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WRITING LECTURE
The first thing I'd like to talk about is how important it is for writers to also read. Be careful of what you get a steady diet of. Read good books. There's nothing wrong with reading beach/vacation books, but be sure you also read books that are considered "literary." Literary: The sophisticated technique of the writing itself prevails over all other elements. Don't just read sci fi or mysteries or romances, etc. Even if you just want to write a specific genre, you want to write the best genre you can. Even if you don't write poetry, reading poetry will help your prose.
Where do you find these books? Personal referral is one way. Another way is to look up authors who have won prizes, such as the Pulitzer, Nobel, or Man Booker.
www.pulitzer.org
www.nobelprize.org
www.themanbookerprize.com LITERATURE LIKE A PROFESSOR and HOW TO READ A NOVEL LIKE A
Some of my favorite books and writers are Jhumpa Lahiri, anything by Annie Dillard (especially her latest, THE MAYTREES), anything by Joan Didion, THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO by Junot Diaz, James Frey's BRIGHT SHINY MORNING, Anne Enright's THE GATHERING, McCarthy's ALL THE PRETTY HORSES, Richard Ford's INDEPENDENCE DAY and THE LAY OF THE LAND, John Banville's THE SEA, Lisa See's SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN, Erdrich's THE PLAGUE OF DOVES (Pulitzer finalist this year, won by Elizabeth Strout for OLIVE KITTERIDGE), Kingsolver's ANIMAL, VEGETABLE, MIRACLE, A WOLF AT THE TABLE by Burroughs, LOOK ME IN THE EYE by John Elder Robison, anything by David Sedaris, Mary Roach, Woody Allen, or Tim Cahill, and Sloane Crosley's I WAS TOLD THERE WOULD BE CAKE.
Poetry: Emily Dickinson, Seamus Heaney, Galway Kinnell, Billie Collins, Kay Ryan
One of the strangest essays I've ever read is "Travels in Georgia " by John McPhee. If any of you read it, email your comments.
Thomas C. Foster has two books: HOW TO READ LITERATURE LIKE A PROFESSOR and HOW TO READ A NOVEL LIKE A PROFESSOR. These sound awful but are extremely entertaining books, and I think they really help your writing.
Francine Prose has a great book: READING LIKE A WRITER: A GUIDE FOR PEOPLE WHO LOVE BOOKS AND FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO WRITE THEM.
Since we're on the subject of reading, there are many books on writing. Just be sure that you don't spend too much time reading about writing instead of writing. Two of the best books I've read on the subject are BIRD BY BIRD by Anne Lamott and ON WRITING by Stephen King. King's book is really half autobiography and half writing manual. King is definitely a genre author, but he speaks on general writing topics. Read his short story, "The Man in the Black Suit," to see him at the top of his form. It won the O' Henry Award, and it will be obvious to you why.
Next in the lineup is a discussion of the subjects that make many people cringe when they hear about them—grammar, spelling, and all the things that help you edit your work. Don't torture yourself, at least not initially. Read the fun books like EATS SHOOTS AND LEAVES, by Lynne Truss and WOE IS I by Patricia O'Conner. WOE IS I has a chapter in it called "The Living Dead: Let Bygone Rules be Gone." According to O'Conner, it's perfectly acceptable to end a sentence with a preposition as well as start one with and or but.
THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE by Strunk and White and whimsically illustrated by Maira Kalman is a delight.
The most comprehensive style book I've read is the THE CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE, but so far, I haven't found any whimsy in it.
So that's the good news. There are entertaining grammar and punctuation books. The bad news (for some people) is that you never can give up learning and reviewing grammar, usage, and style. I have experience with critiquing and editing, and even though I have an MFA, I still wanted credentials specifically in copyediting. I enrolled in the online Professional Sequence in Editing from UC Berkeley extension.
http://www.unex.berkeley.edu/profseq/edit.html
The beginning course, GRAMMAR, MECHANICS, AND USAGE FOR EDITORS, is comprehensive and challenging.
FLASH FICTION
Have any of you heard about flash fiction? Have any of you written any?
G.W. Thomas has an article with strategies for writing flash fiction at http://www.fictionfactor.com/guests/flashfiction.html
Read "Flashes of Brilliance" by Joan Popek on the Web site
http://www.writing-world.com/fiction/popek.shtml
for good ideas on how to write stories of only 100 words.
Flash fiction has up to 1,000 words (usually). Read the guidelines carefully for any contest entry or magazine submission. Be sure to remember that most editors want to see flash fiction with the elements of a traditional short story (setting, character(s), conflict, and resolution).
When you've written and polished an example of flash fiction, where are you going to send it? One of the best markets to send your story of under 1,000 words is Flash Me Magazine.
www.wingedhalo.com
The reason I'm saying this is when the magazine passes on the story, at least four editors will write a few sentences about why he or she rejected it. This is free criticism! I don't know of any other magazine that does this on a regular basis.
Other flash fiction markets:
http://resourcesforwriters.suite101.com/article.cfm/flash_fiction_markets
WRITING INSTRUCTION
There are numerous options on the Web. I took some classes at Gotham Writing School,
www.writingclasses.com
which was voted #1 on the Web by Forbes Magazine, and I was pleased with them. I also won a 100-word contest they sponsored. This isn't just flash fiction. It can be an excerpt or vignette (a short descriptive literary sketch). It can be nonfiction or poetry. The summer contest deadline is June 26. Entry is free, and you could win a class worth $395.
A free option is to go to the Education Portal where there are ten universities offering online classes including MIT and Purdue. Purdue has the OWL, the online writing lab, which has an extensive amount of information. The classes are self-paced.
http://educationportal.com/articles/10_Universities_Offering_Free_Writing_Courses_Online.html
Florida Keys Council of the Arts:
www.keysarts.com
Click on the button to subscribe to their weekly newsletter. You'll find out about writing workshops, writers' groups, etc.
FKCC has creative writing courses.
Don't miss the Key West Literary Seminar 2010: Clearing the Sill of the World, Honoring Richard Wilbur. www.kwls.org/lit/2010/
It will feature eight past and present United States Poets Laureate and six winners of the Pulitzer Prize. The seminar is from Jan. 7 to Jan. 10, and the workshops are from Jan. 11 to Jan. 14.
Trivia that's not so trivial: Key West claims more writers per capita than any other city in America .
Glimmer Magazine is a magazine that features very high quality writing. I just saw that they have a new contest, though, that's aimed at beginning writers. The word limit is 1,000, but the entry doesn't have to be a short story. It just has to be an interesting piece of writing like an excerpt or vignette.
A wonderful place to browse: 101 Best Web sites on Writer's Digest.
www.writersdigest.com/101BestSites/?m_nYear=2008&m_sCategory=all
SELF-PUBLISHING
I want to talk a little about self-publishing. I don't like to do things without personal referrals, but I didn't know anyone who had self-published. So I researched on the Internet and found a company called CreateSpace,
www.createspace.com
a subsidiary of Amazon. However, this option is for people who know a lot about formatting and book layout. The tools are free, but you have to submit your manuscript in PDF format. I couldn't even figure out how to start page numbering on page 4 of my book, so I knew that option wasn't right for me. I looked into another subsidiary of Amazon's called Booksurge
www.booksurge.com.
With Booksurge you upload your manuscript, and they take care of the formatting and book layout. One of the basic packages costs $799, which includes paperback, cover design, ISBN #, and online listings with a number of wholesale and retail booksellers. This is print on demand, so you don't need an inventory. Booksurge prints the books as it gets orders. I also chose two rounds of editing and a video book trailer as options. I don't consider editing an option, though. No one should self-publish without getting his or her work edited. I am extremely pleased with Booksurge. I think the editor did a great job. The book trailer is amazing. It's very professional. You can see it on the Amazon page for THE CELTIC CROW MURDERS, on Youtube, and on my Web site,
www.patricialabarbera.com.
I don't work for Booksurge, and there are probably other good self-publishing outlets, but this is the one I used. I'm satisfied with the product, and I wouldn't hesitate to use the company again.
As far as self-publishing goes, some people feel there is a stigma attached to it. It's true that all the responsibility for promotion falls on the author, but the trend now is that many publishing houses are expecting the author to invest in advertising money.
Part of the problem with self-published work is that the stores order books from companies that have a policy of accepting returns of unsold books. This is something that would be difficult to do nationwide by a self-published author. However, a machine that was just invented may really help the sale of self-published works—The Espresso Book Machine www.ondemandbooks.com.
The EBM, which was named a Time Magazine “Invention of the Year,” is essentially an ATM for books. Placed primarily in bookstores and libraries, the machine automatically prints, binds and trims perfect bound paperback books on-demand, at point of sale, in four minutes for 300-page books.
You would be very surprised to know how many famous books were self-published. John Grisham sold his first book, "A TIME TO KILL," out of the trunk of his car. Read about more self-published authors and books at http://www.parapublishing.com/files/pressroom/155-Self-Published%20Books.pdf.
There's a very intriguing book out now—THE LACE READER, by Brunonia Barry. It's about generations of women in Salem, Massachusetts , who can see the future by reading the patterns in lace. The book was initially self-published by Barry and her husband, and they spent $50,000 in the publishing and promotion. They recently signed a contract for that book, another book and movie rights to William Morrow (a division of HarperCollins) for 2.4 million. It should happen to all of us.
By the way, don't feel bad about rejections. Did you know that M*A*S*H was rejected 22 times?
Read some funny excerpts from rejection letters written to famous authors at http://www.writersservices.com/mag/m_rejection.htm
Go to The Writer's and Artist's On-line Source for Misery, Commiseration, and Inspiration http://www.rejectioncollection.com/
where you are encouraged to "join your fellow writers and artists to laugh in the face of rejection."
The reason I self-published is that I didn't want to sit around waiting for a publisher. I half-heartedly sent my query to two publishers and never heard from them. I didn't consider trying to get an agent at the time. After researching the subject further, I now believe it's necessary to get an agent, but I also know this is something that takes a lot of effort.
One of the best places to find an agent is on the Web site Preditors and editors
http://anotherealm.com/prededitors
Besides having a wealth of information for writers, this Web site will tell you which publishers and agents to avoid and which ones to use. They also allow first-time publishers to have a banner or book cover with a link to where the book is sold, and the author can advertise free for a month. They have a contest listing also, but they don't recommend any contests that charge a fee. I don't agree with that.
For contests I really like to browse on Winning Writers.
www.winningwriters.com
It's a site that has free and paid sections. The contests are in chronological order, so it's easy to see which ones are nearing the deadline. You can search for contests for emerging writers or free contests. They also tell you the contests to stay away from and the ones that are highly recommended.
Another great market site is Wordhustler.
www.wordhustler.com
The site has a service where you can upload your manuscript, and they will take care of the submission whether it's my email or snail mail (the first one is free). The market search engine, though, is free, and you can find agents, publishers, contests, and publications. You can just use it to mail in your own submissions.
Another search engine is Duotrope's Digest
www.duotrope.com.
PROMOTION IDEAS
When your book is published, by you or a publishing house, there are many ways to promote it. Some of these ideas don't just pertain specifically to books, but as self-promotion. It's important to have a Web page, but I recently read that many people are choosing instead just to have a blog space. Wordpress
www.wordpress.com
is very popular, and it's free. Make sure you post comments on other people's blogs, too. Under your name write your book's title and the Web address of your blog and Web site.
If you do choose to have a Web page, Hostmonster
www.hostmonster.com
is a very reasonable Web hosting site, and the monthly fee is only $5.95 as a special promotion. This includes one free domain, and domains at other sites are often paid for yearly at a cost of about $120. They have free site building software, but I didn't get the results I wanted with that, so I bought their SoHolaunch. It seems expensive at $150, but it gives very professional results. If you chose to have a site designed by someone, it could cost thousands of dollars.
Take advantage of Web sites that allow reciprocal links, for example, the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. www.mysterybooksellers.com
If you display their logo with a link, they will allow you to list your author Web site on theirs. The list has a title—Support the authors who support IMBA.
You should also post to discussion group forums. You shouldn't obviously advertise your book in the post (unless that's the subject of the forum), but you can always put your book's name, your Web site, and blog location under your name. There are some very interesting discussion groups (called communities) on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/communities/directory/arts-lit/ref=tag_tdn_dsn_itdn
and it's a great way to get some coverage for your book and get your name out there.
It's a good idea to have business cards, and VistaPrint
www.vistaprint.com
has an offer for 250 free (just pay shipping). They have a lot of other free things available, like T-shirts, pens, hats, stationery, even magnetic car door signs.
Having bookmarks is another promotional tactic. VistaPrint doesn't have bookmarks, but I was pleased with the quality of bookmarks at 48hour printing.
www.48hourprinting.com
I wish you all success with your writing endeavors, and remember, just keep writing!
Copyright © 2009 Patricia La Barbera
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