Month: June 2012

July will be here before Monday will, so here’s your Friday head-start on the various observances under way in the month to come: Cell Phone Courtesy Month (Don’t know about yours, but mine has an attitude problem) Make a Difference to Children Month (Note: children are different from starfish. Statistically, 2% of you got that joke. The rest are in danger of tossing kids into the sea.) Freedom from Fear of Speaking Month (I’d explain more, but it scares me.) Family Golf Month (Because the only thing that makes golf less annoying is sharing it with … on second thought,

Today’s installment of “publishing as business” will take a closer look at working with an editor at a traditional publishing house – and then next week we’ll flip the coin over and talk about working with independent editors (something both traditionally published and independent authors often choose to do). For the traditionally-published author, the writer-editor relationship is critically important. Many houses assign an author to an editor “for all purposes,” particularly when the author is writing a series. That editor will work on every book that author publishes through the publishing house (unless the editor retires or resigns – but

Meet Wilson: (Extra points if you catch both the references in his name.) Wilson is a blue tuxedo urchin (mespilia globulus), a short-spined sea urchin that eats algae and, occasionally, seaweed. Tuxedo urchins come in blue, black, and red varieties, all of which have alternating colored bands and patches of short (but potent) spines. In the wild, tuxedo urchins are found throughout the Western Pacific and Indian oceans. They live on reefs and rocky areas where algaes grow. Most prefer to eat coralline algae (a hard, purple, encrusting algae that lives on mature reefs), and Wilson is no exception. He

On Sunday, I bought some supplies to repair the masonry steps in front of the house. I purchased trowels, some quik-crete, and (Tesla’s personal favorite) a brick hammer: On the way home, Tesla pulled the hammer out of the bag and made several observations about other potential uses for the device. (Mostly violent and/or illegal, but all in the spirit one might expect from a mystery author’s son.) About halfway home, he set the hammer down and said, “Well, I won’t be using it.” I bit. “Why not?” “The safety label says ‘Caution: wear safety goggles, user and observer*,’ and

Tesla turns seventeen today. It’s also a little frightening to look at the premature baby he was, the six-foot-plus’er he is now, and to think so many years have passed between them. Especially since I haven’t aged a day. (This is my blog. I’ll entertain my fantasies if I want to.) I’ve learned a few things from the experience. In honor of Tesla’s birthday, I’m sharing some of them with you. (Because what are children’s birthdays for if not to embarrass them?) Parenting a male child has taught me: 1. Toddlers are genetically related to transformers; they can turn any object

A sign: STRAWBERRY LEMONADE FOREVER!* *(For a Limited Time)

Last week we took a flyover of the traditional publishing-as-business landscape, so in the interest of equal time, this week’s entry will focus on the independent side of the mountain. The independent author’s road parallels that of the traditional author until manuscript completion. No matter which path you choose, Step 1 in this business is “write the best book you can, and make absolutely positive it’s ready for publication.” This makes sense. No matter what kind of business you open, you need a salable product. Unlike traditional authors, whose careers loop off on a search for agents and, later, publishing

June 18 is International Sushi Day. Although I can’t join the festivities directly (I’m allergic to fish, and the irony of that fact isn’t lost on me) I thought I’d take the opportunity to share some fun facts about this Asian delicacy: Sushi didn’t originate in Japan. The original “sushi” (today called “nare-zushi”) originated in Southeast Asia and spread to Japan by way of China. Nare-zushi is made by cleaning raw fish and pickling/fermenting it in salt. The process takes about six months to complete. Sushi comes in many varieties. In addition to nare-zushi, some of the most popular are:

Motherhood is complicated under the best of circumstances. I’ve worked many jobs in my lifetime, and without a doubt being “mom” is the hardest one. With that in mind, I’d like to introduce you to my mother. When I was a little girl, my mother gave me books and encouraged me to read them. She spent countless hours reading to me, both before and after the magical day when the little black squiggles made sense to me on my own. She read me everything from Little House on the Prairie to Little Bear, every day and over and over until

Over the next few weeks, my Wednesday posts (and Twitter #PubLaw sessions) will take a look at the business of publishing. Today’s post will give an overview of traditional publishing as a business. Next week, we’ll look at the independent publishing process. In the weeks that follow, we’ll zoom in on a few specific topics of interest. Traditional publishing involves publication of an author’s work by a third-party royalty-paying publishing house, under contract. The process starts when an agent or author submits a manuscript to the publishing house. Submissions (or proposals, in the case of non-fiction) are sent to either