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The Steve Laube Agency

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Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » Archives for Bob Hostetler » Page 3

Bob Hostetler

Count More Than Words

By Bob Hostetleron June 9, 2022
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Writers count words.

That probably comes as no surprise to the readers of this blog, but still. Those who write for publication count words. It comes with the territory, as Professor Harold Hill might say (or sing). Writers-for-publication know that published articles, stories, and books in certain genres must meet certain word counts. For example, a two-page spread in a magazine is typically 1,200 words or so. A historical novel tends to be 80-100,000 words in length. And so on.

Many writers plan their writing routine by the word count. Novelist Graham Greene averaged 500 words a day, five days a week; Kate DiCamillo’s daily goal is in the 600-900-word range. Michael Crichton somehow produced 10,000 words daily. My head hurts just looking at that number.

So, yeah, counting words is part of the job. You just do it. But there are other things to count. Better things, perhaps. Not dollars (though some clients of The Steve Laube Agency probably spend a lot of time counting their money). But I’d like to suggest counting more than words.

Count friends. Writing is a solitary task for most. It requires long spells of quiet and solitude. But even the most introverted writers (like me) need friends and thrive when the company and support of others fuels their writing life. If you feel a lack in this area, take out an ad. Or get thee to a conference.

Count skills. Have you learned any new skills lately? Every so often one of my writer friends—or even my boss, the Incomparable Steve LaubeTM—will say something like, “Guess what I learned recently!” My ears always perk up, as I try to be alert to new tricks of the trade.

Count books. Not those you’ve written but those you’ve read. Prolific western writer Louis L’Amour wrote in his autobiographical Education of a Wandering Man: “A writer’s brain is like a magician’s hat. If you’re going to get anything out of it, you have to put something in first.” So count the books you read each year, to ensure that you’re putting enough magic into your brain.

Count your blessings. Maybe it’s because writers spend so much time alone, with themselves and with their thoughts, but we can be a gloomy lot. I suppose it could also have something to do with the frustration of working with editors and agents. Nah. But how often do we lift our heads from our keyboards and think, How blessed am I to do this? How fortunate am I to know so many words and know how to use them? To live the literary life? To rub shoulders with people like Bob Hostetler? Count your blessings. Very few people get to do what you do.

Count incandescent moments. Those flashes of inspiration? You know, when the words flow, along with laughter and tears, as you write? Count those. Record them. Remember them. Revisit them. They may not keep you warm in your old age, but they sure can temper rejection and inspire diligence.

These are just some of the things I think we should count as writers. I imagine you can add a few of your own—right? What do you track and count, as a writer? Or what do you plan to do, moving forward?

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Category: Inspiration, The Writing Life

A Writer’s Prayer: Words and Language

By Bob Hostetleron June 1, 2022
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Thank you, God, for words and language,for the mental, tactile, and often emotional pleasure of words on paper. Thank you for the joy of a well-turned phrase,the satisfaction of just the right word, the beauty of an artful description, or finely tuned sentence. Thank you for the honor of reflecting your image (2 Corinthians 3:18)in thinking and wording things into being (John 1:1), bringing dead …

Read moreA Writer’s Prayer: Words and Language
Category: Inspiration

The Writers Conference Bell Curve

By Bob Hostetleron May 19, 2022
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I’ve attended and presented at Christian writers conferences for more than three decades. (I know, I don’t look anywhere near old enough to make that claim, and thank you.) I’ve sometimes served on faculty at as many as a dozen conferences in a given year. (I know, it’s hard to believe that many conference directors would actually book me for their event, no offense taken.) And so I suppose I’ve …

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Category: Conferences

Six People You’ll Meet at a Writers Conference

By Bob Hostetleron May 11, 2022
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As an author and literary agent, I’m often asked for publishing advice. As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, my standard response to such queries is, “Have you been to a writers conference?” Because, for most of us, that is a major and necessary step toward writing for publication, for many reasons. One of those reasons is the variety and quality of people you’ll meet at a writers conference, …

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Category: Conferences

Why I Read

By Bob Hostetleron April 28, 2022
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Writers write for many reasons. Therapy. Self-realization. Compulsion. Etc. But professional writers, those who are published with regularity, find an intersection between why they write and why their readers read. Sure, sometimes that intersection is at the corner of “I’m brilliant” and “Everyone loves everything I write.” But more often, we start not with our own need to express ourselves but …

Read moreWhy I Read
Category: Encouragement, Inspiration, Personal

How to Make Me Stop Reading

By Bob Hostetleron April 20, 2022
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Once upon a time, I finished every book I started reading. I had to. I felt an obligation. If I didn’t finish it, it wouldn’t “count” as a book I’d read. Right? Then, maybe ten, maybe twenty years ago, I changed. I think I realized how many books there are in the world that I want to read and how little time I had left in life to read them. And I reasoned that plowing through a book I’d lost (or …

Read moreHow to Make Me Stop Reading
Category: Book Proposals, Craft, Writing Craft

Be Proactively Lazy

By Bob Hostetleron April 7, 2022
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In James Clear’s excellent, bestselling book Atomic Habits, he writes about a man who set up a number of systems and habits that impressed others, who commented on his energy and hard work in getting so much done. He shrugged off the compliments, however, saying something like, “I’m actually not that hard-working; I’m just proactively lazy.” I love it. I think “proactive laziness” is a good modus …

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Category: Career, Encouragement, Inspiration, The Writing Life

5 Ways to Reboot Your Writing Life

By Bob Hostetleron March 30, 2022
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I’ve told the story at several writers conferences of the time I reached a point in my writing ministry, somewhere after the release of my twentieth book or thereabouts, when I thought I was done. Finished. Burned out and burned up as a writer. I’d been through a three-year process of revision and revulsion on one book that had left me doubting my ability and drained of all enthusiasm for writing. …

Read more5 Ways to Reboot Your Writing Life
Category: The Writing Life

A Writer’s Entrance Exam

By Bob Hostetleron March 17, 2022
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Say you wanted to enroll in studies at a respected educational institution—let’s call it Wisenheimer Academy for Clever Kids. You might expect to take an entrance exam to determine your degree of fitness for WACK, right? Just as you would to begin training for ministry, law enforcement, or interplanetary space travel. Oddly, though, there is no entrance exam for writers. Until now. That’s right. …

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Category: Humor, The Writing Life

An Agent’s Curmudgeonly Rant

By Bob Hostetleron March 9, 2022
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Sometimes I just have to rant. You understand, don’t you? Maybe it comes with age, and you’re not yet old enough to understand. Or grumpy enough. Or OCD enough. Nevertheless, I hope you’ll allow me to vent for today’s post. And I should say that I’m not asking you to agree with me, though my regard will certainly increase if you do. It’s just that there are some things that get on my nerves as I …

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Category: Career, Get Published, Grammar
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