A World in a Grain of Sand

Most of the Agents and Editors conference presentations were about getting agents and marketing your work. Publicist Milton Kahn only had a few words of advice, but what good words they are. He threw them out without making much connection on why to do some of the things. Reading his well-made site helped me fill in the pieces, but still left a sense of scatter. Much of the time he talked about the past. He represented Herb Alpert, Gregory Peck, Joan Crawford among other movie stars, and more recently, authors.

But, here’s the good stuff.

Take risks. You can’t depend on someone else to do it for you.

“Go out and take the shots.”

Things an author needs to get started (building her platform).

1. Be part of it. Subscribe to PublishersLunch.com
2. Go to BookExpo. Next year it’s in New York City.
3. Read PublishersWeekly.com
4. Attend book conferences.
5. Develop a personality. Videotape yourself being interviewed as a self-improvement tool. “See how you come across.” Prepare self to be enthusiastic. Get in the rhythm of doing the best and being the best you. “Buy The Unconscious Actor.”
6. Have a Web site: Bio, book cover, video.
7. Subscribe to the New York Times.
8. Use a book editor.
9. Listen to interviews: CSPAN, interviews of authors.
10. Marketing-Hire a Publicist. Go on shows to reach people. If you can’t afford a publicist, get backers, people to buy a share of your book. (And friends, it sounds like publicists are really expensive. Kahn said you need one for at least four months to get things going. I think that came out to $25,000.)

Milton Kahn reminded us, “Don’t get discouraged by rejection. All you need is one homerun!”

Just ONE!

Hundreds of wild, foaming at the mouth writers and only twenty-six agents or editors. Brave souls, all of us.

Of course I exaggerate. But we are all still very Brave. Humongous Thanks to the Agents and Editors and Keynote presenter Sara Nelson for surviving long hours, so many stories, jetlag, sleep deprivation, and who knows what else.

Day Two in the hall.

Congratulations to the contest Finalists and Winners! That’s quite a thing to do with only ten pages entered into the contest. One winner stood out to me. She was so authentic and humble. Thanks Jennifer Hritz for the pleasure of meeting you and for your kindness. Her novel is currently called, Jewel.

I am so glad I attended. I took it as a sign of Serendipity when my long ago critique buddy called me from Wisconsin and said she was coming to the Agents and Editors conference. She founded the writer’s group, Madison Writergrrls. Check out the site for writing articles or if you’re looking for a writing group in the Madison area.

As you know, I wasn’t all that excited to go the week before. But, Wise One survived, barely, without me. She definitely wanted Mommy Time when I went home each day. And delving into the book business, seeing many writer friends and meeting so many generous and interesting people pulled me out of my spiral. Plus, and I wish I had a picture of this, there was a sponsor table with chocolates. Thank you, Joel Turner of The Great American Press. You deserve a plug for keeping me in chocolates. If you want to learn about self-publishing, Turner’s site may be helpful to you. 

I believed my novel was done, except hearing the critique from a reader and that revision. But now I know I need mucho mas revision. Okay, maybe I’m a revision junkie, but I want her to be at her best before I send her out. Which brings me to the Thank You notes.

When I was home, I was back to my avoidance ways, chocolates, (craving) Cheez-its, Matlock, Murder She Wrote, and other not-so-good-to-watch-if-you-want-to-write-well shows. Aha! I felt afraid to write Thank you notes. Funny writer I am. Sometimes I can puke out chapters, roll in them and take the stink everywhere, but sometimes I’m terrified to write an email or a Thank you note.

Alas, I saved one chocolate package that I told myself I could only eat after I wrote some of the notes. I think the hardest part about writing them is that I couldn’t say thanks enough, especially not to Kathleen Anderson. She listened to my pitch, asked good questions and gave me some great info and advice. I wanted to jump for joy and hug her. But I would have looked like a crazy person, perhaps a future stalker, so I settled for a handshake. And in the Thank You note, I wanted to gush how much this meant to me. What a huge reminder that most of the agents and editors in this business are women. There are things they will not stand for. How important motivation and psychology are. I wanted to say too much with too much smileyfaceness. But, she would have thought I was a future stalker. So, I did not.

But how wonderful it feels to have clear directions to root out any pathology in my novel.

So I will take some of Anderson’s advice, revise/rewrite some more, hand A Time of Rain (though the name has changed three times already) to readers, revise/rewrite some more and then send her out to the agents who asked to see her.

This conference reminded me of the dismal statistics, but hey, books come out and keep coming out. Agents keep looking for the right clients. Publishers still publish books. Booksellers still sell them.

There will be a part two with notes from some of the presentations and some links, but for now, Keep writing your crazy, wonderful heart all over your pages!

Hello Dear One,

Still haven’t really recovered in so many ways. Buried myself in books. The Other Boleyn Girl  by Philippa Gregory gets 5stars. Kept me reading, enthralled me, and seduced me.  I even stayed up two nights in a row until one in the morning reading it. She’s a large book, but thoroughly enjoyable. A fictional account of the time of Henry Viii before and during his marriage to Anne Boleyn, but written from the viewpoint of Anne’s little sister, Mary.

Reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. Funny and sad and raw.

This weekend I’m partaking of the Agents and Editors conference in Austin, Texas. I don’t feel like talking to anyone or being seen or pitching my novel. Perhaps, I’ll be more excited about it on Saturday.

I am a writer and the show must go on.

My work is out with a reader. Just a little more revision to do.

Janet Burroway talks about the shots of revision. The long shot where we look at what we’re trying to say, the structure. Does it make sense? Do we need to move things around?The middle shot. We look a little closer. Are the characters true to themselves?  The close-up. Sentences, word choice, grammar.

Maas talks about making sure there’s something at stake. Checking that our heroes and villains are larger than life and that there is tension on every page. Maass also reminds us that if we want to be great, we have to let go of our previous words when we rewrite. The work is fuller for it.

So many writers remind us that we have to let the characters be hurt, get killed, make mistakes. Is there some scene where you protect your character? Maybe even try to keep him or her pristine or perfect? IF so, read Elmore Leonard. His characters are always so human, full of potential and flaws.

The show must go on. Even if I feel so incompetent about teaching Wise One about death, how some being used to move and now does not, how each body has a cycle of life And about the spiritual aspects that there is no beginning and end, we are all One.

I tell myself, Be Present, Be Present, Be Present. But sometimes it wears me down, so I read or run away some other way.

Wise One deserves someone present, and so does this novel and my readers. And the show must go on, but it’s not just a show, it’s life. There’s always that desire to come from that authenticity, that practice of Oneness, the yearning to forget the illusion of separation.

May inspired words pour from you today.

Pampa died.

I feel sad. I feel full and empty.

I just saw him yesterday. I held his hand and rubbed his forehead and told him he was innocent, precious and beautiful. His once soft, sun freckled arm turned hard and black shook under my hand.

His mouth was open, eyes closed.

He was surrounded by family.

I’ve been listening to 4o’s music on XM. Music he listened to. Danced to with my Mimi.

They are dancing together again.

I wanted to share some excellent information to you that want to be your best self and live your best life.

Happy Creating!

Creative Source Power

Ebb and flow. Ebb and flow.

Worked on my novel yesterday, not today. Plans to meet fellow writers tomorrow, eat, drink and rewrite some more. So much wonderful work to do but starting to have new ideas flirt with me and I’m tempted to flirt back. But no. I’m in a relationship now with a wonderful novel and surely she has more secrets to share with me, more curves to reveal.

May you do what you need to in your ebb and flow of creating.

I’m working. I’m revising. I’m rewriting.

The more I revise, the more I see to revise. Now, I’m rewriting the first few chapters and seeing even more places to rewrite.

I feel good that in some places I can do what Maass says it takes: I can let go of my words and rewrite scenes from scratch. Feels like jumping off a cliff, no, it feels more like standing on the edge of a cliff, lifting your arms out so you look like a cross and leaning forward over the side of the cliff, free falling. Heavenly. So far, I haven’t hit anything. Makes it easier to trust rewriting the next thing.

So, I may be away from the blog for a week or two. Or, I may only write short entries.

Bless you.

Hello Dear One,

Seems I’m always writing this blog with a dog named Time yipping at my butt. So I’m not always saying all I want to say, and sometimes my entry comes out as an essay.

Here’s just some heart about writing.

You are the one doing the writing. You are the god, the creator, but you are making something from things you don’t always consciously know about. These people or visions (characters, ideas) come, sometimes pester you, until you write. But they need some free rein. You are the passion, the flying, crashing wave that the work rides on.

First draft is Passion, Flow, Enthusiasm, Excitement! Let anyone (in the story) do anything, say anything!! Kill them all off!! Bring them all back to life!!! Use as many damn exclamation points that you want to!!!!

Use as many adverbs as you want to. Write as starkly as you want to. Describe nothing. Describe everything.

Just write whatever comes. Some of my best short pieces are from following the writng prompt “I’m going to write the worst drek ever.”

The hardest and most essential part is to sit still in front of the page, and wait. Wait. Listen. Watch. Hear out of the ears of your point of view character. Look out of her or his eyes. Touch with her fingers. Smell what she smells. Think what she thinks. Then, when you are there, not in your head but fully there inside the character or narrator, sitting in the hard chair she is in, concretely in her space and time, then, you write.

Through this joyous up and down roller coaster, you will discover what you’re making! And you will know why I love writing and why it’s so hard.

Enjoy the ride, but on the first draft, don’t wear a seatbelt and do let your hands fly out of the car.

“Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere.”                      -AlbertEinstein

“These days, the best and most artful dialogue is marked by inattentiveness of its characters.” 

–Charles Baxter in The Art of SUBTEXT: Beyond Plot

In dialogue, interest is added when characters aren’t paying attention to what each other says.

Dialogue should advance the plot.

Dialogue needs to move. It is considered action in fiction.

Dialogue should hold conflict about something.

            “Hear anything about the robbery?” He leaned against the doorframe, the beer casual in his hand, almost spilling.

            “Have you seen my green sweater?” She threw clothes out of her bottom drawer.

            “Heard somebody took all your mom’s jewelry?”

            “I swear I put it in this drawer. Did you take it?” Another top flew out behind her.

            “Take what?”

            “The green sweater with the ohm symbol on it. It’s one of a kind.” She was sitting on her clothes, now: knit, silk, cashmere.

            “Shit. Natalie was wearing it when I felt her up last night.”

Real life dialogue holds plenty of ummms, Hi, how are yous, repeated phrases, wells, yeses and nos. We don’t get to revise our real dialogue, but in our fiction, we can edit out what makes it slog and pull us down.

General guideline, according to Evan Marshall in The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing, is “not allowing a character to continue uninterrupted for too long (A good rule of thumb is a three-sentence limit).”

In Imaginative Writing: The Elements of Craft, Janet Burroway says, “But when people talk in literature they convey much more than the information in their speech. They are also working for the author—to reveal themselves, advance the plot, fill in the past, control the pace, establish tone, foreshadow the future, establish the mood. What busy talk!”

We love, we nurture, we nourish, we clean, or go crazy because we haven’t gotten to clean. We are often the leaders of our home. We set examples and make mistakes and want so bad for our children to be HAPPY. We try so hard.

Yes, we have fun, get beautiful soft peck kisses, tight hugs, little fingers that feather across our necks, arms or backs and see the most BEAUTIFUL, PRECIOUS smiles ever.

I value you as a mother today. I appreciate all you do. You are amazing!!! You keep getting up again. You are the Supreme example of unconditional love.

Bless you.

Happy Mother’s Day!!!

(Thank you, Mom.)