The Year of Writing Dangerously

Do You Judge A Book By Its Cover? I Do.

2012-01-26T02:30:00.000-08:00

I loved the following article, from my beloved Shelf Awareness. I definitely snoop and sneak peeks at the covers of books people are reading and, all things being equal on a bookshelf, I'll definitely gravitate to a beautiful cover. (Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.) What about you? Do you sneak peeks? Have you ever bought a book purely for its cover?

Judging a Book by Its Cover, by Marilyn Dahl

Last week we wrote about handselling books and the power of recommendations--from a bookseller, from a friend, from book reviews. Those are proactive means of promoting a book, and are powerful, but there is another way to "handsell" a book, one that is passive. Maybe it could be called secondary advertising. It's selling by book cover.

On an airplane, do you notice what people are reading? Do you surreptitiously contort a bit to see a cover? Do you think about the (usually) men who are reading genre thrillers quite openly while women seem to hide romances? Same thing on the bus or subway or in cafes at lunchtime. Checking out book covers brings many pleasures; it also subtly imprints a book in your mind. After you've seen 12 people reading American Dervish or The Rook, you think, hmmm... maybe you'd better check it out. If two or three people on the bus are reading Pity the Billionaire, your political leanings are validated (at least for one zone). Or you spot people reading the latest Michael Connelly, The Drop, and you realize that one of your favorite authors has a new book out. And it's always interesting to check out someone's bookshelves or to casually place a very impressive title on your own coffee table (don't forget a bookmark about halfway through).

With e-books, there are no book covers. There's no tipping point reached by cover art, no visual validation of your own reading tastes. What will replace this passive advertising? Is it even a worry? A recent survey found a plateauing of e-book reader adoption (December sales notwithstanding)--52% of readers say they are "not at all likely" to buy an e-reader; additionally, e-reader owners buy almost as many printed books as e-books. Good news for people who like cover art, for publishers who devote so much time and money to cover art, and for those of us who like to see what others are reading (or proclaim our own good taste). There are many good reasons to use e-books, but don't forget--it's really hard for authors to sign them. --Marilyn Dahl, book review editor, Shelf Awareness

HUGE NEWS

2012-01-13T02:10:00.000-08:00

I have an agent.

On January 9th, Stephen Fraser of the Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency offered to represent me and my middle grade time travel novel, Shakespeare on the Lam.

We had a tremendous conversation, in which he said wonderful things about the novel and asked me about my writing goals.

It all seems a little unreal.

Here I am, signing the agency agreement:

(Notice all the giants of children's literature by my side?)

I want to thank you all for your support on this journey. You have read, commented, and cheered me on. I am so grateful for your friendship.

I'll leave you with a picture of the littlest author. (My 5-year old, who lamented that no one wanted to buy his books--for $14, no less. His 8-year-old brother kindly agreed to be his agent.)

I just knew that New Year Champagne was a good omen!!

It's Gotta Be A Champagne Sort of Year

2012-01-06T02:30:00.000-08:00

Hello, 2012!! I can't believe we're six days into you already!!

Well, did you all have fun while I was away? I certainly did--although there was a rough patch involving troublesome car engines, and unplanned trips to the dentist...

Family was at the forefront. My super-duper nephews (and their parents) came for a week, post-Christmas, and part of the visit overlapped with the three days my brother and his family were in town. We hadn't seen "The Australians" (that's where my brother lives) since 2007, so it was great catching up with them: telling stories, celebrating New Year's. They are nothing if not generous, and bought several bottles of Moet & Chandon to welcome "la nouvelle annee"--sorry, the mention of champagne makes me speak French. Two bottles remain, and I see this as a good omen. I AM BOUND AND DETERMINED TO CELEBRATE SOMETHING EARTH-SHATTERINGLY IMPORTANT IN 2012!!

What that will be, of course, remains to be seen. I'd dearly love to find an agent. I'd love to have my first novel published. But there are a myriad of other things to be excited about. I've finished the first draft of my new novel (and stuck it in a drawer for the obligatory two weeks before revision starts.) I am giddy about an idea I have for another novel, and am busy making plans to start it. On the blogging front, I still can't believe that I am part of the amazing Project Mayhem team, and that Middle Grade Mafioso is on some publicist's radars and is getting invited to be part of blog tours and to review ARCs. After the mail carrier nearly got a hernia lugging all the Cybils' review copies up the front steps, I sort of became a bit spoiled at receiving all these amazing books. I'm a definite book glutton!

Yes, indeed. It's always a bit exciting thinking what a New Year might bring. What exciting plans do you have on your radar?

Onward, 2012

2011-12-23T02:06:00.000-08:00

I'm still tergiversating about what to write, blogwise. You'll find me at Project Mayhem on Boxing Day, and there is an exciting blog tour, featuring a middle grade historical, scheduled on Middle Grade Mafioso for mid January. So even as I eat, drink, and make merry, the writing wheels are turning.

Thank you all for reading this blog, and the two afore-mentioned, this year. It is always nice to read your comments and to have your comradeship on this grand adventure. If you have any movie recommendations for the holidays, or know of a great literary quiz, let me know.

Otherwise, have a happy end of 2011, and a happy New Year. See you in 2012!!

What's Your "Word of the Year?"

2011-12-16T02:30:00.000-08:00

From my beloved Shelf Awareness:

Dictionary.com's Word of the Year: 'Tergiversate'

"Tergiversate" ("to change repeatedly one's attitude or opinions with respect to a cause, subject, etc.; equivocate") was named Dictionary.com's 2011 word of the year, the Huffington Post reported, observing: "So we could say that, in 2011, the stock market tergiversated; or that the public tergiversated about Occupy Wall Street."

Jay Schwartz, Dictionary.com's head of content said, "We're taking a stand on this choice. We think that it's immensely rewarding to find existing words that capture a precise experience, and this year, tumult has been the norm rather than the exception. There are contested public spaces around the world, where people are demonstrating in one direction or another. Opinions and circumstances have been oscillating so much."

This year's verbal shortlist included "occupy," "austerity," "jobs" (both the noun and the person), "zugzwang" and "insidious."

Don't know when I'll next be using tergiversate in conversation. Or "zugzwang," for that matter. I have just googled it and found it means "compulsion to move" and is often used in chess. Perhaps I'll tell my Christmas dinner companions that I'm "tergiversating about my zugzwanging."

After which, I'll probably have to dine alone.

Any wonderful words you'd like to share from 2011? What's YOUR word of the year?

Bakers' Dozen Agent Auction Update

2011-12-09T02:14:00.000-08:00

To recap: My MG novel, Shakespeare on the Lam, was one of the entries in Authoress's Bakers' Dozen Agent Auction. Which meant my logline and first 250 words got a whole bunch of amazing and helpful critiques. And then on Tuesday, starting at 11 EST, the agents started bidding.

Was I glued to the action on screen? Well, I would have been--except that Tuesday was the day for my annual adventure with my father-in-law to snag the cheapest Christmas tree in the tri-county area. Last year I blogged about my trophy, the $10 tree that fell off a helicoptor on its way to Mexico. This year, we took a much more leisurely tack and bought $20 Groupons for Christmas trees and a half pound of organic coffee out at Boring Bark. (The Boring bit is the name of the town, not too far from Portland.) My father-in-law's 9 foot Noble is a nice-lookin' tree--and without the Groupon it would have cost $60. So we were chuffed little happy campers.

I got home around noon PST, to an excited voice mail from my wife. She'd been snooping over at the auction and called to let me know that several agents had been bidding, and that the full manuscript of Shakespeare had gone to Victoria Marini, an agent at the Gelfman Schneider agency (the agency that represents one of our favorite writers, Chris Bohjalian.)

I followed Authoress's instructions and e-mailed the full to Ms. Marini. She has a week's exclusive. After that, other bidding agents can make requests.

It was great fun, and I have to thank Authoress for the auction and for the sense of community she fosters on her blog. If you haven't found Miss Snark's First Victim, do yourself a favor and check it out. As one commenter once wrote, it's like Match.com for agents and authors.

A couple of the other entries I liked did well also: Karen Akins's LOOP and Tara Dairman's GLADYS GATSBY TAKES THE CAKE. Read them if you have a moment. They're great.

So there you have it. I'd worry and fixate, but I still have a ton of Cybils books to read and a Christmas tree to decorate. Have a great weekend.

I'm Being Auctioned Off

2011-12-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

Ever wondered what sort of stuff I write when I'm not entertaining the world with my blogging and tweeting skills?

Well, you have the chance to view--and even critique--the opening of my middle grade novel, SHAKESPEARE ON THE LAM (Lucky Number 52). It was one of 35 YA/MG entries (out of 350) to be chosen to take part in Authoress's Bakers' Dozen Auction over at Miss Snark's First Victim. Come Monday, 15 agents will be doing the agent equivalent of the Black Friday dash into the Mall of America, nudging each other aside as they bid on the number of pages they want to read from the entrants they most covet.

Till then, the rest of us get to comment and critique. I would love to see you there--and I promise that if you have any constructive criticisms I will be delighted. I want this piece to be the strongest it can be.

A Writer's Thanksgiving Dinner: Jane Austen's Bringing the Madeira

2011-11-23T02:56:00.000-08:00

Jane Austen, waiting for me to pass the wine

The other day, while driving and listening to NPR, I had the good fortune to come across the following story. Miles Hoffman, the music commentator, was answering the question about which famous composers he'd like to have around his Thankgiving table. (The only stipulation was that they had to be playing piano in the afterlife.)

Can you guess which famous musical dudes Hoffman chose? If you answered Bach, Mendelssohn, Berlioz, and Bloch you need to zoom on over to the Hoffman homestead to hobnob and help yourself to some cranberry sauce. (You can listen to the broadcast here.)

Got me to thinking. Which writers (at their heavenly desks) would I like to have around my Thanksgiving table? I love Jane Austen, and figure she'd be a lot of snarky fun. Robert Burns would be a good sport, especially if he brought along a bottle or two of Scotch. Everybody who knows me also knows I have a thing for Shakespeare. He'd be on for a sonnet or several.

Who else do you think should join the fun?
(I'm light on Americans, and it IS their holiday. Any recommendations?

[Thanks, everyone, for kind comments on my previous post. To all my faithful readers and commenters: I will be raising a glass to you this Thanksgiving, grateful that you are all a part of my life.]

What Do You Do When The Blogging Well Runs Dry?

2011-11-11T02:27:00.000-08:00

There is a tide in the affairs of, well, everything. Shakespeare knew it; the writer of Ecclesiastes knew it. (What would he write now? "A time to tweet and a time to stay silent?") And now I know it. To run a good blog takes time, energy, and creativity. God only knows how the post-a-day bloggers do it!!

These days, I'm pretty much running on empty--at least with ideas on what to blog about. It doesn't help that I am spending every waking moment driving my son to theater rehearsals, reading 145 middle grade novels, and trying to finish the first draft of my WIP. The middle grade novels get reviewed on Middle Grade Mafioso, other ideas get lined up for Project Mayhem, and The Year of Writing Dangerously thrashes/faffs about looking for direction.

This may be how it's supposed to be at this stage of my writing life. I have no "I have an agent" stories to make a hullabaloo about; no tales to tell of the road to publication. And other writers do a much better job writing about the craft of writing (Janice Hardy, anyone?)

So I'm pulling up the drawbridge for a while, hoping that if I don't HAVE TO write something, inspiration will arrive. I'll still be a Mafioso--so pop on over there if you miss me.

Have you ever felt your blogging well run dry? What did you do: walk away or retool?

Win a Scrumptilicious Copy of The Cookiepedia!

2011-11-08T02:27:00.000-08:00

I must be one of the luckiest writers alive. Remember my post about Stacy Adimando's book signing, where attendees got beer, books, and cookies? Well, the good folks at Quirk Books came upon this, and now I have my very own copy of The Cookiepedia:Mixing, Baking, and Reinventing the Classics.

O joy! O gustatory rapture! I am spending a happy afternoon drooling over Stacie's recipes for Cardamon Cookies and Snickerdoodles, along with photographer Tara Striano's mouthwatering portraits of Thin Mints and Poppy Seed Squares. Every writer should have The Cookiepedia to hand, because even a Muse gets a bit peckish at times.

Here's where one good turn deserves another: Comment or Tweet to @MGMafioso, introducing me to your favorite cookie (or "biscuit") and I'll enter you in a drawing for your very own copy of The Cookiepedia. Commenting AND Tweeting wins you extra sprinkles!! (International commenters and tweeters welcome--there's a nifty conversion chart at the back!)

I love this quote at the beginning of The Cookiepedia:

"Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap."
- Robert Fulghum

I'm Talking About Guy Fawkes...

2011-11-04T02:44:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is Guy Fawkes' Day in England... and I'm using poor old Guy as my lead-in to a discussion about historical middle grade novels over at PROJECT MAYHEM. Come, set off a couple of firecrackers, and join in!

Rediscovering A Great Writer: Beth Kephart

2011-11-01T02:00:00.000-07:00

My oldest son was born in 1996 at 24 weeks' gestation, weighing only 1 pound and six ounces. (He is truly a miracle, which I have to remind myself whenever I'm yelling at him to clean his room.) My wife and I wrote a book about his birth and his first couple of years, a book which is still on our computer drive. I remember going to a writing conference and being told by an editor that books about kids/babies having a hard time or with "problems" just didn't sell. (Which, of course, is rubbish--but I wasn't as confident of my opinions in those days.)

As a result, I set out to find non-fiction books about non-typical children, and one of the books I found and loved was called A Slant of Sun by a writer named Beth Kephart. Here's what it says on Amazon about this book:

Named a Best Book of the Year by Salon magazine and The Philadelphia Inquirer, A Slant of Sun was praised for its incandescent prose about the experience of loving a child who brings tremendous frustration and incalculable rewards and for its extraordinary resonance. Like Operating Instructions and The Liars' Club, A Slant of Sun is a contemporary classic.

Nearly one in five children grow up facing a developmental or behavioral challenge, and like them, Beth Kephart's son, Jeremy, showed early signs of being different: language eluded him, he preferred playing alone to an afternoon on the jungle gym. Doctors diagnosed Jeremy with a mild form of autism called Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified. A Slant of Sun is a passionate memoir about how Kephart, guided by the twin tools of intuition and imagination, helped lead her son toward wholeness. Pulsing with the questions, "Is normal possible? Definable?" A Slant of Sun speaks to everyone not just parents of the redemptive power of love.

"Incandescent prose." When I read this book, I remember knowing I was in the hands of a great writer.

But time intervened, and I lost track of Beth Kephart. Recently, however, I was doing something on this great internet of ours when her name popped up. Was this the same writer? What had she been up to the past 12 years?

It turns out that Beth Kephart has written several YA novels, including one called You Are My Only.

She has a blog where her rich writing and photography shine. It's on my sidebar now, and I urge you to check her out. I promise you will not be disappointed.

That's My Kind of Book Signing!

2011-10-28T02:00:00.000-07:00

From my beloved Shelf Awareness:

Last Saturday, Stacy Adimando was the star of a cookie tasting, demo and book signing at the Brooklyn Kitchen, Brooklyn, N.Y., to promote her book, The Cookiepedia: Mixing, Baking, and Reinventing the Classics (Quirk Books). She demonstrated how to make Pistachio Butter Cookies and Chocolate-Dipped Espresso Shortbread. Brooklyn Brewery provided beer for the event. Lucky attendees got to sample cookies, drink beer and have the author sign their copies of the book.

[Since I write middle grade, my book signing will have to be milk and cookies...]

What is the most fun book signing you've attended? Were there giveaways? Do tell!

Changing My Name In These Good News Times

2011-10-25T02:30:00.000-07:00

A post to honor the following AMAZING WRITERS:

Shannon Messenger

Lydia Kang

Shannon O'Donnell

Have you ever changed your name? I have. I came into this world as Michael Gilmartin, but just before our second child was born we went to the courthouse and merged into the Gettel-Gilmartins. 'Course, we had to pay some bucks for the privilege, and the judge wanted to know why we were doing it. The answer: to bring on the apocalypse by causing computers to flip out over a hyphen.

I'm thinking of changing my name again, to honor three amazing writers I've gotten to know during my brief blogging life. It seems as if I've known the Shannons forever--and I met Lydia during the Pay-It-Forward blogfest. These three stars have turned October into a month-long good news fiesta.

First there was:

October 12, 2011


	Children's: Fantasy	Shannon Messenger's debut middle-grade series KEEPER OF THE LOST CITIES, about a girl who discovers there are secrets buried in her memory that others would kill for, and has to figure out why she is the key to her brand-new world before the wrong person finds the answer first, to Liesa Abrams at Aladdin, in a six-figure deal, in a pre-empt, in a three-book deal, for publication starting in Fall 2012, by Laura Rennert at Andrea Brown Literary Agency (North America). ljrennert@mac.com Then, on October 15 there was: The announcement by Shannon O'Donnell GOD. IS. GOOD! For three weeks I have been sitting on a secret . . . THE secret. It's been hard. This morning, I signed the contract. And that means I can finally say I HAVE AN AGENT!!!!!!!!! (Just to be clear: this is Shannon's announcement, not mine) Terrie Wolf, of AKA Literary LLC
Finally, there was this:

October 20, 2011


	Children's: Young Adult	Lydia Kang's THE FOUNTAIN, about a 17-year-old, who must rescue her kidnapped sister with the help of a band of outcasts with mutated genes, set in 2150 when genetic manipulation has been outlawed, to Kathy Dawson at Dial, in a good deal, in a pre-empt, for publication in 2013, by Eric Myers at The Spieler Agency (World).
Wouldn't it be great if some of their good fortune rubbed off on me? From now on, please address me as Shannon Lydia O'Gettel-Gilmartin

What The Boys Are Reading

2011-10-20T02:00:00.000-07:00

The G-G Boys Book Club:

Kieran (8): The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
Nick (5): Scooby Doo and The Bowling Boogeyman by James Gelsey
Dad (as old as Methuselah): Shine by Lauren Myracle (plus 145 Middle Grade novels for the Cybils)
Chris (15): Rules to Rock By by Josh Farrar

What's on YOUR shelves today?

My New Novel's Gonna Be A Bestseller!!!

2011-10-19T02:00:00.000-07:00

Yup. Man Booker Prize here I come!! (Oh, and congrats to Julian Barnes. I'll be in his shoes next year.)

Here's the query for my new novel. It contains such scenes as could never happen in real life, surely.

Maren Wonder is a talented novelist. When the book she's written--Radiant--is chosen as a finalist for a prestigious book award, Maren is over the moon. But as she's uncorking the champagne, word comes that Dulles Deafman, a geriatric telephonist who has always hated Maren and her work, claims he has written down the wrong title. The real nominee should be Gradiant, a gritty novel about cleaning the sewers of New York.

The head of the awards' panel, the well-meaning but ineffective Titus Dimvit the IVth, initially claims that this year six novels were considered worthy of inclusion. But Deafman takes his claim to the media and soon Dimvit is calling for Maren to withdraw Radiant "for the honor and integrity of the award." Deafman can hardly believe his luck: Maren has been humiliated in the eyes of the literary world. But Maren conducts herself with grace and professionalism in withdrawing her book for consideration. What will Deafman do next to turn what should have been a moment of joy and celebration into a complete fustercluck?

THE SCREWUP OF THE CENTURY, a literary thriller, is complete at 60,000 words. I am a member of Fabricators Anonymous and Titus Dimvit IV is my father.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Titus Dimvit V

I should probably have Matt MacNish and his sharp-eyed minions take a stab at improving this. After they're done with their minor tinkering, I plan to write the screenplay, for which I'm going all high-concept: Mommy Dearest meets Mr. Holland's Opus, in which my father is reduced to a blithering idiot, Dulles Deafman is stabbed with the Pen of Justice, and all the other nominees tell a packed auditorium that they're withdrawing in solidarity with Maren. Pass the kleenex!!

And now, off to buy me a copy of Lauren Myracle's SHINE. Truth is stranger than Fiction.

Thoughts on the Pay-It-Forward Blogfest

2011-10-18T02:00:00.000-07:00

Friday dawned dark and drear in the Pacific Northwest. But what was outside my window was not mirrored on my computer screen. On-screen, it was fireworks, mariachi music, a veritable fiesta. Yes, friends, it was the Pay-It-Forward Blogfest, the brainchild of Alex Cavanaugh and Matt MacNish. Over 250 blogs did the linky-link thing (which actually caused me to take a big GULP! I mean, that's a heckuva lot of bloghopping.)

I will shamefully admit that I have yet to hop to all the linky-linked blogs. In fact, I've been to but a fraction of them, such is the craziness of my life at the moment. (Can anyone say, The Cybils?) But a goodly number of people came my way even before I'd set foot through their own portal.

Here's what happened: I started the day with 93 followers, a number I'd been stuck on for months. By the end of the weekend, I had 27 new members in my stupendous posse, for a total of 120. I also had 24 comments. What was even nicer is that Shannon O'Donnell had put my Middle Grade Mafioso blog forward as one of her three blogs to visit. So Don Vito woke to a wealth of new followers too.

But the best thing of all is not the number of followers, the comments, and all the razzamatazz. The best thing is getting to meet so many new bloggers. And in doing so, having the potential of making some new friends. I mean, 20 months ago, when I began blogging, I never imagined I'd be doing all the things I'm doing with so many supportive, funny, interesting, and just plain wonderful people by my side.

It takes a blogosphere, people.

Welcome, Pay It Forward Blog Hoppers!

2011-10-14T01:31:00.000-07:00

Wow!! This is like a flashmob on the web!
(Late breaking news: the day has just started and I'm already almost at my goal of 100 followers!!!!
@2p.m.:Thanks guys: Goal well and truly busted!!)

Howdy, and all that. I'm excited to be part of Matt and Alex's Pay It Forward Blogfest/hop. As of yesterday, there were 201 of us. We are a MOTORCADE, people.

Here's a quick bit about me. I'm a writer in Portland, Oregon. I started blogging about a year and a half ago. Now I have three blogs: this one, Middle Grade Mafioso, and the group blog, PROJECT MAYHEM.

Of course, I would list Matt MacNish's QQQE as the greatest blog in the history of the known universe, but since you already know that, here are a trio of other blogs I love that you really should visit when you have a spare millisecond:

Sarah Fine's The Strangest Situation: "Where psychology and YA literature/media meet. Collide. Meld. Fight to the Death. Snuggle." Sarah's "a practicing child psychologist with an unapologetically empirical orientation. (She's) also an author who writes unapologetically fantastical YA fiction."

Lisa Ricard Claro's Writing in the Buff: "The naked truth about, well, pretty much everything." Lisa "excels as a laundress," but also is busy "working on my YA novel, editing my women’s fiction novel, plotting a short story, writing an essay, or researching new markets."

Barbara Ann Watson: "Middle grade book reader. Middle grade book writer. Juggling those while balancing my other roles as a wife, mom, teacher, professional lover of chocolate, and walker of my big dog everyday no matter the weather."

I hope you'll pay these three great bloggers a visit.

(And if you leave a comment here, I'll love you to pieces. If you just dip in and dash, please take the time to click the follow button. I'd love to make it past the 100 follower mark.)

And believe me, I will visit and follow in return.

HAPPY HOPPING!

Why Libraries Must Never Close

2011-10-12T02:27:00.000-07:00

The wonderful Tigard library, near Portland, Oregon

As a first round panelist for the Cybils (and have you made your nominations yet?!) I need to read dozens of books. And the only way I can afford that, unless I want to suddenly start busking at street corners with a sign reading "Will Sing for Books," is to make friends with my local librarians.
I went into the Tigard library on Monday, armed with a list of Cybils nominees. An hour later, I'd pulled over 50 books from their well-stocked shelves. Thank God for libraries!!
This particular library has it all. Not just books, but programs for teens and space for book clubs. It even has a donut shop on the premises!!

Books and baked goods--what could be better?

I wonder what the future holds for libraries, though. Will they still be around when printed books have gone the way of the dinosaur and we all have e-readers embedded in our craniums?
Tell me about your local library. Does it have funding pressures? Donuts? What do you think the future will bring for these wonderful institutions?

She's a Rooster Writer, I'm a Rabbit. What are you?

2011-10-07T02:00:00.000-07:00

My wife, whose birthday was yesterday--happy birthday, sweetheart!--thinks very highly of Daphne Gray-Grant, a.k.a. The Publication Coach. Daphne's articles are always illuminating and entertaining, and so I'm cribbing one this week. She's very kind and allows us to do this as long as we add the following attribution: Daphne Gray-Grant is a writing and editing coach and the author of the popular book 8½ Steps to Writing Faster, Better. She offers a brief and free weekly newsletter on her website. Subscribe by going to the Publication Coach.

Here's the piece that Daphne wrote a couple of days ago. If you want to know which animal of the Chinese Zodiac you are, here's how to find out.

Singing your own song

Join in the battle hymn of the rooster writer!

I’m a writer who’s more than ready to sing a battle hymn –- just not one like bestselling author Amy Chua.

Much in the news in recent months, the book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, irritated me. I’d read the comments in the New York Times,

the Guardian, and the Daily Beast.

Frankly, the author sounded unhinged. Yet because I live in Vancouver, where a very large percent of the population is Asian, I knew she exemplified a certain kind of Chinese mother. You know, the one who requires endless music practicing, who deems a B+ a “failing” grade and who insists on weekend tutoring in Mandarin and math. I wanted to read the book but must confess I was churlish enough to refuse to concede even a tiny royalty payment to its author Amy Chua. So, instead of buying it in a bookstore, I checked it out from the library.

I radically disagree with Chua’s parenting style but I found her book slightly more sympathetic than I expected. But in the final chapter she made a confession I think every writer should find revealing. Here is the quote from page 223:

“Even though I usually have writer’s block, this time the words streamed out of me. The first two-thirds of the book took me just eight weeks to write. (The last third was agonizing.)”

This comment is so intriguing on a number of levels:

• The book is extraordinarily short. My estimate puts it at only 56,000 words, when a typical book is usually closer to 80,000.

• If, as Chua says, the wrote the first two-thirds of the book (or about 37,000 words) in eight weeks that means she wrote about 900 words per day, taking weekends off. I don’t know about you, but I don’t consider 900 words per day as writing that is “streaming” out of anybody –- especially not someone who has written two books before. And, remember, she also describes writing the last third of the book as “agonizing.”

• Chua’s admission that she “usually” has writer’s block is telling because to me it suggests that her raging perfectionism -- instead of helping her -- is making her a slow, troubled writer.

Chua, who was born in 1962, is a tiger according to the Chinese zodiac. Well, that same system makes me, born in 1957, a rooster. And just as Chua began her book with a list of things she wouldn’t let her daughters do (watch TV, be in a school play, get any grade less than an A) here are the things I don’t want writers I to do.

Let’s call this the Battle Hymn of the Rooster Writer:

1) Don’t edit while you write. This is like trying to wash the dishes while you are still eating dinner. Keep your writing and your editing separate. Hang a towel over your computer (or turn off the screen) if you’re temped to edit while you write.

2) Do NOT judge yourself in any way while you are writing. Instead, focus only on WHAT you are writing. Don’t try to be the best. Don’t compare yourself to other writers. Don’t be the least bit critical. Just write.

3) Don’t think you’re a better writer because you write slowly. Instead, write as fast as you humanly can. Use timers to challenge yourself to put out as many words as quickly as possible. Go for QUANTITY rather than quality and work on quality later, when you are editing.

4) Don’t write too soon. Give yourself plenty of time to THINK before you sit down in front of a blank computer screen.

5) Do not obsess on facts. Instead, look for the anecdotes or stories in what you are writing. (This is likely why Chua perceived this book to be easier to write than her others -- it is filled with stories about her children.)

6) Don’t limit yourself to work. Have fun: Read other writers. Watch TV and movies. Listen to music. Go for walks. All of these “entertainments” will feed your writing life.

7) Don’t see publication as the only worthy goal and anything less a failure. No writing is ever wasted.

I feel sorry for Amy Chua. She is a very bright and driven woman who thinks that discipline is what makes life work.

The rooster writer’s point of view is that writing demands far more than mere discipline. Instead, it asks you to take the judging, perfectionistic part of your personality, and put it on hold while you write.

If you want to learn to write like a rooster, check out my book or my Extreme Writing Makeover.

Photo courtesy Raymond Gobis, Flickr Creative Commons
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I love Daphne's Battle Hymn. Any other stanzas you'd like to add?

Oklahoma and Adele

2011-10-04T02:00:00.000-07:00

Music has been on my mind these past couple of days. Yesterday, my wife and I went to see Portland Center Stages's production of Oklahoma!, which has been making waves with its all-black cast. (For a review and pictures, see her blog!)
The show starts with Curly coming onstage, pouring out a bootful of dust, and singing "O what a beautiful morning, o what a beautiful day."

Kinda Pollyanna, I know. But that's sometimes what happens when everything's zinging with writing--words are pouring out, pages are being requested, and all seems right with the world.

Then there are the dark times, the times of doubt. I was listening this afternoon to Adele, whose 21 has been a resounding international success. (However, so behind the times am I, it was her debut 19 I was actually listening to.)

One song stood out, a song called Chasing Pavements. The chorus goes:

Should I give up,
Or should I just keep chasin' pavements?
Even if it leads nowhere
Or would it be a waste
Even if I knew my place
Should I leave it there
Should I give up,
Or should I just keep chasin' pavements
Even if it leads nowhere

I'm sure most artists have had that feeling of "chasing pavements" at some point in their careers. This song, with its minor key and Adele's smokey vocals, really brought home to me how tough the artistic life can be.

But there can be only one answer to "Should I give up?" And that is NO!!

Are you in a "Beautiful morning" phase of your artistic life, or are you "chasing pavements?"

Here's Adele to sing you through it:

What A Week!!

2011-09-30T02:40:00.000-07:00

Not only have I joined the great folks over at Project Mayhem,

BUT... I'm also a first round judge for Middle Grade fiction for the 2011 Cybils Awards!

This blogging life is FUN.

(P.s. The Don had words about all this over at Middle Grade Mafioso...)

Writing the Wartime Experience

2011-09-27T02:30:00.000-07:00

Driving in my car without my kids is when I get to listen to National Public Radio. (The kids are less fans of talk and usually request music.)

On September 22, Talk of the Nation did a program about the Missouri Warrior Writers Project. "The project has developed a series of workshops and a competition to give veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq the chance to tell their stories. At the conclusion, their poetry, fiction and nonfiction will be considered for publication in an anthology, and three winners will be chosen from an open call for submissions among active duty and veteran military personnel."

I am not a veteran, and I don't know if any veterans read this blog. (But if they do, they should go ahead and enter the contest!)

Neal Conan, the host of the programe, interviewed Mark Bowden, the author of Black Hawk Down, and one of the judges for the contest. During an interchange, Bowden said something that really stuck with me: "I always tell my students that to learn to write is - ought to be an ambition in and of itself. Some people may manage to make a career writing. Most of my students probably won't, but I want them to take something away from the class that they can use that will help them throughout their lives."

It's taken me a good many years to understand that learning to write is an ambition in and of itself. And that learning to write involves writing many words, reading many books, and practicing till your fingers bleed (okay, I'm nothing if not melodramatic!).

Here's the information about the Missouri Warrior Writers Project. And a question: How have YOU learned to write?

BUSY!!

2011-09-23T02:30:00.000-07:00

I have been sadly neglectful of this blog, the Mothership--as the Don over at Middle Grade Mafioso has been working me to the bone and forcing me to go on Twitter etc.

A Day in The Don's Office

(In fact, Don Vito now spends his days glued to the Twitter feed, giving it the same attention he normally gives to his antipasti.)

As a result of all this hard work, I will have a couple of exciting blog-related announcements next week. (Hope that whets your interest!)

In the meantime, I highly enjoyed this piece "How to Find Your Story and Craft a Pitch in 10 Easy Steps (and You Can Even Do It Drunk!)" over at Chuck Sambuchino's Guide to Literary Agents blog. You can also enter to win a copy of the author's novel!

Have a good weekend. TGIF!

I'm With the Mafiosi This Morning...

2011-09-16T03:03:00.000-07:00

Yup. Just to be wild and wilfully different, Friday's regular post is actually on Middle Grade Mafioso.

The mafiosi are pondering what makes a bestseller. Please do the triple jump over to join us...

Phillips Idowu winning the gold medal in the men's triple jump
European Championships in Barcelona. (Photograph: Stu Forster/Getty Images)