"Writing ... is a Serious Component of Their Identity"

Published: Tue, 04/02/24

Hello, writer,

Last week I began one of the most horrifyingly navel-gazing projects I've ever undertaken: Going page by page through the journals and notebooks I've scrawled in since 2006.

It's ~~interesting~~ terrible to spend that much time with my own mid-aughts writing and thoughts. To be fair, my early attempts at fiction showcase all the maturity you would expect from any teenager*, but whenever I come across journal entries about my personal life I want to wrap my old self up in a fatherly hug and say, "There, there; there, there. Everything is going to ~~be OK~~ get much worse."

* I was 29

But the cool part is in revisiting how excited I was to have discovered this new thing, this writing. After goofing around for an entire decade, there I was in a new city unwrapping a new writing journal before my first class in a new grad school program where I would learn how to be a writer!

I'm on journal no. 4 now, somewhere in 2009, and in those three years I wrote more story drafts than I've written in the past ten. I was writing on a near-daily basis, discovering and developing this newfound passion.

(On the blank page at the beginning of every journal I'd write the same words, from French writer Eugene Jolas: "The imagination in search of a fabulous world is authonomous and unconfined." So starry-eyed!)

Another fun thing is that reuniting with these journals takes me back to the places where I used to write. Like that first entry, sat on a bench in Boston Common on a sunny September afternoon.

Or the time I drafted an entire story at a corner table at the Sweetwater (R.I.P) to hit a deadline. Or writing my first book review at my basement studio apartment in the North End; I stayed up all night scribbling with the lights on because that morning I'd encountered a rat in my kitchen and was scared shitless.

My main takeaway so far: I used to write so much more than I do now. And suddenly I'm... well, I won't go overboard and say inspired, but I find myself wanting to get back to that place.

An even more surprising takeaway: One or two of those old stories, if I take the time to revise them using the tools and experience I've gained in the past 15+ years? They might just be... not the worst things ever written.

Have you ever gone back to read through your writing from decades past? I want to hear about your experience!

OK, let's get to the good stuff. In this week's message:

Our blog post series "Great Beginnings" is back!
Agent Tanya McKinnon on the dreaded author bio
Promotion: Your Submission Materials
My 10 Favorite Novels Since 2014, nos. 6 and 5 (plus a contest!)
Yak Babies roundup
What am I reading? Am I writing?

Thank you for giving me some of your time. If you like what you see, share this email with your writer/reader friends and ask 'em to sign up!

Great Beginnings is Back!

This week on the blog we're reviving our "Great Beginnings" series by taking a look at the opening paragraph of Julie Buntin's debut novel, Marlena, which begins, "Tell me what you can't forget, and I'll tell you who you are."

Visit the post to read the rest and discuss!

On the Dreaded Author's Bio

Is there a word that grates harder on an aspiring writer's eyes or ears than platform? We're told that if we don't have 1 million Twitter followers and appear weekly on Jimmy Kimmel, no literary agent or indie press will give us a second look.

I've got plenty of anecdotal evidence to refute that. Not just from WriteByNight clients but from friends, too, who, with no traditional platform or following to speak of, have signed on with agents and had their books sold.

But why listen to me when you can get it straight from an agent?

In the current Poets & Writers, agent Tanya McKinnon has this to say about the "author bio" paragraph of the query letter:

"Sometimes we have authors who don’t have a million followers. They can’t all have syndicated radio programs or top-tier podcasts; sometimes they’ve graduated from an MFA program, and they have two pieces they’ve managed to place. Sometimes they work at a small local newspaper. I do want to see a thoughtfulness in the bio, that they are saying their writing life is a serious component of their identity and they’re really working on it. But I don’t think any of us knows where the next beautiful mind might be coming from, and that’s part of the excitement of this business." (Read the full interview here.)

I love that: "a serious component of their identity."

How thoughtful is the bio in your current query letter? If you're struggling with it, our query letter critique will put you one-on-one with our staff agent for feedback and a discussion.

Promotion: Your Submission Package

While we're on the topic, our April special is up & running: Receive two in-depth rounds of assistance with your agent/publisher submission materials for only $350.

First, you and I will do a deep dive into your query letter, expanding or tightening as needed and working out the kinks graf by graf.

Then the WriteByNight writing/publishing expert of your choice will read your new-and-improved query letter, along with the first 10 double-spaced pages of your book -- i.e., the materials most agents ask for initially -- and then he/she will meet with you for 60 minutes to offer feedback and answer questions.

You should come away from that discussion with a fresh understanding of your agent/publisher package and how to improve it.

If you're almost ready to send your work to agents and indie presses but need one last look, click the button below to get started.

I'm Ready for Feedback on My Submission Materials!

My 10 Favorite Novels Since 2014, vol. 3

Continuing on with my 10 favorite novels published from 2014 to 2024. (With only one rule: no WriteByNight staff or clients, and no friends.)

The list so far:

11 (tie). Growing Up Dead in Texas, Stephen Graham Jones

11 (tie). The Yellow House, Sarah Broom

10. Women Talking, Miriam Toews

9. The Warehouse, Rob Hart

8. Fever Dream, Samantha Schweblin

7. Ohio/The Deluge, Stephen Markley

6. The Idiot, Elif Batuman

I've never been big on the "campus novel" but this is one of the funniest, most charming books I've read in recent memory. It's the mid-'90s at Harvard and Selin, a freshman and the daughter of Turkish immigrants, wanders the school grounds and the city making observations about people and institutions. Then she goes to Hungary and Paris and does the same. Along the way, she begins exchanging emails with love interest Ivan and discovers that maybe, just maybe, she's meant to become a writer.

(I'll add that when I learned Batuman had written a sequel, I couldn't wait for it to come out. When it did, I... let it go by. I'm not sure what that means. I still intend to read it.)

5. Swing Time, Zadie Smith

OK, the truth is that I like NW more than this one. But NW came out in 2012. So I'm kind of cheating again. But Swing Time is great, and part of it is set in NW London, so. I love Zadie Smith. She's an excellent writer, craft-wise, and her social commentary rarely fails to hit the (my) mark. This one's about two girls who grow up wanting to be dancers. One ends up the assistant to a globe-trotting musician who is building a school in a West African country. The other, if memory serves, has some success in dance but is self-destructive and ends up back where they grew up. I cannot imagine Zadie Smith writing a bad book.

Next week we're getting into the heavy hitters. I've got a lot to say about them, so we might have to go one per week.

The first person who can guess my top 4 gets a free 60-minute chat about their writing!

Here are a few hints: global pandemic; local limbo; Y-Not (2); Clew Bay.

Are you a fellow fan of any of the books I'm talking about? Let me know, and let's gush over them together.

Yak Babies: WAWR

Free: Our latest "What Are We Reading?"

Paid: Patrons can listen to our second discussions about bidets. Just $1 a month to become a member!

Click to listen

What Am I Reading? Am I Writing?

As discussed above, I'm back to Marlena. I haven't been able to dive in fully, but I'm hoping to do so next weekend.

I've not written.

What are you writing? What are you reading?

Writerly Quote of the Week

“Examine every word you put on paper. You'll find a surprising number that don't serve any purpose."

-- William Zinsser, author of On Writing Well

Happy writing!

David Duhr
Co-founder, WriteByNight

P.S. If you know someone who might benefit from today's message, please feel free to forward this email along. Go on, help a writer out.

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