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The inspirational (Christian) market is selling increasingly more fiction, but what used to be a staple in the fiction has changed. In years past, inspirational fiction often included a conversion scene in which a character came to believe and trust in Jesus Christ. Now characters in inspirational fiction are more likely to already be Christians, and inspy books trace their journey as they grow stronger in their faith.

I think this change came as publishers of inspy fiction realized the people most likely to purchase their books are already Christians. The conversion scenes came to be viewed as a cliche, something tacked on to the end of a book to make it Christian (and, with high hopes, the reader). As it became clear that readers of inspy fiction are mainly Christians, the books focused less on evangelism and more on spiritual growth (besides the unchanging focus on entertainment).

I have mixed feelings about this change. My young adult novel, A Shadow in the Dark, includes a conversion scene while its companion book, Living It Up to Live It Down, follows the spiritual growth of two teens. I felt it important to include the conversion scene because, when I was a child, I’d searched for that in books but had difficulty finding it. I didn’t have much access to inspirational fiction, and the few inspy books I found always seemed to abbreviate the conversion scene.  The plot would build up to it, and then the conversion itself would be summed up in a brief sentence such as “They prayed.” After that, everything would be wonderful. I always wondered, What did they pray? I didn’t think there were any magical words one needed to say to be a Christian, but I craved an example nonetheless.

I still believe there are children and teens seeking spiritual insights in what they read–even as deep or basic as how to become a Christian–and the inspirational market should take that role and never let go.

We've covered a lot of of politics lately. It's time to get back to our bread and butter--reading.

If you want to be a writer, then you need to read and read, and then read some more. Without further ado, here are two links to great writers discussing what they like to read.

Over at Ecstatic Days, novelist Nick Mamatas reflects on the writings of John Fante. Start with Ask the Dust, and read this guy when you are hurting, poor or stuck in your writing. He'll remind you why you write. Meet this new old writer here:

"Fante’s gimmick is an “open” one, or at least open to me. Young guy, son of boisterous immigrants, wants to be a writer and wants love from inaccessible women. He starves and struggles and begs the universe for something, anything at all, to keep the dual tortures of hunger and loneliness from overwhelming him. I fit right in. The agony of it all keeps me writing, just as it did him."

Then, over at Literary Saloon, one of my favorite writers in Spanish is being featured again. Juan Rulfo's spooky novel still challenges me, and his work with ghosts, poverty, and Latin American landscape is unforgettable.

Dig it: "At Slate Jim Lewis introduces what he thinks is The Perfect Novel You've Never Heard Of, Juan Rulfo's Pedro Páramo. Given all the coverage it's gotten the past couple of years -- including our review -- we're pretty sure you've heard of it."

We were on CBS News today, and not because they found out about the bank we robbed to finance our freelance writing careers.

If you follow that link, you can see that The Early Show used some of our six-word memoir party footage. Even better, the video features the work of three graduates of The Publishing Spot's Grad-School of Hard Knocks: scriptwriter and memoirist Allen Rucker; and Smith Magazine editors, Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser (you can see their interview here).

I thought I'd take this chance to index our complete interview with Allen Rucker. His book just came out in paperback, after all. Follow these links for some quality writing advice from the man who wrote this six-word memoir: "Alas, a farewell to legs. Next!"

Allen Rucker taught us How To Keep Writing Despite Personal Disasters.

Then gave a primer on How To Write For Hollywood.

Followed by a lesson on How Hardboiled Novels Can Improve Your Writing.

Then he showed us How To Structure and Revise A Memoir.

And finally, he gave advice on How To Pitch A Non-Fiction Book.

Earlier this week I wrote about the death of Andrew Olmsted, a military blogger who I always enjoyed reading. Writers like him do more to help us understand the Iraq War than a whole Internet full of pundits.

Over at Obsidian Wings, they've been tracking the massive outpouring of Internet support for Olmsted's family (also posting that picture of Olmsted and his unit).

You can read the 500 tribute posts here; and Olmsted's final post is a moving essay about the power of Internet community and ideals. This line has haunted me all week:

"Granted, this site will eventually vanish, being ephemeral in a very real sense of the word, but at least for a time it can serve as a tiny record of my contributions to the world. But on a larger scale, for those who knew me well enough to be saddened by my death, especially for those who haven't known anyone else lost to this war, perhaps my death can serve as a small reminder of the costs of war."

If you feel like you want to do more, Olmsted's family is asking that you to send donations to Capt. Thomas Casey Children's fund, a pool of donations to help the family of one of Olmsted's fallen soldiers. More information here.

Capt. Thomas Casey Children’s
P.O. Box 1306
Chester, CA 96020

What's the best way to finish your book? Drunk in a roach motel or handcuffed to a day-planner?

Over at Urban Muse, writing guru Kelly L. Stone advises writers to apply fanatical care to the business of writing; planning their schedules with an iron spreadsheet.

After interviewing over one hundred writers, she concluded these techniques work the best: "setting a writing schedule, adhering to that writing schedule under all circumstances barring illness and true emergencies, creating deadlines for getting the various stages of their projects completed, using some type of “quota” system to ensure that they complete their work consistently."

On the other end of the writing scale, Slate's Jack Shafer blasts all writers who adhere to such rigid codes. His essay touches the messy corners of every writer's brain, explaining "Why Booze and Cigarettes Are Essential for Good Journalism": "journalists identify with larger-than-life personalities, because that's how they see themselves. Deny the journalist his self-image as a rule-bending individualist and you might as well replace him with a typist."

I'm an ex-smoker who can drink Scotch like a hardboiled hero, but without an inner typist I'd never get through my next draft. Still, whenever my inner typist wrestles my inner hardboiled hero, the hero usually wins. That's why I'm still plowing through the billionth draft of my novel.

Who do you believe, the hardboiled hero or the boring typist? Are you stumbling madly through your book or are you following a time-clock? 

I just have to ask the question, because no one else will.

Singer-songwriter Neil Diamond revealed yesterday that the inspiration for his romantic springtime love song "Sweet Caroline" was really an ode to President Kennedy's daughter. A little girl!

Whenever you hear this song, you must now think of this image of a child, and not your first hot and heavy summertime lover.

Read it and weep:

"Diamond was a 'young, broke songwriter' when a photo of the president's daughter in a news magazine caught his eye.'It was a picture of a little girl dressed to the nines in her riding gear, next to her pony,' Diamond recalled. 'It was such an innocent, wonderful picture, I immediately felt there was a song in there.'"

While I am always fascinated to find out what inspired my literary heroes (and Neil Diamond's sappy writing has inspired me, as I wrote in this essay), but this makes me feel a little dirty. Will there be backlash?

Here's my songwriting tip for you: If you are writing one of the best romantic songs of your generation, don't ever tell anybody who really inspired you. It kills the magic...

Thousands and thousands of writers are really stressed out right now... 

Over at The Hufffington Post, Rachel Sklar has a brilliant roundup of all the web videos, blog posts, articles, and speeches created by striking WGA members. Follow her links and send some love to screenwriters of the world:

"see our Writers' Strike Opinion Page!... see this video featuring various showrunners from Lost, ER, Family Guy, Scrubs, The Shield, King of the Hill and The Office stepping up for their writers; Garry Marshall — creator of Happy Days, The Odd Couple, Mork & Mindy and Laverne & Shirley — giving some perspective on his fifth strike; and "Buffy" creator Joss Whedon, who explains that it's not about more money but a fair share when the studios make more money"

This strike is happening, in part, because it's really hard to scrape together a living as writer in an economy rocked by online media--we all end up doing too much work to compensate. If you feel swamped, read Urban Muse's post about how to beat writing burnout. 

Finally, even writers with dayjobs struggle to keep balanced. Last night podcasting author Felicia Sullivan interviewed Jeffrey Yamaguchi about his book, Working For The Man. Follow this link to the interview (click here and press play on the player on the right-hand corner). Around 20 minutes in, the pair discuss the fine art of writing your novel on the dayjob clock.

The best writing advice is so simple that I have to say it over and over again. It's so simple that I have to repeat it when other people say it. It's so simple that I have to beat it into my skull every busy busy week like the week I'm stuck in right now.

Here it is, again. We are writers. Therefore, we must be sitting at our writing desks writing absolutely every chance we get.

Gordon Hurd will set you straight with this inspiring post about this very subject. He mentions a book that we must all track down soon. Dig it, dig it:

"no matter how much you want to stop writing after that first good sentence or page or scene, keep going. Stay in the room even though your coffee is cold. Stay in the room even though the phone is ringing. Stay in the room to write your first draft."

He's paraphrasing the writing handbook, Ron Carlson Writes a Story. The book was written by author and creative writing teacher Ron Carlson. It's easy enough to say "Stay at your writing table," but much harder to do.

How do you convince yourself to keep writing after a long long day?

Why do we do this? Why do we keep writing?

Susan over at The Urban Muse has tagged us for the meme unofficially titled "My Love of Writing." Tagged participants must list between three and five things that they love about writing. Read her post for inspiration, and follow some of the links backwards--she connects to lots of great writing sites.

It's a great list to have handy on the dark days when you feel like everything you write is like a Readers Digest article paraphrased by a ten-year-old with crayons.

Three things I love about writing: First, I love the Ah-Ha! Moment when I am actually experiencing something I will write about. Like when somebody says something smart, funny, or silly and I want to plug it straight into a character's mouth. Or when I am seeing or doing something so strange that I know describing it will make great prose. Continue reading...

We've spent a whole week obsessing about money--how to earn money writing, how to survive with less money, and how to stop worrying about money and start writing.

Today, the super new PBS website MediaShift Idea Lab has some ideas about how to create a cheap digital newsroom. This suggestion from J.D. Lasica is worth the price of admission:

"Lots of free great applications and plug-ins are available at download.com, pcmag, tucows pc world. Instead of manging your project with Microsoft Project ($400), an inexpensive alternative is Basecamp, free for one project."

The Papercuts blog linked to this epic NY Times Magazine article from 1998 about the different editors and lovers who shaped the stunning short stories of Raymond Carver. It's an invaluable lesson about editing, editors, and yes, surviving on a shoe-string budget when nobody believes in you. Read it this weekend.

Everybody has a first kiss story. Tell yours and be a part of three-year-old project that mixes oral history, web publishing, and plenty of sweetness. (Thanks, Smith Magazine)

Finally, The Millions blog just turned me on to One Story magazine, a groovy print concept with plenty of writing advice for you:

"The magazine recently unveiled a prettier website, which still includes the features I've always liked. You can check out the first lines of every story published by the magazine, as well as short interviews with each writer about his or her story and the process of creating it."

"I hate being paralyzed. I hate every minute of it. Everytime it dawns on me that I can't do something like swing on a passing tree limb or take Blaine or Max down for a three count in the backyard, it's like a stab in the gut."

That's a vivid couple sentences from Allen Rucker's memoir about his paralysis, The Best Seat in the House. The book takes an unexpected, often entertaining, look at a tragic subject, avoiding all the clichés that rule the memoir genre.

This television and film writer brought a whole new toolkit to the memoir, and today he tells us how spice up our own non-fiction. Rucker is our guest this week in my deceptively simple feature, Five Easy Questions.

In the spirit of Jack Nicholson's mad piano player, I run a weekly set of quality interviews with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web writing.

Jason Boog:
Your memoir has this amazing sense of organization, encapsulating each step of an overwhelming journey inside thematic chapters. How did you take this utterly bewildering event and shape it into a coherent written story? How did you craft (and revise) deeply emotional events into such easy-reading, humorous prose?

Allen Rucker:

The story had an obvious “inciting incident,” to use screenwriting jargon – I woke up one day and was paralyzed. Continue reading...

Can a book deal save your life?

Author Allen Rucker's life derailed in his early 50's when he woke up paralyzed by a rare disorder. According to his new memoir, The Best Seat in the House (in hardcover now, look for the trade paperback in January 2008), one of the things that helped him recover from this devastating loss was a contract to write The Sopranos Family Cookbook.

That comical book became a bestseller, giving a once struggling television and film writer new work as a non-fiction writer. Today he tells us how he pitched his most recent book.

Welcome to my deceptively simple feature, Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson's mad piano player, I run a weekly set of quality interviews with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web writing.

Jason Boog:
Your memoir ends with you getting a contract to write The Sopranos Family Cookbook--an inspirational conclusion to the darkest time in your life. Landing a contract and writing your memoir must have been a similarly intense experience. On a practical level, how did you conceive, pitch, and finally land a contract for The Best Seat in the House? Any advice for fledgling writers looking to pitch a non-fiction book?

Allen Rucker:
As I said, I knew I wanted to write the paralysis book right away, but I waited, for two things: one, to figure out what I wanted to write, and two, to get to a place in the publishing business where I had a chance in hell to sell a book like this. Continue reading...

"Here is my life the day I became paralyzed. I was fifty-one, married with two sons, one in college and an eight-year-old at home, living in a big house in West Los Angeles, and pursuing my so-called craft as a writer of television specials and documentaries." 

That's the opening of Allen Rucker's memoir, The Best Seat in the House, a book about a freak medical condition that left him paralyzed after an afternoon nap.

Rucker spent most of his writing career toiling away in television and film, and has lifetime of writing craft to share--but today, he teaches us how to survive personal disasters and keep writing.

Rucker is our guest this week in my deceptively simple feature, Five Easy Questions. In the spirit of Jack Nicholson's mad piano player, I run a weekly set of quality interviews with writing pioneers—delivering some practical, unexpected advice about web writing.

Jason Boog:
Your book is about recovery, following the process of getting to where you could write again after you were paralyzed by the rare disorder, transverse myelitis. Among other things, it's a handbook for learning how to write despite anxiety, depression, and difficult situations. What is your advice for young writers swamped by life?

Allen Rucker:
Anxiety, depression, and difficult situations are, as often as not, why you write in the first place, or at least why you write the ubiquitous form of first-person memoir writing prevalent today. Continue reading...

Every litblog from here to Antarctica has published a mini-essay about a gloomy survey of 1,300 publishing professionals that predicts the looming death of the printed book. SF Signal has the bad news wrapped up in a nice post.

Over at Smith Magazine, Rachel has an equally depressing post about the future of literary magazines that should make most fledgling writers reconsider their options as well:

"And are literary magazines dead? A harsh but well-written blog polemic claims the answers are yes and yes. I’m curious to hear what our readers think, but for now I’m feeling my “campaign to save book reviewing” feeling—can’t we all just get along?? The rather terrific nonfiction lit mag The Crier is on financially necessitated hiatus. Hmm."

Do we throw in the towel and go to law school? I say no. In fact, I've lined up a guest next week who will help us all keep going---scriptwriter and non-fiction author Allen Rucker.

Rucker spent most of his career toiling away in television and film writing, and then one fateful Tuesday, woke up paralyzed. Next week he'll tell us how he survived that nightmarish event, and share secrets to surviving as writer--one of the toughest professions around, no matter what time you live in.

His interview is the closest thing we'll get to a manual on how to cope with the anxieties of our job. Tune in Monday for a fascinating week of interviews...

"[T]hat epicist of the female experience, who with skepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilization to scrutiny" wrote the Nobel Prize committee, describing novelist and memoir writer Doris Lessing.

What does that mean? Tell your stories even if the culture at large doesn't want to hear them. Someday, your work will find the respect and the readers it deserves. 

I've barely cracked The Golden Notebook, I'm sorry to admit, but the Elegant Variation has a reading list for us to catch up with the brand new winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Check it out:

"If you're new to Lessing, here's her British Council writers page ... an archive of New York Times book reviews of her work ... a recent Boston Globe Q&A ... a 1988 Fresh Air interview ... and an excerpt from The Golden Notebook."

In gloomier news, a writers' strike looms in Hollywood. USA Today reflects on how this kind of event will hurt television and movies. Turns out the nightly comedy shows would be one of the first to be hit.

Finally, Galleycat reflects on a winning ad campaign for Jeff Somers' The Electric Church. It's a fascinating look at some pioneering ways to find new readers in these vast Internets.

How do you survive the tough times as a writer? What do you do when you feel, ironically or un-ironically, like the "Leave Britney Alone!" YouTube girl who channeled her frustrations into a hysterical video about a pop star, and you beg the world to Leave This Writer Alone?

No matter how over-worked or beat-down you feel, you must pick yourself up and write again. That's our job. Over the weekend, a couple readers shared their thoughts about how to survive the tough times.

Jurgen Wolff had this advice: "For me, one of the best strategies is to have several different kinds of projects going at once...I try to keep at least 3 or 4 projects going at different stages--usually the 'downs' of one will be balanced by the 'ups' of another."

Richard Grayson had a simpler solution: "I steal."

Finally, over at the MFA Blog, , M. Ramirez Talusa reminds us to relax, especially as we prepare for critical readings or reviews. Dig it: 

"I would definitely recommend not stressing out too much so that you don't end up feeling too emotionally spent afterward. I tend to use the week before workshop as a fun week... I take a break that week so that I approach the workshop enthusiastically." 

What's your secret to survival? 

To be honest, I've been having a nerve-wracking, over-crowded, and tough time lately, and the first thing that suffers is my writing. I haven't cracked my novel in two weeks and everything I write sounds all wooden.

"Whine, whine, whine," you might say, but I know you've felt the same way as me. That's why I dug through my summer archives to come back with an inspirational quote from our special guest, , Heather McElhatton. Before publishing her second manuscript, she was falling apart at her mother's house and sitting on a novel nobody would publish.

She survived, and we can too. Here's her advice:

"You survive it because you have no choice. It's like you're trapped under ice and you survive on random pockets of air at the surface. You use whatever you have to get by. Single moments can sustain you. Moments with friends, pets, nature, favorite TV shows, cocktails, other people's writing, poetry, chocolate, whatever you have to survive on,  use it to get to the next day."

That's her answer. How do you survive the tough times as a writer? Share your story in the comments and I'll put them up next week.  

Ack!

Once again, I return at mid-day from my day-job with a late, late post. When life gets busy, I sometimes ask myself, why keep this blog? I love doing it, but sometimes it really gets in the way of normal life.

I'm sure you've thought the same things about your own projects, but today, two of my favorite writers reminded me of why I blog--and why every writer should learn how to play online.

Jeff Jarvis makes the first point, in an off-handed, yet inspiring, set of links that all fledgling writers should pay attention to:

"Neil McIntosh has damned good advice for journalism students, following up on a report about the state of j-schools and technology, below: 'Again, for those at the back: if you think you want to be a journalist, I now don’t think there’s any excuse not to have a blog. The closer you get to looking around for jobs, the better it should be maintained.'"

Besides the professional resources, connections, and inspiration blogging has taught me, the form has also helped me learn the art of the practical interview. After reading thousands of posts, I've learned to ask the questions that matter most to me (and hopefully to you too!). 

The lovely novelist Heather McElhatton said it much better than me:

"Jason B, who posts The Publishing Spot, did an interview with me and got some very non-schlocky answers out of me. You know when you do a book tour and eighty people ask you the same question, after awhile you tend to answer them the same, creating for yourself a bit of a saccahrine 'pat' answer. Jason asked some stuff that got me to crack open a bit."

We spend so much time thinking about our own writing here, sometimes it's better to think about how you can share writing with somebody else. 

A few months ago Kimberlee Morrison told us how the Freedom Writers project transformed her life. Thanks to that life-changing writing class in California, Morrison graduated from the university with a journalism degree.

Ever since, I've kept an eye out for other creative projects worth supporting. This week, LitPark featured an interview with writer Jill Gurr. She's the founder and president of Create Now!, a group that began by helping troubled kids write movie scripts.

The project grew to include all sorts of art projects, and it is beautiful to see how these fledgling writers can find their voices even in the most difficult environments. Find a way to share writing with somebody else.  

Check it out:

"I’ve always found writing to be incredibly therapeutic. When I founded the organization, it was originally called Write Now! and we focused on all types of creative writing. But as I worked with the kids, I realized that many of them were interested (and talented) in other areas, like music and visual arts."

Feel lucky, punk?

Susan Henderson is having a marvelous conversation over at LitPark about the role of luck in a literary career. As somebody sitting in the wacky world of New York publishing, I gotta say,  makes a good point about luck.

Out here, I've seen plenty of good writers crash and burn, and I've seen good writers become great writers. Writing is a crazy profession, and there are no guarantees.

Here's a humbling quote from Brad Listi:

"To be certain, my publishing success wouldn’t have happened had I not worked very hard and been savvy, and so on. But it could have just as easily have not happened, too, despite all of those things. Plenty of hardworking people, many of whom are far more talented than I, don’t get the ride that I’ve gotten. I’m well aware of that fact, and it’s humbling." 

While you ponder that, why not visit Nervous Breakdown, a writing experiment Brad Listi started (sharing a bit of his own luck), dedicated to creating opportunities for writers to find readers. The site features some wild stories and is pretty addictive.