HOW DETERMINED ARE YOU TO GET PUBLISHED?

HOW MUCH DO YOU REALLY CARE?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by LOU LOU B.A.Hons , Dipl on July 25, 2012 at 6:16am

Hi Sherry, best of luck , i'm sure all your hard work and determination will pay off. Never give up, I have learnt on my writing course to never be afraid of editing a favourite passage you have written,because you will write something even better. This gives great confidence to believe in yourself and enjoy the process of editing, creating inner peace , a feeling of calm and perfection.

I liked your reference to Frankenstein . I love this movie and book. I went recently to the playhouse to see Mary Shelly.I bought the book of the script writing and I got a free poster, long eye lashes . lol. Her life story was fantastic , when we got home on went the movie. She wrote Frankenstein in 24 hours with her group of friends, Lord Byron being one of them . It was a bet to see who could write a short story over night. Amazing stuff.

I am curious to what you are writing , when it's published I would like to read it.

Best wishes . LOU LOU

Permalink Reply by Sherry Antonetti on July 25, 2012 at 8:25am

Thanks! I refer to my book as a beautiful Frankenstein because while she's my creation and I think she's beautiful, I know she has bolts sticking out and missing parts and an abnormal brain and needs tons of editing work, but I love her none the less.

She's 121,071 words long and about Helen of Troy at the age of 65 getting removed from power. She has to start over, with no crown, no title, no husband, no family, and to top it, she thinks she's being punished by the gods with nightly nightmares. Getting to Rhodes, she must win over a new people and a new court, but not all who are friendly are friends.

Permalink Reply by LOU LOU B.A.Hons , Dipl on July 25, 2012 at 9:34am

Hi Sherry,

Your book sounds very interesting, I feel hooked already and want to know what happens next.

Bucket load of wishes to you .

I like the way you refer to your book as Beautiful Frankenstein , I will give one of my writing projects a name .

I have a book on the go , I have several , that way my brain never gets tired.

It's about a fourteen year old girl , giving her account in 1st person of her love crushes , parents , school, her life in general, the ups , the downs , periods, hormones, When things go right and wrong.

I'm enjoying it because it takes me to my teens and I relive emotions, it's not about me, but I use some feelings , that why I create authenticity in my character.

You have 10 children , well done . I have 1 boy he's 16.

Keep me posted on how you are doing and your editing . Have you found prospective agents yet or are you approaching publishers straight?

Best Wishes LOU LOU

Permalink Reply by Sherry Antonetti on July 25, 2012 at 10:15am

I have sent my MS to a e-publishing company that requested a full manuscript after I made a pitch at an online writing conference. Honestly, I hadn't expected such a thing to happen, I was using the pitch session as a practice for when my book was ready. I felt like the dog who caught the car. After three months of writing and editing, I sent it. Now I'm waiting to hear back. The place is reputable. It is a good small company so I am simply waiting.

Guess I should get started on another book.

It sounds like you've got a strong conceptual design of your work. And we have to lift from what we have to convey depth and meaning and render our characters real. Most good writing has to get to the bone of things, whether it is about beauty or pain, or both. Good luck with your projects.

Permalink Reply by LOU LOU B.A.Hons , Dipl on July 23, 2012 at 12:36pm

Hi Jeff, I am really enjoying this site , so many interesting groups to join ,the discussions are very provoking. I want to reply to every thing . Of course I will be selective as I will have no time for other projects.

My art and crafts keep me busy as well as my teaching , I sell my art and craft items. I also work full time teaching adults with Autism and special needs creating Art workshops. In my own Company the business is expanding , in a few months I will rent a shop, I wish to teach special needs ,and recovering cancer patients new skills or enhance them in my workshops.

My writing is another deep passion of mine . Recently the urge to get my true angel story out there is growing stronger.As I care very much that people know that angels do exist .

I am determined , ambitious and a perfectionist. A skill needed at university for my B.A.Hons Degree in Textile Design.

My children's writing course is brilliant . I dream , want and wish to be published . The effort, editing , promotion, patience,practice ,time management, sweat and tears, some red wine, research ,feeling the sense of satisfaction when one has re-written over and over again, then the knowing , the smile , the feeling of accomplishment when your story is finished. That is the determination I have to succeed . I am prepared to learn skills, techniques and to never give up. Not to dwell on any rejection , as it is not personal , to target the correct readers and publishers and to carry on.

When I am not writing , I am painting or making fabric bags or embroidered wall hangings. I have sold several silk paintings in England, France , Spain and Greece.

Having other goals and ambitions, if writing is one's main desire is good, because it helps to de-block the mind and re-energize , as the mind is having a rest from pressure. Ready for the next paragraph of brilliance.

Best Wishes LOU LOU

Permalink Reply by Paul Scott Leinhaas on July 29, 2012 at 11:03pm

Hi Jeff,

I'm glad you asked Jeff because determination incites motivation that awakens sparks that can crack the universe open like an intentional egg created by a clear thinking brain for a body worn down from the publishing wars. I cannot help writing or the documentary side of curiosity and finding things out anymore than I can make my heart beat or my lungs gulp air after a long hold down beneath rolling ground swells. Tolling bells in my ears near rupture want nothing but to swim for the light and pop through the swirling cauldron just above the illusion of calm. I ready myself for the ascent. I want my board, so I can paddle back out but the leash undulates from my ankle like a worm adrift in a sea of tiny bubbles.

And this Jeff is my problem. I write, not market my writing. I have no idea what an agent wants nor do I concern myself with that if we can talk to one another, have some common ideas about writing and the evolution of writing fictional work toward publication. I did not get a degree and study comparative literature and science not to use what I learned. So I need an agent who understands writers with MBA mentalities for me contradict imagination, corrupt and stifle creativity like swimming through a sea of plastic bottles, bags and carcasses of once majestic sea creatures.

I'm determined enough to go through regression in the service of publishing, more rewrites and more slings and arrows of outrageous fortune any one nightmare can possibly inflict on a delicate writers steely resolve. I do not like to go it alone any more than I liked surfing way overhead waves alone when I hit 45. If you got me to tell the truth though, I did that anyway and lived to write the tale and never did fail enough to find Desolation Row. I learned though that I need an agent, a friend in the world of writing. I feel determined someone will get that I may have what will satisfy a reader's curiosity and a market's interest.

I feel the way I did before getting married. Two months before meeting my spousal unit, I gave up on dating or any semblance of pretense in a relationship between me and a partner. On March 27 we met. I proposed June 9th and we married October 3. We have been married for 30 years. I may need a leg up but know what to do when I get there. I do not think I am so different from many writers and artists. I tried the impatience way, got me a title for a book of short stories "Impatience Takes the Local"© 2010. Now I think I will give determination a try again. What's to lose?

Thanks for listening.

Paul S. Leinhaas