Correction re: Cicada

Cicada is not accepting submissions at this time. I noted this when I visited their website today. FYI.

More later.

-The Writer Librarian

Poor Man's Copyright and Where to Submit Literary Fodder

The second draft of my novel is nearly done. It will still need a lot of work, but I'm going to back it up a disc and mail it to myself. This practice, if you're not familiar, is known as the "Poor Man's Copyright." This way, if someone claims I stole their idea, I can back it up with an unopened postmarked package with a date.

The writing part of the novel was a wonderful, excruciating, daunting, and delirious process. Now comes the part where I put it down for awhile (I found it surprisingly saddening to say goodbye to my characters) and get some distance from it. In the meantime, I am submitting it to some trusted writer friends who I hope will rip it to shreds. That way, it will already be beaten to a pulp before I think of submitting it to an agent.

I've also been told that I need to get some short stories published, otherwise an agent or publisher won't give my work a second look. I found a list of publications (and specs) to send submissions, courtesy of Poet & Writers magazine. The list can be found here. Since I'm also trying to break ground in the YA genre, I will see if I can draft up some material for a publication called Cicada.

The attempt to publish will I'm sure be even more excruciating, daunting, and delirious. It's like I've climbed an Everest, just to be presented with another Everest. I've heard horror stories. How getting published is like winning the lottery. That the business side of art is ruthless. How cold calls will be necessary. How I'll have to write probably ten more drafts of my novel before it's even readable. But hey, nothing worth doing is easy, right? At least that's what I'll be telling myself as my palms sweat and the nausea bubbles in my stomach.

-The Writer Librarian

Publishing in Library Land

Stumbled upon a really interesting article on the In the Library with the Lead Pipe website today. The author is well-informed, and goes over all the hoops involved with publishing a book in the ebook and internet "exploding text" age. The article can be found here.

One of the things she talks about is how complicated the process is, and how many different people have to have stamps of approval on the work. This is something that isn't commonly talked about among writers, but it definitely should be a necessary topic of conversation for those who want to market their work.

For those interested in query letters, here's a link with some useful tips. This focuses on publishing young adult fiction, but can likely be applied to most genres.

I'm interested in researching other ways to network in the writing world--with every Tom, Dick, Harry, Sally, and Molly trying to get published, this task seems even more daunting. More on this later.

More author blogs...

...courtesy of Goodreads.com

Fiction Writing

So I know it's been awhile since I posted. Thought I'd give up on the whole blogger thing, but have instead decided to refocus this blog and dedicate it to fiction writing.

One reason for the change is I'm editing my first novel, and am interested to hear from those who are in the same throes and snags. So, anyone else out there? I'll be interested in hearing what you've run into.

I've updated some blogrolls of my favorite authors as well. Hope you enjoy (if you haven't completely forgotten about this blog by now :))

The Writer Librarian

LIS Publications Wiki

Finally, a one-stop shopping wiki that allows you to reach colleagues and communities in the library publishing world. Say hello to the Library and Information Science Publications Wiki:

http://slisapps.sjsu.edu/wikis/faculty/putnam/index.php/LIS_Publications_Wiki

Note: This wiki is still new and somewhat underdeveloped. But, the more people who join, the more useful content it can have.

-The Writer Librarian

Quick, Easy Exercise for Fiction Writers

I know we've focused mostly on nonfiction writing thus far, but I know there are a lot of closet fiction writers out there too. For those in the midst of writing their first (or umpteenth) novel or short story, here's a good strategy for assessing the effectiveness of your descriptions:

1. Pick a significant piece of description that lasts at least a few paragraphs and contains no dialogue.

2. Read through the section and tally up the following:
-How many simple sentences?
-How many compound sentences?
-How many similies?
-How many metaphors?

3. Assess your numbers. The objective is to get the quantities of each as even as possible.

Note: Adding similies and metaphors help appeal to your readers' senses. If you're feeling gutsy, you can tally how many times you describe sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures.

As an example, I had too many compound sentences, which made it difficult for a reader to discern what was going on. Once I chopped down some sentences and placed periods instead of commas, the writing became infinitely better. By the same token, if there are too many simple sentences, feel free to whip out some commas and make for some sentence variety.

And for sentence compounders like me, don't be afraid to bend some grammatical rules in your fiction. It isn't technial writing, so grammar isn't held by the same restrictions.

-The Writer Librarian