Writers retreat

Just finished packing to leave for the Speed City chapter of Sisters in Crime's second writers retreat, which again will be at Bradford Woods, 30 miles south of Indianapolis. The chapter sponsored a weekend retreat in 2014, which was tremendously successful.

Looking forward to work sessions, talking and working with other writers, and just spending time alone to write or just walk through the woods and think.

I plan to finish an essay I have been working on for a while and a somewhat long short story. Also to bounce a couple of ideas I have for a novel in November.

Should be great. Looking forward to a great weekend.

Thanks for reading. See you in October.

ABNA

Read the announcement today that Amazon this year is not hosting its annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. ABNA is probably now gone forever.

That makes me sad. It was a fun contest that not offered a slim chance of getting a publishing contract, but it also was a great gathering place for authors like me to meet and befriend each other. A large number of my Facebook friends are from ABNA. Only one have I ever met face-to-face -- and then only once and briefly.

I will miss that -- getting ready for the contest, chatting with the others, offering and receiving advice on my writing, offering and receiving encouragement when the inevitable comes.

There are forums with former participants but it won't be the same as during the late winter and into the spring when the contest unfolds. It was a gathering of like-minded people who cheered each other on and cried with each other when elimination came.

Last fall, Amazon announced a "reader-powered publishing platform" called Kindle Scout and encouraged past contestants to consider that as a publishing option. In today's announcement, Amazon mentioned Kindle Scout again.

I'm assuming the company feels that is a better and more cost-effective method of finding new authors and new voices. And now, without the contest, I guess I may pursue that.

But regardless of the outcome, I doubt it will be as much fun as the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Sorry to see it go.

But onward and upward

Thanks for reading and keep up the writing.  

Mystery Writers of America University -- Philadelphia

I'm attending Mystery Writers of America University in Philadelphia tomorrow. It's a one-day event with an incredible lineup of teachers, including Hallie Ephron, Reed Farrel Coleman and the wonderful Hank Phillipi Ryan.

When I first heard about this one-day conference two months ago, I knew I had to come. The price is quite reasonable and it's in Philadelphia. I love Philadelphia, having once lived in the City of Brotherly Love for two decades.

And I'll have the grilled chicken with roasted peppers for lunch, thank you very much.

What I want to know -- and what I doubt any of the teachers will be able to tell me -- is how can I move forward in my writing career. Yes, it takes hard work and persistence. It takes learning the craft and networking. I know all that. And I have done that -- some parts more than others but I have done it all. I still do. Otherwise, I wouldn't spend the time, effort and money to attend MWA University.

But something is missing and I don't know what it is or how to get it.   

So I will go and listen, and learn, and ask questions, and talk, and network -- and have grilled chicken for lunch. I will do it all. I love being around writers, both the wildly successful and the aspiring unknown. It reminds me I am on a path. I tire of the path sometimes, even become discouraged. But I am always committed to it.

I am a writer, and that is that.

So lookout for me tomorrow Jess Lourey and Daniel Stashower. I'll be in the house and hanging on every word. So make it good.

Thanks for reading.  

Writing to Writer's Digest

In my e-mail in-box last week, I noticed a call from Writer's Digest for stories on the experience authors have had during National Novel Writing Month, which is held each November. As you know, the challenge of NaNoWriMo is to write a novel of at least 50,000 words in the 30 days of November.

I wrote a piece last night of my first NaNoWriMo experience and the non-writing challenge I faced that year -- the year I learned I had cancer.

Take a look below at what I sent Writer's Digest.

Keep writing and thanks for reading.

---

I have accepted the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenge five times, starting in November 2009, and have completed the challenge three of those times. The novel I wrote in 2009, An Untidy Affair, and the one I wrote in 2010, The Last Tontine Survivor, both made it to the quarterfinal round of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) competition. I entered Affair in ABNA in 2011, while Tontine was a quarterfinalist this year. I also wrote a novel during NaNoWriMo last November and plan to enter that work, The Deadly Game, in ABNA in 2015.

 

I love NaNoWriMo because it truly gives you, the author, the right to write, to sweep away all the external and internal stumbling blocks and to focus on the task at hand -- 50,000 words in 30 days, or an average of 1,667 a day.

 

I am a freelance journalist by occupation and write all the time. But fiction is different and was, back in 2009, much harder for me. Unlike a news or feature article, a novel is like having a long, elaborate daydream which is written down. It's how I approach it.

 

That first year, I wasn't sure I could do it. But I decided to try and settled on a story idea in the spring of 2009. It was to be an auto racing novel, with the protagonist facing major challenges both on and off the track. I love auto racing -- open-wheel cars in particular -- and know a lot about the sport. But the story would still require a lot of research on the technical side, which I planned to do in the summer and fall.

 

In early July 2009, I learned that I might have cancer, which was confirmed just after Labor Day that year. And suddenly, I couldn't write fiction. Faced with the challenge of my life in the real world, I couldn't daydream the dreams necessary to write fiction. I was stuck in the real world. I was focused on learning everything I could about my cancer so I could make a reasoned decision of the course of action for treatment. For seven weeks, I sought advice from six different doctors, including leaders in the field. But it wasn't until late October that I made a decision I was comfortable with.

 

Problem was, it was much too late for me to do the research I needed for the novel. So I decided on a murder mystery because it is a genre I enjoy reading and am comfortable with. I decided on a setting and a theme I was familiar with so that there wouldn't be much research needed, and I could do it while I was writing in November.

 

I hate outlining for a variety of reasons but knew I couldn't write 1,667 a day, everyday, without knowing where I was going in advance. Therefore, I hand wrote a nine-page outline in narrative form and also completed a spreadsheet to track my daily progress. 

 

Shortly after midnight on Nov. 1, I started, and after 90 minutes had 1,100 words. I was surprised that the first sentence in my outline turned into nearly 900 words of text in the novel. I wrote later that day after church and completed 3,200 words that first day. On the second day I completed 2,940 words and 3,500 the third day. I was writing twice the rate I needed. With the encouragement of NaNo writers in the Indianapolis area and others I met online, I continued at that pace and reached 50,000 words on Nov. 15, and completed the first draft four days later, for a total of 54,000 words. (With revisions and re-writes, Affair is complete at 74,000 words.)

 

In 2010, I outlined again, and challenged myself to write twice as many words a day as needed. Tontine is a suspense/thriller and I finished the first draft on Nov. 18 (instead of Nov. 15) only because I attended an out-of-town meeting that November and lost three days of writing. (The final version is 76,000 words.)

 

Last year, I reached 50,000 words again on Nov. 18 because what I learned from failures in 2011 and 2012 was that I need a decent outline and need to jump well ahead of the daily word count. Get a lot done quickly in case of troubles later. It's hard for me to catch up on the word count, so I never get behind. But that's just me.

 

I'm already working on research for NaNoWriMo this November. Finally, I plan to write that auto-racing story.

 

My advice is prepare as much as possible ahead of time, set difficult but achievable goals, find writing partners and stay in touch with them, write something everyday and, most importantly, HAVE FUN writing. Whatever you write is going to be crappy but you can start fixing it on Dec. 1. You can't fix it if you don't first write it.

 

If you write and have fun, you will find your word count going up quicker than the approach of the Nov. 30 deadline. So HAVE FUN.

 

Taking on Amazon

(NOTE: This is a link to a New York Times piece on a small publisher that is taking on Mighty Amazon:http://finance.yahoo.com/news/daring-cut-off-amazon-140209029.html )

When I was in high school so many years ago, I remember one day in Philosophy class we discussed the difference between being brave and being foolhardy. While I can't remember what, if any, conclusions we reached, I would imagine we probably decided that success or failure ultimately defined the difference.

That certainly came to mind when I read a New York Times article (link above) about a daring small publisher, Educational Development Corporation, which decided to take Amazon over the pricing of books.

Much like with mom and pop grocery stores that were on every street corner when I was growing up, the big stores -- and ultimately, the Wal-Marts of the world -- drove the into extinction. That could certainly happen with small publishers and brick-and-mortar bookstores in the future, thanks to huge companies like Amazon.

That would be sad. Price isn't the only thing customers are looking for in a reading experience. It's also having a knowledgeable person discuss books with you, booksinging and meeting authors, and getting together with other readers. All those sorts of things get lost when companies like Amazon drive others out of the market.

That impacts me as both a reader and a writer, and the prospect saddens me.

Read the article and make up your own mind.

But in the meantime, thanks for reading and keep writing.

A damn good writer

I had a couple of hours free this morning after a client postponed an appointment at the last minute. I could have -- and should have -- used the time constructively. There are a couple of things I need to edit. But I wasted the time watching television. Well, kinda wasted it.

I watched several episodes of "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," a show a genius named Aaron Sorkin created several years ago. Unfortunately, it ran for only one season. I got the entire show on DVD at the public library.

I loved that show. Really loved it. I was so sorry it was canceled. But given the problems I could imagine Sorkin probably put the network through, I wasn't surprised. But I loved the show because, like so many other Sorkin efforts -- the film, "The American President" and TV shows like "Sports Night" and "The West Wing" -- the writing was beyond brilliant.

After the first handful of episodes of "Studio 60," the show began to slip, much like "The West Wing" did as it reached middle age. (That about the time Sorkin was fired from the show.) But, like "The West Wing," "Studio 60" redeems itself at the end.

Whenever I watch "Studio 60" I am struck by the writing. It is clever and funny and well-done and well-executed. And I love good writing. It doesn't matter whether it is Sorkin or Sting or Richard Pryor or Lennon and McCartney or August Wilson or Ernest Hemingway or the Marx Brothers. Good writing is good writing. It is inspiring, certainly for me. It makes me want to do what I do better.

I didn't have a good day yesterday. Personally reasons, professional reasons, it was a whole bag of reasons (including after a small piece that probably cost 99-cents came off of my MG and disengaged the throttle. I had no power. I got a guy to come out and fix it and I got home). I wasn't sure I had what it takes to succeed as a fiction writer. I fought off bouts of self-doubt, though I was also sure I wasn't going to give up.

Today, however, I feel inspired, partly because it is beautiful outside, partly because of "Studio 60," and partly because I have the talent to succeed. I may not be able to write like Aaron Sorkin but I am a damn good writer. And knowing that is what will keep me going.

Have a good day and thanks for reading. Now go out and write something good.

Write what you know.

The current issue of Writer's Digest is "The Big 10" issue in which the editors and writers share many of the 10 secrets of writing and success. They examine productivity, top books and markets, plot problems, and more. They have interviews with 10 best-selling authors, where I noted with amazement that not a single one of them was black. But that is a matter for another blog posting.

What immediately caught my attention, however, was the 10 Rules of Writing from writing experts. And most importantly, for each of the 10 rules, there was a reason one expert said you should follow it and another reason another expert said you should break it.

The whole exercise was exhilarating and confusing. What advice do I take?

Super agent Donald Maass, whom I unfortunately missed last October at Bouchercon, says write what you know. That means, he says, "write what you see differently, feel profoundly and know is important for the rest of us." But author Natalie Goldberg says the opposite. She says be curious, and look for "what lurks beyond the familiar, safe streets."

Good advice from both. But which do I choose? (As a writer for nearly all my professional life, I go with write what you know. But that's what research is for -- so there will be things you know.)

Write 'shitty first drafts.' John Smolens, an English professor and best-selling author of a number of books and short stories, says follow that rule. "Really, do you have a choice?" he asks. While columnist, teacher and author Nancy Kress says first drafts "can certainly be rough and sloppy," but that doesn't mean they have to be shitty. She says you can only write as well as you can write. A first draft can be messy but "a mess can be fixed. Shit is just a waste. And a first draft is never a waste."

More good advice from both sides of an issue.

And it goes on. Write every day, John Dufresne says, because you have to. Not so, says James Scott Bell. It's not possible to write everyday if only because life will sometimes intrude, he says, plus you regularly need the break to recharge your creative batteries.

Read what you like to write; silence your inner critic; if you want to get rich, do something else -- all great topics, and all with conflicting points of view.

But not necessarily. If you examine them closely, you can see similarities in the points of view. So what I took most from the article is that, as a writer and as a person, you have to be true to yourself. That is where the real truth is and it is from that place that you want to reach readers.

Do what feels best to you. That may not have been what the experts intended but it's what I got from them. Otherwise, all their advice is nothing more than background noise.

Thanks for reading. Search inside yourself and keep writing.

A busy day

I have been busy today, researching story ideas to pitch to magazine and local newspaper editors, reading up on the latest news in the book industry, reading my friends' blogs and some agent blogs, and reading articles suggested in the current Sisters in Crime newsletter. Lastly, I have check my e-mail numerous for responses to my latest agent query letters.

What I haven't done is write. In fact, I haven't even opened my word processing software or called up either a draft query letter or my WIP.

It seems that the more I learn about being an author the more time I spend away from actually writing. I don't like that, of course. But it is a necessary thing.

Now it is true that I don't like writing much in the morning. I rarely write fiction in the morning and the last time I truly did any morning writing was last week when I was on deadline to finish a couple of articles for a newsletter I was working on.

But still I haven't even been using the creative part of my brain much today. Or at least not as it would relate to something I planned to write.

I know I am rambling on. But wish I could spend more time just writing instead of doing the business of making money through writing. It is a pipe dream that most writers undoubtedly share. But I'm just saying . . .

One final thought -- Nothing new on the health front. For several days I grew more and more anxious before my doctor's appointment yesterday afternoon. I was expecting good news but was prepared for bad news. But, I got no news. In fact, the doctor wondered why I had an appointment only six weeks after ending my radiation treatment. He said it was too soon to know anthing. I said I had the appointment because someone in his office set it up.

So, the good news is that I have no bad news. But I will have to wait some time now before I have any definite news.

I will mention it in this blog as is appropriate.

Thanks for reading and hang in there.

B.I.C.

Yesterday, I wasn't in the mood to write, or do much of anything else. And I blogged about that.

Now today I have the same problems I had yesterday -- unpublished, tight finances, poor freelance prospects at the moment, weeds in the yard, nutty children, a dog that peed in the sunroom -- and the day before that and all of last week. I am listening to the same music (which I still love, by the way).

But I don't feel the same way today about life or about work. True, I felt a little down this morning but a drive on a sunny day to vacuum out the car and some strawberry ice cream at lunch cured that. This morning I spent time on a freelance project and this afternoon I called an editor with a couple of story ideas. I am also going to work on the marketing for the anthology and do some writing.

Yesterday I chalk up as a Personal Day.

Now it seems that Nathan Bransford, a literary agent whose blog I sometimes read, posted a blog entry yesterday on the work of writing. He called it Willpower and he mentioned B.I.C. -- Butt in Chair. I didn't see the posting until today after I saw my wonderful friend Megan Bostic post it on Facebook. It was the right topic for me on the right day.

Writing is hard, whether you enjoy it or now. And Nathan is right. If you only write when you feel inspired, it will take 100 years to write a novel.

Janet Evanovich, an author I enjoy and admire, says that writing is a job. And to get it done, you have to show up at work. That means you work when you feel inspired and you work when you don't.

Non writers do have this romantized view of the craft in which the writer is struck by a certain inspiration and goes off to the typewriter to bang out something brilliant. And regardless of the length they stay there writing until it's done. That, of course, isn't how things generally work. Writing is more perspiration than inspiration. As Nathan said, If writing is always fun you may be doing it wrong.

Now as for yesterday, let me put it into perspective.

Every 9-to-5 job I have ever had gave you days off. Holidays, sick days, personal days, vacation days. I work for myself and I have decided that yesterday was a personal day. And I am only allowing myself one. Today is a work day.

Thanks for reading. Now get off your butt and get back to work.

The love of books

I was in the mall yesterday and a local book collector was among a series of vendors set up in the common area outside of Macys. I was going to Macys -- I needed a new belt -- and I wandered through the bookseller's area for a few minutes that lasted far longer than I originally intended.

It was because I love books, and old books in particular. There is something about having a book in you hands that is comforting and relaxing. Although I do enjoy audio books -- a fact that I would have denied a decade ago -- there is nothing better than having it in your hands. Even with technology, having a virtual library in my hands, such as a Kindle, would not be the same as holding an actual book.

For $7, I bought an original copy of William L. Shirer's book, BERLIN DIARY: THE JOURNAL OF A FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT, 1934-1941. (The seven bucks was four dollars more than the original sale price of three dollars back in 1941 when it was published.) The book is wonderful, giving a day-by-day account of the changing events in Europe leading up to and just after the Second World War. Having majored in 20th Century European history in college, I love that stuff.

(And for those stupid enough to doubt the Nazis' systematic oppression, torture and murder of Jews, Shirer's third diary entry dated September 2, 1934, mentions someone showing him around Berlin and he writes, "Coming back, he pointed out a building where a year ago for days on end, he said, you could hear the yells of the Jews being tortured." That was only 18 months after Hitler took office and five years before the war. Even with poor intelligence, the Western powers had to have known about some of what the Nazis were doing to Jews, in particular, and other social, political and religious victims, in general.)

Though not on a par with sex, reading a good book can be as satisfying as getting a good night's sleep. But with the world changing so quickly because of the Internet, I wonder whether future generations will enjoy books in the same way I do. Yes, the information will still be there. But I fear what will be lost is the feel of it in the hand.

It makes me sad but I guess that's progress.

Thanks for reading me today. Go out and buy a good book. And don't give up on writing.

A fellowship

I shipped off an e-mail to an editor at a publishing house earlier this week. I know, I know. They don't accept such e-mails from unagented, unpublished authors like me. But what did it cost me? Nothing, except the hours I anxiously spent pouring over my synopsis, and the guilt I felt for snapping at my wife for changing part of one paragraph.

So, like I said, not much cost. (Crap! I should have bought some flowers earlier this week.)

But I sent the e-mail because I had a slight in with the editor, whom I have never met. Another editor suggested I write her. I did. And now I wait. It's been a couple of days but it's only an e-mail. How long should it take?

I was excited that first day, checking my return e-mails several times. Nothing. And then today I faced the stark reality of querying. I may never know. She may never reply. And that, in itself, will be the reply. Rejection via silence.

Gosh, I hate this.

Also on Monday, I mailed off an application for a two-day writer's fellowship in early May. It is sponsored by the Midwest Writers Workshop. I got the application post marked on March 23, which was the deadline. I hope I get the fellowship.

The application required a one-page synopsis of a work in progress, plus roughly 1,000 words from the WIP. Those chosen must bring 20 pages of their work in progress and a laptop computer to the workshop session.

Since I already have more than 100 pages done and would be nearing the end of my novel by early May, that shouldn't be a problem.

I think THE DEATH OF ART has a strong storyline and good characters, but getting some expert help, particularly before the first draft is completed, would be good.

I also have sent out two queries this week. No rejections, however. Yet. I sent out a slew of queries in early and mid-February. I think I have only heard from one of them. Should be getting about that time, however.

I know an author from an online forum who got three rejections yesterday, including one from a query he wrote nearly a year ago. And it was insulting. Rough day for him.

I'm going on vacation soon. And so, if i can find the peace and quiet, I might get some writing done. Bad thing is that I will miss my Sisters in Crime meeting and the meeting with the critque group. It will be the first meeting I have missed since joining in January of last year.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading. And keep writing.

Contests

I have decided to enter a contest with "Death at the Jungle-bunny Journal" early in the new year. And I may change the title.

This is a big decision for me and, while I will continue looking for an agent, it could complicate things in that area. The contest is called the 2009 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.

The last contest I entered was last year. It was the Writer's Digest annual contest and I entered my screenplay, "Loss of Consortium." And while I didn't win, I got an honorable mention in the screenplay category, which was quite something since it was my first screenplay. But at the time I was concentrating on finishing my first novel, "Fighting Chaos," and decided against pursuing anything with screenplays.

I didn't enter the Amazon contest last year with Chaos and I'm glad I didn't. It really wasn't good enough and still isn't. The story will need to be overhauled and I'm not willing to do that at the moment.

But I have grown since writing Chaos and Jungle-bunny is in much better shape to begin with. So I am going with it.

I will write more about the contest later but it runs for one week, Feb. 2-9. The entry form and related materials can only be submitted then. It must be fiction, 50,000 to 100,000 words in length, in English, by an individual author, unpublished. While free, the contest requires a 'pitch' letter (the requirements of which I am still trying to determine), biographical information and a 3,000 to 5,000 word exempt of the first part of the novel.

The grand prize, which will be announced by late may or early June, is a $25,000 contract with Penguin books for the publication of the novel, plus marketing of the work. Last year, a number of the 10 finalists who didn't win the overall prize got noticed in the industry and ultimately got publishing contracts.

I am not putting all my eggs into a single basket but this is a basket I can not ignore. the organizers -- Penguin and Amazon -- expect as many as 10,000 entries and the contest is judged in stages, starting with the pitch letter. But If I could make it to the quarter- or semi-finals I will have gone a long way.

This is going to require a lot of preparation and hard work pouring over the novel again and again and writing it yet one more time. Plus there is the pitch letter. I'm not sure what to expect with that. But I am going to get it done in time to submit all my material early in the morning on Feb. 2. I'm not going to wait.

This means, of course, that additional work on "The Death of Art" will be put on hold, or at least work will be dramatically slowed. The focus has to be on Jungle-bunny.

What to do with the title? I don't know. The content guidelines forbid 'offensive' or 'disparaging' material but that is still vague. It error on the side of caution I will probably rename the book.

Anyway, that is it for now. More later as additional information is available. Wish me luck.

Thanks for reading and keep writing.

When it's time to give up on something you've written

I was reading a blog I recently discovered and one of the topics it covered in the last couple of days was when is it time to give up on something you have written. That particularly comes to mind for me because my first book, "Fighting Chaos," is just sitting on the proverbial shelf.

In the end, the blogger said it's a difficult question and it's hard to know. However, he offered some insight.

Since I finished Chaos last December, I have grown a lot as a writer and my craft has significantly developed. Now as I look back at the novel, I have a better understanding of why it will never sell in its current form. The story is still good, I think, but the pacing is all off, there is too much backstory in too great of detail, some of the characters are wooden and stiff, and the plot doesn't propel the reader forward.

In the end, it reads like it was written by a novice, which, as it turns out, was the case.

But I am still very attached to the story. It is quite personal to me. Should I give up the ghost and drop it forever? I don't think so. I have chalked up the experience and moved on but there is still something interesting to tell in the story.

So, what do I do? Well, for now, I leave it where it is. In time, and when I have the time, I hope to get back to it. When I am stronger in my creaft, have a better understanding of the market and insight into upcoming trends, I hope to get back to the story. That, unfortunately, could -- and probably will -- take years. But the novel is on the shelf and isn't going anywhere, so why worry.

The blogger quoted (although didn't name) a famous writer, who said, "There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you."

That's not the case with Chaos. It no longer is just inside me. I would like for it to be read but, for the moment, that isn't going to be the case. But it is not an 'untold story.'

Now, on to the next . . .

Thanks for reading and don't give up on writing.

Fonts

I have just spent an hour viewing a writers discussion on a forum on the subject of fonts. The concensus was that it is best to use Courier New (doubled spaced, with 12-point type and 1-inch margins) instead of Times New Roman. The thought is that it is easier on the eyes to read and gives you a better page count, which is important to publishers. (Editors look for word counts but publishers pay the most attention to page count because paper cost more that ink.)

I have always perferred Times but I converted an earlier version of "Death at the Jungle-bunny Journal" into Courier and saw a huge difference. For one, I must not have my margins set correctly. The 74,300 words of that version should fit in slightly more than 297 pages (doubled-spaced, 12-point, 1-inch margins) because there should be 250 words per page. But I have 326 pages, or about 227 words per page.

The other difference is readability. Courier is easier on the eye sight, although I still prefer the look of Times.

I am still working on the final draft of Jungle-bunny, most specifically reworking the opening to make it more compelling. It is in Times, of course, but tomorrow I plan to convert it and fix the margins. In that way, I will be more prepared to taking the next step in the publishing process.

Thanks for reading and don't give up on writing.

Other authors

Sorry I have been away for a while but I have been very busy with work. But now I am getting back to doing my regular job, which is as an author.

I met a television writer over the weekend. His name is Paul Guyot and he is quite funny. He worked as a stand-in for a number of movie stars, including Tommy Lee Jones (Men in Black) and Chow Yun-Fat. Then he worked his way into staff writing positions on several television shows, including lastly for "Judging Amy," where he was a producer-writer.

He gave up Hollywood up to raise a family away from "the Hollywood life."

Although he didn't intend it, he convinced me that, 1), I will virtually never get make screenplay, "Loss of Consortium," before a money person who might want to make it. And 2), I might not want to be involved with Hollywood in the first place.

He says the money if wonderful __ he still writes pilots for television dramas and makes a living at it even if the show never makes it on TV __ but I wonder about the creative freedom. While you can have a chance to write alone, because of the money involved, there will always be lots of input from others that must be taken into account. It's that muddying of the creative process that makes some movies so incredibly dreadful. (Read "The Devil's Candy," a book on the making of "Bonfire of the Vanities." What a mess that was.)

Anyway, it is always good to listen to and talk with another writer, particularly if they are successful. As is often the case when it comes to writing, I already knew a lot of what he said. And the most important things he said to being a successful writer is to both read and write, and to be persistent.

As always, I will keep that in mind.

Thanks for reading and keep writing.

On writing

So, I'm reading "Don't Murder Your Mystery" and it is proving to be very headful. One of the passages which I highlighted in the first chapter mentions that the goal of manuscript readers is to get through the pile and ". . . literary agent Noah Lukeman says that agents and publishers read 'solely with an eye to dismiss a manscript."

Further, it says, "The industry cannot afford to gamble on writers who are still developing their potential, who show little evidence of having studied the craft of the profession they aspire to, or who fail to reflect the preferences that publishers and agents state in their submission guidelines."

The book suggests that as a writer, one needs to perfect their writing and one of the best ways of doing that is to read many writers, but particularly writers you like. By reading a novel or short story that you like a second, third or fourth time, you move from wondering what is coming next to concentrating on that writers craft, their technique.

One of the things do is reread novels I love. So in many ways I copy some of their authors' techniques. What I apparently don't do well is mixing backstory into the story as it is developing. I tend to "dump" large portions of it in one place.

As I rewrite "Death at the Jungle-bunny Journal" and plan for "The Death of Art," I am working on moving the background more into the story as it develops.

That is one of the most insistent criticisms I get from my critique group. And curing it will help me in the development of the craft.

"Effective techniques . . . prepare you to give publishers what they are really looking for: good writing," the book says.

Nuf said.

Thanks for reading and keep writing.

Don't murder your mystery

Some time ago I came to the conclusion that studying how to write is not as important as actually writing, in much the same way as researching how to approach agents is not as important as actually approaching them. Gathering knowledge is both useful and necessary, But it is not as important as using the knowledge you have. Otherwise, you can endlessly prepare to take some action but never actually take the action.

I certainly felt that way in terms of reading more books on writing.

But then last week, a fellow author suggested a get "Don't Murder Your Mystery" by Chris Roerden, who offers "24 fiction-writing techniques to save your manuscript from turning up DOA". I drove to The Mystery Company, which is probably my favorite bookstore, and purchased a copy.

It was a good decision. Immediately there were useful tips on improving my fiction writing, not just my mystery writing. Early on Roerden uses a quote from Rayanna Simons about her four years as a first readeer from Macmillan. "Despite the statistics that we are a country suffering from functional illiteracy, we seem to be producing an extraordinary number of imaginative, interesting writers. The problem is that they can't get anyone to read what they write."

I certainly think that is the case with me. While as I look at it now, "Fighting Chaos" is a bit of a mess, I never got anyone to even look at it to tell me it is a mess. (I still plan on using it, however, after I completely reread it.) The same is true with "Death at the Jungle-bunny Journal."

But my new book is proving numerous clues for improving both my writing and ways to avoid being cast aside before being read. It talks about timing, pace, setting and character development. it talks about the mechanics of writing and use of words, particularly adverbs and adjectives.

I don't have a lot of time to read but this is a book that demands and will deserve the time I am using to go through it. I am not going to start going out to buy every book I can find on writing and marketing, but I will be selectively open about reading more on my craft.

Thanks for reading and don't give up on writing.

Being organized

One of the most important things to do in any endeavor is to be organized. It keeps you from going down blind alleys or repeating something you have already done.

One of the things I learned from one of the writers in my critique group was how to better organize elements of my stories in a binder. Mostly I kept things here and there, which make it particularly difficult when I had to come up with the name for a new character.

Often I would have a hard time remembering what names I had used and for whom. Keeping all that imformation together means I don't have to remember all the names since they will all be collected in one place, and I can see if I am using two names that are similar or two names that start with the same initial, something my writer-friend suggested I avoid.

When I moved my office from the first floor to the second floor a couple of months ago, one of the things I should have finished was reorganizing my space. I had to strip down everthing downstairs and bring it upstairs. I didn't do that, however.

So I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon cleaning up downstairs and throwing away things I should never have kept. But I also found useful bits of information for my current novel and a future.

Because I wasn't as organized as I should have been, I didn't realize until this afternoon that a freelance assignment I assumed was due at the end of the first week of August was actually due yesterday, July 30. So I have spent this afternoon catching up.

It's a very good thing I am a good writer.

So I plan to complete the reorganization of my space by next week, keep one binder with all the revelant information on my novels, and keep a better calendar for deadlines. That should help keep me in better shape for completing things on dead, which I generally do anyway.

Just a little tip.

Thanks for reading and Write on.

Authors

I like to go to book signings, although I must admit to feelings of jealousy. But I like to hear published authors discuss their craft, their books and how they got published. It doesn't matter whether they are national bestselling authors or local authors with just a few books in print. It doesn't matter. Their stories fascinating __ and helpful.

There is a positive and a negative to all this. The negative side is that I am generally jealous of their success and wonder why it hasn't happened to me. Why can't I get published? I am a good writer and am learning more about the craft and the book publishing industry all the time. It hits me over and over again that talent, while very important, isn't what determines writing success.

I can't remember how many times I have read in the last year that if Ernest Hemingway were alive and working today, he'd be an unpublished author running with bulls through the streets of some Spanish town. He'd still be brilliant but probably unpublished. And certainly he wouldn't have the stature he has today.

On the positive side is my love of authors, their books and their stories. They are an inspiration. It doesn't matter whether I think the author is particularly good or not. They have broken through, which means so could I. And so I buy their books and I read them, for the joy of reading, for clues to their success and to support a fellow writer.

So what can I do, what should I do to move my writing and publishing career along? I still don't know and am still looking for answers. All the while I keep writing and hoping.

And so should you.

Thanks for reading and keep writing.

Art vs. business

There is a difference between the art of writing a book and the business of publishing and selling a book. And because I am stuck in the place in between, I am very aware of the difference.

Writing is about art. It's the creative part. Publishing is about business, about promotion, advertising and public relations. Getting an agent is the first major step on the business side.

For the life of me, I don't know how the business side works. Yes, intellectually I have some understanding of the publishing business. But a deep understanding escapes me. And it is probably why I am not more successful as a freelance writer. I can do the work __ the writing, that is __ but promoting myself is difficult and unpleasant. And so getting more, well-paying work is difficult.

And I am afraid that publishing is going to be the same way. I can write a novel, from start to finish, in about six months. But promoting myself and my work is a difficult and unpleasant prospect. It has to be done but I'm not sure how to effectively do it.

But, with friends and colleagues, I am working on improving on the business side. I am going to a writers conference in two weeks, I am in a critique group and I am slowly growing a network of fiction writers. All of that is important in order to have a successful career as a fiction writer.

I just have to keep at it.

Thanks for reading and don't give up on writing.