SLAVE2THEMUSE

INTRODUCING LITSNACK

2007-11-25T14:10:00.000-08:00

Just for fun, I have recently founded a new on-line literary magazine entitled LITSNACK (Please see link at right). The literary magazine/blog is intended to be an in between meal treat for people who want a little taste of literature without ruining their dinner.

I am currently accepting short poetry (1-35 lines) and microfiction (50-500 words). Please send submissions to dantricarico@yahoo.com. I would prefer if you embedded the submission in the body of the e-mail, please, as attachments worry me!

I am partial to new writers who would like a credit for that important bio they will need later, but would certainly hope to receive only quality work, as even though the magazine is new, not everything will be accepted.

I eagerly look forward to submissions.

Thank you. Keep writing.

LARA ZIELIN, CYBERMUSE

2007-08-16T21:13:00.000-07:00

Let me tell you a little story: almost a year ago, I was working on my young adult novel Godtalk and outlining its revision and submission progress on this humble little blog I call Slave2themuse, an unassuming little document that I was positive that only three people--myself, the teacher who teaches next door to me, and well, me--okay, two people, were reading.

As it turns out, I was somewhat wrong.

The funny thing about posting things online is that you forget that it isn't called the WORLD WIDE web for nothing. In late fall I received a comment from someone in Ann Arbor, Michigan, who'd found my blog and was intrigued by the fact that our submission history was actually quite similar and invited me to check our her blog called "Road to Random House" that explored her writing progress and subsequent attempts to be published. After reading a little of her blog, I was impressed not only with what a strong writer she was, but also how laugh out loud funny she was, and so I commented back on her blog and gave her my e-mail address and invited her to share some publishing war stories.

That was when a brand new muse entered my life, cyber pen pal named Lara Zielin, who had penned (keyboarded?) a little tome entitled Donut Days that covered some similarly spiritual territory as my young adult book. Interestingly, at that particular time we were in roughly the same place: several drafts of our book completed, we were querying agents, attending conferences, and doing all we could to search for the one "yes" that would be the lucky portal into the publishing world. Lara, who fortunately for me believes strongly in networking, e-mailed me and we began an on-line correspondence, sharing and critiquing each other's query letters and first chapters. In an unparalleled act of kindness, Lara asked me to e-mail her the entire manuscript of my book and she said she would critique it. By then I knew she was legit (and not some mole from Dateline, just kidding, Lara)and that I could trust her, so I sent her the book thinking, well, this will be interesting, I'm going to find out what a complete stranger thousands of miles away thinks of my book all because of my silly little blog. As Yakov Smirnoff used to say, "What a Country."

Very quickly, a package arrived in my mailbox. It was the manuscript of my book that Lara had printed out and marked up--COVER TO COVER. As I later wrote in an e-mail to her, not only did she improve the book, her comments made me understand the kind of book Godtalk was SUPPOSED TO BE. Such an amazing gift she gave me. I've spent the past few months on revision based on her comments. And even though we have never officially met, she continues to be a source of serious support, encouragement, and wisdom.

I am indebted to her.

And because good things happen to good people, it wasn't long after Lara read and marked up my book that I received a very exciting (and excited!) e-mail from Lara: a highly reputable agent had agreed to represent her novel and after submitting it to a list of high powered editors, sold it in a matter of days to Putnam. Donut Days is due out in early 2009!!

In my small attempts to send some good karma out into the world, I want to invite whatever person who may be reading this that I am completely unaware of to click on the link to the right that will send you to Lara's website and check out her thoughts on the publishing world and to get so fired up about Donut Days that you buy a copy when it comes out.

I owe her a lot. Sending you her way is the least I can do.

LONG LIVE, MISS SNARK!

2007-07-27T10:21:00.000-07:00

I've had a few writer friends whose lives are even more complicated than mine, tell me that they don't have the time to learn all the ins and outs of the publishing industry. And it is to them I dedicated this post. Even though she closed up shop two months ago,a sad day for all serious writers everywhere, I will tell anyone who will listen that the blog run by the anonymous literary agent who goes by the name of Miss Snark is one of the most accurate, educational, informational, and let's face it, damned funny and entertaining, resources for what agents, editors, and publishers are looking for.

And even though her blog has gone dark, her archives are still there for the taking and are downright publishable themselves.

For anyone who wants a one-stop shop for all (accurate) things writerly, you will find your answers here:

www.misssnark.blogspot.com

Now why am I thinking I just unnecessarily increased my competition?

THE FIRST THIRTY PAGES

2007-07-25T15:17:00.000-07:00

Based on my recent submissions and responses, I've learned that the first thirty pages are absolutely critical. I knew that in theory, of course, from three writers conferences, nearly ten years of Writer's Digest subscriptions, a bookcase full of writing books, and Noah Lukeman's book The First Five Pages (okay, so he undercuts me by twenty-five pages, but still. . .). But I underestimated their importance and, as much work as I put into my book and as seriously as I took revision (and I did), I never REALLY did the work necessary to make my first thirty pages as polished as they could be.

Because one of the things that I learned is that it's those first thirty pages that gets a reader hooked and, at least in the case of agents, that investment leads to requests for partials, which leads to requests for fulls, which leads to, among other things, the purchasing of palatial digs just down the street from James Patterson.

But perhaps I get ahead of myself.

In any event, this summer I took those first thirty pages (which, in many cases, will be roughly the length of the requested partial, anyway) and I studied them, disected them, rewrote them, passed them around, incorporated suggestions, rewrote them again, put commas in, took commas out, wrote new scenes, shortened other ones, rearranged still other ones, deepened the characters, broadened the setting, varied the sentence structure, and in every way possible made them sing.

Then I continued on with the rest of the novel.

Page by page.

Now that summer is on the wane, the ultimate goal is to have a brand new version of Godtalk to submit in the Fall when I return to my job as a high school English teacher. I do feel the newest version is markedly improved. But I sacredly refuse to send out any more queries until I have a brand new draft--start to finish--and can proudly say my YA novel is immediately available. My guess is that should be somewhere around October.

If they liked Godtalk before, maybe this time some agent will find it irresistable.

Anyone know James Patterson's zip code?

DETAILS, DETAILS

2007-07-25T15:09:00.000-07:00

After the crazy submission weekend in May, and thanks to the insightful comments of two fellow YA writer friends, I decided that more revision was in order. People were responding to the query, people were responding to the story, people were responding to the writing style. But no one fell in love with any of it enough to make a commitment.

That left only one or two possible problems. Either the pace was off for some reason (too fast, too slow, too jerky, something)or the architecture was the problem (i.e., the overall structure). Thanks again to my YA writer pals, I was able to identify problems with the pacing and structure, as well as problems they identified with a pesky little thing known as detail. In other words, in some areas I wasn't painting a clear, precise, or specific enough picture of what these characters were thinking, doing, interacting with. . .or what the setting specifically looks, sounds, smells, feels like. Ah, but what details add depth and precision and what details are filler, padding, and, well, just plain crap?

That's the important distinction.

And as one of my critique partners pointed out, "Knowing which details to include and which to omit is the difference between writing a book and writing a book that sells."

Smart woman.

NO MUSE IS GOOD MUSE

2007-07-24T16:53:00.000-07:00

In the interest of efficiency, and due to some issues I was dealing with in my personal life, there was a time recently where e-mail queries were working better for me. So one Thursday night in May, I sat on our bed with our laptop and sent out seven queries.

I sent out four e-queries the first night (Thursday) and by 9:00 a.m. the next morning, I already had a request from the Kirsten Manges Literary Agency for the full manuscript (she said she enjoyed my query and would be "delighted" to consider the manuscript) and from PMA Literary and Film Management (their agency seems HUGE!), a partial (my synopsis "intrigued" them)!! The only problem was that Kirsten Manges wanted an exclusive.

The next night I sent out three queries and by Monday (which was a holiday for me, so I was off work), David Austern at Liza Dawson Agency requested the full manuscript!! Two requests for a full and one partial from seven queries. And all from NYC heavy-hitters.

I was, like, so stoked!!

So on Tuesday when I returned to work, I e-mailed Kirsten Manges and told her that I would love to send her the manuscript, but that I couldn't grant her an exclusive because I already had several partials out and one agent was already looking at the full manuscript (Serendipity Literary Agency in Brooklyn). I told her that, depending on her preferences, I could send her the manuscript anyway, or wait until all the responses were in and then grant her an exclusive. She e-mailed back and said what if I e-mailed her the first three chapters on a non-exclusive and then if the manuscript became available at a later date, she would be glad to look at it then. In that message she said my original query was "wonderful."

I was walking on clouds, I tell you.

So I e-mailed her the first three chapters and my synopsis. I also e-mailed David Austern a copy of the full and several hours later, he e-mailed back and said that he "didn't fall enough in love with the characters to be (the book's) most ideal champion," but that I was "a good writer" and that he'd "be interested in looking at my future projects." 45 minutes later Kirsten Manges e-mails back and says that she read the pages over lunch and was sorry to say that she "wasn't the right person for this project."

A month or so later, PMA also passed with some nice words of encouragement. By the way, Jenny Bent and Rachel Vater also passed in the last few months in a very kind and encouraging way.

In true “writing life” submission style, all of the requests—both full and partial--were eventually rejected, but the key here is that each person had something extremely positive to say about what I had going on, whether it be about the query, the synopsis, or the writing style itself.

I'm not there yet, but some of the heavy hitters were telling me that I'm doing something right and, for now, that's enough to hang my hat on (not literally; I was speaking figuratively, whatever that means. . .)

More later. . .

NEW YEAR'S UPDATE

2007-02-01T09:30:00.000-08:00

Here are some random updates:

* Susan Schulman--agent of Louis Sachar's Holes--passed on Godtalk, but said that that she liked it and that "there was much to recommend it." I took that as a good sign.

* Due to job responsibilites at work and health issues at home, I have not been able to pursue much writing in the last few months--either on Godtalk, School Spirit, or this blog.

* Nevetheless, two days ago I decided to at least send out a query or two on Godtalk, just to say I was doing SOMETHING to pursue the goal. So I sent two e-mail queries to Rachel Vater at Lowenstein-Yost and Jenny Bent at Trident Media Group, both heavy hitters in the industry.

* The VERY NEXT DAY, I received an e-mail from Jenny Bent's assistant asking for an author bio, synopsis, and three sample chapters.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!s

SECOND FLASH

2006-10-21T21:18:00.000-07:00

While perusing some of the flash fiction on-line magazines, I recently checked out the current issue of insolent rudder to see what these folks have going on, as I have usually enjoyed the stories they've served up in the past couple issues, not to mention the fact that, over the summer, I submitted a story to them.

When the site loaded and I was scanning the contents, my subconscious pimpslapped me a nano-second before my concscious caught up: "Hey," my subconscious said, cuffing me in the noggin', "you know that title."

Then my conscious caught up: "Hell," it said, "you wrote that story!"

Sure enough, insolent rudder had accepted my story,published it in Fall 2006 issue of their magazine and, for whatever reason, I never was notified of said acceptance.

I'm not complaining, however. It looks great, I like the story, and the graphic seems to have been designed especially for the story and doesn't appear to be some stock photo they just laid in next to my words. Very cool.

The name of the story is "The Things I've Lost" and concerns how a fifty-two year old man commits one act of infidelity and ruins his marriage, his family, and his life--all in less than seven hundred words.

If anyone ever reads this cyberspace vaccuum I call a 'blog, please check out the story (or Lockdown in the April 2006 issue of rumble) and let me know what you think.

I mean it: Put down that coffee and donut, dammit, and do it now! Then come back here and leave something in the damn comments section. And no, I don't really care that this is the first post in three months. Just do it!

THE YING/YANG PRINCIPLE

2006-07-26T10:39:00.000-07:00

YING

Susan Schulman, literary agent of Louis Sachar who wrote the YA phenomenon Holes, asked to see the full manuscript of Godtalk. Wow. I almost couldn't breathe. At the bottom of my query letter, she handwrote "send the full ms in September." Apparently she has her hands full right now.

YANG

In June, Sara Crowe, of Harvey Klinger Literary Management, asked me to e-mail her the full manuscript of Godtalk, which I did on June 23, 2006. Yesterday I received a very nice e-mail response from her saying that she was "torn" because she liked the idea and my writing was good, but that she wasn't enthusiastic enough about the project to take it on; primarily, she said, in an effort to keep her client list small and manageable. I was so stoked, though, that she even was "torn," as she said. A big-time NY agent was thinking about actually representing my book and (maybe) almost said, "yes."

It's a new step for me.

MORAL OF THE STORY:

Over the course of the two and a half years I was pimping it through the mail, three agents asked to see Bad Moon Rising, none of them in New York (not that an agent HAS to be in NY, but it doesn't hurt!). Charlotte Gusay, who is now not recommended by P&E because she charges fees; Appleseeds Management, who is in Northern California, and who I think is a "boutique" agency, to put it kindly; and The Nancy Ellis Agency, who was censured for hording her clients' advances.

However, in the six months of sending out Godtalk, three agents have asked to see the full manuscript--all of them in New York! One that I met at the writers conference (Serendipity, although they've had the manuscript for over three months), Sara Crowe (mentioned above), and now Susan Schulman, who reps one of the most successful YA novels in recent history. People seem to be responding to something in this premise/story/novel.

All in six months.

Steps forward/Steps backward/Steps forward.

Ying/Yang.

UPDATE

2006-07-11T07:54:00.000-07:00

Here's a random update of writing news:

GODTALK

* The Kristin Nelson Literary Agency read the partial (30 pages) of GODTALK and ultimately passed. Kindly, they said the writing was solid, but felt that the theme was too familiar. I'm not exactly sure what that means other than they feel like they've read the same kind of thing before. I was also encouraged by the fact that they said they reviewed the pages several times. That suggests that they were (seriously?) considering requesting a full.

* Once that rejection came in, I began querying in earnest for GODTALK. I sent out 6 queries in two days. The world has changed a lot since I was querying for BAD MOON RISING. Namely, many agents now accept e-queries. One e-query I sent was to the Harvey Klinger Literary Management, Inc., to agent Sara Crowe. Within an hour, she e-mailed back and ASKED TO SEE THE WHOLE MANUSCRIPT. Since she said e-mail was fine, I consolidated the chapter files into one full file and fired it off the next day. Right now, GODTALK is under consideration by a big-time New York agency!!! I can't be sure, but I wonder if she bothered to Google me since I mentioned "Lockdown" in the cover letter and if that story had any leverage in getting her to request the book. I wanted to pursue flash for just that reason, and now it looks like it just may have worked. On the other hand, I have also received two rejections from the six I've sent out, though.

* Still no word, though, from Serediptity Literary Agency. They've had the whole manuscript for about three months.

FLASH

* I've had positive comments from a number of on-line journals about many of my flash pieces, especially "Biker Bitch" and "Brian's Bride." elimae said they thought "Brian's Bride" was well-written" and would "find a home somewhere." Toasted Cheese said that "Billy's Valentine" had "made through the first round of readings" and that they would let me know in August what their decision is.

* I've just revised a piece called "The Miracle" that I think is some of the best writing I've done. I also just finished the first draft of a piece called "The Assistant" that I think is absolutely dreck. That's how it goes. . .

Now that it's summer, I'm hoping to get a few more flash pieces cranked out and praying that Sara Crowe from Harvey Klinger wants to rep GODTALK.

P.S. I'm hoping this fall to start a new young adult novel--kind of a mystery/ghost story combo.

LOCKDOWN APPEARS AT RUMBLE!

2006-05-10T14:15:00.000-07:00

My story "Lockdown" is live at rumble. Here is the link:

http://rumble.sy2.com/apr06/lockdown.html

Please check it out!

I was pleased with the way it turned out. The pic they put with it was edgier than I expected (they have a picture of a row of lockers at a school; I figured they'd use that with my story, but they, uh, went in a slightly different direction. But it's very cool). I've been getting other nice responses, but so far no other rejections. I've also been cranking out a few other pieces here and there. I'm really enjoying the whole flash fiction thang (the writing of the pieces, the ease of submission, and, of course, appearing in a venue that can be seen not by only the 200 people who see a print journal, but, oh, anybody in the world who has access to the world wide web!).

*

(actually, I'm seeing that, for some reason, it's not appearing as a link, but either I'll figure it out later, or you can cut and paste it into your browser. Also, please feel free to leave me a comment about your reaction).

LET'S RUMBLE, PART THREE/ACCEPTANCE!

2006-04-21T06:44:00.000-07:00

In yesterday's e-mail:

Hey Dan: Look for "Lockdown" in the new issue of rumble, online next Tuesday or Wednesday, if all goes as planned. . .

Craig Snyder, Rumble Editor

--

My first flash fiction acceptance. Yes! This was only the second official piece of flash fiction I wrote and rumble was the first place I sent it.

And the "web presence" begins. . .

IDENTITY CRISIS

2006-04-18T09:52:00.000-07:00

My goal with publishing flash fiction on the internet, aside from just having fun and practicing the elements of fiction in a short and controlled space, was to create what some call a "web presence" as a writer. In case any agent or editor was curious who I was, for example, he or she would have instant access to my writing. When you Google my name, I want the first three pages to be ALL ABOUT ME AND MY STORIES!

That said, I have also, as I mentioned in the last post, begun sending out some poetry to these on-line venues. Here is the dilemma and a possible solution:

I don't necessarily want my "web presence" as a fiction writer disrupted by a bunch of poetry publications that are also in the Google mix. Therefore (here's the potential solution), I am using "Daniel Tricarico" as my by-line for the fiction and "D.L. Tricarico" as my by-line for the poetry. I'm hoping that will cause a distinction in any search engine that tries to locate my stuff. If I start to place some poems and they come up when I Google "Daniel Tricarico," I will make adjustments as necesssary.

Perhaps, for example, I will compensate by using the pen name George W. Bush. Marilyn Manson? Trini Rodriguez? Billie Jean King? Hulk Hogan? Ryan Seacrest? . . .

TWO BITS OF NEWS AND AN AFTERTHOUGHT

2006-04-18T09:08:00.000-07:00

GODTALK

For the first time in my life I am able to say, "I just sent the book to New York."
The Serendipity Agency in Brooklyn sent me an e-mail awhile back expressing initial interest in Godtalk and asked if I would send the entire manuscript. I finished the revision I was working on and mailed it out over my Spring Break. It was very exciting

FLASH FICTION

I received a rejection from ThievesJargon for "Biker Bitch" that said the story "wasn't bad at all" and that they "nearly took this one." They also said they hoped I would send them something else in the future. Yes! I immediately sent the story back out--to WordRiot, I think.

POETRY (THE AFTERTHOUGHT)

Poetry will not leave me alone. I was just starting to send out some poems again when I took the class on Flash Fiction at the Writers Conference. But snail mail poetry submissions take some effort and I wanted to concentrate on my book and flash fiction, so I'd let it slide. Then it occurred to me that many of the on-line journals take poetry and, since it was just for fun, anyway, seeing my poems in an on-line journal was better than not seeing them published at all. I now have three submissions out (Dicey Brown, Kaleidowhirl, and Ghoti Magazine). We'll see what happens.

STATUS REPORT

2006-03-22T10:32:00.000-08:00

Due to some free time at work, I was able to put together a few story submission for the print journals. So here is a current status report of my work:

* The first 30 pages of Godtalk is at the Kristin Nelson Literary Agency (Boulder, CO)
* The first 30 pages of Godtalk is at the Serendipity Literary Agency (Brooklyn, NY)
* Four stories are winging their way to various literary journals
* "An Ordinary Healing" is at Glimmer Train's competition for Short Shorts
* "The Attendance Office" is at the Writers Digest Magazine competition for Short Shorts
* Five pieces of flash fiction have been flung into cyberspace and are being considered by
on-line literary journals
* A new piece of flash fiction is being critiqued by the Julie Ann Shapiro, the woman who
taught the Flash Fiction workshop at SCWC20.
* This morning I revised Chapter 12 of Godtalk. I'm working my way through the whole book
(chapters 13-19 to go!), in the hopes that one of the above-mentioned agencies will request
the whole manuscript.

That's where things stand. I'm pretty happy with that. I don't know what else I can do. . .

LET'S RUMBLE #2

2006-03-16T09:40:00.000-08:00

I revised my flash piece "Lockdown" to have a more interesting ending, based on feedback from the editor of rumble. In my re-submission, I said I thought the piece had improved.

Within an hour or so, he e-mailed back and said he felt the story was better, too.

This is all so NOT print journal.

THE NELSON LITERARY AGENCY

2006-03-15T18:39:00.000-08:00

Based on an e-mail query letter I sent, the Kristin Nelson Literary Agency (she was the agent I was supposed to see at the writers conference)has asked to see the first 30 pages of GodTalk. Interestingly, she said she was not interested in the synopsis (she doesn't like to know too much about the story), but that she wants another cover letter with publication credentials, personal bio information, and my pitch (Thank God for the pitch workshop I took).

Yipee!

Also, I noticed a quote on her blog that went something like this, "Since I'm so gung ho lately for YA. . ." Yes!

My plan is to get it in the mail this week.

Interestingly, the first agent I showed it to (at the conference) said he thought it was good writing and that he could see an agent being interested in it. The very next agent I queried asked for 30 pages. I still have a package at Serendipity Literary Agency in Brooklyn, NY. It will be interesting to see what they say.

NETWORKING 101

2006-03-07T11:24:00.000-08:00

I just sent off a cover letter, synopsis, and Chapters 1-3 of Godtalk to the Serendipity Literary Agency and president Regina Brooks, a very nice lady I met at the Southern California Writers Conference last month.

As I said in an earlier post, I pitched her the novel using a pitch I'd written in an earlier workshop that day, which was fun.

But the neat thing is: she said that if I referred to the SCWC on the outside envelope, I would move to the top of the pile and get a better reading! I'm not sure that Godtalk is her thing necessarily, but I'll be interested in hearing what she thinks.

I revised the first three chapters based on what I learned at the conference, and I think they really cook.

I'm really pumped about the book's chances. I'm hoping it's just a matter of time. . .

While it's a bit like winning the lottery, even they say you can't win if you don't play.

YAHOO!

2006-03-04T08:21:00.000-08:00

My work e-mail account was beginning to be clogged with my new hobby--namely, with submission information, feedback from one of the editors of an on-line journal, and messages and critiques back and forth from Julie Shapiro, the woman who gave the flash fiction workshop at SCWC20. I was starting to worry that I would lose important work messages in the mix, so I knew something had to be done.

Therefore, two nights ago I opened a Yahoo e-mail account, strictly for on-line flash fiction submissions. It feels kind of cool to have an e-mail account strictly for my writing.

The key is going to be not to get too obsessed with checking it a million times a day.

LET'S RUMBLE

2006-03-02T22:08:00.000-08:00

When you submit a story to a print journal, you stamp the envelope and make sure there's an SASE inside and then you send it off. After you slide the manila envelope into the slot, you wait three to four months to get your rejection slip that you put in the shoebox with all the others.

If you're lucky, and someone took a shine to your story, you get a handwritten "Try us again" or "Sorry to disappoint you on this one."

Those notes are gold!

I submitted my first piece of flash fiction to the on-line journal rumble on Tuesday, February 28th. It was a piece I'd written specifically as a flash called "Lockdown," about a teacher who is experiencing a lockdown drill in her classroom, but since there was no forewarning, she isn't sure if it's real or not.I sent it in about 7:30 a.m.,just before work, using my work e-mail account.

By 9:30 the editor had e-mailed me back and said he got the submission and, based on an initial reading, he thought the ending should be more "wry, sarcastic, or surprising."

I couldn't believe it. Feedback on my story in less than two hours. Amazing.

So I e-mailed back and asked if I should revise and re-submit or just take my chances. In less than another two hours, he'd responded again. He said the submissions wouldn't make their way to the editors for another few weeks, so I had time to play around with the ending and re-submit.

Dialogue with an editor and a chance to revise and resubmit based on editorial feedback.

Miraculous.

NEWS "FLASH"

2006-03-02T21:48:00.000-08:00

Over President's weekend, I attended the Southern California Writers Conference held at the Hanalei Hotel in Mission Valley. It was a great experience and I learned a lot about how to make my writing better. Here are some highlights:

* The agent I signed up to see, Kristin Nelson, did not make the conference, so they kicked me over to another agent, Scott Miller with Trident Media Group (They rep. Janet Eavonovich). When he pulled my pages out of the stack, I saw he'd written "Good Writing" on the front. He said Godtalk wasn't his cup of tea, but that he could see an agent being interested. He also gave me valuable feedback about the writing style.

* Met another very nice agent, Regina Brooks, from Serendipity Literary Agency in Brooklyn. I pitched her Godtalk (based on a two sentence pitch I wrote in a workshop on pitching earlier in the day) and she said she'd read the first three chapters. I'm cleaning those up right now. I should be able to send them by the end of next week. I e-queried Kristin Nelson when I got back from the conference. I'd like to see what she says, but I'm not going to keep Regina Brooks waiting.

* The very first workshop I took was on Flash Fiction. I walked in thinking "I know Flash Fiction: 1200 words. 1500 words. Short Shorts. Brian's Bride. Etc." But the workshop presenter, Julie Ann Shapiro, said, "No. Flash pieces are always under 1,000 words and usually between 500-750 words. They have all the elements of fiction (exposition, inciting moment, rising action, climax, denoument, conclusion), but all within a limited word count. When she read some samples (of her flashes and others), I was hooked. Then we wrote one. She said she submits (and has been published) in on-line journals that specialize in flash fiction. When I got home I checked them out. I'd had something of an attitude about on-line journals when I first checked them out five or six years ago, saw them as not much more than glorified blogs, but the good news is that they've grown up! Real writers writing real stories. People I've heard of are publishing there. I couldn't wait until I could get a few pieces together and send them out. There was a harmonic convergence in my heart and mind (the details I will spread over several more posts) and I know this is something I'm supposed to be doing. It encompasses everything I love about writing, all at the same time! For starters, let's talk about no postage charges and no SASEs! How about them apples?

However, since flash fiction consists of writing a dynamite piece of writing in a small space, and that was exactly what I was attempting to do with this blog, the days of slave2themuse may be numbered. Although I may just shorten the posts to keep the world up-to-date on my new exploits in flash fiction. That will start, I suppose, with the next post.

The greatest thing about attending the writers conference for the third time, though, is that I am surrounded by people who have the same illness I have and it just feels good to know that I'm not crazy and that I'm not the only one.

GOOGLING MYSELF IN ILLINOIS

2005-12-29T14:01:00.000-08:00

Let's face it: we all Google ourselves (I mean on the internet; get your minds out of the gutter). In the middle of the other night (our youngest had croup), I was up and surfing the 'Net and decided that, just for laughs, I would run my name through the search engine again. Funny thing, after the Bolivian soccer player, chef, Brazilian poet, and Midwestern Middle school teacher--all with the name Daniel Tricarico, how odd is that?--I came up with something very interesting. . .

Recently, I talked about how I had done zero (or nearly zero) marketing on my teaching book and had all but abandoned checking the royalties statements on iUniverse.com. But on the fifth or sixth page of hits for my name a listing came up for something called "The Illinois Education Loop," or something like that. I clicked it and was almost instantly connected (I still have dial-up)to the page where someone in Illinois reviews books of interest to teachers and there was a capsule review of my book!! How they found out about it, I have no idea. I would think it was just the automated system that puts my book on every books-for-sale-website on the 'Net, but someone wrote original stuff for the capsule and quoted from my introduction (implying, be still my heart, that someone half a continent away actually may have even READ a little bit of what I wrote). Amazing. It makes me wonder what would happen if I were actually BEHIND this book.

Consequently, I recommend that we all Google ourselves as much as possible. Usually, it feels pretty damned good.

IS THIS HOW T.S. ELIOT STARTED OUT?

2005-12-26T23:35:00.000-08:00

It seems the acorn doesn't fall far from the tree.

My seven year-old daughter must have inherited some of my writer gene. She enjoys writing poems and stories and often "publishes" them using folded construction paper as a book cover. I've told her many times what a great writer she is turning out to be, but that she never has to write another word unless she wants to and enjoys it.

The other day she wanted to write a poem to commemorate the Christmas holiday. While I did help her a little, it was less than the final product might suggest. I was so impressed with her effort, that I asked her permission to post it here, and she agreed:

CHRISTMAS
by my 7 year-old daughter

December nights are cool.
Winter Break I have no school.

Christmas lights are shining bright
in the dark December night.

There's a dense fog advisory expected soon.
Tonight you will not see the moon.

It's snowing on the mountains and also other places.
Snuggly fires burn inside so many fireplaces.

Three more days 'til Christmas. Hurry! Hurry!
Buy some presents. Scurry! Scurry!

I wonder if T.S. Eliot started out this way? I'd say Charles Bukowski but there's no mention of booze, vomiting, or cheap whores. I'm sure she'll get around to that in her high school creative writing class. Merry Christmas!

HEY, IT'S GOOD TO BE BACK HOME AGAIN. . .

2005-12-22T21:22:00.000-08:00

Poetry feeds my soul.

It always has. So it's no wonder that, during downtimes between the bigger projects (writing, revising, or marketing book length manuscripts or sending out short stories to journals and/or contests) that I return to my first love: poetry.

And so it has been recently, having come to an intermission in my work on Godtalk, that I have gravitated back to the old box of poetry I keep in the cupboard of my classroom. Far from a conscious effort, I had been reading more poetry, surfing the websites of journals for new or interesting sample poems, and felt the tug toward my own poetic creations.

I am, after all, a slave to the muse.

I was telling another teacher recently that, as much as poetry has the reputation as being for overly-sensitive, unmanly, even overtly non-heterosexual types that, for nearly my entire life, poetry has been one of the few things that has fulfilled my heart and soul in a way that only music and religion/spirituality has (and probably, it bears noting, in that order).

Consquently, I rummaged through the box of old poetry, found nine or so poems that I'd written in roughly the last ten to fifteen years, retyped them, and readied them to be sent out. This, naturally, made me want to have more product for the market, and so I dusted off an old poetry book I had sitting in a drawer somewhere, turned on some music, grabbed a cup of coffee, and started writing. Before I knew it, I was happy in a way I'd totally forgotten was possible. Working with words. Playing with language. Writing in a way that valued the efficiency, economy, and concentration of language; indeed, relied on it for its impact. It was like being in a literary amusement park.

In a sense, I was home.

I currently have about five or six packets out in the mail. In the old days, though, I tried my best to get credits in the finest literary journals with the loftiest reputations, but during this go-round, I am just in it for the sheer fun of the process. It's a hobby. I always said that if, at the end of a decade or so, I had ten or fifteen journals with my poetry in it that I could show my children, then that would be worth the price of admission. I've surpassed that, but I still enjoy the thought that maybe a new piece of mine will come out in an attractive book or booklet. And, thanks to free contributors copies, I am not only in the journals, but I am sent a book full of free poetry by other poets! Free poetry! What a country! I was thrilled by publication in my high school literary journal twenty-five years ago, and nothing's changed.

What did that writer once say? Novel writing is my marriage partner, but poetry is my mistress.

That sounds pretty damned heterosexual to me.

(On the other hand, it's a metaphor. . .so who knows. . .)

LOOK OUT AMAZON, HERE I COME. . .

2005-12-21T22:19:00.000-08:00

I've given up looking up my sales and royalty account at the iUniverse website because, well, why? I've spent zero energy marketing my teaching book (You're a Teacher. . .So Act Like One! Improving Your Stage Presence in the Classroom). Okay, maybe "zero" is too strong a word; recently, I sent a copy to the director of the program in our school district for supporting beginning teachers, the theory being that maybe they might benefit from a book showing them how to be better presenters in class.

To date, no response.

Nevertheless, as I was bored one day right before we were released for Winter Break I decided, just for laughs, to check the sales and royalties account for my book. Christmastime truly is a time for miracles because, miraculously, I discovered that last August I sold three books. How? To Whom? Why? Only God (and iUniverse) know for certain.

All I know is that my account went from saying "No activity shown this period" (since say, oh, the beginning of 2004) to "Royalty Account Balance: $6.51."

Yeah me.

GODTALK GOES TO MARKET

2005-12-21T22:09:00.000-08:00

According to the website for The Nelson Literary Agency, they are looking for literary and young adult fiction that is "high concept" with a commercial bent. It is mostly for that reason, then, that I chose Kristin Nelson as the person with whom I would have a read-and-critique at the Southern California Writers Conference this coming February. Since November 3 (my last post), I have been working tightening the first two chapters as sample chapters, composing an intriguing cover letter, and writing a succinct synopsis.

I have decided to bide my time and not send out even a single query until after I hear what Ms. Nelson has to say about Godtalk. If she is not interested, then I will flood the postal service with query letters, synopses, and sample chapters about a young boy who says God has given him a private audience

So: some time last week, I sent a cover letter, page and a half synopsis, and the first two chapters of Godtalk to her, in care of the conference. It is, of course, my hope that she will ask to see the entire manuscript. And then, of course, wish to represent it. And then, of course, to sell it at auction for six figures.

But I get ahead of myself.

Let's start with: I hope she actually reads the sixteen pages I sent her.

SECOND DRAFT

2005-11-03T20:35:00.000-08:00

I posted only once during the month of October because I was working frantically on the second draft of Godtalk. It went well. I not only tightened the prose, but added and changed things that did not even exist in the first draft.

As I read and worked, I was more pleased with the novel than I remembered being and some parts caused me to laugh out loud or choke up, respectively, as if I was not the one who put those scenes to paper.

When I finished, I handed a copy over to another teacher in the English Department, who graciously offers (always) to read my stuff. She came in the next day with the mansucript box under her arm. I thought there was some problem with what I'd given her. As it happens, she read the first chapter before leaving school and said she "got hooked" and read it straight through (all 208 pages!) in one night! I found that very flattering, as well as a good sign. She even marked it up as she read.

My wife also started the book last night. She has been great about line editing the chapters as she reads them. It's all been such a big help. I think it's going well and everyone seems pleased. But there's still a lot of work to do.

Somewhere along the line, I managed to send my story "The Attendance Office" to the Writer's Digest Short Short Story Competition. It would be nice if something came of that. I also sent out "Tales of the Virgin Mary" to three markets at once--which is something of a no-no. But I got two back within a couple weeks. The Threepenny Review rejection slip said they didn't read during the Fall months (I didn't see that on their website, I guess) and Agni (one of the big guns) sent a slip that said at the end "This is not our customary rejection slip," and "please consider submitting again." I took that as a good sign.

But, for now, my focus is Godtalk.

I've already started a list of ideas for draft number three.

WHAT'S UP, G?

2005-11-01T10:12:00.000-08:00

In an incident reminiscent of my experience with Killer Swell, I read a movie review in the newspaper over the weekend that told of a hip hop update of Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby. I've already done extensive background work (character biographies, six page plot treatment, and almost all of chapter 1) on my own updated version of Gatsby.

Fortunately, the differences are significant, since I wasn't sure it was even legal to update a copyrighted story without permission, so I made the basic architecture of the story the same, but all of the details and events are radically altered. For example, this movie, entitled simply G, is a hip hop story that takes place in the Hamptons and involves a music executive named Summer G. The review said there was no recreating of the identity or secret crime that funded the Gatsby character's dreams. That is, actually, quite different than mine.

In my version, the novel is set on the West Coast, in Los Angeles, in the movie business. The Tom Buchanan character is a movie producer married to the love of my Gatsby character's life. My Gatsby owns a nightclub in Hollwyood (hence, the "wild" parties) and is reconnected with his lost love when the Daisy character's cousin moves to L.A. to become an actor and moves into "Gatsby's" guest cottage. I thought that all seemed quite plausible. In addition, to echo the prohibition themes that fueled Gatsby's wealth, my character will be a kingpin in the 80s drug culture, amassing his fortune through sales of large volumes of cocaine.

To keep it interesting (and throw people off the scent of Gatsby), I was going to throw in a stalker.

After the young adult novel, I was planning to either write a series of young adult mysteries or continue with the Gatsby novel.

Either way, I will "beat on, (a) boat. . .against the current. . ."

ON FINISHING GODTALK

2005-10-05T07:53:00.000-07:00

Two days ago, on Monday, October 3, 2005, I finished the first draft of the young adult novel entitled Godtalk. It came in at 208 pages. I always enjoy typing THE END on the last page of a book length manuscript, printing out the final chapter, and adding it to the pages I have hole-punched and slipped into a three-ring binder. Since I enjoy commemorating these little achievements (basically in case nothing else ever happens with the books), my famliy and I bought a cake, and I brought in donuts for my co-workers at school, and we had a little party.

I think it's very important to celebrate the small successes in life, too. And, in writing, it is a success--given all of life's obligations--to actually finish any large project you begin.

After a little cooling off time for the manuscript, and a little self-back patting for my ego, I will take out the three-ring binder and start the second draft. The prevailing wisdom says to wait anywhere from two weeks to three months before an edit, but the way I look at it, I wrote chapter one last May, so that's five months. By the time I get around to editing and revising a second draft of the last chapter, it will be at least a month old.

I have also pulled out the writing books I blogged about some time ago (see post), and will use them as guides to editing a second draft. And a third. And. . .

Nearly as difficult as writing the actual book is composing a cover letter and synopsis that will hook readers (namely, agents and editors) and get them to request the entire manuscript. That's also one aspect of the next step. I will also attempt to sell Godtalk at the Southern California Writers Conference in February 2006. Consequently, it must be in fairly good fighting shape by then.

Right now, though, I'm going to be happy that, at this count, I have written three complete books (You're a Teacher. . .So Act Like One!, Bad Moon Rising, and Godtalk.). It's all part of a contiuum of the writing process, meaning that no matter what happens with Godtalk, I must keep writing because the more I write, the better I'll get.

And if I get better, I'm bound to have some publishing success eventually.

At least that's the plan.

TITLE TROUBLE

2005-09-28T09:50:00.000-07:00

GodTalk -- one word?

OR

God Talk -- two words?

Hmmmmm.

THE THIRD TIME

2005-09-28T09:42:00.000-07:00

In working on chapter 17 of GodTalk, it was the third time during the course of writing the first draft of the novel that I had written so much (17 pages double-spaced and counting) that I felt compelled to split it into two chapters. If I left it as it stood, the chapter would have seemed disproportinately longer than all the preceding chapters and, in my estimation, would have thrown off the pacing.

Sometimes a long sequence or a serious occurence warrants a longer treatment, but not this time. While chapter 17, as I noted in the last post, is the climax of the main conflict, I noticed a natural break right after the resolution of the conflict of the main subplot, so I broke the chapter at that point. Consequently, despite what I said in the last post (that I was working on Chapter 17 of 18), the first draft will come in at nineteen chapters total.

There will be no need to split any further chapters. The last chapter is really more of an epilogue and will be, at most, five or six pages.

IN THE ZONE

2005-09-23T21:06:00.000-07:00

I'm writing the climax of Godtalk. It's chapter 17 of 18 and the main character is a prophet/messiah type and so, consequently, must die. I was worried, it being a powerful and meaningful, yet delicate sequence in the story that I would not be able to pull it off with the right sense of grace.

As I had with most other chapters in the book, I used bullets to outline the major events in the chapter and then wrote the scenes that effectively dramatized the bullet entries I'd made on the outline, thereby tying them together with "riveting" prose.

Funny thing: two days ago, during my writing period, everything was flowing--dialogue, action, description, even some theme work was rolling right off the keyboard. I started off today thinking, "this is going to be a snap, I'll just pick up where I left off and let the brilliance begin."

In point of fact, I couldn't seem to write a clean, sharp sentence all morning, or think of one original descriptive detail, or write a line of dialogue that didn't come off stilted or artificial. One day in the zone, one day not. That quickly, and with no explanation or solution.

I found that dichotomy very intriguing. And some writers would disagree with this, but my theory is you keep writing anyway.

You can always fix it later.

OKAY, TWO BOOKS THAT CHANGED MY LIFE

2005-09-20T21:37:00.000-07:00

Everyone who considers himself a reader most likely remembers a handful of books that changed his point-of-view, altered his life perspective, either slightly or monumentally. For each reader, there may be five, ten, twenty, or even fifty books that influenced that person as he or she matured as a person and as a lover of ideas and the written word.

I'm certain there are more than five books that changed my life. But here, in roughly the chronological order that I read them are five books that made me look at my personal, individualized, existential reality a little bit differently than I had before I closed the back cover of the book:

1. Illusions by Richard Bach. Bach's story of reluctant messiah, Donald Shimoda, and his relationship with the messiah-in-training who happens to share the name of the author was given to me by my closest friend when I was sixteen. "Here, read this," she said. The philosophy expounded in its pages--namely that all of life is an "illusion" and that there are greater planes of reality beyond our own and that we create and magnetize things in this current reality--was a mind-blower. And the last page pulled the carpet right out from under me. It was like a punch in the gut. After that, I read everything of Bach's I could get my hands on. Unfortunately, though, I had to come to terms with the fact that, staring with Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Bach wrote the same book ten or fifteen times. Nevertheless, since reading Illusions as a teenager, I've never looked at the world, myself, or life the same way since. My young adult novel Godtalk owes much--maybe everything--to my reading of Bach's little religious (anti-religious?) parable.

2. 1984 by George Orwell. Assigned by my Sophomore Honors English teacher at Grossmont High School in 1978, Orwell's novel of dystopia also changed the way I looked at life and altered my view of the machines of social and political engineering and how they can manipulate you--through language, media, and mental conditioning--into doing what they want. The futuristic devices employed by Orwell--thought police, telescreens, doublespeak,etc.--were not only prophetic, but deeply disturbing to me, even as a teenager. I remember one assignment on the book I turned in that was executed more elaborately than most of my homework. The teacher said to me (I still remember this verbatim), "This book has really had an affect you, hasn't it?" Uh-huh.

RANDOM NOTES AND WRITING UPDATES

2005-09-13T21:26:00.000-07:00

Here are some random updates on my writing process:

* Today, the last submission package returned for Bad Moon Rising. I don't think there are anymore out there. It was from an agent--a rejection, of course (I don't say that out of lack of confidence, but more out of a mathematical/law of averages perspective).

* Regarding the Young Adult book entitled GodTalk. I'm almost finished with chapter 15. Then I will only have two more chapters to finish before having a completed rough draft. Today, during my writing time (which I have cut down to every other day before work, due to work/family obligations), I worked on chapter 15 and wrote some notes on what I wanted to accomplish in a second draft of the novel. I purposely keep writing without looking back at what I wrote to avoid unnecessary self-criticism, but I do have a feeling that it's been going well. It's always seemed well-organized (I had a fairly tight outline) and I like the points I'm making. Of course, I could look at it when I'm done and want to use it as compost.

* Saw the Fall Preview issue of TV Guide. I've loved that issue since I was a kid. Now I look at it to see if any of my L.A. acting friends have gotten gigs in any of the new fall shows. It seems this Fall there will be a show called The Book of Daniel, concerning a Episcopalian minister who deals with stress by having periodic conversations with Jesus. Hmmmm. Deja Vu. Uncomfortably close to the premise of GodTalk. I'm feeling a little bit like I did the first time I heard about Killer Swell. We'll see. . .

* I still need a one sentence pitch, cover letter, and synopsis for GodTalk. I'll work on those after I get the second draft done.

* Paid for the Southern California Writers Conference 20 that will be held in February. My school is paying for the registration fee (yahoo!!) and I paid for three one-on-one advance reading critiques. Since BMR is dead in the water, I'll be trying to pimp GodTalk.Wish me luck.

* The novel tentatively entitled Hollywood Martyr has almost a full chapter in the can and, after polishing GodTalk, I'll most likely try to work on that.

* After reading The Best American Poetry of 2005, I'm getting the itch to write and submit some poetry, but with my writing time at a premium and the fact that poetry DOES NOT pay (but instead merely nurtures and feeds the soul), I don't think I'll be pursuing that right now.

* My short piece "The Father-Daughter Dance" is coming along. I actually did something I don't normally do; I began to edit before a full draft was done, but I was curious as to what I could having analyzed the Mark Helprin story "White Gardens." I tightened some of it up, but I still haven't had a chance to look at the Sam Shepard piece "The Devouring Lion."

* Can't do everything at once. On the other hand, I'm reading a mystery novel by the awesome writer David Baldacci and in the acknowledgment section, he thanks his wife and says something like "Book number ten, can you believe it?"

* Bastard.

A LITTLE SELF-REALIZATION GOES A LONG WAY

2005-09-10T22:22:00.000-07:00

So there I was, a few days after my birthday, walking around the kitchen barefoot, drinking a glass of orange juice, listening to The Indigo Girls, reading from the Best American Poetry 2005 (which I purchased from Borders with a birthday gift card), and enjoying the sunny weekend morning, when it hit me. It's finally official: I'm a lesbian.

The only thing I was missing was a flannel shirt, comfortable shoes, cankles, and a kissable poster of K.D. Lang.

THE ANALYSIS OF "WHITE GARDENS"

2005-09-04T20:16:00.000-07:00

I marked up Mark Helprin's (re-typed) story "White Gardens." It was helpful. I noted first that it starts in media res, meaning "in the middle of things" The opening line is: "It was August. In the middle of his eulogy, the priest said, 'Now they must leave us to repose in white gardens,' and then halted in confusion, for he had certainly meant green gardens." Even by the end of the first sentence, we are oriented--We know the season (summer), we know we're in a Catholic Church (the priest), and we know someone has died (the eulogy). It's a great opening sentence. I was hooked. We also know that the priest, for whatever reason, has gotten nervous somehow and messed up what he intended to say ("for he had certainly meant green gardens"). All of that is clear by the end of the first sentence. I'm sure there's much more even that we can tell by the end of that first sentence. That he's confused, for one. That he's relying somewhat on clerical cliches, for another.

After indicating that the story picks up in the middle of the action, I marked each of the details ("overcrowded church," "tropical suits," "white smoke billowing from a chimney," "shiny new engine," etc.). I also marked lines that dealt with characterization, point of view, sentence structure (dashes, semi-colons, dependent clauses, etc.) figurative language, theme, description, rhythm, sensory imagery, action, setting, conflict, and resolution. If I possessed more initiative, I'd go back and highlight important vocabulary, strong "theme" sentences, and maybe take a paragraph and write a new piece using only the sentence structure in that paragraph of Helprin's. Just to get a feel for the "style" of the piece. But both you and I get the general picture of the story based on what I've done so far.

I was looking for some kind of pattern or evident dissemination of the elements of fiction, but as in all art, it was like trying to capture a butterfly with a shotgun (that's a simile for you folks who are paying attention to such things). What I did notice, however, is that in this particular short short, the story was high on detail, included much sensory imagery, and let a few very specific references sketch in the setting. That was all helpful analysis to me. I went immediately to a short piece I'm working on that is set at a father/daughter dance in an elementary school and did some editing accordingly.

Next, I will try to tackle the Sam Shepard piece (see previous post). I have to either copy it or re-type it. In truth, I may just copy it because I didn't feel I learned that much from re-typing the Helprin story compared to the amount of effort involved.

The good news, though, is that my father/daughter dance short short is shaping up!

Keep writing, Danny.

WHO WRITES SHORT SHORTS?

2005-09-02T16:29:00.000-07:00

MARK HELPRIN

SAM SHEPARD

Every year Writer's Digest Magazine has a contest for very short stories (1500 words or under).  Last year was the first year I entered with a story called "Emily's Dad."  I didn't win, but at least I understood why the winning story walked away with the $3,000 Grand Prize.  It was a work of subtlety and symbolic meaning--all under 1500 words.

The deadline is December 1, and as I've been mulling over what kind of piece I might like to write and submit, the school year began and I used a short story in our anthology to have my students write a practice literary analysis paragraph.  The story was called "White Gardens" by Mark Helprin.  It involved a memorial service for six firefighters who lost their lives when a building collapsed while they were trying extinguish the fire.  It was mostly from the point-of-view of one of the widows, what she saw, what she thought, and what she was able to take away from the service, especially from the priest's eulogy.  The interesting thing, however, is at one point the priest goofs up his words.  Instead of saying that the deceased firefighters will repose in green gardens (meaning go to a more beautiful and peaceful reward when they die), he is very young and becomes emotionally overcome by the proceedings and says that they will repose in white gardens.  Much of the story concerns everyone--the priest included--trying to figure out what he meant by "white gardens."

I wanted a short piece to use as an example of a quality story my students could analyze, but what I realized is that the story had everything I was looking for in a piece I might write and submit to the Writer's Digest contest:  not only conflict and resolution, but brevity, depth, symbol, specific sensory detail, and emotion.

I decided I wanted to use this story as a model for the story I would write.  But I wanted to tear it apart and see what made it tick.  So I took the story and home and retyped it.  Just to get the feel of typing a high quality short short.  I wanted to see if I noticed anything about the rhythm of writing such a story from start to finish (I didn't).

I thought it would exceed the minimum word count, but it didn't.  It came in just over 900 words.  Once I double-spaced it and printed it up, I knew I could use it to analyze why it was such a good story. My plan (as it is with everything I read for analysis) was to mark it up and identify many of the issues that I listed above.  Having done that, my theory goes, I might be more apt (that means likely, John) to write a better story.

I'm also planning on doing the same thing with a short short called "The Devouring Lion" by Pulitzer Prize winning writer and actor Sam Shepard. It concerns a man who goes back to work driving a Caterpillar earth mover after a nervous breakdown because a woman left him. It comes in at about three pages, but is a powerful piece of writing. Sam Shepard has always been one of my favorites.

I'm almost done with the YA novel, though, so maybe I won't send anything to this contest.  Who knows?

At least writing and sending a story is the plan.  Stay tuned.

THE DOCTOROW IS IN

2005-09-01T20:49:00.000-07:00

E.L. Doctorow

I was asked for a sample of the story I mentioned in the last post. I chose a section right when the man and woman are about to drop the kidnapped infant off at a Catholic Church, thinking, I assume, that church folk will have instant compassion and concern for an abandoned baby. When the woman expresses some hesitancy about knowing the etiquette for the sacrament of Confession, Doctorow writes the following:

Lester, she said, I don't know the right words for confessing.
It's O.K., I said, just go in there and sit down in that box they have. It's somewhere off to the side. You don't have to be Catholic for them to listen to you. When he hears you, the priest will sit down on the other side, and you just tell him you want to confess something. And he will listen and never betray your trust that it is just between the two of you. And you don't have to cross yourself or anything, he will tell you what to do if you put it in the form of asking for his advice. And you will thank him, and you will mean it, and maybe thank God, too, that there are people who are sworn to do this for a living.

Man, that's good shit. It's colloquial language spoken by a couple blue collar, disenfranchised drifters written in a rhythm that is postively poetry by a man in his early 70s.

Here's some more just before Karen enters the church:

Before she took a breath and stepped down from the Windstar, she held the baby in her arms and caressed his round little head and brushed his dark hairs with the tips of her fingers as he stared up at her in his impassive manner and then looked away. And then Karen slipped him gently into my arms like a friend of the mother's who has been given the privilege for just that moment of holding another woman's child.

It's like BUTTAH.

In my last post, I ended saying it makes me want to write. The other side of that double-edge sword, is that writing that is that good also often makes me want to hurl my computer through the window, scream, "What was I thinking?" and take up macrame. My aunt used to make such nice macrame owls when I was a kid.

Forgive me if I've abused the Fair Use Doctorine, but only two people in the world read this blog.

LET'S PLAY DOCTOROW

2005-08-30T20:57:00.000-07:00

I just read a story in The Best American Short Stories of 2003 anthology. It was called “Baby Wilson” and it was by E.L. Doctorow (Ragtime, Billy Bathgate). The story concerned a crazy woman who steals a baby and her (more sane) boyfriend who knows she’s crazy and that what she’s done is wrong, but he can’t at first bring himself to turn her in, so they go on the lam.

The entire story was a dramatic monologue, meaning that there was no dialogue and was all told by the boyfriend’s p.o.v. The language, though, was beautiful and sounded very modern, even though a Google biography I read of Doctorow said he was born in 1931 (meaning that my prejudice says his language should sound more, I don’t know, serious or old-fashioned or something). But he captured the voice of the boyfriend and made it sound as if this drifter/grifter was just chatting with us about this wacko thing his crazy girlfriend did.

I’m always amazed at how the “experts” say things like “show, don’t tell” and “use dialogue to advance” plot, and then the masters come along and break those rules in a brilliant and moving manner.

It makes me want to write.

EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW. . .

2005-08-18T20:19:00.000-07:00

Below I've listed the four writing books from which I've learned the most about the art and craft of fiction (in no particular order):

1. The First Five Pages by Noah Lukeman
2. The Novel Writer's Toolkit by Bob Mayer
3. Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King
4. Writing the Break-out Novel by Donald Maas

Everything you need to know about how to write a successful and entertaining novel can be found in these four books. They are like a mini-Master's Degree program for under $75.

THE SUNSET FOR BAD MOON RISING

2005-08-16T07:01:00.000-07:00

I opened the front door the other day and a package that had been propped up against the door fell over. The mail man had set it there when he delivered the mail. It was my novel, Bad Moon Rising, coming back with the response from The Nancy Ellis Agency. A Very Fast Response. I had enclosed a SASE for their response, but I hadn't sent enough postage for the return of the manuscript, but there it was in the original box on my front porch. I had expected them, if they passed on the novel, to recycle the manuscript.

A form letter inside the box told me that the novel wasn't for them. They passed. The agency who had recently gotten a black eye for not paying authors their advances and that had asked for my book had turned it down. Oh well.

This is to put in writing that my first full-length novel manuscript will be going in a drawer until further notice.

Prepare for updates on the young adult novel, currently entitled Godtalk. Before writing this post, I was able to crank out two more pages of chapter thirteen.

So here we go. . .

A FEW WORDS ON KILLER SWELL

2005-08-10T22:13:00.000-07:00

During our vacation in Big Bear I read Jeff Shelby's novel Killer Swell. You know the one--a detective investigates the murder of the girl he loved in high school. Sounds a lot like Bad Moon Rising. The book I wrote. A LOT like it. Well, it is a lot like it. Shelby goes off in directions I don't, but the basic premise is the same. The opening is almost identical, there are similar characters, eerie similarities in plot points, and part of the climax is quite similar (though not exact). When I tell people who have read my book about Killer Swell, they say he must have seen my book somehow and they start asking me who I've sent the book to. The average person doesn't understand that if an agent or editor started stealing books, they'd be out of business immediately.

I think it was one of those things where two average guys who wanted to write a mystery novel came up with the same premise at the same time, and one of those guys got lucky and beat the other one to the bookstore. I truly feel it's as simple as that.

I needed to read it, though, to see exactly how close it was to BMR. It's pretty damn close. If the Nancy Ellis Agency passes on BMR, it'll probably end up in a drawer. Oh well. It's my baby, but I learned a lot and maybe it's time to move on.

Here are my novel ideas in various stages:

1. Hollywood Martyr
2. Godtalk (the YA novel--first draft almost done)
3. Studio City Blues (mystery novel/police procedural set in Studio City, CA)
4. Half-Mast.

So there are places to go and scenes to write. . .

NOVEL WRITING IN BIG BEAR, PART II

2005-08-09T10:38:00.000-07:00

I was able to work almost every single night of our vacation on the laptop. About a half an hour each night. I think it was only the last night in Big Bear that I didn't write (we were packing to leave the next morning).

I wrote a complete draft of chapter eleven, at least half of chapter twelve until I got stuck on how exactly a high school student is expelled from school (I need to do some research when school gets back in), and over half of chapter thirteen (which I expect to complete this week). That will leave me with only two or three chapters left in the first draft of the book. All first drafts are shit, but it feels like this one is going fairly well. My wife, who is also considering a children's chapter book and a children's picture book with a painter we know, came up with a fantastic idea for a mystery novel that we did a short treatment on as well. I may work on that with her after the young adult novel is completed and I'm trying to sell it.

We'll see what happens. Stay tuned.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

2005-07-29T09:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I noticed that Chapter 9 was getting very, very long. It was 17 pages single spaced (about 30 pages). I remembered, though, a spot where I said, "Hey, that sounds like an ending, but I have so much more to include." So I went back, just before the last day of summer school, and made that "ending" the ending of Chapter 9 and made what was left into Chapter 10. It seemed to work really well, and now I have 128 pages in the novel and about 5 chapters to go. The length should work out just about right.

Not a bad way to start a vacation.

I'm taking the laptop to Big Bear. With any luck, I'll have some of Chapter 11 done by the time I return.

See you in a week or so.

NOVEL WRITING IN BIG BEAR

2005-07-28T10:11:00.000-07:00

Summer school is over tomorrow. My family and I leave for our annual vacation tomorrow; this year it' s a week in a cabin in Big Bear in the mountains. I was hoping to finish Chapter 9 of the YA novel this week before we left. I'm close and will try to hammer out the final scene tomorrow before school (my typical writing time), but it's going to be close. Overall, I think it's going well, but Chapter 9 is much longer than all the other chapters (I estimate the first draft will come in at 14 chapters). I'm not sure if this chapter is longer because climactic things are occuring (which they are) or because I'm just rambling and trying to cram too much in. It'll all come out in rewrite, as they used to say. I'm hoping to write Chapter 10 in Big Bear and/or before the new school year begins. Then I'll knock out the final four in the Fall.

That's the plan, anyway.

GOIN' BACK ON MY WORD

2005-07-26T07:49:00.000-07:00

Silly me. I spent the week bitching and moaning because someone wrote a book with the same premise as mine and I was just about resigned to the fact that the manuscript was going to sit in a drawer for the rest of my natural life, when I get the mail Saturday and there is a letter from The Nancy Ellis Literary Agency (see Posting entitled "Dubious Agent #42) saying, "We requested your manuscript, but we have yet to receive it. We will keep your file open for thirty days and then recycle your materials." I took it as a sign because NOBODY bothers you about sending them your manuscript. Nobody. "Unless they're hurting," as my wife said. After some research, I see that they have revamped their accounting process and the author's money goes straight to the author. In their "Selected Titles" link, they list many authors whose books they have sold to Major Publishing Houses. At any rate, after CONTINUING to hound my wife and friends about this issue, they all said, "Send the book. Otherwise, it's just going in a drawer, right?" (My wife and friends are so empathetic about my writing! :)

So I went back on my word and sent the book. For awhile, I tried to listen to my gut and see if I was getting any kind of spiritual guidance about whether or not to send the book. Nothing. But now that I've sent it, my gut is telling me that I've set something in motion.

Exactly what, I'm not sure. We'll see. The process is such that most likely the response will come back and it will say something like, "Interesting idea, but not quite right for us."
Whatever. I'm still writing. You can't stop me.

DEATH OF A MYSTERY NOVEL

2005-07-21T10:13:00.000-07:00

So I'm reading the book section of The San Diego Union-Tribune last Sunday in the place where they review new mystery novels and I read about this new book called Killer Swell by Jeff Shelby about a San Diego detective that investigates the murder of a girl he was involved with in high school because he's asked for help by her mother. Hmmm, I thought. A nice little premise for a mystery novel.
At least I thought so when I WROTE THE FUCKING BOOK!!!!!
My wife was sitting there as I read and she saw me pound the table with my fist, yell "FUCK!" and clear the table of the books section of the newspaper in one swoop of my two arms.
I spent six years of my life working on Bad Moon Rising, a mystery novel that concerns a San Diego detective (in this case an investigative reporter for a local daily newspaper, but same thing, really) who is asked to look into the death of a girl he was obsessed with in high school because her mother suspects foul play. My support team at work said no harm, no foul, mystery premises are usually formulaic and generic enough that there's room for both books, but I downloaded the first scene from Chapter 1 of Mr. Shelby's book and it's like looking in the mirror. Same characters (essentially), same tone, rhythm, and writing style. It was like reading the opening to my novel.
My wife says I should take it as a sign that I was meant for other things. She's big on her gut reactions, and they're always right. She thinks I should cut my losses and stop sending out the submission packages for BMR to agents and get to work on other stuff (like the YA book), but I'm not sure what to do. I haven't gotten discouraged by fifteen years of rejections on poetry, stories, and novels. But this was discouraging. I have to clear my head and decide what to do.
I looked at the rest of Jeff Shelby's website and he seems like a really nice guy who worked really hard and got his break. I know--Karmically, anyway--I should be happy about that. And I know I have the YA novel over half done and two others on deck waiting to be written, but Bad Moon Rising was kind of my baby, my first ,etc.
And you never forget your first.

P.S. I do wish Jeff Shelby luck. As I said, he seems like a regular guy.

THE DONALD MAAS AGENCY REJECTION

2005-07-19T07:53:00.000-07:00

I sent a submission package to the Donald Maas Literary Agency and, in the cover letter, told them how much I enjoyed Maas' book Writing the Breakout Novel. I just received their response--a rejection, yes--but it was an official business letter personally addressed to me on the Maas Agency letterhead and signed in pen by subagent Jennifer Jackson. She said, in part, "While your credits are certainly notable, I'm just not enthusiastic enough about the premise. . .to feel that I'd be the right agent for the project." I like the part about my credits being "notable," because I was debating taking out the credit about You're A Teacher. . .So Act Like One!, since so many publishers/agents turn off at the idea of Print-On-Demand. I don't know what she was referring to exactly, but after her letter, I'm inclined to keep my teaching book in the cover letter for awhile longer. I figure that even if an agent is against POD, at least he/she knows I'm able to write a book length manuscript.
Michael Steven Gregory, organizer of the Southern California Writers Conference, likes to say at the conference that, "Writing is the only profession where you're judged by the quality of your rejections."
And he's right.

SLAVE2THEMUSE

2005-07-15T07:47:00.000-07:00

Let's talk about the title of this little rant, shall we? The muse was a mythological creature that inspired artwork and creativity. And I'm its slave. Since I have always felt the compulsion to put down my thoughts down in writing (arrogant bastard--didn't Natalie Goldberg say something about putting my thoughts down on paper is one of the most powerful actions I know? I'm paraphrasing, though.), I've always been jealous of those people who can go through the day not commiting a single thought of a notepad, typwriter ribbon, or Word document. When they are watching baseball, HBO, or old episodes of "Full House," and they ask me what I'm going to do that night, I grumble something about having to work out the conflict resolution in my story on the divorced couple at the park. I can't NOT write. Sometimes I think I'll give it all up--who needs the grief (the rejection slips, the postage, the time sacrificed in the name of art), and then I'll get an idea for short piece of fiction that might be right for the Glimmer Train short short story award, and I scramble to the computer. Sometimes I genuinely wish I could walk away, but I know that as miserable as I sometimes am trying to wrestle interesting words onto the white space, I'd be more miserable if I lived like so many others whose thoughts stay unexpressed outside their heads. When I was deciding what to name this journal, my first thought was about how committed (obsessed?) I've always been to/with writing and the idea of capturing universal ideas, feelings, and issues in words. Hence the title of this blog.
In short, I am a slave to the muse.

P.S. Blogs are the most democratic form of published writing since the Print-on-Demand revolution (see early posts on POD experience). Seems like everyone has a soapbox from which to spout. Cool.

DUBIOUS AGENT #42

2005-07-14T07:38:00.000-07:00

Imagine my excitement when the submission response from agent number forty-two (The Nancy Ellis-Bell Literary Agency) arrives in the mail and they request to see the entire manuscript of Bad Moon Rising. I was thrilled. I don't remember where I got the initial information on the agency, but everything seemed to check out, so I sent the submission package. After hearing that they wanted to see the entire manuscript, however, I Googled the agency and uncovered a pair of suits alleging that while the agency was apparently capable of selling books to major houses, they were being accused of witholding advance monies from the authors. That was no good. In one of the on-line articles regarding the suits, there was a contact name and number with The Author's Guild in New York, so I called them. They said they usually don't give advice about agencies, but that was an exception and they definitely WOULD NOT send this agency my manuscript. They said the two suits were settled in favor of the authors and that the agency was forced to pony up the dough. They also said they had a pamphlet on "How to Submit to Agents," and would I like it? I said sure. When I got it, I noticed that the secretary of The Author's Guild was Scott Turow and that their Board of Directors included Stephen King, John Jakes, and Anne Rivers Siddon. If I'd had any doubts, they were now gone, as I figured they knew what they were talking about.
There was also a a DOES NOT RECOMMEND on the Preditors and Editors website for the agency that said "no further information available," although I would assume it was for the same reason.
My heart and stomach fell. I'd already gone to Kinko's and made my new copy of the novel at great expense ($30). I will not be sending that manuscript to the Nancy Ellis agency, though, because who wants the grief of having to fight for money that is rightfully yours. Even if there was some mix-up or she has seen the light and is repentent, I still don't like the set-up.
If that kind of struggle was in my future, I can afford to be patient.

AUTHOR PHOTO

2005-07-11T19:15:00.000-07:00

I just learned how to add a photo to my profile. I like the photo I attached not only because it was taken by my six-year old daughter, but because by turning it black and white, not looking at the camera, not smiling, and wearing black attire and a snappy goatee, it makes me seem almost "artsy."

THE BIG 5-0

2005-07-08T11:39:00.000-07:00

I hit a milestone recently. I sent out my fiftieth query package to an agent on Bad Moon Rising. It's exciting thinking how many "big time" agents have considered my writing, but it's also a bit disappointing to think that fifty agencies have considered my writing. . .and passed on it. There's something about the number fifty that means it's time to reflect, regroup, and rethink.
The main thing is to keep working. I did preliminary work for two novels, and wrote three chapters of another murder mystery and one chapter of a literary novel. I will probably get back to them, but I got a compelling idea for a young adult novel that I just couldn't ignore. I now have close to 70 pages.
The false starts put me behind a little, but the ultimate goal is to practice and to make sure that I don't have to rely solely on Bad Moon Rising. I'm hoping to have two drafts of the YA novel done by the next writers conference in February 2006.
Submissions are interesting. My materials are at work and I get most of the submissions out during breaks in my work day as a high school teacher. At first, I was just sending out a query letter because it was cheaper. Last February, though, at the Southern California Writers Conference (19), writer and presenter Bob Mayer (the Area 51 series) said that he always sends out the same package--a cover letter, a short synopsis, and chapter one. His philosophy:

1. The cover letter says "I have a great idea."
2. The synopsis says "I have a great story."
3. Chapter 1 says "I can write."

Even though it's more expensive than just sending a letter (a little over $2 a submission), I can't argue with that logic.
Mayer said that everyone should get the same package, despite what their submissions guidelines say. I want to follow the rules of submissions, but I like the three step philosophy he outlined above. As he said, no one is (probably) going to reject your submission if they like the writing just because the submission "didn't follow the length guidelines." That said, sending entire unsolicited manuscripts is still a big no-no.
I will continue sending out submission packages (letter, synopsis, chapter one) for Bad Moon Rising, but before long I will have another product to peddle.
If that doesn't work, I'll write another novel.
One of them is bound to sell.

THE MYSTERY NOVEL

2005-07-07T11:09:00.000-07:00

In June or July of 1998, only a few months before my first daughter was born, I finished all the preliminary work on a mystery novel called Bad Moon Rising. My plan was to create a series character who solved murders and name the books after classic rock songs, much in the same way Mary Higgins Clark uses snippets of standards in her titles. My lead character, Michael Rossi, was an investigative reporter for the (fictional) San Diego Herald and was asked to investigate the apparent suicide of a girl he was obsessed with in high school. The request came from the girl's mother.
My daughter was born in August and I didn't start writing the book until January of 1999. With breaks to write a self-publish the poetry book for my wife, and to re-type the teaching methods book (my computer had crashed and I only had a hard copy), the first draft of the mystery novel came in at 500 pages and took a whopping three years to write! My fellow teachers and I celebrated the completion of the novel (at that point, even finishing a book, let alone writing a good one seemed like a feat to me) by meeting for drinks at a place called B.J.'s, a local bar and grill. I will always remember that afternoon (primarily because I don't drink much). I am always grateful for the support and encouragement of my friends at work when it comes to my writing. To date, my wife, my mother-in-law, our best friend, three teachers at work, and two agents have read the mystery novel. After a year of subsequent drafts (2 or 3, I think) and some family business, I began querying agents in the Fall of 2003.
In February of 2004, I attended the 18th annual Southern California Writers Conference in San Diego and met in a one-on-one with L.A.-based agent Charlotte Gusay. In a letter attached to my submission package that was returned at the conference, Ms. Gusay agreed to read the entire manuscript.
I was walking on clouds and immediately called my wife from the conference. I had never reached this level in my writing and I wanted to savor it. A "real-live" agent wanted to read my novel. It was a moment I'd fantasized about my entire life. In our one-on-one meeting, I learned a lot from her and asked her if she would mind if I took the time for one more draft before submitting. She agreed.
After three months working on a new draft, I mailed out my first "all manuscript" submission. I was a bit taken aback, though, about the expense involved in duplicating and sending out a book. A few months later the SASE came back with a letter passing on the novel. Among other things, the letter said that I "did well in the mystery genre" but that my characters "need to be more compelling." Still, I decided to be happy that I was allowed to go through that process, saw it as a learning experience, and was excited to get professional feeback on my entire book. The comments I got back came from someone who sold books for a living.
That was invaluable.
A few other agents have requested sample chapters and then passed and one other agent, based simply on a query letter, asked to see the entire manuscript, but then passed on it. I did another draft for that novel and one more since. The novel is now down to a tighter 357 pages. I think that will be its fighting weight for all subsequent requests for the manuscript.
I have, actually, received positive comments on sample chapters I have sent out, which I use as the justification to keep going. If no one said anything positive about the writing that I'm sending out into the world, I might have to rethink my dream. Fortunately, that's not the way it's going. But so far, no takers. The bottom line, then, seems to be that I need perserverance and training. With that, and a little luck, Bad Moon Rising may some day find its way onto the shelves at your local Barnes & Noble.
'Cause I ain't givin' up.

YOU'RE A TEACHER. . .SO ACT LIKE ONE!

2005-07-05T09:34:00.000-07:00

Just after getting married, I decided that if I was seriously going to be a writer, I needed to write a full-length book. I was a drama major in college and had become an English teacher and had always said that teaching was like doing five shows a day: there was a performer (teacher), a stage (classroom), an audience (students) and, usually, a script (lesson plan). I'd thought about running workshops that taught teachers how to use the performance techniques that actors use to be better presenters in the classroom, but ultimately I decided just to write it as a book. I really wanted to write a novel, but that was too daunting (my previous attempt was a narrative non-fiction manuscript about my first year of teaching called Confessions of a Rookie Teacher. That book was simply an exercise in practicing scene structure and seeing how much I could write. It is currently residing, justifiably, in a trunk in my garage).
In a year or so I had cranked out thirty three essays on how to use costumes, character voices, lighting, and mulit-media in the classroom. There were also entries on acting techniques like concentration, physical and vocal warm-ups, and trust. At the end, I was pleased with the result. A colleague in the English department read and critiqued it, and then I was set to start sending it out.
That's where the real education began.
I had to create a non-fiction book proposal including a cover letter, chapter outline, market analysis of existing books on the same theme, author bio, and sample chapters. It was a ton of work and not nearly as fun as writing the book itself. Eventually, I finished and began sending it out.
After it was rejected by four literary agencies (form letters kept saying things like "innovative project," "well-written," "interesting"), I was ready to send it out again when my neighbor told me she heard about a way writers could their books published.
After years of fielding all kinds of suggestions, most of which involved vanity presses where you paid seventy-five to a hundred dollars for a book with your poem in 8 point font and that only you and your family members would see (if they paid, too), I was politely reluctant to hear what she had to say. But she gave me a creative arts trade journal with an article all about iUniverse, a print-on-demand company that was half-owned by Barnes & Noble. I read the article, looked at their website, researched their printed books at my local Barnes & Noble, and requested their information packet.
I kept looking for the catch, but I couldn't find one. Sure, I had to do all the marketing, but the books had good production value, would be listed in Books in Print, Amazon.com, and Barnes & Noble website, and all for $99 (at the time; now it's about $499). I realized that this was the way I should go with my teaching book. I did one more draft of You're a Teacher. . .So Act Like One! Improving Your Stage Presence in the Classroom.
First, though, to test the print-on-demand waters (and pursue another life time dream),
I wrote a book of poetry for my wife (Thawing the Glacier) and sent it in to iUniverse. The day the book came in the mail--my first published book!--I was shaking and could barely open the package. An entire published book, written by ME. It was almost too much to comprehend.
I gave the poetry book to my wife for Christmas and her aunt bought five or six copies. A few friends bought another two or three and I bought another copy for myself. To this day, those are the only copies of that book that have been sold.
Pleased with my print-on-demand experience, I sent off the teaching book, and although they had raised their prices to $159 by then, I still thought it was a bargain. The book would be marketed to teachers around the nation and my only real goal was to recoup my initial investment and say I was "author of. . ."
The book looked great when it came out and exceeded my expectations. A colleague of mine from school who had moved on to teaching the teacher candidates in the UCSD education program asked me to give two presentations to his classes based on the book. He paid me $100 and I sold a book or two on those nights.
Due to family obligations, health issues, and my reignited desire to write fiction, I didn't spend a lot of time marketing You're A Teacher. . .So Act Like One! I see it now as a grand experiment. I learned a lot about the publishing business, learned I can write a competent book length manuscript, and learned that the little black notebook I bought to keep track of all the income from the teaching book was a waste of two dollars. National University's teacher ed program has thought--off and on--about using it as a textbook (at least in San Diego) and I could pursue other avenues of marketing for the book, but I really switched gears back into fiction and have to budget my writing/marketing time.
I felt I needed to focus on what I most wanted from my writing.
In short, the teaching book died on the vine. And while part of that is disappointing, I know it's where I should be right now.
After all, I have a mystery novel to sell.

THE SECOND PHASE

2005-07-03T10:15:00.000-07:00

One day in the late eighties, I was on the phone with the bookstore at the mall, asking if they had copies of Poet's Market, as I was finally ready to buy one of my own and start submitting. While I was on hold, my sister brought in the mail. A submission had been returned and I when I read the response, I almost jumped out of my skin. A small journal called Proof Rock had accepted a poem of mine called "My Ears." The editor had rejected it once, but said she liked it, so I sent other poems to her and re-included "My Ears." The poem used the length of my hair as a symbol to document and comment on the issues of the 70s and early eighties. I wasn't going to put any of the major poets out of business, but I had finally been accepted. When the clerk at the bookstore came back on the line to say they had a copy and would hold one for me if I liked, I told the clerk that I'd just had my first poem accepted.
To this day, I'm sure she thinks I'm insane.
When I received my contributor copy and flipped through it with shaking hands, scanning for my very distinctive last name, I could have died and gone to heaven a happy man. It was a modest volume, with a cardstock cover and xeroxed pages, but to me it might as well have been the Dead Sea Scrolls. I was a published poet.
I had realized a lifelong dream.
After college, and a stint in Los Angeles pursuing acting (including one line on General Hospital), I moved back home to San Diego and began writing and submitting in earnest. This meant mostly poetry, but I occasionally submitted a short story. An early one entitled "Brian's Bride" I began submitting in 1988. This story snagged me a hand-written note from the highly-respected journal Antaeus ("An interesting and well-written story. Just not right for Antaeus"). It may not be apparent, but I can still quote that note from memory. I was thrilled to get that note and knew that maybe, just maybe I was on to something. That story has been to nearly 30 journals since 1988 and still has not been accepted; however, I have added many more personal and hand-written notes to its history about how editors liked it. . .just not enough to publish.
In the last 18 years I have had nearly 20 poems published, a few of them in moderately reputable journals (Exquisite Corpse, Mudfish, Main Street Rag, et. al). I have also garnered a number of personal and hand-written notes about my stories from incredibly reputable magazines (Zoetrope, Boulevard, The Missouri Review), but so far no editor has been willing to take a chance on my prose.
Even though I have yet to place a piece of short fiction, I have written two screenplays, four sitcom episodes, one teaching methods text, a mystery novel, and about a zillion poems. I have also been married, had two children, and established my teaching career. Throughout, I tried to give my writing the time and attention it demanded (and deserved), but writers never seem to write as much or as well as they hoped.
Eventually, I also had to realize that as much as the poetry was for my spiritual health and well-being, it was never going to pay and, spiritual guy that I am, I wanted to make some money for my writing. Something about a family and a mortgage (and, I'm sure the dread of turning 40 didn't help) forced me to get serious.
So a few months before my daughter was born in 1998, I began work on my first novel. But first there was the teaching book. . .

IN THE BEGINNING. . .

2005-07-03T09:13:00.000-07:00

I started writing when I was five and half or six, dictating song lyrics to my father, who copied them down at the kitchen table. In some ways, he was my first blog. I wrote song lyrics, poetry (usually for girls I had crushes on), short stories, and nearly didn't pass 6th grade because I was working on my "book."
In 8th grade, based on an assignment from our Language Arts teacher, I began a daily journal. I kept that journal until my first year of college when "real life" caught up and made it difficult to contiunue. Fortunately or unfortunately, that means that my entire high school education is documented on paper in four blue notebooks that now sit in the back of my bedroom closet.
In some ways, that was my second blog.
My first "official" submission was in 1977 when, at the age of 13, I typed three poems on my best friend's mother's typewriter and, having seen my first copy of Poet's Market, sent them off to Modern Bride magazine.
Needless to say, I have always been extraordinarily secure in my masculinity to pull of a stunt like that during junior high school.
When the inevitable rejection slip came back a few months later, I'd almost forgotten about it, but the thrill of knowing that my three poems had been read--and considered--by a big time editor thrilled me. I'd been bitten by the writing/publishing bug. . .and good.
For some reason, I didn't start sending out regularly until I was in college (a high school and college stint as a journalist took care of my desire to write and publish), but toward the end of college, I was writing--and reading--more poems and wanted to get mine out there.
I went to the local library and wrote down some addresses from the previous year's Poet's Market and sent out three submissions. After a few months, I got back two rejections and a long letter on yellow legal paper from the editor of the third journal, The Yellow Butterfly, that told me to keep submitting and that he might have actually published one of the poems I'd submitted, if his magazine hadn't just folded.
It was all the encourgement I needed. That was in 1988.
I've been submitting ever since.