The Benefits of Our Enemies by Diana Flegal

This past Sunday my pastor, Nick Honerkamp, reminded us that even our enemies have a purpose in our lives.

Habakkuk reminded the Lord that he and his people were surrounded by the enemy and were in need of his help. When was he going to deliver them?

God told him: Paraphrase: When they have succeeded in getting out of you everything I have purposed and allowed them to.    

Have you been crying out to God, “When God, when? Why God, Why?

When am I going to be picked up by an agent, a publisher? Why are they published and not me? I am a better writer.

Sometimes agents and editors can appear to be a writer’s worst enemy. Foiling you at every turn, they do not recognize your great turn of phrase, your terrific plot, and un-believable characters.

But they serve a grand purpose.

Habakkuk was wise. He enquired of the Lord.

Habakkuk 2:1, I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this.

He waited and the Lord answered him.

Habakkuk 2:2, And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. 3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

So that he may run that readeth it. For an appointed time.

I am a doer. I find it hard to wait. I am a fixer, surely I can help God out with this one. WAIT.

Wait Diana, for the appointed time. HARD to do. Lord. The publishers – they publish others, and Lord, THIS is worthy. Why not this? NOW.

Wait!

Then they that read it can run with it. It will be a help to them in time of trouble, discouragement, or weariness.

Wait, for the appointed time.

Now Lord. Surely it is now.

Wait. Just a little longer. And in time, it will speak.

Habakkuk 2:3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

It will come, right on time. Position yourself for it.  

 

 

 

 

What Was New That Year? by Andy Scheer

This year, Tater Tots turn 60. I'd never have known, but my wife got an email from Ore-Ida.

I checked online and learned the company's marketing department is trying to make this a big deal:

“Ore-Ida Tater Tots potatoes have a 60 year history that evokes many happy memories,” says Fed Arreola, Vice President of Marketing. “From humble beginnings, the original Ore-Ida Tater Tots potato brand has retained its place at the dinner table as the one and only, the original that we all know and love, and that’s something we’re proud of.”

The announcement got me thinking how someone writing a novel set in 1954 might research what people would eat, drink, and wear – besides what brands of soap they'd use to wash dishes and their laundry.

Some historical details are easy to find, like the names of elected officials and what songs were popular. But many minor details, like the brands on a shopping list or those products' advertising slogans – “Crisco: It's digestible!” – take deeper digging.

As I type this, I'm listening to the 1957 “RCA Victor 'New Orthophonic' High Fidelity Recording,” Bing With a Beat featuring Bing Crosby with Bob Scobey's Frisco Jazz Band. That's one way to get in touch with the mid 1950s. But it's not an easy album to find – or find out about.

With all the information available online, there must be reliable sources for discovering what was new and popular in any given year. If you've found some of those sources, please share.

When you do, let me know if you'd like an MP3 of Bing's version of “Let a Smile Be Your Umbrella.”

There's a New Dancing Baby in Town by Linda S. Glaz

In recent years, with sad adieus, we’ve seen the scaling back of some of the larger publishers, and the emergence of some new ones. You know them. They are called smaller publishing houses by many. And with good reason. They ARE smaller. Many are in their infancy. But does that make them a last choice for submissions?

Hear this: a resounding “NO!”

Many of these new and emerging publishers have done their homework and are catching the current wave of reality. While many offer print, their emphasis, in many cases, is on ebooks. And they do it very well. They do both very well.

And while they work with many multi-published authors, they are also willing to take a chance on some of the amazing writers who can’t break into larger houses. It takes a great deal of money to groom and prepare new authors, and large houses have only so much money and room for new authors. The up-and-coming houses, relying a great deal on social media for promotion, can promote their authors with less financial drain. Word of mouth becomes more important as well, but we’re seeing authors shooting to the top of their genres where yesterday they couldn’t crack the publishing nut!

Look at it this way. Think of larger publishers as dancers who have gone through all the stages to arrive at the party ready to waltz. They learned to walk, to run, and finally to waltz with mature, talented finesse.

Think of the emerging publisher this way. They are babies/toddlers still in the walking stage, but turn on the music and what happens? Have you ever seen a baby dance? They laugh, they throw their hands in the air. They giggle. The enthusiasm is so contagious. And there you have it. The smaller publisher is so full of passion. They are full of life. Few are reserved. You can hear them speak at conferences with all of the zest of a dancing baby hearing music for the first time. And they carry that enthusiasm to their clients and to their readers.

You see, there’s room in the industry for the mature, skilled and established publisher, but there’s also room for the excited, enthusiastic, emerging publisher. They each bring a different skill-set to the publishing world.

Watch out world, there’s a new dancing baby in town!

Getting Away by Terry Burns

I just spent labor day in the mountains not far from Ruidoso NM. It was great. I didn't even take my computer and the phone didn't work unless we went into town which we did a couple of times. When we did go into town, we would clean off our email but not work anything unless it was urgent. It was great, sitting around the campfire, playing games in the camper, doing a little writing. A real stress reliever.

But that didn't mean the work went away. Those who work for a big company there may be somebody else that covers your job while you are out. Mine doesn't work that way. Not only that but some people take advantage of a holiday weekend to work up some submissions and send them so that inbox starts stacking up. That happens when I go to a conference as well.

This morning was like a nice extension of the trip. It was refreshingly cool. A nice soak in the hot tub followed by coffee around the gas fire-pit. It was like we were still up there.

But now it is back to work. That's going to mean some negative responses as I mentioned over on Linda Glaz's entry to this blog. Like Linda I hate to have to do that. And it's going to mean trying to clean out this inbox as I talked about over on Andy Scheer's entry to this blog. My inbox applies deadlines for much of what I do. I have things sitting there I have to do for clients, hopefully some things from editors to respond to, maybe even a contract offer or two, various things I have to do and of course all those submissions.

It's dig down and weed out. I generally work it bottom up, oldest items first unless I see something of importance that must be dealt with immediately. My computer sits on an airdesk next to me so I see email every hour of the day that I am awake. It also shows up on my phone if I am away from the house. I watch what is coming in and things stay there until I deal with it. I either handle it or take some initial action and put it in another file for further action. It controls much of my activity.

Editors take precedence of course, followed by clients (who would rather me be responding to editors). I have to carve out some relative uninterrupted time to do full manuscript reads. A submission doesn't advance to the point of me offering representation without this happening and they deserve my full attention (unless something catches on fire and has to be put out).

Much of what is in my inbox can be tossed just from the subject line ( you know what kind of mail we constantly get). I do quickly scan the items in the junk file, usually three to four hundred a day, and sometimes find submissions there. I used to have them automatically delete until I found I was missing some. I still miss some as I fail to see them there, but not many. If you send me something and don't hear back in a couple of weeks it is a good idea to follow up. I don't mind.

If I expect to get to something fairly quickly I may not acknowledge receipt. If it will be a while I do try to send a receipt. It is unusual for me to not respond within a month but on occassion I have got stacked up to the point where it took longer.

But enough talk about all this. It's time to quit dawdling and go to work on that inbox.

What I did on My Summer Vacation by Diana Flegal

Do you remember the assignment? You haven't been back at your desk but a day or two and BAM- homework is assigned! You have to write an essay on what you did over summer vacation.

I would imagine the teacher had different reactions when she read them. Much like the ones we agents and editors have when reading submissions. Grin.

Here are a few lines from my memory book:

     We drove south then west one year- my Dad had lost his job, so we had the whole month of July to hit the road before he began his new one. Coleman box canvas tent, stove and cooler- along with our sleeping bags were stowed on the car's roof rack along with a box of canned goods, pots and pans and kitchen necessities. Aluminum foil and the iron skillet being mainstays. Our fresh groceries were bought daily, which my mother cooked as Dad and my brother and I pitched the tent- which involved digging a trench in the event it rained.   My brother Tim and I rolled around the back of our PINK Rambler station wagon, (seat-belt laws had not been written back then) as my Dad, peddle to the metal, clocked his goal of 500 miles a day. That might not seem like a long trip today, but riding west in 1959 without air conditioning in the dead of summer wore us all out. Six or seven paper maps guided our way along with a road Atlas.
     I loved the temporary homes we made as we traveled across the country. Especially the nights after we'd made our trek to the bathhouse for our showers and sat around the camp fire in our jammies before bed. Sometimes Dad told us stories, or we just took turns poking the fire, sending sparks up toward the star studded sky. Even when it rained and the drops pounded the canvas, it's rhythms and the fact I was 'snug as a bug' provided me some of the best sleep I've known. On clear nights, the muted sound of my mother and dad talking late into the night as the fire crackled and embers lit the fabric screened windows soothed me.
     That particular summer we panned for rubies in North Carolina and dug for diamonds in Murfreesboro, Arkansas, Crater of Dianonds State Park, where I drank my first Dr. Pepper. I picked up a pocketful of Fairy Stones  in Va. at Fairy Stone State Park. I think we also saw the giant ball of string and other cool things, but it's the time in the car and around the fire and the hikes we took together that I remember best.

I remember excitedly making a list on our trips return about our grand family adventure, planning how to write my essay assignment. I'm sure I 'told' more in the writing than I 'showed'. The evidence is long gone but my memories remain. 

I wonder how many writers were born from such a simple school assignment?

For those of you that enjoyed road trip summers like my family: Take a look at these Rand McNally anniversary Atlas covers here. You might recall a few of them. (be sure to scroll down the page)
The links I have embedded here will bring back memories for many of you if you have the time to look.

How Do You Stay Organized? by Andy Scheer

Remember Daytimers? Years ago, people who needed to keep track of multiple tasks lugged around those

big notebooks filled with tabbed sections and calendar pages.

I never got around to acquiring one. A paper calendar, aided by an office bulletin board, worked fine for me.

Then those leading the charge began to keep organized by using Blackberries. Remember those?

My calendar and bulletin board still worked fine.

Then colleagues began trying to stay organized with various computer programs. I never did find out those programs' names. Except for the calendar function of Outlook.

When people at work schedule meetings with me via Outlook, I take a pencil and write the information on a paper calendar.

When the battery fails on their smart phones, I try to sympathize. I've had pens run out of ink or a pencil lead break.

I have nothing against the latest fad in organizational technology – so long as its users don't try to force me to adopt it. Over the years, I've actually learned how to schedule and track projects using a computer spreadsheet. The program has been around long enough to prove its worth.

Meanwhile, the tide may be turning. My boss recently had me drive him to an office supply store in my minivan, since his car wouldn't hold the six-foot-long white board he wanted so he could keep track of all his projects.

Just Breaks My Heart by Linda S. Glaz

            I had a weekend filled with submissions. And that’s a good thing. What isn’t a good thing is having to say no to so many really good authors. That’s right, I said ‘really good authors’.

If they were good, why did I say no? Because, while they were really good, I didn’t get that gut reaction I look for. The pull that doesn’t allow me to put the submission down long enough to even leave my desk for a glass of water.

So it’s my own fault if I turn down a project and then find another agent has snapped it up and found a bestseller? Absolutely. And that often drives me crazy, but it is what it is. I have to be so fully behind a book that I just can’t wait to share it with an editor, convinced they will be as excited to present it to their acquisitions board.

That happened this weekend with two amazing books. And I might find that I want to kick myself in the behind in the near future. I’m already second guessing myself. How does it happen that I turn it down?

It goes something like this: I love the proposal so I request the full manuscript. As I sit down to dig in, I find myself wandering. Hmm, maybe I should check my email and see if that editor has responded. I have a rewards coupon coming from A, B, or C. And I might want to use it later today. Oops, back to the story. Man this is good! I wonder if the kids are coming for dinner on Sunday. Wow, she really writes that alpha male so well. Gorgeous eyes, muscles straining against the shirt. Great characters. Shirts? I think Kohl’s had men’s shirts on sale starting Wednesday. Maybe I should check on some shirts for my husband. Husbands, romance novels. Better get back to the story. I do have one other proposal I need to finish reading. Maybe I’ll check that one out for a few minutes and then get back to muscle guy.

And that’s what happens. I keep trying because I like the story really well, or maybe it’s the characters that have me wanting to love this story, but something just isn’t there. My gut doesn’t keep me reading no matter what else is happening in my life, and I don’t understand why. All of the elements are really good. Great characters, wonderful story line, really good writing. What? Am I crazy? That’s another whole blog or two.

I write the ‘not this time’ note and maybe make a few suggestions. Kick myself a time or two and get on to the next submission. What I have to remember is: lots of readers love Jane Austen—lots of others don’t. It doesn’t take away from Jane Austen. And other times, I simply am not having much luck with a certain type of submission. It might be the best I’ve ever read in that genre, but if I can’t get that genre to move, I’m not going to take on another author writing it. I’ll be honest, it just kills me to say no to so many wonderful projects, but so far, I’ve trusted the gut. And the couple times I didn’t, I wasn’t able to help the person at all.

So there you have it. I’ve turned down, and will turn down, amazing projects that have and will go on to do well with another agent. At first, it makes me a little crazy to see the book getting hundreds of rave reviews, but then again, I am so happy for the writers because I just didn’t have what I needed to make it happen for them.

Authors, remember this. Each rejection is one step closer to publication!