Chase Rainbows In the Rain

I love to see the rainbows in the desert It does not happen often because we don't get much rain. The perfect combination of rain and sunshine creates that multi-colored arch streaking across the sky.

Many times in these entries, I will point to an article in The New Yorker magazine which arrives in my mailbox every week. Often as soon as possible, I will read the various articles. If I fall behind, they tend to stack up and I will miss something significant. Last night I read through the November 10th issue. Many people don't notice the author of a particular article but as a writer, it is always a combination of the subject of the article and the author which will draw me to a particular story. I enjoy Malcolm Gladwell and his contributions to the magazine. I have mentioned Gladwell's excellent book, The Tipping Point in other entries.

Gladwell has caught my attention again with his article, The Uses of Adversity which was thankfully posted online. The full article is worth reading but here's a couple of interesting paragraphs quite a ways into the article, "It's one thing to argue that being an outsider can be strategically useful. But Andrew Carnegie went farther. He believed that poverty provided a better preparation for success than wealth did; that, at root, compensating for disadvantage was more useful, developmentally, than capitalizing on advantage."

"This idea is both familiar and perplexing. Consider the curious fact that many successful entrepreneurs suffer from serious learning disabilities. Paul Orfalea, the founder of the Kinko's chain, was a D student who failed two grades, was expelled from four schools, and graduated at the bottom of his high-school class. "In third grade, the only word I could read was 'the,' " he says. "I used to keep track of where the group was reading by following from one 'the' to the next." Richard Branson, the British billionaire who started the Virgin empire, dropped out of school at fifteen after struggling with reading and writing. "I was always bottom of the class," he has said. John Chambers, who built the Silicon Valley firm Cisco into a hundred-billion-dollar corporation, has trouble reading e-mail. One of the pioneers of the cellular-phone industry, Craig McCaw, is dyslexic, as is Charles Schwab, the founder of the discount brokerage house that bears his name. When the business-school professor Julie Logan surveyed a group of American small-business owners recently, she found that thirty-five per cent of them self-identified as dyslexic."

If you are one of those who struggle with a learning disability, you can gain encouragement from this news. If you don't have one, you can still gain encouragement looking at the persistence and determination of these dyslexic learners who became successful.

Another fascinating article in the same issue is a detailed profile of bestselling author Thomas Friedman called The Bright Side. I devour these profiles in The New Yorker and unfortunately only the abstract is online. (But I understand The New Yorker is selling magazines so you will have to purchase this one to read the full article.) Friedman is a much published and colorful writer, three-time Pulitzer Prize winner and best-selling author (among many other things).

The paragraph which stood out to me relates to Friedman's mother, Margaret Friedman. "She died earlier this year, and Friedman wrote a column headlined "Call Your Mother," which was largely based on the eulogy he gave at her funeral. "She was the most uncynical person in the world,"he wrote. "She was not naive. She had taken her knocks. But every time life knocked her down, she got up, dusted herself off and kept on marching forward, motivated by the saying that pessimists are usually right, optimists are usually wrong, but most great changes are made by optimists." Friedman said to me, "I don't do pessimism." (page 58)

It's important to focus on the possibilities for your writing and work instead of focused on rejection. I love what Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield teach writers about how they handle rejection. They say, "Next." Then move ahead to the next opportunity.

Surrounded with Interesting Stories

Are you surrounded with fascinating stories from your family or friends? Or maybe the stories come from the magazines and books that you read? Reading or taking in the information is a key part of your own development and growth as a writer.

As an example of what I'm talking about I encourage you to read Jill Lepore's article in the October 20th issue of The New Yorker called Bound for Glory, Writing campaign lives. I love the vivid way Lepore captured some of the essence of historical presidential campaigns. It is the detail of the storytelling that captures the attention in this article and makes it flow and move in my view. The effort takes practice and may appear easy but takes a conscious effort on the part of the writer.

The beginnings of storytelling start with taking in good stories or reading. As an agent or an editor, I'm always surprised when I ask a writer a few questions about what type of material they read--and learn it is the opposite of what they want to write and publish. When I find these situations, the writer has thrown themselves into a complete disconnect. If you want to write romance (the largest genre of fiction), then you need to be reading romance. If you are a thriller writer, make sure you are reading thrillers. If you want to write American history, then spend time reading American history.

The experience will build something intangible yet important into your writing life. When people learn about my own writing, they are surprised at the number of biographies and co-authored books that I've written for others. It stems back in my mind to those days as a young reader curled up on a couch listening to the rainfall outside the window. I was reading another biography on a historical figure. I loved those books and continue to read a good biography from time to time. Those reading experiences have fed into my own adult writing. It will be true for your writing as well.

Tired of Politics?

News organizations are in the final push of 21 days until the presidential election. In some regards, I've been tired of reading about the political scene for weeks. The printed election ads are stuffed into my mailbox and dominate the news media.

Political science was one of my majors (along with journalism) for my undergraduate work. I've had a life-long interest in politics and studied it for many years. I take many different magazines and groaned to see the thick October 13th issue of The New Yorker covered politics.

Yet I found the issue fascinating and read it cover to cover. The range of stories and depth of coverage was well worth the reading time. If you don't get the magazine, I encourage you to pick it up on your news stand and read it because the diversity will surprise you.

In particular, I want to encourage you to read The Oracle, The many lives of Arianna Huffington which is available online. Lauren Collins has written an in depth-profile of Huffington and the New Yorker does a masterful job of showing the diversity in her personality and experiences. Even the photograph of Huffington (also online) is revealing. Notice she's holding her Blackberry--and the article tells us that it is one of three that she uses constantly. I love the varied picture of Huffington that you gain reading this story. She's not perfect (none of us are). Whether you write fiction or nonfiction, you can gain something for your writing life if you study these types of personality profiles.

Finally no matter who you are supporting for the Presidential Election, I encourage you to be praying for the results. I've started using the daily emails from the Presidential Prayer Team. My only objection is the small print they are using for their web page. Each day, I've been cutting and pasting the material into a Word document then increasing the size of the typeface so it can be easily read. I've appreciated the focus of the prayers and connection to Scripture--and hopefully you will as well.

Like many seasons, we will soon move into something different for the news media focus.

The Unusual Publishing Battle

At least one news cycle this past week included the controversy over cover of The New Yorker magazine with Michelle and Barack Obama dressed in unusual garb. Maybe you saw it on your television news or some other means. It came across my desk in several different formats.

If you read these entries on The Writing Life, you will be aware that I read The New Yorker magazine and often call to your attention some of the great articles about the publishing world. Beyond the controversy about their July 21st cover, I wanted to make sure you read Jill Lepore's article, The Lion and The Mouse, The battle that reshaped children's literature. Thankfully the full version of this article is available online. Some times I locate articles that I would like to point out but they are not so easily accessible.

I encourage you to read this piece and you will learn about the battle between Anne Carroll Moore who yielded huge power in the area of children's literature because of her initiative setting up a children's library in New York City. As the article explains, "In the first half of the twentieth century, no one wielded more power in the field of children's literature than Moore, a librarian in a city of publishers. She never lacked for an opinion. "Dull in a new way," she labelled books that she despised. When, in 1938, William R. Scott brought her copies of his press's new books, tricked out with pop-ups and bells and buttons, Moore snapped, "Truck! Mr. Scott. They are truck!" Her verdict, not any editor's, not any bookseller's, sealed a book's fate. She kept a rubber stamp at her desk that she used, liberally, while paging through publishers' catalogues: "Not recommended for purchase by expert." The end. The end of Moore's influence came when, years later, she tried to block the publication of a book by E. B. White. Watching Moore stand in the way of "Stuart Little," White's editor, Ursula Nordstrom, remembered, was like watching a horse fall down, its spindly legs crumpling beneath its great weight."

Yes Stuart Little is the mouse in the title of the article. Through the movies and other reinventions, a new generation has come to love the stories about Stuart Little. Yet few people know the struggle that some of these ideas have to come into print. Notice in the last paragraph of the article there are more than four million copies of Stuart Little in print today.

What are the people around you or the editors or the literary agents telling you as a writer can't be done? Can you keep thinking about your idea and come up with a creative way through the obstacle? I hope you can draw some courage and strength from reading about Stuart Little.

I'm Drawn To Creativity and Innovation

The dual covers on this week's issue of The New Yorker magazine were just a hint of the excellent content called The Innovators Issue. One of the consistent questions that people will ask me is about where writers get their ideas? One bit of insight into this question comes from reading about innovators. Just check out Malcolm Gladwell's article Annals of Innovation. If you are not a subscriber to The New Yorker (as I am), then get over to your local bookstore and pick up a copy of this issue. It's well worth it.

One of the details that is documented in this article is that people can have the same idea at exactly the same time. No one is stealing anything but the same idea can be proposed from two different parts of the country at the same time. I've seen it in the magazine and book business. Particularly new writers are worried about such things but the real question is who will act on their idea with excellence and be the first one to get it into the marketplace, then promote that idea to others?

I continue to see writers struggle to put together a good proposal--and other would-be book authors haven't even investigated the world of publishing to understand that for a nonfiction book they need a book proposal instead of a manuscript. I regularly hear authors complain and groan about doing marketing for their books--yet it doesn't take loads of effort. It does take consistency.

For example, last week I was on the telephone with an editor at a publishing house and mentioned my Book Proposals That Sell to see if this editor knew about the availability and focus of my book. As a former acquisitions editor, I wrote the book to get better proposals. I offered to send a review copy and he wanted to read the book. Notice I initiated the conversation, then followed up and sent him the book. It did not consume my day and only took a few minutes of effort. Will it pay off? I have no idea but in the big picture of sales for the book, I suspect it helps the overall efforts. You can do the same thing with your books or writing work. Look for innovative ways to incorporate these actions into the natural conversation of your life.

I've pointed to The New Yorker and this Innovators Issue as a resource for fostering your own creativity and innovation. I want to quickly look at three other resources. In some ways I feel surrounded with this theme.

This weekend my wife and I watched the DVD version of Enchanted. It is an incredibly joyful and innovative film. If you haven't caught it, then watch this version. Several months ago when it was in the theaters, I saw it twice and my wife caught it three times. Yes, it was that good. If you get this DVD version of Enchanted make sure you look at the bonus features and notice the team creative effort which was poured into this production. This point is emphasized repeatedly in the little clips with the actors and director. Here's another detail that I picked up watching this material. The idea for Enchanted was batted around the Disney Studios for nine years before it was completed. I would encourage you to locate and learn about creativity and innovation from this film.

Here's another resource for you to increase your information about creativity and innovation. If you are in the Los Angeles area or going there for the Book Expo America, I recommend you check out this one day workshop called Author 101 University. Why? It's a one-day workshop that will be crammed with innovative ideas for authors and publishers. If you are in the publishing community, I practically guarantee your head will be crammed with plans and ideas from these sessions. I personally know a number of these speakers and have listened to the others. These presenters know inside information about how to sell books in today's marketplace and you can personally benefit from a day at Author 101 University.

In my recent post, I mentioned a free 7-Question Author Profile Quiz. Another resource to foster your own creativity and innovation is to learn about the Virtual Book Tour Secrets. I recommend every author or would-be author or anyone in publishing can profit from just reading the landing page and following the various links. Virtual Book Tour Secrets is a proven method to sell books quicker, faster and with less human effort. To take this training you don't even have to leave the comfort of your own home. Whether you take the full training or only attend the $20 preview call (this link goes live in seven days so go there and bookmark it), you can get a creative and innovative boost from this session.

These types of opportunities to grow in your writing and knowledge about publishing abound--if you are aware of them. Today I'm celebrating how I'm drawn to creativity and innovation.

Your Memoir On Your Nametag

It was an unusual book launch from Smith's magazine for a book called, "Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs By Writers Famous and Obscure."

The article, "Say It All In Six Words" in The New Yorker is where I learned about this book. The economy of words is a valuable lesson for any writer and something I recommend. I have written hundreds of book reviews for example over the years. It's a challenge to say anything of depth yet cover a lot of ground in about 300 words or less. It is great training.

For fun, this book launch includes a short video on Amazon.

It's interesting to me that this book is getting some fairly high-profile buzz from these sources. If you have a new book that is about to come into the market or maybe it is already in the market, can you learn something from this example and do it with your book?

Reading Lists & Destination Bookstores

While I've read a high volume of books for many years, I don't have a reading list. Do you? I was fascinated to see the article in The New Yorker about Art Garfunkel's reading list which he has faithfully kept for almost forty years. As Nick Paumgarten points out the Garfunkel Library begins in June 1968 then chronologically lists 1023 books that Garfunkel has read.

If you check out the list you will see that Garfunkel is committed to reading classics and reading for pleasure. I loved this quote about his commitment to reading: "I read for the reading pleasure, not for the gold star," [Garfunkel] he went on. "Reading is a way to take downtime and make it stimulating. If you're in the waiting room of a dentist's office and don't want to twiddle your thumbs, you turn to Tolstoy."

I identified with this statement since for many years I've used spare moments any place to pull out a book and plunge into the topic. Yet the idea never crossed my mind to keep track of the various books which I've read. About the only time I can think of even using a reading list was during my final years of high school. I used a college preparatory reading list to give me ideas for classics and books which I read for pleasure but also wove into my high school assignments. It was a good step and gave me some needed exposure to those books before college.

Besides this article where Art Garfunkel is declared the King of Reading, my local newspaper included this article about nine destination bookstores (which I found repeated in the Chico, California paper using Google). The diversity is fascinating and I've only been in two of the nine stores: The Tattered Cover in Denver, Colorado and Powell's City of Books in Portland, Oregon. Each experience was special and unique. I agree with travel editor Beth J. Harpaz about getting list in Powell's bookstore. You do need a map for the complicated twists and turns in that place.

For many years, I've read about The Strand in New York City and actually stayed near Union Square for the American Society of Journalists and Authors meetings but going to that classic bookstore did not get into my plans. I'm eager to see if I can get to it in April during my next trip to New York City.

My point in this entry about The Writing Life is to point out the necessity of being committed to reading books on a regular basis and if you reach one of these destination bookstores, to poke around inside them.

Jenna Bush's First Book

The current issue of The New Yorker includes a short and excellent article about Jenna Bush and her first book. I always enjoy reading these entries about new authors and in particular someone who has been out touring and promoting her book. I caught a few minutes of her interview on the Today Show recently.

Reading this article, in the opening, you can see a bit of how the book came to Harper Collins from the lawyer and literary agent, Robert Barnett.

The detail that fascinated me was about whether Jenna Bush wrote her own book or not. Even Clay Aiken's first assumption was that she used a ghostwriter but she didn't (according to the article). It shows again how often high profile people will turn to someone else for writing help. Some times this writer is mentioned in the book and some times they are not. People tell me that the mention of the writer or not is often a marketing decision as much as anything. The writer can still count the book in their list of published books. Interesting to me that many writers don’t want to write other people's material even though it is a huge and ongoing need in the market. Guess it takes the right sort of person to be willing to write for the joy of writing the story--and not for any by-line.

The Cliff Hanger

I love a good pageturner. Years ago when I lived overseas I appreciated listening to Radio Personality Paul Harvey. For part of his broadcast, he called The Rest of the Story. At least one book was created from these stories. He began telling some details about a particular person and the hook drew you into it. Except you didn't know the name of the main subject wasn't revealed until the next to last sentence. After speaking the name of the subject, Harvey ended with the trademark phrase, "And now you know the rest of the story."

Last week I was reading The New Yorker magazine and noticed a special advertising section from Lunesta called The Art of The Story. The title alone caught my attention. The ad includes a story from former White House press secretary Joe Lockhart. His story was interesting on the topic about some of the first days in his new job when he traveled with President Clinton to Moscow. Visiting an old friend, he stayed up all night and returned to his hotel at 5 a.m. Here's how the printed story in the magazine ended:

"So I got back to my hotel and made one mistake, which was to sit down on the bed. And, obviously, I fell asleep. I'm telling you, you don't know anxiety until you've woken up as the White House press secretary on your first foreign trip at 6:15 a.m., in Moscow, without a passport, knowing you've missed Air Force One. Now, the only good thing that I could think of was, the day couldn't get worse. I was wrong …" "Then it says read the story in entirety at www.themoth.org/artofthestory"

You can see why I had to read the rest of it. Thankfully the full story was online. It was an effective cliff hanger technique.