How to use this Page

I was able to get a little work done on the above monster piece over the last couple days, though it required me to get little to no sleep in order to do it.

Sleep is a luxury anyway, right?

Right?

Or, wait, no...I'm thinking of an expensive car.

Silly me.

Steve~

In Sunday's Oregonian was a piece from writer Larry Brooks that has caused a lot of comment among writers I know. It begins, "Deep in the black heart of every writing workshop instructor resides a dirty little secret: We are praying that no one asks when our next book is coming out. We keep talking and sounding oh-so-enlightened so no one will ask this question. Because while getting published was what got us up here in front of these people, all of whom see themselves as the next Chuck Palahniuk or Mike Rich, we know something they don't, something we don't dare speak aloud: These days it's harder to stay published than it is to get published."

Nearly every writer I know has been through a down cycle, dropped, let go, passed on to a different editor. And some of the ones who have been through three or four publishers, had a series or two dropped - why they are now on the NY Times bestseller list. So fortunes change.

And I still think it's damned hard to get your foot in the door.

What do you think? Is it harder to stay published than to stay published? Do you think there are a lot of teachers out there who are having trouble getting a contract? I don't teach very much because I simply don't have time. If I didn't have books under contract, I would have more time - which sets up kind of a tautology.

Read more here.





Subscribe with
JacketFlap's
Children's
Publishing
Blog Reader