tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post6303896194268100826..comments2024-03-28T15:01:21.285-04:00Comments on SleuthSayers: A Million Tiny StepsLeigh Lundinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07921276795499571578noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-65928007039488781692018-07-28T23:04:48.918-04:002018-07-28T23:04:48.918-04:00Dee, you leapt over many many of those steps when ...Dee, you leapt over many many of those steps when you won the Kobo Emerging Writer award this year for your first published novel! Damn proud to know you.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00899846881389442622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-73464589291937848862018-07-28T22:28:02.859-04:002018-07-28T22:28:02.859-04:00Couldn't have said it better, Mel. And I could...Couldn't have said it better, Mel. And I couldn't imagine taking a single one of those million steps without holding your hand. Thank you, my friend.<br /><br />Hugs<br />DeeAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-58382800336844066772018-07-28T19:59:46.920-04:002018-07-28T19:59:46.920-04:00Jeff, I actually got my start writing standup! I ...Jeff, I actually got my start writing standup! I opened the Canadian Humour Conference in 1999. (and I LOVE Mark Russell) Is your fiction comedy? Most of mine is - 14/16 books. Thanks for commenting!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00899846881389442622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-80046387238527073732018-07-28T19:57:19.155-04:002018-07-28T19:57:19.155-04:00Eve, I can so relate to plays! My first play was ...Eve, I can so relate to plays! My first play was produced in 1993, long before I thought to write a novel. It really does teach you dialogue. Thanks for commenting!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00899846881389442622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-83017171038222355342018-07-28T19:52:06.155-04:002018-07-28T19:52:06.155-04:00I started doing comedy (think bad Mark Russell) an...I started doing comedy (think bad Mark Russell) and when that tanked (local club hired me and then went bankrupt & closed) then moved into writing (after spending the late 80s and 90s reading anthologies) and sent off a few stories in the 90s to multiple rejections and then WHAM I placed two short-shorts (one co-written) in a flash fiction anthology and then ZAP I had a longer story read over the radio Halloween Night 2001. And that was it for about ten years. Nothing but rejections! Now I've increased my productivity and manage to sell/place a couple of things a year! But things are still looking up!Jeff Bakerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00316081079528920123noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-20206081838921699282018-07-28T19:32:20.010-04:002018-07-28T19:32:20.010-04:00Started as a songwriter, wrote a sci-fi story on a...Started as a songwriter, wrote a sci-fi story on a bet that I couldn't do it (it was bad, but I wrote it), wrote stories for a while, wrote plays which finally taught me dialog, went back to stories, and the rest is history! <br />Eve Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03015761600962360110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-10568901035738455062018-07-28T17:08:33.866-04:002018-07-28T17:08:33.866-04:00Michael, that was my path too. I always want to s...Michael, that was my path too. I always want to scream when someone says I became an overnight success. That night took almost twenty years.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00899846881389442622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-34182848676382266882018-07-28T16:26:46.744-04:002018-07-28T16:26:46.744-04:00A million tiny steps? Jokes, anecdotes, fillers, c...A million tiny steps? Jokes, anecdotes, fillers, cartoon captions, short verse, essays. In short, writing anything and everything just to get published as I worked my way up to short stories and novels.Michael Brackenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01072019804281421944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-66534351788690983972018-07-28T13:06:28.922-04:002018-07-28T13:06:28.922-04:00Love that place, Elizabeth. I've had them lan...Love that place, Elizabeth. I've had them land on me. So that's what I should do with the floppy discs? grin - I figure no one on earth could read them now, not even me, which is a plus. Thanks for commenting!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00899846881389442622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-59210166034737099372018-07-28T12:42:11.236-04:002018-07-28T12:42:11.236-04:00I started to write a novel once about 25 years ago...I started to write a novel once about 25 years ago. I wrote 200+ pages & it was terrible & getting worse. So I ran a high-powered magnet over the floppy disk I had saved it to & put it in a public trashcan in another town. Since then I write shorter & shorter. I haven't won any awards but I have won a couple of writing contests, have been invited to submit work different places, & placed two reprint stories in an anthology.<br /><br />Off topic, on Sunday my daughter, son-in-law, husband & I visited the Butterfly Conservatory near Niagara-on-the-Lake. It was magical!Elizabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00239163766419735693noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-61581346923090149772018-07-28T10:45:31.268-04:002018-07-28T10:45:31.268-04:00Steve, I've got to steal your race car example...Steve, I've got to steal your race car example! (with appropriate credit given, of course :) I also learned to write by writing lots of crap (overwritten and overwrought). I think the lesson I learned the most: I have to love the protagonist I'm writing about. If I don't, it shows. My writing is not as fresh or exciting as usual. Thanks for commenting and telling us your story to publication!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00899846881389442622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-47271781542841968712018-07-28T10:35:28.139-04:002018-07-28T10:35:28.139-04:00O'Neil, I love your history of breaking down t...O'Neil, I love your history of breaking down the first book into a series of short stories. I really prefer to write like that. If I had my way, I would be writing linked short stories instead of full novels. I also love to read those sort of books, where the characters return to tell new stories. Thanks for commenting!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00899846881389442622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-83442660022976919932018-07-28T10:33:14.406-04:002018-07-28T10:33:14.406-04:00Barb, wise words. You did a lot of writing before...Barb, wise words. You did a lot of writing before that first short story, and I'm sure that apprenticeship with writing novels showed. Cool, that we sort of did the opposite thing to get where we are today!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00899846881389442622noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-82073752752210639572018-07-28T08:32:49.111-04:002018-07-28T08:32:49.111-04:00Great post, Melodie. Would any of your students e...Great post, Melodie. Would any of your students expect to drive in the Indianapolis 500 with a learner's permit? That's the best analogy I can think of before my coffee.<br /><br />I wrote five unpublished (all with good reason) novels between 1972 and 1981 and drifted into theater. When I started writing again in 2003, I thought one of those books was salvageable, but the rest were junk that taught me only to keep my butt in the seat. When I started writing again, I was a lot more professional and a lot more organized.<br /><br />I sold my first short story (actually, about my fifteenth) after gaining over 350 rejections. My next two stories won Honorable Mention in various contests, and then a story won a fairly respected award. The next day, my ninth new MS was accepted by a small local publisher. We turned out to be a terrible fit for each other, but I have now sold about 20 short stories that have won two awards outright and five honorable mentions. And an Edgar nomination. Seven or eight stories are currently submitted to various markets and I'm waiting to hear one way or the other.<br /><br />My (thirteen) novels are now self-published (including the salvaged one from the 70s), and one was a finalist for the Shamus. The fifth draft of my latest WIP goes to a beta reader next week, and I'm putting together ideas for the next one. I quit counting the rejections at 750, and that was about four years ago, but I do keep track of where I've sent stories already. <br /><br />I still have at least twenty stories I never felt were good enough to submit anywhere, and five or six novels that eventually morphed into something better. I'm one of those people who learned to write by producing tons of real crap first and then figuring out how to fix it. Steve Liskowhttp://www.steveliskow.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-31176545938267247752018-07-28T07:22:57.139-04:002018-07-28T07:22:57.139-04:00Good lessons here.
SInce you asked. I thought my ...Good lessons here.<br /><br />SInce you asked. I thought my first book was a novel. It was a series of stories about a police patrolman. I broked it into short stories and have sold much of it as short stories. My second novel is on a shelf in my closet. I think it can be salvaged when I feel like getting back to it. My third novel was GRIM REAPER and it started my career as it was published and is now the first novel in a 10-novel ongoing series.O'Neil De Nouxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03142721824657611738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3119105822589181967.post-4862704378529006562018-07-28T06:25:53.675-04:002018-07-28T06:25:53.675-04:00Writing success often is the result of perseveranc...Writing success often is the result of perseverance, and the courage to persevere comes from recognizing each baby step is success, as you said, Mel. You don't have to have your first book hit the bestseller list to have success. Every day you write another page when you could have given up is a success. Finishing a full draft is a success. Finishing a revision is a success. Gathering the courage to send your manuscript out for critique or to find an agent or publisher, this is all success. The only way to ensure you won't succeed is to give up. You may never hit the bestseller list, but you still can succeed in writing by realizing what you have accomplished. (As for me, I was fortunate. I wrote 12 chapters of a book that ... got interrupted. I finished a second book that remains one draft away from being ready to go out. (It's been this way for years.) Then I turned to short stories. My first short story was published and nominated for the Agatha Award, so I got very lucky. That was a big step, and it encouraged me to persevere. Barb Goffmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16013123434790272424noreply@blogger.com