writing Archives - Page 3 of 4 - MUSE • Leslie Keenan

The Energy of Completion

From my Newsletter, Late Spring 2010 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I have worked on many books. I should say I have worked on many ideas that became manuscripts that became books. I know from all this experience that the closer you get to the end, it seems, the more there is you realize has to be done. This can be very frustrating! You think you have a finished manuscript that just needs a couple of things added, or a few facts checked, and it will take a week to get it done. Three…read more

E-Books

From my Newsletter, Spring 2010 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We had a lively discussion about this at the end of one of my writing classes a few weeks ago and since the subject is coming up in the press frequently I thought I would address it here. First, let’s talk about what an e-book is. There are a couple of different types. There’s a simple e-book you may already have seen online. It’s just a downloadable file that you can purchase (or it’s sometimes free) usually from someone’s website, and usually it’s in…read more

Going Deep

From my End-of-Year Newsletter, 2009 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I want to revisit a topic I brought up back in July (“The Value of Doing Nothing”). It seems even more important and appropriate as we turn into winter, the fallow time of the year. The topic is this: the importance, no – more than that – the absolute, vital necessity of going deep in order to do our creative work. By going deep, I mean really having enough time to immerse yourself deeply in your work, or to discover what in fact the…read more

The Bucket List

From my Newsletter, Autumn 2009 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I was talking to my mother on the phone two weeks ago and she said, of going to the new Yankee Stadium, “That’s another thing off my bucket list!” That night, while giving the exercise of writing down ten book ideas to a new class, I thought, hmm, what if you had a book bucket list? If you are wondering what the heck buckets have to do with anything, a bucket list is a list of things you want to do before you die…read more

A Little, Easy Thing…

From my Newsletter, August 2009 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Because I am now working on this myself, and because it came up in my last Microsoft Word for Writers class, I thought it worth bringing up again how helpful it is to have your files in order on your computer, and to name your different versions correctly so you can find everything in one place. This is a little like creating a binder on your computer for your work. And since I think what our work is about is bringing ideas into form,…read more

The Value of Doing Nothing

From my Newsletter, Late Summer 2009 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In our busy-busy; go-go culture, spending time idly, perhaps even staring into space, is not thought well of. In fact, if you went by what people say in the press, you’d think having some alone-time is highly suspect. When reporters couldn’t follow Obama at all times on the campaign trail, because, gasp, he wanted to have some moments alone, they didn’t understand why. And yet, for creativity to emerge, we need some down-time for it to formulate itself, or for us to access…read more

Writing: Visual or Auditory?

From my Newsletter, June 2009 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I had an interesting discussion with a student in a recent class. Someone had made editing suggestions that she wasn’t sure about, and she wanted me to review them. As we went over each suggested change, I realized what was going on. My student tends to write from a more auditory position, and the feedback was from a more visual perspective. Some of you may be familiar with Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP). As with many things I know, I first learned of it through publishing…read more

From First to Second Draft: The Journey Continues…

From my Newsletter, Spring 2009 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A student who finished her first draft (yeah!) asked me, How should I approach doing the edit? If you’ve taken my and others’ advice and let yourself just write out the first draft to the end, there are a bunch of things you have to look at in the edit which will produce the second draft. First, structural things. Are there places you know things need to change? What things do you know now that you’ve finished the draft that you didn’t know in…read more

Are Times Really So Bad?

From my Newsletter, February 2009 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I am being asked frequently, is this a bad time to look for an agent? Isn’t it a bad time to try to sell a book to a publisher? Or I’m being told with a knowing nod, that things are bad in publishing right now. Is this the truth? Here’s what I think. Publishing has always been a margin business. By that I mean the numbers are small all around and the profit is consistent, but consistently low. This is good and bad. It’s…read more

Self-Publishing – What, Why, How – and Why Now?

Posted by Leslie in Publishing, Writing

From my Newsletter, January 2009 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Today I want to write about the question of self-publishing versus a commercial publisher. In the past this was an easier decision. Self-publishing required quite a bit of money, and many people didn’t have the wherewithal to do it. But now, with on-demand publishing, this choice has become a viable option for many. So how do you decide? And does it work? First some definitions. On-demand publishing means that instead of ordering thousands of books from a printer which are stored in a warehouse,…read more