What Writers Talk About

There is an old adage that art critics talk about art but artists talk about where to get the best prices on canvas. That isn’t entirely true, artists also talk about art but getting canvas at a good price is often a big consideration. I was thinking about this last night after I left the Hovey House Writer’s Group meeting. It was a smaller group than usual, only nine people, but, as often happens when the group is smaller, the talk was both lively and productive. We didn’t break up until after ten.

Writers work in many genres – fiction, non-fiction, technical, how-to, poetry, technical – but all writers face many of the same challenges, publishing and marketing chief among them. Last night’s discussion, which had originally intended to focus on fiction writing, covered the gamut.

Four of those present are fiction writers – each of us with at least one completed novel to our credit. Of the lot I have known Cynthia the longest. She and I met in a writer’s workshop over ten years ago when I first moved to Gloucester. We have met periodically to compare work and discuss publishing issues. Most recently we did this at Ingeborg’s house. Ingeborg is our star within the group having published two novels with BNYPs, one of which was nominated for a national book award. Inge has recently self-published her third novel, Shoreland, and Cynthia and I have considered this so Inge’s input on this controversial topic is most instructive.

Mary Ellen and Jane have published several books apiece through their own small presses. The discussion began, as it often does, with the changing face of publishing. Less than 25% of books published by major presses in this country even break even let alone become best sellers and, in this day of investors’ bottomlines, that is increasingly discouraging news for writers.

The upside is that the internet, technology, and innovative printing methods have leveled the playing field in many ways. Doug is a tech-wiz and always has fascinating and heartening information. Rebecca has been working with Inge to market her latest novel and has become a walking resource on publishing technology.

One of the two new members to our group, Stan, is an advocate of blogging, as am I. Both of us began blogging in the last year and have seen the astonishing results this strange practice can yield. Within six months I have seen traffic on my web sites triple and more and have acquired business which is directly attributable to this blog. Stan has seen the same thing. We’re both converts.

We talked about writing specifically for marketability as opposed to writing “from the gut”. For me writing what I am drawn to is the only way to write. For others writing to appeal to a market segment is a useful and productive tool. I found their observations encouraging. That is something I need to cultivate more of.

And we talked about craft. Some of us are obsessive re-writers, like Inge, Cynthia and Mary Ellen, I obsess over every word. Whatever the talk turns to it is helpful. I always learn something. I always come away believing that to write is all that matters. The rest will take care of itself.

I love writers. I have always found them to be generous people who can rise above personal differences in deference to their art. It is a beautiful thing to be a part of. I have been talking with Joe Orlando, author of The Fisherman’s Son, since his talk at the library last week. He has agreed to come to the next Hovey House meeting to talk about the process of getting his book into print. He’s a warm, generous and interesting man. As always, I look forward to being there.

Thanks for reading.