down the writer's path

Does your dog read?

Meet Teddy. He dreams of becoming a reading mentor in a READ program. Some call them Reading to Dogs literacy programs, others say Sit, Stay, and Read. Teddy and I learned about these programs a number of years ago and he quickly became immersed in reading to anyone who would listen.

Teddy is one of 5 rescue dogs who live with me. Other members of the pack are Waco the Wonder Dog, a Great Pyrennes, whose ambition is to become a service therapy dog; Riley, a vociferous Cocker Spaniel who is a dedicated petrologist and has been rock collecting for years; Charlie, a 10-month old Pug and newest to join our clan; and Freddie, the dancing bear Maltese. The boys love reading and they have a particular passion for books that feature dogs. Like any reader, they are always in search of a good book so please share your favorites with them.

Over the last few years, the boys barked incessently about their desire to have their own blog. My Reading to Dogs blog is the result. I've combined my three passions: writing, reading, and dogs. I'll be sharing information on dog literacy programs and everything and anything about dogs. I've heard rumors that the boys have their paws to paper and are pushing pens on paper. Apparently they have a lot to say and I've heard there may even be book reviews coming.

WRITERS: Looking for a positive way to promote your work and help literacy at the same time? Send a photo of you and your dog reading together with your permission to post the photo [email protected] with subject line: Reading to Dogs photo, and I'll post it to Reading to Dogs with your name, the name of your dog, the book's title and anything else you add. (Yes, you can borrow a dog and no, it doesn't have to be one of your books.) Act now before Teddy yaps at your heels in pursuit of a good book. Quick! Grab a book and a camera. Call your canine pal and read!

Internet Tools for Writers: JacketFlap networks people in the children's book industry

Social networking is here to stay. So if you're among the thousands of writers who have not made an attempt to tickle any social networks such as MySpace, Facebook or Twitter, it's time. Anyone remotely connected with the children's book industry should take a look at JacketFlap.com. You'll not only find authors and illustrators, but you'll run across reviewers, librarians, agents, booksellers, publicists, teachers, and even students. This is a growing community with a database of books, just released books, reviews, children's book-related blogs and publishers. If you're already published, you may discover your name and book is already listed. If that's the case, it's time to update your profile before anyone else does. Best of all, JacketFlap is free.

I came across JacketFlap yesterday during a search of my name. The site only had my name and the info on DIVIDED LOYALTIES. So I cruised around the site, read all about it, and updated my profile. It was easy and didn't take long. You can make it as concise as you wish. I was even able to have a feed to this blog show up on my profile page. If you're a writer or illustrator, JacketFlap is one more way to promote your books and your work. In addition you can find other writers and "friends" who will network with you. At the very least your profile is one more page that will show up on a Google Search. The best JacketFlap offers is a connection to the publishing community that may lead to more book sales and possible future work.

In order for the community to grow, JacketFlap awards points when you update publisher information, new contacts, or referrals. The points accumulate and gift certificates are earned. So, don't forget where you first heard about JacketFlap and spread the word. I find the site pretty impressive. Take a look and then come back and give me your thoughts. If you're in the kiddie lit field, why not join me--and don't forget to "friend" me--at JacketFlap.com.
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More info: USING FURL; USING OUTLOOK; USING GOOGLE ALERTS; USING GOOGLE DESKTOP SEARCH; USING THE BLOG READING LEVEL TOOL; USING VISUAL THESAURUS

Vincent Bugliosi, author and lawyer, appears on CSPAN's BookTV's In Depth this weekend

Celebrated lawyer and writer Vincent Bugliosi will be CSPAN's BOOK TV's guest for In Depth on Sunday, November 4 (LIVE from Noon to 3 pm ET). Bugliosi captured the public's attention during the days of the infamous Manson family. He made his mark in true crime with the famous "Helter Skelter" and has followed up with a number of bestselling and provocative books. If you've been a reader of DWP, then you know how much I love CSPAN's weekend BookTV. My favorite programming is In Depth where an unprecedented three (3) hours of uninterrupted programming is dedicated to one author. It's an opportunity to dig deep into the body of work and into the author's life, thought, and creative process. I highly recommend any writer spending three hours of the first Sunday of every month wading deep into the minds and works of celebrated authors. The following is from BOOKTV's write up of this weekend's interview.

Mr. Bugliosi was the lead prosecutor in the case against the Manson Family and successfully prosecuted 105 out of 106 felony jury trials during his tenure as a prosecutor for the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office. He is the author of several books, including "Helter Skelter," "And the Sea Will Tell," "Till Death Us Do Part," "The Betrayal of America," and his most recent "Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy."

Vincent Bugliosi is the author of "Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders," (with Curt Gentry) "And the Sea Will Tell: A Shocking True Story of Murder on a South Seas Island," (with Bruce Henderson) "Till Death Us Do Part," (with Ken Hurwitz) "The Phoenix Solution: Getting Serious about Winning America's Drug War," "Outrage: The Five Reasons Why O.J. Simpson Got Away with Murder," "No Island of Sanity: Paula Jones v. Bill Clinton - The Supreme Court on Trial," "The Betrayal of America: How the Supreme Court Undermined the Constitution and Chose Our President," and "Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy."

Sunday, November 4, at 12:00 PM
Monday, November 5, at 12:00 AM
Saturday, November 17, at 9:00 AM

Add a dash of Spunk & Bite to your writing

One of DWP's favorite authors, Arthur Plotnik, sent me a note saying his fantastic book Spunk & Bite: A Writer's Guide to Bold, Contemporary Style is now available in trade paperback. This "Son of Spunky" edition has "the same content plus an appended study guide, at a better price. And much shinier." I urge all of you to run to the stores or click your way to Amazon and get this book. (Naturally, I'd appreciate it if you'd click through here.) Read my 2006 interview with Art. He's always engaging, inspiring, and fun. You'll find pleny of tidbits from the Great Plotnik!

Part 1: Get a little Spunk & Bite with Arthur Plotnik
Part 2: Arthur Plotnik's take on the revered Strunk and White
Part 3: Arthur Plotnik on the writing process
Part 4: Arthur Plotnik answers the question Why Write?
Part 5: Arthur Plotnik on living the writer's life
Part 6: Arthur Plotnik reveals names, chats about MFA programs and the Iowa Workshop, and offers advice
Part 7: Arthur Plotnik chats about the publishing's Internet dance
Part 8: Arthur Plotnik answers "Why Blog?"
Part 9: Arthur Plotnik on the future of language and style
Part 10: Arthur Plotnik on the future of e-books
Part 11: Arthur Plotnik on the changing role of editors

See for yourself why so many are praising Plotnik's latest work. Check out Art's website, Spunky's Blogrr, and the official Arthur Plotnik bio. Still not sure? Read my review of The Elements of Authorship. (Note: Parts 2-6 are from an interview by Briget Ganske, Spring 2006 and posted with her permission.)

Publishing News: Narrative Magazine expands in growth and content

Narrative Magazine, an online favorite of mine, is having one heck of a year. The readership has doubled, the magazine remains free, the contributors continue to be paid, the annual contest grows, and big things are afoot. The magazine now includes poetry, and Michael Wiegers, the executive editor of Cooper Canyon Press, has agreed to be the poetry editor. Narrative's new issue is the first to publish poetry by novelist David Guterson. You'll find Guterson's poetry along with short stories, an excerpt from Ron Hansen's novel Exiles, a profile of Ann Beattie, essays, a memoir set in mid-twentieth century New York, a coming-of-age tale by Nathanial Hawthorne, and the usual assortment of book reviews. Why free? Narrative is a nonprofit organization with a mission to use the Internet to bring readers and storytellers together online, and by the results it's easy to see they are doing a bang up job.

That's not all. In their Editor's Note, Carol Edgarian and Tom Jenk report that Narrative is now the publisher of StoryQuarterly.

This past March, Narrative had the good fortune to become the publisher of StoryQuarterly, a little magazine that’s been around as a hard-copy annual for the past thirty-two years and that last summer made its inaugural foray into the online world. SQ, as it’s called by its familiars, has been shepherded in recent years by the indefatigable, gracious, and spirited efforts of publisher and editor Marie Hayes, whose care and attention to writers is legend within the world of small magazines and in the teaching and writing community. Marie has sustained SQ as a place hospitable to all writers who care about good work and especially to writers who are starting out. As SQ moves forward with Narrative, Marie will continue to provide a guiding hand, and SQ, which has long had the welcome mat out for new writers, will open its door even wider: in the past, submissions were accepted from November through January, but beginning this summer, SQ will accept submissions year-round. A notice will go out letting you know when the new SQ submission system is online, and SQ’s editors will look forward to reading your work.

Some of our readers have asked about the editorial crossover between SQ and Narrative, and we’d like to answer several central questions now. Each magazine will maintain its own identity. A submission to one magazine will not be a submission to both. Each magazine will have its own separate submission system. There will be some overlap in staff and services, such as art and technology, and for the sake of combined strength and for the support of each magazine, there will be collaboration on projects, such as events and story collections, but each magazine will have its own character and pursue its own vision. Other questions will be addressed in a Frequently Asked Questions section to be posted in SQ and updated in Narrative this summer. An updated SQ Submission Guidelines page will be posted in the next SQ, which will go live in July, just in time for summer reading!

For those of you who hate to read online and prefer to have actual hardbound copy in your hands when reading, starting with the September issue Narrative and StoryQuarterly will be offered in print-on-demand format. The magazine also has plans for something called Narrative Backstage which sounds like it will be a lot of fun for those who support the magazine by way of donations. There will be previews of unpublished works, audio files, video footage of authors, and exclusive stories. Sounds like they've hit on a great way to thank their financial angels.

If you enjoy good writing, give Narrative Magazine and StoryQuarterly a try. There's pretty much something for everyone.

Murder by the Book, a darkly engaging new series for crime writers and mystery lovers

Court TV opens normally closed windows and allows viewers to peer into the inner landscape of five top crime writers. James Ellroy, Faye Kellerman, Jonathan Kellerman, Michael Connelly and Lisa Scottoline are top in their field, and these crime writers take their story-telling skills to a new level with their deeply-felt reactions to specific crimes and how they crashed up against the author's autobiographical storylines. Last night James Elroy told a griping first-person narrative of his mother's violent death, its dark subterannean impact on his psyche, his work, and his realtionships with women. She had haunted him all his life, and she had left footprints on every thing he had done since the day she died.

After two-plus decades, Elroy found himself steeped in another story, this time one frighteningly personal, after he vows to solve his mother's murder. He speaks eloquently in a sparse, lean cadence that is gripping in its simplicity. At one point he goes through his mother's personal belongings still in police custody.

I touched my mother's dress and smelled her on it. . .
I want to be in that death zone, I want to commune with her there.

If you enjoy crime fiction, love writing crime novels, wonder about the writers who spin these mysterious tales, then Murder by the Book is definitely a series for you. If you want to know more about Elroy's journey, read MY DARK PLACES.

Be sure and go to the Murder by the Book series interactive website for in-depth extras. Next week, Michael Connelly.
(Monday nights, 10:00 PM/Eastern, Court TV)

Joy: The Love of Reading Leads to the Joy of Writing

I love reading — probably even more than writing -- and there is nothing like beginning the day in the company of an author who tickles my brain cells. First thing each morning I grab a book, usually on some aspect of writing, and read for about 15 minutes. By doing this at the start of every day when the remaining strands of my subconscious still thread through my conscious mind, I fill my mind with things that are important to me and feed my subconscious, centering my mind for the day ahead.

Recently I chose a book that promised to make my morning reading ritual an absolute delight. I’ve only read the introduction but my imagination and my love for books is so thoroughly captured I know I will greedily devour the rest of the pages. The book is Robert Schwartz’s For the Love of Books: 115 Celebrated Writers on the Book They Love Most, and I believe it falls under the Gee-I-wish-I’d-done-that category. Cast your eyes on this:

“Bookstores were of course my weakness and ultimately my way back. As solace from an otherwise law-benumbed life (He had just graduated from law school.) I was soothed by the symmetry of aisles and sections; mesmerized by the vast compression of facts, ideas, lives, epochs, travels, and regions of the heart. Books of imperishable charm, of bracing or painful insights, endless realignments of twenty-six letters — all contained in one impossibly small and dense place, a paradoxical mix of tranquility and sheer explosive power — as if a bookstore or library can be said to breach some law of physics or create a new one all its own, like a nuclear bomb with good intentions. Reading for me had become fun again but no mere parlor game. I would read, as readers do, to tame the unfamiliar or see the familiar through new and enlightened prisms; to see how different, or eerily familiar, another person’s interior life could be from my own.”

I have been reading for so many years that I cannot remember a moment when words did not light up my life. I’m an only child. Books are my friends, authors my siblings. I delved deep into experiences, lived well with characters, learned much from the lessons woven tightly into the fabric of the stories. Books are so much more than words on paper; they are conversations. So when I scanned these words, I understood.

“Writing, after all, seemed to me the most important thing one could do crawling between heaven and earth for a lifetime, even if I could not say why. Even if, having read the entire set of Paris Review interviews, I could still not really say what writers did or how they did it. Or how their words came together or pulled apart or crumbled in their hands in the course of infinite reshaping.”

Bookcases full of slipcovered Heritage books lined the walls of my parents’ home. At thirteen I fell in love with Irving Stone’s The Agony and the Ecstasy, and over the next ten years re-experienced those words and images through an annual re-reading of Stone’s masterpiece. Like Michelangelo, I felt the coolness of the marble, heard the tap of the sculptor’s hammer; saw the figure in the block. I didn’t realize for many years, but that book played an important part in sparking my desire to understand the creative process and later to become a writer. My 1963 deluxe edition with full color plates is a treasure that has surfaced during the high and the low tides in my life. A memory held close to the heart is not only meeting the author the year before he died but having him sign my worn copy that had survived my growing up, a flood, and even a fire.

If Irving Stone opened my understanding of the creative process, Ray Bradbury kindled my power and joy of writing. Imagine my joy and awe in not just meeting him and talking with him, but standing next to him ready to assist during a book signing. Reading Bradbury is never a passive act. I watched literally generations of families come to meet their literary hero. The grandfather introducing his hero to his grandson, the father reminiscing with his son in tow. Hundreds of people waited hours, all eyes staring at the man who released their imaginations and set them soaring. Today Bradbury's essay on "The Joy of Writing" found in Zen in the Art of Writing is another annual reading ritual. If, through the reading of words, one soul can touch another, then those pages witnessed my collision.

“Great writers are children of the gods,” writes Bradbury in his famous essay. “Think of Shakespeare and Melville and you think of thunder, lightning, wind.” These writers lived their work, they had fun, knew joy. “When was the last time you dared release a cherished prejudice so it slammed the page like lightning bolt?” he yells. “This afternoon burn down the house. Tomorrow pour cold critical water upon the simmering coals. But today — explode — fly apart — disintegrate!”

Bradbury demands writers to write with passion. Easy enough for him, his loves are visible. They saturate his being and illuminate his soul. He doesn’t tap into his passions — they explode from within and scatter across the page. He loves life. His ardor knows no bounds. Writing about his passions is second nature; he cannot help but do so. His exuberance for life and his unexcused love for writing is a siren’s song. “Find your twins," he urges, no matter where in life they reside. Where do your passions intersect? That’s the point where the spark will fire and illuminate your soul.

Bradbury unabashedly scrolls across the genres from playwright to screenwriter, storyteller to short story writer, essayist to novelist. Writing is his playground. Like a joyful Johnny Appleseed, the age-old Bradbury skips across cultural landscapes planting seeds within the fertile grounds of his essays and shorts stories and moves on. He trusts good fruit will follow. Every day Ray Bradbury pushes me to unabashedly grab my pen or pull the keyboard forward excited, even trembling, ready to create the next story, essay, or novel. I must embrace work that moves and invigorates me.

Reading sparked this essay. The constant push and pull between the two processes, writing and reading, continues. This continuous movement energizes me, engages my creativity, and prompts more writing. Reading throws off the comfort of passivity and demands I act. My books, littered with marginalia, stoke the desire to write. I am steeped in good conversation.

Working in a bookstore, living in a home brimming with books, and being a natural library slug, I confess I live with that humming power that emanates from bookish environments. The tactile expression of writers having written words that “crumbled in their hands” resonates as I recall scenes and paragraphs of my own that disintegrated before I barely had time to read them through. Books are the repositories of minds at work and if you listen carefully you might hear them call your name.

Shh! Listen.
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Note: I wrote this essay in response to a call from the Blogcritics book editor to help participate in the LoveofReading.com online bookfair. This review, chosen as an editor's pick of the week, has been cross-posted on Blogcritics.org. To read my other articles on Blogcritics, see my "BC Author Page."

Arthur Plotnik talks about the changing role of editors

Arthur Plotnik was kind enough to answer a few questions directly for Down the Writer's Path. This segment continues an interview that runs the rest of the week. Plotnik is the author of the newly released, Spunk & Bite: A Writer’s Guide to Punchier, More Engaging Language & Style. Copyright Vikk Simmons, 2006.

As a writer, author, and editor, do you think the editor's role has changed? What realistic expectations and appropriate attitudes should writers hold when they begin their interactions with editors?

Forget any myth about hand-holding editors, outside an occasional small press. Editors are mainly pivot points in cross-media enterprises. They look for “product” that can be sold in multiple formats and/or for authors that can be branded. They juggle scores of projects developing over two-or-three-year cycles. They spend half their time working with quantitative projections and going to meetings.

That said, there are times when an editor (book editor) is pleasantly focused on you and your submitted work. “Acquiring,” or “developmental” editors read your proposal (usually sent by an agent) with its samples of the writing. They offer the contract, and they answer a reasonable number of questions as you work toward the deadline. They read the final draft, suggest general revisions, and check them quickly. Then, usually, the work is handed off to a freelance copyeditor–whom you will rarely be allowed to deal with directly. Acquiring editors intercede if you have problems with the copyediting. During the months of production and upon publication, they and marketing staffers will exchange promotional ideas with you. They’ll expect you to do the legwork on specialized publicity lists---pertinent media, associations, and other contacts.

Believe it or not, through all of this you sometimes form a friendly relationship with your well-intentioned but overloaded editor editor—who comes to respect your opinions and gets behind the work even after publication. That is, if you’ve first obeyed these seven rules of highly successful interaction with editors:

—Be courteous, patient, businesslike, and brief.
—Never get chummy or personal, unless explicitly encouraged. (It’s okay to use first names after the contract is signed and to mail holiday greetings.) If the editors have assistants, get to know them by name; they can be helpful. But don’t try using them to end-run the editor.
—Never miss a deadline. Ask for drop-dead (more realistic) deadlines if necessary.
—Keep track of length. Ask for a maximum word count, not page count. Never write longer than your assigned wordage except with permission.
—Understand the provinces of editors: For example, editors make the final call on titles, design, cover, and cover copy. Offer genial input, not insistent argument.
—Even if it kills you, be positive and constructive at all times. Talk about “challenges,” not problems. Don’t expect special attention. Unless asked to phone, avoid phoning editors when e-mails will do. And never vent anger or badmouth other staff. Once you are tagged a “problem author,” you’ll be handled at arm’s length or even dropped.
—Put yourself in the editor’s place: Dealing with dozens of agents, authors, deadlines; piled high with manuscripts, pressured and hectored by a hierarchy of publishers and managers; and, of course, put there to generate the most profit possible with the fewest resources. Any way you can make their lives easier earns you golden halos and, often, invitations to do another book.

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With many thanks to Art and his kind generosity, today ends my interview. If you've come to the party late, read the previous posts this week and all those that comprise the interview by Brigit Ganske posted last week. Check out Spunk & Bite and see for yourself why so many are praising Plotnik's latest work. You might also want to visit Art's website, Spunky's Blogrr, and read his official bio. If you haven't already, take a look at my review of The Elements of Authorship.

Arthur Plotnik on the future of language and style

Arthur Plotnik was kind enough to answer a few questions directly for Down the Writer's Path. This segment continues an interview that runs the rest of the week. Plotnik is the author of the newly released, Spunk & Bite: A Writer’s Guide to Punchier, More Engaging Language & Style. Copyright Vikk Simmons, 2006.

Any thoughts on current and/or future trends in language and usage? Is there anything anything you see currently that strikes you as positive and interesting to watch? Any usage or style that provokes caution?

I think that style—in the sense of a distinctive voice—has become as important as content and story for one’s breakthrough. After all, everything’s been said a thousand times over. Why publish another memoir of addiction and recovery, for example, unless the style somehow distinguishes it? Before James Frey was pulverized and Oprahsized for lying in a A Million Little Pieces, critics were raving about his “intense, punchy prose,” and its “electrifying immediacy.”

A very successful style trend I’ve observed is the mixing of high and low diction, breaking down the old barrriers between educated and street English. In novels by T. C. Boyle and Benjamin Kunkel, for instance, you get phrases like, “peripatetic dirtbags” and “the widespread contemporary prevalence of things sucking so much for so many people.” I love the mix.

Wired messaging has created an abbreviated style, a Rebus language that seems goofy outside messages. But b4 its 2 L8, writers should understand that the opulent style—textured, indulgent, even antique,  la Vladimir Nabokov, John Banville, or historical novelists like Geraldine Brooks—can still delight editors and readers if masterfully executed. It’s probably not for blogging, though.

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If you've come to the interview late, be sure you read the previous posts this week and the one by Brigit Ganske from last week. Check out Spunk & Bite and see for yourself why so many are praising Plotnik's latest work. You might also want to check out Art's website, Spunky's Blogrr, and, Plotnik's official bio. If you haven't already, read my review of The Elements of Authorship then return for more soundbites from the Great Plotnik!

Arthur Plotnik on the future of e-books,

Arthur Plotnik was kind enough to answer a few questions directly for Down the Writer's Path. This segment continues an interview that runs the rest of the week. Plotnik is the author of the newly released, Spunk & Bite: A Writer’s Guide to Punchier, More Engaging Language & Style. Copyright Vikk Simmons, 2006.

Digitized publishing is growing. Libraries now actively acquire e-books. Any thoughts on the future of electronic publishing? Will it have any influence on writing style?

I think e-books will take hold—given how the industry is pushing them and improving the reading devices, and how Gen-Y is conditioned to the medium. Libraries find they fit the research parameters of many of today’s students—“Dude, like if it don’t be on the screen, it ain’t worth checkin’ out.” Publishers would love e-pubs to displace print and all its costs and bizarre logistics; but, with the help of Barnes & Noble, Borders, and beautiful readers, e-books will remain only an alternative to bound books for some time.

Again, good writing is good writing—more spunky and bitey today, perhaps, than was necessary in a less frenetic media environment. In e-books, however, readers may be inclined to skip around more, auto-searching names and topics and following links. All that painstaking development writers put into an idea, a character, an ambience, may be lost on such “viewers”—but there will still be readers who come to writing to be stimulated or transported by cumulative effects.

A cautinary note: When signing a publishing contract, make sure e-book terms and royalties are spelled out, including what happens when the publishing house is sold.

Self-publishing and now POD (print on demand) books are two growing avenues toward publication that entice many new writers. What are your thoughts on this part of the industry? Should writers be cautious?

Cautious yes, but not dismissive. “Cooperative” or “collaborative” publishing has improved so much since the “vanity”days when writers were bilked out of ten grand or so for a pile of hideous-looking, unedited books.

Publishers like iUniverse seem to be pretty up-front on terms. They’re affordable and efficient. The production quality is good, the POD a great alternative. Extra services, for extra fees, are well delivered. The sole illusion, perhaps, is marketing. I think the only marketing that’s going to sell such books is your own—an intrepid campaign of appearances, e-mailing, blogging, begging, and strategic shipping of press releases and copies. Although self-published authors have to live with the stigma of second-class citizenry, some mainstream reviewers (such as Booklist) are starting to respond to (deft) appeals for attention. It all sounds daunting, but hey—it’s pretty much do-it-yourself marketing with trade publishers, too, at least until you’re a brand name.

There are still a few few scoundrels out there, by the way. Beware of little-known publishers who ask to see your manuscript, then send a series of letters expressing their mounting excitement over your work, each time hinting that you’ll have to take a greater part ($$) in this can’t-fail cooperative venture. Who can resist someone getting all flushed and trembly over their novel? But, of course, it’s a faked orgasm.

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If you've come to the interview late, be sure you read the previous posts this week and the one by Brigit Ganske from last week. Check out Spunk & Bite and see for yourself why so many are praising Plotnik's latest work. You might also want to check out Art's website, Spunky's Blogrr, and, Plotnik's official bio. If you haven't already, read my review of The Elements of Authorship then return for more soundbites from the Great Plotnik!