My robot fish story was rejected! It's one of the favorite things I've written. The readers did not get it, were not engaged, and it did "not resonate."
I think my writing group gave me bad advise apropos the beginning, but that can be fixed. I'll send it out again, of course, because I am so taken with the character.
How am I feeling about this? Absolutely rotten. Ezra Pound said it better. "Out of key with his time" and "fishing by obstinate isles." Yup.
Hugh Selwyn Mauberly [excerpt]
For three years, out of key with his time,
He strove to resuscitate the dead art
Of poetry; to maintain "the sublime"
In the old scene. Wrong from the start--
No, hardly, but seeing he had been born
In a half-savage country, out of date;
Bent resolutely on wringing lilies from the acorn;
Capaneus; trout for factitious bait;
[idmen gar toi pant, hos eni Troiei]
Caught in the unstopped ear;
Giving the rocks small lee-way
The chopped seas held him, therefore, that year.
His true Penelope was Flaubert,
He fished by obstinate isles;
Observed the elegance of Circe's hair
Rather than the mottoes on sun-dials.
Unaffected by "the march of events,"
He passed from men's memory in l'an trentuniesme
De son eage; the case presents
No adjunct to the Muses' diadem.
Why do I even remember this old "stuff" from college English? At least when I give a speech at Toastmasters, I've always lauded for 'colorful speech.'
Onward, onward.
The David Lodge book, Therapy, is good, well, therapy. I laugh like an idiot every night when I am reading it.
Grapeshot
Showing posts with label Ezra Pound. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ezra Pound. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Go, dumb-born book
With apologies to Ezra Pound and all non-English majors among you.
Most writers make an effort to promote their work, and it’s always hard to know if one is doing a good job or not. The rewards of PR are not always reaped in a timely fashion. Sometimes I “google” myself to see where I am mentioned, a somewhat shameful practice best done in private. Normally I find my web site, blogs, the Crimebake, SinC, MWA and sometimes an old obscure mention that brings a smile to my face.
Last week when I “googled”, I found my novel, The Shadow Warriors, mentioned on a “book wanted” Web site. Hmmm. Since anyone can buy my book on Amazon, I researched the “wanted” site. The listing was posted June of ’06. The wanted list belonged to a member of an organization new to me, called Book Crossing. Members leave and take books all over the world, and record the books’ journeys. O.K., so it’s a little weird, but the membership consists of committed readers, a good thing. http://www.bookcrossing.com/ the world's largest free book club.
I registered myself at Book Crossing, and emailed the woman who was looking for The Shadow Warriors, explaining that I had a lightly used copy and was, in fact, the author. Of course I asked how she happened to hear about my novel, since “Grapeshot”is not a household name, like John Grisham or Janet Evanovich. She answered that her partner is a librarian, who had attended a library conference and come home with a book of women mystery writers. My correspondent likes mysteries by women, and she said she went through the book and noted what sounded interesting and put them on her “wanted “ list at Book Crossing, where my Shadow Warriors listing had languished since 2006.
I remembered the library conference in Boston a couple years ago, and that our SinC (Sisters in Crime) chapter had been a big part of the action. We had a nice color brochure introducing our authors, mostly female, and their books. My supposition is that this little booklet made its way back to Kentucky and to a woman who loves to read mysteries by female writers who put The Shadow Warriors on her “wanted list.” And she finally found it. How cool is that?
The moral of this story is that no PR effort is wasted, and our “dumb born books” go into the arms of readers in ways that we cannot even imagine. And that is a good thing.
Of course we like to readers to buy our books, but more than anything we like for our books to be read, checked out of libraries, passed from hand to hand, read. Otherwise, one is a voice crying in the wilderness.
Go, dumb-born book!
Most writers make an effort to promote their work, and it’s always hard to know if one is doing a good job or not. The rewards of PR are not always reaped in a timely fashion. Sometimes I “google” myself to see where I am mentioned, a somewhat shameful practice best done in private. Normally I find my web site, blogs, the Crimebake, SinC, MWA and sometimes an old obscure mention that brings a smile to my face.
Last week when I “googled”, I found my novel, The Shadow Warriors, mentioned on a “book wanted” Web site. Hmmm. Since anyone can buy my book on Amazon, I researched the “wanted” site. The listing was posted June of ’06. The wanted list belonged to a member of an organization new to me, called Book Crossing. Members leave and take books all over the world, and record the books’ journeys. O.K., so it’s a little weird, but the membership consists of committed readers, a good thing. http://www.bookcrossing.com/ the world's largest free book club.
I registered myself at Book Crossing, and emailed the woman who was looking for The Shadow Warriors, explaining that I had a lightly used copy and was, in fact, the author. Of course I asked how she happened to hear about my novel, since “Grapeshot”is not a household name, like John Grisham or Janet Evanovich. She answered that her partner is a librarian, who had attended a library conference and come home with a book of women mystery writers. My correspondent likes mysteries by women, and she said she went through the book and noted what sounded interesting and put them on her “wanted “ list at Book Crossing, where my Shadow Warriors listing had languished since 2006.
I remembered the library conference in Boston a couple years ago, and that our SinC (Sisters in Crime) chapter had been a big part of the action. We had a nice color brochure introducing our authors, mostly female, and their books. My supposition is that this little booklet made its way back to Kentucky and to a woman who loves to read mysteries by female writers who put The Shadow Warriors on her “wanted list.” And she finally found it. How cool is that?
The moral of this story is that no PR effort is wasted, and our “dumb born books” go into the arms of readers in ways that we cannot even imagine. And that is a good thing.
Of course we like to readers to buy our books, but more than anything we like for our books to be read, checked out of libraries, passed from hand to hand, read. Otherwise, one is a voice crying in the wilderness.
Go, dumb-born book!
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