On this day in 1993, Random House offered Colin Powell $6 million for My American Journey — the largest advance ever for a celebrity memoir — and it became the fastest-selling book in the publisher’s history. Since then, the largest advance for an autobiography — and for any book ever — was for Bill Clinton’s My Life (2004), at $15 million.

I have to say I find this bit of information nauseating in its inequity. I angers me as much as the response to Dan Brown’s The Symbol, a truly lousy book that received all kinds of advance press and sold like wild fire the minute it came out.  I’m surely envious as my first book has barely cleared $2000, but beyond that I know that talented writers, prize winning authors like Geraldine Brooks and Joan Didion, are not making this kind of money. Women especially are rarely afforded this kind of recognition. I wonder of Hillary and Sarah received such huge advances for their books?

Yes, I’m ranting and fuming. I realize a simple blog post is not sufficient to rectify this inequity, this lopsided, capitalistic appraisal of a good story. However, I could not contain my frustration nor access any equanimity in response to this phenomenal idiocy.

My recourse will be to go to my local independent bookstore and buy a well-written, worthy book by an obscure author, preferably a volume of poetry, for poets are the most under-appreciated, under-valued, under-paid writers of all. Want to join me?

My rationale for using this comma is that it prevents confusion or ambiguity, especially when the series was composed of phrases.

Now I’m writing for a web content site that adheres to the Associated Press(AP) Stylebook. AP omits the comma before the “and” in the series. Boy, is it hard to teach an old dog new tricks (to use a very stale metaphor). My fingers type that comma automatically, and my eyes usually miss several when I’m proofreading. But the copy editors NEVER miss slashing the commas I miss.

This particular employer maintains a scorecard for each writer based on copy editors’ evaluations. I swear that the reason I can’t get my score up to “proficient” is because I can’t remember to leave that last comma off. Now I know how my students felt when I repeatedly inserted that comma.

This comma thing bothers me so much that I was thinking about it on my morning walk today–a lovely hike above a sparkling reservoir with lovely vistas, dozens of birds, and small herds of deer along the way. (You’d think I’d be enjoying a lovely morning walk instead of thinking about commas, but nope!) Something occurred to me this morning as I walked that I hope will help break the habit of typing that extra comma. If I write “boys and girls” I don’t put a comma, so I shouldn’t put a comma in series such as this: “men, women, boys and girls.”

Still not totally convinced, I went searching on the Internet and found that my comma has a name “The Oxford Comma.” More importantly, I found that there are those who agree with my usage even if AP and my copy editors do not. But as I directed my students, I’d best do what my editors want.

Do you use Oxford comma? What do your editors prefer? How do you change writing habits of a many years?

On July 25, 2010, my friend Agatha Hoff launched her book Burning Horses: A Hungarian Life Turned Upside Down. The event took place at the Maritime Museum in San Francisco where huge windows onto Aquatic Park and Alcatraz served as the backdrop for this auspicious moment.

I choose the word “auspicious” deliberately, because for me a book launch is a most favorable occasion for a writer, the point at which she gets to stand before all manner of friends and say “I did it!” In her hands, she holds solid proof of her labor to get a big idea onto the page. She reads from those pages. She signs her name and words of greeting on many cover pages as people stand in line waiting for their turn to congratulate and get their book signed. The spirit in the room is celebratory and congratulatory and auspicious!

I stayed up late the night before wanting to finish reading the book before the event. I’m not going to review the book here. I’ll do that later on Amazon and Goodreads, but I will say that Burning Horses is a clear-eyed and poignant look at WW II Hungary, fresh in tone and style. During her reading at the launch, Aggie gave dimension and flair to a story that was already rich in the telling. That, of course, is the one of the perks of attending a book launch. When an author showcases her work for the first time, she will undoubtedly reveal layers of the work that may not be visible on the page. Aggie did this when she held up an artifact from the story that gave her audience a thrilling connection they might not otherwise have had.

That’s not to say this book is not thrilling in and of itself. To know this thrill, buy and read Burning Horses. But also, when you have the opportunity, go to book launches. The author will surely gift with you something special in return for your attendance.

Ever since the project was finished in late April and the manuscript went to the publisher, I have felt strangely afloat. At first, I told myself it was OK to just write in my notebook each morning. Giving myself permission to write about anything was fun– for a while–but rather quickly it wasn’t enough. I wanted more focus. I tried writing to prompts. I followed guidelines in some writing books. I liked the results, but I still had the sensation that I was on raft floating aimlessly on a big wide ocean.

So I applied for some freelance jobs. I got every job. One involves writing web content for sites like eHow and Answerbag. Another involves writing longer research pieces for clients. The third is an online writing tutor gig. Meanwhile, I still have my local assignments to write theater reviews and feature articles for regional magazines.  I also write for KleenSlate Concepts–the company run by my writing buddy Julia with whom I partnered on The Right Sisters. Now I feel spread too thin. I have piles on my desk, and I’m confused about which task should take priority.

I think I need another project! What about you writers? Are you project oriented or do you prefer more freedom, like that found in daily notebook writing, or do you enjoy the challenge and variation offered by freelance writing?

I got an iPod for Christmas 2008, so I was able to listen to a lot of audiobooks, though I had a weird spell starting in August when I repeatedly rejected my audiobook choices. Later, I returned to 2 of 5 of these books and found them quite agreeable. In the interim, I dove into my fallback escape genre–mystery–swallowing whole a number of these by Kathy Reichs, Patricia Cornwall, and P.D. James. Then I listened to The Thirteenth Tale read by Bianca Amato, and I was back in the throes of audiobooks. But wait, I get ahead of myself. The year started with some wonderful non-fiction, many in the spiritual vein, and I also read some great poetry this year.

Of all that I read in 2009, here are some that I recommend to others:

The Barn at the End of the World by Mary Rose O’Reilly

A Love of Impermanent Things by Mary Rose O’Reilly

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Standing in the Light: My Life as a Pantheist by Sharman Apt Russell

Comfortable with Uncertainty by Pema Chodron

The Life of Pi by Tann Martel

Interpretive Work by Elizabeth Bradstreet

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon and the Journey of a Generation by Sheila Weber

Jewel by Brett Lott

The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

So Far from God by Ana Castillo

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

Under the Banner of Heaven by John Krakauer

Into the Wild by John Krakauer

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larrson

Dog Years by Mark Doty

The Sister by Poppy Adams

The Thirteen Tale by Diane Setterfield

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Neffenegger

A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore

Stopping on the Edge to Wave by James Baker Hall

See How we Almost Fly by Alison Luterman

The Human Line by Ellen Bass

Mules of Love by Ellen Bass

As you can see, many of these books were published years ago, and I’m just getting to them. I’m so glad that I did, especially Ana Castillo, Jon Krakauer, and Neil Gaiman. I read without direction last year and the result was not bad.

This year, however, I’ve decided to be more purposeful. I’ve made 4 lists of books that I intend to read from:

• 10 books already on my shelves
• 10 books of poetry
• 5 classics I haven’t yet read
• 10 books I will re-read

Next time I’ll post these lists. In the meantime, let me know a few of your favorite reads from 2009.

This past week, I rented a cabin in the High Sierra for 5 days to work on the Right Sisters. I packed food, my lap top, a few sweatshirts for cooler nights and left home for the cabin. This retreat did not turn out to be the Walden adventure I envisioned when planning it, i.e quiet all but wind in the pines, musky scent of hot decaying forest earth, simple living in a sparsely furnished Forest Service cabin.

Instead I faced

• a generator that ran 24 hours a day blocking the noises of nature (necessary for electricity);
• the pungent odor of a skunk wafting intermittently through the cabin floor from an abandoned nest under the cabin;
• a floor so slanted that my computer tilted on the little kitchen table where I sat to work;
• a noisy critter that visited every night biting into anything edible that I left out (see banana picture) and waking me 4-5 times a night with his raucous presence.

The good news is that despite the sensual assaults and strange discomforts, I got tons of work done. Perhaps it is true that a little suffering is good for the work.

Still I recommend a little more investigation regarding the space you choose to stay when making your own writing retreat! Anyone have suggestions for us writers looking to retreat?

In the year since, I can’t say I’ve been a highly successful book promoter, but I’ve learned a lot, and it is quite clear that book sales rise in direct proportion to book promotion. That’s a fairly obvious conclusion, and it points to the fact that promotional efforts have to be given full attention and lots of time and effort. My attention has been sporadic. Like my exercise program this year, there have been bursts of enthusiastic effort followed by thinking and not doing.

In my more energetic moments, I’ve found some excellent resources, including the following books:

• The Frugal Book Promoter by Carolyn Howard Johnson
• Plug Your Book: Online Marketing for Authors by Steve Weber
• Speak and Grow Rich by Dottie Walters & Lilly Walters
•  Sell Your Book on Amazon by Brent Sampson

My absolute favorite, however, is Freocious Promotion for Timid Authors by Hope Clark and Gwynne Spencer.  I like this book because these women understand that book promotion feels like a chore and it’s scary. To that end that offer practical, easy to implement and inexpensive practices.

Whenever I start feeling down in the dumps about what a lousy promoter I am, I grab this book, read a few pages, and suddenly I’m re-invigorated. I start scribbling notes about things I can do immediately to get my promotional efforts back in motion.

Then I set the book down and get to work!

Make sure you get Ferocious when you start thinking about book promotion.

When you add a new member to a writers group, the same thing happens. Suddenly there are a number of new relationship. Group process theory suggests that when a new member is added, the group has to re-form and norm all over again. My writers group had first hand experience with this phenomena last spring when we invited some new members.

New folks came to several different meetings. Not all of the original members were present at each of these meetings, and we had differing ideas about how to handle our visitors participation the first time they came. Some of the newcomers said they would be back and then didn’t come nor did they let us know when or if they would be coming.

Suffice it to say that the experience was very disruptive to our process. So this summer we dedicated a portion of one meeting to discussing how we wanted to manage new members. We decided to have open enrollment once a year, and we drafted the following guidelines to help the process:

• Because group dynamics change each time someone joins, we will only add new members once a year in September. The size of the group will determine if we have room for new members. Our group size will not exceed 8 members.
• We will not extend an invitation to a prospective member without running the person’s name by the entire group.
• When inviting a new member, we explain our practice of only bringing new people in once a year in September.
• Prospective new members will be invited to the first meeting in September. We will send them this protocol ahead of time. They will observe rather than participate in the meeting.
• We will set aside time at the end of the meeting for prospective members to describe the focus of their work and ask questions.
• If after visiting the group, a prospective member is interested in joining, she should send an email to the entire group declaring her commitment to participate. The email initiates her enrollment, and we will expect her to begin regular attendance beginning the second meeting in September. If we are working with a schedule for submissions, we will notify her regarding her place in the schedule.
• We assume that we will have already given thought to those invited to join and that we will not be refusing admission. However, if after a person joins, we discover an unsuspected incompatibility, we will find a means to tactfully and kindly dismiss the person. We recognize the awkwardness and discomfort of such a decision and will therefore be thoughtful about invitations to participate and decisions to dismiss

What do you think of these guidelines? Do you think it’s overkill to be so specific? Do you have a group in which writers come and go and everything works fine. Let me know how you handle membership in your writers group.

Here a few tidbits gleaned from the notes I took during Ellen’s workshop:

• If writing something scares you, you need to write about it anyway because unwritten poems sit in the chute and everything else you try to write has to squeeze its way around. Write the poem (or the essay or story) without thinking about who will see it. Write everything; Don’t publish everything.
• Take risks in language as well as in content. Write metaphors that are weird. Fresh metaphors keep the reader off balance. Avoid clichés and over-used metaphors. Writers need to learn to tolerate a high level of “not workingness” in the process of stretching the metaphor muscle.  Gertrude Stein said that we are living in a period of late language; every day it has been around a little longer. For this reason, writers have to reach a long way to find freshness.
• Read brave poems/essays; keep one by your computer to read when you get scared.
• Discovery means the writer takes the reader to something not already known. Endings need be both surprising and inevitable. Endings are hard to come by. Writers need to be receptive and/or they need to hunt for their ending. If the ending is a surprise to the writer, it will be a surprise to the reader. Robert Frost says, “No surprise for the writer; no surprise for the reader.”
• Stay open to associations. In early drafts, allow the story to veer off. When you feel like you are loosing control, keep writing. See how far you can get from the subject without breaking the tension. Allow things to come in from left field.
• Ask questions: Why are you writing this story now? What is your agency in the story? Your complicity? What has never been said before about this thing you are considering?
• Disturb the story as you know it. Tell it anew from another character’s viewpoint. Look for ways to shake up the story: This is what I didn’t say! This is what I meant to say!




Ellen Bass gave me much to think about. However, I believe my work will develop if I simply remember to take risks and seek discovery!

A retreat needs to be a minimum of 3 days and preferably a week. My longest retreat was a month, and I’ve also enjoyed 10 day and 2 week long retreats.  Focused writing allows me to delve into the core of my subject matter.

There were times last week when I looked up from the computer screen and did not know where I was. I wrote from 6:30am until 10pm each day, stopping for brief respites called for by my shoulders and bottom. I’d circle the small flower garden at the center of the motel or walk toward the beach in the damp fog with the voices of my characters still conversing in my head. Almost without knowing, I’d turned back toward Room 125, unable to stay away long.

.

I believe a retreat supports my relationship to the writing process. When I was teaching, I talked to my students about 3 stages in the process: creating, composing, and revision.

Creating is the messiest stage. My mind leaps here and there, thinking about my subject while bathing, driving, clearing dishes, and in the fertile place between wakefulness and sleep. I scribble notes and freewrite; I read about the topic and suddenly see relevance everywhere. But the creation remains a jumbled mess.

Composing is the hardest part for me–taking the mess to the page, crafting a shape and making meaning. This is the part of the process that is best served by a retreat.  For me, composing anything worthwhile requires an extended period of time, ideally several days. Usually, I can only muster a stretch of several hours.

Revision is my favorite part. I love playing with the piece that has arrived on the page. Suddenly it is obvious where big changes and additions are needed. Tinkering with the smaller stuff like word choice and detail is pure delight. Revision is something I can do in small snatches of time, a half hour in the morning before work or sitting with a hard copy of the piece in a waiting room or during a boring meeting.

My relationship to the process never wavers. I recognize that I need to retreat to compose, something that is not necessarily easy to accomplish and so always feels like a gift.