Midge Raymond's Blog, page 53

A writing exercise for summer, part 2

I've recently fallen back in love with the idea of writing without any particular goal in mind. Naturally, we writers have to stay focused on our goals if we ever want to accomplish anything — yet at the same time, being too strict about writing can limit the reaches of our work. So this summer I've made an effort to spend a little time each day, or at least each week, on writing for no "productive" purpose whatsoever. It's been not only enlightening but fun — and I'm glad it's become a...

A writing exercise for summer

As many of you know, I publish a free e-newsletter for writers, and I just sent out my annual double issue for the summer, which included a couple of exercises designed to keep you going but not be too taxing in the summer heat (or cold, I suppose, depending on where you live).

Here's the first exercise: Choose one piece of writing to polish up for submission in the fall. Because many literary journals don't accept submissions during the summer, this is a perfect time for revision. Whether...

On story collections…

As the author of a short-story collection, I'm often asked such questions as "How did you decide how to order the stories?" and "When did you know you had enough stories for a collection?" I love talking about these things — and all other story-related issues — and I've been fortunate to have had great Q&As with such people and publications as The Short Review, Andrew's Book Club, and Diana Joseph, author of I'm Sorry You Feel That Way.

But I also love hearing how other story writers do it … ...

Introducing the "Ask Midge" column

I recently received an email from a writer who suggested I devote a column to answering writers' questions — starting, naturally, with his.  I thought this was a great idea (thanks, Jerry!), and I'm looking forward to making this blog more of a dialogue.

So consider this the first official "Ask Midge" column — and I hope you'll write with your questions on everything from grammar to characterization to narrative structure. I won't claim to have all the answers, but whenever I don't, I will...

A perfect home for writers…

This totally random photo is courtesy of Tim Ellis of Seattle Bubble, a real-estate blog which every month or so posts "some of the most bizarre listing photos from around the Seattle area." This is only one of many, many rooms in a 7,000+ square-foot house on the market in Kenmore, Washington (visit Tim's blog for a link to the actual listing). I must say I've never seen anything quite like it.

Adventures in self-publishing

With all that's going on in the publishing industry these days, self-publishing has emerged as far more than a last-resort option. The stigma of "vanity presses" is giving way to a myriad of alternatives for writers who either haven't yet found their places in the traditional publishing world — or those who choose to forgo traditional presses altogether, for many different reasons.

Take Steve Almond, for example, who is chronicling his leap into self-publishing in a series in Poets&Writers...

About that day job…

I've come across a few job-related posts and articles lately that have reminded me of past day jobs — and made me quite nostalgic. As much as I love being self-employed and having more writing time, I have to admit that there are (a few) days when I actually miss the nine-to-five life. It's not just because self-employment is a rather exhausting 24/7, or because if I really did the numbers, I'd probably discover that, in the end, I make less than minimum wage — it's that the workplace...

List of Works

The nice thing about long holiday weekends in Seattle is that it usually rains — which means I get the opportunity to catch up on things and get to work on tasks that are otherwise on my to-do list for at least a year.

So this weekend, I created my List of Works, which I'd learned about in Priscilla Long's inspiring session at the Hugo House writers' conference. Long, author of The Writer's Portable Mentor (forthcoming this July from Wallingford Press), recommends keeping a comprehensive list ...

Notes from the Hugo House Writers' Conference, Part II

Okay, now on to Day 2 of the Richard Hugo House Writers' Conference.

After much coffee on Sunday morning, I presented Think Outside the Book — a session on the myriad ways to market one's book. We talked about Web sites, social media, blogs, building one's platform, and the importance of "think not what your local bookstore can do for you, but what you can do for your local bookstore." Here are a few DOs and DON'Ts from the session:

DO be generous (with readers, other authors, bookstores...

Notes from the Hugo House Writers' Conference, Part I

I spent the entire weekend blissfully immersed in all things writing at Richard Hugo House's first writers' conference, which centered around the theme of Finding Your Readers in the 21st Century. Panels and sessions were divided into three tracks: publishing, self-promotion, and writers' tools. Other than the fact that I was, sadly, unable to be in two (or three) places at once, it was a fantastic weekend — and I thought I'd share a few highlights.

Saturday morning's plenary with Matthew...