The Artist

“We really write to understand
More about ourselves
And if we’re lucky maybe then
We touch someone else.”
           –Jerry Jeff Walker

I was listening to Jerry Jeff sing this song about a singer who stopped his singing and writing. In the song, he wonders if the artist-friend had enough of the “rip-offs and the jive” or if he lost the will to write. There is another stanza:

“It seems to be much more than art
When the art you sell is you
Be careful how you play the game
Or else the game plays you”

Rules vs. Guidelines and the Challenge of Blogging

The challenge to being a good blogger is blogging even when you aren’t feeling up to it or finding time even when time is scarce. The challenge for many good writers in any medium is exactly the same. As my advisor, Brock Cole used to tell me regularly, Butt in Chair, Mara. Butt in Chair.

At any rate, here is a thought for today. As always, I’m looking for comments. 

I don’t believe there are a lot of rules for for writing, but I do believe there are a lot of good guidelines. Understanding the guidelines is what I call craft. Knowing when to bend and when to break those guidelines is what I call genuis. If a writer breaks writing guidelines by accident or because he or she doesn’t know or understand them, the writer looks foolish and the writing bad. However, when a writer breaks those guidelines with understanding and with purpose, then he or she looks brilliant.

Anyone want to offer examples of this? Or have writing rules they think should never be broken?

To Agent or Not to Agent

I apologize for using agent as a verb, but the questions of whether to get or not to get an agent and (if you answered yes, I want one of those) how to get an agent is a topic that often comes up in conversations about publishing. What are the advantages of having an agent? Do I really want to give up 15% or more of the small amount I make? What do they do? How do they do it? Can I do it for myself? How do I find one?

I have been told that it is as hard (perhaps harder) to find an agent as it is to find an editor to publish your book. There are more editors than agents. For editors, agents act as first readers. They save them time by weeding out the schlock. Agents also know which editors like what and what the different publishing houses are looking for. In essence, they do the research of where your book would fit for you. They also negotiate the contracts. Some agents claim that their negotiations make the author more money and therefore pay for their fee.

Some authors/writers prefer to handle their own negotiations. (There are literary attorneys that can help with this.) These authors/writers don’t want to give up their money or the control. At least in children’s literature, there are still ways to approach publishing houses without agents. (Even when the size of slush piles have caused a publishing house to refuse unsolicited manuscripts, editors speaking at writing conferences usually will accept manuscripts from the participants after the conference for a period of time.)

What do you think? Do you have an agent? Do you like your agent? Do you publish without an agent?

We can talk about finding agents in another post. In the meantime, I will do some research, so I welcome comments about this too.

Best,

Mara

On Word Counts

A few months ago, I got a manuscript back from Enslow for revisions. It had been months since I turned it in and mentally I was far away from the project.

For the most part, the comments were positive, but my editor told me (in red pen) that he wanted chapter three expanded into two chapters and my last two chapters condensed into one.

I have to admit, I have a bit of an issue with my editor’s red pen. His writing isn’t that neat and it sort of feels like he is yelling at me. I become petulant and complain a lot. Fortunately, he can’t hear me.

However, adding to the text made sense. It took a while, but I expanded my chapter 3, broke it into two, and answered my editors questions throughout the manuscript.

It was the condensing that hurt. These curriculum books have very specific word counts. When I had finished expanding, I needed to cut more than 4,000 words–about a fifth of the book. Ouch.

To cut, I had to look very carefully at what was necessary. What did I think was really important. I had to cut large sections and then more large sections. Then, I line edited and cut more large sections.

I guess it was like cutting down a roster for an Olympic team (an appropriate metaphor since the Olympics start tonight.) The first cuts weren’t that hard, but the last ones were painful. I had grown fond of the players (writing) and thought they added something to the team (text), but in the end they weren’t needed.

I still wish I could have about 500 words back. Word counts feel a bit artificial and I hated cutting that last player. But the red pen was right, and I have to admit, the book is better.

Perhaps there is something good, important even, about being forced to cut and make tough decisions about your writing.

Thoughts?

Best,

Mara

Cool Links

As a part of my intro into blogging and more specifically the concept of Web 2.0, I was given this video link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=NLlGopyXT_g  It’s worth watching if you are interested in Web 2.0.

Also, editorial anonymous is running a pitch clinic. A few weeks ago, EA ran a contest for pitches (good and funny/bad) Now she has taken the time to analyze them so others can learn from them.

Best,

Mara

Internal Vs. External Rewards

Recently, I was talking with a friend about internal vs. external rewards. The conversation came up when we were talking about why I pay my daughter for good grades and also why I think there is a “right” amount–not too much so that her grades become about the money and getting less than an A would be devastating, but enough so that there is a worthwhile, tangible appreciation of her work.

In psychology, (I was a psych major) we learned that internal reward was inversely related to external reward. For example, if payment is too high, people will work for the money but often feel less intrinsic value. If payment is too low, people may feel good about their work but often feel under appreciated. People were usually happiest when there was a balance between internal and external rewards.

This seems relevant in the discussion of writing (internal reward) and getting published (external reward). It is hard to make money as writer and often writers need to take writing jobs. Liken it to a painter being hired to paint a portrait. Jackie Woodson wrote a book for the PBS series Ghost-Writer. At times, Lousie Hawes seemed almost apologetic for writing Sweet Valley High books, but they paid for her kid’s college and the kids who read them loved them. Other writers have worked for newspapers or in advertising, etc.

I agree with Trent’s comment that the writing can suffer if a writer writes solely with getting published in mind–if he or she tries to write what he or she thinks someone else may like or to a trend that is not what’s in his or her heart. However, if you are trying to make ends meet as writer, what kind of writing gigs would you consider or have you taken? Do you think it is better to have a job unrelated to writing so that your writing is keyed to what you want to write and you don’t come home thinking I’ve written things all day now I just want to watch TV? Or is it better to be in a writing career and take writing related jobs because all writing is practice?

Let me know your experiences with different types of writing gigs? How have outside writing projects helped your writing or writing career? How have they hindered it? What kind of writing gigs are out there for people interested in more externally rewarding pursuits?

And as an aside, which external reward is more important to you from getting published: recognition or income?

Best,

Mara

Taming the Mean Voice

In a lecture at Vermont College, Carolyn Coman (award-winning author) once talked about her “mean voice”; it was the voice in her head that said mean things such as, what you are writing sucks or it will never get published, etc. She also noted that her mean voice was smart. She knew this because when she proved the voice wrong, the voice was able to adapt and come up with a new mean thought. For example, You will never get published, changed to You’ll never get published again. It is hard to imagine someone of Carolyn’s writing caliber having a mean voice inside her head, (She doesn’t have a mean bone inside her body) but perhaps it is inherent in writers–we tend to spend a lot of time alone with our thoughts.

Recently, my mom watched a TV special with a psychiatrist who studies brain (SPECT) imagery. He said that “negative thoughts inflamed brain areas often involved with depression and anxiety.” And that we needed to “kill” the Automatic Negative Thoughts (“ANTs”). He even talked about different types of ANTs: mind-reading (thinking someone else is thinking something bad), fortune telling (thinking bad things will happen), Thinking in absolutes (always, never), guilt, shoulds, etc. You can read one of his articles about optimizing your brain here.

My dad, a psychologist, talked a lot about a person’s power to change their perspective (i.e. Edison’s view that he didn’t fail with every unsuccessful attempt at making a light bulb, rather he had discovered another way not to make a light bulb. One more attempt down in a pursuit he believed would ultimately be successful. An optimistic and positive belief.) Or in writing, that we should focus on each success, the fact that we have completed a manuscript or taken the steps to send it out, etc.

Carolyn Coman also told us how she tamed her mean voice. She made a deal with it: The mean voice had to be quiet for an hour or some amount of time while she wrote, but after she was done, it could say whatever it wanted. The interesting thing was that after she wrote, the voice rarely had anything mean to say.

How do you tame your mean voice?

Best,

Mara

deadlines and contracts

“I don’t need time; what I need is a deadline.” I think it was Duke Ellington who said that. I might add that I also need a publisher.

I write curriculum nonfiction for Enslow Publishers. These are nonfiction books sold mainly to the school- library and library markets. (They’re the kind of books a kid would take out to do a report or learn about a subject of interest.) Usually, the topics, reading level, and length are decided by the publisher. My first two books with Enslow were written “for hire”, which means they paid me a fee up front and now the publisher owns the copyright. My next three contracts have all had a royalty attached. I don’t know how much the books will make ultimately, but I can guarantee, they aren’t going to make me rich. More importantly getting my fiction published is what would make me happy.

Recently, a  friend of mine asked if my fiction writing was suffering because of my curriculum book projects. It is. But there is something very comfortable about having a contract before I write the book and knowing that what I write is going to get published. Another Marion Dane Bauer quote comes to mind; she said that there is a difference between wanting to write a book and wanting to have written a book. This quote comes to mind a lot when I am playing Spider solitaire instead of writing. But it is an important point. Are you writing for the writing or are you writing for what comes after? I don’t mind doing the work of writing, but I do get frustrated when my work sits on a shelf.

So, how important is it to know that your writing is going to make it out into the world?

Best, Mara