Dagnabbit…

I hate how editing yourself to avoid using foul language lends itself to a perception that you’re backwards or rustic. I’ve been known to give vent to some serious cussin’ when the situation warranted it. I make a conscious choice not to swear and expressing myself means I sound like an escapee from “Pettycoat Junction”. Irritating.

So what I wanted to talk about was the fact that my published stories on Indieblogger have taken off to the Bermuda Triangle. Not sure where IB is going these days but, assuming it is at an end, I need to find a way to make sure that I have a place to throw my work up at. I’ll repost the ‘winning’ stories – the ones that got published and start looking for another online short story publishing zone. Suggestions are welcome.

Some Great News…

Jazzed. Electrified. Popping.

Part of the process of this is to get the novel published. To that end, I started working on exactly how one does it – I know about as much about doing this as your average sixth grader. Taking some suggestions and encouragement by people close to the industry, I wanted this place to be a workingman's how-to on getting published; I know nothing, you know nothing – let’s learn and grow together.

So when other people had suggestions, I wanted to pass them along to you and not just to say ‘Go look at Writers Marketplace’ or ‘attend a workshop’. I took the suggestions and wanted to report back on what had happened so far…

One suggestion was to stroll to Borders and check out which companies published science fiction. I wrote down a number of them (7 or so) and started Googling for their web pages and then drilling down to their submission requirements. Most places either refused active submissions but others welcomed them – Here they are:

DAW Books, Baen

Doesn’t seem like a lot? You’re right – it isn’t. Out of 7 potential houses and all the places they led to from there, this is what I got down to: 2 publishers to start with. This is why getting as much info as possible up front is helpful. You can't assume one name, one company or one lead will be all you need. Next, I checked out book jackets for names of agents. My entire decision process was based on what the cover art looked like. I know my novel isn’t fantasy or mystery thriller so I felt free to skip those. Then I just checked the acknowledgements and looked for names. Names and [hopefully] publishing houses. This whole process took me about an hour to go through the entire stack.

I located agents and publishing houses – most of them push you back toward ‘Writers Marketplace’ or other places – the success rate there seems dubious because you’re looking at a phone book of names and it’s still up to you to dial the number – how’s that better than typing “Find a literary agent” in Google?

So, on a lark, I picked out a name I remember - a famous author who shall for our purposes remain anonymous. I remember reading his books for the first time years ago [and I still do] and wrote to him, asking if he'd consider acting as advisor during this odyssey. To my surprise [and delight] he wrote back and said he'd be happy to. Do you know the term 'walked on air'? That's what Dan did.

So yes - no big updates to the blog. I'm firing everything I can into making this book, the plot, the characters, live on paper. It's taking a long time because I've never done it before. In case you missed it, here's the first chapter:

[[Flotilla - Chapter One]]

Now scoot: I've got some writing to do.

Still Cranking…

Apologies for the lack of witty content (there’s always Fark, isn’t there?) but I’ve been focusing my energy on the novel. Nothing I haven’t said before on that topic. Now that I’ve cracked the 85-page mark (just so you know) I’m starting the process of figuring out how to get the beast published.

So far I’ve been shot down by two literary agencies (not bad for a Monday afternoon) and I know that I’ll be shot down by many more before this is through. But that’s part of the adventure and that’s what I want to share with everyone here…the journey of making all of this happen.

So far, the best advice I can offer is – keep going. I don’t feel like writing all the time, but I know I need to keep trying. Sometimes things shake loose and the words flow like water and other times it’s a struggle to get two paragraphs down. This happened to me earlier this week but then broke loose – I’m simultaneously happy and afraid that it won’t last so I’m going while it’s happening.

What else to say? We’re doing this – we’re really doing this and it’s really happening. I’m still looking for ‘readers’ – people who would like to serve as amateur editors for the novel since I can’t afford to pay for real ones. If you feel like having your name in the ‘Acknowledgements’ section of a novel, feel free to let me know.

Love, Life and Death at the Launderland - Published

Greetings, sports fans - I got published again and wanted to share that with you. "Love, Life and Death at the Launderland" is a story I wrote while stuck at the laundromat one afternoon. Some parts are real, others are fake and I'll leave you to decide which are which. The essential parts of a good short story are good characters and settings. Good storylines aren't really worth it, since you can't develop the plot and achieve a resolution in such a short period of time. It's easier to talk about what has happened than what is happening, it seems. Don't worry if this doesn't make much sense to you - it's a learning experience for me as well.