PRISON MAY BE JUST THE PLACE FOR WRITERS

Photo by Arvin Balaraman

Maybe what I need--maybe what you, as a writer need--is a stiff prison sentence. That might be just the ticket to get us all focused and inspired to churn out the work we so desperately need to do without the distractions of the digital age.

But I have to confess, it's not simply the Internet that gets in the way of my productive work. It's my aged mother-in-law, my failing cat, and the umpteen things that I'd rather be doing during the summer than putting nose to grindstone.

Here are a few tips I've come up with to help myself do what needs to be done. Maybe they will be helpful to you as well:

• Exercise in the morning, before the day begins. Then you have no excuse to quit working mid-day.
• Get your in-box down to a reasonable number and KEEP it there. (This is advice I really need to follow with upwards of 500 queries as of this writing.)
• If you are writing, write. Don't email or answer emails. Don't talk on the phone. Don't surf the web. Write for two hours or so, then do those things.
• Reward yourself with a night out, a movie, a visit with a friend after a long, productive day.Or, do you think the Internet helps you?

What do you do to keep yourself organized and prolific? Does the Internet slow down your progress?  How do you avoid its allure? Or, does the Internet help you?

WE'RE STILL HERE!

Seven things we've done since our last post:

• Went to BEA


• Spent a week in the Great Northwest


• Went to a clown party in Seattle with Patch Adams (really!)


• Visited a ranch near the Cascade Mountains where kids with addiction problems work with horses


• Spent time visiting awesome tide pools on Oregon coast with son Joel--pink starfish


• Attended Robert's "graduation" from pre-K (believe it or not)


• Took on a cool new memoir (more about this later)


• Continued to read queries, partials, manuscripts--terribly behind again, but working to get caught up!

Something we've NOT done:

• Posted new blog entries

Stay tuned. We're back.

READERS RESPOND TO "PROCESS" QUESTION

This post dedicated to Norton, 8-20-1995--5-6-2010

We seemed to touch a chord with readers with our last post on the writing process. We received several thoughtful responses, some of which we'll feature here.

Jon and I just registered for BEA (Book Expo America) which takes place this year from May 25 through 27. BEA, like book publishing itself, is in a state of flux--it ain't the show it used to be. But we'll go because we have to go. We need to see it, feel it, and get a sense of the publishing vibe outside our Fogelsville office. It's still a great opportunity to meet with non-New York City publishers and we always run into folks we don't see often enough. I'm going on Wednesday, Jon on Thursday, taking advantage of the one-day option provided by BEA this year.

I'll leave BEA Wednesday afternoon and head over to Newark International Airport to take a flight out to the Northwest. One of our authors has been invited to a celebrity birthday party and she invited me to join her. Bonus is, I'll get to visit with our middle son Joel and his wife in Portland, OR. Jon will hold down the fort in my absence.

Busy morning with lots of queries and a few exciting possibilities. Now, on to your comments about the writing process.

Here's what Jake Seliger has to say:

NLA: Do you write every day?

JS:Yes.

NLA: Do you write at the same time every day?

JS: No, although I tend to write in the morning or late evening. Something about the afternoon puts me off.

NLA: How much time do you devote to your craft?

JS: A lot, especially if grad school in English lit counts as time spent on craft.

NLA: How do you stay on track?

JS: With a pair of rails and a great steam engine pulling me. Anyway, when I'm working on first drafts I shoot for a thousand words a day and usually hit 500 – 1,000; most of the time I read what I did the day before first, fix that, and then go on. Once done, I go back through a printout, then make those changes on screen, then give it to friends, then make their changes, then let it sit, then go through it one more time.Then I think "this time will be different," and it usually is, slightly, and then it's not.

April 29, 2010 12:45 PM

Thanks, Jake! I love your spirit, your organization, your attitude and sense of humor.

A sad post script: Chief Office Cat, literary friend and champion shredder, Norton died peacefully last Thursday. He is survived by his brother Wylie. Jon and I miss him mightily.

QUIET FRIDAY

At the midpoint of our morning walk today Jon remarked that it was "quiet, too quiet." Our favorite dogs, Annie and Mazie were not outside to greet us, the school buses were absent, no kids on the corner, no crazed commuters. Duh! For most of the world this is a holiday. For us, it's business as usual, but the down time does give us an opportunity to try to catch up.

To complicate things this week--we are breaking in a new email system. Our old system, Lotus Notes, has been great, but it's time to move on. So our friends/clients Rob and Jane Kirkland spent all day last Sunday installing the new Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager on to our computers. Notes is still there as well until we get all the kinks worked out. Jon's Outlook seems to be working like charm; mine is not, so things are moving much slower than usual. Rob and Jane will be here again this weekend to work out the glitches and finish the installation. Watching those two work, one on one computer, one on the other is awe-inspiring. They are both IBM/computer geniuses and I swear, for them it's a competition to see who can correct the glitches first. (I hear strains of "Dueling Banjos" in the background when they work.)

We'll feed Rob and Jane a nice Easter dinner and celebrate Rob's birthday when they finish their work and we should be up and running full-speed next week.

For those of you who have queried, your queries will be answered. Jon is afraid that he's missed a batch of queries in the transition and encourages you to query again if you've not recieved an answer. We usually answer queries within a month. And for those of you who've been good enough to send requested partials and manuscripts, we thank you for your patience. We are moving forward and we will someday get to the bottom of the piles!

We wish you all a lovely holiday weekend!

DO YOU TWITTER?

I just got this comment from Anonymous:

Hi Kae, Are you on Twitter? It's fun, informative and there are numerous agents, editors and publishers that tweet about the industry. It's also very addicting!

OK, here's the brutal truth. Yes, I have an account on Twitter. And, yes, I have Twitted, but here's the rub. I can't, for the life of me, figure out how this is going to help our business(es), our standing with authors and publishers, my bank account or my general well-being.

And it's not for lack of trying! I really, really want to be part of the Twitisphere. Peter Shankman says I must. Friends say I must. The industry Twits constantly. What's WRONG with me that I haven't found the key to life, love and happiness through Twitter? Jon and I both feel that this is a cute fad that takes up time, but will wither on the vine in good time. Are we wrong? Why?

So, dear readers, help me out! How will my regular Twits (Tweets) help me as a literary agent? How does Twitter help you?

CHECKING IN

We have not been abducted by aliens. We aren't vacationing in the Carribean. And we haven't retired.

We're just too busy and the blog has taken the hit. Jon continues to shuttle back and forth to Florida to tend to aging parents, leaving me to pick up the slack with our two businesses.

Random thoughts:

• I await the contract for our three-book deal for a cozy mystery series. As soon as the paperwork is finalized, I'll go into more detail.
• My trip to NYC last week was cancelled due to illness--not mine, someone else.
• Queries continue to flood in. I've requested about 4 partials in the past week; Jon has asked for a few more.
• For some reason the queries for "wizard and dragon" fantasies are on the rise. We're not interested, so don't send them to us.
• It's still bloody COLD here--sunny, but cold.
• I'm reading Beautiful Boy, a stunning memoir by a gifted journalist.
• I'm also reading The Glass Castle, another memoir--unbelievable, but true, story.
• I just added Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace to my stack of "must reads" after reading about the author in this week's New Yorker magazine.
• The cats are so full of static that you risk "electrocution by petting" if you get near them.
• Our bird feeders are full of pine siskins.

......and our desks are full of queries, partials and manuscripts. Hope the winter's treating all of you well!

MONDAY, MONDAY..SAME OLD, SAME OLD

I spent two hours this morning reading email queries. Jon spent an hour doing the same thing. We broke up those that time with a couple of phone calls, coffee breaks and other quick duties, such as brushing Norton the office cat.

We did not count the number of queries we each read, but I'd estimate that I burned through 20 to 25; Jon says he read 5 or 6, plus a few more snail mail queries. That's more than enough for one morning. The problem is that they all begin to blur and when that happens it's time to stop. It's simply not fair to those at the end of the reading session.

Of the 25 queries, I passed 4 or 5 to Jon who is more enthusiastic about military thrillers and science fiction than I am. I rejected the rest, with the exception of one commercial fiction / suspense novel.

"So, what the heck are you looking for, anyway?" you might well ask. And, it's a question we ask ourselves every day. The simple answer is "good writing." After that, here's what I'd love to see:

A contemporary fantasy with a strong female protagonist.

A really, really good love story that hasn't been done to death.

Good women's fiction with characters I like. (Think Jane Porter)

Jon is looking for:

Innovative science fiction.

A solid military thriller with a complicated protagonist.

The next Robert Parker. ; )

Please, oh, please says Jon--NO MORE DA VINCI CODE WANNABEES!! He gets at least 5 of these things per week.

Now it's on to partials and manuscripts. We have slipped another two weeks behind.

THE HORSESHOE COURT

Jon grew up in suburban Chicago when times were slower and simpler. One hot summer day when he was about 12 or 13, he decided that what he really needed was a horseshoe court. He'd seen one at a family picnic earlier and decided that his dull back yard would be an ideal spot to create one for himself. The spot he chose was out by the garage, right where a pile of junk and lumber now sat. He figured all he'd need was a couple of lengths of pipe and some horseshoes and he'd be in business. Cheap. Easy.

So, on that hot day in July he approached his dad. "Can I build a horseshoe court out by the garage?"

His dad looked at the spot and scratched his head. "I guess so. You'll have to move that lumber and other junk to the back lot before you do anything though."

Jon began moving the lumber. It was heavy. The day was hot as hell. It was really awful. He stopped for a bottle of pop (remember this is Chicago). He looked at the pile of lumber which was still huge. He sat under a tree and thought about his horseshoe court; then he went back to work.

There was still a lot of lumber left by suppertime. Jon worked until dark and then started again the next day. Eventually, by the end of the day he (and his dad) had moved all the lumber and other junk out to the back lot. Finally, Jon thought, the place was ready for the horseshoe court.

"Not so fast," said his dad. "You've got to cut all these weeds and then move those cinder piles left over from the coal stove. Jon realized that the job was far from over. He got to work again. He cut the weeds, a backbreaking job in itself. But moving the cinders was worse than the junk moving. The piles of cinders defied him and he figured it simply wasn't worth the effort any more. When his dad told him he'd need to dig and frame out the court, Jon gave up and went swimming.

To this day in our family, the term "Horseshoe Court" is used to describe the job you undertake only to find that there are a gazillion little jobs that must be accomplished before you can even get to Job One.

Jon relived his Horseshoe Court this afternoon. It's gorgeous today and when we broke for lunch we decided to eat on the back patio just outside our office. During lunch Jon noticed the hummingbird feeder hanger which needed to be moved to another location. "I'll do it after lunch," he told me. "It'll only take a few minutes.

He went into the utility room downstairs and retrieved a screwdriver. Back outside he quickly unscrewed the hanger and took it over to the new fence where it was to hang. He realized that he'd need to make new holes in the fence and went back inside to find a gimlet. He looked in both tool kits, to no avail. He went upstairs, got the garage key and opened the garage. He looked in his tool chest out there--no gimlet. He locked the garage, put the key away and came back downstairs. He took his drill out of its case and was about to assemble it when he decided to look in his tool kit one more time. Voila! He found the gimlet. He put the drill away.

Back outside he made two holes in the new fence and went to screw in the hanger. He was tightening the first screw when it gave way and the head stripped off. Back inside, he looked in his tool kits for brass screws--no luck. Back upstairs, he retrieved the garage key, unlocked the garage, found two brass screws after 10 minutes of searching. He locked the garage, went back inside, down the stairs, and out to the back again. He screwed the hanger into the fence.

Job One done--it took almost an hour. He could have read two partials in that time. Damn Horseshoe Court!