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Learned the Hard Way vs. Failure: clear line or point of view?

A pair of axolotls Sometimes we learn lessons we don’t want to learn. The example I’m using to demonstrate this is my experience of the past year + keeping axolotls. Axolotls, also known as Mexican swimming salamanders, are aquatic and spend their lives in cool water – ideally 60 – 65 Fahrenheit. They eat worms and/or pellets, they are rather low intellect, with poor vision. They’re also…

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Good Old Fashioned Rejection

Photo by Poppy Thomas Hill on Pexels.com I’m old enough to remember a time when manuscripts were actually typed out on electronic typewriters. It took a week or more for one’s mailed manuscript to reach the physical ‘slush pile’ of an editor or agent, where it would wait for months to be read. Statistically, the thing most likely to happen next – if one had included a SASE (self addressed…

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Steps on the Query Road

Photo by Kaique Rocha on Pexels.com You’ve written your book – congratulations, that’s a huge achievement! After all that effort put into writing, you then: Worked with an editor and did revisions Worked with some beta readers and did revisions Have researched other books in your genre. You’re almost ready to hit the query road! You are now going to need to write some query letters and in…

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Thomas Fuller: It's Always Darkest Before the Dawn...don't quit now.

Publishers fold, Agents withdraw: how to keep writing and keep submitting when ‘it’ hits you

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Publishers fold, Agents withdraw: how to keep writing and keep submitting when 'it' hits you

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com Writers spend a lot of time working in isolation. We’re also prone to self-doubt. We can quickly move from, “I just wrote something great! to “This is possibly the worst thing ever written, by anyone.” Photo by Download a pic Donate a buck! ^ on Pexels.com When we finally find an agent who offers to represent us or an independent publisher who offers us a…

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Did you NaNoWriMo? Did it Work for You? Don't worry if it Didn't.

Don't be discouraged if you didn't meet someone else's standard of success.

Image courtesy of Screen Craft This was a tough November in many, many ways. As if all the other corners of the world weren’t chaotic enough, things blew up over at the online site of NaNoWriMo. I won’t go into the details of that here, if you’re interested I’m sure an online search will enlighten you, or you can read through the discussion boards on the site. Bill WattersonCalvin &…

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When you Make it to the Publisher's Catalogue

Publishing fall 2023

Then the book will probably end up being a real thing, right? Polis Books 2023 Catalog https://polisbooks-staging.s3.amazonaws.com/polis-books-2023-catalog.pdf DEAD BEFORE THE END OF THE ROADChristy OslundFiction/MysteryPublication Date: September 19, 2023$16.99 / $22.99 CAN • Trade Paperback • 320 pages • 5.5 x 8.5ISBN: 978-1-957957-21-0Rights available: World, Audio Life in small-town…

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To Rember, When Book Writing and Seeking Publication

Photo by Ron Lach on Pexels.com Practice Writing, Revise, Repeat I’ve been writing a loooong time. When I was in high school, I was thrilled to be gifted an electronic typewriter with built-in correction tape [to be clear – this was state-of-the-art at the time]. By the time I was a senior, Dad, who was an early tech adopter, purchased our first family computer. I could not get him to…

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Writing a Query Letter

I’ve seen a few folx posting documents they intend to use as a query letter, only to have other writers point out that what they’ve written is far too long. So I thought I’d post the basic format of a cover/query letter. A Lady Writing a Letter by Johannes Vermeer by National Gallery of Art is licensed under CC-CC0 1.0 Note: we like to think as creatives, our creativity belongs in our cover…

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I Love a Delightful Reimagining of a Classic, Told From a Woman's P.O.V.

Trope breaking, strong women, epic poem reimagined: Kaikeyi, by Vaishnavi Patel.

The Ramayana is an epic poem, a Hindu text dating from 1200 B.C.E. (Syracuse University). As with all classics that are ancient texts, there will be variations in the story (e.g.while all versions I’ve seen agree on who the first of Raja Dasaratha’s wives was, I’ve seen variations on who was second and third). The big picture however: Dasaratha granted his wife Kaikeyi two boons (or undeniable…

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Writers Zone: Beta Readers . . . considerations, kindnesses, and select realities

I have yet to meet the writer who, having created something and still in the early excitement of ‘this might really be something!’ doesn’t yearn for another set of eyes and another person’s reaction to what is written. Paper Mache sculpture of person reading a book by Nicholas Mutton is licensed under CC-BY-SA 2.0 In fact, I belong to a range of writers’ groups and there are regularly…

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I'm Biased (based on experience) and therefore may Prefer Autistic Writers

Autistic writers: better at internal world integrity?

Bookshelf with books organized by color by ChrisEdwardsCE is licensed under CC-CC0 1.0 Admittedly, I’ve noticed as I age, I have less appetite for fiction with magic/fantasy and am more interested in exploring the reality of all manners of shenanigans folx can get themselves into in the regular world. That kind of mischief is typically far freakier and odder than anything we fiction writers are…

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