Jamie Patterson's Blog, page 40
May 11, 2011
Future of Books
The Future of the Book. from IDEO on Vimeo.
Super fascinating! The last video in the series sure does make me think of storytelling in a whole new way.
Where are the Galleys?
Where are the galleys? This is a question I'm getting a lot lately from friends and family who anticipated an April release for Lost Edens. The April launch turned into an end of May, turned into an end of June, and now we're looking at something like the middle of July.
I was just at the publisher's office last week, and a new author was there who inquired on my experience. I have nothing but good things to say, really...but holy heck! The process has taken much longer than anticipated. One of the reasons I went with a mentor publisher was in the hopes I'd be able to publish within 8 months. We're now at one year since I first met with their acquisitions editor, 5 years since I wrote the manuscript. Not at all unusual in the world of books but, again, not what I was hoping for. Of course. I'm a first time author so I'm starting to get used to all kinds of expectations getting squashed.
One thing about this process that I love is that I've certainly learned patience and to go with the flow. Where are the galleys? Heck, I don't know. Maybe they're coming today. Maybe next week. Maybe never. Maybe I'll make like Amanda Hockings and ditch the whole idea completely in favor of eBooks that will go on sale tonight.
Nah....I'll stick it out. How much longer can it be, right?
I was just at the publisher's office last week, and a new author was there who inquired on my experience. I have nothing but good things to say, really...but holy heck! The process has taken much longer than anticipated. One of the reasons I went with a mentor publisher was in the hopes I'd be able to publish within 8 months. We're now at one year since I first met with their acquisitions editor, 5 years since I wrote the manuscript. Not at all unusual in the world of books but, again, not what I was hoping for. Of course. I'm a first time author so I'm starting to get used to all kinds of expectations getting squashed.
One thing about this process that I love is that I've certainly learned patience and to go with the flow. Where are the galleys? Heck, I don't know. Maybe they're coming today. Maybe next week. Maybe never. Maybe I'll make like Amanda Hockings and ditch the whole idea completely in favor of eBooks that will go on sale tonight.
Nah....I'll stick it out. How much longer can it be, right?
May 10, 2011
Organizing your Research
I frequently am asked to recommend ways to organize research. I don't use any particular software myself and tend to go old school when I'm collecting research: plain old Word document for my bibliography, maybe an excel spreadsheet for a literature matrix. Maybe.
I've heard of all the terrific different options for free software (Zotero, EasyBib, NoodleTools) but I was just in Houston chatting with students and heard a terrific suggestion: keeping a blog to organize research. This student had a blog where he created an ongoing annotated bibliography, assigning specific labels to each entry. The cloud related to topics then built and built and built until he could see where, specifically, the research focus was heading. Pretty cool if you ask me. Of course, everything on the blog was searchable to boot.
I tried to find his blog just now and didn't have any luck but I did find a few cool sites related to blog research. Here's one with lots of links on the topic that seemed pretty darn interesting.
I've heard of all the terrific different options for free software (Zotero, EasyBib, NoodleTools) but I was just in Houston chatting with students and heard a terrific suggestion: keeping a blog to organize research. This student had a blog where he created an ongoing annotated bibliography, assigning specific labels to each entry. The cloud related to topics then built and built and built until he could see where, specifically, the research focus was heading. Pretty cool if you ask me. Of course, everything on the blog was searchable to boot.
I tried to find his blog just now and didn't have any luck but I did find a few cool sites related to blog research. Here's one with lots of links on the topic that seemed pretty darn interesting.
Haruki Murakami Quote
I'm not going to be able to write for awhile because I'm nearly done with Haruki Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and it has such a specific rhythm that is so consistent there's no way I would be able to keep it from my own writing.
Down the line, though, I hope I'll be able to emulate the slow presentation of information and concise word choice.
Here's a quote from a chapter I just finished. There's a lot of quotable lines but I chose this one for all the writers out there; you might get a chuckle:
Down the line, though, I hope I'll be able to emulate the slow presentation of information and concise word choice.
Here's a quote from a chapter I just finished. There's a lot of quotable lines but I chose this one for all the writers out there; you might get a chuckle:
To be honest, I almost never use the dictionary. I just don't like dictionaries. I don't like the way they look, and I don't like what they say inside. Whenever I use a dictionary, I make a face and think, Who needs to know that? People like me don't get along well with dictionaries. Say I look up "transition" and it says: "passage from one state to another." I think, So what? It's got nothing to do with me. So when I see a dictionary on my desk I feel like I'm looking at some strange dog leaving a twisty piece of poop on our lawn out back.
How to Proofread and Edit like a Pro
I've been a professional editor and writing instructor in some capacity most of my professional life. Over the years I've developed a method of reviewing that works really well for me. I'll share it here in the hopes it will help you develop your own method as you work through the process of becoming a self-editor.
When I'm reviewing other people's work I review in three steps:
1. I proofread. I go through the entire document looking for errant commas, misused semicolons, proper in-text citations, proper word choice. How do I do this? I skim through the words, not actually reading, and I look for very specific things.
I look for commas and when I find one, I stop and ask a question:
-Is there a complete sentence before and after the comma and does the comma have For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet (FANBOY) in front of it? If the answer is yes, I leave it alone and skim on to the next comma. If the answer is that there are complete sentences on either side but no sign of a FANBOY, then I change the comma to a semicolon. If the answer is that there isn't a complete sentence on either side then I remove the comma.
Are there exceptions to this? Sure, but I'll catch any mistakes I make in phase 2, when I actually read for editing.
I look for semicolons and make sure that there are either complete sentences on either side (I was hungry; I ate breakfast) or that the semicolon is being used to separate elements with internal commas (commas within the element). Like this: I have lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota; San Diego, California; and London, England.
I look at other punctuation, and ask: is the punctuation inside of double quotation marks "like this?" If so great, if not, I adjust. I make sure that double quotation marks are used for direct quotes or to show dialogue and that single quotation marks are only used within a quote.
Other things I look for are kind of nitpicky: proper spelling, repetitious words, spelling out all numbers under nine and using figures for all numbers 10 and higher. Then I move on to the next step.
2. I read. I'll read through, conducting a close read. This means I read every word, sometimes out loud if I have to, with an eye (and ear!) on clarity and grammar. I'll rearrange words, rewrite sentences, and ask critical questions. In some cases, why something isn't reading well isn't immediately clear. I go by what my first boss out of college told me about revising: if it doesn't feel right it probably isn't right. So I highlight any tricky sentences and when I finish my close read of the document, I move on to the last step.
3. I work out tough areas. Now that I've proofread and revised the bulk of the text I go back to those tricky sentences that had me stumped. What do I define as a tricky sentence? Anything I have to read more than three times. If I catch myself rereading a sentence for whatever the reason, I'll highlight and know that I have this last step ahead where I can reconcile any troubles. Sometimes, when I go back through and find these highlighted sections I find that there's absolutely nothing wrong with the sentence...I was looking too closely. In which case I cheer, unhighlight, and move to the next.
The process is slightly different if it's my own work in that I do one additional step: I force myself to put as much time between writing and revision as possible. There's nothing more valuable than approaching a text with fresh eyes. If I can wait until I'm at the point where even the story is new to me, all the better.
As always, remember that proofreading, revising, and self-editing are skills themselves that take just as much development as writing. Be patient and practice, and you'll do just fine.
When I'm reviewing other people's work I review in three steps:
1. I proofread. I go through the entire document looking for errant commas, misused semicolons, proper in-text citations, proper word choice. How do I do this? I skim through the words, not actually reading, and I look for very specific things.
I look for commas and when I find one, I stop and ask a question:
-Is there a complete sentence before and after the comma and does the comma have For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet (FANBOY) in front of it? If the answer is yes, I leave it alone and skim on to the next comma. If the answer is that there are complete sentences on either side but no sign of a FANBOY, then I change the comma to a semicolon. If the answer is that there isn't a complete sentence on either side then I remove the comma.
Are there exceptions to this? Sure, but I'll catch any mistakes I make in phase 2, when I actually read for editing.
I look for semicolons and make sure that there are either complete sentences on either side (I was hungry; I ate breakfast) or that the semicolon is being used to separate elements with internal commas (commas within the element). Like this: I have lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota; San Diego, California; and London, England.
I look at other punctuation, and ask: is the punctuation inside of double quotation marks "like this?" If so great, if not, I adjust. I make sure that double quotation marks are used for direct quotes or to show dialogue and that single quotation marks are only used within a quote.
Other things I look for are kind of nitpicky: proper spelling, repetitious words, spelling out all numbers under nine and using figures for all numbers 10 and higher. Then I move on to the next step.
2. I read. I'll read through, conducting a close read. This means I read every word, sometimes out loud if I have to, with an eye (and ear!) on clarity and grammar. I'll rearrange words, rewrite sentences, and ask critical questions. In some cases, why something isn't reading well isn't immediately clear. I go by what my first boss out of college told me about revising: if it doesn't feel right it probably isn't right. So I highlight any tricky sentences and when I finish my close read of the document, I move on to the last step.
3. I work out tough areas. Now that I've proofread and revised the bulk of the text I go back to those tricky sentences that had me stumped. What do I define as a tricky sentence? Anything I have to read more than three times. If I catch myself rereading a sentence for whatever the reason, I'll highlight and know that I have this last step ahead where I can reconcile any troubles. Sometimes, when I go back through and find these highlighted sections I find that there's absolutely nothing wrong with the sentence...I was looking too closely. In which case I cheer, unhighlight, and move to the next.
The process is slightly different if it's my own work in that I do one additional step: I force myself to put as much time between writing and revision as possible. There's nothing more valuable than approaching a text with fresh eyes. If I can wait until I'm at the point where even the story is new to me, all the better.
As always, remember that proofreading, revising, and self-editing are skills themselves that take just as much development as writing. Be patient and practice, and you'll do just fine.
May 9, 2011
Everyday vs. every day
This is a tricky one for a lot of people, so no worries here: you're not alone.
Everyday (one word) is used as an adjective.
Example: Those are everyday shoes she's wearing.
A trick to help you know when to use every day (two words):
Every day is used when you can replace every with each.
Example: Each day here is like paradise.
Every day here is like paradise.
Now you know which wins when with everyday vs. every day!
Everyday (one word) is used as an adjective.
Example: Those are everyday shoes she's wearing.
A trick to help you know when to use every day (two words):
Every day is used when you can replace every with each.
Example: Each day here is like paradise.
Every day here is like paradise.
Now you know which wins when with everyday vs. every day!
Fail Better
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.
-Samuel Beckett
-Samuel Beckett
Good Airplane Books
I travel a ton and sometimes it's really nice to have a short book I can start while I'm waiting to board and finish before I land. Makes for a nice reading experience and makes the flight go super fast, which I like even more. So here's a "flight" of nice, short books that you might enjoy whilst traveling.
About Alice
Calvin Trillin
Calvin Trillin's short but beautiful tribute to his late wife.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death
Jean-Dominique Bauby
Bauby blinked out this book letter by letter after suffering a stroke. This alone makes it pretty remarkable but it's a touching story as well.
How I Became Stupid
Martin Page
I thought this was a hilarious book. A young man is too smart for his own good and decides the world would be easier if he were stupid.
The Old Man and the Sea
Ernest Hemingway
I also recommend this book, in particular, as an audiobook. Captivating.
And, of course, let me recommend my own book, Lost Edens.
Happy reading!
About Alice
Calvin Trillin
Calvin Trillin's short but beautiful tribute to his late wife.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: A Memoir of Life in Death
Jean-Dominique Bauby
Bauby blinked out this book letter by letter after suffering a stroke. This alone makes it pretty remarkable but it's a touching story as well.
How I Became Stupid
Martin Page
I thought this was a hilarious book. A young man is too smart for his own good and decides the world would be easier if he were stupid.
The Old Man and the Sea
Ernest Hemingway
I also recommend this book, in particular, as an audiobook. Captivating.
And, of course, let me recommend my own book, Lost Edens.
Happy reading!
May 8, 2011
The First Null Hypothesis
The other night a colleague joked that Shakespeare is so pervasive in modern life that he even created the first null hypothesis:
Nothing will come from nothing. -King Lear
As an aside, this led me to an entertaining study on the internet where someone undertook to find the frequency of Shakespeare's influence on titles of published academic articles.
One more side note: the null hypothesis is most often accompanied by an alternative (indeed, some schools will require it) and the formatting (per APA style) is as follows:
H01: The H is in italics, the 0 (zero) is in subscript, regular font, followed by the research question number. The formatting I like to see is the hypotheses immediately following the corresponding research questions, although some committees will ask for the research questions and hypotheses to be separated.
Nothing will come from nothing. -King Lear
As an aside, this led me to an entertaining study on the internet where someone undertook to find the frequency of Shakespeare's influence on titles of published academic articles.
One more side note: the null hypothesis is most often accompanied by an alternative (indeed, some schools will require it) and the formatting (per APA style) is as follows:
H01: The H is in italics, the 0 (zero) is in subscript, regular font, followed by the research question number. The formatting I like to see is the hypotheses immediately following the corresponding research questions, although some committees will ask for the research questions and hypotheses to be separated.
