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In Defense of Coffee Shop Writers

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This morning, I am sitting here in the Jolt’n Bolt Coffee and Tea House.  My laptop is hooked up to the free Wi-Fi and I am online working on my WIP short story.  Ah, living the cliché!

I realize that what I’m doing is the premise of a thousand cynical jokes about writers writing in public.  The point of writing in public is to be seen writing, right?  So that some non-writer will notice us and maybe — please please pleeeease — ask us what we’re writing!?

Well, let me tell you about Jolt’n Bolt early on a Saturday morning.  A few people come in, grab a coffee, and head right back out.  There weren’t more than a couple people in here at a time until around 0830.  The only attention I’ve gotten was from the fine employees behind the counter and one customer’s curious beagle.

This is cool with me, because I don’t write in public to be seen by the public, and I resent (just a lil bit) the amateur psychoanalysis behind the presumption that I am here to engage in writing-as-conversation-starter.  And, I bet I’m not the only writer who feels this way, so let me kick this dismissive stereotype in the shins for a moment.

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Category: Background | Tags: , ,

Archaic Definition of the Week – Big Heads

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BIG HEADS

This is the name of a class of monsters in the traditions and beliefs of the Iroquois … huge disembodied heads with flashing fiery eyes and cavernous gaping mouths; they are covered in vast amounts of long, straggly hair from which two grotesque paws with talons emerge.  Sustained by this hair during tempests, the Big Heads fly through stormy skies searching for unwary humans.

– Giants, Monsters, & Dragons : An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth by Carol Rose.

Category: ADOTW

The Amalgam Poems

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amalgamA merchant with his cart of foreign wares
set up Amalgam’s only winding stairs.
The upper floor of his exotic shop
was safe from thieves, who’d see the stairs and stop.

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Category: Amalgam | Tags: ,

Writer Links – Lots of Advice on Advice

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This week’s writer links begin with two approaches to critique groups: Becky Levine tells us what to expect from her critiques, while Brandi Guthrie at Cursings and Musings discusses what advice to take and what not to take.

Lydia Sharp at The Sharp Angle explains No. 11 of the 52 Qualities of the Prosperous Writer: Good Health.  Also, kudos to Lydia for pointing the way to this cool writing advice video on YouTube.

On Not Being Able To Write writer ellanbethia lays out her rejection-letter goals, and Juliette Wade at Talk to YoUniverse discusses choosing the right narrator.

Les Edgerton (to whom I introduced you in my analysis of Jeremy) takes a few deep dives into: Southern Stereotypes, Censorship and Why I Love Charles Bukowski, and his new-found talent as a Goldfish Whisperer.

Finally, Jade Smith serves up a creepy piece of flash fiction in “pawnshop visitor.” (I’m following her capitalization convention here.)

Enjoy!  And, Happy Give-Me-Liberty Day!

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Pirates Come to South Carolina

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Those of you who have bookmarked or subscribed to this blog for your love of the Age of Sail likely already know this … but just in case: the State Museum of South Carolina has just opened an exhibit on “Pirates, Privateers, and Buccaneers” that will run through 19 September 2010.

(Ironically, 19 September was the day I officially left the US Navy.  Probably less coincidentally, it is also International Talk Like a Pirate Day.)

Sure, there is a lot of stuff just for kids, but also genuine pirate treasure, belt buckles, weapons, plates, and a ship’s bell retrieved from the bottom of the sea.  For a neat review of the exhibit, check out Kristy Rupon’s feature at The State: “Pirate myths walk the plank.”

Field trip, anyone?!

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Publishing Links – Chick Lit, Beck Lit, Kid Lit, e-Lit

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Topping the list of this week’s publishing links is Kate Harding writing for Salon.com on the (perceived?) duality of women’s fiction: self-pitying “misery lit” vs. fashion-and-romance “chick lit.” 

I would say that it’s a must read for anyone with a word processor and a pair of X chromosomes, but male writers could also benefit from it: the piece might help them look at their own writing to see how it fits or violates various ideas of what constitutes “dude lit.”

Consulting editor Alan Rinzler at The Book Deal reveals how one young adult author landed two multi-book deals, while Dennis at the Moby Lives blog reveals an alternative to all those Amazon associates links and discusses redactive poetry and the Fair Use doctrine. 

(Also, there’s a really funny example of redactive poetry there: “How To Be Charitable, Glenn Beck”)

Moonrat at Editorial Ass answers reader questions about submissions that need more work, what books should be made into movies, and whether one even wants to be published at all!

Finally, Eric at Pimp My Novel dives into the factors affecting how many of your books an account will buy, and how the approaching “e-pocalypse” is unveiled* in the iTunes store.

_

* You have no idea how much this trans-linguistic pun pleases me.

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The Future of Children's Publishing

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Hey kids!  And by “kids” I mean all of you, because children’s and young adult publishing is being buoyed partly by adults who read books not intended for adults.

When Diary of a Wimpy Kid author Jeff Kinney says, “There are a lot of adults I encounter who exclusively read children’s literature,” I would have to concur.

Although certain examples of YA fiction might hinge a bit too much on stiflingly immature emotions and fantasies, preferring kids’ lit is not necessarily a sign of being unable to operate in the grown-up world.  As regular readers of this blog might know, I’m no fan of glittery pedophilic vampires with sappy purity pledge sentiments, but I do admire Milne and consider The Hobbit to be well worthy its more “mature” literary siblings.

And, the first Harry Potter fan I ever met was a national security professional working a mission in which all of the violent ugliness of the real world was unavoidable.  Grown-ups can enjoy children’s books and still be grown-ups.

All of which is mere preface to my publishing link of the weekend, from the Sunday Washington Post: The future of children’s book publishing.  Enjoy!

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Lit Quotes – Females and the Danger of Romance

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From The Clergyman’s Almanack (1815) as quoted in America and her Almanacs : Wit, Wisdom, and Weather 1639-1970 by Robb Sagendorph:

“The indiscriminate reading of Novels and Romances is to young females of the most dangerous tendency … it agitates their fancy to delerium of pleasure never to be realized … and opens to their view the Elysium fields which exist only in the imagination … fields which will involve them in wretchedness and inconsolable sorrow.  Such reading converts them into a bundle of acutely feeling nerves and makes them ‘ready to expire of a rose in aromatic pain’ … The most profligate villain, bent on the infernal purpose of seducing a woman, could not wish a symptom more favorable to his purpose than a strong imagination inflamed with the rhapsodies of artful and corrupting novels.”

The more things change, the more they stay the same.  (Just imagine what they’d say about Twilight!  Or internet porn…)

Category: Quotes | Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Lit Quotes – Introduction

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As if I needed a new category of blog post, right?  But, I keep stumbling upon interesting or funny quotes about reading, writing, and other literature-related activities, and thinking to myself: “This doesn’t quite qualify as an Archaic Definition, darn it!”

So, “Lit Quotes” is born!  It was hard coming up with a name, and the one I finally settled on is fairly boring, I know.

But, “Unfamiliar Quotations” is obvious and overused almost to the point of cliché.  Google says 19 000 hits.  “Le Quote Quotidien” sets a schedule I am not prepared to meet.  “Quoth the Maven,” though awesome, already has a website devoted to it.  And, while “Quotient Quotables” would please Jeopardy fans, it promises math-related material.

Added bonus: new theme icon!  This one is Moça com Livro by Portuguese painter José Ferraz de Almeida Júnior.  The way she is looking up as if thinking about what she just read fits the theme perfectly.

Also, she’s pretty, even if she is made of strips of oil on a flat piece of cloth.  Kudos, José!

One final note.  Unlike the Archaic Definitions, I don’t plan to publish these on a schedule.  I’ll just put them up as I find them.  If I find more than one in single day, I’ll try to space them out so there’s a more regular flow, but there may come weeks when I don’t find any.  Just managing expectations, y’all.

First real quote coming soon!

Category: Quotes | Tags: , ,

Agents Literary – Query Letters, Genre, and Giant Books

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As one of my regular agent blog reads once stated, lack of a query response is the same as a form rejection.  So, as I absorb this advice and rack up my next round of queries, let’s check out some more good advice from our favorite literary agents.

Yes, I scour the best literary agent blogs for goodies so you don’t have to!  You can thank me by clickerating that RSS feed button.  Gently!  It’s made of pixels.

Jessica at BookEnds explains why bad queries are great news for good query writers, lets us in on her query pet peeves, gives us some idea of the business rhythm at BookEnds, and tells us to go ahead and send a thank-you note after a rejection.  And, no, she will not rep your 2000-page book.

Over at Dystel & Goderich, Miriam discusses the good and bad of Facebook, Stacey offers some sobering advice about picking a genre (and more!), Jessica navigates the fine line between too much and not enough info in a query letter, Lauren confesses her unrepentant bibliophilia (“teetering piles” of books? me too!), and Jane tells us what negotiating looks like.

Janet Reid clarifies when she does and does not want to hear from you, Jennifer Jackson explains that your query may have been eaten by the grue (and also explains a li’l something about genre), and Kristin Nelson answers boatloads of reader questions.  “How many boatloads?” you ask, noting anxiously that there was no hyperlink in that last clause.  One, two, three boatloads!

Finally, Nathan Bransford tells us how to write and format a query.  He also picks Moby-Dick as his “desert island book,” winning instant kudos from yours truly.  Although a giant pop-up book on sailing with a styrofoam dust sleeve might be a wiser choice…

[Also: how do I decide what to bold in these link lists?  Well, if there’s a site or firm name, I bold that.  Otherwise I bold the blog writer’s name.]

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