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Amy F. Quincy Author/Freelance Writer

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The Business of Writing

Business of WritingThere’s a side of writing that I absolutely hate and I’m no good at. When the work is done and as clean as I can make it, it’s usually time to find it a home. To publish it. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as in the blogging world where you just hit “publish.”

“What do you have to do?” a friend asked me about my book, which to me sounded like, “Oh yeah? What’s so hard about it?”

Nothing. There’s nothing so hard about it. Write a query letter to various agents or publishers, and wait. Or edit it a little to fit the word count requirement if it’s an article or essay. And wait.

“Well, you gotta research websites, make sure they’re a good fit, check their guidelines. Everybody wants things sent a different way,” I complained.

“But your query letter is done, right? Don’t you use the same one?”

“Yeah, but you gotta sit down, change the dates, who it’s addressed to …” Ooh, tough, right? I knew I was stretching.

I mean, really. What’s my problem? It’s not even like I’m shooting in the dark. My writing coach has handed me a list of agents who publish similar things! Which is basically half the work, if not more. So, what’s my excuse?

I don’t have one. Not a good one, anyway. I’ve got plenty of weak ones. Frankie needs walking. I have to go to the gym. The Olympics are on. Actually, those are half decent. Next week, it’ll be: It’s a close game of Words With Friends, The Voice is on, or Frankie ate my query letter. It’s called procrastination, folks. And I’m guilty of it when it comes to submitting my work for publication.

When I’m writing, the words seem to bubble out like coffee from a percolator. It feels like there’s an energy behind them, an unseen motivator urging me on like a personal trainer. Once it’s written, the rest is just work. Like paying bills or doing taxes. The trainer has left the building and I have to benchpress a hundred pounds all by myself. With no one to spot me.

I’m writing this in my pajamas. Submitting something for publication feels like having to set my alarm to get dressed for an interview. Downtown. Or trying to cram my now widened and comfortable feet into stockings and heels. (Do women even still wear stockings or is that just a bad memory leftover from working in the 90s?)

Nevertheless, it’s a necessary evil of the writing world. That is, if you ever want people to read your words. And not just on your blog either.

And now that I’ve complained about it on my blog, my very best excuse, it’s time to hit “publish.” I’ve got other business to attend to.

Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task.  ~William James

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Chain of Bloggers

5286603994_4993b45840_mI feel a bit like I just received one of those chain letters. You know the kind — if you break the chain something bad will happen to you? The Versatile Blogger is an award given to people who blog about a variety of topics. And please don’t get me wrong. I’m grateful to be noticed at all. But the idea is to pass it on. To recognize someone else.

15 someone elses to be exact. I’ll be honest here. I don’t even know 15 bloggers. Let alone have time to read the few I do know to make sure they’re versatile (unfocused) enough.  A fellow writer, Sarah (Full-Time Writer Mom) gave me the title and only awarded it to two others. I’m going to flout the rules even more than she did and award it to just one person. But don’t worry! Before the versatile blogging police deem me unfit and take away my keyboard, they should know: it’s a highly qualified and worthy recepient.

Meet Mary Ellington. Mary writes the blog, Random Thoughts, which is, by very definition, a blog without aim. She’s alternately pee-in-your-pants funny and guaranteed to make you mist up. And best of all she writes willy-nilly like me, scribbling away about whatever topic catches her attention that day. (Mary and I prefer to think of it as inspired writing.)  And here’s a nice bonus: she reads a lot of other blogs so she’s bound to have some interesting recommendations. (No pressure, Mary.)

Some other blogs that are way too on-topic to be considered for this award, but that I’ll shamelessly plug here are writer and author Carol O’Dell’s blog, Risk Play Create,… and Life’s A Bumpy Road by writing pal and retired clinical psycotherapist, Marilyn Fowler. Also, writers should check out my writer’s group new blog, Chat Noir Writers Circle Blog.

Finally, the folks on the Versatile Blogger Award Committee required me to divulge seven interesting tidbits about myself that readers may not already know. And so, I give you the following ridiculous facts:

  • I once owned a powder-blue Dodge Aries K car.
  • I used to play the theme from Ice Castles by heart on the piano.
  • I modeled as a teenager until various agencies suggested I get a nose job.
  • I was a member of Toastmasters International.
  • I could climb on a roof, measure it and write an estimate for any damage.
  • I was a paid extra (hotel employee) in Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise.
  • I pulled the ol’ “change a D to a B” trick on my report card in high school and got busted.

Now, get to work and pass it on, Mary. Should you choose to ignore this mission you will have three years bad luck and never write in this town again. (Just kidding.)

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Keep It Simple Stupid!

 Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone.  The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.  ~Lin Yutang

I have no idea who Lin Yutang is (or was,) but he’s a wise man (or woman.)  You see, I created a lot of pressure for myself in trying to write both for my blog and my book. I haven’t figured out how to do both.  When I’m concentrating on one, the other suffers.  So last week, when the juices started flowing for the book, (which I confess, they haven’t done in some time,) I wondered how on earth I would get it all done.

Then my friend (and fellow writer,) Mary, suggested I focus on the book and forget the blog.  At first my inner type A was indignant.  It scoffed at the idea.  And then I thought, yes.  Why not?  Will I get scads of angry e-mails from hundreds of disappointed readers?  I don’t flatter myself that there are that many.  Besides, the purpose of the blog is to familiarize people with my writing so they will buy my book.  So, I finished another memoir chapter and I’m writing this in the final hour.

So much of our stress is self-induced.  Feeling short on time?  Do you really have to make that yoga class a third time this week?  If it’s stressing you out just to get there, you’re kind of defeating the purpose.  Will you or your family have to go naked if you skip the laundry this weekend?  Throw in a load of socks and underwear and be done with it.  Let it go.  You may find, like me, that once you let yourself off the hook, things are much easier to accomplish.  Sometimes it’s not the items themselves on the list that cause the tension, just the fact that there’s a list in the first place.  I’ll try to remember that next week.

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