Audio books - a new adventure

I recently added an audio book version of NOCK on Wood to my catalog. This was my first foray into this new medium. My narrator, Gary Regal, is an experienced audiobook producer, and he did a great job on NOCK. Now we are working on The Juno Letters - Book 1. What this really means is he is working, and I am pronouncing the French for him when he has a question. I have the easier job.

I used a dialog form I first saw in the novel Shogun where Japanese dialog was slowly worked into the novel as the main character learned how to speak the language. By the time you finished, you actually had a rudimentary command of basic Japanese. Very clever. I used something similar in Juno - a French phrase in dialog, followed by the English. I think it works great in print.

But maybe not so great in audio. I found some other things that needed a different approach as well. It helps to be working with someone like Gary who has been through this.

I am sure you will like the finished product. Audible.com (ACX) is an Amazon company, and they make it very easy to switch between e-book and audio. I hope you will take a look at their catalog and try it out.

L.W. Hewitt The Juno Letters

Twitter is now closed

I have had ongoing issues with my Twitter account being hacked. I just deactivated the account - I cannot afford to have people all over the world think I am the source of spyware, viruses, porn links, and other misleading messages.

Too bad. I have had a great deal of success driving visitors to my site at The Juno Letters. It has allowed me to connect with people worldwide that share similar interests.

I spent 30 years in technology, and much of that time designing secure Internet sites. I don't understand why this service is so vulnerable, but there you go ...

I will be exploring other social media options in the near future ... for now you can contact me directly at my regular email address - larryh@hewittmbm.com.

Thanks for listening ...

L.W. Hewitt

On falling in love

When I was a young man, I fell in love a lot. On six month cycles, it seemed. I enjoyed falling in love, no matter how many times it took. It was not until I reached about 30 - the time when boys finally begin to percolate enough to grow up and become men - that I fell in love for real. I have been married to my love for over 33 magical years.

Now I am falling in love all over again - with my characters. These people have become part of my family. I cry when I write sad things about them, or in their moments of catharsis and closure. I cannot read my own work aloud with choking up in the emotional parts.

I see them when I travel: Marianne, who I remember most in the bakery in Pont-Aven, but also feel her suffering at the gates of Natzweiler; the irascible Antoine, stuffing Marcel Gireau and his family into the lockers of his boat and bluffing his way past the harbor master; the red-haired beauty, Josette, who gave me the now famous gold-plated ring on the lovers’ lock bridge; the sad Gela who finally could tell her story and find peace.

There is little Nia, holding onto her cherished hair brush for dear life; and of course, my favorite, Ariéle - a vulnerable young child, a fierce young woman, and finally a wise matriarch of a very unusual family.

They represent the best in what I see in the world - strength, competence, and hope. I love writing about them.

This has to be the best job in the world.

L.W. Hewitt The Juno Letters

A New Year ... and new challenges

I have enjoyed the start of this year. We have foster boys - teenagers (5 of them, I think) - and their odd comings and goings give me a chance to write in some great places. I spent several hours working on The Black Sun while at the White Pass ski lodge - a little duality going on there, which is appropriate to the story. Monday I spent several hours riding the Seattle-Bremerton ferry Hyak - something I used to do when in college back when they had to use oars to move the ferries. It's not quite as easy, because they make you get off the boat at each end now - back in the 70s you could just plop down with a typewriter (yes, Virginia, an actual Smith-Corona) and work away all day. Take a hint, WSDOT.

My schedule is starting to get back to normal, however, and I curled up next to the woodstove in my Oly Club office yesterday for the first time in a while. I am about half-way through The Black Sun, looking for ways to make it darker, and thinking about my marketing strategy for this upcoming year.

I am determined to figure out Facebook. I get an email that says "You Have Notifications" - whatever happened to "You have Mail?". When I click - nothing. And since when was "Like" a verb? Mind you, I am not a tech-ignorant fob. I spent most of my adult life running a technology company, and did some great and cutting edge things. But I must admit I don't get social media.

I remember when being a twit was NOT a good thing. Bear with me ... .