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An old saying goes: "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." I am reminded of that whenever I get ready to start writing a new book. A journey of eighty or ninety thousand words (or more) begins with a single word, an initial sentence, the first paragraph, section, and chapter . . . and marches forward like a journey of a thousand miles. Writing a novel takes endurance, persistence, and inner strength.
As you travel the Writing Road, you are likely to run into obstacles. Everybody runs into dead ends, roadblocks, and stretches of bad road. (Watch out for bandits, especially time bandits!) Along the way, you're going to discover that there were lots of preparations you wish you'd made: improved hiking boots, rain gear, more detailed maps or a GPS, etc. But you've never taken this particular journey before, so of course you don't know everything you need to know in order to have a fabulous - and perfect - experience. Some of the time you'll be uncomfortable, perhaps even miserable, because nobody can plan for everything, and no single trip goes exactly the same as any other.
Like many writers, I go through periods where I doubt why I'm writing, and whether I can keep on. I get fatigued. Sometimes I feel appalled because I learn new information about craft and technique and realize that previous writing was not as accomplished as I wish it could have been. As I've talked to other writers, I have come to understand that this happens to nearly everybody.
You Don't Know What You Don't Know
I have said this over and over when I teach and speak (and probably ought to make it the sub-title to my How-To book): You don't know what you don't know. Like a camper who finds out how to pitch a tent after much trial and error, you, too, will likely discover the hard way what you don't know, and sometimes that's embarrassing, time-consuming, or even painful.
Initially, we do the best we can with what talents we possess. We hope for help from other writers and from our editors, and we constantly try to improve our skills and tactics. But you can't address topics or issues or weaknesses if you don't even know what they are. Like everyone else, you're going to learn all that gradually.
Just when you think you've learned the drill, you may discover with the next writing journey that much of what you learned with the last book doesn't apply entirely to the next book. Ellen Hart often says that every book you write will call for different skills, a different focus, different talents. Some of those talents you may have to work hard to master.
And if you ARE having the same exact experience over and over with every book you write, your readers are not going to be all that happy after a while. If the writer doesn't stretch and learn and try to deliver something new on the page, then the reader eventually poops out and stops taking the journey with you.
So it's highly likely that every journey through a book will be something new and different, just like hiking the Appalachian Trail is going to be significantly different from hiking Crater Lake Trail in Arizona. You're still out on a trek, but the terrain is surprisingly varied. You can study up, get advice from those who've been to each locale, and try to prepare, but you can't plan ahead for all inclement weather, for washed out trail sections, or for unexpected illness. No writer can fully know what to expect when beginning work on the next project.
The Unexpected, The Out of Control, The Maddening
I can't count how many students and authors I've talked to who tell me they started a project with the best of intentions, and somewhere along the way, it took a left turn into the wilderness. Or it jumped genres. Or the characters refused to carry the plot in the way the writer intended. Or any number of other problems cropped up.
We'd like to think that we're in total control of our writing, but the fact is that some of it comes up out of the unconscious, that deep well that's hard to tap and often delivers in dreams - which we then have so much trouble remembering. Robert Olen Butler, in his writing book From Where You Dream, wrote: "Art does not come from the mind. Art comes from the place where you dream. Art comes from your unconscious; it comes from the white-hot center of you."
This means that you can't control every aspect of the writing journey. Unexpected themes arise. Maddening details catch you unawares. If you think you can control all of that, then you're likely to get frustrated and perhaps even give up.
I'm reminded of a scene near the end of the movie "Parenthood" where Steve Martin and Mary Steenburgen are at their kids' school play, and everything starts falling apart on stage. The Steve character is tortured. His kid has messed up in a big way, and he feels even more stressed than he has been through all the previous parts of the movie. He suddenly starts feeling like he's on a roller coaster, dizzy, about to get sick. With the sound of the roller coaster going, he finally "gets" what his wife and many others have been trying to tell him all along: There's nothing you can do about Life - you just have to quit worrying and enjoy the roller coaster ride. He laughs. Suddenly he realizes that if he can't control everything, well, jeez----it's actually funny as hell.
This is what you have to do with a book. You can't take it so seriously that you're ready to let the roller coaster derail and kill you. Instead, you have to look at the writing process as a bumbling series of learning opportunities that (thankfully) you mostly do by yourself. There'll be plenty of time later to share your work - but those early drafts are yours to muck around with all you like.
Angels and Devils and Alchemy
I know logically that I can't control every aspect of the writing process, and yet, I, too, am often discouraged, and it seems like I have to do constant self-talk to stay on track. Just as an example, the conversation goes something like this:
DEVIL ON MY SHOULDER: You're writing crap. You're definitely the worst writer ever! You may have gotten some good reviews for the last book/story/article, but this one is going to stink to high heaven!
ANGEL: No, it's not! It's your first draft. Don't listen, just keep writing.
DEVIL: You're making a big mistake. You're waaaaay too stupid to pull this off. This time you've finally bit off more than you can chew.
ANGEL: No, you haven't. Quit looking at the thing in its entirety. One foot forward, then the other. Baby steps all the way. You can't take such an enormous journey all at once. Just breathe, and keep on moving, one small step at a time.
DEVIL: But it sucks! It's isn't flowing at all, and you know what? It's not going to work!
ANGEL: It *always* sucks, remember? First drafts are hard. You're perfectly capable. You can do this.
DEVIL: This part is NOT going to come out right. Heh heh heh… No matter what you do, it'll be rotten.
ANGEL: Skip that section and leave a note you can come back to. Move on to the next part because hey, that next scene is clear. Don't wallow in the worry - keep on trucking.
DEVIL: You'll never be able to write this scene!
ANGEL: Ridiculous. Of course you can write it. You're just not ready yet. You need more info, more thinking time - just move on, and stop dithering!
And so on and so on and so on . . . more worries, more kvetching, more nervousness. . .
The important thing that I've learned is that at some point into a first draft, if you keep traveling, eventually it starts to flow. If you persist, EVENTUALLY it comes. Sometimes I think that's the Universe's way of testing whether you really have the strength and persistence to make the whole journey. We get tested early on because God knows there will be many more obstacles (editors, promotions, critics, etc.) to come.
But if you do persist, once you have a draft, you can clean it up. You put on your editing hat, show the manuscript to friends, consult your resource books, maybe even pay an editor, and you keep on going step by step. You get smarter, your writing muscles grow stronger, and you learn new things that help you now and with your future journeys.
Writing is not an area where you can be a perfectionist, at least not initially. You've got to write a lot of Crap before you can parse out the good stuff. That's probably the one thing that blocks the greatest number of my students. They're not willing to write Crap, share Crap, or acknowledge that the whole point of revision is to put on your Alchemist's hat and transform that Crap to Gold.
The Road is Long, The Journey Sometimes Hard
It's not unusual to feel writing fatigue periodically and to need a break for rest and to amass new information. In fact, if you're doing some study and resource checking, and not actually drafting, maybe that's where you need to focus for the time being. But you can't afford to spend a lot of time running yourself down and fretting about your writing of the past because the only thing you have control of is now. If you want to improve future writing, then focus forward. Do go on a journey to learn new skills and to find out more of what you don't yet know. But don't beat yourself up if you get sidelined in camp for 48 hours because you had no idea wearing one pair of good socks would give you blisters and you should have worn an extra liner pair. Do what you need to do to repair the problem, then travel on.
In my humble opinion, every new book should be a new journey, a new opportunity to try out what you've learned and to advance in your craft. If you were already perfect in nearly every way, what's the point? Even in our current flawed and searching states, we're already farther along in the journey than about 95% of the American population who have never published a book, much less actually written a complete first draft. Just because you haven't managed to take over Joyce Carol Oates' mind and career doesn't mean that you can't aspire to write with as much confidence and skill as she has. (I always love to use Oates as an example because she churns out books faster than practically anyone besides Nora Roberts, and they're always so well-written. How does she do that!)
All writers must take time to recharge batteries. Making time for learning and research is a good way to add to your journey gear, which can only help in the long run. Stop fretting that nobody ever told you to get the waterproof matches and now you're spending inordinate amounts of time on hands and knees with a magnifying glass and a piece of dry bark. Eventually, you WILL get sparks, and you'll be excited when they start burning nicely. Pretty soon, out of the ashes, a new fire will burn hot and true, and you'll be ready to write that next project. Don't rush it. It'll come.
Do what you can to stoke up that fire, and then once you have it all banked properly so that you're feeling warm and comfy, dry out your matches, put them somewhere safe, preferably on your person, and cherish them. Those are magic matches you'll need to light future fires.
Some of my magic matches include my partner, writer friends who give me moral support, resource books that inspire and inform, daily exercise, and Milky Way dark chocolate bars. (Those last two things seem to cancel one another out.)
Little by Little...
Whatever you use to help you pry out your first drafts, cherish those tools like a hiker holds fast to a canteen and good boots. You can always add more gear, too, more ideas, more tactics, more craft knowledge.
As it turns out, I'm not particularly Scrabulous. For a wordsmith, it's amazing how much I suck at playing the online version of Scrabble.
I got into this frustrating cyber game as a consequence of my foray into the baffling and relentless world of social networking. And it seems to be taking over my life. Social networking is like an online social disease. I don't know how I got it and it won't go away.
It started when I got an e-mail invitation from a friend to join Facebook. You know me, I hate turning down invitations. Once I joined, I was instructed to ask all my friends to join as well. After days of adding myself as a friend to folks with Facebook pages and then inviting old and new friends to my own fledgling Facebook page, things started to spin out of control.
I began hearing from people from the great beyond - like back in college or even high school, plus I was getting invitations to become friends with people I didn't even remember. It was the invitations to become friends with friends of friends that started making me crazy. I was so busy inviting friends to join Facebook and then My Space, I got confused and started inviting people to join My Face.
And was that face red when buddies asked me what Facebook was all about and I had no bloody idea.
The next thing I knew, I received cyber Petunias from a site called Green Patch and was invited to send people cyber shrubbery to help raise money to save the rain forest. I tried to figure out how to forward flowers to a bunch of folks but at the end of the day I got so flustered I'm probably responsible for the loss of several hundred acres along the Amazon.
And Then There was Bookshelf...
And speaking of Amazon, there's a Facebook thing called Bookshelf, which somebody invited me to join. For the next several days I used every waking moment clicking on books I've read and writing mini-reviews of them so the Bookshelf geeks - whoever they are - will understand my reading preferences to recommend books for me. I checked off everything from Catcher in the Rye to Kite Runner. At one point, in the upper right-hand portion of my screen appeared the words YOU ARE NOT READING ANYTHING RIGHT NOW. Of course not, you cyber poops, I'm filling up my virtual bookshelf and wasting time writing book reports when I could have been doing something productive like playing online Scrabble.
It's bad enough when you put your hand in the Scrabble bag and pull out all vowels in a regular game, but when the computer sticks you with iiieeoa who do you bitch at? One afternoon the dogs found me screaming at my flat screen monitor and wondered if it had peed in the house.
Meanwhile back at Facebook, friends and acquaintances are inviting me to join all kinds of communities, like college alumni associations, sports team groups, The National Sarcasm Society. That one was a temptation. And I just got invited to spend time answering movie quizzes and writing movie reviews. This will be a great way to fill my time when I'm in the rest home, but right now there's stuff happening in the real world and I'm sitting here writing a review of Spaceballs. Somebody help me.
Best I can tell, cyber social networking is a self-fulfilling prophecy because if you do it right you have no time for real life social networking.
I finally located the "cancel" link for the movie quiz thing and so far I have confined myself to joining just four Facebook groups - Saints & Sinners Authors (writers who participate annually in a New Orleans GLBT literary conference), One Million Strong for Marriage Equality (it can't hurt), Matt Denn for Lt. Governor, and Six Gay Degrees of Separation, which is a group trying to get one million gay people to sign up so it can make use of our cyber muscle to fight for our rights.
And in the middle of all this social networking somebody poked me. It didn't hurt, but I had no idea why I'd been poked.
Apparently poking is the online equivalent of somebody sticking their index finger in your shoulder. I hate that for real, so getting poked online is especially insulting. On the other hand, cyber hugging, another Facebook activity, is less irritating but no more satisfying. Hugging should be a contact sport, dontcha think?
Then there's the wall thing, where your online friends can leave you messages. I haven't written on the walls since I was five years old. Okay you boomers, remember the TV show Crusader Rabbit where you got a plastic thing to put on the TV screen and you could trace the rabbit's whereabouts? One day, with my burnt umber crayon I wrote right off the screen, onto the floor and up the wall. The parents were not amused.
But now, in my dotage, I'm being asked to write on people's walls. If texting is the new phone call, writing on somebody's wall is the new e-mail. Every day I get messages from friends who have written on my wall.
Naturally, I feel compelled to write back, since everybody can see your site and see who wrote on your wall and see the time when they wrote it and know if you have been prompt in answering or, instead, you are blowing people off in favor of your online Scrabulous game. The pressure to be responsive and clever is positively crushing.
Then there's the "Fay is…" at the top of my Facebook page. You're supposed to write what you are doing at the moment, but nobody writes "Answering this question on Facebook," which is what they are all doing, because like me they are hooked on this idiotic social networking site. I can't even write that I'm playing online scrabble because I had to forfeit my turn because I had all vowels again.
Frankly, I can't be doing anything else, like reading the paper, doing the laundry or finishing my column, because these Facebook questions are requiring so much of my time. So once again I answer "Fay is…trying to keep up with Facebook…"
Oops, it's my turn in Scrabulous. I get a whopping three points for the word "ass." Yes indeedy.
Your move. And make it snappy. I've got to go write on several people's walls, recommend some books, fill out a questionnaire about my taste in music, and see who else is friends with all my friends so I can add more friends and write on more walls and recommend more movies and...
Somebody poke me in the eye and get me off this Facebook page. My column is due by midnight tonight and I still haven't started.
"Fay is...panicking." Somebody help her.
_____
Contact Fay at: FayJacobsrb@aol.com
Fay's website: www.FayJacobs.com Fay Jacobs, a native New Yorker, spent 30 years in the Washington, DC area working in journalism, theater and public relations. She has contributed feature stories and columns to such publications as The Advocate, OUTtraveler, The Baltimore Sun, Chesapeake Bay Magazine, The Washington Blade, The Wilmington News Journal, Delaware Beach Life and more.
Since 1995 she has been a regular columnist for Letters from CAMP Rehoboth, and won the national 1997 Vice Versa Award for excellence. Her columns are collected in the books, As I Lay Frying: a Rehoboth Beach Memoir and the newly published Fried & True - Tales of Rehoboth Beach.
Fay is Publisher and Managing Editor of A&M Books, the publisher of the 14 classic Sarah Aldridge novels.
She and Bonnie, her partner of 25 years, relocated to Rehoboth Beach, DE in 1999. They have two Miniature Schnauzers and a riding lawn mower.
Last fall, I brought my sweetheart to meet my family. In the course of an evening spent looking through old pictures and documents, my brother said something about a great Aunt Jo.
I knew the family on both sides had been riddled with women named Josephine. I knew nothing at all about this one. My brother added, "She never married. She had a friend from work named Vera who used to stay over."
During the 1930s and 1940s my father was mostly at sea. My brother, who is fifteen years older than me, grew up with my mother's family in a big old Boston three-decker, surrounded by aunts. By the time I came along my parents had moved to New York so I never knew the great aunts and uncles.
I asked if he remembered anything else about Great Aunt Jo. It turned out that she and Vera worked in a laundry. My brother said Great Aunt Jo was big and strong and operated the wringer. Wringers were large wooden rolls, operated with manual cranks. Smaller versions were used in homes, often built into or set on top of washing machines. They were used to wring laundry dry by compressing clothing or linens and squeezing moisture out. It took enormous stamina and well developed muscles to operate one of those things eight to twelve hours a day, five or six days a week.
Another Gay Gene in the Family
I gleefully concluded that Jo Murphy was my big butch gay aunt. Finally, I had identified another gay gene in the family.
There were other possibilities. When my mother told me that a younger third cousin had divorced his wife, become a vegetarian and moved in with another boy, I said to myself, "YES!" But we are of the same generation. I wanted queer ancestors.
There was another, longer-lived, great aunt, who kept house for her two single brothers. I have wondered what the brothers got up to when they went out with the boy-os. None of that was conclusive though. Where had I come from? Did the lavender stork bring me?
I can imagine what a difference it would have made to have grown up knowing, or at least knowing about, Aunt Jo... My mother, Aunt Jo's niece, probably had no inkling. Lesbianism just wasn't in her frame of reference. As a Catholic, it's possible my great aunt never came out at all and her relationship with Vera might never have crossed into sin. Since I wasn't out to them, no one in my family would ever have thought to tell me about her even if Aunt Jo had marched in the gay contingent of the Patriot's Day parade. Even today, how many families announce to their offspring that there's a queer in the gene pool?
Aunt Jo herself might not have been very helpful. Say Vera stayed over now and then. Say they felt romantic about each other. Say they were both willing to physically express how they felt timidly, passionately, with great shame or with the glow of multiple orgasms making them fearlessly affectionate in front of their bemused - or amused -- families.
It still would have been verboten to come out to a kid, no matter how clear that I was headed for no-man's land.
So I went though the severe depressions, the suicidal thoughts, the misery of being bullied and the isolation of secrecy just like my great Aunt Jo may have. Instead of offering intergenerational support, my family suffered from a common disease. I don't even want to call it homophobia. Most people are so uneducated about homosexuality they never think of it as an option for their kids, even though they may have lived and interacted with lesbian or gay male people all their lives.
Like any kind of abuse - and I consider the withholding of information about sex education and life style options to be abusive - the cycle must be broken. Thanks to the courage of 1960s liberationists and would-be revolutionaries, thanks to the societal tectonics that altered the gay landscape way back during World War II, I was able, a number of years ago, to get past my fears enough to come out to my brother. As a consequence, his kids, neither of whom seems to have been fortunate enough to inherit a gay gene, know and embrace their gay aunt.
Question I have a manuscript, such as it is, that just needs one last go through and it (hopefully) will be ready to send off. Here's the thing...I have these other stories banging at my brain to be worked on. But I know I have to get the first one finished. How do you all handle it when you got multiple stories running around in your head and you need to focus on one? Or am I a freak well on my way to becoming the next Sybil?
Answer
Dear Sybil,
This is a common problem among madwomen in the attic. But, may I warn you not to berate yourself lest one of your personalities should grow impatient and attack one of the others. Believe me, it is difficult to work if someone has plucked out one or both of your eyes. But never fear, there *is* a key to let yourself out of this particular attic if only you can get the attic shutters open enough to let in some light so that you may see a glint on the skeleton key and know where it lies.
Snatch it up and run for the lock! You will find something amazing. Written upon the side of the key are these words: Go Forth and Multi-Task.
First you work for a few hours - or a day or two - on the new project, busily writing up ideas, short scenes, hunches about beginning, middle, and end, and so forth. You may wish to organize a notebook or a 3-ring binder so you have a place to jot periodic notes or include bits of research. Then after you have rested sufficiently, you simply shift back over to the odious older project that MUST be finished, even though now it is exactly like a giant weight around your ankles as you try to stay afloat in the Sea of Creativity. It *must* be completed, so you have to pay it at least a certain amount of diligent attention periodically.
Remember that the thing that separates the hobbyist from the professional is that while the hobbyist often finishes a draft, she doesn't do all the steps needed to bring the book to published fruition. The professional is the one who finishes the book, revises, works on edits, and proofs the whole thing - and then is ready to rinse, lather, repeat at least one more time when the publisher gets their hands on it.
You may grow to despise, abhor, hate, and/or run screaming from the older project, but that is why the Story Goddess gives you new ideas - to tickle and tantalize your tired brain and to give you hope that although you can no longer see the forest for the trees in the old manuscript (in fact, you can't even see the dirt for the dog poop!), you will at least know that there is somewhere new to travel, something new to consider, some other realm possibly more interesting and challenging to recharge and energize you . . . if only you finish up the damnable old thing and get it out the door.
You will be rewarded if you can do that. You will be soundly beaten about the head by the other members of this Merry Little JAW Band if you don't. So get to work! Work hard . . . but don't forget to play a little when you can't stand it anymore.
Lori L. Lake
Got a question about writing that you want answered? Send it along to Nann Dunne at PruferBlue@aol.com. Please put "Dear JAW" in the subject line. We won't tell anyone who you are unless you want us to. ;-)
Here it is summer all over again
and once more you invade my thoughts
Memories flooding in relentlessly
sweeping me away into a world
that aging leaves behind
Now I am slowly shifting
from this fleeting present to a past
where a decade of familiar songs
and one special singer's voice
harmonized the melody of us
Turning back the hands of time
whose fingers play out the fantasy
transporting warm messages
that caress my fluttering heart
in their old familiar magical way
to reclaim that empty space
from the piece of my heart
you so long ago stole away
I dreamt about you yesterday
We were once again youthful explorers
as we painted each other's spirit
with brushes filled and feathered
to create the mixed colors of love
sprinkled with lingering highlights
of our secret discoveries and
brushstrokes of shared treasures
And so I woke up smiling
ignoring that getting up is slower
and the old mirror's silver backing
is showing its speckles in my hair
and a diffused image comically wrinkled
The summer sun that was always you
still shines in the window of my mind
and you come filtering inside
softly warming my soul and
drying my 'miss you' tears
ever trusting autumn will follow
surrendering its colorful leaves
to gather on muted palettes
splashing their vibrant hues
on the precious graying reverie
that was not a passing dream
but a breathless canvas of reality
a portrait painted exclusively
of those elusive seasons when
I loved you and you loved me
_____ SITN 052205
LLOGRE@webtv.net
Online Poet
I like reading the words
that unmask the quiet stranger
floating beneath the swirling
surface of you
That gentle rippling wave
of your wonderful mind
that openly speaks to the heart
and often touches the soul
Words of experience shared
echoing a wisdom passed along
flowing through a tender caress
of a caring love of life
extended out beyond your "self"
Just a part of who you are
Yet I don't even know you
_____ SITN 051705
LLOGRE@webtv.net
For Dad
I spoke to Death that night.
"Oh, Grim," I said, "Please take him soon.
He's so tired.
Would you embrace him and hold him close?
Comfort him with your strong arms,
Guide him to his next appointment with the cycle that is life?"
A broken body holds a once-bright flame
That's dimmed with time and muted by his pain.
No more to speak - no more to shout in agony,
No more to break - no more by frailty weighed.
"Oh, set him free, dear Friend. Take him, deliver him.
His family waits, on each side of your door.
I'll say good bye - I'll see him on another plane
Oh, gently take him where he's never been before."
I fall into the comfort-rhythm of a metered beat
And let my words pace now across the page,
But in my heart there is no order, no precise
Expression of my feelings or my thoughts.
Because everyone is getting busier and busier, The Lesbian Fiction Herstory and Lesbian Poet Herstory sections will be posted intermittently. I hope to eventually archive these articles on an ongoing basis, so they'll always be available to new and old readers. In the meantime, past articles can be accessed through the links below.
Click the title below and find each poet's history available in the left column of the Lesbian Poet Herstory Page.
Bold Strokes Books is proud to present six classic titles from noted author
Lee Lynch. These are first editions in very good condition (not previously
sold, some shelf-wear or other signs of aging to be expected). Visit the BSB
Webstore and follow the link to Books,
by Author, and Lee Lynch.
Titles include: Toothpick House, The Amazon Trail (collected columns), The Swashbuckler, Home in Your Hands, That Old Studebaker, Sue Slate Private Eye.
Bold Strokes Books is pleased to announce the acquisition of J.M. Redmann's
new mystery in the award-winning Micky Knight series,The Death of a Dying
Man. The novel is scheduled for release in 2009.
Bold Strokes Books is pleased to announce the acquisition of C.J. Harte's new romance, Dreams of Bali, which is scheduled for release as an Eclipse Ebook in 2008.
Bold Strokes Books is pleased to announce the acquisition of Bobbi Marolt's new romance, Between the Lines, which is scheduled for release in 2009.
Click Here to read the current Bold Strokes Books Newsletter.
GLBT Organizations Build Bridges Between Generations of GLBT Storytellers The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Transgender (GLBT) Historical Society and the Lambda Literary Foundation have joined forces to celebrate the contributions of three generations of GLBT Storytellers. The two organizations will host a series of conversations, entitled "Passing On The Pen," designed to pair some of the pioneers of GLBT literature with today's emerging GLBT storytellers. Each event will be held in the gallery of the GLBT Historical Society from 6:30 to 8:30, and will be free of charge and open to the public.
"In the early days of the GLBT community, our literature helped our community find its voice," says Paul Boneberg, the Executive Director of the GLBTHS. "Now it's helping us chart our future."
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About the GLBT Historical Society - The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual Transgender Historical Society (GLBTHS) collects, preserves, and interprets the history of GLBT people and the communities that support them. For more information, visit www.glbthistory.org.
About the Lambda Literary Foundation - The Lambda Literary Foundation is the country's leading organization for LGBT literature. Its mission is to celebrate LGBT literature and provide resources for writers, readers, booksellers, publishers, and librarians. For more information, visit www.lambdaliterary.org.
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If you'd like more information on this topic, or to schedule an interview with Michael Nava, please call 415-865-7148, email Michael at Michael.Nava@jud.ca.gov, or visit www.glbthistory.org.
Following is the current calendar for "The GLBTHS & Lambda Literary Foundation Present PASSING ON THE PEN: Intergenerational Queer Storytellers."
All events begin at 6:30pm with readings by the authors, followed by a Q&A session and book signing. All events end at 8:30pm.
Date -- Participating Authors
Mar 25, 2008 -- Ann Bannon and Victor J. Banis
Apr 15, 2008 -- Michelle Tea, Carol Queen and Rhiannon Argo
May 13, 2008 -- Robert Gluck and Kevin Killian
Jun 13, 2008 -- Katherine V. Forrest and Christopher Rice
Jul 8, 2008 -- Jewelle Gomez and Frederick Smith
Aug 12, 2008 -- K.M. Soehnlein and Trebor Healey
Sep 9, 200 -- Carla Trujillo, Johnny Diaz, Achy Obejas and Michael Nava
Oct 7, 2008 -- Paul Reidinger and Lucy Jane Bledsoe
November TBA -- Dorothy Allison
Dec 9, 2008 -- Jamison Green, Julia Serano, Tristan Crane
Dates and participants are confirmed as of the date of this release (2/22/08), but are subject to change.
Golden Crown Literary Society 2008 Conference
If you haven't yet attended a Golden Crown Literary Society (GCLS) Conference, you've missed a lot. A chance to meet many of the top authors in lesbian fiction today; interesting and informative presentations and panels for writers and readers; the opportunity to speak directly with publishers; networking with peers; autograph sessions; making new friends; and so much more.
The conference will take place July 31, 2008 to August 3, 2008. Pre-conference festivities kick off with a Meet and Greet Wednesday night, July 30, 2008. Reserve the dates now and bring your shades!
The 2008 GCLS Conference will be held at the fabulous 4-star Wild Horse Pass Resort in Phoenix, Arizona. Conference organizers were able to secure this world-famous resort for the incredible room rate of $139 per night, the same amount as the cost of a room last year. Rooms at this resort in-season cost upwards of $400 per night.
Katherine V. Forrest will be the keynote speaker at the conference. Katherine is the internationally known author of 15 works of fiction including the lesbian classics Curious Wine and Daughters of a Coral Dawn, the first novel in her Lambda Literary Award-winning lesbian-feminist utopian trilogy. Her eight-volume Kate Delafield mystery series is a three-time winner of the Lambda Literary Award. Her novels are in translation worldwide, and her stories, articles and reviews have appeared in national and international publications. A recipient of the Lambda Literary Foundation's Pioneer Award, she was senior editor at Naiad Press for ten years (1984 -1994), and has edited or co-edited numerous anthologies.
Katherine has been profiled in USA Today, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Bloomsbury Review, and most major lesbian/gay publications in America, including The Advocate; The Book Report; Curve; Visibilities; as well as abroad (The Queensland Pride, Queensland, Australia; Lesbienne, Paris, France); Tetu (Germany).
Wild Horse Pass Resort is located in the spectacular Sonoran Desert. Set against a backdrop of breathtaking mountains and wild desert, Wild Horse Pass offers a variety of restaurants on-site, a massive swimming pool, a lazy river, horseback riding, a casino next door, a spa, and more. Turn your stay into a family vacation. The GCLS has arranged for the same $139 room rates to apply for the three days preceding and the three days after the conference. The resort is less than ten miles from the Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.
Ticket registration deadline is July 6, 2008. Please plan to join us in scenic Phoenix, Arizona from July 31st to August 3rd. We'll see you there!
In case you haven't already heard from or about us, we are ALPHA WORLD PRESS. We are a new, exclusively lesbian publishing company with fresh, intelligent, and sophisticated books. All of our books are available through Baker & Taylor or Ingram. You can - if you prefer - also work directly with us. We pride ourselves on our quality books and also offer outstanding customer service. No matter what the question, you can expect to hear from us within 24 hours. That's our guarantee. Let us know that you're carrying our books in your store or talking about them on your site and we'll add your store/site to our website to give you a little more exposure, too.
Our authors are scattered through North America, so if you're interested in interviewing them or having one (or more) of them visit your store for a signing, we'd be more than happy to help arrange it.
------- Claiming our Past, Present and Future through Lesbian Literature -------
At Bella Books, we believe stories about lesbians are an essential of life-and so do our readers. If you are an author with a great story about gay women to tell, we want to hear from you.
We're looking for imaginative and entertaining stories that illuminate and celebrate possibilities, fantasies and realities in
lesbian lives. Novels that celebrate the girl-next-door, the best friend, the love of our life and the superwoman that exists in all of us.
Our readers have high standards for exciting, fresh plots, and they relish hours spent with engaging characters. They want books they can't put down, stories they think about for days afterward, and characters so compelling they wish they were real.
To provide our readers with the kinds of stories they demand and deserve, we publish general lesbian fiction, romance, mystery,
action/thriller, science-fiction, fantasy, and erotica. If you believe your manuscript will meet our needs, we welcome your
submission.
Click Here to learn more about our Guidelines for Submission and answers to Frequently Asked Questions.
------- About Bella Books -------
As the largest lesbian-owned publisher of lesbian fiction, with over 250 titles in print, Bella Books' editorial and production expertise is completely focused on books for lesbians. Bella authors reap the benefits of accumulated decades of experience, with editorial mentoring and support. Behind each of our writers stands a team of editors, typesetters and proofreaders working together to produce wonderful, absorbing reading.
Linda Hill, Publisher
Karin Kallmaker, Editorial Director editorialdirector@bellabooks.com
Call for Submissions Blue Feather Books
Blue Feather Books, Ltd., is looking for completed manuscripts, mainly in our core market area of lesbian fiction, but are also willing to consider manuscripts outside that genre that feature strong female characters.
Bold Strokes Books offers a diverse collection of LesbianGayBiTransQueer general and genre fiction. BSB category fiction includes romance, action, adventure, crime, mystery/intrigue, speculative fic (sci-fi/fantasy/horror), and erotica. BSB Victory Editions includes literary and popular fiction as well as non-fiction that explore the LGBT experience in its many forms (contemporary, historical, saga) while telling strong human stories with universal themes. BSB Matinee Books are sharp, entertaining romances designed to be fun, relaxing, sexy reads.
We are interested in quality works from serious authors. The review of a manuscript is a time-consuming and, upon occasion, costly procedure. Therefore, we do not review manuscripts that have been simultaneously submitted to multiple publishers. A confirmation email is sent within 48 hours of receiving a manuscript. Please query us if you do not receive one. Every manuscript is individually reviewed, and every attempt is made to provide the author with a decision regarding our interest in publishing the work in a timely fashion. Our average time to decision regarding publication is 12 weeks.
Call for Submissions Clover Valley Press
www.clovervalleypress.com
Clover Valley Press, LLC, a publishing company specializing in producing quality books written by women of the Northland (primarily Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan), is currently accepting submissions for book-length manuscripts to be published in 2008.
Please send a query letter and sample chapter to Clover Valley Press, LLC, 6286 Homestead Rd., Duluth, MN 55804.
About Our Books
Clover Valley Press encourages female writers to find their voices, and we help them to join the human conversation through publishing. Our niche also focuses on producing books that capture the spirit of the Northland.
Clover Valley Press offers editorial and design services, assisting authors with the process of turning their manuscripts into finished books. Owner Charlene Brown has worked as a free-lance editor for major publishing companies, including Spinsters Ink, and as a development editor for college textbooks. For more information, go to www.clovervalleypress.com.
Call for Submissions
Intaglio Publications
Intaglio Publications is currently accepting submissions for our 2008 publishing schedule. Intaglio Publications is seeking well-written novel length manuscripts for gay and lesbian genre. Manuscripts should be between 40,000 and 120,000 words.
Intaglio Publications accepts original fiction only, no UBER or Fan Fiction please. Intaglio Publications does not accept manuscripts that have been simultaneously submitted to multiple publishers.
Please indicate if the submitted manuscript has been previously published.
Khimairal Ink is a literary magazine dedicated to the best in both genre and mainstream lesbian fiction. The protagonist must be a lesbian and the story must be character-driven, well-written, and well-plotted. Let your imagination soar and send us only your best writing.
We are looking for original unpublished stories but will also consider previously published stories and short excerpts from novels if the excerpts stand on their own. We don't want to see stories that are widely available on the Internet, but will consider stories previously published in e-zines. No simultaneous submissions please.
Length: Up to 8000 words
For Submission Guidelines and more information, Click Here.
Khimairal Ink is a quarterly publication issued in October, January, April, and July. The format is a full-color pdf e-zine that readers can download for free.
Artists who are interested in doing cover and story art please send a query to queries@bedazzledink.com and we'll send you instructions on how to submit samples of your work.
Authors and artists, we look forward to seeing your work. Readers, stop on by and enjoy our diverse offerings.
Call for Submissions L-Book ePublisher http://L-Book.com
L-Book ePublisher is an electronic lesbian fiction only publisher. All books are published in five eBook formats and one Listening.
If you are an author and believe in the future electronic media, L-Book is taking Lesbian Fiction Only submissions.
L-Book is looking for short stories to commuter length novels.
o Novel length stories - 60,000 words minimum to 90,000 words.
o Commuter length novels - 90,000 words minimum to 200,000 words.
o Mini - short stories 20,000 words minimum.
o Nano - stories 10,000 words minimum.
o Anthologies - collection of Nano and Mini Stories approximating 60,000 or more words.
If you have questions, email info@L-Book.com.
Promotion for Authors, Published or Online
From Lynne Pierce
I have an opportunity that authors may be interested in as a way to
promote their work. On the Lesfic_Unbound group I've started posting
excerpts called Sneak Peeks submitted by authors for the group to read.
The author sends me a chapter or selection from a work that is
published, going to be published or that is online and I post one every
few days for the members to read. So far this has had a good reception
from both the authors and the readers. A number of members have
mentioned that, by having a chapter to read, they've decided to try a
book that they wouldn't normally think they would be interested in.
There is a variety of stories being offered from a range of authors,
including excerpts from Lois C. Hart, Fran Heckrotte, Erin O'Reilly, JM
Dragon, Bett Norris and others.
