Archive for January, 2009
Her Morning Elegance
Jan 30
Chris Brogan has a great post on how to use the power of Google and Google Reader to find out either who is talking about you, or who is talking about your competition.
And Prezza is offering a Snow Emergency glass of wine with every half order of homemade bolognese.
Help Grub Street win $25,000
Jan 28
Hi Grubbies!
Virgin America Airlines is awarding $25,000 to the Boston non-profit that receives the most votes. Help us win–it’s really easy! All you need to do is:
1. Click on revolutiontakesflight.com
2. Click on the “Non-Profit Causes” Tab
3. Click on the tab that says “recent” and scroll down to find Grub Street. Click on the “Vote” icon to the left of our name.
4. You’ll be asked to create a username and log in – you can be sure your vote counted if the white “Vote” plane turns into a pink “Voted” plane.
5. Forward this email to a friend so we can get as many votes as possible!
Thank you so much for your help!
The friendly Grub staff,
Chris, Sonya and the Whitneys (Scharer and Ochoa)
Help Grub Street win $25,000
Jan 28
Hi Grubbies!
Virgin America Airlines is awarding $25,000 to the Boston non-profit that receives the most votes. Help us win–it’s really easy! All you need to do is:
1. Click on revolutiontakesflight.com
2. Click on the “Non-Profit Causes” Tab
3. Click on the tab that says “recent” and scroll down to find Grub Street. Click on the “Vote” icon to the left of our name.
4. You’ll be asked to create a username and log in – you can be sure your vote counted if the white “Vote” plane turns into a pink “Voted” plane.
5. Forward this email to a friend so we can get as many votes as possible!
Thank you so much for your help!
The friendly Grub staff,
Chris, Sonya and the Whitneys (Scharer and Ochoa)
Pistol Youth – In My Eyes
Jan 23
Pistol Youth – In My Eyes from Pistol Youth on Vimeo.
Best inauguration quote yet
Jan 21
From the brilliant mind of Rudy Rucker:
Cheney in his wheelchair, unmasked as an evil, fraudulent insect from the subdimensions.
Off to work
Jan 21
Some more writing
Jan 19
Didn’t write at all this weekend. Meh, had a great time anyway. I won’t belabour the snow in Boston, you’ve all read about it by now.
Quickies:
- People think I actually update Facebook by logging into the site and updating. I don’t. I use Twitter.
- Great writing quote: William Faulkner from Quotes of the Day “The artist doesn’t have time to listen to the critics. The ones who want to be writers read the reviews, the ones who want to write don’t have the time to read reviews.”
- Joss’ Writing Tips make me smile
A Newbies Guide to Publishing: How To Get Published.
1. Write When You Can – Find the time to write, even if you have to give up other things to do so. And know who your audience is, and as much about that audience as possible, before you write your first word.
2. Finish What You Start – Turn off your internal editor until you finish that first draft, and get to the ending no matter how much you think it sucks.
3. Edit What You Finish – Rewrite, add, cut, and polish. Then give it to others to read, consider their suggestions, and keep repeating the process until you’ve got something your peers, and you, consider decent.
Here’s a critique sheet to help you out. http://www.jakonrath.com/critsheet.pdf.
4. Submit What You Edit – Since you know your audience, you should know who reps/publishes your type of story. And don’t get hung up on writing the perfect query letter. The writing sells the writing, not the query letter. All a query needs is a two sentence description of the book (mention setting, genre, and a bestselling similar work by another author), some praise for the recipient, and a thank you.
5. Repeat
That’s all. Now stop sweating the process and go do it.
Great idea… now I’m going to procrastinate for a while…
