It’s the ninth day of NaNoWriMo2015 and by now you may be seated at your desk staring at your pages, feeling ecstatic! Or, alternately, you might be hiding beneath your desk in the depths of despair. It’s possible you even feel a bit of both. One of the keys to enjoying a long and productive writing life is to find that balance-point between both ends of the the teeter totter–ends occupied by “brilliant” and “blecchhh”. If you don’t, you will remain at the mercy of those two, leaving you exposed to manic highs and depressive lows. Not so fun. Chances …
Tag: writing business
COACHING QUESTIONS TO KEEP YOU ON COURSE
When I was nineteen I started a business with a partner and we called it “Hat Trick Hats”. We wanted to be portable. We sold our hand-stitched leather creations on the sidewalks of Santa Barbara and on the Wharf and Union Square in San Francisco. We wanted to be free to make our own designs and decisions and we accomplished both. We needed to make a living and sometimes we actually ended the month with a financial surplus! Of course that money was quickly spent to replenish our supplies to make more hats. Our goal was never to get rich—and …
KEEP THE ELEPHANT IN YOUR LAP
I turned thirty in a dinghy on the River Ganga, while a full moon and the fires from the corpses in the burning ghats illuminated the shores of the holy city of Varanasi. That trip to India years ago changed my life. I glimpsed my own mortality, dodged snake charmers and lepers, paid homage to living goddesses and glassy-eyed sadhus. I also met Ganesha, the elephant riding the mouse. Ganesha, the son of Shiva and Parvati and one of the most revered and popular Hindu deities, is also known as the Lord of Success, the god of wealth, wisdom and …
The End of Plague and Pestilence
I am pleased to announce victory over pinkeye and various other woes in my household! (See previous post.) Because I’m in contact with many writers and quite a number of them are in the process of sharing their stories with select readers, agents, and editors, I am going to use the next few blog posts to focus on surviving and thriving through submission and beyond. Have you ever thought about the fact that it’s called submission? Only in publishing…
THE WORD ON WORD COUNT
If you’re about to query agents about your debut novel and the word count tops 150k, land here first: The Swivet. Agent Colleen Lindsay lays out the basics by category. Bottomline–less is more. The average word count for a novel? Between 80k and 100k, with YA running between 50k and 80k.
THE CASE OF THE DREADED SYNOPSIS
When it comes time to find the right agent for you and your novel, you will need to compose a query letter and a synopsis. Your job is to make both of these documents tight, professional, and effective. To spare yourself needless pain and embarrassing blunders, seek help without shame. Agent Query has clear guidelines to help you come up with a dynamite query. Fiction Writer’s Connection offers excellent tips to help you draft and polish your synopsis. The good news: once you tackle your synopsis, the query will seem like a piece of cake!
PLATFORM ANYONE?
I was having tea on Canyon Road with literary agent Irene Webb and she mentioned a trip to New York to visit with editors. What are they looking for? I asked. Her answer boiled down to two points: 1) A writer with a unique voice; 2) A writer with a strong a platform. Voice? We know it when we hear it, when we read it on the page. It’s a sort of author’s thumbprint, and it lends the story its unique flavor, energy and tone. More about voice in a future post. Platforms? Does the word bring to mind discos, …
PLAY IT RISKY
I met Donald Maass last October when we were both among the presenters at the Surrey International Writers’ Conference in Surrey, British Columbia. Not only is Maass a high-powered agent with great marketing advice for writers, he is also a writer who truly cares about other writers, their creative process, and their stories. Read what he has to say about originality and fiction on his new blog at Writer Unboxed–and never play it safe again.
THE BUSINESS OF WRITING -How not to ship your power out with the manuscript.
Over the next weeks I’ll be focusing on the business of writing–building your platform, choosing authentic career strategies, finding the right agent, evaluating your publishing options from traditional to POD to e-books to Kindle. And most importantly, how to hold onto your power and your sanity over the course of your creative lifetime. I’m not going to try to organize these “biz” posts in any particular order. Instead, I’m posting links to sites I already know are useful. And I’ll be on an active hunt to discover new (to me and perhaps to you) resources. If you’re serious about the …
BREAKING INTO THE BUSINESS
Literary agent Don Maass–author of WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL–has gained a reputation in his field as a writers’ advocate. I heard him speak at the Surrey Writers’ Conference this past weekend. He delivered a realistic and energizing message. Yes, it is a tough business. And, yes, you can find an agent and a publisher–if you write a great book, and if you are professional, make smart choices, and do your homework. Sound daunting? Take a deep breath and shake off the “daunts”. Why? Because you will write a terrific book and you will do your homework. Begin by visiting Don’s …