Sunday, April 19, 2015

Week in Review April 19, 2015

And what a week it was!

Some of you had some very odd ideas about my favorite movie, although Kregger's comment
I think your favorite movie is "Message in a Bottle." Not because of heart-string tugging syrupy tripe, but because everyone should know how Kevin Costner got it in the end. That's right...shark attack!

cracked me up completely.

and AJ Blythe did too:
Surely Janet's fave movie would have to be "Fifty Shades of Grey" - it's about paint, right?
Dena Pawling mentioned Hopscotch which I loved when I saw it the first time, so I promptly rented it on Sunday and watched it again.  It held up beautifully! (Some of my long time favorites have not!)  Did you notice the character names? Shout outs to Ludlum, Follet and Westlake, all great crime writers.  The book Hopscotch won the Edgar for Best Novel in 1976!

As for my favorite movie: none of you came close. It's Casablanca.


Apparently LynnRodz is circumnavigating the globe. Maybe she's looking for Platform 9.75, the train to Carkoon?
Don't get me started on the weather! When I left Paris it was 11°C, I landed in Dubai at midnight and it was already 26°C. When I got to Bangkok I came out of the airport to 38°C in the shade! Let me put it this way, when you're baking cookies and you open the oven door to see if they're done and that blast of hot air hits you...well I'm the cookie baking in Bangkok and Carkoon is looking like paradise!
I'm heading to Hong Kong next and hopefully the weather will be a lot cooler.


And just in case I was getting too big for my britches, John "Ol' Chumbucket" Baur put me solidly in my place on the food chain:

I missed the "plumber/agent" discussion, but as someone who has had two agents and who last fall had the mother of all sewer problems, let me just say, if I had to pick one or the other, I'd take a good plumber every time. My agents have had some success with me, but my plumber made it possible for life to continue.

W.R.Gingell had an important question about the Summer Synopsis Camp slated for Carkoon:
And lol at Colin's Carkoonian Synopsis Summer Camp. Should we bring our own stakes, or will there be a Impaler Specialist? ( I hear Vlad is once more available: he might like the change).

Maybe Gary Corby can be drafted for Impaler specialist. He's sure gotten some mileage out of that one scene in The Ionia Sanction.

 



On Monday the results of the writing contest were posted. Huzzah to Calorie Bombshell for an outstanding effort, and huzzahs also to the finalists! It was a touch choice (but then, it almost always is!)



On Tuesday we talked about meeting agents at conferences in unscheduled times.

I think we're going to need a collection of Julie Weathers' comments at some point because as usual, this one cracked me up:

I keep saying agents are humans pieces of meat and I still see people giving out advice for authors to act like blind dogs after meat wagon.

I liked what Susan Bonifant had to say so much that I made it this week's blog subtitle
"Best advice I ever got when I was raising children: Never miss an opportunity to shut up."

And Abib Khorram mentioned the Midwest Writers Conference:

I am very much looking forward to Midwest Writers, though now I'm going to be very suspicious of anyone wearing a "Janet Reid" name tag.

Speaking of which, is anyone else going to Midwest Writers? I think we should try to organize a Felix J. Buttonweezer Memorial Costume Contest and Kale Cookoff.

"Janet Reid" can be the judge.

Since my former minion Brooks Sherman will also be at MWW, I might deputize him to be me.  I'll be the one with the name badge that says "I AM OTTER"





And I really liked what KD James.com said about attending conferences

I think it's worth it, if you're unpublished or perhaps haven't attended a conference, to think about what you DO want to accomplish. As fun as they can be, cons are also expensive and time consuming. It's not necessary to set conference goals, but it's a good idea. This is not MY advice--- I've heard it from dozens of experienced writers.

A goal is something you can control and achieve: to attend classes or workshops to learn about craft or publishing; to meet up with writer friends you've talked to online; to experience what it feels like to be in a huge crowd of writers who "get" you (it's awesome); to meet new people.

My goal at my first con was simply to survive the overload. Which I did. Barely. I also attended a ton of workshops. SO WORTH IT.

It's also nice to have a goal so when you look back on whether the con was a good investment of time and money, you'll have something to gauge rather than just whether it was "fun."

It is NOT a goal to say you're attending a con because you hope to get published, or want to have an agent request your ms, or even simply to meet an agent/editor/famous author. You don't control those things. And they might not even be all that valuable.


And I liked what Leone said too
My point is, we're all part of the writing community and we give to it in our own ways. So my suggestion for folks nervous about attending a conference is to worry less about how others see you and more about how you can help. For example, I offer to moderate a panel. If you prefer, you could offer to staff the registration table or some other less public activity. Whatever you do, you're giving to the community, which not only helps you get to know people without worrying about pitching, but also gets your focus off your own nervousness.




And Colin demonstrates why he has been exiled to Carkoon, by trying to find a way that the point of the blog post might not apply.

So, do you suppose it might be different for a young agent, perhaps still fairly new and building a list? Might that agent be more likely to want writers to talk about their work? In other words, might Janet and Barbara's hatred of the "elevator pitch" come from their years of experience, and the fact they are well-established?

No.
I've hated people pushing their pitches on me from Day One. There is simply NO WAY to properly evaluate or offer help to a writer without seeing pages.  Pitching is not social conversation. If we're in a social setting, DO NOT PITCH. There are NO exceptions to this.

*climbs down off soapbox*
*signs exile extension*




And I REALLY liked this from BJ Muntain

Because there's nothing about being a stay-at-home mom that deserves to be ignored. It just needs better press.



On Wednesday, a gentleman wondered about self-publishing to make money.

CarolynWith2Ns asked
Might the questioner try Kindle Scout as a no cost path to e-publishing ? And Janet, I'd love to know your opinion about Scout. Is it as good a deal as Amazon says?


I'm not a resource on Kindle Scout or really any of the self-publishing platforms because I don't work with them at all, and have no experience.  What I see are people querying me with books they've already published, or sending me finished copies of books they've essentially printed rather than published. Often times those books are just sad little messes of bad production and worse cover art.

BJ Muntain said
Yes, even if it's only printed out in a chapbook format and handed out to a few friends, it's still technically published. Will it affect future sales? As Janet said, that's very unlikely. My thought: If these have already been published, then you no longer have first rights to sell for them anyway. Reprinting them won't make a difference

There is no such thing as "first rights" although I do see that phrase used a lot on writer boards.  There IS such a thing as "first serial rights" but that means publishing an excerpt of a book before publication day.

A book, and stories, can be published more than once. If you've had stories accepted for publication in a lit mag (as the questioner had) you can publish them AGAIN once the period of exclusivity with the magazine has ended.

The rights you license to a lit mag are 1. territory 2. language 3. duration  4.exclusivity 5.format

For example: you license the short story "Felix Buttonweezer Fends off Kale on Carkoon" to the Carkoon Lit mag for publication in (1) Carkoon (2) Carkoonian, English and Klingon; (3) for the period of one Carkoonian year; (4) exclusively; (5) for the print edition and the Carkoon Lit mag website.  All rights not specifically granted to the lit mag are retained by the author.


On Thursday the discussion turned to the endlessly entertaining topic of submission guidelines.

Colin posted a question from exile:
My question(s) to agents: When was the last time you requested because the querier spelled your name correctly, gave good comp titles, had an MFA, or correctly identified their novel as YA Urban Fiction? And how many queries have you requested from because they sold you on #2 above [2) A paragraph or two selling the novel to the agent, incorporating the 4 Cs (see Craig's comment).]

Answer:
0%
100%


Lizzie said
aside from people not paying attention, one of the problems could be agents not updating their Querytracker profile.

I can't remember the last time I updated my QueryTracker profile. Probably the last time I closed for queries a few summers ago, but honestly I haven't a clue.

The reason for that that? There's no trigger to update it. No one from QueryTracker emails me an easily accessible link and says "here, update yer info, SharkForBrains"  If they did, I would.

As it is, I don't even THINK about QueryTracker.  The places I DO update when I remember, which isn't often: 1. my website 2. my Pub Mkt page and 3. this blog's incoming query status. 



And then things pretty much fell completely off topic with a discussion of the Buttonweezer clan name, origin and location. Which made for a VERY entertaining comments trail.



On Friday the topic was whether a query should mention fulls requested by other agents.

I loved this from Dena Pawling:
Carolynn, I met my husband at a friend's wedding, the summer after I graduated from high school. I was a bridesmaid and he was an usher. About a week after the wedding, he called me.

Him: “Hi... um... would you like to go to church with me? I've asked everyone else I know and no one else can come.”

Yes, that's how he asked me out on our first date. I've teased him endlessly about it, too. We've been married now for more than half my life.

Karen McCoy asked:
Say Agent B doesn't ask if anyone else is reading, and Agent A requests representation while Agent B still has the full. How does the author bring this up without burning possible bridges?

This happens ALL the time. I've been on both sides of the situation.  In fact, I have a prospective client notifying other agents even as we speak.

Here's what you do:
1. Email all the agents who have the full and say you've received an offer (or you've gotten serious interest) in the manuscript. Ask if they can let you know their decision within a specified amount of time (a week is normal but I've said two weeks on occ. if there's a holiday or vacations pending)

2. On the expiration day, advise everyone of decisions.  "Thanks for reading my full. I've chosen an agent to represent the book" kind of thing.



And maybe y'all think someone else reads the comments but it's me and I SAW THAT STUFF ABOUT PAGES!
Julie Weathers, I'm looking at you, gnomie! 

If an agent asks for 50 pages, and 50 pages ends at the wrong place to present your work well, send 48. Or 55.

The idea of asking for 50 pages is "please don't send 300" and "please don't send 5"

It is NOT: please adjust your margins, and your font to make sure that what should be 48 is really 50 pages. 


Never break a sentence when you send pages, NEVER. Never break a paragraph if you can possibly help it.

And it's really ok to end where the chapter ends, be that page 45 or 55; in fact it's better.

And do NOT get creative with your margins. I work on 1" margins all around, and if you send something in ANYTHING else, I adjust it because of the size of my screen and what my eye is used to seeing.

YES I NOTICE 1.25 margins!


Sheesh you guys!



On Saturday the topic turned to the newest way to torment writers: social media


I liked what Amy Schaefer suggested:
Instead of focusing on what you aren't willing to do (Twitter, FB, the internet in general), turn it around and think about what you are willing to do. Get that clear in your mind. Signings? Visiting bookstores? The aforementioned newsletters and so on? Think hard about what sort of interaction you feel capable of with strangers/potential fans. Then, when the problem arises with an agent, you'll be ready with your own solution to your so-called social media issue. Get out in front of it, is my advice.


And I read PhoenixWaller's comment about promotion with great interest particularly the closing line:
The moral of that story is that mass advertisements are iffy at best, but word of mouth is still an invaluable tool for selling books, even free ones online. ;)

The more things change, the more they are the same. Word of mouth. The best way to sell books since there were books.


Angie Brooksby-Arcangioli asked

the question that Janet could answer is if you did write under a pseudo would your agent need to know your real name and at what stage would you have to tell them.

If you had a pseudo with incorporated status, you could have a social media presence for your 'business'.

As an agent I need to know two things: what you want me to call you, and the name you want to use when I pay you. 

The PUBLISHER however has a stake in this because the contract you sign for your book has a clause called Warranties and Indemnities and that's the one where you warrant the work is yours, you didn't copy it, and no one else has a claim to it.  Publishers really want to make sure that "the author" signs that contract.  That's where you'll need more specific advice than what I'm able to give you on the blog.

If a potential client had the kinds of security concerns that the questioner had, I'd probably let the editor know about it, and we'd figure something out.

I've certainly worked with authors who've used pen names before, and it's pretty funny, we forget the pen name isn't the author's "real" name.



Spring is finally here in NYC and it's fabulous. We have a giant courtyard space next to our office building and it has a huge TV screen on the side of our building. The TV broadcasts soccer games and I can always tell when they do cause the fans gather in the courtyard and cheer. It makes World Cup a lot of fun here even if I don't have  clue who's playing.

I'm tackling my requested full pile with renewed vigor. Some very patient authors have been waiting for more months than I care to reveal in public for a reply from me. Every time I pass on a manuscript I feel bad. I really hate doing so, particularly now that I'm passing on things that are good and publishable (but just not the right books for my particular list or interest.)

This coming week I'm taking a reading break and heading to the Delaware shore with a friend. We're going to sit on the porch, read manuscripts and plot World Domination. 

I'm hoping the Wifi will be adequate. If not, well, you'll know cause I'll be tardy posting the week in review!

Have a great week!





41 comments:

Craig F said...

Enjoy your break. If it gets rainy or you need a diversion try this:
http://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=09127f88112d

It is an online jigsaw puzzle of our first spring orchids. This was from last year but they were just denser this year. Wish I was home to look at them.

Press the ghost and it will give you a ghost of the image. Hit the blue PADDLER and it will take you to my home page.

DLM said...

A reading vacation with a friend - how lovely! Here's hoping you find a gem and some good meals with good company as well. No elevator pitches included.

I thought Amy's point about focus on what you WILL do was excellent. So I left no comments because what could little old me add to the wisdom already on display?

Happy Sunday to all, and to all a good day. :)

Donnaeve said...

The Delaware shore. Uhoh.

Da dum. Da. Dum. Dadumdadumdadum!

"SHARK!"

Shrieking ensues, splashing follows, and beach goers complete a reverse of nature and head for the water instead of land due to a shark sighting on the porch.

Great WIR! Enjoy your time at the shore.

Jennifer R. Donohue said...

Pertaining to things brought up by Wednesday's questioner: At my writing workshop yesterday, somebody said "Oh, well we could do a collection and then have it as an example and sell copies for 50 cents or whatever" and the first thing out of my mouth was "if we are doing a collection, it will NOT be a stapled-together document printed off of Word." Thankfully, the person I said it too is a tough one who understands my sensibilities ^^


But really, I want to hear more about the Buttonweezers, et al.

Flowers McGrath said...

Sounds like a great plan to read at the beach...and add some world domination in as well, of course! Enjoy!!!!

Carolynnwith2Ns said...

I wanna a big screen TV on the side of the building next to where I work too. Waaaaah !
I wanna go to the beach and sit on a porch and read, Waaaaah !

Did you know there's a Carkoon, Delaware? Actually it's Carkoon's Hook (or Hooke, old spelling) on the river.

Great WIR and have a great break.

Dena Pawling said...

WooHoo! I'm in the WiR twice! That's like winning a mention in a contest. Made my day =)

Besides that description of how my husband asked me out on our first date, one of my earliest memories is of his car-at-the-time, a Triumph Spitfire. All you car types are groaning now. I don't remember where we went on this date, but while he drove me home in the rain, the generator caught fire. So, wearing a dress, I helped him push the car (in the rain) into a gas station. He says he was surprised I still agreed to go out with him. I always thought our dates were like an adventure.

I need to include this scene in my current WIP lol

Enjoy your reading break with your friend. Sounds wonderful.

Lisa Bodenheim said...

Yes, great WiR.

Delaware shore? Hm....my sister and family are snowmobile racing on the north shore of Lake Superior this weekend. Gorgeous web photos of the place. For summer. (tuck that on my back burner)

Enjoy your well-deserved reading time and plotting time with friend.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for speaking to a point I made. I'm sorry I wasn't clear when I posted it. I meant rights to first North American publication, but I just didn't know if the OP was in North America. Meaning, of course, the magazine buys the right to be the first to publish this story in North America. Once that's been sold (because 'first' can only be sold once) any other rights sold in North America will be reprint rights. First British (or other geographic area) serial rights are still open, though.

Because I'm not finished my first coffee yet, I know I may not be making sense. A couple links to what I'm trying to refer to:

Rights: What they mean and why they're important
Rights 101 (publishlawyer.com)

Anyone who's interested in selling short stories will find these articles useful. It's important to know what rights you're signing away.

And what I said about stay-at-home moms? Absolutely true. It's not an easy job, and it *is* a job. A very important job, because these moms are shaping the future, even more than teachers do.

Funny how we undervalue that in our society - teachers don't get paid enough, and stay-at-home moms aren't taken seriously. No, not funny. Just sad.

Disclaimer: I'm not a stay-at-home mom and never have been. But I know how much work it takes to do that job.

Have a great break, Janet! You deserve it!

Huh. ReCaptcha showed me a bunch of pictures of cakes, desserts, beverages and meat... and told me to choose the breads. Who's looking at breads when there are cakes?

Amy Schaefer said...

I knew you were going to get steamed about Julie's plans to fiddle with her margins. I put my heat shields up early.

Have a wonderful time on your reading break. I wish you no internet (it is a break, after all. The sky won't fall.) and a pile of excellent manuscripts.

Colin Smith said...

Do you think Gary would be available for the Summer Synopsis Camp on Carkoon? As an Australian, the heat won't be a problem for him. Although I'm concerned about Carkoonians reading THE IONIA SANCTION. They're brutal enough without giving the ideas... :)

*signs exile extension*
*sigh* Here I am trying to be generous and give those pitch-crazy agents the benefit of the doubt, and I end up having my exile extended. I think Janet just enjoys seeing me suffer. Either that or she's afraid if she lets me leave there won't be any more Carkoon stories. I could write a book, you know. TALES FROM THE PIT. FIFTY SHADES OF SUNBURN. A MILLION SCORCHING SUNS. I could make it a Western, since Janet represents those, except there's not really a concept of "The West" on Carkoon. Aside from the fact most people are directionally challenge, everywhere looks pretty much the same. :)

YES I NOTICE 1.25 margins!
Ha. Didn't I say in the comments that any agent that's been reading submissions for a while will be able to spot an odd margin? I got something right! So, how about cutting some time off the exile...? :)

2Ns: I'd love to get paid to read all day. Maybe I could be a Literary Agent. Janet did leave the room didn't she? AHHH!!! MY ARMMMM!!!!!!!

There's a Carkoon, Delaware? Interesting. I wonder how many eyes the mayor has...

Have a wonderful break, QOTKU! Don't worry if there's no wi-fi--we have the blog list. We can visit each other while waiting for you. :)

Adib Khorram said...

So if Brooks Sherman is Janet Reid and Janet Reid is I AM OTTER, does that mean Otter is Brooks Sherman?

My head is spinning.

Incidentally, I notice lots of people are getting to play fun games for their ReCAPTCHA. I am super jealous. Mine just tells me to prove I'm not a robot by checking the box that says "I'm not a robot."

Jeffrey Marks said...

Students always want to use huge margins, so that their papers look longer. I only fiddle with the margins if I don't want to cut anymore and it has to be one page.

They also love funky fonts; I once had a work in wingdings. (not joking, but wish I was.)

Dena Pawling said...

Adib - on my computer at home I check the box and then "publish". On my phone I just touch "publish". I did get a chance to see that disjointed robot once, but otherwise I guess I'm just either inherently trustworthy or obviously not a robot. Not sure if either one is a positive.

Colin Smith said...

Dena: I'm not sure exactly what the rules are. Often I can just check the box to say I'm not a robot then hit "publish" and not have to do any Captcha stuff. Sometimes it asks for a word verification, or a "click the pictures" thing. Maybe it has to do with the number of comments? One thing I have found pretty consistently: if I preview my comment before posting, I don't get any Captcha prompts. :)

Anonymous said...

I normally read the blog but not the comments, so I missed Adib's comment about MWW. I'm all for a Kale Cookoff, or some other gathering of blog readers at MWW!

And don't worry, Janet. No matter what name tag you're wearing, I'd never corner you and try to pitch my book, even if you did rep my genre.

Looking forward to meeting you all there!

Anonymous said...

I'm laughing at being re-named "KD James.com" and thinking maybe I'll publish under that name.

This is yet more evidence that blogger hates me. I sign in every time as "KD James" and every time blogger changes it to "kdjames.com" and smirks at me.

I first read "reading break" as taking a break from reading. I can't even imagine going an entire week without reading and I'm relieved that's not what you meant. Hope you find something you love in that e-stack of manuscripts so eventually the rest of us can read it too. Enjoy the time away.

John Frain said...

Of all the movies, in all the cinemas, in all the world, she picks Casablanca.

Here's looking at you, kid.

Sign me. Sign me as if I was the last writer on Earth.

Oh wait, I have to query first, I'm always getting the order screwed up.

Donnaeve said...

The reCAPTCHA's I'm getting are:

Choose all the hamburgers like the one on the right.

Choose sushi, like the one on the right.

Choose soups, only soups.

I just got the cake one.

I'm hungry, dammit!

Colin Smith said...

lizosisek: "I normally read the blog but not the comments..."

Is that a single or a double occupancy cave you want? See you on Carkoon... :)

Donnaeve said...

Oh, and Colin..., if you REALLY were exiled to Carkoon, Ms. Janet would BAN you from commenting.

Oh! The horror.

Okay. I just had to select steaks.

Grrr.

Janet Reid said...

BJ, I checked out those two links you provided.

The first one (Rights, What they mean and why they're important) is pretty much a disaster of wrongness.

There is NO SUCH THING as First North Amerian Serial rights.

There are: first serial rights in North America in English; first serial rights in North America in French.

First means ONLY before publication, not first before any one else.

The second link doesn't work.



That first article was trying to be helpful but it was written by a writer, not even a publishing lawyer let alone an agent (the person who actually negotiates these deals DAILY.)

Forgive my strident tone here but BAD INFORMATION for writers makes me CRAZY.

Janet Reid said...

Not reading the comments is like cake without frosing. It's ok, it's dessert but it sure as hell isn't FUN. Or delicious.

angie Brooksby-Arcangioli said...

While the Shark is somwhere off the Delaware coast I suggest Carkoon movie theater show Casablanca. BYOB.

Great WiR! So much to learn here.

Colin Smith said...

Janet: Funny you should choose that simile--my wife just made some totally awesome chocolate frosting. :)

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Karen McCoy said...

Thanks Janet, for your wonderfully insightful answer to my question! I'll tuck it in with BJ's, Colin's, Lisa's, and Brian's responses.

Casablanca is a gorgeous movie. But I also love that horse from Tangled. You've posted him a few times, and he always makes me grin. :) I'll bet he feels the same way about margins too.

Lisa Bodenheim said...

Julie: omg, the stories you have! I could just see them all atumblin' out of that camper.

Colin: did I hear chocolate frosting? I'll be right over.

ReCAPTCHA: I've never had any food show up for me. Just that fun dancing robot a couple of times. And now....nothing.

Unknown said...

Whoa, I got a mention in WiR! Nice!

I am sad, though, that I've never had to select pictures for the CAPTCHA :( I just have to check a box that says 'I am not a robot.' ANY robot can do that :(

Also, I second the idea of a book of Julie's comments. I've been visiting her blog and I love all the anecdotes and all the weird and wonderful she comes up with.

Also, Julie: I didn't know they still made nightshirts, either, until we brought a friend back to her house and her guardian was there in a nightshirt- AND a nightcap. A nightcap! It was a moment of joyous realisation.

Anonymous said...

Gads, and of course, that was heard not herd. I r a riter. I am not deleting and correcting again, though.

Just for the record, I am not reading any yummy mentions of food. I'm tired of my knees screaming at me. Cauliflower fried rice for me for the next eight months or so. yum yum A pox on all your yummy cakes.

"Forgive my strident tone here but BAD INFORMATION for writers makes me CRAZY."

Agreed. Out of curiosity. I went to some "writer's sites" to look format margins and saw .75" and thought. Oh, no. That is not good. Not good at all. No, siree, Bob.

W.R. Who the heck knew they still made nightshirts? I assumed Thelma must have made it. Trust me, it's one of those scenes you want to look away from, but it's such a disaster you can't. I can still hear that poor dog howling.

Anonymous said...

Clearly I will have to start reading the comments. I'm a big fan of dessert -- the more frosting, the better :)

And Colin, I'll take the single-occupancy cave. I won't get any writing done if I don't have my own space.

Re: CAPTCHA, I also don't get any fun pictures. Just a boring box to check.

Kregger said...

Most times I feel like Chevy Chase's character in "Funny Farm" when he forces his wife wife to read the first six chapters of his novel.
I'm pleased I crack up someone other than my dog, and he has to laugh--because I give him treats.
Have fun on the beach.

Adib Khorram said...

Clearly ReCAPTCHA is obsessed with food. I wonder if we can submit suggestions for games?

Choose the foods with Kale in them.

Choose the landmarks from Carkoon.

Choose the sharks.

Choose the documents with 1" margins.

Choose the Buttonweezer family members.

Speaking of which, does the Buttonweezer clan have established heraldic badge? Because I think we should get T-shirts made. Perhaps a green kale leaf on a sable field, with Comede et vireta below.

Adib Khorram said...

P.S. Full disclosure, I used Google translate for the Latin, so please forgive me if it's gibberish.

Craig F said...

Ooh, Kale quick fried in duck fat with a little sea salt added. Kale Chips.

I thought sex was the frosting on the cake of a relationship. I had forgotten that it was a dessert item because I tend to do pies. My pecan is to die for.

I am sorry I missed the boat this week and wasn't mentioned in the WIR. It could be an after affect of having the shortest lived header ever. Then again it might be that my flash fiction problems are expanding.

Have fun on the shore though I think Florida's shore beats Delaware's any day of the week.

LynnRodz said...

I know how you feel, Craig, I'm always tickled pink when I get mentioned in the WIR. Well, to be honest, I'm more a lobster red after a day in Macau and that train back to Carkoon is starting to look pretty nice.

Have fun in Delaware, Janet, sounds wonderful.

Anonymous said...

And it occurs to me some people will take this as we were prejudiced against Indians/Natives. I am part Indian. I was engaged to one. We went to school with them and had many friends. My mother painted all the ceramics for the rez gift shop so, no.

angie Brooksby-Arcangioli said...

Getting mentioned in the WiR is the icing on the cake.

Dear QOTKU, thank you for checking those link on rights and the insight that they are jibberish.

Adib, did you see Christina's Carkoon Pinterest link?

Adib Khorram said...

Angie: I did indeed, though I was unable to find any heraldry.

I think my favorite thing was probably the Shark sleeping bag.

Anonymous said...

Link fixed:

http://publishlawyer.com/rights-101

That should work.

If I'm mistaken about what he says, I'm sorry.

He says he's a publishing attorney.

I spent a lot of time last night checking out submissions guidelines, payment and rights bought for several magazines. Many of them say they buy First North American Serial Rights, or First World Rights, or First Electronic Rights. Or even a combination of those. A couple bought First Australian Serial Rights. One or two bought first English language serial rights.

So maybe I'm dense, and if I am, I'd love to have it explained to me.

Again, I'm sorry to cause such a ruckus. I do think it's important that people who write and sell short stories know about the rights they're selling. Since I plan to sell some short stories, I'd like to be sure I know what's going on.

DLM said...

Craig makes pecan pie? To die for?

If it were not for the fact as placed in evidence by my scale, I would be batting my eyelashes right now. Gossamer the Editor Cat is giving me Affronted Puddy Face at the very idea I shall not - but Goss's figure is cuter than mine.

I'm tired of reCAPTCHA's image puzzles because they use way too many teenly low-res images to see some of their selections. Thumbnails are hard on the hard-of-seeing.