Midge Raymond's Blog, page 57

Stuff for writers

Here are a few of my new favorite toys, procrastination tools, and helpful resources for writers (though not in that order) …

Seattle-based writer Angela Fountas runs Quoterly, a wonderful site that "hopes to inspire you to forget every rule you've ever learned about writing, because the writing process is bigger, and more mysterious, than any set of rules." Visit often for new and inspiring quotes from writers' interviews and readings.

And I love this new application, Omm Writer, which is...

Short stories on the Kindle

The New York Times reported that The Atlantic will publish two short stories (by Christopher Buckley and Edna O'Brien) today on the Kindle. The stories, which will be offered at $3.99 each, will be available only on Amazon's e-reader (not in the print version), and they'll be the first of many more — about two Kindle stories every month, says The Atlantic.

It's not the first time individual short stories have been made available on the Kindle — for example, my husband, John Yunker, made his...

Query letters and slush piles

After reading this article, "A Good Author Is Hard to Find," in this week's Stranger, I realized it's been a while since I posted anything on query letters — and while I don't want to be redundant, writing queries can be almost more challenging than the book you've just finished — and in many ways, more important: If you don't have a great query, agents won't be asking to see your great novel. So let's chat about query letters.

The best thing I can do is point you to the experts. The

A list of "best of" lists

Now that we're in the year's eleventh month, we're also in the season of Top 10 lists — opinions on the year's best of all things cultural, including, of course, books. So I thought I'd include a list of the lists … at least a few of them.

For The Guardian, Howard Jacobson has compiled a list of the Top 10 Novels of Sexual Jealousy. From James Joyce to Jane Austen, the list includes Shakespeare's Othello, "only not a novel because novels weren't a going form yet."

Publishers Weekly released...

Bad sex

It's that time of year again … yes, the Literary Review's Bad Sex Award shortlist has been announced.

As The Guardian reports, among the dubious honorees this year are Paul Theroux (for A Dead Hand), Philip Roth (for The Humbling), and Sanjida O'Connell (for The Naked Name of Love). Previous winners include Tom Wolfe, Rachel Johnson, and Sebastian Faulks — and last year, John Updike received a lifetime achievement prize after four consecutive nominations (wow).

The Literary Review's Jonathan...

Self-publishing (and romance) takes an interesting turn

Interesting news in the world of self-publishing arrives in this NY Times blog, which reports on the partnership of Harlequin Enterprises (the romance publisher) and Author Solutions (a self-publisher). The resulting imprint, Harlequin Horizons, intrigues me for its mix of traditional and what used to be called vanity publishing.

Of note: a VP at Harlequin pointed out that editors will not vet the books (probably the main reason self-published books get such a bad rap). Also of note: authors w...

How writers write

Any writer who's talked to me over the past week or so knows by now how much I love this Wall St. Journal article about writers sharing their processes. Maybe it's the onset of fall, the recent time change, or the fact that Mercury was in retrograde for a while — but I've found that this article has really resonated with fellow writers, not only for the insider's view into some of our favorite writers' practices but for the comfort of knowing that there's no "right way" to do things, and...

Celebrating short stories (as always)

It's been great to see short stories getting so much attention lately — from the 2009 Pulitzer in Fiction going to Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteridge to Oprah's newest pick, Uwem Akpan's Say You're One of Them, to the National Book Award finalists, which include Bonnie Jo Campbell for her collection American Salvage and Daniyal Mueunuddin for In Other Rooms, Other Wonders. And as always, Andrew's Book Club highlights two to three story collections every month (for November: Alice Munro and L...

It's Not You, It's Me

I recently came to the startling realization that my current writing project isn't working out — not the way I'd like it to, anyhow. I've actually spent time over the past few weeks staring at my manuscript pages, thinking: I'm sorry, but it's just not working out between us and I need some time to think things over and Perhaps we should spend a little time apart.

And, finally: It's not you, it's me.

I was glad to learn I'm not the only one who thinks of a writing project like a relationship...

A story for Halloween

In celebration of Halloween, I offer you this story by the late Kurt Vonnegut, published by the LA Times for the first time (and forthcoming in a new book from Delacorte Press).

"Look at the Birdie" is just what we might expect of Vonnegut: it's bizarre and brilliant — and with such lines as "she was…watching us with the harrowing cuteness of schizophrenia," you won't be able to stop reading (and you may be looking over your shoulder for the rest of the day, too).

(Writers: Check out...