Thursday, April 2, 2009
New Kitty
We have a new addition to the household: "Dawn's Choice" (Choice) is an 8-year-old American Shorthair, silver shaded, retired-from-the-beauty-queen-circuit, female (spayed) cat. Photos at Picasa. (Or try the Picasa link at the upper left and click on the Family album.)
Sabbatical
Read Writing Life Stories: How to Make Memories into Memoirs, Ideas into Essays, and Life into Literature by Bill Roorbach with Kristen Keckler. Cincinnati,OH: Writer’s Digest Books, 2008 (fully-revised 2nd edition). In an appendix, it lists memoirs in the form of journals and diaries, so I looked these up in Amazon and the libraries to see their form and publisher (May Sarton’s journals use a similar format as Nouwen’s and the sabbatical journal of John Royston Coleman (Blue-collar journal: a college president's sabbatical), which I then used for my manuscript). None of the others were really appropriate to list as “competition” in proposals. None of the publishers appropriate for my manuscript.
Faith Adiele, in Meeting Faith: The Forest Journals of a Black Buddhist Nun, (NY: W.W. Norton & Company 2004), used the margins to comment on her diary entries and to put quotations relevant to the entries. Not really a format I aspire to, but interesting.
Also read The Autobiographer’s Handbook: The 826 National Guide to Writing Your Memoir by Jennifer Traig (ed.). NY: Holt Paperbacks, 2008. It listed a memoir about faith, Jesus Land, from Counterpoint LLC (http://www.counterpointpress.com/about.html). I can’t see if they accept unsolicited mss. Wrote an email to them to ask. The 2 relevant titles from them are:
• The Scent of God: A Memoir. BERYL SINGLETON BISSEL
• Jesus Land: A Memoir. JULIA SCHEERES
Received an answer from Counterpoint Press: they do not accept manuscripts from individuals, only from agents.
Revised all proposals, sample chapters, & the manuscript itself by removing double spaces & replacing with single spaces. Wrote 1st proposal in 2nd tier of publishers. Wrote 2nd proposal in 2nd tier of publishers--I'm not too hopeful about this one as it seems be be primarily focused on Baptist materials.
Because it has been 6 1/2 weeks since I sent the very 1st proposal out (the only one in my 1st tier that did not want simultaneous submissions) & they haven't responded (they say they respond in 4 weeks; a directory said 4-6 weeks), I sent out the other 5 proposals in my 1st tier (all allow simultaneous submissions).
Faith Adiele, in Meeting Faith: The Forest Journals of a Black Buddhist Nun, (NY: W.W. Norton & Company 2004), used the margins to comment on her diary entries and to put quotations relevant to the entries. Not really a format I aspire to, but interesting.
Also read The Autobiographer’s Handbook: The 826 National Guide to Writing Your Memoir by Jennifer Traig (ed.). NY: Holt Paperbacks, 2008. It listed a memoir about faith, Jesus Land, from Counterpoint LLC (http://www.counterpointpress.com/about.html). I can’t see if they accept unsolicited mss. Wrote an email to them to ask. The 2 relevant titles from them are:
• The Scent of God: A Memoir. BERYL SINGLETON BISSEL
• Jesus Land: A Memoir. JULIA SCHEERES
Received an answer from Counterpoint Press: they do not accept manuscripts from individuals, only from agents.
Revised all proposals, sample chapters, & the manuscript itself by removing double spaces & replacing with single spaces. Wrote 1st proposal in 2nd tier of publishers. Wrote 2nd proposal in 2nd tier of publishers--I'm not too hopeful about this one as it seems be be primarily focused on Baptist materials.
Because it has been 6 1/2 weeks since I sent the very 1st proposal out (the only one in my 1st tier that did not want simultaneous submissions) & they haven't responded (they say they respond in 4 weeks; a directory said 4-6 weeks), I sent out the other 5 proposals in my 1st tier (all allow simultaneous submissions).
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Sabbatical
Finished the journal article and wrote to the editor again, who said to send it along, so I did.
Read The Art of the Book Proposal: From Focused Idea to Finished Proposal by Eric Maisel. NY: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2004. Then modified the proposals according to its suggestions. Read several other books like this one...they all say the same things.
I'm working on a website for the book; have received many good suggestions for making it better.
Worked again on the list of publishers, moving names between the 2nd & 3rd tiers, in preparation for writing the proposals for the 2nd tier.
Read The Art of the Book Proposal: From Focused Idea to Finished Proposal by Eric Maisel. NY: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin, 2004. Then modified the proposals according to its suggestions. Read several other books like this one...they all say the same things.
I'm working on a website for the book; have received many good suggestions for making it better.
Worked again on the list of publishers, moving names between the 2nd & 3rd tiers, in preparation for writing the proposals for the 2nd tier.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Sabbatical
A journal to which I subscribe sent me a call for articles for special issues earlier this year, so I proposed an article: "I spent 2 years studying and worshiping with the Seventh-day Adventists as a Quaker in their midst, and was recorded as a Minister of Ecumenism in the Grand Rapids Friends Meeting (MI) for this period. I documented the "particular challenges" and how I met them, as I "strove to keep my outward life in harmony with my faith" as a recorded member of the Friends. I propose an article on what I learned and how I grew through these encounters: how we might meet each other within Christianity and across denominations, crossing boundaries in order to learn about the other, but not violating the integrity of either practice."
This journal ask writers to send a query email before submitting an article. I finished writing the article but haven't heard back from the editor--it's been 10 days. How long do I wait for a response?
This journal ask writers to send a query email before submitting an article. I finished writing the article but haven't heard back from the editor--it's been 10 days. How long do I wait for a response?
Thursday, March 12, 2009
James Cowan
The lecture called “Art as Spirit among the Australian Aborigines” by James Cowan was great!
First, I got to meet him before the talk.
Second, the talk was fun. He said a couple of things that really stuck in my mind: "the land is the mythic hero," and that this is essentially "spiritual ecology." Also that the Aboriginal painters weren't creating "art" but ritual, that they were telling the story of their Dreaming. He had many slides of the paintings.
Third, I was in the group that went to lunch with him after the talk.
Fourth and best of all, I drove him back to the place he is staying--so we got some time to chat privately. We talked about mysticism in spirituality/religion. I asked him how we live the connection to God/live the Dreaming and still live in the world, especially when we as a society are so cut off from the earth? We talked a bit about that (Quakers have a mystic religion and try to take the leadings we receive from the Spirit into the world--a continuous cycle; he is Greek Orthodox and finds this to be the most mystical of the Christian denominations). We have to live a more ascetic life, he said--live with restraint. (Simplicity to Quakers.) We also have to live out looking for the gem ("that of God" in Quaker language) in each person we meet. He is trying to convey this mysticism in his writing--especially in Desert Father. He sees some movement in American society moving in this direction (the "emergent church") yet also sees the backlash from those who are trying to hold onto the past tradition of needing to have answers for everything. He said that the "cave" of the desert fathers/abbas has to be in our mind, not a literal ascetic shelter. He suggested that I read Desert Father and email him with my thoughts (email supplied).
How cool is that?
First, I got to meet him before the talk.
Second, the talk was fun. He said a couple of things that really stuck in my mind: "the land is the mythic hero," and that this is essentially "spiritual ecology." Also that the Aboriginal painters weren't creating "art" but ritual, that they were telling the story of their Dreaming. He had many slides of the paintings.
Third, I was in the group that went to lunch with him after the talk.
Fourth and best of all, I drove him back to the place he is staying--so we got some time to chat privately. We talked about mysticism in spirituality/religion. I asked him how we live the connection to God/live the Dreaming and still live in the world, especially when we as a society are so cut off from the earth? We talked a bit about that (Quakers have a mystic religion and try to take the leadings we receive from the Spirit into the world--a continuous cycle; he is Greek Orthodox and finds this to be the most mystical of the Christian denominations). We have to live a more ascetic life, he said--live with restraint. (Simplicity to Quakers.) We also have to live out looking for the gem ("that of God" in Quaker language) in each person we meet. He is trying to convey this mysticism in his writing--especially in Desert Father. He sees some movement in American society moving in this direction (the "emergent church") yet also sees the backlash from those who are trying to hold onto the past tradition of needing to have answers for everything. He said that the "cave" of the desert fathers/abbas has to be in our mind, not a literal ascetic shelter. He suggested that I read Desert Father and email him with my thoughts (email supplied).
How cool is that?
Sabbatical
This week I looked up yet another set of publishers & added 2 publishers to the list and weeded out several possibilities. Also created a draft marketing plan.
Finished my 6th proposal.
Read a book by Herman, Jeff. Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, & Literary Agents: Who They Are! What They Want! How to Win Them Over! Waukesha, WI : Writer Books, 2009 ed. 19th ed. ISSN: 1548-1344.
Based on that, I then modified the proposal letters for 2 of the completed proposals according to Herman's guidelines, & finished modifying the other 3 proposals.
Today I'm off to a lecture called “Art as Spirit among the Australian Aborigines” by James Cowan (1942-). I know I've read at least one of his books, and he has had shows at GVSU--his collections of Aboriginal art are fantastic.
Finished my 6th proposal.
Read a book by Herman, Jeff. Jeff Herman's Guide to Book Publishers, Editors, & Literary Agents: Who They Are! What They Want! How to Win Them Over! Waukesha, WI : Writer Books, 2009 ed. 19th ed. ISSN: 1548-1344.
Based on that, I then modified the proposal letters for 2 of the completed proposals according to Herman's guidelines, & finished modifying the other 3 proposals.
Today I'm off to a lecture called “Art as Spirit among the Australian Aborigines” by James Cowan (1942-). I know I've read at least one of his books, and he has had shows at GVSU--his collections of Aboriginal art are fantastic.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Sabbatical
Worked on adding to & refining the publisher list. I found that some are subsidy/self-publishing presses of larger publishers, so I put them at the end. Others require agents or are have too narrow of a focus, or are just not right for this project. Finished the 5th & 6th queries/proposals.
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