The Writing Life
Why writers should put their contact info in their attachments as well as their emails: I am waiting for a writer to get around to following up on a manuscript he sent me so I can tell him I want to pay him $350 for it. He didn’t include his name or any contact info on the attachment/manuscript—only in his email message. But my AOL business account long ago automatically deleted his message. I downloaded his attachment, printed it, and stuck it in the slush pile without noticing it had no contact info on it. I didn’t print a copy of the email, so I have no idea who the writer was. I recommend including contact info in the document itself—on every page—via a header in Word.
For writers’ groups: Sometimes members of a writing group fall into the trap of dishing out only praise. When that happens, I’ve found a question that helps everybody get back on track: “If you were to offer one suggestion for improving this piece, what would you say?”
Favorite resource: I love the www.bible.org site, which is getting about 3.5 million hits a year for good reason. One of the features on the site is the online NET Bible, translated by some of the best language experts in the world. It was done on an anonymous, volunteer basis. That makes it possible for the Biblical Studies Foundation to allow more generous use guidelines than do other versions’ producers (which is one reason I am using the NET Bible in the Coffee Cup Bible Series). And the NET Bible includes thousands of textual notes, which aid in understanding.
My worst radio interview experience ever: About ten years ago I was promoting When Empty Arms Become a Heavy Burden—having just experienced a pregnancy loss—and the interviewer solicited live call-ins. A pastor phoned in to say that during his ministry career, nineteen couples had confided in him about their infertility troubles. He said the seventeen who repented of the sin in their lives had conceived; the other two obviously refused to repent and had thus remained childless.
Collecting quotes: For a while I kept 3X5 cards in a little metal box, and when I’d hear a good quote, I’d file it in there. Then I changed to using manila file folders. From there I created separate electronic Word files. But each time I had a problem: When I went to find something, it took me a while to figure out what heading I had filed it under. Did I file that Twain quote under “anger” or “Twain?” Solution: Now I save search time by using one huge Word file titled “Quotes and Stats.” Any time I find something I want to keep, I open that file and paste or type the quote or stat at the top of the page. Then when I wonder, “What was that quote by Twain about anger?” I open the lone file and use the “find” option to search. My first try, “anger,” yields nothing. But my second try, “Twain,” takes me right to this: “When angry, count four; when very angry, swear.” --Mark Twain
Pros and Cons:
Gender friendly? As a female magazine editor, I find it annoying to open letters with salutations that say “Dear Sir.” How should I answer them? I have one right now I’m waiting to answer. It seems fussy to say, “Read the masthead.” But I wonder if I’m doing people a disservice when I let it slide.
Punctuation. I appreciate it when writers use only one space after a period throughout their manuscripts. That keeps me from having to “find” and “replace” all the extras.
But, but... I wish some writers would stop arguing with me about my decision not to run their pieces. I wish instead they would take that good time and energy they are burning up by calling and writing and arguing with me and go draft an article I can use.
Does an m-dash have a hyphen? I appreciate writers who know the difference between hyphens, n-dashes, and m-dashes. They also keep me from having to go through and make changes. This is especially important in the Christian market, because verse references need n-dashes, not hyphens.
The gift that keeps on giving. It bugs me when writers with whom I’m barely acquainted but with whom I’ve had brief correspondence by email automatically add me to their newsletter, forwarded joke, and prayer lists. Or worse yet, they attach that book manuscript they’re working on and ask me to take a look and give them some feedback when I “get a chance.” Etiquette: ask before sending someone an attachment.
Cutting them down to size. I used to be annoyed by writers who would send me 4,000-word articles when our writers’ guidelines clearly ask for 1,100-word articles. These writers would often attach little notes saying they wanted me, the experienced editor, to figure out what needed to stay and what needed to be cut. This no longer bothers me, however, as I now give writers a choice—either I can cut their articles down to size and pocket the hefty per-hour fee I will deduct from their pay, or they can cut the articles down to size and make the full amount. Since I started doing this, I’ve never had a writer want me to do the surgery.
My next novel, (working title Informed Consent)... begins like this: Jeremy Cramer thought, as most children do, that his father would never die. Some nights when Jeremy had trouble forcing his ten-year-old eyes to sleep, his mind drifted to what he’d do if anything ever happened to his parents. But such thoughts were relegated to the world of disbelief, the same world he had entered back when his mother read him The Runaway Bunny. His parents could no more die than rabbits could talk.
It was rare enough to conceive of his parents passing. But the possibility that his father could die how he did had never entered Jeremy’s imagination, rich as it was.
When my students read this, their biggest surprise will not be how Jeremy loses his dad. It will be that I ended that last sentence with was.