Writing and Publishing News

Do you feel as if you are up against a deadline? There’s just one more day of 2010 and it’s over. Do you have regrets? Unfinished business? Do you feel a need to hurry to complete or start something in order to meet a goal you set early in the year (or even several years ago)?

Is this how you face assignment deadlines—with anxiety, disappointment, pangs of guilt? Do you miss deadlines? How do you handle this? Do you contact the editor or publisher and explain that you can’t meet deadline? Or do you just cram, like you did in college, working all hours of the day and night until you complete the work?

The fact is that some writers and authors thrive on deadlines—claiming it keeps them focused and gives them parameters. These people are good at organizing their lives and their time. Others consider a deadline their enemy—an invisible force set in front of them designed to make them fail.

While some writers do better work under deadline, others get sloppy because they feel so pressured.

Which writer are you? Do you complete projects way under deadline or do you rush in a sweat to the finish line? Or are you somewhere in the middle?

You know, deadlines are not actually steel barriers. If you look at them as steel barriers or as some sort of evil threat, of course, you will experience anxiety. If you can view a deadline, instead, as a gentle reminder, you may have an easier time meeting it. But it is also important that you take the deadline seriously, which may be one reason why people miss them—they dis anything that puts restrictions on them.

Why are there deadlines in a free world? Editors and publishers need to know that they will have material in time for their magazines or their book publishing quota. And generally, they try to create enough leeway for writers in case you need an extension on your deadline if only you would ask. This knowledge might help you to relax about the deadline restriction. But I would be careful. Some of those deadlines are strict and critical. And making a habit of asking to move deadlines or missing a couple of deadlines could definitely hamper your standing within the professional writing community.

What is your attitude about deadlines? Do you love or hate them? Have you ever missed one or asked to have one moved? Was it the end of the world or did the editor/publisher work with you?

I happen to like deadlines. While I might feel a bit of stress when working on deadline, it is the type of stress that keeps me moving forward. It is the sort of stress that helps me to organize my time and dedicate myself to the project at hand. Often I also have other work—I do help run an organization, a household and an editorial business, after all. It can get rather sticky trying to manage all that needs to be done. But then, I don’t commit to a deadline if I don’t think I can do it.

I work with others on deadline, as well. I interview people for a newsletter I write. I ask people to contribute to books and articles I’m writing and so forth. And I always give them deadlines. There are always some who don’t make it. No amount of reminding or prodding can put them on track. There are others who come in way ahead of deadline—like me, they try to get it off of their desk as quickly as they can so they can move on to the next item on their to-do list. And others methodically present me with the information I need exactly on deadline.

Meeting deadlines is an interesting and complex topic as it has more to do with the inner workings of your mind than it does anything else—don’t you think? Some people always arrive to meetings or social events late and cannot see why this would be a problem—they always have an excuse, after all. Other people always arrive early. And then there are those who meticulously show up on time no matter what. I don’t imagine the writer on deadline is any different from the individual at large—those who arrive early will turn in their articles ahead of time, those who are habitually late to events and activities, will have a much more difficult time meeting writing deadlines. Or do you have proof to refute this theory?

This would be a good place to discuss it—leave a comment.

http://www.matilijapress.com
http://www.patriciafry.com

Today is the first class of my free book proposal course. I’m excited. I always enjoy working with authors on their projects—which is why I do this for a living. Hopefully, there will be several success stories emerge from this course. And word will get out about the value of what I offer and bring me more talented clients.

In today’s class we are discussing the purpose of the book proposal and why I believe that a book proposal is more for the author than the publisher. I’ll go over the various parts to the book proposal—for a novel and for a nonfiction book. We will also examine our book titles and talk about the cover letter and title page. Students will work on these two parts of the book proposal this week.

I have also asked each student to send me a description of their projects so I will be more in touch with what they need throughout the 8-week course.

This course is now full. But if you are interested in the Book Proposal Course or one of the other 5 online, on-demand courses I teach, please check them out at http://www.matilijapress.com/courses.htm.

By the way, when I say, “on-demand,” that means that you can sign up at anytime and choose which day of the week you would like to receive the lectures and assignments. Fees for my courses are: $125 to $200.

Contact me with your questions: PLFry620@yahoo.com.

I’m finishing up an editing job and may have another one coming in this week, so I’m cutting today’s post short. If you have a burning question or would like me to cover a specific topic related to freelance writing, authorship, publishing, book promotion, etc., just let me know.

If you’ve spent any time at all studying the world of book publishing, reading articles and books on authorship, visiting blogs like this one, etc., you know that publishing professionals highly recommend that you hire a good book editor for your book before publishing. I am one of those who advises authors to hire an editor for their manuscript. And one reason may surprise you.

While your manuscript may be fairly well-written, your writing habits could be getting in the way of it being very well-written. Yes, we all have writing habits. They stem from our way of communicating. Writing is communicating, after all. And sometimes our way of communicating doesn’t actually work well in a manuscript which is meant to entertain or inform, for example.

What habits am I referring to? Here are a few:

• The overuse of pet words and phrases. One of them for me used to be “of course,” at the beginning of sentences.

• Creating long, complicated explanations or descriptions, often leading to run-on sentences and muddy writing.

• Trying to use words to impress or forcing the use of unfamiliar words.

• The overuse of commas and other punctuation for emphasis. Too many exclamation points, for example, soon devalue the enthusiasm factor.

• Misuse of punctuation such as quotation marks, em dashes, ellipses.

• Inappropriate paragraph breaks.

• A tendency to over explain, leading to a lot of repeated words.

• The inability to appropriately organize your material—sentences, paragraphs.

• Writing for yourself rather than your reader.

Today, why don’t you examine a few pages of your manuscript and see if you can find patterns that tend to brand your way of writing. See if you can discover your writing habits. Do they enhance or spoil your work? I can tell you that almost any habit that is repeated over and over in your writing (and isn’t that the definition of a habit?) will tend to taint it. You may be surprised at how much fresher and more meaningful your writing can be once an editor helps you to rid your work of some of those writing habits.

Visit my websites for resources, articles on editing (and other topics) and a description of my services:
http://www.matilijapress.com
http://www.patriciafry.com

Merry Christmas. I hope you all get exactly what you want most today. There’s only one way to make this happen, isn’t there? You must make it known what you want.

I remember those years when I would only hint at what I wanted for Christmas. I spent months hoping that my husband would notice my desire for a particular gift—that he would express his love by bringing me the item that would fulfill whatever dream I had at the moment. But would I tell him what it was I wanted? No. I expected him to do the romantic thing and guess right. It never happened. I guess he did listen, though, because he did respond to my off-handed comment one year that I needed vacuum cleaner bags—a size that was hard to find. The package that he told me to open last—the grand finale of that Christmas morning around the tree—was those damn vacuum cleaner bags—two packages of them. Watch what you ask for, ladies.

I finally learned one of the laws of human nature. Ask for what you want and make sure that’s what you want. Oh yes, and ask for it really close to the big day (Christmas, birthday, etc.) because guys, especially, shop at the last minute.

This “law” holds true in our business dealings, as well. In order to make the sale, you need to ask for it. If you want to write a column for a particular ezine, you must make a request. You certainly won’t land a publisher for your book if you don’t let your desires for a publisher be known. Do you want to publish an article in a certain magazine, all you have to do is ask—well, and make sure the piece is well-written, timely and appropriate.

I’ve had writers come to me and say, “I want to publish this article in such-and-such magazine, but they keep rejecting it. What’s wrong?” After looking at the article, I give the writer some pointers. In one case, the article was an essay and the magazine only publishes how-to pieces. I explained this to the writer. The next time I saw him, he asked me again how to get this article into this particular magazine. No, he hadn’t made any changes to it. He wants to have it published as is and can’t see any reason why he should rewrite it. Sure, he asked for what he wanted, but he wasn’t willing to bend or change in order to make it happen.

Opening your holiday packages today could be like looking in a mirror. The gifts, in some cases, reflect what you project to others. You’ll notice that some gifts are the results of what you’ve been putting out—what you’ve asked for, what you’ve hinted at, what you’ve talked about. Others reflect what you express an interest in, how you live, what you do without or must have in your life. The gifts you receive are telling. They reveal what you portray and say throughout the year. But some gifts may also suggest more about the giver. Some gift-givers present the same gift to everyone without regard for the individual. Of course, that tells more about the other person than it does you. So if you are known vegetarian who receives a huge box of Hickory Farms meats for Christmas, it’s not you it’s them.

Try peering into yourself this day by scrutinizing the type of gifts you receive and see if there is a common thread. It could be a fun exercise—and, hopefully, one that is somewhat revealing. At the end of the day, if you haven’t received what you truly want, whether it is precious bobbles, a landscape makeover, a book by your favorite author or simply a peaceful day, look to yourself to discover why. And think about making necessary changes in YOUR approach to the holidays and to your writing work in 2011.

I would love to receive a report.

http://www.matilijapress.com
http://www.patriciafry.com

Do you remember when writers were not well-respected because it was believed that no one could make a living as a writer? I was there—making a living with my writing at the time. Writers weren’t taken seriously because, after all, writing is an art—something that you do when inspiration strikes, not on demand. In those days, few people had ever even met a writer during their lifetime.

A lot has changed. Now writers and authors are everywhere—among your church congregation, in your office at work, living down the street, carpooling your kids, selling you bakery goods downtown, walking your dogs and teaching at the local high school. You have friends who have authored a book. And many of you reading this are writing, have written or are thinking about writing a book.

In the 1970s—‘80s, I did not know another writer. Today, I know hundreds of them. Isn’t this the case with you?

And you are probably finding that the craft of writing is still not taken seriously among your acquaintances and friends. Surely, this has happened to you: You’re announcement, during conversation, that you are a writer, is met with a rather blank stare, right? Just what is the other person thinking? I’ll tell you what:

• Humph, a writer, you say? You can’t be serious. Writing isn’t a profession, it’s a pastime.

• So why haven’t I heard of you?

• Yeah, my sister-in-law claims she’s a writer, too, but all she did was write a book, give copies to everyone she knows and tuck the rest away in her garage.

• Everyone can write. What’s the big deal about being a writer?

Few people know what goes into the writing profession. They aren’t aware of the multitude of writing-related jobs, careers in the corporate world. And they can’t imagine that anyone could create a business writing from home.

Yes, the stigma still exists—even among fellow writers. Writers and authors just starting out and even some that are slightly seasoned, really have a hard time with the concept of paying another writer to evaluate or edit their books, for example. Some just don’t have the money. They plan to make their fortune with their book. One author even told me a few years ago that he would have his book edited at some later date, but he needed to get it out now as is in order to start generating some funds. Once he has money in the bank, he’ll consider hiring an editor for a later revision.

There are few constants in writing and authorship. There are as many stories and scenarios as there are writers. I guess that’s why I’ve been able to keep writing new books and articles on writing and authorship. That’s why I’ve managed to post over a thousand blog posts during these past five years. But one thing that is true for every writer and author everywhere is this: If you plan to publish a book or have your articles/stories published, you really must study the publishing industry before getting involved. In order to succeed, you must have an enough of an understanding of publishing in order to make the right decisions for your project.

Publishing is a business—a highly competitive business. And the most important thing you can do for yourself before entering into the competition, is to become informed.

Competition—hmmm. I think I’ll say something about competition in tomorrow’s blog post. If anyone has comments they’d like for me to include, just email me: PLFry620@yahoo.com.

By the way, I have 2 spots left in my free online book proposal course scheduled to begin December 27, 2010. Read the course description here: http://www.matilijapress.com/course_bookproposal.htm Then contact me here: PLFry620@yahoo.com.