There's a great quote of Lawrence Block's that's probably familiar to a lot of you: If you want to write fiction, the best thing you can do is take two aspirins, lie down in a dark room, and wait for the feeling to pass. In my opinion, the time to take the two...
Last month, in Part I of my two-part column on getting published, I covered writing scams, whether you should try to get an agent (yes), and how to go about it. That was the scary part. Now for the terrifying part, actually submitting your manuscript for publication....
Most aspiring authors are under the impression that being a professional novelist is just about the most awesome, fun, satisfying job in the universe. They're right. I've had other jobs, and I've got to tell you, getting paid to sit around in your ugliest high-water...
To show you how long I've been pontificating on this subject, my first article about it cautioned the writer who used a pin-feed printer to burst the pages and tear off the side strips. There's still a lot of outdated advice floating around the 'Net about this and...