Actually, the living is quite a-kilter. Every day is a new surprise, and perhaps this is what it means to live in “interesting times.” In any event, I (watch what I) eat, I read, I sleep, I teach, I write with arguably extra-sufficient skill, while wondering what fresh hell will be delivered to my inbox that morning (rejections need not apply). I’m seriously trying not to doom scroll, or return to the X wasteland for what I’ve been missing, and right now all I’m using Instagram for is the cat videos. (Yes, guilty as charged.) Most of all I’m trying not to live a parenthetical life, but it’s starting to look as if I am, still waiting (a bit impatiently) for that Big Breakout. I wonder if it too is waiting for me.
Ah, what the hell. Going to grab a cold one and slice off another slab of watermelon. Happy Summer everyone!
Click here to apply by May 1 for the Fall 2024 cohort!
Join us on March 23, 2024, at the Hilton Garden Inn in Hamilton, New Jersey for the 13th Annual Liberty States Fiction Writers Conference. This is a great opportunity for published and aspiring authors to network and learn from a fantastic line-up of industry professionals. The conference will feature a dozen workshops that cover various aspects of writing including craft, business, promotion, and indie-publishing. Don’t miss out on a full days of education and networking. Visit our website for more info and to register!
Pearl Street Press, based in New Haven, CT and edited by Lisa Siedlarz and Vivian Shipley, is seeking submissions from all perspectives on the many challenges of menopause. Submit up to 3 poems (not to exceed 6 pages) and essays (not to exceed 1,000 words) for their debut publication Rising from the Ashes. Email submissions as a single Word document to PearlStPress@gmail.com. Please include a short bio. The submission deadline is January 31, 2024. There is no reading fee.
Hilton Garden Inn, Hamilton, NJ
Liberty States Fiction Writers 13th Annual Conference will feature a line-up of more published authors and industry professionals who will share their expertise and experience. Located at the Hilton Garden Inn in Hamilton, New Jersey, we offer a full day of education and networking for those who are published or want to be published. Workshops will focus on craft, business, promotion and indie-publishing. Love to write? Want to get published? Join us on March 23, 2024.
One of my students referred to a book she read recently that referred to a once-common publishing term known as the “slush pile.” Which led me on a discussion on open submissions and small publishing houses and how a new author can get their manuscript read without first having it vetted by an agent…
In your journal for this week you refer to William Goldman’s Adventures in the Screen Trade and his mention of the slush pile. In any event, the slush pile is a real thing, books (or screenplays) sent “over the transom” as they used to say, which means without an agent or a targeted call for submissions. Some of the smaller publishers—and even some bigger ones, though NONE of the Big Five—will still take unagented or open submissions, which can be considered the slush pile of today. Some editors love them, usually what’s referred to as the “baby editors,” former editorial assistants who work under a senior editor and are now building their own list, as they’re always on the look-out for the next big author or trend.
Young editors/agents are often the best to query as they’re more open to submission, and a good website to keep an eye on is Publishing…and Other Forms of Insanity, as their posts always highlight new agents looking for clients. The site also lists publishers of all genres who accept unagented submissions, and it’s really eye-opening how many publishing houses are really out there. So much emphasis is put on getting published by the Big Five, but in truth, your chances for publication are much better if you query a smaller house. Many turn out to be hidden (or unappreciated) gems as far as how they value their authors, and many are willing to take a chance on new ones. And don’t discount their influence either as far as getting discovered. One of my favorite stories is of a small-house author making is big named Nelson Johnson, author of Boardwalk Empire. He published a book with Plexus Publishing, a small house out of Medford, NJ, and he was just lucky enough to have it read by HBO showrunner Terrance Winter, who eventually turned it into a hit series for HBO!
I guess the moral of this story is you never know where your fortunes lie, and if the opportunity arises, just take it. You never know who’s reading!
And I don’t mean the kiddie camp! I mean the one that’s mean for pseudo adults like us! Want to get that novel out from under you bed? Or to whip the one in shape that you’ve been to scared to set on the Query Trail? Or maybe just start with a brand new thang? Then Camp NaNoWriMo is for you! But don’t listen to me. This is from their site:
Camp NaNoWriMo is your next, great writing adventure! This month-long writing challenge takes place every April and July, and offers you the flexibility to try something new with your writing. The key differences between Camp NaNoWriMo and our November writing challenge are that during Camp, you can set your own word-count goal (you’re not locked into 50,000 words!), and you can officially tackle any kind of writing project, novel or not.
So get cracking! There’s special interest groups like Camp Memoir and NanNoFinMo–finish that existing novel–you can learn more about by visiting their site. The weather is about to turn balmy, and there’s no better time than to sit by the fire pit, crack open the old laptop and start creating.
Happy Writing!
I’m closing down on a draft right now, coming right up on the dark moment, and I’m eating and sleeping this one, and everything I do during the day seems secondary. Literally, it’s all I think about (and don’t you HATE when people misuse literally because if you’re saying or writing it you’re being “literal”?). Perhaps it’s just a coping mechanism, as coming off two years of COVID absorption that segued smack into the horror going on halfway around the world, this deep-dive allows me a perfect diversion into another reality. And you might ask yourself, is it naive or unrealistic or to write about situations so ignorant of our current events? Shouldn’t my writing be more reflective of the current state of affairs? Shouldn’t my characters ask each other if they’ve been boosted or if they’ve lately sent a contribution to an overseas aid agency? Shouldn’t they be sleeping with one eye opened at night?
I don’t know about you, but even though I take my writing very seriously, it is seriously my escape, and I’m of the belief that my readers will welcome a portal to another world, if only for a little while. Isn’t that why we write and read fiction after all?
Gwen Jones Writes 