Writer's Tips from Jorlan Publishing

Writer's Tips Newsletter — June 2006

Effective Submissions: There is still time to get in on our June online writing class taught by Heather Horrocks (see her article below). Registration closes on Monday, June 5th for Effective Submissions: Finding an Agent and Submitting Your Writing. Get the information and help you need to sell your manuscript! The class starts on Tuesday, June 6th and ends on Thursday, June 29th.

Editor's Note: A year has gone by, and it's time once again for the BYU Writing for Young Readers Conference in Provo, Utah. I am looking forward to this weeklong conference, as it was by far the best I've ever attended. Look for my report in next month's edition of Writer's Tips. In the meantime, I am reprinting some quotes from last summer in this issue's Writing Tip of the Month column.

NEW Online Class!

Effective Submissions: Finding an Agent and Submitting Your Writing

Taught by Heather Horrocks, author of Women Who Knew the Mortal Messiah and experienced writing mentor.

You will receive instructional emails every Tuesday and Thursday, June 6 – 29, 2006.

Week One: Writing a blurb that will hook an editor/agent.

Week Two: How to make yourself sound wonderful to an editor/agent.

Week Three: Query letters that sell.

Week Four: Putting it all together for your book and your submissions.

By the end of the class, you will have a second-draft query letter that you can continue to refine as you complete your manuscript.

Cost: $20 for instructional emails only OR $40 for instruction plus feedback/critiques. Registration deadline: June 5th.

Click here to register. After you've registered, you will be invited to a Yahoo Group for participation in the class.

Rise Like a Phoenix from the Ashes
...Don't Get Burned by Another Rejection Letter

by Heather Horrocks

It is never easy to hand over your work, from the first paragraph you share with a friend, to the pages you turn over to a critique group, to the query you send out to an agent, to the manuscript you send to an editor. And the moment you hand your writing over is usually the same moment you begin to feel like your work is a total piece of crapola.

After your pages leave your possession, you wait, reminding yourself to breathe, until you hear back. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.

And then you do hear back. And, often, the answer is a rejection. Ouch.

Some rejections hurt more than others. If I send out a hundred query letters to agents, and I get twelve rejections in one day (my personal record), that can be a laughing matter, because I still have over eighty more agents looking at it. But if I send out one query letter to an agent I really, really, really want to represent me, and she rejects me, I could be in a blue funk for several days. Weeks. Months.

Robert G. Ingersoll said, “The greatest test of courage is to bear defeat without losing heart.” And that’s what I want to talk about today. Not losing heart while you get those rejection letters.

I read an article about Harrison Ford, who acted for fifteen years while working other jobs to support his family until his "overnight success" arrived. Fifteen long years. When asked how he managed to succeed, he said he didn’t let the rejections get to him — while the other aspiring actors did. They gave up. They lost heart. They quit. But he kept going back for more rejections.

You’re a writer. And, unless you are among the most blessed of writers, you are going to receive rejection letters. And they are going to hurt. I’d like to suggest some things you can do to ease the hurt, to not let it get to you, to not lose heart.

Article continues, click here to read more.

Writing Tip of the Month
by Lana Jordan

Conference Insights

I attended the BYU Writing for Young Readers conference in Provo, Utah last June. It was intense. I came away enlightened, inspired, and motivated. I met and spoke with many successful writers, as well as two editors and an agent.

During the conference, participants had the opportunity to attend daily workshops and mingle sessions with the presenters. I asked many questions and took extensive notes. A few random quotes follow ... watch for more after this month's conference!

"Harry Potter has shown that kids do have the attention span — it just has to be the right book." —Rebecca Waugh, editor (www.penguin.com)

"Discipline is probably the most important key in writing. All of the talent, craft, and skill in the world is meaningless until you put it on the page. The discipline of writing is paramount." —Tracy Hickman, author (www.bronzecanticles.com)

"If your manuscript distinguishes itself and you go about it the right way and you're persistent, you will get published eventually. Persistence has a great, great deal to do with it." —Dean Hughes, author (www.deanhughes.net)

"You've got to keep going. The more you keep going, the more you keep writing, the better you get." —Lisa Mathews, editor (www.peachtree-online.com)

Writer's Tips Editor, Lana Jordan

Lana Jordan is the founder of Jorlan Publishing, for which she does consulting and editing. She is the author of two books, Journey to Motherhood (pregnancy and childbirth from a mother's perspective) and The Sleepytime Ponies Trick a Trickster (bedtime read-aloud for ages 4 and up featuring magical flying ponies; humorous Mouse Deer folk tales; and dreamy illustrations). Available from the Jorlan Bookstore and Amazon.com. Lana was also a contributor for Book Marketing from A to Z, by Francine Silverman and Megan's Party, by the Megan's Party Mom Squad (free eBook from the Jorlan Bookstore).