A Writer's Edge

Find Writing Sources

noreply@blogger.com (Georganna Hancock M.S.) — Fri, 09 May 2008 15:50:00 +0000

Beginning freelancers are often stumped about how to find people to interview for an article. I just learned about a (new?) free resource operated by Peter Shankman "If I Can Help a Reporter Out". You don't have to be a reporter to use it. Several times a day, Shankman emails batches of queries to people who have signed up as sources. Often these are publicists and public relations reps, seeking placements for clients (experts for you to interview).

On the other hand, if you are an expert at something/anything or have a cause to promote and are willing to be interviewed, you can sign up as a Source.

And I don't see why you couldn't play both sides of the street at the same time. Say you want to promote one published book or product while writing a different topic, or you need fresh interviews for a sequel. Sign up for both of Shankman's services, and make the man doubly happy.

Finding Your Writing Online

noreply@blogger.com (Georganna Hancock M.S.) — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:45:00 +0000

Use search engines to scour the Internet for plagiarism of your works, mentions of your name, blog and website and every variation of those elements. I know I've written about this practice before. However, if you do it regularly, every so often a surprise will pop up. This is because new material, like databases, come online and eventually register in search engines' indexes. The engines themselves are always changing, sometimes improving; and they begin to catch older references that had escaped notice in the past. Only a fraction of the Internet is "visible" at any given time.

Search engines also make specialized searches available. These find material that you may have not seen. The results can be slightly jarring. At least, one was for me. Crank up the Wayback Machine, Sherman: someone ran a Yahoo search for this site's domain name, linked to any educational or governmental sites. I found the resulting page in a Google Alert. The Yahoo search string looks something like this: "linkdomain:writers-edge.info AND (site:.edu OR site:.gov)". Feeds That Matter for Writing was familiar, but one from Eastern Illinois University took me by surprise.

Apparently a graduate student in an English program had researched women writing on the web. She gave mini-reviews of several women's blogs, including A Writer's Edge. I'm not certain whether to be amused or aghast at the assertion that I have "a bit dorky sense of humor". It is good, however, to discover other people's reactions to your writing, even if two years late. Shakirova's description of the blog as "a compilation of mostly reviews of the new books the author read and offering the list of websites on poetry and writing" displays where the blog has evolved from. I hope the visual description is still accurate:

The imagery and colors are appropriately arranged and make the site easy to navigate. The site, although more educational than entertaining, is targeted toward certain audience interested in books and writing.

Writing Contest That's Legit

noreply@blogger.com (Georganna Hancock M.S.) — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:24:00 +0000

For the third year, The Writing Show is holding a contest for first chapters of novels. See all the information about this year's version, prizes and rules as well as the results for 2006 and 2007. I was a judge during the launch year, and I know the website owner. This one is not a scam, and it has a low entry fee.

First Prize

* $1000
* An interview on The Writing Show
* Chapter posted on The Writing Show Web site

Second Prize

* $400
* Chapter posted on The Writing Show Web site.

Third Prize

* $300
* Chapter posted on The Writing Show Web site.

Fourth Prize

* $200
* Chapter posted on The Writing Show Web site.

Fifth Prize

* $100
* Chapter posted on The Writing Show Web site.

Plus, for 10 lucky winners, chosen at random

* 750 words of feedback

The early deadline is May 20, final deadline, June 20. Please read all the rules carefully, and if you have any questions still unanswered, only then do I recommend emailing them to "Paula at writingshow.com". Most often people ask, "If they post my chapter on their website, does that count as published?" and "Do they take the rights?" Ask Paula, but here's my take: of course you must grant the right for the entry to be published on the website. Technically that one chapter is published, but only if it is a contest winner (a plus in the eyes of an agent or traditional publisher). In the final count, whether or not it counts as "previously published" is determined by the purchaser of your manuscript.

Breakout on Writer's Block

noreply@blogger.com (Georganna Hancock M.S.) — Tue, 06 May 2008 16:14:00 +0000

The first time I saw the term "breakout sessions" in a conference schedule, I wondered what acne had to do with it, but "breakout" is also associated with imprisonment. Indeed, the first definition listed in the American Heritage Dictionary is "A forceful emergence from a restrictive condition or situation."

Part of that sounds like a good description of a Writer's Block. Remember, WB is only a temporary interruption in creativity, like dammed-up water. Behind the dam is a deep, deep pool of ideas and actions, just waiting to break out. That's what I'm advocating here, "a forceful emergence" from the thinking, routine, slants, topics, maybe even "the rules" you think govern your writing (and your life).

Let's "shake things up" as the FBI agent on Bones urges his forensic team. Do something different, or differently, if that applies. Make it a radical change. Investigate subjects, ways of thinking, physical activities that you've never tried in the past.

For example: until this decade, I knew little about Islam or an existence in which religion is the law of the land. I've learned about a strikingly different way of life through intellectual exploration and friendships with Muslim women. My thinking has changed, several times, about many topics as a result of this new interest. I've read, watched programs, attended art exhibits and talked or emailed with resource people (a.k.a. my new friends).

Bring fresh new activities, topics, and thinking into your life and feel the creativity break out from a Writer's Block.

Freelance Writing Markets

noreply@blogger.com (Georganna Hancock M.S.) — Mon, 05 May 2008 15:00:00 +0000

Websites with databases (some require a subscription, some are free to use) for nonfiction freelance writers to find markets for their works:

http://www.writersweekly.com/markets_and_jobs.php
http://www.worldwidefreelance.com/markets.htm
http://www.writingfordollars.com/GuidelinesDB.cfm
http://www.writerswrite.com/writersguidelines/
http://www.freelancewriting.com/guidelines/pages/
http://www.absolutewrite.com/Markets.htm
http://www.woodenhorsepub.com/
http://www.50states.com/news/
http://www.writersmarket.com
http://www.firstwriter.com
http://www.fundsforwriters.com
http://www.woodenhorsepub.com
http://www.freelancewriting.com/freelancejobs/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freelancewritingjobs/

And be quick now, subscribe to the free Worldwide Freelance Writer newletter, and editor Gary McLaren will send you a free report listing 25 markets that pay "up to or around 20 cents per word."

Granta Online for new Writing

noreply@blogger.com (Georganna Hancock M.S.) — Sun, 04 May 2008 14:43:00 +0000

Remember when I wrote about the 100th anniversary issue of a unique magazine, Granta? I so enjoyed the contents of my complimentary copy, that I am happy to let you know the bookish magazine has reconstructed its website.

One of the best features of the new site is that every two weeks it will publish a new short story in the "New Voices' section. Many of the writers will not have agents, and some will have never been previously published. Please note that Granta does not accept unsolicited submissions via email.

How Cats Spell

noreply@blogger.com (Georganna Hancock M.S.) — Sat, 03 May 2008 15:06:00 +0000

see more crazy cat pics

Writing Blog Topics

noreply@blogger.com (Georganna Hancock M.S.) — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:11:00 +0000

Bloggers always want to know how to attract readers (just like people who write books). Should I blog about a popular topic, throwing my two cents into the mix; or should I blog about something new and different or provide scarce information? Some social scientists over at the HP Labs performed just this sort of research analysis with the following startling result:

"the relative performance of the first two benchmark strategies as a function of the rate of novelty decay switches so sharply around some critical value that it resembles phase transitions observed in the real world.

Given the importance of maximizing page views for most content providers, this work suggests a principled way of choosing what to prioritize when designing dynamic websites. Knowledge of the rates with which novelty and popularity evolve within the website can then be translated into decisions as to what to show first, second, etc."

Now, if only we just knew what the "rate of novelty decay" was ... is it something like the half-life of nuclear particles or atoms approaching a critical mass?

Lacking the proper calipers and thermocouplers to measure the novelty decay rate here, I'll opt for answering the initial question with a resounding Yes! It all depends on the focus of your blog, and it may be inversely proportional to the size of your ego.

Editing Online, on Paper

noreply@blogger.com (Georganna Hancock M.S.) — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:16:00 +0000

The advent of digital publishing both helps and hinders our editing processes. The automation of individual actions like checking the spelling, grammar, and some stylistic issues speeds it up. Relying on editing on the screen, however, can lead to missing more errors, simply because reading from the monitor is more difficult and tiring. Another limitation is the inability to place pages side-by-side to check for consistency.

A new disadvantage digital publishing brings is the reduction in the number of different eyes that look over texts on their way to production. Where seven or eight different types of editors, proofreaders, fact-checkers and other word workers used to read copy, the number may be down to only three or four. For online publishing and self-publishing, sadly, the number may be only one. In that case, being Number One is not good, especially if that one is also the writer.

The closer it is to the production date when mistakes are found in any length manuscript, the less likely it is that they will be corrected. In the rush to publish, we are sacrificing accuracy and quality for speed and availability. It is difficult to believe James Frey's memoir was fact-checked very well.

My advice when it comes to editing your own work is: don't. Find someone else (who knows all the elements of editing, like an English teacher) to read over your work. If you must DIY, please print out anything over, say, nine pages. Editing on paper is much less tiring, more interruptible, and provides opportunities for several passes. Yes, it takes longer to transfer the corrections to the digital copy, but imagine dealing with typewriters and carbon paper for error correction. Time is stretchy in our minds.

Reviews --> Library Book Purchases

noreply@blogger.com (Georganna Hancock M.S.) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:43:00 +0000

Last night I heard Linda Griffin, Fiction Collection Librarian for the San Diego Public Library explain how to coax libraries to buy your novel. Imagine this: it all comes down to getting the book publicly reviewed. But wait! Before you groan over a negative customer review on Amazon--they don't count. A negative review anywhere isn't so bad, either, Griffin said. "We love controversial books."

But wait some more! Before you get all happy faced about the negative reviews your book received from your local publication, ForeWord Magazine, or even The Midwest Book Review, consider this next nugget of information Griffen dropped on us: 95% of ALL books orders by libraries are based on reviews in only five publications.

Novelists must aim for reviews in:

Booklist - The American Library Association
Library Journal - Reed Business Information
Publisher's Weekly - Reed Business Information
Kirkus Reviews - Kirkus Reviews
The New York Times Book Review - New York Times Company

Griffen also repeated much of the bad news for writers that's been reported here (increasing competition, dwindling newspaper reviews, impossibility of even considering all books published, refusals to review/stock self-published books). I won't repeat it, having received a bad review myself for accurately repeating the same information offerred publicly by a former local paper's book review editor.

Literary Terminology for Writers

noreply@blogger.com (Georganna Hancock M.S.) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:36:00 +0000

Don't know an ARC from a vet? They do seem related, right? Animals and all. Not in the definitions used by toilers in the literary field. Buried in the Slush Pile, a Texas lady editor self-described as "overworked, underpaid — Who could ask for anything more?", teamed up with Writer's Digest's Chuck Sambuchino to define some terms used by literary agents and editors. The editor's blog entries are here and here, Sambuchino's, here.

Keywords for Writing Websites

noreply@blogger.com (Georganna Hancock M.S.) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:54:00 +0000

Did you ever wonder how many search engines scan the Internet? The search engine optimization (SEO) company Trellian claims to gather data on 36 billion searches performed on 200 search engines worldwide. Scroll down the referenced web page to see a list. Impressive, huh? Only three really matter, though, when it comes to fiddling with keywords.

If you have a website to promote yourself and/or market your writing (and every writer and book needs one), you should be concerned about keywords. They are are the text that search engine users type into the little rectangle next to the Search button. Part of the secret to raising your site's rank in search engine returns is knowing what keywords are most pertinent to your site's content.

Most new visitors to websites arrive via keyword searches. Once your site is up and running, don't take much of a break from optimizing. Frequently test your old and new keywords with the three top search engines. In July 2007, these were Google, Yahoo and MSN, according to Search Engine Watch, comprising 87% of all searches performed.

Build English Vocabulary

noreply@blogger.com (Georganna Hancock M.S.) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 17:13:00 +0000

MSN's Encarta is bundled with my MS Word 2003 as the de facto dictionary. The Encarta website contains many useful articles and some funny quizzes. Don't try the President Bush's English Quiz, though. The links I tried went to an empty page. Oh, wait! Maybe that's the joke.

All kidding aside, I think "Ten Tips to Build English Vocabulary" is quite useful. Strategies to help memorize new words include:

choose words you're interested in
associate a color with each word
use the words in your imagination
write pieces using new words
relate a picture to a word

It sounds a lot like advice for learning people's names--the relationships and use. Repetition is a powerful learning device. When I was learning a larger vocabulary, I bored people silly using the new polysyllabic terminology (big words) in conversations until they were cemented in my mind. The words, not people.

Speaking of MS Word, a client sent me documents in the newer .docx format. I dutifully downloaded and installed the Microsoft converters for my software version. Then I opened the client files. It worked--not so good. The process is like gestating elephants, long and difficult, at least for the computer. The results warn of format and permissions changes. I could not extract photos, at least not easily, and separate them from the documents. It's either time for me to upgrade or remember to start asking for files to be converted to my preferred format. Let's see, who's the parent here? No, scratch that. Who is in charge? What would you do or expect?

Manuscripts Going Green?

noreply@blogger.com (Georganna Hancock M.S.) — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 17:43:00 +0000

In a Publishers Weekly (requires subscription) E-Book Report blog posting E Slush Piles on the Way? David Rothman posed:

"Wouldn't it be better, for editors' sanity, not just forests, if slush [and submissions] arrived via e-mail or Web forms-as electrons rather than as unwieldy collections of atoms? Imagine, moreover, all the postage writers could save. If nothing else, publishers could regularly do word searches and even use special algorithms to help identify potential winners-for example by word-use patterns. Houses could contract with security firms to provide decent virus screening. So let's not dismiss the idea of a massive shift to e-submissions."

I have news for Rothman, a San Diego "author", Philip Parker, has elevated electronically automated book writing to, well, an art? See a video on his process, if you dare.

Going green, taken to extremes.

Formats for Manuscripts

noreply@blogger.com (Georganna Hancock M.S.) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 15:43:00 +0000

We are in a transition period between working with paper and electronic files. Some publishers' editors and agents still want paper (and some want both), but most book manuscripts eventually go to a publisher via computers. "So what?" you may well ask. No aspect of manuscript formatting is more affected by the difference than the selection of the font to use.

Old style demanded a monospace typeface like Courier which looks like it is typewritten (see William Shunn's venerable advice, for example. Also Chuck Rotham). Others advocate something different. Amazing author Orson Scott Card writes:

But now that publishers are getting the final manuscript electronically, they can handle an ordinary proportional font. Times Roman is standard, but I use Bookman Old Style because the letters are so open and the text is warm and readable.

Don't get confused if you look at Card's web page, because it sports a sans serif font--looks like Arial to me--but that is a web page not a paper page, nor is it a manuscript. Well-known writer Moira Allen suggests:

The truth is, most editors really don't care, as long as the font is readable. (I can state this with confidence, having done a survey of about 500 editors; 90% expressed "no preference" with regard to font.) Very few editors will reject your manuscript because it happens to be in New Century Schoolbook, Palatino, or Times Roman.

If you look up these references, you'll also have all the directions (sometimes conflicting) that you need for all format issues. The point of all of them is to provide a document that is easy on the readers' eyes: margins control the line length and with double spacing and font size (12-point), the word count. All the rest is tradition and common sense to keep the pages tagged to the right author and in the correct order.

The hard part is to remember to do it, or to set up your word-processing program to do it automatically for you. And the title page is always different from all the rest. Simple?

Writer's Block of Fear

noreply@blogger.com (Georganna Hancock M.S.) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:57:00 +0000

In twelve step programs, participants learn several mantras about fear and courage. For example, courage is just fear that has said its prayers. Courage is being afraid and doing it anyway. My favorite reminds me of junior high school:

Fear is

F alse
E ducation
A ppearing
R eal

Why am I talking about courage and fear in relation to a Writer's Block? Because often the true source of a temporary disruption in creativity is knotted up with one or more fears.

Finding the worm within can take a slow course, such as writing down any dream you have (even a daymare) and analyzing it, but then you risk the paralysis of analysis. In other posts we've already explored the critical voices from childhood whose echoes haunt the chambers of our minds. Contemporary sources promoting veiled fears can include an unsupportive significant other, a too-critical critique group, still living relatives who doubt your potential for success, and friends whose attitudes promote a budding writer's self-doubt.

Of all these undermining attitudes, the one that matters most is your own. Even if you are unaware of the negative messages your psyche is sending your mind to generate fears about writing, YOU ARE STILL IN CONTROL. You can effectively counter the fears by two types of action. Just like the old song says, "Accentuate the positive. Eliminate the negative."

Learn to use a list of affirmations about the successful writing career you envision. Fill your outer life with people who give your spirit a boost, understand your goals, and offer support. Yes, you may have to drop out of the family for a while, get new replacement friends, find a different critique group, join a gym, go for counseling if necessary. Just do it!

Editing Marks on Manuscripts

noreply@blogger.com (Georganna Hancock M.S.) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:03:00 +0000

If you work with an editor who provides feedback on your paper manuscript, you may find some strange markings. Yes, you are expected to know what they mean. Usually called proofreading or proofreader's marks, while they may look like cute avatars, they have specific meanings about punctuation, spelling, placement and typography. For example, this: =^^= may indicate a cute kitty smile in a chat, but this: ^ could mean "insert here" or "make subscript", depending on the situation. You can see many proofreaders' marks and their meanings at this Chicago Manual of Style page.

Speaking of graphics in chats, make your marks tonight. Every Wednesday night, 8-11 pm EST, 5-8 pm Pacific Time, The Writer's Chatroom is open for a casual chat. Several editors, writers and readers drop in to talk about whatever topics strike their fancy. Sometimes even writing. Login by typing in you name, then click the "Login" button. No password needed, but Java is required on your computer.

Parents Reading for Children

noreply@blogger.com (Georganna Hancock M.S.) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 16:00:00 +0000

Notice the title is not "parents reading TO children" for a change. On "Today", First Lady Laura Bush and daughter Jenna discussed what the Bush parents did to encourage their children to read. Jenna mentioned that her parents read rather than watching TV. Then she advocated that all parents should read

for as much time as they want their children to read.

Not reading to children, adults reading for themselves. Children emulate their parents' actions. Veg out before the TV, your kids will grow into couch potatoes. Read books, and your progeny will read books. O.K., maybe comics at first, but later graphic novels.

Now, go do as Miss Haueisen, our high school librarian taught: sit up straight, under good lighting, hold a book at a 45-degree angle to your eyes and about 18 inches away, and read. Read.

Get Business Writing Jobs

noreply@blogger.com (Georganna Hancock M.S.) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:13:00 +0000

When the email arrived with the image and message below, I should have checked the calendar. It was March 31. Oblivious to the impending day for jokes, I read as serious:

LOS ANGELES - Apr. 1, 2008 - In an attempt to spark the economy through entrepreneurship and quell people's fears of unemployment, PerfectBusiness.com-a networking and resource Web site for entrepreneurs based in Los Angeles-is proposing an ordinance that will replace the numbers 9 and 5 with exclamation points.

Joking aside, I found the PerfectBusiness - The Entrepreneur Network Events page dovetailing nicely with some notions about how to use these gatherings to further a freelance business writing career. Look up all the events you can attend. Think of them as more than networking, as mass marketing opportunities for your writing/editing services. Here are some tips for success--suit up and show up with material that demonstrates your abilities:

samples or copies of clips
copies of your resume
an ample supply of business cards
specific practiced pitches
comfortable shoes
high energy

Many such gatherings publish maps and lists of participants in advance, so have targets selected and a strategy to maximize your time and energy. Go!

Fiction Writing Lessons

noreply@blogger.com (Georganna Hancock M.S.) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 14:32:00 +0000

Successful novelist David Morrell shares some of his latest book on writing at Backspace. In an excerpt from THE SUCCESSFUL NOVELIST: A LIFETIME OF LESSONS ABOUT WRITING & PUBLISHING, Morrell sets us depressingly straight about becoming rich and famous as authors. Then he lets us in on the key to becoming a successful writer, the answer to the burning question: Why do you want to writer? But this goes deeper than the apt response of "because I have to" or as I say it, "I can't not write!"

In what Morrell calls "self-psychoanalysis", he advocates digging into your psyche to discover what you most fear, often a childhood trauma you're unknowingly trying to work out (or work out of your system) through your writing. Therapists who work with children from alcoholic, abusive, codependent (or dysfunctional, if you prefer) backgrounds are quite familiar with this behavior. We attempt to repair the damage through relationships we have for the rest of our lives.

One method for discovering what your trauma might be is to examine where you mind goes when your brain's on idle ... daydreams. Pleasant and horrific. This type of research has its advantages: it's right at hand and very inexpensive (a factor that universally appeals to writers). Morrell says, "Day-nightmares are messages from your subconscious, hinting to you what that ferret is about. They’re disguised versions of your secret. They’re metaphors for why you want to be a writer."

Download the whole article in .PDF or print out the text.

PC vs Mac Saturday Silliness

noreply@blogger.com (Georganna Hancock M.S.) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 13:33:00 +0000

The current home page at Absurd Notions features Kevin Pease's hilarious takeoff of Apple's current advertising swipes at PCs. Unfortunately, I can't show you even a sample, because Pease definitely states, aside from his copyright notice, "All images are for viewing only and may not be used without permission." Well, I didn't have time to ask, so I won't violate him.

The gist of the joke (I think) is that PCs are upgradable, whereas Macs are ... you'll just have to see for yourself.

Oh, and at the bottom of another page I found this amusing copyright addendum: "Clue: If your name is attached to it, you have permission: that's what "copy-right" means. : =}"

Writing About Characters

noreply@blogger.com (Georganna Hancock M.S.) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:21:00 +0000

Fragrances are what I think I'll miss most when I'm dead. I know that's an illogical statement, especially for an agnostic. Nonetheless, it's true. How my own home smells is comforting, and I don't want to lose that. And birdsong. I love living where singing birds surround my house, even in the winter.

I've had similar senseless, but emotionally true, thoughts in the 18 months following a cancer diagnosis. Facing death, one's own mortality, usually affects a person, changing their character. The changes are individual, but I think they intensify someone's basic personality traits. I hear women tell how they've become fearless, brave and bold, after enduring breast cancer. Not me! I'm scared and angry and tallying what will be taken from me when I die. But that's me, basically a depressed and selfish person, now more than ever.

When developing a character who experiences near death or confronts a similar danger, consider the consequences that could result to his or her personality. If you're writing realistic fiction and have had such an experience yourself, you'll know exactly what I mean. Lacking personal familiarity, you may want to talk with other people who have faced the threat of death, especially those living under its pall. Ask how it changed their feelings and actions, and how is that different from they way they were.

Editing Style for Cookbooks

noreply@blogger.com (Georganna Hancock M.S.) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:00:00 +0000

A question often posed by both male and female beginning writers: how do you format a cookbook manuscript? How are recipes presented? In the many decades that I've been writing and cooking, I never gave this a thought, and I have an extensive collection of cookbooks and recipes. Indeed, after inheriting many from my mother and grandmother, I have an embarrassment of cooking literature. Most of it is easy to follow because it is fairly uniform in presentation. Difficulties show up most often in the home brew versions--collections put out by clubs as fundraisers, one of the original true self-publishing efforts.

One source of advice for cookbook authors comes from Ten Speed Press' Editorial Director, Lorena Jones. The "Ten Speed Press Cookbook Style Sheet" even offers tips on preparing an electronic file for submission to a publisher. The advice is based on the Chicago Manual of Style, 14th ed; Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed; Recipes into Type, Whitman & Simon, and The New Food Lover's Companion, 3rd ed, Herbst, if you want to go to the sources for more details.

Writing Book Review Pitches

noreply@blogger.com (Georganna Hancock M.S.) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:52:00 +0000

"Newspapers have awesomely higher operating costs than the online publishers who are siphoning away their audience and advertising revenues," wrote Alan Mutter in his (presumably unedited) Reflections of a Newsosaur blog posting in February. He questioned the value and need for multiple editings of newspaper articles. That was about the time that the local paper's book reviews editor announced his departure from editing entirely.

Eventually the paper made known that the "Arts" editor would take on books, too. I predicted the two books pages (reduced from a multi-page stand-alone section) will disappear. Indeed, this week only one page of four book reviews appeared. The NY Times bestseller listings, already shrunk to only the top five, showed up on the back page with lists of what's hot in other media.

Authors, the writing is on the wall, and it's in book review editors' blood: don't bother trying for newspaper reviews anymore. Online is where it's at, the NY Times being exceptional. Some papers operate their online services separately from the print version and frequently offer more features on the Internet. Send your pitches there. This means, of course, that your pitch must be crafted as carefully as your opening book hook and/or the query that won you an agent.

Creating Characters Online

noreply@blogger.com (Georganna Hancock M.S.) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:09:00 +0000

Some innovative methods to develop characters for your fiction, using partly free online services:

sign up at a matchmaker like Chemistry, fill out the interminable questionnaire (save a copy of the questions and your responses) and save the resulting profile

get a handwriting sample from someone like the character you are working with, and get an analysis from Sheila Lowe (warning: excruciatingly long questionnaire)

visit TAAZ and play with redesigning a portrait photo for a limited idea of an appearance (works best for women)

Would it be unethical of you to use these services for this purpose? I don't think so, although I wouldn't encourage you to leave up the profile your create at the matchmaker's site, both for others' and your own sake.

Ladies: the TAAZ site is so fun! Made me look young and gorgeous. Did absolutely nothing for the turkey neck, however. You can see and hear more about this incredible software in a YouTube video.