Calling all writers!

[Peggiann]

Hi Everyone,
I love to read and yes I have been working on something for about a year now. Leah is the only one whom I have shared it with because I'm not sure I can really write something for others to read and them not beable to put it down. That's what I like when I read and I expect that from me. That's the perfectionist in me that want's everything to be perfect. Or I don't usually start if I think it's just medi-oker. That can be a very terrible thing too. I am trying to get over it. That's why chose to write something. It's not something that has to be finished ....like today... like right now.

Smiles,
Peggiann

[HelenW]

I used to write music and song lyrics many many years ago.  Got out of it when I saw people that were ten times more talented than I working as cab drivers and waitresses.

If I'm good at writing I think it's because I'm good at reading and have had the example of the world's most talented authors to emulate.  I've thought about writing for publication but I think that the experience would be similar to the one I had with music and songs.  So, I'll leave my miniscule talent for written expression to my posts.

[VeryGnawty]

I'm published, if you count my stuff available on FictionPress.

Most of my stuff is old poetry and excerpts from my dream journal, but I've moved more into prose over the last few years.  I'm taking a small break from writing for a few days to give me more time to learn Tai'Chi, but my next story is slated to be a completely dialogue-less story based on a dream I had long ago.  Whether it works out or not, it should be interesting nonetheless.

[Dennis]

I'm published, but just academic papers. Never really tried to write fiction and I do enough writing at work to satisfy any need to write.

Dennis

[Victoria L.]

I write bunches.

I have all kinds of diaries... some in real life, some on the internet.

I've wrote several stories (even some on transsexualism... I once wrote one that I became a girl... hey... I can dream!)... but I've only shown the non private ones, and I've got good scores in class for those I had to do...

but usually I like using music to express myself, better.

[Shelley]

Hmm, we'll keep that in mind Tori as we often look for writers here.

Shelley

[Alexandra]

I have a number of books published . . . (the paper kind with isbn numbers and LCC #'s) I've found that being able to create desirable content is more important than sheer writing talent. (Thank God for copy editors! )

[Shelley]

Gods gift to writers I say.

Shelley

[rana]

Hey! I just remembered I have actually written a book - its a handbook on rowing, is posted on the internet its still floating about, & I just looked it up
Only problem is that its a triumph of plagarism over creatitivity - so does that still count?
Am a sort of claytons writer I guess (thou I did write two short stories, about a Saxon Crusader, another about a Nazi Stormtrooper - never published, a muse just bit me & I sat down & wrote them. 
Wish I had the discipline & talent to be a writer - or better yet, a poet

[Shelley]

Sounds like you have some ability. I agree poetry is something that is difficult. To get your meaning accross in so few words really takes some skill.

Shelley

[DawnL]

I have two finished novels in my basement, one a 600+ page Stephan King style horror mystery. Two of my many attempts to avoid my gender issues 

Of course both are written from a female POV and the women in them strong and self-sufficient.  Unfortunately, I don't think either one of them is any good and have no plans to publish.

Dawn

[Shelley]

Well done, are you sure often our harshest critic is ourselves.

Shelley

[Cassandra]

Dawn,

It might interest you to know that when Stephen King wrote Carrie he was flat broke and he and his wife were living in a trailer. He threw the manuscript in the trash thinking it was terrible. His wife fished it out and submitted it to some publishers. The rest, as the saying goes, is history. Don't sell yourself short. Give it a shot. These days people go through lterary agents but the process is basically the same as it always was. You have to paper your walls with rejection slips. After a time you can submit a rejected manuscript to some of the same people. Chances are they didn't read it the first time, were in a bad mood had a fight with their spouse, etc. A second time around might find them in a more receptive mood.

Just a thought,

Cassie

[Chaunte]

One place to get self-published is through lulu.com.  It's simple.  Inexpensive.  And super-cool to see yourself listed on Amazon.com!  This is where my first book is sitting right now.  It's availabe at lulu under my female name and other places under my male name.

Chaunte

[DawnL]

Both novels have flaws and need work.  The horror mystery had been submitted to several publishers back in the late 80s and rejected repeatedly, so I did try.  It's possible when my transition is further along that I may revisit those novels.  I now have an outline for a new novel that deals with a gender transition in a fictional way and--I think--has some promise because it won't be autobiographical in any way and has a decent dramatic premise (which shall remain nameless for now!).  I'm going to let the outline age for awhile and then look at it again.  All of you writers know the dictum:  Write what you know!  You also know how time-consuming and obsessive the process is--I have to ponder that commitment a bit more first.  Right now, it's not even an option.

Dawn

[Alexandra]

re: lulu.com

I don't intend to rain on anyone's parade or bum out future writers, but lulu.com appears to be a vanity press -- to publish a couple of books for family and friends is one thing, but to embark on a writing career via a vanity press is a no-no. Your reputation among distributors/wholesalers/retailers/librarians will be wrecked from the start. Without the usual publishing conventions in the book like isbn numbers and lcc numbers nobody will distribute the book. Your name will be catorized in the vanity press file and you'll never be taken seriously. Vanity presses have been career wreckers for decades and online presses are a new variation of them.

Most books are sold wholesale price to distributors -- also, most books are ordered via purchase order -- with a vanity press you'll be unable to mark down the book to give them a profit. The only orders you can fill are individual full price orders -- a minor part of the typical book distribution spectrum.

If you really want to be a self-publisher, check out reputable self-publishing books and organizations . . . they'll help steer you right (and you'll make more money too!)

here a good resource:

http://www.parapublishing.com/getpage.cfm?file=/homepage.html&user=#user#

good luck!

[Chaunte]

You don't need to have an ISBN number if you are planning on giving copies of your book away to frineds and family.  Also, you can buy books at lulu.com that both do and do not have an ISBN.  So, in that respect, lulu can be considered a vanity press.

On the other hand, you can buy an ISBN through Lulu, which is what I have done.  As a result, my book in now in "Books in Print"  It is also available online at numerous book stores such as Barnes & Nobles, Borders, Amazon, etc.

Agreed, it's not the same as having a book published by "Pocket Books," but it is a start.

Chaunte

I haven't had time to look at the web site you posted for publication, but I will.  THanks for posting it! - C

[jan c]

I have written a few screenplays, one of them is actually a finished first draft, no worries, you won't see it. lol.
It is a transposition of Salome (u know from the Bible, John The Baptist loses his head) to fin de siecle (1990's) Hollywood, the daughter of a mogul, and a stand-up junkie comic, latter-day Lenny Bruce type-thing; tres depressing (though brutally funny) and so '90's, woulda been perfect about the time Cobain offed hisseff. That's so OVER!
Now I just write music no one cares about.

[taylor]

I am a published writer, with the book coming out this summer. It is on Trans issues and we have a web site as well.  If anyone wants to look....   www.all-pointz.com

the book is titled  All Points In Between : discovery of Sexuality.  I will also being doing a Vol Two on Legal Aspects after this one releases.  It took 9 yrs to do, but finally it is done! Legal aspects will not require the same indepth and time consuming field research,, so it will not take 9 yrs LOL!

Peace

Taylor

[madison]

Over the years I have done a fair amount of writing. While I haven't seriously tried to get anything published, I did publish a small magazine (i.e. fanzine) by the name of Schema Magazine: An information publication for the mentally deranged and the brilliant, for several years.

I am however, in the middle of a novel, somehow curtailed by obsessive time spent on this very site. It is a farcical tale of consumerism and conspiracy, and innocence lost within the consumer age, set against the backdrop of civil war in California and other outrageous world events. My goal is to have it completed by the end of the year and begin submitting in 2007.

Taylor I have already pre-ordered my copy. I look forward to the insight you have collected and gleaned. You must be very excited.

Jan, I am curious about your screenplay. It reminds me a little bit of a story idea I have been kicking around for a few years where Socrates lived in the twentieth century in the Mtv age, where his thoughts and ideas would be little more than philosophically humorous soundbites between music videos.

I love hearing about other peoples projects.