How my novel, Delta Dawn, got its name (#IWSG)

If you’ve been hanging out here in my little cobweb-infested corner of the interwebs for very long, you know that I’m currently revising a domestic suspense novel called Delta Dawn. Inspired by this month’s IWSG discussion question, I’m going to tell you how it came to be called Delta Dawn and infest your brain with a wonderful early 1970s earworm.

But before we get to the brain infestation: This post is part of the Insecure Writers Support Group (IWSG) blog hop. On the first Wednesday of every month, we IWSG-ers share our doubts, fears, struggles, and triumphs. Our awesome co-hosts this month are Melissa Maygrove, Cathrina Constantine, Kate Larkinsdale, and Rebecca Douglass. Each month our fearless leader (Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh) gives us an optional question to answer. This month’s question is, If you have a playlist (or could put one together) that either gets you in the groove to write or fits with one of your books, what is it? What type of music or what songs?

Why my novel is called Delta Dawn

I don’t listen to music when I write, because I distract too easily, and I’ve never made a playlist for any of my stories, because I’d spend hours doing that instead of writing (did I mention I distract easily?). I did, however, name my current novel in progress after a song. This song:

How did that happen? Well… I knew I wanted to set the story near the California Delta, because I grew up near there and spent many weekends fishing and exploring sloughs and backwaters outside my home town. I joke that I’m from the part of California no one outside the state has ever heard of, so I thought it would be fun to set a story there–and the Delta is one of my happy places. Then I started playing around with character names. When I name a character, I usually Google popular names for the character’s birth year. Buried somewhere down the list was the name Dawn. In the story, my main character goes back to where she came from (reluctantly) and has something of a rebirth, so I thought Dawn would be a fitting name. So of course she became Delta Dawn, and since my novel is set in the past, that would be her childhood nickname.

It doesn’t hurt that I loved this song when I was a kid. My parents always had country music playing in the house, and while I could take or leave most of it, I fell in love with a few songs, including this one.

And now that I read the lyrics, they fit my story, at least a little bit.

I don’t have a lot of photos of the Delta, and still fewer good ones, but I’ll share this one, because it includes what appears to be a vintage houseboat, something that also makes an appearance in Delta Dawn.

Imagine the evil that could be lurking amid those tangled branches and dark, still water.

See my other posts about the California Delta for more info and pics. It’s such an interesting part of the state!

Dispatch from the Query Trenches

March was Rejection Month down here in the Query Trenches, but I found a few more agents to query, and I’m handling the rejections better than I used to. They say a thick skin is essential in this business, and I think I’m finally developing one.

Lowlights from March:

• Rejected queries: 10
• Queries closed after no response: 8
• Rejections on partials/fulls (the really painful ones): 2

So here’s where I stand now:

I have only one outstanding full request remaining, and I’m out of agents to query unless some that have been closed to queries open up. Which means, I have some decisions to make about this manuscript. My options are:

• Shelve it and focus on Delta Dawn
• Revise it based on the agent I mentioned in last month’s post who gave me some great feedback and offered to take another look if I rework it
• Query small presses
• Self-pubish

I’ll probably consider reworking it, maybe play around with some revisions to see if the agent’s feedback aligns with what I want the manuscript to be. If it does, I’ll do the work and send it to her, as well as query some small presses. I hesitate to self-publish for a couple of reasons:

1. The sheer amount of work involved in self-publishing, especially marketing, if I want the book to sell even a little bit.
2. My fear that if I self-publish and it sells poorly (as most self-published books do), that might hurt my chances of getting an agent with my next book.

What do you think, fellow authors? Advice and insights are welcome.

Birthday trip to Yosemite

For the first time, I spent my birthday weekend in Yosemite with Long-Suffering Husband. I think this may have to become an annual tradition! No crowds, great weather, full waterfalls… what more could one ask for?

Here are a few pics:

The memery

Me when I go on vacation:

Not Tolkein in particular, but always a book.

As long as I’m sharing Jonathan Edward Durham’s stuff, here’s another gem:

Old Fart pro tip: drink Mountain Dew on colonoscopy prep day. All the sugar and caffeine keeps me energized and not feeling hungry. Follow me for more health advice.¹

And finally, in keeping with the Old Fart theme:

Also walking from room to room, trying to remember why I’m in that room. Also also, looking for my reading glasses and/or sunglasses, when they are on my head.

That’s it for me this month. May the words come easy, the trails be uncrowded, your glasses be unlost, and if it’s colonoscopy prep day, I hope everything comes out OK 🙂

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1. My lawyer: Nooooooooo… do not do this.