Angela Ackerman's Blog: Writers Helping Writers, page 179
May 31, 2012
Keep Calm And Query On WINNER!
Hi everyone! Wow, we had a huge response to Luke Reynold's awesome and inspiring post about courage, both here and on twitter. I think so many of us can relate to his analogy, not only for querying, but for so many parts of the writing and publishing process. It requires a lot of courage to say the words, I am a writer. It takes a lot of courage to ask someone to critique our work. And it especially requires a lot of courage to take that final step into publication by actively sending our stories out the door.
So here's to courage! I am so proud of every one of you, and the determination you show each day as you create, strive and improve. No matter where you are on the path, courage will keep you moving toward your goals.
Okay, I know everyone wants me to shut up an announce a winner! The Random.org Gods have conferred, and the person winning author Luke Reynold's generous prize of a Query critique, phone chat to discuss writing/querying & a copy of his inspiring book, Keep Calm And Query On is...*drumroll*
Sheila Good
Congrats to Sheila--I know this will help you so much! And a big squishy thank you to Luke Reynolds for hanging out with us here at The Bookshelf Muse, and for his stellar RAOK Blitz inspired giveaway!
So here's to courage! I am so proud of every one of you, and the determination you show each day as you create, strive and improve. No matter where you are on the path, courage will keep you moving toward your goals. Okay, I know everyone wants me to shut up an announce a winner! The Random.org Gods have conferred, and the person winning author Luke Reynold's generous prize of a Query critique, phone chat to discuss writing/querying & a copy of his inspiring book, Keep Calm And Query On is...*drumroll*
Sheila Good
Congrats to Sheila--I know this will help you so much! And a big squishy thank you to Luke Reynolds for hanging out with us here at The Bookshelf Muse, and for his stellar RAOK Blitz inspired giveaway!
May 29, 2012
Keep Calm And Query On + Giveaway!
We all know how tough it is to write a query. Condensing thousands upon thousands of words into a teeny-tiny pitch that will evoke such a powerful response that the recipient will request the entire thing? Talk about pressure. But even more so, I think querying is difficult because we understand that once the query is perfected, we must take the next step and actually hit SEND.
Today Luke Reynolds, author of
Keep Calm and Query On
, is with us, and why? Because he gets it. Luke understands the pressure writers are under, and the strength they must muster in order to become their book's advocate, so keep reading!
Good Old Fashioned Middle School Courage
In the seventh grade, I had a massive crush on a girl and so I did the noble, sensible, courageous thing: I wrote her a note, folded it into an origami masterpiece, and passed it off to a friend, who passed it off to a friend, who passed it off to a friend who happened to know THE girl.
What did the note say? It was a query, of course. And the substance of the query was nothing less than putting my gooey, vulnerable, passion-filled heart on the line with essentially one solitary question: Will you go out with me?
Now, as a post-thirty-year old writer, I realize that I never stopped asking that question. Now I ask it in different ways, and I ask it to different people. (Thank goodness one young woman finally had the patience to say that amazing word, yes, to me, and I’ve not let her go ever since.) And as a writer, you’re still asking it, too, folding your middle school note in various ways and packing it off to someone who knows someone. Now that someone is an agent or editor, who you hope will write back and to share that miraculous YES that lets you know they’re interested in a long-term, committed relationship.
But the dilemma for us writers hasn’t changed. The essential question is still the same: How do we work up the courage to write the note, send it off, and if we’re rejected, ask someone else?
The answer lies, I think, in two steps:
1) Take yourself more seriously
I remember reading that critically acclaimed author John Gardner once got so fed up by the lack of response and rejection to his queries and partials that he eventually walked into Knopf’s New York office with two of his novels in brown paper bags, demanding that someone read the darn things. Gardner took himself and his work seriously: he knew that what he was writing had worth. An act of such confidence bespeaks incredible courage for a writer—the middle school equivalent of asking out the interested party on stage, with a microphone, during a full-school assembly.
Do we take ourselves this seriously? Do we believe in our work, in our words, this deeply? I would hesitate to recommend you show up at an agent’s home with your manuscript in hand—publishing times have certainly changed!—but you and I need to learn to see ourselves as writers who have something to offer the world. We need to say the following refrain: I have stories to share. Without my telling them, the world will be worse off for it; my stories matter. This helps us make that decision to write the dang query note—and get something sent off into the world of possibility.
2) Take yourself less seriously
The flip side of # 1, however, is that we also need to take ourselves less seriously. In middle school, if you were the kind of person who asked out that ONE girl or guy, got a rejection, then went back home and vowed you would NEVER DO IT AGAIN, then now (as an adult writer) is the time to change. Take yourself less seriously. You send off a query note to an agent and get a form rejection? See this as a small thing: not a world-shaking event that now puts you in the class of Never Will It Ever Happen.
Instead, we can tell ourselves, I’ve got to get it out there again. Writing isn’t all about the outcome; writing is about the writing, too, the fun and freedom of creation. Taking ourselves less seriously is akin to throwing that middle-school crush note out there, but realizing that you’re probably not going to marry the recipient of the note. No! Be gone wedding ceremonies for seventh-graders! Now, as adult writers, we take a step back and loosen our own standards—imposing the serious requirement that we constantly prove ourselves. When faced with rejections for our words, we even learn to be (dare I say it) a little bit silly.
My three-year old son Tyler, one night after dinner, said, “I am going to do something really, really good.” He then proceeded to take off his pants, pull two kitchen chairs together, and climb on top of them. Once in that lofty position, he exclaimed, “I don’t know what I am going to do yet, but it’s going to be REALLY SUPER GOOD.” Sometimes, taking ourselves less seriously requires that we, too, take off all the formalities of our writerly clothing, climb atop our desk chairs, and shout to the world of our workspaces something akin to what my son shouted.
When we affirm both the seriousness of our vocation as writers, yet at the same time allow ourselves to be gloriously human and fallible, I think we unlock a certain kind of magic. And I believe with all my heart that this magic is called courage.
Luke Reynolds is also the author of
A Call to Creativity
and co-editor of Burned In and Dedicated to the People of Darfur. He is represented by Ammi-Joan Paquette of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency. You can find him blogging at Intersections, or at his website.
In Keep Calm And Query On , Luke discusses not only his journey as a writer, but shares his interviews with powerful and prolific authors, including Jane Smiley, Daniel Handler (a.k.a. Lemony Snicket), Kathryn Erskine, George Saunders, Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, and David Wroblewski. They discuss their worst rejections, their first publications, what keeps them motivated, and why they believe in the power of words.
Are you querying now? Gathering up the courage to query? Inspired by our recent Random Acts of Kindness Blitz, Luke is offering up an amazing giveaway: a query critique, a phone chat to talk about your book query and putting yourself out there, & a copy of Keep Calm And Query On!
Want to win? Just click on this SUPER SIMPLE FORM! We'll announce the winner on Thursday, May 31st!
Tell me, what has kept you on the writing path? If you're querying, what has helped you find the courage to hit SEND?
Contest is now closed--thank you all for entering, and good luck!
Today Luke Reynolds, author of
Keep Calm and Query On
, is with us, and why? Because he gets it. Luke understands the pressure writers are under, and the strength they must muster in order to become their book's advocate, so keep reading!Good Old Fashioned Middle School Courage
In the seventh grade, I had a massive crush on a girl and so I did the noble, sensible, courageous thing: I wrote her a note, folded it into an origami masterpiece, and passed it off to a friend, who passed it off to a friend, who passed it off to a friend who happened to know THE girl.
What did the note say? It was a query, of course. And the substance of the query was nothing less than putting my gooey, vulnerable, passion-filled heart on the line with essentially one solitary question: Will you go out with me?
Now, as a post-thirty-year old writer, I realize that I never stopped asking that question. Now I ask it in different ways, and I ask it to different people. (Thank goodness one young woman finally had the patience to say that amazing word, yes, to me, and I’ve not let her go ever since.) And as a writer, you’re still asking it, too, folding your middle school note in various ways and packing it off to someone who knows someone. Now that someone is an agent or editor, who you hope will write back and to share that miraculous YES that lets you know they’re interested in a long-term, committed relationship.
But the dilemma for us writers hasn’t changed. The essential question is still the same: How do we work up the courage to write the note, send it off, and if we’re rejected, ask someone else?
The answer lies, I think, in two steps:
1) Take yourself more seriously
I remember reading that critically acclaimed author John Gardner once got so fed up by the lack of response and rejection to his queries and partials that he eventually walked into Knopf’s New York office with two of his novels in brown paper bags, demanding that someone read the darn things. Gardner took himself and his work seriously: he knew that what he was writing had worth. An act of such confidence bespeaks incredible courage for a writer—the middle school equivalent of asking out the interested party on stage, with a microphone, during a full-school assembly.
Do we take ourselves this seriously? Do we believe in our work, in our words, this deeply? I would hesitate to recommend you show up at an agent’s home with your manuscript in hand—publishing times have certainly changed!—but you and I need to learn to see ourselves as writers who have something to offer the world. We need to say the following refrain: I have stories to share. Without my telling them, the world will be worse off for it; my stories matter. This helps us make that decision to write the dang query note—and get something sent off into the world of possibility.
2) Take yourself less seriously
The flip side of # 1, however, is that we also need to take ourselves less seriously. In middle school, if you were the kind of person who asked out that ONE girl or guy, got a rejection, then went back home and vowed you would NEVER DO IT AGAIN, then now (as an adult writer) is the time to change. Take yourself less seriously. You send off a query note to an agent and get a form rejection? See this as a small thing: not a world-shaking event that now puts you in the class of Never Will It Ever Happen.
Instead, we can tell ourselves, I’ve got to get it out there again. Writing isn’t all about the outcome; writing is about the writing, too, the fun and freedom of creation. Taking ourselves less seriously is akin to throwing that middle-school crush note out there, but realizing that you’re probably not going to marry the recipient of the note. No! Be gone wedding ceremonies for seventh-graders! Now, as adult writers, we take a step back and loosen our own standards—imposing the serious requirement that we constantly prove ourselves. When faced with rejections for our words, we even learn to be (dare I say it) a little bit silly.
My three-year old son Tyler, one night after dinner, said, “I am going to do something really, really good.” He then proceeded to take off his pants, pull two kitchen chairs together, and climb on top of them. Once in that lofty position, he exclaimed, “I don’t know what I am going to do yet, but it’s going to be REALLY SUPER GOOD.” Sometimes, taking ourselves less seriously requires that we, too, take off all the formalities of our writerly clothing, climb atop our desk chairs, and shout to the world of our workspaces something akin to what my son shouted.
When we affirm both the seriousness of our vocation as writers, yet at the same time allow ourselves to be gloriously human and fallible, I think we unlock a certain kind of magic. And I believe with all my heart that this magic is called courage.
Luke Reynolds is also the author of
A Call to Creativity
and co-editor of Burned In and Dedicated to the People of Darfur. He is represented by Ammi-Joan Paquette of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency. You can find him blogging at Intersections, or at his website. In Keep Calm And Query On , Luke discusses not only his journey as a writer, but shares his interviews with powerful and prolific authors, including Jane Smiley, Daniel Handler (a.k.a. Lemony Snicket), Kathryn Erskine, George Saunders, Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, and David Wroblewski. They discuss their worst rejections, their first publications, what keeps them motivated, and why they believe in the power of words.
Are you querying now? Gathering up the courage to query? Inspired by our recent Random Acts of Kindness Blitz, Luke is offering up an amazing giveaway: a query critique, a phone chat to talk about your book query and putting yourself out there, & a copy of Keep Calm And Query On!
Want to win? Just click on this SUPER SIMPLE FORM! We'll announce the winner on Thursday, May 31st!
Tell me, what has kept you on the writing path? If you're querying, what has helped you find the courage to hit SEND?
Contest is now closed--thank you all for entering, and good luck!
May 23, 2012
Spies, Murder, and Mystery
Happy Wednesday, Musers! I just got back from a little jaunt to Disney to celebrate my daughter's birthday. I'd share all the happy-go-lucky pictures, but there are none, as is evidenced by her refusal to smile in just about all of them. At least I don't have to worry about her entering the high-stress fields of acting or modeling.
Speaking of happy-go-lucky, I skipped over to Laura Pauling's blog today to celebrate her book launch and share my thoughts on Taking the Mystery out of Editing Those Pesky Subplots. Or, if you prefer: Biscuits and Subplots and Cake, Oh My! Every good spy needs an alias, so I figured my post should have one, too. Even though it has nothing to do with spies. And very little to do with cake.
Regardless, if you've got a sec, please stop by and congratulate Laura on her new release!
Speaking of happy-go-lucky, I skipped over to Laura Pauling's blog today to celebrate her book launch and share my thoughts on Taking the Mystery out of Editing Those Pesky Subplots. Or, if you prefer: Biscuits and Subplots and Cake, Oh My! Every good spy needs an alias, so I figured my post should have one, too. Even though it has nothing to do with spies. And very little to do with cake.
Regardless, if you've got a sec, please stop by and congratulate Laura on her new release!
May 21, 2012
Random Acts of Kindness Wrap-Up
Wow.
And WOW, again.
Ange and I are completely blown away by the response to the #RAOKBlitz. When Angela started contacting sponsors about participating, we never dreamed they'd offer up so many awesome prizes. So thank you, Scrivener, Query Tracker, Critique Circle, AutoCrit, Writers Digest, Kristen Lamb, and Tracy Hickman, for making this a blitz to remember!
But we also want to thank all of YOU. It was nothing short of amazing, the way you all got behind this initiative and generated kindness across the web. We loved seeing so many of your friends--strangers to The Bookshelf Muse who knew nothing about our launch--post their own RAOK pages and prizes on their blogs. Seeing everyone so willing to honor others was truly beautiful to behold.
We're not gonna lie. We're kind of glad it's over, lol. But we're so incredibly glad to have done it and are thankful to everyone involved for making the blitz and our launch such a success! So THANK YOU!
Just a quick reminder, if you haven't gotten your copy, that the Emotion Amplifiers PDF is available for free download. This companion to The Emotion Thesaurus looks at 15 specific conditions (Pain, Hunger, Thirst, Attraction, Exhaustion, etc.) that can alter a character's physical and mental state. Just click the Free Download button in the sidebar for your complimentary copy!
And now...let's get back to normal. Well, somewhat normal. Ange and I are posting over at Rachael Harrie's blog today, talking about our somewhat bumpy self-publishing journey. Please pop over and say hi!
And WOW, again.
Ange and I are completely blown away by the response to the #RAOKBlitz. When Angela started contacting sponsors about participating, we never dreamed they'd offer up so many awesome prizes. So thank you, Scrivener, Query Tracker, Critique Circle, AutoCrit, Writers Digest, Kristen Lamb, and Tracy Hickman, for making this a blitz to remember!
But we also want to thank all of YOU. It was nothing short of amazing, the way you all got behind this initiative and generated kindness across the web. We loved seeing so many of your friends--strangers to The Bookshelf Muse who knew nothing about our launch--post their own RAOK pages and prizes on their blogs. Seeing everyone so willing to honor others was truly beautiful to behold.
We're not gonna lie. We're kind of glad it's over, lol. But we're so incredibly glad to have done it and are thankful to everyone involved for making the blitz and our launch such a success! So THANK YOU!
Just a quick reminder, if you haven't gotten your copy, that the Emotion Amplifiers PDF is available for free download. This companion to The Emotion Thesaurus looks at 15 specific conditions (Pain, Hunger, Thirst, Attraction, Exhaustion, etc.) that can alter a character's physical and mental state. Just click the Free Download button in the sidebar for your complimentary copy!
And now...let's get back to normal. Well, somewhat normal. Ange and I are posting over at Rachael Harrie's blog today, talking about our somewhat bumpy self-publishing journey. Please pop over and say hi!
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