Helping to Change the World…Word by Word
The Steve Laube Agency
Helping to Change the World Word by Word
Today’s video is “The Bugler’s Holiday” by four members of the Boston Pops. Wow!
My oldest brother is an excellent trumpet player and played this in college when part of the Seattle Pacific University trumpet trio. Back then this was a relatively new song.
Me? I was inspired by my brother and tried to play trumpet in junior high, using one of his old instruments. Let’s just say the talent wasn’t genetic.
This piece is so much fun to hear. I hope it brightens your day.
The “Your Questions Answered” Series __________ I would love to hear more advice about finding an agent or if we really need one. I’m planning to teach a Zoom course on this topic through ACFW on September 18. Here is their link: ACFW conference. If you are planning to attend, I’d love to see you there. The conference offers, for a reasonable cost, many excellent classes and chances to connect …
A literary agent is not an editor–or a publicist. That may seem obvious to some, since the words are all spelled quite differently. But I occasionally get a submission from an aspiring writer who wants me to act as one or the other. I have been an editor (of both magazines and books), but an agent has a different role from those people. So I thought I’d try to clarify the various kinds of …
It recently came to my attention that the email list for our agency’s blog has grown by 40% over the last two years. It’s now the size of a small town or a rather large church! That is only the email list. It doesn’t count those of you who use the Facebook feed, the Twitter feed, an RSS feed, or come to the site directly on a regular basis. That is a pretty big crowd, and it is …
Who knew this could be a Guinness World Record? Pam Onnen spells 56 words backwards in one minute! Shattered the old record by 17 words. I can’t even spell “radar” backwards one time. Oh, wait. The words are chosen at random. If you’d like to watch the interview with her after, keep watching the video. Wouldn’t it be wild to have a character in your novel or …
The “Your Questions Answered” Series __________ What are your thoughts on writing some short stories before you jump into your first novel? I don’t recommend writing short stories before jumping into your first novel IF your goal is to be a novelist. Writing where you don’t want your success to be is akin to the dieter craving a chocolate candy bar but eating a container of yogurt instead. I’ve …
I’ve been writing for publication since my teen years, when the world was young and the Garden of Eden’s discount fruit stand was still in business. As you might imagine, I’ve worked with more than a few editors over the years (and even been an editor myself). Though some writers see editors as “the enemy” (or perhaps the stumbling blocks in their paths), I’ve always had great relationships with …
If readers don’t care about your characters, they won’t care about your book. If your characters are wooden, generic, or forgettable, readers won’t buy, read, finish, or recommend your book. If you want to write a book people not only finish but recommend to friends, you must craft compelling characters. So how do you do that? Well, this is what we are going to talk about in today’s episode. We …
If readers don’t care about your characters, they won’t care about your book. If your characters are wooden, generic, or forgettable, readers won’t buy, read, finish, or recommend your book. If you want to write a book people not only finish but recommend to friends, you must craft compelling characters. So how do you do […]
You can listen to this episode How to Craft Unforgettable Characters with …
The publishing experience is rarely done in isolation. This means working with other people. And if their performances or efforts do not meet your expectations, conflict can occur. Over the years I’ve seen more conflict than you can imagine–of all types and variety. But the majority of issues boil down to four areas: Editorial Production (cover design?) Marketing and publicity Getting …
