Here's a wonderful post by author Mark David Gerson about his need to keep writing no matter what: All That Matters is That I'm Writing. He's more positive about such things than I am. That's why I need to read his posts.
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I invite you to stop by my Malcolm's Round Table and read Remembering Favorite Moments in 2008. I like Montucky's comment that the best pictures we have of our favorite moments are those captured in our minds and hearts.
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For my usual sarcastic humor, I invite you to stop by my MySpace blog and read The Top Ten Reasons for Reading and Writing Books. None of these reasons will serve you well in your creative writing class.
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As 2008 ends, my second term on the local Historic Preservation Commission ends. While dealing with the city council's vision of preservation has been a challenge at times, I'm happy to have had the experience of serving as HPC chair for the last three years. I'm feeling positive about the incoming commissioners and wish them well.
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I don't really see the point of making lists of the best books for any given year. I especially enjoyed Tethered by Amy MacKinnon and Lavinia by Ursula Le Guin. While I was dubious about Rhett Butler's People, it has turned out to be a well written and compelling book, one that adds to the GWTW canon rather than detracting from it.
In addition to J. K. Rowling's Tales of Beedle the Bard, 2009 begins with Janeology by Karen Harrington and The Fortune Teller's Daughter by Lila Shaara.
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I finished a short short story today called "Storybook" and sent it off just in time to meet the year-end deadline for a magazine's call for submissions. I had fun writing it, borrowing my Garth character from The Sun Singer in the process. While I never know how my stylistic fiction will work when it reaches a reader or editor, I'm ending the year saying, with Mark, that all that matters is that I'm writing.
Best wishes to all of you for 2009.
Malcolm
Monday, December 29, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
The Honest Scrap Award
I learned moments ago that Yvonne Perry has honored me with The Honest Scrap Award.
First, I'm sure the word is supposed to be "Crap" and not "Scrap." Second, the honor is dubious in that it invites people to confess stuff so that, if it hasn't been noted in their permanent records before, it will be now.
Anyhow, this confession must include ten honest (fooey) secrets that most people don't know about me along with seven victims whom I want to honor (hahaha). First, the secrets:
1. I name all of my cars, regardless of color, "Bluebird." My 12-year-old Saturn is actually green, but has the heart of a DP racing car.
2. While in college, I learned just enough Dutch to sell lottery tickets in Holland to help raise money to refurbish an old cruise ship as a school.
3. Since I was a lowly E-3 in the Navy at the time, I got volunteered by an aircraft carrier's PR officer to smuggle all the illegal, empty booze bottles off the ship after a special bigwigs cruise.
4. Seriously, I really do like Brussels sprouts, goat cheese, anchovies, spinach, turnip greens and beets.
5. I once lived in the Mission District of San Francisco.
6. I get ticked off when bartenders put ice (slush or cubes) in my Margaritas right after I say don't ruin them with ice.
7. I get short tempered when restaurants serve me "strawberry shortcake" that's made without actual shortcake in it.
8. I delivered telegrams by bicycle when I was in high school.
9. My long-time (since high school) crush on Natalie Wood began while she as smiling at me when she was a young guest and I was in the audience of a national radio program hosted by Don MacNeil. I'm sure Natalie never forgot me. :-)
10. I was an Eagle Scout.
I'm sure the following people will have some exciting confessions to make:
1. FF&F
2. Barely Awake in Frog Pajamas
2.5 Pinhole (an extra victim)
3. Merry Monteleone
4. Diana Gabaldon
5. Dana Prince
6. Shelly Bryant
7. Elizabeth Grace
First, I'm sure the word is supposed to be "Crap" and not "Scrap." Second, the honor is dubious in that it invites people to confess stuff so that, if it hasn't been noted in their permanent records before, it will be now.
Anyhow, this confession must include ten honest (fooey) secrets that most people don't know about me along with seven victims whom I want to honor (hahaha). First, the secrets:
1. I name all of my cars, regardless of color, "Bluebird." My 12-year-old Saturn is actually green, but has the heart of a DP racing car.
2. While in college, I learned just enough Dutch to sell lottery tickets in Holland to help raise money to refurbish an old cruise ship as a school.
3. Since I was a lowly E-3 in the Navy at the time, I got volunteered by an aircraft carrier's PR officer to smuggle all the illegal, empty booze bottles off the ship after a special bigwigs cruise.
4. Seriously, I really do like Brussels sprouts, goat cheese, anchovies, spinach, turnip greens and beets.
5. I once lived in the Mission District of San Francisco.
6. I get ticked off when bartenders put ice (slush or cubes) in my Margaritas right after I say don't ruin them with ice.
7. I get short tempered when restaurants serve me "strawberry shortcake" that's made without actual shortcake in it.
8. I delivered telegrams by bicycle when I was in high school.
9. My long-time (since high school) crush on Natalie Wood began while she as smiling at me when she was a young guest and I was in the audience of a national radio program hosted by Don MacNeil. I'm sure Natalie never forgot me. :-)
10. I was an Eagle Scout.
I'm sure the following people will have some exciting confessions to make:
1. FF&F
2. Barely Awake in Frog Pajamas
2.5 Pinhole (an extra victim)
3. Merry Monteleone
4. Diana Gabaldon
5. Dana Prince
6. Shelly Bryant
7. Elizabeth Grace
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
What Gifts Do You Bring
Author and speaker Tricia Molloy posed an interesting question on the professional networking site called LinkedIn:
This is the week of gift buying and giving and receiving. When all the gifts have been exchanged and the whirlwind of shredded wrapping paper and ribbons settles, take a quiet moment to contemplate this. What gifts will you bring to the new year?
Some answers were personal, focusing on self development and family, while other people took a business approach and spoke of connecting with people.
Here's my response:
I hope to bring open-minded and flexible persistence. Many people agree with the viewpoint (championed by James Hillman in "The Soul's Code," among others) that we are "here" for a specific mission or purpose. One way or the other, we variously listen to angels, guides, the voice within, and the unfolding synchronicity before our eyes to determine just what that mission is and how to bring it about.
What is less clear is whether our intent was to complete the mission or to learn how to deal with the disappointment of not completing the mission. History honors great men and women who pushed ahead and overcame barriers in order to reach their goals; it seldom honors those who "failed" at their goals, but who were true saints in the way they handled the aftershocks of such losses.
One has to be open minded and flexible to figure this out.
As a writer, I often view "what I have to give" in terms of what I might say to a person, perhaps words of comfort or words of information. What about you? What gifts do you bring to the world's tree?
Happy Holidays!
This is the week of gift buying and giving and receiving. When all the gifts have been exchanged and the whirlwind of shredded wrapping paper and ribbons settles, take a quiet moment to contemplate this. What gifts will you bring to the new year?
Some answers were personal, focusing on self development and family, while other people took a business approach and spoke of connecting with people.
Here's my response:
I hope to bring open-minded and flexible persistence. Many people agree with the viewpoint (championed by James Hillman in "The Soul's Code," among others) that we are "here" for a specific mission or purpose. One way or the other, we variously listen to angels, guides, the voice within, and the unfolding synchronicity before our eyes to determine just what that mission is and how to bring it about.
What is less clear is whether our intent was to complete the mission or to learn how to deal with the disappointment of not completing the mission. History honors great men and women who pushed ahead and overcame barriers in order to reach their goals; it seldom honors those who "failed" at their goals, but who were true saints in the way they handled the aftershocks of such losses.
One has to be open minded and flexible to figure this out.
As a writer, I often view "what I have to give" in terms of what I might say to a person, perhaps words of comfort or words of information. What about you? What gifts do you bring to the world's tree?
Happy Holidays!
Saturday, December 13, 2008
New Flash Fiction, etc.
Now that my wife has finished wrapping all the out-of-town Christmas gifts and I have finished hauling them to the post office, I took a moment and posted a new ultra short story called "Just Kicking Yourself" on Eye Blink Fiction.
I saw on Twitter that Mark David Gerson had posted an interesting essay on Free Spirit called "Write What You Know...If You Dare." Just start writing: stop saying you don't know enough to do it.
Typical of me, I had cutting remarks to make about the New York Times list of the best books for 2008 on Writer's Notebook. Nothing wrong with the books; I just don't like the list.
In Tapping Into Emotional Hot Buttons, Penny C. Sansevieri, CEO and founder of Author Marketing Experts, talks about a good way to make sales that I definitely need more help with. How do you tap into what people really care about and sell a book?
On a more personal note, last Thursday night, I chaired my last meeting of the Jefferson, Georgia Historic Preservation Commission. When I told our preservation consultant Ken Kocher I had, after all, been on HPC for four years, three as the chair, he said (basically) "that ain't nothing." It's been an education. The new commissioners who will begin in January are bringing new ideas along with a lot of expertise. I look forward to watching their work (but not from the Civic Center meeting room anymore).
It's time to spend more time finding a publisher for my magical realism novel Garden of Heaven and to enjoy the holiday season.
Malcolm
Note: Still haven't read The Sun Singer? Yes, I know, print-on-demand books are more expensive than books from mainstream publishers. You can save, though, by purchasing the novel as an e-book at Powell's Books online. Only $5.33!
I saw on Twitter that Mark David Gerson had posted an interesting essay on Free Spirit called "Write What You Know...If You Dare." Just start writing: stop saying you don't know enough to do it.
Typical of me, I had cutting remarks to make about the New York Times list of the best books for 2008 on Writer's Notebook. Nothing wrong with the books; I just don't like the list.
In Tapping Into Emotional Hot Buttons, Penny C. Sansevieri, CEO and founder of Author Marketing Experts, talks about a good way to make sales that I definitely need more help with. How do you tap into what people really care about and sell a book?
On a more personal note, last Thursday night, I chaired my last meeting of the Jefferson, Georgia Historic Preservation Commission. When I told our preservation consultant Ken Kocher I had, after all, been on HPC for four years, three as the chair, he said (basically) "that ain't nothing." It's been an education. The new commissioners who will begin in January are bringing new ideas along with a lot of expertise. I look forward to watching their work (but not from the Civic Center meeting room anymore).
It's time to spend more time finding a publisher for my magical realism novel Garden of Heaven and to enjoy the holiday season.
Malcolm
Note: Still haven't read The Sun Singer? Yes, I know, print-on-demand books are more expensive than books from mainstream publishers. You can save, though, by purchasing the novel as an e-book at Powell's Books online. Only $5.33!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Rejections Always Sting, So Why Include an Insult?
After some 50 years of submitting material to publications, I'm not happy to admit that rejection slips still bother me.
Some don't surprise me: publication in magazine ABC or at ezine XYZ might have been a long shot.
Others throw me into minor states of shock because the synchronicity between the publication and the work I submitted seemed perfect.
Some rejection slips even make me laugh, in a dark humor kind of way. These include those in which the editor says, "we don't publish in this genre/theme/style/subject" even though I know full well that they do publish that. I'm tempted to write back and ask, "are you reading your own magazine?" But I don't.
Recently, I submitted a self-contained chapter of a novel to a literary magazine. Here's a copy of the e-mail rejection slip (with the names changed to protect the guilty):
Thank you, Malcolm, for submitting to The Bonfire Novelist. Unfortunately, we have elected to pass on your novel in progress, much preferring to consider something this is complete and polished, well beyond an initival draft.
Good luck with this project as you move forward with it.
Regards,
K. Martin
"K Martin" spells about as badly as I do, so we should be kindred spirits.
The fact that "K. Martin" doesn't know that I've polished this passage for some 15 years and have had numerous authors sing its praises isn't relevant. Editors don't care about the agony or the ecstasy we went through to create a short story or a poem, and I don't blame them. They can only go by what they see on the page.
"K Martin" knows his magazine and his audience much better than I do. My excerpt might be a really bad fit. That's acceptable. Suggesting that I slapped together an unpolished first draft is an unnecessary insult.
A form rejection slip or a simple "not for us" would have sufficed.
Okay, having used this blog as a place to vent, I'm ready to take a deep breath and move on, vowing out of ego, never to read the publication again.
-
I invite you to visit my Malcolm's Round Table weblog today and learn more about Shelagh Watkins' exciting new anthology Forever Friends.
Some don't surprise me: publication in magazine ABC or at ezine XYZ might have been a long shot.
Others throw me into minor states of shock because the synchronicity between the publication and the work I submitted seemed perfect.
Some rejection slips even make me laugh, in a dark humor kind of way. These include those in which the editor says, "we don't publish in this genre/theme/style/subject" even though I know full well that they do publish that. I'm tempted to write back and ask, "are you reading your own magazine?" But I don't.
Recently, I submitted a self-contained chapter of a novel to a literary magazine. Here's a copy of the e-mail rejection slip (with the names changed to protect the guilty):
Thank you, Malcolm, for submitting to The Bonfire Novelist. Unfortunately, we have elected to pass on your novel in progress, much preferring to consider something this is complete and polished, well beyond an initival draft.
Good luck with this project as you move forward with it.
Regards,
K. Martin
"K Martin" spells about as badly as I do, so we should be kindred spirits.
The fact that "K. Martin" doesn't know that I've polished this passage for some 15 years and have had numerous authors sing its praises isn't relevant. Editors don't care about the agony or the ecstasy we went through to create a short story or a poem, and I don't blame them. They can only go by what they see on the page.
"K Martin" knows his magazine and his audience much better than I do. My excerpt might be a really bad fit. That's acceptable. Suggesting that I slapped together an unpolished first draft is an unnecessary insult.
A form rejection slip or a simple "not for us" would have sufficed.
Okay, having used this blog as a place to vent, I'm ready to take a deep breath and move on, vowing out of ego, never to read the publication again.
-
I invite you to visit my Malcolm's Round Table weblog today and learn more about Shelagh Watkins' exciting new anthology Forever Friends.
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