Standing While you Work?

It's about 2pm, an hour or so after lunch. My eyes start to flutter. My head starts to fill with cotton. Yep, circadian rhythm strikes again, trying to make me take a nap. Only, my workplace doesn't particularly advocate naps on the desk, so I do what I can to avoid it - namely, plug in my iPod and stand up.

Turns out, standing up at work is good for you. There's evidence* that it can help prevent diabetes, lead to weight loss, and improve general health. (links at the bottom!)

Writing can be a sedentary business. Can be? Okay, it typically involves untold hours of sitting. But here's an alternative: try standing. You'll still need to keep your keyboard at elbow level and monitor at eye level, but a little jury-rigging can put you at more or less the perfect height.

One of the articles recommends that you go to a coffee shop and confiscate one of the tall tables (for that author, the tables were the perfect height to act as a standing desk.) Countertops and even professionally crafted standing desks are other options. And the fourth article tells how one worker made herself a standing desk for $20, with a bakers' rack and no-slip paper.

No, I don't do this all day. I sit for most of it, because I get tired after about two hours of standing. When my feet need a break, I put everything back and return to sitting. I also have the (slightly embarrassing) tendency to dance a little as I work. Static standing can be as bad as sitting, though, so perhaps it's just as well that my dignity can take a hit or two.

I've found that even a couple of hours of standing really rejuvenate me, so I've started keeping a nice little stack of textbooks in bookshelves at work. My CPU happens to be the perfect height for my monitor, too, which makes the process easier for me.

If you're worried about gaining weight while writing, try switching to a standing desk for a couple of hours a day. See if it works for you. And if it does, let me know.


*Articles to support this claim:

Those with a desk job, please stand up

Standing at Work (contains a nice list of resources with which to sway your boss to your strange new habit)

Standing up for work can improve your health and productivity

She built her own standing desk for $20.

Publishing News

In publishing news for the past two weeks, the major news is all about Penguin: e-lending and BookCountry, that is. News first, then a nice little run-around of links for keeping motivated and improving your writing. Apparently agents have been chatting about queries, because we've got three blogs on those.

Major News

Jane Friedman has a post on recent Penguin news. This blog's a little hard to follow, but she talks about Penguin's decision to pull their books from e-libraries. She provides links to other articles and quotes from bloggers. In summary: Penguin originally decided to support e-lending, but is now pulling their books from library e-lending 'shelves.' You can expect to see Penguin books pulled from the 'shelves' as of the end of the year. And no new titles will be added. Explanations from this (not official) range from the fact that the e-lending site looks like an Amazon shopping page on Kindle and requires being logged into Kindle, that Penguin is afraid people will borrow books and not buy them, or that Penguin is worried people will check books out from non-local libraries. Another point of note is that Random House is now reviewing their e-lending policy: and Random House originally embraced e-lending.

If you want a look at what Penguin's saying about this, The Digital Shift gives you Penguin's official statements.

And PaidContent notes that self-published authors are harshly criticizing Penguin's BookCountry, now that it's started charging fees, referring to it as "vanity publishing" and "preying on inexperienced authors." I also recommend reading Writer Beware's take on the issue.

General Writing

Rachelle Gardner hosts a guest-post from Katie Ganshert, who talks about how her life has changed now that she's gotten a contract. It's not all dandelions and roses; life after-contract has its own set of worries. Of course, she wouldn't trade it for the world.

Also from Rachelle: Have you started having doubts about your writing? Is it not fun some days? Do you hate it sometimes? Look at it like a good marriage: It's not fun all the time. You won't be enamoured with it every day. But it's worth it. Don't give up.

In QueryTracker, it's believability or bust. Decide what the rules of your world are, and keep to them. Don't lose your reader because you broke the rules of your own world.  We're also reminded about the importance of thanking our beta readers. Even if their feedback isn't easy to swallow, they make us a better writer - and not thanking them is a quick way to lose them.

And QueryTracker also posts that it's a numbers game: Essentially, a long list of links to tips to improve your writing and your business. If you've got a little time, check it out. Otherwise, bookmark it and come back later. Some of these tips are really helpful: How to grow your blog, 10 things all writers need to know (like figuring out who their audiences are), 10 steps to match your query to your agent, and 10 things Hollywood producers look for in books.

Also drop by for their Publishing Pulse: links to a lexicon of publishing terms, the life cycle of book (a view of the process of publishing), Patricia C. Wrede's advice on writing the middle of a book and making your scenes have an emotional impact, the "inside scoop" of three editors on publishing, Icy Sedgewick's posts on writing beginnings, middles, and ends, and Rachel Aaron's advice on increasing word count.

Jessica Faust answers the question of what women's fiction is: "Women's fiction is not simply a book whose target audience is women. It's also a book about a woman's personal growth and change and it tends to be strongly emotional." She begins the LLC Bookmas, so if you want a free book, hop by and read the rules. And she also mentions that sometimes, she breaks the rules - like when she reads a query so interesting she requests for it - despite not being open to submissions at the time.

Janet Reid talks about the purpose of queries, and that's being to get the agent to ask for more. Not to tell the story. Not to sell yourself. It's just to sell the book! (I wonder if she and Jessica have been talking?)
If they have, they've also been hanging out with Suzie Townsend, because she also posted advice on queries: "Your query has to grab an agent. Which means you have to show them how your book will stand out in a tough marketplace and sometimes an overcrowded genre."

Writer Unboxed espouses the importance of a skill known as copywriting: that is, selling your book. It's a different skill than writing your book. Don't forget to learn to sell!

Nathan Bransford asks us if we're suffering from common writing maladies: go take a look. If you're suffering from one, get help now.

What recent interesting blogs and articles have you encountered these past two weeks?

Quote of the Week: Montesquieu, on Happiness

"If one only wished to be happy, this could be easily accomplished; but we wish to be happier than other people, and this is always difficult, for we believe others to be happier than they are."
-Montesquieu

Wednesday Writing Exercise
Write a short scene (<300 words) in which a character exhibits this type of jealousy.

Post-Thanksgiving

Welcome back from Tryptophan land.

There's just a couple of days left in November, so if you're doing a NaNoWriMo, it's crunch time. And I'm not talking about the Snap-Crackle-Pop kind of crunch, either.

If you're not doing NaNoWriMo, you're preparing for December holidays, and possibly trying to figure out how to fit writing between all those holiday parties. Here's a hint or two:

*Vary your writing time. There's nothing wrong with waking up and writing to the sunrise. An extra 30 minutes in the morning has the added bonus of having that "deadline" feel - I have to go to work in 30 minutes, so I'd better get my writing done now. And if you can't get up in the mornings, don't be afraid to squish a little writing in mid-afternoon, or over lunch hour.

*Schedule yourself a day to write. It's okay not to accept every invitation - the brain needs downtime, and if you're always pushing yourself, you'll be tired. If you're like me, writing is rejuvenating, so make time for it.

*Take advantage of the minutes. Got a few minutes before meeting a client? Instead of FB, jot down a sentence or two.

*Don't be afraid to vacation - but make plans for coming back. It's okay to take a day or two off writing, as long as you make plans to start writing again. Not good intentions, not promises. Plans. If you're serious about writing, then writing is your second job (or first, if you're lucky.) You can't just not go back to work. So treat writing the same. Schedule your vacations ahead of time, on days you specifically know you won't be able to make time to write. And just like going back to work after a vacation, go back to writing when the scheduled days off are over.

Hope you enjoy your leftovers!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'll be in a tryptophan overload this coming Friday, so

please accept this picture instead of any further blogging for the week:





If you close your eyes, you can pretend you were here.

  

Elements of a Good Query

I've had a few people ask me about queries lately, so I thought I'd give a summary of things I've learned about crafting a query.

First, what is a query for? A query letter is a short, one-page (250 word) reason for an agent (or a publisher) to look at your manuscript and consider it for publication. The agent reads the letter, decides if he or she is interested enough to ask for more, and sends back either a request for a partial manuscript (the first few chapters,) a request for a full manuscript (the whole thing), or, most commonly, a rejection letter regrettably informing you that the agent will pass.

It is better to have an agent pass a work in which she is only mildly interested, than to have her accept a work in which she is not interested. If she isn't excited about it, she won't be able to sell it. So there is a good reason to get rejection letters, and although they may sting, better a little pain now than an unsold manuscript later. Remember, only about 60% of agented words actually make it all the way to being published. And many publishers will only accept agented works.

Okay, now you know what a query letter is, let's cover the parts of a good query letter (tips and tricks I've picked up from published authors, classes, and feedback on my own query):

1. Write it in a standard font (New Times Roman or Courier New), size 12.

2. You need to include your title (in ALL CAPS is standard), wordcount, and genre in your opening statement. Include any important 'elements': romantic elements, time-travel elements, etc., because agents frequently have specific tastes, and they should know up front if they don't like your specific genre. This will save both of you time.

3. Your manuscript should be complete (only exception: nonfiction).

4. The purpose of a letter is only to get an agent to request more. It is not to tell your entire story. Therefore, include your hook, the name of one or two of your main characters, and a short glimpse of the plot.

5. Don't use questions. Most agents I've seen have reported hating questions in a query as a rhetorical device. "Can she save him?" Sure, it looks suspenseful. But of course the heroine is going to save the hero, duh. So don't end the plot summary with a question mark.

6. Use short sentences. They keep the query flowing, and a query needs to have a quick pace. Yep, that's right - just like in your novel, pace is important in your query.

7. Make sure the hook is included in your query. It might be awesome that bats swoop down and steal the hero's sword, but the hook is that the heroine, in refusing to be rescued, ends up having to rescue the hero instead. So make the hook the central plot point of the query, and not the sidequests.

8. Make sure your query is clearly in the genre you stated. Is it science-fiction? Then make sure to mention the science fiction element. Is it romance? Then make sure to mention the romantic element, and not just the adventure that goes on in the background.

9. Include your credentials (e.g., other published works). If you don't have any writing credentials, then don't pad your query letter with "how long you've been writing" or "I work in such-and-such unrelated field and am raising two kids as a widower while juggling bowling balls for cash on the side." (Unless your main character is a widower with two kids and juggles bowling balls for cash on the side.) If it's not related, cut it out.

10. Don't go into details on the subchapters of your writers' organization you're in. "Two subchapters" is sufficient detail.

11. Don't mention that you've paid an editor to edit your work. It should be edited and polished already, so mentioning that it's been professionally edited is redundant (doesn't matter who has edited it.)

12. Do not ask the agent to edit for you, or imply that your work needs more editing. If it does, start editing, and don't query until it's ready to go.

13. Query one manuscript at a time. Just one. Write a different query letter for each manuscript.

14. Do not reply to rejection letters. The agent doesn't want to try to sell your work. That's okay. Everyone has different tastes, and if the agent only likes your query, it's better that she doesn't agent it, because someone else can do a better job. Most agents easily acknowledge that they've passed on brilliant books, just because the plot didn't resonate right with them, so they didn't feel like they could do it justice. And who knows - one day, you might want to query them with something else. Don't burn bridges. After all, agents do talk to each other.

I highly recommend searching the Internet for query formats, and also checking the agency's website for information on their specific preferences. Also look through QueryShark and other query websites to get ideas on how to improve your own query, and if you can, take a query-writing class. You'll probably go through multitudes of query drafts - one good reason to send your queries out in batches of five or less, because that gives you a chance to fix your errors based on feedback.

What tips have you learned about query letters?

Publishing News

Turkey Day is approaching. It's only fair that you start the feast by gobbling down the most recent industry news, right?

Major News:

Amazon has sparked big debates with their Kindle lending library, available to Amazon Prime members as part of the bundle. Not all publishers even knew their books would be included - some publishers even flatly refused to participate in Amazon's original offer. Yet Amazon use legal technicalities to include their books. Some readers love the move; others hate it.
Barnes & Nobles is starting to sell simultaneous versions of hardback and e-books, if you buy the hardcover in a retail store. It doesn't appear to be store-wide yet, but I'd be flummoxed if it doesn't quickly become so. Also, this makes me insanely happy, because I like having physical books on my pretty bookshelves.

Agents and editors of children's books are increasingly adopting the "no-response-means-no" policy. If you're writing for a children's market, don't expect a response to your queries unless the agent specifically mentions that he or she will respond - this means not even a form rejection letter.

Being in the Business:

Rachelle Gardner offers advice on what not to blog about, in interest of not accidentally crippling your own career. Highlights: Don't talk about your contract details or the fact that your manuscript is (or isn't) being shopped around.

She also hosts a guest post from Kristen Laughtin, who states that libraries are good for authors.

Jessica Faust over at Bookends discusses the submission process for those new to the field. It explains the steps you take after finishing a manuscript.

QueryTracker once again provides its weekly Publishing Pulse, more news of what's going on in the industry.

Rachel Stark notes the disturbing trend in YA covers of depicting beautiful girls - dead beautiful girls. Are YA covers glorifying death to young women? Disturbing, but if you're in the YA market - you really need to read this. Or, you know, if you have daughters who are reading or might one day read.

And Nathan Bransford's This Week In Books will catch you up on some links I've not included (and is, in fact, where I snagged the Amazon lending library link).

Improving Your Craft:

On QueryTracker, there's a lesson in types of explosives for your action scenes. If something's going to explode, take a look at this link and get it right.

Agent Suzie Townsend reminds us of the importance of titles. Does your title alone make your agent want to read more? No? Go back to the drawing board.



What major news have you encountered in the past couple of weeks?