Quote of the Month
Papa Elf
Well, silly as it sounds, a lot of people down south don't believe in Santa Claus.
Buddy
What?!? Who do they think puts all their toys under the tree?
Papa Elf
Well, there's a rumor floating around that the parents do it.
Buddy
That's ridiculous. I mean, parents couldn't do that all in one night. What about Santa's cookies? I suppose parents eat them, too?
Papa Elf
Yeah, I know. And every year, less and less people believe in Santa Claus. We have a real energy crisis on our hands. I mean, see how low the Clausometer is?
Long Overdue Holiday Catalogue
We published or assisted with six new books in 2022. Check out our collection of children's board books, regular children's books, memoir, fiction, and more. View the catalogue here or click on the image above.
NOTE - For these books to arrive by Christmas, orders must be placed -- at the latest -- by December 18th.
Writing Tip ✍️
The first chapters of your book are, obviously, the first chapters you'll write.
But they're also (most likely) the last chapters you'll finish editing.
One reason for this is that once you know where your book is headed, and you've memorized all the other scenes, you can plant little Easter eggs. Or have awesome eureka! editing moments.
For example, early in the movie Elf, Buddy misses his Etch A Sketch production quota.
But let's say the writers had Buddy assembling Tickle Me Elmos or Nintendo Wiis the first time around. Both elf assembly line products work (although Etch A Sketch is a little funnier).
Then the writers remember another scene later in the script. The one where Buddy is decorating Gimbels the night before "Santa" is supposed to arrive. A writer has this lightbulb moment.
What if, as part of Buddy's elaborate decorations, he draws the Mona Lisa... on an Etch A Sketch!
Now the writers can go back and change the Tickle Me Elmos/Nintendo Wiis to Etch A Sketches. Later, when Buddy is writing his sad farewell note, sure, he could use a typewriter. Or a pen and paper. Or Crayons.
But what's even better: Have Buddy write it out on an Etch A Sketch.
Landing these types of Easter eggs in a first draft is hard. But after you've reread, revised, rewritten your chapters, and especially if you're working with an editor, you can start making these connections, adding an extra richness to your story and delightful moments for the re-read.
Recording "Noteworthy" Life Stories
Have you ever wanted to:
Record your own stories (autobiography/memoir)
Record a family member's stories (parent/grandparent)
Or hop on a call with old friends/colleagues and record some "good ol days" stories
Well, we're here to help!
We're offering our "Noteworthy" service where you and your family, or you and some friends, or just yourself can hop on a Zoom call and record stories. All you have to do is show up. We'll play the role of interviewer, audio recorder, and note-taker.
We're charging $99 for the hour (includes a written transcript and audio recording afterward). Since people are together, we've set up time slots around the holidays (all in the evenings). You can book times right here or email for more information (either library@longoverduestories.com or chris@longoverduebooks.com).
We're flexible with this, too. If you have someone in your family (or group) taking notes, or you're fine recording the audio yourself but would still like our help organizing things, we can do that too. And that wouldn't cost the normal $99.
We're excited to share in your stories and create an awesome and unique gift experience for you and your loved ones!
"You feel like this is a cute, noteworthy photo. But I feel like this is a 30 lb baby who doesn't understand personal space."
- Crash, Team Dog
Keeping up with Long Overdue
Best place to keep up with all things Long Overdue (including our authors' events like the one above!) is a tie between our monthly newsletter and our Instagram page (shoutout to Annie Cerovich!). If you enjoy this newsletter and know someone who might enjoy it as well, let us know, we'll make sure to add them to our subscriber list. We also got back on Facebook recently, you can follow us here.
And check out our website - Long Overdue Books. Long Overdue Books is a community for creating books. It's a place for authors (and soon-to-be-authors), readers, editors, artists, and designers to come together and move their stories from ideas to finished books.
And yep, this is the last newsletter for 2022! We'll be back for a newsletter in January mapping out some of our goals and new initiatives for 2023. In the meantime, if you have any questions, ideas, stories to tell, you can reach Cal the Librarian at - library@longoverduestories.com
Have a great holiday and we'll see you "next year"!
