BY C.M. MAYO — September 12, 2021 UPDATE: This blog was then entitled Madam Mayo (2006-2022).
Well, gollygoobernation, it had seemed to me to have gotten a bit boring out there this summer with everyone everywhere all anxious about things, and everything else, too. But hark! I have found an exception! One self-described Swiss “sporty dude” whose name is Fabian, and who, a few days go, jumped clear off the Matterhorn in a wingsuit.
Dude! Danke sehr! Apropos of this week’s Madam Mayo blog writing workshop post, you have modeled the concept of precisely how it feels (among other things I could list but I won’t) to publish a book!
Be bold! Fearless Fabian models the concept.
This Monday finds me working on my Far West Texas book, so herewith, a post from the archives, which I hope might inspire you to prepare for your own eventual leap, metaphorically speaking, from your own personal Matterhorn. Stitch your wingsuit well.
NATURE & TRAVEL WRITING FOR THE VIVID DREAMER
A handout with examples & exercises from C.M. Mayo’s writing workshop given as Artist-in-Residence, Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas, May 2017
We can think of the best writing about nature and travel, whether fiction or nonfiction, as instructions for the reader to form in his or her mind a “vivid dream,” an experience of the world. How do we, whether as readers, or as any human being (say, folding laundry or maybe digging for worms with a stick), experience anything? Of course, we experience the world through our bodies, that is to say, through our senses: sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing-and I would add a “gut” or intuitive sense as well.
From Kenneth White’s Across the Territories: Travels from Orkney to Rangiroa:
“[Y]ou have to go out. You have to open space, and deepen place. Fill your eyes with the changing light.”
From a letter by Anton Chekov:
“In descriptions of nature one should seize upon minutiae, grouping them so that when, having read a passage, you close your eyes, a picture if formed. For example, you will evoke a moonlit night by writing that on the mill dam the glass fragments of a broken bottle flashed like a bright little star, and that the black shadow of a dog or a wolf rolled along like a ball…”
From Bruce Berger’s The Telling Distance: Conversations with the American Desert:
“Silence and slow time out of ancient seabeds, the sandstone heaved into red walls blackened with lichen and rain, stained with the guano of hawks and eagles.”
From Gary Paul Nabhan’s Desert Terroir: Exploring the Unique Flavors and Sundry Places of the Borderlands:
“I rub a few leaves between my thumb and forefinger, and their fragrance suddenly pervades the dry air, as if I had just broken a bottle of perfume against one of the sharp basalt rocks at my feet.”
From Mariano Azuela’s The Underdogs (Los de abajo):
“Below, at the bottom of the canyon, through the veil of rain, could be seen straight, swaying palms, their angled tops rocking back and forth until a strong gust of wind blew their foliage open into green fans.”
From Ellen Meloy’s Eating Stone: Imagination and the Loss of the Wild:
“…day’s end pulls the buttery sunlight out of the canyon but does not lessen the furnace effect. High walls of stone hold a radiating heat that will last nearly until morning. I place my sleeping pad close to the river’s edge to make use of the swamp cooler effect. It is not usual to wake up, walk a few yards, and slip into the cool garment of night water.”
From Terry Tempest Williams’ The Hour of Land: A Personal Topography of America’s National Parks (from the chapter on Big Bend National Park):
“The desert is most alive at night… A flurry of moths becomes a white-winged blizzard; stalks of sotol glow like lit tapers on either side of the road. For eighty miles, we never pass a car.”
From Susan Shelby Magoffin’s diary of 1846-47, Down the Santa Fe Trail and into Mexico:
“Passed a great many buffalo, (some thousands) they crossed our road frequently within two or three hundred yards. They are very ugly, ill-shapen things with their long shaggy hair over their heads, and the great hump on their backs, and they look so droll running.”
THREE BRIEF EXERCISES TO REV UP YOUR WRITERLY PERCEPTIONS
Here I provide my own answers from when I was walking a few days ago on Pine Springs Trail late in the afternoon. About half way down the trail, I stopped, sat down on a handy bench, and did these three exercises in my notebook. You can do this right now—or, perhaps at some moment while you are on a hike today.
Note: This is not necessarily about writing some splendid polished bit, but rather, simply noticing detail and capturing it on paper. In other words, you’re generating raw material you might use later.
HUNT THE COLORS Pick an area that most people would decribe with one color, say, a yellow wall, or a green hillside. How many colors do you actually see?
Here’s what I got:
evergreen kelly green mint green straw green grey-green lavender-green khaki silvery green
TRIANGLE IN SPACE What two things do you notice in the distance? What two things do you notice very close to you? What two things do you notice behind you?
Here’s what I got:
In the distance: The hillside with bands of shadow
Nearby: Birdsong; shadow of the sumac tree
Behind: Sounds of cars and trucks on the highway; a cloud that looks like a squished frog
LIGHT & DARK Where is the light coming light? What effects does it cause?
The sun is low, almost 2/3 of the way from the top of the sky to the edge of the mountains; it is on my left, which is west.
Shadows: falling to my right. Sumac tree casts a shadow that alsmot seems to have polkadots, like lace. It is shivering. The ovals of light shine like coins. One side of the sumac is sunny, bright, the other looks gray and cold.
The sotol plant across the path—it’s shivering. It’s tips are silvered as if wet.
We’re leaving it right where it was. My writing assistant, who had been taking his siesta on top of it, demonstrates the concept, sort of.
The next time you find yourself in mid-conversation and about to whip out your smartphone to show something— your puppy, your nephew’s tattoo, the view from your hotel room—leave the danged thing off and instead find the words to paint the picture vividly for your listener.
Why, goodness yes, this old-fashioned technique does burn a bit o’ glucose.
When you constantly rely on the smartphone to show things, rather than describe them with words as, lo, only a decade ago, before the advent of smombiedom, people used to do, you may find that your verbal descriptive abilities tend to atrophy. For this reason— and for others—for writers, smartphones can be wicked dangerous.
Herewith, a few 5 minute description writing exercises:
“Clutter” Clutter can tell you a lot about a character. What exactly is it? And where is it? What is it blocking / obscuring? Describe the clutter of: ~ a bereaved widow who, 20 years after her husband’s death, cannot bring herself to go on a date ~ a doctoral student unable to complete his thesis ~ a yoga instructor who is addicted to Instagram ~ a chef who suffers from adult onset diabetes
“Barrel, Mirror, Telephone” In three sentences or less describe the barrel. In three sentences or less describe the mirror. Where is the telephone? Describe what happens.
“Foyer” Make a brief list of adjectives and nouns to describe each the following foyers: ~of an elderly society lady; ~of a college football player; ~of a convention center; ~of a funky city bookstore specializing in poetry; ~of a model condominium unit being marketed to hipsters.
For more exercises on writing descriptions, have a look at “Giant Golden Buddha” & 364 More Five Minute Writing Exercises, all free, right here.
I welcome your courteous comments which, should you feel so moved, you can email to me here.
Back in 2009 I wrote this introduction to an article for the online edition of Foreword Magazine:
With several books published, including a big fat historical novel forthcoming this May, it might seem that I just karate-chop my way through any writer’s block. In fact, for me as well as for many more prolific writers, it’s a daily struggle. Writer’s block can have a multitude of sources, but one that is almost universal is disorganization. It’s difficult to start on chapter 15 when you can’t find your notes— or when you’re facing such a Himalaya of notes that, well, to say the same thing, you’d have to spend an eon sorting it all out before you could sit down to write. I don’t think we need Dr. Freud to analyze this one. It’s a pedestrian problem with pedestrian solutions. Here are mine.
I’d link to that article but it’s gone dark and, in the many years of the meantime, I’ve modified and improved my list of tools. Right now I’m working on a nonfiction book which necessitates a working library and extensive filing system; in this post however I’m spotlighting the subset of tools I also find useful—and recommend— for writing a novel. (And, in case you were wondering, yes, I will be working on another novel soon enough.)
1. The logbook
This is my witness, my “shoulder-to-cry-on,” my champion, and if nothing else, once I’ve finished, an illuminating record.
2. The Kanban
The basic idea of the Kanban is here. My system is very simple. I tape together two file folders so that, when opened, they fold out to one ridiculously large rectangle with three sections. I use Scotch tape to tape it to the window behind my desk. The three sections are: 1— tasks I need to do; 2—tasks I am working on now (2 tasks at most); 3—tasks I have accomplished
Each task has its own Post-It. I move the individual Post-Its from one section of the Kanban to the next in accord with my progress.
3.A small notebook and / or 1/4″ stack of blank index cards
These I always carry with me to jot down ideas, words, overheard dialogue, and sometimes even drafts of paragraphs or outlines of plots. By writing things down, I don’t lose them and also— this is subtle, but crucial— by keeping pen and paper with me at all times, I signal to my “artist self” that I am ready to write.
Yes, one can use a smartphone to capture things when out and about, but think about it for, like, a nanosecond. When you are trying to write a book, should you be picking up your smartphone / aka portal to the world wide web of hyper-palatable distractions? For many well-considered reasons I purposely and rigorously minimize my smartphone use.
4. Plenty of Post-Its
I buy the canary-yellow 1 / 12″ x 2 ” blocks in bulk. I use them for the same purpose as the notebook and blank cards (and I sometimes carry these in my purse as well). Post-Its have the added advantage that I can stick them on drafts, other notes, and inside the covers of the books I’m reading, to note any vocabulary or syntax I’d like to use in my own writing. They also work beautifully for Kanbans.
It’s important to keep these organized and at-hand. I keep mine gathered together on a tray— having them all together makes it easier to find them and easier move.
6.Pens, Colored Pens, and Big Fat Yellow Highlighters
These require their own a special mug.
7. Index Cards Filesaka Recipe Card Holders
This is where the index cards go. Organization ongoing…
8.A Filing Cabinet (or 10)and Hanging Files
The more filing cabinets the better, but if you don’t have the room, filing tubs (plastic boxes with handles) and “banker’s boxes,” inexpensive cardboard boxes for files, work well. It really is astonishing how much paperwork flies around a book. There is the book research itself, but also all that goes into its physical production and marketing. That would be another post. Trust me, make sure you have the filing space, otherwise piles of unfiled papers will bottleneck whatever it is you’re aiming to do.
9.A Labeler Typewriter
The benefits of using tabbed hanging folders I understood, but a labeler? What was wrong with neatly hand lettering a label, for heaven’s sake? But when I finally took David Allen’s advice in Getting Things Done and started using a labeler — mine is a Brother PT-18R— I realized what I had was— I’m not kidding— a mental health tool. Chapter 4? Labeled. Notes on Minor Characters? Labeled. Very Zen.
UPDATE 2021: Forget the labeler, which requires cartridge refills, a battery and/or electricity. A few years ago I bought myself a restored Hermes 3000 typewriter and I use that for making labels. (It’s also handy for typing up letters and manuscripts, among other things, and especially when I want to do so definitively away from the Internet.)
For any files that get too fat and filled with too many Post-Its and index cards. When I’m ready to sort through it all, there it is. Meanwhile, the envelope gets labeled.
11. Some Way to Physically Grok the Whole—or at Least Sizable Chunks of the whole
Originally I had recommended cork boards and tacks. I still think that can be a good idea, however, my current office has no place to nail up cork boards. On the other hand, I have four large windows, so I can just tape up manuscript pages to those. I have also seen some writers string washline from one end of their office to the other, and pin up pages with clothespins. You could also array your pages flat on a dining room table. Whatever works.
12. Manuscript Box
Or were you planning to lose it in a pile? Felted with dust? Blown about in a breeze from the window? Eaten by the dog?
13. Limboland: A Place, Albeit Temporary, for Discarded Pages and Old Drafts
The wastepaper basket is not a good place to stuff your old drafts and cuts, because what if you change your mind? On the other hand, if you hold onto every precious word you’ve written, you’ll never feel confident making the surgical incisions, never mind the blood-spurting amputations that, well, you’ll probably have to make if you want your book to be any good. In other words, don’t toss those pages, don’t keep those pages, park them in Limboland, that is, out of sight, out of mind—but retrievable. I find it helps me as I am writing to know that it’s all still there. I find might dig around in there once, maybe twice. Once the book is published, if I don’t have space for these old drafts, then I make a fire to grill some smores.
Yes, you could leave digital versions on your computer. I don’t. Why? That would be another post, but suffice to say, there are immense benefits to seeing a draft printed out.
For my last book, Limboland was a series of cardboard bankers boxes. For my current work-in-progress, it’s the bottom shelf of a voluminous old cabinet down in the basement. What works for you? Watch out, though, if you stuff the pages under your bed your dreams might get squirrely.
A little housekeeping going on over at the official homepage, www.cmmayo.com, which is still (eeee) in the verily Mezozoic software program Adobe PageMill, but about to make the move over to WordPress. I’ve got a good start by moving the writing workshop page resources, including the ever-popular “Giant Golden Buddha” & 364 More 5 Minute Writing Exercises, over to a new dedicated page here at Madam Mayo blog—appended to the archive of workshop posts from the main archive menu.
Today’s 5 minute writing exercise:
June 14 “Bob’s Front Page” What if Bob appeared on the front page of his local newspaper, but he didn’t know about it until the following day?
Originally posted on Madam Mayo blog, March 28, 2011
One of the most powerfully vivid ways to show character, relationship, conflict and/or mood is through the use of dialogue. Herewith, one dozen five minute exercises. Use an egg-timer if you must.
#1. Sprinkle in ze French An American who was resident in Paris for many years gives a tour of the local art museum to some friends who are mighty impressed (but do they admit it?). Write the scene with dialogue.
#2. Echoing in Dialogue From Henry James’s novel The Portrait of a Lady, here’s an example of “echoing” in dialogue:
“She has offered to take her— she’s dying to have Isabel go. But what I want her to do when she gets her there is give her all the advantages. I’m sure all we’ve got to do,” said Mrs. Ludlow, “is to give her a chance.”
“A chance for what?”
“A chance to develop.”
“Oh Moses!” Edmund Ludlow exclaimed. “I hope she isn’t going to develop any more!”
In this example, echoing works well to show the two characters’s easy going affection for one another. So, try writing a similar scene with echoing in the dialogue. If you need a prompt: a boss and his/ her ingratiating subordinate planning the new furniture arrangements for the office.
#3. Larry & Saul Bake a Cake Larry and Saul are elderly brothers. Larry is jealous of Saul. Saul thinks Larry is full of himself. They are in Larry’s kitchen making a cake. Write the scene with dialogue.
#4. The Control Freak, the Liar & the Narcissist Three characters, all members of the same family, sit down to dinner. Show by the things they say to one another that one is a control freak, one a liar, and one a narcissist.
#5. Good Cat, Bad Cat In a pet store: he wants a cat; she does not. Write 5 lines he could say; then, write 5 lines she could say. Briefly describe the cat in question. If you have time, write the scene.
#6. So Terrible. So Awful. I was in the women’s locker room in a health club when I happened to overhear this scrap of dialogue:
A: “Therapists, what they charge—” B: “Horrible, that’s why I quit.” A: “So terrible.” B: “So awful.”
I love the shape of this, the way the women echo the sounds and rhythms of each other’s words. Notice the rhyme of “horrible” and then “terrible”; the repetition of “So” (“So terrible; “So awful.”)
Another interesting aspect is B’s interruption of A.
Here’s the exercise: take this dialogue; add some names, descriptions, gestures, etc., and flesh out the scene. You might change “therapists” to “dentists” or, say, “contractors” or “piano teachers”–what have you.
#7. Three Jackets, Three Men & a Joke Describe three jackets. Describe the three men who are wearing them. One man tells a joke. How do the other two react?
#8. When in Rome Do as the Romans do: speak Italian. Have your characters, who are arguing about something (whatever you like) use some or all of the following words and phrases:
Dove? (Where?) Buona notte (Good night) Ha un gelato? (Have you any ice-cream?) una crema de barba (shaving cream) E compreso il servizio? (Is service included?) E sulla strada sbagliata (You’re on the wrong road)
#9. Class Envy Your character hates rich people. Give him 3-4 lines of really nasty dialogue. Then, in two sentences or less, identify the specific source of his feelings.
#10. ##&%#@*!!! One of the fun things about writing fiction is that you can assume the voice of characters who would do and say all sorts of naughty, slobby things. Here’s the exercise: two characters (give them names and a little description) are sitting on a back porch drinking beer. They are arguing over which is the better sports team, and a good portion of their vocabulary consists of swear words. Write the scene with dialogue.
#11. Wedding Dress Dialogue Mother and daughter are in a changing room, before a floor-length mirror, arguing over one more wedding dress. The mother is thrilled about this wedding; the daughter is tempted to call the wedding off— but show don’t tell. That is, do not have the characters state their feelings, but show them through tone, gesture and indirect comments. Write the scene with dialogue.
#12. Sorry Cindy, a highly educated, experienced, and competent professional, peppers her conversations with, “I’m sorry” (and then she wonders why she’s not been promoted). Sketch a few scenes for Cindy with dialogue.
Contemplating going forward into year 16. My writing assistant demonstrates the concept.
First of all, thank you, dear readers. I can hardly believe it but Madam Mayo blog has been zinging around the planet for 15 years.
It feels peculiar to say it, but it is a fact: with Madam Mayo blog I am one of the pioneers of literary blogging, so I thought I’d take this occasion to offer a few reflections on how Madam Mayo has evolved along with the blogosphere, and where it’s all going.
I started posting in 2006, keeping at it steadily ever since, even while persistently scratching my head over the nature of the genre and pondering my own motivations for continuing. Suffice to say, Madam Mayo blog started as a wee adventure born of curiosity one lazy afternoon, then as I was promoting my anthology Mexico: A Traveler’s Literary Companion and a new paperback edition of my travel memoir, Miraculous Air, it quickly morphed into near-daily posts that resembled tweets—this before the advent of Twitter. Younger readers who do not recall the pre-Internet age of publishing might find it hard to believe, but writers such as myself actually got paid, sometimes hundreds of dollars, for their articles, plus a few fork loads more for accompanying photographs. In 2006 it therefore did not occur to me to craft a proper article and serve it up for free on my (the word then pronounced with disdain) blog.
Then came Twitter. As I experimented with Twitter and other social media, and then slowly…. backed…. away…. from social media, and the publishing world went warp speed into gawdnozewhut, Madam Mayo blog, which I quite enjoyed writing, began to develop into something a little meatier.
# 1. Maybe not everyone else is, but I remain charmed by the name of my blog, Madam Mayo.
#2. Whoa, blogging has an opportunity cost!
#3. But on the plus side, like a workout sprints for a marathoner, blogging helps me stay in shape as a writer.
#4. Although my ego would like Madam Mayo blog to draw legions of passionate followers, all perched at the edge of their seats for my next post, ready to fly to their keyboards with their hailstorm of comments… The fact is, writing that strives for an ever-larger following is not the best strategy for me as a literary artist or as a person.
#5. Not all, certainly, but a sizable number of people who trouble to comment on blogs seem stuck in Emotional Kindergarten.
#6. Blogging is very much like publishing a literary short story or book— it goes out into the world to an opaque response.
#7. More on the plus side: sharing what I call cyberflanerie and celebrating friends and colleagues and books and all wonder of things is a delight.
#8. Madam Mayo blog is not so much my so-called “platform,” but rather, a net that catches certain special fish— the readers who care about the things I care to write about.
Of course I do have a few things to add to those 8 conclusions, another 7 years having moseyed on by, to wit:
Madam Mayo blog is: -a form of service– to my readers, my workshop students, and fellow writers -a broadcast of news of my works via both RSS feeds and search engines -a showcase for my works (excerpts from my books, articles, translations, and podcasts) -a record of sorts (my reading, publications, thinking on various topics)— ye olde “weblog” -a virtual filing cabinet for some of my notes and other research (for example) -a yoga -an exercise in will -just playing in the editor-and-“house style”-free fun zone
It seems that, with noted exceptions, most of the literary bloggers active back in 2006-2010 have quit the game or turned to posting only infrequently. On the other hand, it has not escaped my notice that many of the more popular bloggers now invite donations via PayPal, Patreon, or some other corporate intermediary. Some have established paywalls. Substack seems to be the platform du jour.
As a reader, I keep a reading list of go-to blogs, and I even, gratefully, pay for a few of them (and for a few—very few— I even abide the Google ads). Plus I subscribe to a wild and ever-changing variety of emailed newsletters. (What’s the difference between a blog and an emailed newsletter? Sometimes there isn’t.) Some of these blogs and newsletters might surprise you, no matter where you might expect to find me on the political spectrum. I do a lot of triangulation, shall we say. Put another way, I make a practice of doing intellectual triangle poses—and backbends and headstands! I believe it’s vital to always strive to truly see, and that requires not only limberness, but willingness to look outside and beyond one’s comfort zone, outside and beyond convention and, relatedly, outside and beyond the click-bait and the rest of the slop served up on mainstream media. But that would be another post.
Anyway, none of those, Patreon, PayPal, Substack, Google ads, et al, are for Madam Mayo blog, which is ever and always my gift— a gift some readers appreciate, a gift some readers don’t (to them, I say, tootle-oo!). What I, C.M. Mayo, offer up for the clams are my books. And sometimes writing workshops.
Another point: As for those financial intermediaries such as Patreon and free platforms such as Medium and Blogger, I am loath to build up my content and subscriber base sharecropping on some corporation’s turf—and only moreso in this brave new world that too often strikes me as Gleischschaltung meets Lord of the Flies meets 1984. Therefore, a good while ago, I started migrating Madam Mayo blog from its free Google-owned Blogger platform to self-hosted WordPress (read about that here). In other words, I own the domain name, I pay for hosting—and I can move to another hosting company anytime I please with a few clicks on my keyboard. I keep both digital and print-out backups of the posts, should anything go wiggy with WordPress.
For email subscriptions I use Mad Mimi, and I’m a happy customer, however, as I learned the hard way after my previous email service, the-monkey-with-the-banana one, deleted my account for reasons known to itself, I export and download my blog’s mailing list on the last day of each and every month.
GOING FORWARD IN 2021
My sense is that from the get-go, the blogosphere has been a noodle fest with some clods thrown in, and it will remain so. True, most kidz these dayz don’t wanna hafta read—they’ll smombie on to the visual candy on Instagram, TikTok, and the like. (Well, yeah, complaining about kids, it’s been a thing since before the fall of Troy.) Nonetheless, certain individual writers and journalists’ blogs will become increasingly influential, for various different reasons, with various niche audiences, some tiny, some impressively large. However without an editorial board to oversee these cowboys & cowgirls (cowpersons?), curating a reading list of them falls to the reader. This is not an easy task. Nonetheless, as a reader, I can attest that it has its rewards.
What can you expect from Madam Mayo blog going forward in 2021? Monday posts, as ever: first Mondays on Texas Books; second Mondays something chewy for my writing workshop students and anyone else interested in creative writing; third Mondays something of or about my work (past or in-progress, mainly focusing on Mexico and Texas); and fourth Mondays, a Q & A with another writer. Come on back next Monday when literary essayist Susan Tweit, author of the memoir Bless the Birds, offers her fascinating As to my Qs.
This year is sweet sixteen for Madam Mayo blog. I plan on having fun and offering to you, dear reader, new things to ponder in this beautiful Tilt-A-Whirl world.
This month’s workshop post is the transcript of a talk I gave for the Writer’s Center Seminar “Publish Now!” on June 23, 2012. Looking back after nearly a decade, I would say the advice is solid, however I was then more admiring of and optimistic about multimedia ebooks. Suffice to say I am considering a Vandercook.
So you’ve written your first book. Now what to do with it? It might appear that you’re about to enter the labyrinth, but no worries, we’re going to take three easy steps, and then a bird’s eye view at what is less a labyrinth than a conveyor belt. Finally, for those looking for commercial publication, we’ll look at three key areas to consider working on immediately, if not already.
THREE EASY STEPS
1. IDENTIFY YOUR INTENTIONS
Why did you write this book? How do you envision your book reaching its reader? (Airport bookstore? Amazon.com download? Limited edition or print-on-demand? Multimedia iBook or Vook? Gifted by you personally? Sold to your clients at workshops and seminars?) What do you want this book to do for you personally and professionally? How far are you willing to go, and how much time and money can you spend, to make your ideal publishing experience happen?
Many writers, agents and editors will happily give you iron-clad prescriptions but the appropriate level of investment of your time, money (and angst) depends on your intentions.
Some authors have no intention of doing anything more for their book. For example, my dad completed his final draft of Captured: The Forgotten Men of Guam, about the prisoners taken by the Japanese in World War II, just as he was in the final stages of terminal cancer, so the right thing for him was to let it go. He turned it over to his colleague, historian Linda Goetz Holmes, and let her edit and shepherd it to publication (it will be out in fall 2012 from Naval Institute Press). Like many people towards the end of their lives, having written his book, it did not make sense for him to invest in further effort. I can think of several books in this category— and not necessarily by people facing immanent death (!): a perfectly healthy grandmother leaving a memoir or children’s book or family history for her family; a survivor of a war or some long-ago event, leaving testimony; and, on a happier note, there are also cookbooks intended for only family, friends and maybe neighbors.
Some writers, well, they just wanna have fun. Like me with the piano: I’m OK with banging out “Chopsticks” and “Greensleeves” once in a while. I don’t have to be Vladimir Horowitz.
Some more grittily determined types want to check “write book” off their to-do list, along with, say, “plant a tree” and “climb the pyramids of Egypt,” and once they’ve typed “THE END,” they’re ready to slap a cover around the pages, whatever whichway, and move on to the next item.
A writer might be facing a deadline. How about a book written in order to influence an local election? One wouldn’t want to publish a book about the Mayan prophecies of 2012 in 2013!
A writer who aims to publish a thriller available in airport bookstores, however, had better be prepared to do what is necessary—possibly months or years of work— to find an agent who can place it with an appropriate commercial publisher. He or she had also better be prepared to do a marathon’s worth of promotional legwork. (When you hear stories from self-publishing companies about some self-published novel that made it to best-sellerdom, that, believe me, is the nano-tip of the iceberg of books you have never, and will never, ever, not even in Oz, hear about.)
Similarly, a writer who aims for a place in the literary pantheon with Edgar Allen Poe, Edith Wharton, Ernest Hemingway, James Joyce, Eudora Welty, and so on, had also better be prepared to do a toe-curling amount of revision. Readers, even the most cultivated ones, rarely guess at how many times a quality literary novel or memoir has been revised. The reason is simple: when the writer goes out on tour to flog their book, they have zero incentive to confess how much work went into it, no more indeed than the leading ballerina dancing the Sugar Plum Fairy would halt, mid-twirl, to shout to the balcony, “AYYY, my bloody feet!!”
Some writers’ goals are business and professional success, so they don’t necessarily see their book as an end in itself, but as something that supports that—a calling card, as it were, for more prestige, more clients, and, perhaps, speaking opportunities. Some examples of this would be feng shui consultant Carol Olmstead’s Feng Shui for Real Life and David Allen’s Getting Things Done. Dr Daniel G. Amen’s popular series of books on improving brain health come to mind, and my own (long ago) finance books which, verily, did wonders for my career as an economist in Mexico. Whether self-published or commercially published, these books, to achieve such goals, need to be exquisitely well-edited.
Alas, many self-published writers, in taking on the job of professional publishers without realizing the full nature and scope of the process, make big mistakes here… more about that in a moment.
Then there are the academics aiming to share their research and, usually, also gain stature in their field and, in particular, tenure. They will most likely find a university press the answer to their needs, and so their manuscript’s path through the steps we’ll see below may be a little different. Mainly, they probably won’t be using an agent. (Why? Because the advances against royalties for such books are too small to make them worth an agent’s time.)
Many authors will find their intentions for their book in more than one of these categories— and, no doubt, there are categories I haven’t thought to mention. It’s certainly possible to change your intentions once you change or, as often happens, you find out how dagnabbit tough it can be to publish. Then again, for some people it’s easy to publish a best-selling book, or, say, place their PhD thesis with Harvard University Press on their first submission. (Some people do win the lottery, too. And as far as I know, J.K. Rowling is a real person.)
2. WHILE ACTIVELY SEEKING OUT INFORMATION ABOUT THE PUBLISHING PROCESS, CULTIVATE YOUR SELF-AWARENESS.
There are no formulas in this “business.” You need to figure out what’s right for you, so you need to find your balance between humility and arrogance, overpessimism and overoptimism, fear and naiveté. What works for one writer and her manuscript may be wildly inappropriate for another. So stay curious, but trust your intuition.
Guys, that means, educate yourself but in the end, go with your gut.
One part of educating yourself is to read widely and, in your genre, deeply. Let’s say you want to publish a literary novel. Well, then, you’d better be reading a lot of literary novels.
Compare the work that wins, say, the Pulitzer Prize, to a random selection of self-published novels, and though I am sure 10 people would have 10 different opinions about the novels that won over the past decade, in general, I am confident we could find a consensus, with perhaps one or maybe two exceptions, that the prize-winning novels have a very different quality than the others. Look and learn.
But again, there are no formulas. The publishing world is not run by all-knowing gods in the sky, but human beings. Last I checked, human beings are capable of doing and saying some really stupid stuff. And like monkeys in funny hats, many will dance to someone else’s idea of music. So yes, it has happened that great books go unpublished and crap gets on the bookshelves. Godawful injustices and aesthetic barbarities plague the world every minute. I don’t know about you, but unless I am able and willing to do something, I try not to dwell on them.
3. KNOW YE THAT EVERYONE, INCLUDING WIDELY-PUBLISHED WRITERS BUT ALWAYS AND ESPECIALLY NEW WRITERS, MASSIVELY, AS IN MOUNT EVEREST MASSIVELY, UNDERESTIMATES THE AMOUNT OF EDITING THAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO GET THE BOOK TO A QUALITY COMMERCIALLY PUBLISHED LEVEL.
Now for the conveyor belt which, depending on your intention and circumstances, moves (maybe slowly, maybe surely) your manuscript through some or all of these various types of readers and editors. This is a stylized list, based on my own experience having had several books published by diverse houses, from corporate behemoth Random House Mondadori to university and small presses, and my own itsy bitsy tailor-made Dancing Chiva.
FRIENDS AND/OR FAMILY MEMBERS In most cases, even if avid readers of above-average intelligence, they wouldn’t know how to critique their way out of a paper sack. Eliciting an honest reaction more often than not results in a lot of hurt feelings on both sides. I no longer ask for “feedback,” or “unvarnished opinions,” but rather, very specifically, for an “x” in the margin or a circle around the text itself to indicate where, if they didn’t know me, they would have quit reading. Usually this alerts me to a specific problem that can be directly addressed. Manuscript improved, drama averted.
(But your loved one insists on reading it? But think: does it make sense to show your poetic literary historical novel to someone whose diet of reading is almost completely of formula thrillers purchased along with the lettuce at the grocery store? Or for that matter, why give your romance novel to someone who hasn’t read anything but newspapers and organic chemistry journal articles in the past three decades?)
COLLEAGUES AND/OR EXPERTS ON THE SUBJECT Invaluable. But park your ego outside. Be sure to thank them in the acknowledgements and give them an inscribed copy of the book. (Don’t hesitate to ask for a blurb if you think you’ll get one. It’s never too early to start!)
WRITING WORKSHOP Possibly useful. I strongly believe in the value of writing workshops— indeed, over the years I attended many myself, and I teach them— but in my experience the main value is not so much in any critiques you receive, but in learning how to critique others (and thus, eventually, your own manuscripts). It is rare to find a workshop that will critique book-length manuscripts, however. But not impossible. But don’t bang your head against the wall if you can’t find one. Many superb writers never set pencil in a workshop.
Check the Writer’s Center catalog when it comes out each season. For those with a completed draft, in the DC area, Richard Peabody has led a popular novel workshop for some years.
WRITERS GROUPS These are as varied as wildflowers in a meadow. Like wildflowers, most are beautiful, but some are poisonous. Ayyy, they are composed of human beings! Start one yourself if you dare. (Don’t know any other writers? Go meet some! Join writers groups and associations, from the Writer’s Center to the Women’s National Book Association— they accept men, by the way— to say, the Maryland Writers’ Asociation. Take workshops. Attend seminars and conferences.)
As with workshops, however, it is no easy feat to find a writers group that can handle critiques of book-length manuscripts. In my experience, writers groups are most beneficial for working on poetry, short fiction, and short essays.
WRITING TEACHER / PUBLISHED WRITER YOU HAPPEN TO KNOW (LIVE NEXT DOOR TO, ETC) Outside of the workshop, are you offering to pay the going rate for a freelance editor? It starts at about USD $35 an hour and goes up, way up, from there. If not, you are asking too hefty a favor, I fear. (Would you ask the dentist who lives next door to give your kids braces for free? Or the hairdresser to cut your hair for free?)
[Update: someone in the seminar asked, “What if my next door neighbor is a professional copyeditor?” I answered, “Ask her what she charges. Since you know her, if you don’t want to pay cash, you might offer to, say, babysit her kids for a month.”]
FREELANCE EDITOR One of the best ways to find a freelance editor is by recommendation from a fellow writer. You can also find freelance editors at sites such as the Editorial Freelancer Association.
As you will find, editors vary widely in terms of experience, typical clients (technical, literary, genre, etc), waiting lists (or not), and the way they work. Some offer consultation, review, developmental editing, “feedback,” line editing, etc. Some charge by the page, some by the word, others by the hour or by the project. Some want a check, others use PayPal.
Explore their websites, which should their policies clearly and offer a work history, samples, testimonials, and more.
Before proceeding, get a Letter of Agreement (LOA) which clearly states what you can expect / limits to services and payment. If you don’t like their LOA, try to negotiate or find another editor.
LITERARY AGENT If you aim to publish with a commercial publisher who distributes to brick-and-mortar bookstores, you will probably need an agent in order to get past the Himalaya-sized “slush piles” (that is, unsolicited manuscripts). Some agents will refer clients to freelance editors. Some agents will actually edit. Some agents are wise and experienced and should be heeded; others, well, I’m not sure they should be allowed to operate a motorized vehicle, never mind put a red pencil to anyone’s manuscript. Remember, anyone, including your plumber, your lawyer, or your pet groomer, can put out their shingle as a literary agent. Check their credentials and track record before blindly accepting any editorial advice from an agent.
My own agent, Kit Ward, was an editor at Little, Brown, a prestigious press, for many years. She also has an impressive track record as an agent. That said, she didn’t read my novel in manuscript; I sold it myself, then brought her in to negotiate the contract.
On a previous book, my former New York agent, who, although famous, shall remain unnamed, made numerous editorial suggestions. Other than obliging me to cut the clutter— which was invaluable, and for which I remain very grateful— I found it difficult to believe she read it with genuine care because so many of her comments left me shaking my head in wonder, the wonder being, which manuscript did she read? (Um, agents have a Himalaya-sized slush piles, too.)
ACQUISITIONS EDITOR This editor is the one you submit your manuscript to and he says, “no thanks,” or, “revise and submit again,” or, “yes, here’s the contract”. Depending on how many hats he wears in the publishing house, he may or may not be the one who edits your mansucript.
PRODUCTION EDITOR, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, MANAGING EDITOR, ETC. In a large house these may be different individuals, but in smaller houses they are one and the same. Some publishers use freelancers for different types of editing. It all depends. For example, when I published my anthology, Mexico: A Traveler’s Literary Companion, the acquiring editor was the publisher and owner, Dave Peattie of Whereabouts Press, but a freelance literary translator, a very good one, did the line editing.
Like surgery, or for that matter, home renovation, some operations are minor and some require saws, chisels and heavy sedation. Generally speaking— and this is why agents often do some editing for their clients— acquiring editors prefer to buy manuscripts that come in as close to ready-for-publication as possible. The reason is simple: editing takes the time of salaried (or freelance) professionals, which isn’t cheap, and the more editing that needs to be done, the greater the risk that the author will not deliver the work in an acceptable time frame or condition.
COPYEDITOR When you go the route of agent to acquiring editor to editor, nearing the end of the conveyor belt, when (ideally) both you and your editor have made the manuscript as as squeaky-clean as it can be, you will encounter the eagle-eyed nitpicker known as the copyeditor.
Copyeditors catch things like, on page 86 you use “catsup” while on page 119 you say, “ketchup”; do you want to go with “Palacio Nacional” or “National Palace”? Mr Wilson or Dr Wilson? (It’s Mr Wilson throghout but Dr in footnote 3 on page 49). Should it be “carte-de-visite” or “carte de visite”? Should the “E” in Champs-Elysee have an accent? (Doesn’t matter, but you need to be consistent.) They often catch commas inside, when (following U.S. style), they should be placed outside quotation marks.They make up what is called a stylesheet, which you can refer to whenever you have a doubt. In sum, copyediting adds value to your book by improving its quality. It is one of the many things a publisher does to earn their bigger cut of a book’s income (leaving you the little slice of “royalties”).
When you opt to self-publish, if your aim is to produce a book on par with commercially published works (as for example, if you want the book to serve as your business’s calling card or to establish your expertise), you need to hire a copyeditor.
Unfortunately, few people have encountered a copyeditor or even know what exactly what it is they do (and no, it’s not copywriting), and so when ambitious first-time authors who opt to self-publish learn that copyediting might cost, say, $5 a page or $35 an hour and upwards, they skip this step— to their detriment.
All of my several books have been copyedited, and in each and every instance, after having been revised many times, and read by many readers and editors, I have been genuinely astonished at all the copyedits— almost every single page has something marked. A few corrections I disagreed with, but I have always had the chance to discuss and negotiate to my and my editor’s mutual satisfaction. That said, the overwhelming majority of copyedits have been excellent and indeed, many have saved me from what could have been an embarassment. And I think most writers who have been well-published can say the same.
There is so much to say about the underappreciated yet vital profession of copyediting that, if you’re serious about publishing something of quality, I urge you to buy a copy of this slender but superb book:
PROOFREADER The proofreader catches those spelling and punctuation mistakes which the copyeditor missed (it happens), as well as any formatting problems and inconsistencies. Many people use the terms copyeditor and proofreader interchangably; I’ve seen the definitions of copyeditor and proofreaders overlap, blend, contradict— oh well!
It’s important to make sure you can review the work of the proofreader before it goes to press because sometimes they make mistakes. I had something in my collection of short stories (meticulously edited, by the way) “corrected” by a proofreader that was a misunderstaning on his part. It was a minor technical term but anyone who knows about it knows my book has it wrong. Not my fault! Grrr.
THE CORRESPONDENTS OF THE AFTERMATH The day will come when the box with your books arrives. And you will take out the first, smelling-of-fresh-ink copy and you will open it… and you will find a typo. That’s right, no matter how times and how many highly paid editors read it through from beginning to end, red pencil-in-hand, that typo will stare you in the face, obvious as a zit on the end of your nose and horrible in its immortality.
This is only one of the myriad reasons I recommend checking out all the handy tips for toughening up your mind and spirit which sports psychologists offer in a whole library’s worth of books, the best of which, in my opinion, is Kenneth Baum’s The Mental Edge.
You will obsess about this typo— and the others. Yes, there will be others. Some might even (gulp) appear on the cover. How about in the title itself? I know perfectly decent, dilgent, and intelligent people to whom this has happened.
The worst typo might appear, like a cockroach in the duxelle of the Beef Wellington, in a sentence wherein you pretend to assert your expertise. And you knew perfectly well what you were talking about. Really! This has happened to me. It is so awful that I cannot bear to continue to speak of it.
Many readers will tell you about your typos. Some may catch them with undisguised glee! The most gleeful among them are those who yearn to write a book (oh, they have a great idea) but they never will precisely because they are, undercover of “being too busy” so terrified of being criticized. Once you figure that out, it’s not so bad.
A surprising number of people will write to you, listing, ever so helpfully, page by page, all your many mistakes. Some really are mistakes, although finding out about them, which is good if you are to reprint your book at some point, doesn’t exactly make your day. And some are not mistakes; your correspondent doesn’t know what the barking buffalo he’s talking about. I’ve had people write to tell me I was wrong about the rental price of per day for palapas on a remote beach because it had since gone up (um, hello, it’s a travel memoir?) and that a German song in my novel does not exist (um, it’s fiction?)
Nobody is perfect. Not them. Not me. Sigh. Not you, either.
THREE KEY AREAS TO CONSIDER WORKING ON IMMEDIATELY, IF NOT ALREADY
I. MARKETING & PUBLICITY
In the past, marketing and publicity were (supposedly but not really, which is another story) the publisher’s responsability. A few months after the contract is signed, but still some months before its “pub date,” the book will be placed on another conveyor belt, as it were, going out to reviewers, book fairs, distributors, etc., while the publisher’s sales reps and marketing staff work hard (one hopes) to interest bookstores, libraries, reviewers, bloggers, and press.
To quote marketing guru and best-selling author Seth Godin, “The best time to start promoting your book is three years before it comes out. Three years to build a reputation, build a permission asset, build a blog, build a following, build credibility and build the connections you’ll need later.”
Some books, especially nonfiction works, but also collections of poetry, short fiction, or literary essays, can benefit from having had individual pieces in magazines prior to publication. In fact, when evaluating such manuscripts, editors almost always ask to see “acknowledgements,” that is, a list of magazines in which the works (or excerpts) have previously appeared. The more and more prestigious, the better. In other words, if you can say you’ve had a story in the Paris Review or Zyzzyva, or an article in the Washington Post, that signals that you’re serious— you’ve made the effort to get your work out there and some editor thought enough of it to publish it. Your piece may also be eligible for some award— and taking the trouble to enter appropriate contests could result in some helpful recognition. It is almost always a simple matter to include the work in your book, but do check your contract and always, always, include the acknowledgement.
In my own case, only two of my short stories in Sky Over El Nido appeared elsewhere (Paris Review and Southwest Review), while several of the chapters in my travel memoir, Miraculous Air, appeared in magazines, among them, North American Review, Southwest Review, and Massachusetts Review, and two won Lowell Thomas awards. Novels are difficult to excerpt, but I did publish the first chapter of The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire in Potomac Review. It does happen.
I confess I’ve been much less interested in placing shorter pieces in magazines and newspapers now that I have a blog. For the past few years, while working on new books, I’ve also become enchanted with podcasting.
The downside of all this blogging and podcasting vis-a-vis publishing in magazines and newspapers: less income, fewer readers, and no copyediting (unless you shell out for it).
The upside: I am in complete creative control of the content as well as whether and when it gets “published.” Plus, I don’t have to deal with so many editors.
Editors are a blessing, yes, but a mixed one. Sometimes I don’t want feedback, I just want to say what I want to say. Dang the tomatoes!
III. DESIGN AND MULTIMEDIA
What is a book? We are now beginning to see inexpensively produced yet very beautiful and rich multimedia e-books. For example, in 2012, Apple made available the iBook Author app free to anyone with the latest operating system. It’s a breathtakingly well-designed and easy to use software that allows you to drag and drop in video, images, slideshows, widgets, and more. With such tools, this is a time of tremendous creative opportunity for writers, while readers, especially younger ones, will demand increasingly rich and complex reading experiences.
In my opinion, the writer needs to be able to handle images, video, audio and graphic design to a level that may not be expert— we are, after all, writers, not cinematographers or graphic designers— but is nonetheless congruent with the style and quality of one’s writing.
This blog posts on Mondays. Fifth Mondays, when they happen to arrive, are for the newsletter. Herewith the latest posts covering Texas Books, workshop posts, Q & As, selected other posts and news, plus cyberflanerie.
Ignacio Solares, one of Mexico’s most outstanding literary writers, appears in English translation by Yours Truly in the fabulous new issue #72 of Gargoyle. Edited by poet Richard Peabody, Gargoyle is one of the Mid-Atlantic region’s most enduring and prestigious literary magazines. Check it out! Solares’ short story is entitled “The Orders” (“Las instrucciones”). My thanks to Ignacio Solares for the honor, to Richard Peabody for accepting it and bringing it forth, and to Nita Congress for her eagle-eyed copyediting. (My previous translation of Solares’ work, the short story “Victoriano’s Deliriums,” appeared in The Lampeter Review #11.)
The cover of Gargoyle #72, which includes my translation of a short story by Ignacio Solares, features spoken word poet Salena Godden.
By the way, if you don’t subscribe to Madam Mayo blog but would like to receive my very occasionally emailed newsletter (via Mad Mimi, my email letter service) just send me an email at cmmayo (at) cmmayo.com and I’ll add you to my mailing list.
MARFA MONDAYS PODCASTING PROJECT Ongoing! I’ve let the Marfa Mondays podcast sit for a while as I am working on the (related) book, World Waiting for a Dream: A Turn in Far West Texas. That said, I’m almost…almost… done with podcast #22, which is an unusually wide-ranging interview recorded in Sanderson, a remote town that also happens to be the cactus capital of Texas. Podcasts 1 – 21 are all available to listen for free online here.
COOL STUFF ON MY RADAR ( = CYBERFLANERIE = ) The brilliantly brilliant Edward Tufteis offering his course on video. I took his in-person workshop twice, that’s how big a fan I am. I wish everyone else would take it, too, for then our world could be a little less fruit-loopy.
My amigo the esteemed playwright and literary translator Geoff Hargreaves has a most promising new novel out from Floricanto Press, The Collector and the Blind Girl
Poet Patricia Dubrava shares a beauty on her blog, Holding the Light: “Hearing the Canadas”
Cal Newport on “Beethoven and the Gifts of Silence.” Newport has a new podcast by the way, which is ultra-fabulous. Newport’s new book, A World Without Email, is a zinger of clarity. More about that anon.
Allison Rietta
Allison Rietta, artist, designer, yoga teacher, sound healer, and founder of “Avreya” offers a new series of digital books on contemplative practice that each, I am honored to say, include a writing exercise by Yours Truly. (These writing exercises are from my “Giant Golden Buddha & 364 More Free 5 Minute Writing Exercises” which you can access here.) Rietta’s digital books are so refreshingly lovely, and filled with wise and practical ideas for anyone seeking to improve the quality of their health and creative life. Here’s her introduction:
A series of five Contemplative Practice books based on the elements of nature: air, earth, fire, space and water. Each book is designed specifically to enhance that particular element and offers holistic, contemplative practices that include yoga asanas, pranayama, meditation, creative writing and visual art.
What’s in each book: Warm up and yoga asana-s (postures) Pranayama – a breath technique Meditation practice Creative writing prompt Art journaling prompt Practice pairings – Just as pairing food dishes with wine enhances the dining experience, this book offers pairings designed to complement each element such as, music, crystals, essential oils and mantras.
The books are designed to help yoga practitioners cultivate a personal home practice. The practices offered in these books may be done sequentially or separately.
Visit Allison Rietta here and find her new books here.
My amigo poet, playwright, literary translator and writing reacher Zack Rogow was interviewed by Jeffrey Mishove for New Thinking Allowed on “Surrealism and Spontaneity”: A most informative and charming video.
Anne Elise Urrutia’s Pechakucha on her grandfather Dr. Aureliano Urrutia’s “Miraflores”—something very special in San Antonio, Texas history.
This is a list, not of any so-called cannon of the genre, but of the books that have been my teachers as I learned to write literary travel memoir. It also includes those I have read relatively recently and greatly admire. The ones that are starred are those that I have read and reread time and again; each, in its own way, has been vitally helpful to me, whether for shorter pieces such as A Visit to Swan House; longer ones such as From Mexico to Miramar or, Across the Lake of Oblivion, or my books, among them, Miraculous Air: Journey of a Thousand Miles through Baja California the Other Mexico. I aim to read many more literary travel memoirs, learn much more about the craft, and write more essays and books (indeed my book in-progress is a travel memoir of Far West Texas), hence I consider this an embryonic list.
If you, dear writerly reader, are writing literary travel memoir or anything in the realm of “creative nonfiction,” I would encourage you to read the books on this list; may you enjoy and learn from them as I did.
At the same time, I would encourage you, if you have not already, to make your own listof works that you have already read and— never mind what anyone else thinks— that you admired and loved. Then ask yourself: What do these works you so love and admire have in common? How do they handle descriptions of nature, or animals, of crowd scenes? Transitions? Dialogue? Sandwiching in the exposition? Narrative structure? Throw whatever writerly questions you can think of at these, your True Faves, and I’ll betcha bucks to buttons, they will teach you something valuable.
A final note: “Literary travel writing” can be defined in myriad ways. How far does one have to travel to consider it travel writing? The Pushkar camel fair would be fab, but I say, your own backyard will do. The idea is to see with new eyes and an open heart, then tell a good story.
—. A Desert Harvest This splendid anthology collects selected essays from Bruce Berger’s masterwork of a desert trilogy, The Telling Distance, Almost an Island, and There Was a River. P.S. Read my Q & A with Bruce Berger apropos of the publication of this collection here.
This blog posts on Mondays. This year, 2021, I am dedicating the first Monday of the month to Texas Books, in which I share with you some of the more unusual and interesting books in the Texas Bibliothek, that is, my working library. Listen in any time to the related podcast series.
Texas history aficionados, welcome and bienvenido! I invite you to check out these three fascinating—and free—digitalized rare books:
Sherman, William T. The Memoirs of General William T. Sherman. D. Appleton and Co., 1886 One of the greatest memoirs of the 19th century. Some mighty strange stories in here.
If this finds you, dear writerly reader, working on a biography, history, or historical fiction, whether Texas-related or not, the rest of this post is also for you. Normally I post for my writing workshop the second Monday of each month, but on occasion I make an exception. (In any event, look for the regular workshop post next Monday.)
Hot Diggety Digital!
Is it practical to go all digital with your working library? Probably not. But partially, yes. It depends on your project and your daily capacity for screentime & scrollin’. As I continue with my book in-progress on Far West Texas which, of all my several books to-date, has required the largest working library, this finds me still a-huffin’ & a-puffin’ up the learning curve for utilizing and managing my working library. But I can say that I’ve achieved some oxygen-tank-worthy altitude! Three things about working with working libraries that I learned the “ouch” way:
(A) buy the book whenever possible (else I may not get my hands on it again);
(B) make space, more space than you will ever think you could possibly need for the working library because… you will need it; and
I cannot say it too often, a book I cannot find is a book I might as well not own.
A BOOK I CANNOT FIND IS A BOOK I MIGHT AS WELL NOT OWN
Kindles?
Only when I don’t have another option. For this particular book project, I have not found Kindles of much use. In my experience, for the most part, where there is a Kindle, there is also a paperback and I ever and always prefer the paperback.
What About Using (Um, Actually Going to) a Library or Three?
Yes, of course, I have used both public and research libraries. That would be another blog post (such as this one). That said, for independent scholars with limited travel options, relying on libraries is not ever and always nor even usually the best option when it comes to consulting a given book. Let me put it this way: I don’t cook spaghetti one noodle at a time, either.
Rare Books Out of Reach?
But what about when a needed book is impossible to find and/or too expensive to buy? A fine copy of certain classic 19th works can go for hundreds, even (I’m talking about you, Josiah Gregg) thousands of dollars. Happily, many such classics are now in the public domain, that is to say, they are out of copyright and some publisher somewhere has brought out an affordable paperback edition. My working library has many such paperbacks purchased for a few bucks each from my go-to online booksellers. I’ve also purchased used and ex-library books of later editions, many of which books, not being in such good shape, are generally inexpensive (sometimes the book is cheaper than the shipping), these mainly from www.abebooks.com. And finally, on a few special occasions, I have shelled out a pile of clams for a rare book (see my posts on rare books here and here, for example). For rare books, stay away from amazon and ebay because many used book sellers on those platforms do not know how to properly describe a rare book (you’ll think you’re getting the elephant, but what shows up is a three-legged alpaca). It is best to buy from a member-in-good-standing of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America, or similar association, for those dealers based in other countries.
Free!
Fortunately for this writer’s pocketbook, many out-of-copyright oldies are now available in ***free*** digital editions on the nonprofit Internet Archive archive.org and/or the Gutenberg Project gutenberg.org. Lo and behold, many of the books I need in my working library fall into this category.
For example, the English translation of the French Abbé Emmanuel Domenech’s memoirMissionary Adventures in Texas and Mexico was one I had been looking for several years (it was relevant to an earlier book of mine, as well.) When a copy finally popped up, alas, its price was well out of my budget. But I can now access Domenech’s memoir for my working purposes, thanks to the free online edition.
And Searchable!
Yep, digital books are also searchable and that can come in handy.
Behold: The Digital Döppelgänger
So, after some time working on this Far West Texas book, I have accumulated what I think of as the digital Doppelgänger to my physical working library, the Texas Bibliothek.
As I noted in a previous post about how I organize my (physical) working library, I shelve the physical books under categories that work for me— categories that may not necessarily make sense to anyone else. I also include books which inclusion may not make sense to anyone else. And that is OK: Anyone Else is not the name of the person writing my book. Nor is Anyone Else writing your book, I would imagine…
And what about when, as is oftentimes the case, a book falls into two or more categories? Well, la de diddly da, I just pick one category, and go with that. My working library may be large, but I don’t need to put on rollerskates to go in there.
How to keep an online working library organized for one’s writerly purposes?
For the online library originally I kept a list, by author in alphabetical order, on a blogger blog (treating it as basically a free, oft-updated webpage). But I have since moved to a system that works much better for me: I categorize the links to the online books in the same way as I do my physical working library, using a photo for quick reference, on a private page of my very own self-hosted WordPress blog, Madam Mayo.
Herewith, one example of the approximately 30 categories in my online working library (that is to say, a photo of the physical working library ‘s label and shelf + any online titles):
