Attention please... what happens when the writing is done

This is a first for me. Querying. This is what authors do when they want to submit their work to an agent or a publisher. Sound simple? It's not.

First one must draft a query letter. This should include a concise overview of your work (if your work is fiction, for non-fiction a proposal is accepted) that is short and sweet. Much like a movie trailer. Your novel may be 65,000 words but what it really says needs to be condensed in a paragraph, two at most, that will hook the interest and attention of the recipient. Wow.

About the recipient. If you've done your research he/she or it (publishing house, not creature from another planet) belongs to AAR, Association of Author Representatives. If they do they have been vetted, they are legitimate, they are not shysters who ask you to pay them money, steal your work, then make a mint signing a big fat book contract for your hard work! This research can be done online by going to the official AAR website, or by the old fashioned way -- through books such as Writer's Marketplace. You'll want to research several of those hes, shes or its since unless you've written the next Pulitzer Prize winner, your work is going to be sent off to more than one. Here's where technology comes in handy. Less and less folks require hard copy, so you won't be paying a fortune in postage sending out packets of printed material. In most cases, but not all (another area in which to pay strict attention) email will do.

Back to the query letter. Pay attention to what the recipient is looking for. Don't pitch your children's book to a publishing house that looks for poetry and poetry only. Don't pitch your non-fiction piece to an agent who only handles Young Adult fiction. If you've written a straight romance don't pitch to erotica. And for goodness sakes if you've written erotica don't pitch to Christian Lit. Please. You're wasting your time and theirs. Simply put, know what genre, or sub-genre your work fits in, lay a good foundation by investigating who or where your work will ultimately land, then add those bits of personal information to the query. Definitely include your body of work, any awards you've received, past publication, if any, and writers groups, associations, etc. you belong to. Be honest. Then polish it, polish it, polish it and send it off with a measure of cautious optimism.

What next? We wait.

I've known some authors who've received requests for a full manuscript within a couple weeks. Others who receive a polite "no thank you" with personal notes. And then there is the dreaded standard rejection which gives you no clue as to why your work is not wanted, leaving you to draw your own conclusion. One that may not be pretty. Or necessarily true.

I have the utmost respect for writers who have submitted work, received a rejection, and keep plugging away until they find someone who wants their book. It may take years. Did you know that Stephanie Meyer, who penned the Twilight series that spun off into merchandise and movies, was rejected 11 times before she found a publisher willing to take her on? Perseverance pays.

While I await responses, if any, to my queries I've got several ideas floating in my head, on paper and on my computer and flash drive (back up is important). Waiting.

Hopefully I've paid close enough attention and my research will pay off. Wish me luck, huh?

The reader is the thing

By Karen Dums

At a recent meeting Guild member Linda brought her friend Cathy as a guest and possible new member, though Cathy avows she is not a writer. (We'll have to take her word until she decides to share with us otherwise). An avid reader, Cathy listened with interest as Guild member Allie shared some of her novel-in-progress. Not only did she listen, she shared her insights.

In after-meeting conversation Cathy claimed she'd brought nothing to the table. Seriously?

As writers we often get caught up in our own heads. The story is so familiar to us; we tell it as we want it to be told. That can be wonderful of course, but one thing we might forget as writer's is who we're writing for. (And here's a clue: it's not the person holding the pen or with his/her fingers poised above the keyboard). It's the reader of course. We are taking them on a voyage of discovery. A voyage that we should be sharing with them. If we take them to the mountain top too quickly they're liable to become oxygen starved and give up the climb. If we take them to the ocean depths too soon they're liable to get the "bends" and that's never good. A boring book is less deadly than a pulmonary embolism, but do you understand my point? We may have our story, total and complete, however rough and as yet unedited, in our heads. But we must remember to "make" those discoveries along with our audience -- not too much so that our work is utterly predictable; not so little that it cannot hold anyone's interest unless they have the attention span of a gnat.

This is a fine and sometimes difficult balance keep. As writers we must, at all times, keep our audience first and foremost in mind.

All authors are writing for someone. That is why in writer's groups readers are such a valuable asset. With diverse backgrounds, tastes, gifts, interests we can give a relatively well-rounded critique of any written work. Are any of us experts? Not really. But we know what we like. Are all that sea of as yet faceless readers out there in book buying land experts? No as well. But they too know what they like.

I once read an article concerning a writer who created her own "reader". She gave her ideal reader a name, an occupation, a family, a hometown, a house, likes and dislikes. Our group used this as a writing exercise. We created our own ideal reader. It might sound like a no-brainer. If my target audience is high school age boys I'm probably not going to hook them with the marital problems of a middle-aged couple. But if my target is a 52 year old woman named Edna, who lives in a small farming community in rural Indiana, has children now grown and gone and a workaholic husband named Clyde, that book about the marital problems of a middle-aged couple might just be it. Keep an eye on that target. Remember who you're writing for. Imagine Edna or Joe or Brittany or Jordan intently turning the pages of your book, smiling all the while.

And if someone is reading your work prior to submission give them a big thank you. Bottom line. The reader IS the thing.





  

limping toward writing

guest post by Jerry Apps 


My writing career was greatly influenced by what happened in 1947. In January of that year, I came down with polio and was confined to bed for several weeks, out of school, and not able to walk. I was in eighth grade, attending a one-room country school.

That fall, able to walk but not run, I entered Wild Rose High School. I discovered I could not participate in any sports because of a bum leg, and was encouraged to take a typewriting class with a room full of girls (a rather enjoyable experience as it turned out). I became a reporter for the Rosebud, our school newspaper, and then editor. I wrote many of the articles, all of the editorials, and “borrowed” heavily from Reader’s Digest, Farm Journal, Wisconsin Agriculturist and other sources. I had not yet learned about plagiarism.

In 1966, after college, the army, marriage and the beginning of a full-time teaching job. I began freelancing a weekly column called “Outdoor Notebook” for several central Wisconsin newspapers. This was the first time I was paid for my writing, earning a hefty $5.00 for each column. I did this for ten years, not missing a week. I called these years of column writing my writing apprenticeship. Everything I wrote was published—the good, the bad, and the ugly.

My first book, The Land Still Lives, was published in 1970, which was the beginning of my book writing career. Several nonfiction books followed. I also had long wanted to write novels. After many rejections, false starts and abandoned projects, my first novel, The Travels of Increase Joseph came out in 2003. Since then I have written five additional novels—the most recent to be published in fall, 2014.

In 2012, Wisconsin Public TV contacted me about doing a documentary based on several of my books about early farm life in Wisconsin. The hour-long show (A Farm Story) came out in 2012, and was aired on some 65 public television stations in 49 states. WPT did a second hour-long documentary with me, (A Farm Winter), in 2012, which aired in 2013. This documentary is based on my book The Quiet Season, Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2013.

After many years of not wanting people to know about my bout with polio and how it was the main reason I am writing today, I was convinced to write about the experience. Limping Through Life, (2013, Wisconsin Historical Society Press) is about my polio experience and how my writing career evolved over the years because of it.

After nearly fifty years as a professional writer (meaning it earns me a little money), I still try to write six days a week. And after all of these years, I am still learning how to do it.


***

Visit Jerry Apps at his blog and learn more about him on his website.

the winter of my discontent

by Karen Dums

Wisconsin may be called  God's Country by some, but the landscape, especially in the northern parts, is not for the meek. I've lived here all my life. I've ridden the rollercoaster that weather brings and for the most part "weathered" it without major difficulty.

The winter of 2013/2014 is different.

It began with an inate sadness. I hesitate to call it depression -- far too clinical for my present state. There is a restlessness residing in my soul. There is a need I cannot define. Ephemeral. Veiled. Half-formed nebulous thought that needs putting to paper (or computer screen) yet I have no will. Has this long cold winter sapped me? What shall I do? After all it may be months until spring.

Am I not a writer? Am I not capable of creating a world beyond this sub-zero ice-clad snow-to-my-hips place? Of course I am. I can write sun and sandy beach and ocean waves pounding; I can write of music, how it takes me to a different time, a different place. A place where I am free! Unencumbered by mittens, hats, boots and long underwear.

When I arrive at any of those places I realize I am overthinking. I can surely find simple beauty in the arc of draped snow, defying gravity. Or the striated layers, another thing of beauty, those white mounds on deck, roof, trees. Or the glistening trees. Or a pillar of woodsmoke rising to the sky.

Hmmmm.  This long cold winter seems to be sending me off on a voyage of self-discovery. Not what I can endure, or even my limitations, but how I can stretch myself to reach those very limits and persevere. Find words, blessed words, no matter how well they attempt to stay hidden.

Here's a truth: so much of writing for me is emotion. It spills on the page as happiness, love, rage, that dark side of my psyche that oft needs to escape its bonds. I can find words for that. Easily. No matter what the weather I will find words to bend to my will. I suddenly realize they have not been hiding from me, it is I who have been hiding from them. Even in my discontent I can put pen to paper and create!

A bit of advice: Don't suppress your sense of self when you are writing. There is no need, no matter the topic. To write does not always mean to share. Sometimes we write simply selfishly -- therapeutically so to speak -- to maneuver ourselves past a bad patch, to revel in a good happenstance, to sing without music and to dance without fear. I'll be dancing as fast as I can until spring arrives. And writing all the while.


 

the craft of daydreaming

by Anna Maria Hansen


We've all been there.

That moment, that day, that week where writing seemed out of the question. Where taking the time to sit down and actually make the creative part of your brain actually work was simply laughable.

I sat down at the computer, clicked open the document and stared blankly at the words until they blurred. Quite some time later, I realized that I had sat there for close to half an hour and done nothing.

Wait.

I'd been daydreaming. Thinking. Not about writing, true, but I'm not writing a book about how to write a book. I'm writing about other people and their lives and their thoughts... and yes! I had an idea.

Getting over these blank stretches is a trick. Not always easy to force creativity (if possible at all). There is inspiration in everything and sometimes daydreaming is the best way to let your mind go.

A friend told me a quote from Agatha Christie: "The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes."  

Allow time to think, to let your mind play with characters, dialogue, scenes. I often let thoughts roll around in my head for days, sometimes weeks, before putting them down in print. By the time I take up a pen, I have a firm grasp on what I am trying to say. Other times, I let myself sit down at the computer and write whatever pops into my head. True, a lot of it is plain mumbo-gumbo, but there is sometimes a sliver, a fragment that can be pulled out and expanded on.

One thing to always remember when you reach a stretch in your story when you can't move forward... if the scene is boring you as the writer, the reader will have already set down the book. Don't write anything that bores you.

poetry and publication thereof

by Anna Maria Hansen


Poetry. It's supposed to be all about thoughts... concepts... imagery... brevity... right? People (who are not poets) imagine poets as being these long-haired, dreamy individuals who sit with a quill pen held between graceful fingertips, waiting... just peacefully waiting... for that beautiful thought that will be written down to stay in every human being's heart for eternity.

Umm.... I have news. Even if poets did idly catch poems like children net butterflies... there's another aspect to poetry writing.

Publishing.

Enough to scare anyone -- even a hard-core novelist, much less us fragile poets. The work and time that can go into publishing one poem is roughly ten times what it took to write the original poem. Cover letters, magazines, journals, chapbooks, e-magazines, editors, SASE, paid by the word, paid by the line, paid by the poem, not paid at all... it's a litany of unknown designed especially to strike fear into the heart of the would-be-published-poet.

However! Quell the beating heart, the knocking knees, the shortness of breath. There is hope. To be found in the pages of the Writer's Digest Poet's Market -- a handy guide for poets looking for publication. Published every year, with excellently organized lists of publications that accept poetry, this book is a must-have for those who fear the rocky path of publication. It includes names of publications, contact information, what the publication is looking for, how they want submissions to appear, what they pay, who they've published, what kind of poetry they want.

With a pen and paper, anyone can quickly read through and jot down names of publications that mutually suit poet and publication. A few more minutes of online research of the websites provided will get you each publications submission guidelines. In the front of Poet's Market is a section that shows poets how to write a cover letter and format their poems -- slide it into an envelope with a SASE (self address stamped envelope), address... and you've sent off your first poetry submission. Bravo!

Well, what are you waiting for? Get going!

four things a good query does

guest post by Kourtney Heintz


1) The Opening Paragraph Anchors And Introduces
This is where you tell the agent what you have and why it’s right for them. You lay out the title of your book, the genre, the word count, and why you think this specific agent would be interested in your book. Make sure you personalize it. Do some research on the agent and mention how you read on their blog or in an article in Writer’s Digest how they like x or represent y author and you think they would like your book because it has x or something like x or is similar to y author in q respect.


2) The Summary Explains The Main Plot Arc

You’re book is amazing. It’s got so many layers and themes. You are sure if you just convey all of this to an agent, they will love your book as much as you do.

But if you try to cram in every detail of what makes your book unique and interesting, including all those secondary characters and cool subplots, the agent won’t know what your book is about. And the whole point of the summary paragraph is to answer that one question--what is this book about?

Strip away the subplots. Forget about themes. Figure out who your main character is. Concentrate on what your main plot arc is for that character--what is the hook of your book? Write a one sentence summary. And then build that into a paragraph or two. 


3) The Summary Is Gripping And Intriguing Without Sacrificing Clarity

Once you’ve got that summary paragraph drafted, now it’s time to make it zing. Use action verbs. Strong nouns. Infuse the voice of your novel into that summary. Make sure it captures not just the plot but the heart of your story.

You’ve got to make it read like the back cover of a book. Reveal enough to make it clear what the plot is and what is at stake for your character, but keep it tantalizing and end with a cliffhanger. Get them wanting to read your pages to find out what happens.


4) Closing Paragraph Provides Credentials

This is the bio that is relevant to your writing this book. What makes you the person to tell this story? What are your credentials for writing? Do you have a degree in English? Do you belong to national writing organizations? Have you had anything published? Did you win any major writing contests? Is your book about ADHD and you’ve raised a child with ADHD? Here’s the place to let the agent know you are serious about your writing career and/or you have unique knowledge of your subject matter.



Author Bio: 



       Kourtney Heintz resides in Connecticut with her warrior lapdog, Emerson, her supportive parents and three quirky golden retrievers. She dreams of one day owning a log cabin on Butternut Lake. Years of working on Wall Street provided the perfect backdrop for her imagination to run amuck at night, imagining a world where out-of-control telepathy and buried secrets collide.

       Her debut novel, The Six Train to Wisconsin, is a 2014 EPIC Ebook Awards Finalist, a 2013 USA Best Book Awards Finalist and a 2012 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award Semifinalist.





One Sentence Summary of The Six Train to Wisconsin:



        When Kai’s telepathy spirals out of control, her husband Oliver brings her to the quiet Wisconsin hometown he abandoned a decade ago, where he must confront the secrets of his past to save their future.





Where to Buy:
         Signed paperbacks are for sale at the Novel Idea Book Shop in Park Falls, WI and the Butternut Area Historical Society Museum in Butternut, WI.
        You can also purchase ebooks and paperbacks at Amazon, B&N, iTunes.