Author Archives: Ace Jordyn

On a quest to recharge my writing energies, I sit on a sandy beach of a lake in northern Saskatchewan. After two days of billowing clouds, flash lightening and rain storms, the blistering sun bakes away all cares. But not all cares disappear.

Guilt.

Guilt for not writing every day niggles me – taunting, chastising. The niggling stops when a loud splash in the lake is followed by a wild cheer! A young boy is no longer the monkey in the middle – he caught his dad’s poorly thrown ball. And I watch the young lad struggle to throw the ball over his dad’s flailing arms so his brother can catch it.

A cooing mom adjusts the umbrella over her toddler so she can comfortably play in the sand. A beer can snaps open. A sunbather sprays tanning oil across her almost naked body. Knee boarders leap in the air behind speeding boats while kayaks bob in their wake.

Guilt suddenly disappears when I realize that I’m honing my writing skills amidst summer’s languid frenzy.

Pacing.

It’s all about pacing not only my stories but myself.

We call our characters to action, ramp up the tension, put them into mortal danger and write them into such tough spots that only the ingenuity of imagination can save them. We twist their lives, beat them and those closest to them by raising the stakes in ways no mortal can survive.

And we do the same for ourselves. Yes, we writers set the stakes high thinking that if we do not remain faithful to those lofty goals, and if we do not meet our self imposed expectations that we as masters of our fate, will fail miserably.

Yet, like our characters, we need to pause to recharge, to reflect, to consider our options, to find help where we can get it – take the detour, the side road which may reveal its own treasures.

So I sit in the shade, nursing tender pink skin, watching children and adults play in the lake, dogs taking people for a walk, and I sip my wine, absorbing the stillness.

And I am thankful, that the writer of my life found the pause button, set the pace a little slower for a moment so that I may reflect and recharge. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll be a little kinder to my characters too.

Have a happy summer!

Laurie McLean: Literary Agents in the New Publishing Era

June 15, 2012

Ace Jordyn

Guest Posts Publishing 5 Comments

With the advent of indie publishing, there has been much speculation about the demise of traditional publishing and the role of the literary agent. Laurie McLean, Senior Agent at Larsen Pomada Literary Agents, shares her views on her profession and the changing industry. Check out her agent blog, www.agentsavant.com, for tales of the agenting life, and the agency’s site, www.larsenpomada.com, for valuable information and links.

Can you tell me a little bit about your background in publishing?

I entered publishing from a sideways path, not the traditional one of being an intern at a publisher or agency having gotten a creative writing or MFA degree from college. I was a journalist first, then worked in public relations, eventually starting my own PR agency in California’s Silicon Valley and building it into a multi-million dollar business. When I retired early, I was too young to sit around and do nothing, so I wrote a novel. Got a literary agent (Elizabeth Pomada), got involved with the San Francisco Writers Conference, and never looked back. Less than two years after I retired I was a full-time literary agent, author, and on the management team of the San Francisco Writers Conference. Today I am also the Dean of the newly created San Francisco Writers University found at www.sfwritersu.com. And this year I am starting two ePublishing companies with two of my clients to make out-of-print vintage romance (JoyrideBooks.com) and children’s books (AmbushBooks.com) available to a new generation of readers.

How would you describe the role of the literary agent?

I find authors with promise, work with them to improve their manuscripts and try to sell them to a large New York-based publisher, a smaller indie publisher or help them self-publish their work. But agents do so much more than that. (see next question)

In your opinion, what are the most important things that you do for your authors?

An agent is:

A scout who constantly researches what publishers are looking for
An advocate for an author and his or her work
A midwife who assists with the birth of a writing project
A reminder who keeps the author on track if things begin to slip
An editor for that last push before submission
A critic who will tell authors what they need to hear in order to improve
A matchmaker who knows the exact editors for an author’s type of writing
A negotiator who will fight to get the best deal for an author
A mediator who can step in between author and publisher to fix problems
A reality check if an author gets out of sync with the real world
A liaison between the publishing community and the author
A cheerleader for an author’s work or style
A focal point for subsidiary, foreign and dramatic rights
A mentor who will assist in developing an author’s career
A rainmaker who can get additional writing work for an author
A career coach for all aspects of your writing future
An educator about changes in the publishing industry
A manager of the business side of your writing life

What skills and qualities should literary agents possess?

An agent must be organized, intelligent, multi-tasking, a good negotiator, have excellent time management skills, love books, know marketing and sales and be well versed in the mechanics of writing/storytelling/character development/plot/pacing and social media. He or she must also be relentless in keeping up with developments in publishing contracts, editorial taste and digital publishing.

How do you think the role of the literary agent has changed in the past ten years?

Two things: digital publishing and social media marketing. These are disruptive technologies that are transforming one of the oldest businesses on the planet. The rapid rise of eBooks is truly changing the industry and opening opportunities for writers and new eBook-only publishers never before seen. By solving the twin headed dragons of accessibility (through self-publishing) and discoverability (through social media), authors will be free to experiment, broaden and enjoy the control they have over their creativity and careers for the first time in hundreds of years.

What would you describe as the biggest threat to literary agents?

The biggest threat I see is not keeping up with the changing landscape of publishing. If an agent doesn’t dive in and integrate digital publishing into every client’s career planning, he or she will cease to thrive and eventually be out of business.

Is your agency doing anything specific to overcome that threat?

In 2011 we created San Francisco Writers University (www.SFWritersU.com), an online and live place of learning for authors that is a 24/7/365 resource for writing. We have created tracks at the non-profit annual San Francisco Writers Conference (www.SFWriters.org) for social media for authors and self-publishing. I have spent four years immersing myself in digital publishing to understand its wide-ranging implications and impacts. And this year I am launching two eBook-only publishing companies with two separate clients-Joyride Books for previously published romance books, and Ambush Books for out of print children’s book backlist titles. No original works, so I won’t face any conflict of interest accusations…only good, out-of-print backlist titles that deserve to be reissued and now they have a chance.

What is your opinion on some of the new agency business models emerging (e.g. full career management, fee-based services, consultant and publishing services)?

As you can see from my answer to question 7, I love the fact that agents are looking at their specific tangential talents outside the core agent competencies and offering this expertise to their clients, and sometimes to authors who are not their clients. It is an exciting time to be involved in the publishing industry.

Is there a business model that you think will become standard?

I doubt a standard business model will emerge within the next decade, if ever. Agents are as individual as authors, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. I am a serial entrepreneur and I bring my business and marketing strengths to any new venture I create. Other agents are more comfortable offering indie editing services or book-to-film advice. Some are assisting their clients with indie publishing…going so far as procuring cover art, editing, formatting, etc.

Do you see the 15% commission continuing as the standard payment for literary agents?

For traditional publishing deals, absolutely. And I don’t see traditional publishing going away. Like the myth of the paperless office, we will not abandon paper books altogether. There will be shorter initial print runs with quick follow-up runs if a book sells well, print on demand services will thrive (could we possibly see an Espresso Book Machine leased by publishers to booksellers so they can make a book while you wait…I hope so!), and people will read more books in more formats than we ever dreamed possible.

Do you have any thoughts on what the role of the literary agent will be in the future?

If things settle down at all, I believe agents will take on more of a career management role for authors, similar to the way sports or celebrity agents work today. So they’ll negotiate deals for their authors’ print, ebook and subsidiary rights, but they’ll also make more things happen themselves along the way.

The Great Spring Migration

May 14, 2012

Ace Jordyn

Ace Jordyn Craft & Skills Self-Awareness The Writing Life Work-Life Balance World-building Writing as An Emotional Outlet 1 Comment

The spring migration is late this year but I only learned that because someone died.

A close friend’s death pulled me from my concrete world, forcing me to travel across endless prairie, to see spring repaint winter’s stark world with the tender greens waving away the north wind’s last cold breaths. And in my journey to mourn, I see the spring migration – gathering energy to fly to thawing northern nesting grounds by fervently feeding on the last crop’s stubble, not one stray seed left behind. A friend had died and with her, part of my heart died yet here was nature, hopeful, fervent, telling me the cycle must continue, that despite all that happens, life stops for no one.

This journey takes me back to the farmstead home where I grew up – right in the middle of the great spring migration. Flocks of Greater and Lesser Canada geese, cranes and Snow geese formed feathery swarms. Circling gracefully down to water, then like arrows shot into the sky they circle yet again searching for perfect feeding fields.

The choruses of honks and krooos carried by cool spring winds are a music once familiar, now alien, to my ears. These choruses are the excitement of spring, the energy of rebirth and creativity and somehow, through my tears of grieving, I am stilled to peace.

A walk across stubble fields, still too wet for seeding, floods me with memories, once known in my youth but now seem otherworldly. Who was that person who remembers where the trees once grew, where cattle grazed in pastures, where weeds were pulled from garden rows at a nickel a pail? Who is this person who now deigns to wear sandals through straw stubble, ankles scratched – a child of the city now – alien worlds converging, lifetimes past and present merging.

Walking along a windrow, a prairie chicken is spooked from the grass. My partner is now lost in his memories of times hunting before pesticides and farming diminished this delicacy. As we share the past I realize that few words can bring to life the images, the memories, the smells, the aching muscles, the laughter accompanying sliding down haystacks in winter … time has made the once familiar foreign. The migration darkens the sky above us as birds swarm debating if this field will yield enough scattered grain. I feel the noisy migration sweep my old ghosts away for their focus is on today – it is all that matters and all that ever will matter.

At 4 a.m., the winds change and I know, lying in the dark, protected from the diamond sky and sun’s first yawning, that it is time – that this is the last night of honking and krooing wakefulness and that silence will ensue. I leap from my bed to watch the geese and cranes, their last grazing of grain speckled stubble fields completed, rise to the skies, circling, a choir in flight, summoning all to follow, their v-shaped lines flapping arrows aimed at northern nesting grounds.

Then, the earth gasps at the timeless glory of the final migration before relaxing with a sigh. But, the silence I expect never comes.

Instead, I hear the almost quiet – the earth’s soft belches and burps of spring moving to summer. Frogs croaking bass melody day and night, the percussion of duck calls, crows cawing oblivious to the frog’s melody, the crescendo and decrescendo of wind whispering then whistling through budding trees – the new, softer melodies of insects crawling over warming ground, farmers preparing the land for seeding, hoes working gardens. The south wind, carrying the frenzied migration northward now blends these spring choruses to new compositions.

Ah yes, the rhythm, the balance of the earth, timeless beyond man – these things I now ponder. And I also wonder about the worlds I create as I now sit in my walled home, in my city of concrete and asphalt and unearthly noise. Do my characters wander through worlds which gasp, belch and burp? Are they aware of the subtle things which affect their lives? Am I aware of these things? Maybe. Maybe not. But I now know that sometimes we and our characters need to take the time to breathe – to feel the change, to feel the sorrow and the timelessness of life.

The Heart of Fairwood Press

April 23, 2012

Ace Jordyn

The Writing Life 6 Comments

by Patrick Swenson

Writers crave free time. Quiet time. Down time. They live for uninterrupted, intense pockets of time when they don’t have to do anything but write.

They need to get away from their homes, their jobs, their families, and have writing time free from their stressful life situations.

In the fall of 1982, I interviewed for my first teaching job out at a place I had barely even heard of: Lake Quinault, Washington, nestled in the Olympic Rainforest. I was a music education teacher, but I was also prepared for some English classes. I taught all levels of band, choir, and grade school music, as well as sophomore speech and Title I reading. I also coached JV girls basketball and boys and girls track. No more than 350 kids went to this school, grades K-12. (Now, post-timber industry, the student population is closer to 190).

It rains 144 inches a year in Quinault. I’ve often joked that as far as starting out as a teacher there, Quinault was a good place for me to get my feet wet. Long story short, the secretary of the superintendent was married to one of three brothers who owned a resort on the lake that boasted quaint cabins and a simple motel, all with breathtaking views of the lake. The Rain Forest Resort Village has no phones in the rooms or cabins, and, even now, little to no cell phone service. It is its own little village, with a restaurant, general store, gift shop, lounge, post office, and laundromat on site.

I taught in Quinault three years, and during the summers I worked for the resort, mostly at the reservation desk and the general store. After moving away from Quinault to teach in the Seattle area, I went back a few summers to help them out. Except for the summer of 1986, when I attended the six-week Clarion West Writers Workshop, and truly cemented my love and desire to be a writer.

I had a standing invitation from the resort owners, who had become good friends: “Any time you want to stay longer, Patrick, let us know.” I eventually took them up on it. I left my teaching job and moved out to Quinault, living in some rooms above the general store, working for minimum wage and room and board, and hoping to get a whole bunch of writing done. Yes, it rains a lot in Quinault, but oftentimes it is sunny and beautiful. Even the rain-soaked days have a charm and peacefulness that soothes the soul. What a great place to write!

I stayed there for almost two years before going back to teaching, but my heart never quite left Quinault. A part of it, although slightly rusty, ached for the moss-covered trees, the pristine lake, and the idea of being far away from the maddening crowd. (Well, except during the summers when the tourists flocked to the resort.) From October through early spring, however, the serenity lent itself well to relaxing, and writing.

What if I could arrange a few days at Quinault during this quiet time and get some writers out there to give them a chance to feel what I used to feel? That was the impetus for the Rainforest Resort Village, a writers retreat I’ve put on there now for six years. The resort owners were with me from the start on this. In early March, during their off-season, the resort might have five or six rooms rented for the night. It would be a win-win for all involved if writers filled up their resort during this time.

In 2006, 30 writers kicked off the first retreat. This past March, 76 writers attended during two back-to-back retreat sessions.

The idea was to create at least one time and place in the year where all but writing was put aside. To borrow from my own words on the Rainforest retreat website, the objective was to create an annual writers’ gathering that focused on solitary and community writing, in an isolated environment, supported by a collective of contemporaries of like mind and pursuits.

Writers now gather yearly at this Quinault location ready to spend an intensive four plus days on their own work, with others involved in the same who are present for support and interactive development of written creative work as art, craft, and science. Balanced against this is a schedule of events aimed at supporting this process, with the number of retreat guests and attendees kept to a limit. Local populations are small and centers of civilization are approximately 50 miles from the resort; close enough for those who wish to seek them out, and far enough for others not to have to seek escape from them. They get professional advice from, and interaction with, guests who have had success in the writing business.

Doing the Rainforest retreat, I’ve been blessed to have met so many amazing people, so many talented and dedicated writers. I see beginning, intermediate and accomplished writers at the same retreat, all immersed in an art form they love. It’s really a heady experience. For the first retreat, I had this idea that writers would simply plug away at their stories and novels in their rooms and cabins, then come out to writing discussions and group meals, but on that first morning, I walked into the now-famous resort lounge, and I found 20 writers sitting at the small tables.

I stood there in the doorway stunned. Laptop keys clicked. Some writers had headphones on. Some typed furiously. Some were lost in thought. Some gazed out the big picture windows, taking in the misty lake and the pouring rain.

It was quiet. It was inspiring. Tears filled my eyes. What could I do to possibly top this moment?

I found an open table, set up my laptop, and began to write.

Patrick Swenson, Publisher
FAIRWOOD PRESS
The Best in Science Fiction and Fantasy
http://www.fairwoodpress.com/
www.rainforestwritersvillage.com