Oh alright, it sounds fun. I guess I can sell that one in my sig too. Just out of curiosity, why did you leave Tor? (if you can/want to say). Also, what are your views of Penguin? I'm nearly done with a manuscript, and Penguin seems to publish a lot of books in my genre.
I actually don't know much about Penguin/Putnam/Ace/Berkley. People move around so fast in publishing that anything I told you might not be true by the time I finished typing it. If you think that your book fits with their list, then the best thing for you to do is find out who edits the books you like and query those editors. Far as leaving Tor: the guy who bought A SCATTERING OF JADES left publishing, and beyond that I have no comment. I will say that I like being at Del Rey. If any of you know of China Mieville, the guy who edits me now is also China's editor. (Along with Clarke and Baxter and some other folks.)
Did you do some kind of promotional tour with Mieville last book? Will you be doing one with him for this book?
China and I are supposed to be doing some dates together this summer, but nothing is confirmed. I did'nt know him when the last book came out. When I have real details about what's going to happen with my/our tour this summer, I'll post them here out of typical motives, greed self-promotion etc.
Great. Hopefully I can catch you two at one of the tour stops. About the making greed part, . Let's hope you make enough money to buy an MLS team! (sort of like Tom Clancy and the Minnesota Vikings)
check this out (tooting of own horn) http://salon.com/tech/index.html Look for "Retroactive Anti-Terrorism"--my first appearance on Salon.com, which is kind of a kick.
Re: check this out (tooting of own horn) I feel very special right now. I just got my first rejection from an agent about the book I'm writing. I reached a point where I felt confident sending out queries to try and get representation. One guy who I had researched and seemed like a possible fit said he responded to e-mail queries within three days. I sent it yesterday morning. I got the standard rejection e-mail just a little bit ago. The journey begins.
Re: check this out (tooting of own horn) Didn't know if we were allowed to do plug-ettes here. My dad supplements his meagre income by writing plays for kids. He had been doing it for his own school for years, as far back as I can remember. Then he found that people around the world would quite happily pay him for the rights to use his plays in their schools. Here he is, and I have to say, I'm remarkably surprised by the number of takers. Got a few in Canada, a few in Northern US somewhere and a few in English speaking schools around the world. http://www.lazybeescripts.co.uk/Authors/Geoff_Bamber.htm Intro self written I assume - it just sounds like him. And for my own project? Well nothing of late, but I do plan (sometime lol) to write a travel/experience book - with a humorous lilt to it. If nothing else it means I get to go off and travel without people thinking I'm being a recalcitrant loafer.
I'm about to finish the rough of a short story in the next few days or weeks or something along those lines. I'm wondering if I have any takers here who would like to read and critique. The story is good, at least as good as my published credit. I think it's quite publishable, maybe, perhaps ..... if you are reading this, you know how that goes. But I like it, and I suspect at least someone here might. On a related topic, my career as a journalist is on its last legs. You never know, but it seems that way. I don't really want to go too far into the details. Suffice it to say that sometimes you just burn out, and sometimes it takes a while to recognize it. But I've been talking it over with my girlfriend and we were discussing my options, and I came back to thinking about how to make a go of it as a writer. The conversation started with, maybe this is a good time to write the novel or the screenplay that I've had in my head for so long. Which evolved into discussing what kind of job could I take that would allow me to function reasonably as a person, perhaps support a family in the next couple of years, while allowing me the certain off-time, and my mind the certain off-time, to write successfully, etc. So I'm here for ideas. Personally, if I were to be a mailman with 10-15 published short stories in my life, I would look at that as success. And maybe something like that is the route I want to go. To me, it's a hard decision to dedicate yourself to writing in a complete way. I liken it to my past in competitive swimming.. to this day, I can step into a recreation pool anywhere and usually be the fastest swimmer there. That doesn't mean that I should start training for the Olympics anytime soon. If I were as good at plumbing, say, as I am at writing, I would be making a good living. But that's not the way it works. The world needs plumbing more than it needs stories. So any advice would help. And I hope someone (or two) raises a hand to read the story.
There's an amusing little carton regularly featured in the British satirical magazine, Private Eye. If the link's still good here's an example. http://www.tavaran.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/mscroll/tolkcartoon2.jpg They've got another one for Samuel Beckett. The paper in the typewriter says.. Act One. Scene One. Enter Godot.
Got too many writing tasks on my plate right now: 1 - PhD thesis. 2 - CONCACAF/FIFA book (currently titled POLITICAL ANIMALS: Exposing North American and Global Soccer Leadership) 3 - a reality-based fictional manuscript called THE PREHISTORIC WORLD 4 - a screenplay called FOUNDING FATHERS Needless to say, not much progess is being made, due to a little thing called a thesis...
My first book was published today (newbie here...) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...433-8528068?v=glance&n=507846#product-details It was done with a helping hand from the Xlibris personal publishing company, and is not yet available online. That should change by next week. It's a fantasy story about the ideal friend that every one of us has, at one time or another stored in the back of their mind. So I figured I'd write a tale about if things got so dire for a man, what if his ideal companion emerged from his mind, into the light of day, as real as any of us, made of flesh and blood? There would be benefits - and consequences... Paul
Well, I've got nothing at Amazon quite yet, but I wrote a short story for an essay class that my professor liked enough to ask me if he could submit it to some publishers he knows. It's here: http://tiger.towson.edu/~soneil4/dontbelong.doc
Probably the same thing that always seems to happen with my book and many others on Bigsoccer. To put it in simpler terms: Me- 3,159 Bigsoccer posts....0 books Monster- 16,662 Bigsoccer posts....0 books Irvine- 652 Bigsoccer posts....2+ books Any questions?
I can really relate to that sentiment and I often find that I never write when I am in a confident and relaxed mood. It is more common to find me scribbling/typing madly in a very impromptu way. Usually very informal and often "from the hip". I find that I can write very imaginative text at times but am almost always caught up by the errant punctuation/grammatical mistake. I am very prone to these and when I catch one myself I often mull it over to the point of destroying and continuity of thought I had. I'm often curious to know that if writers who specialize in longer pieces run into problems or if it seems to flow freely for 10-15 pages before experiencing blocks. I have many ineterests and it seems that writing probably doesn't get the attention it deserves from me. Mostly because of the sense of underachievement, frustration and lack of motivation it gives me. Do you gus often curb other interests to help free time for your writing? Examples being; sports, music, friends, etc.
I've sent some e-queries out and gotten a few rejections. I'm planning on putting together some mail queries this week. I'm also putting it aside as much as I can and moving onto something else that I had started a while back.
The big thing that let me have the ability to complete a book-length manuscript was committing to writing during my lunch break. I got a laptop, loaded a ton of music on it (I love to listen while I write) and sat by myself every day to work. I also try to steal time to write or edit - when I take my kid to storytime or early in the morning when no one else is up.
A couple of months ago, I submitted my novel (well, the first 25 pages) for the Maryland Writer's Association contest. The prizes are minimal, but I was mor einterested in the critique that came with the entry fee. I got them in the mail today. Two people read them, neither negative, but one more favorable than the other. "This book has great potential." Made my frigging day.
I recently finished (well, all but finished) my masters degree...and then got taken into the Ph. D. program here at the same univ.....in a rather non-literary area. Thats another 3 years of more or less constant academic work ahead of me; looking back at the last year, I've done a fair bit of reading but comparatively little fiction writing. I could accept that as the way it's going to be until I get out of here - but I'd rather not; instead, I'm making a somewhat irrational leap of logic and figuring that the best way for me to get through this program both mentally intact and happy is to write more, not less. As in, I'm going to try and write the novel I've got in my head at the same time as I go through this Ph.d. Makes a ton of sense, huh? And in another (harebrained) attempt to stoke up my writing focus, I've taken a step I steadfastly convinced myself I never would - I started a blog. No idea if it's going to work as intended (I'm desperate for it not to turn into a morass of gruesomely detailed quotidian bitching and moaning) but worth a shot, I suppose.
How do you know when you're finished. When the changes, on par, make the story worse than before they wre made. Pretty simple really, huh? I've just hit that point. It's time to choose the litmags.