Sunday, October 30
Saturday, October 29
8 Sobering Truths about Commercial Writing
o
First of all, let me say that I take NO CREDIT for this what so ever. I came across it by chance, and though it was so wonderfully appripriate for not only me, but so many of by bloggity friends, that I had to share it with you all. I tried to simply link you to the original blog post, but the link refused to work, so here it is. It was written by Steve Burks whom you can find at perceiveonline.blogspot.com. He has several other fabulous posts, so stop by and give him a look-see when you have a minute.
Without further ado, Steve Burks'
8 Sobering Truths about Commercial Writing
1. Almost everything's been written about already. Screenwriter Paul Schrader calls it "narrative exhaustion."
2. It doesn't matter what you think about your writing. The buyer's always right. So unless your instincts happen to jibe with what the editors and the masses want, you'll be doing a lot of guess work.
3. The same technology that enabled you to get in the game, did the same thing for millions of other people. Of course you're better than "them," but from the gatekeeper's point of view, allunsolicited submissions look identical in the slush pile and e-mail junk folder. And the market was already glutted before the digital revolution.
4. If you depend on feeling inspired to write, you're in trouble. It takes a long time to write a good book. You're not going to feel like doing it every day. If you can't wrap your mind around the concept of art as work, you'll never make it through a first draft, let alone revise it ad nauseum.
5. Getting information on how to write a good book is easy. Actually writing a good book is hard.
6. Gatekeepers expect you to suck. You can't beat perception. A referral from someone they respect would earn you the benefit of the doubt, but that someone must be an agent, editor, or published author. In other words, getting referred is just as hard as getting published.
7. Only great writers have no competition. Good writers still do, because there are enough of those around. So even if you don't suck, the competition is thick.
8. No matter how well you write it, someone will hate it. The flip side is, no matter how badly you write it, someone might love it, but that someone won't be an editor, so you'll never get a chance to find out.
First of all, let me say that I take NO CREDIT for this what so ever. I came across it by chance, and though it was so wonderfully appripriate for not only me, but so many of by bloggity friends, that I had to share it with you all. I tried to simply link you to the original blog post, but the link refused to work, so here it is. It was written by Steve Burks whom you can find at perceiveonline.blogspot.com. He has several other fabulous posts, so stop by and give him a look-see when you have a minute.
Without further ado, Steve Burks'
8 Sobering Truths about Commercial Writing
2. It doesn't matter what you think about your writing. The buyer's always right. So unless your instincts happen to jibe with what the editors and the masses want, you'll be doing a lot of guess work.
3. The same technology that enabled you to get in the game, did the same thing for millions of other people. Of course you're better than "them," but from the gatekeeper's point of view, allunsolicited submissions look identical in the slush pile and e-mail junk folder. And the market was already glutted before the digital revolution.
4. If you depend on feeling inspired to write, you're in trouble. It takes a long time to write a good book. You're not going to feel like doing it every day. If you can't wrap your mind around the concept of art as work, you'll never make it through a first draft, let alone revise it ad nauseum.
5. Getting information on how to write a good book is easy. Actually writing a good book is hard.
6. Gatekeepers expect you to suck. You can't beat perception. A referral from someone they respect would earn you the benefit of the doubt, but that someone must be an agent, editor, or published author. In other words, getting referred is just as hard as getting published.
7. Only great writers have no competition. Good writers still do, because there are enough of those around. So even if you don't suck, the competition is thick.
8. No matter how well you write it, someone will hate it. The flip side is, no matter how badly you write it, someone might love it, but that someone won't be an editor, so you'll never get a chance to find out.
Wednesday, October 26
How Cool Is This!
o
Just a little Happy Halloween to all my buddies! If you like the TSO house at Christmas time, you'll love this!
Monday, October 24
Blog Awards!
o
I am nearly done with my first draft of my current WIP, and might just be able to do some regular blog posts by the end of the week! Yay! As it stands, I have a list of topics sitting on a digital post-it note on my desk top, but I refuses to let my self succumb to the temptation to blog, as I figure if I have time to blog, I have time to write.
In the meantime however, I received two blog awards this week, and our of respect for the givers, didn't want to put off posting and passing them on. Though the fact that I even got them is somewhat crazy considering I haven't posted in so long, I'd thought people had basically forgotten about me!
First off the Your Blog is Fabulous Award from Janice Mullin
I am nearly done with my first draft of my current WIP, and might just be able to do some regular blog posts by the end of the week! Yay! As it stands, I have a list of topics sitting on a digital post-it note on my desk top, but I refuses to let my self succumb to the temptation to blog, as I figure if I have time to blog, I have time to write.
In the meantime however, I received two blog awards this week, and our of respect for the givers, didn't want to put off posting and passing them on. Though the fact that I even got them is somewhat crazy considering I haven't posted in so long, I'd thought people had basically forgotten about me!
First off the Your Blog is Fabulous Award from Janice Mullin
As well as the Beautiful Blogger Award from Kaite Purseglove,(yes, that is her real name)
Thank you SO much ladies!
The rules were to pass them on to four each, but as I got two in one week, I am going to make my own rules. Oh, yeah, that's right, I'm a rebel. :)
I am going to pass them on to three bloggers each. The Fabulous Award will go to Jen Daiker and Angela Cook, and the Beautiful Blogger to Angela Cook again(as I am loving her new look), and Bethany C (because, who doesn't love a good short bus!).
Be talking to you all real soon!
Have a great week!
Tuesday, October 11
Fun ways to waste time...
o
First off, let me say sorry to my peeps for the neglect lately. A combination of my WIP and Blogger issues have made my posts scarce. (My computer was actually the one at fault, not blogger, but for some reason, Blogger was the only site affected.)
I don't have a full post today, but I figured in the mean time I'd share a few fun things I've found/been shown over the past few days.
First, if you are a follower of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, you'll already have seen this, but it is so cool it's worth seeing again. Just in time for Halloween, decaying and condemned Victorian homes... made completely of Legos.
http://freshome.com/2011/10/04/decaying-victorian-houses-made-of-lego-pieces-by-mike-doyle/
Next we have Wordie, shown to me by my agent. All you do is copy and paste a bunch of text and it will automatically create a word cloud. You can choose the colors, and style, then save, or print. It's really cool!
http://www.wordle.net/create
Last but not least, we have Ben and Jerry's special Holloween website. Really cute site with fun stuff like build your own scarecrow and the 'Flavor Graveyard'--a special graveyard dedicated to all the flavors Ben and Jerry's has discontinued over the years! (Tip: Click on the mortuary in the cartoon graveyard to see the full list of 'dead' flavors.)
http://www.benjerry.com/halloween/
Yeah yeah, I know, as if we don't waste enough time online as it is, right? Well if I'm going to get sucked into internet randomness, then darned if I'm not going to take a few of you down with me! So, enjoy my randomness, and I'll be back soon!
First off, let me say sorry to my peeps for the neglect lately. A combination of my WIP and Blogger issues have made my posts scarce. (My computer was actually the one at fault, not blogger, but for some reason, Blogger was the only site affected.)
I don't have a full post today, but I figured in the mean time I'd share a few fun things I've found/been shown over the past few days.
First, if you are a follower of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, you'll already have seen this, but it is so cool it's worth seeing again. Just in time for Halloween, decaying and condemned Victorian homes... made completely of Legos.
http://freshome.com/2011/10/04/decaying-victorian-houses-made-of-lego-pieces-by-mike-doyle/
Next we have Wordie, shown to me by my agent. All you do is copy and paste a bunch of text and it will automatically create a word cloud. You can choose the colors, and style, then save, or print. It's really cool!
http://www.wordle.net/create
Last but not least, we have Ben and Jerry's special Holloween website. Really cute site with fun stuff like build your own scarecrow and the 'Flavor Graveyard'--a special graveyard dedicated to all the flavors Ben and Jerry's has discontinued over the years! (Tip: Click on the mortuary in the cartoon graveyard to see the full list of 'dead' flavors.)
http://www.benjerry.com/halloween/
Yeah yeah, I know, as if we don't waste enough time online as it is, right? Well if I'm going to get sucked into internet randomness, then darned if I'm not going to take a few of you down with me! So, enjoy my randomness, and I'll be back soon!
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