Not much news to report at present on the book front. The newly-rewritten manuscript has been re-submitted to a couple of houses who expressed an interest last time around, and if that doesn’t work then we shall go out more widely. Watch, as they say, this space. More excitingly, I am becoming increasingly consumed by my next effort. The original …
Angry Writers
If you dip your virtual toe into the community of would-be writers who haunt the internet, it’s astonishing the amount of bilious loathing that can percolate through the pixels on your computer screen. There’s a community of bitter writers who blog and tweet and post about how the entire publishing industry is aligned against them. They believe that there are …
Twit.
So, yeah, I have a twitter account. Of course I do. I’m just not entirely sure what I should do with it. I had the bright idea of tweeting my entire novel, 140 characters at a time, until I realized that if I did one tweet a day I would finally be finished around mid-November, 2024.
Now What?
I’ve spent the last two weeks polishing the manuscript of THE SONGS OF OUR FATHERS and yesterday sent it off to Bruce the Agent, who is still reading. Final polishing is a curious exercise. On one level it’s very satisfying. All my little tweaks should (in theory) make the manuscript a little better, and that obviously feels worthwhile. On another …
A Writer’s Life in 83 words, by Philip Roth
My father just sent me this, from Philip Roth’s The Ghost Writer: “I turn sentences around. That’s my life. I write a sentence and then I turn it around. Then I look at it and turn it around again. Then I have lunch. Then I come back and write another sentence. Then I have tea and turn the new sentence …
Title Clincher
HUGE THANKS to everyone who responded via Twitter, Facebook, comments, email, and – what was that other thing? Oh yes, actually talking to me – about my list of possible titles for the new book. There wasn’t much consensus, interestingly, and the one that I thought would do really well only got a couple of votes. I suppose I should …
Title Contenders?
Well, after four or five months of frenetic rewriting, my fifth novel is nearly finished – for the second time. I’m very pleased with it, but I need your help. Before we submit the manuscript to publishers, I still need a decent title. Long-time readers may remember that my original working title was Paradise – which was the name of …
Best Christmas Present Ever.
The above item is a blank journal that was given to me yesterday by my friends Chris and Jennifer. Not much more to be said, really. I think the point is pithily made. I especially like it that the balloon is black. The irony is that I still do use notebooks all the time for collecting thoughts on books, and …
Book News
I’ve been meaning to write this post for some time now. One of the purposes of this blog was to keep everyone up to date with what’s going on with the new book and the publishing process. Regular readers will have noticed a conspicuous absence of anything to do with the novel of late. So what’s up? This should bring …
Last Minute Reminder…
… about the reading at Orr Street Studios, Columbia, Missouri tonight. Afterwards we shall be going to Cafe Berlin for wine and other good stuff. Should be a fun night. Do come if you can!