Social Media

I tend to think about social media in all the ways it helps connect people but then I tried to write a tweet yesterday that was FAR too long. Hmmm...how do I say what I want to convey but in less words?

This got me thinking about all the other things that social media can help us do, namely become better writers. Though mediums like Twitter we're forced to use only those words that are absolutely necessary because space is limited. As many writers know, sometimes it's harder to write something in less words than it is to say it in many. But that's editing.

Editing requires that we choose only those words that are absolutely necessary to the message. I have to do this all the time at work when we're creating tag lines because by nature a tag line is one simple, short, to the point sentence or simply a phrase but which must convey an entire organization and what they do, what they stand for, in short, who they are. That's a lot to ask. But whether cognizant of it or not we are becoming, I believe, better editors because of the restrictions these (especially Twitter) mediums create.

When it comes to blogging, it's a fabulous exercise. For starters, since my blog often discusses writing/reading/bibliophile information it forces me to consider what is or isn't working about either my writing or someone else's. It also encourages me to become a more active reader and ask questions like, why am drawn to this kind of writing or I soared through that book, what mechanisms did they use to create that kind of fast pacing?

Writers are also told to write, that it's like any other exercise, you need to do it to be good at it and a blog creates an obligation to do that at least a few times a week when you might not otherwise. In this way, social media is making us better writers.

We also have to think and plan what we're going to post, perhaps it's strategic or even marketing a particular book that's coming out or maybe it's just figuring out how to synthesize an idea into words. Either way, social media is changing us and I believe in many ways it's for a more informed, collaborative, and writerly community.

What do you think? Is social media making us better and more informed? Do you feel more connected because of social media?

WTF Wednesday

While away on vacation I hoarded my stash of US Weekly (or as my friend likes to call it "U.S. Weekly" to make it sound like legitimate news) and when I returned I have dedicated much of my free time to getting caught up on the backlog of shows recorded on Tivo. The result? I am officially up to date on pop culture happenings. And what that means is a whole lot of options to choose from for this installment of WTF Wednesday.

Here are some highlights but feel free to add more:

1) Pouting is the new smiling:



2) Bradley Cooper can shed his hotness and, well, look like all the rest of us. (Not sure if this makes me sad or relieved, but it does make me surprised.)



3) This was Lady Gaga at the MTV Video Music Awards show in drag or as a transgender man, I'm not really sure but it was weird.



4) Okay, I'm sure by now you've heard of the very popular "Lesbians Who Look Like Justin Bieber" Website/phenomena. Well it appears Justin is trying to reciprocate the affection because in not one but two pictures I've seen lately he looks like a 30-something year old woman:





5) And while not technically pop culture news, I had to share this pic of my fav burger place in Upstate NY after Irene got to it. *sobs*



What WTF moments have you had lately?

To query or not to query, that is the question

I've wrapped up the first full draft of my WIP and am knee-deep in editing. Though I swore I wouldn't get anxious about querying, I already am. I want to test the waters as I'm excited about my manuscript but then I'm reminded of my first assignment as a professional writer.

I had been paid to do some freelance work while in college and graduate school but my first "real" assignment was when I was hired full-time, as in a writing associate who now had health insurance and paid vacation and the whole bit. To me, this meant I had arrived.

And then I handed in my first assignment. I had a deadline looming and though I was still frantically making edits, when that deadline pressed, I printed out what I had and brought it to the editor-in-chief. Not long afterwards I learned a very important lesson. Never hand in something until it is really and truly ready for review.

My editor handed it back to me in a blood bath of red ink and said, "It's a good start but it's not ready for my eyes. Don't give me something until it's as good as you can get it. If you you need an extension on the deadline, ask for it, but don't waste my time." *Ouch*

I learned my lesson, of course, and today I'm managing director of that very same firm and write far more detailed and comprehensive pieces than I was trying to tackle that day. What I learned, however, and what I need to remember in querying is not to give into the temptation to simply submit, to try to quickly jump to the next step in the publishing process whether that's off to the art director at my firm or to the literary agent weeding through the mass of query letters.

It can feel frustrating knowing that after you submit a query it can take two months before you hear anything back, couldn't you simply edit some more during those two months? My advice: Don't do it! Let that baby of a WIP grow up and mature and evolve into the truly best thing it can be. Then query. Don't waste literary agents' time with something that's not quite ready.

To get your WIP ready:

1) have some other readers review it;
2) read it aloud;
3) go through and do a "big picture" edit searching for any holes in your narrative arc;
4) then go through page by page, line by line and ask yourself how it can be better;
5) study your favorite texts in that genre and ask yourself what those writers do that you love so much, then turn that critique around and ask if you employ similar narrative style. Learn from the fantastic writing around you because it's there.

Delay your ETA to query or don't even give yourself a forced ETA, just keep plugging along with edits until you've taken the piece as far as it can go or, rather, as far as you can take it. When, and only when, it's truly in shape for professional eyes, should you send it out into the world with fingers crossed, breath held, and hopefully luck in your favor.

Any advice you want to add?

An Inside Peak into Publishing

The WriteOnCon conference had some really great panels, discussions, posts, and forums. For those of you who didn't check it out, I thought I'd highlight a few favs that delved into the publishing world.

Agent angle.

1) Sarah Crowe discusses how she knows when she wants to sign a writer: http://writeoncon.com/2011/08/how-do-i-know-that-i-really-love-it/

2) Jim McCarthy explains how to write the perfect query letter:
http://writeoncon.com/2011/08/writing-a-great-query-letter/

Editorial eyes.

Annette Pollert explains what a manuscript has to have for her to come on board as editor: http://writeoncon.com/2011/08/howwhen-i-know-a-manuscript-is-right-for-me/

Writerly advice.

NYT bestselling YA author Beth Revis discusses her journey, and offer motivation too!

You have to watch this!

This is Ira Glass talking about the creative process and revisions. I love the part where he says there's the actual work we're doing and then there's our ambition of where we could be. It takes a lot of practice to get those two things in alignment but it's possible and when it happens, for real, it's oh so sweet.

More Cover Love

THE MAP OF TRUE PLACES by Brunonia Barry. I featured the original book cover of this novel in a post I did last year! Can't decide which I like better.

Psychotherapist Zee Finch is dealt a blow when one of her patients, a troubled bipolar housewife named Lilly, leaps off a bridge to her death. The tragedy brings up memories of Zee’s own mother’s suicide, prompting her to go see her father, Finch, in Salem. She is startled to find Finch’s Parkinson’s disease is much more advanced than she’d been led to believe, and that he has kicked his partner, Melville, out of the house. Zee decides to take a leave of absence from her practice to care for Finch, a move that puts a strain on her engagement to Michael, one of her mentor’s closest friends. As her relationship with Michael comes to an end, Zee tries to puzzle out what caused Finch to abruptly break up with his beloved Melville. She also tries to make sense of Lilly’s death, unaware that the dangerous man Lilly was involved with now wants to exact revenge on her.

INCOGNITO by Gregory Murphy. An elegant literary mystery set during the Gilded Age.

New York City, 1911. Representing the widow of a Wall Street financier, lawyer William Dysart travels to a small Long Island town with a generous offer for Miss Sybil Curtis's cottage and five acres of land. But when Sybil refuses to sell, the widow threatens to use her influence with the state to seize the property.

Intrigued by Sybil's defiance and afflicted by a growing affection for her, William develops a desire to help her that becomes an obsession he cannot define, one that tears away the facade of his life, and presents him with truths he's unprepared to face.

What good books have you seen lately?