Writer’s Mail
February 25, 2010 by Pat E.
“Writing a book is like one night of glorious sex and having it published is like giving birth to sextuplets.” – Cathy Crimmins
Writing Friends…
Deborah Blum
Check out the cover of Isthmus last week for an article about professor and author, Deborah Blum, http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=28242
UW journalism prof Deborah Blum will talk about and sign her book, The Poisoner’s Handbook at B&N on Thursday (February 25), 7 p.m., Blum won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992 for her science reporting the Sacramento Bee. In The Poisoner’s Handbook, she follows New York City’s first forensic scientists “to discover a fascinating Jazz Age story of chemistry and detection, poison and murder.”
Blum has been on UW/Madison’s staff since 1997. This is her fifth book.
At Ye Olde Barnes & Noble – 2nd and 4th
Seven folks gathered Tuesday night at Barnes & Noble for readings and critiques.
Jack Freiburger read from Path to Bray’s Head. How does Lester’s speech move the story forward? Carol Hornung noted that the poem is about Lester, his connection to Ireland, his identity, and Sean needs to find his own identity. Holly Bonnickson-Jones said to watch out for the overuse of “overwrought” and “spouting.”
Annie Potter’s Ginger was both lovely and heartbreaking, according to Anne Allen, who also felt the ending was a little abrupt. Clarify to the reader that the dog had been sold, even if the narrator doesn’t realize it. Also be careful of repeating words – sleep, daydreaming, and the name Lee were all used 3 times in quick succession.
The Journal is Terry Hoffman’s new novel, which Annie Potter declared, “like silk.” An excellent introduction to the story, though there’s difficulty in pinpointing the age of various characters. Simply dropping in some time references “over twenty years ago,” “less than three months ago,” would help establish the age of the various characters. Terrific details, like the strands of hair caught on the glasses.
Anne Allen brought in An American High School in Paris. Jack said there was too much about the school, not enough emotion or descriptions of the other students. Was kind of flat. Needs to lead the reader forward a bit more – like when the narrator is looking at the kids, wondering who will become her friend – show us who that girl is, lead us on a bit. Did like the origin of the family name.
Holly Bonnickson-Jones continued with Coming Up for Air, which is definitely getting into cougar territory. Jack felt that Liza taking a post-modern lit class would see her favorite author, Jane Austen, in a different light. We also wanted some description of David – what did he look like, how did he read the Byron poem? Also, when a pronoun and the name of the person is used in a paragraph, use the name first.
We’ll meet again on Tuesday, March 9th.
Readers will be:
Jack Freiburger, Path to Bray’s Head
Carol Hornung, Asperger Sunset
Holly Bonnickson-Jones, Coming Up For Air
Three-Minute Fiction Round Three: Picture This
NPR has another short fiction contest you should check out. Alicia noted that we’ve done this for Fifth Tuesdays in the past:
For the third round of our contest, we want you to send us original works of fiction inspired by this photograph. NPR book critic Alan Cheuse will choose a winning story to be read on-air, and meanwhile, we’ll keep posting our favorite entries right here. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123573883
The Not-Invented-Anywhere Syndromehttp://www.theregister.co.uk/
Here’s an article Jerry found that writers HAVE TO read…
A teenage literary sensation who lifted large parts of her debut hit novel from the Web, without giving credit, says she’s justified because “there’s no such thing as originality”.
For good measure, Helene Hegemann said the plagiarism was justified, because copyright holders had it coming. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/02/19/not_invented_anywhere/
Read an E-Book Week
Very extensive temporary site for “Read an E-Book Week,” March 7-13, 2010. http://www.ebookweek.com This page claims to make available free e-books during early March through a variety of e-publishers. They will be free to download. It is not clear that you can download them to your computer or if you have to have an e-reader (but at least you can download and read books on your computer from the Gutenberg Project). This whole thing is obviously marketing. I would venture to guess, items will be free to download to your computer. This would entice people to buy e-readers.
They state they are looking for “new content” for ebook readers and technology. One publisher (Zulu Express) noted it was accepting new authors to publish in ebook format. I have read in several places that it actually pays off for authors to give away some writing as advertising. TWS members might like to scan for something of interest to them during March 7-13. Could be a lot of freebies. – Alicia
A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg http://wordsmith.org/awad/index.html
Grub Street, MEANING: noun: The world of impoverished journalists and literary hacks; ETYMOLOGY: After Grub Street in London where such writers lived; NOTES: In 17th century London, Grub Street near Moorfields was the place to find impoverished writers. Even though this street was renamed Milton Street in 1830, the world of hack writers is still known as Grub Street.
The inhabitants of this now metaphorical place churn out words without any regard for their literary merit. They were often called penny-a-liners. A Grub Street writer is also called a hack writer, which is another London allusion: Hackney in East London, was the place where horses suitable for routine riding or driving were raised. The word hack, in related senses, is a short form of hackney.
As any writer would tell you, publishing is a long and slow journey, but according to Google Maps it’s only five minutes from Grub Street to Fleet Street.
Fleet Street, MEANING: noun: The British press; ETYMOLOGY: After Fleet Street in London, once the center of British journalism. Even though most of the news agencies have moved away from the street, its name continues to be synonymous with the British newspaper industry. The street is named after the River Fleet, now flowing underground.
“Welcome to the liveliest fight on Fleet Street. In the blue corner, we have Rupert Murdoch, chief executive of News Corp. In the red corner, Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian. Each wants to knock out the other’s vision of the future of journalism.” Eric Pfanner; Free vs. Paid, Murdoch vs. Rusbridger; The New York Times; Feb 7, 2010.
Ah, the Semi-colon!
For those of you reticent to take on the task of the newsletter, here’s a plus: you get to include whatever YOU want. I get to include a rant on my personal punctuation pet peeve!
According to Wikipiedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semicolon, “the Italian printer Aldus Manutius the Elder established the practice of using the semicolon mark to separate words of opposed meaning, and to indicate interdependent statements. The earliest, general use of the semicolon in English was in 1591; Ben Jonson was the first notable English writer to use them systematically. The modern uses of the semicolon relate either to the listing of items, or to the linking of related clauses.”
“It has been observed that the semi-colon is stronger than a comma and weaker than a period. We could liken the semi-colon to the yellow light at an intersection: it is not a full stop and it’s not a full go; it is used to bridge the difference between a green light and a red.” – http://writinghood.com/style/grammar/proper-use-of-the-semi-colon-four-ways-to-use-semi-colons-in-sentences/
To me the definitive source is The Elements of Style – Strunk and White. My own copy is a yellowed, stained version published in 1972. If you have your own copy, start at the bottom of page 5, Do not join independent clauses by a comma. Bartleby’s has an online copy you can search: http://www.bartleby.com/141/strunk.html#5
Some good published examples from http://www.virtualsalt.com/semicoln.htm include:
- In books I find the dead as if they were alive; from books come forth the laws of peace. –Richard de Bury
- It is a most earnest thing to be alive in this world; to die is not sport for a man. Man’s life never was a sport to him; it was a stern reality, altogether a serious matter to be alive! –Thomas Carlyle
- Education is a high word; it is the preparation for knowledge, and it is the imparting of knowledge in proportion to that preparation.
- For nothing hinders a man’s walking by the principles of his soul, but an opportunity to exert them; when that occurs, the secret enemy throws off his mask and draws his dagger. –Richard Steele
- To say that we have a clear conscience is to utter a solecism; had we never sinned, we should have had no conscience. –Thomas Carlyle
- When he faints through desire, she comes to his aid; but when he revives, she scorns him. –A. C. Hamilton
- Whatever is left in the hands of chance must be subject to vicissitude; and when any establishment is found to be useful, it ought to be the next care to make it permanent. –Samuel Johnson
- The events we experience are less important than the meaning we give to them; for life is about meaning, not experience. –Proverb
- After her mother dies through frustrated rage, Parthenia arranges to marry Argalus; but Demagoras, seeking revenge, destroys her beauty by a magic ointment. –A. C. Hamilton
The Last Word
“Drink to me only with thine eyes, And I will pledge with mine; Or leave a kiss but in the cup, And I’ll not look for wine.” – Ben Jonson
Tuesdays with Story 
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