An author usually knows where his or her work is located and/or sold, and who controls the publishing rights.

But do your heirs know?

If “the bus of destiny” ran over you tomorrow, would the people responsible for your estate know who to call or where to find your works?

Would they even be able to access your unread email?

Authors must have an estate plan, but they also need A List Of All The Things: the names, contact information and passwords which will grant an executor access to the author’s works and also the relevant websites, blogs, and social media accounts. If that information isn’t available, it may take months for your estate to take control of your assets – assuming your heirs can even find them all.

The list should be created and kept in a very secure location – fireproof safes and safe deposit boxes are good choices - because it contains private, sensitive information.

The list should contain four sections:

1. Publishers and other important contacts. This list contains the names and contact information (at a minimum, telephone and/or email) of any or all of the following which are relevant to the author’s situation:  publishers (or printer/distributors) with rights to the author’s works, agents (literary and film, foreign and domestic), publicists, editors (independent and/or affiliated with a publisher), critique group partners and the contacts for any third-party websites where the author guest blogs on a regular basis.

The contact list should also include anyone and everyone with a business need to know if the author passes away. Notifying these individuals of your passing becomes much more difficult if your heirs don’t have a detailed list to follow. And remember: the list should also describe, if briefly, what each of these people does on your behalf.

2. Passwords and account information. In an author’s estate plan, this means more than bank accounts and PINs: your heirs will need access to all of your social media, websites, blogs, and every other account-based service you use as part of your writing life. That means everything from Facebook and Twitter to Amazon. Keep the information SECURE – but leave a note that tells your heirs where to find it when you’re gone.

3. Status and location of works. Who publishes your work in Argentina? Is your work for sale on Amazon Japan? You may know, but your family probably doesn’t. Make a list and keep it up to date.

4. Intellectual Property documentation. This includes everything from contracts and license agreements to copyright and trademark registrations. If you use photocopies here, make sure to include a note disclosing the location of the originals.

There may be other items you want to add – and the list can change to meet an author’s individual needs and situation. The important thing is having a thorough list. Your heirs – and your executor – will thank you for saving them lots of time and trouble.

Have questions about this or any other publishing legal issues? Please feel free to ask in the comments or tweet me @SusanSpann, using the #PubLaw hashtag!

Not a good position for a debut author, but there it is.

Over the last eighteen months, I’ve learned to embrace change, and even to enjoy it a little. Ironically, my reef aquarium has helped the process along.

On the reef, as in life, change is the only constant. But on the reef, change occurs on a day to day – and sometimes minute-to-minute basis.

Some changes, like the conversion from bare rock

to living reef

take years to accomplish.

Other changes occur more quickly. Sometimes on their own, and sometimes due to choices I have made. Case in point: last weekend’s loss … and gain … of a sun.

The yellow, fuzzy-looking coral front and center in the reef above is a sun coral spawned and raised right here on my reef.

It’s a distinct genetic individual, spawned from a parent coral I brought home from the reef store over two years ago. The coral is ten months old, and trained to be diurnal (in the wild, most sun corals exhibit nocturnal tendencies).

It’s also no longer mine.

Last weekend, the reef store owner showed me a lovely orange sun coral he had just received from Hawaii. Sustainably farmed Hawaiian sun corals are rare, and this one presented an opportunity  I didn’t want to miss.

On the other hand, I had no room in the reef to highlight such an important new specimen.

If I wanted it, choices – and changes – would have to be made.

I didn’t have an easy time deciding to give up my little tank-raised sun. If I kept it, I could assure it received the proper treatment and expensive foods it might not get in another person’s reef.

On the other hand, the Hawaiian sun could use a good home, too, and if my corals continue spawning at current rates, the suns will overwhelm my little tank.

It was time to embrace a change.

I packed up the little yellow sun and took it down to the store, where the owner traded it for the orange Hawaiian beauty. I haven’t yet persuaded the new sun coral to emerge in the light, but it’s eating well and the rest will come in time.

For now, I’m happy to have it — and happy that, in little ways at least, I am learning to live with change.

What do you use to help you embrace the changes in your life?

Erika Robuck self-published her first novel, RECEIVE ME FALLING. Her novel, HEMINGWAY’S GIRL (NAL/Penguin), was a Target Emerging Author Pick, a Vero Beach Bestseller, and has been sold in two foreign markets to date. Her latest novel, CALL ME ZELDA (NAL/Penguin), was just released, and begins in the years “after the party” for Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Erika writes about and reviews historical fiction at her blog, Muse, and is a contributor to fiction blog, Writer Unboxed. She is also a member of the Historical Novel Society and the Hemingway Society.

From New York to Paris, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald reigned as king and queen of the Jazz Age, seeming to float on champagne bubbles above the mundane cares of the world. But to those who truly knew them, the endless parties were only a distraction from their inner turmoil, and from a love that united them with a scorching intensity. When Zelda is committed to a Baltimore psychiatric clinic in 1932, vacillating between lucidity and madness in her struggle to forge an identity separate from her husband, the famous writer, she finds a sympathetic friend in her nurse, Anna Howard. Held captive by her own tragic past, Anna is increasingly drawn into the Fitzgeralds’ tumultuous relationship. As she becomes privy to Zelda’s most intimate confessions, written in a secret memoir meant only for her, Anna begins to wonder which Fitzgerald is the true genius. But in taking ever greater emotional risks to save Zelda, Anna may end up paying a far higher price than she intended….

I met Erika last year, around the release of HEMINGWAY’S GIRL, when I interviewed her for The Debutante Ball blog. She’s a wonderful person as well as an extremely talented author, and I’m delighted she’s joining us today for an interview about CALL ME ZELDA.

And so, with no further ado, on with the questions!

Where did you grow up? Will you share a favorite story from your childhood?

I grew up in Annapolis, Maryland, which is a great setting for the mingling of past and present. Rather than tell you a story, I’ll tell you my first memory of loving books and understanding their power.

My father worked for a freight forwarding company, and used to find little treasures in boxes all the time. One night he brought home an old book for me with the cover torn off. It was JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH, and it began my lifelong fascination with the power of stories to transport. I always felt that book wanted to come home to me, and I still get that way when searching for new reads in bookstores.

Your new novel, CALL ME ZELDA, focuses on the turbulent life of Zelda Fitzgerald and her relationship with Anna Howard, a fictitious nurse Zelda meets at a psychiatric clinic in 1932. What inspired you to tell Zelda’s story, and in particular to focus on the relationship between Zelda and her nurse?

Reading over and over again about a nurse living with Zelda on an outpatient basis, a nurse sedating Zelda on a train back to a psychiatric clinic, a nurse who accompanied Zelda during her travels to Alabama drew my attention to those on the periphery of the Fitzgeralds’ lives, and provided me with a reliable narrator to tell their story. I didn’t think a reader could trust Zelda or Scott to tell their own story, so I attacked the novel from the perspective of an observer with her own set of tragedies and triumphs. Scott’s short story “One Interne” further informed my character, because he wrote about a dark haired nurse who lived with Baltimore art students. Anna grew from these shadowy figures.

If you could go back in time and share one writing lesson with “new writer you” before starting your first manuscript … what would that be?

I would tell my young writer self not to fear or shy away from the emotional heart of the novel. Real truths revealed through fiction are sometimes difficult to unearth, but they make all the difference in how readers connect to the text. True writing is worth the trouble associated with the task.

During your research for CALL ME ZELDA, did you discover anything unexpected or surprising about the relationship between Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald?

I found it surprising that Zelda accused Scott of having an affair with Ernest Hemingway. I know why she thought they may have dallied with one another, though I do not believe it was true. It was a real tipping point in Zelda and Scott’s relationship.

Do you have a favorite author or book? If so, who (or what) is it, and why?

POSSESSION by A. S. Byatt is the most perfectly constructed, told, and presented novel I’ve ever read. It takes place in two time periods, holds multiple points of view, and two distinct poet voices, and every ounce of it is fiction written by one woman. It is a tour de force.

Japanese businesses traditionally hang a noren in the entrance during business hours. The presence of the noren indicates the shop is open for business. The lack of a noren in the doorway means the shop is closed.

During the medieval period, many noren were made from indigo-colored cloth. White characters on the noren announced the shop’s name and, sometimes, the type of business conducted.  Commercial houses often had a shop name ending in -ya (meaning “house of”), and the use of the name on the noren represented an early form of business advertising.

Modern Japanese businesses continue to use the noren, as the image above* demonstrates. The photograph shows a fabric shop in Nara, Japan, with a noren displayed at the entrance. Customers walk between the hanging panels to enter the shop.

Have you ever visited a business which displayed a noren, or seen one hanging in a doorway? Did you know the noren represented an early form of advertising, as well as a signal that the shop was open for business?

*(image credit: Amagase; image obtained through Wikipedia Commons, and licensed for re-publication under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license)

This summer, friend and fellow author Heather Webb, whose debut novel BECOMING JOSEPHINE will release in Winter 2014 from Plume, is hosting ASK #PUBLAW every Wednesday!

Ask #Publaw features authors’ questions (and answers) about anything and everything publishing and intellectual property related. This week’s feature answers the question “How do I register a trademark?” and you can find my answer over at Heather’s blog, BETWEEN THE SHEETS!

The regular summer series on estate planning for authors will resume next week, right here at Spann of Time!

While others live as collections of separate polyps joined at the bases.

Palythoas (like the coral pictured above) and zoanthid species are among the types that live as separate, conjoined polyps.

The colonies normally spread by forming new polyps around the outside edges of the existing colony mass. The colony gets larger and wider over time, until the polyps form a bushy-looking cluster like the brown and teal ones in the photo.

But not always.

Like many other coral species, a palythoa polyp is an individual animal, and capable of living apart from the colony. Once in a while, a polyp decides the colony has become too claustrophobic and “decides” to set off to found a brand-new colony of its own.

A couple of months ago, I noticed one of my palythoas seemed taller than the others. Six weeks later, I realized the coral had separated itself from the group and started a slow-motion march up the glass at the back of the tank.

In the two weeks since, the coral has moved about 1/4″ – a pace that makes a snail look like an Indy 500 winner. It’s also started putting out a bump at its base (visible below – look for the little bump on the right side of the coral’s base) that’s the start of a second polyp, though whether this means the coral has decided to found a new colony there (mere inches from the former one) remains to be seen.

It’s unusual to see a coral just “up and go” from its colony without any visible stimulus for the departure. Given that, I thought I’d share the unusual story of this rugged individualist of the reef.

Have you ever seen a coral leave its colony? Do you think I should leave this one where it is or move it to another rock (or another tank)? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

AMY SUE NATHAN lives and writes near Chicago where she hosts the popular blog, Women’s Fiction Writers. She has published articles in Huffington Post, Chicago Tribune and New York Times Online among many others.  Amy is the proud mom of a son and a daughter in college, and a willing servant to two rambunctious rescued dogs.

Evie and Nicole Glass share a last name. They also shared a husband.

When a tragic car accident ends the life of Richard Glass, it also upends the lives of Evie and Nicole, and their children. There’s no love lost between the widow and the ex. In fact, Evie sees a silver lining in all this heartache—the chance to rid herself of Nicole once and for all. But Evie wasn’t counting on her children’s bond with their baby half-brother, and she wasn’t counting on Nicole’s desperate need to hang on to the threads of family, no matter how frayed. Strapped for cash, Evie cautiously agrees to share living expenses—and her home—with Nicole and the baby. But when Evie suspects that Nicole is determined to rearrange more than her kitchen, Evie must decide who she can trust. More than that, she must ask: what makes a family?

I met Amy almost a year ago, when we both became members of THE DEBUTANTE BALL’s Class of 2013. I had the pleasure of reading an advance copy of THE GLASS WIVES, and am thrilled to host an interview with Amy on this exciting day before her release!

And so, with no further ado, on with the questions:

Where did you grow up? Will you share a favorite story from your childhood?

I grew up in Philadelphia, in a city neighborhood where I knew everyone on my street and many of the surrounding streets. If you picture one-way streets with tightly packed rowhouses, that’s it. I was a great place to grow up because we were outside playing with kids of all ages, sitting on the steps late at night in the summer waiting for the ice cream truck. I didn’t know anything else, and the fact that I’ve lived in suburbs for the last twenty-three years, is something I never would have expected. I think a favorite memory of mine isn’t really of my childhood, but of going back to visit, when at some point I realized everything was much smaller than I remembered—and I lived there until I was twenty-six!

I’ve always been a writer, but this time around I started writing because I realized I wasn’t doing anything creative at all. I actually went on a date and the man said he thought the voice in my emails was very well suited to blogging. I looking into blogging, and started doing that in 2006.

Don’t wait for the approval of anyone. Just write. Some people will never “get it” and you shouldn’t waste writing energy on anything but writing.

My ex-husband passed away about nine years ago, and although this isn’t his story, or mine, the events in my life served as the novel’s springboard. I took that event and then created another set of characters and scenarios to build a novel. I didn’t want to write about what happened in my life, I’d lived it. That was more than enough. But I did use my experiences to inform my writing and understand some of the choices and actions of others.

I know it sounds like a copout, but I don’t have a favorite book or a favorite author. I compartmentalize books and authors and love many, each for different reasons.

Definitely the conflict, since I avoid conflict whenever possible, but it must be part of fiction or readers have no reason to turn the page. While writing realistic fiction I had to learn the balance of blowing up a situation and still keeping it believable.  I really enjoy revising and editing my work, so that’s never a struggle for me to hunker down and get it done no matter how long it takes. When I’m writing I tend to walk away when I’m stuck, and when I do something else, or more likely when I can’t write down ideas (like in the shower or while driving) is when I have a break-through.

THE LIFE LIST by Lori Nelson Spielman, which will be published by Bantam on July 9th. I chose it because the premise grabbed me—it’s about a woman who must fulfill her childhood life list at age thirty-four or she won’t get her inheritance. And I chose it because I was lucky enough to get an early copy!

I’m not going to say too much, but I love a scene where Evie reprimands other people’s children. Who of us with kids hasn’t wanted to that a dozen times (or more)?

I have local readings scheduled in the Chicago area:

For more information and a full event list, visit Amy’s website.

Plotter or pantser?

Plantser?

Coffee, tea, or bourbon?

Coffee!

Socks or no socks?

Oh my God, I hate socks! How did you know! When I do wear them I have to wear them inside out.

Cats, dogs, or reptiles?  

Dogs!

For dinner: Italian, Mexican, Burgers or Thai?  

Thai

Thank you again, Amy, for joining me today! I really enjoyed THE GLASS WIVES and wish you a fantastic and successful launch tomorrow!

THE GLASS WIVES releases May 14 in hardcover, trade paperback, ebook and audio editions and can be found online, in bookstores, at Target, and just about everywhere else that books are sold!

For more information about Amy or THE GLASS WIVES, please visit Amy’s website, or look for her on Facebook and Twitter!

The office most commonly passed from father to son or from older to younger brother, but on occasion it passed in entirely different ways.

One of the strangest?

A lottery.

The fourth Ashikaga shogun, Yoshimochi, held the title of shogun from 1395–1423, at which time he retired in favor of his son, Ashikaga Yoshikazu. Unfortunately, Yoshikazu died only two years later.

After his son’s untimely death, 40 year-old Yoshimochi resumed the shogun’s office–but did not reclaim the title, serving as shogun in fact but not in name until his own death in 1428. During the five-day period between Yoshimochi’s death and his funeral, high-ranking government officials (members of the samurai class) debated who should succeed Yoshimochi as shogun.

Ultimately, the officials opted for a lottery, which was held at the  shrine in Kyoto. The winning candidate, Ashikaga Yoshinori, was a younger brother of Yoshimochi–and also a buddhist monk. As a sixth son, with no realistic chance of becoming shogun, Yoshinori had entered a monastery in 1404, at the age of ten. He remained there until his appointment as Shogun in 1428.

Not surprisingly, Zen Buddhism gained influence in Japan during Yoshinori’s term as shogun. Perhaps more surprisingly, Yoshinori proved a competent military leader, and also a capricious one. He was assassinated on his birthday in 1441.

Which brings us to a second, less dangerous form of Japanese lottery — a giveaway of my upcoming Shinobi Mystery, Claws of the Cat! My publisher, Minotaur Books, is holding a drawing through Goodreads and giving away 15 advance copies of Claws of the Cat. The drawing is open to residents of the US and Canada only (Sorry!). The entry window closes on May 10 – tomorrow! – so click over to Goodreads and enter today if you’d like a chance to win your copy early!

Although a general executor can handle the author’s entire estate, including literary issues, authors who name or arrange for a specific literary executor should be aware that literary executors (or trustees) manage only the author’s literary estate. This includes:

1. Copyrights and other intellectual property rights (including print and e-book, film, TV, and stage adaptations).

2. Managing publishing contracts and licenses in force at the time of the author’s death.

3. Derivative works licensing (mainly for sequels and/or formats not exploited during the author’s lifetime).

4. Collection of royalties.

5. Supervision and policing of the author’s literary estate, including litigation to stop infringement or illegal use of rights.

As you can see, this isn’t a “one-time” event – it’s an ongoing job – and most literary executors are paid an ongoing fee for performing the service. Although a family member may be willing to act as your literary executor “free of charge” (though usually only if he or she is also an heir to part or all of the copyrights), it’s important to note that family members often lack the business knowledge critical to the literary executor’s role.

A third-party, professional literary executor will charge an ongoing fee which may or may not be based on the royalties generated by the estate. At a minimum, an attorney performing this service will require an hourly fee for time spent managing the estate. In either case, the costs of hiring a literary executor for ongoing management should be weighed against the value of the author’s estate and the intricacies of its management.

For small estates, a family member may be the best option, with a literary attorney on hourly retainer for contract negotiation, review, and drafting when necessary. Larger estates, which require more constant management, may justify the expense of professional management.

In either case, it’s wise for the author to investigate the costs in advance and make the decision best-suited to profitable management of the author’s own literary estate.

Have questions about this or other estate planning questions? Feel free to ask in the comments – or tweet me @SusanSpann, using the #PubLaw hashtag!

The best shot of the month goes to Cyg & Ceti: a mid-water clip from their mating dance:

Elsewhere on the reef last month:

Lots of algae meant a need for additions to the clean-up crew. This time, that meant large turbo snails and also nassarius snails, which spend most of their time burrowed in the sand and emerge at feeding time to clean up the aquarium floor.

(They’re fully aquatic, but can survive for short periods out of the water. This one went into the reef as soon as I took this portrait.)

The new porcelain crabs, Face and Hugger, made a happy home in the anthelia coral, and this shot of Face with feeding fans extended was a no-brainer for “best photos of the month”:

And last, but certainly not least, Emperor Maximus Angryfish was up to his usual shenanigans–disapproving of everyone and everything that met his gaze: