This fourth Monday of the month I’m dedicating this last Q & A of 2021 to some of the answers I have received to a question many of you, dear writerly readers—and workshop students— might find especially interesting.
C.M. MAYO: For those looking to publish, what would be your most hard-earned piece of advice?
DAVID O. STEWART: Nobody asked you to write that book. You’re doing it for you. If you can’t get it published, accept that they’re all a bunch of morons and move on.
SUSAN J. TWEIT: In the writing stage, be honest. When you get to a scene or place or event you want to skip over, stop and ask yourself, what am I afraid of? And then go there. Find the universal threads in your personal story—memoir works when it reaches beyond the personal into the territory that anyone can learn from. And when looking for an agent or publisher, be perseverant. Memoir is a crowded field these days, and yours has to be the best it can possibly be to stand out, and it also has to be so compelling that an editor or agent simply cannot put it down.
JAN CLEERE: Do your research before querying publishers and agents. You will save so much time if you know whether the publisher or agent you are querying accepts the type of book you are writing. There are several good websites that list publishers and/or agents and describe what they are looking for.
KARREN ALENIER: If a publisher says s/he likes part of your manuscript, ask immediately if you can send a revision. Don’t delay by feeling sorry for yourself or thinking someone else might like the whole thing. Take your openings when they present.
SOLVEIG EGGERZ: Don’t waste years seeking an agent, a large publisher, a small publisher, or anything. Instead invest time and money in getting your work read and vetted 1) by your favorite writers group and 2) by an excellent developmental editor or mentor. Once you feel confident that you’ve written a good book, do what feels right regarding publishing.
KATHLEEN ALCALÁ: Before submitting anything, research the market. If looking to publish in a magazine, purchase half a dozen or so that seem to be likely venues for your work. Look at them carefully and see if you fit in. This is a good place to start, rather than submitting book length manuscripts to publishers, because book editors read these magazines, too. It also gives you a chance to learn how to work with an editor, to receive suggestions and shape the best possible piece for the magazine.
CHRISTINA THOMPSON: Don’t be too impatient and don’t try to publish work that isn’t ready. Also, I do recommend having some readers for your work-in-progress: a writing group or a class can really help you identify weaknesses in your writing that you might not be able to identify on your own.
*
My own hard-earned advice about publishing? Chances are, you’ll make some mistakes, some minor, others appalling, so why not lessen the number and the pain by learning from the mistakes of others?
My favorite answer is David O. Stewart’s: “Nobody asked you to write that book. You’re doing it for you. If you can’t get it published, accept that they’re all a bunch of morons and move on.” I would add to that, don’t overlook the option of self-publishing. But again, and with self-publishing especially, it helps to learn from the mistakes of others. (On my writing workshop page, scroll down aways and you will find a batch of posts on publishing.)
May 2022 be a year filled with health, happiness, prosperity, and inspiration for you and yours. And if you’re looking to publish, may your path be blessed!
I welcome your courteous comments which, should you feel so moved, you can email to me here.
C.M. MAYO: How has the Digital Revolution affected your writing? Specifically, has it become more challenging to stay focused with the siren calls of email, texting, blogs, online newspapers and magazines, social media, and such? If so, do you have some tips and tricks you might be able to share?
Down with social media!
LYNNE SHARON SCHWARTZ: “I avoid social media as much as possible—I think it is destroying critical thinking, as well as print journalism. A lot of it is simply garbage. I do like email, though I miss getting personal letters in the mail.” —From Q & A with Lynne Sharon Schwartz About Crossing Borders, Madam Mayo blog, August 23, 2021
MATTHEW PENNOCK: “I am not particularly prolific. I do not write every day, and I’m often distracted by all the shows I can stream, and podcasts I can listen to. Social media has never really appealed to me, so I am okay there, but other than that, someone needs to give me some tips about how to get a little more done.” —From Q & A with Poet Matthew Pennock on The Miracle Machine Madam Mayo blog, November 23, 2020
ALVARO SANTANA-ACUÑA: “While I am writing, I minimize interruptions, including turning off my cellphone and notifications. I only turn it back on when I am having a break. In general, I try to use social media as little as possible. What I do is to log in, scroll down a few posts, and, if I have to post something, I do it and then log off. The truth is that, when we are on social media, we easily loose ownership of our time, which we put for free at the disposal of these companies. We become their workers. I prefer to use my time for other things.” —From Q & A with Álvaro Santana-Acuña on Writing Ascent to Glory: How One Hundred Years of Solitude Was Written and Became a Global Classic, Madam Mayo blog, December 28, 2020
It depends…
CHRISTINA THOMPSON: “I think this depends on what stage one is at in the writing process. When you’re actually writing a book, all this stuff is a distraction and you have to be very careful not to waste too much time on it. But once your book is published, it becomes a lifeline to your readership, and the more you participate the better. So, I think it’s really a matter of making all these opportunities work for and not against you, and that takes a certain amount of discipline.” —From Q & A with Christina Thompson on Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia, Madam Mayo blog, January 25, 2021
Balance
JAN CLEERE: “While digital sources have made a writer’s job more efficient when it comes to finding pertinent sources, it has also taken away that spontaneous delight of uncovering a long lost letter or hidden journal that has not yet been digitized. I try to focus on the business of writing separate from the hours I spend actually writing. Not always possible but I have found by trying to compartmentalize the creative from the business end of writing, I am more productive. The trick is to balance these activities so that by the end of the day, you feel you have put out all the fires as well as progressed with your writing.” —From Q & A with Jan Cleere on Military Wives in Arizona Territory: A History of Women Who Shaped the Frontier, March 22, 2021
No problemo!
SOLVEIG EGGERZ: “Actually I love writing on the computer. I am not one to long for life in a cabin on a mountaintop where I write on a yellow pad free of technology. I don’t like to be surprised by “emergencies” days after they occur. I resolve the issue of disturbances by keeping my phone next to me, so I can glance at a message without shutting down my story. Maybe I am exaggerating my equanimity!” —From Q & A with Solveig Eggerz on Sigga of Reykjavik, February 22, 2021
KARREN ALENIER: “I’m used to being interrupted. I grew up in house of six children. I was eldest. The point is when I am working, I am able to ignore the lure of online wonders like YouTube, blogs and newspapers. However, I like to work in silence and know that listening to radio, TV, or music is too distracting. Yes, my smart phone is an interrupter. Still I don’t turn that off because someone important to me might reach out and need me. Some of my friends get annoyed that I don’t read their Facebook pages except occasionally. The best way for me to get something done is to put it on my list of things to do. I take great pleasure in ticking off those items.” —From Q & A with Karren Alenier on her New Book How We Hold On, the Word Works, Paul Bowles & More, Madam Mayo blog, September 27, 2021
DAVID O. STEWART: “For a lot of years, I was a trial and appellate lawyer with a dozen or more active cases at a time. I used to describe my work as a life of interruptions. Clients called. Colleagues dropped by (remember offices?). Opposing lawyers called. Dumb firm meetings. Interviewing job applicants. I was constantly dropping one subject to pick up another. I tried to be in my office by seven a.m. to get some uninterrupted time. So these days, working at home by myself, I actually get antsy if I don’t have a few interruptions. I’m used to working for a stretch, taking a few minutes off to do something stupid (see social media) or annoying (see call health insurer), and then getting back to work. It’s normal.” —From Q & A with Biographer David O. Stewart on the Stunning Fact of George Washington, Madam Mayo blog, June 28, 2021
Go into another world…
SUSAN J. TWEIT: “When I am writing, I am in another world. I turn off notifications on my phone and computer, so that I’m not distracted by the bing of email coming in or the ding of texts or news alerts. My daily routine is pretty simple: I post a haiku and photo on social media every morning (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram), and answer any comments on my posts. After half an hour on social media—I set a timer—I read the news online. When I’ve finished with the news—which is research time for me, as news stories, especially those about science, are raw material for my writing—I write until the well runs dry. And then, usually at two or three in the afternoon, I allow myself to go back to social media, answer other comments, check the news. Then I close my laptop and go outside into the real world and walk for a mile or two on the trails around my neighborhood to clear my head. Getting outside into the “near-wild” of the greenbelt trails in my high-desert neighborhood keeps me sane in turbulent times, and refills my creative well. Nature is my medicine, inspiration, and my solace.” —From Q & A with Susan J. Tweit on Her Memoir, Bless the Birds: Living with Love in a Time of Dying, April 26, 2021
KATHLEEN ALCALA: “All of this is terrible. I am so easily distracted. I will start laundry, open a file, take notes by hand, and forget what I had planned to do that day. For me, the best strategy is still the writing residency, away from home, where I don’t have any excuses and fewer distractions. This is especially needed when I am trying to organize large blocks of writing, such as the chapters in a novel.” —From Q & A with Kathleen Alcalá on Spirits of the Ordinary, Madam Mayo blog, May 24, 2021
*
My Own Logbook and Stopwatch for Work on Madam Mayo Blog
The ever-increasing and OMG-so-many siren calls to the Internet—as a writer, it’s something I’ve been struggling with and pondering on for the past many years. I’ve had some continuing frustrations, but also some successes, and I’ve blogged about the latter (see my writing workshop archive). Tips & Tricks for Coping with Digital Distractions, that’s a book I’m not going to write because I’m already writing another book, with two others contemplated after that, in addition to hosting this blog. Enough already!
But I will offer a word on my strategy for fitting Madam Mayo blog into my week. This blog has been ongoing since 2006, and since 2019, on a regular schedule of posting on Mondays. Although for years I resisted establishing a regular schedule, to my surprise, it has made the blog far easier to manage.
One of the biggest challenges to the sort of blogging I do is that because there’s no editor, no paying subscribers, it’s easy to have the whole show just ooze on out into who-knows-what-who-knows-when.
If you enjoy writing, watch out, blogging can take over your writing life!
Blogging then, for me, is what behavior modification expert B.J. Fogg, in his book Tiny Habits, terms a “downhill habit,” that is, a habit “that is easy to maintain but difficult to stop.” (Of course, on the other hand, for many people, blogging is, as per B.J. Fogg, an “uphill habit,” that is, one that requires ongoing attention to maintain but is easy to stop.)
Starting in January of 2021, I have been attending to the tiny habit of logging the time I spend on Madam Mayo blog, aiming for about two hours per week, never more than an hour a day, and also aiming for putting my attention on it (including dispatching any related emails) only on Sundays, Mondays, and Wednesdays. When I sit down to work on Madam Mayo blog, I open a digital stopwatch app. When I’m done, I note the date and time spent in the logbook. Was it as scheduled, and within the time limit? If so, I give the entry a check mark and do the B.J. Fogg prescribed “celebration.” Yes, it’s kind of nerdy, but I have been finding this system, or rather, set of tiny habits, balancing, energizing, efficient and, hey, just fun.
I welcome your courteous comments which, should you feel so moved, you can email to me here.
“We usually think of him as this marble man, this cold image on dollar bills and coins, but part of his great success was his emotional intelligence and accessibility.” — David O. Stewart
Just in time for the 4th of July, this last Monday-of-the-month Q & A features acclaimed biographer David O. Stewart and his latest work, George Washington: The Political Rise of America’s Founding Father which, by the way, just won the coveted History Prize from the Society of the Cincinnati. I am very much looking forward to reading this biography for, I would suggest, dear writerly reader, that the qualities of George Washington’s leadership in the American Revolution and in the founding of the United States, and his personal evolution, are something vital to both comprehend and contemplate in this covid year when a good portion of our society— on all sides of the political rhombozoid— smombified by screens, self-delivered serfs to the tech lords and their algorithms, tweeting fury to the cyber-winds— seems to be stumbling towards the edge of…
But on to the Q & A.
“[A]n outstanding biography that both avoids hagiography and acknowledges the greatness of Washington’s character… Mr. Stewart’s writing is clear, often superlative, his judgements are nuanced, and the whole has a narrative drive such a life deserves.” — Wall Street Journal
C.M. MAYO: In brief, what inspired you to write George Washington?
DAVID O. STEWART: I wanted to understand a stunning fact about him: that he won four critical elections (twice as president, and also as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army in 1775 and as president of the Constitutional Convention in 1787), but also that he won them UNANIMOUSLY. Who does that? Howdid he do that? The book is an attempt to answer those questions.
C.M. MAYO:As you were writing, did you have in mind an ideal reader?
DAVID O. STEWART: I always try to write for curious readers, not for specialists or history enthusiasts. Some of the best stories are true—it would be hard to invent a fictional Washington, someone that complex, brave and impressive, yet also with significant flaws that he struggled to repair yet (because he was human) never entirely fixed. So my best reader is someone who wonders about this world and how we struggle to make our way.
C.M. MAYO:In your researches, what are the one or two things that most surprised you to uncover?
DAVID O. STEWART: With George Washington, I wasn’t prepared for how frankly emotional he was. Much of his leadership was based on his ability to connect with others on an almost pre-cognitive level. Sure, he was large and usually calm and centered, but he also had the gift of listening to others (John Adams called it his “gift of silence”). Contemporaries called him “affable.” At highly-charged moments in his life, Washington wept in public. When he lost loved ones, he wrote movingly about the pain. We usually think of him as this marble man, this cold image on dollar bills and coins, but part of his great success was his emotional intelligence and accessibility.
C.M. MAYO:Which writers have been the most important influences for you as a writer of narrative nonfiction (biography)? And for George Washington in particular?
DAVID O. STEWART: I read for entertainment and enlightenment, and am not usually looking for instruction. I can be knocked out by someone else’s book— any of Robert Caro’s, for example— without ever thinking that I should write that way. I may pick up a tip here or there (Joseph Ellis’ American Sphinx teaches that you can write a fine biography that overtly skips the dull stuff). But other writers have their own magic. It’s not mine. I try to figure out the best way to tell well the story I’m working on. As for Washington, many writers have taken him on with great success —Freeman, Flexner, Chernow, even Washington Irving— but I think I learned the most about Washington from some less-well-known writers like Don Higginbotham, Paul Longmore, Peter Henriques.
C.M. MAYO:Which writers are you reading now?
DAVID O. STEWART: I’m halfway through Ted Widmer’s Lincoln on the Verge, which is a remarkable snapshot of America careening into the Civil War; it’s digression as an art form. Since I also write fiction, I usually have a novel or two going. I’ve recently discovered Tana French’s Irish police stories, which are wonderfully written, and very much admired Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet. I’m resolved to read a couple of Barry Unsworth’s historical novels; I read two of them a while back and enjoyed them immensely.
C.M. MAYO:How has the Digital Revolution affected your writing? Specifically, has it become more challenging to stay focused with the siren calls of email, texting, blogs, online newspapers and magazines, social media, and such? If so, do you have some tips and tricks you might be able to share?
DAVID O. STEWART: For a lot of years, I was a trial and appellate lawyer with a dozen or more active cases at a time. I used to describe my work as a life of interruptions. Clients called. Colleagues dropped by (remember offices?). Opposing lawyers called. Dumb firm meetings. Interviewing job applicants. I was constantly dropping one subject to pick up another. I tried to be in my office by seven a.m. to get some uninterrupted time. So these days, working at home by myself, I actually get antsy if I don’t have a few interruptions. I’m used to working for a stretch, taking a few minutes off to do something stupid (see social media) or annoying (see call health insurer), and then getting back to work. It’s normal.
C.M. MAYO:For writers of narrative nonfiction keeping notes and papers organized can be more than tremendously challenging. Would you have any tips to share / lessons learned?
DAVID O. STEWART: I have a very boring organizational system because I want to spend the least amount of time maintaining the infrastructure. With each new project, I usually start a timeline but then give it up after a few weeks as more trouble than it’s worth. I like maps. I keep a list of sources I want to consult and sometimes remember to cross off the ones I’ve read. I take notes on EVERYTHING, even if I have the source in hard-copy. And I type all my notes in Word so it’s all word-searchable. That’s it. No index cards. No file cabinets overflowing with stuff. No cellphone photos of key passages. No Scrib’d files. No diagrams on cork boards.
C.M. MAYO:For those looking to publish, what would be your most hard-earned piece of advice?
DAVID O. STEWART: Nobody asked you to write that book. You’re doing it for you. If you can’t get it published, accept that they’re all a bunch of morons and move on.
C.M. MAYO:What’s next for you as a writer?
DAVID O. STEWART: I’ve been working on a trilogy of novels inspired by my mother’s family’s history, starting when the first ones came to the Maine coast in the 1750s. It’s called The Overstreet Saga, and the first one (The New Land) should come out in November.
Excerpt from David O. Stewart’s George Washington (Dutton Books, 2021)
There was a real man named George Washington, one who stuffed his sixty-seven years with remarkable achievements. This book examines a principal feature of his greatness that can be overlooked: a mastery of politics that allowed him to dominate the most crucial period of American history. For the twenty years from 1776 to 1796, he was a central force in every important event in the nation; often, he was the determining factor. A former British soldier, far from an admirer, wrote in 1784 that Washington’s “political maneuvers, and his cautious plausible management,” had raised him “to a degree of eminence in his own country unrivalled.”One measure of Washington’s political skill was that when he denied having political talent or ambitions, people mostly believed him, and have continued to believe him ever since.
That those denials were disingenuous is beyond dispute. Washington won several major elections in his life: in 1775, the Second Continental Congress selected him as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army; his colleagues at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 made him presiding officer of that pivotal effort to invent a system of self-government; then the new nation elected him as its first president, and re-elected him. As pointed out by others, the fact to linger over is that Washington did not merely win those four critical contests; he won them unanimously. Unanimous election was no more common in the late eighteenth century than it is today.
Washington did not achieve such preeminence due to natural advantages or happy accidents, or because he was tall, rich, brave, and married a rich woman. Nothing about Washington’s success was easy. He had modest inherited wealth, so had to acquire the money that made his career possible. He had a meager education, a temper that terrified those who saw him lose it, a cockiness that could make him reckless, and a deep financial insecurity that could lead him close to greed.
Washington studied his flaws. From a young age, he struggled against his own nature. His early missteps might have crippled the prospects of a person with less dogged commitment to self-improvement. He ruthlessly suppressed qualities that could hinder his advancement and mastered those that could assist it. Washington’s story is not one of effortless superiority, but one of excellence achieved with great effort.
That Washington was the paramount political figure of the turbulent founding era may be enough to deem him a master politician. Yet the appellation applies even more firmly because of the restraint and even benevolence with which he exercised the power his contemporaries placed in his hands. Acclaimed at countless public ceremonies through the last quarter-century of his life, he never became grandiose or self-important. Often called “affable” by those who knew him, despite a personal reserve he maintained in public, his intense modesty and sense of his own fallibility allowed him to seek the advice of others on difficult decisions without preventing him from following his own judgment. As the embodiment of the republican ideals of his time and place, he defined the expectations that Americans would have of their leaders for many generations.
Read more about David O. Stewart and George Washington at davidostewart.com
I welcome your courteous comments which, should you feel so moved, you can email to me here.
