Emilie Loring

Emilie Baker Loring was born about 1864 in Massachusetts. She sometimes wrote under the pseudonym Josephine Story. According to Reader's Friend, Ms. Loring published 30 romance novels between 1922 and 1950, beginning with my favorite A Trail of Conflict. After her death in 1951, her two sons found a large amount of unfinished materials. Those materials were developed into 20 romantic novels, published between 1952 and 1972. Ms. Loring'’s publishing credits include two books as Josephine Story, a play as Emilie Loring and a handful of articles and short stories. The earliest date listed is 1914, when Ms. Loring was approximately 50 years old. The cover of a 1975 reprint of Bright Skies says over 34 million copies of Loring titles were in print at that time and touts Emilie Loring as America's Bestselling Author of Romance. She seems to have been forgotten by the larger romance community in recent years but to me Emilie Loring is a dear friend - one who died 25 years before my birth.

My grandma introduced me to Emilie Loring when I was nine years old. I read all the Emilie Loring novels in Grandma's collection over and over again while I was growing up. Those books were my refuge when things weren't going well at home. They gave me a glimpse of another life and put a smile on my face. Words and phrases sometimes remind me of characters in her books and I often forget Grandma is the only person I know who has actually read the same stories. Last year, Grandma gave me her collection of Loring novels and the books became some of my most treasured possessions. I'll share them with my daughters when they get older. In the meantime, I encourage all fans of romance to make Ms. Loring's acquaintance.

Adjusting Expectations to Hasten Publication

Part Two of Two (See 10/19/2005 Post for Part One)

Finish First

Last week we compared finding the right agent and/or publisher to finding a soul mate, and about the importance of doing the research before sending out the query.

Now we need to step back one more tile to one of the most important elements of submitting your work for publication when you’re trying to break in to the business:

Finish first.

Finish your entire manuscript first.

Even if you thoroughly outline, don’t write the first three chapters or fifty pages, polish them, send them out and expect to land a contract. Yes, it does happen. But it happens to writers who have a track record, or who know someone in the business to walk their piece in for a read. It rarely happens to an unpublished writer, unless the piece is so incredibly unique and perfectly written that those three chapters catch the readers’ hearts and souls from the slush pile.

Having said that, I must also point out that selling a non-fiction book on the strength of a proposal, outline and sample chapters is much more common. Still, you need a track record – articles, et al previously published, being well-known beyond your area of expertise, a history of speaking engagements, etc.

By finishing the manuscript, I mean finish it. Do not start sending queries out while you’re still in the edit. Because Murphy’s Law will kick in and someone will want the manuscript. And then you write back and say, “I’m still working on it. I’ll have it ready in two weeks/two months/six months.”

And, even if the editor or agent agrees to look at it, you’ve lost the sale.

Again, unless it is so unique and brilliant that it breaks new grounds in the industry.

I worked in publishing for several years. I got to read slush piles. I got to sit in on editors’ meetings and marketing meetings and learn the entire process of putting a book together. That has served me better as a writer than any class or lecture or anything I ever experienced. I’ve also worked as a paid reader for book manuscripts and scripts.

And if you don’t follow the protocols, you’re bumped from the queue.

Not out of any desire to scold you or slap you around. But when 300 queries and 57 manuscripts land on your desk per day, you put those presented with the greatest professionalism at the top of the list. An editor and agent does not have time to baby-sit a writer who’s offering something that isn’t ready. Your query may have hit the agent or editor’s desk on a day when that person was in conversation looking for a particular type of manuscript. Your query fits the bill. The agent/editor is excited – here’s a chance! Please, send it to me. I want to read it!

And you’re not ready.

That agent or editor still has a slot to fill. And it needs to be filled in a matter of days, not weeks. The catalogue for the next season has to go to the printer, and it can’t wait because a writer isn’t ready.

And even if the readers love it and the editor loves it – unless the editor can convince the marketing department it’s worthwhile, you won’t get a contract.

Meetings take time.

Editors have to walk in prepared with their materials in hand.

You’re not ready, although you sent a polished query that got the editor or agent excited.

You’ve lost your shot at a spot on that list.

And, now, the editor or agent is not going to trust that you can come through.

The editor or agent may still agree to read it. But it won’t get the type of priority that it would if it was ready to be sent by return mail – no matter how polite they are in the response, or how much they say, “Sure. Send it on when it’s ready.”

When it’s ready might be at a time when the editor or agent’s list for that season is full. Unless the person falls in love with it and it looks like it’s good enough to come out a year or two later, the editor or agent will pass. It’s about timing as much as anything else.

Also, if you promise something that isn’t ready, you’re locking yourself into a story without giving it room to evolve. You might think it’s a mystery and pitch it as such. Maybe it’s actually suspense or literary fiction. An editor might be looking for the book you promised and not the book into which it’s grown. And you can’t force a book to be something that it’s not. That hurts everyone – especially the work.

Something else that will get you tossed in the rejection pile is poor grammar, spelling, and a lack of proofreading. Do not count on spell check or grammar check. Re-read Strunk and White’s Elements of Style EVERY TIME you do a revision.

Once you’ve proofed your manuscript – send it or give it to a Trusted Reader to proof.

When I was a paid reader, our rule of thumb was: three errors or typos on a page and it’s an automatic rejection (again, unless it’s brilliant).

Simply being good is no longer enough in this business. You have to be polished, professional, respectful of the time and schedule crunches agents and editors are under, and you have to turn in as perfect a manuscript as you can. Yes, this is your creative baby. However, you are sending your creative child out into the world of business. If you don’t prepare the creative child with as much care to go out into the world as you would your human child, your creative child will return bloodied and bruised.

Finish First

(Next week: The Importance of Trusted Readers).


---by Devon Ellington

Top Children's Books Of Today

During the recent UK National Children's Book Week, a survey of the current top six books read by children was published and threw up some interesting information. It is generally accepted that children who learn through reading from an early age benefit greatly in more than just the Three R's. Through stories, children can learn about justice, empathy, love and so on. So what six books are most read by children of today?

It's a pleasing mixture of classic and contemporary, which surely has to be a good thing now that television and video games play such a large part in most children's lives these days.

Every child I know and nursery or school I've ever been in has owned a copy of The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. I owned one myself and remember it fondly as I learnt to associate numbers and days of the week.

I also fondly remember the fantastic worlds I discovered in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. Both these books had, and still do, hold a certain amount of influence over me when I recall the vivid emotions of excitement and adventure they portrayed. It was always so very easy to imagine oneself as the protagonists.

I only ever saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl on the television, but it was Dahl's other books that impacted more from a literary sense for me such as The BFG and James and the Giant Peach.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling ranked high, but missed my childhood by about twenty years and this I might regret were it not been for the fact I can enjoy the Harry Potter series as an adult.

The final book on the list was The Story of Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson, which is so modern it has only held appeal to my young daughter since it is aimed at girls aged nine to twelve.

There are other books I would have liked to have seen on the list, such as The Famous Five and The Secret Seven series by Enid Blyton. They were always firm favourites while I was growing up and I could never get enough of them.

Nevertheless it is great to see that our young people of today are still being entranced and entertained by the wonderful world of children's literature.

100 All-Time Novels?

Time Magazine critics, Lev Grossman and Richard Lacayo, recently released their list of 100 All-Time Novels. The critics created separate lists of their favorite English language novels published anywhere in the world since 1923, the year that Time Magazine began. When the two men exchanged lists, they discovered more than 80 of the selections matched so they decided to divide the remaining slots between them. Lacayo claims "Lists like this one have two purposes. One is to instruct. The other of course is to enrage. We're bracing ourselves for the e-mails that start out: 'You moron! You pathetic bourgeoise insect! How could you have left off...(insert title here).'" The list only covers the past 82 years which automatically leaves out some wonderful works such as Ulysses (published in 1922). People should take note this list was compiled by two men with similar tastes in reading material I, personally, don't know anybody who shares my opinion of 80+ books. The complete Time Magazine list can be found here.

What Turns a Good Writer into a Great Writer?

Have you ever read a book where you savored every word like a sip of fragrant wine? Has a plot ever pulled you into a story so completely, you felt like one of the characters? Has an author ever made you love and hate a character, all at the same time? Have you ever read a description so vivid, you could smell the pine trees or taste the red velvet cake?

Why can come authors invoke emotions so deep that the feeling lasts for days, while others barely provoke a yawn?

Why are the works of Mark Twain, Edith Wharton, Emily Bronte, Rudyard Kipling and many others still revered years after they were written, while other works disappear without a second thought?

The answer could be is that they all were either established poets or dabbled in poetry.

Webster’s English Dictionary defines a poem as: n. a piece of writing, in a particular rhythm, often with lines of a regular length which rhyme. [1] This simple definition encompasses infinite canons of work. But there is so much more to poetry.

[1] Webster’s Pocket English Dictionary, Revised Edition (USA 1992-2001), pg 412.

I began experimenting with poetry as a way to enhance my writing. We’ve all heard the tired clichés and cringe when we read a book wrought with adverbs. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll use an adverb in a minute if I find nothing else works, but I avoid them if possible. My goal was to rid my prose of tired phrases and add fresh images. I want to write with raw emotion and invoke that same emotion in my reader. I want the reader to smell the subtle scent of a sleepy infant’s breath, to feel the lumpy knots of my Aunt Millie’s aching varicose veins, and to hear the tortured screams of a victim pleading for her life. Any good writer knows that in order to involve the reader, all senses must be used.

The poetry “exercise” as I called it, started out with the goal of finding my literary voice. Like many writers, my first novel did not sell and now lies abandoned on a hard to reach shelf in my office. I never wanted to admit that my “first born” had very little of me – meaning my literary voice was not contained in the three hundred pages I toiled over for months. My first attempts at poetry were pitiful, to say the least, but my tenacity to improve my writing skills kept me going.

I found that my best poetry at that time came to me when I was angry, depressed, or feeling cheated or manipulated in one way or another. Very few of my first poems where happy or warm, because that is not how I felt when I put the pen to paper. I still struggle with “cheerful” poetry, and I consider this an area of opportunity for me.

Poetry can as simple as a five line limerick or an epic work of hundreds of verses as is contained in the Odyssey by Homer. It can be in rigid classical style like John Dryden or in free verse like Walt Whitman.

With a little introspection and time, you will find the poet in you.

Jane's Still "Got It"...

*Warning* This post is “slightly” slanted…

As a voracious lover of the classic writers, I submit that Jane Austen belongs at the top of the list. (At the risk of dating myself, I would even venture to say that Ms. Austen is the bomb.)

I’ve long been convinced that the World in General (in my humble opinion) is divided into two camps: those who embrace Jane Austen, and those who are determined to misunderstand her. There’s not much middle ground. People either “love” or “dismiss” the plain spinster from Hampshire, who, in a society of nearly exclusively male novelists, captivated readers everywhere with her brilliance. Her revelations of the idiosyncrasies of the upper middle class in Regency times have been hailed as comical, entertaining, and plain fun to read.

I am happy to report that nearly 200 years after her premature death, Ms. Austen still “has it” according to a poll conducted by the literary website Books.co.uk
In the poll, Books.co recently asked its patrons to name the “Greatest Hero in Literature.”

The winner? Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy from Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (commonly known as the “most frequently read” of her known novels).

As reported in the October 13th edition of The Scotsman:
“It is a truth now universally acknowledged that when 4,000 readers are asked to pick their favorite character, Austen’s aloof, affluent country gent will triumph over Harry Potter, Oliver Twist and Sherlock Holmes…"(JK Rowling's boy wizard, at number two, was the only figure from the 20th century in the top five.)
Oliver Twist was voted number three; Pip from Great Expectations number four and Romeo Montague, from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was number five.”

As for the illustrious Mr. Darcy, even before Colin Firth made the role swoon-worthy to 99% of the females who watched the 1995 Simon Langton-directed version of P&P, who could resist but admire the “wealthy, upper-class Darcy, who overcame his inflated personal pride to marry the spirited Lizzie Bennett, who came from a far less privileged family.”?
To me, Mr. Darcy is the ultimate “Prince Charming,” a knight in shining armor.

You have to hand it to Jane Austen, she was bloody brilliant. Pure and simple. Her grasp of life and its ironies was played out so grandly in her novels.
Granted, Jane Austen lived a LONG time ago. When she started writing seriously as a 20 year-old, it was 1795. Her first published novel, Sense and Sensibility, came out in 1811.

I have a theory about Jane; had she lived in modern day, as opposed to the Regency era, her stories would not be as perfect as they are. After all, her stories were written in the language of the time, and it’s all in the language. Isn’t it?
I have to wonder. It seems that to be a rousingly successful writer in today’s Adult Fiction world you have to have healthy doses of A) Sex B) Cursing C) something gross or sinister involving bloodshed and D) Edginess. (a.k.a latent Sexuality)

Not that there’s anything wrong with those things—I am merely demonstrating the differences between novels of today and novels in Austen’s time. Granted, Ms. Austen lived pre-Victorian age, so she alluded to sex in her books, but NEVER between her hero and heroine.
In that day and age, love between literary characters was intense, yet “noble and true”.

To demonstrate my point: putting it in today’s setting, would the love between Emma Woodhouse and Mr. Knightley in Austen's Emma be so pure and exhilarating (for the reader) if it was detailed how they constantly “did it” in her bedroom, in his bedroom, at the office, etc., and went into detailed depth about her relationship hang-ups and his occasional need for “space” from her clinginess and passive/aggressive personality?

Hmmm. Let me think…most likely NOT.

People just didn’t talk about those things back then. Not only that, but the wit and language Jane used in her day are so perfect, it would be a shame to even attempt to translate her words to the modern tongue. (I actually had a friend who lamented that they had an American translation of the Holy Bible, so why not Jane Austen’s works?)

To my friend’s point: yes, no one speaks that way anymore, except for maybe, well, nobody. And no one will speak that way again, sadly. And it was such a romantic and lyrical way of speaking, too. Were a writer to attempt Jane's manner of writing today, he/she would be laughed (possibly even snored) out of the Editor's office.
Understanding the archaic language of Yesterday can take effort. But it is indeed beautiful.

An example: When Mr. Darcy proclaims his love for Elizabeth Bennet, here is his poetic confession:

Mr. Darcy: “In vain I have struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”

…So if Jane were to write this same sentence today, it might sound something like this:

Mr. Darcy: Man, I’ve fought this, but I can’t help it. I dig you, Lizzie. I really dig you.”

Clearly there is no contest. Needless to say, I am VERY glad that Jane Austen lived when she did. Her prose is so perfect—it just wouldn’t be the same had she lived in the modern day.

So, Congratulations, “Auntie Jane”! You have proven once again that your timeless characters, flawed and human as they are, can outshine the ages with your wit, your humor, and your spot-on perspective of the Human Condition. Bravo! Well done.

Some Jane Austen Links:
Austen.com
The Republic of Pemberley
All Things Austen
Jane Austen Society of North America

Guildford Book Festival

Here in the UK, most literary eyes are currently on the 16th Guildford Book Festival, which kicked off on Sunday. This year sees the largest collection of literary minds and events than ever before in the organisation’s history. There is to be found, an amazing array of talented writers, chefs, journalists, comedians and personalities hosting events, talks and seminars over the course of the festival.

The festival covers all genres including non-fiction, biography, history, children’s writing, poetry, science, arts and even wellbeing. Among the best known names appearing this year are Clive James, Ian Rankin, Gerald Scarfe, Gloria Hunniford, Jane Wenham Jones, Michael Connelly, Simon Hoggart, Sue Townsend and Keith Floyd.

The festival runs to the 30th October. For more information and to view this years brochure, go to www.guildfordbookfestival.co.uk

Last week, John Grisham announced the 2005 National Book Award Finalists in an outdoor ceremony at Rowan Oak, William Faulkner's Mississippi home. Winners wil be announced at the 56th annual National Book Awards dinner and ceremony in New York City on November 16th. Congratulations to the five finalists in each category.


- Fiction: "The March" by E.L. Doctorow; "Veronica" by Mary Gaitskill; "Trance" by Christopher Sorrentino; "Holy Skirts" by Rene' Steinke; and "Europe Central" by William T. Vollmann


- Non-fiction: "Out of Eden: An Odyssey of Ecological Invasion" by Alan Burdick; "Jean Jacques Rousseau: Restless Genius" by Leo Damrosch; "The Year of Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion; "102 Minutes: The Untold Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers" by Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn; and "Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves" by Adam Hochschild


- Poetry: "Where Shall I Wander" by John Ashbery; "Star Dust: Poems" by Frank Bidart; "Habitat: New and Selected Poems, 1965-2005" by Brendan Galvin; "Migration: New and Selected Poems" by W.S. Merwin; and "The Moment's Equation" by Vern Rutsala


- Young People's Literature: "The Penderwicks" by Jeanne Birdsall; "Where I Want to Be" by Adele Griffin; "Inexcusable" by Chris Lynch; "Autobiography of My Dead Brother" by Walter Dean Myers; and "Each Little Bird That Sings" by Deborah Wiles

There's much to talk about in the Literary World today!

First of all, the winners of The Quill Awards were announced. It is no surprise Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J. K. Rowlings won both the Book of the Year and Children's Chapter Book / Middle Grade Reader. Any author who can make children read a book the size of War and Peace is a winner in my book!

Also another favorite, The Mermaid Chair by Sue Kidd Monk won the award for General Fiction.

One of my favorite books this year, Carry Me Home by Sandra Kring was nominated for a Quill Award, but didn't make the short list. Anyone who has read Earwig's story knows that Sandra is a winner. She's just finished her second book and there's always next year.

In other news, British playwright and campaigner Harold Pinter has won the 2005 Nobel Prize for literature. His career spanned fifty years! What writer wouldn't doesn't dream of a career like that. You can read all about it in this BBC article.

As for us here at The Scruffy Dog Revew, the submissions are rolling in. But we still don't have yours and there's still time.

Brenda
Managing Editor
The Scruffy Dog Review

The Scruffy Dog Review

Once again, we have wonderful news to share here at The Scuffy Dog Review. Silvio Sirias, author of Bernardo and the Virgin and one of the most celebrated authors in the Latino community has agreed to be interviewed by The Scruffy Dog Review. Right now, this interview is slated for the July 2006 issue, but you never know when it may get moved.

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Wonderful submissions are arriving by the hour but we still don't have yours. We'll keep submissions open for the January 2006 issue until early November so there is still time to send yours in. If you submitted work between 10/10/2005 and 10/11/2005 with the automated submission form, we ask that you re-submit with the new submission process outlined on the Submissions Page as we had a few glitches.

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The response to The Scruffy Dog Review has been incredible (based upon the press release, emails to thedog@thescruffydogreview.com and website hits) and it is only a matter of time before The Scruffy Dog Review becomes the eletronic literary magazine of choice.

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Thank you from The Editors at the Scruffy Dog Review.

The Scruffy Dog Review

Our hearts go out to the Earthquake victims in South Asia. There has been so much worldwide devastation over the past few months and we hope that aid and comfort reach those affected swiftly to save them from starvation, disease and exposure to the cold. May they find strength and peace as they overcome this horror to rebuild their lives.

Congratulations to John Banville on the Man Booker Prize for his novel The Sea. Although in interviews he says he was surprised, but he must have known there was magic in the words he wrote. Writers just know when they've "nailed it". What makes this victory even sweeter, in my opinion, is that The Sea is in part, autobiographical. The inspiration to us all is that the win only took thirty-five years and fourteen books.

I'm happy to say that a few published authors have expressed interest in contributing both fiction and articles to The Scruffy Dog Review, but you'll have to wait to see who. Stay tuned! When I asked why, they said they liked the concept of the magazine and wanted to be a part of it.

Since we are an international publication, I'd like to pose a question to the readers of The Scruffy Dog Review: Which authors would you like to see interviewed here?

You can send your answers to thedog@thescruffydogreview.com and we'll do our best to bring you, the reader, all that you request.

Submissions are rolling in but we still want yours! Check out the submissions guidelines on the website.

The Scruffy Dog Bookshelf is still under construction. If you'd like to recommend a book to our shelf, please send your recommendation to thedog@thescruffydogreview.com.

And of course there is still room on The Dog's Picks page for advertising. Rates are extremely reasonable right now, but will increase as the readership grows. To advertise at The Scruffy Dog Review for a writing or book related business, please contact us at thedog@thescruffydogreview.com.

There is still so much more to come so please stop back by . . . .

OPEN FOR BUSINESS . . .

The Scruffy Dog Review is NOW open for submissions and already the submissions are coming! No writer should miss the opportunity to have their work showcased alongside interviews with some of the most prolific writers today!

You can read our Press Release here.

The editors are already reviewing multiple submissions since we opened just this morning and the quality of work is phenominal.

Macela Landres, Editoral Consultant, works one on one with writers with strategic advice on how to launch and maintain a successful writing career will author an article on Platform Building in our January 2006 issue. No serious writer will want to miss this!

There is still advertising space available on The Dog's Picks Page. Email us at thedog@thescruffydogreview.com for details.

Brenda

Getting Closer . . . .

The Scruffy Dog Review is getting closer and closer to the launch date of 10/10/2005 and everthing is going along much smoother than expected.

The staff bios are almost complete and you can see them here. We've also opened our store for all the cool Scruffy Dog stuff.

We're also developing our Book Shelf. Stay tuned for that one.

You can advertise any writing-related business on The Dog's Pick Page. Right now the rates are very, very reasonable.

Stayed tuned for more . . . .

Forging Ahead

It's been very busy at the scruffy dog. First of all the dog can't do it all, so some wonderful and gifted writers stepped in to help and now we're fully staffed.

Devon Ellington, Associate Editor, is resurrecting the Literary Athlete series for the January issue.

Colin Galbraith, Associate Editor, recently sat down with Ian Rankin, the UK's #1 best-selling crime author and the interview will be featured in the January 2006 issue of The Scruffy Dog Review.

The Dog is certainly no webmaster so the "big guns" were called in to make recommendations on the website. It is still a pup but growing daily as more and more information is added.

Last note, The Scruffy Dog Review will begin accepting submissions on October 10, 2005 and we hope to see you there!

The Scruffy Dog