Writing is a lot of fun...though it can, at times, be a lonely pursuit.
Unfortunately, marketing sucks---largely because I seem to have no talent for it. In fact, my entire upbringing makes me wince at the thought of blowing my own horn. I suppose it must be nice to have no shame when it comes to self-promoting...but it still makes me feel uncomfortable.
Inspired by my son, Jason --- who is a gifted writer in his own right, and is trying to launch his own career as a game developer --- I've started up a new page on Facebook, hoping to drum up some interest in some of my writing, especially now that I'm about to release a new book. (Clouds of Darkness, for those keeping score at home...due out some time this fall). But I have my doubts about whether anything I do will succeed in attracting readers.
It seems that those who can, do...those who can't teach...and those who are awful at anything, but good at self-promotion, get rich. Doesn't seem fair...but if I can move from being awful to being passably mediocre at it, I suppose everything will turn out well.
JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a retired public prosecutor from Michigan, writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label writing. Show all posts
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Getting Started
I actually submitted a short piece to one of the local papers the other day.
It was (if I do say so myself) a rather interesting take on the current "panty-bomber" controversy du jour...making the point (largely unmade by others in the legal profession) that there was no earthly reason to Mirandize the panty-bomber and cut off their access to what he knew. Since the only consequence of failing to read a suspect Miranda rights is that the State can't use any ensuing confession, and since the Feds didn't need his confession to make the criminal case against him (give his charred underwear, smoldering body, and 200 witness who can testify that he tried to blow up the plane), they didn't need his confession.
What the Feds did need --- the information he possessed about the higher-ups who sent him --- wasn't relevant to the criminal case either. Just to how to strike back at the bad guys.
But...for one reason or another, this doesn't seem to interest the media...or, at least the big-town papers here in Detroit.
I may still try to peddle the story to a smaller outlet (and try to remember, next time, to reserve the right to make "simultaneous submissions" so I'm not stuck waiting around. Or I may just post it here in a few days.
But...I am getting excited about getting a chance to do a few different things in the coming months.
With any luck, I may even start getting others to publish what I write.
And that, wuuld be a real boost for my self-confidence as a writer. And for my ego. Actually, mostly for my ego...but it is nice to see my name in print, now and then.
JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.
It was (if I do say so myself) a rather interesting take on the current "panty-bomber" controversy du jour...making the point (largely unmade by others in the legal profession) that there was no earthly reason to Mirandize the panty-bomber and cut off their access to what he knew. Since the only consequence of failing to read a suspect Miranda rights is that the State can't use any ensuing confession, and since the Feds didn't need his confession to make the criminal case against him (give his charred underwear, smoldering body, and 200 witness who can testify that he tried to blow up the plane), they didn't need his confession.
What the Feds did need --- the information he possessed about the higher-ups who sent him --- wasn't relevant to the criminal case either. Just to how to strike back at the bad guys.
But...for one reason or another, this doesn't seem to interest the media...or, at least the big-town papers here in Detroit.
I may still try to peddle the story to a smaller outlet (and try to remember, next time, to reserve the right to make "simultaneous submissions" so I'm not stuck waiting around. Or I may just post it here in a few days.
But...I am getting excited about getting a chance to do a few different things in the coming months.
With any luck, I may even start getting others to publish what I write.
And that, wuuld be a real boost for my self-confidence as a writer. And for my ego. Actually, mostly for my ego...but it is nice to see my name in print, now and then.
JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Seeing a Story in Print
This month, the Michigan Bar journal published my short story, "Crucible of Justice." It was one of the winners in their 2009 Biennenial Short Story Contest. (Another one of my stories, "Crapshoot," was a winner in their first competition, back in 2007).
It's sometimes hard to describe the feeling you get when you see your work in print. Part pride, part astonishment...a writer is often so busy thinking and polishing and agonizing over minute details that it's sometimes hard simply to sit back and wonder about the human mind, and its capacity to create beauty out of nothing.
Of course, we can also create a lot of ugliness...and a lot of writing is pretty damn ugly.
Just the same, it's nice to get a pat on the back, now and then. And the warm blow inside from seeing one of your "babies" doing well is one of life's pleasures.
JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.
It's sometimes hard to describe the feeling you get when you see your work in print. Part pride, part astonishment...a writer is often so busy thinking and polishing and agonizing over minute details that it's sometimes hard simply to sit back and wonder about the human mind, and its capacity to create beauty out of nothing.
Of course, we can also create a lot of ugliness...and a lot of writing is pretty damn ugly.
Just the same, it's nice to get a pat on the back, now and then. And the warm blow inside from seeing one of your "babies" doing well is one of life's pleasures.
JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Feedback and the Four Stages of Writing: Madman, Architect, Carpenter, and Judge
Getting feedback is critical for any writer. Our minds may be full of ideas, but no matter how insightful we may be, unless we can reach the reader—and communicate what we are trying to say in a way that resonates in the mind of the audience—we are likely to disappoint not only our audience, but also ourselves. Sharing our work with a trusted friend or colleague can free us from the trap of editing our own work, and seeing what we wrote, rather than what we typed. It also lets us see how our words appear to those who are reading them, and can alert us to problems that, since we understand perfectly well what we meant, we may never notice.
Unfortunately, life is brimming with mixed blessings. And the drawback to getting feedback from others is that we may become so attuned to correcting small problems relating to composition that we forget the larger ones—those relating to the substance of what we are saying. If we become so focused on responding to feedback, we may very well lose track of our subject. If this happens, our writing may be engaging and flawless, but we will find ourselves without anything to say.
Perhaps the trick is to wait until you have a first draft more or less completed, before looking for feedback. In this way, we are already well into revisions, and ready to begin the task of smoothing out the flaws in what you have written. Of course, blindly doing it this way can lead to dead ends and unanticipated literary cul-de-sacs, since we cannot always see the flaws in our arguments or plot lines if they are not fully developed. And so the critical thing for any writer to remember is to avoid getting distracted by details while still in the creative stage.
Some years ago, a writing instructor at the University of Texas named Betty Flowers devised a helpful approach by distilling the various phases of writing into four main stages: madman, architect, carpenter, and judge. More recently, this approach has been adopted and advanced by Brian Garner, a fine writer in his own right and a leader of the "Plain English" movement in the legal profession. The Madman phase is when the writer is jotting down ideas furiously, trying to tie together all the madly firing neurons whose sparks are creating ideas—some good, some bad...and, we all hope, some brilliant. The Architect stage is when the writer is organizing these ideas into something resembling coherence. As the Carpenter, the writer is actually doing the writing...quickly, without pausing too much for polishing, since the critical part of this task is getting everything set down before it vanishes. And the Judge is the editor...who dispassionately chops and cuts and polishes the work—correcting the grammar, smoothing out the rough spots in the prose, and filling any holes that were left by the Carpenter. The most critical task of any writer is to keep the Judge at bay until the very end—for if he interferes with the work before it is ready, the entire project gets bogged down in details that do nothing but get in the way of writing.
Feedback is critical for any writer. But getting too much feedback before being done with the "rough carpentry work" is always a mistake.
JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed The Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.
Unfortunately, life is brimming with mixed blessings. And the drawback to getting feedback from others is that we may become so attuned to correcting small problems relating to composition that we forget the larger ones—those relating to the substance of what we are saying. If we become so focused on responding to feedback, we may very well lose track of our subject. If this happens, our writing may be engaging and flawless, but we will find ourselves without anything to say.
Perhaps the trick is to wait until you have a first draft more or less completed, before looking for feedback. In this way, we are already well into revisions, and ready to begin the task of smoothing out the flaws in what you have written. Of course, blindly doing it this way can lead to dead ends and unanticipated literary cul-de-sacs, since we cannot always see the flaws in our arguments or plot lines if they are not fully developed. And so the critical thing for any writer to remember is to avoid getting distracted by details while still in the creative stage.
Some years ago, a writing instructor at the University of Texas named Betty Flowers devised a helpful approach by distilling the various phases of writing into four main stages: madman, architect, carpenter, and judge. More recently, this approach has been adopted and advanced by Brian Garner, a fine writer in his own right and a leader of the "Plain English" movement in the legal profession. The Madman phase is when the writer is jotting down ideas furiously, trying to tie together all the madly firing neurons whose sparks are creating ideas—some good, some bad...and, we all hope, some brilliant. The Architect stage is when the writer is organizing these ideas into something resembling coherence. As the Carpenter, the writer is actually doing the writing...quickly, without pausing too much for polishing, since the critical part of this task is getting everything set down before it vanishes. And the Judge is the editor...who dispassionately chops and cuts and polishes the work—correcting the grammar, smoothing out the rough spots in the prose, and filling any holes that were left by the Carpenter. The most critical task of any writer is to keep the Judge at bay until the very end—for if he interferes with the work before it is ready, the entire project gets bogged down in details that do nothing but get in the way of writing.
Feedback is critical for any writer. But getting too much feedback before being done with the "rough carpentry work" is always a mistake.
JEFFREY CAMINSKY, a veteran public prosecutor in Detroit, Michigan, specializes in the appellate practice of criminal law and writes on a wide range of topics. His books include the science fiction adventure novel The Star Dancers, the exciting second volume in the Guardians of Peace-tm series, The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, and the acclaimed The Referee’s Survival Guide, a book on soccer officiating. All are published by New Alexandria Press, and are available on Amazon, as well as directly from the publisher.
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