Hot time in the old town tonight-ok, next week

Yowza! Andrew Grant and Brad Thor doing a joint appearance. Talk about motivation to get even ME out of NYC and on my broom to Chicago.

August 12. Stevenson High School auditorium in Lincolnshire, IL.

Details here!

Rx for the day from hell

We all have em: the day that starts bad and gets worse. Today was that day. I got through it of course, and if I wasn't telling the world about it here, probably no one would know. Except the people across the hall who might have thought a puma was loose in the place given the crashing, yowling and hissing that could be heard even through closed doors.

Well I survived. And so did the apartment.

But at the end of the day it was time for some therapy.  Not my usual. I didn't want to be drunk and stupid and in a foul mood. That's a recipe for disaster of epic proportions (don't ask me how I know this.)

No, this disaster called for an intervention of a different sort. This disaster required SuperAuthor Kristan Higgins.

Because truthfully, nothing cures a foul frame of mind better than a good romantic comedy and Kristan Higgins is a master of the form.  I've read and loved her books before.  I keep them in a locked cupboard, along with the tourniquet, morphine, and fire ax.  "Use only when disaster strikes" supplies.

Well it did, and I did, and it worked.

MY ONE AND ONLY. You might want to keep a copy in your disaster preparedness bag.  Me, I've got two more just in case.

Oh, the places you'll go!

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Yes, FinePrint is looking for Fall 2011 intern applicants!

Most of our interns end up with jobs in publishing (the rest end up in straightjackets most likely)

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Cupcakes, whisky, and shark bites are considered perks of the job!

the highlight of my day

If you're a writer with a book on submission that hasn't sold (yet) read this

CJ Redwine is one smart cookie.  I remember when her very first novel was making the agent rounds. I read it. So did two good friends of mine. Two of us knew it was perfect for the third. And it was.


I've always had a bit of a softspot in my heart for CJ. I loved her book.  I watched from across the bar as time marched on and the book didn't sell.

And then, she got a deal.  She was over the moon. Her incredibly talented marvelous agent Holly Root was over the moon.  And the two of us who'd kept an eye on CJ: yup, we were over the moon too. Naturally we celebrated with drinks. 

CJ has some cogent insight into this process here on her blog.  If you're in her shoes--an author with an agent and an unsold book--what CJ says here will give you some valuable perspective.

Plus how could you not want to read a blog post that has this picture on it

Writing Contest starts 8/3 at noon!

Time for the next writing contest!

Usual rules: write a story using 100 words or fewer. Post your entry in the comments column of this blog post. Contest opens on Wednesday 8/3 at noon, runs for 24 hours till noon on Thursday 8/4.  If you goof up, you can take a mulligan. The LAST entry is the one that counts.

Use these five words in the story:

echo
fever
jelly  
roll
t-bone


There's a connection; do you know what it is?

The prize is AMAZING! It's my most recent Sox Knocker book! (more on that to come!)

Comments are closed till the contest opens.

(and let's see if I can remember to post the winners a little more -ahem- promptly!)


CONTEST NOW CLOSED!

Tuesday afternoon at the Question Emporium

After attending a conference, I made some great connections with aspiring authors. We created a critique group and it just happened that my manuscript was the first to be disseminated. A couple of the other authors in our critique group decided to do complete rewrites of their manuscripts while reading my final draft. Three weeks later, I received one person's newest draft. Much to my surprise, fifty pages into the manuscript, I discovered three of my most carefully crafted metaphors (and I'm not talking about some cliche like "the place was crawling with cops") in her book. I noted it in the margin of her document, but I really feel that more should be said. I feel violated as an author and a person.

My manuscript has been requested by several literary agents and so it does stand a chance to be published. I worry about someone else querying a novel in the same genre with my words and ideas written as her own.

How should I deal with this situation? I have no problem confronting the writer, but I would like to do so in a professional manner.


So, now I have to actually write all my own metaphors?  I steal from people all the time.  You think I made up "slithery Barbara Poelle" and  "posse of Fabulosity?" Hell no. I stole them from Twitter and use them without shame. The first use of "Herpet-American assistant" for my stuffed 14-foot boa was by Abby Zidle. You'll notice you never see her name mentioned again when I use it.

A carefully crafted metaphor is what: five words? Six?  No matter how you slice and dice it** that's fair use.

And let's stand at the other side of this and remember that if she read it in your manuscript first, it was a metaphor that felt so true and so real that it sank into her mind and became exactly how something is described.  Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery** and all that.

I recognize plagiarism is a very VERY serious problem, but this is hitting an ant with an anvil.**  Just note in the margins something breezy like "I'm so glad you liked my metaphor!" No need to call the police quite yet.

I assure you that there isn't going to be a problem with an agent reading your work or hers and wondering who came up with the metaphor first.

And you can't protect ideas. Don't even think about worrying about that. Even if every writer in your group started with your EXACT idea, the execution would be totally different. Don't believe me? Look at any of the writing contests on this blog and others. Everyone starts with the same word prompts or hints and no one comes close to writing the same story as anyone else.

You need to get used to the idea that people will use your words either intentionally or un.  What are you going to do when you're published? Pursue everyone who uses your phrase on their blog?

Simmer down. Write. Quit obsessing.  If you feel the need to obsess about things, the number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin is still up for debate.**

You're at the top of a slippery slope** that leads to people sending me password protected manuscripts; asking about how we watermark manuscripts; or being unwilling to even query me until I've answered 15 questions verifying I won't steal their work. This is not the slope you want to sled down.




**also stolen

your kid at in a bookstore or library

There's a very interesting post here at Publishers Weekly about identifying kids as a "strong reader"...or not.

When you take your kid to the bookstore (you DO take your kid to the bookstore or library, right?) are you aware of what you say?

Pugs 1; Shark 0

Red flags in the query hoard

Incoming query:

I might be an author trying to sell a book, but I also have other tasks on my plate.  I simply cannot take the time daily to spend writing agents and publishers. ***

Given that it is 2011 and technology is sophisticated, I have chosen to put my QUERY letter on a website.


If I queried editors with something like that I'd be fired 40+ times in a New York minute. 

If you don't have enough time to query well, you don't have enough time to be published well.

I know most of you would never dream of writing a query letter like that, but you might be looking at all the guidelines and thinking "crap, that's a lot."  Yup.  And it doesn't get any easier.

Querying is your first step in a new profession.  This kind of query is like handing the Human Resources department a thumbdrive instead of a resume.  It makes perfect sense to you but it wasn't what we asked for. And that pretty much tells us what we need to know.

***it doesn't help to see it posted here either as well as hearing from a dozen editor pals about it as well

closed to queries now

Just a quick reminder that I'm closed to queries now until 9/30/11.

I need to get caught up or this group will be at my door quite soon: