down the writer's path

The new Writer's Path CafeStore opens!

Much as I hate it, I'm still on that terminally-bad deadline rush that refuses to ends. I confess the brain cells don't want to kick in, the mind doesn't want to deal with one more Texas historical tidbit, and the body is just plain tired of being parked in the chair. For mental escape I admit I do wander off at times. Like earlier this week when I clicked over to PaulyD's place and found young Will's site. No, not Wil Wheaton, Will from Youngest of one fame, and I enjoyed reading his posts and began to look around and found his online store. I learned all about CafePress and began thinking . . . so now I have my own online store for The Writer’s Path and hope you take a look. (Oh, and if you decide to open up an account and play around with an online store, please do list me as a referral--thewriterspath.)

The Chick Lit Challenge

Before you get too excited, know we are not talking chewing gum here. Nope, it's the latest hot trend in women's fiction that inspires today's post. Chick lit imprints have been popping up across the literary landscape and female readers have been grabbing the books as fast as their spines hit the shelves. As I mentioned over at Blog Trek, it would appear some folks have a few qualms about this latest phenomena women's fiction. Take a look at Anjula Razdan's article in the March/April issue of Utne:

The Chick Lit Challenge (Promo) Anjula Razdan

"But a lot of people are still worried about the influence of the popular genre of fiction known as 'chick lit.' You know, those ubiquitous novels with pastel-colored dust jackets bearing whimsically retro images of cocktail glasses, trendy purses, and spiky heels. With titles like Running in Heels: A Novel, Shopaholic Ties the Knot, and Thirty Nothing, chick lit relays breezy tales of spunky professional urban women worrying about their bosses, their weight, their boyfriends, and their Jimmy Choo shoes. The genre is wildly successful -- and that, oddly enough, is the problem."

I'm sure the writers, as well as the readers, will be pleased to know that the books have been identified as the latest in popular trash. I guess the question is: Can a New Millenium woman have her trash and retain her feminist membership card, too?

Read 'em and weep...?

The art of book distribution and Greeleaf Book Group

I am convinced that in the publishing world, book distribution is an art form, some would even say a dark one. Had I not already leaned in that direction, Greenleaf Book Group's Meg La Borde would have surely convinced me. I attended Houston's Association of Authors and Publishers (AAP) last night and heard La Borde's entertaining and highly informative talk. With the mantra "In an industry that is sink or swim, we help you fly," Greenleaf has set a high bar for excellence. If you're new to the writing and publishing game and are considering the self-published route, be forewarned: taking the time to learn all you can about the business, particularly the distribution process, can make or break you. What is needed is honest self-scrutiny. Do you have the knowledge needed to bring your project to a successful completion? In today's world that means more than a rudimentary understanding of the laws of punctuation--even for writers embarked on the traditional path to publishing.

Calling writers afflicted with mystery book-lover addiction

If you love those hard-boiled heroes and cozy cat mysteries, then the Southwest Chapter of Mystery Writers of America may have just the right conference. The Hard-boiled Heroes and Cozy Cats 2004 Conference is aimed toward helping you write in any mystery sub-genre and will be held on Saturday, June 19, 2004 from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm at the Galleria Holiday Inn on the Katy Freeway in Houston, Texas. The day's events include a luncheon and a contest. Mystery celebs include Erica Spindler, Bill Crider, Charlene Harris, and Jay Brandon. (Be sure and click on Brandon's name to see his hot photo on his website.) Literary agent and novelist Evan Marshall and Linda Landrigan, editor of Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, will also be on hand. The cost is $80member/$85nonmember through June 16, then $90 at the door. The local chapter is full of good people who love writing mysteries and enjoy getting together with other writers.

The only problem with this conference is that it falls on the same day as the SCBWI-Houston conference mentioned yesterday . . . decisions, decisions, decisions.

SCBWI gives the scoop on writing nonfiction for children

If you have an interest in writing for children and have what Art Spikol called a "grasshopper mind," then the "Writing Nonfiction for Children" conference might be for you. SCBWI Houston is offering those who write or wish to write nonfiction for children an opportunity to meet two speakers who work or have worked as editors for major publishing houses and learn how to write and how to sell their material. Pam Zollman, former editor for Highlights for Children and Houston writer, and Nina Rosenstein, Nonfiction Children's Book Editor formerly with Random House and now with Enslow Publishers, will spend an entire day discussing this very salable type of writing on June 19, 2004 from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm at North Harris College. Cost is quite reasonable at $50/non-SCBWI members and $35/SCBWI members and includes a boxed lunch. This is a great deal for new and the tried-and-true writers.

"Good fiction doesn't just happen, it is designed."

If you're one of those writers who is able to sit down and type merrily away, hot on your character's heels, without ever giving a thought to plot, God bless you and you can stop reading now. I don't possess that writerly trait, so I must give plot its due--and I am not alone. Randy Ingermanson, self-proclaimed physicist, writer, and computer geek is the author of the good-fiction-doesn't-just-happen,-it-is-designed quote. Ingermanson has drawn inspiration from nature and adopted the design pattern of the snowflake as a model for developing the intricate structure of a novel, and it has served him well. Using the snowflake process, Ingermanson has managed to write a number of award-winning novels that have earned him quite a reputation. To his credit, Ingermanson freely shares the architectural structure used in the design of his novels and his "10 steps of design." So the next time you're sitting at the computer and feeling like a bump on a stump, why not take a cue from nature and design your way into the heart of your novel.

Where is the line drawn between rewriting and plagerizing?

I recently came across Kevin Whited's Publius TX blog and the April 11th entry detailing Houston Chronicle columnist Rick Casey's rewriting of Washington Post columnist Dan Morgan's work paragraph by paragraph, line by line. Whited's point-by-point analysis provides a clear example of how one writer crossed the line into what many would cite as a clear case of plagerism. Granted, Casey did provide attribution at the end of his column, but the level of rewriting certainly calls attention to the question of how much is too much? With all the talk recently of ethics and plagerism, I found the comparison of the two articles quite interesting. If you continue to read through the comments, you'll find an even more interesting discussion on exactly what constitutes plagerism.

Houston Chronicle is catalyst for new weblog, the Chronicallybiased.com

Houston's latest entry into blogdom is KSEV's ChronicallyBiased.com. Born out of frustration with the Houston Chronicle's legendary poor and biased reporting, Dan Patrick and a host of volunteers spun this weblog out of thin air in about thirty days. You might want to click on over to get a feel for how they plan to hold the Chronicle's reporting feet to the fire.

Jayson Blair and the rebuilding of ethics

In the latest issue of Editor & Publisher, Joe Strupp tackles the slippery subject of writers and their ethics in his article Crime and Punishment. Clearly the actions of Jayson Blair and others are having ramifications throughout the publishing world. There was a time when I thought I knew the boundaries but now I'm not even sure anymore. It was easy when Janet Cook, the Pulitzer-winning reporter, got bounced for a story that was a complete fabrication--as in all lies. Those were the days before "creative nonfiction" merged into the mainstream of publishing. And we all know you can't lift whole paragraphs and plop them into your work. But now I'm hearing that even with the required attribution folks are getting leery of any references to other work. Where does that leave the writers?

I don't know. I confess I'm still trying to work it all out. But one thing I do know, rewarding Jayson Blair with a tell-all book contract is not the way to address the problem, let alone correct it. (By the way, Jayson has become a blogger.)