Lifescapes

A WILDER ROSE now in eBook

In some ways, the journey is nearly over--the book I've been thinking about for over two decades is now a reality, both virtually and in print. You can find it on Barnes & Noble, on Amazon, and on Kobo. The paperback will be available in a day or so, the hardcover next month, by special order.

If you've read an ARC or a NetGalley copy, I would appreciate it very much if you would drop in at one of the reader-review sites and leave a note and a rating. The "big guns" (PW, Kirkus) are important, yes. But these days, reader responses mean even more. You can help.

In other ways, the journey is just beginning. I've been working to get the book into libraries and indie bookstores, and there's plenty more to do on that front. You can help by mentioning it to your librarian and your bookseller.

I hope you'll agree with me that A WILDER ROSE tells an important story, in many ways, an uncomfortable and challenging story. That's why it's author-published, rather than legacy-published. I appreciate all your support and friendship more than I can say. You have eased this journey and made it worthwhile.

ROSE Makes the Cover of Publishers Weekly!

Rose goes to the big time! She's appearing, front and center, on the cover of the August 26 edition of Publishers Weekly, the major publishing industry magazine.

I wonder: would Rose herself like this kind of national publicity? She and her mother worked so hard to keep their collaboration a secret--how would they feel about the way their story is told?

Unknowable, but intriguing.

Reading note: Albert does an excellent job of bringing historical figures to life in a credible way; her novel is well paced, its characterizations are strong, and the plot is solidly constructed. Readers begin to understand Lane's personality and mentality, as well as the things that drive her.--Publishers Weekly starred review

A Wilder Rose: The Week Before Publication

New Mexico Star. No, it's not finished yet, just getting started! This is my new needlepoint project, from Laura Perin's wonderful American Quilt Collection. I love the rhythms and repetitions of Laura's designs--just the thing to settle me down in the evenings, after a day's writing. Especially these days, with so much email traffic related to A Wilder Rose. Tonight, I'll set up the canvas and the thread and start stitching.

A Wilder Rose is just a week away from publication and has been getting some important recognition. Earlier, Kirkus gave the book a starred review. This week, it earned another starred review from Publishers Weekly. And the Independent Book Publishers Association chose the book for the cover of the August 26 indie special issue of Publishers Weekly. It will be available in eBook format from B&N, Amazon, iBook, and Kobi next week, and in print from Amazon. Next month, libraries and bookstores will be able to order it in hardcover and trade paper via their usual distributors (Baker & Taylor and Ingram).

What a remarkable learning adventure this has been--from doing the research and the writing, to deciding to author-publish. I couldn't have done it without my team: Kerry Sparks, at Levine/Greenberg (Jim Levine is a grad school friend from Berkeley days); Sally Ferguson, sharp-eyed copyeditor; Peggy Moody, my webmistress and assistant in almost everything I do; Sherry Wachter, creative cover artist; and Jeanette Larson, who has been helping me bring the book to the attention of librarians. And Bill, of course, who reads and marks up every manuscript before it leaves my desk. It would have been much easier to have turned all this work over to a publisher--but just think of all the excitement I would have missed!

Oh, and something I need to ask you: if you've been one of the beta readers or early reviewers and have enjoyed the book, please be sure to leave a note on the Amazon and B&N reader-review pages, as well as Goodreads and LibraryThing. It's important to get those early reader reviews out there, to help other people decide whether the book is worth reading. Please and thank you.

The Darling Dahlias and the Texas Star comes out next week, too--published through my usual legacy publisher: Berkley Prime Crime. I got my author copies Friday, and they're beautiful. I'm finishing up the fifth book in that series right now, with a due date at the end of the week. With luck, I'll make it.

A new standalone project. I'm not ready to tell you about this yet, but I have a good start on the research and plan to do some writing this fall. It's another work of biographical/historical fiction, set in the twentieth century. I love this stage of a new writing project: digging into the research, accumulating facts and ideas and watching them assemble themselves into patterns, learning what the story is and how to tell it. A lovely time--if there were only another 24 hours in the day.

The drought persists, and Lake Travis is down to 33% of full--bad news for Austin's water supply. The Austin temps have dropped below 100, but our digital thermometer topped that mark every day last week. I've lost track of how many 100+ degree days it's measured, and it no longer seems to mattermuch whether it's 103 or 108. I planted beans for the fall garden, but will likely have to replant--the soil is just too hot. The squash, however, has popped up undaunted. I'll have to watch for squash bugs and try to catch them early. I've kept the chard going through the summer for the hens, who also enjoy sweet potato leaves and wild purslane/portulaca. The girls get a couple of hours under the mister in the afternoons, to cool them off a little.

I'll try to post again in another week or so, to update you on the progress of Rose.

Reading Note. “Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them.” --Lemony Snicket

Q&A: A Wilder Rose

I'm over at All Things Laura Ingalls Wilder today, discussing A Wilder Rose with Marie Tschopp. Drop in and join the conversation. Just 3+ weeks to the pub date (online retailers): Sept. 1!

On Titles, Subtitles, and Lessons Learned

When I'm writing a book, I start with a title--not always the title that ends up on the cover, but a title, nevertheless. For me, it's a kind of Rorschach, an idea-seed that grows into the book. Sometimes the title turns into plot, as it did in Widow's Tears and Cat's Claw. Sometimes it's all about setting, as in the Cottage Tale series: The Tale of Hill Top Farm, The Tale of Castle Cottage. Sometimes it's metaphoric--Blood Root, Bleeding Hearts--or refers to a time period: An Extraordinary Year of Ordinary Days.

When I began working on the Rose Wilder Lane project, my first title was Laura's Rose--a title that grew out of personal experience. In my mother's family, children were often referred to by their mother's name, partly because there were always a gazillion cousins by the same name. I was Lucille's Susan. My brother was Lucille's John. Hence Laura's Rose, which emphasized the strong bond between mother and daughter demonstrated by Rose's decade-long work on her mother's books.

But that title, I found out, was already in use. Back in 1986, Bill Anderson wrote a booklet called "Laura's Rose," long out of print. Titles can't be copyrighted, but when I asked him about it, Bill (who has done a great deal of good work on the Wilder materials) told me that he might like to reuse the title, so I dropped it.

A Wilder Rose came to me then, and I liked it even better: Rose was named for the wild rose of the Dakota prairies. Until she married, she was Rose Wilder. And one of her editors, commenting on an intemperate letter Rose had written, scrawled "Our wild Rose, at her wildest." A Wilder Rose seemed to me to describe a woman who was wild enough, in all ways, to challenge the fences her culture built around her: to become a global traveler in an era when most women stayed home; to live abroad; to become a best-selling author and a voice for a political movement.

And then I thought of a subtitle: Rose Wilder Lane, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Their Little Houses. Perfect, I thought. The novel is full of little houses: Rose's Albanian house, Laura's house at Rocky Ridge, Rose's Rock House (built for her parents in 1928), Rose's Danbury house. And about her house-building addiction, Rose once wrote to her friend, Dorothy Thompson, “Without houses, who knows? I might have been a writer.” Excellent choice, I told myself happily.

Not. The book was already in galleys (and the galleys were in the hands of reviewers) when I was cautioned that HarperCollins, the publisher of the Little House (TM) books might interpret my "Little Houses" (plural, referring to actual houses) as an infringement of their trademark on the Little House (TM) series.

Uh-oh. I checked with a lawyer who deals with such matters, and yes, indeed. The lawyer said this: "Trademark infringement applies not only to the use of the exact trademark but also to a use that is close enough to cause a regular consumer to be confused between the two." That seemed pretty definitive to me. And I definitely would not like to get into a wrestling match with a Big Publisher over two little words.

Long story short, I scrubbed the subtitle (as you can see on the revised book cover above) and spent a couple of days last week changing it in as many places as I could reach--in the file copies of the book/cover, on the Internet, in purchased advertising. Lots of extra work, but valuable lesson learned.

Oh, by the way: we're doing a quick giveaway of A Wilder Rose signed ARCs over at Goodreads. Go here to enter. Ends 8/7. If you miss this one, there'll be another. And another.

Reading note: "I did what I knew how to do. When I knew better, I did better." --Maya Angelou