Journeys
Words
Images
Cloud
Timothy M. Leonard's books on Goodreads
A Century Is Nothing A Century Is Nothing
ratings: 4 (avg rating 4.50)

The Language Company The Language Company
ratings: 2 (avg rating 5.00)

Subject to Change Subject to Change
ratings: 2 (avg rating 4.50)

Ice girl in Banlung Ice girl in Banlung
ratings: 2 (avg rating 4.50)

Finch's Cage Finch's Cage
ratings: 2 (avg rating 3.50)

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Tuesday
Feb032009

Commonalities

Greetings,

She talked of "homesickness." All the letting go. How she was born on Air and lived in a small French town on the Belgium border for some time.

How her temporary work visa finally expired and she returned home. She wore French designer sunglasses and they fit her brown oval face to perfection. One day it was skin tight jeans. The next an orange and green flowing sarong. A fashion touch. She had the island ease, a long black thick mane, the divorced island hubby and the one boy-child over on Lombok going to school. Living with his "uncle," a tribal chieftain.

She worked part-time in a small cafe-bar near the beach, the white sunset sand, rolling blue apprehensions, French tongued memories. "I am so bored," she said.

"I want to build some bungalows. I own some land. I need to develop a source of income."

She chatted up the odd European. She mixed drinks. She spoke with her son using her cells, her DNA. She stared at the sea. It poured into her black eyes. It was everything she'd run away from. To find herself. To discover her island again and again and again when she ran in reverse through dreams and memories.

 A yellow butterfly sailed through a garden. Darting high, low, in, out of fragrant red, yellow, white glorious blooms.

A diver spoke about money exchange systems after coming up for Air. How the value of economic currencies fluctuates. A butterfly and turtle have so much in common. One in air one in water. Both floating.

Metta.

 

 

Saturday
Jan312009

Publish or perish?

Greetings,

As the saying goes, if you want something done write you gotta do it yourself.

When it comes to publishing your book you have a choice in the game. Roll the dice!

Follow the instructions in traditional how-to-market books and articles or self publish.

"In 2008, nearly 480,000 books were published or distributed in the United States, up from close to 375,000 in 2007, according to the industry tracker Bowker. The company attributed a significant proportion of that rise to an increase in the number of print-on-demand books."

Option #1. Research literary agents. Send out query letters and a one-page synopsis by snail mail. Make sure you mention it's a "simultaneous submission" so all the literary agents and secret agents and cleaning agents know other prospective purveyors of literary genius are reading your breathtaking query letter. The letter has been honed to a sharp point. 

Then you Wait. You keep writing. You read all the publishing trade mags. You keep writing. You recycle material out into the slush pile. Read and recycle rejection letters, "Thank you very much for considering our agency. We have read your query letter and synopsis with great interest. However..."

You know your epic is not a hum-drum mainstream literary creation. It does not follow a prescribed plot and narrative structure. It is an anthropological journalistic blend of scatological hubris, an amalgamation of styles. It's a jazz poem, photographic riff montage. It's a combination of poetic prose, mud, meadows and strange vivid dream landscapes.

You create it. You self-publish it. You share it.

More....

Metta.

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