Labor Day Appears To Be The Ultimate Temporal Landmark

People are going nuts on my Facebook page about today being the last day of summer. Last week a seven-year-old relative told me he and his family were going to the beach this weekend, "the last weekend of summer." 

Talk about a temporal landmark! A temporal landmark being, of course, a calendar event that marks the passage of time and suggests an opportunity for a fresh start. Summer, as the little person in my family pointed out, is over, and it's time to start something new. Fall. The school year. Professional activities that had been on hold, because the temporal landmark of the beginning of summer triggers a time to do a lot less. At least for Americans.

I managed to have four humor pieces published this summer, one of which was selected for Medium's boosted program and did quite well for me. But, otherwise, the summer was difficult professionally. For many years that would have been because we had a sick, elderly relative. This year it was because everyone was well. A couple of us celebrated a birthday for a week. We hosted two family gatherings, which required a few days of preparation each. We had houseguests twice. We're heading off for a multi-week trip, which for us means a multi-week prep period. 

Zen tells me to appreciate those four publications, two of which were completely written this summer, and let go of my attachment to all the ideas I've had and couldn't follow through with because of fun and games. 

To be fair, during my vacation prep time I've been collecting work reading to do while I'm away and planning which writing projects I'll continue with first when I'm back at my laptop. In Gail World, that counts as writing, too.

But not as much writing as I hope to do in October. See you later.
 

The Weekend Writer: How Many Publishing Worlds Are You Familiar With?

 A few weeks ago, I saw an article on Medium that I will never find again, because of the hundreds of thousands of things published there. I think the writer was a woman, so for convenience's sake I will refer to her as she. The writer was distressed because she had to wait two days to hear back from editors when she submitted to publications on the Medium platform. She had a schedule to maintain! What was wrong with these people? It is a problem! I think she may have also expected these editors to automatically accept her work, but I may be mistaken.

All her commenters agreed with her.

I sat there in front of my laptop, stunned. 

I often see articles on Medium about writing on Medium and what is wrong with Medium and why the writers are thinking of leaving Medium or why the writers are leaving Medium. You don't have to read these things for very long to realize that most of these people have never written anything for publication before they started publishing on Medium. Because Medium is a self-publishing platform, anyone can publish there immediately, without meeting any objective writing standards, without having any expertise in subjects they write about. (Medium does require a certain format for published articles and really prefers that writers not steal the images they use for illustrations. Does anyone else think that seems reasonable? That's not a high bar, folks.)

Is Medium The Real Writing World?

When I read these kinds of things on Medium, I think those writers have no idea what's going on in the real writing world. But why isn't Medium real? Many of the writers publishing there appear to have never published anywhere else. The site encourages community, so many Medium people are reading there, following other writers, and supporting each other with applause and comments. If they can achieve what they want to achieve there, they may never go out to traditional publications for anything at all. They are in a world. What's not real about it?

Back in 2010, there was talk on the Internet about there being two publishing worlds. One was centered in New York and involved publishing as a means of generating income for writers. The other was centered around MFA programs and involved publishing as a means of supporting academic positions--a variation on publish-or-perish. If someone were writing on this subject today, I believe self-publishing would be a third publishing world and perhaps self-publishing on-line at platforms like Medium and Substack a fourth. 

The Publishing World That Is Not Medium

A couple of days ago, Jane Friedman published a piece by Amy L. Bernstein (who, by the way, is on Substack)  called Publishing Advice from a Serial Submitter to Literary Magazines. This is a description of the traditional writing and publishing world I'm familiar with, the publishing world where you are not automatically published. "Indeed," Bernstein says, "the 1% acceptance rule is fairly consistent, whether you're submitting short fiction or a novel."

Even though I wasn't aware that only 1% of submissions are accepted by literary magazines, my expectations of an acceptance are not high. And, no, I never expect to hear back from a traditional editor in two days. But the publishing world Bernstein is talking about is one that I am at least familiar with. I stick with it, because I understand that, as she says, "If you don't play, you can't win."

But I know about the traditional publishing world, because I've been writing, submitting, and sometimes being published for a long time. Most of the people coming up writing in Medium world have not. Will they ever know anything else besides sending off whatever they write with an expectation of it being published, as is, immediately? 

Does it matter if they don't?

Some Annotated Reading August 29

Books

A Lady's Guide to Etiquette and Murder by Dianne Freeman is the beginning of what for me is a new nineteenth century mystery with couple detectives series. There must be a term for these books, but I don't know it. Lady's Guide has a decent mystery, though I thought the ending was just a little bit abrupt, and there is little of the cliched mannerisms that many of these books have--the rolling of eyes, the carrying on about the scent coming in from outdoors, the arguing between the future lovers. I'm now reading book two.

Book Lovers by Emily Henry. This author was recommended for her dialogue by a workshop leader a few months ago. Her dialogue is great. And this particular book is good for a reader like me who isn't into traditional romance and whose knowledge of it is primarily from movies, because a family member is a fan. Book Lovers has a metafiction thing going on, with the main character recognizing the cliches of the romance genre and assigning roles to the people around her. She, herself, is the evil city woman girlfriend in romances. Loved that. In spite of this, there was a lot of romance stuff going on that romance readers should like. I particularly liked how much the main character loved New York City, because the city is usually bad and country good in these kinds of stories. Henry is a good author to know about.

Short Stories

The Books of Losing You by Junot Diaz at The New Yorker. My first time reading Junot Diaz. I got the New Yorker subscription to read their on-line humor. That doesn't interest me much. It's exposing me to a wider variety of fiction writers, though. So huzzah for that.

The Closer You Were, The Less You Knew by Annie Dawid at Sequesterum. Right now Sequesterum may be my favorite literary journal. You have to subscribe to read entire short stories, but you can do so for just a few months, which seems very outside the box to me. Sometimes I find literary journals...difficult...beyond me. The things I've read at Sequesterum are sophisticated stories I can understand. The Closer You Were, The Less You Knew deals with a family experiencing tragedy on 9/11/2001. But they've been experiencing tragedy for decades, even generations. It was something I never thought of before. Tragedy is all over extended families, even if it's not tragedy on a 9/11 magnitude. In this story, it comes on top of everything else.

Short Form

A Fishing Book From 1594 is Still One of the Most Sought-After by Nature Lovers by Lance R. Fletcher in A Boy and His Dog: Outdoor Americana As a general rule, I prefer reading about very old pieces of literature rather than reading the pieces of literature themselves. 

A Life of Neurodivergence: What We Thought About Paris Hilton Was All Wrong at LinkedIn? Not sure who wrote this or how I got to something at LinkedIn. It turns out that Paris Hilton has ADHD and writes about it in her 2023 memoir. We deal with ADHD in our family. I read about that.

How I Shifted From Pure Writing To Documenting Instead by Brendan Charles at The Writing Cooperative. Charles explains that he became more successful on Medium when he stopped writing "how to" articles and began writing "how I" articles. I think this relates to something I've seen going on on Medium all the time I've been there. Many people write and publish articles on things they don't actually know much about. In terms of writing about writing, I agree with Charles that most things I see on the subject on Medium have been done before. The articles appear to be researched, not the work of experienced writers discussing a craft they have experience with and knowledge of. In fact, I can recall reading a "how to/how I" Medium article once by someone who explained how many minutes he spent on-line researching a subject and then how many minutes he spent writing the article. The impression left was that his readers could do that with their writing, too. But writing about something you don't truly know about doesn't make for compelling reading.

Humor

I Miss the Good Old Days When You Could Go to a Website and Read It by Alex Baia at Slackjaw  What's funny about this is that the 'good old days' aren't all that old. Except for the readers who think they are.

I'm a Regular Guy Who's Sick of Being Villainized for My Secret Second Family by Caroline Horwitz in Frazzled. We're not supposed to feel a guy with a second family is being victimized. And guess what? We don't! 

The Weekend Writer: Some Virtual Writing Workshop Opportunities

You know how much I enjoy attending writing workshops by way of Zoom. Thurber House in Columbus, Ohio has announced its fall adult writing workshops, and, yes, you can attend them virtually. 

Why, yes, I have been to Thurber House. 

Why, yes, I have written about going to Thurber House.

Why, yes, I do have a Pinterest board about Thurber House.

Some Annotated Reading August 22

 Books

I read Early Autumn by Louis Bromfield, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1927, because I'm going to be visiting his home this fall. I have many thoughts about this book, which I may put into an essay. I will say that this thing leans heavily into telling instead of showing. Very, very heavily.

Short Stories

Chablis by Donald Barthelme in The New Yorker. I think this is the first thing by Donald Barthelme that I've read. I found it enjoyable, but I can't say I got it. I'm reading a book about art history, and I'm wondering now how necessary it is to get things.

My Poet Laureate Project

I keep forgetting that I'm reading poetry by all the poet laureates. Or, as they were called in the early days, consultants in poetry. I tried reading a few things by Robert Lowell, Consultant in Poetry in 1947 to 1948. I know he's a big-name writer. I didn't have a lot of time this past week, and his poems I sampled did not quickly grab me. I do admire Skunk Hour a bit, because it includes the name "L.L. Bean." 

Short Form Reading

The Radical Woman Behind Good-night Moon by  Anna Holmes in The New Yorker. I love reading about Margaret Wise Brown. Love it. So much great stuff in this article, which you won't be able to read, because it requires a subscription. Like the short story above

Nor will you be able to read Wendy Wasserstein's The Baby Who Arrived Too Soon, because it's also in The New Yorker. Published in 2000. Now, of course I know Wendy Wasserstein's name, because I don't live in a cave. But I've never seen any of her plays or, I believe, read anything she wrote. I don't love reading preemie stories, the way I love reading Margaret Wise Brown stories, but it's difficult for me to pass by one, especially if it appears to have a happy ending, which Wendy's does. I call her Wendy, because I, too, am a preemie mom. We sort of have a club. So I read Wendy's wonderful story, then I headed out to Google to see how things are going with her and Lucy. And I found that Wendy died in 2006. And you know what? I knew that. I read about it when it happened, because I don't live in a cave. But I didn't know we were both preemie moms then. Now I do.

Here's something you should be able to read: Helga Estby's Long, Long Walk Was Almost Lost to History by Shawn Vestal in The Spokesman Review. I stumbled upon Helga Estby's name, because I'm into the nineteenth century, particularly the 1890s. Also women.

I've heard of flaneurs before, but they came up again in that art history book I mentioned earlier. That led me to reading A Flaneur's Guide to Walking with Intention by Caleigh Alleyne in EnRoute. It's an interview with Erika Wilson who wrote a book about walking in the flaneurish way. I walk. I expect to be walking an extra amount next month. 

The Trad Wife Is a Myth--Historically, She Never Existed by Maria Cassano at The Virago. This confirms everything I think about this subject. 

Time Management Tuesday: Go Ahead And Shift Your Focus. You Can Do That. Also, I Wrote Some Introverted Humor.

 You Are an Introverted Parent was published last week at Frazzled. The piece was selected for  Medium's boosted program, which means I got additional marketing there and reached a higher audience. I am happy with the results in readership.

You Are an Introverted Parent is my seventh published piece of writing this year, equaling last year's publications and one less than the year before. I've published 35 pieces of various types of writing on Medium since I got with the program. That was about 4 years ago. Does 35 published pieces of work in 4 years seem like a lot to you? It seems like a lot to me. I'm afraid it seems like a great deal to my Facebook friends who have to endure all my announcements there whenever I publish something new.

How Much Time Does It Take To Write These Things, Anyway?

Here's the thing. A woman who started writing at Medium in January of this year sometimes publishes 20 articles a month there at various publications. Additionally, she started her own publication. She sometimes publishes several times a week or even more than once a day. Yes, when you're writing at that kind of speed, quality is going to be very up and down. I don't read everything she writes.

Nonetheless, from things I've read at Medium, the way to collect  followers--people who are Medium members and are interested in your work--is to publish as she is publishing, by which I mean a lot. She's not the only writer there who publishes several times a week and more. The writer I'm talking about has gathered 2.7 thousand followers in eight months. I've gathered 470 in four years. 

Almost every time I've published something on Medium, I've attracted a few new followers. When I get boosted, I attract more than a few. So, yes, publishing is how you build readership there. If you're thinking in terms of time management in that particular situation, you need to manage your time so you can do that.

Shift Your Focus To Short Form Work, Gail

Now, over the last four years I was working on a book, so that took a lot of time that I wasn't using for other kinds of writing. I've also wasted a lot of time querying agents about my book-length work. Both those things are over for now, and I will be focusing my time specifically on short-form work. So, yes, I will be writing more of it. That's what time management will be about for me for the immediate future.

Not short-form work just for Medium, though. I have two short stories out for consideration at other places right now. I'm working on something I'm going to submit elsewhere, too. I'm not a rapid writer, anyway. I came up with the idea for You Are an Introverted Parent, came up with an angle/voice for it, wrote it, and submitted it in just under a week. That is the speed of light for me. Between that more methodical, orderly, and obsessed with detail mindset (someone else said that about me) and submitting some work to other places, I'm never going to be publishing even weekly at Medium, forget about doing any more than that.

Writing differently than other people who publish there is no reason not to publish there, too.

Shifting Your Writing Focus Is Still Using Your Time For Writing

I frequently...by which I mean often...see people posting on Xitter in absolute despair because they can't find an agent or publisher for their book-length manuscript. They are considering quitting writing, because at this point in time they can't publish one particular type of writing. It's as if they don't even consider any other kind of writing. The book is all. The book is the dream, and if they can't achieve their dream, they're done.

They don't think about shifting their focus.

Some Annotated Reading August 8

Lots going on the week before last, including house guests. Last week was recovery. If you've ever read about introverts needing recovery, believe it. I was overwhelmed just from little things I needed to do to get work and life back on track. Too overwhelmed to do an annotated reading post, which appears to be one of the few things I do here these days.

Books

The Witches Are Coming by Lindy West. I don't know how I found out about this, but it's terrific. I've read a number of books of essays by young women who are say, comedy people, and the essays are very memoirish things. From this book, it appears West is more of a witty social commentator. Her essays, even if they are personal essays, do what I believe personal essays are supposed to do...they move from the personal to the greater world. The meaning of "the witches are coming" title...wow. Lots of good stuff in this book. I'll be looking for more of her work. 

The Lemon by S. E. Boyd. I'm sure I came upon this one because it won this year's Thurber Prize. I had a little trouble getting into it, which was probably due to the point-of-view switches. They're always an issue for me. And I found the ending...not all that ending-like. But I suspect this book is more of a satire about celebrity than it is a story, and it was an enjoyable read between the beginning and the ending. 

About Humor

"One of the main inventors of the form": Bob Newhart's stand-up comedy mind unbuttoned" (I hate it when titles have no caps) by Melanie McFarland at Salon. McFarland quotes Marc Maron: "Newhart was part of a shift from rapid fire punchlines to methodical, contemplative comedy." This reminded me of my high school English teacher who said he didn't care for Bob Hope, because he just stood on a stage and told jokes. Probably the most significant thing I took away from my year with him.

Eating

An Ode To The Saltine Cracker by John DeVore at Medium. 1st. I don't actually know what good food writing is, but I enjoyed this very much. I don't eat saltines anymore, because I don't eat wheat, but one gluten free company makes something it calls "table crackers" that serves the purpose for me. This article left me feeling that perhaps crackers don't exist for soup, but that soup exists for crackers. 2nd. I just noticed that this article wasn't published at a Medium publication but directly by the author. Nonetheless, it did very well according to the number of claps and comments, which can be difficult to do without the help of a publication. Well, this author has nearly 140,000 followers. So he doesn't need a publication.  

Kamala Harris is reclaiming what it means to be a "woman in the kitchen" by Marin Scotten at Salon. I found this very interesting, because Harris has been in what you'd think would be a high-profile position for nearly four years and evidently has talked about cooking quite a bit. I am not a foodie by any means. Eating is more my interest, and while I had pretentions for cooking as an art years ago, I cook to sustain life now. Still, I do a little reading about cooking. In four years, the only thing I'd heard about Kamala Harris cooking was the story about her explaining how to cook a turkey while she was waiting for an interview to start. What's that about? Was the press not interested before the last two weeks, even though there are videos of her talking about cooking? Was I reading the wrong stuff? 

Humor

J.D. Vance's Least Favorite Movies and TV Shows by Caroline Horwitz at MuddyUm. I like repetition in humor, and I enjoyed the cat repetition here. 

I'd Like to Present an Argument Against Funeral Karaoke by Graham Techler at Points in Case. A very good example of incongruity humor.

After Playing Magic the Gathering with You, a Child, I Have Concluded That My Life is a Lie and I Probably Have Dementia by Dave Goldstein at Frazzled. Love the way the game leads the speaker to his life conclusions. Also, I've lived through Magic the Gathering and am now immersed in Pokemon. I'm going to point out that at Chez Gauthier those collectible card games are perceived as a guy thing. It's not that I, a woman, am intellectually too weak to play them. It's that I won't. 

More Humor For You

Priscilla du PreezCA on Unsplash

The humor piece I mentioned in my Friday Done post was published Friday night. Thank You for Reading Scripture During Our Church Service This Sunday was published at MuddyUm. MuddyUm is a new publication for me on the Medium platform.

This publication requires authors to include a "kicker," a sort of subject line above the title and subtitle. So that was new and quite easy to learn. Coming up with the subject line is probably more effort than technically creating it.

As usual, this humor piece has a back story. I did, indeed, have to read that passage at church and was quite...taken aback...by having to use the word "fornication" in church. Is it not a four-syllable word for a four-letter word? Ah, yeah, it is. But I got used to it. I'll probably just slip into a conversation one of these days, that's how cool I am with it.

Friday Done List

Interesting story: I did very little work last week (not to be confused with this week), because of family activities. I received three rejections that week, though, so I sort of was working while not doing much.

Goal 1. Adult Short Stories, Essays, and Humor

• Week of July 21 Received two rejections, one for a short story and one for a short humor piece. 
• Week of July 28 Resubmitted the humor piece and submitted another short story.
• The site I submitted the humor piece to uses an "Automated Inspector" for initial, pre-acceptance editing. Not easy to deal with and somehow the humor piece was dropped from consideration, and I had to resubmit it and get more comments from the AI. A learning curve that may help me in the future, or may be a waste of time. 
• Week of July 28 Worked on one humor piece and started another.

Goal 2. Submit 143 Canterbury Road to Agents (has turned into submitting any book length work to anyone)

• Week of July 21 Received rejection on Good Women
• Week of July 21 Took part in a new Xitter pitch event #smallpitch, pitches to small presses. Made 3 pitches for 2 books, for 6 pitches, overall. Which I count as 6 submissions and rejections. Got some interest from other writers, though, which was gratifying.

Goal 3. Community Building/Marketing/Branding

• Week of July 28 Tried to do an Annotated Reading post, but did a little work on the new humor piece in the morning and went hiking in the afternoon. 

Friday Done List

 Goal 1. Adult Short Stories, Essays, and Humor

• Some of you may recall a short story I talked about for months and months and months this year. Well, I submitted to a publication.
• I wondered all week what I should write next and finally started something this morning.
• Took a workshop at the Northwestern Summer Writers' Conference. No Passports or Visas Required: Imaginative Travel Writing with Faisal Mohyuddin. Because I'm going to be traveling later this year, I projected onto this project what I wanted to see, which was a travel writing workshop. It was not about travel writing. It was about researching places and working them into writing. I've done this kind of thing before, where I've signed up for something believing it was whatever I wanted it to be. This time, just as with the first time, the experience turned out very well. Excellent workshop and generative, in that I came away with some thoughts for three writing projects.

Goal 3. Community Building/Marketing/Branding

• Yeah, yeah, yeah. Some blog posts. Still have to promote them.

I'm in a remarkably good mood this evening, even though I know that next week I'll be tied up most days with family fun. But I have a work plan. What little writing time I have will go to tinkering with the project I started this morning. Otherwise, I will spend what other time I can spare reading. Reading is good.

I love a plan.