Monday Morning Wrap Up: 4/5-4/6

This pic of Madeline Kahn as Lili Von Schtupp is perfect for me this morning: I'm Tired.

That's what she was singing in her hysterically funny send up of Marlene Dietrich (complete with Elmer Fudd voice ;-))...and that's how I'm feeling this particular A.M.

I'll blame it on hubby because I've got to blame somebody for it, right? ;-) He was snoring last night, so there's that...

Nothing Much Doin' Over the Weekend

Went to the watering hole, with a lot of people saying, "How are you?" to hubby (those there know the reasons :-)). That was Saturday. Yesterday, Sunday, was another of those shoulder shrugging days. I did ask one of hubby's brothers to come over and get rid of the old tree logs in the back (from the day almost 2 years ago when a thick tree branch come down on hubby's car; just missed my car).

He did, getting to the house about 9:30 (when I was coloring my hair, lol). Now, the town is having a brush clearing week, so I was thinking he and hubby could chop up those logs...but as it turned out, what the town wanted (diameters of 3 inches or less) would've taken waaay too long. It worked, though, because bro-in-law has a chiminea and needed seasoned wood for it.

He said it usually takes a year for that to happen. And this was plenty well seasoned. :-) His wife called later in the day to say he was already using it, so this was a win-win situation for us!

Word Counts

Okay, I didn't manage to upload my totals for 4/4-4/6, so here they are:

4/4 - 123 words
4/5 - 100 words
4/6 - 157 words

Yeah, yesterday was a good day for the story, although I feel at the moment that a lot of what I've written lately is going to be revised yet again (or deleted outright). I'm grinding my wheels a little bit, simply because my endo has been acting up lately; the pain usually gives me brain farts, and Friday and Saturday were definitely those types of writing days.

Not a big deal, though. :-) This is really helping me move forward, because I've always managed to get stuck on the endless revisions bandwagon. And although I'll be going to be hopping on that again - I dread the middle of this story, because most or all of it is going out the window - I do feel that this time around I'll actually finish the dang thing and send it out to agents.

All I'll have to worry about is the stupid query letter. Gee, I'm really looking forward to that (not).

Holding my feet to the fire isn't toasting them that badly...especially as it's compelling me to keep moving forward!

~Nancy Beck

Monday Morning Wrap Up: 4/5-4/6

This pic of Madeline Kahn as Lili Von Schtupp is perfect for me this morning: I'm Tired.

That's what she was singing in her hysterically funny send up of Marlene Dietrich (complete with Elmer Fudd voice ;-))...and that's how I'm feeling this particular A.M.

I'll blame it on hubby because I've got to blame somebody for it, right? ;-) He was snoring last night, so there's that...

Nothing Much Doin' Over the Weekend

Went to the watering hole, with a lot of people saying, "How are you?" to hubby (those there know the reasons :-)). That was Saturday. Yesterday, Sunday, was another of those shoulder shrugging days. I did ask one of hubby's brothers to come over and get rid of the old tree logs in the back (from the day almost 2 years ago when a thick tree branch come down on hubby's car; just missed my car).

He did, getting to the house about 9:30 (when I was coloring my hair, lol). Now, the town is having a brush clearing week, so I was thinking he and hubby could chop up those logs...but as it turned out, what the town wanted (diameters of 3 inches or less) would've taken waaay too long. It worked, though, because bro-in-law has a chiminea and needed seasoned wood for it.

He said it usually takes a year for that to happen. And this was plenty well seasoned. :-) His wife called later in the day to say he was already using it, so this was a win-win situation for us!

Word Counts

Okay, I didn't manage to upload my totals for 4/4-4/6, so here they are:

4/4 - 123 words
4/5 - 100 words
4/6 - 157 words

Yeah, yesterday was a good day for the story, although I feel at the moment that a lot of what I've written lately is going to be revised yet again (or deleted outright). I'm grinding my wheels a little bit, simply because my endo has been acting up lately; the pain usually gives me brain farts, and Friday and Saturday were definitely those types of writing days.

Not a big deal, though. :-) This is really helping me move forward, because I've always managed to get stuck on the endless revisions bandwagon. And although I'll be going to be hopping on that again - I dread the middle of this story, because most or all of it is going out the window - I do feel that this time around I'll actually finish the dang thing and send it out to agents.

All I'll have to worry about is the stupid query letter. Gee, I'm really looking forward to that (not).

Holding my feet to the fire isn't toasting them that badly...especially as it's compelling me to keep moving forward!

~Nancy Beck

HarperCollins: No Advances, No Returns

I saw a post at Kristin Nelson's blog that made me somewhat nervous.

The article was published in The Wall St. Journal today.

Number 1 - No Author Advances

I read an opinion on another blog wherein the blog writer wondered how long it would be before writers would freak out at this prospect.

Not long.

The problem, as I see it, isn't necessarily not receiving advances; for most first-time writers, the advance won't pay one month's rent or mortgage payment.

No, the problem is that the unit will share its profit with writers.

Hunh? And what if there is no profit? The writer, who has spent months, sometimes years, writing a particular story...is stiffed. At least if he has some sort of advance - even if it's $1,000 - the writer has had some kind of payment for her hard work.

To PublishAmerica people: Commercial publishers pay a token amount as an advance, but it's well above the paltry, insulting $1 PA throws your way.

I'm sorry, but I don't like this part of the idea. More details will be needed.

Number 2 - No Returns

This is something I think a lot of publishers would rejoice at; from what I've read so far, bookstores probably wouldn't go for it.

I'm thinking that this HC imprint is going to print fewer copies of books, thereby letting bookstores have just enough on hand. Bookstores can then cut prices on the copies they have left; at least they'd still squeeze some money out of it.

But could it be that bookstores are so used to returns (plus, what is it now, 50-60% discounts?) that they'd balk at the no returns bit?

My take is, no returns might work to everyone's satisfaction. Again, more info is needed before anyone can pronounce judgement.

Number 3 - No Paying For Special Placement

According to something I've read (and this person sounded like he knew his stuff), placement is used all over the place. Product placement in movies - yup, seen it. I've seen product placement in books, too (one in particular made me want to pull out my hair; it was one of the reasons why I put down that book and never went back to it).

I worked for a company that had special software - this was back in the mid-1980s - wherein the company's manufactured products could electronically be placed according to how a particular store's shelving was laid out.

So I guess you have to pay to play. (And if you live in New Jersey...you know exactly what I'm talking about. ;-))

I'm up in the air about this one, although my initial thought is: How silly. I will say, though, that I'd forgotten the current book I'm reading had come out the day I was actually in the local Borders; if I hadn't seen it facing out, I wouldn't have bought it.

But I would have bought it at a later date, because I've really enjoyed the author's books. :-)

In Summary

Details are sketchy, so it's really hard to have anything other than knee-jerk reactions. Hopefully, HC will come out with more information so authors and agents can make better decisions.

~Nancy Beck