Posted by Mark Shaw on February 24, 2009
Hello hemingwaywantabes. Hope your writings are flourishing and that you have hope for the future. Good books, especially inspirational ones, are needed right now. So write away and your book can be a bedside miracle for those in need.
To aid your cause, I have suggested subscribing to Publisherslunch.com several times. Not only do you learn about every publishing deal every day including the name of the book, the author, the agent, and the editor at the publishing company who bought the book, but you pick up valuable information about taglines, etc.
Now PL has more in store for the budding author – a new listing of Publishers and Imprints. When you subscribe, there is not only an icon cluing you in to the names of hundreds of agents and editors, but a list of all of the major publishers and their imprints. Good stuff – since you can then navigate to the right publisher for your book, hook up with the right agent, and presto, publicationland. So take a look. The cost is reasonable and the information very helpful.
Posted in Hemingway and Publishers Lunch listings | Tagged: Agents, Books, Ernest Hemingway, Fiction, Hemingway, Literary Agents, Non-Fiction, Publishers, Publishers Lunch, Writing | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Mark Shaw on February 16, 2009
If you have not read Bird by Bird by author Anne Lamott, do so immediately. Ernest Hemingway obviously never knew her, but I am certain he would agree with what she has to say about the writing process. And he would share her enthusiasm for books:
“Because, for some of us, books are as important as almost anything else on earth. What a miracle it is that out of these flat, rigid squares of paper unfolds world and world, worlds that sing to you, comfort and quiet or excite you. Books help us understand who we are how we are to behave. They show us what community and friendship mean; they show us how to live and die. They are full of all the things that you don’t get in real life – wonderful, lyrical language, for instance, right off the bat. And quality of attention: we may notice amazing details during the course of a day but we rarely let ourselves stop and really pay attention. An author makes you notice, makes you pay attention, and this is a great gift.”
Amen!!!
Posted in Hemingway and Anne Lamott | Tagged: Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird, Books, Ernest Hemingway, Fiction, Hemingway, Lamott, Literary Agents, Mark Shaw, Non-Fiction, Plan B, Poets, Publishers, Words, Writers | Leave a Comment »
Posted by Mark Shaw on February 9, 2009
Hello hemingwaywantabes and good day to you. Hope all is well.
Recently, I began a journey toward understanding many of the great writers in history by reading several biographies. First up was Hemingway himself, then Norman Mailer, then Jack Kerouac. Currently, the choice is Albert Camus with F. Scott Fitzgerald and James Joyce on deck. All this while I am completing a new biography of the gifted wordsmith Thomas Merton for publication by Palgrave MacMillan in November.
If there is one common denominator to each of the books read thus far, it is that rejection is never limited to aspiring authors and poets. Indeed, all the famous writers experienced this hurtful emotion more than once in their lives. Just imagine – one of the great literary works of all time, Kerouac’s On the Road, was passed over many times by some of the most celebrated New York publishing editors of all time including Robert Giroux who discovered Merton. Each time Kerouac suffered since each time, an editor found something he didn’t like about the writing, or the story, or the sales potential for the book.
The lesson to be learned here, I am sure you realize, is to never give up trying by turning rejection into inspiration. Continue to listen to feedback or criticism, but stay the course realizing it only takes one editor, one publisher to say, “yes.”
Keep the faith, my writing friends. Never, ever, give up your dreams.
Posted in Hemingway and Rejection Part II | Tagged: Albert Camus, Books, Bookstores, Camus, Editors, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Fiction, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Henry Miller, Jack Kerouac, James Joyce, Joyce, Kerouac, Literary Agents, Mailer, Merton, Non-Fiction, Norman Mailer, On the Road, Publishers, Publishing, Thomas Merton | Leave a Comment »
