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Rx for Writers |
August 18
If April showers bring May flowers, what do August showers
bring? Besides forest fires out here in the dry-lightning west? But I do love a
good grumbler and I've been enjoying a few this year. For some reason those
nice summer-shower days send me to my computer. Must water my muse or
something...
My 'Sense of the Story' prompt is now closed and I got a lot of very nice
submissions! I've posted my first batch of sensory scenes in this newsletter.
Look for more next week. Keep track of your favorites and see how they match up
to my 'First Picks'. Learning to read an editor's mind is part of the business
of writing, you know.
I answered questions about publishing in our Friday After Hours forum this
week. It's a little more casual than our old Forums with a stage, but I think
things will work out as we do more of this. Tuesday, at our Lunchbox Forum,
I'll be talking about creating characters in a scene.
Jerry Watson shares his 'post graduate' news with us. Send me more! This is a
great way to keep in touch and let everybody know just what life after
Longridge is like.
Donna Ippolito tells us to Forget the Epithets in her Tip of the Week. And
check out Tinting Exposition with Character, for some tips on how to
make the narrative part of a limited third person story seem like the
character's voice.
Kelly Christiansen, 'Crystal Wizard' on the Long Ridge website, is open for
submissions at Abandoned Towers -- a Reader's Magazine. Published online
and in print form, it includes a host of genres.
In her Contest Corner, Suzanne suggests the Funds for Writers 7th Annual
Contest, an essay contest with a cash prize for the winner. Check it out.
Remember -- the Most Persistent Writer
Award will be awarded this September. That's coming right up now! Sending out
your work counts, remember...not acceptances! You'll find the very simple rules
in our 'Applause' section.
I'll start taking totals on September 1st. Send me your total submissions for
Fiction or Nonfiction (don't mix the two, but you can submit totals in both
categories.) If you think you might be a winner, send me your log of what you
submitted and where you sent it, along with approximate dates -- the month is
fine if you didn't keep track of it! I'll be asking for those totals starting
September 1.
-- Mary Rosenblum, LR Web Editor http://www.maryrosenblum.com
Remember: if you click on the index items below you will immediately skip to that section. Click on your 'back' button to return to the index. Happy navigating!
CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE
APPLAUSE!
GRADUATE NEWS: -- Jerry Wilson
SPOTLIGHT ON -- Tinting Exposition with Character
PROFESSIONAL CONNECTION REPORT: -- Carolyn Howard-Johnson:
Self Promotion on a Budget THIS WEEK
FORTHCOMING FORUMS -- Tuesday Lunchbox Forum: Creating
Characters in the Scene
DONNA IPPOLITO TIP OF THE WEEK -- Forget the Epithets
PROMPT -- Sense of the Story -- First Batch
MARKETS -- Abandoned Towers -- multiple genres
CONTEST CORNER -- Funds For Writes Essay Contest,
THE WANT ADS:
REVIEWS AND TIPS: -- Get Noticed . . . Get Referrals
by Jill Lublin, reviewed by my guest Carolyn Howard-Johnson
REMINDERS
LOOKING FOR SOMETHING?
Article Index by Topic
Need help with characterization? You're faced with a query letter and you
don't have a clue?
Now you can find what you need with a click of your mouse. (And if you haven't
been using the articles on the website, you're missing some good information at
a very good price -- like free!) Visit the article index and choose your
topic at the top of the page...Christian and Inspirational Fiction? click
Plotting? Romance? click No need to scroll through our ever-expanding
list of articles. Take a look and click on those helpful articles.
APPLAUSE!!!
Don't forget to tell us when you get a yes or a no from the publisher. We'll
cheer you either way! Send news of your sales, your rejections, and of course,
links to that new book, story, or article to MaryRosenblum@forums.longridgewritersgroup.com
And remember to keep a log of your submissions so that you can compete for Most
Persistent Writer this year!
Most Persistent Writer Award Rules: Keep a log of all your submissions; the date you sent it off, the name of the market. Keep your fiction submissions separate from your nonfiction submissions. On August 31, 2008 count up your submissions sent out between September 1, 2007 and August 30, 2008. I don't want the number of acceptances, I want the number of submissions you sent out. Send me that number. It's that simple! I'll ask to see the logs of the winners, but you'll find that log is very useful for you, as well. Our Most Persistent Writer -- the one who has simply gotten the most stories or articles into the mail -- wins a prize. I will offer a Nonfiction and a Fiction award so don't forget to keep your fiction and nonfiction submission lists separate. Yes, contest submissions count, yes, NF query letters count as well as complete submissions, yes, novel query letters to agents or editors count, no, poetry submissions do not count. The prompts here do not count, but any review you send me does. No, Nano drafts don't count either, unless you actually submit it to a publisher. And yes, if you get a rejection and send that piece to another publisher, that is indeed another submission. So if you send something to five publishers and get five rejections, you still have five submissions.
Shawn Neeley, aka Red1 on the Longridge Website, got a VERY nice review
for his short piece published in the recent edition of Flashing Swords Ezine.
It's on The Fix Online,
an online review site. The review page was down when I typed this, but follow
the 'Flashing Swords' link on the home page and hopefully you'll find it. VERY
nice review, Red!
Lola Howell, a graduated student of mine, is about to publish Breanna's Choice,
the second book in her three book series, with Publish America. She started
that series with me in the Breaking Into Print course, pursued it seriously in
the novel course, and she has worked SO hard improving her craft. Nice job,
Lola!
Jerry was a student of mine, very talented, and I'm delighted to hear
from him. He tells us: I wanted you to know that I have a novel being
published and it is expected to come out either late this year or the first
part of next year. It’s called The Antiquarian Chronicles. A poem titled A
Househusband’s Ode that I submitted to a poetry contest has made it into the
semi-finals and will be published in a coffee table volume called Immortal
Verses. There is no release date yet for either book. I’m also working as a
medical editor for a website called ehealthforum.com and working as a resume
writer for another company.
You can read an nice little nonfiction 'how to' piece
Install a Hot Water Heater Timer on the internet. It'll
help you cut your gas or electricity costs, too! Nice tip, Jerry, thanks! Great
instructions. Even I can do it!
You don't have to share news of lots of
sales with us. Hey, if you took a long break and are just now getting back to
writing, share that with us. What have you been doing meantime? And good for
you for starting up again! Any news is good news. Send me your LR graduate news
at:
MaryRosenblum@forums.longridgewritersgroup.com
SPOTLIGHT: Tinting Exposition with Character
‘Tinting’ your descriptions, means you color them with your Point of View character’s world view. Every word we utter reflects our outlook on the world, the sum total of our life experiences. A young girl might look at a nineteen year old boy and see a cute guy, a shy, middle aged woman might nervously notice a gang member, and an elderly man might scowl at the punk. This is one of those ways you bring your character to life for your readers. For more tips on how to do this, check out Tinting Exposition with Character in Writing Craft - Character Development.
PROFESSIONAL CONNECTION LIVE
CHAT -- Carolyn Howard-Johnson: The 'Frugal' Author.
My next Professional Connection guest will be Carolyn Howard-Johnson, the award-winning author of the HowToDoItFrugally Series of Books for writers, including USA Book News' award winners The Frugal Editor and The Frugal Book Promoter. Check out her website. She'll be answering all your questions about self promotion of your work. New!!! We'll be doing this interview on the new Post A Note board, so even those of you whose schedules or computers prevent you from attending a live chat interview can still ask your questions.
From Wednesday morning, August 20 through Thursday evening, August 21, you will find Carolyn's topics in the Category Professional Connection Interview on the Post A Note site. Right now, you'll only see a 'welcome' topic, but starting Wednesday morning, you'll find various topic threads posted by Carolyn and you can post your questions there for her to answer. This is a new way of doing the Professional Connection but this way, even if you can't make a regular Forum, you should be able to ask Carolyn a question or two.
Friday I answered publishing questions in the new chat room. It's a bit less formal without a stage and I find I miss questions when a lot of people are asking questions and commenting, but that's an accident on my part. We'll get the bugs ironed out! Tuesday, we'll hae our regular Lunchbox Forum and I'll be talking about creating characters in the scene. If you missed the Friday Forum, you can alwasy read the transcript of our chat in the usual place: Writing Craft, Forum Transcripts. If you haven't tried the chat rooms yet, Visit our Using the New Chat Rooms for instructions on how to use our lovely new chat site! For the Forums, enter (you'll find yourself in the Lounge) and select the Auditorium from the pull-down menu at the top of the page. I'll see you there for our next Forum.
OUR NEXT TUESDAY
LUNCHBOX FORUM meets this Tuesday, August 19. Let's talk about creating characters in the scene.
The TUESDAY LUNCHBOX FORUM begins at:
10AM Pacific
11AM Mountain
12 Noon Central
1PM Eastern
2PM Atlantic/Canada.
OUR NEXT FRIDAY AFTER HOURS
FORUM meets August 29. We're going
to talk about strong versus weak prose.
The AFTER HOURS FORUM begins at:
5PM Pacific
6 PM Mountain
7PM Central
8 PM Eastern
9 PM Atlantic/Canada.
All Forums take place on the Chat Site , in the Auditorium.
Check the Calendar Page and this newsletter for other dates!
And check out our archived Forum Transcripts.
Writing tips from Donna Ippolito, Long Ridge instructor.
Donna Ippolito has been writing, editing, and teaching others to write for more than 20 years. From 1985 to 2001, she was editor-in-chief at FASA Corporation, a Chicago publisher that packaged best-selling science fiction and fantasy novel lines for Penguin Books and Time-Warner. These included the popular BattleTech, Shadowrun, Earthdawn, and Vor series. So check out her websites at www.expert-editor.com and http://dreamscoop.blogspot.com/.
Prior to that, Ms. Ippolito was an editor at the Swallow Press, a prestigious publisher of both literary and commercial titles. Writers published by Swallow include celebrated novelist Anaïs Nin; Jungian analyst Linda Leonard; futurist Robert Theobald; Zen poet Lucien Stryk; and distinguished anthropologist W. Y. Evans-Wentz. She also worked as a senior editor for Consumer Digest and was a founding editor of Black Maria, a quarterly journal of women’s writing. Today, she is a freelance editor whose clients include Powersuasions, Inc., Ohio University Press, Chicago Architecture Foundation, Publications International, and the American Library Association.
Ms. Ippolito’s own fiction and articles include stories and reviews published in Sunday Clothes, East West Journal, Small Press Review, Journal of the West, and others. She has been listed in Contemporary Authors, Encyclopedia of Short Fiction Writers, and Poets & Writers.
- Forget the Epithets
The opposite of failing to name your POV
character is calling him by so many different epithets that the reader gets
hopelessly lost. I once edited a novel manuscript where, in a single scene, the
POV character was variously called Alex, the Captain, Montgomery, the ship's
commander, the officer, and the tall, thin man, among other epithets. This was
the character's first appearance in the novel, so how could I know that his
name was Alex, that he was the captain, or that Montgomery was his last name?
Or was Alex one person and Montgomery somebody else altogether? And how could I
tell whether "the commander" was a separate character from "the
officer", much less that the writer was actually trying to find a way to
avoid repeating the name of a single character?
Once you've chosen your character's name, stay consistent throughout. Decide
whether he's to be known, even in his own POV, as either Alex or as Montgomery.
Calling him by his first name will create more intimacy, but using only his
surname might be appropriate for a more hard-edged character. Of course, who
remembers that "Rick", Humphrey Bogart's character in
"Casablanca", is actually someone named Rick Blaine? The snappy first
name says it all, and no one ever calls him anything else.
Here's another example using a character named Vladimir Petrov. He is eighty
years old, emigrated to the U.S. from Siberia years ago, and is bald. If we are
really in his thoughts and feelings, he would never think of himself as
"the octogenarian", "the bald-headed man", or the
"former resident of Siberia". If he thinks of himself at all, it
would likely be by his first name or by some nickname like Vlad or even as
"you".
Taking it a step further, let's put Vlad in conversation with Sacha Tcherensky,
an old friend from Siberia who is down and out. If you're in Vlad's POV, you
wouldn't write:
"Well, how much did you come begging for today?" the former
resident of Siberia said to his friend from the old country.
Suddenly referring to a character by an epithet breaks the illusion of reality.
If Vlad becomes a "former resident of Siberia" and Sacha "his
friend from the old country", you're no longer in Vlad's POV. Now you're
standing outside the story looking in rather letting us live it from inside the
viewpoint of a vivid and memorable character. Surely Vlad would always think of
Sacha by his first name, so let Vlad be Vlad and Sacha be Sacha.
The prompt is now
closed. Check out our submissions, stay tuned for my 'First Picks' and 'Winner'
and don't worry...if you missed this one, we'll have more.
Here's the challenge: I want a 250 word scene that engages all five senses. I'm
going to give points for the creativity of how you work the senses into the
scene. If it's obvious that the scene was only created to run the character
through the use of all five senses, I won't be impressed. If the senses support
the scene without being obviously the main reason for the scene in the first
place, I will be impressed. Extra 'points' for creativity and for a
complete story, but a complete story is not necessary.
Jack Mason
Dorn had met Tran at a back alley pub they
use to frequent. Dim lights, a few solitary souls lost in their own worlds of
despair. It hadn't changed much.
Tran lifted his glass, "I found something..." "What
something?" Dorn stopped twirling his drink. The ice cubes clanked against
the side as if to punctuate the statement.
"Nadia," Tran hesitated and looked up. The dim overhead light cast a
dark shadow across his face, "was pregnant when she died." Dorn's
stomach turned inside out and he felt the bile rise in his throat. The sour
taste of vomit crept into his mouth. Six months ago she had left him a note, 'I
have a surprise for you tonight.'
He swallowed hard, the bitter sickness turned to anger. His grip tightened on
the glass. Shards cut into him as it shattered; blood dripped from his fingers.
He watched the blood swirl in the booze and spread out across the table. Dorn
growled in a quiet, deliberate voice, "If it's the last thing I
do..." His chair skittered across the floor as he stormed out of the pub
onto the dark street.
"Wait." Tran followed behind and caught him by the arm. Dorn spun and
pinned him against the wall, his hand on his throat. Tran's breath was pungent
from the booze. He paused for a breath then wiped blood on Tran's face,
"My wife, my unborn child, they want blood? They'll get it." He let
go and slipped into the shadows.
VERY nice, Jack! Powerful scene with a huge implied story, and those sensory impressions slip right into the drama of the moment. Please put your ‘said tags’ after the spoken line, okay? It’s the only ‘bump’ in an otherwise smooth piece.
Tami
I guess I wasn’t expecting to see you there.
Hiding in the shadows watching, reminiscing, even exalting in you was painful.
How silly to be drawn in like a moth to a flame.
You laughed. The jolly sound of it pulled me from my nearly forgotten youth,
and the momentary loss of it shook me. As much as I dreaded the thought of
being pulled back to earth from my past-life thoughts of us, it was something I
allowed. It was permissible only because the current reality still included
you.
I did my best to elude you, cowering behind the shelves and stacks of books. I
ran my fingers absently over a tome penned by Kahlil Gibran. Just breathing in
the smell of old books took me back to a time when I had made you happy. In
that moment in time, I was happy as well.
Passing by another shelf I made sure to keep you in my sight. On the wall, only
slightly behind my shoulder, was a gilded mirror. The setting sun brushed over
the corner of it causing it to glisten. I wanted so desperately for my heart to
shine like that again. I wanted you to become the ambassador you had always
been to me! You were capable of bringing love and peace to my heart once. That
love calmed the pain that had always been hidden there. I secluded my heart and
the pain with the many walls I had built.
Nice job. You got all the senses, although I’d like to know what those books felt like. When you’re doing a narrative like this, try for a simpler voice. Readers get lost when it’s too poetic and we don’t have enough here and now.
Nicole Swisher
David Presswood first noticed the rotten smell when he stepped out of his office. Within the short walk from his office to room 113, the smell had gotten worse. The putrescence of decaying flesh, rotting meat, and old congealing blood permeated the air around the door to 113. He tried to look in the window but the curtains were drawn. He pulled the key ring from his belt loop and inserted the master key in the lock. A blast of heat and putrid air hit him in the face as he opened the door and then he fell to his knees, throwing up the lunch he had just eaten. The body that lay before him was bloated, starting to turn black, and there were maggots in various places. With tears streaming down his face, he shut the door and began crawling back to his office. Safely back in the office, he called the police. While on the phone with homicide detective Taylor Culbreth, David passed out, the phone falling to the floor.
Wow, Nicole, glad I didn’t just eat lunch! Nice vivid scent details and I could feel that blast of hot, stinking air. Whew!
Margaret Leary
I leaped from our ancient station wagon the
moment it creaked to a stop at the end of the rutted dirt road. Racing up the
squeaky steps, I yanked open the bug spattered screen door. Inside the murky
gloom of the cabin, the smell of stale grease, old fish and musty curtains made
my nose wrinkle. I grabbed my long, bamboo fishing pole.
The porch groaned as I dashed back outside to splash myself with icy water from
the rusted pump and to gulp down the cold mineral flavored spring water. I
breathed in tangy pine, sweet clover, and honeysuckle. Overhead, a black crow
cawed, mosquitoes whined in the sticky air, and crickets chirped in the tall
yellow-green grass.
Hastily digging up some worms, I stumbled down the steep, rocky birch-lined
path that led to the lake and bolted for the gray dock that snaked its way far
out into the placid waters of Birch Lake. Rolling up my frayed blue jeans, I
dipped my toes into the crystal water. Icy shivers crept up my legs. A blue jay
shrieked to protest my intrusion. Bull frogs croaked in the distance.
Ignoring its slimy squishiness, I snatched up a fat black night crawler to bait
my hook. Dropping my line into the deep water, I collapsed against a railing,
its surface rough against my skin, and listened to the cry of a far off loon as
the setting sun turned the lake to gold. I could almost taste that fried fish!
Lots of nice details. Work on ‘showing’ us sensations: **I took a sip, sweet cherry with a bite of vodka on my tongue**
Reece
Who was mom to criticize the state of my
room? It wasn’t that bad. I wrinkled my nose as smoke wafted under the door.
God, those cigarettes she puffs reek!
I punched the play button on my stereo and cranked up the volume. Alanis
Morissette blared from the speakers. The songstress crooned the lyrics of
Jagged Little Pill to an angry melody. I flopped, belly down, onto my rumpled
bed and buried my face in my pillow. Life in this house sucks! A cool, wet nose
pressed against my hand. I lifted my head and smiled before gathering up my
kitten. I ran my fingers though Parsnip’s soft fur and nuzzled her neck.
I rolled to my back and settled her on my chest. Comforted, I stroked her
velvety ears. Vibrations radiated from the purring Calico. Rocking to the beat
of Ironic, I sang, “It’s the good advice that I just didn’t take …”
My stomach gurgled. Wasn’t there a bag of chips around here somewhere? I
fumbled beside the bed. Found Doritos. Jackpot! I grabbed a couple and popped
them onto my tongue. Why were the zesty ranch pieces moving? I bolted straight
up, a disgruntled feline spilled to the clothes littered carpet. Stale chips
spewed from my mouth as I spit out ant covered fragments. I quickly swiped at
my mouth as a tickle crossed my lower lip. Oh yuck, I ate ants! A bitter taste
lingered on my tongue … maybe mom had a point.
I’m a parent and I was a teen and I’m laughing. Those ants make this piece. Nice job.
Mary Jayne Muraco
The breeze is slight, enough to feel
comfortably cooled on such a warm, sunny day. I can smell the scent of fish as
they swim in the lake. My goal is to relax and read a book with the sun beating
down on me. What more could you ask for on a Sunday afternoon?
Fred puts a worm on his hook and opens a beer. He is planning on fishing for
walleye and bass. He always throws them back into the water after he catches
them and chuckles, "Let them grow bigger for next year."
I am enjoying the sweet, taste of a plastic cup full of chardonnay. The sound
of the waves lapping at our boat is comforting and makes me feel like a baby
being rocked to sleep. I have a great novel to read. I have to take advantage
of any free time to indulge in a treat like this.
We are always in a hurry when we work. When I sit on this boat, I forget all of
that. Even the Cheetos that I am munching on, taste like real cheese.
I see miles and miles of water with small waves and the occasional whitecap. I
look up and am blinded by the bright sun. When I feel hot, I go and sit on the
platform. I put my legs into the water. What a shock to feel that cold water on
my hot legs. What an escape from reality!
Nice sense of summer here, too. Only on a lazy summer lake do Cheetos taste like cheese! Summer magic.
Maureen Bonatch
She didn't answer the
phone." Rachel bit her lip, ignoring the metallic taste of blood.
"Let me be wrong," she muttered.
Joe paused, key in the door, ear cocked, hearing aide whistling, cupping his
hand around it. "What's that scratchin' and whinin'? That dog is ruinin my
door!"
The door slammed inward and a black blur shot out. Joe sniffed the air,
narrowing his eyes at the dog's retreating form. "He better not a went on
the carpet. Be payin to clean it AND replace my door."
"Julie? You home?" Rachel surveyed the disheveled room.
"Umph!" Joe's dentures clacked together. "Whatcha stopping for?
Darn near knocked ya over."
Rachel covered her mouth, bile and her lunch rising, now flavored with bile.
"What the?" Joe's watery eyes bulged behind his bifocals.
"Hush!"
The smell of Bengay enveloped Rachel as he shook her. She didn't realize the
strange keening sound was coming from her. Pushing free from Joe, she knelt
down by her best friend. She stroked Julie's silky hair, now sticky and clotted
with blood. Her skin was cold. No air could be felt rising from her full blue
lips. "Julie. Why didn't you tell me?" Rachel doubled over, tears
streaming. She screamed when a claw grabbed her shoulder. "Lady!" Joe
whispered, tightening his arthritic grip. "We gotta get outta here, that
psycho might still be around."
"He's not here."
"You don't know that," Joe urged.
"Yes I do." Rachel studied the ring clutched in Julie's lifeless
hand. "He's my husband."
The sensory details fit right in, nice end line! Is Joe the landlord?
Donna McDunn
There are only three
things in this world Hannah cares about: play, food and sleep. It seemed as if
whatever Hannah wanted to do, no one else did. Someone was always yelling at
her for something.
"Hannah stay down! Hannah, no! Get out of that! It's not for you!"
Mom had yelled at her just this morning.
She just wanted a little taste. It smells so good. But Mom wouldn't listen. She
never does when Hannah tried to explain.
"Just go outside and play," Mom flung the door open. "I said
go!" Mom added when Hannah hesitated.
There is nothing to do outside. What fun is it to play by your self? That's
when she saw Dad by the garage. I'll surprise him she thought. She crept up
silently and pounced onto his legs.
"Hannah, what on earth are you trying to do?" He was angry. "I
don't have time to play right now. Can't you go take a little nap or something?
I have work to do."
With head hanging, Hannah walked away feeling totally rejected. No one ever
wants to play. That's when she saw the red ball in the grass. I'll try one more
time, she thought. She picked up the ball and ran back to Dad.
"You just never give up, do you?" he said smiling this time.
"All right, girl, you win." He took the ball from Hannah's mouth,
scratched behind her ear and threw the ball, "Go! Fetch!" He yelled.
The limited third dog POV is really fun when you do it, Donna. Just leave the narrative part out – where you tell us about Hannah -- and let us figure it out. Then it will be really cute.
MARKET NEWS
-- Abandoned
Towers, a Cyberwizard Productions publication in print and online form.
Kelly Christiansen, aka Cyberwizard, has a new venture. Abandoned Towers is an
eclectic assortment of fiction and poetry that will appear online and in
print/pdf form. She is very specific about what she does not want, although she
is accepting a wide range of genres. Be sure to read her Writers
Guidelines for specific details about what they need. They're taking
fiction up to 4500 words.
SUZANNE LILLY'S
CONTEST CORNER --
Suzanne Lilly is a writer, teacher, and
graduate of the Long Ridge Writers Group. She blogs about teaching and writing
at http://www.teacherwriter.net.
Her complete bio is at http://www.suzannelilly.com
Welcome to the Newsletter, Suzanne, and thanks for the contest tips!
- Funds for Writers 7th Annual Contest
- Entry Fee: FREE or $5 (You choose the level.)
- Deadline: October 31, 2008
- Genre: Personal Essay
- Guidelines: http://www.fundsforwriters.com/annualcontest.htm
C. Hope Clark, the
founder and editor of Funds for Writers, is a common sense person. She doesn’t
believe you should ever give your writing away, and she has dedicated her
business to helping writers earn money and find money through jobs, grants, and
other means available. Not surprisingly, her contest is on a common sense
subject. You choose to write on one of two topics:
The Best Advice I Ever Had And Ignored,
or
The Best Advice I Ever Had And Followed.
Your entry should be a nonfiction essay of 750 words or less. Entrants are to
her mailing list, the FundsforWriters newsletter. Winners receive cash prizes,
the amounts based on whether the entry is free or paid. This topic looks like
fun!
- I need a male to read the chapter in my novel that features the male protaginist's POV. He is a 30 year old Jewish male and I am afraid he is too introspective and not male enough. You can reach me, Carol, at cewoien@yahoo.com. Thank you!
- Potlatch is a small literary science fiction convention held on the west coast. We are planning the 2009 con, to be held in Sunnyvale, CA (near San Jose) February 27 - March 1, 2009. See our website, http://www.potlatch-sf.org.
- If you've always wanted to go to a writer's conference but can't afford the plane ticket, hotel, conference fee, and babysitter ... The Muse Online Writers Conference is for you! Mark your calendar for Oct. 13-19 and register today at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/2008MuseConference/
- Carol Woien wrote me: Mary, Just wanted to let you know that my want ad for somone with a Jewish background (this was from awhile ago, not my current one!) has really been a blessing. Gloria has been a huge help as I go along and also become a friend. Your want ad idea was a good one! Please print this so she will see! Glad the want ad worked for you!
- How many copies of your book have you sold in the past year? No matter who your publisher is, and especially if you have self-published, I would like to know how many copies you sold in the first year after you published your book. I am compiling a survey so that novice writers will have a realistic idea of what their sales will be with the various publishing options available, from NY publisher through self-publishing. I would like the name of the publisher and the number of books sold in the first year. I won't report your name, just the publisher's name and the sales. You can send your sales information to me at:
MaryRosenblum@forums.longridgewritersgroup.com Thanks!
Don't forget, if you need expert help, if you want a critique partner, if you're a publisher and you need submissions for your new contest, this is the place for your free ad! Send your want ad to me at: MaryRosenblum@forums.longridgewritersgroup.com and I'll post it here. Don't forget to include contact information so that people can reach you with their responses.
Jill Lublin
Shares Expertise for Businesses: Books are Business, Too
Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, award-winning author of three books of
fiction and poetry and The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher
Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation
and Ensure Success
Advice.
Even good advice is often not believable. And writers are especially immune.
Many of us tend not to believe in ourselves, anyway. As writers, we get more
advice than we need—well intended perhaps— but mostly uninspired. When to
write, how to write, how to query editors, how to punctuate.
The beauty of Jill Lublin's Get Noticed . . . Get Referrals is that what
she tells us about promotion and the business world (and, yes, it translates
directly to the book biz) comes from her expertise. It also comes from her
heart.
That kind of personal involvement is a motivator for anyone and is intended to
be. There is way too much talk out there about "self-promotion," a
term that reeks of misguided give me this and gimme that tactics. This
book is about true public relations.
The word "relations" is the tipoff. Good promotion and the profession
of PR is all about relationships and though most of us think we know how to
form those, there is lots we may not know. Especially in the business
world—whatever business we may be in. Good business relationships don't just happen,
they need to be worked like a good marriage. (Come to think of it, some of
Jill's approaches to getting noticed and getting referrals might help some
marriages out there!)
Then there's the word "public." For those of us who write books, it
is an essential word, the word that lets people know enough about us and our
books so that we can share what we write with others. That's the whole idea,
isn't it?
My favorite chapter is Number Ten (p. 128), "Build on Your Passions."
Most writers are passionate about the business of writing—of telling a story or
sharing expertise. Much of what is in this chapter is not new but it is
reaffirming. Further, it may help writers understand that to be successful
their passion must extend beyond the writing of something to the getting of
that something into the public consciousness. One of the hints I liked was for
people who are having trouble promoting. Lublin says, "Fake it . . . at
least initially." Psychologists ascribe to the same theory. You simply "act
as if" and you find your life (and your career and maybe even your book
sales!) improving.
I am a person who thinks tips and anecdotes are among the best ways to reach
people. They give people what they need or want in little easily-read and
easily-related to pieces. Jill knows that, too. Her book is scatted with small
shaded areas that clip the best and the most pithy stuff from her book and make
it easy for you to internalize them in a few seconds.
Send your reviews to me at: MaryRosenblum@forums.longridgewritersgroup.com
Thanks!
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