Monday, September 20, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Follow Your Bliss: Strong Women, Strong Men
This blog has moved to: corafoerstner.com. Sept. 9, 2010: New bog post up. Follow Your Bliss: Strong Women, Strong men. Click here.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Millennium Trilogy: Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
My new blog entry about Stieg Larsson's Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Like the trilogy? Check out the blog at corafoerstner.com/
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Moved
I've redesigned my website and moved everything. You can find me at Muse On Fire or at corafoerstner.com
Stop by and say hello.
Stop by and say hello.
Friday, May 21, 2010
Feeling Accomplished
For what seems like ages and ages, I have been trying to record a podcast with a friend in the UK. We started planning this a couple of months ago and thought we could throw a podcast together in a week or so, two at the most. Now, here we are months later.
We have had a series of mishaps and weird kinks that have been challenging and helped us develop perseverance. Our first major problem was that we couldn't keep a connection with Skype. The first few times we tried four minutes was our longest connection. After a few trial-and-error attempts, we fixed the problem. Our second issue was that our recording was corrupted with static. When I say static, I mean the kind that made me rip off my headphones. We had to re-record. We scheduled for yesterday and the static was still with us. We were feeling the deflation that comes with defeat, when Victoria's teenage son came to our rescue and told her how to adjust the Skype settings. So, after the initial defeat, we tried again.
Victory! We did it.
I am happy to report that we combined our audio files, added an intro and a wrap up. Now, I have a lovely mp3 file sitting on my desktop. Yesterday, I listened to it one final time, and sent it off. Mission accomplished.
I decided last December that I wanted to start podcasting. I want to add podcasts to my blog, and perhaps read some of my short stories and essays and add them to my website. Back then it sounded like an easy task. A little research told me that all I needed was a mic, headphones, a recording program, and a podcast would be as easy as making pie. Well, if you have ever made pie from scratch, you'll know that there is nothing easy about making a pie. It requires skill. Podcasting requires skill and a lot of patience.
I'm celebrating—a good movie and a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon are coming my way.
We have had a series of mishaps and weird kinks that have been challenging and helped us develop perseverance. Our first major problem was that we couldn't keep a connection with Skype. The first few times we tried four minutes was our longest connection. After a few trial-and-error attempts, we fixed the problem. Our second issue was that our recording was corrupted with static. When I say static, I mean the kind that made me rip off my headphones. We had to re-record. We scheduled for yesterday and the static was still with us. We were feeling the deflation that comes with defeat, when Victoria's teenage son came to our rescue and told her how to adjust the Skype settings. So, after the initial defeat, we tried again.
Victory! We did it.
I am happy to report that we combined our audio files, added an intro and a wrap up. Now, I have a lovely mp3 file sitting on my desktop. Yesterday, I listened to it one final time, and sent it off. Mission accomplished.
I decided last December that I wanted to start podcasting. I want to add podcasts to my blog, and perhaps read some of my short stories and essays and add them to my website. Back then it sounded like an easy task. A little research told me that all I needed was a mic, headphones, a recording program, and a podcast would be as easy as making pie. Well, if you have ever made pie from scratch, you'll know that there is nothing easy about making a pie. It requires skill. Podcasting requires skill and a lot of patience.
I'm celebrating—a good movie and a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon are coming my way.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Non-fiction and the Proposal
I’m in the middle of writing a proposal. So, I thought I’d throw out a few random thoughts about non-fiction.
First, most non-fiction is sold from a proposal. An exception would be a memoir, which, like fiction, should be completed before you try to sell it. Of course, there are always exceptions to the exception. If you are a famous person or someone who is “hot” news, you could possibly sell a memoir with a proposal. For the rest of us ordinary folks, we have to write the memoir first.
Leaving memoir and returning to non-fiction, the good news is that you can sell your non-fiction book with a proposal, which is much shorter. This saves tons of time and energy.
If you didn't know this and have a completed manuscript, great. The hardest part of your writing is done. But . . . you still have to write a proposal.
Proposals are submitted to agents and to publishers. If you don’t have an agent and want to sell to a major publisher, you need an agent. Big publishing houses only accept proposals and manuscripts submitted by an agent. However, if your aim is to submit to smaller publishers, most will accept direct submissions. You have to decide which way you want to go.
You’ve made your decision. You’ve written your proposal. Now what? Send it out, right? No. Once you have your proposal, you write a query letter and send it to an agent or publisher. A query letter explains your book in a few short paragraphs. I’ll writing more about this in another blog.
Okay. You’ve written a fantastic query letter. Send it to several agents/publishers at once (4 or 5 is a good number). It might take awhile to get a response. You might hit the jackpot right away, but don’t expect it. Expect to wait. Have a list of agents/publishers ready, and when you get a rejection, send out another query letter. A word on rejection letters, almost everyone gets them, even famous authors receives them. Rejections are the rule rather than the exception. Be tenacious, keep sending out your query, but be wise. If you are only getting rejections, you may want to revisit your query letter and revise it.
Q: If you are thinking, “Well, why don’t I write the query letter first and then write the proposal?”
Good question.
A: Because when an agent or editor asks to see your proposal, you want to send it immediately. As a matter of fact, have your proposal ready to send. Some agents and editors ask that query letters be sent via email. So, it’s possible to get an email response in hours or days. You want to be ready. A word of caution, it’s more likely that you’ll play a waiting game for weeks or even months. So, while you wait, write something else.
I’ll continue this in the next blog. I’m getting back to my proposal.
First, most non-fiction is sold from a proposal. An exception would be a memoir, which, like fiction, should be completed before you try to sell it. Of course, there are always exceptions to the exception. If you are a famous person or someone who is “hot” news, you could possibly sell a memoir with a proposal. For the rest of us ordinary folks, we have to write the memoir first.
Leaving memoir and returning to non-fiction, the good news is that you can sell your non-fiction book with a proposal, which is much shorter. This saves tons of time and energy.
If you didn't know this and have a completed manuscript, great. The hardest part of your writing is done. But . . . you still have to write a proposal.
Proposals are submitted to agents and to publishers. If you don’t have an agent and want to sell to a major publisher, you need an agent. Big publishing houses only accept proposals and manuscripts submitted by an agent. However, if your aim is to submit to smaller publishers, most will accept direct submissions. You have to decide which way you want to go.
You’ve made your decision. You’ve written your proposal. Now what? Send it out, right? No. Once you have your proposal, you write a query letter and send it to an agent or publisher. A query letter explains your book in a few short paragraphs. I’ll writing more about this in another blog.
Okay. You’ve written a fantastic query letter. Send it to several agents/publishers at once (4 or 5 is a good number). It might take awhile to get a response. You might hit the jackpot right away, but don’t expect it. Expect to wait. Have a list of agents/publishers ready, and when you get a rejection, send out another query letter. A word on rejection letters, almost everyone gets them, even famous authors receives them. Rejections are the rule rather than the exception. Be tenacious, keep sending out your query, but be wise. If you are only getting rejections, you may want to revisit your query letter and revise it.
Q: If you are thinking, “Well, why don’t I write the query letter first and then write the proposal?”
Good question.
A: Because when an agent or editor asks to see your proposal, you want to send it immediately. As a matter of fact, have your proposal ready to send. Some agents and editors ask that query letters be sent via email. So, it’s possible to get an email response in hours or days. You want to be ready. A word of caution, it’s more likely that you’ll play a waiting game for weeks or even months. So, while you wait, write something else.
I’ll continue this in the next blog. I’m getting back to my proposal.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Critique Groups
I was talking with a friend yesterday. I first met her in the writers critique group I attend. Our conversation turned from business to her writing to my novel to the group.
That conversation got me thinking about critique groups. Do I recommend attending a group? Well, it depends on your needs, but to generalize, I'd say yes.
Here are some benefits:
1. You meet other writers, who want to talk about writing.
2. You develop friends and create a community.
3. You get a response to your writing. Feedback! When I taught writing, I always had my students break into "workshop groups" to get and receive feedback. I did this as a pedagogical strategy. If you are open to listening to how a reader responds to your words and willing to rethink your writing, this is a great way to get feedback.
4. You put your writing out there for others to read and hear.
5. It helps you produce. People are waiting to hear or read the next chapter or short story or article. They ask you about your work. You feel compelled to write, something, anything!
Speaking of work, I'm getting back to my chapter. More on this later.
That conversation got me thinking about critique groups. Do I recommend attending a group? Well, it depends on your needs, but to generalize, I'd say yes.
Here are some benefits:
1. You meet other writers, who want to talk about writing.
2. You develop friends and create a community.
3. You get a response to your writing. Feedback! When I taught writing, I always had my students break into "workshop groups" to get and receive feedback. I did this as a pedagogical strategy. If you are open to listening to how a reader responds to your words and willing to rethink your writing, this is a great way to get feedback.
4. You put your writing out there for others to read and hear.
5. It helps you produce. People are waiting to hear or read the next chapter or short story or article. They ask you about your work. You feel compelled to write, something, anything!
Speaking of work, I'm getting back to my chapter. More on this later.
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