SinC/Hawaii Guest Speakers for March: Lourdes & Dave Venard

On Wednesday evening, March 16, 2016, Lourdes and Dave Venard will be the guest speakers for Sisters in Crime/Hawaii's monthly meeting held at The Makiki Community Library from 6-8pm.

Lourdes Venard

Dave Venard

 

The Business of Writing

and

The Writing Business

Lourdes Venard talks about the how to successfully navigate publishing in a market that's been in constant change over the past 10 years, and is still changing, and tactics that have worked for some authors in growing their readership.

Dave Venard, president of a tax and accounting business, will talk about the issues that specifically face writers and how to run your writing business like the business it is.

There will be a Question & Answer session following their talks.

Below is a SinC/Hawaii interview with Lourdes Venard from 2014 for those who missed it.

*****    *****    *****

 

Interview with editor Lourdes Venard

 

 

 

Our guest today is Lourdes Venard, a journalist with more than 29 years of reporting, editing, design, and project management experience. She has worked at major newspapers such as The Miami Herald, Chicago Tribune, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and Newsday. She currently operates her own freelance business, CommaSense Editing.

Lourdes edited the material for MYSTERY IN PARADISE 13 Tales of Suspense, an anthology of short stories set in Hawaii and written by local authors.

Sisters in Crime/ Hawai`i: Thank you for joining us today for an interview, Lourdes. Can you please offer a brief insight into something humorous, poignant, or unusual in your life that led you to a career as an editor? 

LOURDES VENARD: I don’t know that it was that unusual. I’ve been involved in journalism since high school and even then I had editing roles (I was editor in chief of the school paper my senior year). I was the kid who edited the valedictorian’s English essays; while she was brilliant, she still needed grammar help! Nevertheless, I started out my career as a reporter. After a few years, I realized I really enjoyed and was more suited to the editing, rather than to chasing people who didn’t want to be interviewed. I found I have a real passion for editing. Sometimes I think, ‘What am I doing? I spent half an hour arguing over a hyphen with a cover designer.’ But, really, that hyphen was important!

 

Sisters in Crime/ Hawai`i:  How did you become involved in the editing process of MYSTERY IN PARADISE? 

LOURDES VENARD: When I found out that a group of Hawai’i authors was compiling an anthology, I jumped at the chance to edit it. Hawai’i is a special place for my husband and I (we have a second home there). It is unlike any other place in the United States, and I was excited about the possibility of stories set there. Also, short stories seem to be making a renaissance. The short story lends itself to our fast-paced, time-crunched culture. But writing a good short story is just as hard as writing a full-length novel. The short stories in this anthology are truly unique, shaped by the Hawaiian culture, lore, and landscape. They are also quite diverse. That’s another thing I love about anthologies: Authors might write about the same subject, but their take is always so different! All of these aspects drew me to editing this anthology, and I was glad to have a small part in bringing MYSTERY IN PARADISE to readers.

 

Sisters in Crime/ Hawai`i:  What is your role as a judge for a scholarship program run by the American Copy Editors Society? 

LOURDES VENARD: I’ve been judging this contest for 10 years. It awards scholarships each year to three college students who show promise in copyediting. Many students gravitate to the more glamorous reporting end of journalism, but few have a love (or aptitude) for the behind-the-scenes end of it: fixing holes in stories, working with authors to make the stories more lively or readable, writing headlines and captions, designing pages, etc. Copyeditors are the last set of eyes on stories, so it’s an important job—and ACES wants to encourage that. Each year, we get a stack of applications and we carefully winnow through them and then the judges go back and forth to decide which students get the scholarships. It’s a lot of work, but we feel it’s important to the future of copyediting.

 

Sisters in Crime/ Hawai`i:  Can you tell us a bit about your current project(s)? 

LOURDES VENARD: I’m juggling a few things—OK, more than a few! I’m editing two manuscripts: one science fiction and one crime fiction, my two favorite genres. I’m also writing my own book. I work with many first-time authors and they always have questions that go beyond the editing (Should I self-publish? Look for an agent? How do I write a query? How do I format my manuscript? How do I market my book?). It’s quite a learning curve these days to publish a book, especially with so many options. So I’m writing my own ebook, which will hopefully answer some of those questions. In between all of that, I’m editor for a newsletter for 500-plus mystery authors, the Guppies, a subgroup of Sisters in Crime. The deadline for the next issue is coming up, so I’m editing articles, designing the newsletter, and soliciting articles for upcoming issues. Finally, I teach a copyediting course online through the University of California, San Diego, and I’m in the middle of the summer semester. 

Lourdes Venard can be found on the Internet at:

www.commasense.net

www.facebook.com/commasense

 

Author Interview with Children's Book Writer Gloria Andrada

Author Gloria Andrada

Today’s guest and member of Sisters in Crime/Hawai’i,  Gloria Andrada, is the author of the children’s picture book, Stanley’s Bummer Bus Ride. Thank you for taking time to visit, Gloria, and to give us a look at your new book. First, please tell us a little about yourself. 

 

GLORIA ANDRADA: Thank you. I was born and raised in a small town called Waipahu, on the island of O’ahu in Hawai’i. My parents were immigrants from the Philippines. My father was hired to work as a heavy equipment operator for the O’ahu Sugar Plantation. My world of haul cane trucks, sugar cane and plantation took a major turn at age 7 when I spotted a book called, ‘Alice in Wonderland’ in a bookstore in Honolulu.  

 

SISTERS IN CRIME/HAWAI’I: When did you decide to write a children’s book? 

GLORIA ANDRADA: It took a while to decide, because I wanted to write about my paranormal experiences and share the pictures. I won two Storytelling contests in Moiliili when Glen Grant was hosting those. In fact he asked to tell my story and show the pictures. I won, and one of the prizes was one of his Chicken Skin books. He autographed it and it inspired me to reach a goal like writing a book someday. 

What convinced me was a lady named Terri Madden, who’s a director, actress and owner of Play Builders. When I auditioned for a part in the play Wahiawa: Remembah Wen…,I used the Stanley story, but it was a rough form of the book. She told me it was a good story, what I needed was a good illustrator to bring it to life. That became a two-year journey for Stanley to be in book form. 

Stanley is the kid in all of us. He goes and spends a day with his friends and has an experience, and how he handles the situation without depending on a parent is amazing. I wanted a book that the kids in Hawaii could relate to, with words and places they knew, and where they could meet a real, live author who would encourage them to read, get out in Nature and have an adventure.

 

Stanley's Bummer Bus Ride
by
Gloria Andrada

SISTERS IN CRIME/HAWAI’I: Where did the name Stanley come from?

 

GLORIA ANDRADA: The name Stanley came from my favorite comic book writer, Stan Lee. He wrote about super heroes, like Spiderman. And he is in his 90’s now and is very active. 

The name Stanley in the Urban Dictionary describes him as a sweet, cute and funny guy. He takes care of his friends and is talented at whatever he does. He’s independent and a good friend to have. It’s good to look up your name and see if you’re living up to your name. 

 

SISTERS IN CRIME/HAWAI’I: What is the age range of readers for your published book? 

GLORIA ANDRADA: The age range of readers is 5-12 years old. It seems their parents enjoy the book as well and experience a deeper meaning to what is not written down but is felt. Gotta read the book. 

 

SISTERS IN CRIME/HAWAI’I: How are you marketing the book?

GLORIA ANDRADA: This is my first, self published book, and what I’m doing is reading in the schools and libraries and getting my name known. So far some the schools and libraries are carrying my book. Kids approach me and tell me I’m the author of Stanley. They have a conversation with me. I think I have a following. Adults approach me and ask it they could be in the next book. I hope I inspired some of the kids to become writers.

 

Thank you for sharing your interesting writing experiences with us, Gloria. We look forward to seeing your book in print. Best of success to you in a long and glorious career.

 

Please visit Gloria's website for more information about the author and her writing, and learn how to purchase her book, Stanley's Bummer Bus Ride, for all the children in your life!

 

http://gloriaandrada.com/