Musings from the basement...

How I first got published, part 5 – Revising and rewriting

March 10, 2017 1 Comment

The following is an encore from 2009, presented here in the hopes that the info will be helpful for aspiring authors. I’ve authored or coauthored five books since, and self-published another four, and most of this still applies. So enjoy. Hope it helps! (If you’re joining me in progress, this is the 5th part in a series devoted to outlining how my co-author and I managed to get our book, A Year of Hitchcock, published.) So here’s the part where the joy of getting a contract is smothered in the giant pile of WORK no one tells you about when you first start writing. Because make no mistake, writing is not what you think it is when you daydream about a career as an author….
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Writing

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How I first got published, part 4 – The Waiting Game

March 9, 2017 1 Comment

The following is an encore from 2009, presented here in the hopes that the info will be helpful for aspiring authors. I’ve authored or coauthored five books since, and self-published another four, and most of this still applies. So enjoy. Hope it helps! Welcome to part 4 of a series detailing from start to finish how A Year of Hitchcock went from a neat idea to a published book (Scarecrow Press, 2009). Every step of the way, from writing to pitching to all the work we had to do after it was sold. If you’re an aspiring writer, hopefully this will help give you some insight on the process as my co-author Jim and I experienced it. The query letter was the subject of my last blog…
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Writing

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How I first got published, part 3 – The Query

March 8, 2017 0 Comments

The following is an encore from 2009, presented here in the hopes that the info will be helpful for aspiring authors. I’ve authored or coauthored five books since, and self-published another four, and most of this still applies. So enjoy. Hope it helps! Yesterday I talked about the process by which Jim and I began writing A Year of Hitchcock: 52 Weeks with the Master of Suspense. Week in and week out we were either in front of the TV watching Hitchcock’s work or, more often than not, in front of our keyboards writing, revising, and writing some more. It was midway through the year when we knew we had something publishable on our hands. By this time we has also developed an inertia that wasn’t going…
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Writing

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I need good business cards, cheap, and without murder

March 8, 2017 11 Comments

Business cards are still a thing for some damn reason. I’ve had them over the years in my capacity as an editor, journalist, social media dude & advertising agency guy, and so on, but I do not have them as a freelancer. Just never really needed them, since most of my business comes by referral. I feel like I’ve got to remedy that, though, and they’ve got to look professional. And design, maybe. I probably need a good, basic, but attractive design. So your recommendations are not only welcome, I’m asking for them! There are a million and a half cheap-o printing services out there who do business cards. I worked with several during my time as co-founder of a little advertising agency, though it…
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Uncategorized

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Dirt on Your Hands aka something important I forgot about life

March 7, 2017 2 Comments

Somewhere along the line, we changed our minds about getting dirt on our hands. When you’re a kid, dirt is just something that happens on your way to dinner. It gets on your hands the way aches get in your bones as an adult. You don’t plan for it or think about it. It doesn’t stop your day unless fate is working against you, like your mom telling you to wash up or your back flaring up so bad you can’t get the recycling bin all the way down the driveway. Dirt happened. Your knees would get covered, too, jeans worn to white threads threatening to hole and sneakers equal parts rubber and mud. But it was the hands that did it. Caked dirt, dirt…
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Gardening, Random Musings

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