Don Lake Writer

Category: Blog

  • Getting it down on paper

    Getting the words down on paper is simply the first requirement for any writer.  Most, I’d guess, simply sit in front of their laptops (the new Underwood of yore) and pound away at the keys.  I tried for a long time, and just can’t get anything like reasonable work done that way.  My way is the old fashioned way.  I write every first draft on sheets of lined yellowed paper.  My first edit consists scratching out and adding in right there on the pad.  My second edit is the entry of the scribbles into my laptop.  And why does this work for me?  Because, I am a terrible manuscript editor.  When I read my own work I get too involved in the plot and the characters to catch all the grammatical errors and marginal sentence structures.  Painstakingly transcribing the written text helps me to find most, but not all, of my mistakes.  Is this the long way?  Maybe for most, but for me, it is the fastest way to the final product.

    The answer to the slow typed entering problem is to become a much better editor.  Recently that’s happened to me, that and getting an independent line editor to review each new book.  I’m not sure the results are any different, but now I spend much more time editing typed text than I used to.

  • Miscellaneous

    My favorite sport is baseball, but not the American League where the DH ruins the wonderful symmetry of the game. I root for the home town Padres, and always for the Cubs. Why the Cubs? Ernie Banks, perhaps the best role model a kid could ever have. “Let’s play two.”

    Ms. Gidget
    Ms. Gidget

    My favorite car is any convertible. There’s nothing like riding around in the open air to fix whatever ails you. Right now I’m my second Mustang – red of course – but way back in the 50’s, a Chevy was my ragtop ride.

    My pets are dogs. I’m on my fifth generation of Boston Terriers. Wonderful house dogs.

  • Baseball

    13 May 62
    13 May 62

    Baseball has been a lifelong passion for me. I played as a kid in Little League, in Babe Ruth League including on a team that won the State Championship, in high school, at all three of the high schools I attended. I played as a young man in college, as the publicity pose above shows, amateur, softball, fast pitch and slow pitch, company ball, rec league, including co-ed. When not playing I coached Little League and Bobby Sox. I played Senior League from rec leagues to traveling tournament teams, including one team that won a national championship. Along the way I played catcher, outfield, infield and pitcher. Whatever, wherever, just so I could play. And when I wasn’t on the field, I read about baseball. My baseball library includes almost 1000 volumes.

    Today I play in the La Mesa Senior Softball “B” league with a bunch of other guys and a few girls, the average age is 73, who just love to play the game. There are a lot of special rules to try and prevent any possible injury, and still others that accommodate those of us with artificial joints. Here in suburban San Diego we play three days a week, 52 weeks a year. Abner Doubleday has to be smiling in his grave.118 people89 don

  • Colored Covers

    Colored Covers

    idaho summer 2010 259For years, all of my book covers were laid out to the exact same format, if only because I liked it. The only difference was the background color. Each category boasts a different color, chosen by me for what may seem to some to be bizarre reasons. All the Senior Fiction book backgrounds are brown as in the heroes are older than dirt. All the Young Reader book backgrounds are green, as in the rookies are green. All the Teen Fiction book backgrounds are red, as in the heroines are hot. And, all the Coffee Table book backgrounds are blue, as in the material is true blue. So, what difference does the background cover make? None at all, really, except I can more easily tell what I’m looking for on my bookshelf.

    Lately I’ve been coerced into a more dynamic cover design.  I admit it does look a lot better, but i still like the old way.

  • HI – LO Books

    For someone who has read all his life, and loved it, the possibility of anyone not wanting to read is unthinkable.  Unfortunately, there are some of those.  Worse yet, some of those are still in high school, a place where they still could capture the love of reading … if somehow just the right book was available to them to light their fire.  HI –LO Books are written for just that purpose.

    HI – LO is a contraction for High School Subject Matter and Low Reading Level. My HI – LO books, listed under TEEN FICTION, are all targeted at a 4th – 5th grade reading level; easy enough to be read, but hard enough to be able to handle the subject matter.  The subject matter, on the other hand, is meant to be of interest to high school juniors and seniors.  For example, RoboDoc deals with teenage pregnancy, Sacajawea’s Ghost with manipulating others, and Kayla’s Box with the problems of interacting with people with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

    Every author strives to write what his readers like.  HI – LO authors add to that already difficult challenge the desire to get his reader to read again.