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Thursday, October 21, 2010
Posted by ChuckI am working the streets of San Francisco. Nightly, I prowl around Haight-Ashburyand North Beach, the Castro and Tenderloin, Fourth Street and Folsom. I ply mytrade with men … as well as women, transgenders, atleast one self-described Druidand the occasional mental patient. Oh,and writers, lots of wonderful, polished,professional, prolific, amateurish, awful and eager writers.My trade is my novel:
Andreading from itin a wide variety of venues toa complex and varied audience is a ball. I am having the time of my life – and that’swithout landing either an agent or a publisher yet.
Guest column by
Laura Novak
. Laura was atelevision news reporter before writing for
TheNew York Times
on business, health and the arts.She is working on the Clari Drake Mystery Seriesset in Berkeley. Laura lives in the Bay Area and you can find her work on Scribd.com or reachher on Twitter . She also writes the "Medicine &Manhood" column for
The Good Men Project Magazine
.
Two years ago I began transitioning from my career as a journalist by tapering off my work for
The New York Times
. I took my debut novel through several edits andbegan to explore the complicated road to publication. Social Media provided anopportunity to write for others and vastly expand my network of friends andcolleagues.
THE VALUE OF AN OPEN MIC
In less than a year, I have become a top female author on Scribd.com, with 43,000followers. As a result, the Scribd team invited me to read from
Finding Clarity
at thisyear’s Lit Quake festival in San Francisco.I’d been a television news reporter back in the day. But to prepare for Lit Quake, Idecided to scour San Francisco’s “open mic” scene. I figured if performance venuesare good for struggling comics, they might just as well be a great idea for an authorwith a completed manuscript.A simple Google search turned up a well-organized Bay Area open mic calendar,which meant I had no excuse but to dive in. As with most things in life, the first
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REVISION FROM READINGS
You don't have to wait for "something to happen" in order for things to behappening with your novel. I am out there doing it, living it! And I'm broadening myexposure for my manuscript. Each time I read, I explore my own text, emphasizewords differently and take chances on intonation and pacing. I’ve absorbed silenceand learned to pause when the belly laughs were so loud and long, even I had tochuckle at my own writing.I don’t know what will happen with
Finding Clarity
. All I know is that I love it andlove sharing it. And I am delighted that people sit quietly and give me the gift of their undivided attention when my five minutes on stage has begun.My novel is undergoing a final copy edit as I write this. But I am not on hold.
Finding Clarity
doesn’t have to come to a bookstore near me for this journey to becomplete. I am living my life by reading my words weekly, in all sorts of glorious,wild and crazy places. For me, this is what it is to be an author. And now I believe I just heard the timer. You’ve been a great audience. Thank you so much!
Need to sharpen the beginning of your novel? Check out the great resourceHooked , which isall about writing an excellent Chapter 1.
Want more on this subject?
Want to pen a guest column? Write me atliteraryagent@fwmedia.comConfused about formatting? Check out
Formatting & Submitting Your Manuscript
.Read aboutWhat Agents Hate: Chapter 1 Pet Peeves.Want the most complete database of agents and what genres they're looking for?Buy the
2011Guide to Literary Agents
today!
Craft and Story Beginnings
|
Guest Columns
Thursday, October 21, 2010 9:35:19 PM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)
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Open Mics - Writer's Digest column
My tour of the Open Mic scene in San Francisco last fall in preparation for Lit Crawl, 2010.
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