Sleepytown Press

I have been so busy, but things will get better. Grab a cup of coffee, sit down, and spend a moment or two with me.

I am going to get back to writing at least three days a week. I need to get back into it. I have this Vampire Novel that I have been working on and it needs my attention. Actually, I have always wanted to take a writing vacation. I am just afraid that I would want to sit and look at the trees, sand, water, or whatever and day-dream.

I did something crazy the other day. I read a story to someone. I read what I had written to my youngest daughter and son-in-law. Needless to say, it is not always wise to read something to family, especially son-in-laws. After all, they married into the family. They are not "true blood."

You know how it goes. You really do not want a critique. You want gasps and "Oh my goodness" and "That is amazing." I did not get that. I got, "Why did you say that? Does that mean...Are you stupid?"

It was not exactly the reaction that I wanted. Hmmmm...maybe I was dumb to read it to them in the first place.

I did not tell them, but I skipped a couple of pages, in my reading, and said, "The End."

I got up, folded my story and put it on the shelf and did the next best thing. I went to the store and purchased something to eat.

Later, I finished off the ice cream in the freezer. It was Strawberry Cheese Cake. It made me feel better.

I really would appreciate you guys passing the word about the Teen Writing Contest. It is FREE and will lead to a published book.

Who may enter?  STUDENTS: Age 13 – 19 ONLY!

Cost: Nothing

 Submissions:  Poetry: 1 – 10 poems

                        Fiction: 1 – 3 stories, between 500 - 2,500 words each

                        Cover Art: Have art work scanned at Office Max 300dpi and saved as a  JPG on disk.

                        Interior Art: Have art work scanned at Office Max 300dpi and saved as a JPG on disk.

ART: Remember that submissions would be for a book cover or interior. Keep this in mind when planning art work. Keep it size appropriate.

No Royalties will be paid. Proceeds from the sale of the book, after publication costs,  will go to T.H. Books  for Kids.   www.thbooksforkids-org.jitzul.net/

After publication, teens and family members will be able to order copies of the book, if they desire to have one. (THERE IS NO REQUIREMENT TO ORDER ANY BOOKS!)

Submission Guidelines:

Early deadline for entries, June 15th, 2010.

Final deadline for entries, August 15th, 2010

Email entries to [email protected]

Put "Teen Writing Contest" in the SUBJECT LINE.

Attach the entries as word documents.

MORE INFO: Click on Teen Writing Contest

Many people believe that the best approach for a novel is to write it as a short story first. Then, you can look at it and ask yourself if it is truly bigger than a short story. If the small plant takes over the house, then maybe you needed to plant it in a bigger pot.


Here are sure-fire-ways to evaluate that short story and see if it needs to be a BIGGIE.

Is your idea unique?

Have you seen this over and over and over? Is it trite? Is the idea like the bread you purchased a week ago, STALE? You MUST tell the story in a way that it reads like something absolutely fresh and new. Make the story original. In fact, all stories are basically the same ideas being tossed like limp lettuce in the salad bowl. You have to add something to make the salad unique.

Is the short story an over-grown nail?

If the story is too long, you have to clip it or add to it. Have you ever had an overgrown toe nail? Ouch! Those babies can hurt like, you know what. You have to trim them down and shape them. Ahhhhhh! Remember the relief of a perfectly manicured nail. If the story is growing out of the box, you have to get a bigger box. Make the short story a novel.

How many people can you fit into one phone booth?

If the characters in your story are multiplying like rabbits, you need to write the novel. Only so many people can fit in that phone booth, or that ‘beetle.” Too many people, mean more space for them to develop.

What is this that I see before me? I have thee not, yet I see the still!

I make myself sick being dramatic some days. This is proof that I have had too much chocolate. If you can not develop the idea in 8,000 words or so, it needs to be a novel. If, after 8,000 words you still have not landed the plane, write a novel.

Does the alarm clock keep going off every time you hit snooze?

Short means what it says, short. If your story has left the building, then maybe you need to turn it into a novel. Short stories cover hours and days. Novels cover years and adventures.

Aunt Grace said, “You should write a book."

The other day, I wrote a short story about a vampire. My daughter read it and said, “I wish this was a book. I would read it.” If someone says this would make a great novel. Think about it. They might be right.

Do you wish the neighbor next door would move or what?

If you could live with the characters in the story for years, write a novel.

I sound like I know it all. I do not. I do not claim to know it all.

I am learning as I go along. Maybe one day, I will have enough info to put in a book and make millions off of it.

Alrighty, I am living in my own dream world.

1. Write the story straight out. Do not worry about grammar and spelling and mechanics. Get it down on paper. Actually, you can write a small story and then expand it later. Go for the bones and add meat later.

2. Start small. Make the beginning short and to the point. Since it is a short story, you do not have time to develop anything over chapters and chapters. The beginning is like a taste of something good, while you are cooking a meal. (I always like to get people to taste what I am cooking in order to give them a preview.)

3. Make the middle part the meaty part. This is where you provide the main course. This is the Good Stuff of the story.

4. Your ending should come fast and be short. Do not draw the ending out for most of the story. When the end comes, end it. This is the dessert. After a good long meal, the dessert only takes a few bites.

Ask yourself the following questions:

1. What does the main character want? Why?What is the problem?

2. Does the story have a beginning, a middle, and an end?

3. Can you rewrite it or do you have an emotional attachment?

Some people find it helpful to write it and then shelve it for a few days. Then, get it out and read it. If it thrills you, after a rest, go for it.

Definition: A sudden striking understanding of something.

I read something the other day that totally changed my way of thinking concerning publishers and sending off manuscripts. I know that this will not be earth shattering, but it made me think in a way that I had not been thinking. I know, I know, you are going to probably laugh at me and call me something under your breath.


I was reading something by a publisher. She said something that totally turned my world around. I am not going to quote her exactly, but I am going to let you in on my epiphany.

She said that when she reads a manuscript she is "looking for a reason to reject it."


I know that you did not feel the earth move under your feet. I know that the walls did not tumble down. I know that you did not stand at your computer and say "YES!" (If you did, go take your temperature. You might be sick.)

It did make me look at my writing differently.

With this said, please, forgive me if I share a good thing for myself. I had some feedback from a publisher recently that said some good things.

Look, I am sure that you already know that if a publisher takes the time to comment back, that is very good.

I sent a short story to a magazine. It was a horror story for a horror magazine. The editor of the magazine read the story and sent me several comments.

Below, I will copy and paste his comments:

Thank you for your submission, unfortunately we will not be able to use the material offered. I enjoyed reading your story, but it is not quite right for us.

We wish you good luck in placing your story elsewhere, and I hope that you will consider sending further submissions for us to consider.

It's a good story, please do not give up. It takes talent to write a good story. (He said that it was a good story and that it takes talent to write a good story. This is awesome. It took me a minute to understand what he said to me. He was saying, "You have talent.")

Keep writing and keep submitting stories, we would be happy to see more of your work, and although we have not used the piece you sent us you should have a look at it, see if you can improve on it and submit it to another publication as it might be more suitable for them. (Okay, this is his nice way of saying, "Don't send the same story back to us." When a publisher comments back that is a "good thing." Chalk it up to something good and go forward. I did change a couple of things and I sent the story to another magazine.)

Good luck and thanks for submitting your work.

It's difficult to say what we're looking for, it's no specific thing. A story needs to stand out, it must have something outstanding, be it style, plot, or character. A story that makes you feel something is very rare.

Good luck!
Yep! The above stuff was what the publisher said to me concerning my submission.

I included it today because it speaks to all of us. Look at what the publisher said about submissions. They are looking for something that stands out, with style, plot, or character. They want a story that makes you feel something.

Interesting stuff!

So, I sent the story to another magazine. I will wait and see what they say. I do know that since I got a good word from one publisher does not mean that I will automatically get a good word from another publisher. It does give me hope.

He liked my story and enjoyed reading it.

I read something today that made me think. I know, I know, I say so much without thinking, this is bound to be interesting.

Consider the sensory details in your work. Studies have shown that the sense of smell is one of our most emotionally evocative senses.

As a writer, are you just a sightseer or do your stories smell as well?

That was it! A study showed that the sense of smell has an emotional effect on us as people. I said people because it would be of non-effect to robots.

This started me to thinking about the sense of smell.

I know a guy whose mother kept one of her husband's shirts with her in the bed. (The Father had passed away.) She missed the smell. He saw his mom go to bed each night, clutching the shirt. It was almost like a security blanket, only with a shirt. It was a reminder.

The guy hated to see his mom do that, but he never bothered her about it. I am glad that he did not say anything. She ws dealing with the hurt her way.

I can understand this.

Smells get to us, be they good or bad. I know that I am really affected by smells early in the morning, after taking a shower. If I come into contact with a good smell, well and good. If I come into contact with a bad smell, it can make my stomach turn.

Oops, sorry. For those of you who just felt your stomach lurch because of what I said, I am sorry. I did not mean to do that, but see, smells get to us.

I am going to try to work harder and incorporate more smell into my stories.

You might laugh at this, but I wish I could invent "smell-a-vision." It would be so cool to be able to watch a cooking show and smell the food. That would be awesome. It would also be dangerous.

Wow, what if we could put smell into our books. WHat if, when the book had the characters

I could see the headlines now: MAN JUMPS THROUGH TV SCREEN AS HE TRIES TO ATTACK A "Big Mac" or something.

Keep writing, but remember to write with your nose!

I am just having one of those days. It happens to all of us at some time or another, I think.

It is nice to finally have my book in my hands, but there is a low at the same time. I feel frustrated because I want people to like it. I want them to buy it because they like it, not because they know me. I want them to like it.

I had someone say, "What a nice thing to do for Zander."

I did not do it for Zander, I did it for children.

It was inspired by Zander and something that happened in our lives that made me come up with the idea of Sleepy Town.

I wrote it from the heart. It is a part of me. I worked and worked to get the words right. It might not be a huge, thick book of thousands of words, but it is a part of me.

I slaved over the illustrations. I spent hours making them what they are today. I wanted kids to like them. I kept them simple. I wanted children to see them and identify with them.

Am I just spazing over nothing. I want the book to mean something. I want it to have wings. I want it to fly. I want it to have a life beyond me. Is that too much to wish for? I do not know.

Okay, today, this is the ranting of an author/illustrator that wants to see his book make a difference and inspire.

DON'T WE ALL WANT THIS OF OUR WORK?

I do appreciate you reading my ranting and ideas.

Drop me a note. I would love to hear from you.

When you have something returned from a Publisher, do you ever have this feeling that no one really read it?

Have you ever wished that you could have some device attached to your writing that displayed a message letting you know that someone actually opened the manuscript and read it? It would be like those messages that let us know that someone read out emails.

Here is the TRUTH.

Do you want it candy coated or straight to the point about publishers? Straight to the point?

Great! Here goes...

Publishers are always looking for new talent. There has to be NEW discoveries. If there were no new authors, the book pool would soon become shallow and eventially dry. Authors do not live forever. There has to be replacements.

Here is the bold-print truth: EVERYTHING THAT ENTERS A PUBLISHING OFFICE IS READ. It is some kind of unwritten professional law. If they are a publisher worth their salt, they do have someone read the manuscripts.

Okay, so, if every publisher reads my manuscript, WHY DO I GET REJECTIONS?

It is a number of things. Maybe that publisher is not looking for your type of material. Maybe you did not do your research and know what they are asking for in manuscripts. Maybe you did not follow the submission process correctly. Maybe they want someone more marketable. Maybe the publisher does not have the freedom to choose your work. Maybe the writing style is not what they want at this time. It could be a number of things.

I know that we wish that publishers would take the time to tell us why our manuscript was rejected, but think. They get thousands of submissions and it would take forever to take the time to write "hi." After all, they are not paid to be "pen-pals" to writers. That might sound a little harsh, but they do have a specific job to do and a short time to do it.

If you do get a note on your submission, take that as something good. Make the revision and send it back to the same publisher with a cover letter stating that you have made the suggested corrections and appreciate the time taken to give you advice on how to make it better.

Publishers appreciate the fact that you listen to what they have to say. If they do not publish you, you might have made a valuable contact for the future.

Also, some publishers pay people to be readers and they read manuscripts and make suggestions to someone else. That person, in turn, makes suggestions to someone else, then some are sent to committees that meet once a week. In those meetings, each manuscript might only have a few minutes to be considered. It is a jungle out there and our manuscripts gets caught in the vines.

All in all, most publishers are professional and they like to have authors be just as professional. Keep it professional. Keep it sharp. Impress them with your business sense. They will appreciate it.

I wrote this way before I started Sleepytown Press. I have an easier time reading manuscripts because I do not receive hundreds of manuscripts each month.

I do not know it all. I am just a guy with a lot to say and I hope that it does not fall on deaf ears. I am trying to encourage myself as I work to encourage you. I want to see you have success.

Keep writing!