In the coming weeks, there are several things I’d like to do on this blog. One is to dispel a few myths, another is to do a few interviews with successful authors, yet another is to answer your questions (email them to me at [email protected]), and finally I’d just like to do the occasional rant…or encouragement…or whatever comes to mind.

I have several people in mind for interviews and I promise one real soon. But today I want to offer the first myth we should dispel. And this will be one that may draw some criticism from my editorial colleagues, but that’s okay. It might make for a lively discussion.

The myth is that you should never break rules in how you approach editors or try to have your work seen. Like all myths, there’s a grain of truth to this. It should go without saying that you shouldn’t be rude, pushy, or deliberately do something you know will rile an editor. However, that does leave some room for BENDING the rules WHEN IT SEEMS APPROPRIATE. (By the way, this is not an invitation for you to flood me with queries and proposals with a note saying, “but you SAID we should break the rules sometimes!”).

Breaking the rules efficiently largely has to do with your attitude. Politeness goes a long way. Several years ago I was eating at a restaurant several hours from home. A writer I had met at a conference recognized me and approached me and we began to talk. We had a nice conversation and I invited her to submit her manuscript to me at a later date. Was that pushy of her? Would you walk up to an editor in a restaurant and start off with something like, “You probably don’t remember me but….”

Some authors are too scared of offending an editor and would likely pass up that opportunity. Frankly, I was impressed that she remembered me. It was a divine appointment (though we did not end up publishing her novel).

Occasionally I get a phone call from an aspiring author. This is one of the worst rules to break, unless you have built a relationship with the editor and will keep the call short. I say that, and yet my favorite acquisition in all my years as an editor was the result of someone essentially making a “cold call” to Harvest House asking to “speak to an editor.” Dumb, dumb, dumb. And yet, when I took the call I found myself inviting the author to send me his self-published novel. Two weeks later when I read that novel, it was the first book I’d read in a long time that, as soon as I turned the last page, I wanted to start reading it over. Again, it was a divine appointment. (We did end up publishing his book. At one point I’ll dispel the myth that you should never consider self-publishing).

Another divine appointment happened when our company’s president ended up sitting next to the husband of a would-be author on an airplane. As any good spouse of a writer would do, he made a pitch on behalf of his wife’s book. We later published that book and it sold well. It was yet another divine appointment.

I’ve written several books of my own and my first major breakthrough was a divine appointment that resulted from me breaking a rule. I was an aspiring writer with only a few magazine articles to my credit when out of sheer desperation I chose my top six favorite publishers and simply wrote a one-page letter to each one with my qualifications and my query: did they have any books for which they needed a writer? I prayed, put the six letters in the mail and waited. Of course, I knew it was not kosher to approach publishers this way….but I was, as I said, desperate.

Little did I know that a couple of years earlier I had interviewed a woman for a magazine article who was now an editor at my number one publisher of choice. NUMBER ONE! She remembered me and responded to my letter and within a month I had my first book contract. I did two books for that publisher and both remain my bestselling books yet.

Now please hear me when I say this is not meant as an invitation to break the rules. I’d rather you see it as a call to watch for divine appointments. Unique ways to get a hearing with an editor. It’s a matter of learning how to balance action with humility. When to step out without being obnoxious. (Believe me, I could share stories of broken rules by would-be authors with whom I’d never want to publish).

I hope this advice helps you. But as I said, please don’t see it as an invitation to call me tomorrow or drop by the house for a friendly chat. And remember, not all editors are the same. Some editors may deeply resent even the slightest bending of the rules. Others, like me, are a bit more lax. We want to find really good writers and sometimes that means accepting a divine appointment we weren’t expecting.

Let this blog then be an invitation to pray for God to set up a divine appointment in His own way. Don’t let it be an excuse for acting unseemly.

If you have a story of a divine appointment that may have bent a rule or two, but which resulted in publication, send it my way and maybe I’ll do a blog of your responses. And if an editor reads this and wants to share a story of when an author bent a rule with you and yet it turned out to be the right thing to do, send it along. (Email them to [email protected])

The other night my wife and I went out to dinner. After our meal, she announced that she wanted to go the nearby mall for about an hour. No problem for me. Right across the street from the mall is a very delightful Barnes & Noble. An hour in a bookstore is right up there with an hour-long massage. So off we went.

As is my custom, my first task was to look over the new books, envying the editors of some of the books and thanking God I was not the editor of others. Next came the bargain books (and it was easy to see why some once promising frontlist titles were now “bargains”.) Then I checked out the “staff favorites.” As usual, no one working at Barnes & Noble reads the type of books I enjoy (nor do any of them read Christian books, apparently). Then I wandered over to the Christian fiction section and turned all the Harvest House novels face out (and yours too, Angie). I won’t tell you whose books I had to turn spine out in order to accomplish this. Then I took a few minutes to read the first few pages of our next book group selection to see if it’s going to be a good read. (It is). Finally, nearing the end of my hour, I made my way to the magazine racks. Among the writing magazines was the most recent copy of Paris Review. I’ve long admired their book-length collections of interviews with famous authors and skimmed through an interview in this issue with Norman Mailer. Not too far into the interview I had another one of those “aha” moments we writers get when we read something that rings true to our writing experience.

“I usually need a couple of weeks to warm up on a book,” Mailer said. He also said that sometimes he “broods” over his book before and during the writing.

I like that. He “broods.” If I were to name one common problem among much of the fiction I see in my role as an editor, it’s that the author has clearly not brooded long enough over the story either before beginning the book or as it was written.

Brooding, by the way, is not research. I know many novelists put in the necessary research before beginning their book….but I wonder how many put in the necessary brooding time. An unbrooded book is pretty easy to spot. Simply put, it has no life to it. It’s just a story—a lifeless story. Brooding imparts life into a story. Brooding allows an author time to get to know his or her characters. It also allows the writer time to get to know the story not as a set of events unfolding but as fictional history that the author and reader experience as reality.

How does brooding happen? Most authors will say that their books begin with just a single idea. Either a “what if” or a character who appears to them or some other small seed of a story. So the brooding starts when the seed is planted. Brooding continues as the seed idea is watered and given the sunshine of further imaginative thought so that it can grow into full bloom—sometimes (but not always) before the author even types page one.

Some women novelists compare this brooding time to carrying a baby. An expectant mother, no matter how eager, wouldn’t want to deliver her baby after only three, five, or even seven months. No, she wants that baby to wait until full term (even though the final weeks can seem endless), because when the baby is finally delivered, it’s far more likely to be a healthy baby than if delivered prematurely. So too with a book. A successful brooding period results in a healthier book.

What then does an author do while brooding? How does brooding happen? Does an author simply sit on one’s hands or play video games until the brooding process is complete? No, of course not. A good author knows that the time spent brooding brings results during the brooding process, in addition to after its finish.

For that reason, a notebook is indispensable during brooding; because, as an author broods, insight begins to somehow mysteriously happen—and sometimes at the most unexpected times and in the most inconvenient places. For some reason, this insight that comes during brooding will come at no other time in the creative process of writing a novel. Other valuable insights may come then, but not brooding insight. That’s why it’s important to capture this valuable insight while it’s fresh. Write it down the moment it occurs to you.

Brooding over the actual manuscript is encouraged too. Brood over the open document on your computer. Type snippets of dialogue that come to you. Revise scenes. If brooding is going well, your characters will speak to you during this time. Listen to them. They may suggest new motivations for their actions….or, if you’re brooding particularly well, one or more might even rebel against your predictable plot and reveal their true story, much to your surprise.

So don’t think of brooding as a passive time. A good writer’s mind is always active, always considering, always tinkering with the work at hand. Stephen King in On Writing refers to this as the “boys in the basement” doing their work.

One might think that this warm-up or “brooding” time becomes easier as a novelist progresses, but interestingly, Mailer says that these days (he’s in his 80’s and has been writing successfully for more than 50 years) his warm-up time for a new novel can take up to six months. Six months! That’s far longer than when he began writing all those decades ago. And I suspect if we were to ask Mr. Mailer, he would tell us that the brooding process cannot be hurried up….rushed. Just like a pregnancy.

Yes, there are successful writers who can churn out a book (maybe more than one) in less time than Mailer broods over his books, but as I read these novels I often wonder how much better they might have been had they been properly brooded over. And if you’re a beginning novelist, you may already know how hard it is to find a publishing home these days, simply because of the intense competition. If brooding will improve your fiction—and I believe it will—then it will give your novel a distinct advantage over the many unbrooded novel manuscripts that come across editors’ desks.

As I set Paris Review back on the rack, my wife arrived to pick me up. She had a great time at the mall, she said. But I had a better time. I had been reminded of an important lesson about writing fiction (I also realized why I had failed so miserably two years ago during National Novel Writing Month (http://www.nanowrimo.org/) when aspiring authors are encouraged to “write a novel in thirty days” I need at least that long to brood).

Don’t you?

For a long time I’ve wanted to write about the author/editor relationship and today is the day. What has prompted this desire is my awareness of another instance where a good novelist has unwisely chosen to ignore advice from a good editor. (Not me, by the way).

Let me start by saying that good author/editor relationships are very, very important. Woe to either the author or the editor who must work with someone with whom they do not trust or respect. For an editor, editing a writer you love makes the job so easy and fun. And for the writer, having an editor who “gets” what you’re trying to do also makes life so much easier.

And when that happens, both author and editor should listen closely to what the other is saying. In the case I’m talking about, an author had an editor who LOVED the author’s previous work with another publisher, and, in fact, had read the multiple books by this author more than once. The editor, naturally, was delighted to be able to work this successful author.

But then when the manuscript was delivered, the editor noticed that not only was the content of the manuscript completely a surprise, but it was also likely to be harmful to the author’s career if published. It was a total departure from what the author had written previously. It was simply not a good move on the author’s part.

What was the author’s response to this editor’s valid concerns? The author essentially said (angrily and in a huff), “But God told me to write this book!” Yes, the author got mad at an editor who LOVED this author’s work and who was trying to save the author from disaster.

I couldn’t help but wonder if that author might just pause a moment and consider that in Christian publishing, God often chooses to speak to authors through their wise editors. To be honest, I doubt this author ever even considered such a thing. After all, “God told me to write this book!”

That’s hard to argue with, I suppose. But given the histrionics that accompanied this declaration, it’s hard to imagine the author heard from God at all. I’d like to refer that author to Galatians 5, but that would not likely stand against the “God told me to write this book!” argument.

So the author is now off to find a new editor. One who will rubber stamp the author’s insistence that this book is from God. What a sad mistake.

Another recent case almost makes me want to laugh. This example involved an author who insisted to the editor that he be shown every single edit made in the manuscript, including every comma added or deleted. I do not predict long-term success for that author.

This sort of author/editor breakdown happens every so often. It’s too bad when it happens. Editors have a purpose in the life of the author….and it’s not always just to insert or delete commas. Sometimes we editors can see from a different vantage point than the too-close author.

Happily, I can also report that these breakdowns are rare and that they are outweighed by the many times authors and editors sail along in a happy marriage, each respecting the other’s place in their life. Each allowing God to speak through the other.

If you’re an established author, my word to you is be very careful before you dismiss your editor’s advice or warning. If you’re a new author, I hope you find an editor who understands your mission as a writer and can help you get where to you want to go.

Life will be sweet then. God told me so.

My New Year’s resolution is to blog regularly. It’s been a year since I made an entry here and that’s just too long. It’s not that I’ve nothing to say. I’m chock full of opinions—just ask anyone who knows me well. I’ll try to share some of those thoughts as we make our way through 2010.  Mostly I’ll blog about writing and getting published.  Many of my Facebook friends are writers and I suspect many of my blog readers will be also. But I reserve the right to blog on other topics as it seems appropriate.

 

Probably the best place to start is to help motivate you to success as a writer in 2010. Every writer I know has faced rejection and discouragement about their writing. I certainly have my share of rejection slips (and am collecting more all the time).  If you’re a beginning writer, rejection slips can be very depressing. (Not that they aren’t depressing to seasoned writers—they ARE). But for new writers, it’s especially hard. You wonder, “Am I on the right track? Did God call me to be a writer? If so, why is it so hard to get published?”  

 

I could probably blog all year on those three questions alone, but let me start by making three observations about writing success.

 

1.      Repeated rejection does not necessarily mean you’re not a good writer. In my role as a senior editor at Harvest House Publishers, I reject good writers all the time. I do so with great reluctance, but the truth is that every publishing company has limits to what they can publish.  We know what our company can reasonably publish in any given season and we choose the proposals that we think best fit our goals and are an appropriate fit for us.  Thus, we often have to reject fine proposals that we trust the author will send elsewhere until he or she finds the right publisher.

  

2.      A successful writing career is probably 60% about your writing and 40% about all the non-writing aspects of your career.  So, if you’re a good writer, you’re well on your way. But are you doing the 40% that will give you a leg up?  That 40% consists of things like knowing the current market, personal reading time, going to writer’s conferences (and meeting with editors), building the dreaded “platform,” belonging to a good critique group, and so on.

 

3.      For most successful writers, the path to that success was very incremental.  Patience is mandatory for aspiring writers.  If you love to write and desire to succeed, then write down some incremental goals and keep moving ahead.

 

Certainly prayer is key too. That almost goes without saying. I’ve published nine or so books now and mostly the way they came to be published astonishes me.  At some point in my blogging efforts this year, I’ll tell you how my first non-fiction book came to be published. It was nothing short of a miracle—and that’s often what it takes to get published these days.

 

Now I’m working on a book that is possibly the most exciting I’ve ever undertaken.  It’s still in the proposal stage, but I’m very hopeful about it.  For this writer, it’s a dream come true. But it almost didn’t happen. That too is a story I’ll try to blog about later in the year (after the proposal finds a publisher and I’m at liberty to write about it).

 

I don’t want to keep you here so long as to bore you, so I’ll try to keep my blog entries a reasonable length. 

 

One final thing: I read several blogs myself and I’ve noticed I enjoy it when those bloggers answer questions about writing (or other subjects). So you can help me out by asking questions you think would be of interest to writers and I’ll occasionally use this space to tackle some of those questions.  Email your questions to me at [email protected] and I’ll try to answer the ones that I think will benefit the most readers.

 

If you find what I write useful, please send my blog address to your friends. I’d love to build up my readership.  And if you’re not a writer, I hope to blog some things you too will find of interest in the coming months.

 

Next time I’m going to discuss the editor/author relationship.

 

Now go work on your WIP (work in progress).

 

The year was about 1983 or 84. We were living in North Bend, Oregon at that time. The girls’ school was having an auction to raise money. I remember one parent donated a “home” computer to be bid on.  I remembering thinking, “A ‘home’ computer?  Why on earth would anyone want a computer in their home?”

 Ahem.  Boy, did I have a rude awakening over the next several years. And now, twenty plus years later I not only have a computer at home (and work on one at my job 6-8 hours a day), but I spend too much time on it. 

Let me count the ways: I belong to a forum, I sell used books through Amazon, I do email, I have some favorite websites and blogs I visit daily, I play a computer game at least once a day, I get my news from the web….oh and yes, I sometimes blog.

This past week, though, reminded me of one of the very best benefits of my computer and its access to the internet.  I have reconnected with two people from my past.  I’ve always been the kind of person to wonder, “Whatever happened to Dolores…or Susie and Vern”…or any number of other old friends.   And just this week Dolores found me….and so did Susie and Vern.  Dolores is a friend who reaches back possibly longer than any other.  We knew each other from a church we attended when we were six.  I have often told the story that Dolores was the first girl I ever kissed. It was behind the drinking fountain at that Sunday School.  That was in Jackson, Mississippi where I spent my early years.  We later moved to California, and after a few years of correspondence, I lost track of Dolores. And now, after forty years of no contact, we are catching up on the years. 

Susie and Vern were friends from our years in Eureka.  That was a very special time for Bev and me. We were there 16 years and loved it.  Susie and Vern left before we did though. I well remember the day we loaded up their moving truck for their long trek to Illinois.

I’ve joined Facebook and Classmates.com…..but have not reconnected with anyone from those sites yet.  And believe me, there are many people I’d love to find again.  Including Betty Jo and Tom,  Hilda, George Sousa and many of the other friends Bev and I knew from our youthful years in Rainbow and DeMolay.  We also miss friends from churches in the past: Los Gatos Christian Church, Piedmont Hills Baptist Church, Coos Bay Open Bible, Gospel Outreach…..and certainly Clayton House, the Christian communal ministry we were a part of in San Francisco almost forty years ago.

 So, I love the internet for bringing back these special people….and hopefully more to come!