R is for Respond, Response (A Rant)

I'm blogging through the alphabet. There are many others participating in the 2014 A to Z Challenge too, which is the brainchild of Arlee Bird at Tossing it Out. We post every day in April except Sundays. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend. My weekend wasn't long enough.

I've struggled to come up with an R word. I thought about it all weekend. I played around with the word Rewrite but since I'm not doing any rewriting, I figured my words might sound forced. Renovation certainly plays a huge part in my life right now, but I'll save that discussion for another day, with before and after pictures.  I thought about doing a Review of a book I just read but felt no passion for that either. When I finally crawled into bed with nothing to show for R, the word RESPOND flashed into my mind. It felt right.

I have a pet peeve. I absolutely detest getting NO RESPONSE from people I send gifts to, or articles or manuscripts. In this day of email, an acknowledgement is a breath away. There's no need for someone to totally disregard a stack of new towels, some mixing bowls, a hundred dollar bill or 200 pages of my heart and soul.

What are they thinking? Or are they thinking? Of course, I always hear "the parents didn't teach them to write thank you notes... or be responsible... or care... or work, or love... or RESPOND." And to that I say, I'm so tired of everything being blamed on parents. Yeah, yeah, I know it's true to a certain extent but at some point these young adults have to take responsibility for their own actions.

As for not acknowledging a manuscript, sometimes a paragraph stating If you have not heard from us within three months, you can submit elsewhere is included in the submission guidelines, but that's just a CYA kind of thing. I think it's a terrible policy. It gives them free rein with the delete button.

I remember always sticking self-addressed, stamped envelopes (SASE) in with my manuscripts. Those were the good old days. Doing so almost always guaranteed a response. At the very least, there was a certain amount of responsibility on the part of the editor/agent/office manager to acknowledge our stamp. I miss those days.

Email makes everything so much easier: easy to delete. easy to ignore. easy to say we never got it. But hey, just as easy to respond!

Writers everywhere deserve a response regarding that novel they slaved over, the article for which they interviewed three professionals, the query letter.

Aunts, sisters, moms, cousins and friends deserve a response to the gift they spent time choosing and mailing. So much for sharing in the joy, huh?

I realize I probably sound like my mother (and I've always fought that!) but I accept it now. I don't accept rudeness and inconsiderate behavior. I don't accept being ignored.

Do you send thank you notes? Are you an editor or agent who prefers not to respond? How do you feel when you don't get a response and why do you feel that way?

Bayou Writers Group presents 2013 Bridge To Publication

Next month--Saturday, November 9, 2013--is our Bayou Writers' Group annual conference called Bridge To Publication. It's a small, cheap conference but we always have quality speakers.  Just look at this line-up.

 

DiAnn Mills - Keynote Speaker: award-winning writer of Christian fiction and writing coach to authors in any genre. First published in 1998, she currently has more than fifty books in print, which combined have sold more than a million and a half copies.  http://www.diannmills.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Jessica Kirland - Agent with Blythe Daniel Agency: She is acquiring and representing adult fiction, young adult fiction, and some non-fiction. She will be taking pitches. http://www.theblythedanielagency.com/jessica-kirckland-joins-as-marketing-literary-agent/

 

Jill Marr - Agent with Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency: Jill is interested in commercial fiction, with an emphasis on mysteries, thrillers and horror, women's commercial fiction and historical fiction. She is also looking for nonfiction by authors who are getting their work published regularly in magazines and who have a realistic sense of the market and their audience. Jill is looking for nonfiction projects in the areas of self-help, inspirational, cookbooks, memoir (she especially loves travel and foodie memoirs), health & nutrition, pop culture, humor and music. She will be taking pitches. http://www.dijkstraagency.com/meet-the-agents.html



Stella Riley - Aquisitions Editor for Soul Mate Publishing - She will be taking pitches. http://www.bayouwritersgroup.blogspot.com/2013/07/more-conference-news.html

 

 

 

 

 

Glen Pitre and Michelle Benoit - Screenwriters. For more information: http://www.bayouwritersgroup.blogspot.com/2013/07/2013-conference-update.html

 

If you want to drive to Lake Charles, LA for this one-day event we'd love to have you. Go to our blog where you can download the registration form.  Did I say cheap? Just look at these prices!

 

FEES:

_________ $35 for BWG Members (Must be received by Nov. 1)
_________ $40 for Non-Members (Must be received by Nov. 1)
_________$50 At the Door on Nov. 9
_________$25 Students— with ID

This, That and The Other

Okay... remember I told you I entered a short story contest and placed in the top 100 out of 300 submissions? I didn't win. After reading the winners, I understand why. And since I've never been a short story writer (a successful one, anyway) I'm really wondering how I made the top 100. Here's the site if you want to check out the winners. And if you'd like to crit my one page short story and compare to the winners, just let me know. I'll send it to you. You'll probably wonder how I made the top 100 too. No self-deprecation here. I just don't think my story is really a short story. I'm sure you'll agree it's a little slice of life without a beginning, middle and end.

On another note: Hanging out on Chuck Sambuchino's blog has lots of advantages. I learn a lot, and last week had the opportunity to leave a comment and be tossed in the hat for a chance to win the 2011 Guide to Literary Agents! Yep... congratulations to ME.

By the way, I am writing, and I'm thrilled with my rewrites on my novel. I love, love, love the prologue and yeah, I know prologues are a no-no, but I'm not listening. Creating a prologue helped me move right into my first chapter in a new and more exciting way--with more action. That prologue is like hanging my theme on the end of my nose and keeping it there so I'll remember it. Click on agent Scott Eagan to learn what I'm talking about.

Can't remember if I mentioned that I took an online course from Lois Winston, an author and a literary agent with the Ashley Grayson Literary Agency. Lois has a super course called The Submission Process. I learned so much, stuff I'm actually able to apply to my writing. I highly recommend this course--and no lurking allowed. If you don't participate, you really don't learn. That comes from Queen of the Lurkers, the voice of experience. Lois does not allow lurkers. :)

And speaking of the Ashley Grayson Lit Agency. Check out this interesting interview I came across. Love it! When asked what writers should never do when they query her, Ashley Grayson's answer is priceless.

She said: Number one no-no: describing their book in terms of two movies or TV shows; or describing their book in terms of two books that have no relationship to each other: "in the tradition of Twilight and Rich-Dad, Poor Dad."

These kind of novel descriptions leave me blank, and feeling like a dummy. Example: Roy Rogers meets Pretty Woman (well, actually that sounds pretty good, doesn't it?) or Three Days of the Condor meets Strictly Confidential. What does that mean? What kind of books would they be? I can't describe my novel this way, and I can't figure out my writer friends who do.

Comments? Hey, I love 'em. Don't pop in and be silent. Say something!