You’ve just been to the worst concert of your life. Afterward, you head to a bar with friends and start drowning your disgust. Moments later, the musician (or musicians) shows up. You decide to confront the musician about the lousy performance and ask for your money back. The musician suggests a different approach to repaying you. Write what happens.

Post your response (500 words or fewer) in the comments below.

Want more creative writing prompts? Consider:
The Writer’s Book of Matches

This is a recurring column I’m calling “7 Things I’ve Learned So Far,” where writers (this installment written by G.M. Malliett, mystery author of multiple novels) at any stage of their career can talk about writing advice and instruction as well as how they possibly got their book agent — by sharing seven things they’ve learned along their writing journey that they wish they knew at the beginning.

(Learn tips on how to write a query letter.)

GIVEAWAY: G.M. is excited to give away a free copy of her novel to a random commenter. Comment within 2 weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before.

G.M. Malliet is the author of WICKED AUTUMN, an NBC “Today” show
Summer Reads Pick (Charlaine Harris). Her first book won the Agatha
Award for Best First Mystery, and her two most recent books were chosen
by Library Journal for their best mysteries lists of 2011 (WICKED AUTUMN)
& 2012 (A FATAL WINTER). Visit her website at http://GMMalliet.com. 

 1. Write what you love to read. Authors just starting out often misinterpret the standard advice to “write what you know.” Perhaps you know a lot about root canals or tax law, but the trick is to write the type of book you most love to read—thriller, love story, or historical novel. That way you know what’s been done before, and what you can build upon. Your insider knowledge of tax law may come into play, perhaps in a legal thriller, but a little of that will go a long way. By the same token…

2. Don’t write a Scandinavian mystery, unless you happen to be Scandanavian. Even if you read the Steig Larsson books a dozen times, trying to write a book with a setting and culture you know little about will guarantee an unhappy ending.

(Writing a thriller? Check out our list of thriller literary agents.)

3. Don’t invent a series character you wouldn’t marry. You may have to live with this character for a very long time. Agatha Christie famously wanted to throttle Hercule Poirot and his mustaches with her bare hands before she was done with him or he with her. By the same token, avoid Agatha’s mistake in inventing an elderly protagonist unless you yourself are elderly. This leads us to…

4. Plan Ahea… As the old joke goes, particularly if you are writing a book that is part of a planned series. I called my first Max Tudor novel Wicked Autumn. The second book in the series was A Fatal Winter. So far, so good. You may have spotted that I have a seasonal trend going here. I have a strong title in mind for the spring book, but a title for the summer book eludes me. I figure I’ll cross that fjord when I get there. For the fifth book I am in trouble unless they invent a new season. Or I could switch to using Swedish titles: Swedish for autumn, I am told, is “höst.”

5. Never get too attached to your book title. Getting too attached to anything you’ve written is asking for trouble, but titles can be particularly problematic. Writers tend to cling to their titles until they have to be pried from their cold dead hands. I’ve been lucky that out of five books I’ve had published (the first three were the St. Just series for Midnight Ink) only one title was rejected. Midnight Ink’s marketing department wanted to keep the third title consistent with the first two. They were probably right about this, but it led to the sort of lengthy exchange of emails that can take years off an author’s life. I still mourn that lost title, and I plan to resurrect it one day. But unless they want to call your book Boring Novel or Stupid Book or something else you just can’t live with, let it go.

(Read the guest column “What’s in a Title? Everything.”)

6. Listen to half the advice you get from those who critique your work. The question, of course, is “Which half?” But it’s your book, and you should be able to defend it before you even think of showing it to anyone: critique group partner, agent, editor—anyone. What you share should be your strongest effort, and you should have a very good reason for every decision you’ve made in writing it. Before you’ve reached the point of confidence (this is different from stubbornness, by the way), you’ll probably be quick to go on the defensive. You may cling mulishly to what is clearly not working in the book. Avoid the chance of ignoring good advice when it is given by thinking the whole thing through ahead of time.

7. The only way around Writer’s Block is to drive straight through it. Whether you’re cleaning out your garage or writing a book, the same principle applies: Never tackle a big project all at once. Approach it as a series of little projects strung together. Maybe you don’t feel like describing a character today, so work on your setting. If that plot twist isn’t working, work on something else you know you want to have in your book. Imagine the house where you protagonist lives, or where he goes for coffee every day, and describe it in one short but finely honed paragraph. That’s it. You’re done for the day. Tomorrow, tackle the next part of the story that happens to engage your attention. When you’ve stitched all these pieces together, what you’ll have is a finished novel.

GIVEAWAY: G.M. is excited to give away a free copy of her novel to a random commenter. Comment within 2 weeks; winners must live in Canada/US to receive the book by mail. You can win a blog contest even if you’ve won before.

Are you a subscriber to Writer’s Digest magazine
yet? If not, get a discounted one-year sub here.

Other writing/publishing articles & links for you:

• New Literary Agent Seeking Clients: Gemma Cooper of The Bent Agency.
• Interview With Agent Helen Zimmerman, Who Seeks Fiction and Nonfiction.
• How to Publicize and Promote Your Book: 7 Tips.
• Sell More Books by Building Your Writer Platform.
• Exactly What Your Pitch Should NOT Look Like.
• Follow Chuck Sambuchino on Twitter or find him on Facebook. Learn all about his writing guides on how to get published, how to find a literary agent, and how to write a query letter.

Want to build your visibility and sell more books?
Create Your Writer Platform shows you how to
promote yourself and your books through social
media, public speaking, article writing, branding,
and more. Order the book from WD at a discount.

“How I Got My Agent” is a recurring feature on the Guide to Literary Agents Blog, with this installment featuring Scott Dominic Carpenter, author of the short story collection, THIS JEALOUS EARTH. These columns are great ways for you to learn how to find a literary agent. Some tales are of long roads and many setbacks, while others are of good luck and quick signings. If you have a literary agent and would be interested in writing a short guest column for this GLA blog, e-mail me at literaryagent@fwmedia.com and we’ll talk specifics.

Scott Dominic Carpenter teaches literature and critical theory at Carleton
College (MN), where he has written extensively on the representation of
madness in the novel, political allegory, and literary hoaxes. His fiction has
appeared in such journals as Chamber Four, Ducts, Midwestern Gothic, and
Spilling Ink. A Pushcart Prize nominee and a semi-finalist for the MVP
competition at New Rivers Press, his first collection of short stories,
THIS JEALOUS EARTH (MG Press) appears in January 2013. His debut
novel is Theory of Remainders (May 2013, Winter Goose Publishing). 

HOW *NOT* TO FIND AN AGENT

How hard can it be, right? After all, your manuscript is pure adrenalin. It’s going to set crowds screaming with desire. Lance Armstrong would be banned from cycling just for looking at the title. And the only person standing between you and glory is that horn-rimmed, grizzled gatekeeper known everywhere as The Agent.

Maybe a counter-example would be useful: how not to find an agent. Because that counter-example is me. I looked too early, querying too many agents with a letter that was ill-conceived and a manuscript that was only half-baked.

(How to Write a Query Letter.)

Lesson Number One: Get Real. That’s right—be aware of your weaknesses, seek outside readers, and above all take time. I went to agentquery.com and did clever searches to generate a list of some 200 agents who seemed custom-conceived to hawk my manuscript. Did you hear me? I said two hundred! An inexhaustible supply. And my work was soooo enticing that I figured I’d sent out a spate of queries and start a bidding war among the agents. I e-mailed about 20, then sat back with a glass of wine to watch the offers of representation roll in. But something went wrong. Maybe my Internet was down? But no, I was still receiving the regular supply of spam. So only agents had been black-listed? Nothing came. Zip. Nichts. Nada. A couple weeks later, I sent out another blast to another score of names. Surely that would suffice? It did trigger a couple of reactions—form rejections.

TIME TO FOCUS ON REVISION

This was unthinkable. Why couldn’t they see my brilliance? Then, as I did the math, I realized that 200 agents is a small number. You could burn through that list in a hurry if you’re not careful. So I stopped sending queries and returned to polishing my manuscript. I reworked my blurb. I had friends scrutinize my query letter. Finally I understood: if I couldn’t hold an agent’s attention through three short paragraphs, I was never going to get my prose in front of normal readers.

(Learn about the value of beta readers.)

That’s when the process started for real. I revised and queried, queried and revised, dipping into the pool of possible agents one or two at a time. Bit by bit I found myself with personalized rejections, then requests for something beyond the initial chapter, then the full manuscript. It took time—maybe six months—before I got serious nibbles: two or three agents who asked for revisions, only to turn me down after I made them.

But I stuck with it. Rejection is tough, but when it drives you to work harder, it helps you succeed. In my case, I ended up with a polished manuscript and a well-crafted query. I received my first offer of representation from Victoria Skurnick at Levine Greenberg, which came as a terrific relief. More important, though, I received four other offers at almost the same time: clearly the manuscript was ready.

(Read an interview with Levine Greenberg agent Lindsay Edgecombe.)

All those agents who had been wrong to reject me before were now suddenly right. And I’d learned something in the process. I signed with Victoria, and I’ve never regretted it. Pretty soon I had contracts for two titles. The first to appear is This Jealous Earth (MG Press), my collection of short stories, which has received favorable advance reviews from Publishers Weekly and The Rumpus. The second, a novel called Theory of Remainders, will come out in May, 2013. I think this is what they call momentum.

Don’t let your submission be rejected for
improper formatting. The third edition of
Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript
has more than 100 examples of queries,
synopses, proposals, book text, and more.
Buy it online here at a discount.

Other writing/publishing articles & links for you:

• The More You Write For Yourself, the Better Your Book Will Be.
• 5 Things Bruce Lee Taught Us About the Art of Writing.
• Agent Interview: Adrienne Rosado of Nancy Yost Literary.
• Why Writers Must Make Themselves Easy to Contact.
• Sell More Books by Building Your Writer Platform.
• Follow Chuck Sambuchino on Twitter or find him on Facebook. Learn all about his writing guides on how to get published, how to find a literary agent, and how to write a query letter.

And now, for your Friday moment of writerly Zen, a curiosity found in the June 1922 issue of Writer’s Digest:

“I have always adored detective stories; I have always thought they must be great fun to write. One day, about three years ago, I thought of rather a good way of murdering somebody. Instead of leaving it at that, I went on thinking about it, and finally decided that it would make a good story. I began to write the first chapter of [The Red House Mystery] and left the story to take care of itself.”

Who said it? A.A. Milne, author of various plays and novels, including the aforementioned murder mystery—and, of course, the creator of Winnie the Pooh. Today, Milne would have been 131 years old.

When trying to get your manuscript published, it’s often beneficial to have an agent on your side. Agents not only have connections within the publishing industry but they also read hundreds of proposals a year, giving them better perspective of what will sell and what won’t. They often offer suggestions and advice on how to get your manuscript into publishable shape (whether that’s change a character, introduce an additional storyline, or start the story in a different spot, etc.).

One of the best resources for finding an agent is the Guide to Literary Agents, which is the bible for finding representation—heck, it helped me find and land my agent. It features spot-on advice on how to approach querying and has more than 500 agent listings, including what types of books they are looking for, how each one wants you to pitch them and more.

GLA editor Chuck Sambuchino gives you a sneak peek on his GLA blog, posting his popular new agent alerts, highlighting up-and-coming agents and agents that have recently moved to new agencies. More important, all of them are looking for new clients. Here are five agents whom he’s featured and who are looking to sign new writers:

1. Brittany Howard of Corvisiero Literary Agency

She is seeking: Her first love is YA– from High Fantasy to Paranormal to to soft Sci-Fi to Contemporary– she loves all young adult. She also likes high concept, adventure themed, and funny MG, but a strong voice is MUST for her in MG. She’s willing to look at Picture Books, but is very selective.

Find out more about Brittany and how to submit to her here.

2. Margaret Bail of Andrea Hurst & Associates

She is seeking: adult fiction only. Specifically, she seeks romance, science fiction, thrillers, action/adventure, historical fiction, Western, fantasy (think Song of Fire and Ice or Dark Tower, NOT Lord of the Rings or Chronicles of Narnia).

Find out more about Margaret and how to submit to her here.

3. Samantha Dighton of D4EO Literary

She is seeking: Sam is looking for character-driven stories with strong voice. She likes characters who are relatable yet flawed, vibrant settings that take on a life of their own, and a story that lasts well beyond the final page, generally falling within these categories: Literary fiction, Historical fiction, Mystery/suspense, Magical realism, Psychological thrillers, Young adult (realistic) and Narrative nonfiction.

Find out more about Samantha and how to submit to her here.

4. Andy Scheer of Hartline Literary Agency

He is seeking: “I’m looking for a select few, outstanding projects that grab me and won’t let me go until I place them with a publisher. For fiction, this means a memorable blend of characters, setting, and storyline—delivered with carefully crafted prose. For nonfiction, a unique way of addressing a real need with an authority readers will recognize. And for both, the individual’s desire to grow in the craft of writing and to undertake the required discipline to promote their work for others’ benefit.”

Find out more about Andy and how to submit to him here.

5. Jennifer Udden of the Donald Maass Literary Agency

She is seeking: science fiction, fantasy, and mysteries — and is particularly interested in finding works that creatively combine aspects of all three genres.

Find out more about Jennifer and how to submit to her here.

For more news and information about agents, I highly recommend checking out the Guide to Literary Agents Blog and getting a copy of the 2013 Guide to Literary Agents. Both are extremely valuable resources and, without them, I may never have been able to land my agent (or secure a book deal).

Want to learn more? Expand your publishing knowledge with these great writing books and online resources:

• Writer’s Market
• Guide to Literary Agents
• Formatting and Submitting Your Manuscript

************

Follow me on Twitter: @BrianKlems
Enjoy funny parenting blogs? Then you’ll love: The Life Of Dad
Sign up for my free weekly eNewsletter: WD Newsletter

On this day in 1873, writer and politician Edward Bulwer-Lytton died. One thing he left behind: The first line from his novel Paul Clifford: “It was a dark and stormy night …”

The sentence went on to serve as the literary posterchild for bad story starters, and it also became the inspiration behind the annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, in which writers compete for top honors by penning egregiously bad fake first lines. (That said, Bulwer-Lytton’s work wasn’t all bad—after all, he gave us the quote “the pen is mightier than the sword” with his play Richelieu.)

Reflecting on awful first lines (and, admittedly, drinking out of this delightful Great First Lines of Literature Mug) got me thinking about the inverse. In no particular order, here are some of my favorite openings. Share yours in the Comments below.

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents.
—Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude

A screaming comes across the sky.
—Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.
—George Orwell, 1984

It was a pleasure to burn.
—Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

The Man in Black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed.
—Stephen King, The Gunslinger

Mother died today.
—Albert Camus, The Stranger

The flash projected the outline of the hanged man onto the wall.
—Arturo Perez-Reverte, The Club Dumas

This is a tale of a meeting of two lonesome, skinny, fairly old white men on a planet which was dying fast.
—Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions

I write this sitting in the kitchen sink.
—Dodie Smith, I Capture the Castle

If you’re going to read this, don’t bother.
—Chuck Palahniuk, Choke

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
—Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

True! – nervous – very, very nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad?
—Edgar Allan Poe, The Tell-Tale Heart

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.
—J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

I am a sick man … I am a spiteful man.
—Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from Underground

We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.
—Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

It was love at first sight.
—Joseph Heller, Catch 22

Behind every man now alive stand thirty ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living.
—Arthur C. Clarke,  2001: A Space Odyssey

So, what goes into a great first line? We commissioned writer Jacob M. Appel to do a piece for the magazine on this very subject. Here are some tips from his article “Better Starts for Better Stories” (check out the full piece here):

7 WAYS TO START by Jacob M. Appel

1. A statement of eternal principle.
This technique is a staple of European classics. Think of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”) and Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina (“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”). Of course, the story or novel you write must confirm the proposed principle. If it turned out that Mr. Darcy didn’t want to wed, or that Anna was happily married, these openings would certainly leave readers wanting. (An excellent contemporary example is from Jane Hamilton’s The Book of Ruth: “What it begins with, I know finally, is the kernel of meanness in people’s hearts. …”)

2. A statement of simple fact.
The entire weight of the narrative can sometimes be conveyed in a single statement. Think of, “I had a farm in Africa” (Isak Dinesen’s Out of Africa) or, “It was a pleasure to burn” (Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451) or, “I am an invisible man” (Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man). No gimmicks. No fireworks. Just—as Mr. Gradgrind demands in the opening line of Charles Dickens’ Hard Times—the facts.

3. A statement of paired facts.
In many cases, two facts combined are more powerful than either one on its own. The paradigmatic example is the opening line of Carson McCullers’ The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter: “In the town there were two mutes, and they were always together.” A town with two mutes is not necessarily compelling, nor are two inseparable men. But a town with two inseparable mutes? Now that locks in our interest.

4. A statement of simple fact laced with significance.
Because readers don’t read backward, it’s possible to bury a key piece of a story in an opening so that, by the time it becomes relevant, the reader has forgotten it. Agatha Christie mysteries do this often. The key to solving the crime in Murder on the Orient Express, for example, is embedded innocuously in the opening sentence. So is the key to the heroine’s psyche in Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind, the opening of which explains, “Scarlett O’Hara was not beautiful. …”

5. A statement to introduce voice.
“Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins.” Vladimir Nabokov’s celebrated opening is not designed to convey characterization or plot, though both are present, so much as to introduce his distinctive style. Anthony Burgess opens A Clockwork Orange (“What’s it going to be then, eh?”) without any plot, characterization or setting at all—merely the ominous voice that will accompany the reader through the text. Stories that begin with a highly unusual voice often withhold other craft elements for a few sentences—a reasonable choice, as the reader may need to adjust to a new form of language before being able to absorb much in the way of content.

6. A statement to establish mood.
Contextual information not directly related to the story can often color our understanding of the coming narrative. Take Sylvia Plath’s opening to The Bell Jar: “It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York.” While the Rosenberg execution has nothing to do with the content of the narrative, it sets an ominous tone for what follows.

7. A statement that serves as a frame.
Sometimes, the best way to begin a story is to announce that you’re about to tell a story. English storytellers have been doing this since at least the first recorded use of the phrase “Once upon a time” in the 14th century. Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn starts off this way, as does J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. After all, a brilliant opening can be as straightforward as: “You are about to begin reading Italo Calvino’s new novel, If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler …” (which really does start exactly that way).

Looking to fulfill your resolution to write a book in 2013?

Look no further than the Getting Started in Writing Premium Collection, which includes several books and ebooks, and two on-demand webinars.

Find out more here.

It’s been 4 years since I featured an interview with literary agent Jessica Regel on this blog, so I thought now was as good a time as ever to touch base with her and ask what’s subjects and genres she’s seeking right this very minute. Seeing as how she is currently seeking new clients, she was happy to talk with us. Jessica is a literary agent at Jean V. Naggar Literary in New York City. Read what kinds of books she seeks below!

——————-

Interested more in the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency?

1. Read an interview with JVNL agent Jennifer Weltz.
2. See a profile of JVNL agent Laura Biagi.
3. Read an interview with JVNL agent Elizabeth Evans.

GLA: Tell us about something you repped that came out recently.

Jessica Regel: Dial/Penguin published The Friday Society by Adrienne Kress this past December. This book is pure entertainment — incredibly fun and incredibly smart. It also has a great one-line pitch: “a Steampunk Charlie’s Angels without the Charlie.” What drew me to this book is that it has three dynamic, strong (but not bitchy) female characters. Strong female characters are definitely a theme in the books I represent. You can find them in my adult fiction, such as Cloaks & Veils by J.C. Carleson, and, of course, in the MG and YA I represent. Actually, a YA book I just sold to Egmont (Burn Out) has one of the best female characters I’ve ever read—Tora, one of the last survivors on earth, is holed up in an underground shelter protecting the bio-weapons her father created from landing in the wrong hands. You can’t get much cooler (or stronger) than that!

GLA: I see that most of your recent sales on publishers marketplace are Young Adult. Is YA still your bread & butter genre? If so, what are you looking for in the YA submissions you receive? What are you seeing too much of?

Jessica Regel: Yes, over the last few years YA has become my bread and butter. It’s a genre that I love to read for pleasure and it’s also a relatively stable genre in the market.

I’m always on the lookout for new voices in YA fiction and nonfiction. Specifically, I’m looking for high concept contemporary stories (dying for a funny John Hughes-ish/Easy A high school story), love stories, magical realism, horror (but not gory), and sophisticated thrillers.

I still see a lot of vampires, werewolves, and zombies. I also see a lot of what I call “powers and prophecies” pitches and dystopian novels. While I won’t automatically reject a book that involves these elements, it is much, much harder to get my attention with these pitches because the market is flooded. For these books to stand out the author needs to have an incredible voice and a strong grasp on what makes their book stand out from what’s already been published in the genre.

(Learn How to Find a Literary Agent.)

GLA: Outside of YA, what is on your wish list outside of “good writing”? Upmarket fiction? MG for boys? Etc. 

Jessica Regel: I’d love to see a boy book that is fast paced—so either a thriller or a suspense novel. Something like Fight Club or Gone Girl for boys would be very cool.

For adult fiction, last year I sold a phenomenal women’s fiction novel to Riverhead—Margot by Jillian Cantor, which tells the story of Margot Frank, Anne Frank’s older sister. Margot also kept a diary in the annex, but her diary was never found, and this book imagines what Margot’s life would’ve been like if she had survived. It’s gorgeously written, but also has a really strong hook. This is the type of women’s fiction that I’m dying for!
I love general fiction with genre elements, magical realism, tear-jerkers, sister stories, big family stories, or humor.

In nonfiction, I’m looking for humor, pop culture, or memoir. To be a bit more specific, I’m looking for “fun” memoirs. Writers, please don’t pitch me your misery memoir. The nonfiction I handle is never very serious. I go more for entertainment/lifestyle projects.

(Look over a growing list of agents who represent memoir.)

GLA: When we crossed paths at a previous writers conference, you mentioned that your past includes living in Morocco and also playing the cello. Do these elements influence what you look for in a book or gravitate toward in terms of favorite topics?

Jessica Regel: My experiences in Morocco, and also in Miami, have definitely influenced my tastes. I’m always on the look out for multicultural narrators and stories. I would really love to find a fresh contemporary Moroccan novel. Something like Girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Alsanea. And books from Hispanic narrators, especially in the MG and YA genres, are always in high demand.

GLA: You’ve been agenting for almost 10 years now. You’ve got a great perspective on the industry. What do writers need to know about being a writer nowadays that perhaps was not a concern a decade ago.

Jessica Regel: I’m sure writers have been hearing this for years, I know I have, but the quiet, steady mid-list book is dying. It’s extremely difficult to sell a quiet, well-written book. Each project I go out with needs to have that one-line movie pitch. It’s all about the hook—paired with phenomenal writing.

GLA: Will you be at any upcoming writers conferences where writers can meet and pitch you?

Jessica Regel: Yours, of course! The Writer’s Digest Conference this April in NYC.

GLA: Best way to submit to you?

Jessica Regel: The best way to submit to me is through our agency website: www.jvnla.com

GLA: What do you not want to be pitched?

Jessica Regel: I’m not looking to acquire any new picture book clients. I also don’t handle much practical or “serious” nonfiction. Elizabeth Evans in my office has a fantastic nonfiction list and writers should reach out to her directly with these projects. The same can be said of literary fiction. Alice Tasman would be the agent from my office to submit to if that’s your genre. I also don’t represent genre fiction, so no cozy mysteries, sci-fi, romance, westerns, etc. Not to be confused with general fiction with genre elements. Such as The Sparrow or Time Travelers Wife. That’s exactly the type of book I’m looking for.

GLA: Favorite movie?

Jessica Regel: One of my favorite films is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. As I’ve stated above, I love smart, (dare I say sentimental? No, nostalgic is probably a better description!) love stories with a science fiction or fantasy element. The Time Traveler’s Wife is still one of my favorite novels that falls under that category. If you’ve written a YA Time Traveler’s Wife please send it my way!

(See a synopsis example based on Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.)

Need help crafting an awesome plot for your
story? Check out the new acclaimed resource
by Ronald Tobias, 20 Master Plots.

Other writing/publishing articles & links for you:

• Freelance Editing: How to Hire an Editor For Your Query or Book.
• If Your First Manuscript Doesn’t Sell, Start on Another
• Literary Agent Seeking Clients: Susan Hawk of Bent Literary.
• Sell More Books by Building Your Writer Platform.
• How to Deal With Writing Critiques & Revision Notes.
• Follow Chuck Sambuchino on Twitter or find him on Facebook. Learn all about his writing guides on how to get published, how to find a literary agent, and how to write a query letter.

Want to build your visibility and sell more books?
Create Your Writer Platform shows you how to
promote yourself and your books through social
media, public speaking, article writing, branding,
and more. Order the book from WD at a discount.

Welcome to the 13th (free!) “Dear Lucky Agent” Contest on the GLA blog. This is a recurring online contest with agent judges and super-cool prizes. Here’s the deal: With every contest, the details are essentially the same, but the niche itself changes—meaning each contest is focused around a specific category or two. So if you’re writing either a science fiction novel (adults or teens) or any kind of young adult novel, this 13th contest is for you! (The contest is live through January 31, 2013.)

WHY YOU SHOULD GET EXCITED

After a previous “Dear Lucky Agent” contest, the agent judge, Tamar Rydzinski (The Laura Dail Literary Agency), signed one of the three contest winners. After Tamar signed the writer, she went on to sell two of that writer’s books! How cool! That’s why these contests are not to missed if you have an eligible submission.

HOW TO SUBMIT

E-mail entries to dearluckyagent13@gmail.com. Please paste everything. No attachments.

WHAT TO SUBMIT

The first 150-200 words of your unpublished, book-length work of your sci-fi novel or young adult novel. You must include a contact e-mail address with your entry and use your real name. Also, submit the title of the work and a logline (one-sentence description of the work) with each entry.

Please note: To be eligible to submit, you must mention this contest twice through any social media. Please provide a social media link or Twitter handle or screenshot or blog post URL, etc., with your offical e-mailed entry so the judge and I can verify eligibility. Some previous entrants could not be considered because they skipped this step! Simply spread the word twice through any means and give us a way to verify you did; a tinyURL for this link/contest for you to easily use is http://tinyurl.com/a8msdw2. An easy way to notify me of your sharing is to include my Twitter handle @chucksambuchino somewhere in your mention(s) if using Twitter. And if you are going to solely use Twitter as your 2 times, please wait 1 day between mentions to spread out the notices, rather than simply tweeting twice back to back. Thanks.

Want to pitch this contest’s agent judge (Victoria Marini) in person?
Then check out the gigantic agent pitch slam as part of the 2013
Writer’s Digest Conference in NYC, April 5-7, 2013! The event
will have anywhere from 60-80 agents taking pitches.

WHAT IS ELIGIBLE?

Science fiction novels of any kind, as well as young adult novels of any kind.

CONTEST DETAILS

1. This contest will be live for approximately 14 days—from Jan. 17, 2013 through the end of Jan. 31, 2013, PST. Winners notified by e-mail within three weeks of end of contest. Winners announced on the blog thereafter.
2. To enter, submit the first 150-200 words of your book. Shorter or longer entries will not be considered. Keep it within word count range please.
3. You can submit as many times as you wish. You can submit even if you submitted to other contests in the past, but please note that past winners cannot win again. All that said, you are urged to only submit your best work.
4. The contest is open to everyone of all ages, save those employees, officers and directors of GLA’s publisher, F+W Media, Inc.
5. By e-mailing your entry, you are submitting an entry for consideration in this contest and thereby agreeing to the terms written here as well as any terms possibly added by me in the “Comments” section of this blog post. (If you have questions or concerns, write me personally at chuck.sambuchino (at) fwmedia.com. The Gmail account above is for submissions, not questions.)

PRIZES!!!

Top 3 winners all get: 1) A critique of the first 10 double-spaced pages of your work, by your agent judge. 2) A free one-year subscription to WritersMarket.com ($50 value)!

MEET YOUR (AWESOME) AGENT JUDGE!

Victoria Marini is an associate literary agent with the Gelfman Schneider Literary Agency, and an assistant to the boss-ladies: Jane Gelfman, Deborah Schneider, and Heather Mitchell. Gelfman Schneider has been in business for over 30 years. They passionately represent a wide range of authors including American Academy of Arts, Edgar Awards and Pushcart Prize winners, as well as several New York Times bestselling authors. Victoria I began taking on clients in 2010. Currently, she is building her list and hungry for more.

Here are some books that she has represented:

The Dangers of Proximal Alphabets by Kathleen Alcott (Adult General/Other)
Freshman Year and Other Unnatural Disasters by Meredith Zeitlin (YA)
OCD Love Story by Corey Haydu (YA; July 2013)
forthcoming: Loop by Karen Akins (YA sci-fi)

Other writing/publishing articles & links for you:

• A Day in the Life of a Querier. 
• Tips On Writing a Novel Synopsis.
• 170 Agent Interviews and Counting — Read Them Here.
• Revisions: What Every Writer Should Know.
• 10 Questions to Ask an Agent Before You Sign.
• Sell More Books by Building Your Author Platform.
• Follow Chuck Sambuchino on Twitter or find him on Facebook. Learn all about his writing guides on how to get published, how to find a literary agent, and how to write a query letter.

It’s no secret that the first several pages of your manuscript are of the highest importance. The truth is that agents and editors size up your writing within a minute at the most. If you don’t have their attention on Page 1, they stop reading. It’s that simple. Because it’s imperative that your work starts strong and avoids overused techniques or cliches, we’ve enlisted literary agent Kathleen Ortiz of New Leaf Literary to help. Kathleen is teaching “Your Story’s First Pages: How to Engage Readers” — a new webinar (with a critique of your first 500 words!) on Jan. 24, 2013. Read on to learn more.

DETAILS

This webinar happens at 1 p.m., EST, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, and lasts 90 minutes. Those who cannot attend the live webinar still get all its elements.

THE CRITIQUE

All attendees can submit their first 500 words to Kathleen for a guaranteed critique! Sign up here.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

• How to not only concentrate on the first page, but also the first paragraph and the first sentence.
• Why it’s probably a bad idea to use a prologue (and also why a prologue occasionally works).
• The most common cliches and mistakes she sees on Page 1.
• Overused techniques to start a manuscript.
• Some secrets to getting an agent’s or editor’s attention for your first pages, so that they continue reading and request more material.

INSTRUCTOR

Kathleen Ortiz is a literary agent with New Leaf Literary. Previously she was an agent with Nancy Coffey Literary. She is actively seeking new clients.

DID YOU KNOW?

At least three different literary agents have signed writers as clients after critiquing their work as part of a WD webinar critique! One of those awesome agents was none other than Kathleen. Could you be the next writer who finds an agent following a webinar?

Sign up for the webinar today!

If you want to know how to make money from writing, pick up a copy of the February 2013 issue.

Inside, you'll find articles on earning money as a freelance copywriter, making money from e-books, and how to get the best online writing gigs.

Plus, read an interview with bestselling author Jamie Lee Curtis, who is featured on this month's cover.

Buy the issue!

Enjoy a little rock & roll music from time to time? Who doesn’t? Well I’m trying something fun and different (again!) today as a Tuesday pick-me-up to try and get your week going. It’s my own crazy variation of NAME THAT TUNE and I’m calling it WD’S TUNESDAY. This is Volume 2. It runs until Dec. 19, 2012. See Volume 1 here.

The rules and the gist are simple. Watch the video. I play 12 riffs on my guitar. You try to name as many of them as you can, and e-mail me your answers to literaryagent at fwmedia dot com. The person who names the most correct answers gets lots of cool prizes (see below). It’s a great excuse to call upon friends and relatives to help you ID the songs, as they are from different decades. It’s also a great excuse to blow off whatever dull work you’re doing and listen to music instead. And if you can’t name all 12 songs, feel free to enter anyway! If no one can name all 12, the closest number wins. ALSO: If you can name 8 correctly, you automatically get entered into a drawing to a win a free WD book!

You think you got what it takes? Need a little rock & roll music to liven up your day? Then listen in as I try to do these riffs justice on my guitar. Simply click on the video to play. The rules and prizes are below. Good luck! Feel free to share news of the contest with this TinyURL link: http://tinyurl.com/b6etzfw

THE PRIZES

1. A one-year subscription to WritersMarket.com (value: $50)
2. A free critique by me of any one of the following: 1) your query letter, 2) your synopsis, 3) your first 2 double-spaced manuscript pages.
3. A short, lighthearted “Winner Interview” with you posted on this blog and the WritersDigest.com homepage to get to know you and your writing projects real quick. (Receives 100,000+ page views a month. The interview, naturally, is optional.)
4. Praise from yours truly as the first awesome winner of the Tunesday challenge.

HOW TO ENTER (IMPORTANT — READ THIS!)

To enter, email your answers to literaryagent@fwmedia.com. DO NOT LEAVE OFFICIAL ENTRIES BELOW — THEY DO NOT COUNT. E-mail is the official way to enter because if you write some of the answers below, you cannot win and people will only steal your answers. I cannot shut off comments for this post, but if you leave a comment that has answers, I will delete it as quickly as I can. That said, feel free to ask questions or talk about anything else in the comments. You can also email me, if need be.

RULES FOR VOLUME 2 (AND STRATEGY)

• E-MAIL me your answers to compete. That is the only way to officially enter to get the awesome prizes below.
• Past winners cannot win again.
• E-mail your answers to literaryagent@fwmedia.com with the word “Tunes” in the subject line.
• You need to correctly identify the song title in full or at least very close. You do NOT need to correct ID the artist, but feel free to.
• If multiple people are able to guess all 12 riffs, then the first one to do so correctly is the grand-prize winner. So time does factor in. That said, it will be interesting to see if someone guesses all 12 right and how quickly. It is unclear whether speed will be of the essence or if someone will wait a while until they figure out all 12.
• You are only allowed one entry per person, so make sure you get your guesses right before submitting.
• If no one guesses all 12 correctly (quite possible), then the person who guesses the most, the soonest, will win.
• If you can guess 8 correctly, you are automatically entered into a raffle to win a free WD book. So there is value in entering even if some tunes stump you.
• The song choices vary a lot, and I tried to make this somewhat difficult. I highly encourage you to call upon relatives of different ages to help you decipher these tasty licks.
• Contest is over at EOD, Dec. 19, 2012. I will then review all submitted emails and announce winners 1) on this post, 2) in a new post, and 3) by a personal notification via email.
• Contest is open to all persons worldwide not working for F+W Media, or directly related to someone who works at F+W media. Questions? Leave them in the comments below. Good luck!

The Songwriter’s Market is the bible for unsigned
artists looking to find an artist or producer and
showcase their musical talents.

For years, I played around town in a Cincinnati
cover band and blogged about the ridiculous
soap opera on this blog. Read all the humorous stories here.

Powerful, surprising, and fascinating personal essays are also “reader-friendly essays” that keep the reader squarely in focus. So how do you go about writing one? In this excerpt from Crafting the Personal Essay, author Dinty W. Moore shares a variety of methods for crafting an essay that keeps the reader’s desires and preferences in mind, resulting in a resonate and truly memorable piece. As Moore says, “Privacy is for your diary. Essays are for readers.”

Writing the Reader-Friendly Essay

Good writing is never merely about following a set of directions. Like all artists of any form, essay writers occasionally find themselves breaking away from tradition or common practice in search of a fresh approach. Rules, as they say, are meant to be broken.

But even groundbreakers learn by observing what has worked before. If you are not already in the habit of reading other writers with an analytical eye, start forming that habit now. When you run across a moment in someone else’s writing that seems somehow electric on the page, stop, go back, reread the section more slowly, and ask yourself, “What did she do here, put into this, or leave out, that makes it so successful?”

Similarly and often just as important, if you are reading a piece of writing and find yourself confused, bored, or frustrated, stop again, back up, squint closely at the writing, and form a theory as to how, when, or where the prose went bad.

Identifying the specific successful moves made by others increases the number of arrows in your quiver, ready for use when you sit down to start your own writing. Likewise, identifying the missteps in other writers’ work makes you better at identifying the missteps in your own.

Remember the Streetcar
Tennessee Williams’ wonderful play, A Streetcar Named Desire, comes from a real streetcar in New Orleans and an actual neighborhood named Desire. In Williams’ day, you could see the streetcar downtown with a lighted sign at the front telling folks where the vehicle was headed. The playwright saw this streetcar regularly—and also saw, of course, the metaphorical possibilities of the name.

Though this streetcar no longer runs, there is still a bus called Desire in New Orleans, and you’ve certainly seen streetcars or buses in other cities with similar, if less evocative, destination indicators: Uptown, Downtown, Shadyside, West End, Prospect Park.

People need to know what streetcar they are getting onto, you see, because they want to know where they will be when the streetcar stops and lets them off.

Excuse the rather basic transportation lesson, but it explains my first suggestion. An essay needs a lighted sign right up front telling the reader where they are going. Otherwise, the reader will be distracted and nervous at each stop along the way, unsure of the destination, not at all able to enjoy the ride.

Now there are dull ways of putting up your lighted sign:

This essay is about the death of my beloved dog.

Or:

Let me tell you about what happened to me last week.

And there are more artful ways.

Readers tend to appreciate the more artful ways.

For instance, let us look at how Richard Rodriguez opens his startling essay “Mr. Secrets”:

Shortly after I published my first autobiographical essay seven years ago, my mother wrote me a letter pleading with me never again to write about our family life. “Write about something else in the future. Our family life is private.” And besides: “Why do you need to tell the gringos about how ‘divided’ you feel from the family?” I sit at my desk now, surrounded by versions of paragraphs and pages of this book, considering that question.

Where is the lighted streetcar sign in that paragraph?

Well, consider that Rodriguez has

• introduced the key characters who will inhabit his essay: himself and his mother,
• informed us that writing is central to his life,
• clued us in that this is also a story of immigration and assimilation (gringos), and
• provided us with the central question he will be considering throughout the piece: Why does he feel compelled to tell strangers the ins and outs of his conflicted feelings?

These four elements—generational conflict between author and parent, the isolation of a writer, cultural norms and difference, and the question of what is public and what is private—pretty much describe the heart of Rodriguez’s essay.

Or to put it another way, at every stop along the way—each paragraph, each transition—we are on a streetcar passing through these four thematic neighborhoods, and Rodriguez has given us a map so we can follow along.

Find a Healthy Distance
Another important step in making your personal essay public and not private is finding a measure of distance from your experience, learning to stand back, narrow your eyes, and scrutinize your own life with a dose of hale and hearty skepticism.

Why is finding a distance important? Because the private essay hides the author. The personal essay reveals. And to reveal means to let us see what is truly there, warts and all.

The truth about human nature is that we are all imperfect, sometimes messy, usually uneven individuals, and the moment you try to present yourself as a cardboard character—always right, always upstanding (or always wrong, a total mess)—the reader begins to doubt everything you say. Even if the reader cannot articulate his discomfort, he knows on a gut level that your perfect (or perfectly awful) portrait of yourself has to be false.

And then you’ve lost the reader.

Pursue the Deeper Truth
The best writers never settle for the insight they find on the surface of whatever subject they are exploring. They are constantly trying to lift the surface layer, to see what interesting ideas or questions might lie beneath.
To illustrate, let’s look at another exemplary essay, “Silence the Pianos,” by Floyd Skloot.

Here is his opening:

A year ago today, my mother stopped eating. She was ninety-six, and so deep in her dementia that she no longer knew where she was, who I was, who she herself was. All but the last few seconds had vanished from the vast scroll of her past.

Essays exploring a loved one’s decline into dementia or the painful loneliness of a parent’s death are among the most commonly seen by editors of magazines and judges of essay contests. There is a good reason for this: These events can truly shake us to our core. But too often, when writing about such a significant loss, the writer focuses on the idea that what has happened is not fair and that the loved one who is no longer around is so deeply missed.

Are these emotions true?

Yes, they are.

Are they interesting for a reader?

Often, they simply are not.

The problem is that there are certain things readers already know, and that would include the idea that the loss of a loved one to death or dementia is a deep wound, that it seems not fair when such heartbreak occurs, and that we oftentimes find ourselves regretting not having spent more time with the lost loved one.

These reactions seem truly significant when they occur in our own lives, and revisiting them in our writing allows us to experience those powerful feelings once again. For this reason it is hard to grasp that the account of our loss might have little or no impact on a reader who did not know this loved one, or does not know you, and who does not have the emotional reaction already in the gut.

In other words, there are certain “private” moments that feel exhilarating to revisit, and “private” sentences that seem stirring to write and to reread as we edit our early drafts, but they are not going to have the same effect in the public arena of publishable prose.

Final Thoughts
In the last twenty years of teaching writing, the most valuable lesson that I have found myself able to share is the need for us as writers to step outside of our own thoughts, to imagine an audience made up of real people on the other side of the page. This audience does not know us, they are not by default eager to read what we have written, and though thoughtful literate readers are by and large good people with large hearts, they have no intrinsic stake in whatever problems (or joys) we have in our lives.

This is the public, the readers you want to invite into your work.

Self-expression may be the beginning of writing, but it should never be the endpoint. Only by focusing on these anonymous readers, by acknowledging that you are creating something for them, something that has value, something that will enrich their existence and make them glad to have read what you have written, will you find a way to truly reach your audience.

And that—truly reaching your audience and offering them something of value—is perhaps as good a definition of successful writing as I’ve ever heard.

Let’s step once again into the role of the unconvinced, perhaps even curmudgeonly or fool-hearted editor: What harsh rejection letters might the authors of some of our favorite hit books have had to endure?

This contribution comes from Chris Gay of Manchester, Conn., who found Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol to be as tedious as a bowl of plum pudding.

19 December 1843
Dear Mr. Charles Dickens:

Regretfully, we have elected to reject A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

Our primary issue is its preposterous main premise. We will grant that readers may indeed be willing to accept the idea of four omnipotent ghosts returning to Earth to do good for the betterment of mankind. However, it stretches the boundaries of credibility to their very limits to expect anyone to believe a CEO would repent his ways via voluntary monetary penance. Pay his secretary’s mortgage? Double his salary? Are you certain, Mr. Dickens, that you did not intend to submit this manuscript to our humor publishing subsidiary?

Furthermore, though we respect your sincere attempt to present the public with an uplifting, enduring yuletide classic, we feel any positive message your literary work may convey would ultimately be overshadowed by its extension of the waning popularity of plum pudding at Christmas. Quite frankly, plum pudding sucks, and we do not wish to bear any responsibility for inflicting more such pudding on England for decades to come.

Another issue we have with A CHRISTMAS CAROL is that of Ebenezer Scrooge’s so-called redemption. It is more of a self-preservation, is it not? The unamiable Mr. Scrooge sees fit to dole out tongue-lashings and biting sarcasm to the first timid yet good-natured apparitions he encounters. Only when the final specter, Death, pays him a visit does Scrooge’s tune change, and right quick. Really Mr. Dickens, would you have us believe that his reaction to the Grim Reaper’s ultimatum is in actuality some earnest conversion? Nice try.

In conclusion, it is our belief that the greatest impact A CHRISTMAS CAROL could have would be
various movie adaptations. Unfortunately, the old saying “Timing is everything!” is particularly relevant in your case, as motion pictures are still half a century away. In fact, Alastair Sim won’t even be born for another 57 years. Sorry. If it serves as any consolation, I will be required to read your unbearably lengthy GREAT
EXPECTATIONS sometime around 1990.

Sincerely,
Christopher J. Gay
Senior Editor/Sarcastic Prodigy

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Last year, Santa didn’t bring you what you wanted for Christmas and you were left to assume it’s because you weren’t a good boy (or girl). Start building a case for getting that gift you want this year by making a list of your good deeds to date and what else you plan to do before December 25th.

Post your response (500 words or fewer) in the comments below.

Want more creative writing prompts? Consider:
The Writer’s Book of Matches

An eighty-plus-year-old friend of mine is on a one-woman campaign to eliminate the word “iconic” from public discourse. She’s got a point.  But my own current choice for vocabulary to vaporize is “creative”, as in “I can’t write or make art because I’m not creative.” I suspect that creativity is simply a slightly more desperate form of problem solving, and its presence or absence is not likely what’s making it hard for anyone to write well. My father, the writer Bernard Malamud, used to say that his success was 10 percent talent and 90 percent effort.

***********************************************************************************************************************

Guest post by Janna Malamud Smith, author of four books, My Father is a Book: A Memoir of Bernard Malamud, A Potent Spell: Mother Love and the Power of Fear, and Private Matters: In Defense of the Personal Life. Her most recent book, An Absorbing Errand: How Artists and Craftsmen Make Their Way to Creative Mastery, explores the psychological obstacles artists face in their creative process. Her titles have been New York Times Notable Books, and A Potent Spell was a Barnes & Noble “Discover New Writers” pick. She has written for The New York Times, Boston Globe, and the Threepenny Review, among other publications. A practicing psychotherapist, she lives with her husband and two children in Massachusetts. For more info, please visit jannamalamudsmith.com.

***********************************************************************************************************************

Remembering him and his ways has helped me understand that people stop writing––stop trying, stop practicing, stop revising, stop making the huge effort it takes to get good––because they trip over unconscious fears that lie like rakes across their paths, and they go splat, and it feels awful, and they figure the game’s up, and that they have no talent or they’re not “creative” enough. Of course, that’s a simplified version of my thoughts. And, of course, I recognize that many current circumstances––from the pressures of the Internet/social media revolution to the pressures of a terrible recession, and the competition in the arts & entertainment marketplace––have a large impact.

What especially captured my attention as a psychotherapist, and the focus of my new book, An Absorbing Errand: How artists and craftsmen make their way to mastery, are the quiet fears that derail people as they try to learn to write or make art. I am quite certain that IF you can stay in the game, your creativity will often prove adequate to your task. But the difficulty comes from learning how to recognize and tolerate your fears, so they don’t lead you to prematurely throw in the towel.

In my book, I examine the lives of various artists––from John Keats to Charlie Chaplin to Leni Riefenstahl to Julia Child to Michael Jackson––and use them as jumping off points for examining difficult feelings, and ways of getting them to power your writing project rather than halt it.

1. Fear of Being Seen

For example, there’s the fear of being seen.  Of course, if some part (or parts) of you didn’t want to be “seen,” or heard, you likely wouldn’t write.  Most people are drawn to writing because they want to express themselves, to have their say; and they want other people to pay attention.  But that wish for attention tends to be ambivalent, and is often closely paired with a profound sense of terror at the notion of being recognized by eyes you imagine as belonging to  “the enemy.”  It’s no accident that so much energy in the natural world goes to camouflage. Recognition , as in, “I recognize you” carries two very different connotations. One refers to feeling seen with loving eyes, and appreciated. The other, carries more of the feeling of being recognized as prey to be eaten. It’s life and death. Often times, as we write our way into areas where––without any conscious awareness––we start to write about feelings or subjects that either feel disloyal to people we love, or perhaps were somehow prohibited in our upbringing, we start to fear that we will be “recognized” in this frightening way.  Inner voices get going, hoping to distract us, telling us we’re stupid or evil or inept at writing. I know someone who stopped working on a family memoir because he couldn’t imagine letting the world “see” the portrait that was emerging.  I imagine he unconsciously felt guilty about his portrayal and feared being judged and criticized by family and community. The first step in dealing with the fear (and with all fears) is simply to recognize IT.

2. Fear of Being Humiliated

Closely related to this first fear, is a second of being shamed or humiliated. You write your heart out, and put what you’ve written out in the world, and everyone points at you and shakes their heads in dismay, or outright laughs. You are pathetic or disgusting or over-reaching. Or so your fear of humiliation suggests to you.  Shame is one of the most hard-wired, deepest feeling states we have. It’s universal, and likely it was incredibly useful in the distant past when we were more immediately dependent on our tribes and kin for our well being.  Shame is the way we collectively seek to eliminate behavior that endangers or harms the group. (Shame on you for making eyes at your sister’s boyfriend.) But for individual artists, writers – and people in general, shame is a much more ambiguous – and often useless-cum-destructive feeling. My hunch is that the fantasy of being shamed, of feeling profound public humiliation, stops more people in their tracks more quickly than any other feeling. Once again, awareness helps. But one good antidote to shame I discuss in the book is surrounding yourself with a group of friends, colleagues, perhaps fellow artists, that meets regularly , appreciates you, and helps you laugh off the shame states as they emerge.

3. Fear of Aloneness

The third fear is the fear of feeling the profound aloneness that can come with writing and other solitary artistic endeavors. Solitude is often a critical phase of art-making. People need privacy not only to concentrate and to be able to spend time deep inside their own minds and psyches. They need it so that they aren’t forced to reveal their work when it’s unready and too vulnerable. There’s nothing worse than having someone comment negatively upon (and even a slightly raised eye-brow can feel crushing) something that is only begun – or half-finished. On the other hand, we have so romanticized artistic solitude, that we don’t prepare people for how lonely it can be, and how hard it can be to tolerate that loneliness.  So, a good first step is to change your expectations about how much time alone is really healthy for your work. Maybe your solitude is too solitary, and that profound aloneness has to be tempered before you can succeed.

I hope you read An Absorbing Errand. I know that if you do it will help you overcome the obstacles that hinder mastery. Good luck!

************

Follow me on Twitter: @BrianKlems
Enjoy funny parenting blogs? Then you’ll love: The Life Of Dad
Sign up for my free weekly eNewsletter: WD Newsletter

We’ve rounded up the top products from the past 11 months—from online webinars to books and magazine issues—and neatly packaged them into the Your Favorites 2012 Premium Collection!

Buy it now!

It’s day two of our annual 12 Deals of December, where we release a new deal of great savings on Writer’s Digest resources (books, bundles, etc.) from December 1st through December 12th. These discounts are big and meant to help you get more for less around the holidays. So without further ado, here’s today’s deal:

It’s time for our annual 12 Deals of December, where we release a new deal of great savings on Writer’s Digest resources (books, bundles, etc.) from December 1st through December 12th. (I love these offers because it reminds me of my favorite holiday song, the “12 Days of Christmas”). These discounts are big and meant to help you get more for less around the holidays. So without further ado, here’s today’s deal:

In honor of National Novel Writing Month, I’m going to be offering free content each weekday in November to help all NaNoWriMo participants (and, really, anyone who is working on a novel).
Here is today’s giveaway:

Day 30: Your book is finished—congratulations! You’ve achieved something extraordinary. And if you’ve still got a bit more to do, keep at it! But what do you do once your novel is complete? Well, first, you’ll want to start revising. But you’ll also want to start thinking about getting an agent. To that end, here’s a link to a special 90-minute webinar that Chuck Sambuchino, editor of our annual Guide to Literary Agents, recorded in front of a live online audience earlier this year. It details all of the tips and insights you need to know to get the attention of an agent and provide them with the information they need about your book. Good luck! To get this freebie, just enter your e-mail address below.

Looking for more NaNoWriMo resources?

Check out the special NaNoWriMo Resources Section in the Writer’s Digest Shop.

************

Follow me on Twitter: @BrianKlems
Enjoy funny parenting blogs? Then you’ll love: The Life Of Dad
Sign up for my free weekly eNewsletter: WD Newsletter

Okay, today is the final day of the poeming part of this challenge. Beginning tomorrow (if not already), you’ll begin the process of revising and assembling a 10-20 page poetry chapbook manuscript. Click here to review the guidelines.

Today’s prompt comes from Violet Nesdoly.

Here’s Violet’s prompt: Write a milk poem. This could be about the moo-juice kind of milk. Or it could explore milk metaphorically, as in the expression “milk of human kindness.” Of course it could also be about the act of milking something. And no, it doesn’t have to be nourishing.

Robert’s attempt at a Milk Poem:

“The Final Poem”

The final prompt, the final day,
and here I am milking the situation
as if tomorrow won’t come, as if
it won’t bring more prompts, more
poems, more lines to break.

*****

Thank you, Violet, for the great prompt! Click here to learn more about Violet.

Click here to share your poem on the WD Forum.

*****

Follow me on Twitter @robertleebrewer

*****

Write 21st Century Fiction! Click here to learn how.

Today’s prompt comes from Bonita Jones Knott, a poet I met earlier this year in Colorado at a writing retreat.

Here’s Bonita’s prompt: Write a birth poem. Write a poem on the experience of giving birth or witnessing birth, or feeling reborn in anyway.

Robert’s attempt at a Birth Poem:

“Good morning”

Every morning, I find myself next to you
or thinking of how I want to find myself

next to you. Every morning, like a blessing,
I’m reborn into my love for you, knowing

there’s no one I’d rather find myself next
to in the morning and no one I’d rather

want to find myself next to in the morning.
Every morning, like magic, like hocus

pocus, I want to be the rabbit in your
magician’s hat, the one you grab by

the ears to hold in front of the audience,
or, like a science experiment, I want

to be your hypothesis, the one you
constantly test to draw your conclusion.

*****

Thank you, Bonita, for giving birth to this prompt! Click here to learn more about Bonita.

Click here to share your poems on the WD Forum.

*****

Follow me on Twitter @robertleebrewer

*****

Brainstorm and Develop Awesome Story Ideas!

Click here to learn how.

Reminder: New literary agents (this spotlight featuring agent Laura Biagi) are golden opportunities for new writers because each one is a literary agent who is likely building his or her client list.

About Laura: Laura Biagi joined the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency Inc. (JVNLA) in 2009. She is actively building her own client list, seeking adult literary fiction and young readers books. She also handles the sale of Australian and New Zealand rights for the agency. She has worked closely with Jean Naggar and Jennifer Weltz on their titles, as well as Jennifer Weltz on the submission of JVNLA’s titles internationally.

Laura’s writing background has honed her editorial eye and has driven her enthusiasm for discovering and developing literary talent. She studied creative writing and anthropology at Northwestern University. As a writer, she has participated in workshops at the Squaw Valley Community of Writers, the Juniper Summer Writing Institute, and the New York State Summer Writers Institute. She is the recipient of a Kentucky Emerging Artist Award for fiction writing. Laura grew up in a small town in Kentucky and maintains a fondness for Southern biscuits and unobstructed views of the stars.

She is seeking: In the adult fiction realm, she is particularly interested in literary fiction, magical realism, cultural themes, and debut authors. She is drawn to strong voices, complex narrative arcs, dynamic and well-developed characters, psychological twists, and dystopian/apocalyptic literary fiction.

In the young readers realm, she is seeking young adult novels, middle grade novels, and picture books. She loves young readers books that have a magical tinge to them and vivid writing. She also looks for titles that incorporate high concept, dark/edgy, and quirky elements, as well as titles that challenge the way we typically view the world.

How to submit to Laura: Please email your query to LBiagi at jvnla.com, or submit your query to her via the website at http://jvnla.com/submissions.html. Please include the first page of your manuscript when submitting your query.

The biggest literary agent database anywhere
is the Guide to Literary Agents. Pick up the
most recent edition online at a discount.

Other writing/publishing articles & links for you:

• How $1 Could Make You a Best-Selling Author.
• Literary Agent Interview: Gordon Warnock of Andrea Hurst & Associates.
• 8 Badass Books That Were Rejected by Publishers.
• NEW Literary Agent Seeking Clients: Molly Jaffa of Folio Literary.
• Sell More Books by Building Your Writer Platform.
• Follow Chuck Sambuchino on Twitter or find him on Facebook. Learn all about his writing guides on how to get published, how to find a literary agent, and how to write a query letter.

Today marks 4 weeks in (with 2 days to go), and today’s prompt comes from Jonathan Edward Ondrashek.

Here’s Jonathan’s prompt: Write a poem illuminating how it feels to stand up for what is right in the face of adversity in the workplace.

Robert’s attempt at a Workplace Adversity Poem:

“Poets March on Wall Street”

We want more stocks, more options.
We want more up and down line graphs.

We want more people freaking out
when we start freaking out. We want

more people paying attention to our
ups and our downs. Mostly, we want

more people paying attention. The rest
would be a nice year-end bonus.

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Thank you, Jonathan, for the very unique prompt today. Click here to connect with Jonathan on Facebook.

Click here to poem along on the WD Forum.

*****

Follow me on Twitter @robertleebrewer

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Buy a writing instruction book!

Here are a few options:

• How to Write a Book Proposal, by Michael Larsen
• The Poetry Dictionary, by John Drury
• 2013 Poet’s Market, edited by Robert Lee Brewer
• Create Your Writer Platform, by Chuck Sambuchino

In honor of National Novel Writing Month, I’m going to be offering free content each weekday in November to help all NaNoWriMo participants (and, really, anyone who is working on a novel).
Here is today’s giveaway:

Day 28: You’ve finished your climactic scene and it’s time to wind things down and drop the curtain. In this worksheet from The Nighttime Novelist, Joseph Bates details the basic questions you should be answering in your closing scenes. Fill this out and you’ll have a much better sense of any loose ends that need to be tied up. The exercise will also help to ensure that you’re providing readers with a satisfying ending. To get this freebie, just enter your e-mail address below.

Looking for more NaNoWriMo resources?

Check out the special NaNoWriMo Resources Section in the Writer’s Digest Shop.

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Follow me on Twitter: @BrianKlems
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I love featuring and interview debut authors. There is something very magical about getting your first book published. I am very excited to introduce WD readers to author/reporter author Ben Rawlence.

Ben Rawlence is the author of RADIO CONGO: SIGNALS OF HOPE FROM AFRICA’S DEADLIEST WAR (2012, One World). Rawlence is a senior researcher on Africa for Human Rights Watch. His writing has appeared in the Guardian, the London Review of Books, and the Huffington Post, and he has been a contributor to BBC Radio 4’s FromOurOwnCorrespondent. Ben studied Swahili and history at the University of London and received his master’s degree in international relations from the University of Chicago.

About the book: In this debut, Rawlence sets out to gather the news from this ghost town in one of the most dangerous places in the world. Ignoring the advice of locals, reporters, and mercenaries, he travels by foot, motorbike, and canoe, taking his time and meeting the people who are rebuilding their homes with hope, faith, and nervous instinct. We meet characters such Benjamin, the kindly father of the most terrifying Mai Mai warlord; Leya, who happily gives up a good job in Zambia to return to her razed town; Colonel Ibrahim, a guerrilla turned army officer. Rawlence shares the real story of Congo during and after the war, and finds not just a lost city but the seeds of a peaceful future.The Economist called the book “intimate and entertaining.”

What is the book’s genre/category?

It’s a travel book in the old fashioned sense: the story of a journey and my reflections on a place.

Please describe what the story/book is about.

RADIO CONGO is the story of a 4 month journey through the war zones of Eastern Congo in which I talk to people about how they are surviving after (and in some cases still during) the fighting.

Where do you write from? 

I live in Wales in the UK but travel to Africa regularly for my work with Human Rights Watch

What led up to this book? 

I had a few articles published in newspapers and magazines since leaving university but when a short piece about Nigeria got accepted in the London Review of Books in 2007, I began to think that I could do something longer. I had dreamt about a trip to Congo for many years, and with a lull in the fighting in late 2007 I sezied my chance.

What was the time frame for writing this book?  Tell us an interesting detail or two, if applicable.  For example, did you finish first draft after one week? Or did you pick it up after 20 years and finally rewrite it?

I wrote the first draft quite rapidly, and some of the chapters are more or less verbatim from my notebooks of the journey. Others I had to re-work and the draft took a year to properly polish as I was working full time simultaneously. Another year of polishing with an agent (and a month off from work) helped me get the manuscript ready for publishers.

How did you find your agent?

A senior colleague at work knew I was looking for one and put me in touch with a guy he knew. I wrote to him and he didn’t like but he passed the draft along to his colleague and she did. We hit it off and she totally understood what the project was about, so I signed up there and then.

What were your 1-2 biggest learning experience(s) or surprise(s) throughout the publishing process?

How kind and diplomatic everyone was about their suggestions for changes. I kind of expected them to tear it to shreds but they didn’t everything was couched in terms of suggestions, not red lines. I also didn’t know my grammar was so bad. The copyeditor found loads of stuff.

Looking back, what did you do right that helped you break in?

I’ve no idea; I just feel lucky. But if the book has any resonance I think it is because it comes from a deep personal commitment to reporting Africa honestly, getting close to people and putting yourself as much as possible in their shoes.

On that note, what would you have done differently if you could do it again?

I gave myself over wholly to the place and the journey; if I had thought more about the end product I would have paid more attention to recurring themes.

Did you have a platform in place?  On this topic, what are you doing the build a platform and gain readership?

I had a career in human rights reporting in Africa, which is a platform of sorts. I’m doing lots of talks; the question makes me feel slightly inadequate, like I’m not doing enough.

Website(s)?

There’s a facebook page: facebook.com/RadioCongoBook with further information about the characters, some music and maps and additional photos.

What’s next?

I’ve got book ideas stacked up like planes waiting to land. The first one is most likely another work of reportage about Somalia, inshallah.

Are you a subscriber of WD yet?
If not, get a discounted one-year sub here.

Other writing/publishing articles & links for you:

• Should You Start With Plot or Characters?
• All the Mistakes You Should Avoid in Your Query.
• Literary Agent Interview: Jim McCarthy of Dystel & Goderich.
• Putting In the Time to Become a Skilled Writer.
• Sell More Books by Building Your Writer Platform.
• Follow Chuck Sambuchino on Twitter or find him on Facebook. Learn all about his writing guides on how to get published, how to find a literary agent, and how to write a query letter.