Critique therapy

Having your work analyzed is sort of like sending your child to a shrink so you can hear about all the damage you've caused as a poor parent. At the same time, you can't tear yourself away. Could anything be more personal or compelling?

Yesterday, I received a critique on my MS and am really pleased with it. And who wouldn't be? There's nothing like the thwack of a hammer on your thumb to let you know you're alive! Actually, the comments were very helpful and extremely revealing -- eerily so.

Want to hear a little psychobabble 101?

One of my characters, a 16-year old girl who has been traumatized by a family death, is left to her own devices to get through her emotional turmoil. The adults around her either ignore her pain or use their own wounds to solicit her sympathy and understanding of their neglect.

Thing of it is, I never noticed this kid was expected to act more adult than the adults until it was pointed out to me. The writing of her experience seemed entirely normal because, of course, that girl was me. It was one of those epiphanal moments when I realized that my psyche was dripping through my writing. I suppose this is nothing terribly profound except that I had been blind to it till then. Funny, the things we don't see that are right in front of us.

On a less introspective note, the critique pointed out my strengths -- which were lovely to hear -- and helped me with some areas of the story I wasn't happy with. Problems for which I could find no clear solution -- in most part because of my own inability to see the forest before me.

It will take me some time to review and assess this draft before I can determine the best approach to the next one. Refocusing will be challenging as I've already begun the next MS and don't want to tear myself away from it.

Perhaps I need a day out in the garden, away from the keyboard. Looking at the weed situation, I know my garden needs me out there!

Hope you're having a terrific day,
Colleen

A literary baby shower

Wow, it's been a whole week since I've posted!

I threw my back out last Sunday -- nothing too serious, just couldn't sit long enough to post -- but am back among the vertically-healthy today. This is a good thing as I am hosting a literary baby-shower tomorrow night and walking around like Quasimodo might have put a damper on things.

I love the idea of a literary baby shower because we have to bring -- and get to reminise about -- our favourite child's book. (That and the fact that I refuse to play those insipid games so many shower-goers insist upon. The last thing I need is to have some strange woman lunge at my chest to snatch a clothespin from the front of my shirt. Give me food, wine and good conversation and I'm happy.)

The shower has been a great excuse for a trip down memory lane with my son. Good thing my back was sore and we couldn't wander the aisles at Chapters for too long. As it was, I couldn't settle on a single book, but managed to limit myself to four -- Pat the Bunny, my kids' first book and all about texture; The Paperbag Princess, Where the Wild Things Are; and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Day. My son is giving My Father's Dragon. This was one of my favourite books in grade two and became his favourite when he was in that grade, so I'm thrilled he chose that one. But what about Treasure Island? I loved that book and wanted to be a pirate. Or Green Eggs and Ham? My kids and I had so much fun with that one.

Aside from the shower I am also looking forward to receiving Ami McKay's answers to our interview questions. Ami had planned to get them to me last week, but put her back out (something in the air?) and is teaching a writing program at Ross Creek this week. Hopefully, she'll have some time in the coming days.

How has your week been?

Colleen

To get the weekend off and running

The Onion:

Massachusetts Supreme Court Orders All Citizens To Gay Marry
(OMG... Conservatives were right all along.... )

Everyone Should Own A Gun For Protection And Possibly For Suicide


And for the writers in the crowd...

This Week, Let's Try A Reading From The Bible I Wrote

I Could Write A Better Rubaiyat Than That Khayyam Dipshit

Author Wishes She Hadn't Blown Personal Tragedy On First Book

Stephen King calls it quits

Extra-Slanty Italics Introduced For Extremely Important Words

Now More Than Ever, Humanity Needs My Back To The Future Fan Fiction

Have a great weekend!

Colleen

Promotional websites

I really got a kick out of this website for Peter Kuper's latest graphic novel.

And this one by Miranda July for her novel, No one belongs here more than you, is brilliant and funny.

And here's Karen Quinn's site promoting her novel, Wife in the Fast Lane. The site is full of contests inspired by the book.

If you know of any good examples of promotion, please share them!

Colleen

Donna Morrissey Interview Follow-Up

Donna was able to take a few moments to send responses to the follow-up questions sent in by Stephen.

Has Donna had any experience with grant applications? If so, what goes into writing a good one and where can one learn how to writing a winning proposal?

Don't know any winning formulas....follow instructions on the form, it's good if you have ten pages of a ms to send it; [It's] better to send in sample of writing, than simply an idea. I was a judge once for grant applications, and the only thing that I used as criteria was the writing sample itself.

Any marketing techniques learned through experience that J.A. Konrath hasn't already blogged about?

Regarding marketing the manuscript, Donna wrote: All I did was simply package up thirty pages of my ms and send it in. With that great letter of intro, then, cross your fingers and hope, and don't be shy of resending.

Regarding promotion after publication, Donna wrote: My publisher does all the marketing. I do some stuff, IE, I say yes to most anything that's asked of me, like doing readings or fund raisers or donating books, and I always go to book groups whenever I'm asked. It's time consuming, but such a pleasure to sit with people who enjoy your work and give you that feedback.

It's lonely as a writer. Nice to connect with people. Writer's get different packages, depending on how many copies you sell and how much money your book makes the publisher. I think the rule is 'one dollar' of the cost of each book... so, five thousand books, five thousand dollars for travel, etc..... Everything has a formula. [It's] not a lucrative industry -- the book industry. So, really, unless you're making the sales, there isn't too much a publisher can afford to spend on you. Most definitely though, I think every novel published should get a launch..... that's not hard to pull off... any bar will do, and people buy their own drinks. Simply offer some munchies, send out invites and do a reading. In the end, the biggest seller of books is word of mouth. That's been shown to be true.

What is her relationship with her agent? Personal, business, distant, close? What should it be? What if it's not what she thinks it should be?

My relationship with my agent is very personal. We share everything, broken hearts, recipes, but mostly we share shop talk. She has taught me a lot about the writing world, how it works, what to expect, not to expect, she keeps me grounded, she's my friend, she encourages me when I'm down, tells me all the right things... I love her.

I'm fond of small presses, but I'm fond of money, too. What advice would she give to someone whose book is being evaluated as "wonderful but not for us" at the big houses?

Keep resending til you hit somebody who thinks you're great. It's the one game in town where no never means no. Wait eight months then send again; people move around, different readers, editors.... And in the meantime, keep writing, start a new story....

God bless, good luck with it... See you on the circuit...

Thank you, Donna! This is terrific insider knowledge.

Colleen

Linda Little Interview Follow-Up

Stephen Parrish sent in some great questions that I have passed along to our author interviewees. Here are Linda Little's responses. When I have all the answers in, I'll pull them together into one post for easier reference.


Have the authors had any experience with grant applications? If so, what goes into writing a good one and where can one learn how to writing a winning proposal?

You can get feedback on your NS grant application from the arts office. Wait at least two weeks from the day you receive notification then phone. They can tell you the strengths or weaknesses as reported by the jury.

First and foremost I think it is imperative to remember that where the arts are concerned we live in a world of scarce resources. Your chance of getting a creation grant is (last time I looked so this may not be accurate now) about 15-20%. Meaning, statistically speaking, you could expect to be successful one time out of five or six. These are not fantastic odds. DO NOT SET YOURSELF UP TO BE DEPENDENT UPON GETTING A GRANT.

Arts grants are for working artists. Does your application leave the jury with the confidence that you are a working writer? Do you have a writer's resume that shows you have been at this a while? A few publications are useful -- something to show someone chose your work out of a stack of others. Does the quality of your work indicate that you have been working on this seriously? Do you have a clear idea of what you intend to write?

When I write up my "project description" I imagine the book finished. I answer the question, "What is this book about?" Not - there's this cowboy and he settles in Nova Scotia and he has this deed and... But - this is a book about solitude. This is a book about the space between an individual and those around him. First paint the big picture then hone in. Cass sees in his half-sister an ability to paint disparate fragments into a unified whole, into a story.

For NS grants, the jury reads binders full of applications. The most experienced applicants are often the ones who have the best idea of what they are trying to do and how to go about doing it. This invariably comes through in the application.

Keep at it. The successful writers are the ones that don't quit even when any reasonable person would. The more you write the better you get, the more you understand the craft the stronger your application. Finally, nothing works like a little luck. Remember when you don't get a grant bad luck plays a role. Remember when you do get one that good luck has played a role. Don't quit your day job.

Good luck!

What is her relationship with her agent? Personal, business, distant, close? What should it be? What if it's not what she thinks it should be?

Relationships with agents are as varied as the people who are in them. What would you like your relationship to be?

Some people rely very heavily on their agents for friendship and support. Some people have a relationship that is all business. Some people have very specific expectations of their agent, others expect them to be magicians.

For myself, I like to keep in mind that my agent gets paid when I do. I expect him to get the most possible out of my manuscript in the marketplace. The better he does this, the more he is paid.

Remember an agent does not make or control the marketplace, he works in it. I do not expect him to do work he will not be paid for -- he is not my therapist, my mother, my best friend, my whipping boy. I like my agent, enjoy his company, learn a lot from him. This is great but not essential. I trust my agent. This is crucial. I only know what he tells me. He controls the fate of my work.

I'm fond of small presses, but I'm fond of money, too. What advice would she give to someone whose book is being evaluated as "wonderful but not for us" at the big houses?

Big houses tend to have more resources for editorial assistance, promotion, access to bigger markets and larger audiences, sell more books. If a large house says they're not publishing your manuscript there is no problem because what they publish is up to them and not up to you.

Do you have more than one offer? If so, lucky you! Look at the offers you've got, think about what you want, pick the one that offers most of that.
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Thank you, Linda and Stephen!

Colleen

Interview with Linda Little, Part II

Today's post continues my interview with Linda Little and focusses on the stuff we writers are dying to hear: how other writers have become successful.
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Tell us about your path to publication.

When I sent my first manuscript out, I didn’t have an agent and didn’t need one. It’s good to remember that agents are looking for work they can sell – not work they love. They know a lot about literature, a lot about markets, a lot about the possibilities that exist.

But even the big publishing houses still accept unsolicited manuscripts. When you have a full-length manuscript, you can do simultaneous submissions although the chances of getting a big publisher on a first novel is, again statistically, very low.

I sent my book proposal for my first book off to the seven small publishing houses and two of them responded quite quickly that they wanted to see the full manuscript. Then it took ten months before anyone read it. Once the editor at Goose Lane read it, it was only about a month before they offered to publish it. After the offer to publish, it took about 18 months before it was ready for release.

For the second novel, I thought I would see if I could get an agent to make sure I did everything I could for my book. To find my agent I applied to three prospective agents with query letters and all three agreed to read my ms. Based on the ms, two called me on the phone to talk about it and to talk about representing me. The third agent, who was not interested, sent me a refusal letter. I chose from the two interested agents based on the conversations we had.

As a writer, you have every right to expect that an agent will have read your book and be able to talk about it before they give you an offer of representation. They shouldn’t agree to take you on just because you’ve won an award.

Don’t send and wait. Send and write. Keep going.

Did you focus on Canadian agents or did you approach American agents as well?

I stuck to agents in Canada because I’m Canadian and this is where I live and this is how we do things. I don’t know anything about the American market.

A bit of advice I can give is that at some point you have to start looking at your manuscript – your baby – as a commodity. Agents and publishers work in a marketplace and it’s a completely different world. If you think of it as a good in a marketplace, you’ll know what they need of you. They don’t ask, ‘Is this good?’ They ask, ‘Can I sell it.’ And you want them to ask that, otherwise they won’t be in business in ten years and you want them to be in business in ten years.

Your first book, Strong Hollow, won the Cunard First Book Award in 2002 and was short listed for many others. What was that like – winning an award for your first book and what doors, if any did it open for you?

They don’t open the doors you might think.

I was just thrilled to get a nomination for a national award, for the Raddall Award. Totally thrilled. The thing about an award – and I’ve been on all sides, as juror, as nominee as winner – you have a bunch of books and specific people come with their choices and depending upon who’s on the jury will determine who wins. You can win the Giller and not the Raddall. You can’t put books in order of how good they are. Long after awards come and go, the book is left.

There are books you read and ‘Oh!,’ you think. ‘I can never write like that. If I kill someone, can I write like that?’ And the gun’s loaded. You must love your book. You can’t say one is better than another.

I can tell you the moment I cried was the moment I got the published book in the mail and unwrapped it and held it in my hands. I can look at them and say, ‘These are things I did in my life.’

Your second book, Scotch River, won this year’s Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award and the Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction and made it to the 2006 Globe & Mail Best Book List. How important is it for honours like these to be available for writers?

It’s great for publicity. Few books are mentioned of the hundreds that come out so, if you can get your book publicised, that’s great. If you can get your book to poke its head above the others.

What does the publisher do for promotion?

I don’t quite get the publisher’s job, but generally, they get you invited to events to talk about your book.

What’s your writing process? Do you write every day?

I don’t write and work at the same time. I do each in seasons. For me, it’s a long way from River John to Scotch River so, when I get there I want to stay for a few months. When it’s writing season, I write from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

It’s no secret that writing is a damn hard way to earn a living and that, in fact, many very good writers aren’t able to. Can you talk a little bit about your experience earning a living as a writer in Nova Scotia?

I don’t make a living from writing. It’s extraordinarily unlikely to be able to do so. You might as well buy a lottery ticket.

It takes a long time to write and the financial recompense is very low. If a person is going to be in it for the long haul, it’s responsible to figure out what you need to do financially.

I used to work at the Nova Scotia Museum during the summer. Now I teach at the Agricultural College during the fall. I teach how to write academic papers and a course on Atlantic Canadian Literature.

Do you sense that this is any different than for writers in other parts of the country or in the U.S.?

It is. I have no idea how they do it in Toronto – it’s so expensive to live there. It’s easier here because the cost of living is lower.

Have you begun thinking about or writing another book?

Yes, I have. The Alleged Third Novel, as I call it, is a work of historical fiction. We’ll see what becomes of it.

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Many thanks to Linda for taking the time to speak with me. If you have any questions for Linda, please send them and I'll forward them along to her.


Have a great writing day!


Colleen