just wondering if there are any poets or writers browsing the forum. besides writing down tunes, i like to write a lot. i'm actually working on a novel right now, called The Order of Seven. i'm on the sixth page of my fourth chapter. i'm hoping to get it published when i'm finished, because the one thing i'd like to be besides a rockstar is a writer.

so if you see it on a shelf in about two years, be sure to read it!

and who knows, you might even get to see the movie!

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"I don't care how good you are, how fast you are. You ain't good enough no lessin' you got the soul." -Hubert Sumlin

I think I'm a pretty good songwriter/poet.......

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Just a amatuer looking for tips

Current Gear:
1968 Kay Strat
Kramer Focus 111S
Johnson 15w amp
Squier Black and Chrone Special Tele

I write quite a bit... I have several books started, but I don't ever follow-through.

I've written the book for a musical, but I haven't finished the music.

I wrote five episodes of a TV show.

I've also started a screenplay.

I wrote advertising for a living for 15 years, in between the road and my current gig producing commercial tunes.

I've freelanced for a couple dozen magazines, and wrote monthly columns for two well-known music rags a few years back.

I've written some fiction, and started a non-fiction book this year.

I've started writing a book about my fight with cancer. I'm thinking that it might help others.

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Hi j_rockr91: my wife is in publishing and receives around 3000 to 5000 unsolicited new manuscripts per year. Of those, perhaps as many as one or two might be good enough to get into print - in a good year.

So make sure you have your thick skin on: there's a lot of competition out there!

Through my wife I've met many writers. Strange breed...

Mind you, with nearly 5000 posts on this site under my belt, I kinda feel like a writer myself, in a very small and feeble way...

Good luck - C

Yup.

One novel out in the world, another being final-finished, also, 'working on a modern medicine book with an MD.

A number of other novels and nonfictions in the works.

wow, that's a LOT. still, i'm not worried about it. i'm very confident in my writing, (i've been doing it since i was five) and will try as many times as it takes to get published. if they don't like it, then maybe they'll just become so annoyed by me sending them my work that they'll publish it anyway

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"I don't care how good you are, how fast you are. You ain't good enough no lessin' you got the soul." -Hubert Sumlin

It IS a lot. Mind you, it don't take long to weed out the no-hopers: they're painfully obvious to spot.

If you're serious about it then plugging away at publishers is fine. But why not take some major shortcuts by informing yourself how the industry works? There's two reference books every determined new writer must not be without. This one:

http://www.amazon.com/Writers-Artists-Y ... 255&sr=8-1

And this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Pitch-Publication ... 440&sr=1-1

A few dollars spent on those will save you many more in stamps as well as lots of time and misery.

The writer of the second one, Carole Blake, is a good friend of ours. (But that recommendation is not biased: it's the only thing of its kind and indispensable.) She's an extremely sassy lady and runs an eyewateringly successful authors' agency. Listen to what she has to say: it will save you a ton of heartache.

Best of luck - C

Very interesting, Ceri. Are these mostly fiction/non-fiction novels? Maybe you don't have that info currently. I'd be curious as to how many are medical/disease/help related.

I've kept a good journal and have setup chapters and now just filling in missing information. I'm going for a self-help or things-you-didn't-expect type theme.

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Well, those are just the unsolicited submissions my wife personally gets. Multiply those across the business and...

One of the classic mistakes authors make is to send their scripts to the wrong people. For example, my wife's website very clearly states that she does not handle children's books, science fiction/fantasy, playscripts or poetry. And yet every year she's sent hundreds of those, by writers who presumably can't read - which in itself is not a promising sign.

Slightly more optimistic statistics: in the UK we publish 100,000 new titles every year. In the US that figure is 75,000. That's a lot of titles. So if a book is even halfway readable the likelyhood is that it will get printed (though how it sells after that is a different matter). There's not many undiscovered masterpieces out there.

Mike, again I would so strongly recommend the two books in my previous post (above). So much misdirected energy is to be avoided by reading especially the second of them.

From my privilaged outsider's viewpoint, that industry constantly craves good product. Write a fine book and someone will be interested.

Best of luck - C

Thanks Ceri & well noted!

I've done some research, but there's always room for more!

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

I wrote a book about my great uncle's service in Burma during the Second War. He was born in Saskatchewan and wound up serving as Gurkha officer with the 1/7 Gurkha Rifles and, later, the 3/6 Gurkha Rifles. He was tragically killed in April, 1944, while taking part in the Second Wingate Expedition with his friend and fellow soldier, Michael Calvert.

The book is done, and I'm currently preparing the third draft after receiving it from my editor. The plan is to have it to a publisher by mid-September. It is a LOT of bloody work. I've invested well over a year into this project, and it could well be another before I see it in print.

I fiddle with poetry, short stories, editorials, and even a comic book idea kicking around my noggin. Most will never see the light of day on a library shelf but it's something to do when not working...or playing guitar, dreaming about guitars, perusing music catalogs...

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"There is more to life than increasing its speed." Mahatma Gandhi

Owner of:
-2008 American Standard Strat in Candy Cola Red
-Vibro-Champ XD
-Fender CD-60 Acoustic (Sunburst)

hey thanks Ceri! i'll be sure to check those out.

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"I don't care how good you are, how fast you are. You ain't good enough no lessin' you got the soul." -Hubert Sumlin