Thu 30 Jun 2011
A flash mob tribute
Posted by PJ under video
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Archive for June, 2011
Monthly Archive
Thu 30 Jun 2011
Muscular
Posted by PJ under quote of the day, writing
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Random quote of the day:
“Experience is an author’s most valuable asset; experience is the thing that puts the muscle and the breath and warm blood into the book he writes.”
—Mark Twain, Is Shakespeare Dead?
Disclaimer:Â The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.
Wed 29 Jun 2011
Dying and itching, whispering and singing
Posted by PJ under blood geek, carmina, drafts, novels, rewrites, venus in transit, writing
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I’m dying to write something new, itching for it, and I know just what novel I want to work on next. It’s been plumping in my mind for weeks now while I work on other things.
All of which is a good thing, except I can’t work on anything new because I’ve got to finish revisions on Blood Geek first. Then there’s the question of when to finish the next round of revisions on Venus in Transit. I wasn’t entirely happy with it when I got through with that last hard slog. I’m not talking about perfectionism here. I’ve long since given that up. I’m talking about having a workable draft, something I can polish and start sending out.
Yet if I diddle around too long with old ideas, I’m afraid the new idea will die on the vine. It might anyway, because as I’ve said before, my writing time is extremely limited these days. I’m determined to chip out time every day, but weekends have become very difficult, and mostly the default has become my lunch hour at work. That’s always been somewhat sacrosanct, but last week, even that got eroded away. I had to run errands at lunch every day last week. It made me despair a little. Or more.
But this week I’m back on track with my revisions and feeling generally better about a lot of things. I think Venus will have to wait, though she’s notoriously impatient. I really do believe I need to balance the old with the new, the revisions with the creation. Carmina has been talking to me consistently lately: low whispers while I sleep, a sudden bright snatch of song as the sun dapples the leaves while I’m driving to work, shared shadowy confidences while I move down a hallway and turn a corner.
She’s there. She’s waiting for me to be ready for her. I really think I have to follow her lead.
Wed 29 Jun 2011
Neighborly
Posted by PJ under love, quote of the day, tolerance
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Random quote of the day:
“It is easier to love humanity as a whole than to love one’s neighbor.”
—Eric Hoffer, The Ordeal of Change
Disclaimer:Â The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.
Tue 28 Jun 2011
True
Posted by PJ under friends, quote of the day
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Random quote of the day:
“True friends are those who really know you but love you anyway.”
—Edna Buchanan, Suitable for Framing
Disclaimer:Â The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.
Mon 27 Jun 2011
Signs I thought I saw
Posted by PJ under misreading, signs
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Pets Bondage* & Grooming
Kinky is in the eye of the beholder.
*Boutique
Fri 24 Jun 2011
Perfecting craft and self-publishing
Posted by PJ under books, e-publishing, publishing, writing
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At the risk of sounding like I’m disappearing up my own hindquarters, I wanted to refer ya’ll to a blog by Melinda Young. She mentions me by name and my post from yesterday, so it is a bit like log-rolling. However, I mostly wanted to refer interested parties there because of Melinda’s similar-but-different view of this subject, plus some remarks on traditional publishing by Lori Devoti.
Fri 24 Jun 2011
Words
Posted by PJ under art, quote of the day, words
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Random quote of the day:
“If it could be put into words, I wouldn’t have to paint it.”
—Edward Hopper, quoted by Franklin Kelly, introduction, National Gallery of Art exhibit
Disclaimer:Â The views expressed in this random quote of the day do not necessarily reflect the views of the poster, her immediate family, Siegfried and Roy, Leonard Maltin, or the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They do, however, sometimes reflect the views of the Cottingley Fairies.
Thu 23 Jun 2011
Self-publishing, self-editing, and self-doubt
Posted by PJ under critiques, e-publishing, publishing, writing
[2] Comments
I’ve been reading some good blog posts lately about self-publishing and quality control. First from Richard Parks:
Then, by way of his comment thread, Jim Van Pelt:
“Writing: Self Publishing and Qualityâ€
“So How, Exactly, Does a Writer Growâ€
“Evolution of a Writer (redux)â€
They support the new publishing paradigm of “indies,” but they also talk about the vetting process that Big Time Publishing does to separate the wheat from the chaff for readers, to cut down on the high ratio of noise to signal when everybody who can starts slapping their writing against the walls of the internet. They also talk about the stages in a writer’s development, how rejection and writers’ groups and critiques, et al., help the conscientious writer improve her craft.
But I’m not going to paraphrase what they say. Read the articles yourself—they state their case better than I can restate it.
What I am going to say here is that, for the most part, I think they’re correct. Oh yes, I am considering adding to the white noise by self-pubbing one of my novels, but I don’t do it out of any sense that this is going to be a Brave New World for me: doors that have hitherto been closed to will suddenly fly open and I will become the next web millionaire. I think that if I sell one copy I’ll be lucky. I haven’t got a pre-sold audience, see, and making oneself heard through the sea of static is quite difficult to do without making oneself obnoxious on every writers’ and readers’ forum on the interdweebs.
So no, I’m not considering doing this with the expectation of Incredible! Breakthroughs! and Millions! I’m doing this purely to have something out there, something I can point people to if they happen to get curious.
I’ve done a hellacious amount of writing (almost certainly a lot of hellacious writing). I have done a heap and then some of critiques, and I have received a heap and then some of critiques. I have submitted and submitted and gotten feedback. All of that, the giving and the getting, have been invaluable to me, have made me grow as a writer, have improved my craft. Some very generous and talented writers and editors have given me priceless feedback. I have listened, I have learned, I have grown.
But I have little to show for that yet. Maybe I didn’t listen and learn enough, maybe I haven’t grown enough. Or maybe my subconscious and writerly changes proceed at ice floe speed. None of that advice has been wasted or ignored. I just process it in a different time zone. I haven’t given up on trying to grow and I haven’t given up on traditional publishing, perverse and dog-eared as that belief may sometimes be. I see no reason not to pursue both e-publishing and traditional publishing at the same time.
Because I do believe in that vetting process. It provides a valuable service. I do not believe there is a vast conspiracy to keep the little people down. Not everybody is as good as they think they are. Myself included. I want to put out the best product I can. I want to grow an audience. Writing isn’t just about screaming to be heard, it isn’t just about gushing out Your Message. It’s about honing your craft. For that, you need the input of other people, the ones existing outside your own head. Not the ones who love you and want to be your friend, or the ones who you’re related to by blood or marriage. No, I’m talking about objective others who have no vested interest in convincing you that you are a Special Puppy and a Very Good Dog. People who are generous enough to be honest with you about what works and what does not work in your Very Special Creation.
That is truly what separates the wheat from the chaff. That’s truly what turns white noise into a beautiful melody.
