William Styron declined to call himself an author, though he published many books. He said he didn't think in terms of having a career...he said "I have a typewriter." Styron was engaged in the process of writing without having to identify himself with the product of the process itself. The writing process was what was important for Styron.

 

Neil Simon just recently was given the "Mark Twain" award and recognition at the Kennedy Center for his many contributions through the writing of plays, screenplays and fiction. Clearly what interests Simon is the human situation and condition rather than his own identification as an author. Simon is interested and engaged in witnessing and exploring his fellow humans through the process of writing.

 

Writing cannot be a goal in and of itself. The practice of writing can be a goal. But one must harness one's interest in the writing process and allow it to lead one toward the issues and ideas as well as the conditions which emerge and engage one through it. Writing is most significantly a process, not a product.

 

Keep writing.

Natalie Goldberg's well-known books encourage writers to grapple with the challenges faced by those who want to write. As a Buddhist practitioner Goldberg is one who strives to demonstrate her practice through writing about the writing process itself. Her Writing Down the Bones and Thunder and Lightening challenge and encourage would-be writers to take the process and writing practice seriously.

 

Writing challenges one to face issues and ideas or concerns we may generally neglect or "shy away" from too easily...through the writing process,  uncomfortable feelings and forces may come forward to address us when we write, particularly when we write fiction and/or poetry. We sometimes do not know "where we are" with regard to certain feelings and issues untill and unless we begin to write about them.  Writing at this deep level holds up a mirror to our neglected truths and realities if we genuinely have to courage to look into that mirror and work through them regardless of the surprises, shocks or confrontations they present.

 

Writing works on one at as deep a level to which we are willing or not willing to go. Writing dares you to look deeper into a situation, or a person, a character or a reality you otherwise may successfully avoid...writing creates danger and possibility and risk and we avoid writing at the peril of our own growth and development as well as our own self-understanding and knowledge. The courage to write...do you have it?

 

Keep writing.

Just as a visual artist carries a sketch pad with her at all times, a writer must carry a notepad to record senses, observations, comments and conversations she doesn't want to forget or lose. Make notes to capture and remind youself of the feelings and sensations you experience when you are traveling as well as just noticing moments during your day. You can go back to these and fill out the details at some future time, just as the visual artist returns to her sketch pad for the development of future work and exploration. All art is exploration and you set your own limitations and possibilities based on your attentiveness and awareness to the details you remember and cherish. If you don't cherish something, you won't feel the need or desire to retain much. Cherish your awareness and attentiveness and let them record their observations and concerns. They will feed your writing and creative engagements in the days to come.

 

Keep writing.

Etymology traces the history of meaning in words and demonstrates the fluidity of our language. Discovering the history and source of a word's origins reveals the culture and context in which they were created and utilized. New words are being generated daily, and every year our dictionaries add and/or delete words, based on their use and place in the contemporary lexicon. Notice the words you hear in conversations and on the internet as well as the prevalence with which they are used. Words are lenses through which we can see and appreciate the past and present, and they are the tools with which we work the soil of the present reality. Work with words and let their stories work their ways into you. You'll be the richer and wiser for it.

 

Keep writing.

Familiarize yourself with Japanese haiku, which communicates so much feeling and essence with such an economy of words. Haiku invites you to experience and participate at levels beyond those of logical thought. The simplicity and beauty of haiku, whether you are reading or working on writing it, reveals a complexity and depth of existence discursive writing may often only begin to hint at.

 

Today we received this haiku, so appropriate for the coming winter months.

 

 

 

"Winter has arrived,

 

Shit! Its cold."

 

 

 

Keep writing!

How many conferences or workshops have you attended this year? Getting in touch with other writers, editors, or publishing professionals can give you a better sense of your own goals, directions and market niches. At a national or international conference you can see major developments in the industry and acquaint yourself with the newest developing resources and ideas shaping the landscape. Of course a portion of your expense for these meetings and your travel and accommodations should be at least partially deductible on your income taxes. The government is thereby actually encouraging you to develop your professional connections and resources. How can you turn that down? Check out the many possibilities and select several that will give you the best return on your investment of time and money. Sign up and go! You owe it to yourself.

 

Keep writing.

When writing a book, you may feel the need to do as much research as possible in order to gain the best insight into and understanding of your topic. Of course researching and familiarizing yourself with the details of your subject is important, but you also can stall your project by trying to get more information than you actually need in order to move ahead with your writing. There really is such a thing as "too much information." Many books have not been completed because of it.

 

You have to draw a boundary when you run the risk of doing more research than is actually necessary. How do you know how much is necessary? Are you using research as a way to avoid your writing? Ask youself some challenging questions about that.

 

Begin your writing. As you come upon areas and issues that invite reconsideration of your understanding, stop and do some additional research at that point. Don't get bogged down in too much information before you really need it.

 

Keep writing!

Build a practice of asking questions. Explore the processes and realities of others as well as your own interests and insights. Keeping a journal or log of the questions you have asked yourself or/and others during a day gives you a resource and perhaps provides impetus for future projects which interest and intrigue you and invite further investigation. Once you have a good collection of questions built up, you can come back at a later time and sift through your earlier questions and responses and use that as a "jumping off" point for more detailed study. Be an inquiring mind. Ask questions. What do you want to know?

 

Keep writing. 

Gaining a new perspective and approach to writing can be heightened by reading in a different language. Language mirrors and contains the colors, shades, sounds and sights of a culture, and presents a peoples' history and landscape in every paragraph. You don't have to travel abroad to experience a new way of looking at things,however, and you don't necessarily even have to study or learn a new language, though it does enrich one's understanding and appreciation of a different culture to do so. Reading authors and books from cultures and countries beyond one's own is an easy and engaging way to expand one's awareness and imagination. Select a country. Find three or four authors from it and read their writings. Study abroad.

 

Keep writing.

Writing commentary on recent events or "your take" on current events can be an insightful way to remember and gain your own understanding of situations. You can ,in the process, work out your own appreciation for and recall some passing circumstances which then become your "reporter's notebook" for future and more developed writing and research. Just by just keeping a "running commentary" on what is "going on" you engage yourself in the process of thinking about and practicing your writing.

 

Keep writing!

Really, there is no excuse for not starting a blog and enjoying the experience of reading them. Look into the world of blogs and discover the richness and wealth of information you can now find through them. The electronic medium and environment have enriched and liberated many imaginations by putting more control and freedom into the hands of the everyday person. You may find some of no or little interest, but you may also be enlightened and amazed at others in terms of their professionalism and high quality. Read as many as you can to expand your awareness of the new environment for writing. Check out this site as a beginning: www.blogger.com.

 

Keep writing.

Read your book's contract. Your editor entered a number of estimated pages for your projected and completed manuscript in your contract. Should your manuscript exceed this length by 5 to l0% you should really contact your editor and ask how "firm" that length is. Sometimes you can negotiate a greater length. Sometimes you cannot.

 

Publishers make plans for their production expense and marketing/sales costs as they anticipate forthcoming books. Much of these projections are  based on contracted delivery dates and manuscript lengths. So also note your  manuscript delivery or submission date as well as the contracted length.  The manuscript  which arrives beyond its  contracted length and delivery date could cause your publisher to seriously  reconsider its interest (and investment) in your writing and work.

 

Keep writing.

The national publication for librarians is Library Journal, which is available at your local library's reference desk for the asking. Publishers hope to have their books reviewed positively in Library Journal. A positive review of a book in LJ draws the book to the attention of acquisitions librarians who, seeing the review, will be more likely to order copies for their own library's collection.

 

Library Journal provides updates on national, state and local issues of interest to librarians and their supporters. Keeping up to date on what those concerns are gives you a better understanding of the market and audience for your work ,as well as the particular libraries which specialize in your type of writing and research.

 

Library Jobbers call on acquisitions librarians and present/represent the titles of a number of publishers for whom they work. Services to librarians are increasingly managed through software programs and specialized services which know and understand a library's special interests and list and can target specific titles to them as soon as they are available.

 

Read up on the library market and industry. Target your writing and work to the most appropriate segment of the profession. Library Journal is a good place to start. And support your local library!

 

Keep writing!

The major booksellers now carry a collection of blank books in all kinds of cover designs, fabrics, shapes and sizes. You can spend a good deal of money on blank books at Barnes and Noble as well as Borders, if you want a lovely place to collect your notes, thoughts, and ideas.

 

One section of the stores' blank books collections includes travel diaries, or travel journals, generally distinguished by colorful pictures and scenes from exotic places on their covers. There are sections in these "books" for such things as: what I saw, where I stayed, and what I ate.

 

How do you organize and preserve your writing and your observations? What process best supports the way you work? Legal pads, spiral bound notebooks, post-it notes, hard drives, disks, CDs, and diaries--all provide the blank screens on which to process your thoughts, feelings, emotions, observations, frustrations, and, mostly, your visions and possibilities. The process is as individual as the journey itself.

 

Your writing itself is your travel diary. Your observations and awareness, as well as your insight and imagination, are your passport. Your commitment is your itinerary. You may or may not need the prepackaged, celophane-wrapped, imported Italian leather bound book to get you on the way.

 

Keep writing. Bon voyage.

 

 

 

 

Harmon and Montagnes  have written a classic book and guide on converting a dissertation to a book. It is entitled THE THESIS AND THE BOOK and it is published by the University of Toronto Press. In their book the authors delineate the differences between a thesis and a book, and give solid guidance on how to move a research work intended for an academic audience and committee to a broader market and audience.

 

Often researchers completing their Ph.D. and other advanced degrees begin to think about publishing their thesis without giving consideration to the great number of differences between an academic research work and a book to be marketed to a more general audience. The University of Toronto Press book is an excellent guide for coming to recognize and understand the revisions that generally must take place before a trade or commercial press can express interest in it.

 

The primary goal of a dissertation should be to make an important contribution to the literature of one's academic field. The rigorous controls on the process typically require that a number of discipline-specific and committee recommendations be integrated into the manuscript in order for it to gain approval from the committee. Once that approval has been gained, the researcher can consider and decide if her or his research can and should find broader exposure through journal or book publication.

 

A thesis may, often through extensive revision, become a book, but if it remains a thesis and if it has been approved by an academic committee, the author has accomplished his or her goal by making a contribution to the literature of the field.

 

Keep researching.

Keep writing.

You may have read all the books on writing or publishing, and you may believe you have gained as much information and knowledge as you can, but you can never gain enough insight by reading the writing of others, and your reading is never a waste of time. By reading in the genre in which you are writing you learn from published authors--you come to learn from their style, their tone and shades or color of character development, their voices, their undercurrents, their mind and its complexities.

 

Writing is about complexities, whether you are writing novels or scholarly research and seminal works. Writing is about seeing and understanding more completely "what is going on" whether in a character, a plot, or an ethnographic analysis of classroom communication. Reading in your area of interest leads you into complexities of situations or phenomena in order to provide some insight and understanding into them.

 

Read regularly and a number of kinds of writing. Explore the author's complexities. Life is complex and difficult to understand. The mind is complex. Good writing is complex and enlightens/engages us in the journey toward better comprehension of whatever provokes, challenges, or interests us.

 

Keep writing.  Keep reading as well.

What do you do when you've gotten no response from a publisher and for a submission? You should always make sure your submissions include SASE's or postcards for acknowledgement of receipt by the publisher, but how long should you wait expecting/hoping to hear back from a publisher? Is it appropriate to call an editor or should you write or email asking about the status of your submission and its review?

 

If you don't follow up after what seems to be a reasonable amount of time you may not,for example, discover the proposal, manuscript or query letter never arrived, or that it got lost in the shuffle on a busy editor's desk. (One publisher we know began nearly every letter he wrote with the phrase: "Your manuscript has just surfaced on my messy desk..." ) While you should not call or write more than once or twice, it is adviseable and acceptable to contact the publisher asking for a status report on it. You have that right and obligation to yourself and to your work, in fact.

 

Being respectful of a publisher's or editor's time is thoughtful, but it may have never been seen or reviewed if it has never been acknowledged. You have the right and the responsibility to take your work as seriously as you take the editor's work. Give them a call or send a note asking for a status report if you've had no acknowledgement or response in about a month's time.

 

Keep writing.

 

 

The first question an editor often asks about a manuscript is , "Is it worth doing?" the second question is often, "Is it done well?" Those two questions provide a solid foundation and beginning from which to decide whether further time and energy are warranted in evaluating a project. Often an editor can tell within a very brief amount of time whether the manuscript or proposal is worth doing or/and done well. The volume of work an editor experiences hones the editor's ability to decipher the initial worth and merit of the subject/topic and the writing itself.

 

Style and substance are both critical factors in manuscript review and consideration. If you can provide some context and/or argument for why your manuscript has substantial merit you may also persuade an editor to spend more time and energy on it. Your approach and style have to be appealing and engaging in order for that to happen. Your presentation of yourself and your material make all the difference in opening that possibility.

 

Style and substance. Is it worth doing? Is it done well?

 

Keep writing.

 

 

In order to write you must care about something deeply enough to commit yourself to your concern or interest in it. If you care about an issue or subject/topic, you take the time to invest your time and thought in it, and you organize your project and your efforts in order to shape and present it in the most effective way. You must believe that what you are writing about is important and has enough value to take a stand or unearth the facts or demonstrate its importance for others to consider; to invite a reader to explore other possibilities and perspectives. You cannot wait for someone else to validate or encourage you in this, though many unfortunately do. The greatest resource you have for your writing must come from within you...from you concern..your passion. Your passion invites expression. Your writing reveals it. It may seem only a small spark, but that small spark from within your writing could light a lamp or even an entire room for a reader's own passion. Turn it on. Write your passion.

 

Keep writing.

 

 

How many stories have you heard about the writer who has for years received nothing but rejection notices for his or her submissions? Perhaps you know someone like this, or this person may be a friend who just keeps going on writing in spite of what might seem to be obvious discouragement. They may seem oblivious to external feedback. It is the love of writing and creating which fuels their imagination; their passion and their work, apparently. The external judgement of the merits of their work does not dampen their enthusiasm for the process. The passion keeps them going.

 

After years in academia more than one or even a hundred academicians turn from scholarly research to writing fiction or autobiography. The imagination and experience as well as passion want to have their say, and more than left brain analysis becomes necessary for these writers after years of research papers,reports and conferences. They have perservered (perhaps "succeeded") in making their scholarly contribution; their seminal work. That accomplished, the rest of the story wants to be told.

 

A history professor and founder of the field of women's history, Gerda Lerner, capped off her writing career with "the rest of the story" of her life, including a more comprehensive description of her life. Many were surprised and enriched by this personal detailing beyond her scholarly writings. Loren Eiseley's poetic turn of the language had to express beyond the scholarly and accepted analytic.  and scientific vernacular.

 

Perserverance brought these writers; these scholars through their chosen fields of research and with some measure of completion they opened to the possibility of and need for writing in a different way and about more personally engaging insights and experiences. The "objective" became the "personal."

 

Perserverance may get the manuscript accepted.

 

It may also prepare the writer to move in an entirely different direction.

 

Keep writing.