When I was in secondary school, my parents set up a summer trip almost every year. We took the budget route, always driving one model of Chevrolet or another, staying in low-cost (but clean) motels, and ordering from the inexpensive sections of every restaurant menu.
These trips meant a lot to me in spite of the fact that we sometimes drove 700 miles in a day on non-Interstate roads just to get in all of the planned sightseeing from Boston to Ft. Ticongeroga to Washington DC. to California and Washington State and Key West.
My folks always planned the details and I went a long for the ride. Now, my wife and I have to plan the details: flight times and schedules, the ever-changing rules about baggage and what can go in carry-on luggage and what can't, hotel reservations, customs, airport parking and security, car rental. It's enough to make the sanest person--other than a savvy business traveler--think twice about anything other than a day trip.
In spite of all that, I'm looking forward to returning to the source of most of my writing inspiration next week, Glacier National Park, the setting for both The Sun Singer and much of Garden of Heaven. I wonder, after an absence of 20 years, how much has changed, and how I'll feel about it.
As a former hotel worker there, I felt oddly out of place in some of my earlier trips back, rather like a man going back to visit his college or high school, and seeing that he was no longer a part of the goings-on there any more. Fortunately, enough time has gone by that the odds are small that I'll see anyone I know.
I'm just hoping that my weak knees and troublesome left ankle will hold up for a few miles of hiking, far short of the 25 miles a day we so easily did when I was there as seasonal summer help while in college.
I'm thinking, though, that when I go back to Europe, I'm going to be really tempted to turn the trip over to some tour operator and let them worry about the vacation details so I can concentrate on the sightseeing.
Book Review: See my book review of Nancy Whitney-Reiter's Unplugged on Associated Content.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Garden of Heaven Website
I would like to invite everyone to stop by my new website for GARDEN OF HEAVEN.
While the novel continues to make the rounds of prospective publishers, I decided this would be a good time to put up the first version of the site. You'll find it relatively low key, but hopefully interesting enough to those who like literary fiction and magical realism to tempt them into signing up for the newsletter and remembering the title.
There's an e-mail in-box on the site in case anyone finds any typos or has any comments.
Thanks,
Malcolm
While the novel continues to make the rounds of prospective publishers, I decided this would be a good time to put up the first version of the site. You'll find it relatively low key, but hopefully interesting enough to those who like literary fiction and magical realism to tempt them into signing up for the newsletter and remembering the title.
There's an e-mail in-box on the site in case anyone finds any typos or has any comments.
Thanks,
Malcolm
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Making it hard for people to contact you is bad
In today's copy of a C. Hope Clark (Funds for Writers) newsletter, she lists a variety of things writers do that hurt them in a very competitive marketplace.
Some writers, for example, are afraid to send in their work because they think the editor will steal it or that the contest or the publication isn't legitimate. The first fear is virtually bogus and the second fear can be solved with a little research.
In either case, while a writer is worrying overly much about such things, those with whom he or she is in competition with are sending their work in and getting it read.
She also takes aim at the e-mail intercept software many people are installing on their computers these days due to worry about spam. Some require a code number to get through, while others require prior approval from the recipient.
Bluntly put, editors and agents who might be interested in your manuscript aren't going to put up with such barriers, Hope says. They don't have time. Since most e-mail systems clear out a fair amount of the real spam, why put people who might buy your work, ask for some freelance help, or wish to interview you through this extra trouble simply to keep a few Viagra and bogus lottery tickets out of your inbasket?
I see the same kinds of barriers set up on MySpace by folks who are there primarily for networking. So what do they do. They limit their blog posts and incoming MySpace messages to a friends-list folks only people and then they restrict their incoming friends lists requests to people who know their e-mail addresses. How likely is THAT doing to be? Or, who know their real names if their set up under a handle.
If you're there to network, the door has got to be open wide enough to allow the legitimate people in even if a few losers get into the lobby.
Some writers, for example, are afraid to send in their work because they think the editor will steal it or that the contest or the publication isn't legitimate. The first fear is virtually bogus and the second fear can be solved with a little research.
In either case, while a writer is worrying overly much about such things, those with whom he or she is in competition with are sending their work in and getting it read.
She also takes aim at the e-mail intercept software many people are installing on their computers these days due to worry about spam. Some require a code number to get through, while others require prior approval from the recipient.
Bluntly put, editors and agents who might be interested in your manuscript aren't going to put up with such barriers, Hope says. They don't have time. Since most e-mail systems clear out a fair amount of the real spam, why put people who might buy your work, ask for some freelance help, or wish to interview you through this extra trouble simply to keep a few Viagra and bogus lottery tickets out of your inbasket?
I see the same kinds of barriers set up on MySpace by folks who are there primarily for networking. So what do they do. They limit their blog posts and incoming MySpace messages to a friends-list folks only people and then they restrict their incoming friends lists requests to people who know their e-mail addresses. How likely is THAT doing to be? Or, who know their real names if their set up under a handle.
If you're there to network, the door has got to be open wide enough to allow the legitimate people in even if a few losers get into the lobby.
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Congratulations to Maryann McFadden
Maryann McFadden has an agent, a publishing contract from Hyperion, a Book Sense pick for June, and translators working on foreign editions of her Pawleys Island novel The Richest Season.
It wasn't so long ago that she had given up on the book before deciding to self publish it in 2006. Her story is the kind of story authors with print-on-demand books love to hear: it's possible to find a mainstream publisher after starting out on a wing and a prayer.
She worked hard, selling 100 books at her first signing, found a supportive book store owner and a lot of happy readers. She ultimately sold 3,000 copies of her book, a rare thing in a world where most self--published books sell fewer than 100 copies. You can read her story here: Self-published Strand Tale Gets Boost.
Look out Dot Frank, you've some more competition!
It wasn't so long ago that she had given up on the book before deciding to self publish it in 2006. Her story is the kind of story authors with print-on-demand books love to hear: it's possible to find a mainstream publisher after starting out on a wing and a prayer.
She worked hard, selling 100 books at her first signing, found a supportive book store owner and a lot of happy readers. She ultimately sold 3,000 copies of her book, a rare thing in a world where most self--published books sell fewer than 100 copies. You can read her story here: Self-published Strand Tale Gets Boost.
Look out Dot Frank, you've some more competition!
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