Did you set your clocks back?

 cj Sez; Well, did-ja? For most U.S. states, daylight saving time ended at 2:00 a.m. this morning, when clocks should have been set back one hour to 1:00 a.m. local standard time. 

  After a long night of trick-or-treating/partying, your treat is an extra hour of sleep. Not me. My body’s internal clock woke up as it had been trained to do since March 8. I wish the powers that be would pick one of those times and stick to it.

For writers:

https://www.levelbestbooks.us/anthologysubmissions

CALL FOR STORIES about CRIME WITHOUT CORPSES

“No dead bodies. Not one. We want stories where the tension, the stakes, and the fallout hinge on crimes other than murder.” 

There’s still time to submit . . . Deadline: December 31, 2026.  Projected Publication Date: Fall 2027

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  As I edit my current draft for submission to the anthology, I’ve been re-reading some of my old “how-to” posts and came across these reminders:

  First page/first chapter turn-offs: The writing miscues that can cause an agent to stop reading your manuscript:

  *The beginning is too slow. Too many details, too much description, too much backstory, or too many characters. The opening paragraphs lack action or a hook to entice the readers to continue to read.

  *The story’s opening paragraphs fail to establish where the story is taking place, the time, and the setting.

  *The writer didn’t establish a clear point of view.

  *Mechanical errors can earn a speedy rejection. Mechanical errors are the typos, punctuation errors (including those involving dialogue), and unclear syntax that can destroy a good story.  

  What agents or publishers see in the first few paragraphs of a manuscript is what they expect to see throughout each chapter and scene. They are looking for a reason to continue to read.

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  From my archives: For readers and writers, a bit about my creative writing journey. 

  As I was winding down my career in corporate communications and journalism, I enrolled in a creative writing class at a local community college. I also flew to San Francisco and spent three days immersed in Robert McKee’s Story screenwriting workshop. I grabbed a bunch of how-to books. I read novels and read some more.

  Over time, I found I was drawn to the books of Robert B. Parker, Elmore Leonard, James Lee Burke, Robert Ludlum’s Bourne series. You know the kind, heavy on the action and adventure with a smattering of romance/sex. When I relocated to Mobile, I took a continuing education class at the University of South Alabama, wrote seven paragraphs based on a prompt from the instructor, and, after receiving a positive response, decided I was ready to write for publication.

  Oops. I discovered that writing in vacuum doesn’t work. I thought my premise was wonderful, the words and sentence structure perfect. I wrote crap. There was no brilliant beginning, middle, or end. There was only a quasi-beginning, a sagging middle, and an unsatisfying end. And I couldn’t even edit out all the repetitive word usage and punctuation errors because I read right past them.

  So, I joined a writers’ group and a critique group—a couple of critique groups, in fact. And I solicited beta readers in order to get the kind of varied writer/reader responses I would get should my novel be lucky enough to land on a library shelf.

  At first, my stories and novels were traditionally published, but understanding that the publication world is a fickle place, I took an intensive class in self-publishing and bought tons of back-up/how-to reference materials. And you know what? It feels very good to know that I prepared myself for the option because I requested my rights back from Simon and Schuster then re-edited and renamed the novels and self-published them. (Deadly Star published in 2008 became The Dawgstar  in 2021, and Choosing Carter in 2013 became Death on the Yampa in 2021.) I still write short stories for submission to anthologies and have been fortunate to get some published.

  The point I’m trying to make is, whether reader or writer, make the “want to” in your life an achievable goal, write it down, own the task, and start taking the steps necessary to reach it. You might be surprised at how far you can go. For me, that means I will either do or do not.

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  Thank you to the readers of my books and other authors' books! Thank you to book groups, book reviewers, too. THANK YOU.

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  That’s it for this month’s post. Hope you have a wonderful October. You-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do the same.

cj

  My novels are available at these ebook sites:  https://books2read.com/u/bxL9xv  And in paperback wherever books are sold.

(By the way, remember that you can support independent bookstores by ordering from bookshop.org.)

  Stop by my Amazon author page for a listing of all my books: Amazon Central Author Page )

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  Just a reminder: Lyrical Pens blog for readers and writers is a monthly issue, kind of like a newsletter. I’m aiming for the first of the month, whatever day that is, so watch for it please. That said, thank you for stopping by Lyrical Pens today. I really do appreciate every one of my visitors. Drop me a comment or a question, and we’ll talk.

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