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Helping to Change the World…Word by Word

The Steve Laube Agency

The Steve Laube Agency

Helping to Change the World Word by Word

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Home » Writing Craft » Page 70

Writing Craft

When Your Agent Makes You Speed Up

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon March 21, 2013
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by Tamela Hancock Murray

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Since I wrote last week about when your agent may make you slow down, I thought this week it might be fun to write about why your agent may make you speed up. Now, speeding up is never, never to occur at the risk of writing less than your best. Story craft, along with  care and attention to detail, are always musts for fiction and nonfiction. But there are times when we need to speed up.

Immediate Vacancy

Many is the time that I receive notice from editors looking for submissions when they need to fill a slot right away. Perhaps they are working on a special Christmas project, or a contracted author has been unable to meet a deadline. They may call on agents they know to be reliable with a list of equally reliable, talented authors, to help them fill that hole right away. So when your agent calls and says, “I know you’re working on a suspense/historical/devotional manuscript. Are you able to meet a deadline of two weeks from now for an editor in need?” At this time you can either accept, decline, or even ask the agent for another two weeks or so. Working with your agent, you may gain a well-deserved contract more quickly than you expected, along with the gratitude of your new editor. This is a very good reason for authors to work with agents, because agents tend to be privy to this type of inside information.

Exciting Verdicts

Anyone who’s worked in an office knows that committee meetings don’t always result in a clean verdict. Sometimes a preliminary meeting means more work for an author before the proposal can or should be taken to the next level. As you might guess, this is an easy example of the “hurry up and wait” business that is publishing. The next meeting is without fail scheduled within a few days. Is it always a great time for the author to drop everything to tweak a proposal? No. Is it always a good for the author to do so? Yes. It is hurried times like this where an agent is critical in being sure the editor gets the essential materials she needs to go into her meeting, ready to answer the committee’s questions. If all goes well, a contract will be offered.

Draining Lethargy

That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. (Matthew 5:45)

Unexpected events happen to us all, and they can drain the living life out of us. Sometimes we not only must deal with an event itself, but the errands and cleaning up after the event can take weeks, months, even years. Who wants to write a romance when we aren’t feeling loved, or who has the energy to write about adventure when nothing seems better than sleeping for a couple of weeks? This is when an honest and open relationship with your agent will be your oasis as you seek refreshment in the unrelenting desert. Your agent can offer encouragement, prodding, and help in getting you back on track so your career doesn’t become as dormant as Rip Van Winkle during his twenty-year nap.

Your Turn

Have you experienced any of these scenarios?

What other times would you want an agent to encourage you to speed up?

Leave a Comment
Category: Book Business, Career, Get Published, Tamela, Writing CraftTag: Agents, Get Published

Refine Your Focus

By Karen Ballon March 20, 2013
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Let’s talk about Focus.

I like Webster’s definitions:

Focus (noun)
a : adjustment (as of the eye or an eyepiece) for distinct vision
b : the position in which something must be placed (as in relation to a camera lens) for clearness of image or clarity of mental perception
: a central point: as
a : a center of activity or attraction or one drawing the greatest attention and …

Read moreRefine Your Focus
Category: Book Business, Career, Craft, Creativity, Karen, Writing CraftTag: Career, Focus, Writing Craft

Get Focused

By Karen Ballon March 13, 2013
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Listen.

Do you hear it?

Voices… all around you…thoughts and opinions on the state of publishing, on what sells and what doesn’t, on good ideas and bad…words zipping back and forth in the ether. Write this. Write that. This is how you market. This is the key to platform. Buzz words. Marketing. Blogging. Craft. Deep POV. Are you Pinning? Tweeting? Linked-in? Google plussed? Skilled in …

Read moreGet Focused
Category: Craft, Karen, Writing CraftTag: Focus, Writing Craft

News You Can Use – March 12, 2013

By Steve Laubeon March 12, 2013
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Plagiarism and the Link - How one author got sued when his publisher forgot to include the proper hyperlinks in his article. Read this article before write another thing.

Legal Issues for Authors - Particularly Those Who Self-Publish - An interview with Paul Rapp and attorney who specializes in intellectual property law. (Click here for his many articles on various topics in this area.)

How …

Read moreNews You Can Use – March 12, 2013
Category: Copyright, Legal Issues, Steve

Florida Christian Writers Conference Report

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon March 7, 2013
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This past week I was privileged to be on faculty at the Florida Christian Writers Conference.  This conference is now being run by the lovely Eva Marie Everson and the wonderful Mark Hancock. I like to joke with Mark that he is my long lost relative. If our hosts had not agreed to take over, last year's conference would have been the final Florida conference after 25 consecutive years. Instead, we …

Read moreFlorida Christian Writers Conference Report
Category: Conferences, Get Published, TamelaTag: Get Published, Writers Conference

A Great Hook!

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon February 28, 2013
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I'm at the Florida Christian Writers Conference today, so while I'm away, you can have fun!

When reviewing proposals, I have noticed one particular element can present a challenge. That element is the hook.

What does the hook do?

Just as its name suggests, the hook lures the editor to keep reading. Challenge is, the hook must be succinct. One sentence is ideal. For example:

Read moreA Great Hook!
Category: Book Proposals, Creativity, Get Published, Marketing, TamelaTag: book proposals, Get Published, Hooks

Get Thee to a Writers Conference

By Steve Laubeon February 27, 2013
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Guest blog by James Scott Bell

James Scott Bell is a bestselling thriller writer and long time friend. His most recent release is Don’t Leave Me. He is also the author of the #1 writing books, Plot & Structure and The Art of War for Writers. If you do not have them buy them today (He has five other must-have books on writing too.

__________

I am asked all the time by ambitious, …

Read moreGet Thee to a Writers Conference
Category: Conferences, Get Published, Guest PostTag: Get Published, Writers Conference

Dear Editors

By Tamela Hancock Murrayon February 21, 2013
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Dear Editors:

When I first started writing, not for a letter grade in college, but in hopes of a paycheck -- or at least a byline -- I solicited you with many articles, devotionals, short stories, and book-length manuscripts. Each was posted with dreams of finding your favor. More often than not, you sliced those dreams with your pens of rejection.

And for that, I want to thank you.

Read moreDear Editors
Category: Editing, Get Published, Personal, Tamela, Writing CraftTag: Editor

Down in the Valley

By Karen Ballon February 20, 2013
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Imagine awakening one morning, not knowing where you are, utterly unable to move or speak. Imagine coming to the slow realization that you are in a hospital, and that the people all around you are looking at you and talking to you, but you can do nothing in response. Imagine doctors telling that, at the age of 43, you’ve suffered a stroke that has caused what they call “locked-in” syndrome, where …

Read moreDown in the Valley
Category: Book Business, Career, Craft, KarenTag: Career, Discouragement, perseverance

The Writer as Editor: More Tools to Use

By Karen Ballon February 13, 2013
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There are some great quotes out there about editors and editing. For example:
“Read your own compositions, and when you meet a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.” Samuel Johnson
“What I have crossed out, I didn’t like. What I haven’t crossed out, I’m dissatisfied with.” Cecil B. DeMille
“From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I …

Read moreThe Writer as Editor: More Tools to Use
Category: Editing, Karen, Writing CraftTag: Editing, Editor, Writer
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