I submitted my manuscript to my editor about four months ago.
I am supposed to get my editorial letter sometime this week. That will be the first official feedback on my novel--the missive that tells me what major changes my publisher may wish me to make.
I don't know if I will get that letter this week or not. I won't speculate on circumstances I know nothing about. Might something come up to delay the letter? Perhaps. Not being in my editor's shoes, I will simply wait and see.
I can understand why a publisher might need to build in some extra time between the manuscript submission date and the time when the editing process starts up. I'm sure there are many times when that three or four months of lag time has saved some editor's skin, when a writer did not deliver a manuscript by the original date!
I want to assure you about something though: I have NO complaints about post-contract waits. This feels nothing like the agony of pre-contract limbo. Some of my writer-friends are still hanging in that limbo while awaiting word from publishing houses on potential contracts.
This wait has given me one enormous gift already: time to get my 1855 novel in better shape before the editorial letter sends me back to the 1825 novel.
I have learned so much from revising that 1855 novel. I had to take the whole thing apart and examine all the pieces. Then, once I started putting it back together, it stayed silent and awkward for a while. Only this week, when I put the final, crucial part into place did the thing start to hum again. Now it makes sense. It WORKS.
I had been avoiding that last part of the revision because I didn't want to deal with it. I had the sense that I wanted to do something different, that a certain aspect of my heroine's character was not right. Finally I made myself think it through. And that was that! All at once, she made sense in every way. She turned from a velveteen heroine to a Real one.
Do you write your characters into Realness, as the Velveteen Rabbit gradually became Real? Was there a specific moment as you wrote your novel when your protagonist became Real? Or do you know your main characters so thoroughly before you begin writing that they are Real from the very start?
Monday, July 26, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Writers and Illness
My daughter and I are both ill today--nothing serious, just a tummy virus, and not even a very bad one. Too bad we initially thought her illness was related to her unwise binge on Sour Patch Kids and Doritos! I'm just praying none of the persons who have been around us for the last 36 hours will catch the bug. I can't stand being a Typhoid Mary. But since my husband is not down yet, I hope that means that this virus is not highly contagious.
Still, the bug has brought our activities to a grinding halt. Now we're resting on couches in the living room, slowly adding one food at a time back into our diets. And I do mean slowly. We're up to dry cheerios and chicken broth, not simultaneously. I'm drinking Diet Mountain Dew because it's the safest bet to replace coffee when I still need my caffeine fix.
Anyway, I've had plenty of time to think about illness and writing, as we convalesce.
The lives of many famous authors include a period of childhood illness. Henry James, for example, was always sickly, unlike his more gregarious, manly brother William. His fiction is intensely introverted: exactly the kind of thing you would expect from someone who had too much time on his hands to analyze relationships because he couldn't go play with the other kids. I'm not knocking Henry James. He writes beautifully. It's just not fiction that makes me want to go out and do anything. It just makes me want to eat chicken broth and languish on a couch.
William, his brother, is perhaps the most famous philosopher America has produced. Now hold on a minute, you may be thinking. Philosophy's not exactly a red-blooded man's day at the ball park with hot dogs and good buddies. Point taken, but the thing is, William was writing for others. He wanted his work to influence his readers to think and live in new ways. So in that way, William's writing was extroverted. Henry wrote primarily from his introverted desire to produce something beautiful and please himself, and whether his work appealed to others was a distant second. I can't imagine someone reading the last page of any of Henry's works and going out to make a major life change that very day. Unless, perhaps, said reader was an American, about to marry a dissolute European aristocrat who would make her life miserable, and Henry's work opened her blind eyes to the reality of her situation. Ha!
Illness can be one event that triggers a child's observational nature. But sickness is not the only childhood catalyst that produces a writer. Sometimes, children become very observant for their own protection, if they are intelligent and they live through unsafe situations. They learn to pay close attention to the moods and characters of those around them in order to avoid unpleasant consequences.
Other times, a child's simple curiosity will cause her to become observant. Smart children learn early that other persons are not puppets in the child's world, but real, complex creatures with hidden thought lives that scroll through their skulls. If a child is naturally interested in puzzles and the unknown, she may begin to observe others closely in order to solve the mystery of their behavior. My daughter does this. A few weeks back, she said something to me along these lines: "Mom, I don't know if you've noticed this, but I'm not like a lot of other kids. When adults are talking to each other about adult stuff, I listen to what they are saying."
Yes, I had noticed that trait. :-) It makes my life more difficult occasionally, as my daughter will occasionally ask us something from her eavesdropping station in the back seat of the van, to which we must respond: "That's adult stuff and we're not going to tell you yet."
Another factor in my daughter's desire to ferret out our adult secrets may be her viewpoint as an only child. If she had a sibling, they might distract one another more. As it is, she has a powerful incentive to listen if she wants to be a part of the conversation.
So are you an observer of others? Is that much of what drives your writing process? And if so, what do you think first made you interested in others more than in your own thoughts and desires?
Still, the bug has brought our activities to a grinding halt. Now we're resting on couches in the living room, slowly adding one food at a time back into our diets. And I do mean slowly. We're up to dry cheerios and chicken broth, not simultaneously. I'm drinking Diet Mountain Dew because it's the safest bet to replace coffee when I still need my caffeine fix.
Anyway, I've had plenty of time to think about illness and writing, as we convalesce.
The lives of many famous authors include a period of childhood illness. Henry James, for example, was always sickly, unlike his more gregarious, manly brother William. His fiction is intensely introverted: exactly the kind of thing you would expect from someone who had too much time on his hands to analyze relationships because he couldn't go play with the other kids. I'm not knocking Henry James. He writes beautifully. It's just not fiction that makes me want to go out and do anything. It just makes me want to eat chicken broth and languish on a couch.
William, his brother, is perhaps the most famous philosopher America has produced. Now hold on a minute, you may be thinking. Philosophy's not exactly a red-blooded man's day at the ball park with hot dogs and good buddies. Point taken, but the thing is, William was writing for others. He wanted his work to influence his readers to think and live in new ways. So in that way, William's writing was extroverted. Henry wrote primarily from his introverted desire to produce something beautiful and please himself, and whether his work appealed to others was a distant second. I can't imagine someone reading the last page of any of Henry's works and going out to make a major life change that very day. Unless, perhaps, said reader was an American, about to marry a dissolute European aristocrat who would make her life miserable, and Henry's work opened her blind eyes to the reality of her situation. Ha!
Illness can be one event that triggers a child's observational nature. But sickness is not the only childhood catalyst that produces a writer. Sometimes, children become very observant for their own protection, if they are intelligent and they live through unsafe situations. They learn to pay close attention to the moods and characters of those around them in order to avoid unpleasant consequences.
Other times, a child's simple curiosity will cause her to become observant. Smart children learn early that other persons are not puppets in the child's world, but real, complex creatures with hidden thought lives that scroll through their skulls. If a child is naturally interested in puzzles and the unknown, she may begin to observe others closely in order to solve the mystery of their behavior. My daughter does this. A few weeks back, she said something to me along these lines: "Mom, I don't know if you've noticed this, but I'm not like a lot of other kids. When adults are talking to each other about adult stuff, I listen to what they are saying."
Yes, I had noticed that trait. :-) It makes my life more difficult occasionally, as my daughter will occasionally ask us something from her eavesdropping station in the back seat of the van, to which we must respond: "That's adult stuff and we're not going to tell you yet."
Another factor in my daughter's desire to ferret out our adult secrets may be her viewpoint as an only child. If she had a sibling, they might distract one another more. As it is, she has a powerful incentive to listen if she wants to be a part of the conversation.
So are you an observer of others? Is that much of what drives your writing process? And if so, what do you think first made you interested in others more than in your own thoughts and desires?
Monday, July 12, 2010
Artistic Temperament, or Artistic License?
About a year and a half ago, I went through a week of severe emotional strain because I was having trouble with my novel.One of my friends wormed out of me the reason I had been walking around red-eyed and drained. Her response: "That's so cool!"
"What? How in the world is that cool?" I asked.
"You have an artistic temperament!" she replied.
When I finished laughing, I said: "Well, I'm glad you think that's cool, because lots of people do not. In fact, I do my best to hide that part of myself from most persons I know. Artistic temperament carries a real stigma sometimes."
What is it, then, the fabled artistic temperament?
G.K. Chesterton opined that only amateurs have artistic temperaments. He believed that great artists produce art naturally and wholesomely, without frustration, and then go about their business.
Despite my respect for Chesterton, I don't agree. Most artists whom the world calls "great" are not particularly calm, even when their lives appear ordinary to a casual observer.
The artistic temperament is usually very sensitive and intense. In order to create works that speak to humankind's deepest feelings, artists must be able to feel deeply themselves. In fact, many artists are first drawn to create because they need to express perceptions or preoccupations that will not fit into ordinary conversations.
Here's the rub: the artistic temperament is the exact opposite of the type of personality most apt to succeed in business.
In business, it pays to be analytical and calm. It can even help to be a little insensitive, or at least, not as hyper-aware of others as an artist tends to be.
So as a writer who must also be a businesswoman, I have to manage my artistic temperament carefully.
It took me years to learn how to harness the intense side of my temperament. Those were hard lessons. And there are still moments when my passionate temperament trots into my everyday life and I have to shoo it back in its stall and lock the door.
Now, though, I am usually able to be passionate in my work but calm in my business dealings with others in the industry.
When I meet someone else who shares my intensity and creative drive, I usually enjoy finding what we have in common.
But every once in a blue moon, I meet someone who has turned her artistic temperament into an artistic license.
Some writers, painters, and musicians never harness their extreme passions. Instead, they run around wreaking havoc on the folks around them and excusing it as an inevitable outgrowth of their artistic temperaments.
All of us may have moments when we lose our tempers or do things in the heat of the moment that we wish we could undo. But that's not the same as a regular pattern of behavior excused as simply a product of one's artistic nature.
Here are some examples of artists behaving badly and then pulling out their artistic licenses:
A singer who regularly blows up at anyone who won't give him his way backstage
A writer who abandons her husband for another lover because she's bored and wants something new and exciting and worthy of her "artistic" life
A sculptor who makes scenes in restaurants when there is the tiniest thing wrong with her food
A composer who stays in bed for weeks (or drunk, if that's his preference) instead of supporting his children, but then excuses it as art-related and unavoidable
Fortunately, I don't have many acquaintances who behave in these ways.
Artists may perceive a great deal, and sometimes take it hard, but most of us also know that we have the same responsibilities as any other person in any other profession.
Do you ever have trouble separating your inner artist from your inner businessperson? Or the artist from the parent? Or the artist from the community volunteer? How does that artistic nature cause trouble for you?
Or, by contrast, are there times when you think your artistic temperament helps you in other areas of your life?
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Writing Demons
Some things about writing don't change when you get an agent or a contract.
The primary struggle of writing takes place within your own mind. If you're honest enough to be a good writer, you won't ever be arrogant! Writing is just too hard, and if you're like me, there may be times when it's hard to persist in the face of your own weaknesses.
For the last week, insidious voices have been whispering around the edges of my consciousness.
Is this really any good?
Do I love what I'm writing?
Does it have good pacing?
Will readers care to follow these characters?
And every time one voice whispers a question, one of her companions answers.
No, this novel is not as good as the last one, and it won't ever be. Your success is just a fluke. You don't have the ability to do this, and you won't get any heavenly aid this time. So stop your praying and accept the fact that you just aren't good enough. Your desire to publish is selfish, and God is not going to help you achieve your selfish goals.
These are the demons reserved just for writers. Their pitchforks poke us without mercy. Their goal is always the same: they want us to quit.
But I have this advantage. I have held these voices at bay before. I know I can outlast them. The same whispers arose as I wrote my last novel, but in the end, I realized that they lied. My work was good. And my desire to publish is not selfish.
Voices this destructive must be countered with strong words.
My aim is to help others, and God knows that.
He uses imperfect workers like me to accomplish a perfect purpose, even if our part in the plan is small.
If my work encourages even one person, it is worth all the hours of solitary labor.
I will receive the help that I need. God has never failed me in any important writing task.
I do not have to be the best writer ever to put ink on the page. I just have to do the work I've been assigned, to the best of my ability.
All serious writers know about the voices, and they're a standard joke when we talk about non-writers not recognizing the peculiar world we inhabit. The voices emanate from our own psyches. But wherever they come from, they do us no good. Defeat those voices!
How do you answer them, when they try to beat you down?
The primary struggle of writing takes place within your own mind. If you're honest enough to be a good writer, you won't ever be arrogant! Writing is just too hard, and if you're like me, there may be times when it's hard to persist in the face of your own weaknesses.
For the last week, insidious voices have been whispering around the edges of my consciousness.Is this really any good?
Do I love what I'm writing?
Does it have good pacing?
Will readers care to follow these characters?
And every time one voice whispers a question, one of her companions answers.
No, this novel is not as good as the last one, and it won't ever be. Your success is just a fluke. You don't have the ability to do this, and you won't get any heavenly aid this time. So stop your praying and accept the fact that you just aren't good enough. Your desire to publish is selfish, and God is not going to help you achieve your selfish goals.
These are the demons reserved just for writers. Their pitchforks poke us without mercy. Their goal is always the same: they want us to quit.
But I have this advantage. I have held these voices at bay before. I know I can outlast them. The same whispers arose as I wrote my last novel, but in the end, I realized that they lied. My work was good. And my desire to publish is not selfish.
Voices this destructive must be countered with strong words.
My aim is to help others, and God knows that.
He uses imperfect workers like me to accomplish a perfect purpose, even if our part in the plan is small.
If my work encourages even one person, it is worth all the hours of solitary labor.
I will receive the help that I need. God has never failed me in any important writing task.
I do not have to be the best writer ever to put ink on the page. I just have to do the work I've been assigned, to the best of my ability.
All serious writers know about the voices, and they're a standard joke when we talk about non-writers not recognizing the peculiar world we inhabit. The voices emanate from our own psyches. But wherever they come from, they do us no good. Defeat those voices!
How do you answer them, when they try to beat you down?
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Win a $25 Starbucks Card!
Hi friends,
Please stop by my interview at Keli Gwyn's blog today by clicking this link:
Rosslyn's Interview
She interviews me about my debut novel, five people who most influenced my writing, and why the failure of my first novel to land a contract was the best thing ever to happen to my writing career.
Please leave a comment at her blog so I feel the love! :-)
If you do, you will be entered in a drawing for a $25 Starbucks gift card, which is my way of buying you a cup of coffee and wishing you were here to chat in person.
Please stop by my interview at Keli Gwyn's blog today by clicking this link:
Rosslyn's Interview
She interviews me about my debut novel, five people who most influenced my writing, and why the failure of my first novel to land a contract was the best thing ever to happen to my writing career.
Please leave a comment at her blog so I feel the love! :-)
If you do, you will be entered in a drawing for a $25 Starbucks gift card, which is my way of buying you a cup of coffee and wishing you were here to chat in person.
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