The Scruffy Dog Review Blog

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2007-05-09T16:59:00.000-07:00

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Living By Your Wits

2007-05-09T08:10:00.000-07:00

I’ve noticed something interesting and rather, in my opinion, hypocritical, in several on-line writer’s forums.

Many of the participants classify writers. Not just the age-old struggle between “literary” writers and “commercial” writers (which, fortunately, in this age of marketing-before-all-especially-before-writing seems to be winding down). But many of these writers consider the only “real” writers to be those who write fiction.

Today, as you go through your day, look around and see how much you read in passing: a newspaper, a billboard, a brochure, information on a website, watch a commercial in between programs. All of these bits were written by someone. Someone who is making a living doing this.

A writer who is walking the walk and making a living by his or her pen.

What’s interesting about the so-called writers who huff and puff and look down their pens at working writers is that most of them aren’t published. Oh, yes, they’re working on a novel, but, you see, there’s really no time, what with the husband or wife, and the children’s activities and all that. But, they’re thinking about the novel they’ll write someday; meanwhile, they’re going to get an agent for it and work on a marketing plan.

Of course, they don’t have to count on their writing in order to live. Either they have a 9-5 job they hate and plan to write “when they get around to it” or they’re living off a spouse’s full-time job.

A writer is someone who writes. Not someone who talks about doing it “when there’s time”, but someone who puts the butt down in the chair and gets it done.

The next phase of that life is to get paid for one’s work. When you have to pay the rent and bills by your pen, you learn quite quickly to get rid of the lack of time or the blocks, or whatever other excuses keep you from doing the work. You sit down and don’t get up until it’s done. You learn to compress the process to fit the deadline. You get the work in on time – and with quality – in order to get the check.

Arthur Miller once told me, “You’ll never be a writer until you have to rely on it for your income” and he was right. Once it’s life-or-death, all the obstacles evaporate – if you’re going to survive.

How many of you have the courage to survive by your pen? Because, in addition to talent and a strong work ethic, courage is the enormous component in the equation. Being a writer is genuinely “living by your wits.”

--Devon Ellington

Rankin To Mix It With Royalty

2007-05-08T10:14:00.000-07:00

Edinburgh-based crime writer, Ian Rankin, was last week appointed one of five new Deputy Lieutenants of Edinburgh.

The honour, announced by Lord Provost Lesley Hinds, means the Rebus author has the responsibility of deputising for Cllr. Hinds during Royal visits to the city when she is unable to attend.

Rankin was appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant during a ceremony along with four other high profile people who she felt had made a significant contribution to Edinburgh life. In the past such appointments only went to high-ranking members of the military.

Cllr. Hinds said: "This is a fantastic opportunity to recognise hard working contributors to Edinburgh's community, business and cultural assets. Reinvigorating an ancient tradition in this way makes the point that Edinburgh is a city that can build on its past while looking to the future. This is the face of the 21st century."

Deputy Lieutenants have been appointed in Edinburgh since the year 1569. There are currently 20 active Deputy Lieutenants, each expected to stay in office for 10 years or until they turn 75, which ever comes first.

Speaking of the honour, Rankin said; "When I opened the letter with the offer from the Lord Provost, I didn't even know we had Deputy Lieutenants.

"It’s a great honour to have been offered the role. I was a bit worried when I received a text message from a friend saying I would have to wear a cockade!

Asked if he would be comfortable in the presence of royalty, Rankin continued: "I have met Prince Charles before, as well as Princess Anne and Prince Phillip, but never the Queen. That will be excellent."

Glasgow Art Fair Hailed a Success

2007-05-01T04:37:00.000-07:00

The biggest commercial art event to hit Glasgow took place last week. The 12th annual Glasgow Art Fair opened its doors to the public on Thursday 19th April, showcasing more than 1000 artists from all over the world and smashing all previous sales records into the bargain.

Last year 16,000 visitors packed into a large white tent on George Square, and art lovers spent more than £1million - buying all kinds of art from small £50 works by new graduates to £30,000 pieces by some of the biggest names.

This year 18,000 buyers flocked to view new exhibitors alongside established artists over the four-day event, with the amount of art purchased smashing the £1.1m mark.

Among this year's highlights were a show by Glasgow gallery owner Victoria Cassidy, and the chance to buy work by internationally acclaimed artist David Mach. The celebrity art auction fetched over £4000 in aid of the Marie Curie Big Build Appeal to create a new hospice for the City.

Lord Provost Liz Cameron commented: "The Art Fair has been an essential part of Glasgow's thriving cultural life for more than a decade.

"Once more the Art Fair has brought a wide range of galleries to the city presenting a fantastic selection of contemporary art for sale to buyers of every budget.

"I'm delighted to be able to say it is the biggest of its kind in the UK outside London."

Related Links
www.glasgowartfair.com

Edinburgh Author’s are Top of the Books

2007-04-24T09:45:00.000-07:00

Mark Renton, John Rebus, Ruby Lennox, and Harry Potter; four totally different characters from the minds of four totally different authors, yet each have helped in their own way, to confirm the strength of Edinburgh as a top city on the UK's contemporary literary map.

Last week, Waterstone's announced that books by four of the city’s top authors have been voted amongst the best reads of the past 25 years after a poll of the chain’s 5000 stores.

Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by JK Rowling, Behind the Scenes at The Museum by Kate Atkinson and Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh, all made it into a top 100 poll of the chain's 5000 booksellers.

Rankin, put forward for the first book in his Inspector Rebus series, said: "I'm thrilled that Knots and Crosses appears on the list. It was written when I was a 25-year-old student and was never meant to be the beginning of a series. Little did I know it was the start of something big."

Edwin Morgan’s Birthday Party

2007-04-17T00:33:00.000-07:00

Due to a major computer error, I've been unable to write a proper post for this week. However, at the last minute I noticed this piece of news that is worthy of notice:

Friday 27 April, 3pm
Edwin Morgan’s Birthday Party and Launch of Beyond the Sun

All are welcome to join the National Poet of Scotland, Edwin Morgan, at the celebration of his birthday and launch of his latest book, Beyond the Sun.

Scotland’s favourite paintings – as discovered through an extensive reader’s poll with The Herald newspaper – are coupled with a corresponding poem penned by Edwin Morgan in this beautiful collection, Beyond the Sun.

Held at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum where five of the top ten paintings are installed, the launch will be a poignant combination of fine art and fine poetry.

Beyond the Sun includes introductory essays by Lesley Duncan, Poetry Editor of The Herald and Alan Riach, Professor of Scottish Literature at Glasgow University, plus an Afterword by Liz Lochhead, Glasgow’s Poet Laureate.

Details
Cost: Free
Location: Glasgow
Venue: Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

Bookworld Saved!

2007-04-10T23:32:00.000-07:00

Last month it was reported in The Dog Blog, that the famous bookstore chain, BookWorld, BW!, and Bargain Books was to close its doors. We are happy to announce that the firm was recently sold and the chain will survive for now at least.

The Scottish owners of the chain went into administration several weeks ago, and although some branches closed almost at the time, the buyout means that the remaining 160 jobs in Scotland and England are now safe.

The buyout happened when parent company David Flatman Ltd, sold its retail division to The Works, thereby, saving a total of 26 shops across the country.

A separate management buyout team has purchased the company's publishing arm, Lomond Books. Joint administrator, Tom MacLennan, said; “the sale is excellent news for staff, customers, suppliers and creditors. It will mean continuity of employment for 160 staff and a very positive future for the two businesses."

Derek Hine, chief executive of The Works, said; "Bookworld has long been renowned for the quality of its staff and we are pleased to welcome 155 colleagues into the business."

2007-04-09T17:05:00.001-07:00

The Spring 2007 Issue is now online!

A Taste of Not Writing

2007-04-04T06:44:00.000-07:00

As you all know, I am a huge advocate of writing every day. No excuses. Like a concert pianist going back to basics, or an athlete staying limber, I believe it’s vitally important to the difference between writing as a profession/vocation or a hobby.

That doesn’t mean one shouldn’t take a day off or a vacation where writing is not the primary focus or even any part of it. We all need downtime to recharge the creative batteries. Sometimes, you have to take a leave of absence from your Muse for awhile, so that when you get back together, you’re glad to see each other and you can dive back in. I plan trips, but I do not have a designated day off. I prefer a floating day – whenever I feel I need a day, provided I’ve stayed on top of deadlines/contracts – I take a day and do whatever I darned well please. Then, the next day, I’m raring to go back to the page.

I had a taste of the non-writing life in February and March—working on a full Broadway schedule, battling two illnesses, and the infamous flood in our town, where I lost my car, ten families lost everything, we were without power, hot water, and heat, and a small group of us worked hauling generators, running lines, etc., trying to get things going.

I’m not so dependent on the computer that I wouldn’t write without it. We’ve had many a power failure in this place, and I’ve written by candlelight. And I managed to keep on top of all the paid, contracted deadlines.

But I didn’t do any of my own, undeadlined work. I didn’t scan the job boards. I didn’t research markets and try to see if I had something that would fit or if I was inspired to write something to fit.

Most days, I couldn’t even read – be it from illness or exhaustion.

I’ll tell you something: I didn’t like it.

Beyond the dis-ease being ill gave me, I felt fractured, I felt dull, I felt out of sorts. The colors in the world seemed less vibrant. Not only did I feel less interesting as an individual, I felt less interested in the world.

Being a writer engages me in everything that goes on around me. Writing is like breathing to me, and, even though on many levels I’m a rather shy and reticent person, the writing encourages me to ask questions, explore, and learn about everything around me. I often joke that I’m interested in everything except math and anchovies, and even anchovies have a place in a Caesar salad.

I’ve had non-writers or “hobby writers” cluck on about how writers who write every day are dis-engaged from life – life is too full, too important, there’s too much to do (the old “no time” excuse again) to sit down and write anything.

I disagree. Not writing made me more dis-engaged than I ever was when writing. It made me feel like the world was passing me by and I was a spectator instead of a participant. Which is odd, because so often writers are characterized as being on the outside looking in, perpetual observers. When I write as I live (not necessarily what I live) – my life and the lives of my characters not only make more sense, there’s more color in the world in general. Instead of a palette of storm grays and dull beiges, there’s a vibrant rainbow of life.

--Devon Ellington

Glasgow's Lost Book Returned After 400-Year Absence

2007-04-03T10:08:00.000-07:00

Four hundred years ago, the Vita St Kentigern disappeared from its home in Glasgow Cathedral. Ever since then, investigators have come and gone, all of them as equally baffled as the last over its mysterious disappearance. The book, which tells the story of the city's patron saint, is the most historic in Glasgow’s long existence.

Last month, the velum-bound tome was handed back to the city in a ceremony at Glasgow Cathedral and is tipped by city experts to spark a mini tourist boom after it goes on display at the city’s Mitchell Library.

The life story of St Kentigern, or St Mungo as he is more commonly known, was commissioned way back in the year 1180. The completed book was then lodged in the cathedral where it remained for almost four centuries before it was stolen, by culprits unknown.

300 years ago, Archbishop Marsh of Dublin acquired a copy for his library, and it has been there ever since. Glasgow's Local History and Archaeology Working Group reawakened interest in the city's origins when it was formed two years go, and interest began to grow, and questions asked.

The pages of the historic manuscript were photographed using modern techniques, and the resulting images used to create four replica copies of the book, each containing a full translation of the medieval Latin script.

One copy will remain in Glasgow Cathedral, a second copy to the Glasgow Archdiocese, and a third to the Marsh Library in Dublin.

Borders Threat to Quit Scotland

2007-03-26T23:20:00.000-07:00

Bookshop giant Borders last week threatened to close all of its stores in Scotland and the UK.

The surprise announcement, which potentially threatens up to 2000 jobs across the country, could see the sale of one of the most important book chains who have bases in Edinburgh and Glasgow city centre.

The US-based company has had its flagship store at the former Royal Bank of Scotland site in Glasgow’s Buchanan Street since 1998, and the prospect of the store disappearing from the A-listed building will be a massive blow to Glasgow.

They also have a store in Fort Kinnaird on the outskirts of Edinburgh, as well as four other smaller stores around Scotland.

The threat to sell off the 71 chain of UK stores follows an announcement in February that Borders' overseas arm - 70% of which is concentrated in the UK - lost over a quarter of a million pounds in the last trading year, against a profit of £6million the previous year.

The company said it was considering the sale as part of a "strategic review" brought on by the "challenging retail environment".

The news also comes after HMV, which owns Waterstone's, issued its second profits warning since the start of the year and announced a rescue plan to try to boost flagging sales, which could see the closure of up to 30 Waterstone's outlets.

Bookworld, BArgain Books, and BW are also closing branches throughout Scotland, as reported here a couple of weeks ago, as the industry by the whole attempts to stave off competition from online book outlets.

Harry Potter Immortalised on Postage Stamps

2007-03-20T06:18:00.000-07:00

Scottish author JK Rowling has had her popular Hogwarts characters immortalised on postage stamps in France.

The collection of ten stamps featuring Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, were unveiled at La Fete du Timbre et de l'Ecrit 2007 (Festival of Stamps and Writing), which runs for the month of March in 118 cities and villages around France.

The release of the stamps comes during the build up to the next Harry Potter instalment, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which is due for release on July 21st. The stamps are the result of collaboration between Warner Bros. Consumer Products and La Poste, the French Postal.

"To be immortalized on a postal stamp ranks among the highest of honours," said Brad Globe, WB Consumer Products supremo.

The Harry stamp can be used for domestic priority mail, the Ron Weasley stamp for slow domestic mail, and the Hermione Granger stamp for international mail.

The Harry Potter images will also appear on other stationary material, such as Harry Potter writing paper, a correspondence kit and a stamp album.

The stamps will only be available for a limited time from participating post offices in France. They cost 6.18 Euros (£4.20).

Glasgow Art Fair Set to Break Records

2007-03-13T15:53:00.000-07:00

Glasgow will see its biggest ever Art Fair event to be held in the city this year. A record number of galleries have applied to showcase work, at what is now widely considered to be the most prestigious contemporary art fair outside London.

The event, which takes place from April 19th to 22nd, has already sold advance tickets via the Internet for the first time.

Forty-three galleries, including eleven from Glasgow, will be exhibiting work from over 1000 artists. Nine galleries will be showing for the first time in a specially erected tented village in George Square.

Last year a record 16,000 visitors attended the event, run by Glasgow City Council, to admire and purchase original pieces of art. More than 1200 pieces of art totalling £1.1million were sold.
Organisers say the increase in exhibitors last year was proof of the popularity of the event with galleries as well as buyers. Lord Provost Liz Cameron said: "The Glasgow Art Fair has been an essential part of Glasgow's thriving cultural life for more than a decade now."

Related Links
www.glasgowartfair.com

Pride and Prejudice Voted UK’s Top Read

2007-03-06T00:23:00.000-08:00

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, the classic Jane Austen novel, has been voted the nation’s favourite in a UK poll mark the recent World Book Day,

The Jane Austen novel was chosen by 20% of the 2000 people surveyed online, and it proved popular with almost every age group. The under-18’s voted it second to the Harry Potter series.

In second place came Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien with 17% of the vote, and in third, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte with 14%.

The Harry Potter novels came in overall fifth with under 12% of the total, while Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird totalled less than 10%. The Bible ranked sixth in the list, although it ranked fourth by both the 43-60 and over 60’s age groups. It was placed 19th by the under 18’s and came in two places above Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, considered by many to be of an anti-religious theme, which came in eighth with 6%.

Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights was voted seventh with 8.5 %, while His Dark Materials and George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four tied for eighth place.

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens completed the top ten list.
Other contemporary books that featured in the top 100 include Bridget Jones's Diary (68), Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children (69), Sebastian Faulks's Birdsong (17), and Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code (42). Celebrity biographies fail to register in the top 100.

Male voters picked The Lord of the Rings as their favourite book, with Pride and Prejudice at number six, while Jane Austen was placed as number one by women, who voted The Lord of the Rings fifth.

Sue Horner, of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority said: "All these books have a timeless quality, whenever they were written. It is likely that many of them are lasting favourites, first encountered at school."

Other People's Careers

2007-02-28T06:54:00.000-08:00

Because writing is such a solitary profession, and we’re all making it up as we go along, we seek others in our field. We feel less alone through the sharing of information. Deep down, we feel that everyone else has a special secret we don’t. If we learn the secret, if we learn how to unlock whatever it is that makes it work for them, everything will be all right.

The truth is that we can observe, learn, and brainstorm for everyone around us, but because we are individual, we still have to adapt it to something that works for us. We have to decide where we are willing to compromise with time, people, and subject matter. We have to decide WHY we’re doing what we do. We can’t have a career just like Writer X, because we aren’t Writer X. We are unique, even when we share similarities.

Learn as much as you can. Talk as much as you can. But figure out what is your special process, pattern, and desire for your career. Don’t write something because someone else sold something like it. Write it because it is the story you yearn to tell. Don’t set up a blog or a website like someone else’s because someone else did so. Do it because it’s something you want and need to do.

Decide how much of your writing time you are willing to sacrifice to marketing and networking. Just because someone else finds it useful to spend 85% of his time marketing and 15% of his time writing, it doesn’t mean you need to subscribe to the same ratio.

Remember, we’re all making this up as we go along: writers, editors, agents, publishers.

Sometimes, we just get lucky.

And what isn’t made from luck is crafted from dedication.

Devon Ellington

Edinburgh Bookshops Under Threat

2007-02-27T23:06:00.000-08:00

Edinburgh-based David Flatman Ltd, the firm behind the bookstore chains Bargain Books, Bookworld and bw has gone into administration. It blamed competition from the internet and supermarkets for its decision to shed over 40 jobs and place a threat over another 360.

A spokesman said that sustained competition had “made it increasingly difficult to maintain its large network of high street stores.”

The job losses meant eight of the firms existing fifty book stores closed immediately upon announcement, four at the end of February, with the threat of more if a suitable buyer cannot be found, although there has already been substantial interest from possible buyers.

The company, which still has its headquarters in Edinburgh, has a current turnover of around £30m. After its creation in 1977 the business made its name by selling established authors and titles at competitive prices.

But huge increases in online book sales from sites like Amazon, has put pressure on the Bargain Books and it’s sister stores. Amazon remains dominant with around 75% of the UK online book sales market.

Joint administrator Tom MacLennan said: "Bookworld, Bargain Books and bw are long-established brands in the UK book retailing sector. The business has almost single-handedly developed the market for high street discount book selling."

Whilst competition from the internet and supermarkets has triggered the administration, a turnover of £30m clearly indicates that there is strong demand for discount stores on the high street.

The stores up for immediate closure include Dumfries, Greenock, Stirling, Inverness, Edinburgh Princes Mall, Harrow, Tunbridge Wells and Romford.

Those being closed at the end of February are in Glasgow, Bristol, Perth and Manchester.

The news comes hot on the heels of Waterstone's owner, HMV, announcing it has been struggling to fend off competition from the internet and superstores.

Related Links
www.bbwbooks.co.uk

Leith FM Attempts to Nab Pirate Ship

2007-02-20T23:17:00.000-08:00

Community radio station, Leith FM, is to make an audacious attempt to bring the home of pirate radio to the town’s docklands area. Radio Caroline, which once upon a time broadcast from the ship, Ross Revenge, and which launched the careers of such household names as Tony Blackburn and Johnnie Walker, could soon be moved from its current home in the Thames, to Leith Docks.

The cost of such a project is said to be around £50,000, but if successful, it is said would not only provide the local station with magnificent new broadcasting studios, but also deliver a tourism boost for Leith as it would be moored close to the Royal Yacht Britannia, already a major tourist destination.

The chairman of Leith FM, Stewart Lochhead, said; "If we were to get the Radio Caroline boat, not only would it do Leith FM good, but it would give the area a bit more of a bohemian edge, bringing a different kind of tourist to the area.

"I remember the days of Radio Caroline in the 60s and this would be a great move for the station," he continued. "Our current offices are a touch cramped and to broadcast from the Radio Caroline ship would be something very special.”

Raising the funding for such a project could be difficult, however. Leith FM was only recently awarded a five-year broadcast licence and is not expected to be on air full-time until May 2007 when the annual Leith Festival begins.

Ross Revenge, which is currently lying unused on the Thames, would have to be towed north. It is maintained and owned by the Radio Caroline Support Group, who in the past have stated their intention to move the boat to a permanent quayside location in the UK.

Radio Caroline still broadcasts online and digitally from on-land studios in Maidstone, Kent. Proprietor, Peter Moore, said; “The ideal solution would be to keep the boat in the south of England, but if a good enough offer came along we would have to listen.

"It's an expensive business moving such a vessel all the way to Edinburgh, and I've not been approached by anyone from Leith FM about this as of yet."

Relevant Links
www.radiocaroline.co.uk
www.leithfm.co.uk

Edinburgh Festival Loses Another Director

2007-02-13T02:54:00.000-08:00

The director of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the most successful arts festival in the world, is to leave the post to work in direct competition with his current employers.

Paul Gudgin, a director since 1999, is to step down and will work on developing a festival in South Korea, and possibly with others in Australia, Canada and elsewhere in the UK. He is the latest in a line of high profile directors to leave one of the city's famous festivals.

Sir Brian McMaster, the artistic director of the main Edinburgh International Festival, recently left after 15 seasons, and over at the International Film Festival, Hannah McGill was also installed recently as a new director.

Mr Gudgin who was a key figure in warning that the "thundering hooves" of other festivals, fears of which are now enshrined in an official report, will soon be rivals to the annual event.

Published last year, the Thundering Hooves report, backed by all the city's festivals, warned that the millions of pounds they attract to Scotland's economy were at risk from new arts festivals in Britain and abroad.

However, the annual festival of comedy, theatre, music and drama, had the most successful festival in its 60-year history under Gudgin, selling 1.5 million tickets in 2006, the fourth year in a row it has passed the million-ticket mark.

Mr Gudgin will remain with the Fringe until the launch of the 2007 programme on June 7. It is anticipated that the post of director of the Fringe will be advertised in the next few weeks.

A Book to get Excited About!

2007-02-09T10:45:00.000-08:00

FINN, a Novel by Jon Cinch

Not since Harry Potter have I been so excited about a new book release. But, the buzz on the publishing streets says this one is going to be big - very big. Available on February 20th from Random House and Recorded Books.

About the book (from Amazon.com):

In this masterful debut by a major new voice in fiction, Jon Clinch takes us on a journey into the history and heart of one of American literature’s most brutal and mysterious figures: Huckleberry Finn’s father. The result is a deeply original tour de force that springs from Twain’s classic novel but takes on a fully realized life of its own.

Finn sets a tragic figure loose in a landscape at once familiar and mythic. It begins and ends with a lifeless body–flayed and stripped of all identifying marks–drifting down the Mississippi. The circumstances of the murder, and the secret of the victim’s identity, shape Finn’s story as they will shape his life and his death.

Along the way Clinch introduces a cast of unforgettable characters: Finn’s terrifying father, known only as the Judge; his sickly, sycophantic brother, Will; blind Bliss, a secretive moonshiner; the strong and quick-witted Mary, a stolen slave who becomes Finn’s mistress; and of course young Huck himself. In daring to re-create Huck for a new generation, Clinch gives us a living boy in all his human complexity–not an icon, not a myth, but a real child facing vast possibilities in a world alternately dangerous and bright.

Finn is a novel about race; about paternity in its many guises; about the shame of a nation recapitulated by the shame of one absolutely unforgettable family. Above all, Finn reaches back into the darkest waters of America’s past to fashion something compelling, fearless, and new.

Mr. Cinch has created this very unique Official FINN Website which is utterly brilliant.

But it certainly takes more than some flashy website to attract readers. And since I wasn't privy to an advance copy, I'll take to take everyone elses word for it. Here's what the industry players are saying:

"A memorable debut, likely to make waves...A few incidents duplicate those in Twain, but the novels could not be more different; instead of Huck's unlettered child's voice, we have an omniscient narrative, grave, erudite, and rich in the secretions of adult knowledge; terse dialogue acts as an effective counterpoint. All along, Clinch's intent is to probe the nature of evil."-- Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Clinch lyrically renders the Mississippi River's ceaseless flow, while revealing Finn's brutal contradictions, his violence, arrogance and self-reproach. If Clinch's debut falls short of Twain's achievement, it does further Twain's fiction." --Publishers Weekly starred review

FINN is a Booksense Pick for March.

FINN has garnered praise from other wonderful authors like Sara Gruen, Robert Hicks and Mary Gaitskill. And you gotta take Bookslut seriously!

What else could you ask for? I expect to see everyone at their local bookstore this month, picking up their copy of this much anticipated novel.

Stevenson Classic to Inspire Scots Youngsters

2007-02-06T04:40:00.000-08:00

THOUSANDS OF FREE COPIES of a classic Robert Louis Stevenson novel were handed out across Edinburgh last week.

Around 25,000 copies of Kidnapped, first published in 1886 and set in 1751 during one of Scotland’s most turbulent periods, were distributed to libraries, schools, cafes and community centres in a scheme to get more Scottish people reading.

The tale of teenager Davie Balfour's adventures was chosen for the ‘One Book - One Edinburgh’ campaign because of its appeal to children and adults, as well as its strong ties with Edinburgh. It is the biggest literary project organised in the city since it became the world's first Unesco City of Literature in 2004.

Organisers hope the books, which are being left in public places to read and pass on, and monitored on the internet, will boost the city's literary heritage profile. The project has been backed by best-selling crime writer Ian Rankin and First Minister Jack McConnell.

Mr McConnell said: "It is our aspiration to enable all children to develop their capacities as successful learners, but we also want children to enjoy the pleasure of reading for fun too.

"I am confident that One Book - One Edinburgh will encourage more local youngsters to be interested in books and other publications."

Edinburgh's Lord Provost Lesley Hinds said: "It is wonderful that one book can bring the city together to read."

The £70,000 project has been funded by the Scottish Arts Council, the National Lottery, Edinburgh Council and other private sponsors. The campaign is a flagship project for the Edinburgh Unesco City of Literature Trust.

How to Support Your "Favorite" Writer

2007-01-31T07:20:00.000-08:00

This post was inspired by a chapter in Terry Brooks’s wonderful book on writing, Sometimes the Magic Works.

”Sometimes, when you are a professional writer, when you have successfully published and no longer have to worry about breaking down doors, you still have to make the occasional hard choice, and one of the hardest is choosing between writing what compels you and writing what makes money.” (p.169)

Buy the books. If you can afford it, buy them as soon as they come out. Also, when you “discover” or are turned on to a new writer by someone else, buy as much of the backlist as possible. These sales impact whether or not a writer gets another contract, and whether or not you’ll get to read another book.

Talk/write about the books you like. If a book truly excites you, start a buzz about it on the internet.

If an author whose work you like makes an appearance near you, make the time to attend the event. We never “have” the time to do anything any more. That’s how we’re kept in line – make ‘em fight to stay alive and barely get through the day and they won’t have any energy left to make the world a better place.

You have to wrestle the time from something else.

The writer cared enough to write the book. Shouldn’t you care enough to respond? Especially if you go around saying you’re a fan?

Allow your favorite writer to try something new. Read it with an open mind. If you like it, be vocal about it. If you don’t, at least don’t punish the writer for experimentation. Not every book is going to work. A writer needs the room to expand, grow, and try new things, even if they don’t work.

There’s a difference between being a fan of a writer, which means you support the entire body of work, and being a fan of one particular storyline. Make sure you know the difference, own it and take responsibility for it.

If you were told you could only watch football and NEVER watch another sport again, how would you feel? Or that you could only wear green shoes, and never another color? Or only ever eat in the same restaurant and never try anything new?

Why shouldn’t a writer stretch creative wings? If you are a genuine fan, you’ll go along with it – even when it doesn’t work. Now, if the writer decides to go down a road book after book that appalls you, you have no obligation to go along. But at least give the writer a chance.

Demanding repetition isn’t being a fan. It’s being a prison guard. Is that the mark you want to leave on the world?

Scottish Author Second Only To Oprah

2007-01-30T03:23:00.000-08:00

Scottish author, JK Rowling, came second in a survey to establish the The 20 Richest Women in Entertainment. According to Forbes Magazine, Rowling is now worth £507m ($1bn), second only to Oprah Winfrey with an estimated fortune of £700m ($1.5bn).

Edinburgh-based Rowling, who wrote the first Harry Potter book with the aid of a Scottish Arts Council grant in a Leith cafe, now rakes in millions of dollars in royalties, and millions more in merchandising from the incredibly successful film adaptations of her books.

Lea Goldman, an editor with Forbes, said: "These days just about any lip-smacking starlet can land a cable reality show or become You Tube's flavour of the week. But fame's 15 fleeting minutes can elapse quicker than it takes to refresh a web page.

"Only a bona fide superstar can parlay a moment's stardom into a long and lucrative career. And even that's not enough to land a coveted spot on our first listing of the 20 Richest Women in Entertainment. For that, you'd need a minimum net worth of £23m ($45m)."

To compile the list, Forbes scoured all corners of the entertainment industry, from television, film, music, and publishing. Only those female celebrities who over time and have amassed the greatest fortunes were considered. It ruled out non-working celebrities who live off royalties, as well as "old Hollywood" types such as Elizabeth Taylor.

Sometimes, You Just Can't Help

2007-01-24T07:29:00.000-08:00

Writers, especially working writers, are among the most generous bunch of beings on the planet. They’re constantly putting down their own work to help someone else – with a critique, to help finding a better word or a new source.

But some of these wanna-bes who float in and out of the forums, bulletin boards, and discussion groups are thoroughly toxic, and a writer needs to learn to detach from these parasites before they suck the life out of you like vampires.

We all start knowing very little. We all need mentors. We all need to ask questions.

However, if nothing replaces doing the actual work.

If you want to be a writer, you have to sit your butt down in the chair and write. You have to research markets ON YOUR OWN, read the submission guidelines, and figure out what’s the best match.

Sure, another writer can guide you on a query letter and give feedback – but don’t expect another writer to do the work FOR you unless you’re paying said writer to ghost.

A working writer is under no obligation to walk a stranger into his editor or publisher, simply because the writer’s working and you’re starting out. You have to earn the respect and admiration that makes the writer OFFER to recommend you. You have to care enough to read the newbie mags, scour Writer’s Market, and learn basic grammar, spelling, and sentence structure. That is YOUR job. And, it’s in addition to crafting a piece so intelligent, creative, and lively that it pulls ahead of the pack.

Writers, when faced with such a lazy newbie, answer the first question kindly and point the person towards a source of information. Then, if the nagging persists and no learning curve is demonstrated, walk away. The wanna-be is never going to be satisfied, no matter how much you do for the person, and will suck you dry.

Save your energy for your own work and for emerging writers who EARN your respect.

International Author Discovers Brother

2007-01-23T10:15:00.000-08:00

International author, Ian McEwan, had the surprise of his life last week, when he discovered he had a brother he never knew existed.

Dave Sharp, an Oxford brick-layer, had been spending his spare time tracing his family history when he made the startling discovery. Adopted when he was younger, he found out he had been given away by his mother, Rose McEwan nee Wort.

Given Away

Rose became pregnant after a wartime affair with, David McEwan, but wanted to give the child away before her partner returned from overseas. Rose put an advertisement in the local paper and her baby was handed over to Rose and Percy Sharp at Reading railway station in Berkshire.
Unfortunately Rose's partner was killed in action, so she married David McEwan, who then went on to father Ian six years after Mr Sharp was born. Ironically both men grew up without knowing of the other's existence, and for 20 years the two men lived just 15 miles from one another.

Mr Sharp, now 64, went on to work in the building industry in south-east corner England.

Mr McEwan, 58, attended a private school, then a university and later achieved international acclaim for novels such as Atonement, The Cement Garden and Enduring Love. He was also awarded the CBE.

Reunited

With the help of the Salvation Army's Family Tracing Service, Mr Sharp first traced Mrs McEwan's children with her first husband. This then led him to be able to track down his brother Ian. Mrs McEwan died in 2003.

Of their first meeting, Mr Sharp recalls that he had "no idea" of his brother's fame until autograph hunters interrupted them in the pub.

He said: "I had never heard of him. Of course, I've read all of his books now, but whether he's a road-sweeper or an author is immaterial. He's just my brother to me."

Mr Sharp has now turned author himself, and is writing a book, Complete Surrender, about his experiences, aided by ghost-writer John Parker.

What Makes A Good Short Story?

2007-01-19T07:45:00.000-08:00

Well, certainly, I’m no expert as I too have yet to crack Glimmertrain (but I will dang it!), but after a year of reading short stories submitted to The Scruffy Dog Review, I’m getting to see a familiar formula in the accepted work.

With a short story, even one as long as three-thousand words, you have less room to tell the story in order to wrap it up as neat as possible. So, creative and complex characters have to be fleshed out quicker, the plot needs to explode within the first few paragraphs and you have to use the most appropriate words to paint the story in the mind of the reader.

Many stories we read and reject start too slowly. If I, as the editor, cannot get interested in the story by the fourth paragraph at the latest, I probably won’t read much further. Most of the stories tell a great tale, but get too bogged down in the details. I need only enough to paint the picture and no more. The skill is to balance the movement and detail to give me the right mix.

Fresh and unique storylines that are well-written are most certainly going to hold our attention. Our editors are very picky and with odds are stacked even greater when compared to the sheer volume of submissions we receive.

It is the opinion of this editor that stories which snap from the pages, make us shiver or cry or leave a lingering image in our minds are the stories that are going to get published both here at the Scruffy Dog Review and all other publications!

Good luck and get writing!

Space

2007-01-17T06:30:00.000-08:00

What space do you take up when you write?

What is your physical space when you write? And, more importantly, what is your mental space?

I am capable of writing anywhere – trains, backstage with a bite light, in a restaurant, at the library.

I prefer to write at home. It’s not my ideal library space, but I‘ve got my computer desk (which usually looks like a filing cabinet threw up all over it) where I do computer work, and I have the kitchen table, where I write longhand. With cats rolling over the papers and stealing the pens.

It sounds like I couldn’t possibly get anything done in that environment, but I find feline interruptions helpful instead of harmful.

If it’s relatively quiet in the outside world, I might have the CD player on across the room, very low. If there’s repetitive machine noise , I use my Zen V.

If it’s quiet enough, I only have the fountain on and write to the sound of trickling water (I’m a Pisces, remember).

Color-wise, I prefer water tones or earth tones. I like the steady ticking of a clock (or clocks). Yet the sound of a metronome makes me want to scream. Go figure.

Wind chimes are fine. A car alarm is not.

Howling winds are inspiring. Although, when the lights flicker, I shut off the computer, put on the big candles, and write by candlelight in the kitchen.

In other words, I am extremely affected by sound.

Usually, when I start a creative writing session, I light a candle. I extinguish it when I’m done. Sometimes, I’ll burn incense or have the oil burner on with the essential oil of the moment wafting out.

I need that serenity in order to occupy the emotional landscape of whatever it is on which I’m working. A modern-day piece allows more distraction from the outside world; a created world needs more silence and more control of my physical environment in order to blossom.

It becomes almost an astral projection, if I get deep enough into the work. And it is sometimes difficult to return.

I revisit actual places I love or places that inspire me. I stretch geography – using real landmarks, but creating fictional towns near them, so I can arrange things the way I wish. I revisit the same themes over and over – the need for loyalty and the consequences of betrayal – but the physical landscape changes, and the physical landscape affects the emotional one.

My physical space and my mental space feed off each other.

So I’m working at cleaning up my desk. I already have some beautiful pieces on it, that mean something to me: Ganesh, angels, a laughing god, a crystal, a small frames picture of violets (the flower, not my cat), a replica of the Eiffel tower, a gargoyle, a drawing of Coventina-the-well-goddess, a silver fortune cookie that was a gift on the opening night of Flower Drum Song, a stuffed dragon. I’m trying to clear away the paperwork that piles up and keep it as more of a creativity altar than clutter carnage.

I want to support the mental space by enhancing my physical space.

What type of spaces do you inhabit when you work?

Obituary: Harry Horse

2007-01-16T02:08:00.000-08:00

The Scottish Arts community lost a legend last week after Richard Horne and his wife, Mandy, were found dead on Shetland. It appears Harry assisted Mandy's suicide, a sufferer of terminal chronic multiple sclerosis, then killed himself. They were both found on Wednesday 10th January, 2006 at 10am.

Mr Horne was an award-winning writer and political cartoonist, who worked under the name Harry Horse. Colleagues said they were a wonderful couple, and his agent, Caroline Sheldon, added: "I represented the brilliant Harry Horse for 15 years as his literary agent and a friend. He was a genius both in words and illustrations.”

Who was He?

Many authors choose to use pseudonyms, and the ways they come up with these names vary from the imaginative to the simply outrageous. Richard Horne’s story lies somewhere in between. He decided on his authorial name when a school teacher misread his father's handwriting on the school register, but quite where ‘Harry’ came from will probably never now be known.

On December 27, 1977, when aged only 17, he abandoned his native Warwickshire on the toss of a coin. Heads it was Edinburgh, tails it was London. "I'm glad it was Edinburgh," he recalled many years later in an interview with The Glasgow Herald, "because it was smaller. I would have been terrified in London, completely naive."

Yet Harry always retained a sense of the naïve; it’s what his friends and colleagues seemed to love about him most. His sense of innocent wonder, bewildered outrage, and un-ending amazement at the world around him, was a joy to behold.

His outlook on life was also expressed through his fashion style. Often dressed in long black trench-coat, Napoleonic hat, and biker-style boots, he looked a dominating character, yet his soft eyes and larger-than-life build, betrayed him as a warm and approachable person in every sense.

First Book

In 1983 Harry wrote his first book; he was 23. The Ogopogo: My Journey With The Loch Ness Monster, which was entirely written and drawn by himself, was met with poor sales initially but went on to become the first children's book to win the Scottish Arts Council Award.

By 1990 he had joined a band called Swamptrash as lead singer, which he felt was never given due respect by the Scottish press. His wife, Mandy, was their No 1 fan, and while attending a meeting with Andrew Jaspan, then the editor of the Scotland on Sunday newspaper, Harry produced a sketch book full of his drawings. So impressed was Jaspan, he was soon appointed the paper’s political cartoonist.

He delighted in lampooning the Tory party. "I still have a cartoon of John Major posed as a ridiculous Imperial Leader," says Jaspan. Harry loved to reverse the psychology of the Scotland, England make-up, often portraying Scotland as the dominant big brother.

Canongate

Harry's career took off in several directions in the early nineties. Swamptrash did not last long but proved to be very influential for him. Increasingly though, he was in demand as a children's author and illustrator.

His first employer was Stephanie Wolfe-Murray of Edinburgh publisher Canongate. In 1981 Harry illustrated Magus The Lollipop Man by Michael Mullen, his first assignment.

Over the next few years Harry moved on to other publishers, but continued to work on ad-hoc projects with Canongate. "One day he came into the office, rubbing his hands with glee," recalls Wolfe-Murray. "He had sold a long lost diary to an antique dealer for a lot of money, probably about £25, I really can't remember. He claimed that he had stolen it from his parents' library and every now and again he would be prepared to take another. And he did, or so the hapless antique dealer believed. This went on for several weeks. Harry sweated over the creation of these diaries, soaking the pages in tea and heating them in the oven to give them an ancient appearance. They were works of art, filled with tiny delicate writing and wonderful little pencil drawings. Unfortunately one of my colleagues at Canongate spilled the beans to the antique dealer which put a stop to it. Now they will be collectors' items. The diarist's name was an anagram of Harry's real name, Richard Horne."

Roo

Harry will be best remembered for his children's books and, in particular, those featuring Roo, "a dog of unknown breed and age", who Mandy and he rescued from Portobello Dog and Cat Home in 1990. When she died in May 2006, Harry emailed all of his friends: "Just a line to let you know that Roo has passed away from this life to the next. She did not suffer, but died in my arms on her favourite place, the beach at Meal in Burra. She is buried at Kullade and a simple headstone marks the place."

Darkness

By now, Mandy, not yet 40, was gravely ill from multiple sclerosis and was confined to a wheelchair. "I spend most of my days in the kitchen rather than the studio," Harry wrote. "I have a considerable number of teabags at my disposal."

He was often in despair. "I get the black dog," he once told Vicky Allan of The Sunday Herald. "If I don't draw, then I get depressed. So it is therapy." There was a lot in the world that affected him: war, global warming, consumerism, cruelty to animals, political correctness, unappreciativeness of artists and writers.

Towards the end his cartoons became increasingly dark and he was offered ridiculously low sums of money for thousands of copies of his books. The Last Polar Bears is rumoured to have sold over a million copies, yet he received next to nothing. If true, it is a sad injustice to the wonderful man who was Harry Horse.

Publication Date is Coming Soon!

2007-01-14T10:45:00.000-08:00

After a few hiccups and bumps, we are almost there! The next issue of The Scruffy Dog Review will publish on January 16th. This issue is full of fiction, poetry, The Literary Athlete and Scotlands Treasure. Sandra Kring, author of CARRY ME HOME and THE BOOK OF BRIGHT IDEAS will be our guest author.

Brenda

Why Do a Writing Exercise?

2007-01-10T05:34:00.000-08:00

What’s the purpose of a “writing exercise”? Shouldn’t you spend those hard-fought for, spare moments writing something that will actually sell?

Writing exercises serve several purposes.

The first and most important is to get you writing. Too many writers use the lame excuse “I don’t have time” – which, of course, in reality, means writing isn’t important enough for them to turn off the television or get off internet surfing and get down to work.

But an “exercise” – well, those usually just take a few minutes, right? It’s much easier to mentally get one’s head around an exercise than, say, a novel.

So the exercise can get you to put that pen to paper or fingers on keyboards and actually get a few words out there.

If you exercise your writing the way you exercise your body, eventually you will add to the “body” of your work.

If you’re stuck –whether it’s from not working regularly or for working too hard – an exercise can get you moving in a new direction and help unstick you. Sometimes working on something completely unrelated to your Primary Project – especially if it’s something as large as a novel – can help you find your own personal rhythm, separate from the rhythm of your novel.

When you feel as though you’re spinning your wheels, as though you’re retreading the same literary territory over and over again, an exercise can help you stretch. Again, the similarity between the physical exercise and the literary exercise comes into play.

Exercises keep your mind and your keyboard limber. They’re not just for beginning writers – they’re for all writers, to break up your day and widen your perspective.

Aye Write! Festival Programme Announced

2007-01-09T05:36:00.000-08:00

The Aye Write! Glasgow Book Festival programme was announced yesterday afternoon, and revealed hopes that this year’s festival may be the best ever. Centred in the Mitchell Library, the 9-day festival will commence on 16th February.

There are to be more than 120 sessions with Scottish and international writers and broadcasters, and this year there is to be a strong focus on encouraging more reading and writing in the west of Scotland. A free week-long children's festival for schools will also take place.

The opening night is devoted to the work of Liz Lochhead, Tom Leonard and William MacIlvanney. Other highlights this year include military historian Antony Beevor, cartoonist Steve Bell and authors Sophie Kinsella and Jenny Colgan of considerable chick-lit fame..

Best-selling author William Boyd, John Burnside, winner of the Scottish Book of the Year in 2006, John Banville, winner of the 2005 Man Booker Prize and novelist Howard Jacobson will also appear.

Broadcaster Michael Buerk will discuss contemporary media, while Kate Adie and Jonathan Kaplan speak about working in the "world's worst areas". Iain Banks's new novel, The Steep Approach to Garbadale will have its first preview, and the festival will also examine the question of slavery at a major debate, which will include black historian Mike Phillips and Clare Short MP, in the slavery abolition act bi-centenary.

Gavin Wallace, head of literature for the Scottish Arts Council, said: "Aye Write! has established itself on Scotland's literary map with remarkable rapidity and flair - it is hard to believe it began only two years ago."

The Scottish Arts Council, which is among festival sponsors, described the 2007 programme as "a belter". Karen Cunningham, director of the festival, said: "Our aim was to create a programme that highlighted the best Glasgow and Scottish writers as well as bring international writers to the city. We are delighted with the quality of our 2007 programme which appeals to all that love writing and books."

Related Links:
Aye Write! Glasgow Book Festival

The Nano Now What

2007-01-03T06:39:00.000-08:00

Happy 2007, Everyone! I hope your holidays were delightful, and I wish you many hours of productive writing for 2007.

For those of you who did Nano – or for those of you who are simply slogging away, trying to finish your latest work-in-progress, you’ve probably hit a wall at this point. You worked your butt off in November; December was all about holidays and catching up on everything you let slide in November.

But now it’s January and . . .now what?

First things first: Have you finished?

I was lucky enough to hit the 50K mark on Assumption of Right by November 18 and finish the first draft by the end of the month. So, my first draft is done and I could let it rest.

If you haven’t finished, take it out and set a goal for yourself of 1000 words/day – that’s only 4 pages – until you’re done. 4 pages/day is a realistic goal, even with a crazy schedule. You can spend the rest of the day thinking about the next four pages, until you actually get the time to do them on the following day.

Unfinished projects drain your energy – creatively and otherwise.

So, finish first.

Once you’re done, let it rest – any time from between two weeks and two months. On a novel-length project, I like to wait for two months. On shorter projects, if the deadlines allow it, two weeks.

If you finished your novel in November, the end of this month is a good time to go back to it.

Take your time with the edit, especially the first edit after letting it rest. It’s important to read it as though someone else wrote it, not read it with passionate attachment to each and every word. Face it – some of them are going to need to be cut or changed.

Read it over, from beginning to end, several times, before taking a single note. Then, start taking notes. Then work your way through it – completely – before going back for another revision. Otherwise, you’ll overwork Chapter 1 by rewriting it 72 times, and only rewrite the last chapter once – and it will show. You’ll be too tired to see it, but any editor or agent to whom you pitch it will catch it.

Remember, very often, editing isn’t just fixing grammar and spelling, or substituting a word here and there. You might have to cut out huge chunks. You might have to add or remove characters. You might need to rearrange chapters.

You have to do what’s best for the story, not for your ego.

But once you get back into the piece’s natural rhythm – not YOUR rhythm, but the unique rhythm of the PIECE – you’ll flow with it. Where the first draft could and should have been rather free-flowing, now is the time you get to play god and rearrange things. Trust in the process and in the art, but layer the craft over it, draft after draft.

And enjoy the process, because you’re working towards your ultimate goal for the piece – publication. It can’t be published if it’s not written and polished.

Whose Space?

2006-12-27T06:29:00.000-08:00

MySpace has become the hot marketing tool among climbing writers lately. But is it worth it?

Like most decisions, it’s a completely individual decision. Writers like JA Konrath think it’s a great thing. Read his ideas on it over on his Dec. 17, 2006 blog entry, here. They’re excellent points, and something to take into consideration as you create your self-marketing plan.

While he has a lot of good arguments, for me, right now, I don’t think My Space is going to help me, and this is why:

I don’t have a book out.
I have manuscripts circulating, I’m in a bunch of anthologies, but until I have something for people to buy when they light on the space, I don’t think it’ll do me any good right now. I don’t expect them to come back if they’re simply surfing.

I don’t think my readership is the “My Space” kind of crowd
Plenty of writers are going to counter this with “everyone’s doing it.” Ah, but remember, in my personal case, the only thing that was ever forbidden in my house growing up was “everyone does that” or “everyone says that”. The type of reader I attract and the kind of friends I have – and I mean friends in the true sense, not the My Space Friends list – aren’t the kind of people who are hanging out at My Space. Where are they? Reading a book; scouring bookstores; in museums; traveling around the world to write a book; painting; having a LIFE.

Yes, I understand that a successful writer’s life is built beyond people one can count as friends – one needs the general public. I just don’t think many of the type of readers who would be interested in what I have to say hang out on My Space – they’re busy living their lives. They’re looking for unique, not the kind of different that’s actually conformity under another cloak.

I have a different definition of “Friend”
I know a lot of people; I have a few friends. The people I call “friends” are actually there for me, through thick and thin. They don’t always agree with me, and they set me straight when I’m wrong – but they’ve got my back, I’ve got theirs, and they are there through good and bad.

I don’t like to use the word “friend” loosely, and certainly not as a marketing tool.

I don’t want to be a “brand”.
I’m an individual, and that’s the way I intend to stay. That’s why I write under a variety of names – so the uncreative marketing people can’t ghetto-ize me. Creative marketing people can sell ANYTHING.

Rupert Murdoch owns My Space
I won’t go into a tirade about him here; let’s just say that, in my opinion, the only thing the NEW YORK POST is good for is to line the cat box when I run out of litter. And that, while My Space seems loose and free now, it’s only because the profit’s made in that form, and if more profit can be made by making changes, by censoring content, etc., I have no doubt it will happen.

Predators
I deal with enough spam. I’m not interested in Triple XXX offers or adult-content chat. I can get PAID to write that stuff – no busman’s holiday for me. I’m not interested in talking or having sex with underage anyone. I have a personal life and I quite like it, thank you very much. I don’t want or need cyber sex. I’ll have the real thing with another consenting adult, and we’ll actually give a damn about each other. And, with the new virus that’s being spread via the My Space bulk mail thing . . .let’s just say I’ll wait awhile to see if they actually try to solve these problems before I sign up. I have enough computer problems as it is.

Read through arguments, pro and con. Spend time on the site. See if you think it helps your unique type of work. If it does, go for it, and more power to you. If not – there are plenty of other ways to build an audience. There are ways to reach an audience that reads more than what’s on a computer screen, and is literate enough to communicate in complete sentences with fully written out words.

Will I ever join MySpace? Probably someday. Definitely if I sell a YA novel. But it’s going to be with a cynical marketing eye and a keenly focused purpose. It’s not going to be to hang out and make “friends”.

Another Way to Revise

2006-12-20T06:11:00.000-08:00

When it comes time to revise, people approach it differently. They set a goal of 50 pages a day, or work chapter-by-chapter.

I’d like to suggest a different way – working scene-by-scene.

Chapters often have more than one scene in them; or, sometimes, a scene can run for several chapters. But, if you thoroughly deal with each scene before moving to the next one, you’ll find you need to go back over it and re-revise it less often.

Read the scene through, without allowing yourself to make any changes or notes. See if you can live in the scene completely.

Read it through again, this time taking notes and making corrections.

Go over it for the basics – grammar, spelling, sentence structure. Have you left participles dangling out of carelessness, or because it’s part of the character’s speech rhythm? Is there a way to tighten the dialogue? Are there extra phrases/sentences that seemed to work in the natural rhythm of the piece when you first wrote it, but now slow it down? Are there points where you’ve speeded up and skipped over bits to “put it in later” in order to get to another part of the scene that pulled at you more strongly?

Well, this is “later”. Time to make those fixes.

Does every incident in the scene reveal something about the characters and/or move the story forward? Sometimes it doesn’t seem to be a plot incentive, but will reveal something important about the character that allows the plot incentive to work later.

When you’re sure that the scene is the best it can be, then you move on.

It’s a slower method of revision than some of the others, because it means going back over the scene again and again and again.

But, because in the final product, each scene is a building block in the whole structure, polishing scene by scene will help you get the piece Trusted Reader-ready and submission-ready in fewer drafts.

To live within each scene with your characters during the revision while simultaneously keeping the objective eye to the craft is easier to do within the context of a scene than in the context of, say, fifty pages.

Some days you’ll only be able to rework a single scene; sometimes you will manage two or three. But the point of it is to do it as completely as you can before moving on.

What Do You Want?

2006-12-16T06:38:00.000-08:00

What do you want?

This is the single most important question you need to answer as you embark on your writing life.

Until you know why you’re writing and what you want to achieve with your writing, you’re not going to be able to craft a plan to support your art.

Where does writing fall into your life? Is it a priority? There’s nothing wrong with it NOT being the central focus of your life, but then you have to face the fact you will have an entirely different career than someone who is willing to put it first. It will take you longer to get published; you might never hit the best seller list if you aren’t willing to do the promotion that is now necessary by authors. You might be a better artist or craftsman than another, more well-known writer, but you won’t have the same type of career. That doesn’t mean you can’t be happy with the career you build.

Is fame your ultimate goal? Again, then you need to make different decisions based on that. Your craft must be impeccable, so you can drop the hot style du jour into it. You must be available for promotion at all hours, at any time, and, at least at the beginning, you can’t say no to anything.

Is it the process that drives you? The love of storytelling, of words on the page? Then you must carve out regular time and respect your writing – and demand others respect it. Craft the best stories you can and revel in every minute of it. It may be more difficult for you to deal with the business side of things, because you don’t enjoy it. And that’s where you have to both push yourself and be gentle with yourself in order to achieve your dreams.

There are many different ways to achieve a professional writing career. You have to find your own path. Even your favorite author’s journey is entirely different from yours.

Craft can be taught. Imagination must be allowed to run free. Business protocols must be learned. You need to combine them and balance them all in order to reach your goals.

But until you know what those goals are, you’ll be flailing, running in circles, feeling like you’re slogging through molasses.

As you work on your GDRs (Goals, Dreams, and Resolutions) for 2007, answer this question first. That will help you craft your plan. For some questions to help you on your way, visit Wordish Wanderings.

National Novel Writing Month

2006-11-01T04:32:00.000-08:00

Today is the kickoff of the annual National Novel Writing Month. What is it? It’s an exercise in writing in community. Thousands of writers from all over the world sign up and commit to writing 50,000 words over the course of 30 days, the month of November.

If you’re going to write every day, it’s only 1667 words/day. I prefer to write 2500/day and have the pressure off before Thanksgiving.

Why do it?

Because it makes you sit down at the page every day and commit words to paper (or screen). There are thousands of others doing it as well, at all levels of their writing lives, so there are plenty of people with whom to brainstorm, bitch and moan, and provide mutual encouragement. There are Regional Lounges, and in-person events.

You get to meet lots of people – some of them in your physical vicinity, many not – with whom you might never have crossed paths.

“I don’t have time.”

Horse hockey. The majority of people who say they “don’t have time” for Nano are the same ones who “don’t have time” to write regularly anyway. Yeah, November’s crazy. Yeah, life gets in the way and maybe this month you can’t write 50K. But it’s worth a shot. It gives you a fixed goal on deadline within a community.

“Only amateurs do it.”

Again, not so. I’ve met a lot of published writers through this. I’m a published writer, and I’m doing it. Granted, if you’re in the middle of correcting galleys for your next novel, this month is probably not a good time to start Nano. But if you’re not on a paid deadline, it’s worth a shot.

“I don’t want to be in competition with anyone.”

You’re not. The only person I’m trying to impress with this is myself. Last year, after two years of writing four serials and feeling immensely fractured, I wanted to see if I could focus enough on one piece. This year, I’m trying a genre in which I’ve never written before. When I first decided I’d do this again, I told myself it was only to stretch, and if I didn’t hit 50K, no big deal. That’s just not true. I’m pushing MYSELF to hit the mark, because that’s what I do. I’m happy for every writer who hits 50K, and I’m not going to shun any writer who doesn’t. It’s about individual striving within the support of the community.

It’s a great experience, although there are plenty of frustrations along the way. And, if you haven’t signed up already, you can still do so.

If you don’t do it this year, find out if anyone you know is doing it, and act as cheerleader. And maybe, just maybe, consider it for the future.

A Bit of a Break

2006-10-17T21:06:00.000-07:00

Devon's Wednesday Ramblings will return in approximately two weeks.

Strunk & White

2006-10-11T10:58:00.000-07:00

When it comes to revising your work, the best resource is Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style.

The original Elements of Style was used in 1919 for Strunk’s college course at Cornell University. One of his students that year was E.B. White, who was hired 38 years later to revise and update the book for re-release by Macmillan.

Since then, it has become THE tool of the writer’s trade. As someone who handles an enormous amount of written material, both in the various projects I head up, the work I do for other publications, and my critique/coaching business, I see the same mistakes over and over and over again. Most of them are mistakes that I remember covering in Third Grade English. There’s no excuse for an adult not to know the difference between “it’s” and “its” at this point. It’s sheer laziness. Errors like that will get an unknown writer tossed into the garbage can instead of the publication pile. It is the writer’s responsibility and part of the job to learn the craft.

As a writer, I am awful at proofreading my own work. Trusted Readers are a must before submission. Also, I have some bad writing habits that I fall into, having to do with passive in early drafts and sometimes picking the wrong word for a shade of meaning. By re-reading Elements of Style – cover to cover – during the revision process, I can go back to the draft and read it with an eye only to those elements of style to which Strunk refers in the text and catch most of them. Again, part of my job as a professional is to turn in a manuscript as polished as possible. Third-grade level errors are not acceptable.

And the book is funny. Take, for instance, on p. 57, under “Misused Words and Expressions”:

“Prestigious. Often an adjective of last resort. It’s in the dictionary, but that doesn’t mean you have to use it.”

Personally, I have no problem with the word “prestigious”, although I can’t remember the last time I used it. But every time I read that paragraph, it makes me laugh.

And any time one can catch a laugh during the revision process – grab it! It will help you retain perspective on your work.

Sensory Exercises: Finishing

2006-10-04T04:44:00.000-07:00

For the past six weeks, we’ve worked on a series of exercises focusing on the six senses. We have one story that’s been revised each week to incorporate the “sense of the week” into it, and six separate short stories, one with each prompt as its focus.

Now it’s time to go back over all the stories. Revise them. You want to make sure that, in the individual sensory pieces that, while the piece is focused on the specific sense, it does not mean that every other element of a good story. As you revise the stories, think less about the parameters of the particular exercise and more about what makes it the best story it can be. The exercises are merely jumping off points, points of inspirations – it’s up to you to take them and run with them.

In my case, one of the exercises “the taste of single malt whisky”, resulted in a story of nearly 7k called “The Retriever”, introducing two of my favorite characters to date, Sean and Elle. I have at least four more adventures mapped out for them, and the original story is out on submission. The whisky is not the focus of the plotline, but it’s an element in the story, both at the beginning and near the end, and the characters ran off on their own.

Please feel free to share you own experiences with the various exercises, and the types of stories they sparked.

We’ll take a break from exercises for the next few weeks to discuss some other writing topics.

Sensory Exercises -- Week 6: Intuition

2006-09-27T07:37:00.000-07:00

I bet you thought we were finished with these exercises, didn’t you? But we have one more sense with which to deal, a sense very important in your writing. And that’s the Sixth Sense – intuition.

You can make fun of intuition all you wish in real life; however, it’s an important tool in fiction. It doesn’t have to turn the piece into a paranormal one – intuition is partially the ability to comprehend and process information from all the other sense rapidly in addition to being that nebulous, inexplicable “feeling”.

So, this week, you are going to create Story G, which focuses on the intuitive. And you are going to do yet another rewrite of Story A, adding in that sixth sense.

I’m not going to tell you how to craft the intuitive aspect of the story – use your own intuition!

Sensory Exercises -- Week 5: Sight

2006-09-20T09:59:00.000-07:00

How often do you really look at something? Or do you pull down your cap, turn your music up and isolate yourself from the world around you? You’re a writer: everything is stimulus for your work.

For the next few days, truly take a look at what’s around you. Notice the size, shape, texture, color, dimensionality.

This week, write Story F, focusing solely on the way objects in the story look. And work the sense of sight into Story A.

This week’s image:

The sight of falling leaves.

The Quills

2006-09-18T11:06:00.000-07:00

Earlier today, I learned The Quills are determined by popular vote. The awards celebrates the best books of the year in nineteen categories. Want to vote? Do it before September 30th!

http://www.wnbc.com/thequills/index.html

Sara Gruen, who appeared in the May issue of The Scruffy Dog Review, has a book on the list. WATER FOR ELEPHANTS is listed under General Fiction.

Good Luck to all the nominees!

Sensory Exercises -- Week 4: Touch

2006-09-13T01:30:00.000-07:00

Touch. When you pick up an object, how does it feel? Rough? Smooth? Heavy? Slimy?

The sense of touch affects more than your hands. What does it do to the rest of the body? To your senses? To your mind? To your emotions?

As you move through the day, do you actually experience the sensations around you or do you close yourself off? As a writer, you have to remember to remain open to the senses as much as you safely can, and learn how to communicate them.

Overuse your adjectives this week, in your first draft. Then cut back so that you say what you wish to communicate as precisely as you can with the fewest possible words.

You will build touch into Story A, revising it yet again to add in tangible sensations. And you will write Story E, which focuses primarily on that one sense.

What is the touch?

The sensation of warm sand.

Poetry Bus Tour

2006-09-11T10:58:00.000-07:00

Stopping at 50 cities in 50 days the 2006 Poetry Bus Tour, sponsored by Seattle-based independent press Wave Books, is the biggest literary event of 2006 and the most ambitious poetry tour ever attempted.

Beginning September 4 and ending October 27, the bus tour will visit a variety of venues.

To find out if the bus is coming your way or to listen to the readings available online, click here.

And Now, For a Break in Our Exercises . . .

2006-09-06T06:13:00.000-07:00

. . .to talk about craft.

Recently, I was asked on a forum to explain what I meant when I said that, on days when the Muse fled and I’m on deadline, I relied on craft. I maintain that, if you want a career as a writer, you cannot attain that without writing only “when you feel like it”, nor can you get away without a basic knowledge of spelling, grammar, and structure.

If you miss a deadline and behave unprofessionally, there are several thousand writers just as good as you are who are more professional and will elbow you out of the limited amount of slots available.

The only time in your career you will have the luxury of “writing when you feel like it” is when you’re unpublished.

I define "craft" as having solid skills in sentence structure, grammar, spelling, etc. It's knowing how to line up words on the page coherently. It's understanding how to compose a paragraph, a scene, a piece of dialogue. It's having the motivation to search for the information you need to back up your story rather than expecting other people to hand it to you or do your research for you.

With a basis in craft, you can make informed choices in the style of a particular piece. There are authors who break the rules all the time – but they know the rules, and breaking them is out of choice, not ignorance.

In the heat of a good flow, all those things can get in your way -- especially in a first draft, where I believe one needs to get it out as quickly as possible in order to have something from which to work.

But on tough days, if you have working knowledge of your basic craft, you can literally build word-by-word, sentence-by-sentence, dealing with the resistance, the exhaustion, or the Muse's absence. Will it have to be revised to make it sparkle? Probably.

For instance, I recently had a slew of deadlines for articles. I'd done the research. I had the material. I didn't feel any "spark" -- in fact, I felt resistance. There were other things I'd rather write, there were other things I'd rather do -- even as desperate as cleaning the bathroom.

However, this is a contracted, paid gig. If I want to maintain my hire-ability, I can't miss a deadline, and I have to turn in something good. So, I sat my butt in the chair, and built the articles, word-by-word, sentence-by-sentence. It was tough. It was unpleasant. It was frustrating. But I did it.

My reward was, once I'd hit my quota, I could work on whatever I wanted.

The next day, I went to revise and -- boom! Idea! Inspiration! I could add in the tweaks to make it sparkle, make it unique, make it worth what they're paying me.

Usually it's the inspiration first, the craft in the rewrite. But, when you're feeling resistance, the craft will give you words on the page and you can go from there.

If I hadn't met the deadline, I wouldn't be hired again.

I don't think art and craft are mutually exclusive, which is what too many unpublished writers believe. You need a balance of both. Without the craft as a foundation, the art can't fly.

Sensory Exercises -- Week 3: Sound

2006-08-30T03:34:00.000-07:00

Sound creates mood. How many of you play music while you write? How many of you can’t stand all the unnecessary noise that we are subjected to against our will on a daily basis?

I am unusually sensitive to sound. The sounds I associate with a place or an event decide how it is imbedded in my mind. I can be in the most beautiful location in the world, but if someone’s got a leaf blower on, the memory of the place is tainted.

Sound affects emotions. Even sounds too high or too low for our conscious mind to register affect how we feel.

Now it’s time to layer that in to your writing.

Last week, you revised story A which had both the scent of hibiscus in it and the taste of single malt scotch. You also wrote Story C, which featured just the taste.

This week, you will add the sound to story A, building on that piece. And you will write Story D, with sound the focus.

This week’s sound:

The sound of a rusty bicycle wheel.

Sensory Exercises -- Week 2: Taste

2006-08-20T05:53:00.000-07:00

Because I will be out of town this Wednesday, I post this exercise early. You still have until Wednesday to finish your stories from last week and move on!

Last week, we wrote two short pieces. One concentrated entirely on the scent of hibiscus. My colleague Judy, over on the iVillage Writing Life board pointed out that the scent of hibiscus tea is quite different than the scent of the live flower. What a wonderful observation!

The second story contains the scent of hibiscus, but is the story that will be revised each week, adding on the additional sense.

This week, we deal with taste. What are the descriptive words that come to mind when you think about taste? Salty, sweet, savory, spicy, bland, milky, sharp?

How does the scent relate to the taste? Do some spells provoke the taste in your mouth?

The taste:

Single malt whiskey.

The challenge:

Write a short piece where the taste is the primary focus.

Edit last week’s Story 2 to include the taste of single malt whiskey along with the scent of hibiscus.

Sensory Exercises Week 1: Scent

2006-08-16T04:53:00.000-07:00

This Wednesday begins a series of exercises, each week focusing on a different sense.

Today, we’re dealing with scent. The sense of smell is powerful in our lives, and also, in our work. Think of how the following affect you: freshly brewed coffee, garbage left out in the sun too long, a dog who’s just come in from the rain.

How would you communicate the emotions those scents trigger to someone who has no frame of reference for them?

When writing any sort of sensory detail, don’t be afraid to overwrite in the early drafts. Get down every specific and every evocation you can. Then, as you revise, cut, hone, get more precise, so what once may have taken a paragraph is now only a phrase. You don’t have to/need to cut out all the detail – just make sure you use the most illustrative words you can to communicate your objective.

In these five weeks, we will work on two sets of pieces simultaneously.

One will be a single story that will face revisions over a period of weeks as we add in ALL the exercises to a single story. That means, basically, you will write a short story this week, incorporating the scent I choose, and, each week, the story will be revised to include that week’s sense. By the end of this cycle, a single story will incorporate all the senses.

The second set of exercises will focus on the single sense. You will have a story each week that highlights what we’re working on. As we work through, week to week, each story will also incorporate more of the overall work, while still featuring the Sense Du Week.

For your own time constraints, I’d suggest working in short formats rather than longer ones, knowing you can carry further any of these stories beyond the exercises as far as they will go.

The Scent we work with between now and next Wednesday is:

The Scent of Hibiscus.

And. . .go!

Phrase Exercise

2006-08-09T04:32:00.000-07:00

Today’s exercise is the equivalent of a prompt. I give you a starting point. You run with it.

Here it is:

“The light was off. Again.”

How does that inspire you? I look forward to the results!

My mystery serial Tapestry was originally inspired by a teacher giving me the phrase that continues to be the first line of the book. I started writing and never looked back.

Name Exercise

2006-08-02T04:09:00.000-07:00

This week’s exercise asks you to include two names anywhere within the story. They can be main characters, secondary characters, or simply mentioned in passing. They don’t have to be used equally.

The names:

Amanda

Joe

How did last week’s Painting Exercise go? I loved what Cézanne’s painting evoked. The story is more complicated than I originally envisioned, and I am not finished with it yet.

I’m interested in hearing what paintings participants used.

Until next week!

Painting Exercise

2006-07-26T09:17:00.000-07:00

No, I don’t expect you to paint rather than write (although it’s a good way to relax in between stories).

This week, I would like you to choose a painting. Spend a few minutes every day truly looking at it. Look at it closely (even under a magnifying glass). Look at it from far away. Look at it upside down (yes, if it’s hanging on the wall, you’ll have to be the one who’s upside down).

And write a story about it, in it, inspired by the painting.

I had a difficult time deciding between a half a dozen paintings (Edward Hopper’s work I find particularly inspiring, and also Giorgio de Chirico’s).

The painting I decided to use for this week’s exercise, however, is “Le Chateau Noir” by Paul Cézanne.

Looking back at last week’s object exercise, how was it?

When I began the piece, I expected it would be a mystery; however, it turned out to be something else entirely. The tentative title is “As the Sky Lightens”. It’s a flash fiction (at least in its first draft) of about 500 words, more comic than mysterious, with an unusual (for me) protagonist.

Will I be able to sell it? Who knows? But it’s true to itself, and that’s what’s important. I’ll be revising it over the coming weeks to see where I think I can place it.

Object Exercise

2006-07-19T03:37:00.000-07:00

Here’s another exercise for you. I’m going to give you the names of five objects. You work them into a story. I suggest keeping the story 5000 words or less (probably 1500-2500 will work best).

The objects:

A coral-colored lipstick

One blue satin sandal

One pair of monogrammed cufflinks

A cigarette lighter

A gold-capped fountain pen

You can choose which items feature prominently, if any, and which are mentioned in passing. Just because there’s a list of five objects does not mean each one merits equal weight in your story.

Now then . . .go for it!

Diaries and Journals

2006-07-12T07:06:00.000-07:00

How many of you keep diaries and journals? Not blogs, but diaries and journals? Handwritten or computerized, a safe space where you can talk to yourself about anything? I use “diary” and “journal” interchangeably.

I find it helps my writing enormously.

Ink in My Coffee is where I get to brainstorm and exchange ideas with other writers. It’s personal and public simultaneously. But one of my policies in it is to rarely, if ever, disparage another writer, especially by name. It’s hard enough to make a living in this business – there’s no need for us to attack our own. There’s a difference between healthy disagreement and opposing viewpoints and attacking another writer. But intentional cruelty, in my opinion, is unacceptable. It’s one reason I’ve moved away from writing book reviews in the past few years. I don’t want to always write happy, fluffy bunny reviews – genuine criticism is important and necessary in literature. However, too many reviews are either book reports worthy of no more than third grade English class, or vicious attacks by someone who can only smirk and snipe, but not craft anything else.

But, of course, there are some who get on my last darn nerve, or who really set me off. My journal is a safe place to let loose without inflicting harm.

My journal is also the place to explore personal things I don’t want to/don’t yet feel I can discuss with others. It’s a place to figure myself out. I make sense of the world by writing about it – I have to apply the same standard to myself. Because there are plenty of times when I just don’t make sense.

For writing, the diary is invaluable. I write about writing on Ink. I even write about planning my writing. But there are some projects that, in the early stages, are too delicate to discuss publicly. I don’t want to be one of those writers who talks herself out and doesn’t get it down on the page. The page is what matters.

So, I explore it in the diary.

When I travel, I rarely take a computer or have computer access. One of the joys of travel is to be removed from daily life. But I take my diary, and it’s much more detailed on trips than in daily life. I’ll even go so far as to write the time of the entry. I write pages and pages and pages of description and the emotions they evoke so that when (and it’s always when) I want to set a story somewhere, it’s all there.

Although I hate to fracture myself with too many diaries (after all, the point is to work towards whole-ness), I have my regular diary (the current volume is too large to carry around, but important for my emotional expansion right now) and I’ve started a small, aqua journal that goes in my purse that I call “Miniature Moments”. “Miniature Moments” can be pulled out anywhere, with jottings that flit through the brain that I don’t wish to lose. If I put it in the “fragments” book or in the reporter’s notebook, it gets lost in the practicalities. These are emotional realities, possibilities that I’m exploring. If and when they become a prose piece, I’ll fill in the reality. It’s the prose snapshot of the moment.

In Elizabeth George’s book, Write Away, she opens each chapter with an excerpt from her “Journal of a Novel”. She keeps a journal for each novel she writes, and she refers back to previous entries when she hits a rough patch. The entries are fascinating, and I hope that, someday, she will feel she can publish the journals of her novels, although she may not wish to reveal so much of the intimacy of the moment.

In writing classes, teachers emphasize how important the “secret” is for each character, the desire that motivates the character and causes a reason for the story in the first place. Perhaps, for writers, our journals are our motivating secrets.

Favorite books about journal/diary writing:

A Book of One’s Own -- Thomas Mallon. In my opinion, THE best book on diaries and diary writing. Constantly inspirational.

The Hidden Writer – Alexandra Johnson

Leaving a Trace – Alexandra Johnson

The New Diary -- Tristine Rainer.

One to One: Self-Understanding Through Journal Writing – Christina Baldwin

Life’s Companion: Journal Writing as a Spiritual Quest – Christina Baldwin

The Waiting Game

2006-07-05T06:47:00.000-07:00

By now, you’ve faithfully performed the exercises. You either have five stand-alone short stories, most of a novella, or a good chunk of a novel.

As you revised, you created market lists. You’ve crafted a solid cover letter that entices a potential editor to ask for your story. And, importantly, the letter is written in your own cadence, not in that of a formal stranger.

Yes, it is possible to follow all the protocols of a professional and exciting cover letter and still sound like yourself.

You’ve printed everything out and checked for typos and grammatical errors. You had someone else proof it, too. Very often, your eye and brain will adjust a typo-ed word to read as you wish it to, rather than as it actually appears on the page. You know what it’s supposed to say, but the page still has the error. It’s important to send as clean a copy as you can out. A letter with typos and mis-spellings and grammatical errors does not make a good first impression. Even if the editor does not want this story, you want to start a relationship so you can continue to send material you think the editor might like in the future.

You’ve done all that. You’ve sent all the stories out.

Now what?

Remember, editors receive hundreds, sometimes thousands of submissions every week. The ones that are unprofessional hit the bin quickly. But, there are many savvy writers competing for a few available story slots. All of the submissions that aren’t instantly dismissed must be read, usually double read, and discussed. The best of those then compete for the few slots available.

It takes time. Even at the highest-paying magazines, there’s not much time in a day to actually read. Editors and readers read as they commute, or late at night, or first thing in the morning. Or they take stacks with them to the park at lunch. They read whenever and wherever they can. They want to find the perfect fit for their slots.

But it takes time.

During that time, you’re sitting there in a frenzy of despair, wondering why you haven’t heard. Resist the impulse to pester. On your submission log, mark how long the guidelines state it will take to receive a response. If two weeks pass beyond that time, then send a friendly note or email, asking for an update. Call only as a last resort.

In the meantime, work on your next piece. Go through the entire process, from idea to writing to revision, and send it out.

A friend of mine does something she calls “13 in Play”. She always has 13 submissions out. That’s what I aspire to do – although I usually have only about six or seven.

By preparing your market list ahead of time, in the event that something does return, you read the comments (if any), check to make sure it’s a clean copy (and run a fresh one if it’s gotten damaged), make appropriate changes in the letter to the next market on the list, address the envelope, put in the contents, log it, mail it, and the piece is out again. It helps you not to fall into a rejection funk.

Persistence is just as important as talent. It may even be more important. You can be the most talented writer in the world. But the writer who works harder and is more persistent is the one who will have the career.

2006-07-01T11:36:00.000-07:00

The July issue of The Scruffy Dog Review is now online!

http://www.thescruffydogreview.com/

Excercise Part X

2006-06-28T04:53:00.000-07:00

If your stories are stand-alones:

You are sitting here, staring at five revised stories. Re-read them again, with fresh eyes, for one last revision.

Now, pick the top market for each story (make sure it’s a different market for each, even if sometimes you have to make the first pitch to the second one on your list).

This week, you will write a template for your query letter (or, if it’s an editor who wants a full submission, you’ll include the full submission).

The letter should contain the following:

The hook (what’s unique about the story)
One or two sentences about the story, including its title and word count.
Your credits, why you’re the best writer for the project, and why this magazine is the perfect match.

It should run no more than a page, and remember to include a SASE if you’re sending it via snail mail (some writers no longer send SASEs; having worked in publishing, I know that plenty of houses don’t read the material without one. But now, some houses request that one doesn’t send a SASE – as always, read the guidelines thoroughly).

Run the letter past other writers. Tighten it and make it as active as you can. Get rid of any passive terminology and keep it exciting.

Now, make the adjustment for each individual market and write an individual letter.

Read over each story again before putting it in the envelope – you don’t want to send out something with errors.

Put them in the envelope with the letter and SASE, seal, stamp, mail.

Keep track in your Submission log when you sent it (and make a note as to how long each market’s guidelines take to respond).

You now have five stories circulating. And, if any of them should return unhomed, you have a list of places so that you can run a clean copy, type up a fresh letter to the new market, and send it right back out.

If you’re doing a larger piece:

Keep the tips on query letters from the above section. It will come in handy when you’re ready to market your piece.

You should have a rough of the beginning and middle. This week, you take the last four scenes and connect them to each other and the previous section.

If you’re working on a novella, you’ll be almost finished with a first draft. If it’s a full-length novel, you’ll need to continue working in this vein for the next few months, until you have your entire draft. Construct scenes, connect them, move on.

Put your draft away. I suggest at least 2 weeks – 2 months, where you don’t even look at it, but work on something completely different. You need the distance, especially when you’ve immersed yourself in a large piece of work.

Do as many revisions as it needs, until it’s the best it can possibly be under your hands.

Research your markets.

Craft query letters along the lines of the information given about.

Create a log line, one paragraph summary, and outline/synopsis (more on that in “The Literary Athlete” column of The Scruffy Dog Review over the next few months).

Have all of that done BEFORE you start submissions, so you can run off a copy of any variation as needed.

Since agents and editors usually prefer a query before requesting a partial or a full manuscript, I send out my queries in batches of ten.

Keep track of everything.

Your work is now out there, finding a home.

Congratulations!

Exercise Part IX

2006-06-21T03:20:00.000-07:00

How are you doing over the course of these weeks? Are you working on separate pieces or do you have one overall piece that calls to you? I’d like to know.

If your stories are stand-alones:

You have four revised short stories and four market lists. This week, take the fifth and longest story. Revise it, and create its market list.

We’re still not sending them out. I know you’re impatient, but don’t send them out of the gate before the bell goes off.

If your stories are part of a bigger piece:

Take the next four scenes and write the scenes/bridges between them, including the bridge between the first set of scenes.

My own examples:

“Suppositions” became “Apriorism” in revisions. It still needs some more work, including a new title.

The first person piece, through the eyes of Alexandra Hill, a main character in “Apriorism” who confronts Mitch Keegan (the politician character from the very first story, “Not My Vote”) is still without a title and still needs work. I will work on it in tandem with working on the long piece this week.

Exercise Part VIII

2006-06-14T03:56:00.000-07:00

At this point, the exercises have branched off into two separate paths: Those whose five stories are stand-alones, and those whose stories are related as part of a bigger piece. We’ll keep going down each path over the next few weeks.

If the stories are stand-alones:

Last week, you revised the two shortest stories and researched markets for them. You now have two completed stories and a list of potential markets for each.

This week, you will do the same thing with the next stories, leaving the longest of the five for last.

By now, you’ve found a rhythm and system for market lists, and that shouldn’t take long.

Please do not submit anything yet. There’s more ground to cover with them.

If the stories are part of a bigger piece:

In the past week, you’ve written at least one scene per day on the piece. Now, spread out all of your scenes – you should have a total of twelve – and take a look at them. Rearrange them. Get a feel for the looks, the characters, the themes, the connections. Make notes. If something doesn’t work one way, rearrange it. See what other scenes you need to make this work. Do you have a novella? Or are you going for novel-length?

Even if you’re not an outliner, try this technique and see how it gives you a new perspective on your process.

Over the next week, take the four scenes you decided are at the beginning, and write the scenes and/or bridges between them.

My examples:

My two shortest stories are from the two first exercises. However, as I worked on them, I found that they took on a life of their own.

“Not My Vote” was originally the shortest of the bunch, designated as the flash fiction piece. It was inspired by the article about GIs charged for their hospital care, and how some of the accounts are turned over to collection agencies and the GIs lost everything. As I did the revisions, keeping it at 500 words was a disservice to the piece. Through the course of several revisions, it stands at 878 words.

“Needed” was based on the 20-somethings who can’t (and choose not to learn) to change light bulbs in their overindulged New York City luxury apartments. As it went through revisions, 1200 words was too much for it, and, after the revision process, it stands at 838 words.

I’ve created a list of 14 markets for each story. Twelve of the fourteen are paying markets. I’m confident enough in my track record to reach for them first. Several are markets that I know like my work; some are new and desired stretches. I’m especially confident in “Not My Vote”. Two of the markets are not paying, but I know they like my work, I like working with them, and I want to keep working with them.

Next week’s exercise will mean revising “Suppositions”, the 1500 word piece that has Mitch Keegan, the politician character from “Not My Vote”, and the as-yet untitled piece in the first person, through Alexandra Hills’s eyes. Alexandra is a character Mitch met in “Suppositions.”

Even though “Not My Vote”, “Suppositions” and the unnamed first person piece share some characters, at this stage, I believe they are linked stories rather than a novel.

However, we still have a few weeks, and that could change.

Happy vs. Sad

2006-06-08T06:25:00.000-07:00

"When I'm at my most miserable--that's when I write my best poetry."--Anonymous.

Ah, the dilemma. When do we, as writers, do our "best" writing? Is it when we're happy and life is going our way? Or is it when we're depressed or grief-stricken?

Perhaps it would depend on your genre. A well-known horror writer claimed he'd written his best stuff while he was in a mental black hole and wasted out of his mind.
Another well-known romance writer has said she has to be in a happy state, (with her Celtic music playing softly in the background, no less) in order for the Muse to acquiesce.

When have you churned out your best writing? I like to think of it as the Devil vs. Angel Muse. You know how in movies and cartoons people have a "shoulder angel" on one side and a "shoulder devil" on the other, telling them what to do, and oftentimes clashing.

Well, apply that to your muse. Do you have a Happy muse or a Sad muse? I myself must have a Sad muse--when I was stuck in a certain place (that for now shall remain nameless) and I felt like I had no friends and wanted to just sleep all day, well, THAT'S when I churned out one of my best novels ever--in less than 30 days.

Take Individual A: When he/she's happy, they find they tend to neglect their writing. Sure, the ideas are constantly flowing in, like the tide (as it happens with most writers) but the motivation to get the words out onto paper (the writing process) seems forced, unnatural.
This individual finds that only when he/she is in the "depths of despair," they are able to write and write and write and write.

Then there's Individual B: who writes their best only when Life is Good, and no other time.

A great many writers in history fall into the "A" category. (Then there's always the nasty joke about "suicidal poets," which we won't get into here.)

I prefer to ask the question: Why is it that when we are feeling emotions the most, whether sadness or elation, the Muse is at its best?

Food for thought.

Exercise Part VII

2006-06-07T07:03:00.000-07:00

Take a look back at the stories you’ve written over the past week. You should have five completed pieces:

* The 500 word flash fiction on the first article you pulled;
* The 1200 word piece on the second article you chose;
* The 1500 word piece on the third article left, with a character from one of the first two stories making an appearance;
* A story combining elements of the remaining three articles, up to 5000 words;
* A first person story from one of the characters in any of the previous stories.

Are there any corresponding themes to them, or is each piece a stand alone? Do you have material you’d like to combine for a larger project, or do you want to send each piece on its own way?

You have a selection of pieces in a variety of lengths. Now, you have to go back and polish them.

If you’ve decided the pieces are stand-alones:

Take the two shortest stories and work on revisions this week. Talk to other writers about them; polish them; revisit Strunk and White’s Elements of Style. Turn these two pieces into the best they can be. If it needs several revisions, keep going. Work and work and work. Put it away for two days, and then take another look.

Simultaneously, research markets. Get out the Writers’ Market or go online and research magazines. You’re not going to submit quite yet --- please be patient and work with me on this – but you’re doing your background work.

Put the title of each story on the top of a sheet of paper, and list potential markets for it. It’s not about where you’d like to be published – think of yourself as a matchmaker, trying to find the soul mate for your story.

Once the entire list is written, for each story, go back and decide which publication is your first choice, second choice, etc. If you’ve made your list on the computer, you can re-sort it; if you’ve handwritten it, just number each market clearly so that you can follow your list, or rewrite the list.

If you’ve decided all the stories are related and are part of a bigger piece:

Now is the time for you to build your foundation, in order to build the piece. Look at the stories; find the connecting themes. Figure out who your protagonists and antagonists are. If you like to do character sketches, do them now. Figure out, loosely, where each of these five events takes place in your overall narrative. Figure out what else you want in the narrative. The stories are no longer stories, but scenes or series of scenes. Sit down and write at least one more scene per day, even if you’re not quite sure yet where to put it.

Exercise Part VI

2006-05-31T06:10:00.000-07:00

How did the story last week work?

I have to confess, I haven’t quite finished mine. Working those three topics in together has made it more of a caper than I expected – I thought it would be a more serious piece, but it’s turned out, in the first draft anyway, to have a lot of humor in it.

I’m going to keep working on it while I work on this week’s exercise.

Choose one of the characters from any of the stories in the previous weeks, and write a new piece in first person, from the character’s point of view. It can be a variation on any topic we’ve worked on thus far, or something completely new.

No word count limit this time, but I suggest shorter rather than longer, so you don’t feel overburdened in a week.

Hmm. My instinct is to go back to the very first piece – the wounded soldier from Iraq who returned and was charged for his medical care – but I’ve used characters from that piece in another crossover, and I think I should use someone else. I have to think about this one for a bit.

Anyone get the feeling that the first piece has the strongest hold on me?

Next week, we’ll look back at the stories and start revisions.

Absolutely Appalling...

2006-05-25T14:05:00.000-07:00

Absolute Write, which many writers have been part of for years, is now gone. It is shocking. Click HERE for the story.

If you want to support AW--post the top 20 Worst Scam Agents list on your own blogs or websites. Every little bit helps! I myself was part of that community. It was an invaluable website to writers everywhere.

Exercise Part V

2006-05-24T06:08:00.000-07:00

Take out the three articles put aside at the beginning of the process. Read them over.

Craft a story, up to 5000 words, that combines inspirations from all three articles. It can be shorter than 5000 words, but try not to make it longer.

Have a minor character from one of the other stories have a major piece of this story.

To share with you my process over the past few weeks:

The first story was the flash fiction based on the returning GI’s being charged for their treatment. It was rough to keep it that short. I may have to write something longer in the future about these characters.

The second story was just over 1000 words about the spoiled twenty-somethings too stupid to change their own light bulbs.

The article left over, for my last story, was about how literary parties aren’t what they used to be. The easy choice would have been to take a spoiled twenty-something character from the light bulb story and stick her into the lit party. However, I decided to take the politician we met in the first flash fiction, who had to answer to the woman whose brother lost his house because the government charged him for his medical care upon his return from Iraq, in the lit party.

It wasn’t easy, but I think it made for a more interesting story.

For the above piece, my remaining three articles that have to be integrated in this week’s exercise are: the 40-year-old fruitcake, the runaway police horse, and the 1000 year old Roman statue.

It is a puzzle, and should be an entertaining challenge. How on earth will I figure out how to put them together?

The wheels are spinning.

I’m going to insert one of the stupid twentysomethings in the story and kill him or her off.

Check back next week. I want to hear what people have come up with!

Get Thee to a Library!!

2006-05-18T07:56:00.000-07:00

I remember as a kid, the public library was sooooo cool. It was like a sanctuary. Except for the slightly batty white-hair-in-a-tighter-than-tight-bun Librarian shushing everybody, it was like being in a church. It was my church. I could look through anything I liked--and spend hours, so long as I wasn't bothering anyone. It was Heaven.

Today, our local library is down the street, and I took a peek in the other day, and was slightly surprised at what I found. Libraries have become full-blown meccas lately, with all the technology we have...much more so than the 70's and 80's when I was hanging out with Whitey Uptightey.

Now there are computer centers. There are Video centers, where they've basically built a Blockbuster section in between Reference and Romance. There are elaborate kid's sections, some with overstuffed chairs and places where kids and parents with kids can read.

I remember Libraries used to be just books. Almost as well as I remember scrolling through Microfiche, and who can forget the almighty Card Catalog?

Times have changed. Libraries are AWESOME places. Go and check out your local Library. Whitey Uptightey with her bun may still be there, and yes, they STILL don't let you check out the Reference books, but the major coolness of the Library itself will make it worth the visit!

Building a Personal Library

2006-05-11T06:39:00.000-07:00

A must for any writer, no matter your genre, would be a personal library.
Size isn't important. Some writers have three books, some have three thousand--no matter, as long as they have a personal library of books that inspire and educate, that is the main point.

I read somewhere, a long time ago, that reading is preparation for writing. When you are a child, if you read, you glean the necessary tools for building stories. It's called practice.

All the writers I know read regularly, whether by hobby or for reference, or for inspiration. Reading the ideas and words of others can inspire and enlighten, and motivate us to write our best.

Personal libraries can be had for relatively little expense, thanks to Amazon.com, Ebay, Half-price Books, and all those used bookstores near you. Build your library slowly (or quickly, depending on your financial situation.) When you feel the Block, or you need info, you can go to your personal library for help.

I highly recommend it. It is a great tool, for every writer.

Exercise Part IV

2006-05-10T04:12:00.000-07:00

I’d love to hear your comments on the exercises in the comment section below; how you’re doing with them, etc.

This week, we take the leftover article and write a piece of up to 1500 words inspired by it.

In addition, take one of the characters from either of the other pieces you wrote over the past two weeks, and have them make an appearance in this story. It can be a walk-through. It can be an interaction. A minor character from another story can become a major character in this. Or a major character from one of the other pieces can be a minor character in this. But do a bit of cross pollination.

Next week, we deal with the three other articles

How Do they Do It???

2006-05-04T06:07:00.000-07:00

I was recently reading Stephen King's "On Writing" and found it highly interesting. As writers, we put our "babies" out there, and hope and pray they succeed in the world. (Preferrably to the tune of sizeable advances, etc..) But is there a formula that successful fiction writers have?

I guess if there really WAS a secret, everyone who knew it would be successful. The fact is, there isn't one. According to Mr. King: "Fiction writers...don't understand very much about what they do--not why it works when it's good, not why it doesn't when it's bad."

This makes a lot of sense. Why can one fiction writer have a blockbuster hit, and then have their next novel be utterly craptastic? An Editor told me once that it's "all in the wind." What was poplular yesterday, will be overdone tomorrow...but wait six months and it will be popular again! I prefer the old adage: Today's Peacock: Tomorrow's feather duster, but that's negative, because story ideas are like clothes--you can put them away in your closet and in a few years they'll be in vogue again. It's always a cycle.

The point is, there really isn't a "secret formula" to success in the Fiction writing field. Sure, you have to have talent, and believe in your work, but whatever your genre, you have a chance. There is always a chance.

So, never give up. Keep plugging. Good things happen to those who wait. Wait, and work hard.

Exercise Part III

2006-05-02T20:02:00.000-07:00

How’d your flash fiction piece work out? I know I had trouble keeping it to the word count. Long is always easier than short for me, which is why this exercise is helpful.

Put away last week’s piece. We’ll get back to it in a few weeks.

Pick up the other two articles from last week that were not used. The remaining three that are all together will be used in a few weeks.

Read over both articles. This time, choose one of them and write a piece 1000-1200 words inspired by that piece.

Which one is yours?

I chose the spoiled twenty-somethings who are too stupid to change lightbulbs.

Next week, we’ll deal with the third article, with a twist.

Knowing your Muse

2006-04-27T05:55:00.000-07:00

Admittedly inspired by a former post here--I am wondering how people would envision their "Muses." Here are some simple questions:

Is your muse Male or Female or Androgynous?

Is your muse solid or vapor?

Is your muse loyal or does he/she/it flee at any given moment, leaving you hanging like the last dead leaf clinging desperately to the tree in the wind?

Does your muse ever kick you in the butt?

Is your muse gentle and kind, or overbearing and prone to chastisement?

What do you do to "invite" the muse? What have you had the most success with?

I know, silly questions, but well worth the hearing. If your muse has temporarily deserted you, knowing him/her/it may help to bring it back.

N'est ce pas?

Exercise Part II

2006-04-26T05:43:00.000-07:00

Did everyone clip their articles each day? Or did you panic and clip six in a single day? Although there’s nothing wrong with clipping more than six, if there were articles that actually interested you.

I’d be interested in participants sharing, in the comment section below, the articles picked.

I found the week frustrating – it was difficult to find the type of oddity I wanted, other than the very first day. However, looking down my list, it’s not as bad as I feared.

Mine are:

a fruitcake sent to a soldier in Alaska in 1962 that he put aside and discovered 40 years later;
20 somethings who are so stupid and indulged they call the doorman to change a lightbulb;
a runaway police horse;
a 1000 year old stolen Roman statue on its way back to Italy;
how literary parties aren’t fun any more;
Wounded GIs charged for their care and their accounts being turned over to collection agencies

So, now what?

Turn over the articles, face down, and shuffle them around so you don’t know which is which.

Close your eyes and pick up three articles; put them aside. We’ll deal with them in a few weeks.

Close your eyes again and pick out one article from the remaining three. Put the other two aside – we’ll start dealing with those two next week.

Take the article you picked. In the coming week, write a flash fiction piece, 250-500 words, inspired by the article.

Next week, we’ll work with the other two articles.

Which piece did you get? My flash fiction is the one about the wounded GIs. Check back next week.

Organization

2006-04-24T07:04:00.000-07:00

I have a character sheet for each character. It’s not online but I’ll include links to some that are at the end of this post. The front of my sheet is basic info: hair, eyes, occupation, relationships, personality quirks/habits and distinctive physical characteristics (scars, etc go here). I write important back-story information on the back. These sheets stay in a thin three ring binder. I don't fill them in completely and I don't stress over them but I do write things down as I go. It's easier for me to flip pages in the binder than to search back through a WIP when I can't remember exactly what color eyes so and so has. I keep all of my character sheets in the binder – grouped by project. When I finish a project, I may move the character sheets to that project’s folder in my filing cabinet.

Project folders are where I store outlines, research notes and whatever else comes up for that project. I have one file folder for each project and one labeled Ideas. When I get an idea for a story (whether it’s a novel, a short story or just some vague impressions and a bit of dialogue), I file it away in the Ideas folder. If I’m at the computer, I might pour the idea into a word document and store it in the electronic version of my Ideas folder. If I’m not at the computer, index cards are my friends. I keep a stack in my purse and I’m rarely away from home without my purse. I also keep index cards on the desk and in the kitchen.

The cards are good for jotting down those pesky things I need to remember to do later. It always happens. I sit down at the computer, slide on the headphones, put all six Gary Allan albums in the play list, open my WIP and think “Oh, man, I was supposed to call Jimbo about the chain saw” (or whatever). I have two choices when that happens. Make my call and try again or make a note. I’ve found if I jump up to do whatever it is I remembered, the same thing happens when I manage to get back to the desk. I don’t get anything done if I don’t keep my butt in the chair. Unless I’m facing a time sensitive task like calling my husband before he leaves work because we need milk, I make a note on an index card and immediately file it in my General Notes file. I clean out the General Notes file every week eliminating tasks or adding them to the master to do list I look at each day.

I file everything as soon as possible because my daughters are notorious for grabbing paper from my desk to draw on despite the fact they have a stack of paper in their art cabinet. My index cards, project folders and character sheets help me stay organized and provide quick retrieval of information.

http://www.tarakharper.com/k_char2.htm
http://wordsmithshoppe.com/char_wrksheet.htm
http://www.writerswrite.com/journal/jun98/lazy2.htm

Excercise Part I

2006-04-19T06:22:00.000-07:00

Exercise, Part I

I thought we’d do something different over the next few Wednesdays. Something to jump start creative inspiration.

For the next six days, read a newspaper every day. Pick out one odd article – not a main, featured, headlined article, but one of the little oddities tucked away in the back. Cut it out and pull it aside.

Or, if a photo catches your eye, cut that out.

Next week, we’ll start doing something with them.

Remember now: six small articles. Odd articles. Or photos.

The Muses Unleashed

2006-04-16T03:44:00.000-07:00

As we know, the spirit of creativity can very often give us its signature "nudge" at any time or anywhere. And as writers, certainly our eyes, ears, and yes -- our emotions-- are the basic implements for making it possible.

So, if you'll be celebrating this Easter Sunday with family, friends and loved ones, use this golden opportunity to take in everything that's happening around you. Needless to say, sometimes you just never know how an assembly of people, as well as their interactions with each other, can shape a terrific as well as innovative story line.

Here's to fresh and new story ideas, emanating from a fantastic holiday gathering.

Celebrate life on this special day... and enjoy it.

Happy Easter.

Stretching Geography

2006-04-12T17:48:00.000-07:00

The older I grow, the more place becomes a character in my work. I’ve always connected strongly to certain places and felt revulsion for others. Cape Cod, New Orleans, Northumbria, and Scotland give me a strong sense of peace, belonging, love, and ferocious “rightness”.

And there are other places I can’t wait to leave.

However, writing about a real place can often cause problems. For instance, in New York City, real estate and neighborhoods change on a daily basis. What was once my favorite bar down the street on The Deuce when I lived in Times Square became a Dominio’s Pizza, which was then torn down to make way for a high rise. I walked past it last weekend, and now there’s a 7-Eleven installed in it. 7-Eleven in New York City?

When you create fiction and use real places, the places often change. Or, far too often, writers can’t be bothered to even look at a map and get streets right. (That tendency makes me nuts – a writer disrespects my city like that, I don’t buy the person’s work again). It’s one thing to make up bars and apartment houses and streets and even entire towns. It’s quite another to make mistakes in real geography out of carelessness.

When I went back to my mystery serial Tapestry, which is set in New York City’s East Village in the early 1990s, I realized just how tough it is to be true to geography. Yes, I invent some stores and bars. I also mix them in with real ones. And I re-walked the streets of the Village again, to make sure I got my streets and my cross-streets correct. The restaurants may come and go, but, hopefully, St. Mark’s Place will remain for a few more centuries.

Thank goodness I still had the diaries from those years, when I lived in Times Square, but worked and spent most of my time in the Village. It was on the cusp of gentrification then, which is one of the peripherals dealt with in the story. But I had the names of restaurants and stores and all sorts of places which no longer exist, so I could add that touch of realism to the piece. People who lived there at the time and know the neighborhood well could enjoy the celebration of the landmarks.

And yes, I’ll have to add, in the acknowledgements, something about the way the place has changed, and will continue to change over the years.

It’s difficult to change the actual geography of a place like New York City without thoroughly angering many readers. But what about lesser-known places?

I’ve set several sets of stories in a place based on my hometown, which is outside of New York City, on Long Island Sound. However, I didn’t want to be trapped by its exact geography and limitations. For instance, in the stories featuring the characters who originally appear in “Dogs on Beach” (under the name Christy Miller), I wanted to use the town beach and park, but have it within walking distance of the main street of the town. In reality, it’s several miles, and you can’t nip to the newsstand I have in “History Lesson” for the Sunday paper unless you’re training for one of the charity walks.

So I made up an additional Westchester town, stretched the shoreline of Long Island Sound, and squeezed it in between the actual towns. Now I can refer to the actual towns, including my hometown, but still have the freedom of the fictional town so I can make up any sort of geography I want, without hurting anyone’s sensibilities. The geography will be created to serve the needs of the story, instead of having to conform the story to the geography, the way I had to do in Tapestry.

I did the same thing with the stories set on Cape Cod, dealing with environmentalism, that begin with “Impressions” (under the Ava Dunne name). The geography of the drive between New York over the Bourne Bridge to the Cape is correct – I’ve done it many times. However, I wanted a different town than Barnstable or Mashpee or Marstons Mills, but I wanted it to be in that general vicinity. So I created Miller’s Pond, stretching that area of the Cape, sticking in a few extra salt marshes, and using a name that’s been in the family, and a family name that’s been in Massachusetts for generations.

My intent is to be respectful to the region, but still serve the story first. These regions are characters in the stories. I don’t want to do a disservice to the real places, yet the needs of the stories go beyond actual geography.

I have pieces set in Edinburgh, in Paris, in London, in Ayrshire, in pre-Katrina New Orleans. You better believe I spend hours pouring over maps, and, when I’m actually in the regions, hours walking the streets, taking notes and photographs, getting my hands on any map I can.

I have a drawer full of maps from the 1960s and 1970s, when I traveled with my parents. Many of the maps are different now – new roads, new construction. Yet, when I set something in the 1960s or 1970s, I can pull out those maps and see how it was. When I write historical work, I hunt down maps or facsimile maps of the region in that time.

Geography is as important as plot or character. Balancing respect for actual geography with the needs of fictional geography is sometimes frustrating, always fascinating, and very necessary, in my work, anyway, for it to succeed.

Cracking The Code

2006-04-09T03:41:00.000-07:00

As an avid reader of Anna Louise's Live Journal blog, I find her candid and in-depth windows into the publishing industry to be both informative and timely -- especially in an age of such code words, catch phrases, and reasons for rejection as: "In today's tight publishing market..." along with many others.

Anna Louise is an editor for Tor Books , whose insightful online journal entries are getting lots of buzz and attention these days -- even from a few top literary agents and editors who are now bloggers themselves.

I found her recent post in which she attempts to decode, and thereby, give her readers a clearly defined," inside look" into the industry, to be a standout among her entries to date. I also highly recommend it as a behind-the-scenes view of the business machine (yes, once again folks, it's a *business* -- just like any other) more commonly known as modern-day publishing.

Read Anna's post here on "Demystifying Publishing."

Drop Them A Line

2006-04-05T07:33:00.000-07:00

Have you read a book you truly enjoy recently? A book that made you laugh or cry or think or see the world differently than you saw it before reading the book?

Write the author a note.

It doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Just scribble a few lines telling the writer that you read the book and how it affected you. A simple “I enjoyed the book” is plenty.

It makes a difference.

Books create intimacy. Reading is an act of intimacy between the reader and the writer. Something unique is shared in that connection. No two readers, as much as they enjoy the same book, ever experience it in exactly the same way.

Emails are one thing, but sitting down to write a writer an actual note on a postcard or stationery makes a difference. Think of the time it took the writer to write the book. Think of how long it takes you to write a book.

Isn’t it worth the ten minutes of appreciation? And a fun postcard or a sheet of pretty notepaper?

Doesn’t it make a difference to you, as a writer, when a reader you’ve never met sends a note out of the blue, letting you know that your work matters?

Carolyn See talks about writing to writers in her book Making a Literary Life. She calls them “charming notes” and advocates writing one per day, along with four pages of whatever prose you write.

I applaud her encouragement, but I prefer to write the note spontaneously, as I’ve finished the actual book. Sometimes, I need a few days to think about what I’ve just read, and then I write the note. As a reader, it makes me feel that I’m giving something back to a writer who has spent time and love and energy on a project of the heart. As a writer, when I receive such a note (and it usually arrives on a difficult day when I need a bit of cheer), it gives me joy. I’ll keep writing no matter what – but to have a reader acknowledge the connection means I’m not writing in a vaccum.

Take the time. Today, drop the writer a line.

30 Years Of Punk And A New Kind Of Music Journalism

2006-04-04T03:08:00.000-07:00

Today, in a mini-celebration to the 30-year anniversary of the start of punk, I'm going to take a look at the role journalists in the UK had during the 70's punk explosion.

On March 30th 1976, the Sex Pistols played the 100 Club in London's Oxford Street. It is an event that 30 years on, is still celebrated as a watershed moment in British musical history. It heralded the start of the punk era, kicked off a revolution in swearing, spitting and self-mutilation, and changed forever the way the press wrote about British popular music.

Up until the face of Johnny Rotten became a household name, reporting on music was largely boring. Bands and artists were clean-cut, or as clean-cut as you could get if you forgot about Pink Floyd and the other 1960's believers. Flares and nostalgia were out; living for now was in.

Post-rotten and Britain found itself in the grip of a hysteria the like had never been seen since The Beatles. There were many similarities; "The Beatles are bad for our children,"; "Rock and roll is the music of the devil," and so on. When Rotten appeared on stage with his vile temperament and matching frown the older generations were disgusted, the youth lapped it up, and the press couldn't believe their luck.

Pretty soon punk bands were sprouting up everywhere. "The attitude was 'anybody can have a go at this' - it gave you the confidence to start a band," remembers Pauline Murray of Penetration. The Damned, The Vibrators, The Clash and The Stranglers all lined up for their piece of the action and pretty soon music magazines were exploding to life with a new kind of edgier reporting.

Stories of fights between the bands were common as the press vied for the best sales. "There was a face-off outside a gig," says Jean-Jacques Burnel of The Stranglers. "It was us against the Pistols, The Clash and Chrissie Hynde. From then on the press were on their side and we were ostracised. Then we started getting accused of misogyny because of the lyrics to Peaches. Misogyny means you hate women - I adore women! It was easy to shock people."

And for many that seemed to be all punk was about; shocking people in both the song lyrics and on stage behaviour. When the violence between the bands escalated outside into the streets, the Mary Whitehouse Brigade used the media to hit back at the roll of the punk rock idols.

"The mood in the country was restless," says Eddie from The Vibrators. "Everyone was fed up with the government interfering in their lives and they wanted a change.
Our first major gig was at the 100 Club in September 1976. Unfortunately it turned ugly when Sid Vicious started throwing glasses from the side of the stage during The Damned's set. One girl lost an eye and a bloke had 10 stitches in his head. I walked on stage and saw blood everywhere. I thought if this is people's idea of punk rock then they can shove it."

Eddie stuck with it but many didn't and slowly the punk era died away as quickly as Sid Vicious himself. The press got bored with it all as things seemed to spiral out of control. Punk eat itself and the media won few friends from either side with their reporting of the lower end of the musical spectrum.

And besides, 2-Tone was about to be launched, so who needed the Pistols? Right?

2006-04-03T08:16:00.000-07:00

On message boards, there are three basic personality types.

One type is outgoing and chatty. This group reminds me of my 7-year-old daughter. She'll talk to anyone. "I like Barbie, Care Bears...yada yada yada. What's your name? What do you like?" When we were waiting for my husband to meet us at the theater for Star Wars Episode 3, she walked up to a complete stranger and wrapped her arms around his legs. "I just thought you needed a hug." She jumps into situations headfirst. She always has.

The second group is slightly less sociable than the first. They remind me of my youngest daughter. She introduces herself to people then only contributes to conversations if someone asks a question she can answer or if there's something she's anxious to announce. She likes to test the water before she dives in.

The third group reminds me of my middle daughter. She won't speak to strangers unless I prod her to say hello. She doesn't draw attention to herself even among relatives. When someone comes to our house, her sisters run to the visitor for hugs and attention. She hangs back taking it all in.

On a message board, my middle daughter would be a lurker. The youngest would be someone who posts an introduction and contributes when she has something to say and the oldest would be one of the chatty people who keeps the board moving so it doesn’t become stale.

Someone said people who feel left out should post more. A person in the second or third group might try that. It might work for some but I don’t believe it would work for everyone. Writer A might post frequently for a month or two before cutting back again. It would be difficult to maintain what would probably feel like a phony persona.

The best way to deal with this is simply to be more understanding of the different posting styles. No one can be forced to post more or less frequently than they wish to post. Online forums don’t have participation requirements.

*Please note, the three basic types is an oversimplification.

Morrell On Writing

2006-04-02T03:26:00.000-07:00

Author David Morrell has been writing in the thriller genre for multiple decades, and now, he's sharing the wisdom responsible for such books as First Blood (which introduced the character of John "Rambo" to the world), as well as many others.

Lesson One: Why Do You Want To Be A Writer? is featured here at Backspace The Writer's Place, and excerpted from Morrell's non-fiction writing handbook Lessons From A Lifetime Of Writing.

Check it out whenever you can. It's truly worth the look.

Janice Galloway (b.1956)

2006-03-28T02:17:00.000-08:00

Janice Galloway was born in Saltcoats, Scotland, in 1956. She was the second daughter of James Galloway and Janet Clark McBride, and came much later than the other children in the family; her mother once referring to the birth gap as "a mistake".

Her father, James, was an alcoholic and very unpredictable. “He was very sentimental about his children in public,” Janice once said, “but apart from that, I have few memories of him.” Her parents separated when she was four and her father died when she was six years old.

Janice was raised by a family with a strong connection to the Ayrshire mining industry and as was normal for that part of the world, money to support the family was hard-earned. As a widow, her mother, Janet, was entitled to a job in the local school as dinner lady as well as the state widow's pension, the equivalent of 50p per week.

Despite working through a deprived school system, she was bright and attentive and enjoyed learning. Music lessons drew the best out of her from an early age and in those days ear testing was carried out as standard. Any child showing some talent was given an instrument to play with free lessons thrown in. Galloway once admitted her school’s approach to music “changed my life”.

The school she attended had two orchestras, three chamber groups and various choirs. Janice joined them all. She received assistance and encouragement from her music teacher, Ken Hetherington, to the extent it was he who asked Galloway’s mother if she could go to University. After several attempts to persuade Janet, she agreed and Janice left for Glasgow University.

She studied Music and English before taking a year out and working briefly as a Welfare Rights Officer for Strathclyde Regional Council. She had become disillusioned with the establishment, but later returned to complete her degree.

After she graduated Janice found herself unemployed for some time. Fed up with seeing her daughter’s failure to turn a further education qualification into a serious pay packet, caused Janet to persuade Janice to go into teaching. She taught for ten years and later attended a writers' class at Glasgow University, where she used her creative energies to address the issues of depravation and the transformation she went through from child to adult.

Her acclaimed first novel, The Trick is to Keep Breathing (1989), a bleak story of alienation set on a council estate in Glasgow, is widely considered to be a contemporary Scottish classic novel. It won the MIND Book of the Year/Allen Lane Award and a Scottish Arts Council Book Award, and it was short-listed for the Whitbread First Novel Award and the Irish Times International Fiction Prize. It was adapted for the stage by Michael Boyd and has been performed in Glasgow, London and Toronto.

Her second novel, Foreign Parts (1994), describes two women's adventures on a driving holiday through northern France and won the McVitie's Prize for Scottish Writer of the Year. In that same year, she was awarded the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Galloway is the author of two collections of short stories: Blood (1991), which was short-listed for the Guardian Fiction Prize and the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award, was also named as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Where You Find It followed in 1996 before Galloway took employment as a writer in residence for four Scottish prisons.

In 1999 she was the Times Literary Supplement Research Fellow to the British Library, and recently she has worked with the composer Sally Beamish on an opera libretto, Monster, based on the life of Mary Shelley, which was performed in Glasgow in the spring of 2002.

Her radio work for the BBC has included the two-part series Life As A Man, a major 7-part series entitled Imagined Lives, and, most recently, In Wordsworth's Footsteps. Her latest novel, Clara, about the nineteenth-century musician Clara Schumann, also published in 2002, is the winner of the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award.

Also of that year was awarded a Scottish Arts Council Creative Scotland Award in order to work on a collaboration with visual artist Anne Bevan. The project incorporated text and sculpture, 'throwing a new perspective on the medical processes surrounding women', and was shown at the Hunterian Museum during early 2004.

Janice Galloway’s work is representative of contemporary Scottish life as she employs an ironic and knowing world-weary sense of humour to depict the condition of Scottish urban life. Her writing gives voice to the feminine condition in Scottish working-class communities, largely ignored by Scottish writers up until now.

As with other writers of the new Scottish renaissance, in the years after devolution her interests have turned from a consideration of the specifically Scottish to broaden her outlook as a participant in European and global culture. Galloway has emerged as a significant force in Scottish cultural life, and her writing has given voice to females within Scottish working-class communities, largely ignored by Scottish writers up until now.

Scribblers

2006-03-26T03:31:00.000-08:00

In the age of the pocket-sized techno-gadgetry that keeps our daily lives alphabetized, journalized, organized, and so on, no doubt the age-old pad and pencil are still the vital tools of choice for many writers -- myself included. Those of us more commonly known as "scribblers."

And clearly, as a matter of personal choice, simply jotting it down is still the most reliable and expedient way to get it all down. From that unusual sunset, to the sights and sounds of a local street performer, the snippets of an interesting conversation overheard at a local diner, or a catchy phrase on a billboard sign, these are all the things that inspire us as writers in our everyday lives. And always being outfitted with a pad and pencil (or pen) is the way that, over the years, we've been able to both capture and record it.

Then of course, once we're home again, we can collate these gems into working files or even first draft attempts in our computers, reacquainting us once again with the equally useful world of...technology.

Nevertheless, the age-old ritual of scribbling, will always remain for a good number of us -- an integral part of the everyday writing life.

Exposing Yourself.

2006-03-23T13:15:00.000-08:00

And no, I don't mean it that way. I mean "getting out there" in the Literary World, so to speak.

When you are a writer, contrary to common belief, it's not as if you can sit behind a desk and crank out novels and watch them climb the charts while you hunker down safely in the comfort of your own home. Writing is an ACTION verb. You must be out promoting your book, and actively at that. Publicity, book signings, appearances, etc. Writing is not for hermits, in general.

You also need to surround yourself with people who write, who can give you HONEST feedback. The best friend I ever had, completely crucified my novel, pointing out every historical error I had made. (And there were more than a few!) After I got over my thin-skinned self, I realized that she had done me a great service. She felt comfortable in our friendship--comfortable enough to give me honest feedback, rather than polite and encouraging feedback, which was what I always got from my mother, sister, etc.

The key is this, if you want praise, get feedback from your family. If you want the truth, give it to your good friends, or your writer's group, whether it be online or at the local coffee shop every week. Feedback is VITAL to success in writing. None of us are equipped with perfect abilities by ourselves, we need to open our eyes and expose ourselves to society in the sense that we need to know what's going on out there, and the niche our writing would fit into.

This isn't the 1800's. We live in a fast-paced, commercial world, and we need to write and ACT accordingly. It's a tough business. The faint-of-heart (and hermits too) need not apply.

Support and Honesty

2006-03-22T05:11:00.000-08:00

If you’re going to be a professional writer, you have to surround yourself with people who support your work. This means re-training those around you. You are a writer – you are put on this planet to change people’s perceptions of the world via storytelling. You are not on this planet to fetch and carry and cater to them.

People have to learn that writing is not like folding laundry; they can’t interrupt you when you’re writing. You can lose your best idea, and it will never come back if someone interrupts you at the wrong time. I have a sign that I put outside the front door:

Writer at Work
Is this a mortal emergency?
Because if it’s not and
you interrupt me,
I’m going to be rude.

When I’m writing, I turn off the phone and I don’t answer the door. Period.

I make sure I get up every hour and half or so for a break, and then I check messages, in case there is an emergency. But I do not allow the interruptions.

I realize it’s different when you have kids; however, kids don’t have to be entertained 24/7, nor does a parent have to drop everything to assuage a child’s whim. Kids need structure and discipline. It doesn’t do permanent damage if the kid doesn’t get what the kid wants instantly. Plus, it teaches the child to respect the parent’s time. Absolutely build playtime with the kids into the day – that’s of primary importance. But, when the kid takes a nap, or has quiet time with a book – that’s your time to write. You can teach your children to look forward and to share your writing time – they can sit in the room and read, or paint or draw while you write. Yes, you’ll have one ear and one eye on them, as a parent does; but you’re spending quiet time together, and it’s something both of you can cherish. Make the time a positive thing, so your child doesn’t see your writing as competition.

I’ve done that with my godchildren – they could read or write or paint while I wrote. Video games, personal stereos turned up loud enough for me to hear, and television were absolutely forbidden. And then we went out and did something fun. One of my god-daughters is now the editor of her high school’s literary magazines.

And there will be other people in your life that need to be removed. People who make fun of your writing or tell you what to write or that you shouldn’t write – limit your time with them or cut them off completely. If you can’t eliminate someone from your life who’s negative, simply refuse to discuss your writing with them. “That topic is not open for discussion” and change the subject.

You can only be victimized by jealous people if you allow it. Firm, calm boundaries solve a lot of problems.

At the same time, you don’t want to surround yourself with “yes-people”. You need honest feedback. All writers have habits they fall into, patterns that don’t work that they repeat, typos, tired sentence structure, places where they miss the boat. After awhile, you stop seeing your work and you see it as you think it is. That’s when you need a support group of people who can tell you, honestly and, most importantly, constructively, where you’ve gone off the rails.

I like to have both writers and non-writers in that group. The non-writers are avid readers. They may not have an English degree, or write more than the annual Christmas letter. But, because they read so much, they have an innate sense of what works and what doesn’t. And my close writer friends know my bad habits and love me anyway, but catch me out.

If writing is your path, something else has to go. You can’t be all things to all people and do everything the school, church, neighbors and family demand and still be a writer. Remember: writers are still writing, even if it looks like they’re staring at a wall.

People your life with those who are excited about your journey. It’s like running a marathon – you need people to cheer you, to hand you water and towels, to provide band-aids, and to guide you back when you take a wrong turn.

You don’t need people who tell you that you can’t do it.

Ivor Cutler RIP

2006-03-21T05:43:00.000-08:00

First of all, please accept my apologies for both the lateness of this posting and of the non-posting of last week's entry. A combination of illness and other unavoidable legal scenarios have conspired against me.

Today, later than ever before, I'd like to remember Ivor Cutler, who died last week. Take it away -

Ivor Cutler, the famous Glaswegian poet and musician, died last week at the age of 83. Cutler, wrote songs and poetry in a surreal voice, was still performing his work to live audiences up until 2004. He wrote many books and radio shows, and was a hugely talented illustrator.

Cutler appeared regularly on the John Peel Radio Show, performing live to millions of BBC radio listeners. The Beatles, who were immense fans of his, even gave him a role in the film Magical Mystery Tour where he played the character Buster Bloodvessel.

His 1967 album Ludo, produced by George Martin, was re-released in 1997 by Creation Records, the ex-label of UK rick band Oasis.

Born into a middle-class Jewish family in Glasgow, Cutler attributed his artistic talents to the displacement he felt when his younger brother was born.

"Without that I would not have been so screwed up as I am, and therefore not as creative," he said. “Without a kid brother I would have been quite dull."

He served with the RAF in World War II, before turning his attentions to teaching. He eventually moved to London but continued to teach, at the same time pursuing his artistic career. He retired from teaching in 1980 but continued to produce works of amazing beauty up until his death last week.

He will be sadly missed.

Book Sense

2006-03-19T03:15:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to The 2006 Book Sense Book of the Year Winners in the categories of:

*Adult Fiction
The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova

*Adult Nonfiction
Freakonomics, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

*Children's Literature
Inkspell, by Cornelia Funke

*Children's Illustrated
Zen Shorts, by Jon J. Muth

Independent booksellers have chosen to honor these handselling favorites from among a wide array of interesting, unique, and thought-provoking titles sold in their stores during the past year. And, in a time when by many reports, book sales are on the decline, these awards are certainly a breath of fresh air for the industry, for authors, and for regular book-buying consumers alike.

Read more here about these awards, and other recent news from the ABA (American Booksellers Association).

Writing Through Fear

2006-03-15T18:31:00.000-08:00

It happens to all writers. You’re chugging along. The plot flows, the characters talk and, suddenly . . .

It’s not a block.

But you begin to second-guess yourself. You begin to edit as you write, not because the work is ready for editing yet, but because you’ve lost confidence in yourself.

Sometimes it happens because you got a rejection regarding another project. Sometimes it comes after a harsh session with your writers’ group. Sometimes, a choice word from someone close to you sets you off, or an inconsiderate comment from a non-writer acquaintance.

The words start to look odd on the page. You start to think you’re no good as a writer, or that you can’t possibly make it a career.

Take a deep breath.

And don’t leave the page.

Push through it, write through it. Don’t let your own fears or someone else’s agenda be what stops you from writing. Remember, writing requires an enormous amount of time and space, both physically and emotionally. Those around you have to adjust. It often doesn’t fit into their agendas and their convenience, so they will try to sabotage you.

If you are serious about writing, you must remove these people from your life no matter what. Even relatives can be controlled – must be controlled – when it comes to your writing. Your writing is non-negotiable.

Don’t use others as your excuse not to write. And then, get out of your own way and write.

Doing It All

2006-03-13T09:16:00.000-08:00

"How do you do it all?" I encountered that question twice last week. The short answer is 'you can't.' You'll run yourself ragged if you try. You can, however, make changes in your life to make room for dreams, children, etc. Below are a few tips to keep in mind when making changes.

1) Know yourself.

Some people don't have a problem letting housework slide. Others, myself included, cannot focus in a messy, cluttered environment. Housework comes before writing in my daily routine because I want to be at my best when I greet the page. Some writers swear by getting up an hour earlier, some insist on sticking to a routine. I have a basic routine built around my daughters' needs. The important thing is to know your own quirks.

2) Prioritize

I can't (and won't) rank certain aspects of my life by how important they are to me. My top priorities are my daughters, my career, my marriage and myself. My physical, spiritual and emotional wellbeing fall under the 'myself' heading. Friends, volunteer work and my extended family come right after those top four. If I created a pie chart of how I spent my time each month for a year, no two months would be the same. Circumstances sometimes demand that I focus more closely on one thing. If my husband was sick, he might appear to be more important based solely on the amount of time I spent taking care of him. If I had a deadline, my career might seem more important. I have interests outside of the seven categories listed above. I just don't pursue those interests actively at this point in my life. Last year, I planted flowers all along the front of the house. Weeds overtook the flowers. I wanted flowers but weeding isn't high on my priority list so that particular chore kept getting put off. This year, I'll stick to a few plants in decorative containers placed strategically around the yard. I don't see my friends often and I rarely sit down in front of the TV. When I do sit in front of the TV, it's not to watch a popular program. It's to watch a DVD with my children or husband. We got rid of Dishnetwork years ago. I think our TV picks up two local channels. I don't miss it.

3) Lower Your Expectations

Don't give yourself a 'to do' list only someone with superhuman powers can complete. I once talked to a woman who planned to make every meal from scratch, grow all her own vegetables, make clothes for her children, volunteer at the hospital, coach little league and climb the corporate ladder. After a short time, she lowered her expectations. She makes one meal from scratch on the weekend and other foods through the week when time permits. She grows a few vegetables and makes Halloween costumes. She buys the rest. She's volunteering as a coach for now and later, when her kids are grown, will volunteer at the hospital. It's great to have a list of things you'd like to do just remember you don't have to do them all now.

4) Don't Beat Yourself Up

There will be times when things fall apart. Even the best juggler drops a ball now and then. One bad hour doesn't have to ruin your day and one bad day shouldn't ruin your week. Make the next one better and cut yourself some slack. A bad day, week or month doesn't make you a failure at anything. It makes you human. People get sick. Cars break down. Life happens. We often look back after something happens and say, "I should’ve seen it coming. There were warning signs." To that, I offer Grandma's words of wisdom. "Shoulda, woulda, and coulda ain't movin' you forward."

There are a few important things to remember. The only 'wrong way' to be a writer is to never put a word on the page. What works for others may not work for you. Try different things until you find what works for you. Most important of all, if it's all a bunch of drudgery to you, make some changes. You should enjoy your life.

Book Relief: For Those In Need

2006-03-12T03:46:00.000-08:00

Book Relief is an unprecedented, publishing industry-wide effort that has already distributed countless numbers of new books:

to those displaced by the 2005 hurricanes,
to organizations, schools, and libraries supporting the evacuees, and
to replenish the schools and libraries being rebuilt on the Gulf Coast.

In New Orleans, last year during the horrific episodes of Hurricanes Katrina & Rita, 118 of 126 schools sustained damage; in Mississippi, 300 schools were damaged, 24 of them severely damaged or destroyed. Nearly 190,000 Louisiana students were displaced. As organizations start to rebuild the Gulf Coast, Book Relief will be there to supply them with new books as they reopen.

Read more here about this *ongoing* effort, and the help that is still needed to place books into the hands of our nation's schoolchildren, as well as others who need them.

Let's Be Honest

2006-03-08T03:02:00.000-08:00

Writers have taken to tip-toeing around issues that concern us, cost us money, and, most importantly, cost us emotional and creative energy, simply because we’re afraid of annoying “the biz.”

While we all know that we’ll have to do things we’d rather not, it’s important that we admit to ourselves, and, if we wish, to our immediate support group, the aspects of handling a writing career that we hate.

I hate the fact that writers are expected to do the jobs of the marketing and publicity departments in addition to the actual writing of the book – only the writer’s not getting paid for the additional work.

A good part of my freelance business is PR writing. It takes up a good bit of my freelance business for the very fact that it pays well, and it requires a definite set of skills that are different from novel or short-story writing.

Yet, once a novel is picked up, I’m expected to do an enormous amount of work FOR the publicity and marketing department (not necessarily WITH them, but FOR them) – without pay.

It’s time to sit down and tote up the figures if I was paid hourly as a freelancer for such an assignment. Just roughly figuring the ballpark puts in the thousands of dollars.

“Oh, but you’re selling books and building your audience and working your way towards the best seller list . . .”

I might buy that argument first time out, as I’m building credits. But there’s got to come a point where the writer looks at the overall price of what is paid versus what is demanded and starts crunching numbers like any astute business person. This is our business, not our hobby. We should not be penalized simply because we’re passionate about our work. We should be PAID for it.

Time to bring out those negotiating skills.

I think we should start figuring in that additional time and work when we talk advances. Yes, most of the time we’re so thrilled someone actually wants to publish the baby of our soul that we accept any advance. But start sitting down and figuring out how much that advance works out to, per hour or per word, and how much additional money the time spent on publicity and marketing would bring in, if you were doing it for someone else’s book.

Once you’ve got a couple of books published and have established your track record, start pushing your advance figure higher. Do you have to tell your agent or publisher how you reached your number? Of course not. But know it for yourself, so that you know you’re actually getting paid for the work you’ve done.

Not only will others respect you for getting paid closer to what you’re worth, you’ll respect yourself.

Aye Robot

2006-03-07T00:09:00.000-08:00

Margaret Atwood, the acclaimed Canadian author of such titles as Oryx and Crake and the Man Booker Prize winning The Blind Assassin, astounded the London book Fair yesterday by unveiling the worlds first LongPen, a device which enables writers to sign books anywhere in the world without leaving the comfort of their armchairs.

When asked by a journalist if it was an early April Fools’ joke, Atwood said, “Would I really go to the trouble of coming here to launch it if it was a hoax?”

Atwood came up with the idea after a particularly exhausting book-signing trip, which saw her travel to several far flung nations in a short space of time. "It was pretty strenuous,” she said, “I thought, 'wouldn't it be good if you could sign books with a signature that whizzed through the air?'

When she returned home she set up her own company and developed the LongPen. It works when the author inscribes onto a special tablet, which is then converted electronically. Whatever is written onto the tablet is immediately replicated by the electronic arm on the other side of the world. A video link ensures the recipient can still see the author and they are even able to conduct a conversation through the technology.

But will this innovation spell the end of the book tour? Or is it just another flash-in-the-pan nice-to-have invention?

Atwood doesn’t think so. “It won’t replace the book tour, and I am still very keen to meet my fans. Amazon has changed things over the years. Now books are international and there is a lot of pressure to be in 17 places at once. Authors will still visit major cities but this will enable them to do signings in places they would otherwise never visit.”

Next week: The robotic fiction writer.

Author And Trailblazer

2006-03-05T03:33:00.000-08:00

This past week many of us mourned the death of science fiction author, Octavia Butler, who left us suddenly, at the age of 58.

A gifted writer who ushered in scores of readers who would otherwise never have ventured into the SF and fantasy genres, without a doubt, she will be sorely missed. For me personally, I was ushered in with total ease when I first read her late 1970s series titled, The Patternist.

As mentioned on many occasions during her notable career, her father was a shoeshine man who died when she was a child in her native Southern California, and her mother was a maid who brought her along on her domestic jobs. Yet, she rose from these humble beginnings to become one of the country's leading writers -- a female African- American pioneer in the domain of science fiction, which at the time was an area few writers of color had attempted to lend their voices. And once there, needless to say, Octavia Butler did indeed raise the bar even higher for *all* writers worldwide who sought to follow her.

You can read more here about this phenomenal American writer who was, by far, a unique author as well as a profound visionary.

Addicted to Books?

2006-03-02T13:37:00.000-08:00

I recently lamented in my writer's forum that I wished there was a "Bookaholics Anonymous" because I have to admit, I'm obsessed with the durn things. I collect everything from the classics, to first editions, mostly hardcover, and I stack them everywhere in my poor office.

I have a problem. Or I guess you could call me a "Book Enthusiast," if you're the Glass-is-half-full Type.

Hey, Stephen King said in his book On Writing: "If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time or the tools to write." This is very true. If you aren't an especially prolific reader, how on earth can you expect to be a good writer? You need to see what's out there. You need to read the works of others. You need to educate yourself.

And you need books to do this! (Or at least a well-worn library card)
Yes, I'm rationalizing, but imagine my relief and surprise to learn that I am not the only one in my writing group with this "addiction." Everyone else seemed to have it. A hazzard of the trade, I suppose.

I guess there are worse vices...

Developing Characters

2006-02-28T00:46:00.000-08:00

One of the best things about writing fiction is creating and developing new characters. Usually it’s not enough just to have a character talk and do things, as though totally scripted and predictable. It’s much more satisfying as a writer and for the reader, if the characters come alive on the page.

Everybody has their own foibles, small idiosyncrasies that most people never get to see. When developing a character, I like to create these wee things as well. Every minor thing a character does, be it the way they lift a glass or react when someone mentions travelling on a plane; every decision as to a character’s personality is a conscious one.

Well, most of the time it is. Some characters take over the reigns of deciding what is best for them and sometimes it’s just best to sit back and enjoy the ride. I like to let them do the talking and make the decisions; it’s good as a writer and usually it works out fine for the story.

But thinking up new characters isn’t always easy. I have two main sources of inspiration: magazines and the public.

In magazines or newspapers I look for pictures of people who look like they have a story to tell. It may be an elderly lady lying in hospital or a young thug arrested for breach of the peace, but they all have something to say, something written on their face that gives them depth, something that belies their behaviour, perhaps.

Very often these characters come to life in extraordinary ways, such as a simple news story or an advert for hair gel. Their name pops straight into my head and their background starts to unravel naturally. I write all this down and cut out their picture, then stick it away inside a folder for a day when I need that character. Sometimes they go straight into a story, but either way if they are interesting enough then when they are included in a story they will add something extra, something special to a work of fiction.

The second method is people watching. Simply sitting on a bus or in a crowded place can very often throw the most interesting people and conversations into your path. With a notebook and pencil handy, these people very often make it into my stories without ever knowing they were involved.

Guessing what they do for al living, how and where they live, who the people they are with (if any) are all interesting aspects that help build up a characters personality. As are how they wear their hair, their clothes and make-up or just the shape and colour of their eyes. Very often the rest just falls into place.

But there is an art to this. One can’t just sit staring at people in bars or trains. It would cause a stir and most likely the attention of the local constabulary. Some people don't like to be stared at, so it is useful to pretend to be doing something else.

People watching can have its upside though. While in a bar in Edinburgh I was people watching with a friend. There was a group of people at a table, a mixture of young males and females and they all made interesting characters, especially one girl. She was full of energy and seemed to be the soul of the group. She spotted me listening in and approached me. To cut a long story short I ended up having a relationship with her. It also turned out she was high up in the Scottish Parliamentary system, so I got a lot of research done for an as yet unwritten best-selling political thriller.

Our Writing Minds

2006-02-26T03:04:00.000-08:00

A recent article by Steven Hendlin, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist from Newport Beach, California is a must read, covering the overall bases behind the creative elements attached to plotting a story that captures the minds of all who read it, as well as the emotional "highs and lows" we sometimes face throughout our journeys in the writing craft. Dr. Hendlin has been in private practice for 30 years and is formerly a columnist for TheStreet.com. He currently writes the Shrink Rap column for Coast Magazine, and is the author of four books and hundreds of professional and popular articles, reviews, and columns.

This recent article is being offered this month at Backspace The Writer's Place, and is very aptly titled Your Write Mind

Do check this one out if you can.

What's your Genre?

2006-02-23T09:14:00.000-08:00

This can be a tricky question. There are SO many genres out there these days. Gone are the days when the main genres were Literary Fiction, Romance, Science Fiction, Nonfiction, etc.

So, if I'm writing a novel (fiction) with elements of romance, suspense, mystery and history, would it be considered a mysterious romantic historical thriller? Or would I take the heavier element and call it that?

I'd say the latter. If you find romance is the dominant theme, start with Romance. There are so many to choose from--Romantic thrillers, paranormal romances, gay romances, historical romances, etc. The lesser elements would define which category within Romance you fall into.

Does this make sense? Literary Agent Kristin Nelson said it perfectly in today's blog entry: (you can read it here)

"I’ll get a cover letter that will say something like this: “my story is a blend of science fiction and romantic comedy with elements of suspense. It can be called Chick Lit.” Huh? It is only the extraordinary writer who can outrageously defy genre boundaries and become a phenomenal success. It just doesn’t happen often. You need to know where your novel fits in the market."

This is directly from the Horse's mouth, folks. You need to nail down your genre--it will be hard, but you can do it!

I write YA historicals with fantasy/paranormal elements, and of course I throw in a little romance and suspense and mystery and thrills and chills.

But if you ask me what I write, I'll tell you I write YA.

If I can do it, you can do it! :-)

Jealousy and Envy

2006-02-22T11:01:00.000-08:00

“God. You must really hate it when someone in your writing group gets a contract.”

I get tired of hearing that line. Because, actually, when someone I know gets a contract for a piece of writing, I’m thrilled. I’m delighted. I do a little dance of joy.

Getting published is not a competition, as much as industry professionals try to turn it into blood sport. Yes, each publisher can only afford to contract a finite number of books. Yes, it’s difficult to become one of those.

However, human beings have an insatiable need for stories. And there are as many different points of view as there are individuals. You find the right match, agent and publisher wise, and your book comes out. Then, you hunt down your readers. And, maybe, you might get ten or fifteen minutes to actually do what it is you want to do, which is write your next book, and thereby build a career.

“Jealousy” means you’re worried about losing something or overly possessive. One actually has to have a career in the field in order to be jealous of someone else in the field. It is motivated by fear that if someone else does well, it means you will suffer. That’s simply not true.

Most people buy books. Not “book”, but “books”. When I stand in line for checkout at a bookstore, I snoop. I take a look at what the other buyers are buying. It’s terribly selfish – I want to know which of these are my potential readers. Or, in some cases, if they’re carrying a volume including my work, they are an actual reader, and I’m quite pleased. One thing I’ve noticed, standing in line in bookstores, is the variety of books people tend to bring to the counter. They are far more likely to simply add another book to the pile than put one back.

I think that’s a good sign. And it’s one of many reasons that jealousy is a waste of time.

“Envy” is seeing someone else have something you want and resenting it. Unpublished writers often envy published writers. A midlist writer might envy someone who topped the best seller list. It’s natural.

It’s also unnecessary. If you feel that momentary pang of envy, ask yourself why you don’t have what the other person has (i.e, a career in the field you love). And then take steps to get it. After all, you don’t want someone else’s actual career. You want your own career that is on an equal level to the person who sparked the envy.

Envy can be a positive emotion. You can use it as a catalyst to re-evaluate what’s missing in your own life and take positive steps to achieve it.

If you sit there and stew in these emotions, you’ll poison yourself. Wouldn’t your time and energy be better spent . . .writing?

Scotland - Not Scottish Enough

2006-02-21T02:44:00.000-08:00

Irvine Welsh's novel, Ecstasy, was controversial enough back in 1997 for accurately portraying (glorfying?) what it's like to be under the influence of an ecstasy tablet. Nine years on, and Welsh seems to be unable to remove himself from these close-encounters, but this time it’s the movie-makers who are in a strop over the drug-addled story.

Irvine's seventh book is currently filming in Scotland with stars such as Trevor Eve, John Hannah and Kathleen McDermott, but in a few weeks the entire production is scheduled to be moved down south to England to complete production.

Why the shift? Producers were told by the backers, Scottish Screen, that the project did not qualify for lottery funding as the locations "weren't Scottish enough" to be shot in Scotland.

Scottish Screen have been arguing with the producers over a true Scottish location for some time now and as a result, the £6 million movie about Edinburgh's drug scene will now be filmed on the streets of Liverpool.

Is it that Liverpool has a suitable backdrop equivalent to that of Edinburgh? Or is it that the world's perception of Scotland, and in particular it's cancerous drug-addicted section of society, is worse than it is in reality?

This may of course be down to the success of such films like Trainspotting, which exposed the world to the effects of heroin from an Edinburgh council estate (shot in Glasgow!) A victim of his own success, Welsh may be, but does Scotland deserve to be treated this way when it is trying to remove itself from the drug and alcohol stereotypes we read about almost daily?

I'm sure moving the location of the story to Liverpool will give the film a harder, more deprecating feel, after all, everyone knows the streets of Liverpool are riddled with needles, discarded tin-foil and single mothers with nothing better to do than neglect their kids for the chance of a quick hit.

When the Liverpudlians find out their city is perceived as being relative to the lowest of the Scottish low, maybe they will unite with the people of Edinburgh and voice it to the world that Scotland, England and Britain may have a drug problem, but why should we tell the world it is worse than it is just to make the fat-cat movie producers a bit of holiday cash.

A Poet Named Stevie

2006-02-19T03:25:00.000-08:00

The name Stevie Smith was actually a pseudonym for Florence Margaret Smith (1902-1971), the British writer who is best remembered for her short, simple, yet sometimes very hard-hitting poetry.

Smith was born in Hull, England, but when she was three years old her family moved to the northern London suburb of Palmers Green, where she lived for the rest of her life. Her first and only job was with Newnes-Pearson, British magazine publishers, where she became private secretary to Sir George Newnes and Sir Neville Pearson. She submitted her first volume of poems to British publisher Jonathan Cape when she was 32 years old, but was asked to write a novel instead. Her first book, Novel on Yellow Paper (1936), was an amusing, largely autobiographical monologue. Two other novels in a similar style followed—Over the Frontier (1938) and The Holiday (1949), the story of a failed love affair.

Smith's poetic reputation for amusing, barbed, but often mournful short verses, was established by A Good Time Was Had By All (1937). She achieved fame with Not Waving But Drowning (1957), which has a central concept of loneliness but still retains an underlying comic manner. Four years after her death, The Collected Poems of Stevie Smith (1975), illustrated with Smith's own sketches, was published.

In 1977 Stevie, a stageplay based on her life by British playwright Hugh Whitemore, was produced, with British actress Glenda Jackson in the lead role. The play was made into a successful motion picture in 1978. Me Again: Uncollected Writings of Stevie Smith, Illustrated by Herself, a collection of Smith's reviews, articles, letters, and previously uncollected poetry, was published in 1981.

For me, she was another one of those immensely talented wordsmiths, who sometimes made us laugh -- yet always made us think.

Keeping it Fresh...

2006-02-16T12:02:00.000-08:00

So you've been working on The Novel of the Century and cruising forward full-steam--and you're pausing every five minutes to review and rub your hands together in fiendish glee, because you know this is going to be great--and then...PLUNK.

You hit a wall. Or you get in a funk. Or you have "life" happen and lose your stride.

This happens to every writer. Books don't "write themselves." They get written by humans who are flawed, impatient, imperfect, and well...human.

So, once you've hit the wall or "sunk into a funk" (heh heh, say that five times real fast) how can you get out of it, or get over it, and get back into Fabulous Writer Mode?

The answer is simple: Time.

Take some time from the manuscript. Do things that inspire you--listen to music, watch films, take in a Broadway show, read the works of others, and THEN, go back, and see it with fresh eyes.

The difference will be amazing. You will fall in love with it all over again (nine times out of ten) or you'll be able to push through that wall and go for it. Fresh eyes really make all the difference.

Try it next time you find your writing stuck or stifled, or worse, completely stopped.

Time works. Give it a try.

Fun Writing

2006-02-15T01:53:00.000-08:00

With all the worry about specific writing and detailed writing and sensory writing, too often we forget one thing. To have fun.

Remember the days when you scribbled in a spiral bound notebook while sitting in a park or on a beach?

Recapture those days. Leave the fancy book and pen at home. Get something inexpensive and stain-resistant, shove it in your pocket and GO. Anywhere. You can write as you walk down the street. You can write in any waiting room. You can write in line for the checkout counter.

Sit down, stand up, but just write somewhere that you wouldn’t ordinarily do so. Let the change of scenery change and challenge your imagination.

Top 10 Most Borrowed Authors in UK Libraries

2006-02-14T03:33:00.000-08:00

Catherine Cookson, the author who was the librarians favourite for decades with her highly successful romance novels, last week lost her crown of being the most borrowed author from British libraries, when she fell out of the top ten listings for the first time since records began.

Cookson, who died in 1998 aged 91 years old, fell from the top ten of most borrowed authors, to the popular children's author Jacqueline Wilson three years ago. Latest figured placed Cookson at 11th place after Wilson held onto the coveted number one spot for the third year running.

Figures published by the Public Lending Right (PLR) since 1984, indicate that the Tracy Beaker author notched up more than two million loans during 2004/5. Wilson, who is also the current Children's Laureate, said she was "thrilled" to be number one for the third year running.

Chick-lit author Josephine Cox came second followed by Danielle Steel. Crime and thriller writers James Patterson, John Grisham, Ian Rankin and Bernard Cornwell were in the top 10, alongside children's writers Mick Inkpen, Janet and Allan Ahlberg and Roald Dahl. Commentators have suggested a change in borrower’s tastes after such notable borrowing figures for writers like Ian Rankin. The Scot has seen his Rebus novels move him into eighth position, a higher slot than was ever expected for writers of his genre.

Five years ago Cookson occupied nine out of the top 10 places in the fiction list. Today the author, with over one hundred published books to her name, has fallen to eleventh and some people are hinting this may not just be down to changing tastes of the country’s readers, but of her ageing fan base.

Simon Brett, chairman of the PLR Advisory Committee, said: "The data helps to build up a revealing picture of the nation's reading habits. This year sees crime fiction and thrillers stealing a march on romance. Maybe this is an indication that national tastes are becoming increasingly macabre."

The Top 10

1. Jacqueline Wilson
2. Josephine Cox
3. Danielle Steel
4. James Patterson
5. Mick Inkpen
6. Janet and Allan Ahlberg
7. John Grisham
8. Ian Rankin
9. Roald Dahl
10. Bernard Cornwell

Source: PLR