NaNoWriMo authors beware!

This post from Ann Crispin on Writer Beware is a great point. While I don't believe anyone reading my blog would be silly enough to sign a contract without doing some research about the publisher, I do think it's a great point. Ever since my days as a CRM at B&N, I've been cringing about self-publishing companies which take advantage of writers' frustrations and aspirations. One woman told me she'd paid $10,000 to a publisher to produce a self-published elementary-level handbook for sign language. Don't be that silly. Writer Beware is a great site.

Would you like sour cream with that?

Webdelsol.com features a series of essays called Writers On The Job: Tales of Non-Writing. Even though I've been doing plenty of writing of late, I still find camaraderie in writers discussing what happens when they're away from their desks/cafe tables/zinc bars.

Celia Woloch's piece titled "I'm Really Not a Waitress (Or Am I?)" resonated with the former waitress in me. I, too, have blue-collar roots, child-bearing hips, and -- thanks to years of waitressing -- the ability to gracefully navigate a swinging door with a three-foot tray bearing thirty pounds of food and china. Once I left my last waiting job, I had a real sense of "God, I'll never do THAT again!" but Woloch's piece is a nice bit of nostalgia. It reminds me to appreciate my strength and resourcefulness. Luckily, I have no ex-husband, but in between publications, I could always waitress.

Boo!

Bear with me, faithful reader! I have been overrun with other work the past couple of weeks (Actual writing work, among other things!) and haven't done any blogging. In lieu of an actual blog of substance, let me direct your attention to NaNoWriMo. Just as last year, my days are far too packed to devote to something as irreverent and inspirational as this, but I sure wish I could. And remember writers, as my dear friend Ginger believes, there's always room for Zombies! Happy Halloween.

Throbbing Members and Heaving Bosoms

Well friends, it's official. I quit my job teaching at the University, so as of December 22, I am exclusively freelancing. I'm free! (Yay!) I'm lancing! (Huh?) So, hey, World: please hire me to write stuff. Please Please Please.

This post about romance cliches from Agent Kristen made me laugh and cringe. Those of us who write genre fiction of all types (Kristen has a companion entry about fantasy cliches) are always in peril of falling into cliche overuse.

Now, to some extent it's hard to avoid them in genre fiction, because one is treading an exceptionally well-worn path. Still, there is nothing more infuriating than opening a book and finding the same tired plots and characters. (I'm not talking about the back-cover copy here -- I mean the actual writing.) I read a fair number of romances, and I prefer historicals, but I am SUPER picky about them. If I'm not impressed or engaged after 2 pages or so, I put the book down, or worse, throw it across the room. Flaccid writing and stale characters make me throw a book every time. (My husband likes to pick these books up where he finds them and make fun of them.)

Even though cliches can be disastrous, ridiculous attempts to circumvent them can be worse. The most memorable metaphor I ever encountered in a romance novel described a man's, erm, equipment as a "fallen tree" with "two ostrich eggs." I swear! When I picked myself up off the floor and stopped laughing, I could only say "ewwww." Ostrich eggs? Get that thing AWAY from me!

I kept that book for a while, but only so I could show all my friends!

On another note, recently, someone asked me to post links to the articles I'm publishing in the Post-Tribune. The website doesn't keep the articles cached very long, so I'll have to set up a Del.icio.us account and post those links. Give me a couple days to get that together, and I'll post them here.

Unctuous Bromide

A very comical post on the hokiness of poorly written obituaries on Poynter.org's Writing Tools Blog. It's funny, but it's got me thinking about how hard it is to write about (or even talk about) a person's death. Unfortunately, I've had the unpleasant task of buying "In Sympathy" cards twice recently. What a feeble gesture it is to send a card to the grieving, and what pap is to be found in sympathy greeting cards. We are rarely as tempted to resort to cliches as we are when dancing around fresh, feral grief. I found myself reading the cards and wondering, if my husband (father, mother, child, best friend) had just died, which of these cards would annoy me the least?

Roy Peter Clark's Writing Tools was recently released and I had the opportunity to check it out at B&N. He has generously provided the text of the book online as well. What a guy. Nothing revelatory here, but great tips for streamlining and strengthening writing.

Writing Groups and Self-Publishing

I'm a great fan of my writing group. I've been facilitating the group for nearly four years(!) now. It meets at our local Barnes & Noble: a convenient, well lit place which is very accomodating, if lacking nuance. Ironically, I contribute nearly the least amount of writing. I don't know why the group puts up with me! :) Nonetheless, I love it. Even if I don't share a huge amount of work, having the monthly discussion with fellow writers is invigorating.

We have a mailing list of over 50 people, but for the most part, we are a pretty steady group of a seven regulars with occasional visitors. I think it is a good size for a group. We meet once a month, start off with a writing exercise, share our results, and then critique as many pieces as we can get to in an hour and a half.

I have been a part of one other writing group (a local chapter of the Romance Writers of America) which was quite large -- there were up 12 or so people at every meeting, and occasionally more.) I have also taken workshop classes, notably the Summer Writers Institute at Washington University in St. Louis. This was such a focused, nurturing environment! How I wish I could do that every day! (Sigh. Moment of silence for my place in Columbia College's Fiction Writing Program. I had to drop out -- and I did so enthusiastically -- when I discovered I was pregnant. Still...)

But I'm wondering about other writing groups. What is their flavor? What successes do they have? What do they do? Why do people enjoy them? At least one of the regulars of my group has another group she attends as well. That group meets weekly (I think) and is a tight-knit group of about four women. I know that most of the people who have seen this page are members of my group (Hi Mel!) but I'm curious: what are other people's experiences with their writing groups? What do they like about them? Dislike?

I'm also looking for recommendations of pod-casts about writing. Anyone got any?
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Another enduring question of mine is the role of self-publishing in the writing industry. Miss Snark has a wonderful, very blunt (naturally) answer for anyone wondering if publishing online or with self-publishers "counts" as being published in the eyes of industry professionals. The answer is (mostly) No.

When I was the Community Relations Manager at the local Barnes & Noble, I often fielded complaints from perplexed authors who had used self-publishing services (including, ahem, iUniverse, the one owned by Barnes & Noble, Inc.) When the local B&N won't carry them on the shelves, and won't host individual book-signings for them, the authors want to know why. Their publishers told them their books would "be available through Barnes & Noble." What those publishers should have made clear is that the books would be available to order online and through the store for customers willing to pay in advance for a Print-On-Demand title.

Personally, I understand the desire to do whatever it takes to put a book out into the world, but in terms of quality, a self-published book rarely carries the weight of a professionally produced book. From the editing to the binding to the cover art, self-published books rarely stand up to industry standards. That doesn't mean I think the industry standards are necessarily fair, but there are qualitative reasons to hold out for a known publishing house. There are exceptions, of course. Ellora's Cave has managed to wedge itself into the canon of respected publishers. Borders even carries Ellora's Cave books on its shelves. iUniverse has answered this criticism with special programs like the Star Program, which will give authors willing to pay for a premium package a chance to be carried in B&N stores. Self-publishing is an unfair industry, I think, one which takes advantage of writers unfamiliar with the process of publishing and too impatient to market their work to publishers.

Useful plotting advice

As promised, another post this week to make up for the short offering on Tuesday. This list of plotting suggestions comes from Alicia Rasley: a writer who is most known as a romance writer and writing instructor. Her writing booklets are quite inspiring.

Ouch!

Mel slapped me.

No, not really. But she did point out that I haven't posted 2 weeks in a row. But I have a good excuse, honest!!! School. (Insert ominous crescendo here.)

We are back to school at last, which I'm decidedly ambivalent about. But the resulting shuffle of time management means that I have to change my "Will Post" date to Tuesday, I think. Mondays are now all about school and the baby. Otherwise, I've been doing actual writing (as opposed to blogging?). I finally managed my first article for the Post-Tribune and have been thinking through a new romance.

So I caught wind of this post by Maureen Johnson from Claire Zulkey on MBToolbox. Oh how I laughed! Jimmy Stewart only adds to the fun.

[But then, doesn't he always? In the first romance novel I was writing (I've since declared it hopeless -- ironic given the nature of Johnson's blog) the romantic hero was partially based on Jimmy Stewart. However, Stewart is hardly the Romance-Novel Hero type: he's no square-jawed, uber-muscled rake. I'm ashamed to admit this, but originally, this character was a tailor as well. Can you believe it? Yeah. That was not going to work. Oh well. Sigh. I've been a nerd from waaaay back. ]

That's my humble offering this week. I'll work on something more substantial as the week goes on. Thanks for the motivation, Mel!

Poetry toys

I love a good poetry toy! (See "Instant Poetry" entry). Here's another called Erasures. Feel free to post the link to your poems here. Here's my work of genius: "Luna". Snark away.

I Dream of Funding

I fantasize that one day I'll get paid to write. Not just a token amount scarcely enough to pay for a subscription to the local newspaper, but really paid. (I also fantasize that I'm living in the south of France while I'm doing this paid writing, but that's beyond the point...) So today's blog focus is money: winning it, earning it ... whatever works.

First up, a few resources for grant-seekers:

• The most comprehensive list is a subscription service from PEN America Center. Once I finish paying of my local newspaper subscription, I'll invest in this resource.



• The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies can help locate regional funding for writers and artists and give the heads up to more obscure resources. Don't pass up their links to other sources.



• And this is the National Society of Arts and Letters, which prides itself on encouraging young artists.



• Finally, if you're hiding an "exceptional" publication credit in your back pocket, you can always apply for an NEA Literature Fellowship

And next, a few good sources (other than your creased and coffee-stained copy of Writer's Market) for contest information:

• My personal favorite, Poets & Writers Magazine's Grants and Awards page. It's elegant, it's easy to use, it's inspiring. Awww.



• Winning Writers is also great reference for poets looking for contest info.



• The Poetry Society of America also publishes a pretty exhaustive list of contests and retreats on their Resources page.



• Writing-World.com also features a long list of contests.
  
  
• If you're a screenwriter, the Writer's Guild of America sites both list screenwriting awards and fellowships.

And finally, a few sources for paying work:

• WritersWeekly.com has a decent freelance job list.



• As does my other fave writing site, Mediabistro.com

Don't forget that most genres have their own lists of contests and awards. For example, you'd naturally check out the RWA if you're a romance writer, but would you think of checking out The Cat Writers' Association if you write about cats?

I'm still looking for the "Creative Writing in the South of France Grant", though. So clue me in if you find it, alright?

Vindicated!

Thank you MB Toolbox for vindicating me! I would hate to be so "early Web 2.0"! I'm not too busy to post every day, I'm just conserving web resources and staving off an attack of Blog Rage.

I've decided to limit my blogging to Mondays. Seems logical right? We'll see how well I keep up with that... Here's Moira Allen's piece on Setting Effective Writing Goals.

Here's a couple more links:

First, Project Gutenberg is celebrating its 35th Anniversary by offering (in conjunction with World eBook Fair) over 300,000 free downloads until August 4th.

And I'd like to see a little more action on the Poets & Writers Forum, Speakeasy. Let's all go there and say vibrant, witty, insightful things.

The Time Management Blues

Time Management. The bane of my life. As a young person, I was exceptional at time management. Not anymore. Now, I rely on a set schedule to help me organize my time. At present, ideally, I have 2-3 hours every Monday through Friday to write. A fair amount of time, and a fairly regular amount of time, but significantly less than I would like. (A conundrum I believe ALL writers find themselves in, no?) But, it's only enough time for me to get involved in one project a day or even a week.

A couple of weeks ago, I realized that I was spending an hour or two a day on this blog and then not doing and writing. Sigh. This is representative of another of my writerly struggles: a massive tendency for procrastination and conflict avoidance. Is writing a conflict? Well, it's a struggle. It's wrestling with ideas. It's WORK, dammit.

So, as you can see by the date of my last entry, I decided to cut back on the time I spend on the blog and put more energy into writing. Still, I am masterful at avoinding hard projects. I was ducking away from my "real" writing projects: the article writing. I fiddled around with a story, outlined a possible plot for a whole new novel, (I only have 2 unfinished ones haunting me!) wrote a poem. I still wasn't just writing. So that's my goal for this week. I'm going to draw the line after this sentence, and return my attention to my current project -- an article about Urban Explorers.

Run, Harry, run!

Lest we forget about Harry Potter for a few months --no books or movies are due out this year-- J. K. Rowling has graciously dropped some cryptic hints about the fates of some of the main characters. She slowly leaks out teasers and we all scramble to decipher her intentions. Damn her! She's a genius!

Angela Carter IS a Glam Rock Feminist. I can't think of a higher complement. The gorgeous writing, the slippery gender construction, the kinky and slightly uncomfortable sexuality, the imaginary worlds that operate just next door to reality: I am such a fan. I've been stumping for Carter for a decade now. Join me.

A perennial question for me is the role of self-publishing in the literary world. I don't see myself doing it, but here's my blog -- a kind of self-publishing, no? There's no question that when a book has been self-published I'm much less inclined to take it seriously, but I'm not sure that's fair. What do you think readers? I'm seeking opinions.

The Darlene's Best Sellers List for the week of 6/20-something

An unofficial --and completely unsupported by actual sales figures-- list of notable books coming through my checkout line last weekend at my Barnes & Noble:

1. Paul Coehlo's The Alchemist. We had a strange run on this yesterday and sold all the copies on the shelf. Someone must have mentioned it at church.

2. The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. Definitely headed for the Best Sellers list. I'm going to have to read this one, I think.

3. The Alphabet of Manliness by Maddox. I confess I had no idea what this was until I asked one of the many pubescent boys buying it. He laughingly directed me to the website. Eww. I'll pass.

Conversely, I didn't sell one copy of Terrorist by John Updike. I figured with all the media attention the man could do no wrong right now, but NW Indiana doesn't seem to be cooperating.


Elsewhere, Hot New Thing Monica Ali (author of Alentejo Blue and Brick Lane) describes her writing process in The Washington Post. Ali describes giving in to the narrative pressure of setting and character, resisting the procrastinatory lure of too much research, and allowing characters to have their own voices. Yup. Heard it. Two moments do stand out, though. First, her description of how stories can evolve from a series of images is beautifully written. The second is this advice: "Research gives you the courage to make things up." Well said. I crave this courage. However, I have had the following slogan pinned to the wall above my computer for months: "No Research! Make Shit Up!" I can paralyze my work by looking for the knowledge and authority I mistakenly believe is necessary to "make things up". Anyone else have this problem?

Rejection, part one

Feeling blue about having your latest manuscript rejected? Don't. A reminder that publishing is a business, and not necessarily about art. Wait, Starbucks is going to publish books? Weird.

Check out Q&A 45 on Rejection Letters over at the EvilEditor's blog. Note to self: invest in quality hamburger flipper.

And in case you didn't follow the link in the EvilEditor's blog: hey, if Jane Austen got rejected, so can you! Say, "I am as good a writer as Jane Austen." Repeat as many times as necessary until you believe it.

A Terrible Miscellany

Poetry holds a strange place in the American consciousness. On one hand, we encounter poetry every day, however we don't refer to it as such: greeting card verse, lyrics to music for example. But say the word "poetry" to anyone without an arts degree and its as if their ears slam shut, as if poetry were somehow too difficult. With the exception of perennial favorites like Maya Angelou, Robert Frost,and Kahlil Gibran, the general public limits its contemporary poetry consumption to poets such as Matty Stepanek.

This morning, the Library of Congress announced its selection of Donald Hall for the nextPoet Laureate.

Donald Hall is an interesting choice. His writing is both very simple and very thoughtful--absolutely gimmick-free. He creates worlds with potent economy. Here is "Gold", for example. Also, as the NYT describes it, he is an "outspoken" member of the advisory board of National Endowment for the Arts who works to preserve the NEA's grants for artists.

In the past the position of Poet Laureate was largely honorary, but in recent decades, the Poets Laureate have worked to make poetry more palatable and interesting to the general public. I am especially fond of Robert Pinsky's Favorite Poem Project. Hall has said he doesn't quite know what his mission will be: "As for the rest of the job, 'I have a terrible miscellany of thoughts,' he said."

A community of debate

Ever since the appearance of the NYTBR's Best Work of American Fiction of the Last 25 Years, I have been mulling over its premise, promise and results, quietly trying to figure out exactly why I found it as perturbing as I did. I'm hardly alone. Almost as soon as the list was published, debate began. First there was the scandalized assertion of omissions: how could [insert author name here] not make the list? Then came the scrutiny of the list of judges: what influence did gender and race have on the results? But for me, the most potent indignity has been the homogeneity of the selections: six books by Philip Roth? three by DeLillo? (Essentially) four by John Updike? These are all great choices, but it bugs me, for lack of a better term, that with an entire panopoly of American literature at our fingertips, we came up with such an exclusive and repetitive list of books.

Over at Bookslut, Eryn Loeb has been thinking about the column too, and considering what motivates our futile compulsion to try and single out the "best" examples of works of art using vague criteria and uneven samplings:

"I guess the logic is that if we can all agree on the best movie of the past fifty years, or the top ten records, or the next manufactured pop star, these will stand as common ground for a culture largely lacking in it. Maybe the hope is that anointing the best of a particular medium will encourage a sense of community. But I doubt it’s as conscious as that."

Perhaps that explains John J. Miller's surreal list of "The 50 Greatest Conservative Rock Songs" in The National Review. I'm not sure rock music is really the unifying, community-building medium conservatives are looking for, though. (The Beatles?! U2?! THE SEX PISTOLS?!?!) Why not just stick with The 50 Greatest Investment Firms or 25 Tax Shelters of Note?

Do you have a platform?

I spent my Memorial Day weekend in St. Louis with my husband, baby daughter, and in-laws. I believe I was on the computer 20 minutes total during the 5 days: thus the lack of posts. It's refreshing, yes, but also harrowing to be out of the information loop for so long.

But, back into the literary waters for me. Today's offering is a posting from The New York Observer detailing an emerging buzz word in book publishing: "The Platform". They don't mean shoes. I'm planning to coast to literary super-stardom working my English teacher street cred and sassy "mom-hair" (as Buffy the Vampire Slayer calls it).

In other news, on Writer Beware's blog, a piece about the near-death experience of Absolute Write, facilitated by a crooked "agent" named Barbara Bauer. Thanks to her lack of foresight, her name is now connected irreversably with "Writer Beware's 20 Worst Agencies List", now zipping around the web. Hopefully Absolute Write will be up and running again very soon.

Edit: Absolute Write is up and kicking again after a move to a new server.

Serial Fiction

"How can the novel, that tortoise of literary forms, keep pace with the current events hare?"

Mark Swartz of The Village Voice writes about the resurgence of serial novels appearing in popular news outlets such as The New York Times, The London Observer, and Slate. Certainly this format has been alive and well online for some time (notably in fan-fiction venues,) but still the refreshing presence of serialized fiction in major media outlets is hopeful. It speaks well for our powers of concentration! Swartz seems to be implying that the thriller genre is more amenable to this type of publication, but I'm not sure I'd agree with that. A romance can have just as much unresolved tension and anxiety as a murder mystery.

Instant Poetry (no magnetic words necessary)

Click your way over to Ken Gordon's new project, a tech-savvy new concept website: QuickMuse. His recent article published in Poets and Writer's explains his intentions a bit, but I confess the most amusing thing about the article is Andre Codrescu's slam of Gordon's idea as "not even entertaining". But don't listen to Codrescu (at least not in this instance.) Gordon has wisely given up on the competitive idea behind the site, and what remains is an attempt to use the internet's spontaneity to probe the creative process. The stable of writers who have signed on to the project is a star-studded one. Thylias Moss and Paul Muldoon have already posted to the blog and according to Claire Zulkey at mbtoolbox, Robert Pinsky and Marge Piercy are on the way. The playback option is a fun feature: "watch" your favorite poets write poems from the comfort of your own desk chair. The downside: the possibility that the most "entertaining" aspect of the sight is watching Moss make typos.

Which puts me in mind of another techno-wonder for the ever-busy writer: one of my favorite, favorite, favorite authors, Margaret Atwood, has come up with a gadget which is frankly weird. Bethanne Patrick writes about it in her blog: AOL Bookmaven. When a long-distance book-signing is the only option, we can now turn to The Long Pen.

The New York Times encourages traitors

More and more, desperation seems to be the modus operandi for the Bush Administration. For six years now they've been pushing the limits of the Constitution to find ways to silence critics, operating under a policy of "shoot now, talk later." The latest targets of these attacks: the press.

According to an April 22, 2006 article by Greg Miller of The L.A. Times, "The CIA ... fired a senior officer for leaking classified information to news organizations, ... that said the agency maintained a secret network of prison facilities overseas for high-ranking terror suspects. ... The termination, announced Friday, marks the latest in a series of high-profile crackdowns on spy agency and Bush administration officials accused of unauthorized disclosures of classified information."

But who's to say that information which is classified is so designated because it is truly crucial to national security? Does the classification system not also have the advantage of hiding the less palatable elements of governmental policy from both Americans and the international community? According to Miller, "Disclosures about that program and other operations in recent months, U.S. intelligence officials said, have damaged the United States' ability to win cooperation from European countries and other allies in the fight against terrorism." To follow this logic, flagging international support (which was never all that strong to begin with) is not the fault of the administration and its illegal actions, but instead of those who publicly discuss those policies.

Does that mean that leaking classified info to the American press is tantamount to traitorous activity? Attorney General Alberto Gonzales seems to think so. CIA operatives sign non-disclosure agreements in which they swear their secrecy before they are privy to classified information. Thus, leaking information is a punishable offence. But reporters make no such pledges. Nonetheless, in today's New York Times, reporter Adam Liptak writes that Gonzales said "The government has the legal authority to prosecute journalists for publishing classified information."

Liptak continues, "Though he did not name the statutes that might allow such prosecutions, Mr. Gonzales was apparently referring to espionage laws that in some circumstances forbid the possession and publication of information concerning the national defense, government codes and 'communications intelligence activities.' "

With the recent newspaper exposure of the NSA's phone tapping program and the creation of a databank of millions of American's daily phone calls, some politicians are pointing at reporters as traitors as well. In Miller's article, Sen. Pat Roberts is quoted as saying, "At a time in which intelligence is more important than ever, leaks have hindered our efforts in the war against Al Qaeda, those guilty of improperly disclosing classified information should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

None of these programs -- the prisons, the phone tapping, the data base -- can unreservedly be called legal. And yet it is the reporters, who have a moral imperative to share crucial information with their American readership, who now have to watch their backs. At the same time, in its leaking of the identity of Valerie Plame, for example, the administration has demonstrated its willingness to employ press leaks to its own advantage.

No writer, whether a news reporter or otherwise, should ignore this dangerous trend. By hunting down writers who deliever the news whether it be flattering or unflattering, the administration asks the American people to choose willful ignorance over their First Amendment rights. Perhaps some are ready to make that sacrifice, but we shouldn't be.

Welcome!

Welcome to Inky Pixels. This blog is intended to be an unapologetic look at the writing life and all it's elements: writing, publishing, marketing and news. I welcome your input and suggestions. --Darlene Cohn