Writing up a storm these days, with more Max Finder Mysteries in the works and another picture book for Soundprints almost complete.
So, basking in the glow of satisfied writing, I took a bloglines break and had my writing pride knocked out of me.
bgliterary is Barry Goldblatt, a literary agent who blogs some seriously useful advice for aspiring writers. He represents some good writers, so it’s not surprising that his main complaint is about the number of bad manuscripts he gets sent (literally hundreds per week – ouch!) The other day he posted about referral abuse by submitting authors (saying that you know someone when you don’t, or when the referee doesn’t even know the referer.) It’s a good warning to anyone who thinks that they can trick an agent or a publisher into accepting their work. There seems to be the belief from many writers that their work is so exceptional that publishers or agents will forgive them for breaking the rules or being deceptive. They won’t.
From bglitery’s blog, he pointed to this litany of advice to would-be writers on John Scalzi’s blog whatever. It’s a bit callous, a bit coarse and extremely funny. Scalzi makes no apologies and the advice should be heeded by anyone who is looking to get published.
Okay, with my ego firmly back in its place, time to get back at it. Scribble, scribble!
