More Queries

Since getting my rejections from a couple of children's book agents, I really believe that the project would better be pitched directly to a publisher. But, I am choosing right now to concentrate on a non-fiction book that I think has a lot more market possibilities. The question for this one, of course, is whether to query agents or publishers. I's rather try to get an agent to do a lot of this for me, but I think I might just query publishers right now and try to get somewhere that way. In the end, there is the distinct possibility that none of it will matter and no one will be interested in this book. My time would probably better be spent on seeking new freelance clients.

Will that stop me? Heck no. There's nothing like a book project to get me feeling creative and excited. Most of my fiction has been abandoned at some point because there's really no limit on what can happen in the book. I can go on for years with fiction, tooling and retooling a piece of dialogue or adding scenes that I thought of while in the shower. But, a non-fiction book has a much more distinct flavor. There's an actual stopping point with non-fiction. At some point, the topic has been covered to your satisfaction and the book ends. So, win or lose, this is my project and I'm going to try to get it noticed. I'll post when I start getting rejections.

A Gush Over Fareed Zakaria

Anytime I read anything, and that includes cereal boxes, I always consider how I would reword some of it. I don't think I'm better than everything I read, I just always find passages that I think could have been better. Sometimes it's awkward phrasing, sometimes it's a cliche, and sometimes it's just a crappy paragraph.

The only modern writer that I can read without ever doing that is Fareed Zakaria. He's a Newsweek columnist as well as being Newsweek International's editor. He sometimes pops up elsewhere, but I mainly know him from reading Newsweek. One recent pop up was on The Daily Show, which really freaked me out. Who knew my hero was popular enough to go on The Daily Show?

Fareed Zakaria's writing is so superb and so nuanced that it feels completely effortless. It's like stepping into bathwater that's exactly the right temperature. Nothing in his writing ever feels forced. He uses facts and figures in the perfect places without ever coming across as aggressive or snotty. His complete understanding of what he's writing about shines through. He keeps his own opinions visible, though they aren't the driving force of the work.

He is simply the most amazing columnist I've ever read, and I would so marry him if he asked me. If I met him on the street, didn't know where we would live or whether he snored or smoked cigars, I would still marry him. Is there a Fareed Zakaria fan club? If so, I would welcome wearing a t-shirt with his picture on it and possibly putting a bumper sticker with his head on it on my car.

Here's this week's column, which is entirely flawless: A New French Revolution

Last week's was one of my very favorites, since he talks a little about his own experiences. At first it feels like he's doing it to start off in a conversational tone or to use a holiday reference to start the column out slowly. But after reading it a couple of times, it looks like he uses his personal experiences to establish himself as a outsider (born outside the U.S.) who understands the immigrant experience, but also as an insider who loves America and is therefore free to criticize it. Move over, Mark Antony.

The Seven Things Meme

I was tagged for a meme challenge by two people yesterday- same challenge. Those have always looked like fun- that's for the tags! The rules are to reveal seven things about yourself, link to the ones who tagged you and then tag seven other people and post the links to their blogs. Here goes:

I was tagged by Easing Chronic Pain and Anything Parenting.

1. I LOVE Beauty and the Geek and Project Runway. They are the only reality shows I can stand.
2. I usually write until about 3 a.m. and then take a nap in the afternoon.
3. When I get strapped for time I use voice recognition software and dictate my work.
4. I have a cage full of anoles.
5. I am a huge Anglophile.
6. I have big curly hair and look kind of like Bob Dylan.
7. I am a Trekkie to the point that I sometimes think- what would Kirk do?

I am tagging:

Web Writing Info
Geek Parenting
Slacker-Moms-R-Us
Drawing on Words
Writing on the Wall
Work at Home Mom to Five
Fiction Writing- The Passionate Journey

You've been tagged!

Rejected by Two Literary Agents - Woo Hoo!

I've gotten two rejections from literary agents already, which I thought was pretty impressive. The first came the day after I sent the query. Since most agents I looked at advise waiting up to six weeks for an answer, that was an agent who definitely knew what she didn't want- me. I expect to be rejected by all of them, since the project I was pitching is very weird and there's nothing really like it on the market.

To get it published I would probably need to send it directly to publishers, and I have another book project that I would rather spend that time on. But, now that I've gotten my feet wet with agent queries, I expect to be much less nervous when pitching my much-more-marketable book. And hey, there are still six or seven other agents out there who haven't yet responded. There's always the chance that one of them won't hate my weirdo book. Isn't there? Maybe not.

At the End of My Rope With Cliches

Keeping cliches out of my writing has been a struggle that I think I am finally starting to win. I had a problem in high school and college with being heavy on the cliches, and it took a lot of awareness and editing to get myself out of the habit. For a long time I would skim over my writing and take out the cliches, replacing them with a phrase that was a more personal representation of what I was trying to get across. I think it worked well and I think I have cut them out of my writing in most cases.

The problem lies in what is considered a cliche. There are as many answers as there are writers, and some phrases that I never considered to be a cliche are considered by others to be so. I found this mega list of cliches, and some of them I certainly don't consider to be anything other than a couple of words that are often used together. And as for the one word examples- um, no. A cliche, in my opinion, is something that is an easy way of expressing something, and expressing it in a way that is far too common.

Sure, "asleep at the wheel" is a cliche. But, is baby boomer? That made the list, but I've used it several times to describe that specific generation, and I would not cross it out as being a cliche. What is the line between language that slows down the copy and language that is simply accessible? It can be touch and go to cash in your chips an call a spade a spade in these instances.

What Tone Should Your Writing Have?

I love it when clients give you the tone they want- conversational, highly technical, comical, positive, evil- whatever they want. But when they don't give you a tone, what should you do? I use one of two techniques, depending on the situation. I can either analyze what I know it's going to be used for and set the tone to what those readers will likely want to read, or I use my "magazine tone."

Figuring out the context can be helpful, but sometimes the client had something else in mind that you didn't now about. Normally, I don't discuss much about what a client asked for or told me, but since this guy never paid, I feel pretty free to do so. He contracted with me for a handout for office workers. Now, not being given a tone, but knowing that it was for office workers, I settled on a fairly straightforward style that was something that a high school senior could read easily. He ended up wanting it redone, saying that he wanted it at a 5th grade reading level. He then sent samples he had gotten from another freelancer and directed that it be written along those lines.

The samples were indescribably bad. Really, really, really bad. They were nowhere near 5th grade level- more like 2nd or 3rd grade. Something like that would be insulting to an office worker. When I worked in an office, if I had been handed something like that I would have been pissed. I reworked the thing to make it as simplistic as possible, but it was almost painful to do so. When the client wants something that you know isn't going to go over well, you just have to bite the bullet and do it, even if you know that the tone and complexity should be something else. But, without a guideline or any direction, I had done the best I could. Usually simply looking at the potential audience works very well.

My magazine tone, as I call it, is for when I am given little direction and don't really know what the articles will be used for. That is a tone that is technical enough to give the work credibility, but is conversational enough so that it doesn't feel inaccessible. This tone is what most people end up wanting for their work, and it fits in probably 90 percent of the work I do. I think it's a good, readable tone that works for most web writing.

The Amazon Kindle

I had never heard of the Amazon Kindle until yesterday, but when it rains- it's constantly thrust into your face until you have to write about it. Heading to Amazon yesterday, I saw it proudly described on the front page in a letter from Amazon's founder. Then, later in the day, it arrived on the cover of my Newsweek. Today it still commands Amazon's full front page and it's being compared to Gutenberg's press in the media. So what is this thing?

Basically, the Kindle is a small, light book reader built to be ergonomic and easy to hold with one hand. It can hold hundreds of books, making it much easier to lug a lot of books around with you. It's also supposed to have lighting that reduces eye strain. It's not backlit, and if you view the demonstration of it, the lighting looks pretty pleasant- not a blinding white but not dim enough to cause strain. The Kindle is brand spanking new, but it's already sold out and Amazon is now taking advance orders. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, seems to have a lot of hope for the device, as do the many customers who have jammed the site with orders.

At first, I frankly thought it sounded stupid. I like the tactile experience of a book. I don't care if the book is worn, I don't care if it's heavy, and I don't mind lugging a separate bag of books on a trip. I don't know if I can ever convert to some type of electronics over a physical book. But after viewing the video about it, I have to say it does sound pretty cool. It isn't just books- you can get a newspaper sent to it, and carry around as many books as you like anywhere you go. I don't know if any of that is necessary- the newspaper still comes to your house and a book can still be put in your purse or pocket, but it's a neat idea.

It's kind of the iPod for books- have access to hundreds of books anywhere you go, just like iPod people have access to their thousands of songs. Neither of these is a pressing need, but could be fun to have. The price is a but high right now, but it does come with a few perks. New-release books for it are $9.99 apiece, which is a lot less than most new releases, and the books get stored in your computer as well in case anything happens to your Kindle. On the downside, of course, it's a lot of cash. You could buy yourself a room full of used books for what this baby costs. It all comes down to personal preference- do you need to have your books with you all the time, or do you travel a lot and hate carrying lots of books? Or, are you the low-tech type who always has a handful of paperbacks nearby and wants to keep it that way? I'm definitely the latter, but if the price should ever fall by a few hundred dollars, I might be willing to give it a try.