Writer Christina Katz did a Q&A with me for her online zine, Writers on the Rise. I continue to meet exceedingly lovely people since Pen on Fire came out a year and a half ago–one of the major perks in publishing, I have to say.

It’s not that I have too much time on my hands. And I’m much too serious for things like this (ha!). I admit, I’m taken in by tests and quizzes, and I take them, as if they wiIll uncover something about myself that I didn’t know. Well, I didn’t know that if I were a Muppet, I’d be Kermit. Here’s the Muppet Personality Test. Who are you?

You Are Kermit

Hi, ho! Lovable and friendly, you get along well with everyone you know. You’re a big thinker, and sometimes you over think life’s problems. Don’t worry – everyone know’s it’s not easy being green. Just remember, time’s fun when you’re having flies!

A student, friend and talented writer, Marrie Stone, emailed me yesterday morning, concerned with something she heard talked about on a publishing panel she recently attended.

She said, “Basically, the message was that even if you write an amazing book, it’s no longer enough. People are no longer buying or reading much literary fiction (or fiction in general). And when they do, they do so because there’s a big name behind it or something compelling about the writer: the writer has a TV show or has otherwise marketed herself to a fair thee well. Of course, they said, there are exceptions. But unless a publisher thinks it will be a blockbuster book, they don’t have the resources for the little guys anymore. There seem to be plenty of examples to the contrary, so I don’t know how much weight to give it all. But it wasn’t a feel-good panel. In fact, it so clouded my view of the weekend, that what usually is an inspiring and high energy event that makes me want to run home to my computer, really left me numb and depressed and caused me to leave the weekend early. I know these are the ups and downs of this business and it takes perseverance (which is certainly fine), but I was interested in your take on this and how much credibility to give the agents and publishers. If it is like they say, unless you’re one in two million, you’re wasting your time.”

I asked an agent I know about this, and she said: “Tell your student not to give it another moment’s thought. It does help to have a platform, and that’s not going to go away, but writing an amazing book still does get you somewhere. There aren’t that many amazing books around.”

I also ran Marrie’s quandary by my editor at Harcourt, Andrea Schulz, who said, “During my entire early years in publishing, everyone said, ‘No one gets to be an editor. Go into sales and marketing.’ And they weren’t wrong. But it’s what I wanted to do and I stuck with it until I did it. There are more novels written every year than there are people buying and reading them–all of us who’ve ever stepped into a bookstore know that’s just a fact–but if you know the worst and still have the drive to bring your stories to readers then you’ve got the passion that will help make you stand out. No, publishers can’t make your book a success without your help, you do have to be involved in marketing, but think of that as an opportunity–you can get to know your readers. Talk to clerks in bookstores. Ask them about themselves: Are they writers? What’s the last best thing they read? Be interested in them. Remember their names. Write them notes. Be as passionate about reading other people’s novels as you are about selling your own, then write to them to tell them how much you loved their work. It all pays off. I try not to think of the publishing industry as dire. All of us are still looking for the truly great book.”

So, the publishing industry may seem as if it’s in dire straits, but publishers are still buying books. The bar may be a bit higher than it used to be, but maybe that’s a good thing. There are a ton of bad books that get published and you gotta wonder about that, but great books do find their way into the right hands. And it’s like Andrea says, you’ve got to be passionate and driven to get your writing out there.

Aimee Bender’s most recent book is Willful Creatures. She’s been on my radio show; there’s a show archived at http://writersonwriting.blogspot.com. Here’s a short Q&A with Aimee:

BDB: Talk about how you create that fairy tale-like quality to your writing.

AB: It comes from an interest in words, in those words that are the building blocks of myth and fairy tales: castle, kingdom, moat, king, queen, dragon. I love those plain and vivid words and I’m always so delighted that I get to use them.

BDB: What were your favorite books as a kid, and what do you read now?

AB: I read a ton of fairy tales, and all the books, like The Phantom Tollbooth, Narnia, and L’Engle books, that were about another land, an alternate place. The adult versions of those books have been great to read too– I read a wonderful book recently, by Edward Carey, Observatory Mansions, and Murakami’s books are like that, and Isabel
Allende and GG Marquez create these shimmering, scary places that are real and magical at once.

BDB: You teach at University of Southern California. How do you teach writing?

AB: My main desire, as a teacher, is to push each writer more towards him/herself, to egg them towards particularity. I do think that’s where the real juice is, and where a writer can tap into something that ends up feeling more expansive. What does that writer really want to write about? Not what they think will sound writerly, or fancy, but what are they actually interested in?

BDB: And how do you maintain your own writing schedule when you’re busy with students’ work?

AB: I work in the morning, two hours, that’s the law.

BDB: What are you working on now–or are you hush-hush about works in progress for fear (like many of us) of letting air out of the project?

AB: I’m fairly hush-hush. I’m working on a novel-like thing — how’s that for vague??

BDB: What is the one thing you’ve done for yourself–and maybe continue to do–to keep yourself going as a writer?

AB: A regular routine. I’m a firm believer in structure, and that once a structure or a routine is set in place, then the creative part can loosen up.

Greetings from the East coast. I’m back in Pennsylvania, outside Philly, after a weekend in NYC at the ASJA annual conference. Travis is downstairs watching I Dream of Jeanie in my old friend Phyllis’ lizard room (three cages with lizards) and we’re waiting for the clothes to dry before we take off for our last day in Southeastern PA.

The conference was wonderful (as usual). Hope some of you can make it next year. I’ve agreed to be co-chair, along with Trish Riley. Am I a glutton for punishment? you may be thinking. Do I really need one more thing to do? I will admit, partially it was Trish, this year’s co-chair, who wooed me. She’s a wonderful person and writer from Florida who asked and eventually got me to say yes. (It will be on the 3rd weekend of April, 2007; check out www.asja.org for eventual details. There you can order tapes from this year’s conference, if you want to see what it’s all about.)

I put together, and moderated, a panel about making books into movies. Karen Quinn, who wrote The Ivy Chronicles, which is being made into a movie with Catherine Zeta-Jones; Stephen Morrison, editor-in-chief and publisher of Penguin books; and literary agent Bill Contardi, were my panelists. It was standing room only–a great panel with a ton of information on how books (fiction and nonfiction) are made into movies.

NYC was fun, as usual, too. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt, where the conference takes place, which is right over Grand Central Station, making it easy to get around. My friend from high school, Carol Polite Sanford, came in (and spent Sat. afternoon with Travis; they went to the Central Park Zoo). Friday night we walked to Times Square and Saturday night we took the subway to Little Italy and ate at a little Italian restaurant.

We’ll be recapping the conference in The ASJA Monthly in coming months (read it at www.asja.org) and I’ll be reviewing tapes of panels.

Back to California tomorrow.

(Thanks, Bellakarma, for prompting me to post something about the trip!)

The black books on the mantel have been replaced by pink and green. One thing I learned: There are not many pink books in print, unless you read chick lit. When James Frey came on my show to talk about My Friend Leonard, he said he liked the pink cover because it played against the prison/bad guy motif (at http://writersonwriting.blogspot.com, you can listen to that show). Diane Leslie wasn’t happy with her second book’s cover Fleur de Leigh in Exile because she said it gave the wrong idea about the book, which is a mainstream/literary novel. It goes well here, though, doesn’t it?