Write Angles 12-08

8/9/2019 Write Angles 12-08

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WriteAngles

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2008

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,

The ying cloud, the frosty light;

The year is dying in the night;

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,

For those that here we see no more,

Ring out the feud of rich and poor,

Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,

And ancient forms of party strife;

Ring in the nobler modes of life,

With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care the sin,

The faithless coldness of the times;

Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes,

But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,

The civic slander and the spite;

Ring in the love of truth and right,

Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,

Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;

Ring out the thousand wars of old,

Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,

The larger heart, the kindlier hand;

Ring out the darkness of the land,

Ring in the Christ that is to be.

- Alfred, Lord Tennyson


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September 2008Special Supplementary edi-

tion

December 2008 WriteangleS 1

Table ofContents

Decembermeeting:

Saturday, December 7, 2008, from 10:30 a.m. until 1 p.m.at Pasta Pelican, 2455 Marina Square Drive in Alameda.

rePLAYing YOUr DreAmS

I am taking a test. My friend Alan is also taking the test. Ilook over and Alan has answered all 100 questions. I amtrying as hard as I can, but I am moving very slowly. I haveonly done three. I feel horrible

Sound familiar? Many of us have recurring dreams like

the one above, which Veronica submitted to David Jenkinss

Web site Dreamoftheweek.com. Waking up unsettled, we try

to forget the dream, only to feel horrible again the next time

we see it. Jenkins, a professional dreamworker with a Ph.D. in Psychol-

ogy, takes a different approach. He advised Veronica to tell her dream from

Alans perspective. What she came up with made her feel better:

I am taking a test. Veronica is taking it also. Its very easyfor me, and I just whip through the questions. I see thatVeronica is doing it very slowly and that she is very upset.

She thinks theres something wrong because she isntworking as fast as me or the other class members. Shesgoing at her own pace. Theres nothing wrong with that.Theres no hurry. All she has to do is keep at it.

Replaying a dream from anothers perspective is only one of many

dream-improvement techniques that Jenkins, our featured speaker for the

December meeting, has to offer. Others, including bringing in a newcharacter, supplying back story, and adding dialogue to confrontations,

sound a lot like what we do when we write ction.

So bring a dream to shareand perhaps that scene youve been

developingto Pasta Pelican, 2455 Marina Square Drive in Alameda. The

meeting, a brunch this time, will be held on Sunday, December 7, from

10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. CWC members and guests pay $17 each, checks to

be received by December 3. Otherwise, the charge at the door is $20 per

person. Please mail your check to Berkeley Branch, P.O. Box 15014,

Oakland, CA 94614.

- David Baker

Replaying Your Dreams

David Baker 1

The View From the Helm

AL Levenson 2

Member News

Anne Fox 3

Member Spotlight 3

Interview With Alon Shalov

AL Levenson 4-6

Seeds of a Series

Bill Reinka 6

The Road to Lulu:

One Writers Story of

Self-Publishing

Risa Nye 7-8

Tidbits 9

Who Cares? Whats the Point?

AL Levenson 10


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The View From The Helm


A few weeks ago I received an email from a member asking forWrite

Angles submission guidelines. Of course, new contributors are most

welcome, and the inquiry prompted me to think about the Write Angles

editorial vision. What is the conversation between the editors and the readers?

What sort of content do we want? What is the personality of our newsletter? A read of the last few issues ofWrite Angles will reveal our preference

for articles about writing: tips and tricks for writers, the writers experience,

reective pieces, and provocative conversations. We want to hear from Write

Angles readers about what inspired them at writers conferences and

workshops. What writing books prompted a breakthrough or experimental style? What is the experience of

writing? Share. Inspire us. Please.

We will to continue to explore the changes in publishing, changes with all the subtlety of an earthquake.

Tremors occur with the frequency of the deadlines of writers magazines. The denition of what constitutes

traditional publishing seems to change with each tick of a clock. New publishing models and their hybrids add

options and confusion.

* * *

The mechanical requirements for submissions to Write Angles are straightforward. A page of the

newsletter is 500 to 550 words. We like pieces that are fractions or multiples of a page. Please submit only

electronically to [email protected]. Put WA submission in the subject line. Email text as an email

attachment or in the body of an email. Format as you would submit to any publication: double-spaced, one-inch

margins, serif font. Authors name, email address, article title and word count in top right corner of rst page. Weprefer indented paragraphs. If your contribution is time-sensitive, deadline is the 15th of the month. We welcome

a line or two about the author.

How we would love to see a greater variety of bylines in our newsletter. Isnt it time we got to see yours?

* * *

In my rst days as your president, I learned there was a yearning to enhance the social nature of the club.

Club meeting times are advertised as 10 a.m., but we deliberately dont call to order until 20 or 30 minutes after

that. And I have noticed that people are mixing with pals and reaching out to newcomers.

In February we will return to the custom of a joint meeting with the Mt Diablo branch.

And our December meeting will be the most social of the year. Well have brunch and plenty of time to

visit before our speaker, David Jenkins, presents a provocative hour about the stuff of dreams. Please put this

event on your calendar and be part of the growing energy and vitality of the Berkeley Branch. Invite a friend to

be at the last meeting before the oldest branch of the oldest writers club in the country begins its centennial year.

- AL Levenson, President


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September 2008


Member News

Lucille Belluccis story, The Country Squire, was accepted by Literary Cottage for the anthology, My

Dog Is My Hero, to be produced by Adams Media, a Division of F + W Publications, Inc.

For the week of November 9, Writin on Empty , by Risa Nye, et al., ranked #6 on the best-seller list of

Paperbacks--Bay Area. (See Risas piece about the books journey to publication on pages 7-8.)

Attention, Members: Because your successes inspire your fellow members, we want to know what youv

done, what youre doing, what you plan to do. Has your work been published? Has an agent signed you on? Is

your book under consideration by a publisher? Are you teaching a writing course? Have you been mentioned in

the news? Perhaps youre scheduled as a speaker or to be interviewed or to present at a writers conference or

have done any of these things already. Please send the good news to Anne Fox, [email protected].

MEMBER SPOTLIGHTNEVER ENOUGH: A Love Story for our Times

When California Writers Club member Dave Sawle began work-shopping his

screenplay,Never Enough: Sex, Money and Parking Garages in San Francisco, at the

Saturday support/critique writers meetings a few years ago, he never anticipated that lifewould imitate art. His screenplay deals with the destructive culture of consumerism that

pervades American lives and the subsequent shifting of values in the aftermath of great

material loss. His theme is highly relevant in todays struggling economic climate, though h

simply sought to write a love story that asks, What would happen to a relationship when the

bubble of excess the result of ournever enough society bursts?

While Dave was developing the material, Ray Faraday Nelson was a critical and generous contributor,

suggesting scene ideas that Sawle incorporated into the work. Over the course of four years he reworked the

material, always striving for authenticity and truth, and always bringing revised versions to the Saturday

meetings.

Satised with the work, he turned his efforts to producing and directing the lm, gathering a cast that

includes Barbara Niven, Stan Rutledge and Barbara Crampton. Shot in the Bay Area on HD video,Never Enoug

is a prescient lm that is at once heartbreaking and funny. The lm is currently available on DVD at

Amazon.com.

For more information go to neverenoughthemovie.com.

- C. Abasta


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Alon Shalev is the moderator of the Berkeley Writers Circle, a writers critique gr

that meets weekly in Berkeley. Alons second novel, OilspillDotcom, will be produced

by Booksurge, the print-on-demand (POD) arm of Amazon.com. Alon and I exchange

emails and met for coffee to talk about his route to publication.

AL: OilspillDotcom is actually your second POD. Lets begin with your rst novel,A

Gardeners Tale. Did you try to interest an agent in that book, how did that go and wh

made you decide to go for a print-on-demand publisher?

ALON: I did try to nd an agent. But I was living in Israel at the time, and no agent in the US or UK wanted to dea

with an overseas author.

AL: Who did you choose to produce the book as POD, and why did you choose them?

ALON: Xlibris producedA Gardeners Tale, and they did a great job in producing a physically attractive book no

complaints.

AL: When was that?

ALON: End of 00.

AL: What was the result?

ALON: Sold almost 200 books.

AL: Given that you were not around to market it, that doesnt sound too bad.

ALON: I was lucky. The book covered the Pagan religion, and I was able to get an endorsement from the pagan hig

priestess in England, which allowed me to market it to pagan groups. For about 20 minutes I was 38th on the Amazbestseller list.

AL: What did you learn from that experience? What did you do right? What mistakes did you make?

ALON: The book, released in paperback, was priced at $18, much too high for an unknown author. Low sales gur

also mean no agent is going to take notice and provide a route to a traditional publisher

AL: When OilspillDotcom was ready to market, did you seek out an agent? What was your experience?

ALON: I contacted fty or sixty agents all together. I went to the Santa Barbara Writers Conference in the summer

07. I did meet some agents. Some asked to see the complete manuscript. During that period there were three agent

that asked for a sixty-day exclusive. All rejected the manuscript with a simple form letter.

AL: Did you give up on nding an agent, or simply get impatient?

ALON: Impatience was certainly part of it. I gave myself a year to nd a deal, and it didnt happen. I also began to

have second thoughts about the marketing process with a conventional publisher. In that world you have a very sho

time to make your splash. If you dont have any momentum in two or three months, they forget about you.

AL: Did you ever try the small, independent publisher?

interview with ALOn ShALOv


6/12

September 2008


ALON: No

AL: Any reason?

ALON: I dont know much about them. My impression is they each select a very narrow market to specialize in.

AL: Was there a particular reason you decided to try a different POD publisher?

ALON: Xlibris sets the price on their books. As I mentioned, I think that worked against me. Both iUniverse and

Booksurge suggested several price ranges, and I set the price.

AL: Which is?

ALON: $13.99

AL: Much less.

ALON: Pricing is a balance between sales and prots. At this stage, I am interested in as many readers as possible.

would like to develop a following for my future books. I am prepared to invest every dollarOilspilldotcom earns in

additional marketing.

AL: What POD publishers did you consider? What were the advantages and disadvantages of the nal choices?

ALON: My research narrowed it down to two companies: iUniverse and Booksurge. I was particularly impressed

with the former: their promotions, a book about how to go through the entire process, including book promotion, a

a number of awards and benets that you can strive for. This includes the important incentive of having your book

the shelves of your local Barnes & Noble.

Booksurge also has a number of benets. They allow the author to set the price of the book (the lower list

price, the smaller the royalty per book) and they have a solid marketing support, including an ongoing webinar ser

with marketing experts, all this at no charge to their authors.

But if I am honest, what swayed me was the decision by Amazon.com to only list POD books published witheir own subsidiaries. I had almost signed with iUniverse, when I had dinner with the author, D. Patrick Miller (M

Journey Through the Plant World) and heard of Amazons controversial decision.

Amazon.com owns Booksurge, and I cannot see any chance for success of a POD book without the ability

sell on the biggest virtual bookstore. Whenever I hear about a book that might interest me, I go to Amazon.com and

check out the reviews and the price.

AL: What is the status ofOilspillDotcom today?

ALON: It is with my editor. I am aiming for a January 09 release.

AL: What are your expectations, your sales goals?

ALON: I set a goal of 500 books in three months. I have heard the general rule is to aim for 5,000 in the rst year.

This would be a dream scenario for me. I believe 500 an attainable goal for the time I have to invest.

AL: Are there writers who ought to prefer POD?

ALON: If you are planning a memoir directed at a selective circulation, i.e., family and friends, POD is surely the

way to go. It is also advantageous for people who are giving lectures and public-speaking engagements. I also thin


7/12December 2008 WriteangleS

the how-to type of books are better via POD if you are giving workshops.

AL: And if you are after a wide audience?

ALON: You can certainly try the traditional route and try to get noticed by an agent. But if that doesnt happen, PO

is an option. Some success with your self-published book may actually be the way you get the attention of a publis

or agent.

Christopher Paolini (aged 16 or 17 then) and his parents took six months out to travel the country and

market his self-publishedEragon, the rst of a tremendously successful trilogy. There are numerous otherexamples

AL: Have we talked about all the important steps in the process?

ALON: The self-publishing author cannot afford to minimize the importance of editing. The manuscript is not real

nished until it has been cleared by a professional editor. That probably means a paid professional. WithA Garden

Tale, I really could not afford professional editing, and I had a lot of good feedback from my writers group. When

OilspillDotcom was in its nal draft, I decided to part with the cash for a professional editor, and I am sure Ive don

the right thing.

AL: Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

ALON: You can continue to follow how it plays out on my blog, Countdown to a Novel Published. Go to

oilspilldotcom.blogspot.com.

SEEDS OF A SERIES

A few years ago, Judith Greber, AKA Gillian Roberts, told the CWC Berkeley Branch how she wrote as

a stand alone what would become the opening in her entertaining Amanda Pepper series. Shortly thereafter,female detectives suddenly became the rage. Greber got the good news that her publisher

wanted to make Amanda the focus of a new series. The bad news was that Amanda was an

English teachernot a good job for a series heroine. You can only nd so many bodies in

the auditorium, Greber told us. Whats more, Amanda was not available to solve crimes during school hours.

Obviously, the rst installment is the most important in a series. If the rst installment falls at, its

difcult to generate enthusiasm and sales for subsequent titles. But, beyond sparking interest, the rst installment

must also contain elements and character traits that will form the core of the overall series. Harry Potter could not

have waited until the second book to discover his powers.

Consider having your hero practicing tae kwon do even if he isnt going to toss around any bad guys in the

rst book. You cant suddenly make him a black belt in the fourth. Or have your heroine get her rst job because

she can translate Spanish commercial documentswhen shes racing around Buenos Aires ve books from now,

devoted readers will accept her linguistic skills.

Still, it seems, a wildly popular series can stand almost anything. Arthur Conan Doyle resurrected Sherlock

Holmes after killing him off. Readers didnt carethey were just glad to have Holmes back.

- Bill Reinka



The Long Road to Lulu: One Writers Story of Self-Publishing

My path to publication was more a labyrinth than a straight shot. Like many aspiring writers, I imagined

beginning with a concept and ending with a guest shot on Oprah. What follows is a road map to Lulu and the

world of print-on-demand publishing. Included are the roadblocks and switchbacks that I and my two co-editors

encountered during our two-year odyssey with our anthology of essays, Writin on Empty: Parents Reveal theUpside, Downside, and Everything in Between When Children Leave the Nest.

After researching literary agents and editors on PublishersMarketplace (a service of

PublishersLunch, $20/month fee), my co-editors and I followed up by sending to agents our

query letter and proposal, which had been vetted by Amy Rennert, a Bay Area literary agent

whose workshop I had attended at Book Passage in Corte Madera. We got some nibbles but

no serious bites, until I came to dread the sight of self-addressed return envelopes in my

mailbox. And appearing almost at the speed of light were the thanks but no thanks e-mail

responses, the rejection excuses complaining, for the most part, about the glut ofanthologies and our lack of big name contributors. (After helping us, Amy also turned us

down.) Months passed, and we wondered, what would be our options if we didnt get any attention from agents

or publishers?

Around this discouraging time I attended a writers conference and learned about the world of

print-on-demand. A spokesperson for Lulu was on a panel with a mainstream publisher and a literary agent. I

paid close attention to the panel and especially to the Lulu presenter and brought the information back to my

co-editors. (A well-known Bay Area writer gave a session at this workshop. I approached her afterwards to ask

if she would write an essay for us. She begged off, citing her own in-progress book, but later agreed to write ablurb.)

Nonetheless, we continued to send out innumerable queries by snail mail and e-mail, until one day, our

impatience growing with all the waiting and getting turned down, the light came on: We would make the book

ourselves. Yes!

We checked out Lulu and iUniverse and a couple of other possibilities, nally choosing Lulu because of

the cost for the service and the available distribution package. The process of simply uploading pdf les seemed

straightforward. Also, we learned that Lulu has good online help, a lifeline for us. We liked the idea of having

our book available through Amazon, Ingram, Barnes & Noble, and other large distributors. The cost of addingthis package was under $100 and well worth it, as we would discover.

Once we decided to go with Lulu, we had many decisions to make. Lulu gives you two options: you can

publish under your own name (published by you), or you can use their name as publisher (published by Lulu),

which we wanted to avoid. In some circles our book might be devalued with the Lulu name on it. Other

considerations were nancial: according to the Lulu Web site, if you publish as you (with your own ISBN), any

money you make is called Other Revenue. Other Revenues are not subject to withholding and are not reported

to the IRS. If you publish by Lulu, they provide the ISBN and will be known as the publisher of record; you earn



a royalty with each sale and there may be withholding. Sound confusing? It is. Online help from Lulu is the

way to go.

We chose to do business as No Flak Publishing and took care of the doing-business-as (DBA)

paperwork ourselves. But before getting a cover design or applying for an ISBN number ($125 for a single

ISBN through R.R.Bowker) and a bar code (an extra $25), we needed a peppier and more positive title than the

one we were working withAfter Theyve Gone. Our rifng on the theme of empty nests brought us to Writin

on Empty, followed by a long subtitle in the current mode.

Our new title inspired our designer to come up with a cover design that captured the mood and spirit of

the essays in our book. She also did a mockup of a title page and chapter, in keeping with the look of the cover.

Her design package included bookmarks with the book cover on the front and our blurbs and contact

information on the back.

The rst printed version of our book was a slim volume indeed. We asked our layout guy to increase the

size of the font (he chose the Mrs. Eaves font) and the leadings or spaces between the lines. Once he made the

revisions, the book found its right size.

We hired my sister, a freelance copyeditor, to go over the manuscript. Even with her close attention and

oursthe vigilance of eight eyessome mistakes made their way to the nal layout, copyediting not being an

exact science. Luckily, with Lulu and the nature of print-on-demand, we could easily make the corrections and

upload another pdf. There is no extra charge to do this; however, Lulu strongly recommends that every time

you make a revision, you order a proof copy, and you pay your cost (plus shipping) to do this. I am

embarrassed to say that our main aw was the failure to list our contributors names in alphabetical order, a

problem that took three revisions to correct. We also missed the misspelling of an authors name and left out a

contributors bio. It could happen to anyone, right?

The good news about self-publishing: We maintained control over the look and feel of our book, set the

price point, and we are proud to say that people can buy it through Amazon and other large distributors. We are

not involved in the fulllment part of the process other than when we deliver books to local independent

bookstores where we are reading.

The not-so-good news: Being available through big-time distributors means that we enter into the

wholesale market. Also, Lulus shipping fees are higher than anyone elses, a determining factor for those

searching us out on our Web site (www.writinonempty.com). They compare costs and order the book from

somewhere else for less. Cant say as I blame them.

The most important lesson in all of this is that people like us can publish a lovely book and do it for themost part on their own terms. Despite a pile of rejections, the three of us kept on going and learned as we went

along. Our frustrations with technology and alphabetical oversights notwithstanding, there is no greater feeling

than walking by a bookstore and seeing our very own book in the window.

-Risa Nye



WEB SITES FOR WRITERS

womenonwriting.com, WOW

dklex.com, created by attorney David Koehser, who specializes in publishing law and copyrights. Free articles

about such subjects as subsidiary rights, permissions and tricky contract clauses. Koehser publishes the

Copyright & Publishing Law Newsletter, a free, well-written PDF newsletter without legal jargon.

publaw.com, the creation of well-known publishing lawyer Lloyd Rich. Handy articles created just for authors

who need to understand the legal aspects of publishing. Free newsletter is Publaw Update.

copyright.gov, site of the U.S. Copyright Ofce. Clear explanations of copyright laws and direct links to

copyright your own work.

hOme FOr the hOLiDAYS

According to the Lynette Evans column in the San

Francisco Chronicle (ll/19/08), they are looking

for short stories, no more than 250 words, to share

with readers on Christmas Eve. Evans writes,

What does home for the holidays mean to you?

Or, maybe not the holidays but the special

meaning of home--whether a house, a

neighborhood, a city or country. . . .Send your

reections of home, with photos if you have them,to [email protected]. Include name, city,

telephone number (not for publication) where they

can reach you if they have questions.

Deadline Dec. 10, 2008.

weStSiDe StOrY cOnteSt

Deadline: December 31, 2008

Prizes: Three prizes totaling $500.00

Submission Guidelines: westsidestorycontest.com

Judge: Michael Walsh, winner of the 2004

American Book Award for Fiction

Tatjana Greiner, Berkeley Branch member,

sponsors this contest.

Tidbits

Critique Groups:

berkeleywritersclub.org/events.htm

The Saturday support/critique writers

group will meet on Saturday, December

13th from 1 to 5 p.m. at Jack London

Square, Oakland, inside Barnes &

Noble Book Store at the Event Loft and

Saturday, December 20th, from 1 to

5 p.m. at the Rockridge Library.

Meeting Time Change


11/12

President: AL Levenson

Vice President: Dave Sawle

Secretary: Evelyn Washington

Treasurer: Ken Frazer

Program: AL Levenson

Membership: OPEN

Hospitality: OPEN

Childrens Contest: Lucille Bellucci

Newsletter Editor: OPEN

Copyeditor: Anne Fox

Publicity: Linda Brown

Webmaster: Stan Sciortino

Berkeley Branch Ofcers

The CALIFORNIA WRITERS CLUB is dedicated to educating members and the public-at-large in the craft of writing and in the marketing of their

work. For more information, visit our Web site at www.berkeleywritersclub.org.

Copyright 2008 by the California Writers Club, Berkeley Branch. All rights reserved. Write Angles is published 10 times a year (September -

June) by the California Writers Club, Berkeley Branch on behalf of its members. CWC assumes no legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy,

completeness, or usefulness of any information, process, product, method or policy described in this newsletter.


WHO CARES? WHATS THE POINT?

One of the presenters at a recent writers

conference, a writing teacher with a half-dozen

published novels on her resume, told that on the

last day of class she found a small box on her desk

elegantly wrapped and tied with a red ribbon.

She unwrapped the package, hoping for something

appreciative or at least humorous. She got both.

Inside were two rubber stamps. One read, Who Cares? the

other, Whats the Point?

She went on to say that shed written, Who Cares? or

Whats the Point? on almost every story or essay submitted allyear long.

I printed these two steel questions and tacked them to my

adage wall where I write. They stare at me with the ruler-wielding

sternness of my third-grade grammar school teacher, Mrs.

Whittaker. After the struggle with a rst draft with its aws in

structure and dialogue, and before I begin the tedious business of

a second draft, I imagine that two red block-letter questions are

inked onto the top of page one: Who Cares? Whats the Point.

I can always get by Who Cares? After all, I care. Thats

one; there must be someone else. But what is the point? I dont ge

to bargain with myself over that one. What do I want my readers

to think about? what do I want them to feel? what do I want them

to take away from my story? Does my story have a value, or is it

a clever little exercise? I dont always like my answers, but they

needle me to try harder.

What do you think about before starting on the second

draft?

- AL Levenson


12/12

P.O.Box15014Oakland,CA94614

Write Angles 12-08

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