A NEW SEASON, A NEW PICTURE (and more updated website pics to come soon …)

AND LOTS OF RECENT MACGREGOR LITERARY DEALS DONE :

Ginger Garrett is collaborating with celebrity stylist and life coach
Michelle Phillips on a beauty and lifestyle book titled THE BEAUTY
BLUEPRINT

 Cheryl Moeller is creating CREATIVE AND COMPLETE COOKING WITH DUAL CROCKPOTS for Harvest House

Jay Payleitner is writing three more books for Harvest House, including 52 THINGS WIVES NEED FROM THEIR HUSBANDS

Pat Rushford is writing another title for Guidepost's HOPE HAVEN series

Wesleyan has contracted Arloa Sutter to create two follow up Bible studies for her upcoming social justice title, THE INVISIBLE

Releasing in 2011, Melanie Dobson's next title with Summerside; LOVE FINDS YOU IN AMANA, IOWA 

Susy Flory and Mike Hingson are collaborating on a book for Thomas
Nelson about a blind man who, working high in the World Trade Center on
Sept 11th, was led down 70 flights of stairs to safety by his guide
dog.

Mel Lawrenz, the longtime pastor at Elmbrook Church in Wisconsin, is doing a book on "spiritual leadership" with Zondervan.

Vicki Hinze's LOST INC, a suspense series about a government department
looking into unsolved cases, has been sold to Harlequin.

Nicole O'Dell's THE WISHING PEARL, the first in a new YA series about
teens facing difficult life dilemmas, has been contracted with Barbour.

Rachel Hauck's THE WEDDING DRESS, chroncling the history of a beautiful
wedding gown that serves a major role i the lives of four women over
100 years, has been  contracted with Thomas Nelson.

Leslie Gould and Mindy Starns Clark are teaming up to write THE WOMEN OF LANCASTER COUNTY with Harvest House.

Shane Stanford, author of A POSITIVE LIFE, is going to write MAKING
LIFE MATTER, which explains how the steps to leading an extraordinary
life are found in the ordinary decisions and attitudes of our
day-to-day lives. It was contracted with Abingdon, who is also
publishing Shane's book with Deanna Favre, THE CURE FOR THE CHRONIC
LIFE.

Janice Hanna has contracted to write LOVE ME TENDER with Summerside
Press — the story of a woman trying to save her family's old soda shop
by hosting a fundraising concert.

Kit Wilkinson is going to write A PLACE CALLED HOPE, her third novel with Harlequin.

Susan Page Davis has agreed to write THE PRAIRIE LADY SERIES, which
tells the story of a young Englishwoman setting out across America with
her maid to find her uncle, the new Earl of Branwell.

Darlene Franklin has been busy, agreeing to write both PLAINSONG and FIRST CHRISTMAS for Heartsong Presents.

NEWS AND REVIEWS

Susan Page Davis' THE CRIMSON CIPHER was an August Top Pick on RT Book Reviews

BookPage is currently featuring a review of Carla Stewart's CHASING LILACS in their September print edition.

The September print issue of CBA Retailer+Resources Magazine highlights the following
MacGregor Literary upcoming projects in their list of exceptional Fall 2010 "Publishers Picks":

- CHARLOTTE FIGG TAKES OVER PARADISE by Joyce Magnin Moccero, Abingdon Press

- Alison Strobel's REINVENTING RACHEL, David C. Cook

- SIMPLY SARA by Hillary Manton Lodge, Harvest House

- Julie L. Cannon's I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS, Summerside Press

- THE MAYAN APOCALYPSE, coauthored by Al Gansky, Harvest House

And … a website just for fun:

Slush Pile Hell

Donna wrote to ask, "Is it possible to have two agents, one for fiction and one for nonfiction, or one for ABA and one for CBA?"

It's possible, I guess. I'm not a fan of this plan, since I think it makes it harder for an agent to do his or her job in terms of career planning. Still, some people do it. The alternative? Find an agent who fits what you do. 

Julie wrote with this: "Some agents have a large number of clients, and represent very successful authors. But where does the midlist client fit in today's market?"

I think your question presupposes that having a small list of clients is a good thing — perhaps better than being part of a larger agency. In my view, it's not as simple as that. First of all, I don't think most authors would know what a large or small number of clients is. I represent around 40 or 50 authors. Is that large? Not in publishing — it's fairly small. But so what? You don't sign up with an agent because he or she has only five clients, do you? You sign up with an agent because he or she does a good job, knows how to help you, is a fit for you and your work, and can help make you successful. Move from the world of books to the world of investments for a moment – Would you prefer to hand your hard-earned money to a startup guy who admits he doesn't have many clients, or to somebody with a proven track record of success? (And I"m not making an argument for going with a big agency here — I'm just trying to show the weakness of this particular argument.) Janet Grant, a friend and a very good literary agent, and I are two of the people who have been agenting the longest in CBA. We've both seen lots of agents come and go, and we both represent about the same number of authors. One of the things we've noticed is that some agents seem to work best with a smaller group of authors, and other agents do fine handling a large list of authors. So some of this is going to be personality and/or personal preference. But why would you make a decision against one agent because "this guy represents a lot of authors already"? Oh — and as for where the "midlist" client fits… isn't nearly everyone a midlist author? Publishing is made up of a handful of A+ stars, a group of newbees starting out, and a huge group of midlist authors. If you're midlist, welcome to the club. Most of the folks an agent represents could be considered "midlist." 

Jennifer asked, "What do you do if an agent has had proposals with publishing houses for longer than a year, and you don't hear from them unless you request a status report?"

The biggest complaint authors have is that they don't hear from their agent often enough. Having regular communication is a fair request — so how often do you need to hear? Once a quarter? Once a month? Once a week? I think you should make it clear what your preferences are when you're having a conversation with your agent early in your relationship. If you don't feel you're hearing frequently enough from him or her, GO TALK TO YOUR AGENT. Explain what you'd like to have happen, and be willing to listen to the agent's responses (I can tell you from firsthand experience that it's frustrating to call four weeks in a row and say, "well…there's nothing to report!") This is a key point when selecting an agent — talk through some of your expectations, so that you won't be surprised at the amount of contact. And keep in mind that contact points go up and down, depending on where the author is in the project. Some authors want to talk to me about their piece as they're planning their next book; others could care less about my opinions, but want to talk a lot during contract negotiations. Some authors want me to read their work and comment; others really want an agent to handle the business stuff and not get too involved in the writing process. So it would be a good plan to figure out what YOUR expectations are, then find an agent that seems a good match. Um… and if your proposals have been with a publishing house for year, you probably need to face the fact that the publishers are not terribly keen on the idea. 

And Trisha sent this in: "You have talked in nice terms about parting ways with an agent or publisher house, but CBA is a small world. Is there a backlash when a client leaves a well-known agency? Are there hard feelings when an author leaves a publishing house?"

Last week's issue of Publishers Weekly had an article on the fact that several A-level authors were changing houses (the article mentions Philip Yancey, John Maxwell, Dave Ramsey, Frank Peretti, John Eldredge, Beth Moore, David Jeremiah, Ted Dekker, and Charles Swindoll). The bulk of these authors seem to be landing at a couple houses — FaithWords (a division of Hachette) and Howard (a division of Simon & Schuster). And some of the people quoted in the piece claim this seems to be a combination of authors seeking greater distribution, agents seeking bigger deals for their clients, and the lousy economy throwing everything into a state of flux. 

The way I look at it, this is nothing new. Authors have always bounced around, and agents have always been on the lookout for bigger opportunities. This is a business, and everyone accepts that authors leaving is part of it. The house seeing authors leave certainly isn't happy, especially if they invested a lot of resources into making the author successful to begin with. But no, for the most part there aren't a lot of hard feelings toward an author leaving one house for another. I was an associate publisher for Time-Warner Book Group when Joel Osteen left us to do a book with S&S. I thought it was crazy at the time. TWBG had sold millions of copies of his book — how much more success could he expect to have? But the deal with S&S was huge, and I'm sure he felt it was a great "next step." It proved to be okay, I guess. Joel's next book hit the bestseller lists. But he didn't ha
ve the runaway hit he'd seen at TWBG. I thought we knew him, and had helped build him, and could have cross-sold his books — but who's to say we'd have had greater success with that second book? There aren't any real guarantees in this business.

There are, however, some huge unearned advances out there. Signing a hit author and asking them to jump to a new house means the publisher has to figure out how to woo all those readers to a new imprint. And jumping houses is no cure-all for a waning career. John Eldredge had a huge hit with Wild at Heart at Thomas Nelson a few years ago, and followed it up with Captivating, a hit book he co-authored with his wife, Stasi. But then he did several titles that didn't have nearly as much success, and he decided to jump to Doubleday. A lot of us were surprised, thinking he just needed a bit more time for the magic to happen again at Thomas Nelson. Um, have you seen his book with Doubleday? Yeah, me neither. Love and War tanked. You've got to wonder if he'd have been better off staying with Nelson — or if things had grown stale and he simply felt a need to try something new. Again, sometimes we just can't know the right answers.

As for leaving an agency, I was an agent at Alive Communications for years, and had great relationships with authors. I got fired a few times — sometimes for doing something stupid or hurting someone's feelings, and I still hurt over those relationships. But other times I was cut loose for less meaningful reasons. (One author fired me when she discovered I'm not a charismatic. Color me surprise.) Again, I'm truly sorry for the people I hurt, and I still feel bad about every relationship that ended unresolved. I eventually left Alive to go be a publisher for Time-Warner (a shrewd business move, moving into a job that wasn't a fit). When I left Alive, I had to say good-bye to all my clients. TOUGH DAY. But with only a handful of exceptions, I'm still friends with nearly everybody I represented while at Alive. Several years ago I came back to agenting. I have stayed away from most of the people I used to represent at Alive, not because I'm applying for sainthood, but because it seemed like the right thing to do. I'm still friends with the folks there (a great group of people, by the way), and maintain a deep respect for The Boss (Rick Christian). I've only been fired by authors a handful of times in the last several years. Usually they were surprises, and none of the people spoke to me about any problems we were having before leaving me. So sure, it hurts. But I love those authors and wish them well, and couldn't imagine wanting anything bad to happen to anyone's career, if that's what you mean. Life's too short to hold a grudge. And this business is too small to want to create a backlash. 

Going Nude: How I Kicked an Addiction, Gained a Dress Size, and Discovered the Real Me

The above title is a fictional example of a writer being too clever for her own good. Sure, it has everything. It’s perfectly-structured, in that the subtitle properly explains what the book is about, while the main title merely suggests at awesomeness. It has wording that makes passersby do a double-take. It’s catchy, relevant and zeroed in on its target audience.

And yet … it’s the very type of title that is exactly what a publisher asks for but not what they want.

Let’s break this down:

1)    Shock-value Words. SEX! PORN! DRUGS! SEX AGAIN! This is a serious soap box of mine. I’m sick and tired of writers trying to grab my attention with shock-value words. The worst part is they usually appear just like that … lined up in all caps. The truth of the matter is, yes, publishers want a title that grabs attention. One that’s in your face and, to some degree, shocking. But they’re never interested in titles that are offensive. Or creepy. Or just plain in bad taste. Though GOING NUDE would maybe fly with some publishers, others would simply roll their eyes and toss it aside. Because shock-value words always come across as cheap. Not to mention they tell the publisher that the author’s plan for selling the book has everything to do with a great title and cover. (And in case you haven’t heard Chip’s story, that plan’s already taken… by the publisher).

2)    Unintentional negatives. Even though the title clearly indicates that the author’s increased dress size did nothing to damage her confidence, appeal, or looks, readers aren’t going to see it that way. Imagine yourself in a bookstore, desperately looking for the perfect book to give your sister who’s struggling with an addiction. Are you going to choose the title in which the author’s victory resulted in 10 extra pounds or the one in which it didn’t? Subtle negatives like these turn great titles into horrible mistakes.

3)    Author implications. Let’s pretend that no one cared about the above-mentioned issues, and the book gets published. The author, Jane B. Doe, launches an extensive promotional campaign and sees a good response. She’s easily establishing herself as a force in drug-rehab circles. And then it starts. Readers, social media and even bookstore reps start referring to her as “that one Nude author”. You know, the one who “got fat after kicking meth”. Radio shows, talk shows, and interviews begin dwelling more on what it means to “Go Nude” than they do on the issue of methamphetamine addiction in the US. They spend more time grilling her on whether she’s satisfied with her newfound "curves" than her newfound career, family and lifestyle. See where I’m going here? It’s not their fault for missing the point. They’re merely trying to fill up their interview time, and, having not read the book, are looking for the simplest, most interesting questions.

And that, my friends, is how good titles go bad. If there’s anything that can be learned by this, it’s the importance of supplying the publisher/agent/editor with alternate titles. Not only does that let them know you’re flexible, it helps frame the picture.

Now, what’s a better title for Jane B. Doe’s book? How about:

Coming Clean: How I Kicked an Addiction, Gained a Husband, and Discovered the Real Me

Got any better (or worse) suggestions?

–Amanda Luedeke is a literary agent with MacGregor Literary

A mixed bag of questions today. Donna sent this to me recently: "Nonfiction seems to be struggling in bookstores, but fiction has been on a growth track. I heard you say one time that this disparity is due to the growth of the internet. Can you explain that to me?"

Okay, let's call this The MacGregor Theory of Non-Fiction Struggles. First, the core of nonfiction is what we call "problem/solution" writing (or sometimes question/answer writing). A person comes into a bookstore with a problem ("I need to lower my cholesterol" or "I don't get along with my teenage daughter"), and wants a book that offers a solution to the problem ("Lower Your Cholesterol in 30 Days" or "How to Talk so your Daughter will LIsten"). They walk in with a problem, and they look for a book that offers a solution. Or they walk in with a question, and they look for a book that offers an answer. That's the focus of most nonfiction. (There ARE alternatives: history books tend to educate instead of answer, craft books offer an idea without necessarily being a "solution"). Fiction, on the other hand, is usually written to entertain, occasionally to inspire or educate. And during the current economic times, people are turning to fiction because it is basically a cheap, satisfying, and long-lasting entertainment option. (There's plenty of evidence to suggest fiction reading goes up as the economy goes down.) Anyway, with the advent of the web, people aren't buying as many nonfiction books because they tend to look to the web for a solution. (Think about it… the last time you needed to know how to make Yorkshire Pudding, did you dig through a cookbook or look it up online?) I'm not declaring the death of all non-fiction — I'm just explaining why it's struggling, while fiction is growing. 

Andrew wrote and said, "I couldn't help but read that letter you received the other day. Do you really get such letters? And… well, I really want to see another!"

I understand. It's sort of like watching a train wreck. That letter was genuine, though I excised some of the more venal stuff. And I got a lot of comments about it — including a couple people questioning if it's fair for me to post it. My feeling: the author wrote to me, unsolicited. I didn't reveal the author's name or book title, so you have no way of knowing who it is. I don't believe there's any violation of privacy. But hey, I included it to be funny, and I found it funny. Humor is a personal thing. But yes, I get real letters like that. (And, to be fair, I get a lot more "attaboy" letters, so it's not like this is a depressing job.) 

I once received a letter from an author who said her novel began during the Viet Nam war, but flashed back to the dawn of time, before flashing forward to the future, then back to medieval times, then forward to the present day. (I had whiplash just reading the synopsis.) And recently I had a proposal that listed the genre as "Tragedy, romance, action, sci-fi, adventure, and speculative historical romance." I figure that pretty well covers it. 

Terry asked, “Do most successful authors have experience with speakers agents? Maybe a speakers' bureau, or an individual who can make contacts, take a percentage, and build the speaking aspect like that? I was thinking of getting a speaking agent to manage both my speaking and my writing careers.”

Some authors have a speaking agent — someone who books speaking gigs for them, negotiates the contract, and handles the details. Most do not. Some have their manager or personal assistant do that job, and in my view they're probably just as well served. As a literary agent, I've found that most speakers bureaus are reactive – in other words, "If the phone rings, we answer it." But I'm at a loss to share the name of a single speaker's agent in CBA who is proactive – that is, someone who going to go out and find you venues. There may be one or two out there, but I don’t know them. (And don’t take this as a slam – it’s really not meant that way. They may exist. I’m just saying I don’t KNOW of any.)

Compare my business to most speaker's agents. I know who I'm going to sell to (publishers and acquisition editors who work for publishers). I know who is going to be interested in your book. I know how to help you shape your book and make it better. I know how to give you career advice. In fact, I know my authors overall — who they are, what they do, how to pitch them to publishers. Now contrast that to most speaker's agents. They are going to sell to…who? Sales conferences? Political gatherings? Churches? Conferences that need to be filled? If you are working with a speakers' bureau, do they know who you are? Do they know who your audience is? Are they trying to fit you to an audience? In my experience, most speaking agents don't really know who they're going to sell you to, aside from the occasional niche (e.g., the guy who regularly places speakers at pro-life banquets). Again, if the phone rings, they'll answer it. But I've found that most 
don't know how to get the phone to ring more often. Besides, If your speaking agent has not spent much time thinking about who you can speak to or who will be interested, the service can be a bit limited. I know very few speaker's agents who do any sort of editing/shaping/evaluating of your talks — so you're usually on your own when it comes to figuring out how to improve. I doubt you get much career advice from your speaking agent. So, from my perspective, most speaker's agents aren't selling YOU — they're selling the fact that they have a list of potential speakers. That's why a person looking for a speaker for their banquet is basically invited to "Pick one — they're all good!"

You may not agree with me — your speaking agent may be great. Or you may be working with a business manager who handles all this stuff (the contracts, the negotiations, the travel details, etc). If so, good for you… but I've been in the business a long time and I keep seeing guys who call themselves "speaking agents" and don’t deliver much. AND they take 20% of your fee rather than the 15% of a literary agent. If they get you a booking somewhere, it's found money, of course, so that's nice. Still, my experience has been that most authors and speakers will be farther down the path if they learn how to market themselves effectively, work hard at finding venues, and figure out how to negotiate for themselves. So, back to the question that was asked… No, most authors do not have a speaking agent in the same way they have a literary agent. But some work with a speakers bureau that does a good job of handling some of the details of each engagement. Hope that helps.

By the way, Tina Ann Forkner, a fine novelist with Waterbrook, sent me a great blog post from a Jewish woman who decided to read a Christian novel. If you're into Christian fiction at all, you'll appreciate what she has to say:  http://bit.ly/awO9vy 

And Keri Kent, a non-fiction write I represent, shared this nice bit of writing on our craft: 

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/2009/08/telling-tails/7533/

Hope you enjoy those posts. 

If you think of it, please pray for Claire, the infant daughter of authors Chris Coppernoll and Christa Parish. She's in Children's Hospital in Philadelphia, and needs heart surgery asap. Thanks.

So I went to check my mailbox today. In it was….

1. A proposal with a cover letter that starts with the words, "Firstly and most importantly…"

2. An incoherent sci-fi book proposal (even though it says clearly on my website that I don't do sci-fi) that was something about children, dogs, demons, and a white vase. No idea what the story was, although I'm sure it had deep meaning. 

3. A proposal from a guy whose mailing address is a correctional facility.

4. Two action-adventure novels,  neither any good, and both sent to me by people who haven't spent five minutes on my website to figure out who I am or what I'm looking for. One began with the words, "Dear Agent." The other had my name, and began with the words, "You probably won't like this, but…"

5. A nonfiction book by a guy who claims that to become a Jesuit priest you have to murder a protestant (um… I'm not making that up).

6. One very nice card from an author.

7. Random business crap (apparently every bank on earth wants to offer me a credit card).

8. A letter from the AARP. NO KIDDING. THE AAR-frickin'-P! Like they think I'm old or something.

9. Two new books I represented — Lisa Samson's wonderful new novel RESURRECTION IN MAY, and Chad Gibbs' hilarious look at the role of faith and fanaticism in SEC football, entitled GOD AND FOOTBALL. 

10. And a letter from a woman who sent me an unsolicited proposal for a book about her abortion. I sent back a short note saying that the book she's created won't sell, that there's no market for the book she is proposing. Her response was to send me this note:

Hatcheting? Demolishing slowly? Destruction? Is that not your very identity? Your cruelty oozes. Do you perpetrate this innate meanness onto other writers? You haven't so much as read my work; yet audaciously, as though a God, predict its death. How dare you! You should be immensely worried about who you are. There is no call to be gross and ugly toward those who submit. Has your speck of position in the Universe ruined you so that you treat subordinately those who come to you with their hearts wide open for acceptance, and encounter your attempts to destroy their precious sensitive dreams? Your behavior does not go unnoticed by a Power higher than you. Believe it or not, Chippy, you're a pebble, like all of us. There is no reason to leave a cruel path behind your life; except that it must in some distorted way satisfy you; and that speaks volumes about the state of your being. By choice, you attempt to wound, and my knowledge of such things is that what you give, you receive in return. When it comes; remember me. Meanwhile, I shall continue to market my book. However manners and kindness are garnished into a life, is where you absolutely need to be.

Wow. Yes — how DARE I reject an unsolicited idea that was sent to me! It gives me a god-like feeling to say to an author, "Nobody will buy this book." I am Chippy — FEAR ME! Of course, I was completely impressed with her purple prose. And, as you can imagine, deeply wounded by her calling me "Chippy." (sniff. honk!) So now I feel terribly guilty for having told someone who was basically asking me for my opinion that her book won't sell. From now on I'll only say nice things to people about their books, no matter how bad they are. Even if there's absolutely no hope for a project, I'll just look at the author and smile and say, "Fabulous! You are God's gift to the writing world!" 

Okay, not really. I wrote back and told her she might not be tough enough for the writing biz yet. And she may want to check into counseling. 

11. And while I'm on the subject of stupid people, have you noticed the new marketing tool companies are using of dropping random notes into the "comments" section of a blog? I recently got this comment after my post about writing conferences: Your blog picture, I like it very much, so have a pure heart, the children stood in the bustling fidgety city.

At first I thought he'd been smoking his crack pipe while reading my blog, then I realized his address was "Buy Viagra." It fits it well with the other two recent comments I've had: The house is the place for you people! With it we are free from sun and wind! You speak very good! It enjoys popular support! Now we all need a house!  and Keep up the good work. I fell in love with the wood tables and wanted them for my school. 

<
p>I was thrilled to know we are free from sun and wind, and I'm sure the wooden tables are great, but since my post had nothing to do with either topic, I had to wonder what possessed these people to write. Both of these come from morons pushing Air Jordans (probably in fidgety cities). I think this is a great new concept, since all of us online are totally interested in seeing people drop by to sell us products. We just don't get enough of that on TV and radio and via internet commercials. 

12. BUT, if you're looking for some places where you might actually go just to enjoy the writing, let me suggest you visit two sites. www.jennybjones.com is the website of YA author Jenny B Jones, and it consistently makes me snort coffee through my nose. www.lisamckaywriting.wordpress.com

 is the site for Lisa McKay, an Aussie who has lived all over the world, but has just moved to Laos and is chronicling her new life. It's literate, funny, and very well-written stuff. Both authors have won awards for their writing (Lisa is the author of the cult hit MY HANDS CAME AWAY RED), so check them out. 

It's cloudy and in the 60's on the Oregon coast today. We just haven't had the scorching summer the rest of the country has gone through. Maybe I'll walk down to the beach and contemplate my speck of position in the universe so that I can be nicer. In my next life. 

Daniel asked, “Is the ability to craft great similes and metaphors a gift, or can it be learned?”

My guess is that it's a gift. I've watched some people in the industry and been amazed at their ability to "see" the link between one action and another. I wish I could do that.

And his follow up question: “What are some good learning tips for creating great metaphors?”

Beats me. I've never been good at metaphors. (Or, in metaphor, "When it comes to creating metaphors, I'm a lawn chair." See? Awful. I hate coming up with good metaphors.) Maybe you could just learn to steal the good ones.

Lynn asked, “I've been asked to collaborate on a book with someone — what are some of the legal necessities I need to keep in mind?"

It’s a random list, depending on the topic of the book, the audience, the authors… but here are a handful of suggestions:

Tom asked, “What’s the one writing story you like to tell at writing conferences?”

That's easy… In 1919, a young man who had been injured in the war in Europe moved to Chicago, picking one particular neighborhood in order to be close to the noted author Sherwood Anderson. The young writer, impressed with the critical praise heaped on Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio, had heard the novelist was willing to assist beginning writers. The two men became close. They met every day to read together, exploring the writing of newspapers and magazines, and eventually tearing apart the inner workings of novels. The young man brought his own work to Anderson, who helped him see how he could improve his craft. Anderson even introduced the young writer to his network of publishing associates, and helped him publish his first novel, which was met with critical acclaim. Its title was The Sun Also Rises. The young man’s name was Ernest Hemingway. Sherwood Anderson then moved to New Orleans, where he took another
young author through those same paces, even putting up $300 of his own money to help that beginning writer’s first novel get published. The novel was entitled Soldier Pay. The author’s name was William Faulkner. Anderson would then move to California, where he worked with a young writer by the name of John Steinbeck. Sherwood Anderson shaped modern American writing more profoundly than any author except Mark Twain. Most of the writing instructors of the late 20th Century were, in one way or another, disciples of Anderson. 

And the reason Sherwood Anderson was so committed to mentoring beginning writers? Because when he was young, a more experienced author by the name of Theodore Dreiser had invested in his own life and craft. It's why I'm a fan of beginning writers finding a Sherwood Anderson to help them develop.

Okay, so it's nearly Wednesday. We brought our new puppy (as opposed to "old puppy?") home today, so I've been writing this between other things as well as helping with trips to the appointed piddle spot and throwing treat parties when Digby succeeds doing his business. 

(Digby's the cute one on the far left.)

IN OTHER (far more relevant) NEWS:

In case you haven't heard, we've added a new agent to our rolls here at MacGregor Literary. Amanda Luedeke made her conference debut this past week with us here at the Oregon Christian Writers Conference. All signs are pointing to her potentially having signed her first author already! 

Our fabulous friend and local author Hillary Manton Lodge simply couldn't take it anymore. While at the conference last week she took professional quality photos and headshots for all of us – keep your eye out soon for new photos of us all — even if I am doing "that funny thing with my head" I'm sure our new pics will help us all appear far more professional.

 LIST AND REVIEW NEWS:

Carla Stewart is
participating in this year's Books Alive 2010 Conference in Jefferson
Texas on November 12-14th. This conference is hosted by Beauty and the Book – The Only Hair Salon/Bookstore in the World and headquarters of the Pulpwood Queens and Timber Guys Book Clubs founded by Kathy
L. Patrick, Author of " The Pulpwood Queens' Tiara Wearing, Book
Sharing Guide to Life". Interestingly, Ms. Patrick has recently taken
over facilitation of A GOOD BLOG IS HARD TO FIND, a fun and informative
blog to which MacGregor Literary author Julie Cannon is a regular
contributor.

Melanie Dobson will be writing her next book with Summerside Press.

JUST FOR FUN:

Some great descriptions of common maladies which plague writers on  Nathan Bransford's blog today. You may never again regard stilted
dialogue so casually. http://blog.nathanbransford.com/

Dana asked an interesting question: "What kinds of physical challenges have you faced in the daunting regimen of writing, and how have you compensated?"

I don’t know that I’ve found the writing and agenting life to be all that daunting, but I can share with you Ten Tips I’ve discovered…

1. Start an exercise program. Years ago, I simply went out and spent $200 on a Nordictrac, and I used it about 5 or 6 times per week for years. I hated it, but I felt better, had more energy, and it kept my heart pumping. Then I started running, and I still run most days. The fact is, writing and editing (and agenting) is a lot of sitting on your butt. Getting up gets your heart pumping, helps you handle stress better, and gives you more mental acuity. 

2. Use an ergonomic keyboard. It's much easier on the hands, and it'll only take you two days to get used to. (An added benefit: you'll never again hit the the letters "n", "h", or "y" by accident with your left index finger!)

3. Buy a good office chair. One that doesn't cut of circulation to your legs, that supports your lower back, that allows your feet to touch the floor (yeah, I'm short), and maybe even that leans you forward a bit. Then ask your spouse or co-worker to nag you about sitting up straight.

4. Spend ten bucks on a document holder. Some of the best money you'll ever spend.

5. Spend twenty bucks on a headset for your phone. I resisted this for years…now I LOVE my headset.

6. Learn to take breaks every hour. At those breaks, stand up and move around, and stretch out your hands.

7. Face your screen sideways to the window, not in front of it or beside it. That way your eyes aren’t fighting light from the window with light from the screen.

8. Get your work area organized. That will make you more relaxed, and it'll make you a more effective writer anyway. I admit to being a neat freak, and hate walking into an office that's a mess. But really, I don't believe the people who have piles of stuff all over but say to me, "Oh, I know where everything is." Ha. 

9. Invest in good lighting — bright but gentle. Note that all fluorescent lighting has a tendency to tire your eyes (in addition to ruining your photographs over time).

10. Hire a really good collaborative writer to actually write your book for you, so all you have to do is cash checks and do celebrity appearances. This is the MOST effective way to save your body from the rigors of a writing career, of course. And it leaves plenty of time to catch up on old episodes of “Perry Mason” and “Gilligan’s Island.”