Thought a martini bar might be easier for the men to belly up to to spill their woes. Afterall, bartenders hear it all! Who is first and how do you take your martini??

Dry ... two olives.

Now THIS is a good idea ...


except ...


it's virual isn't it ....



darn ...




guess I'll have to make a gin and tonic in the kitchen.

_________________
Life is like a roll of toilet paper ...
The closer to the end it gets ... the faster it goes.

Come on now guys--these olives are getting stale. Somebody's gotta want a Martini and a solution.

I have some Newfoundland Screech hidden here in my desk drawer, if you'd care for a nip......

A Nony Mouse

Where's Krupp for a drink when you need him? Ok, writerdave, belly up with him for that Newfoundland stuff.

Well Willow,

Since the bar seems to be slow today I would like my martini dry er.. no, well, hold the martini and how bout a nice cold beer. And hey, I haven't been very vocal on this forum but I was wondering about a couple of issues: 1. I am a writer of children's books and have been hard pressed to find many agents in the genre. I am about out of options as the ones I have found, I have not gotten much in the way of communication. Is that normal and how long does it take to get an agent anyway? 2. I have been back and forth as to whether I should go the POD route or continue down the traditional publishing path, I am just so frustrated as to the time it takes to get things moving. Is there any easier answer that I am just missing?

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Buzz Timothy

Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. (Ben Franklin)

Buzz,

I may be able to answer some of your questions, but you need to answer one for me. Are you writing picture books? Young adult books? You really don't need an agent for picture books. They are also probably the hardest type of book to get published, alas. If you're writing books for older kids, then you could benefit from an agent.

How many agents have you queried? It's not uncommon to get close to 100 rejections, so it takes time and patience to find the right agent. If an agent is requesting to see your ms. and then rejects you after seeing the product, then it means that you're on the right track with the query letter. However, if you're getting no requests to look at the book, then you may need to rework the query. A good place to start your agent search (and learn about query letters) is this site:

http://www.agentquery.com

Hope that helps.

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Jeanne

Jeane,

Thanks for the input. You must have been sitting near me at the bar to over hear my conversation. I'm sorry if I didn't notice you. Got a lot on the mind lately. Anyway to clarify I write childrens picture books for the beginning reader and then the in betweeners, not quite young adult, but beyond the beginnig reader. I think I am jsut impatient with this whole process. I will check out the link you sent.

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Buzz Timothy

Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. (Ben Franklin)

Yo Buzz;

While writing may be sort-of instant gratification, publishing is not. I have long advocated that writers do something that is more instant and gratifying than writing while they are waiting. Publishing is waiting.

Not uncommon for it to take a couple of years to sell something and then 2 years to wait for it to come out in the publishing process and another year to get paid. NOT a way to pay your bills right away. Every writer needs Plan B.

There are number of beverages which I now stay away from. One is Screech, which is actually not only the name of the elixer, but the sound you make after drinking it.

Starting at the ripe age of 14, I began to indulge in certain alcoholic beverages. It seems, if a story were to be told of the misadventures, that I would glom onto one, and only one, type of beverage at a time. I would continue to abuse that particular beverage until I had become violently, projectile-vomiting sick on it. Then I would never touch it again, only to find a new muse with which to get sick with. Not in the exact correct order, some of the more dubious drinks I still to this day do not touch are:

1) Baby Duck. This could be called kiddy-wine. I believe they take grape juice and pour in some 40-proof vanilla for effect.
2) Screech. Enough said.
3) Lemon gin. They say you can go blind by drinking too much of it but I never got past the point where my liver exploded out my left nostril.
4) Souther comfort. Now, there's an oxymoron. The south end of me is my posterior gland and it was not very bloody comfortable after sitting on the great white throne, bucket in hand, having a bout of volumnous bodily exhalations from both ends.
5) Tequila. Shooters, sunrise and upside-down-over-the-bar-margueritas were my methods of poisoning as a teenager. To this day I feel ill if I smell the stuff and for some reason I have an aversion to worms now.
6) Any kind of liqueur. I was a snot nosed teen when shooters became all the rage. I socked back more B52's than there were aircraft in World War II and the thought of a Test Tube Baby (don't ask) makes me sick. So bad is my aversion to liqueur that I won't/can't drink a cup of Irish Cream coffee. Just can't do it.

After I grew up... no wait, that has happened yet. In my 30's, I changed my drinking habits drastically. From that point on, I would only drink under two conditions: when I was alone or with someone.

Truth is, I don't drink very much at all now. Apparently I inbibed enough when I was younger that I made up for when I was older. An occassional rye and Coke or Mike's Hard Lemonade is sufficient for me now. Rather boring, I know.

writerdave

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right or wrong, write

"Not uncommon for it to take a couple of years to sell something and then 2 years to wait for it to come out in the publishing process and another year to get paid. NOT a way to pay your bills right away. " Wiilow said

Does that response imply that looking into POD or self publishing may not be that bad an apporach? By the way I have the plan B, not looking to pay the bills or anything. Yet! Just want to help kids. I love kids and there is not enough good material for kids. There is a lot of good stuff out there, but not enough. I want all kids to be readers and I want them to read everything. I have first had experience of what reading vs. not reading can do for kids. All kids need to be readers.

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Buzz Timothy

Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. (Ben Franklin)

I have a traditionally published book and a publisher staff paid publicist and I still work at least 20-25 hours a week with her in marketing, promotion, advertising, etc. POD or self publishing, it's ALL up to you. If you have that much time to invest weekly, I'd say go for it. Marketing is very time consuming as well. The whole dern publishing thing is time consuming.

OK ... being a musician I thought that I have tasted just about everything that has ever been made .... in college my beer can collection went wall to wall ... floor to ceiling ... with no repeats (bought a different brand every day and always saved one empty for the collection)

I guess I was wrong ... what the heck is Screech ????

The old drinking habits have changed a lot here also....
in the "old days" we would start a practice with a case of cheap beer and then ... about an hour later ... take a break and go get another.

Now a days ... 1 six pack is more than enough for a night of playing ... lol.

My "usual" is a double Crown Royal on the rocks ... to get me started ... and then soda the rest of the night.

_________________
Life is like a roll of toilet paper ...
The closer to the end it gets ... the faster it goes.

Writer George, you are a musician?

Is there live music at this bar? Willow? Writer George?

Well, it's what you use to wash your dulse down with...D-UH!!!!!!!

Cathi... ;"]