I just heard from a writer who was dealing with a rejection and the discouragement it brings. And I thought, as writers, we so need to keep the faith. Of course hearing authors’ tales of woe and ultimate success help. So do writing books. So here’s my short list on writing books that will help you keep the faith. And help you with craft and all that, too.

Actually, here’s a picture of them. First, an almost toppling stack, then closeups so you can see titles. I regularly recommend all of these titles.

Kathryn A. posted a question in the comment area of Sunday’s blog on lengths. She wants to know about short story collections, what does “full length” collection mean.

I would think it means that the publisher is looking to publish book length collections of short stories. So if your stories are a page long, then you’d probably need at least 200 stories to make up a collection and if they were 50 pages long (too long!), then you’d need at least four.

What I hear over and over from agents and authors of short story collections is that unless most of the stories that make up your collection have been published in prominent literary journals and magazines, it will be almost impossible to find a publisher. Even well-known short story writers are encouraged (prodded) by their agents and editors to write novels.

Nothing’s impossible, though. And if a short story writer is what you are, then that’s what you have to do.

Work to get them placed in respected journals: Tin House, Granta, Glimmer Train, Zoetrope, Ploughshares, New Yorker, etcetera etcetera. A story in Pig Farmers Quarterly just won’t impress.

Does this help, K.?

A former student who now lives in Hawaii wrote to me and asked me about the word lengths of short stories, novellas and novels.

The last short story I wrote when I was at Goddard College ran 9,000 words. LONG. My instuctor, the novelist Kathryn Davis, never talked about word lengths. She was more interested in the art of the story, and in craft, and figured a story would run as long or short as it needed to. I, of course, had no idea that it would be considered too long, though I did end up placing it in a literary journal. Short stories run typically 1,500 – 3,000 words, with some as short as 250 words. Amy Hempel has some very short stories–a couple of paragraphs–and there are anthologies called Flash Fiction and Sudden Fiction with these very short shorts. I also always say, whatever works…works. If you are writing a story that is running long, let it. Let it be what it is going to be. From writing that long short story, I came to realize I was more interested in book length pieces.

A novella, even more difficult to place than a short story, said the wonderful short story writer Antonya Nelson when she came on my show, and tend to run around 20,000 words to 40,000 words give or take a few thou.

Novels usually begin at 50,000 words and go to 100,000. For first novels, to go longer than that, I hear, is taking your life into your own hands. At 50,000 words, picture Brave New World, picture Animal Farm.

But again, if it works, it works, no matter the length.

I’ve been hosting, producing and engineering my radio show for something like nine years; truthfully, I’ve lost track. My son was a toddler when I began–I know that because when he would come with me to the show, I would often hear him clomping and jumping and screaming happily in the lobby and in the hallway. He is 12 now, and when he comes with me he is much calmer, doing homework or reading or skateboarding outside and every so often he looks at me through the window in the door to the studio, checking in, telling me he’s there and that everything’s fine.

Sometimes I feel overwhelmed with doing the show along with everything else that I do (which is why I’ve been using my guest host Debbie Keith more and more) but I keep doing it because of the people I meet, most of whom I would not meet otherwise. I’ve never been the sort of person who emails or calls someone and says, “Hey, I’d love to pick your brain. How about I take you to lunch the next time I’m in town?” It’s just not me.

The great thing about my show is I pick who I interview. No one is foisted upon me. And last week I had the good fortune of interviewing Joe Eszterhas, the very successful, rebellious, anti-Hollywood screenwriter. He wrote Basic Instinct, Flashdance, Music Box and Jagged Edge. I met him through his daughter Suzanne Perryman who had written to me after she read my book and started listening to my show. At some point she said she was his daughter and would I be interested in having him on my show when his new book came out?

Serendipity is a wonderful thing. OF COURSE I WOULD BE INTERESTED, I told her. I’d admired the guy for years and years, his independent spirit and ability to not become a part of the Hollywood clique while becoming immensely successful.

The interview is now in the archive and you can listen to it at http://writersonwriting.blogspot.com.

As an afterthought, I must say that this blog post was inspired by another PA host at KUCI, T.R. Black. After my interview with Joe, T.R. wrote and said, “I especially enjoyed (all of your interviews are good) your conversation with Joe Eszterhas on Thursday. I have always liked his screenwriting and find him a compelling character. In that I see over 200 films per year in theatres, I have seen nearly all of the films with which he has been involved (sans Big Shots). I too, think The Music Box is his best effort. It is complimented by an A-list cast featuring a strong performance by Jessica Lange. He has been written about in the LA Times on many occasions, and featured o television and radio, as well. But, I thought you evoked some original answers and really had a special rapport with him. Very illuminating.”

Sigh…yet another contest for unpublished novelists has been announced. Lest you think I am recommending this contest, I am not. I’m cautioning you about this contest and all contests that charge reading fees.

The very wonderful short story writer Ron Carlson (and contest judge) said that contests do one thing: They get you out of bed.

But they do little else. Because they get you and every other aspiring writer out of bed to write, the competition is fierce. So you send off your story or your chapters with your fee and you wait and hope and wait.

Many contests don’t even have to award the prize if the readers feel that no one qualifies.

Listen, it’s hard to publish fiction, but it’s still possible. Look at all the novels coming out, all the short stories. You do need a combo of great writing and sheer good luck. Doesn’t hurt if you have some great publication credits or a famous writer who knows and loves you.

But contests, they make you feel like something is happening when nothing necessarily is.

If you insist on submitting to contests, though, search out the good ones. Look on the acknowledgment pages of novels for the names of contests that the author is thanking. And then make sure your story or novel exerpt (or entire novel) is stellar–as stellar as you can possibly make it. Those first paragraphs/pages mean so much.

Deborah’s comment yesterday got me thinking about phases my reading has traversed.

In high school I read a few books of merit, but mostly I read–um–trash. One title was Swing High Sweet Pussycat. I suppose it was romance. Amazon doesn’t list it so who knows. Toward the end of high school and in the years between it and college, I read essays (Paul Williams–the writer, not the singer), Jack Kerouac and the Beats, bought Swann’s Way by Proust though I never finished it, and tried to read Rod McKuen but it didn’t work. I read The Prophet and lots of books about California, especially Haight Ashbury. I wanted to travel to L.A. and do Primal Scream therapy, but I was too young. (Remember Janov?) I read books on gestalt therapy and read Jung.

At Goddard, I discovered Raymond Carver, the poet Stephen Dobyns, Michael Ryan (whom I later came to know), and the magical realists. Borge struck a chord. So did James Baldwin. I loved all of his novels, especially Giovanni’s Room. I loved Margaret Atwood’s Edible Woman and Surfacing. I admired Virgina Woolf and I believe I wanted to be her, though her writing wasn’t my favorite. Henry James’ Portrait of a Lady I liked very much.

Later, Terry McMillan’s first novel Mama impressed me, and so did Clarence Major’s first novel (he’s mostly known as a poet), Such was the Season. Joan Didion.

Then writers like Amy Hempel and T. Jefferson Parker (my favorite crime writer) and Don DeLillo came onto the radar screen. And now….now there are too many to mention. I’ve made lists on my Web site, penonfire.com and at Readerville.com, on my author’s page, but they are inconclusive lists because they just keep growing. I just finished Lolly Winston’s Happiness Sold Separately and LOVED it.

I hate writing about my favorite books because as soon as I say what one is, another pops up.

What are you reading and how has your reading changed over the years?