Becoming a Famous Author, Guest Post by Cara Sue Achterberg

Welcome to an author who's not too famous ... well, not yet, anyway. If had to guess, today's guest poster, Cara Sue Achterberg, author of two intriguing reads, I'm Not Her and Girls Weekend may soon get her wish to become famous.

            

            


I'm so excited to host Cara Sue Achterberg here on All Things Audry! Not only is she a fellow writer-mom of PA, I am also truly inspired by Cara's writing career this far. Her first book, I'm Not Her, reached a ranking of #2 on Barnes and Noble's Nook Bestseller List, was chosen as a best new fiction pick by ibooks in addition to making the top 100 ibooks bestseller list for fiction and literature and was named to Kobo's Page Turners list! See, like I said, maybe not so famous now, but ...

Enjoy her guest post and then, swing by Cara's website www.carawrites.com to learn more!

Becoming a Famous Author

by Cara Sue Achterberg

When I first set out to write a book, I naively thought that all I had to do was write a really long story. I figured the sheer fact that I’d been able to string together 100,000+ words was such a feat that it would only be a matter of time and I would become famous. I tidied it up and send it out to an agent, waiting for her to call me up and say, “Oh my gosh, what a phenomenal talent – this will be the next best seller!” But that didn’t happen. In fact, that didn’t happen nearly 100 times.

That first story was cliché and verbose and trying much too hard. After I slunk back to my computer with my tail between my legs, I began looking for help. Help came in the form of books, websites, bloggers, writing classes, workshops, and conferences. I kept plugging away. Writing every day. I stopped thinking about becoming a famous author and began to focus on telling a good story. And then it finally happened! (the author part, maybe not the famous part.) My novel, I’m Not Her, was published this past August by The Story Plant.

I’m Not Her is told in first person by the two main characters- Carin and Leann. They are vastly different. Carin is a gorgeous, entitled young adult who has cruised through life on her looks and her parents’ money. Leann is a morbidly obese check-out clerk who had a baby at 16 and wound up living on the edge of desperation. They end up living each other’s lives, learning what it is truly like to walk in another person’s shoes- someone they had up until that moment judged rather cruelly.

The original manuscript told only Carin’s point of view. When I was writing it, I could clearly hear Carin’s horrified voice as she discovered she was marooned in a 350 pound body. I worked on the story faithfully for months. I couldn’t wait to sit down each afternoon and see what would happen. When it was finished, I reworked it for even longer until I thought it was pretty decent. What it needed at that point was a structural edit, but I didn’t have that kind of money, so I entered it in a few contests that offered feedback. One judge liked the character, loved the story idea, even liked my writing, but she said that without Leann’s side of the story it didn’t work.

So I sat back down and wrote the story again from Leann’s viewpoint. What was it like to go from a 350 pound outcast to a body as beautiful as the soap opera stars she binged watched?

And then I weaved the two stories together, giving them each a chance to chime in. I knew the book would only work if I could nail those voices. They were polar opposite women so they would have drastically different voices and experiences. I’m not sure Leann and Carin’s voices would have been so drastically different if I hadn’t had the time and space between their telling. That’s not to say that every writer utilizing the idea of alternate voices has to wait a year between the writing, but she might want to leave a little room.

A few other tools I used were to always write Leann in one font and Carin in another. For some reason that helped me find their individual voices. Carin’s came in a neat Garamond font and Leann was in a childlike scrawl. I also read each passage out loud, listening for voice. The biggest problem I encountered was cutting the manuscript down to a manageable size. I had to figure out which scenes were most important for each of the women.

But that’s something every writer has to do. Cut the fat. Kill your darlings, as Stephen King says in his book On Writing was a great resource for figuring out how to trim the size of my story.

After the book was published, it touched my soul when I heard from an inner city public school teacher who said she knew Leann and her little boy. She said she’d never considered what her students went through on a daily basis. A vlogger who has always struggled with her weight reviewed my book and talked about how painful it was for her to read, but how important it was that we talk about it. I heard from plenty of readers who told me that the characters made them think about how they judged others unfairly on a daily basis. I was humbled time and again by readers who found wisdom I certainly don’t possess in the story.

I guess what this meandering post is trying to say is – be faithful to your story and give it the time it deserves so that its truth can speak. Don’t worry about becoming a famous author. Tell your story – because it’s not about you, it’s about the story.

Thank you, Cara, for your honest and inspiring guest post! I absolutely love its message!

About Cara Sue Achterberg:

Cara Sue Achterberg is a writer and blogger who lives in New Freedom, PA with her family and an embarrassing number of animals. I’m Not Her is her first novel. Her second, Girls Weekend, will be released May 2016 by The Story Plant. Cara’s nonfiction book Live Intentionally is a guide to the organic life filled with ideas, recipes, and inspiration for living a more intentional life. Cara is a prolific blogger, occasional cowgirl, and busy mom whose essays and articles have been published in numerous anthologies, magazines, and websites. You can find links to her blogs, news about upcoming publications, and plenty of pictures of her foster dogs at CaraWrites.com.



About her books:

I’m Not Her

I’m Not Her is a work of womens fiction with crossover into YA and New Adult and even a little mystical realism. When a Valentine's Display topples on Carin's pretty head and lands her in Leann's difficult life, both women must face lives they never imagined. Carin, a gorgeous, self-absorbed, entitled young adult, unintentionally swaps lives with Leann, an uneducated, perennially poor, morbidly obese check-out clerk. When Carin’s boyfriend and mother don’t recognize her in her Shop n Save apron and no-name sneakers, she has no choice but to assume Leann’s sad life. Meanwhile, Leann wakes up in a body and life much like the soap opera stars she loves. More than a case of trading places, I'm Not Her explores the question of whether appearances or circumstances make us who we are. It's a surprising tale about the way the world sees us and the courses we are on.

Girls Weekend (May 2016)

Dani, Meg, and Charlotte have bonded over babies, barbeques, and backyards, but when they escape for a girls weekend away, they can’t bring themselves to return to lives that don’t seem to fit anymore. We all think we will be different. We won’t be facing down forty and still wonder when life starts. Girls Weekend is a fun, yet poignant romp through the universal search of who we are, why we love, and what makes us happy. Look for Girls Weekend this May! (or preorder it now!)

Sunset Orange Crush

Sunset Orange Crush, a short story, goes on sale today, August 1st, for $0.99 Kindle and Nook (available for Kindle app and Nook app on your tablet)!!!

I'm so excited to share with you my new short story! I hope you enjoy it. I hope you share it with your friends. And, I thank all of you for your helpful comments so far and all your support.

Just for you, my loyal blog readers, here's a free glimpse of the first few pages. 

Happy reading!

SUNSET ORANGE CRUSH

a short story

by Audry Fryer

            Dry sand sifts through my fingers, slipping away like the years since I last walked this beach. 

It is early August. While this time of year has held no special meaning for the majority of my life, recently it took on  greater significance.  One year ago, I marched into the kitchen of a trendy Beverly Hills restaurant, grabbed a prep knife and pinned a note displaying these three words, “I quit, Ali.”  I went back to my apartment that echoed with emptiness ever since my ex-boyfriend left with all his belongings and half of mine.  Determined to leave California far behind, I packed up every last bit of what I had left.  My imagination took me to far flung destinations, France, Mexico, Tahiti, South Africa.  I had saved enough money to take me anywhere I wanted to go. The possibilities invigorated my sense of freedom. All I needed was a compass to point me in the correct direction.

In my enthusiasm for adventure, I grabbed for a box wedged in the back of my closet and perched high on a shelf.  It proved heavier than I expected.  I tried to keep my balance and almost succeeded, almost. Its contents spilled in an avalanche across my hard wood floors.  I heard a high pitched clink; the unmistakable, dreadful sound of shattering glass.   I sifted through the mess catching the tip of my finger on a shard. I recoiled both from the pain and from the recognition of what I had broken. I knew as I cleaned up the bits of glass mixed with a pile of sand that I wouldn’t be heading to an exotic location, but to here, Lewes, Delaware. 

The last of the sand escapes through my parted fingers with a small amount pooled in my palm.  I rub my hands together leaving a few coarse grains clinging to my skin. I try to brush them away on the cotton fabric of my cover-up with little success. I should know better. There’s always a little bit of sand that follows you home, in the bottom of your beach bag, in the cuff of your shorts or plastered to your flip-flops. Memories cling to the corners of your mind like that, too.

“Do I know you?” an older woman, robust in size, asks as she approaches me.

I turn and look at the woman to see if she is someone recognizable.  She gives me a warm smile sheltered by her wide brimmed hat.  Her white cover-up billows, a cloud in the breeze.  I shake my head and say, “I think you may have me confused with someone else.”

“Oh, I’m sorry dear,” the woman says.  “I was hoping you were the young lady I so enjoyed speaking with the last few summers.  I’ve been worried about her.  Last time I saw her, she was very sick.”  The woman motions with her hand around her head and whispers, “she was wearing a scarf.  Most unfortunate.”

“Oh, how sad,” I say. The vision of this young woman stricken with illness, most likely cancer, appears so clearly in my mind. It is as if I can see her standing on the shore, gazing at the surf with the sea breeze whipping the scarf on her head like one of those hurricane warning flags.

“Well, you have a good day,” the woman says.

“Oh, uh, you too,” I reply. 

The woman nods and continues down the slope of the dune. She shifts her weight carefully. Her progress is slow and cautious. I watch her with an acute interest. Maybe I’m worried she will fall. Maybe it’s something else.  For whatever reason, my attention remains on this woman when she glances back at me. Embarrassed, I wave at her. She doesn’t seem to notice my awkward attempt at levity. Instead, she says, “I hope you find what you lost.” 

The woman turns, almost as if she hadn’t said anything at all. I wonder if I imagined it. I think about running after her and telling her I hadn’t been searching for anything in the sand that I might have lost. Had I? 

I carry this question in my thoughts as my focus drifts away from the woman and meanders across the hills and valleys of the massive sand dune that compromises the lower tip of Delaware, a place referred to as The Point in Cape Henlopen State Park.  My gaze pauses at the short lighthouse that punctuates the dune’s end. Maybe I am searching for one thing.  But, I’m not sure I could ever recapture the magic of that summer.

It was in my last days of innocence that my parents rented the seaside cottage for the summer.  That fall I would be heading off to culinary school and part of me knew that my whole life was on the cusp of changing irreversibly.  I had these next ten weeks to savor.  And did I ever, like a syrupy sweet salt water taffy, the kind that you could pull into long delightfully sticky strands and spend the better part of an hour devouring.

My first impression of Leah had been how her golden sunshine hair curled around her face as she pedaled past me on her bike. “Follow me,” she simply said. I remember obeying her orders though we never formerly met, hopping onto my own bike and following in her wake.  We rode across the sleepy coastal town known less for its history of being “The first town in the first state” than for its ferry destination linking it to the New Jersey Cape.  We entered the state park and ditched our bikes here at The Point.  We talked, we laughed and a friendship like no other I’ve ever had before or after was created.  We became inseparable and to our delight, people often wondered if we were twins.  While my hair had deeper amber tones than Leah’s and my skin tanned easily while Leah’s preferred to burn, our statures and our mannerisms matched with an uncanny similarity.  I tugged my ear whenever I was nervous, so did Leah.  I made up my own lyrics when I couldn’t remember the words to a song, so did Leah. I loved black licorice flavored salt water taffy, so did Leah. I had a crush on the boy who worked at his uncle’s bait and tackle shop for the summer, so did Leah. 

Want to read more?

I hope so!

$0.99 for Kindle & Nook 

Thanks so much!!!

For more about this short story, my other two novels and some fun facts about me

check out: www.audryfryer.com

Shorts Season

Exciting news! I will be releasing a short story at the end of of July! So, Friends, I need your opinions and help to spread a little hype.


The working title is Sunset Orange Crush. Like the name? Yes or no, let me know!

Here's the description:

Ali's life has been in pieces much like one of her most treasured mementos that fell and shattered a year ago. Wanting to fix what is broken, Ali returns to the small seaside town where her parents once rented a beachside cottage and she once spent an unforgettable summer. Though time has slipped away like dry sand through parted fingers, Ali's memories of sunsets on the beach, a lost friendship and a first love remain strong. However, in the span bridging her youth to adulthood, much has changed. As Ali searches for so much more than fond recollections of a more innocent time, she discovers love and loss, the healing power of forgiveness and grains of the same magic lingering from that one summer.

At about 23 pages, it's a perfect read for an afternoon on the beach or with your morning coffee on your back porch or while lounging at your local pool club or on a hot, steamy night or ... you get the idea!

I would like to submit it to Kindle Single but it takes 6 weeks for a response and then, anyone with a Nook is left out. And, I don't want to leave out the Nooks! Sorry Kindle Single. Maybe next story.

Actual picture of the setting, Cape Henlopen State Park

More fun! The small seaside town in the description refers to Lewes, DE and Rehoboth Beach, DE with an important bit of the story taking place in Ocean City, MD. Yes, I dreamed up this story about two years ago on trip down there. And, yes I was drinking the well-known in OC MD  alcohol-based drink, the orange crush. Yet, I didn't do much with the story until this past spring when I realized what was missing. There's a nice plot twist towards the end that hit me like one of Oprah's famous "Aha moments."

Even more fun!! I need a photo for the cover and it could be yours (with your permission) because ... 

Photo Cover Contest!!! Share your pictures on my FB page of orange sunsets, orange cocktails or even of the Ferris wheel in Ocean City, Md at dusk (you'll see why when you read the story!) and I may choose your picture as the cover. How cool would that be! 

I know you can do better than this!

Okay! That's it for now ... More teasers to come in future blog posts like a sneak peek at the opening pages, drink recipes to make your own Orange Crush and lots of surprises (even to me as I figure out how to generate some hype - suggestions welcome!).

***One month left to enter to win a

 $10 Starbucks Gift Card!*** 

Check out www.audryfryer.com for details!

Blog Hop (No, it's not a new dance move!)

All Things Audry has been invited to participate in a Blog Hop Tour.  Basically, it's like playing a game of tag between blogs (and not anything associated with hip-hop or actually hopping up and down to stay warm).

Thank you Cindy Buccieri, professional blogger, author and consultant, for contacting me with this fabulous idea! If you are a blogger, then you must check out her blog at www.cindybuccieri.com for wonderful tips about blogging success.

I've decided to participate in the Blog Hop Tour, so now I must attempt to answer four mind-probing questions about my fascinating life as an author.

Question #1: "What are you working on?"
I would like to say how I am working on Novels #3 -5 that will be set in the same location as Secrets, Lies and Apple Pies, Scarlet's Mill, depicting the lives and stories of the people who live there.  I'd like to say that I'm making great progress on a story about an unlucky woman who works in the local diner that suddenly wins big.  However, as I write this post on Friday, February 14th from my home in Southeastern PA, I am working on digging out my driveway from snowstorm after snowstorm and entertaining my children who have been off from school more than they have been there this winter! Kidding aside, I am enjoying my time with my family and feeling inspired by the snow.  Hmm, a novel about a meteorologist just may be taking shape in my head ...   

Question #2: "How does your work differ from others of its genre?"
Humor mixed with drama. I like to write funny banter between characters and balance it with a healthy amount of tension. My novels are definitely character driven. Also, I believe a story fueled with emotion keeps a reader engaged and invested in the story. Plus, I like to add what I call "real magic".  For example, in Secrets, Lies and Apple Pies, Braeburn's deceased father seemed to give her some heavenly reassurance when she needed it most.  

Question #3: "Why do you write what you do?"
I write the type of novels that I like to read.  After my twins were born and I had left my teaching position, I began reading paperback after paperback passed on to me from my mom.  As I read such skilled authors as Jodi Picoult, Emily Giffin, Claire Cook, Krisitin Hannah and Anna Quindlen (to name a few), I became inspired to write. When I began writing, I wanted my stories to reflect what I had enjoyed so much from all those books.    

Question #4: "How does your writing process work?"
First, I organize a general outline of how the novel will progress which includes a detailed description of each main character.  After wasting a lot of time on trying to figure out names for my characters (I get so caught up in those baby naming websites), I take those notes and plan out scenes.  Next, I pray for it to stop snowing so much. Once the kids are off to school and I am not distracted by all things domestic, I sit in my quiet house (unless the phone rings) and write out scene after scene.  Finally, I read and reread, revise and delete, add more here and switch that up back there ... it really is a wonder that I have written two novels.  
And yet, I 100% believe that #3 will be completed within the next six months!     

_____________________________________________________________

Audry Fryer is the author of ...

         

 

SECRETS, LIES AND APPLE PIES 

available for KINDLE and NOOK

& GOING BAREFOOT IN GREENER GRASS 

available for KINDLE and NOOK

Hello October and Hello Friends!

I realized I haven't added my own post here on All Things Audry in like ... forever (or in a month which to me feels like forever)!  So, time to get something fun, humorous and potentially thought provoking up here.

I mean it's October already  - which is typically my favorite month.  I say typically because on the 15th, I turn 40 ... and all I can say about that is "Aack!"  I'm a writer and I should have something more profound to say than an utterance that is more of a sound than a word.  "Aaack!"

And I should be celebrating this milestone like that girl who did good deeds for her birthday and then posted her list all over the internet.  I started to be inspired by her list until I read that she was going to put away all the carts at Wal-Mart.

That's nice for her, but there's not enough hand sanitizer in the world for this "germ-a-phobe".  Then I think, a younger me wouldn't have cared about germs.  Then again, a younger me didn't have the glamorous life I have now.  I can't get sick when I need to cart the kids to soccer/dance and get done all those other domestic diva tasks!

Also, I wonder what a younger version of myself would think of the fact that getting a new washer/dryer was the high point of last month.  It was, though! The old dryer may or may not have briefly caught on fire.  So as I drink my coffee and write this post, I am spending this beautiful October morning gazing out at the early Autumn foliage as I eagerly await the sing song chime indicating the cycle is done which has replaced the old dryer's nerve grinding/coffee spill inducing buzzer.

So, anyway, time to write a new post here.  Wait.  All that up there looks like it could work.  Maybe I'll go with it. Or maybe, I come back here and edit the whole thing. (I did come back - look below.)  I mean, Wal Mart? Washer/Dryers? What has happened to me?  And why is there an apple on my head? Oh yeah, that was my son's idea ... and honestly, there was no drinking involved!

Hello, again.  So, yes, here I am the next day to do a little editing and to add one more important thing.  And that is, despite the "aack", I do - really do - like being my age and the age I'm about to become (cough- 40).  I like it because I'm able to do all the things I love - be a mom, be a writer, volunteer in my children's classrooms, bake, garden, watch Bravo TV while the kids are at school, pretend I'm a trophy wife ... okay I've taken it a smidge too far, but you get the point.  And yes, it's not a perfect life.  Of course there's always something I wish I could have that we can't afford or somewhere I'd to like travel if we had more freedom.  But, I wouldn't trade my smile lines or the few extra pounds around my waist to go back to my younger self.  Instead, I welcome the next decade.  I'm excited to watch my children grow, build my writing career and, most of all, enjoy the life I have now. 

I'd love to hear from you! Stop by my facebook page:

www.facebook.comAudryFryerAuthor

Fall is the perfect time to read

Secrets, Lies and Apple Pies

Check out the fun Oktoberfest scene!

Available for a sweet (and possibly intoxicating) price: $2.99

on Kindle and Nook 

(Don't have a Kindle - get the Kindle app and read anywhere on your tablet or device.  Is that cool or what?!?)