If They Can Be Published …
After you’ve written a novel there is a long period of waiting to see if it will be published. You wait to learn if an agent will represent it. You wait to see if a publisher will print it. And if it is published you then wait to see if an audience will read and enjoy it. And while you’re waiting, there is always the nagging doubt and frustration about whether the novel was good enough. I’m still at that first waiting point, so I often take notice of other books that are just coming out, and wonder about the decisions made in the publishing process, such as: Who will read this? Is the audience big enough to justify a print run? Why d

Hillbilly Lit – Breece D’J Pancake
I was reading some stories for Fifth Wednesday Journal, when it struck me how many writers seem fascinated with rural life. The percentage of stories I see that take place in country settings far exceeds the percentage of the population that actually lives there. Let’s just say I read more than my share of stories about men with pickup trucks, shotguns and dogs … and the women who love them. I’ve noticed that in some of these stories, the characters are made to sound something like hillbillies, or at least what the writer thinks hillbillies should sound like. All that reminded me of

Writing is Revising—Even in the Bathroom
Richard Powers wrote most of his newest novel in bed, using voice recognition software. Junot Diaz writes in the bathroom, sitting on the edge of the tub. To write “Lowboy,” John Wray wrote for up to six hours a day sitting in subway cars. The Wall Street Journal’s Weekend Journal recently reported on 11 well-known authors about how they create, and—surprise—none of them merely sit at a computer and type away. (See the article here.) Many of the 11 initially write in longhand, or on notecards, before they t

Long Ago and Faraway in Writing
Long ago, in a faraway place, a writer wrote. He wrote and wrote, and when he was done with his book, a kindly agent sold it to a generous publisher, who printed thousands of copies and publicized the book so the people would know about it and purchase this wonderful work. That fairy tale was then. This is now: http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2009/10/19/091019sh_shouts_weiner The article is funny, but it’s also largely true. Today writers, especially new writers, are expected to handle the majority of their

A Little More About Submissions
A few days after writing my “sour grapes” post on who actually reads your submissions, Poets & Writers ran a column by Benjamin Percy on perseverance amid the tidal wave of rejections most writers receive. Although he doesn’t get into first readers or the process by which stories are chosen for publication, he does make a strong point about not allowing rejections to stop you from submitting. Percy uses a boxing metaphor—Rocky Balboa, in fact—to make his case. It helps, he int