Hi Writers,
I've been editing a feature for an upcoming issue of Writer's Digest. It's entitled "Roughing up your First Draft." There's a quote from Ernest Hemingway in the lead:

Hi, writers,

Maria is likely sipping exotic neon cocktails and hanging out with top writers as the Maui Writers Conference wraps up in Hawaii, so this week I’m taking over The Writer’s Perspective and the WD fort in Cincinnati, wearing an old lei from a luau-themed office party.

I originally planned to blog about nationwide newspaper cuts (our local Cincinnati Enquirer mentioned today that 15 newsroom staffers have accepted buyouts), but I’m working on some great material for the January/February issue, so let’s go with a less grim topic—let’s go with some of my overly abused Google writing tools.

Here are five free, simple, nifty writing tricks I picked up as a reporter that can be surprisingly handy when editing or writing.

•    Google Phonebook: Looking to hunt down the phone number of that mysterious source before deadline? Go to Google.com and type “phonebook: John Smith Nevada.” Now you have all the John Smiths in Nevada, and you didn’t need to root through any hulking yellow tomes.

•    iGoogle: My over-checked guilty pleasure. At iGoogle.com, you can set up a custom web page, and you can even tailor it to your own writing and reading ends with a database of free widgets. For instance, mine has both of my e-mail addresses plugged into it, seven news feeds, a word of the day, an artist of the day, a dictionary form, a thesaurus form, a daily literary quote and a strange “Writer’s Idea Bank” tool. Overkill? Probably. Perfect for compulsive e-mail-checking writers? Definitely. (Requires free Google account.)

•    Google Docs: This is a relatively new one in my lineup, but one that I’m increasingly using. At docs.google.com you can find the tech behemoth’s free online word processor, which allows you to write, edit, save and even format your material as you would in a normal program. Upside: You can access your writing anywhere without a flash drive. Downside: No internet connection? Ut-oh. (Requires free Google account.)

•    Google Calculator: I didn’t get into writing because I was good at math, so it’s a good thing search engines are. Simply type “456*993” into the browser and you’re a whiz. If you still remember what square roots are, you can do those, too.

•    Define: The crown jewel, crucial for helping your writing (or settling arguments) when you don’t have a dictionary or Internet connection handy. Text message Google with your cell phone (466453) and write “Define: Athabascan.” Soon enough, your mobile phone is telling you all about Alaska and Western Canada. Texting Google also works for movie times, weather and directions.

For more, visit google.com/help/features.html. What are your favorite writing gadgets and widgets?

Read on and write on,

Zac

--

Zachary Petit
WD Managing Editor

Hi Writers,
Writer's Digest 2007 Annual Competition winner Alegra Clarke has been updating us on her progress to get her novel published. Here are photos of our trip to New York. And here is her last post about her trip to New York to meet with agents.

Alegra's latest entry:

Before I went to NYC the inevitable question, 'So, what do you write?' resulted in one of my best 'Wow! Great day we are having!' smiles and an under-the-breath answer of, 'Oh, you know, I mostly like to write words, I aim for complete sentences, and I really like paragraphs…'

I had not found the genre for the novel and its absence made me feel unsettled, as if any moment my writer status was going to be revoked. During this time my husband tried to reassure me by saying, 'just the fact that you think like this is proof that you are hardwired to be a writer.' I think he was insinuating something about me having 'a tendency towards anxiety' or an 'overactive imagination.' But it wasn't either of these things (really it wasn't!), it was because I understood what having a genre or a solid 'elevator pitch' meant. It meant I had a solid grip on the story.

I have spent the last two months since the NYC trip plotting, testing my plot, researching, plotting again, sending my ideas to Joel Gotler, whose patience and generosity with me is enormous, until finally I could feel it and see it; the plot, the story I wanted to tell. With this came the knowledge of genre. I can now confidently say, 'I am writing a psychological thriller.' And believe me, for the last few weeks I have rolled the words around with obnoxious glee, harassing my friends with, 'Ask me what I write…go on, I dare you!'

It has been a wild journey and I think it is only about to get wilder. In fact, I am depending on it. The original novel I wrote I can now see as a passionate and sincere effort at beating around the bush. That manuscript has become a fertile pile of compost for growing short stories. It might even be gestating a novel or two. But it isn't the novel I am now writing. What I have now is the storyline the other draft was circling around. The learning process has been so accelerated that at times it is unnerving. I look back at something I wrote even five months ago and think, 'How could I have not missed that fatal flaw? Why did I not get something so simple and obvious?' All I can do is reassure myself that this is proof that I am improving and keep on with keeping on.

I am now in the last few months of research and plotting before I dive into the actual writing. I am doing things very differently this time by plotting in advance. I have always admired writers who can sit down with an idea or a question and pour out a novel in one draft, revise it and then be done. I am not that kind of writer - at least not at this stage.  And if I had a penny for every edit I did I would be one wealthy woman.

I personally don’t believe a dark story can be told halfway, it is a world that must be entered into completely. I have been organizing things in preparation for diving into the writing of this novel as opposed to my first attempt that was often written with one or both of my children hanging off of me like a jungle gym or engaging me in a chorus line of “No! Don’t touch that electrical socket! No! Don’t put your sister in the toilet!”

The last few months since NYC have felt like preparing for an extended journey. I was recently stunned by watching Heath Ledger in the Dark Knight because of how he intensely embodied some of the qualities of 'evil' I am hoping to explore in writing. I have always been fascinated by what it takes for an actor to take on a disturbing role and now I am about to embark on finding out what it will take for me as a writer. I think the most obvious answer is, “Lots of chocolate and coffee.” But I might be oversimplifying things.


Alegra will be updating us on her quest to get her novel published so stay tuned for more.

Keep Writing,
Maria

Hi Writers,
Publishers Weekly published an essay last week "Two-Way-Street" by Charlotte Cook.

Cook, an independent publisher of her own book line, Komenar Publishing, was the subject of a short profile in Writer's Digest last year. She writes that she was deluged with queries, phone calls and submissions after that article came out. It seems like attention would be a good thing for a small publishing house.

But here's the rub: Cook writes that even with all of the attention Komenar received for that article in WD, they've seen little impact in the way of sales.

I suppose the implication here is that writers aren't supporting the industry that they're asking to support them. This makes me sad on a number of levels, but especially because I don't believe it's an accurate assumption to draw from one publisher's experience.

I think, if anything, writers are the heaviest readers and the heartiest supporters of the book industry.

So, in the spirit of solidarity with your fellow writers, I'd love to hear your comments on what you're doing to support the struggling book industry.

"A writer is a reader moved to emulation."
-Saul Bellow

Keep Writing,
Maria

Hi Writers,
It's another visual aid bonus day here on the Writer's Perspective!

Here's a short video interview with bestselling author and Writer's Digest marketing columnist M.J. Rose, who knows more about marketing books than anyone I've ever met. She's a true industry dynamo and visionary. Check her out here.

Keep Writing,
Maria

Hi Writers,
If there's one thing I've learned from spending time with all the thriller writers at ThrillerFest 08, it's that the adage, "write what you know" holds little merit.

Here's another short Q&A I did with David Baldacci, in which he discusses the merits of writing what you don't know.

Keep Writing,

Hi Writers,
I'm in the middle of transcribing a lengthy Q&A with Brad Thor (The Last Patriot) for the December issue of Writer's Digest and I thought what he had to say about literary agents was quite interesting for going against the grain of traditional publishing wisdom (this is unedited, direct from a transcript):

I know agents hate hearing this, but the single agent submission process is so un-businesslike, and this stuff about well you should only pitch one agent at a time and wait to hear back—that’s BS. I really don’t believe in that. I tell people, put together the strongest best package you can. Why should you wait months to hear back from an agent only to be told no, and then you have to wait a few more months. It’s ridiculous. I had agents lose my submissions, take forever to get to it and I thought, you know what, this is ridiculous. I’m not doing this just because this is the rules that they’ve set up for themselves. I thought, they’re not going to know if I’m submitting to multiple places. And what happens with agents when they’re submitting you’re book? They try to start a bidding war! They’re not going to wait onesie, twosie, at every publishing house to see what they think. Authors should do multiple submissions to agents. I mean, that’s the way the business world works and whether or not the industry likes it or not, they can’t stop you from submitting to multiple agents and you know what? If an agent misses out on you because they took too long with your query letter, tough luck for them. It will be a smart, savvy agent who recognizes your talent, who snaps you up. And I really believe that.

So, what do you think about multiple submissions to agents?

Keep Writing,
Maria

Hi Writers,
I've been attending a lot of writing conferences recently and in listening to keynote speeches I've noticed an odd correlation in the first-published stories of many writers.

Just off the top of my head, I can name three bestselling authors who cite being fired as the impetus to write and sell their first book.

• Lee Child lost his job with the BBC and soon after wrote and sold his first Jack Reacher novel.

• Sandra Brown wrote her first novel after being fired from her TV reporter position.

• Laurell K. Hamilton was downsized from her job with IBM when she decided to give the writing thing a real crack.

Anyway, don't go off and tell your boss off, this is merely an unscientific observation, but I have started to wonder if "fired" leads to "inspired." What do you think?

Keep Writing,
Maria

Hi Writers,
To follow up on my previous post, I wanted to comment further on the term "literary" as in a "literary novel."

First, I want to say that I love smart, character-driven literary novels. They are what I gravitate to for my own leisure reading.

So please don't get too angry with me when I share that labeling your book "literary" will, in the minds of many agents, brand your book as being dark, depressing, boring, overly intellectual, mid-list, unsalable, (insert your own adjective for not-money-making here), etc.

When our annual competitions winners (see below) called their novel manuscripts "literary" you could almost see the agents' eyes roll up to the ceiling. As Peter Rubie put it: "When you call your novel "literary" you put yourself on a really difficult level—up against Annie Proulx, Philip Roth and the like."

But what did get the agents revved-up were terms mentioned in my post below, for example "crossover novel" (catchword meaning: a character-driven novel that might actually sell to a mass audience), or book club novel (catchword meaning: somewhat intellectual, culturally relevant, might actually sell to a mass audience if it catches on with the book club set). Much of this is industry jargon, but it's certainly worth knowing if you're trying to pitch a novel.

Feel free to share your thoughts on this but please don't shoot the messenger, I've got a busy schedule this month.

Keep Writing,
Maria