Again

I forgot to put the links in my previous post.  Head slap.  Sorry.

Here is to the Janet Reid blog.

Here is to Been Writing.

OK, that should be it for today.  Sorry.

What's in it for you?

 

I saw this post over at Janet Reid’s blog the other day.  In it she lists ten things we should be doing.  The first one is what captured my attention.  She said we should have a website with contact info, a professional picture if we are published, and a sample of our writing.  All good.  But then she said if you have a blog don’t blog about writing.

I wonder if this is because, like starting a novel with someone waking up, it’s overdone.  Maybe agents are tired of checking blogs to find that as newbies we’re trying to teach ourselves to write by blogging about it.  It reminded me of this post over on Been Writing.  She says this 

Every time I put something totally random and scattered that spewed from my brain onto my computer screen, I get WAY more comments than when I do something that's actually writing related.

Then she said this

it's because we want to know there are people as neurotic as we are. And it's even better when they're worse

We blog because we want to connect to other writers.  Writing is solitary and it’s nice to have people who understand what’s going on.  You know, people who won’t pull out the strait jacket when you say things like “My MC and I were having a conversation and we decided….”  It’s nice to see how others write, and react to writing, and how it connects to their real life.  It’s nice to just see their random thoughts and musings.

 I know blogs are good for networking and I know a lot of people who have found long term crit partners and friends.  I’ve found some friends that have offered to be beta readers.  Which still surprises me.  I love my novel but it’s a little different for others to show so much excitement.  I mean, these are real people.  And they aren’t even related to me! 

So, what do you like to read about on a blog?  I’m very interested since I have one.  Although I’ll warn you up front, my home life is pretty boring.  Some days all I do is prepare food, serve food, and clean up food.  Those are weekdays. 

There’s been a lot lately about the “no response means no” policy that some agents have.  Not having yet queried anyone my opinion is only academic.  But I don’t think it will matter.  Everyone is going to want my fictional novel.  All the agents will be calling within hours of getting my query asking for the full or offering representation from my sample pages. 

This may sound like bragging but I’m just being realistic.  This book will knock their socks off.  Everyone will want one and whichever agent I choose after I get all the offers will make millions.  It won’t even matter that I can’t spell or understand grammar.  And forget about promotions, but my book won’t need anyone to promote it.  People will see it and just know how good it is.  And once they’ve read it they’ll buy another copy and tell all their friends.  So you’ll forgive me if I don’t really care what their “no” policy is because it just won’t apply to me. 

OK, that was fun to write.  Hopefully nobody thought I was serious. In reality I think as long as their policy is clearly spelled out on the website I’ll live with whatever it is.  Personally I like closure.  I’m the kind of person that keeps deluding themselves.  Maybe it got lost in cyberspace.  Maybe the mailman delivered it to the wrong house.  Maybe... maybe…maybe.  I need something definitive with no more maybes.  But if I know that there will not be a response (unless they call to offer representation and who wouldn't really?)  I’ll be able to deal with it.  As long as I know beforehand. 

I found three blogs this week that talked about this subject in general but about author/agent relationships in specific.  One is by an agent and two are by writers.  Go here, here and here to read them.The think I like about them is that they are all down to earth.  And while we may all want to believe that everyone will love our book and no one will be able to say no it's just not going to happen.  Rejection is part of writing.  And really, how many of you who work or have ever worked liked every rule your company had?  No?  I didn't think so.  No matter what industry, no matter where, there are going to be policies you don't like. 

When I find my agent I want a partnership.  I want someone who will give me their best, just as I will give them mine.  So in the long run, their response policy just isn’t going to make or break the deal. 

Multiple Times

Hi, my name is Sara and I'm a re-reader. 

I often have people ask me why I re-read books. I ask them if they've ever watched a movie or TV show more than once.  They almost always say yes.  Why is it considered ok to watch movies and lame sitcoms multiple times but not to re-read books?  OK, so that wasn't really where I was going with this post, I just feel strongly about it. 

My books are like friends, I like to visit them every now and again.  I have certain books I like to read in certain moods, some I go back to so I can remember life lessons I've forgotten. Some I study to learn different aspects of craft. Sometimes I don't have any money to buy books or time to go to the library and I HAVE to read.  I know there are a lot of wonderful books out there and I do spend most of my time trying to find new book friends.  But that doesn't mean I have to forget about my old ones.

Are you a re-reader or not and why?

5 minute fiction

So I haven't been around to do five minute fiction in awhile but I started again today and it was really fun.  Go take a look here and if you're interested vote for the winner.

Entropy Happens

I wrote my query while cleaning the bathroom this morning.  Well,  a new version of it anyway.  I didn’t stop to write it all down though.  I was surrounded by three kids that would not only drink all the cleanser while I was gone but would raise an unholy fuss if I wanted to take a couple minutes for myself.  Now I can’t remember it.  That’s ok, It probably wasn’t good anyway.  It may or may not have been inspired by cleaning fumes. 

I love reading others’ blogs.  I haven’t been able to comment as much as I’d like of late due to illness and the writing of thousands of thank you cards.  OK, only forty five but that’s still a lot.  I’m starting to get back into it and am having fun seeing what I’ve missed. 

I’m so excited to go work on my next scene.  I couldn’t stand it Friday and took the day off.  I guess a weekend apart was just what we needed. 

My son is growing out of his naps which will necessitate a change in my work schedule.

Last, here is a link to a Rachelle Gardner post with links to lots of publishing questions that she answers on her blog.

The End

The Engineer and I often have differences of opinions on endings.  The engineer has a long commute to work and he listens to a lot of audio books in the car.  It's not that he likes happy ending, or that I like sad endings, or that he likes closed endings and I like open endings, It's just whether or not we think the ending was predictable/satisfying/forced/or true to the story.  

Margaret Atwood has a good article about endings.  It's not too long and very interesting.  She goes through a number of possible story endings then says that there is only one true outcome.  You'll have to read it to find out. She says a true writer will favor the stretch in between rather than the ending and tells us to worry about the how and why which will bring a story to life rather than just the what. 

How do you feel about endings? Do you have a particular style you like?  How do you know your ending is right for your story?