I will say, too, that one of the most frustrating things about publishing (among other extremely frustrating things) is to go to conferences or read interviews with editors and hear them say, "We're looking for different! We're looking for out of the box! We're really tired of XYZ!" And then when they mention what they're looking for, you think to yourself, "Yes, I have something like that!"

And you submit it, and you maybe get the request for the full, and they ultimately reject it as being "not quite what they want," and in the meantime, they've just bought six manuscripts that are XYZ that they claimed to be really tired of seeing-- that they didn't want to buy anymore of.

It's a hellacious mind game and enough to send most sane people running for the hills.

That's why I never, ever claim that I'm sane. *g*

And there's sometimes more to it than you're told. Like, Editor took it to a meeting, and Other Editors (or Publisher) didn't support it. Sometimes it's easiest to pull out the most banal excuse ("it's not quite what I want") to reject something that you really do want, you know? And it's not always a blessing to tell the writer, "Hey, I fought for this! And got shot down six ways to Sunday because everyone else is a pussy!"

The other thing is that editors do want something different. But they want it to be just enough like XYZ that they already publish that a) the editorial board won't shoot it down, and b) readers expecting XYZ won't think, "WTF?!"

Just got back from Deb's book signing that went smashingly well!

She's much better at the thing where you talk and tell funny stories than I am. Maybe it will be better if I ever sell Sam.

Allyson, I have a downloaded clip of you on Sally that I listened to just the other day. In your place I'm afraid I'd have both done and said something unbearably rude. But you were gracious and funny and warm, even when your hostess was being clueless, rude, and strident.

I don't think you're going to have a problem being charming at book signings. People will come because they've read the books, they know your "voice" from the page, and they want to actually hear it for themselves, and to tell you how you affected their lives. You are charming, you are witty, you are funny.

And you're pretty and have faaaabulous hair!

What. Beverly. Said.

Getting Out

“Hey, what’s up. Sorry, that was stupid. Let me start again. Please? Okay. So I saw you over there, well over here - see I was over there, yeah by those guys - in the jerseys, smirking - anyway, what I want to say is...fuck. I had to come over, not just because you look amazing, no you do, seriously, I don’t just say stuff like that, but I came over because you’re wearing my wife’s ring, which we buried her in, I actually designed that pattern, and, well, how the hell did you....hey, HEY, shit, SOMEBODY STOP HER! Damn.”

What a narrative, Wolfram!

For most authors, writing is going to be a part-time gig or a secondary income in a two-income family, and that's just facts.

Yeah, this is true for musicians too, and something I don't think most aspiring rock stars realize. Even the people they idolize and dream of being now are likely to be painting billboards in a couple of years. There's just not nearly as much money in the industry as a whole as most people think. And I think that's true for all of the arts.

So we create to create.

...or we don't create because we're mush-heads.

t Conversation Judo-Flip to MeMeME!!

You know how, as a writer, you "hit the wall"? You're just stopped dead, smacking your noggin against an impenetrable wall of Can't Write?

I have no wall.

I have hit Writer's Quicksand.

That's the only way I can describe it. I've been staring at Chapter Five of my Goofy Fantasy Novel for, what? Three months now? And I just...blank out. Nothing happens. There's a big grey fog ahead where Stuff Happening is supposed to be.

It's driving me nuts.

Just thought I'd vent my spleen. Carry on.

t James T. Kirk Flip Conversation Out Of MeMeME!!

MM,I think this happens to everyone. I have not had it like that, but I've not been inspired either,lately.

Can you throw in some quicksand? Or a big grey fog? Or both. That would make a fun scene.

I find ideas come to me when I'm not looking for them. Of course I'm still staring at Chapter One of my novel/short story/screenplay, so there's that.