. Paul I heard repeatedly that the Twin Cities simply didn’t offer enough hotel rooms, police, and other venues for an event of this magnitude. As in the novel, my family works in real estate in the Twin Cities and over the years they’ve explained the National Association of Realtors refuses to host their annual convention here for exactly those reasons.

If you’re a political junkie, there are sure to be some fireworks, and not only with the protesters at the GOP Convention. Besides the RNC in progress, during the exact same time span, the Minnesota State Fair will also be taking place in St. Paul and several universities start up the new school year. If I were an anarchist, those are the exactly the kinds of details I would be noting.

After months of following Amazon’s decision to accept POD books published only through BookSurge, the anti-trust lawsuit filed by BookLocker continues to gain support throughout the publishing industry.

The Small Publishing Association of North America supports BookLocker in its lawsuit against Amazon as follows:
“The lawsuit says that Amazon is illegally tying the BookSurge printing to Amazon’s distribution services. According to antitrust law, companies generally cannot require a customer to buy one product or service in order to have access to another distinct product or service.

To help determine the validity of the case, I read the legal Complaint submitted to U.S. District Court and conducted additional research. I was quickly convinced that, based on my reading, BookLocker has a reasonable antitrust case against Amazon. Therefore, it seemed clear that
SPAN’s next step should be to support the lawsuit.

What does supporting the lawsuit mean? SPAN’s goal is to initiate the Amazon/BookSurge Antitrust Lawsuit Campaign to generate public pressure to compel Amazon to reverse its policy. Our plan is to get as many authors, publishers, and organizations as possible to let Amazon know they support the lawsuit and object to the new policy.

Kevin Murphy, author of Degrees of Murder, wrote Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on July 15, 2008: As one who served as an organizational consultant for decades, I am amazed to see that arrogance can generate such amazing stupidity.   I have seen other organizations, similarly deluded into thinking that they were immortal and impregnable, disappear in the backwash of inept decision making, deafness to feedback, and self-absorbed arrogance.  The names Motorola, Zenith, and Osborne Computers readily leap to mind. Read Mr. Murphy’s entire memo at the anti-trust segment of the BookLocker site.

Authors can learn more at Writers Weekly under the Amazon Anti-Trust lawsuit section of the organization’s Home Page and keep track of new developments.

Don’t believe your vote matters in November 2008? Jesse “The Body” Ventura didn’t become Governor of Minnesota in 1998 because no one went to the polls. Just the opposite.  For some, the realization of how important each and every vote is came when Ventura won the three party race.

Some other great examples of a few votes making a big difference:
In 2002, Dan Sparks was elected to the Minnesota State Senate by five votes, and Mike McGinn won election by 35 votes.
In 1999, Leslie Byrne was elected to the Virginia Senate by 37 votes.
John F. Kennedy won the presidency in 1960 over Richard Nixon by a margin of less than one vote per precinct.
One vote per precinct passed women’s right to vote in California in 1911.

Don’t think you know enough about the candidates and issues to make a well-informed decision? Besides the voter-related organizations listed on this site, here are some additional organizations providing non-partisan information on the majority of political races this fall.

Declare Yourself is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit campaign to empower and encourage every eligible 18-year-old in America to register and vote in the presidential primaries and 2008 presidential election.

Vote-USA provides voters with non-partisan information on where candidates stand while offering voters the opportunity to compare candidate’s positions on hot issues such as the economy and ongoing Iraqi war.  

Project Vote Smart is similar to Voter USA in providing information on candidates of all parties in a multitude of races.

Voting is a privilege, not a right, the very reason for its inclusion as a sub-plot in Shades of Darkness, Shades of Grace. One of the positive aspects of the 2008 U.S. election is the immense interest among voters, particular from younger generations. Americans have long been apathetic in regards to voting, and this election year is the perfect time to change that.

Love followed by marriage. The happy birth of a child. A disintegrating relationship. The final straw - a contentious divorce with an innocent child torn between parents. Shades of Darkness, Shades of Grace has several intertwining themes; one at the very center of the story being the destructive nature of a divorce involving a vicious child custody battle and increasingly large monetary settlements. Divorce in and of itself can be nasty, but add a child and the issue of who gets custody as well as monetary support and the stakes are suddenly much higher.

The best and most insightful reviews of Shades of Darkness relate to the litigious divorce between Paul and Pamela; where a child becomes a mere bargaining chip and an entire family is devastated. Readers too, have connected with the story either because they’ve been through a similar martial break-up or know of someone who has.

In those instances where anger and hostility exists out of sheer vindictiveness, what about the welfare of the children?

Divorce in the U.S. is at it’s lowest since 1970 (3.6 per 1,000 people), yet one of every two marriages today still end in divorce, many of which include children. In Shades of Darkness, Paul Pierson files for divorce before his daughter is a year-old. Kaitlin is frightened and confused, and the Pierson family does everything they possibly can to comfort her and let her know her security isn’t threatened. According to research by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, children whether very young or older, do best when parents don’t engage in long custody disputes or pressure a child to choose sides.

Following are tips for parents who are divorcing:
Don’t put the children in the middle.
If you need to talk with someone, find a professional, but leave the kids out of it.
Keep routines as normal and consistent as possible.
Remember that children are just that - children. They are not a best friend or replacement for a spouse.
No matter what your child’s age, this is still a loss for them. Grief may come in the form of anger, depression, anxiety, or acting out. Get them professional help if necessary.
Unless this is an abusive situation, allow the children access to both parents.

There are also a number of good web sites dealing with the topic on the Internet. Children and Divorce is also an excellent resource site for all parties involved in a divorce: parents, kids, and professionals. The web site offers articles on the subject of children involved in a divorce, support group information, and counseling resources.

The Divorce Source is another site which offers helpful resources. The site provides an entire section dedicated to the effects of divorce on children and a wealth of resources and information on the topic.

Like it or not, divorce has become a fact of American life and too often children suffer the most devastating effects from the dissolution of their parents marriage. Resources and information on the subject can make a difficult situation somewhat easier, especially for the children.

Blogging is hard. But keeping a regularly updated blog that always relates to your book in some way makes blogging a great way to continue expanding your audience. It’s also a means of passing on information that is useful to your readers and provides them with something of value.

For me, the best way to do this is taking a 12-month calendar and finding topics for each month that relate to issues/themes discussed in the novel. I call this the “Blogging Calendar”. Once you have brainstormed an initial calendar, start researching various possibilities on the Internet. The research process can also be the spark for additional topics you may not have considered.

Some of the themes in Shades of Darkness, Shades of Grace were: alcoholism and chemical dependency, politics and voter awareness, divorce and child custody issues, health concerns, particularly ovarian cancer, Minnesota history and tourism, and writing and publishing trends. Some months are going to be easier to fill than others, but here are examples of how I started plotting out my blogging schedule.

March
Women’s History Month

April
Alcohol Awareness Month

September
Labor Day
Ovarian Cancer Awareness

October
Ministry Appreciation Month
Domestic Violence Awareness
Grandparents Day

November
U.S. Presidential Election

Finding topics relevant to your book at least gives authors a starting point. In my case I also keep abreast of current events in the realms of politics and the writing/publishing industry. For example, I posted a blog on the Twin Cities hosting the GOP Convention and tied it together with the Pierson family’s political activism. I’ve also done a number of blog articles on writing and the publishing industry, and I post whenever something of interest to authors happens, such as Amazon’s new policy on Print On Demand (POD) publishing.

Blogging does take work (especially if you have several blogs to keep updated) but think of it this way - you’re not only promoting your book(s), you’re providing reader benefits, and writing regularly which helps you as an author to constantly improve.

NOTE: This is the second of two articles chronicling the experience of two authors who unwittingly became victims of literary agent scams.

The second scam also seemed to start out as legitimate. Carl, a co-worker, announced at a staff meeting he’d obtained agency representation for his novel. When he mentioned the name of the agency, I recognized it as one who had recently rejected me. The agent had offered some suggestions on how to improve the story and mentioned she would be interested in taking another look after I’d made revisions.

Carl had also been told his manuscript needed work and had been offered suggestions for editing and revisions. But the agent went even further. She told Carl he could do the revisions or an editor she knew could do the polish for $1,500. In either case, she claimed with those tweaks she could “definitely sell this book”. Carl declined the editor’s services, and for the next several weeks worked on revising his novel during every free moment. When he submitted the completed manuscript, Carl was then told that because book marketing costs are so expensive, he would need to put up $25,000 to get the process started. The agent promised he would get that money back and much more once the book was published.   

How The Scam Works:
This agent had multiple scams going. Had Carl agreed to let the agent’s “editor” associate polish the manuscript, he would have been out the $1,500. Usually the literary agent and editorial businesses are owned by the same company and make referrals to each other without the author having any idea of their relationship. They’re not interested in improving your work, such agents and editors are only concerned with the editorial fees. At this point Carl realized all of his writing and revising had been for naught. As foolish as Carl felt, at least he hadn’t parted with $25,000.

Finding a good agent can be a very tricky business. Even authors who know better aren’t immune to making serious mistakes when it comes to the “promise” of seeing your words in print. Along with the list of following tips, remember the old adage: “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”.

Tips:
The agents contained in the Association of Author Representatives (AAR) database must adhere to a Code of Ethics. This is a great starting point for your agent search and some authors contact only agents belonging to the AAR.

Research every potential agent you’re planning to contact. Start with a Google search of the agency and agent. You may have to look at several sites to gather the information you need to make a well-informed decision. Another excellent resource is Agent Query.

How many books has the agent actually sold to major publishers? What was the date of the last work they sold? I’ve found more than one agent still accepting submissions who haven’t sold a book in years.

Use sites such as the Writers Beware section on SFWA and Preditors and Editors who track agents who engage in questionable practices.

NOTE: This is the first of a two-part article chronicling the experience of two authors who unwittingly became victims of literary agent scams.

One of the first things writers seeking agency representation should learn is that legitimate agents DO NOT charge author fees. These include agents who charge reading fees simply to read your manuscript; evaluation fees to review your manuscript; agents who require writers to pre-purchase books; or pay some of the publication and/or marketing costs.

There are a host of agent scams preying on authors desperate to see their book in print. One of the absolute best resources on the Internet regarding questionable agent practices can be found on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) site under the section called “Writer Beware”. SFWA is constantly researching and updating the Writer Beware area to help educate authors to avoid the endless writer-related scams.

However, even writers who do their homework are not immune to unscrupulous agents. These two examples illustrate how even smart authors can get taken.

In the fall of 2003 I heard from an agency offering representation for my novel. The agent provided specific instructions on how the manuscript should be formatted for the best possible presentation. Before I signed anything, I researched the agency which I had found through a reputable author organization. Clearly, I didn’t do enough.

The agency included the six-month contract in their offer of representation, which I thought was odd. But it would get even worse. As I later learned from another author, legitimate agents don’t make representation offers through the mail electronic or otherwise, they call you personally.

The agency then explained they would need approximately 25 copies of the manuscript to send to publishers. I had two options: (a) I could make copies as the agency needed and pay for postage each time, or (b) pay the agency a flat-fee of $250 and let them make the copies. Knowing I should never have to pay an agent money up-front, my gut-reaction was to pass. However two author friends and several family members reminded me I had just paid $125.00 for three copies of the manuscript. This meant my final tally on 25 copies would be much larger than $250. They convinced me to change my mind and pay the fee.

Six months later I received a letter from the agency saying they were unable to find representation for my novel. Attached was a crooked, mimeographed list of the 25 publishers they had supposedly sent the manuscript to. When I contacted the organization where I had obtained the agent’s name, they asked an important question: Had I gotten copies of the rejection letter from every single publisher the agent had contacted? When I said no, the organization explained that’s how legitimate agents work and to ask the agency for those rejection letters. When I did, the agent told me those files had been destroyed at the end of the contract.

How The Scam Works:
Going back to the contract, the agent had already dated the contract for six months which meant I lost several weeks making the requested format changes. My attorney didn’t feel that was unusual, but I had reservations. Second, do the math. Two-hundred fifty dollars times a thousand “clients” is a cool $250,000. Most legitimate agents are inundated with thousands of authors seeking representation every year, so an unscrupulous agent can simply sit back and wait for their “clients” to send that $250 believing they have representation with a legitimate agent. I discovered later that the agency was on a list highlighting the 20 worst literary agents.