Monday, May 28, 2012
Hello, my small family of blog-ites. This blog will be closing on June 15th due to the fact that its original purpose for existing has long since passed. Please feel free to join me at http://www.byronsuggs.com . There you can find all of my links, updates on my books, and general stuff about what I'm up to...Thanks to all of you that have stopped by!
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
ANNOUNCEMENT!!! 'Rockapocalypse: A Boy's Tale' is under contract!
I'm happy to announce that my first book, 'Rockapocalypse: A Boy's Tale', is under contract with Written World Communications! I'd like to thank everyone for their interest and support over the last year and a half. Now you get to read it! I'll know more about the publication date as we progress in that direction.
Friday, March 23, 2012
What I'm up to these days...
Half way through edits for Rockapocalypse with my publisher. Also, I've finished a second book entitled 'Cold Currents', a mystery/thriller set in the South. I'm hoping this is my year to go into print. I'm sorry this blog hasn't been updated more often, and I sincerely thank everyone who has followed it. I'm working on another blog with Weebly that will combine the contents of this site and my Wordpress blog. I hope to launch that soon!
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Editorial Tutorial…or some form of ‘orial’
It’s been awhile since my last post, but I’ve been busy. Actually that’s an understatement. I thought I would share my experiences, albeit as on-going as they may be, on writing and the editorial process.
First, unless you’re a writer blessed with talents far beyond mortal means, you probably are not the best editor for your work. Why? Because you love your work. Because you don’t handle self-rejection and self-critique very well. Because…well, isn’t that enough? Sure, you can run spell check, catch a few of those seriously stupid words or sentences that crept into your work while you were busy seducing it to paper. Maybe even realize you blew the plot and are able to fix it. But you won’t see it like a reader will see it. You won’t see it like a publisher or an agent will see it. You won’t approach it from a ‘marketing’ standpoint. You simply won’t… because you’re a writer.
With my first book, Rockapocalypse: A Boy’s Tale (now called Rock of Ages: The Keeper, after umpteen million revisions), I contracted a freelance editor to do a developmental edit. It was rather disastrous from my standpoint. My book had various problems and I spent many months re-writing. So much re-writing in fact, that my book changed drastically. Which put me back to square one, and that was not a happy place for me.
Fortunately, I had enough of ‘something’ in my work to get the attention of a small, traditional boutique publisher. After failing to get a contract through their publication board process, for reasons that went far beyond the merits of the book, I was lucky enough to peak additional interest with the owner/CEO, and was offered a collaboration of sorts to get my book up to their publishing standards. Collaboration, you say? Yes. I now meet with the her once a week at their company offices and do a combined developmental/copy-edit on my manuscript. No contract has been offered, but I’m learning a great deal about the editing process and hope it will lead to one in the near future. The really cool thing? It’s not costing me a dime. And that means they’re willing to invest time (=money) in me.
On another front, my second book, Cold Currents, is now under editorial eyes. After a careful search, I landed the editorial services of a well-respected freelance editor with over 40 years experience in the publishing industry. I won’t go into details for discretionary reasons, but he’s associated with a lengthy list of well-known works spanning his career. He’s currently providing a full edit on my manuscript as I write this. The cost will be a bit steep for my pockets, but it’s a sacrifice I feel I have to make at this point. I have to admit, I’m a bit nervous about his pending prognosis. It’s like waiting for a call from your doctor on your lab results.
The hardest part about both of the above? Not touching my work until the editing touches it. I really, really want to get back in there and ‘meddle-in-the- middle’, keep my fingers in it. But for now, I’ll just be content knowing I’m learning as I go with the edits on my first book and that I’ve got a professional’s eyes on my second book.
What are your thoughts on the editing process? Do you think the ‘wordsmithing’ stops with you? Do you have an editor you’re comfortable with that you return to over and over again? Is it important to you as a writer that your work shines to readers, and the industry in general?
Let me know your thoughts!
Disclaimer: This blog post has been edited with the narrow/bias perspective of its originator. Professional quality content should not be assumed by the reader.
First, unless you’re a writer blessed with talents far beyond mortal means, you probably are not the best editor for your work. Why? Because you love your work. Because you don’t handle self-rejection and self-critique very well. Because…well, isn’t that enough? Sure, you can run spell check, catch a few of those seriously stupid words or sentences that crept into your work while you were busy seducing it to paper. Maybe even realize you blew the plot and are able to fix it. But you won’t see it like a reader will see it. You won’t see it like a publisher or an agent will see it. You won’t approach it from a ‘marketing’ standpoint. You simply won’t… because you’re a writer.
With my first book, Rockapocalypse: A Boy’s Tale (now called Rock of Ages: The Keeper, after umpteen million revisions), I contracted a freelance editor to do a developmental edit. It was rather disastrous from my standpoint. My book had various problems and I spent many months re-writing. So much re-writing in fact, that my book changed drastically. Which put me back to square one, and that was not a happy place for me.
Fortunately, I had enough of ‘something’ in my work to get the attention of a small, traditional boutique publisher. After failing to get a contract through their publication board process, for reasons that went far beyond the merits of the book, I was lucky enough to peak additional interest with the owner/CEO, and was offered a collaboration of sorts to get my book up to their publishing standards. Collaboration, you say? Yes. I now meet with the her once a week at their company offices and do a combined developmental/copy-edit on my manuscript. No contract has been offered, but I’m learning a great deal about the editing process and hope it will lead to one in the near future. The really cool thing? It’s not costing me a dime. And that means they’re willing to invest time (=money) in me.
On another front, my second book, Cold Currents, is now under editorial eyes. After a careful search, I landed the editorial services of a well-respected freelance editor with over 40 years experience in the publishing industry. I won’t go into details for discretionary reasons, but he’s associated with a lengthy list of well-known works spanning his career. He’s currently providing a full edit on my manuscript as I write this. The cost will be a bit steep for my pockets, but it’s a sacrifice I feel I have to make at this point. I have to admit, I’m a bit nervous about his pending prognosis. It’s like waiting for a call from your doctor on your lab results.
The hardest part about both of the above? Not touching my work until the editing touches it. I really, really want to get back in there and ‘meddle-in-the- middle’, keep my fingers in it. But for now, I’ll just be content knowing I’m learning as I go with the edits on my first book and that I’ve got a professional’s eyes on my second book.
What are your thoughts on the editing process? Do you think the ‘wordsmithing’ stops with you? Do you have an editor you’re comfortable with that you return to over and over again? Is it important to you as a writer that your work shines to readers, and the industry in general?
Let me know your thoughts!
Disclaimer: This blog post has been edited with the narrow/bias perspective of its originator. Professional quality content should not be assumed by the reader.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Memories can save you $$$
'Get your Van Halen tickets now!'
That was the subject line of the email I received in my Yahoo inbox yesterday. I stopped everything I was doing and ran upstairs. My wife was in the bathroom putting on makeup.
"You wanna go see Van Halen?" I asked.
She gave a me a deadpan look, eyeliner pencil poised for the punchline. She was, at best, a quasi-fan of the band.
"When?"
"In May. Denver. Pepsi Center."
"How much are the tickets?"
I hadn't paid attention to that. The aging teenager in me was to blame. 'IT'S VAN HALEN, DUDE! THE ORIGINAL VAN HALEN!' he implored through pimples and a pre-cro-magnon haircut when the thought briefly flitted across our brain.
I ran back downstairs and clicked my way to the ticket site. I pulled up the concert tour, searched the venue map for the best seats and drilled into the PURCHASE NOW link.
Section 231: $200 per seat
Section 426: $320 per seat
Section ...blah, blah blah 'really expensive seats here!'
My teenage self left the room, surely embarrassed by my old man reaction. I walked upstairs and passed by the bathroom, uninterested in engaging my wife in an 'I told you so' type conversation.
"How much were the tickets?" she yelled, not one to be denied validation.
"Third of a mortgage payment or two months worth of groceries!" I yelled back, not slowing down. I didn't have time to be ridiculed. I was on a mission: find my old Van Halen CD's.
The irony of this?
Back in 1979 (or 1980?), I saw Van Halen live. I paid $20 for an outdoor concert that featured Van Halen, Boston (yes, THE Boston), the Outlaws and Poco.
$20, folks.
I was fifteen feet away from the stage when David Lee Roth flew out of the scaffolding in a harness and glided across the stage doing his hammy poses prior to rocking the bark off the nearby trees and causing dozens of screaming girls to spontaneously lose their undergarments.
$20
I was drinking PJ from a red solo cup when Tom Scholz of Boston came running onstage playing the opening chords to 'More Than A Feeling' and slipped, landing hard on his ass. You know what? He never missed a note. Not one.
Or maybe the PJ was just that good. Who knows?
Or more important, who cares?
The way I figure it, those memories will stay with me until I grow so old I don't need to remember them. They were priceless in what they offered for only $20. Not $200. Not $1000. In fact, after seeing those ticket prices, I felt like I'd robbed a liquor store with a Pez dispenser.
Those good memories saved me money. Besides, who wants to pay two months worth of groceries to watch old men try and reclaim their glory days?
Maybe they should revel in their own good memories and stop tempting that teenager inside me. Or maybe I should just go mix a batch of PJ and dance naked to my CD's. :-)
That was the subject line of the email I received in my Yahoo inbox yesterday. I stopped everything I was doing and ran upstairs. My wife was in the bathroom putting on makeup.
"You wanna go see Van Halen?" I asked.
She gave a me a deadpan look, eyeliner pencil poised for the punchline. She was, at best, a quasi-fan of the band.
"When?"
"In May. Denver. Pepsi Center."
"How much are the tickets?"
I hadn't paid attention to that. The aging teenager in me was to blame. 'IT'S VAN HALEN, DUDE! THE ORIGINAL VAN HALEN!' he implored through pimples and a pre-cro-magnon haircut when the thought briefly flitted across our brain.
I ran back downstairs and clicked my way to the ticket site. I pulled up the concert tour, searched the venue map for the best seats and drilled into the PURCHASE NOW link.
Section 231: $200 per seat
Section 426: $320 per seat
Section ...blah, blah blah 'really expensive seats here!'
My teenage self left the room, surely embarrassed by my old man reaction. I walked upstairs and passed by the bathroom, uninterested in engaging my wife in an 'I told you so' type conversation.
"How much were the tickets?" she yelled, not one to be denied validation.
"Third of a mortgage payment or two months worth of groceries!" I yelled back, not slowing down. I didn't have time to be ridiculed. I was on a mission: find my old Van Halen CD's.
The irony of this?
Back in 1979 (or 1980?), I saw Van Halen live. I paid $20 for an outdoor concert that featured Van Halen, Boston (yes, THE Boston), the Outlaws and Poco.
$20, folks.
I was fifteen feet away from the stage when David Lee Roth flew out of the scaffolding in a harness and glided across the stage doing his hammy poses prior to rocking the bark off the nearby trees and causing dozens of screaming girls to spontaneously lose their undergarments.
$20
I was drinking PJ from a red solo cup when Tom Scholz of Boston came running onstage playing the opening chords to 'More Than A Feeling' and slipped, landing hard on his ass. You know what? He never missed a note. Not one.
Or maybe the PJ was just that good. Who knows?
Or more important, who cares?
The way I figure it, those memories will stay with me until I grow so old I don't need to remember them. They were priceless in what they offered for only $20. Not $200. Not $1000. In fact, after seeing those ticket prices, I felt like I'd robbed a liquor store with a Pez dispenser.
Those good memories saved me money. Besides, who wants to pay two months worth of groceries to watch old men try and reclaim their glory days?
Maybe they should revel in their own good memories and stop tempting that teenager inside me. Or maybe I should just go mix a batch of PJ and dance naked to my CD's. :-)
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Slaying the Beast, Surviving the 365, or Just an Excuse to Party?
When I was younger, I gleefully rang in the New Year like everyone seems to do. Friends, booze, food and music, party hats, buzzers, confetti, and some things I won't mention, were all a part of the event. It didn't matter WHY we were there. The general thought was WHY NOT?
As I've aged, the New Year celebration has become a complex beast to me. I watch the hordes of people in Times Square at the stroke of midnight and wonder WHY?, because WHY NOT? does not seem a logical or valid response to me anymore. I wonder if they all feel as if they've conquered some vile, horrendous beast that attacked their lives all year. Or are they just happy they survived personal, economic and social challenges for 365 days? Or maybe they're celebrating togetherness? That would be nice. The tribe of mankind hunkering down together against the evils of nuclear annihilation? Or maybe they've never been able to turn down a good party?
Oh, I imagine there would be good reasons to celebrate the end of a calendar date (albeit symbolic at best). Things like beating cancer, publishing your first book, being in the black instead of the red with the business you started last January, etc.. But what if you looked back and nothing spectacular happened other than the fact that you woke everyday, had your health, had your family safe and happy, wherever they may be. What if, like me, you gave thanks for these things every day? What would that leave you to celebrate on New Years eve?
I've steered clear of this celebration for many years now. To be honest, 12/31 feels like 1/1 to me every passing year. If I could be ten years younger on 1/1, I would certainly funnel champagne on 12/31 to celebrate. If I won the Powerball lottery on 12/30, I would probably be celebrating way before 12/31- 23:59, wouldn't you?
I watch the faces of people in Times Square, look for some indication of what they are actually celebrating, thinking, hoping that each had something significant that explained their over-the-top exuberance. But it's possible, just possible, that they like a good party. So be it. We make our own peace in the world and if that helps them to face another calendar year, I'll raise a glass of cider to their honor.
What did you celebrate this News Years eve? I'd like to hear about it!
Here's to good fortune, health and happiness for all in 2012!
As I've aged, the New Year celebration has become a complex beast to me. I watch the hordes of people in Times Square at the stroke of midnight and wonder WHY?, because WHY NOT? does not seem a logical or valid response to me anymore. I wonder if they all feel as if they've conquered some vile, horrendous beast that attacked their lives all year. Or are they just happy they survived personal, economic and social challenges for 365 days? Or maybe they're celebrating togetherness? That would be nice. The tribe of mankind hunkering down together against the evils of nuclear annihilation? Or maybe they've never been able to turn down a good party?
Oh, I imagine there would be good reasons to celebrate the end of a calendar date (albeit symbolic at best). Things like beating cancer, publishing your first book, being in the black instead of the red with the business you started last January, etc.. But what if you looked back and nothing spectacular happened other than the fact that you woke everyday, had your health, had your family safe and happy, wherever they may be. What if, like me, you gave thanks for these things every day? What would that leave you to celebrate on New Years eve?
I've steered clear of this celebration for many years now. To be honest, 12/31 feels like 1/1 to me every passing year. If I could be ten years younger on 1/1, I would certainly funnel champagne on 12/31 to celebrate. If I won the Powerball lottery on 12/30, I would probably be celebrating way before 12/31- 23:59, wouldn't you?
I watch the faces of people in Times Square, look for some indication of what they are actually celebrating, thinking, hoping that each had something significant that explained their over-the-top exuberance. But it's possible, just possible, that they like a good party. So be it. We make our own peace in the world and if that helps them to face another calendar year, I'll raise a glass of cider to their honor.
What did you celebrate this News Years eve? I'd like to hear about it!
Here's to good fortune, health and happiness for all in 2012!
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Have You Failed Lately?
Failure, to most of us, is a bad word. It’s a last resort. It’s the one thing we try to avoid at all cost. We choose alternate words and phrases to mask this painful word. Words like ‘unsuccessful’ and phrases like ‘come up short’ or ‘almost succeeded’. Either way you dice it, if you tried to obtain a goal and didn’t succeed, then you failed at attaining it.
But is failure such a bad thing? Life is full of lessons and every lesson is defined more by failure than success. Where would we be if we didn’t learn valuable lessons in life. I like to think of a failure as a reason to try harder, a reason to keep on keeping on. I’ve failed at many things in my life, but I know I’m not a failure because do not accept the ‘failure’ attitude.
So, whether you’re a writer, a teacher, a student, a homebody, or just anyone, keep striving to reach your goals, to grasp your dreams, to succeed. Being a true failure is only possible when you give up on what you believe in and embrace an attitude of failure.
Spiffy fact: In case you failed to notice: Failure, or some form of the word, was used 11 times in this post.
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