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Diary of a Mad EditorDiary of a Mad EditorThoughts on publishing and the writing life Articles
Sometimes Rejections Make Me Feel Like I?ve Dodged a Bullet
2007-12-14 15:15:00 Even now, as I’m preparing to hand-out my 60,000th-something rejection to a writer who didn’t make the cut, I understand that my rejection slip won’t exactly feel like a Christmas present to the rejected author. Because, let’s face it, rejections sting. Hell, I’m still smarting over a rejection I received 3 days ago ... More About: Publishing , Bullet , Make , Feel , Some
You Gotta Know the Rules to Know How to Break Them
2007-12-08 17:46:00 So you want to write? You woke up this morning, fell out of bed, smacked your grey matter on the nightstand and, in a moment of fevered concussive inspiration, you decided that you were a writer. You’ve never read anything more complicated than T.V. Guide. You flunked high school English. And ... More About: Break , Rules , Gotta , The Rules
He?s a Poseur and He?ll Never Be Any Good
2007-11-25 17:12:00 po*seur (poh-zur) n. A person who poses for affect or behaves affectedly. You see them at every poetry reading, in every coffee house, bar and cafe. You see them on street corners and brooding in the pages of literary publications. You see them on MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, and every other social networking site. The ... More About: Assholes , Wannabes , Good , The Last Word
If You?re Going to Drink the Kool-Aid, Make Sure You Like the Flavor
2007-11-20 17:20:00 Creative Writing Programs — Christ, there are so many of them. No doubt they’ve become a cottage industry. Are they necessary? No. Not really. But they are not going anywhere. To the extent they bring money and prestige to the colleges that host such programs, they have a purpose. ... More About: Drink , Make , Flavor , Kool , Going
Authorship is Gone . . .Gone with the Wind!
2007-11-18 17:23:00 Yes, I know I recently ranted about the death of genuine authorship in a recent blog. But a story I read in the paper this morning just brought the subject back to mind and I just HAD to say something about it. It seems that St. Martin’s Press and the estate lawyers of late Gone ... More About: Rants , Books , Wind , Current Events , Publishing
Fame is a Big Fat Pig Rolling in Filth
2007-11-15 15:37:00 Yes, among the diet books, cookie-cutter genre novels and insta-books, we also have something else slowly killing literature and the struggling writer’s chances at making the big time — books written by celebrities. In addition to sticking their names on everything from perfume to handbags, they are also writing books. Madonna’s put out ... More About: Rants , Books , Current Events , Publishing , Fame
There Are More Bad Writers With Publication Credits Than Good Writers Witho
2007-11-13 17:19:00 Poet Rob Plath raised an interesting point recently on his MySpace blog. He asked why do editors accept mediocre crap instead of a writer’s best work. It’s a point I’ve made myself when a bad writer attempts to defend his work against one of my cold-hearted rejections. I’ve made the point that ... More About: Publishing , Writers , Assholes , Good , Publication
Another Legendary Writer Bites the Dust
2007-11-10 16:22:00 Norman Mailer, literary icon of the twentieth century, has died at the age of 84. During his lifetime, he was a controversial figure — as much for his public persona as for his writings which spanned dozens of books and many essays. He first broke into print in Story magazine while still in ... More About: Books , General , Current Events , Publishing , Writer
Hunting for the Meat in a World Full of Ghosts
2007-11-02 16:23:00 The other day I was in the supermarket buying food when I happened down the aisle where they display paperback books. There was, in the mix, a number of the usual suspects: romance novels, diet books, etc. And of course, there were also new titles by Robert Ludlum, V.C. Andrews and . ... More About: Rants , Books , Meat , World , Ghosts
A Trip to the Wood Shed is Not Out of the Question
2007-10-15 21:54:00 I guess I’m a glutton for punishment because, don’t you know dear readers, I was back lurking on The Gaz again this morning. I clicked on a random discussion and lo and behold, more editor-bashing. A bunch of poets whining about publication guidelines, response times — you know the usual garbage writers complain ... More About: Rants , Question , Publishing , Wood , Assholes
I Gonna Beat This Dead Horse Until I Make Me Some Sausage
2007-10-13 14:50:00 As I’ve stated in a previous blog entry, I like to occasionally lurk on discussion forums “eavesdropping” on idiots. So, yesterday, after returning from my daily walk, I was lurking on The Gazebo, reading through some old posts and I came across this conversation between a group of poets about a particular editor (not ... More About: Rants , Publishing , Dead , Sausage , Make
I?d Sell Out in a Heartbeat If Anyone Was Buying
2007-10-12 05:33:00 There are basically two distinct groups of small press writers: those who believe that writing for purely commercial gain is beneath their divine calling to the writing arts and those who are all about the money, who even believe that bestsellerdom and international fame are just a chapbook away. The second group may have unrealistic ... More About: Rants , Buying , Publishing , Wannabes , Sell
Britain?s Lessing wins 2007 Nobel for literature
2007-10-11 15:01:00 British novelist Doris Lessing won the 2007 Nobel Prize for literature on Thursday for a body of work that delved into human relations and inspired a generation of feminist writers. The academy, which awards the coveted 10 million Swedish crown ($1.54 million) prize, called 87-year-old Lessing an “epicist of the female experience, who with skepticism, fire ... More About: Literature , Books , Britain , General , Current Events
10 Things That Irritate Me About the Blogosphere
2007-10-07 15:21:00 I’ve been blogging for a while now. Maybe too long. Long enough to have accumulated a list of things that piss me off. Ten things to be exact. Ten is a nice round number. I’m sure if I gave it more thought I could come up with more. But anyway ... More About: Blogosphere , Things
You Scratch My Back and I?ll Scratch Yours Until We Make Each Other Bleed
2007-10-05 02:17:00 There is nothing so odious in small press publishing as the bartering of favors in order to get published. Those identified as alternative or underground writers like to kid themselves that this sort of thing only happens with the MFA crowd. While I’m sure that stuff does happen within that community it is ... More About: Rants , Publishing , Back , Make , Bleed
Every Poet is an Asshole, but Not Every Asshole is a Poet
2007-10-02 16:18:00 Sometimes it’s like what Bukowski once wrote: “It’s the little things that send a man to the madhouse . . .” The other day, I finally published the new issue of The 13th Warrior Review and subsequently, sent word out to my mailing list informing them of the deed so they could surf on over ... More About: Rants , Publishing , Assholes , Poet , Asshole
The 13th Warrior Review, Issue Eleven is Now Online!
2007-09-30 16:39:00 Although the new issue of 13thWR was delayed several months because of my illness, I’m happy to report that it has now been published and is available online at it’s usual location. It’s a pretty good issue, too — even if I am the editor. In fact, I think it’s one of the best ever. In ... More About: General , Review , Online , Issue , Warrior
This is the World?s Smallest Violin Playing ?My Heart Bleeds for Ya?
2007-09-25 21:09:00 Some months ago, I received a submission from this guy in prison. All of the poems were handwritten. No return envelope. Normally, I’d just toss the poems without reply. However, because I get a lot of submissions and letters from prisoners, I just assumed the guy had never read my guidelines ... More About: World , Heart , The World , Wannabes , Viol
CriticsRant.com
2007-09-24 21:38:00 A relatively new blog — and one I can recommend — is Critic sRant.com. It is a multi-author blog featuring movie reviews, DVD reviews, tv reviews and entertainment news tidbits. It is not at all unlike an entertainment ezine I was developing back in 2004. Of course, I ran out of money and, quite frankly, ...
If the Ship is Sinking, It?s a Good Idea to Know How to Swim
2007-09-18 16:47:00 The failure of small press publications is nothing new. Happens every day. Internet literary magazines seem to have an even shorter lifespan. I, myself, am finding it difficult to keep Asterius Press going after more than a decade. In recent months, countless publications have called it quits for one reason or ... More About: Current Events , Publishing , Idea , Swim , Good
So What You Are a Poet? No One Cares, Pt. 4
2007-09-13 16:58:00 You are at the mic, finishing your set. Already, it’s begun — those eager beavers hovering at the edge of the stage with their notebooks full of verse. You end your set, say something pithy to the crowd and head to the counter to order a cup of green tea to sooth your ... More About: Assholes , Wannabes , Poet , Ares
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is King
2007-09-06 17:49:00 I have this nasty habit of lurking in discussion forums. I rarely participate in discussions anymore, but I do enjoy lurking. I consider it a form of anthropology — observing idiots in the natural habitat so to speak. Because, let’s face it: discussion forums are a magnet for idiots. The ... More About: Rants , Publishing , Assholes , Wannabes , Land
And They Probably Have Bowel Movement Coaches for the Constipated Too
2007-05-15 13:38:00 Creativity Coaches — Have you heard of this? I’ll admit I had never heard of such a thing. Then, yesterday I’m reading some lame column in a local arts newspaper and read in the author’s bio that she was “studying under creativity coach, Eric Maisel.” First thing I did was look-up “creativity ... More About: Wannabes , Move , Const , Cons
Your Cover Letter Padded Like a King-Sized Mattress Makes Me Yawn
2007-05-11 18:21:00 Those of you who’ve been reading Ye Olde Mad Editor these many years, know how much I hate bloated cover letters. I especially hate bloated cover letters when they are fabricated almost entirely out of bullshit. Case in point: One time, not so long ago, I received a submission from a woman ... More About: Publishing , Letter , Cover , Matt , Over
What the Fuck Did You Say?
2007-04-23 16:37:00 The other evening I was chatting with Yellow Mama editor, Cindy Rosmus about using politically correct language in creative writing. Cindy says: I know I’m enjoying writing when I can be really DISGUSTING… Say what I want. You know, say “fuck” whenever I feel like it, & in this story, calling somebody a “gook fuck” & ... More About: What The , What the fuck , Fuck
Shits and Giggles on Amazon.com
2007-04-15 00:50:00 The other day while I was checking my websites stats, I noticed my name came up in the keyword search string. Curious, I backtracked and found a “review” on Amazon .com for one of my collections written by a guy going by the handle Maxites “Diocrides”. Seems ole Maxi Pad is no fan of ... More About: Shit , Hits
Bless You Mr. Vonnegut and May You Rest in Peace
2007-04-13 06:39:00 Kurt Vonnegut is dead at 84. He lived a repectably long life. He wrote his share of great books. He was also a free-thinker and a humanist of the first order. I for one will miss him. He was, along with Ray Bradbury and one or two others, a writer who ... More About: Peace , Rest In Peace , Rest , Less
Swimming Blind and Legless in a Big Sea of Shit
2007-04-10 17:56:00 Recently, in an editorial in Entertainment Weekly, Author Stephen King lambasted Farrar, Straus & Giroux for it’s poor support of the novel Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski. King pointed to the bland, non-descript cover art and the generic title and wondered, “Why, why, why would a company publish a book this good and then practically ... More About: Swimming , Shit , Swim , Blind , Less
Imitation May Be the Sincerest Form of Flattery, but There Ain?t No Percent
2007-03-23 22:36:00 Dear John C. Erianne: A good many years back, while Richard Hugo and I were picnicking at Lake Kapowsin, he told me I should try my hand at writing letter poems. As you probably know it was one of his favorite forms. Over the years it has become one of mine. I thought these might interest ... More About: Cent , Ceres , Here , Rest , Latte
I?m Right, You?re Wrong, So Copy This Down and Leave Me Alone
More articles from this author:2007-02-24 12:51:02 Granting certain publication rights to a publisher can be a tricky business especially when a writer doesn’t understand the rights he’s giving away. And, let’s be honest, publishers and editors rarely explain things to the writer. But, me . . . I’m a nice guy — really! Here’s your rights as I understand them ... More About: Leave , This , Down , Right , Wrong 1, 2, 3 |
