Another Trip to the U.S. Post Office (Ugh! or Okay! [smile])

Today I drove to my local U.S. Post Office. 

Enough said. (But I'll go on anyway.) 

While you're standing in line at the post office (the one that wraps around that long, slender counter where the multi-colored envelopes and labels are shoved into cubbyholes [I think that's the first time I've ever typed the word cubbyhole], the counter that everyone just leans on to save their legs from buckling out of tiredness), don't you ever wonder how anything in our country gets delivered to the right place at the right time?  

When I finally made it to the ever-so-admirable position of front-of-the-line and the postal worker called "next", I walked up to the counter and laid my manila envelope (filled with 133 manuscript pages, a title page, and a cover letter) on that weigh station thingy that sits between the customer and the postal worker. 

The postal worker didn't speak to me, not even a "Hi" or "How you doing?" She glanced at the envelope and started pushing buttons. So, of course, being the kind person and taking the high road (after standing in line for nearly 25 minutes), I took the initiative. "How are you?" I said.

The postal worker continued pushing buttons. 

How many buttons do you have to push to calculate the cost of sending a middle grade manuscript halfway across the country?  It's not War and Peace, for crying out loud. It's 133 pages, a title page, and a cover letter.

Anyway, I neglected the conversation, since that obviously wasn't going anywhere, and I began to look around and absorb my surroundings (as writers do and should).   

Behind the counter and beyond the "cordial" postal worker, I noticed a giant crate, about eight feet tall, stuffed with packages and envelopes of every shape and size. And I mean stuffed. Like the crust of a stuffed-crust pizza (horrible simile; but I'm hungry, so I'll leave it).

As I periodically glanced at the crate, another postal worker (who I'm sure was just as personable as the one helping me send off my manuscript) came along and wheeled the giant container around the corner and out of sight. 

And then I thought to myself (as the postal worker helping me kept pushing buttons), how in the hell will my manuscript make it to where it's going? 

But some how, some way, and with a little luck from the Muse guiding my blood, sweat, and tears (in the form of paper) across the country, my manuscript always makes it to that agent or editor.   

But how?  Given the lines that form at post offices around the country and the giant stuffed crate I saw, how can that be? You would think that the package you're sending to your niece for her birthday or your birth certificate you're expecting for your passport would easily get lost in that heap of rubble they call mail.  

But I have to say, me going to the post office usually means I'm actually sending a manuscript to someone somewhere. So I'll go to the post office as many times as it takes with as many encounters with grumpy postal workers as the post office can throw at me, in order to send that golden manuscript that hits a homerun with that golden agent or editor. 

Just another hurdle to jump on that obstacled road to getting published.     

This topic begs the question.  Anyone have any lost manuscript stories or manuscripts that ended up in someone else's hands? Just curious.  Mine have all made it so far. But I'm wondering if this happens more than we all might think.  

Happy writing!  And happy mailing!

  

    

    

John Adams

There's no denying it's been a long eight years for President Bush, no matter what political party you call home. To get a refreshing reminder of the patriots who started our country and the struggles they encountered, check out HBO's new series John Adams.

It's slow at first, but then again, Mr. Adams has to talk as many representatives from as many colonies as he can into voting for Independence. Stay with it. It will humble you and remind you how great a country you live in.    

Oh, and by the way, talk about writing. Thomas Jefferson scrawled out the Declaration of Independence with ink and quill, while revising it again and again, searching for the right words. Only to have Ben Franklin come along and trump his vocabulary. Good stuff.

Thinking Outside the Box (Wait! Not Yet!)

I have to say, Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney is becoming even more popular as the days go by. Kids are constantly picking it up. Again, it's one of those nonconforming books that doesn't really fit into a traditional mold. It's a diary (or journal) with comic illustrations, that happen to be hilarious, along the way.

Between the success of this book and the newly-crowned Newbery winner (Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village) and Caldecott winner (The Invention of Hugo Cabret), I've been thinking out of the box a little more these days when it comes to writing for young readers.

But wait! Should I be?

I think about where these authors/illustrators started and how they might have ended up where they are today. First, they probably started writing the standard type picture books or fiction pieces to get through the slush and get noticed. Then, after publishing a couple of books and finding a bit of success, they might've had these brilliant ideas to share with their agents and editors (if they have agents). And then, it's okay. It's okay because they are established authors who have real books lining shelves at real bookstores and real libraries.

But for someone like me, an unpublished writer, I wonder if it's smart to write a manuscript that breaks the mold, that sends agents and editors into temporary spats with vertigo.

"What's this?" the editor cries. "Who writes a series of fictional messages given by fictional leaders from fifteen different religions and compiles them into one manuscript called The Light Passed On?" (I have not written this; nor would I want to.)

That's enough to make my head spin.

I think for now, I'll stick to my middle grade fiction. Plain and straight. Middle grade fiction. No bells. No whistles. Just middle grade fiction.

Okay, maybe one bell and two whistles. (but woven neatly into the narrative of plain old middle grade fiction).

Wow! What Fish!

Not a good week by submissions standards. But I'm still getting compliments on the writing side of my middle grade fiction manuscript. One agent said in an email that the writing is very polished. Then he followed with a but, and then the word pass (it was actually "step aside"). The compliments about the writing make me happy. Thrilled. But the word pass lingers. Boy, does it linger.

Good thing is, I have another full manuscript still out at a fantastic agency. In the meantime, I'm staying busy, very busy, working and writing. Working and writing. Working and writing and parenting. Working and writing and parenting and writing some more.

I'm looking forward to my next project. It will be another MG story for sure. I like that genre and age range. Not really interested in YA. I want to write a follow-up to my current MG story, but I don't think it's a good idea, considering the manuscript isn't represented yet. Something I'd have to discuss with my (future) agent. I have another story in the works though. I think baseball will play a role in it. It will also revolve around two brothers.


By the way, if you want to watch a movie that accurately depicts relationships between brothers, check out A River Runs Through It. Directed by Robert Redford. Breathless scenery. Untamed rivers. And wow, what fish!

Finding Your Story's Narrative

I recently received four partial requests (first 50 pages) for my middle grade fiction manuscript. The requests were from established agents from reputable agencies. Shocked? I was at first but, then again, I felt pretty good about my query letter and the first few chapters, which is what many agents request along with the query letter. After all, they want to see a short sample of your writing before they lug something heavier around the big city, like a partial or full.

After sending out the handful of partials (again, the first 50 pages) and then receiving "passes" from all four agents, it occurred to me that all of the agents were basically passing for the same reason.

The agents briefly commented and said that the story is intriguing and quirky and the characters are unique. Two of the four even said that the story is very well-written. But all four agents said that the narrative did not capture them enough, it didn't overtake them. It may have drawn them in for a while, but it did not make them put off dinner for another hour or delay watching the election results until replayed later that night (those are my own scenarios. If an agent really said these things to me, I would faint from their lack of professionalism.)

So what to do? Revisit the entire manuscript? Rewrite the whole thing starting with the very first page that doesn't even have a page number?

Negative.

What I did is go back through the manuscript and identify scenes where the narrative slipped a little, where lines of dialogue were hung out to dry on the clothesline while the narrative was folded neatly and tucked inside a drawer until ready to be worn again (we do a lot of laundry at home).

How did I fix it? Well, I'm not sure if I totally fixed it but I gave it my best effort and I'm pretty sure I fixed most of it.

If I came across a scene that contained dialogue like this:

"I'm not going out there first," said Miles.

"Me neither," said the girl. "I'm the one with the library pass."

"Fine, then I'll go," said Derby.

Then I changed it to something like this:

Miles crossed his arms. "I'm not going out there first," he said.

"Me neither," said the girl. She held up the bright red strip of laminated paper. It was like a streak of fire hanging in the air. "I'm the one with the library pass."

Derby looked at both of them. "Fine," he said. "Then I'll go."

Anyway, you get the idea. The second section here reveals the characters' actions and responses while carrying on conversations. If you think about it, people don't just talk. They react. They lean. They cross arms. They shift eyes.

This definitely helped bring more continuity to some of my scenes. It also helped the narrative stay on course.

On Monday, I fired off two full manuscript requests. My first full requests. Keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that someone is drawn into the narrative enough to bat their eyes and fall for my story.