Category Archives: About Writing

Documenting my trials and tribulations as an author, songwriter and ranconteur.

Nov 9 2010

Lightfoot’s Ode to “The Mighty Fitz” Is A Primo School Project

Tomorrow marks the 35th anniversary of the date the S. S. Edmund Fitzgerald sank during a massive storm on Lake Superior. 29 men died in the wreck, but exactly how and why it sank is still unknown, according to a recent article because: “The Fitzgerald’s remains lie in Canadian waters. Canadian law regards the wreck as a grave site and prohibits pleasure dives to it, and scientific dives require a legitimate forensic purpose and permission from the families.”

Although I am too young to remember the actual event, I grew up listening to Gordon Lightfoot‘s powerful tribute, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitgerald. Now as an adult, I’ve broadened my musical horizons but I still love that song. Contemporary favs and my guilty pleasures dominate my iPod, but there are also a few folk songs I remember from my childhood that bring some depth and longevity to the collection as well. My kids love this song and are always rapt when it comes up in the shuffle.

I always knew the song was rooted in history, but it was only recently, when my kids showed interest, that I really began to fully appreciate the poetry and imagery of Lightfoot’s lyrics:

Does anyone know where the love of God goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours?

Today I read an article about the enduring legacy of the ship. The details of its wreck and the lasting effects it has had decades later made me realize that not only was Lightfoot’s song a powerful and effective interpretation, it was also a very credible source of facts regarding the event.

And that got me to thinking about what a tremendous opportunity the song presents as a school project. This could be unit test fodder! The song touches on history, geography, geology, meteorology, communications, comprehension, creative writing, etc. Seems like a great idea for a group project to present a “case study” of the material content of the song.

Has anybody done this already? What other songs from recent decades do you think accurately capture a moment in time that might not get top billing in the history books?

If you want to know more about the ship and the wreck, check out the SS Edmund Fitzgerald Online.

Nov 8 2010

Feelin’ The Fire: Fiction Versus Non-Fiction

I finished my first fiction work a few weeks ago. It was a labor of love. And by labor, I mean seriously painful work. I am not comparing it to childbirth, cause that’d just be dumb. I am talking about long, long hours of crafting and refining and sweating the details that make for believable characters and a compelling storyline.

For example, there is a climactic “battle” scene that required so much orchestration that I actually used my son’s Star Wars figures to “act out” the scene to make sure I captured all the simultaneous action in the proper sequence. I felt very cinemagical about the whole thing! But it was definitely love too, because I am very attached to the result. It’s damn good and it was all my doing.

Last week an idea for a non-fiction book hit me like a throat punch out of the darkness, just as I was hitting the hay. It was so unique yet so obvious that I drenched my pillow in mental drool for about 20 minutes before I realized that there was no way I’d be getting to sleep before I went down to the computer and at least spewed some initial thoughts that were sparking in my head like unlucky fireflies in a Mason jar. 45 minutes later, I had the entire book outlined.

Now, as I work on this book, the words seem to come very quickly. I am approaching the 20K word mark in less than a week, which is way better than my pace on the novel. Basically, I am filling in the blanks using personal experience with the topic over the last few years.

I’ll throw out a colorful metaphor or anecdote here and there, but primarily the book is a fact-based “how-to” guide. Writing it is not un-enjoyable, but I am not having nearly as much fun as I did with the novel. I can definitely say that I am not passionate about this material like I was my novel, but that was from the soul…whereas this one is 100% brainspeak. I care about the topic and I think I am in a unique position to talk about it. And I’ve got several years of professional street cred to back up my thoughts and views, so I think it will be successful within its target audience.

In short, I ain’t feelin’ the fire on this one. Since I am still so new to the whole writing deal, I am curious if those of you more experienced have faced a similar situation. If I am not in love with it, does that make a difference? Is it common to feel so differently simply because of the fact that it isn’t as creative or personal as a novel? I expect that I will finish it and see where it takes me, but I am interested in where it may end up in my Fun-O-Meter.

Nov 2 2010

Turning a New Twitter Leaf

It’s time to reveal my great Twitter experiment! Okay, well maybe it’s not grand enough to be classified as “Great”, but it is mine, and it is an experiment. For a few years now, I have tried to remain faithful to a strict business-only code on my Twitter account; no talking about anything other than IT nerdiness and Government 2.0. I kept my other pursuits, such as DIY, writing and music exclusive to my Facebook site or here on the blog.

These last few weeks have seen an intersection of my interests. If you read this blog with any regularity, you’ll know I’ve recently completed my first novel. As I travel down the highway seeking a literary agent to represent my work, I have begun following authors, publishers and other aspiring writers via Twitter. These are folks in the genre and the industry, the ones I want and need to learn from. Just as I’ve surrounded my online self with the goverati who walk the govt 2.o walk, I want to do the same with my writing circle of expertise. The combination has created a very interesting stream of posts that fly across my twitfeed. And now I find myself fighting stronger and stronger urges to post (gasp!) non techie posts on twitter! No…I musn’t! I might lose a follower or a dozen or 100. I can’t let that happen…can I?Will You Be My Friend?

Sure I can! My twitter feed is mine, all mine. If it doesn’t work for me, who does it work for? Many moons ago, I did a post on why Twitter held value for me as a techie 2.0 govie. But it doesn’t matter what subject you want to review as long as you get the right kind of symbiotic audience to fit your needs.

Yesterday I had a great time talking to a New Media class at Syracuse University about social media use in government. I reminded them (and myself) that social media is SOCIAL and MEDIA. It is a conversation at a cocktail party, not a lecture hall. You mingle, you find common interests and forge new relationships.

So that is exactly what I am going to do. Don’t cry Government 2.0, I am not giving up on us, I just don’t want these boundaries keeping us so exclusive. It’s not you, really, it’s me. I want a more open relationship. I want to be able to see other topics. We’ll still be friends, I promise.

So to my “old” government 2.0 friends, I’m still here and still full-on geeked out. Bear with my seemingly random non-2.0 posts if you can. If not, I’ll understand your stealthy “unfollow” with no hard feelings at all.

To my “new” writing friends, hopefully you’ll accept a noob among your ranks. I look forward to connecting with you all via new channels about our common topics and struggles.

As of this publishing, I am the proud recipient of 387 followers. In a month or so, I’ll follow this post up with an update and a review of my great experiment! I would really appreciate any candid feedback, positive or negative on this one, so send me your two cents below!

Oct 21 2010

Query Letters & Proposals – Hard Vs. Soft Copies

As I work through the process of submitting my query letters and proposals to literary agencies, I have discovered that most of the agencies will accept unsolicited proposals in either hard or soft copy.  Most (~75%) encourage you to send soft copies, but they still accept the hard copies too. Perhaps as a long-standing tradition dating back to those ancient pre-email days?  However, I have come across a few agencies specific to my genre that will not accept emailed copies of even the query letter.  A hard copy is mandatory, no exceptions.

It may be to my detriment, but I dismiss these as potential agents immediately.  No, not because I am too lazy to print out a hard copy or too cheap to spring for a stamp.  I strongly feel that an agency that steeped in tradition is not the right fit for my work.  My first story (and probably my future ones) features technology as a focal point (big surprise from the computer geek I know).  My work also incorporates unconventional roles and a juxtaposition of the traditional symbols of the positive and negative aspects of faith. I am not suggesting my ideas are revolutionary, but I don’t think they’d be well-received in such a traditional agency.

Personally, I also think it is short-sighted to be so rigid when technology provides us with such improvements in speed and communication.  Of course, speed may not be a determining criteria for the way these agencies operate and that is certainly their prerogative. They’ve been at this game much longer than I have, so I will respect their wishes by not bothering them with my query.

What do you think?  Am I being close-minded?  Short-sighted? Impatient?

Oct 20 2010

Handling Rejection Letters – The Lies I Told Myself

For the past several weeks, I’ve talked big about my approach to finding an agent for my novel. I’d approach it with the calculated precision of a technology project. I know this is not an easy business to break into. I read and read and carefully formulated my query letter and my summary.  I knew I’d be sending out dozens of queries before someone took even an inkling of interest in my work.  But I am persistent, I am resilient and I accepting of the fact that I had a long road ahead.  It’s not like I expected the first response I received would be a contract offer, right?  Wrong!  Of course I did!  How could someone not immediately fall in love with all of my carefully crafted tidbits of prose? I knew that I would be the one to defy the odds and have the agents begging for my attention. Okay, well maybe I didn’t really think that, but if I am being honest with myself (and anybody reading this I suppose), I did hold out hope that somebody might take an interest immediately.  Silly?  Perhaps, but how can you not take pride in something you’ve created and doted on for so many months?  If you don’t have those feelings about your own work, well then, maybe your work needs some more work…

And now, back to me. I got my first flat-out rejection this week. I knew it was coming, but I still wasn’t ready for it.  Like a solid blow to the gut, those small words in the message: “We’ve had the chance to review it and, unfortunately, this project is not right for us…” knocked me down. Pow.  Wham.  Pass the Novocaine, please.  And to make it worse, I got the response less than 12 hours after submitting the query! Yikes. Could it really be that bad? I politely followed up, thanked them for the response and asked if they could offer any details that might help me in my future attempts.  No response nearly 48 hours later, but I am not surprised.  I imagine they get hundreds of solicitations like mine each week.  Once something is tagged as deadweight, I’d probably toss it overboard too.

I don’t hold any animosity towards this agency; everybody’s got a job to do.  What crawls under my skin is the rejection in general. I worked, no scratch that, I slaved for many months on this and it barely got a glance before they determined that it was “not right”.  A friend of mine who is a published author has promised to give me some pointers and some funny stories about the rejection letters she got when she was in my spot.

According to 10 Hidden Gifts of Rejection Letters, I’ve joined an illustrious club of the rejected that includes the likes of Walt Whitman, Dr. Seuss and J.K. Rowling.  So, putting it in those terms, it doesn’t sound so bad.  My wounds will heal and I will crawl back from the brink.  But if you are on the same path as me, this is fair warning  - that first one really stings!

Oct 18 2010

11 Ways to Find a Literary Agent (via Write Nonfiction in November)

As I work through the book-writing process, I scour the web for helpful advice and tips to help me achieve each milestone in the long journey from idea to print. Here’s a great post I found today for those looking for a literary agent.

Every wanna-be author who has dreams of being picked up and published by a traditional publishing house wants to know how to secure representation by a literary agent. Why? Because the large publishing houses won’t look at manuscripts or proposals from “unagented” writers. Some mid-sized, and most small, university, niche, and regional publishers will look at, and often welcome, unagented submissions, however. If you dream of having that publish … Read More

via Write Nonfiction in November

Oct 12 2010

The Novel Summary (aka My Two Pages of Stress)

Last week I wrote about the query letter and how much effort had to go into the proper formatting and content. Well, this week I had to tackle the Summary - a task that proved to be equally impossible. My novel is 104,000 words. And somehow I have to find a way to condense that into two pages or around 1200 words? Wow. Good times.

During my first attempt, I subconsciously wrote it like the soundtrack for a movie preview. Queue the bass tones of the voiceover guy’s voice in my head…“In a world gone mad…”

Scratch. Take two.

For the second attempt, I went back to my original story outline and started to pull some of the pivotal plot points out. (Trying saying that three times in a row fast!)  This worked more effectively, although a lot has changed between the four year-old outline and the product I have today. But it was a good start nonetheless – it got me going in the right direction and kept me focused on the big picture storyline.

I found myself jettisoning whole chapters of what I felt were certainly chock full of delectable dialog and tremendous character development.  But again…I had to focus on the main ideas.  So I chopped and hacked away at it in a fashion that would make Jason Vorhees proud.  I even spliced in a few tidbits of dialog to (hopefully) show that I could construct a coherent sentence. All was well for the first page and a half.

But by the time I got near the end of the second page, I realized I was going to have to give up the goods.  I couldn’t leave them hanging.  A summary is no place for a cliffhanger ending.  As author Max Barry comments in his blog post on The Synopsis, “in most cases, it should include all your major twists and turns, including, yes, giving away the ending. (It hurts, I know.)”  I agree Max – the pain, the pain! I hated to do it, but I did it anyway.  After all – it seems to me that if you want to rely on an agent to represent you, you have to be straightforward and honest about everything pertaining to your work, from the beginning.

And so finally after cutting, chopping, hacking, splicing and overcoming my particular hang-ups about a premature reveal, I finished the summary.  Two pages, 1345 words all wrapped up in a tiny little bundle.

This week, I hope to start sending out the query letter, the summary and anything else requested to the literary agents whom seem to have experience in representing my particular brand of story.  Wish me luck!

Oct 4 2010

The Query Letter (aka My One Page of Stress)

Wow.  So much for celebrating.  Last week I finished the second draft of my first novel.  Yea for me, right?  Hardly!  If getting a novel published was a sport, it would have to be high hurdles!  Writing the book itself was only step one in a litany of stuff that has to be done before you’ll ever be privy to that goofy smile you’ll get when you see your name on the shelves in Barnes and Noble!

The next thing I had to do was the query letter, an intro letter that you use to attract the interest of an agent or a publisher.  These are extremely specific in form and content and from what I’ve learned, deviation will not be tolerated.  As I wrote, rewrote, swore and re-wrote again, I had flashbacks to my senior year of college, when I was frantically trying to fill a one-page résumé with the eye-candy that would get my foot into an employer’s door.  Everything had a specific place and a specific format – deviation from it would likely cost your résumé a one-way trip to the circular file.

Back then the issue was trying to find enough relevant content to fill the page.  Now I am trying desperately to cut down the content to keep it at the one-page length.  Of course I could spout pages and pages of sheer poetry on how wonderful my story is, but the cold, hard reality is that I have about 20 seconds to sell my book to an agent who has an overflowing inbox of similar material.  So I’ve got to hit them with something that gives them enough interest to pause long enough to read my Plot Summary, aka My Two Pages of Stress (coming soon to a blog near you).

After so many revisions of the query letter, several of the keys on my keyboard have formed a coalition against the Backspace key, which they now feel receives significant favoritism from my fingers. I cannot blame them.  I spent more hours on that single page than I did on several chapters in the book itself. Nowhere is quality over quantity more apparent than in the novel query letter!

But I am happy to report that the letter is completed, at least in draft, and I’ve sent it to some successful (i.e. published) authors for a critique!  I’ll post an update after I receive their feedback.

Sep 28 2010

Manuscript Update: Draft #2 Done!

It’s taken me nearly two months to get through all the revisions suggested from a review of the first cut of the manuscript.  I am happy to report that Draft #2 is going to out this week to a wider group of proof-readers for additional feedback.  I’ve got a title selected now, but I can’t share it until it is copyrighted (how exciting!)  I can tell you that it is a phrase that has multiple meanings once you consider it in the context of the story.

First draft was only about 79,000 words. I cut out a couple of chapters and added about 10 new ones for this one.

If you want the facts:

# Of Chapters: 60

#Of Pages: 441

# of Words: 103,403

Genre: Officially still TBD, but it is a cross between Mystery, Christian Fiction (although it might be too dark to remain in this sub-genre) and general Suspense I suppose.

While the second cut is being reviewed, I’ll be working up my “inquiry letter” that I send to agents. Everything I’ve read about agent hunting is that you need to establish yourself as a professional brand, especially if you are unpublished.  Below is the logo I developed that I’ll use on my letterhead and biz cards. What do you think? Hopefully combined with the content of my letter itself, I’ll get some interest in the manuscript.  Wish me luck!

Jun 16 2010

Calling All Bookhounds!

Picture it…you’re perusing the hallowed halls of the library.  Or maybe your standing neck-high in the crisp clean shelves of your local Barnes & Noble.  Or maybe you’re sitting comfy at home, checking out the latest picks on Amazon.com…

As you may have seen in some earlier posts, I am nearing the end of the first draft of my first novel.  As I enter the dreaded “edits” phase, I thought it might be fun to crowdsource ideas for a title.  The link below is a poll that contains the list of my possible titles to date.  I’d be very interested to get your take on my title ideas.  No, I can’t yet give you a book summary, because that all comes with the publishing process.  But which of the titles in the link below, if any, would make you pick it and flip it or click it to find out more?  You can only vote once, but you can vote for as many as you’d like before you hit Vote.

Thanks much and please pass it on to any fellow bibliophiles in your life!

Book Titles (What Grabs Ya…Or Would Cause Ya Ta Grab It Off the Shelf?)