Category: General

Oh, come on! I’ve sent you lots of queries. The least you can do is send me rejections! I’m mad for your rejections! It makes me feel like this whole process is going forward!

Of course, agents, if any of you want to send me a request for a partial or a full reading, or would like to offer representation, well that’s forward movement too. 😉

***

Um…that said, I’m not sure if I’ll have time to do submissions next week. I have a 3 day work week and a paper deadline looming large. I will try. Much will depend on this weekend’s progress.

With last night’s progress, however, things look rosier.

5,486 / 7,500 (73.1%)

I’ve lowered the word count, now that I have a fairly good idea how long this sucker’s going to be. Of course, this weekend will be organizing, and converting real names to pseudonyms, which is something we do in qualitative research. Then, I get to sprinkle liberally with case study examples.

Right now I should write some grammar tests, so I bid you farewell for the moment. Have a great weekend.

Catherine

I received a rejection from Barbara Bova, which was expected. The sort of things she usually represents aren’t the sort of book I sent, but I thought I should knock on that door.

And I revised the World Englishes and English as Lingua Franca parts of my paper last night…with a migraine! No doubt there will be much revision tonight! My word count went backwards, as expected during the tightening of the notes. I expect to write great guns tonight, being pain free and all.

This weekend we’ll be going back to Minneapolis for a gaming weekend, and I’ll be filling in all the spare spaces with writing. After all, the presentation of the paper is next Saturday.

I am so looking forward to getting to that Wiscon scene. I feel like I’m wilting when I’m not writing fiction. Stinky, decaying rose petals. That’s me.

Catherine

I read many writers’ blogs every day. I enjoy them. They help me focus on all sorts of aspects of writing. Some answer questions. Some are more personal about the life of the author.

Here at Writer Tamago, we keep it mostly about the writing. I have a whole ‘nother journal that talks about other aspects of my life. And some things I’m just not going to talk to you about. Sorry, but that’s how it is. I don’t need to lay my entire life bare to you. I am, after all, an internet construct partly of your own making.

However, other writers are more personal, and now I’m curious. What do you enjoy reading in the entries of writers? Do you prefer all writing content? Do you prefer those glimpses into the personal? What do you like to do in your own journaling/blogging?

Because you’re out there, writing, I think you have something to say about this one, and I hope to hear from you.

Catherine

Why yes, I did weave a tapestry of academic words last night.

2,801 / 10,000 (28.0%)

Next up: a section discussing the pros and cons of English as Lingua Franca before I get to the JIKEI study and particular Communicative Language Teaching Methodologies.

Catherine

ps and a rejection by Michael Congdon of Don Congdon.

…for Substance

Jesse Vogel of Scribe
Kristopher O’Higgins of Scribe
Albert Longden of Albert Longden
Barbara Bova of Barbara Bova
Michael Congdon of Don Congdon

Good luck, boys!

Catherine

We’ll start this entry off with my rejection from Susanna Einstein of LJK Literary Management.

Had a great time in Minneapolis this weekend at an anime con. While there, interviewed Elizabeth Sloane for an article on wig construction that will appear in a future issue of AniCoz magazine.

Working on that English paper. More stats later today, as well as some queries out.

Right now, must get back to the office slog.

Catherine

I love word count meters. They make me want to work harder.

We’ve gotten through the sewing patch, so now, back to the writing.

2,489 / 10,000 (24.9%)

Catherine

The current book I’m reading has yet to really grip me. It is very much one of the fashionable books at the moment: let’s take a secondary character or minor character from a work of literature, and fashion a story from their point of view. I myself have a few chapters of one of these started, so I certainly like the genre.

Since the book hasn’t sucked me in yet, I find myself analyzing it. There are two things I’m finding about this book that are proving to be distractions.

1. Linearity. Rather the lack thereof. The characters in this book live in flashback city. The reason we start the book with childbirth and a slave escape, and then clearly move back to the main character’s childhood, while putting in another section about the birth of her first child (not the miscarriage that occurred during the slave escape) is to pull you, the reader, in with drama. For me, it just bounces around. And feels overwrought like an iron fence in the French Quarter.

2. Flowery prose. The book is told in first in first person which allows the author to gratuitously use stream of consciousness examination of subjects (dig that crazy river wheel section!). Also, the book is very adjective heavy. Sometimes the writing hits (I love the orange gash in the sweet potato), but most of the time, I’m drowning in the prose.

I’ve always been a spare writer, perhaps to my detriment. So, today, fellow writers and readers, I solicit your opinion on

1. Flashbacks. Do you like them? Do you use them?

2. Adjectives: How much description is enough? Too much? How do you know?

3. What is your writing peeve?

I’m giving the book more time (only 50 pages in, and it’s huge), but we’ll see. Life’s too short, and I have too many books on my shelf. I’m not condemning it as a bad book–there’s just too much in it that keeps popping me out of the narrative, which is creeping slowly at best.

Have a great weekend. I’ll be at an anime con in Minneapolis, checking papers and working on my own papers as much as I can. Which may not be at all if I’m terribly unlucky.

Catherine

More linkage this morning. First of all, cystic fibrosis.

Friend and fellow workshopper Jenn Racek is in the Great Strides walk for Cystic Fibrosis to help raise money for the cure. Cassie, her daughter, has CF. There’s also going to be an auction of ebay items, all of the proceeds of which will go to the CF Foundation. Check out more here:

Cassie’s Auction now through April 8th.

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John Scalzi this morning on authors and jealousy. Pay attention to the parts about being content with one’s own life, and supporting one’s friends. Nicely done, Scalzi.

Whatever

That’s today’s linkage. Now, to teach Adverb Clauses. (Not any journal where you can read that…)

Catherine

Over at Writers and their Soundtracks, Julie Rose interviews Darin Bradley. Yup, that Darin Bradley. Mr. Avant Garde.

Catherine