Pub Rants

STATUS: Need to go home and pack because I’m leaving for New York City and BEA tomorrow.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? BOYS AND GIRLS by Bryan Ferry

This is definitely a blog light and for that I apologize.

Most of my day was spent transitioning my website and email over to a new company and server.

Remember all those email issues I was having? Well, they weren’t getting solved so I had to move on. I don’t even want to think about how many people never received a response to their query letters because of all the trouble we were having and all the emails that weren’t delivered.

If you never received a reply from us, you might want to resend that email query just to be safe.
The transition has happened but there could still be glitches. If you visit our website and your cache hasn’t been emptied or your web browser hasn’t refreshed, you might still be seeing the old site on the old server or you might get an error page. Don’t worry. You don’t have to do anything extra and it will shake out in the next 3 days or so.

Consider yourself forewarned.

Ps. The electronic submissions database is fine. Everything transferred without a problem.

STATUS: This has been a crazy day. I really needed to finish an edit for a client but it’s already 4 in the afternoon and I haven’t touched it. Guess I’ll be up late tonight.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? SHOOT THE MOON by Norah Jones

Okay, I’m embarrassed to admit that my Mom & Dad read my blog (and boy did I get in trouble when I didn’t call to tell them about Chutney’s trip to the emergency room.) I got a cold blast when my Mom called to tell me she had read about it ON MY BLOG. Sniff.

Won’t make that mistake again!

But she did send me a tidbit to share with writers because she noticed that commenters often asked about how they can find people to critique their work.

So, if you happen to live in St. Louis, Missouri and are looking for a critique group, this post is for you (and you can give a warm thank you to my mother and the article she found).

You might start with the St. Louis Writers Guild. This association has many different affiliate chapters such as the Chesterfield Writers Guild (which is a township within St. Louis). According to my Mom (and the article she was reading), they each have a mission of providing for and promoting a community of writers of all genres and levels of experience within the area. They offer workshops, peer reviews, groups, speakers etc.

If St. Louis has this, I bet other communities to do. Just do a Google search for [YOUR CITY NAME] Writers Guild and see what pops up. Get connected.

Writing is solitary business but it doesn’t have to be.

STATUS: I’m dragging today. I stayed up super late last night but this time it wasn’t because I had an exciting full manuscript to read. Nope. It was excitement of a different kind. I had to run Chutney to the emergency room. Her face swelled up like a hippopotamus out of nowhere last night. Don’t worry, she’s not perky today but doing well. I guess a swollen face is a sign of an allergic reaction. She had a big welt on her leg so we think she was bitten by a spider. She has got to stop playing with those 8-legged friends.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? PERSONAL JESUS by Depeche Mode

I did a phone teleclass today and one of the attendees asked me an interesting question. She asked, “can writers have different voices for different genre projects.”

The question stumped me because I had never really thought about it before. I rather assumed that a writer’s voice is his or her voice regardless of what the person is writing. That your writing voice is essential and unique to you and even though you might bend it to different genres, it will ultimately still “sound” like you or have your unique feel.

And that’s what I said but maybe I was just pushing air. Can writers have different voices for different genres?

STATUS: Had a terrific day snowshoeing in fresh powder since it snowed some last night.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? No music sadly.

I tend to think deep thoughts when snowshoeing–or maybe not so deep and I’ll let you be the judge.

Obviously there are a lot of people who want to be published authors and statistically, not all will become so.

Chances are good that a good portion of those people who would love to embrace this dream will not have the perseverance or the talent to make it.

Statistically we know this is true but when writing, you have to be in touch with your heart–not the logic of your brain that wants to weigh you down with statistical fact.

You may never be published but you need to live your life with the thought that you will. And ultimately, you have to write for the personal joy of it (not because you have to be published) because the sacrifice you make (the price you pay if you will) would not be worth it.

Gotta love the peace and quiet of Winter Park for getting one to a place of good thinking.

STATUS: Great because I’m taking a little ski break in Winter Park for the “long” weekend.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? Well the local bar has some Reggae music going. I’m sitting in the lobby to get the wireless connection.

Since I’m supposed to be on vaca, I’m going with blog light for the next 2 days.

As I was hiking through one of the beautiful National Forests of Colorado with Chuts and my hubby, I was thinking about one piece of advice I would give to writers if I could only give one.

Ultimately I decided that the most valuable asset a new writer can have is a mentor–preferably an already published author.

Having such a valuable resource can make a world of difference in how the publishing world unfolds for an aspiring author.

A published mentor can share the hard times, be a real critique for current work, and really give an inside perspective that only a previously published writer (who has been through the process) can offer.

In any profession, a good mentor is worth her or his weight in gold–this is especially true in publishing.

STATUS: I got to the office early just so I could tackle business details this morning and ack. It’s almost 11 a.m. and I’m still reviewing the books.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? EDGE OF SEVENTEEN by Stevie Nicks

I’m constantly trying to drive home the fact that most agents don’t have time to critique—either sample pages or queries. Sometimes we’ll give feedback on full manuscripts but that’s about it.

Except… I always find the time to do a critique if it’s for charity. So, if you’ve always dreamed of an Agent critique, here’s your chance.

Last year I did two charity critiques—spending an hour to two hours reading the winner’s first 50 pages carefully. I made detailed notes on the pages, and I wrote up an extensive revision letter. All positive and encouraging but also honest on why I would have passed if I had requested these sample pages. (And maybe this year I’ll get some exciting pages from an auction winner and I’ll request the full. It can happen!)

If this sounds like your cup of tea, it’s time to check out best-selling author Brenda Novak’s diabetes auction. For me, it’s also very personal. One of my best friends in the world and my brother-in-law suffer from diabetes so I’m particularly eager to participate in this charity function every year.

My donated critique isn’t up on the site quite yet since I just sent in my materials but check back in the next two weeks or so and it will be there.

Auction happens May 1-31st, 2007.

And if you are an author/editor/agent and have something to contribute, please join me.

STATUS: Iffy. Today I managed to knock a whole glass of water on my keyboard. I ended up leaving the office early so as to work on my laptop and let it dry out. Guess who might be buying a new cordless keyboard tomorrow? We’ll see. Sometimes they dry out and work fine.

What’s playing on the iPod right now? YOU WERE MEANT FOR ME by Jewel

Obviously a lot if you’ve been following the news lately regarding the controversy surrounding an anatomy vocabulary word in Susan Patron’s Newbery Medal winner THE HIGHER POWER OF LUCKY.

Never mind the bollocks! We have librarians!

Librarians who obviously think young minds cannot handle the term scrotum. Not a slang term or a crude reference, mind you, but the medically correct term for the pouch of skin that contains the testes.

Oops. Shouldn’t use a word like “testes” on this blog! That might sound too similar to testicle. Thank goodness I didn’t accidentally use the word nutsack instead.

Seriously, it’s this kind of ruckus that makes me shake my head in wonder.

(And don’t you love that word ruckus? I think I need to see more fun words like that in the sample pages I’m reading and use them in everyday situations. Today, despite Chutney’s loud protestations, I told her she couldn’t join the dog fracas at the park. Invariably she goes Napoleon on a big dog and it turns out silly. Fracas! What a lovely word.)

But I’m distracted. Tomorrow I plan to go out and support Susan in the best way possible. I’m going to buy her book. In fact, it sounds so good, I think I might buy several copies and send them to all the young people in my life because I have no problem with them knowing the vocabulary word of scrotum (and that it’s an unhappy moment if a snake bites a male puppy dog there.)