Subjectivity in Publishing

This is for anyone who writes, or anyone who wants to write. The rest of you should go back to your previously scheduled programming.

Few of us struggle with words strictly for ourselves. We may not aspire to the New York Times Bestseller list, or even to make money from our writing, but most of us want other people to read the words we have wrenched from our very souls. (Too much?)

Anyway, this is about subjectivity. You hear it all the time – that publishing is an extremely subjective business. There is usually one person at a time who decides if your work moves on to the next set of eyes, the next step in the publishing process. And this process can involve many such judgments along the way.

To give you an example, I entered a story in a contest at this year’s Oklahoma Writer’s Federation Conference. It’s probably my favorite short story that I have written. Short, simple, sad, and centered on a young girl’s abortion. I entered it last year in the same contest and it received a score of 99/100. Great score, right? And the comments – raving. However, since there were so many entries to the short story category, my 99 didn’t merit 1st through 3rd place, or any of the eight honorable mentions. On the bright side, because it didn’t place in the contest I was allowed to submit it again this year. So I did. And it scored…. ready?

68/100

The comments, as you can imagine, were not complimentary.

Maybe it was my subject matter and the fact that I live in Bibleland, USA, or maybe it was the writing. Either way: publishing is subjective. Never doubt it.

99 or 68 – it’s still my favorite.

Thank You for a Miraculous 2009

That anyone wants to read this stuff? That’s a miracle.

Thanks to all of you who have read, commented, shared, linked, and encouraged me in many other ways throughout 2009. You’re creating a monster, you know that right?

Thank you. Keep reading. Please.

And Happy Holidays,

~Lela

Please look for me (and ask your friends to do the same!) in the following magazines in January:

• Peekaboo NWA, Northwest Arkansas
• ParentWise: Austin, Austin, TX
• South Jersey Mom, Southern NJ
• Parents’ Source, Southeastern PA
• metroParent, Milwaukee, WI
• Arizona Parenting, Scottsdale, AZ

Thank you!

When the Villain is a Husband

One of the most important things about creating believable fictional characters is to avoid making them one-dimensional. Real people aren’t simple, and you never want story people who are either all good or all bad. This comes up a lot at our writers’ critique group meetings.

Recently one woman was going on and on about how there’s nothing she hates worse than some mustache twirling villain that’s just one hundred percent bad. I reminded her that she had no trouble accepting the cheating spouse in my novel who is also stupid, vain, and terrible in bed.

“Oh that’s different,” she says. “That was a husband.”

Disclaimer: The quotations reported in this blog reflect the opinions of those who said them. (Which is why they’re anonymous.) They do not necessarily reflect the view of the blog writer, who is at this writing happily married, to a man who–it’s probably best–doesn’t read this blog anyway.

What Really Goes on at Those Writers’ Meetings

After my writers’ group had met twice in one week recently, my husband said to me, “You guys sure like each other a lot.” We do, but it’s not so much that we like each other as it is that we get each other. Still, there are some times we don’t see eye to eye.

Last Saturday we spent probably ten minutes discussing whether or not “pecker” was the best word to use in a certain context. There was no middle ground. You were either for the pecker or against it. This is how it ended:

Urbane Beltway Type:  “Men don’t really call it that, do they?”

Red Dirt Texas Type:  “Oh Hon, you’ve never been married to a rancher.”

Now tell me, could there be a better way to spend a Saturday morning?

It’s Not You, It’s Not Me

When I took my novel to a writer’s workshop this summer, I didn’t think about the sharing and reading aloud. Had I thought it through I might not have been so brave about sharing those first chapters, which include penis cupcakes, vibrators, and a sexually deficient husband for our heroine to tolerate. But I got over it. It’s fiction, after all.

I was warned that my husband might not like it, might take it personally.

He too would get over it too, I was sure. Cut to the end of the summer and me presenting my stack of paper, secured with a big black binder clip, to my husband. I pulled it back slightly

“Just remember,” I said. “It’s not you. It’s fiction. Got it?”

He agreed and I handed it over.

Two weeks later when he finally started reading it, I had almost forgotten he had it. That night he said, “That guy had a little basket.”

“Huh? What guy?”

“That guy, Rick, in the book. He had a little basket for his change and golf tees.”

First I laughed, but I pulled it together in order to address his concerns. I admitted that yes, the closet was ours, but the characters were not. I reminded him it was purely a work of fiction.

“Little too close to home,” he joked.

I figured more reassurance couldn’t hurt.

“You’re not the husband, Babe. You’re the hot neighbor guy. Duh.”

Just like that – problem solved. It’s fiction.

Compliments Are Never Weird

Thanks to Kim Enderle at Peekaboo Magazine, I’ve had the crazy good luck to be read by a lot of Northwest Arkansans over the last year and a half. I don’t know how many people actually read After the Bubbly and Chasing Date Night, but I do know that I can’t get out of any social situation (yes, that includes Walmart) without someone mentioning something they’ve read.

I cannot tell you how happy this makes me. Deliriously, giddily, stupidly happy. That some snot mouth remark hatched in my highly scattered mind made you laugh? When I hear that, it’s the highlight of my day.

At a party the other night I introduced myself to someone who mentioned she was just reading me today and almost sent me an email to let me know how much she enjoyed my column.

“But I thought you might think that was weird.”

Let me state very clearly: compliments are never weird. Honestly, the more effusive the better.

What’s weird is when you compliment me once and I subsequently harass you each and every month to make sure you have not only read my columns, blog, and assorted Facebook and Twitter status posts, but that you were also so entertained that you had to stock up on Poise pads. That would be weird.

Thank you, Dear Readers, for playing along. And thank you, Kim, for creating a magazine people want to pick up!

James Patterson Is Just So Into Me

 

You may remember earlier this year when James Patterson’s people contacted me to ask if they could use my sentence — MY sentence! — in marketing Patterson’s upcoming titles. Um… let me think about it… yeah!

And see that, down there, that’s my blurb! For James Patterson. In a new copy of The Dangerous Days of Daniel X.

They said they’d attribute my ass-kickin’ sentence to L. Davidson, but as you can clearly see , After the Bubbly got the credit. But we all know who writes this blog, right? Consider yourself sprinkled with fame dust. And literary greatness.

By the way, when I mentioned to the kind intern that Mr. Patterson might want to write a blurb for one of my books someday, she was curiously silent.

Dating Advice For Old Married People

If you’re in NWA, you can read my pearly wisdom every month in the Chasing Date Night column in Peekaboo. (In addition to After the Bubbly, of course.) And if you’re far away, or if you missed a few, or you just don’t leave the house long enough to traipse into your local Starbucks, here’s a sample:

Top 5 Ways to Date Yourself – And before you even comment, let me remind you this is a family publication.

The Birthday Date… Mix It Up

Resolve to Court Novelty

Frugal Romance

Taking the Scary Out of Halloween Date Night – Out of season, but one of my favorites anyway.

Top 10 Stupid Date Night Ideas

James Patterson Likes My Writing

I’m sucking down pomegranite martinis at this *kinda lame* party last night and this guy keeps looking at me from across the room. After about ten minutes he comes over and asks, “Are you Lela Davidson?”

Well, of course I am and you know – people know me. He goes on to say how much he enjoys my blog and various other writing and well, it was all very complimentary. I’m pretty sure I blushed a little. But that may have been the liquor. Anyway, he finally gets around to mentioning that he’s a writer too so that’s my cue to enter booster mode.

I go on for a while in my encouraging way about how maybe he ought to join a writing group or take a class at the community college. Something like that. Well my husband must have been getting a little jealous because next thing I knew there he was by my side, arm firmly around my waist – waiting for an introduction. And of course I couldn’t introduce the charming stranger because I’d been a lot more interested in his praise than his name. He reached out a hand to my husband.

“James Patterson,” he said.

Okay – so that’s not exactly how it happened. Really how it went was that last year I wrote a book review of The Dangerous Day of Daniel X and this morning received a request from someone at Little Brown to use MY quote to promote Patterson’s work! Here’s a snippet:

Hi Lela,
James saw your review from a little while ago and thanks you for writing!

How cool is that? See how we’re on a first name basis, James and I?

Want to know what they liked? Here’s what I wrote:

“As he did with the Maximum Ride series, Patterson is once again blurring boundaries between middle grade, young adult, and mainstream fiction.”

Pretty cool, huh? It’s good to know that even if I’m never any good at writing novels, I’m a little good at writing about them!

And James, if you’re reading – I’m totally available, for copywriting. And cocktails.

Online Writing Class in January

For the locals, Mary Ann Powers (the travel editor for Peekaboo, freelance writer, co-aspiring novelist) and I are teaching a class on How to Launch an Online Writing Career in January. I hope to see you there!

(PS – let me know you saw it here and I’ll give you the ‘early’ rate!)

Here’s the scoop:

How to Launch a Successful Online Writing Career

In this 3-hour course you will learn:

• Where to find online writing jobs
• How to identify a good opportunity vs. a scam
• Accepted methods of applying for work online
• How to create a blog and what to write about
• Types of revenue streams available to bloggers
• How to brand yourself and promote your work
• Components of successful online posts and articles
• The five most common types of online articles
• Where to find images
• Business issues specific to online writing
• And more!

Plus – Students will receive electronic templates for various useful files such as a time tracker and a sample cover letter you can cut and paste into emails to apply for jobs.

But wait, there’s more! After the class, every student will have the opportunity to have a writing sample critiqued by Lela or Mary Ann to make sure they understand the specific requirements for online articles!

How to Launch a Successful Online Writing Career
Saturday, January 17th, 9:00 am – Noon
Community Room, Parkway Bank in Pinnacle Hills just off 540

To register, email Lela at ldavidson98 AT gmail DOT com.
Class fee if received before December 10th: $45
Class fee if received after December 10th: $55
Please register soon. Class size is limited to the first 20 respondents!

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