file under "Advice to Remember"

I like collecting practical advice for the young writer. In my case, I'm not young, but I am young in my quest for publication. There were the attempts in my early twenties at short story publication in the small presses of the day. And, later in my early thirties, I found some success in the local poetry scene. But, now in my early forties, I've begun my first full-fledged attempt at writing and publishing novels. As I write this I see a pattern of activity in the early years of each decade of adulthood. What does that say about me? I'll have to give it further consideration. Anyway ... advice for the young writer from Ring Lardner:

"A good many young writers make the mistake of enclosing a stamped, self-addressed envelope, big enough for the manuscript to come back in. This is too much of a temptation for the editor."

Something to think about. I wonder how this applies to electronic submissions?

A few more words of advice to the young writer ...

"My point to young writers is to socialize. Don't just go up to a pine cabin all alone and brood. You reach that stage soon enough anyway." - Cyril Connolly

"Advice to young writers? Always the same advice: learn to trust your own judgement, learn inner independence, learn to trust that time will sort the good from the bad -- including your own bad." - Doris Lessing

"They're fancy talkers about themselves, writers. If I had to give young writers advice, I would say don't listen to writers talk about themselves." - Lillian Hellman

And on that note ...

'Bree Tanner' Proves Lackluster for Indies

Publisher's Weekly reports on indie sales of Meyer's newly-released novella.
'Bree Tanner' Proves Lackluster for Indies


I checked this book out yesterday at B&N. I was surprised to find it was 176 pages long, which seems long to me for a novella. This article reports the book to be 190+ pages, which I believe to be incorrect. What constitutes a novella these days? Of course, the font size was larger than your standard book and it appeared each page couldn't have been more than 200 words on average. The story is written without chapter breaks and represents one day in the life of newborn vampire Bree Tanner.

I feel for the independent booksellers trying to sell a book that has been offered online free by the writer and, because of its size, price point, and popularity, can be sold easily at retailers not directly associated with bookselling.

Garrison Keillor on the publishing industry

From Writer Unboxed
Publishing: End of an era?
May 31st, 2010 by Kathleen Bolton

Garrison Keillor. Man, I love him and his rich voice booming Good Thoughts to writers every morning on NPR’s Writer’s Almanac.

Garrison Keillor thinks publishing as we know it is over.

"Call me a pessimist, call me Ishmael, but I think that book publishing is about to slide into the sea.

We live in a literate time, and our children are writing up a storm, often combining letters and numerals (U R 2 1derful), blogging like crazy, reading for hours off their little screens, surfing around from Henry James to Jesse James to the epistle of James to pajamas to Obama to Alabama to Alanon to non-sequiturs, sequins, penguins, penal institutions, and it’s all free, and you read freely, you’re not committed to anything the way you are when you shell out $30 for a book. You’re like a hummingbird in an endless meadow of flowers."

To continue reading:
Publishing: End of an era?

Along with so many others, I hope this is not true. Undoubtedly, publishing has been altered forever by the ebook market and free online content.

"The publisher is a middleman, he calls the tune to which the whole of the rest of the trade dances; and he does so because he pays the piper." - Geoffrey Faber, British academic, publisher, and poet

What happens without the middleman? Is it better for the consumer? The writer? The agent? It sure isn't good for the middleman.

Getting Published and Publishing "Deal Breakers"

When I'm feeling particularly blocked creatively, I like to go to the bookstore and scan through the books on writing and publishing. Most of the time I find advice books that appear to be written to the complete novice with lots of time-soaking exercises that, although I'm sure have some merit, seem mostly included to beef up the page count and rather skimpy advice.

On my last visit, I found Jessics Page Morrell's Thanks, But This Isn't For Us: A (Sort of) Compassionate Guide to Why Your Writing is Being Rejected. Written in a genuine and frank voice, Morrell has produced not only a useful guide to writing the best novel one can but, also, a practical handbook to understanding the mind of the publisher and what he or she is expecting, including what Morrell referrs to as "Deal Breakers," those absolute no-no's that will cause your manuscript to be rejected.

After reading through it, I saw many mistakes I needed to fix in my first draft and wanted to start revising right away. However, I was happy I read to chapter 13 first, "The Final Edit: Fixing Your Manuscript Without Losing It." With Morrell's helpful advice, I realized that if I didn't finish the first draft before going back for a major revision, I might trip myself up and lose momentum. In this chapter, Morrell lays out step-by-step the process for revision, from the larger issues of structure and plot to the more detailed, fine revision work of language clarity, cohesion, and resonance.

Check out Morrell's blog: The Writing Life Too and her website at www.writing-life.com.