02 Mar 2015
by janinedonoho
in A Change of View
Tags: Americano, authentic content, Camela Thompson, connectivity, daily page count, embrace the suck, Janine Donoho, Larry Ellison, maiden voyage, Oracle Team USA, Patricia Eddy, publicist, Release Day Book Bash, Shay West, shy woodland creature, social media, Soundings, There be dragons
We had a day this last week: Soundings Release Day Book Bash. Or as I dubbed it, ‘The Great Be-Staunch-Launch.’ Three other illustrious authors participated and offered great content. Camela Thompson’s character sketches, Patricia Eddy’s studmuffin, Shay West’s woo-hoo face amplified our event, while I tacked the stiff breezes on this, my maiden voyage. There be dragons, indeed. To revive, I downed a home-brewed double shot Americano afterward. Then I stared at the ceiling late into the night as caffeine kicked my lagging system into overdrive.
Overall? Four hours gone in a flurry of connectivity. Early into this, I committed to sharing authentic content, which took a lot of prep. Yet, I discovered fun and excellent companions—virtually, yes, but it feels more substantial than that.
Would I rather share an Americano face-to-face? Of course. Yet as my exemplary publicist Vanya urges me into the social seas, I realize we go to launch with the vessel we have. Thank you to all who participated. I’d pit this team against Ellison’s Oracle Team USA anytime.
Now I’m going to indulge in being the shy woodland creature I am and read for an hour—or two.
What works for you in social media? How do you engage and still keep your daily page count high?
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16 Feb 2015
by janinedonoho
in A Change of View
Tags: Away and Back, battered widower, character, cinematography, cliched sentimentality, Cygnus buccinator, Frankie, Hallmark, Janine Donoho, natural beauty, reader, sappiness, Sentimentality, Soundings, storyline, subtle message of hope, swan conservationist, True sentiment, trumpeter swans, viewer, Water Elemental, writer
Last night I finally watched Hallmark’s prerecorded Away and Back. Don’t judge me. I resisted for a time because I intensely dislike attempted emotional coercion and that’s been Hallmark’s modus operandi for too long.
Still, trumpeter swans… Then appealing characters and storyline charmed me into staying. Gone the silly and soapy scrum of recent Hallmark movies in celebration of the return to story and true sentiment. Okay, a few glitches, but more on that later.
Flawlessly cast adult protagonists delivered on story as battered widower Jack Peterson and truculent swan conservationist Ginny Newsom. Empathetic and gritty 10-year-old Frankie emerged as the fictional daughter I’ll never have. And saving Cygnus buccinator—balm to a conservation biologist’s heart.
The cinematography stunned me to tears with trumpeters silhouetted against the sun or harvest moon. Sweeping scapes of other natural beauty and even a subtle message of hope amid the human interactions lifted me. Mostly.
Now a lesson for all of us conduits of story. Hallmark engaged me until the last twenty minutes, when they imploded into the black hole of clichéd sentimentality. At that point, I forgave them—this time.
The earlier glow carried me through this misstep. They dished up the real deal 
for much of the movie and maybe next time around, they’ll persist with honest emotion and storytelling.
Until then? I’m reading and writing. Plus launching SOUNDINGS, WATER ELEMENTAL into the world—a novel brimming with story, impactful characters and yes, true sentiment. Or at least that was my intent.
How do you feel about sappiness and overt attempts to influence us? Where do you draw the line as viewer? As reader? As writer?
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08 Feb 2015
by janinedonoho
in A Change of View
Tags: Book Launch, Booktrope, Elemental, February 27 2015, Goodreads, invitation to exclusive event, Janine Donoho, paranormal romantic thriller, Soundings, Water Elemental
Consider yourself a natural phenomenon and Elemental to my writing. With my latest paranormal romantic thriller SOUNDINGS, WATER ELEMENTAL, scheduled to launch from Booktrope on February 27, 2015, I’d like to invite you into my worlds.
If you’d like to be an Elemental, please join my exclusive social marketing team. As a member, you’ll not only receive an e-copy of the book before it’s available to the public, but also gain special access to me and Team Janine via a private Facebook group. In return, all we ask is that if you like SOUNDINGS, you commit to FIVE things to help get the word out about SOUNDINGS:
- Leave a short review on Amazon no later than 03/10/2015,
- Share the release date and your feedback with everyone and anyone you may know,
- Provide ideas via our private Facebook page on how to reach a wider audience,
- Vote for SOUNDINGS on Goodreads Listopia or talk about it in one of your Goodreads groups and add it to your bookshelf.
- Go to janinedonoho.com and signup for my newsletter, which only shares noteworthy mentions about the state of the author and her latest opus along with chances to win truly fantabulous stuff. You’ll immediately receive my free short story collection Boundary Crossings.
Interested? Send an email to vanyad@booktrope.com by 02/11/2015 with your name, email address, and a brief description of why you want to join Team Janine. Those selected will be notified via email on 02/12/2015 and receive their advance reader copy of SOUNDINGS.
Thank you in advance for your interest and time! Your support is greatly appreciated.
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26 Jan 2015
by janinedonoho
in A Change of View
Tags: 1% writers, artisan, artist, Book manager, branding, cat box, corporate brands, creative, cult of personality, death star, endangered species, entrepreneur, Gladwell's 10000, high concept, Jane Austen, Janine Donoho, marketplace, networking, nudge nudge wink wink, pink slime, processing for consumption, producer, producerism, publicist, sine wave, social media, Soundings, The Atlantic, Water Elemental, Yo quiero taco bell
Oh, the rarefied air we artists breathe. Cogs in the greater wheel or isolated hermits toiling in a cave? We’re trying to figure that out even when everyone’s a “creative” and art has transformed once again into a craft populated by artisans.
With the upcoming launch of my latest novel Soundings, Water Elemental, the necessities of social media have inundated me. I’m ensnared by the current model for artists who’ve morphed into creators whose daily work and lifestyle require processing for consumption. Remember the pink slime of hamburger fame?
C’est moi. Yet since I feel privileged to have such an excellent team at Booktrope, this definitely counts as a whine. Thank goodness for book manager and publicist exemplar Vanya’s practical voice calming my wildly oscillating sine wave before it flips to completely erratic.
After reading a provocative article in The Atlantic, I realize what overwhelms me—and possibly you, dear reader—is the latest obligation to be a creative entrepreneur versus an artiste. And Gladwell’s 10,000 hours toward proficiency? Evidently networking, high concept, and branding trump that in today’s world. Yes, the cult of personality triumphs.
Yet do we allow despair to suck us into its vortex? Absolutely not—resistance may not prove futile. Still the idea that creatives exist solely as corporate brands? That’s cynicism at its dankest depths.
I know a few of the writerly 1% who’ve become brands, whose stories translate into tours of economically challenged towns featured fictitiously in nudge, nudge, wink, wink their “breakout novels.” I salute them and their successes. If one of my stories rescues a town or my preference, an endangered species, I’d go for it.
You see, those 1% writers I unabashedly love did their 10,000 hours,
absorbed craft, and now? Well, they’re professionals who support families, small towns, and the new corporate paradigm of “producerism.” The destructive force of a fully operational death star—er—marketplace has been brought to bear.
As our culture tracks Jane Austin’s “aha” moments, then equates them to “yo quiero taco bell”, I wonder which of my favorite writers would fail to publish today. Which undiscovered voices will be lost in the rush toward “producerism?”
Now I’m dragging my sorry artist’s butt to the kitchen for breakfast, then out to clean both cat box and pup yard. Today’s odyssey? The cupboard’s bare and I actually do live in a remote, yet plush “cave.” On, on.
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05 Jan 2015
by janinedonoho
in A Change of View
Tags: big girl panties, blue funk, British Columbia, coffee, Grit, Janine Donoho, Mantra, Pavlovian conditioning, Penticton, persistence, pesevere, practice, real deal, resolve, setbacks, Snow, soapstone stove, Soundings, stamina, Vancouver, Water Elemental, writing hound
Where the world drops away.
Grit—those pebbles that irritate tender folds of skin during extreme hikes. Wildly enough, grit’s also the resolve to persevere through setbacks. In other words, LIFE, or as I call it, “Putting on the big girl panties.”
I’ve a confession to make. After a spin cycle of agitated road trips, firefly visits with friends, and the blue funk that rolls in after launching Intrepid Guy on another cross-global deployment, I’m less than excited about spelunking into my writing today. There’s the primal thrill over my coming launch of Soundings, Water Elemental, but I’m still a bit—well—flat.
Sparkling wine days are over for the time being. Ceaseless snow amasses across the highlands. Intrepid Guy sits in a lovely pink hotel room in Penticton until the airport connecting him to Vancouver, British Columbia, clears for flights, and I need to shovel the entryways and figure out why our faithful soapstone stove refuses to burn—yes, low oxygen, but why? Later, after I do my daily work…
In that vein, I brew coffee, a gift from a best friend and writer, before facing the blank screen. Pavlovian conditioning comes through and words begin to flow. Yes, I’m that writing hound. For what is this chosen pursuit other than goals set and pursued? Relentlessly.
Today’s mantra? Be brave. Gain stamina and persistence through practice. Show grit. It’s the real deal.
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15 Dec 2014
by janinedonoho
in A Change of View
Tags: author, character sketches, colleges, computer, cool tech, craft, ear warmers, February 2015, future blogs, googolplex, GPS, hack attack, hacker, hacking, Intrepid Guy, Italian Greyhound, Janine Donoho, Monday Blogs, neck gaiter, oeuvres, plot devices, Process, pupsicle, Samsung, scenes, smart phone, Soundings, universities, writer's life, writing desk, YakTrax
No one who knows me would accuse me of being a computer hacker. While the scope of digital life offered by computer, GPS, and yes, the Samsung devices beloved of Intrepid Guy, offer benefits, I occasionally need to read manuals. Despite my ongoing lust for cool tech, a smart phone or tablet’s at least a year into my future, mostly given where we live and the coverage we don’t yet enjoy.
Yet living a writer’s life requires hacks, too. For what is hacking other than breaking a code and getting where you are most likely not invited? Allow me to share a few with you.
Life hack #1: Feeding the brain via two universities, three community colleges, and then working as a gasp! woman in male-dominated fields.
Why is any of this pertinent to a writer? You learn to finish what you start, often under less than stellar conditions.
Life hack #2: Winter version: Yaktrax, poles, neck gaiter, and ear warmers with the equivalent layering for the Italian greyhound. This gets us moving while preventing the dreaded pupsicle syndrome.
Yes, dear writers, we need to exercise our torpid bodies. Blood flow’s necessary to our hyperactive brains.
“Bleh, bleh, bleh. But what does it take to become an author?” you ask.
Life hacks #3-12: Write a bodacious novel—or a googolplex of stories—or whatever it takes to learn your craft. Here’s a glimpse of my current oeuvres. Plus there’s the forthcoming launch of Soundings, Water Elemental in February 2015.
It’s a circuitous trail into hacking a writer’s life. No shortcuts here. Luck is involved—along with learning craft, critical thinking, and long hours in the writing chair. Although another hack has been my standing desk…
So while the initial burst of creative juices might trigger that moment of ah-ha along with entire scenes, character sketches, and plot devices, as writers we hack our way to core story, into character, and through process.
And those, my friends, are the subjects of future blogs. I hope you’ll join me for them, too. Until then, I recommend a daily hack attack into your own writer’s life.
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24 Nov 2014
by janinedonoho
in A Change of View
Tags: happy writing, Italian Greyhound, Monday Blogs, Soundings, Water Elemental
Airborne Italian greyhound
Early each morning—and even earlier as our earth tilts away from the sun and carries us into winter—Nina Sophia stretches out of her fluffy sheepskin pelt and cloudsoft binkies to hop onto the human bed where she burrows between duvet and blanket.
That’s my cue. You see, I’ve reached that blissful state where children and a day job no longer compel me. Thus I begin the slow ascent toward my enduring habit of writing. Intriguing visuals and thoughts float through my consciousness until I’m too full of inspiration to stay abed.
View from my snow cave
That’s when I scoot the groaning Italian greyhound over to my warm indentations and bolster her with a pillow, furnishing her with that sense of pack she craves. Then it’s off to wash the sleep from my eyes and slip into my work attire. Today that means soft flannel bottoms with loopy bunnies that exclaim “I love you” in girly pink and cream. Yes, blushing as I admit this, but hey, they were a gift from Intrepid Guy. Over a cami I layer warm wovens. After all, this is the far northwest beyond which “there be dragons”—and Canadians, eh? Plus it’s snowing.
From a perpetual carafe replenished as necessary after my morning ritual, I heat a cup of dark roast mixed with a splash of soy. Off to my chosen place I go. Since I’ve been at this for decades, that space has been honed to my preferences. Thus I slip into fingerless gloves and spelunk into other worlds.
While many of my writer friends cultivate writing schedules that encompass Starbucks and other public spaces, solitude works best for me. I do enjoy the friction implicit in more lively settings, but not when it comes to getting the words down. For that I cultivate a more tranquil practice. And yes, whatever your artistic process, own it and bring consistency into your practice.
Now I’m back to my edit of SOUNDINGS, Water Elemental. Happy writing!
Red morning skies promise more uninterrupted time to write
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16 Nov 2014
by janinedonoho
in A Change of View
Tags: Bainbridge Athletic Club, elliptical machine, Gazzam Park, Iggy, Italian Greyhound, Janine Donoho, mango sorbet, Mt. Rainier, Okanogan Highlands, Okanogan National Forest, Puget Sound, pumpkin yogurt, rowing machine, Sawatdy Thai, soapstone fireplace, Soundings, Water Elemental
Mt. Rainier across the Sound
Over the Puget Sound and whitewater rivers—through coastal woods morphing into inland forests, we traveled home to the Okanogan Highlands—and temperatures in the teens. Brrr. Tears were shed as we left behind our temporary pack, lifelong friends and family.
Gazzam Park with Pack
Urban amenities I miss:
- pumpkin yogurt and Sawatdy Thai cuisine,
- the Bainbridge Athletic Club, and
- Gazzam Park’s needle strewn trails.
What I embrace instead:
- frozen mango sorbet,
- my elliptical and rowing machines, and
- Okanogan National Forest.
Okanogan Forest
Evidently both ambivalence and resilience describe me. Now I’m bending my mind around edits to SOUNDINGS, Water Elemental, along with other authorial tasks. Winter cave time approaches as flames crackle in the soapstone fireplace and Nina Sophia, Italian greyhound extraordinaire, stretches out on the rug with a sigh.
Iggy basking
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10 Nov 2014
by janinedonoho
in A Change of View
Tags: connections, CVN-74, dark chocolate, Doberman, family, fire flies, fireflies, friends, Italian Greyhound, Janine M. Donoho, kinship, luminescence, old acquiantance, pack, significant, Soundings, temporary, USS John C. Stennis
Fam & Pack
Celebrating the connections
We are fireflies—transiently bright lights in this world, then poof!—gone. If fortunate, we illuminate a tiny sphere of darkness along the way. When our luminescence briefly reflects upon others who are significant to us, we rejoice in those connections.
Doberman in sheep’s clothing
Increasing a pack of one Italian greyhound to a temporary pack of three.
Friends, dark chocolate & a movie :~>.
Thus, after a few weeks with geographically distant family, friends, and even a temporary pack, allow me to share another pictorial journey celebrating the joy of kinship. As cave time looms, including another phase of SOUNDINGS edits, I expect to revel in these treasured moments even as the here-and-now tick-tick-ticks along.
An old acquaintance: USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74)
Because you’re here with me now, you’re invited to join in this visual feast.
Carrier meets ferry
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11 Aug 2014
by janinedonoho
in A Change of View
Tags: Carlton Complex Fire, electron cloud, fiber optics, Janine M. Donoho, Malaysia, Nigeria, Soundings, supercell, thunderstorm, Water Elemental, Wildfire
You may find it astonishing that a person can go missing from the electron cloud that defines our world. Especially to those in such forward-thinking nations as Malaysia and Nigeria, where most commerce occurs on smart phones, this seems far-fetched.
However here in the United States of America, we enjoy spotty coverage at best. And when a monster wildfire like Carlson Complex melts the few fiber optics supplying this rural area, well, some of us disappear—or at least temporarily plummet from the vibrating electrons that generate the cloud.
Frankly, when measured against the loss of 300 homes, 250,000+ acres of living earth and incalculable numbers of dead and maimed critters, both wild and domestic, this proves an infinitesimal concern.
So allow me to direct you to a storyboard of summer in the Okanogan desert of Washington state. Let the photos serve as chronicle.
Now before the next supercell of thunderstorms rolls in, I’m off to finish my edit of SOUNDINGS, Water Elemental.
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Previous Older Entries
We had a day this last week: Soundings Release Day Book Bash. Or as I dubbed it, ‘The Great Be-Staunch-Launch.’ Three other illustrious authors participated and offered great content. Camela Thompson’s character sketches, Patricia Eddy’s studmuffin, Shay West’s woo-hoo face amplified our event, while I tacked the stiff breezes on this, my maiden voyage. There be dragons, indeed. To revive, I downed a home-brewed double shot Americano afterward. Then I stared at the ceiling late into the night as caffeine kicked my lagging system into overdrive.
Janine Donoho 