Posted on May 12, 2009 by H. L. Dyer
Well, Prom season is upon us. You may wonder what the heck that has to do with marketing a novel. Well, I’ll tell you.
But first, I’d like to introduce this into evidence:
That’s me (with my sister) on my way to the prom circa 1992.
Now, if you’re like me, after looking at this picture, you’re rubbing [...]
Filed under: What I've Learned, musings, novel | Tagged: agents, editing, family, geekiness, H. L. Dyer, Heather Dyer, hldyer, musings, pitching, publishing, queries, rewriting, Silly Stuff, The Edge of Memory, What I've Learned, writing | 2 Comments »
Posted on April 3, 2009 by H. L. Dyer
If you’re the sort of person that reads my blog, chances are outrageously high that you have heard all about Queryfail and Agentfail. I’ve read all 230+ comments on the BookEnds post.
And what struck me most about the more angry comments posted there was the lack of understanding. I hate the crickets treatment as much [...]
Filed under: What I've Learned, musings | Tagged: agentfail, agents, H. L. Dyer, Heather Dyer, hldyer, musings, queries, queryfail, What I've Learned, writing | 6 Comments »
Posted on March 6, 2009 by H. L. Dyer
So… um… it’s Friday again. Actually, it’s been Friday more than once now. I think with my posting on the QueryTracker.net blog, my In Deep Smit posts will become more biweekly-ish.
But I definitely have something I’m deeply smitten with to share this week.
I’m in the middle of another manuscript revision. An agent who loved my [...]
Filed under: In Deep Smit, What I've Learned, musings, novel | Tagged: editing, H. L. Dyer, Heather Dyer, In Deep Smit, jubilation, musings, novel, The Edge of Memory, What I've Learned | 7 Comments »
Posted on January 9, 2009 by H. L. Dyer
It’s awful late for my weekly posting. I got distracted with shoveling my driveway and cleaning my kitchen.
But it IS Friday, and I am abruptly deeply smitten!
I’ve just discovered a new feature on Facebook (which I already loved).
If you go to your settings, you can change your language to “English (pirate)”.
You’re welcome!
Filed under: In Deep Smit, musings | Tagged: Deep Smit, geekiness, H. L. Dyer, Heather Dyer, In Deep Smit, jubilation, musings, observation skills, What I've Learned | 4 Comments »
Posted on December 19, 2008 by H. L. Dyer
Well, I’m late to posting today, in part because I spent the greater portion of the day chipping my driveway out from underneath the ice and snow.
Our neighborhood is coated in the twisted offspring of snow and freezing rain… a thick shelf of snow encased in a two-inch layer of ice. The ice layer [...]
Filed under: In Deep Smit, musings | Tagged: Deep Smit, H. L. Dyer, Heather Dyer, hldyer, In Deep Smit, jubilation, musings, What I've Learned | 3 Comments »
Posted on December 17, 2008 by H. L. Dyer
A long time ago, I celebrated my uber-geekiness here when I discovered how to use Palm Markup Language to create my own ebooks with formatting, table of contents, etc.
I love having a copy of my manuscript handy on my palm pilot, and I love reading my crit partners’ manuscripts on the go this way. [...]
Filed under: What I've Learned, musings, novel | Tagged: blogging, book, geekiness, H. L. Dyer, Heather Dyer, hldyer, jubilation, novel, Silly Stuff, The Edge of Memory, What I've Learned, writing | 4 Comments »
Posted on November 8, 2008 by H. L. Dyer
Blog Chain time again!
This chain’s topic was selected by Carolyn over on Archetype Writing. If you didn’t find your way here from Leah Clifford’s blog, you should check out her post.
The topic is:
Some people argue that creative people need “angst” to produce good work. Do you? What emotions drive you as a writer?
Is angst [...]
Filed under: Back on the Chain Gang, What I've Learned, musings | Tagged: Back on the Chain Gang, blog chain, musings, poetry, What I've Learned | 10 Comments »
Posted on October 29, 2008 by H. L. Dyer
I believe I’ve finally settled on the proposal that works best for The Edge of Memory. But Holly Root’s post on the new Waxman Agency blog today reminded me of how the query process started for me and for several writing buddies. If there’s one thing that comes up over and over again when discussing [...]
Filed under: What I've Learned, musings | Tagged: agents, editing, musings, pitching, queries, What I've Learned | 8 Comments »
Posted on October 21, 2008 by H. L. Dyer
You may remember a few months ago, I posted that Everything I Needed To Know About Publishing, I Learned from Willy Wonka.
At the time, I admitted it was not really everything I needed to know. As proof, here are a couple additions to that list:
7. One is Enough for Anyone. Moonrat made a lovely post [...]
Filed under: What I've Learned, musings | Tagged: musings, publishing, Silly Stuff, What I've Learned | 4 Comments »
Posted on July 14, 2008 by H. L. Dyer
Well, that title is a bit misleading… I’m new to writing and publishing and don’t know “everything I need to know” by a long stretch.
The inspiration for this blog post came when a quote from Willy Wonka popped into my head and seemed to fit my quest for publication.
“There’s a hundred billion people in this [...]
Filed under: What I've Learned, musings, novel | Tagged: agents, music, musings, novel, pitching, publishing, queries, What I've Learned | 6 Comments »
Posted on May 29, 2008 by H. L. Dyer
Yesterday, I learned how to use Palm Markup Language. So I have now formatted my manuscript as an ebook (.pdb) for my palm.
With a clickable table of contents, and preserving my formatting.
I have no idea if anyone will ever look at it besides me, but I still think it’s pretty [...]
Filed under: What I've Learned, novel | Tagged: agents, dorkiness, ebooks, novel, The Edge of Memory, What I've Learned | 1 Comment »
Posted on May 23, 2008 by H. L. Dyer
This is tangentially related to Part II.
When in doubt, err on the side of making it easy to contact you.
A few months ago, I attended a lecture on “What to Do After ‘The End’” by author Sean Chercover.
When asked what he would do differently if he was seeking agent representation today, he told us he [...]
Filed under: What I've Learned, musings, novel | Tagged: agents, identity theft, novel, partial, pitching, queries, SASE, The Edge of Memory, What I've Learned | 2 Comments »
Posted on May 12, 2008 by H. L. Dyer
It’s hard to believe it’s been a month already since What I’ve Learned, Part One.
So, Time for Part Two:
Read the Directions.
I know this seems too obvious to bother pointing out. Specifically, it reminds me of one of the most major verbal ass-kickings I survived as a child.
When I was in fourth grade, our teacher, [...]
Filed under: What I've Learned, novel | Tagged: agents, blogging, novel, pitching, queries, What I've Learned | 1 Comment »
