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Showing posts from June, 2013

Always the waiting..... What to do as the wheels of the Publishing Industry grind.

The wheels of the publishing industry grind slowly—sometimes I don't think they grind at all. So, if you are going to stay sane as you try to work your way into this business, {me: Lisa, I'm still sane, right? Lisa: Sure, whatever you say, peter (as she finishes hiding the steak knives)}, you need to find constructive ways to spend your time as you wait for the responses to hit the inbox. Therefore I am dedicating this post to what to do as you wait for the Beta-readers or agents or editors or publishers to reply. 1) Read.  Number one for a reason. So often, writers forget about the thing that got them where they are to start with. You were a reader long before you started writing, and you should remain a reader. I could go on and on about the benefits of reading, but I don't want to bore you. (I haven't bored you already, have I?) As a corollary, try reading something in a different genre. If you, like me, write thrillers, read some literary fict

Author Peter Hogenkamp

Author Peter Hogenkamp

PeterHogenkampWrites: Trying to get published? Enjoying the process keep...

PeterHogenkampWrites: Trying to get published? Enjoying the process keep... : I have been writing and trying to get published for nearly a decade. And the entire time I have had a mantra, which I mutter to myself over ...

Trying to get published? Enjoying the process keeps you on the track to go the distance.

I have been writing and trying to get published for nearly a decade. And the entire time I have had a mantra, which I mutter to myself over and over. (It's my wife's mantra, actually, but I am taking credit for it.) Enjoy the process. Ohhmmmm. Enjoy the process. Ohhmmmmm. I know what you are asking yourself. How could I not enjoy the process? I love to write, therefore it is a no-brainer that I will enjoy writing a novel or a work of non-fiction. I like this answer, and it is a good thing to remind oneself of on occasion, because you do love to write, otherwise you would never find yourself in this predicament. But it is nowhere near as easy as this, something you will find out for the first time about 75-100 pages in. Right about then your writing adrenaline runs out and you get a hankering to play golf, or take a hike or plant geraniums. And writing the next chapter becomes about as much fun as cleaning a year's worth of accumulation from the grease trap on your grill (

PeterHogenkampWrites: A pre-Father's Day tribute to my dad. (because I m...

PeterHogenkampWrites: A pre-Father's Day tribute to my dad. (because I m... : Father's Day is coming up in a few weeks and, as usual, that means two things: one, I keep dropping subtle hints about a getting a new d...

A Father's Day tribute to my dad.

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Father's Day is coming up in a few weeks and, as usual, that means I think about my late father, and wish he was still with me. So, this year, I have decided to put my thoughts to words and publish them in my blog. I plan to dedicate my upcoming book to him (assuming it gets published) but the the dedication will be short ( to Dad, who meant the world to me). And although that fragment probably says it best, I wanted to flesh it out a little, if for nothing else than writing about him is the best way for me to spend some time with him. My father was a deliberate and methodical person; when he used a particular word in a certain circumstance, it was because he had thought about the context, mulled over the way the word sounded, and considered the possible interpretations of the word by his audience before uttering it. (No, he was not given over to quick responses.) And if he couldn't think of the exact word he wanted, he would ruminate about it until the perfect word became