Robin Layne's Blog: From the Red, Read Robin - Posts Tagged "publishing"

This morning, a variation on the first theme came to me:

From the Read Red Robin
or:
From the Red Read Robin

Today I have broken my pattern by waking up early . . . but I don't want to get worms. I would rather get ideas. I was told that some writers prefer to write early in the morning when they are half asleep, in a semi-dream state. Perhaps that is the same reason I like staying up late doing fun or creative things. I actually enjoy pushing myself into the night. Some nights, I am so tired I think I will go to bed early, but some little thing interests me, and the next thing you know, I've got my second wind. But in the morning, I feel like a zombie for hours--lately, even after I've had my caffeine. I prefer tea to coffee, as my system doesn't like the acid in coffee.

I know it looks strange having a book I'm published in on my "To Read" list. It's just that it's been a while since Medley of Fiction was published, and while I know I read at least some of it, I can't remember if I read all of it. I may have finished it back then, and even written a review of it on another site. Are we allowed to mention other sites here? Perhaps even to transfer reviews from them? If it's kosher for both sites, I could import quite a few. And earlier, I did reviews in on MySpace, where my blog was called "Hatching My Eggs." I lost interest in MySpace when I couldn't view everything on it. Facebook became the new space for visiting with people, but it's different. And I've never ventured into Twitter yet--not sure what my place in it will be yet (bird though I may be). A person's got to spend some time away from the computer sometime! (Which reminds me, I think I made a mistake in ordering a color computer version of a local writer's newsletter when I could get it in black ink in the mail; sure, it probably comes a little sooner this way, but I don't want to print out something that extensive in color, so reading it requires even MORE time at the computer. Remind me to change my subscription to a copy I can easily take with me to ride on the bus.)
In addition to my writing, I am also an editor. I am currently taking an online editing certificate program from UC Berkeley. In June, I graduated from Portland State University with a BA in English, minor in writing, and part of that minor allowed me to be on the editing staff of Ooligan Press, the only student-run publisher of trade books in the world. It was an exciting experience, editing fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, and being part of the general publishing process. The university offers a Masters program in publishing. After all the years I have been in college, and also away from college doing other things, I was still an undergraduate when I was there.
But about Medley of Fiction: From what I remember, it's a great collection, from what was a great website, AuthorsByDesign.com. My contribution is a poem called "Eros at My Window." You may know this already, but Eros is the Greek god of romantic/sexual love. Our culture knows him more commonly by his Roman name, Cupid, but I don't like that name as much because it conjures images of adorable baby angels. Eros' darts are real, and they hurt when you wake up from your daze of infatuation. Don't get me wrong, I think erotic love can be wonderful, but in its place, in the balance of the other loves, with agape (unselfish divine love) at its core. For more of a sense of what I mean, I recommend reading C.S. Lewis' The Four Loves, or looking up "love" in a good Greek Lexicon.

I think Medley of Fiction had a very small run, but it does have an ISBN, so I was able to add the book to the site and so get this author page. I have published other poems and short stories, but not in books with ISBN numbers. (Just found out another book in my portfolio has an ISBN; I'm going to add it to the site as well. It has fiction, nonfiction, and poetry of mine in it.) The poems were mostly in newspapers and in a newsletter I used to edit. The short stories are in other small-run books and online; one was in The Lamp-Post of the Southern C.S. Lewis Society. I have also enjoyed doing what is misleadingly called desktop publishing--creating a book of poems, lyrics, and stories, and making a number of smaller booklets to give away, trade, and sell. I have also had stories and poems in literary journals that don't have ISBNs, including two Write Around Portland anthologies and the literary journal of Portland Community College Cascade campus (Pointed Circle). I might write about my experiences with some or all of the above. You can give feedback on what you'd like to read about.

Thank you to my new friends on this site and to the advice and camaraderie you have provided already! One friend has helped me see ways I can improve the short story posted in my writings called "Blood Ties." The version I posted is the one that won an AuthorsByDesign contest, but we can always improve our writing with time. I am thinking of making improvements and re-posting it, but for now I will wait and see if more improvements come to mind. There is also the consideration of time juggling.

Now I feel like going back to bed. Just not a morning person! I tried.

These days I have been staying up really late at night, so late it's early, as they say, to the point that someone said today that I'm a vampire. I deny it; I may write about vampires, but I have no fangs, don't bite people, and don't drink blood. I just don't usually get tired in the evenings. When it's late, however, I usually don't do any work, either--which may be why my system insists on staying up: It likes the game playing, the relaxation, and the chatting with friends on Facebook. It was typical yesterday morning that I was slowing down at 2 and looked at my email before I was about to shut down my computer. But this time, lo, a miracle! An fellow Robin (Jennings, I think it's safe to say) was apparently also up late, but she was working. She had sent me an acceptance letter for my story, "Like a Salmon, I Swam Upstream."

I was overjoyed to the point that it all felt unreal. I had given up hope on my submission to Stealing Time magazine because I had not heard from the publisher after several months of waiting, and, since it was an online submission, I thought the response would be sooner. I had told myself that the editors wouldn't take it because it didn't fit well enough with the issue I submitted it to. I had written it with the Pregnancy and Birth issue in mind, but, when I went to submit it, the magazine was no longer taking submissions to that issue. So I tried the Milestones issue instead. I also feared that the publishers might not like my Christian point of view. But now this editor said she LOVED the story and was excited to publish it. I figured she couldn't be more exited than me, but one had to wonder.

The email added that the story just needed a little bit of editing and that I would be referred to the fiction editor for that. Oops! I wrote my fellow Robin back (she shares the best name in the world with me) that I was very excited to have them publish my story but that it was not fiction; this story of a difficult unplanned pregnancy and a three-year nightmare legal battle over custody of my child was my personal experience, just as I remembered it.

I had sort of jumped the gun there in my eagerness to reply to the acceptance letter. A second email had followed right after it announcing an update on the information on my submission. I clicked the link it cited, and read a note that the words "fiction editor" had been a typo. A couple short notes followed clarifying that there was no more confusion. As I like to say, editors need editors.

Stealing Time is a literary magazine for parents. Between it's slick, expertly-illustrated pages, it showcases thoughtful fiction, non-fiction, and poetry having to do with parenting, step-parenting, grandparenting, and so forth. I was first introduced to the publication at Wordstock last year, where I met some of the editors and bought a copy for $6. They told me they accepted previously-published material, which was a relief to me, because practically any small exposure to a piece of writing is considered publication, and I've posted some of my stuff on the Internet and also had some published or "desktop published" in very limited circulation, thereby barring those works from most publications. In addition to this open door, this magazine pays well--much better than anyplace that has ever used my writing. Each writer gets a minimum of $100, with payment going up according to length and how much they love the piece.

The Milestones issue is for this summer and fall. You can read about the magazine, enjoy some sample stories, and submit your own work to the coming issue of your choice at StealingTimeMag.com.

Thanks go to the people who critiqued my story, and, many years ago, to the people who helped me get through all the rapids and snares of that time I wrote about. My daughter is 23 now, and living far away. Despite the present distance, I'm glad that we got to do a lot of growing up together, instead of her never knowing her mother at all. And thanks go to my own mother, who encouraged me to take up the fight, and who would be proud of me if she were still alive. Many people I could thank, but trying to remember them all here would give away too much of the story.

As I once read in Writer's Digest, "It's all copy." That is, whatever you go through in life, learn to eat your problems for breakfast, and, when they are digested, write what you remember, and sell it!

You might say my career is now going to the dogs … or not. What I mean to say, always loving a good pun, is that I am now on the editing staff of Barking Rain Press (BRP). I’d be doing summersaults if this older dog was able to, because it’s the publisher I most wanted to work for.

I discovered BRP at Wordstock last October. Publisher Sheri Gormley sat at one of booths, with books the company has published on display. Barking Rain’s motto is “Books with Bite.” I learned that the dog on its logo is named Elvis (an incarnation of the rock star nobody has guessed yet?)

BRP publishes fiction and nonfiction for adults and young adults. Looking at the covers and reading some of the blurbs got me excited; not only was this a publisher I would love to edit for. Judging from some of the books on display, it was the first publisher I’d seen that takes the kind of mixture of genres I am writing in my vampire series. (Their title that most resembles my series in progress is—I kid you not—The Celibate Succubus.)I talked to Ms. Gormley about the possibility of employment. She gave me the name of the editor from whom to request a copyediting test. I did as she asked and took the test, using The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Edition, as requested. CMOS, as those in the business call it, is the standard for book publishers (as the AP Stylebook is for newspapers).

Editor Ti Locke’s response was that my copyediting skills were good but that I had missed a few matters of punctuation. This humbled me, because I think of punctuation as my strong suit. She said I had not changed the quotation marks from the straight to the curly kind, and I had not formatted the ellipses properly. Well, I had no excuse for the straight quotations, and I don’t know why I didn’t correct them, but I remembered being taught from my online Berkeley class to include a space between each dot in an ellipses, and I did that. Locke said in her email that she would pass my test on to Gormley. I expected to hear from Gormley one way or another, but as the silent months dragged on, I assumed I was not chosen, and I turned my attention to other projects. I took a class that helped me immensely with organization, prioritizing, and even setting and pursuing my most precious goals. I put together a very serviceable planning book small enough to carry around with me everywhere. It’s a lifesaver. And I made headway on my vampire novel by dovetailing some goal managing advice from the class and information about story premises and character emotional arcs from a speaker at a Willamette Writers meeting whose name I unfortunately cannot find at the moment (which says I still have more organizing to do!). Thanks to learning to write a premise, and to focus character arcs around that premise, to using visualization to kick-start my motivation, to setting goals and to scheduling days to accomplish them, the first of my Anti-Vampirism Society stories is more in focus. I updated the numbering of my chapter files, renamed some chapters, rewrote my extended synopsis, rearranged some of the story’s events to make better sense, edited five chapters (one a week), and completed emotional arcs for four of the main characters and one minor character. Unfortunately, the class required me to take on other projects and I had to slow the writing plans. Once the class ended, I stopped working on the character arcs; poor Melanie is stuck in the process, and Alex hasn’t entered into an arc yet at all. (Noah could be telling them to hurry up.)

You can also read about that process, and see my new painting of the vampire Carletta, on my AVS blog, RobinLayneAuthor.Wordpress.com.

I receive a monthly bus pass from an organization that has been helping me prepare for and find work. Toward the end of March, the pass came wrapped in a form asking me what companies I wanted to work for and what jobs I had applied for. It was due back in about a week. I was surprised, but I got busy. I took out some information from past book fairs, sorted it all into categories, and wrote emails to all the publishers that might be offering jobs for editors. And I finally took my head out of the sand and went through CMOS’s entire section on ellipses. There I found plenty of information on where that confounded punctuation should be used, but not a single instance of how to lay out those three dots. I wrote to Ti Locke about it. She told me that using a space before and after the three dots but no spaces between them is the only format recognized by InDesign. (If you haven’t fallen asleep reading this, you may be an editor yet.) It took a few emails back and forth—and I worried that I wore her patience thin—before I realized that the formatting information on ellipses came from the online version of CMOS, which had sections extending beyond those in the book. Locke also said in her response to my initial punctuation question that some of my correspondence might have been misplaced in the busyness of book production. So the humble ellipses just might have put me back on their company’s radar.

Meanwhile, I looked on Craigslist under writing/editing jobs. I applied to Liberty Voice, an online newspaper, with hopes of writing features and reviews and also becoming one of its copyeditors. They told me to write three stories, one a day over three days. I did. I worried I would run out of subject matter for stories at such a pace. Then they admitted me to their “boot camp,” which required me to Skype every day with the company for an untold number of hours, plus write a story every day. And not just any story. It had to use as the main word in its headline one of the subjects of the leading articles on Google news. I know the idea was create stories that might go viral. But I decided as far back as 1979 that I did not want to be a newspaper reporter, and now, though I tried, I couldn’t find a single headline on the list that inspired a story I was capable of writing. If I knew celebrities or politicians I could interview, it would be different. Without a way in to places I didn’t really want to be in the first place, I couldn’t possibly meet a few hours’ deadline to write an article. The whole process was making a nervous wreck of me. By Easter weekend, I quit.

When next I met with my job counselor, he told me I wasn’t required to fill out the job search report. The assistant just started including those to keep people from seeing the shape of the bus pass in the envelope.

Following my quitting Liberty Voice, my computer quit. That PC, which my friend Christopher had given me, had been freezing on me for a long time, and it did so more and more frequently. The “blue screen of doom” error message appeared for what I was sure was the last time. I couldn’t have gone on with Liberty Voice if I’d wanted to.
Another friend, Kevin, saved most of my files to a flash drive and then confirmed that the PC was a goner. He recommended I get a laptop with a loading dock, and promised to price some on Craigslist. We thought the cost would be a few hundred dollars. I believed the employment agency would pay for a new computer for me, considering my line of work. Kevin called me later with amazing news: He had found two laptops with loading docks for sale at the same place for $50 and $60, and the $50 one was the better of the two. It had more memory and could burn DVDs, he said. I gave him the go-ahead to snatch up this bargain.

Meanwhile, I kept trying to reach my job counselor. Finally an assistant told me my counselor had said they could not finance the computer “because it isn’t necessary for employment.” I was confused and angry. I had hoped I could use the money to help my daughter with some needs.

The Thursday after Easter, I finally got to talk to my counselor—itself a miracle. He explained that the agency couldn’t fund a computer unless I had an offer for a job that required a home computer, and they had to make sure the computer fit the requirements of the job. My anger disappeared.

That afternoon, because Kevin hadn’t finished loading files onto my new laptop, I was using a computer at a library. I received an email from Sheri Gormley asking me if I was still interested in editing for Barking Rain Press.

So the day that I learned the requirements to get a computer paid for was the day I met those requirements. I won’t go into detail about the things that went wrong with the new computer and the hard work that Christopher went through to fix it. But it’s working now ... and so am I.

I like to name my computers. The last one was Frank-N-Stein. I’m keeping Frank until I get the rest of my files transferred to Ernie. Ernie is the newbie’s name because I noticed its official name is “ERN” with some numbers added. I haven’t taken Ernie on any outings because I’m not sure the touch pad will work properly before it gets the driver it asks for every time I boot, and also because, heck, this is western Oregon, it can rain any time, and I don’t have a protective case.

My new job is exciting. I’m not just a copyeditor, or just a proofreader, or just an acquisitions editor. Right now I’ve joined the rest of the crew in going through the slush pile, picking submissions to read, and deciding, based on four sample chapters, a synopsis, and a marketing plan, whether we should reject the submission or ask to see the complete manuscript. At least two reviews are required for each book before a decision is made. Later, when I find a book I really like, I will champion it, being its editor from beginning to end. When that book is accepted for publication, I receive a small lump sum. Upon publication, my name will be printed in the book as the editor, and I will begin receiving royalties for every book sold. I also get a small lump sum for proofreading a book—going over it one last time to check for small errors and formatting problems before it is prepared for press.

This is not a job I expect to make a lot of money on, unless any books I edit sell very well. But I believe it is a company I can get behind, it is work I love, and it’s a wonderful opportunity to learn and grow in my field. I am currently reading the third submission I picked to read. I’m loving this submission. And I’m loving the job. I am noticing plenty of instances of all things working out to my good—no matter how bad, disappointing, or annoying they seem at first. I am rejoicing! Rowf!

Check out BRP at BarkingRainPress.org

Hi, I have an apology to make. I've been sooo busy with writing, publishing, trying to publish, and editing, that I haven't had time to write here. I suppose I could have made time, but I strangely hold sacred the late hours of night, when I relax with Facebook, playing games and talking to people, sometimes reading other people's posts, and sometimes posting and commenting myself. Do you think that's lame? Maybe. But I seem to need downtime. You know what they say about all work and no play.

Anyway, I just submitted some poems to "Rattle" magazine and website, and I gave my Goodreads address as a contact point, because my website needs work, isn't what I'd like it to be, and is a big pain to correct and update. Why? Long story I may get into another time. But I haven't made that site much of a priority. I had no paid freelance editing business in 2016, but I have been busy editing another book with Barking Rain Press. As of yesterday, I completed my part in the copyedit. Whew! What an accomplishment!

The past year saw many new, exciting activities and progress. Some of them came about because I'd been part of a critique group that met in a local library, which went over my vampire novel chapters 1 or 2 at a time and looked at other stuff, too, like my first sonnet (Shakespearean style; it was hard to take in the rules, but once I got that down, the structure helped me compose). A lady named Minnie showed up one time and not only continued coming but got me interested in another group, The Portland Writers' Mill, which has about 20 people attending each time and keeps me busy with monthly contests and annual anthologies. I helped edit The Portland Writers' Mill Journal Volume 5, 2016, and contributed far more writing than I've ever published in one place before: 17 poems, 7 fiction short stories, and 12 pictures, including photographs, drawings, and paintings. The book was broken up into categories, mostly based on the subjects of the monthly contests. Being a newcomer, I only had a few contest entries, but I also submitted material I'd written earlier. The book is available on Amazon, which is also a first for me. It's $7.95, and proceeds go to the Cedar Mill Main Library in Portland, Oregon, where we meet.



As if that weren't enough, we published a second book right on the heels of the first: a thin volume of animal stories called Zeus and Bo and Fred and Jo and Co. This kid-friendly book features fan fiction about Sheila Deeth's animal and human characters from her "Tails of Mystery" series, plus other animal stories and poems. My contribution is "A Dog's Eye View," which tells about life in my family when I was still living with my parents, from the point of view of my beloved Mitsie, the only dog I ever owned. It's $5.95 or less.

I've placed in the monthly contests three times so far: 2 3rd places for the essay, "Home Was Where They Never Let Me In" and the fiction snippet, "As in Identical" (which you can read here: https://madmimi.com/p/b0c6d8 (it's the last story under "Showcase: Prompt Contest Winners"); and 1st place for the flash fiction story, "The Duprass" (named for a term coined in Kurt Vonnegut's book, "Cat's Cradle"). Winners are chosen by popular vote, ranked by each member after we read them on the website and comment on them as we feel moved. The group also has guest speakers and usually a critique, and a snack break, all packed into the hours 1-3 on the third Sunday of each month. I don't know how we manage to do so much every time. Must be a touch of magic!

I also had an article accepted by "The War Cry" magazine of the Salvation Army. It's a story about my adventures as a bell ringer, especially the winter of 2015. I was paid very handsomely. Also the same month, July, received decent pay for a story I provided for the "Miracles of Kindness" iPad book--now also available on Kindle and Nook, I just found out!-- http://www.sangamonhouse.com/. (My contribution is "Kindness from the Christian Writers' Group" in the section, "The Congregation Sings.") I expected to see my War Cry article in the 2016 Christmas issue, but, alas, it did not appear! And my inquiries about it have met quiet dead ends. I don't know how to find out what happened or will happen.

I'm happy to see that my career as a WRITER is taking off, although still frustrated that I haven't managed to put much work into, or get much help with, my vampire novel series. It's always been my dream to be a novelist. The critique group at the library stopped when the librarian who led it retired without prior notice. I kept the group going with Minnie and another friend from the Writers' Mill, but once a month critiques feel like they will take forever. I thought I would have to put in most of my time as an editor to survive financially. Although I am far from making a living wage from my freelance writing, I made more on writing than editing this year.

The same day I got the check from "The War Cry," I got an invitation to subscribe to "Poets and Writers" for only $9.95. I read most of my first issue of this semi-monthly magazine; with the second one, I got smart and read the classifieds first--the publishers with deadlines coming up--and that is how I discovered Rattle, which pays $100 per poem for its magazine, and $50 per poem for its website, and also has some other contests that pay great. And I'd been taught in college, "There's no money in poetry... but then, there's no poetry in money." I wrote a poem about money a while back, so I guess both parts of this saying are wrong! And that's good news for me, because I've written so many poems and continue to write more. Rattle likes a variety of subject matter and style, too. So do I.

My increased financial success began with a scary occasion: My rent went sky high at the beginning of 2016. I got desperate and got myself a job that was nothing like I or anyone else thought I'd find. Since May, I've worked most Saturdays in a posh theater, showing people private views of unreleased movie trailers and getting their opinions. It's fun. There hasn't been much work for me in December and early January, but it's okay, because the housing department changed its rules and my portion of the rent went WAY DOWN this year. Also, a cousin who likes my writing helped me out a lot financially. In addition to sending me some gift cards and lots of stamps, he also paid for a new computer when my laptop got a terminal problem. And I should be starting a second job soon, providing some meals and other household help for a young adult neighbor. I have been blessed in more ways than these. 2016 was a challenge, but a wonderful year for me ultimately, and 2017 looks great, too.

I'll probably think of more to say after I've posted this. But there's only so long you can sit in the same chair, and this is enough for now!

May you be blessed in every way, every day!

--The Red, Read, Robin