Going Away - Again

This time I hope to be back by Friday.

I did prepare anthology markets for you but had no time to post it.

See you Friday or Saturday at the latest.

Categories: personal

Editors Are Evil Writing Contest

Despite what I said about not being a big fan of Writing Contests, I thought that this one deserved a special treatment after all.

WRITE SIDE OUT.com announces its first annual "Editors Are Evil" Writing Contest.

Via Places for Writers

Categories: writing, contests

Research Resources

I have to add to my post Research for Your Writing. In that post I concentrated on how much and when I (and other authors) research, but I thought that it might good to add a few of the resources I use:

• How Stuff Works
  This site has everything. If you need to be a bit more thorough when you write about the court system, then this site will tell you How Supreme Court Appointments Work. If you're writing about botox then you can find out How Botox Works, or if you want to write intelligibly about satellite TV then go to the Electronics Channel and find outHow Satellite TV Works.


• Columbia Encyclopedia - Sixth Edition
  

  Containing nearly 51,000 entries (marshalling six and one-half million words on a vast range of topics), and with more than 80,000 hypertext cross-references, the current Sixth Edition is among the most complete and up-to-date encyclopedias ever produced.



• And of course - who hasn't heard of - Wikipedia
  The free-content encyclopedia that anyone can edit. In the English version, started in 2001, they are currently working on 652,524 articles.


• For city and street maps I always go to Mapquest


• infoplease is a great site with an almanac, encyclopedia, dictionary and thesaurus, but I use it mostly for their Atlas or I use World Sites Atlas

And lest we forget Google , Yahoo, Technorati and the likes.

And if all this isn't enough, and also just for fun and to get out of the dungeon, I mean office, every once in a while and see people, then the local library branch and even better the local reference library is a great source you should use often.

Categories: writing, research

Book News and Trends

Here's a couple of interesting things I found in Places for Writers:

• Bestsellers Are a Woman's World, Baby
  

  Male writers may soon become obsolete, according to a new study by POD publisher lulu.com. After conducting a study of the bestselling books of the past 50 years, the website has boldly predicted that writing books will soon become a woman's job. "If present trends continue," the company announced in a release, "bestsellers by women will imminently overtake those by men, before going on to make male bestsellers extinct."

  
  Now I don't know about that, but who does. I bet that if we took trends in some other professions, we would discover a similar one, like doctors and lawyers for example. Some law and med schools now have more females enrolled than males, but does that mean lawyers and doctors will soon be all female? I doubt it. But it's good to hear that women are progressing in so many areas.



• Gritty Books Appeal to Teens
  
  

  Teenagers belong to a generation that's more literate than any other in history, says David Booth, a children's book author ... But he cautions, "Don't confuse literate with literature. One is process and the other is product. The question shouldn't be, 'Is my kid reading?' but rather, 'What is my kid reading?' "
  
  Television's impact on reading is obvious in the evolution of the wildly popular graphic novels and Japanese manga, genres particularly popular with young boys.
  ...
  Kids read all the time at their in school and on their computers, "but what I'm missing in kids is time spent in reflective, intensive text," Booth says.

  
  I'm still not 100% certain what all this means. It's probably a change that we (non-teenagers) have a hard time comprehending. We can grasp the change in the publishing industry, we can see it with the internet, print on demand etc., but can we grasp the change in literature? I mean, can my parents listen to grunge or techno music?

And if I've already mentioned at the top of this post the Places for Writers site, don't forget to check out the Calls and Contests pages as well as the other great things offered in the site.

Categories: writing, publishing, news, markets, contests

Characterization

A very interesting little debate has been going on in more than a few blogs I have visited lately - characterization vs. ideas -- what's more important?
The debate started with someone claiming that there's a difference between male and female writers, the former writers concentrate on ideas, that person claimed, while the latter on characterization.
I don't think that the gender issue warrants even the slightest consideration, but the concept of what's more important in fiction -- ideas vs. characterization -- is very interesting.

In literary fiction (and by literary I exclude Grishamand the likes, any genre whatsoever, and popular mainstream), we can find that both play an important and integral role in the success of a book.
While Catch 22,Beloved,The Catcher in the Ryeand To Kill a Mockingbirdare all character driven, one can't say the ideas don't flow from these books like water from an endless fountain. And what about other classics whose ideas are more visible like 1984,Brave New Worldand Fahrenheit 451,are the characters in these books flat? Not at all, quite the contrary.

Maybe my definition of ideas is different from others, broader, so let's look at a genre where ideas are crucial to the plot - science-fiction. Science-fiction books, have to have good ideas in order to be considered good. But are good ideas enough? Again, after close examination, we see that the really successful books are always the ones that manage to have very good characters in addition to good ideas. And please don't jump down my throat and scream Asimovin my face, I'm talking in general terms. Just take, Le Guin,Sawyer,Kressand Card,for example, and see what I mean.

Now, I read very little mainstream, so I can't comment much on Grishamand the likes, but I did have the dubious pleasure of reading The Da Vinci Code,which I thought had flat characters, and therefore I didn't think it was a good book. Ideas galore, but characterization none. Successful - yes, but literary - no.

Harry Potter,on the other hand, is in a different class altogether. Ideas and characterization. Well done in both departments. Does that fact make it literary? I doubt it, but it makes it successful.

And what about Romanceand Chicklit? (Aside: seems like any book with a female main character nowadays is considered chicklit). Too much generalization in these genres. And Mysteryand Horror?Are Agatha Christieand Stephen Kingcharacter or idea driven? I'll allow the fans of these genres to answer that, but I suspect I already know the answer.

This whole discussion is extremely interesting and my thoughts seem to be slightly different from what I read others have said about the subject. I think that both ideas and characterization are not only important but are crucial elements to the making of a good book.

Here are some other posts on the subject:
It's All About Character
Toward a Utopia of Book Reviewing for Women

Categories: writing, elements

I Give Up - Quizzes Galore

Okay, okay, I give up.
The web and the blogsphere seem to be riddled with quizzes.
Maybe one day I'll post all the quizzes in one post, but for now, here's a couple:

The first quiz found out that me, that is moi, am a Jock. Ha! No more no less. If they only knew. Well... I'll take it.



Take the What High School
Stereotype Are You? quiz.

via Monica Jackson

And Another:
Now this one on the other hand found me to be the innocent. Ha! again.
I am very inquisitive though. So I'll take this one too.


You are Form 3, Unicorn: The Innocent.

And The Unicorn knew she wasn't meant to
go into the Dark Wood. Disregarding the advice
given to her by the spirits, Unicorn went
inside and bled silver blood.. For her
misdeed, the world knew evil.

Some examples of the Unicorn Form are Eve (Christian)
and Pandora (Greek).
The Unicorn is associated with the concept of innocence,
the number 3, and the element of water.
Her sign is the twilight sun.

As a member of Form 3, you are a curious individual.
You are drawn to new things and become fascinated
with ideas you've never come in contact with before.
Some people may say you are too nosey, but it's only
because you like getting to the bottom of things and
solving them. Unicorns are the best friends to have
because they are inquisitive.

Which Mythological Form Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

via Rantings and Ravings of an Insane Writer

Categories: misc, quiz

Frustrated

When I've started this blog, I honestly wanted to help new writers. I remembered how at first I had no clue about anything. All I knew was that I had been writing and that maybe I could actually do something with it. I had no idea what manuscript, query, submission, etc. were. I had to break the barrier of finding how to send a manuscript and who to send it to. And that was how I wanted to help new writers.

With me, I had beginners luck, but I think it was more of a curse. After only three submissions, I sold my first short story and for quite a bit of money too. I was so happy; the sky was the limit.

But guess what, it took me another two years before I sold another piece. I was beside myself until my second sale came through. Today, it is still a struggle and the rejection letters keep piling up at a rate of 1:20 (or more ) acceptance letter to rejection notes.

Now that I've been working on my second novel (never even bothered with sending out the first), I'm almost certain I'll never be able to publish it. I know, I know. This kind of defeatist attitude doesn't help, but I almost feel it to be a realistic rather than a defeatist attitude. Of course, it doesn't help to read posts like this one about The Secret Lives of Editors.

So now I'm thinking - is there even any point in helping new writers? The hardship, the heartache, the struggle - is it worth it? Maybe it would have been better not to get into it in the first place, just to keep writing for the drawer.

But of course it's not all bleak, and maybe in another post I will write about the brighter sides of the writing business. For now, though, I have to get back to my novel :)

Categories: writing, publishing, personal, business

Markets - Small Press

• Anvil Press
  Anvil Press is a literary publisher interested in contemporary, progressive literature in all genres.
  -- fiction, poetry, drama, non-fiction
  


• Soft Skull Press
  "One of the most visible and respected alternative houses in the US...like Grove Press in the 1950's and 1960's." --Quill & Quire
  -- history, politics/current events, fiction, memoir/biography, music, poetry, art/graphics/comix, gay/lesbian, erotica
  


• Aanansi Press
  Anansi publishes Canadian and international writers of literary fiction, poetry, and serious nonfiction.
  -- literary fiction, poetry, nonfiction

Categories: writing, publishing, markets

More About Writing as Work

Having just spent nearly a month and a half in a crowded house, full of people who just don't get it, I understand those writers who always live like that better.

I had a very hard time ignoring the constant interruptions until eventually I simply stopped trying. Who knows, maybe if I knew this wasn't temporary I would find a way to deal with it and be more forceful about it, but I didn't. I ended up writing only late at night when I was so tired I couldn't get more than a few hundred words out at best.

However, I did find an advice article about this called Caution: Parent at Work. Might help those with kids who struggle with the issue on a daily basis.

For me, for now, I'm so happy to be sitting again in my office, at my desk, typing away at my keyboard with my familiar computer and -- without a soul around.

Categories: writing, general

No Internet Access

After nearly three whole weeks without much internet access where I couldn't post, visit the blogs I usually visit, check my mail or read the news, I'm happy to be connected again.

My blog has suffered from a significant decrease in traffic, but I hope to rectify that quickly and again post some interesting things and/or valuable information. I missed this and I missed everybody.

I never thought I would be so happy to be back - yey!

Categories: writing, personal, blogging

Science-Fiction Radio Drama

This just in from Rob Sawyer, the best seller science-fiction author:

"Birth" -- an original half-hour science-fiction radio drama written by Robert J. Sawyer and Michael Lennick, and produced by Joe Mahoney -- premieres on Friday, July 8, 2005, at 10:00 p.m. (in all time zones) across Canada on CBC Radio One and simultaneously worldwide on the Internet at http://www.cbc.ca/listen

"Birth" is a pilot for a potential series. A gallery of photos from the recording session -- including authors Sawyer and Lennick as extras -- is here: http://www.sfwriter.com/CBCBirth/

Categories: writing, misc

More About Slush - this time at SCI FICTION

Last time I mentioned the dreaded slush pile was in my post Slush Pile Treatment at Tor. Unlike Tor, a big publishing house, SCI FICTION is an online weekly magazine that publishes short science fiction and fantasy stories. The main difference as it pertains to slush piles is that while Tor works mainly with agented authors, SCI FICTION relies on the slush pile.

The Slush God Speaketh... interviewed Kelly Link, a slush reader for SCI FICTION.

You can find the interview here.

Via shaken & stirred

And if we mentioned Tor and SCI FICTION, why not give their guidelines as well:
SCI FICTION's submission guidelines
Tor's submissions' guidelines

Categories: writing, publishing, markets

Research for Your Writing

I'm in the midst of heavy research for my novel.

I had my ideas in place and started writing it. Now I've taken some time off from writing only to study quantum mechanics. While I really like physics, I'd much rather be writing.

You see, my heroes are either physicist or scientists in some way, and I have to study their environment and what they know in order to understand them better. So while I'll never become a physicist myself, I want to be able to "talk" to my heroes eye to eye.

Being a bit anal, my research has expanded and I'm trying to understand more and more physics. It is fun and interesting after all and the brain exercise is stimulating. I keep having to remember though what my main goal is -- get a basic understanding, if that's even possible, of quantum mechanics and the scientific process.

Talking to a few authors, I know that each has their own writing process. Some start with the research, some do it in the middle, like I do, and some, who don't need too much research, simply fill up the missing stuff at the end (like street names and museums in Rome). What none does is to interrupt the writing process itself. When an author writes, they should just write. Not correct spelling mistakes, not look for the perfect word in the Thesaurus and not check facts.

Okay, back to work... back to quantum mechanics...

Categories: writing, research, process

Writing as Work

It is always hard to convince others that writing is work just like any other job/carreer.

Usually, at home, I sit in my office (or whatever room I've put the computer in) and there I write in my solitude.

However, now I am visiting my family and am not staying at home. I have yet to get straight ten minutes work without someone "interrupting." I've put interrupting in quotation marks because, bless their hearts, they always have good intentions. My father can pop his head and ask if I want a fruit, my mother wants me to join her for tea, other family members ask what I do, and in general, between trying to be polite to the people I love most in the world but also trying to get some writing done, the writing loses out.

If I had an office I would go to outside the house then they would understand that. But sitting at home and surfing, which is what they think I do, does not compute into work, and so interrupting is okay.

All I have left to do, after explaining for the kazillionth time that I'm working, is to smile, accept the fruit offer, coffee and cake, ice-cream or whatever other food they want to throw at me, chit chat with them, smile, kiss and hug them, hoping to catch up on work when I get home.

Categories: writing, general

Writers Unionizing and Free Books

• Writer's Blog tells us how Reality TV Writers [want] To Unionize. What I didn't know was that there are writers for Reality TV. It's my fault - maybe if I ever watched a reality TV show other than American or Canadian Idol, which shamefully I admit I'm addicted to - I would know that.
  
  Original article in L.A. Times - Reality Show Writers Seek Representation

  Because writers are deeply involved in the dozens of reality shows, union leaders argue, they should get similar pay and benefits as writers on conventional programs.

  "These are issues of justice for these writers," said Daniel Petrie Jr., president of the WGA, West. He described reality TV as a "sweatshop" for writers.

• And somewhat on the flip side (arguably, but perhaps not), science-fiction novelist and part of the Boing Boing team, Cory Doctorow, has just released his third novel, Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town, for free download under a Creative Commons license.

  The whole point of giving away electronic books is to experiment with electronic text and spot where the new opportunities for earning a writer's living lie -- working with my audience, not against them. So with every release, I've tried some experimentation. This book is no exception.

Categories: publishing, unions, ebooks

Markets

Boys' Life - Children's non-fiction and fiction

BOYS’ LIFE is a general-interest, four-color monthly, circulation 1.3 million, published by the Boy Scouts of America since 1911.

Writers' Guidelines

Woman's Day - Articles and essays

   Need I really introduce this magazine?  One
   of the most highly circulated women's magazine.

   Writer's Guidelines

Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine - Mystery short fiction

Founded in 1956, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine features every subgenre of mystery fiction.

Writers' Guidelines

Categories: writing, markets

Reading on Your iPod

Did you know you could create and read eBooks on your iPod?

Sally Sally and Sagan - The Cats that Read first told me about this amazing feat.
You can use the "Notes" function to convert books into notes on iPod. You can do it yourself by following the instructions in Make, or you can use this converter.

I, unfortunately, don't have an iPod (and my palm is much easier), but if I did, I would most definitely do it.

Categories: misc

I Can Do This - I Can Write

I've just finished reading a book. For the purpose of this discussion--more like a monologue--the book itself doesn't matter. What matters is the feelings I had while reading the book and after I've finished it: I can do this, I kept telling myself. I can write like that. I can even write better. I know it, I've done it.

I know that many writers get that feeling. It was the first time for me but I see it as a good sign. I'm gaining confidence, I trust my abilities as a writer and I know what I'm capable of.

Many writers get frustrated and flustered when they feel that way. How come this writer can publish his/her book and I can't? I write at least as good as s/he.

The answer? I wish I had one. A definite one that is. But I believe it has a lot to do with hard work, perseverance, and some luck too. If one has talent to boot, then there's no reason why one can't be published. Key factors here are the things we can control - hard work and perseverance. The luck - well, I'll leave that to the more spiritual people to handle. Talent? Half the time, talent is a subjective matter.

So why haven't I published a novel yet, only shorts and articles? I know the answer and am working to rectify it.
The question is - why haven't you? and what are you doing to rectify it?

Categories: writing, personal

Today's (and yesterday's and the day before's) Market

When I started Today's Market I really intended to post a market a day. I have an abundance of markets in my database, more than enough to cover a couple of years. And when I say markets, I mean paying markets. Some more, some less, of course.

But things stood in the way, and sometimes I just felt like writing about other things than just give out links to existing guidelines on the web. So I haven't been posting a market a day despite good intentions.

I will try to be more consistent, because I think it's good on a number of different levels. For now, please accept my apologies and these following markets:

• Pockets - Children's short fiction and non-fiction
  

  Designed for 6- to 12-year-olds, Pockets magazine offers wholesome devotional readings that teach about God's love and presence in life.

  Writer Guidelines
  
• Queen's Quarterly - Articles, reviews, short stories and poetry
  

  Queen's Quarterly is a multidisciplinary journal aimed at the general educated reader.

  Submission Guidelines


• CIO Magazine - Articles for IT executives
  

  Our editorial mission is to address the issues vital to the success of IT in the contemporary business environment.

  Writer's Guidelines

Categories: publishing, markets

All Kinds of Writing Blogs

As a blogger, I felt it was time to review some of my favourite writing blogs. They're all so different and give such a unique perspective on the world of writing.

The order in which I put them down doesn't imply anything:

In Writer's Blog, Easywriter shares with us her amazingly descriptive writing. Snippets, thoughts and excerpts written in a beautiful and tantalizing language. She has a way of capturing and conveying the feel of the moment as she does describing a city in the summer in June City, or memories of her grandmother in Dear Diary, or a rainy day in Rain Again Today, where her writing reminded the readers of Bradbury's Something Wicked this Way Comes. Easywriter's longer posts are a well of insightful, sometimes dark, sometimes experimental, but always beautiful pieces of writing, and always worth your time.

Another one of my favourites is Patry Francis' blogs. She has two blogs that I read. Very different from Easywriter, Patry Francis doesn't put much of her writings in her blogs,but writes more about reading and the writing life. I'm Not Really A Waitress, one of the most visited blogs in Publishers Marketplace, and The Marvelous Garden, are blogs in which she shares with us her "double life" as a waitress and writer, the struggles, the conflicts, the frustration. All in a very light manner, easy to read and funny way. Many interesting stuff for readers and for writers. Recommended.

And a bit more from the reader's perspective perhaps, McVane's blog is a delight. Dealing more with the Romance genre, McVane's blog is filled with reader interviews, personal posts, and other things related to Romance books. Just a whole lot of a fun read.