A new humor blog and a new pre-publication page

With Inventing Vazquez ready to go, and before I get back too deep into Electing Choi, I decided to put my pitiful HTML skills to use and build a new addition to my web site.

It’s nothing fancy, but I’ve posted a dedicated Inventing Vazquez information page. On it, you’ll find a brief description of the novel, as well as brief bios on some of the major characters. I think you’ll be able to tell just how zany this story promises to be. Any suggestions for added content would be greatly appreciated in the comments section of this blog ^_^ And, oh, I’m debating the validity of putting up three sample chapters for an unpublished book. Any thoughts on that?

The other thing I’m excited about is the launch of my new blog/e-zine lite, Digital Café con Leche (Digital Coffee was my name of choice, but it was already taken).

What’s Digital Café con Leche (literal translation: coffee with milk)? It’s my new medium for humor, satire, snark, and all things irrelevant. I love writing silly, incoherent, snarky observations about everything and anything. So I finally decided to just start writing them freelance and posting them on this new blog. So far, there are only two ‘articles’ in there, but I’ll be adding more. Please feel free to stop by, have a cup of irrelevance, and leave any comments/feedback ^_^

Back into writing Electing Choi now, and slowly making the novel take shape. It’s kind of exciting to be starting a new project…and a bit daunting. Because I’ve no doubt this one’s going to be as long as Inventing Vazquez @_@ Oh well.

Still no word on a literary agent. The waiting game sure is painful ^^;

Anyway, hope you enjoy my two little additions.

Searching for a Literary Agent

A fairly unambiguous title, huh?

At long last, my new novel, Inventing Vazquez, is finished. This latest rewrite is what I’m calling the agent-ready draft, one that I’m confident will properly represent the work and my capabilities as a writer to prospective agents. Can I hear a “woohoo”? ^_^

It was quite a ride getting here. I started this project in early 2007, right around the time I was scrambling to get Solstice ready for its publication. Because of all the ideas I had for Inventing Vazquez, I finished the first draft before the end of that year. Last year, I completed the next two rewrites. And now this year, I’ve gotten the novel to the point where I’m confident about sending it out for representation.

I think the most challenging part of this last rewrite was not just making the story tighter and funnier, but cutting it down as well. I’m happy to report that I’ve shaved off nearly 80 single-spaced pages, which should help the story flow smoother and quicker. It’s still a very long book (about 270,000 words ^^), but hopefully it’ll be a fun read given its zany, satirical nature. And boy, has it gotten progressively zanier with each draft! In this last draft, I’ve introduced a matchmaking dog named Preci who tries to hook her owner up with suitable mates, but always does something inappropriate (e.g., poops at their feet) to drive them away.

So far, my three test readers have given the book thumbs up. My good friend Pam, who actually read an earlier draft, liked it a lot, and my girlfriend (I know, hardly the most objective test reader, but she can be brutally honest when she needs to be) loved it. So there’s hope.

So anyway, the literary agent search is now on in earnest. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, I sent out the first five queries, including one to the agent I’m crossing all my fingers accepts me ^^; Almost immediately, I got two rejection form letters (wow, that was quick), but the other three seem to still be in the “Reject Later” pile as opposed to the “REJECT NOW!!!” pile ^^;

It’s funny. I personally think searching for a literary agent is the hardest part of this entire process. Yes, even harder than writing and rewriting the actual book! Why? Because you have to present yourself nearly perfectly. You’ve got no room for error. You have to write, rewrite, rewrite, rewrite, edit, scrap, restart, rewrite, rewrite, edit, pull hair, get drunk, rewrite, cry bitterly, and rewrite your query letter, synopsis, and all that other good stuff agents demand. You have to obsessively comb every line of text for errors and grammar. You have to somehow pitch your book (all 270,000 words of it) within the space of one page. You have to differentiate yourself somehow from the other 4,194,092 writers mailing query letters that same day. And you have to do it all knowing that most agents are going to respond with an impersonal form letter telling you, “Sorry, no thanks” without giving you one clue as to why.

I think that’s the most frustrating thing about this process. For all the effort you have to put into a search, you’re seldom told why you’re being rejected. Of course, I’m not criticizing literary agents for this, because the volume of correspondence they receive makes it impractical for them to individually address every rejection letter. But it does make it hard for you to know what you’re doing wrong. Is it that they didn’t like your writing? Is it just not their cup of tea? Did your query letter suck? Or did they just not like the name of your character? For the most part, you’re in the dark about why you’re being rejected, so it’s very difficult to know what to improve for the next round of queries.

But oh well, I’m going to give it my all and try to land an agent. And I’m a lot more confident about Inventing Vazquez: I really think it’ll offer an agent and a publisher something special. Oh wow, listen to me, egomaniac that I’ve become! ^^;

So what’s next? As usual, I’m going to take some time off from Inventing Vazquez before I start tinkering with it again (it’s true what they say, every work is always a work in progress). I’ll probably start up again on its sequel, Electing Choi, next week (I’m four chapters in as of now). However, because of all the ideas that are starting to build up for another story, I might try writing two books at once. My other project, tentatively titled Suicide Girls, might be my ‘nighttime’ project (i.e., the kind of project I’ll be more inspired to work on during the night, given its darker nature). We’ll see. Regardless, I’m excited to start working on a new project. Almost as excited as I am to finally say Inventing Vazquez is ready ^_^

Musically, things continue to take form. My band, The Pineapple Brigade, is starting to look like one. My fellow guitarist and I recently hooked up with a great drummer, and so now we just need a bassist and a female singer. So far, the three of us seem to have really good chemistry and compatibility, and we’re all on the same page musically. So who knows, maybe this summer, we’ll actually be able to gig. That’s my hope, anyway.

Of course, if given the choice between landing an agent or a summer gig, I wonder which I’d go with? ^^;

So please wish me luck in finding a good literary agent! I’m going to need it @_@

The one thing you need if you’re going to be a writer

One of the things I hadn’t anticipated after publishing Solstice was the number of questions I’d hear from friends and strangers alike. How do you become a writer? How do you self-publish a book? What do I need to do to become a writer?

My answers are usually anticlimactically simple, maybe because I don’t think there’s any great science to it. How do you become a writer? By writing. How do you self-publish a book? By doing the research and legwork and understanding the risks of doing so. What do you need to do to become a writer? Like I said, write. About anything and everything.

Yet, there’s one thing, at least, that I can offer up as one of those little nuggets of wisdom I’ve picked up along the way. And it’s pure cliché, but it’s really true. Are you ready? Ahem…

Have thick skin. Very thick skin. And, oh, be open-minded.

There’s no way around it. No matter what you write, and no matter how well or how poorly you write, reader responses are never going to be universal. Some people will like your work. Others will love it. And others will hate it. So there’s no need to go about trying to please everyone. That’s impossible. All you can do is write something that makes you happy, and just make sure it’s the best that you can do.

But in the end, it’s just as important to understand that even harsh, belittling words about your work can serve a purpose.

Praise is fun, make no mistake. When Solstice received those first reviews from Booklist and Library Journal, I felt like I had wings. And when James Rundle over at SciFiNow magazine left a message on this blog, telling me he’d enjoyed the book and was going to review it in their next issue, well… The day the magazine hit bookshelves, I could barely keep myself from jumping up and down in the bookstore parking lot on my way to pick up a copy. And every time I’ve gotten e-mails or have read blogs or reviews by people who enjoyed the book, it really seems to validate the process. Trust me, few things will make you feel as happy as a reader taking the time to e-mail you to say that your book really spoke to them.

But the flipside is just as potent. Few things will feel more like a punch to the stomach as a reader taking the time to write about how pathetic your book was.

I was reminded of this recently when a user wrote a few unkind words about Solstice. When you get this kind of thing, I think it’s normal to feel a full gamut of emotions, not all of them positive.

When I read this review, I felt defensive. I took offense to his comment about how Solstice had been voted Feminist SF’s top obscure novel because I’d incessantly asked friends and family to vote for it (hmmm….Feminist SF itself encouraged the authors on that final list to lobby their friends and family to vote for them, but okay, I guess I misunderstood that part). I took offense that he’d trashed the book even though he didn’t finish reading it. And while I understood his frustrations with the writing and the main character, it didn’t make it any easier to stomach.

So there I was, feeling upset, until I remembered that little nugget of wisdom I mentioned earlier: have thick skin, and be open-minded.

In this day and age, the Internet will allow anyone to voice an opinion. And I think that’s a great thing, because literary criticism shouldn’t just be in the same hands year in and year out. I think it’s great that any one of us can get online and share our thoughts about what moved us, or what angered us. The gods know I do that enough on Quiet Earth now…

So, after putting things into context, and realizing the user was entitled to his opinion, the next wave of emotions kicked in. The more constructive, open-minded ones.

Like I said, you can’t ever please everyone, and there’s no sense in trying. But what you can do is objectively examine both positive and negative critiques, and work toward improving. As with everything else, you want to keep improving at what you do regardless.

For example, one of the consistent complaints I’ve heard about Solstice is its writing style and editing, or lack thereof. Well, there’s no way I can excuse this, really. Solstice was published on a shoestring budget (with less than half of what every self-publishing guru says is typically necessary), and I couldn’t afford the services of a professional editor. My girlfriend—also a writer—and myself edited multiple drafts side by side, doing our best to clean up the narrative. Personally, I think she did a fantastic job of pointing out areas where character development could be stronger. Io’s fixation with motherhood, for example, derived from my girlfriend’s suggestion that Io needed a greater sense of loss for us to gradually sympathize with her.

Did this make Solstice the best novel it could be? Of course not. I doubt any writer will say any draft is the absolute best it could be. Trust me, months later, you’ll pick up your perfectly published book, start reading, and find new things that could have been written better. (That’s why they say every piece of writing is ALWAYS work in progress.) And I know now, from going back and reading bits of Solstice, that it really did need another rewrite. I’ve learned a lot more about writing since then, and I’m already finding all these places in the novel where the writing could have been cleaner, the prose less convoluted, the descriptions less repetitive. I almost want to rewrite it now, for the sake of making it a better version, but content myself with the knowledge that its sequel will be better.

But, Solstice was the best I could do at the time, and while I know there’s lots of room for improvement, I’ve accepted the fact that it was a first novel. I’ve a lot to learn about my craft yet, and Solstice was my first attempt. I take some comfort in the fact that, as a first novel, it still received far more praise than I could have ever imagined. By all accounts, the book exceeded expectations.

But reviews like the one I pointed out remind me that, yes, I have lots of room for improvement. And therein lies the value of even the harshest critique. Ever since I read that review, I’ve gone back to my current novel, Inventing Vazquez, with renewed purpose. I’m pushing myself harder to make sure the writing is cleaner this time. That the prose is less wordy and less pretentious. I’m trying to ensure the narrative flow isn’t just clean, but entertaining. Because the novel is almost twice as long as Solstice, and I need to make sure people will actually want to read it.

I think I’ve spouted out nothing but common sense here, but I thought it was important to share regardless. Because the fact is, all us writers are going to get killed more often than not in the realm of literary criticism. Professional book reviewers and online readers alike won’t always like our work, and some will rip into us without mercy. They don’t care that you poured your heart and soul into your work—nor should they, because just because you poured your heart and soul into something doesn’t grant it immunity. But when they do rip into your work, just remember that it’s an opinion.

Don’t take it personally, because it’s highly unlikely the person was out to get you.

Don’t get angry, because now at least you have the impetus to want to do better on your next one.

Don’t get sad, because chances are other people did like your work. And if they’ve written to tell you so, go back and read their words as a reminder that not everyone hated your work.

Don’t start thinking you’re no good, because writing is an accomplishment that no one can take away from you, and it’s an accomplishment most people will never achieve. Feel proud about what you’ve done, and just try to do better.

And above all, don’t second-guess your decisions. Don’t think, “I shouldn’t have published that book,” or, “I should have waited a bit more,” because if we waited to write that perfect draft that would please everyone, well, there’s never be any books written.

Wow, I sure sound preachy! ^^; I don’t mean to, but I guess I know there are a lot of people out there who are fearful of writing precisely because they’re afraid of the negative feedback. Yes, negative feedback is tough to swallow, but ultimately, it makes you stronger. You just have to take the good with the bad, same as everything else. And you have to find the value in everything, even the reviews that say you shouldn’t ever be allowed near a computer again.

Annie and Her Dirt Bike, Japanese Rockers, a Mousy Latina, and Pineapples

Leave it to me to think that finalizing a 900+ page novel and writing for two web sites and being in a blues band and managing the sales and marketing of Solstice isn’t enough to keep myself busy with. No, apparently, I thought it’d be a bright idea to also take on the task of self-recording a pseudo-album.

But there I was, taking the last week of August and the first of September to record eight original songs and two covers using my Mac’s Garageband program, my good friend Brian’s Fender strat, my Fender bass, and some really shoddy drum work (at least until I decided to let the computer’s drum tracks do it for me) to finalize my so-called album. Oh, and some really, really bad singing on my behalf. But hey, I set it out as a goal for 2008: record the songs I’d written last year, before I forgot them or gave up on them. So there I was, doing just that.

The result was a somewhat rough mix of eclectic tunes, some of them straight-out punk rock, others more indie/alternative, and two odd covers (The Bluehearts’ “Linda Linda,” and an old Spanish song entitled “Ni Tu Ni Nadie”). I consider it a first-draft album, mostly because my guitar work is sloppy, and my vocals, well, they’re just plain bad. But at least I came up with a goofy album and band name for it! The band? The Pineapple Brigade. The album title? Pineapple Diplomacy. It makes sense. Really!

Still, my hope is to some day get a band together, and recording this proto-demo was a first step toward that. While I’m in a blues band now, my long-term goal is to form a punk/pop band to play the kind of upbeat, infectious, melodic music that I just love from bands like Dirt Bike Annie, The Snow Fairies, Deerhoof, Polysics, and GO!GO!7188! And I hope to form a band with people who just want to have fun and go nuts onstage. This isn’t about shooting for fame, fortune, or the sex-drugs-and-rock-and-roll lifestyle. Certainly not at my age! ^_^ It’s about having fun, and loving the music, and occasionally putting on a crazy, energetic show at the local clubs. Because I really miss playing rock onstage, losing myself in the music, and just thrashing about like it’s no one’s business.

So sometime next week, I’ll finally be updating and setting up my MySpace page (yes, I actually have one), and uploading a few of my original songs, just for the hell of it. I hope, at some point, I can point prospective musicians toward it so they get a sense of what I like playing, and then move on from there. Because it’s so hard to find people out here in Michigan who even know who Dirt Bike Annie and GO!GO!7188! are, and I figure the best way to show them what I mean by ‘upbeat punk/pop music with a Japanese-rock flavor’ is by playing it! ^_^

Anyway, enough babbling about the Pineapple Diplomacy proto-demo.

Still plugging away with the new rewrite of Inventing Vazquez. I’m almost at the half-way point, so I’m confident that I’ll begin an agent search sometime in October or November. Recording the album really did divert a lot of time away from the book, so I’m clamping down and giving Liliana’s story the focused attention it deserves.

Still, it’s an amazingly fun and rewarding process doing this rewrite. They say that a book is always a work in progress, and working on the rewrite, I have to emphatically agree. It’s amazing how many new ideas pop out at you where you least expect them. Ideas for new jokes, quips, or more effective prose in spots you once thought were perfectly fine. I’ve stumbled into new opportunities during this rewrite, finding new spots where Liliana can demonstrate a bit more spunk and snark than her earlier draft incarnations. Although her story follows a sort of mousy-girl-finds-her-spine narrative, her actual narration was always meant to demonstrate she had a lot more brains than her early exploits suggested. Now, I think that’s finally coming out with some carefully-timed quips, sarcastic commentaries, and real-time reactions to the events unfolding before her. I guess time will tell if Liliana and I can pull it off. But I’m absolutely adoring her character, and I hope future readers will too.

Anyway, I’ll be posting my MySpace info soon, in case you want to hear some really rough punk/pop music, and some atrocious singing.

Now, I’m off to build an aircraft carrier or something.