Vocabulary:

* circumforaneous -- a. Wandering from house to house.

* flapdoodle -- n. Empty and meaningless talk.

* ergasiophobia -- n. Fear of, or aversion to, work. People often boondoggle because of their ergasiophobia

*****

YOU CAN DO IT

Notable quotes from those who've done it:

Emily Dickinson: "Success is counted sweetest by those who ne'er succeed."

Socrates: "Think not those faithful who praise all thy words and actions; but those who kindly reprove thy faults."

Joseph Brodsky: "There are worse crimes than burning books.One of them is not reading them."

Don't forget:

Tell your friends and fellow writers about our free newsletter. See you next month.

Patrika

Pat's Picks

Dutch Uncle advise:

A foolish consistency," Emerson insisted, "is the hobgoblin of little minds." That may well be, but editors have enough reasons to reject your work; don't let sloppy inconsistencies be one of them. . Get yourself a good style manual.

NEWS YOU CAN USE

BOOK GOSSIP

~Informed Caution: Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com) has decided to stop selling Adolf

Hitler's book, "Mein Kampf," in Germany after being pressured by the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. The book was among Amazon's most popular titles in Germany. It had earned a 3.5 out of 5 star review from customers, who describe the book as a "historical document," and "a look into the hateful mind of the century's most evil figure."

~Castle acquires Hearts The screen rights for Stephen King's (http://www.stephenking.com) novel, "Hearts in Atlantis," have been acquired by Castle Rock (http://castle-rock.com/indexnet.htm). William Goldman will script the film.

~ Oprah's Global Reach If you ever doubted that Oprah has pull, consider this line, which appeared, with no elaboration, in an October Atlantic Monthly piece by Cullen Murphy about camel racing in Arabia:

"The one bookstore I found in Dubai had an aisle devoted to 'Oprah's Books.'"

(So Maybe That's Where She'll Shoot Next)

BOOK REVIEW

The Unstrung Harp, Edward Gorey. Harcourt Brace & Co., 1999. ISBN 0-15-100435-8

Most books are read once and forgotten. A few contain some truth that touches our hearts or minds. These we read again. And again.

That's the way it is with The Unstring Harp, a precious little jewel originally published in l953 and re-released by Harcourt Brace in 1999. TUV is a charmer, in both text and illustrations. It's one of those deceptively humble books that ground-feeds, quietly meandering and munching across the every-day landscape of a life -- only to end up being about all our lives, with all their hopes and anguish, truths and deceits, loves and boredoms, trials and successes. Of course the sly humor of both the text and illustrations is frosting on this delectable little dessert for the soul.

This is one of those little books you'll love more with each reading. It's a grown-up fairy tale about life's little vicissitudes, peopled by one of fiction's most lovable adult characters, Mr. Earbrass -- a modest man with a sharp eye and a clear view of "how it is." I can't think of a better way to slip out of the stress of your life than to take a summer stroll with Mr. Earbrass, as he writes his book.

MARKETS

Writing Q&A

Q. I've wanted to become an author every since I was little. I have dreamed of

writing books. I hope to make it a career. I would appreciate if you would tell me how much Money can I make if my book is published? How much money will I have to pay out altogether?

Thank-You!

Sincerely,

Elizabeth (tizzie81@yahoo.com)

A. Ah, Elizabeth....

The questions you were able to ask in two sentences take an entire book to answer, because here are so many variables involved. You need to know abut all these variables. Once you do, you can answer your own questions. The solution? Buy Everything You Need to Know to WRITE PUBLISH & MARKET YOuR BOOK. It's available at A Cappela Publishing and it will be the best $20 you've ever invested in your writing career.

Patrika

CONTESTS

WEBSITES OF INTEREST

4) Research-It, all-in-one information source; http://www.iTools.com/research-it/

5)Independentbooks.com (http://www.independentbooks.com), a Website for book

buyers who want to buy online and support independent bookselling, recently

debuted.

Word of Mouth (http://oe-pages.com/ARTS/Writing/joerules/), a book review/recommendation newsletter, recently premiered.

Cayuse Press (http://www.cayuse-press.com/index.html) recently launched Cenotaph, an e-zine providing "Fiction for the New Millennium." Cenotaph will be published quarterly.

The Gila Queen's Guide to Markets (http://www.gilaqueen.com) has a new URL

• If you're a travel writer, or write fiction set in other countries, then you'll love

<http://www.xe.net/ucc> This Universal Currency Converter will convert currency into 90 other types.

WEBSITES OF INTEREST

4) Research-It, all-in-one information source; http://www.iTools.com/research-it/

5)Independentbooks.com (http://www.independentbooks.com), a Website for book

buyers who want to buy online and support independent bookselling, recently

debuted.

Word of Mouth (http://oe-pages.com/ARTS/Writing/joerules/), a book review/recommendation newsletter, recently premiered.

HTTP:// WRITE4KIDS.COM Internet Site Offers Audio Advice for Children's Writers

Cayuse Press (http://www.cayuse-press.com/index.html) recently launched Cenotaph, an e-zine providing "Fiction for the New Millennium." Cenotaph will be published quarterly.

The Gila Queen's Guide to Markets (http://www.gilaqueen.com) has a new URL

• If you're a travel writer, or write fiction set in other countries, then you'll love

<http://www.xe.net/ucc> This Universal Currency Converter will convert currency into 90 other types.

Publishing-Related Mailing Lists

Historical Research (http://www.onelist.com/community/historicalresearch) is a mailing list for people who research historical novels, in all genres.

Looking4Input (http://www.onelist.com/community/Looking4Input) is a mailing list that matches up writers with interview subjects. Writers are invited to post Looking For Input Posts and experts can post that they are willing to be interviewed.

ArmchairReaders2 (http://www.onelist.com/community/ArmchairReaders2) is a mailing list for people who love to read.

WordFolks (http://www.onelist.com/community/WordFolks) --For those who crave words. New appellations, Cunning phrases, and Bizarre Locutions, such as "obfuscate," "onomatopoetic" or "gloaming"

Alexandria Digital Literature - - online fiction http://www.alexlit.com

WORD PLAY for 1/2000

Seminola Is No Meal

Public Art Galleries Large Picture Halls, I Bet

A Decimal Point I'm a Dot in Place

The Earthquakes That Queer Shake

Eleven plus two Twelve plus one

) The original name for butterfly was flutterby.

> >

The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.

"The worst thing about censorship is [deleted by censorship bureau]." -Anon

FEEDBACK:

Hi. This is Robert Shuster, one of your former students -- you know, the guy with the rugby short stories. Well, I finally got around to publishing them! My final hard copies should be available within the next week to ten days. For more info on the book, check out my website at www.sevenacide.com .

YOU CAN DO IT

Our language is ever-mutating, and a good guide will ensure that you understand the impact your words might have before they reach print. Should you use "Native Americans" or "American

Indians"? Did you know that "thermos" is no longer a trademark, but that "Popsicle" and "Dumpster" are? Writing, when you get down to it, is nothing more than the careful

choosing of words. A style book will ensure that you don't choose "carat" when you mean "karat," "jury-rigged" when you want "jerry-built," or "V-8" when you could have had a "V8." A naysayer may bridle against the strictures of such a rule book, but I believe the rules should encourage thinking, not discourage it. Plus, "a rule,"some say, can shield against untidiness in detail that might make readers doubt large facts.

Do yourself a favor and pick up a style book. There are several good ones out there.

YOU CAN DO IT

"You write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what's burning inside you. And we edit to let the fire show through the smoke." --Arthur Polotnik (Discover the 12 Ways to edit your work in WRITE PUBLISH & MARKET YOUR BOOK, available through http://www.acappela.com

exerpt from 6/00 iv with Ariana Overton, author of ebooks:"Glass House"

"A Glass Darkly"

Personally, I think the

traditional hardcopy publishers will do one of two things: a]

they will disappear. Like dinosaurs, they will fold up, collapse,

and expire from their own weight and size, when the meteor that

is epublishing hits in a big enough way. Or, b] they will

conform. Many of them all ready are doing just that. When writers

like Stephen King recognize, and take advantage of, the value of

the Internet, then I can see how the wise publishers won't

hesitate to jump on the haywagon. In the meantime, they are doing

their level best to downplay the role epublishing is playing in

converting the reading public over into the 'paperless' society

many have verbally claimed to support while doing nothing to

bring about. It's sad that, while we all want to save our

ecology, few really try to do it. I view epublishing as part of

that saving grace movement.

"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong"

Joseph Chilton Pearce

"I think you must remember that a writer is a simple-minded person to begin with and go on that basis. He's not a great mind, he's not a great thinker,he's not a great philosopher, he's a storyteller."

The path to inspiration starts beyond the trails we've known; each writer's block is not a rock it's just a stepping stone.

-- Charles Ghigna

Ayn Rand:Along related lines, Rand believes firmly that "if a writer feels that he was unable fully to express what he

wanted to express, it means that he did not know clearly what he wanted to express"--no more blaming it on writer's

block for you! And remember: "A good style is one that conveys the most with the greatest economy of words." This

means that "when you draw a character, everything that you say about him acquires significance by the mere fact of being included in your story." The bottom line is that "art is selectivity."

"To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, -- that

is genius."

"Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense; for the inmost in due time becomes the outmost,--

and our first thought is rendered back to us by the trumpets of the Last Judgment."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), Self-Reliance (1841)

"When in doubt, make a fool of yourself. There is a microscopically thin line between being brilliantly creative

and acting like the most gigantic idiot on earth. So what the hell,leap." - Cynthia Heimel

"What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn't happen

much, though." --J.D. Salinger

Don't forget to send in your suggestions, feedback, and your writing questions and check our website (www.acappela.com) forour page of website resources

*****

_____________________________________

WRITING Q&A

(answers to frequently asked questions. Send in yours.)

Q. "How do I tell a good agent from a bad one?"

A. A good agent will be willing to give you references. He will be able to tell you the titles of a couple of books he has dealt with, and these will be books you'll be able to find in the bookstore. A bad agent will be unwilling to give you any of this information. When you get references from an agent, take them up. Speak to the authors and publishers the agent has dealt with to see how professional that agent has been.

Q. "How much should I pay an agent to read my book?"

A. If an agent asks you for a reading fee or "processing fee", find another agent. Agents make their money by getting your work published and taking a percentage of the sales (usually in the region of 10-20%).

Patrika