WWAG (a serious post)
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Long before Fob (about three years), I was part of the Writer's Guild, a group with a shamelessly plagiarized name that met on BYU campus and complimented each other. Sort of the antithesis of Fob, in other words--precisely the sort of writers' group decent writers warn you against.
I used it, however, in forming my idea of a proper writing group to be called WWAG (Writers With A Goal, the goal being publication), a group with totally awesome franchising possibilities.
Fob is essentially a WWAG, inasmuch as genuine criticism is shared and work comes out of Fobbing better than it went in.
However, I don't think Fob is WWAG enough. It occurred to me just now as I was rescaninng Tolkien Boy's year in review that he (and the rest of you) are writing good stuff. Publishable stuff. It's ridiculous that we haven't more publication credits to our good Fob name.
I think we need to start getting more serious about the Goal. Part of Fobbing needs to be the discussion of markets and the reporting of sendings. I've gotten a rejection and a this-market-is-no-longer-alive this week. I'm not boasting of rejection, but think about it. Let's start with editorgirl:
You all are constantly talking about how brilliant she is and et cetera. I have only had the pleasure of reading a couple pieces so I'm not fully educated on the wonders of editorgirl, but I trust Fob's analysis. I want to know how many times she has submitted to Poetry or Ploughshares or The Sun or wherever. And if that number is low, I want to know why the hell the rest of Fob hasn't pressured her into mailing more.
Melyngoch! Now here's a poet I'm more familiar with. A poet of skill and beauty who demonstrates to me just how stuck in prose I will remain. How many submissions, Mel? What about Jonah--you sold that yet? Why not? It's brilliant.
And Mr Fob himself. You are a prolific and excellent writer of YA novels. Why don't you have an agent yet?
Look, Fobs, we're not getting any younger. I just hit thirty and you kids will be there soon enough. When were you planning on winning the National Book Award?
The time is now.
I want some accountability. I want to know where stuff is going and I want to see lists of rejections. If we need another Unspeakable Contract with Evil, sobeit.
"Sobeit"--I like that.
Anyway, I am Theric. And I have more rejections than Dr Seuss.
Note: Do to time constraints imposed upon me by the Albany Library, this is another rough draft. Forgive me.
Long before Fob (about three years), I was part of the Writer's Guild, a group with a shamelessly plagiarized name that met on BYU campus and complimented each other. Sort of the antithesis of Fob, in other words--precisely the sort of writers' group decent writers warn you against.
I used it, however, in forming my idea of a proper writing group to be called WWAG (Writers With A Goal, the goal being publication), a group with totally awesome franchising possibilities.
Fob is essentially a WWAG, inasmuch as genuine criticism is shared and work comes out of Fobbing better than it went in.
However, I don't think Fob is WWAG enough. It occurred to me just now as I was rescaninng Tolkien Boy's year in review that he (and the rest of you) are writing good stuff. Publishable stuff. It's ridiculous that we haven't more publication credits to our good Fob name.
I think we need to start getting more serious about the Goal. Part of Fobbing needs to be the discussion of markets and the reporting of sendings. I've gotten a rejection and a this-market-is-no-longer-alive this week. I'm not boasting of rejection, but think about it. Let's start with editorgirl:
You all are constantly talking about how brilliant she is and et cetera. I have only had the pleasure of reading a couple pieces so I'm not fully educated on the wonders of editorgirl, but I trust Fob's analysis. I want to know how many times she has submitted to Poetry or Ploughshares or The Sun or wherever. And if that number is low, I want to know why the hell the rest of Fob hasn't pressured her into mailing more.
Melyngoch! Now here's a poet I'm more familiar with. A poet of skill and beauty who demonstrates to me just how stuck in prose I will remain. How many submissions, Mel? What about Jonah--you sold that yet? Why not? It's brilliant.
And Mr Fob himself. You are a prolific and excellent writer of YA novels. Why don't you have an agent yet?
Look, Fobs, we're not getting any younger. I just hit thirty and you kids will be there soon enough. When were you planning on winning the National Book Award?
The time is now.
I want some accountability. I want to know where stuff is going and I want to see lists of rejections. If we need another Unspeakable Contract with Evil, sobeit.
"Sobeit"--I like that.
Anyway, I am Theric. And I have more rejections than Dr Seuss.
Note: Do to time constraints imposed upon me by the Albany Library, this is another rough draft. Forgive me.
posted by Th. at 8/24/2006 11:23:00 AM
6 Comments:
Part of the problem, speaking for myself, is that I'm a novel writer and not a short story writer. I lack the time or determination or endurance or something to actually get full books ready for publication. I have several rough drafts and a couple decent final drafts (PACD and Don Quimby) but I'm not confident enough in any of them to put them past one or two rejections. I tend to assume that the evaluators at Covenant, for example, are right about the problems with DQ, and therefore I set it aside until I'm ready to deal with those problems. Which may or may not ever happen, because I'm always working on a new project that I'm more excited about and that I assume has more potential than that draft I wrote last year when I was a much inferior writer. My point is:
Blaugh.
I would like to enter something in the Delacorte contest this year, but we'll see how much time I have to work toward that goal once I start school.
You're absolutely right. Good call. I've never sent anything in. I guess it would help if I actually finished something.
Hmmm...There's a goal. What chores were those Jensen kids doing the last time I checked in on them?
I haven't sent in anything either, but then, I have a track record for being on the side of the fence that gives the rejections out. Though I really did try to publish both Th. and Master Fob. Stupid publishing house.
.
Yeah yeah yeah.
But what are you going to do about it?
I'm going to publish everything I've ever written, that's what!
.
Awesome. What about the rest of you? I WANT ACCOUNTABILITY!!!!!
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