Matthew Dicks's Blog, page 737

Resolution update: August 2009

In January of this year, I established a list of twelve New Year's resolutions.  At the end of each month, I report on my progress as a means of holding myself accountable.  Being the end of August, I thought I'd post my progress here as well. 

1. Finish my second novel before my birthday in mid February.

Done since mid-February, and sold in June. This week, I finished my first round of revisions. Back to work on book #3, which I would like to have finished in 2009.

2. Live a healthier lifestyl

More attention for SOMETHING MISSING

NEWSDAY is picking up the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's highly favorable review of SOMETHING MISSING to run on Sunday, September 6!  My father-in-law informs me that NEWSDAY has the seventeenth largest circulation in the country.

Not only is the review favorable, but it's my favorite review thus far.  The writer just seems to understand the book like no other reviewer.

Admittedly, I may be slightly biased. 

Unfortunate mistaken identity

I'm standing in line at D'Angelo's, waiting to place my order. Directly in front of me is a husband and wife who look remarkably alike.  Both about five feet tall, shaped like eggplants, and wearing brown and olive green.  But most surprising is their eyeglasses, distinctive in that they match their wardrobe and seem more suited for three generations ago in terms of styling.

And even more notable than the glasses considerable nod to the 1970s is that they are identical.  Spot-on perfect matches

Does the multiple-author format make more sense?

Last night's appearance at the Wilton Library was delightful, and many thanks to the staff at the library for putting this event together.  I sat on a panel of first time authors, and we spent the evening talking about our books, the process by which each of us was published, and answering lots of interesting and insightful questions.  There was a very large and engaging audience, and despite not seeing my wife and daughter for most of the day, the experience couldn't have been more enjoyable. 

Appearing at the Wilton Library

Tomorrow night I will be sitting on a panel of new authors at the Wilton Library in Wilton, CT. 

If you'd like to attend, you can find details here. 

Though we will be discussing our books, the focus of the night will be on our journey to being published.  There will be writers in the audience in need of convincing that our success can be duplicated  with the right about of persistence, hard work and tenacity.     

AJ O'Connell's article about the upcoming event and the authors (including

My bee sting

Since some of you have asked, yes, it's true.  I was stung by a bee on Friday.  This tends to be a bigger deal for me than most people, since I have required CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on more than one occasion as a result of a bee sting.  I am highly allergic to bees and was once brought back from the dead by paramedics after being stung, but only certain kinds of bees are dangerous to me.  Wasps and similar ground bees for the most part.  The kind that live underground and can sting

Is there value in publishing a first draft?

Print Magazine has a terrific look at the cover art on a handful of books, along with some explanation from the designers.  It's a fascinating look into the world of cover design.

Along a related line of thinking, I've often wondered about the value of an author's first draft.  For example, I have about a dozen different versions of SOMETHING MISSING, beginning with the first draft that I submitted to my agent almost three years ago.  I haven't looked at that draft since then, but is there any

Twitter friends

I recently told someone that over the past several months, I have made several friends through Twitter, even though many of us have never met in person.

"Friends through 140 characters?" this person asked dubiously.  "Can you really call them friends?"

Well, let's see…

I speak to my Twitter friends several times a day.  We share photos and stories about our lives, and we often make one another laugh.   

We know about the big events in one another's lives.  When I was stung by a bee earlier

A change in style

I contacted my editor last week, inquiring about the current view in the publishing world on the number of spaces after a mark of punctuation.  Like The Chicago Manual of Style, the AP Stylebook, and the Modern Language Association, she informed me that the industry is moving to one space as opposed to two, and in most cases has already adopted this style. 

On her recent podcast, Grammar Girl explains that computers use proportional fonts, meaning that the space that the letter "i" occupies is

Five year plan?

I played golf last week with a guy who is works in the corporate world.  He's got a degree in math and an MBA but he also ha a newborn son at home and wants to find a way to spend more time with his family.  He's fed up with the corporate culture and has done well enough to make a career change without having to worry about finances for a while.   

Teaching, he has decided, is the way to go.  Once he discovered that I was a teacher, he immediately began asking question after question about the