Square Pegs

If you’ve never had the privilege of reading a publisher’s contract, we envy you. That being said, if you’re serious about writing a book — or better, have sold a book, you damn well better know the concepts contained in such an agreement. Or hire a literary lawyer to explain them (unless you have a very contract-savvy agent). Or both. We really advocate both. In fact, we strongly suggest that nobody ever sign a contract without legal advice. In keeping with our education is key mantra, we are providing some introduction to the terminology found in standard contracts. We would […]

We’re definitely doing the trend pieces today: co-authoring no longers bears a stigma. You can write with a partner and still hold your head up high. We can practically hear all the sighs of relief as partners come out of the closet. Oh sure, other pesky problems remain (must write good book, must sell book, must pose for realistic-but-not-too-realistic joint author photo), but you can now do it with a friend. Provided you don’t kill each other in the process. Author! Author! Novelists find that sometimes, for crafting and polishing prose, two writers are better than one Author pals strike

We have heard it said that it’s easier to get published than to acquire an agent. We have also heard it said that to get published you must have an agent; to get an agent, you must be published. It is enough to confuse the most logical mind, and, so, we stopped worrying and learned to love the process. Sarah Weinman looks at how connections can help an author — let’s face it, networking is part of any business situation. If you’re not doing it, you’re not doing your full job. Sarah’s column discusses how connections are made, and we’d

We enjoyed this exploration of procrastination because it helped distract us from the fact that we haven’t written a word all day. Of fiction. For the novel. Of course other fiction passed from our fingers (we call it a social lie…as in, sorry, we can’t respond to your email right now because we’re writing. Which, of course, means we’re surfing the web). Structured Procrastination Structured Procrastination by John Perry (apparently we did not invent this concept)

There is something about funny that we find funny. And that is the way people laugh in the absence of humor. Example: an author known for humor (we’ll call him/her Author X) reads from a novel. The passage is poignant, perhaps even downright depressing. Yet the audience is roaring as if they were watching a (good) Saturday Night Live skit. Jessica Jernigan, in an interview for Borders, asks David Sedaris about this — we can’t tell if he’s relieved or saddened by the auto-laughter than accompanies his public appearances. At least he’s found a trustworthy gauge of his humor…Sedaris is

We believe, very strongly, that artists should be paid for their work. We (mostly) pay for all the music we download. We rarely patronize used bookstores (generally for items out of print or almost impossible to buy in other ways). We have made a life’s work of studying the relationship between consumer and artist (we realize how pathetic that sounds, but it was a job and we were particularly inclined toward the work). We also firmly believe in the old adage “you can’t take it with you.” Increasinlgy in our time, art has been legislated and litigated out of the

The entire book world has packed up and left town. Except the book world in Chicago — they pretty much stayed home. BEA is this week, and, while we expect all sorts of exciting announcements (Clinton arrives, Clinton speaks, Clinton leaves), we have a feeling fascinating tidbits from around the world will be sparse. Not that we’re stumped by that sort of thing. We’ll post links to items of interest (like The Elegant Variation’s wrap-up of the blogger’s panel). And we’ll return to our favorite activity: making stuff up because reality isn’t nearly as interesting as our fantasy world. BEA

We love catching up with The Business of Being a Writer because Zarina Docken (pen name, real name?) is delightfully realistic yet optimistic. Sort of like us, but not as lazy. This week, she chronicles the good, the bad, and the cringe-inducing at the Writer’s Digest Conference. We do love conferences, even if we can’t quite figure out why we bother to attend the workshops. Hmm, maybe that’s not entirely fair — we’ve been to a few good sessions in our day. We love the interaction with agents and editors, and we really love talking to our fellow authors. They