I have been popular in the last two days. I got three e-mail rejections. In fact, if you consider the timing in terms of open business hours instead of calendar days, the rejections came less than two hours apart. The first one was after 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon, and the other two came before 9:45 this morning.
I am only slightly bummed out but not particularly sad. I have gotten multiple rejections before and perhaps will again. I'm just trying to stay positive and ship off my query letters.
One of the rejections this morning was from an agent who rejected DEATH AT THE JUNGLE-BUNNY JOURNAL back in July 2008. (I mention it in my first posting titled "Rejections.") So I know it was a form letter. But, it was an response. By my calculations, at least 50 percent of my query letters never get a response.
So, have a nice weekend. I hope to have dinner or drinks from an old friend from high school either Saturday or Sunday. And I have more queries to do.
Keep positive and keep busy writing.
Thanks for reading.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
MOVE
First of all, MOVE is not an acronym. If I'm not mistaken, the full name is On the MOVE.
Today is May 13. And MOVE, a radical, urban, back-to-nature group -- yes, I realize that urban and back-to-nature in this case is an oxymoron -- had its last major confrontation with Philadelphia police 25 years ago on May 13, 1985.
City authorities wanted to evict MOVE members from their West Philly home. After a day-long confrontation (with authorities using bullets and full-pressure water hoses), police dropped a satchel of explosives -- read: bomb -- on the roof of the MOVE house in a misguided attempt to knock a fortified bunker off the top of the building. The attempt failed.
The bunker and the roof caught fire. The fire department did not immediately turn on water hoses once the blaze became apparent and, ultimately, the burning bunker collapsed into the second story of the structure instead of falling off of the house and into the street, as officials had hoped.
The resulting fire eventually went to five or six alarms, destroyed 61 houses, left 250 people homeless and cost 11 people, including five children, their lives. All of the dead were from the MOVE house.
Though the neighborhood was rebuilt, it was shoddy and now, 25 years later, the city owns 37 of the rebuilt houses and apparently has left them abandoned.
I mention this because the MOVE confrontation plays a minor, yet crucial role in my current novel, AN UNTIDY AFFAIR. Affair is a murder mystery and isn't in the least bit a political novel. But when I decided to have it set in Philadelphia, I wanted to use a major event as a backdrop for the developing murder story. And there is no event in Philly's recent history -- say, the last 50 years -- that is bigger than the 1985 MOVE confrontation.
In my novel, there is another body found in the debris left by the bombing and fire, though it is not in the MOVE house. It is in a house further down the block. Figuring out who it is and why they were killed is the mystery in the book.
I don't mind using that sad day as a prop in my story. It's attention-getting. And it is the biggest story I have ever covered.
But as I reflect on that day and the days that immediately followed, I remember working the story. I remember standing with other reporters watching the entire neighborhood burn to the ground. I remember a day or so later standing with a resident in front of the remains of her property. The only thing that was vaguely recognizable was the burnt frame of a window air-conditioner. Everything else she had was gone. And I remember standing on some one's porch looking down the block of burned down houses as the coroner removed the first of the 11 dead bodies. I wasn't suppose to be on the porch -- officials restricted the media's access -- but a kindly elderly woman let me into her home and I was the first journalist in the world to report that they had dead bodies and were moving them.
I hoped then that my reporting and writing accurately described the events without bias. And as an author, I hope my readers one day get a sense of the misery of that day and the following days. I made one of the characters in my book a resident whose house was destroyed. It was a time of incredible sadness but I still had a job to do and I think I did it well, remaining fair and balanced. I was respectful of the victims and didn't pull any punches for those responsible, though several of the city officials I respected and one or two I really liked.
Anyway, those are my thought for the day, in addition to the fact that I got a rejection e-mail today from one of my B-list agents. No big deal. I sent her a quick thank you e-mail and moved on.
Thanks for reading today and keep on the MOVE.
Today is May 13. And MOVE, a radical, urban, back-to-nature group -- yes, I realize that urban and back-to-nature in this case is an oxymoron -- had its last major confrontation with Philadelphia police 25 years ago on May 13, 1985.
City authorities wanted to evict MOVE members from their West Philly home. After a day-long confrontation (with authorities using bullets and full-pressure water hoses), police dropped a satchel of explosives -- read: bomb -- on the roof of the MOVE house in a misguided attempt to knock a fortified bunker off the top of the building. The attempt failed.
The bunker and the roof caught fire. The fire department did not immediately turn on water hoses once the blaze became apparent and, ultimately, the burning bunker collapsed into the second story of the structure instead of falling off of the house and into the street, as officials had hoped.
The resulting fire eventually went to five or six alarms, destroyed 61 houses, left 250 people homeless and cost 11 people, including five children, their lives. All of the dead were from the MOVE house.
Though the neighborhood was rebuilt, it was shoddy and now, 25 years later, the city owns 37 of the rebuilt houses and apparently has left them abandoned.
I mention this because the MOVE confrontation plays a minor, yet crucial role in my current novel, AN UNTIDY AFFAIR. Affair is a murder mystery and isn't in the least bit a political novel. But when I decided to have it set in Philadelphia, I wanted to use a major event as a backdrop for the developing murder story. And there is no event in Philly's recent history -- say, the last 50 years -- that is bigger than the 1985 MOVE confrontation.
In my novel, there is another body found in the debris left by the bombing and fire, though it is not in the MOVE house. It is in a house further down the block. Figuring out who it is and why they were killed is the mystery in the book.
I don't mind using that sad day as a prop in my story. It's attention-getting. And it is the biggest story I have ever covered.
But as I reflect on that day and the days that immediately followed, I remember working the story. I remember standing with other reporters watching the entire neighborhood burn to the ground. I remember a day or so later standing with a resident in front of the remains of her property. The only thing that was vaguely recognizable was the burnt frame of a window air-conditioner. Everything else she had was gone. And I remember standing on some one's porch looking down the block of burned down houses as the coroner removed the first of the 11 dead bodies. I wasn't suppose to be on the porch -- officials restricted the media's access -- but a kindly elderly woman let me into her home and I was the first journalist in the world to report that they had dead bodies and were moving them.
I hoped then that my reporting and writing accurately described the events without bias. And as an author, I hope my readers one day get a sense of the misery of that day and the following days. I made one of the characters in my book a resident whose house was destroyed. It was a time of incredible sadness but I still had a job to do and I think I did it well, remaining fair and balanced. I was respectful of the victims and didn't pull any punches for those responsible, though several of the city officials I respected and one or two I really liked.
Anyway, those are my thought for the day, in addition to the fact that I got a rejection e-mail today from one of my B-list agents. No big deal. I sent her a quick thank you e-mail and moved on.
Thanks for reading today and keep on the MOVE.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, May 10, 2010
It's late
It looks like the date for the launch party of BEDLAM AT THE BRICKYARD, the racing anthology by the Speed City chapter of Sisters in Crime, will be pushed back from May 22 until sometime in June, perhaps to Father's Day weekend. The book is apparently at the printer but I still haven't seen the cover design. And while I have been told it is a vast improvement over what you see on Amazon.com if you want to pre-order -- and by all means, do pro-order -- the publisher hasn't released it to the chapter yet. So, we can't put it on our website, send out invitations and I can't order bookmarks and other materials to support the launch.
This is a bit distressing but I am told by others in the industry that's how things often work in publishing. So, this evening we will probably push back the date until we know we have the books in hand. That is, apparently, what the guy at Barnes and Noble store suggests.
I will update you all later on what is happening when I know it.
For now, thanks for reading.
NOTE: The decision has been made to postpone. More information later. mbd
This is a bit distressing but I am told by others in the industry that's how things often work in publishing. So, this evening we will probably push back the date until we know we have the books in hand. That is, apparently, what the guy at Barnes and Noble store suggests.
I will update you all later on what is happening when I know it.
For now, thanks for reading.
NOTE: The decision has been made to postpone. More information later. mbd
Saturday, May 8, 2010
My favorite character
In the Inkwell section of a recent Writer's Digest, they asked "If you had to pick just one, what's the best ingredient of a solid novel: The plot, premise, the style, the characters or the setting?"
The responses surprised me, though they shouldn't have. Some 50 percent said character, which, if I remember my math, means character equaled the combined total of all the others.
I shouldn't have been surprised, however, because I concentrate on character development more than anything else in a story. I do it, perhaps, to the detriment of other elements, like plot or pacing. The key is to show a character's, uh, character instead of telling the reader about a character's character.
I was thinking, who is my favorite character in fiction? Uncle Tom from UNCLE TOM'S CABIN is a good character, though in the black community he is much-maligned and generally misunderstood. But my true favorite is George Smiley.
I think Smiley first appears as a minor character in John LeCarre's first big international success, THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD. He was front and center in CALL FOR THE DEAD and several novels starting in the early 1970s.
Smiley was a professional spy and was introduced at a time when the spy archetype, in general, and a British spy, in particular, was James Bond. Bond was tall, handsome, charming, good with women, dashing, debonair. Smiley, on the other hand, was "breathtakingly ordinary." Divorced but with a beautiful, charming and intensely insecure wife who comes and goes in his life, Smiley was described as "short, fat and of a quiet disposition" and with a "fleshy, bespectacled face." His arms were too short or his sleeves were too long.
It was as if on a literary level Bond and Smiley were born twins, with Bond getting all the good traits and Smiley getting all the rest. Except, that Smiley was also exceptionally intelligent. Brilliant, really. His one true shortcoming was his wife, the Lady Ann Smiley.
(Read TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY, my favorite novel, or SMILEY'S PEOPLE. Or see Sir Alec Guinness portray Smiley in the BBC TV/film versions of those novels. He was as brilliant as Smiley as he was as Obi-Wan Kenobi.)
I don't know if I can write a character as wonderfully complex, full-bodied and interesting as Smiley. But the favorite of my inventions is in my current novel, AN UNTIDY AFFAIR. She is a minor, though important character named Marie Toussaint. Marie is pretty, funny, shapely, considerate of elders, flirty and sexy. She is also insecure and impulsive. But acting without thought also saves her life.
Do you have any favorite characters? I'd love to know. Post a comment on my blog or my Facebook page.
Until then, thanks for reading and keep writing.
The responses surprised me, though they shouldn't have. Some 50 percent said character, which, if I remember my math, means character equaled the combined total of all the others.
I shouldn't have been surprised, however, because I concentrate on character development more than anything else in a story. I do it, perhaps, to the detriment of other elements, like plot or pacing. The key is to show a character's, uh, character instead of telling the reader about a character's character.
I was thinking, who is my favorite character in fiction? Uncle Tom from UNCLE TOM'S CABIN is a good character, though in the black community he is much-maligned and generally misunderstood. But my true favorite is George Smiley.
I think Smiley first appears as a minor character in John LeCarre's first big international success, THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD. He was front and center in CALL FOR THE DEAD and several novels starting in the early 1970s.
Smiley was a professional spy and was introduced at a time when the spy archetype, in general, and a British spy, in particular, was James Bond. Bond was tall, handsome, charming, good with women, dashing, debonair. Smiley, on the other hand, was "breathtakingly ordinary." Divorced but with a beautiful, charming and intensely insecure wife who comes and goes in his life, Smiley was described as "short, fat and of a quiet disposition" and with a "fleshy, bespectacled face." His arms were too short or his sleeves were too long.
It was as if on a literary level Bond and Smiley were born twins, with Bond getting all the good traits and Smiley getting all the rest. Except, that Smiley was also exceptionally intelligent. Brilliant, really. His one true shortcoming was his wife, the Lady Ann Smiley.
(Read TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY, my favorite novel, or SMILEY'S PEOPLE. Or see Sir Alec Guinness portray Smiley in the BBC TV/film versions of those novels. He was as brilliant as Smiley as he was as Obi-Wan Kenobi.)
I don't know if I can write a character as wonderfully complex, full-bodied and interesting as Smiley. But the favorite of my inventions is in my current novel, AN UNTIDY AFFAIR. She is a minor, though important character named Marie Toussaint. Marie is pretty, funny, shapely, considerate of elders, flirty and sexy. She is also insecure and impulsive. But acting without thought also saves her life.
Do you have any favorite characters? I'd love to know. Post a comment on my blog or my Facebook page.
Until then, thanks for reading and keep writing.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
How stupid!!!!!
I am a complete idiot. I truly am. I don't know how to explain the depth of my stupidity.
I broke a cardinal rule in query letters. I had a typo. It was careless. And it was in the last eight letters I sent.
I have poured and poured over my letter, tailoring it to each agent. But the offending word is in a standard sentence about my writing past. It isn't a sentence I change because my past hasn't changed.
Though I have read the sentence a MILLION times, I never saw until 15 minutes that I used the word 'with' when I meant 'work.' How could I be so stupid?
Everything -- EVERYTHING! -- I have done in the past week to find an agent is now for nothing. I would say I hate myself but it's late and I don't have the energy.
Thanks for reading. (For now, that's all I can say.)
I broke a cardinal rule in query letters. I had a typo. It was careless. And it was in the last eight letters I sent.
I have poured and poured over my letter, tailoring it to each agent. But the offending word is in a standard sentence about my writing past. It isn't a sentence I change because my past hasn't changed.
Though I have read the sentence a MILLION times, I never saw until 15 minutes that I used the word 'with' when I meant 'work.' How could I be so stupid?
Everything -- EVERYTHING! -- I have done in the past week to find an agent is now for nothing. I would say I hate myself but it's late and I don't have the energy.
Thanks for reading. (For now, that's all I can say.)
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Writing
I have a relative -- well, she's not actually a relative. She is the wife of one of my wife's first cousins. So in a way, she is sort of a cousin-in-law, if that exists in any sort of family relationship -- who is an educator but who wants to write a novel. Now that is a good thing. But there are literally millions of people who are thinking of writing a book and only a fraction of them ever start one and only a fraction of them finish.
Last fall at a family gathering, Jacqui described some of what she was thinking and it was interesting. The basic idea had some problems but it was certainly do-able. The closest genre category that it would fit into would be a cozy, but with some variation.
I have known Jacqui since we were all in college. My wife and I attended the wedding when she and her husband jumped the broom, which was the year before my wife and I got married. Nowadays, she told me, she is busy with work, in particular, but also with family and other stresses. And while she told me she is a bit of an insomniac -- she said for years she has gotten up at about 1 in the morning and can't get back to sleep for hours -- she said her life is so full at the moment it would be hard to write a book. So she intends to wait a while.
I was honest with her. I said she was making excuses -- good excuses, valid excuses. But they are excuses nonetheless. And I said most writers would kill to have several hours every day in which to write when NO ONE was likely to bother them. Who calls you or wants something from you at 2 in the morning? Only people half way around the world.
I truly think it is okay that she never writes her novel. I told her that, too. It's totally up to her. But I also said there will NEVER be the right time to do it. Ever since I have known her, she has been busy -- first with college, then with a husband and later with children (who are now grown) and work.
My point is, there is never a perfect time to write a book. To get the work done, you have to sacrifice time somewhere. In the March/April issue of Writer's Digest in the Questions & Quandaries section, Brian A. Klems said, in answer to a question, " . . . whatever it takes, you have to make the time to write. It's the one and only definitive prerequisite of being a writer."
I told Jacqui there will always be something in her life that is important to do other than write. But only she can decide writing has to be a priority. And when she does, she will start working on her book.
And finally, speaking of priorities, I intended to write this blog last night. I sat down, turned on the laptop at about 10 and . . . escaped into old auto racing videos on YouTube. I did that for two hours, at which time I had to go to bed. I knew I had a busy work schedule today and I needed the rest.
Again the lesson learned is that writing takes a dedication of time, but also it takes discipline. And it is the discipline that I still struggle with, not only in writing but in many other areas of my life. I think it will always be a struggle. I just have to force myself to do what it takes.
Well, that's it for now. Hope you had a good day. It was beautiful here.
Thanks for reading and don't give up.
Last fall at a family gathering, Jacqui described some of what she was thinking and it was interesting. The basic idea had some problems but it was certainly do-able. The closest genre category that it would fit into would be a cozy, but with some variation.
I have known Jacqui since we were all in college. My wife and I attended the wedding when she and her husband jumped the broom, which was the year before my wife and I got married. Nowadays, she told me, she is busy with work, in particular, but also with family and other stresses. And while she told me she is a bit of an insomniac -- she said for years she has gotten up at about 1 in the morning and can't get back to sleep for hours -- she said her life is so full at the moment it would be hard to write a book. So she intends to wait a while.
I was honest with her. I said she was making excuses -- good excuses, valid excuses. But they are excuses nonetheless. And I said most writers would kill to have several hours every day in which to write when NO ONE was likely to bother them. Who calls you or wants something from you at 2 in the morning? Only people half way around the world.
I truly think it is okay that she never writes her novel. I told her that, too. It's totally up to her. But I also said there will NEVER be the right time to do it. Ever since I have known her, she has been busy -- first with college, then with a husband and later with children (who are now grown) and work.
My point is, there is never a perfect time to write a book. To get the work done, you have to sacrifice time somewhere. In the March/April issue of Writer's Digest in the Questions & Quandaries section, Brian A. Klems said, in answer to a question, " . . . whatever it takes, you have to make the time to write. It's the one and only definitive prerequisite of being a writer."
I told Jacqui there will always be something in her life that is important to do other than write. But only she can decide writing has to be a priority. And when she does, she will start working on her book.
And finally, speaking of priorities, I intended to write this blog last night. I sat down, turned on the laptop at about 10 and . . . escaped into old auto racing videos on YouTube. I did that for two hours, at which time I had to go to bed. I knew I had a busy work schedule today and I needed the rest.
Again the lesson learned is that writing takes a dedication of time, but also it takes discipline. And it is the discipline that I still struggle with, not only in writing but in many other areas of my life. I think it will always be a struggle. I just have to force myself to do what it takes.
Well, that's it for now. Hope you had a good day. It was beautiful here.
Thanks for reading and don't give up.
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