Help me plan for my 2010 blog

Spent the past couple of hours creating an emailed survey to my blog's regular readers, through Survey Monkey dot com (a basic survey with a distribution of 100 is free). If you haven't received the email to take the survey, and would like to, would you drop me a line? I'd love to hear from you.

Or, feel free to comment below on what you'd like to see in this space in 2010. More interviews with successful writers and authors? More business tips? Organizational ideas? More motivation? More on balancing parenthood and writing?

What do you find most helpful?

"I'm here for ya, man."

Two of the latest "ideas" in the publishing biz

Want to weigh in on 2 recent stories about what's going down in the publishing business?

Over on the writer Linda Formichelli's blog, The Renegade Writer, they're talking about publishers like Time, Inc., who are paying 4% less to their freelancers who want to be paid now. However, if you're willing to wait 60 DAYS, you'll get your full contract fee. I thought vendors set prices? Check in at http://therenegadewriter.com/2009/12/07/want-to-get-paid-on-time-pay-up/ and you'll be referred to the Gawker.com story.


Over on Hope Clark's blog, the debate rages over Harlequin Romances' decision to create a self-publishing arm. Are they directing and exploiting frustrated, rejected, anxious-to-be-published writers to that press? Appropriate? You decide. As a result, the Romance Writers of America announced they will no longer recognize Harlequin (all the imprints). The Mystery Writers Association adopted consequences also, Hope reports.
http://hopeclark.blogspot.com/2009/12/harlequin-and-self-publishing.html

Looks to me that it's quite a time to be in the publishing biz...What do you think?

A thought from a writer-mom

Just a tidbit today as I'm home with a sick little boy at the moment. Writer-parents, think about this beautiful quote, spotted in the Literary Mama e-zine:

"Many people have said to me 'What a pity you had such a big family to raise. Think of the novels and the short stories and the poems you never had time to write because of that.' And I looked at my children and I said, 'These are my poems. These are my short stories.'" -- Olga Masters

Enjoy every moment with these precious ones, as I know you are. #

From someone else who says to "pay the writer"

While we're all in a post-Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday hole, I think it's time for us writers to start our week energized and revved up! This ought to do it.

Below is a link to a clip from "Dreams With Sharp Teeth," a 2008 documentary about the writer Harlan Ellison, who's written thousands of short stories, screenplays, books, et cetera, many of the science fiction and horror genres. He's known to be outspoken--and this is where he grabbed my attention.

He rails against companies who will pay the teamsters but not the essay writers, and the amateurs who accept no pay for their writing. He does this with a fierceness that's deep. Do you agree? Are you seeing writers undervalue themselves and undercut the profession? I'd love to hear your comments.

Disclaimer: There are some parts in his tirade where he uses profanity. Good time for the young child playing at your feet right now to watch Sesame Street instead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to Nanowrimo...

I did it! I've written my first "novel" as part of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)!

Of course, I'm using that term "novel" loosely. The work is not over. Not even close. But it's a first draft, and it's mine! And it feels good!

Here's what I did: I signed up in July. I set the goal that I would write 50,000 words of a novel in November. I'd never done it before, but I do know that I thrive on deadlines. I thought this would give me the impetus to write a manuscript.

That's the whole goal of NaNoWriMo: write down a draft. Get the muse out of your head. Just write. Every single day. If you write over 1600 words a day, you'll reach 50,000 by Nov. 30, and you'll no longer be one of those people who say "I want to write a book someday." Granted, your book may not be quality, but it is simply quantity you are looking for at first. Get the words down. Then you can spend the next several months rearranging the words.

Here's how I did it. A few weeks prior to Nano, I sketched out my idea in my head. Then I wrote it out into 30 plot points, with one thing happening every day I wrote. This would prevent me from getting writer's block, I figured. (That didn't totally work.) I also wrote out character sketches and wrote out my main character's speech she would give me if I met her. Then I geared up for the big day: Nov. 1.

But Nov. 1 here had trick-or-treating (crazy, I know!), so I actually started Nov. 2. I took a 1-week vacation from my nonfiction freelance writing biz. Pretended I was at the beach or something (except I had kids to pick up from school, feed them, hug them, pack lunches and check their homework). And I wrote. My fingers couldn't move fast enough on the keyboard, and I ended up writing 10 hours a day, which was coming in around 10,000 words a day. The days I couldn't think of any good story ideas, I still wrote. Five days later, I hit my 50,000 words.

Since then, I've been rereading this draft every day, but this time only an hour a day. I've started to edit and revise. Mostly, I've realized what enormous work it needs, and this may take a long time. I see holes each time I read it; I see an ending that needs to be changed drastically to make it satisfying to the reader. I see revisions, revisions, revisions in my future. Nanowrimo writing: 5 days. Nanowrimo editing: 500 days?

Of course, my main fear? That my word count thingy on my computer is off. When I go to upload this thing to the Nano counter site, I'm afraid it will tell me, sorry, you've hit 5,000 words, not 50,000. You lost. You don't call yourself a writer, do you?

Regardless, I've loved it. It needs lots of work, but right now, I feel exhilirated: me, little ole me, did it. I've written non-fiction my entire life--and I can now say I attempted fiction. Thank you, Nano people, for the great idea and program!

And you? What's been your experiences with Nano? Do tell!

Q& A with C. Hope Clark, founder of Funds for Writers!

I don't just adore C. Hope Clark because she published my article "Writing for Lou Grant and those dark suits" this week. I adore her because she's the founder and editor of http://www.fundsforwriters.com/, a site and e-newsletter which comes to my inbox every week, helping me find new markets. She is a wealth of information. I adore her even more because she took some time to answer my questions about writing, growing a readership of over 28,000, finding an agent and the steady work it takes to make it.

FundsforWriters.com is an online resource for writers seeking grants, contests, markets or jobs. The nine-year-old site has almost a million hits per month and has received the Writer’s Digest 101 Best Web Sites for Writers designation for each of its nine years of existence. Hope’s newsletters reach over 28,000 readers. She’s published nonfiction in commercial magazines and websites. She also writes mystery fiction, and her Carolina Slade series is in the hands of an agent, making the rounds of New York publishers. The highlight of her career, she says, will be publishing that series and proving how diligence and practice can pay for writers.

Q: Thank you for joining us, Hope! It is a pleasure to have you on my blog. Can you tell me a little bit about how you started FFW? And how you have nurtured it, so that it's grown to 28,000 readers?

Slow and steady wins the race, is my mantra. I started FundsforWriters almost ten years ago after speaking to a writer's group in Georgia. I was writing short articles online and doing book reviews back when Internet writing was brand new, and some writers were afraid of it. My talk morphed into how to make a living as a writer. Since I was then a grant and loan specialist with the federal government, I had some ideas that many thought unique. Emails started pouring in, so I created a newsletter to avoid repeating myself so many times each day. Once it hit 1000 members a couple months later, I realized I had a tiger by the tail, and I needed to take this FundsforWriters stuff seriously.

To keep it alive, I write from my heart and soul. I write sincerely, talking about what I perceive are issues, lessons to be learned and flaws in creating a writing career. People love the kick-your-butt approach I often take. Many love the no-nonsense website. I've always adored people who got to the point quick, so that's what I deliver. Staying current and providing a consistent delivery is the key, in my opinion. Being selected by Writer's Digest as a "101 Best Websites for Writers" for nine years has helped as well. I still love doing it, and I think that comes across to the readers.

Q:What's your top recommendations/advice for non-fiction writers trying to find legitimate, paying markets (in addition to FFW of course)?

Subscribe to Writersmarket.com or buy the book as a starting point. Subscribe to newsletters that post writers guidelines, like FundsforWriters. Go to the bookstore or library and devour magazines, to include the mastheads. Study the ads to know the readership being channelled. Note the flavor and voice in each publication. Don't just whip off a piece and shoot it to an editor without understanding the publication. I purchase articles for FundsforWriters, and I can easily tell when someone hasn't read the newsletter.

Be careful of the writer mills. They are the ones that promise to pay you per click, or pay pennies with promises that ad revenue and clicks will amount to an income. If a publication is easy to submit to and receive acceptance like these mills, it isn't worth having on your resume, because seasoned folks in the business recognize them for what they are. You only have one reputation.

I strongly suggest trade magazines to entering nonfiction writers. They are easy to correspond with, the competition is easier than the national glossies, and they are heavy into interviews and reviews, which are a great way to break into the business and learn how mags work. The pay runs $100-$400, usually.

Q: What's your advice for fiction writers trying to get published?

Read a lot! I have a mindset on fiction writing: write ten times more words than you keep, read ten times more words than you write. Fiction takes more practice, in my opinion, than nonfiction. It's more difficult to write to me. Some think the other way around. But competition is much stiffer for fiction writers. Fiction writers need to practice and practice without publishing. Writer's critique groups are much more important to fiction writers. In nonfiction you need a voice and easy style to make a clean delivery. In fiction, you need that and great characters, plot and setting. It's more complicated, and the more a fiction writer studies the craft through the eyes of those who have preceded him, the better he becomes. It's almost osmosis. Your eye and mind begin to recognize good and bad writing, a well developed plot or a rounded character.

Then once you feel you've become rather skilled (and that doesn't mean two weeks of writing), pitch your shorts to magazines and your novels to publishers/agents. Be prepared to edit them over and over. Be excited at editing them. When someone cares enough to say it needs editing but they still show an interest, jump all over those edits and be grateful.

But fiction takes a long time to turn into money. You can pitch a trade or online site and earn a clip in a matter of days. Fiction writers must be method artists -willing to take their time to perfect the craft.

Q: Would you recommend finding an agent? If so, what is the best approach?

Absolutely. I'm still not crazy about self-pubbed fiction. Sorry. There needs to be an editing process and professional eyes on a manuscript. And I believe an agent can aid a writer's efforts. An agent also is a barometer on how well your book is written. Some preach that conferences are the best places to find agents. I don't agree. I've been to enough conferences to see agents darting around, keeping appointments, and I know they don't have the time to seriously consider a writer. Most of them have a standard mantra of "send me a query and the first three chapters" to avoid a debate. You are pitching your writing. It doesn't matter what you say at a conference, the bottom line is that your writing has to speak well of you. I believe the best approach is a finely tuned query letter and highly polished synopsis. Study the agents you query. Know who they represent, what books they've contracted, what genre they prefer, where they live, what they like. Then personalize that query. It takes time and serious study and may take weeks to send out those queries, but it's worth it.

Q: How did you land your agent?

I studied agents like crazy. I had a spreadsheet indicating all the above items I mentioned. I even had a category called the ZINGER, which was the personal connection to that agent I needed to mention in the query. I sent out a dozen at a time, waited two weeks, then sent a dozen or more. Out of the first 40 agents I queried, I received responses from 39. I believe that was due to the professional query. Five agents requested and read the full manuscript. All rejected it, but with comments. So I stopped querying and did another compete edit on that manuscript, taking about nine months. Then I queried 32 more agents and landed one. I'd mentioned in the query that I was interested in mentoring teen readers like she did and explained my WritingKid newsletter. She'd also been a cop in an earlier life, and my novel is a mystery plus I'm married to a federal agent. Finding that connection is so important. We clicked as a result. I've helped her with her teen mentoring program as well. It's nice to have a partnership.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about what you're working on now?

I'm editing Book Two of my Carolina Slade mystery novel series. Book One is being routed through various publishing houses by my agent. Book Two is written, but she asked me to shorten it 4000 words or so. I've started Book Three and have a general concept for Book Four. That's another lesson. After you finish one book and start querying it, start writing Book Two. My agent asked me about subsequent books in our first conversation. Luckily I had one written. But my mysteries are centered in agriculture, in rural areas. People don't realize there is agricultural crime and that the feds actually have a band of federal agents that investigate said crimes. I threw a lot of Southernisms in the work along with a bit of humor. It's fun.

Q: Who are some of your favorite writers, Hope?

Whoever I'm reading at the moment. I probably read about 30+ mystery novels a year. I like Lee Child, who's more of the thriller genre, Kathy Reichs (Bones TV show writer), Sue Grafton ( I have every book from A to T, some autographed), JA Konrath, Nevada Barr, Charlaine Harris (of Trueblood fame) and many more. I also like the lyrical phrasing of Jodi Picoult, and read her work periodically along with Pat Conroy. They help a writer learn how to write beautifully. But my tastes change with day's email. As I learn about a new mystery series, I have to grab a few copies. I love a series.

Thank you so much for joining us. You are such an inspiration to many of us when you arrive in our inbox each week! "Yay, new markets to try!"

My story about writing for the Feds on Hope Clark's site today!

I adore Hope Clark's site, www.FundsForWriters.com, and her e-letter, which goes out to over 25,000 writers. (Anyone who helps writers find paying gigs is near to a saint in my book!) Each week in her publication, I can count on ideas for new markets and contests being delivered right to my inbox. So imagine how excited I was when Hope picked my story--"Writing for Lou Grant and Those Dark Suits"--for this week's edition! It's a story about the experience you get writing for the government, and I do hope you'll check it out here.

And I'm even happier to announce that Hope will be my guest on Monday's blog, answering my questions--and hopefully yours-- on this life of freelance writing! Come back Monday!