The Tangled Branch Discussion Forums

Tracy Mitchell wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 22, 2020 2:07 pm

Best submission letter I've ever heard of:

"I collect rejections letters; may I have one of yours?"

 

Any editor with a sense of humour, if still dealing with paper, would be tempted to put half a dozen rejection slips into an envelope for you.  "Certainly, be my guest."

Gyppo
 

Sound advice from Wren. Some writers just rely on the shotgun approach.  Blast off countless submissions in all directions and some of them are bound to hit.   Virtually free email submissions have encouraged this approach.  But time spent looking at the market usually pays off.  Try for a 'best fit...

Colm, I read somewhere that 'a strong man never feels his knees'.  They're just there, doing their job unless you injure them.  By that reckoning I am no longer strong ;-)  Not everyday anyway. As for the 'insides protesting' mine seem to have settled down again, but after my prostate was removed I ...

Tracy Mitchell wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 12, 2020 4:01 pm

“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on.”
― Louis L'Amour

Absolutely.  You can always tear it up if you don't like it.  Better to tip out bad lines and lose them than let them sit and fester, like a bad apple spoiling the whole barrel. 

I'm glad you took that bit out.  The 'slapstick comedy' moment didn't set well amongst the rest.  I did a 'theatrical walk-through' to see if I was reading it correctly.

Lots of words there which add to the mood of pending violence.

Sleepily evocative.

Fraying waves:  I would never have thought of them this way, but now you've mentioned it the image has stuck.  Waves along the shoreline sometimes seem more solid than liquid, despite their movement, so fraying is a good metaphor.

But in the back of my proton filled mind
I'm just waiting
for Hell to freeze over.

Colm:  I love the image this triggers.  How can anyone fear a shivering Devil wearing ice skates and a thick hooded parka   Especially if it has striped sleeves.

Hi, Wren,  thanks for dropping in. The lighter moment was just in comparison to a couple of my more recent postings. There probably won't be a sequel. Trouble is turned away.  Usually gently, sometimes more abruptly, but always quickly. Trouble usually, but fortunately rarely, comes in the form of d...

In my house I pulled the door, it clicked behind me, and it was locked. Secure enough. Well, nobody ever robbed me, but it wasn't just the lock. I had a quiet reputation. A decent enough chap, but not one to mess with. Just like my Father. People came to him for help, but they never brought trouble....

Deb, it's the curse of being a writer, or of being empathetic, that we notice things which we'd sometimes rather not be aware of.  Maybe we are too coldly  analytical at times and can't hide behind a comfortable gloss of conventional platitudes.  Once we have noticed them our minds worry away at the...