Shifting focus as a writer

I've been a bad blogger. I haven't written for a few days, and even skipped my regular Monday feature Websites for Writers. This was partly due to going on a Jesse James road trip around Missouri. I'm writing a series called On the Trail of Jesse James for Gadling. Check it out if you want the real story of America's baddest bad man.

The other reason for my silence is I've been getting deep into a new book proposal. It's a travel narrative about Harar, a medieval walled city on the border between the Ethiopian highlands and the Somali desert. I had an intense experience there and I'm writing a proposal in order to drum up funds to go back. I miss Ethiopia!

It's been a while since I've written a travel book that wasn't a guidebook. My very first book proposal back in 2001 was about my time spent at the Hindu pilgrimage of Kumbh Mela. I landed an agent, but she wasn't able to sell it and eventually dropped me. She was young, a very junior partner in an established agency, and I have a feeling she was in over her head. She certainly had piss-poor communications skills with yours truly, so I can't imagine she was much better with the publishers.

Despite this disappointment, I steadily climbed the writing ladder, writing a couple of guidebooks and then landing a regular history gig and a job as a travel blogger. Not a bad bunch of work, but I'm not content. Never be content as a writer or you're doomed. I've been wanting a change for a while now and was wondering why my fiction wasn't flying out of my brain like it usually does. Now I'm going back to what originally got me into this business: creative nonfiction about travel.

As writers we need to be flexible. Not only do we need to move with the market (if we're doing this as a living) but we also have to be flexible with our sources of inspiration. Right now my well of ideas for fiction is a bit parched, but I'm full of ideas for the Harar book. Instead of fighting it, it's best to embrace it. I suspect that I'll have several more shifts in the course of my career.

Writing a book on Rome?

How can a writer not be inspired by Rome? Here's yours truly in a proud moment. I'm standing at one of the entrances to St. John Lateran, leaning against the giant bronze doors that once led into the Roman Senate. They were moved here in the 17th century to grace this massive church.

This poorly framed photo taken by some Italian kid reveals one of my original historical interests--the transition from pagan to Christian in the period of Late Antiquity. How did an empire that embraced a variety of gods and showed toleration to any religion that toed the line turn into a monotheistic force that changed the direction of faith forever? I covered this in my first solo book, Byzantium: An Illustrated History, and I'd like to get back into the subject.
Rome is a good place to study this because so many buildings from that period remain. Here's Santa Maria Maggiore, a fourth century Roman basilica converted into a church at a time when Christianity had only become the state religion within living memory. Some of the mosaics date back to 440! This was the first sight I saw in Rome and my biggest thrill. I've seen plenty of Roman sights, even hiked Hadrian's Wall, but all the ruins I had seen had been just that--ruins. Now I was actually standing inside a Roman building!
Not far away is Santa Pudenziana, with this beautiful fourth century apse mosaic. Within a century the Romans had gone from sacrificing to Jupiter, Mithras, and the emperor, to building churches.

This period is often overlooked in tours and guidebooks, and I'm thinking of doing a history/guidebook that would tell the story of the city's transformation from pagan stronghold to Christian capital. I'd tell it in straight historical narrative, but anytime a sight in Rome fits into the story, I'll switch into guidebook mode. Thus the visitor could follow the struggle between paganism and Christianity through Rome's buildings, while the armchair traveler could simply read it as a history book.

I've done a bit of research and I haven't seen any book that does exactly what I'm proposing. I'll have to look more before making a pitch to an editor and agent, though. There's a lot of books about Rome out there!

New Year's Resolutions: Ten Months On

At the beginning of the year I posted my New Year’s writing resolutions in order to pressure myself to keep on track. Let's see how I did in September and October. Yeah, I skipped a month. I was busy going from Oxford to Missouri to London to Madrid, researching and writing as I went.

Write 7,000 words per week minimum, 10,000 preferred.
I've been keeping up the word count, helped by my job at Gadling. I've written more than 60,000 words for them, enough for a short book. My nonfiction books keep me busy too.


Get through that huge list of magazine article ideas I'm going to pitch. As I send them out, the list will be added to, so this is a perpetual goal. Same goes for several book proposals I have.
I haven't sent out any new pitches for two months, being too busy with other stuff. I really should send out more though.

Search for another paid blogging job.

This is no longer a goal now that I'm blogging for Gadling, but I have been casually looking for a second blogging gig. Nothing has come up. I already blog about travel, so I want something in a different subject like history or archaeology. Unfortunately nothing along those lines have come up. Most blogs want someone to blog about tech or pop culture or other things I have no interest in.

Finish a how-to book on writing that a publisher is interested in.
This project has been put on the back burner since I'm in crunch time for one of my Osprey military history books.


Try to get an agent for my fiction and nonfiction.
Working on it. Still no luck.


Do another round of edits on all three of my novels.
I've already done this. I also wrote a summary for my Civil War novel, which I submitted to a contest.


Write my next novel, set in London and Oxford.
I did some writing these past two months, although not nearly as much as I like. I've been struggling with this one and having a lot of nonfiction work doesn't help. I'm still only a quarter of the way through the first draft, about 22,000 words.


Finish two short stories and two novellas I've been fiddling with.
Fiddled a bit with one of the short stories and both novellas, but haven't made too much progress.


Write and send out "Willoughby: England's First Great Explorer", a book proposal I was supposed to write last year (whoops!).
Still haven't done anything with this proposal.


Increase my online presence.
I've been slacking off on my personal blogs, as you can see, but my work with Gadling is gaining ground. Several of my posts have made it to the front page of AOL, which gets me lots of hits and tweets. One of my stories got more than 400 diggs and 200,000 hits last week! that made me feel good.

All in all, a decent two months. the main focus has been blogging for Gadling and research and writing for Osprey. Since these two markets pay and pay on time I really shouldn't complain, but my fiction has taken a beating. I'm gearing up to do some serious work on that front once I get past my deadline with Osprey on Dec 15. The new year is always a good time to start a new novel.

New Year's resolutions: seven months on

At the beginning of the year I posted my New Year’s writing resolutions in order to pressure myself to keep on track. Let's see how I did in July.

Write 7,000 words per week minimum, 10,000 preferred.
I've been keeping up the word count this month, helped by my job at Gadling. Having to write a minimum of five posts a week keeps me busy, plus I'm in crunch time with my next book for Osprey. I want to get the rough draft done before heading to Missouri in mid-September.


Get through that huge list of magazine article ideas I'm going to pitch. As I send them out, the list will be added to, so this is a perpetual goal. Same goes for several book proposals I have.
I sent out a couple of magazine pitches this month, and got one no and one yes.

Search for another paid blogging job.

This is no longer a goal now that I'm blogging for Gadling.

Finish a how-to book on writing that a publisher is interested in.
This project has been put on the back burner while I get up to speed with Gadling and take advantage of the research opportunities while I'm here in Oxford.


Try to get an agent for my fiction and nonfiction.
Working on it. Still no luck.


Do another round of edits on all three of my novels.
I've already done this, and while I want to do another pass of my latest novel before year's end, I'm working more on my next one.


Write my next novel, set in London and Oxford.
I did a fair amount of writing this month, although not as much as I like. It's in a different genre and a very different voice, so I've been struggling.


Finish two short stories and two novellas I've been fiddling with.
I haven't done anything with these.


Write and send out "Willoughby: England's First Great Explorer", a book proposal I was supposed to write last year (whoops!).
Still haven't done anything with this proposal.


Increase my online presence.
I've been slacking off on my personal and writing blogs, in case anyone noticed, but my work with Gadling is gaining ground. Several of my posts have made it to the front page of AOL, which gets me lots of hits. I quit writing for Charge of the Write Brigade, however, because I need to focus on my paid blogging.


In general, it's been an OK month dominated by my current nonfiction work. I'd love to get more fiction done, but that will have to wait until crunch time is over.

New Year's resolutions, five months on

At the beginning of the year I posted my New Year’s writing resolutions in order to pressure myself to keep on track. Let's see how I did in May.

Write 7,000 words per week minimum, 10,000 preferred.
I haven't been keeping up the word count this past month. This is due to a large amount of editing I've been doing. Useful, but it doesn't get more pages written, only gets the older stuff looking nicer. I hope.

Get through that huge list of magazine article ideas I'm going to pitch. As I send them out, the list will be added to, so this is a perpetual goal. Same goes for several book proposals I have.
I haven't been doing much pitching, although I did send out a book proposal.

Search for another paid blogging job.
This is now no longer a goal, because three weeks ago I started blogging for Gadling, the single largest travel blog on the web. It's going well and I'm learning a lot about what makes a popular blog work.

Finish a how-to book on writing that a publisher is interested in.
Umm. . .haven't done much on that. I really need to get cracking.

Try to get an agent for my fiction and nonfiction.
I've been keeping my novels and nonfiction book proposals on agent’s desks, but so far no luck.

Do another round of edits on all three of my novels.
I did an edit on my very first novel, which I finished a few years ago. I'm now going through it again and pruning out a lot of excess wordage. A common first novel mistake is overwriting, and I certainly made that mistake! I plan to send it off to a certain publisher when they open for submissions in July. I checked out the sequal to that novel, which is about halfway through the first draft, and noticed I hadn't opened that file since January 5, 2007. If I get to work on that again it will certainly be with a fresh set of eyes!

Write my next novel, set in London and Oxford.
I did a fair amount of writing this month.

Finish two short stories and two novellas I've been fiddling with.
I haven't done much with these.

Write and send out "Willoughby: England's First Great Explorer", a book proposal I was supposed to write last year (whoops!).
Still haven't done anything with this proposal.

Increase my online presence.
I'm continuing with my personal and writing blogs, and my work with Gadling accounts for another five posts a week, so I'm getting my name out there. I'm also writing for another blog with eight other writers.

In general, I'm not terribly satisfied with this month's progress. I did a lot of research for a history book due at the end of the year, and a bit of fiction as well as a lot of editing of older fiction. The job at Gadling was a plus too. On the other hand, there are several projects that are languishing for lack of proper attention. I'm finding springtime in Oxford to be very distracting! One way of coping is to go hiking and then write it up for Gadling. Perhaps a long spell of English rain will get me back on track.

Straight From The Horse's Mouth: What Editors Want

I recently had a couple of pints with an editor of mine who happened to be passing through London. I've been working with him for a few years now and it was nice to finally put a face to a name. As we talked about the magazine, he made a comment that really struck me as good advice for writers of all levels.

"Writers pitch me subjects all the time, but what they really need to do is pitch me stories."

Something to remember.

New Year's Resolutions: Four Months On

At the beginning of the year I posted my New Year’s writing resolutions in order to pressure myself to keep on track. Let's see how I did in April. Like last month, I’m posting this late. Maybe I should have added “post on time” as one of my New Year’s resolutions!

Write 7,000 words per week minimum, 10,000 preferred.
I've been keeping up the word count this past month. Quality is more important than quantity, but a writer needs to maintain a certain level of productivity to keep the money coming in. Much of my time has been spent working on my latest novel and my next book for Osprey.

Get through that huge list of magazine article ideas I'm going to pitch. As I send them out, the list will be added to, so this is a perpetual goal. Same goes for several book proposals I have.
I’ve been doing a lot of pitching this month and have landed a couple of good magazine gigs.

Search for another paid blogging job.
A breakthrough! After four months without a paying blogging job (after my last job decided to go to a crappy “pay per click” payscale) I finally landed a job at Gadling, the single most popular travel blog on the web. I’ll be doing a variety of travel news and features, including a series of articles on my upcoming hike along Hadrian’s Wall and trip to The Gambia. I’ll post on this blog when I start to work.

Finish a how-to book on writing that a publisher is interested in.
I haven't done much work on that this month. Sorry Ms. Editor, I know you read this!

Try to get an agent for my fiction and nonfiction.
I've been keeping my novels and nonfiction book proposals on agent’s desks, but so far no luck. I’ve gotten a few rejections this month, and immediately sent the books out to the next agent on my list. This is my coping mechanism. :-)

Do another round of edits on all three of my novels.
I did another light edit of my second novel, a fantasy, and am continuing with a major edit of my Civil War horror novel.

Write my next novel, set in London and Oxford.
I did a fair amount of writing this month.

Finish two short stories and two novellas I've been fiddling with.
I did a lot of research for one novella and started with the writing, but haven’t done anything with the other pieces.

Write and send out "Willoughby: England's First Great Explorer", a book proposal I was supposed to write last year (whoops!).
Nope.

Increase my online presence.
I'm continuing with these blogs, and started work on a new blog with eight other writers. Gadling will also increase my online presence.

So all in all, not a bad month. I only wish one of those agents would finally say yes to a novel!

New Year's Writing Resolutions: Three Months On

At the beginning of the year I posted my New Year's writing resolutions in order to pressure myself to keep on track. Let's see how I did in March. Yeah, I'm posting this late, but I just started two books so give me a break!

Write 7,000 words per week minimum, 10,000 preferred.
I've been keeping up the word count this past month. Quality is more important than quantity, but a writer needs to maintain a certain level of productivity to keep the money coming in. Much of my time has been spent working on a nonfiction book proposal and my next book for Osprey.

Get through that huge list of magazine article ideas I'm going to pitch. As I send them out, the list will be added to, so this is a perpetual goal. Same goes for several book proposals I have.
I've sent out two pitches for articles, and prepared five more that I'll give in London/Oxford when I get to meet editors face to face.

Search for another paid blogging job.
I applied for two blogging jobs. One turned out not to pay enough to be worth my time, and the other I'm still waiting to hear about.

Finish a how-to book on writing that a publisher is interested in.
I haven't done much work on that this month.

Try to get an agent for my my fiction and nonfiction.
I've been keeping my novels and nonfiction book proposals on agent's desks, but so far no luck.

Do another round of edits on all three of my novels.
I'm continuing with a major edit of my Civil War horror novel.

Write my next novel, set in London and Oxford.
I did a fair amount of outlining this month.

Finish two short stories and two novellas I've been fiddling with.
I haven't done those yet.

Write and send out "Willoughby: England's First Great Explorer", a book proposal I was supposed to write last year (whoops!).
I plan to do that now that I'm able to research at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. I also have access to London's Maritime museum.

Increase my online presence.
I'm continuing with these blogs, and plan to share a blog about fiction writing starting in April (more soon!. Facebook is turning out to be a good networking tool as well.

The Ups And Downs Of Writing

It's been a mixed week. I made a lot of good contacts at the Oxfringe literary festival last weekend. Then Pulse Guides told me they won't be continuing their European line, including the online updates for Madrid I've been doing. They blamed the poor economy and reduction in international travel. Then a university press hired me as a peer reviewer for a history book. It's always nice to be recognized for your expertise. Then an agent rejected the query for my Civil War novel. Up and down and up and down goes my career. You'd think after eight years I'd be used to it!

New Year's Writing Resolutions: Two Months On

At the beginning of the year I posted my New Year's writing resolutions in order to pressure myself to keep on track. Let's see how I did in February.

Write 7,000 words per week minimum, 10,000 preferred.
I've been keeping up the word count this past month. Quality is more important than quantity, but a writer needs to maintain a certain level of productivity to keep the money coming in.

Get through that huge list of magazine article ideas I'm going to pitch. As I send them out, the list will be added to, so this is a perpetual goal. Same goes for several book proposals I have.
I sent out a nonfiction query in January to a publisher and they asked for a full proposal, so a lot of my work this month has been dedicated to that. I haven't had the time to send out any new proposals. I plan to in March.

Search for another paid blogging job.
I applied for a paid blogging gig and got the job, and then they turned around and decided that the position would be for "exposure only". Sorry folks, but I have bills to pay, and leading me on is not a good way to start a working relationship. I'm applying for another job tomorrow.

Finish a how-to book on writing that a publisher is interested in.
I haven't done much work on that this month.

Try to get an agent for my my fiction and nonfiction.
I've been keeping my novels and nonfiction book proposals on agent's desks, but so far no luck.

Do another round of edits on all three of my novels.
I've been doing another major reedit of my Civil War horror novel and it's going well. I just finished chapter four today and hope to be done by the end of March so I can start my new novel once I'm up in Oxford. I also did a pass through another of my novels, a fantasy that's sitting on an editor's desk. I found very little I wanted to change, just a few tangled sentences and the inevitable typos. You can never catch all of those. I'm glad I took the time, though, because it proved to me that I'm done with that book.

Write my next novel, set in London and Oxford.
I've been writing it in my head already, but I'm not going ot put pen to paper until I'm up in England starting in April.

Finish two short stories and two novellas I've been fiddling with.
I haven't done those yet.

Write and send out "Willoughby: England's First Great Explorer", a book proposal I was supposed to write last year (whoops!).
I plan to do that when I'm able to research at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. I'll also have access to London's Maritime museum.

Increase my online presence.
I've been networking with a lot of writers on Facebook, one of the more useful timewasters on the web. I've also been keeping up with my two blogs.

I've also had other work to do from existing jobs from last year. This month I had to write up a battle map and description for a Civil War book I'm doing, and right now I'm working on an update for a Madrid guidebook. I also wrote an article for British Heritage.

So all in all a pretty good month. I'd have liked to have done more, but there are only so many hours in a day and I need to be a husband, father, and friend too. Perhaps I should hire a personal secretary. Perhaps I should get a good enough book contract that I can afford a personal secretary!

How have your writing goals been this past month? Leave a note in the comments section or post it on your own blog and leave a link.

New Year's Writing Resolutions: One Month On

At the beginning of the year I posted my New Year’s writing resolutions on my blog. Now that a month has passed how have I been doing?

1. Write 7,000 words per week minimum, 10,000 preferred.

I’ve not been making this goal most weeks because I’ve been doing a lot of editing. I wrote several pitches, but these tend to be both short and labor intensive. My average word count has been about 5,000 words per week this month. I plan to do better next month.


2. Get through that huge list of magazine article ideas I'm going to pitch. As I send them out, the list will be added to, so this is a perpetual goal. Same goes for several book proposals I have.

I’ve sent out a dozen pitches this month, mostly for books since there’s generally a longer turnaround from editors. One publisher was interested enough in my query to ask for a full proposal. I’m working on that now. This would be a new publisher for me, so I’m quite excited.


3. Search for another paid blogging job.

I quit my job at PlanetEye when they reduced their pay from a good wage to almost nothing. This month I’ve been offered two blogging jobs, one unpaid and one with low pay. I turned down both. It seems getting a well-paid blogging job is more difficult than getting magazine work. I’m applying for another major blog site that does pay well. Fingers crossed!


4. Finish a how-to book on writing that a publisher is interested in.

I’ve been organizing the chapters and worked out an outline. I have a ways to go, but now I know where I’m going.


5. Continue to try to sell my three novels to agents. Getting an agent, both for my fiction and nonfiction, is a major goal for me this year.

All my novels and nonfiction book proposals are sitting on various agents’ and editors’ desks. I keep a list of possible agents, and when I get a rejection, I send it out to the next one on the list. I’m always tinkering with the proposals to make them better.


6. Do another round of edits on all my novels, especially my Civil War horror novel, which I believe is the most marketable. Every work is a work-in-progress until it's published, so it's always good to do more editing.

I did a major edit on my Civil War novel this month. I haven’t gotten around to the other two novels yet.


7. Write my next novel, set in London and Oxford. I'm going to outline it in the first few months of the year and really start writing when I go there in April.

I’ve been giving this novel a fair amount of thought, but I’m saving the writing part for when I get there.


8. Finish two short stories and two novellas I've been fiddling with.

I haven’t done any work on these.


9. Write and send out Willoughby: England's First Great Explorer, a book proposal I was supposed to write last year (whoops!).

I haven’t done any work on this either


10. I also have some work already lined up for this year, including a book for Osprey, editing the page proofs for a book for Globe-Pequot, a few magazine assignments, and updates to a Madrid guidebook.

A whole week of this month was taken up with checking the page proofs of Outlaw Tales of Missouri (TwoDot, upcoming April 2009). I also did the research for a magazine article and did the proofs for another one. I’ve also done some work on the Madrid update.


11. Increase my online presence. I'll be getting Authorsden and Myspace accounts, and working on and promoting my blogs a bit more.

I decided to get on Facebook instead because I think it offers better networking opportunities for writers. I’ve caught up with many writers I knew when I still lived in Tucson, as well as ones I was on panels with at various conventions. While there’s a lot of silly timewasting aspects to Faceook, I can see how it can be a good networking tool. A friend of mine, who’s far more experienced and connected than I am, has gotten several jobs through Facebook connections. I also signed up for Authorsden but haven’t completed my profile yet. I've been posting more regularly on both my blogs.


So all in all, a pretty productive month. I haven’t written as much as I’d like, but January is a good month to send out lots of pitches that will hopefully bear fruit later in the year, so that’s what I’ve been concentrating on.

How has your first month of writing been? Drop me a line in the comments section or post your progress on your blog and send me the link

Who Is Writing What In 2009?

A few posts ago I talked about my writing goals for 2009 and invited other writers to share their goals.

Tracey Baptiste has a long list of goals, which she has posted on her wall as a constant reminder. She's recently broken into novel publishing, which as we all know is a very hard thing to do, and she's working on a biography of Madeleine L'Engle, whose Wrinkle in Time series seriously tripped me out when I was a kid. I'm intrigued to find out what L'Engle's life was like, as well as finding out where Baptiste is headed.

Anna Mittower has a variety of goals, but her main one is writing and publishing her novel. She's broken this task up into monthly goals. Mittower has only recently entered the wild world of publishing, but she's already figured out that big jobs are best broken up into manageable chunks. Best of luck with the book!

Rob Crompton is another aspiring novelist, and he's working on two at a time. One is further ahead than the other, and he'll be pitching that to publishers this year. Oh, and his blog has some great photos of South Wales.

If you've blogged about your writing goals and want to share them here, feel free to drop me a line. Check out my earlier post for other types of blog posts I'd like to feature here too.

Writing Goals for 2009

It's a new year, and time to get planning what to write next! Here is a list of my writing goals for 2009.

1. Write 7,000 words per week minimum, 10,000 preferred. Quality is more important than quantity, but you do have to hit a certain level of productivity to keep the money coming in.

2. Get through that huge list of magazine article ideas I'm going to pitch. As I send them out, the list will be added to, so this is a perpetual goal. Same goes for several book proposals I have. I'll be pitching a lot to Osprey, because they are a great publisher to work with.

3. Search for another paid blogging job.

4. Finish a how-to book on writing that a publisher is interested in. Details to follow!

5. Continue to try to sell my three novels to agents. Getting an agent, both for my fiction and nonfiction, is a major goal for me this year. I need someone else in my corner other than my wife, who is wonderfully supportive and helpful but has no power in the publishing industry.

6. Do another round of edits on all my novels, especially my Civil War horror novel, which I believe is the most marketable. Every work is a work-in-progress until it's published, so it's always good to do more editing.

7. Write my next novel, set in London and Oxford. I'm going to outline it in the first few months of the year and really start writing when I go there in April.

8. Finish two short stories and two novellas I've been fiddling with.

9. Write and send out Willoughby: England's First Great Explorer, a book proposal I was supposed to write last year (whoops!).

10. I also have some work already lined up for this year, including a book for Osprey, editing the page proofs for a book for Globe-Pequot, a few magazine assignments, and updates to a Madrid guidebook.

11. Increase my online presence. I'll be getting Authorsden and Myspace accounts, and working on and promoting my blogs a bit more.

Ugh, lots of work. Better get busy. I'll post regular updates on my progress as an incentive to keep myself working.

Have you posted your writing goals on your blog? If so, drop me a line at seansontheweb (at) yahoo (dot) come and I'll post a link to them here. Check out my earlier post about other ways to get your blog mentioned on this site.

Writing Goals for 2008

Yesterday I took a look at my writing goals for this past year. It was interesting to read through what I thought I'd be doing in 2008. I made some goals, missed others, and had some unexpected work come my way. How did you do on your writing goals for 2008? Drop me a line in the comments section or post on your blog and send me a link.


GOALS FOR 2008


"7,000 words per week minimum, 10,000 preferred."

To succeed at writing you have to write and write and write. I made this goal nearly every week, but it was more like 7,000 words. Ten thousand is just too much for me unless I'm really inspired.


"Write A Fine Likeness (80,000+ words) and submit it to agents/publishers"

I started this Civil War horror novel on Jan. 2. It ended up being 94,000 words and went through several revisions. It just received its first rejection by an agent last week. I'll be doing another revision and sending it out again after the holidays.


"Continue to pitch Hard Winter."

This is my first fantasy novel. It's been making the rounds for a few years now. Currently it's in an agent's inbox.


"Edit Roots Run Deep and submit it to agents/publishers."

This is my second fantasy novel. I did a couple of revisions early this year and it's sitting in an editor's inbox.


"Break into four major magazines"

Here's where I fell down, mostly for lack of trying. Early in the year I got discouraged after sending out several well-crafted pitches tailored to specific magazines, on subjects they hadn't published. Most of the time the editors never even replied, even to my followup queries. One editor strung me along for most of the year, saying he'd give me two features, before lapsing into unresponsive silence.


"Continue to pitch to The Writer, British Heritage, and Missouri Life."

These are my regular magazine markets. I landed two or three articles in each of these in 2008.


"Continue to submit existing short stories."

Been doing that. One fantasy novella, "The Quintessence of Absence" was accepted by Black Gate magazine. The rest gathered rejections. I finished no new short stories in 2008. I prefer novels, both to read and to write.


"Resell old articles."

A mixed level of success. It's way easier with my writing articles than with my history articles. Anyone know of history markets that take reprints?


"Finish proposal for To Take St. Louis: The Confederacy’s Last Gamble in the West, and submit it."

This is a Civil War nonfiction book. It's making the rounds, having gathered a couple of rejections on the way.


"Finish proposal for Willoughby: England’s First Great Explorer, and submit it.
Finish proposal for The Last Emperors of Rome, and submit it."

I didn't get these done.


On the other hand, I got some unanticipated work. Osprey accepted my Guerrilla Tactics of the American Civil War proposal, so I spent a good chunk of the year writing that book. I finished last week. I also wrote up three more proposals for them. Two look like they're going to be accepted and the third was rejected.


I also wrote another Civil War nonfiction proposal, They Faltered Not: How A Few Runaway Slaves on the Frontier Changed the Course of the Civil War. It's making the rounds. I started two blogs, finished up Outlaw Tales of Missouri (started in 2007) and got hired by Pulse Guides to update their guidebook to Madrid.

All in all, a pretty good year. More income than last year, but I'd still be making better money as an office drone. I'd also be going not-so-quietly insane. I wonder what 2009 holds for me?

When Novellas Become Trilogies

I'm doing the old waiting game right now with my latest novel, the one set in Civil War Missouri I've been talking about the past few months. I sent a query letter to an agent and got a request for a partial and an outline, so I duly sent those off. Now it's Thanksgiving, then it will be Christmas. I have some waiting to do.

In the meantime, I'm still polishing the thing, and thinking about the two other books in the series. The book was originally going to be a novella, but then last year I realized I had enough material for a novel. I wrote it as a stand-alone book, making it less of a risk for publishers (always a good selling point) but I really want to make it a trilogy. There's a lot more to tell about the characters and the situation.

The trilogy is a well-worn format in speculative fiction, but I think it's a good one. You get a beginning, middle, and end, just as each individual book gets a beginning, middle, and end.

It's funny how some story lines bloom into entire series while others remain novellas or short stories. I'm not quite sure what unconscious creative processes are responsible for that, I just hope I get a chance to see the thing in print!

New Writer's Handbook Offers Inspiration, Advice

Back in March I did a post on Embracing the Term Midlister, which has been quoted by a couple of sites as sort of a statement of purpose for this blog. Now it has been published in a slightly altered form in The New Writer's Handbook, Volume 2, published by Scarletta Press.

I just got my author's copy in the mail and I have to say I'm very proud to be sharing its pages with the likes of U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser, Newbery Award winners Shannon Hale and Kirby Larson, and dozens of other successful writers.

The chapters are loosely organized by themes such as Creativity & Motivation, The Craft of Writing, Pitching Your Work, Internet Marketing Skills, Business Savvy, and Last Words & Literary Thoughts. I'm in the final category. I'm not sure how literary my thoughts were, but I always like to get the last word. Most of the contributions are only two to four pages, making them easy, bite-sized bits to read before, during, or after your writing day.

I haven't read all the contributions yet, but I've already learned many things, especially from the Internet Marketing and Business Savvy sections, which I'm weak on. I'd prefer to write all day and leave the business and marketing sides of my career to someone else, but who would that be?

Several key themes run through this book, and they repeat what I've said many times on this blog: you have to put a lot of time and thought into your writing, you have to be a clear-headed critic of your own work, and you have to keep at it. If you only buy one writing book this year (besides the indispensable Writer's Market) you'd have a hard time finding a better book than this one.

Querying about Querying

I've applied for two writing jobs recently, one for a guidebook and another for a blogging gig. In both cases I didn't send the required information, such as a CV, clips, etc., because I had questions about the job first. For the blogging job I found the announcement two weeks after it was posted, so I wanted to make sure it was still open, and for the guidebooks there were two possible books I could have done for them, so I asked which would be the better fit.

In both cases the editors got back to me and gave me courteous and informative replies that helped mold my query into something that would make them more likely to say yes. I haven't heard back from either editor, but I understand these things always take time.

It's OK to send off a friendly, professional email asking for more information, especially if you include enough details about yourself that they can see you are serious and capable. Just remember that there's nothing wrong with querying about querying!

The Difference Between Professional and Amateur Writers

Well, besides the Civil War novel, which is moving along well, I've been busy with editing the first issue of the Reader's Eden Ezine, due out in early June. I and the publisher sent out the submissions guidelines to several newsgroups and already stories are coming in. I haven't been snowed under like every other editor yet, but the drifts are beginning to form.

I've also sent out requests for submissions to several authors I know, professionals who might have a story to spare for this new venture. Luckily, a couple have already responded. One thing I noticed first off was that they kept strictly to the submission guidelines. It didn't matter that our emails were informal, with talk of babies, recent publications, and idle chit-chat; when these folks sent me their work it was all business.

I wish I could say that about all the submissions. While the majority stuck to the guidelines, I got several that did not. One writer sent his article as an attachment, even though my submission guidelines said I would delete emails with attachments unread. I don't want to fill my computer with viruses, after all. I even put that notice in all caps. Others used improper title format, and one fellow asked on a newsgroup why there wasn't an email address to send submissions to, even though it was, of course, in the submission guidelines. Everyone else seemed to find it!

I can practically hear all the jaded old editors out there laughing, "Oh, you think that's bad, just you wait!"

Yeah, there will be a lot worse, I'm sure. But I'll try to resist the urge to create a Hall of Shame like Alien Skin Magazine does.

When Should A Writer Ask For More?

A magazine signed me up to do an article recently and offered me $375. That's not much, but it's a straightforward article that won't take me much time, so it's worth it. I asked if they could pay me $425, and they came back with a counteroffer of $400, which is what I expected them to do.

It never hurts for a writer to ask for more. I always ask for more from magazines and book publishers, and the worst that's ever happened is they've insisted on their original offer. Some beginning writers are afraid to do this, but any editor worthy of the name isn't going to dump you just because you asked for a bit more money.

There's a technique to doing this right, though. I never ask for a huge amount more than their first offer, and I don't pester regular markets unless I haven't had a raise in a while. I also ask politely, something important in any type of business (and writing is a business, much as I hate that fact). If one of my book publishers won't budge on the amount of the advance, I'll try to renegotiate other things, such as royalties or the number of author's copies.

In sum, always try to get a bit more from your editors. The worst that can happen is that they'll say no.

Heinlein on Writing

Science Fiction writer Robert Heinlein had a few simple rules on writing:

1. Write
2. Finish what you write
3. Send it out
4. Keep it out there until it is accepted
5. Only edit thereafter according to editorial direction

There's no mystery to being a successful author, just a lot of hard work, some talent, and a few lucky breaks, but mostly hard work.