BooksofJobe.com

Coastal Transmissions From an Oregon Transplant

Writing

  • The Comforting Reassurance of a 90 Minute Rejection

    I queried the old version of my novel to maybe 40 or 50 agents before taking a break. I had found a handful of tweaks I wanted to make to the manuscript (mostly minor, some more significant), and after sending my query letter to dozens of agents without so much as a nibble of interest… Read more

  • Overthinking? Try Unpacking the Suitcase

    In my last post, I mentioned a writers workshop I went to on the coast. One of the presenters was a horror writer/director named Duncan Birmingham. His movie Who Invited Them? is on Hulu, and definitely worth a watch if you’re into unsettling, off putting stories. Duncan’s presentation involved what he called “unpacking the suitcase.”… Read more

  • Let’s Start at the (New) Beginning

    Looking at a couple examples of great book openings. Read more

  • Writing Through Distractions

    To clarify, I’m not offering advice here, I’m asking for it. I remain about 65k words into my latest WIP, where I’ve been stuck since just before Thanksgiving. Why? Because I got distracted and I’m having trouble getting the ball rolling again. But wait, what’s that, there on the horizon? It’s an even bigger distraction!… Read more

  • Are Any of You in IRL Writer’s Groups?

    Something has come over me recently. I don’t know why now, of all times, but it has. I’ve been thinking about writer’s groups. Writing is a highly solitary endeavor most of the time, as you all know. I guess I’m yearning for some camaraderie, and having people willing and able to ready work and offer… Read more

  • Where Do You Find Inspiration?

    Inspiration for writers can sometimes be hard to come by. We’re all out there, grinding as best we can, but sometimes that doesn’t cut it. Sometimes it feels like being a writer is nothing but a huge exercise in futility. You write, you submit, you get rejected, rinse, repeat. After a while you can start… Read more

  • Unsolicited Advice From an Unqualified Source

    Well, I don’t know if I’d call myself *completely* unqualified. Partly qualified? Sure, let’s go with that. I just thought the title was catchy and went with it. What I’d like to do is offer a little advice/encouragement to writers at nearly every stage of their journey. And what gives me, a largely unpublished writer… Read more

  • Word Count Is Only Important If You Want It to Be

    So it’s almost the end of Spooky Season (not really a fan of that term and yet here I am using it, good grief), and I know for a lot of you that means one thing: National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo, aka NaNo) is almost upon us. Starting on November 1st, many of you… Read more

  • We Are One Month Away from #PitDark!

    Are you one of the many writers out there with a finished manuscript, currently querying agents or publishers in an attempt to find it a home? If you are, you may already know about #PitDark, but if not you should definitely read on. Like #PitMad, the other pitch event, #PitDark is a twice yearly querying… Read more

  • Do You All Know This Ira Glass Quote?

    Actually, I guess I should back up a step—do you all know Ira Glass? He’s a journalist and host of the radio program This American Life on NPR. If you’ve never heard it, I’ve seen it described as “journalistic non-fiction.” Between that phrase and the fact that it’s on public radio, you might think it… Read more