The Crotchety Old Man

Category: Becoming a Writer

  • Out With the Old, In With the New

    Resolutions have never really worked for me.  If you were to read entries from late December and early January in the journals I’ve kept for thirty years, you’d see me resolving to give up essentially the same bad habits every year. The amusing part is my certainty, each and every year, that THIS year I’ll…

  • Finished…Mostly

    Ten months ago, I started submitting 5,000 word chunks of my first novel to my writers group. As a novice writer, I was eager for the feedback of more experienced writers. Their numerous suggestions continue to help me to be the best  writer I can be. Tonight the group critiqued the last six chapters of…

  • Learning Curve

    Those of you who know me will attest to the fact that I’m a bit slow.  Though it applies, I’m not talking about my jogging speed. For some reason it takes me a while to figure things out that others pick up right away. For example, I was one of the last people to figure…

  • Glass Houses: Revised

    Today I got an e-mail from my editor about Glass Houses. Her page-long message included an eleven-page overview of her suggestions and her version of three re-worked chapters.  A hard copy of the edited manuscript  is on the way and should arrive Monday or Tuesday. The message and summary are effusively positive. The more she…

  • Stuck!

    Three weeks ago, I all but finished writing Addicted, my first work of fiction. The main elements of the story are finished. All that’s left is to write a chapter or two to wrap things up. I would have finished it three weeks ago, but I couldn’t figure out how to get from where I…

  • Destiny & Gratitude

    That I am a slow learner is one of several themes throughout Glass Houses, my as yet unpublished memoir. Besides adding an element of humor to the story, it also happens to be true. Where self-awareness is concerned, I’m especially obtuse. For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved to write. Out-of-town friends and…

  • Change of Plans

    Several months ago I hired a professional editor to take a look at Glass Houses. Due to other commitments, it took her a while to get to my manuscript. Today I (finally) received her review. The five-page review was actually better than I expected. Her criticisms were nothing I hadn’t heard before, and included several…

  • Practice Makes Perfect

    I fully expected to get a lot of writing done over the long weekend.  With my partner being out of town and a rainy forecast, I hoped to make significant forward progress on Addicted, my first work of fiction. Unfortunately, aside from a few new posts here on the blog, I haven’t gotten any writing…

  • Following My Dream

    Writing a book is easy. Writing a good book is more difficult. Unless you’re somebody famous (or infamous), getting even a good book published is a great deal more challenging. My dear friend, Terri, posted on my Facebook wall today that The Help was rejected sixty times before author Kathryn Stockett found a publisher. Two…

  • Encouragement from Above?

    Here is the full text of the rejection e-mail I received nearly two weeks ago from my first-choice publisher: Dear Mr Rupured: Thank you so much for submitting your manuscript, Glass Houses. Upon review, we find that the work does not match our current list needs, and we are unable to accept this manuscript for…