Musings Of A New Southern Man

I know the value of AIC (ass in chair) as an author, but I know the value of taking a mental break and getting my literary world in order. But that raises a question: What did I do during that time? My days were filled with various tasks, but three stand out. First, I worked on revisions on my baseball novel. Second, I sent a single query letter on another novel out to a single literary agent. I guess I could label that as an exclusive submission, although that would be fudging the truth. Third, I brushed up on my German, which I did next to nothing with since high school. I like learning languages, but like many other of my preferences I left this one on the back burner. Being involved in a career does that. I have more free time now, so I turn my attention back to one of my neglected loves. I figured German would be a good starting point because I had a one-year course when I was in high school. (I also took one year of Latin, but that is a dead language that should be studied on...

My time of reflection over the past few weeks has been very advantageous. I had been writing on projects for so long that I forgot why I was writing in the first place. That reason has become increasingly clear over the past few days. The object of being an author is to write what you love to write. Don't get me wrong. I love all three of my main characters who are the center of my novels. My time away to assess has directed me toward working diligently to finalize one novel. (Veteran authors say there really is no novel that is finalized, just one on which the work stopped for publication. That's very true.) This novel is closest to my heart. It is from a world I know best. My favorite is my baseball novel. It is good for me because I am writing what I love to write. I don't believe it is good from a financial standpoint. Sports fiction is not a big seller these days. Most literary agents who list sports as a category they represent add that they represent nonfiction...

I read so much advice from published authors on the best things to do in certain circumstances. Most of them give adequate information. There is one I took to heart about a month ago. One author said that sometimes it's good to put a project away for a while and concentrate on other things if the creative process isn't quite right. I did that. I put my second novel in one series far on the back burner, and I concentrated on a few short stories. I had to do it. I will try to explain. I take time during my writing to go over my work at certain intervals. There is no set timetable, like stopping when I get approximately 30 percent of the way through my planned manuscript. I did such a revision with this latest novel, and I didn't like the results. There was the standard "lack of punch" that many writers have in a first draft, but there were other problems. I had a section in which I analyzed the impact of a series of events in my story line. I put it into the mid...

I discovered a wonderful vacation destination. It's called the world of the short story. Of course, novels are the foundation of my literary efforts, but my journeys into short stories provide nice stopping places. They are filled with different characters and situations, all varied and clearly defined in their own little spaces. I enjoy the definition of the short story by author Joe Lansdale, a prolific writer in many areas who describes the short story as a novel with all the unnecessary parts taken out. I never fully understood his point until I started writing my own short stories. Each story has its own life, but with fewer complications. I lead protagonists and antagonists in novels through raging rivers and deep canyons of life, and I detail each point of their story. The short story still allows for those raging rivers and deep canyons, but I present problems in a more concise manner. That satisfies the journalist in me. One part of short story writing I love is being ...

I got up at 5:20 a.m. yesterday, and I had to do it. I had an idea for a short story rattling around my creative center. It had been there for a few days, going from the germ of a story line to a full-blown tangle of problems. I spent the next three to four hours putting everything on paper. I will spend time today making little changes to strengthen wording and flow. This isn't anything surprising to anyone who works to be an author. This time my format was the short story. I often wake up in the middle of the night and have wording flowing through my mind. It could be a new section of a novel I am working on, or a revision of a section I worked on recently. It's part of an author's life. We live on our creativity after all. That creativity doesn't stop because the clock says it's time for sleep. Yesterday my focus was on a middle-aged woman in a small Colorado town. Later today I will go back to the sequel of the novel I am pitching to agents these days, and S...

I met author John Hart at a Pikes Peak Writers Conference, and I had a question I had to ask: What is the first thing an author needs to learn? His reply: "Have a thick skin." Hart knows how difficult it can be to get that first offer of representation from a literary agent. His first novel, King of Lies , was rejected numerous times, and this book ended up on the NY Times best sellers list once an agent and publishing house took him under their wings. I have a thick skin from my journalism days. A reporter or editor is harangued at times by readers or story subjects for certain things that are disagreeable to them. Well, readers are much more prone to being stinging with their criticism than story subjects, and journalists learn to live with that fact. I also have learned to have that thick skin in trying to sell my literary efforts. I have known rejection on numerous occasions. For every book you see on the shelves or an online list, there are tens of thousands of rejecte...

H.G. Wells captivated our minds with the story of The Time Machine , a device that allowed people to be transported into the future. It is a wonderful story, but authors don't need a tangible device. They already have one. It's called the creative mind. Even writers who concentrate on modern times take readers to other places and events, thanks to story line creation. I wondered where I would put myself in history if I had the choice. I found the answer while watching a PBS documentary on train travel in northern Italy, especially the arrival in Venice. The show's host used a old travel guide from the early 1900s to illustrate his points. That guide book told of the introduction travelers received in Venice. The most prominent visitors flocked to the city because it was a haven for the rich and entitled. It was a place of great villas and venues where the rich could enjoy the benefits of their status. British upper class loved to come here. The guide book welcomed visit...