For the past two days I have been in Cincinnati, attending the first annual Writer’s Digest University Editors’ Intensive Event. For those of you who don’t know, Writer’s Digest is the definitive magazine for writers. It is published by FW Media, which also publishes Writer’sMarket and Guide to Literary Agents, the two writer’s bibles when it comes to getting published.

Among other things, the conference promised to teach me how to identify potential agents and write an effective one-page query letter for the purposes of soliciting an agent for my book. While it delivered on both counts, the most valuable part of the conference was a 30-minute review of the first 50 pages of my manuscript by one of the WD editors. My meeting occurred this afternoon and there was good news and bad news. The editor confirmed that I have good writing skills and commented that I have led a very interesting life, which is in my favor when trying to get a memoir published, however he also thought I had a lot of work to do on the manuscript before it is ready to submit to an agent. Although he loved the opening of my book, he recommended I completely rework the next four chapters, condensing them to one much shorter chapter.

It is a bit disheartening to think that I now have to go back and cut out so much of the writing that I sweated blood over, but I know the editor’s suggestions are very valid and these changes will make my book much stronger. I now realize that I went into this process with unrealistic expectations. Since I have been writing for years, I thought I could crank out the book in just a few months and be published in a year or so. I was so wrong. Someone commented today Read the rest of this entry »

If I could do my life over I wouldn’t change a single thing. Not the painful elementary school years when I was the butt of ‘four-eyes’ and ‘fattie’ jokes. Not the two car accidents. Not the two divorces. Not my experience with chronic Lyme Disease. Not even my struggles with addiction. Although it may sound bizarre, I am grateful for these things because I believe they have made me the person I am today.

There was a time in my life when I did not look at things this way. Because I was unable to succeed at marriage, because I was ego-driven and friendless, because I was unable to stop drinking – for all these reasons and more I considered myself a failure. I went so far as to think that I was a bad person. The path between feeling like a failure and becoming grateful for the adversity in my life has been long and arduous, but also rewarding. I had occasion to think about this whole issue recently when I read the Harvard University commencement address delivered this past June by J.K. Rowling, acclaimed author of the Harry Potter novels.

Rowling said that what she feared most as a young woman was failure. That statement struck a chord with me. I also had a tremendous fear of failure, but mine was a fear of Read the rest of this entry »

You can tell a lot about a person by the way they write. The good writers are wide open. They don’t pull any punches. They’re honest about their feelings – sometimes to the point of being raw. They’re not afraid to integrate their lives, their feelings, and their experiences into what they write.

I am constantly appalled at the poor quality writing to be found on the Internet and in published materials. Conversely, I am always delighted when I discover well-written blogs that make me cry, wonder, sigh, gasp, ponder, or even laugh out loud. The following are a few of the later. I share them because I am sure you will enjoy them as much as I do: Read the rest of this entry »