The Next Great …
We all want to be the one. Some where deep in our hearts, no matter how altruistic we might feel our works,
Nobel Prize Baby!
Maybe it is just me. Maybe I am the lone dreamer left out there in the crowded literary landscape, one lone wolf among millions of trudging, do it for the dollar, dime store hacks. But, I doubt it. I have had the privilege of working with some stand out talent recently and I can not afford to be so self centered that I believe I am the only one writing for the bloody recognition. I want two things personally, a Nobel Prize for Literature and a Doctorate. And, the truth be told, I will trade the Doctorate for the Nobel Prize in a spittin’ second. I don’t know about you my dear Friends and Fans but I want to write a classic, or a “next great”, or a best seller. I want my literary prowess to be known far and wide and I know you do too.
Well, with that high handed idea in mind, and because I am such a nice guy, and such a busy Jr. Editor, I will step out and give you some more of my patented, “How to get published with Open Heart Publishing” tricks and tips. Last time we discussed this I gave you three steps on how to win us over. Now I am going to give you a few ways to jump from the short list to the finals.
My FIRST Word of Advice: Take the recommended changes to under careful consideration. Nothing worse than putting your creative foot down and finding yourself excluded entirely from the final published few. There are, believe it or not, some very good reasons for the suggestions your editors make. I used to have the defensive stance when it came to my work and, I can promise you, it wasn’t until after I gave a little that I started to gain a lot.
My SECOND Word of Advice: Show interest in your works success. I mean, come on, this one should go without saying. It’s your work and I know you are proud to see it in print. Don’t settle for being published. I know you want people to read your work and the work of the brilliant writers that made the cut along side you.Share your success. Take interest in the contest and work hard to be the winner of the coveted Open Heart Publishing book deal. The competition is stiff and I can tell you, the only way to win is to keep pressing forward.
My FINAL Word of Advice: Relax. Seriously, this may not be the first story you’ve had published and if it is the first it won’t be the last. Take this opportunity as a chance to learn how the be a better writer. Use it as an opportunity to hone your craft and pad your resume. Use this opportunity to grow your brand and get your name out there. And have some fun with it. Take the chance, do the work and prosper.
I want to be the “Next Great” and I know you do too. Don’t hesitate any longer. Send us your stories and let us see your talent. But Please, follow the Guidelines. Until next time.
Merry Christmas.
A Secret
Okay. I am probably going to get fired for this blog Buuuut … here we go. I am going to give away the secret to bribing your faithful Jr. Editor into fighting for your story. Yes, yes, please, hold your applause and questions until the end please. Thank you.
Ahhem … In three easy steps you are going to come one complete third closer to becoming published. Again I do this fo you at the peril of my position at Open Heart Publishing. Appreciate this effort to get you published and … well …
Step number one:
Follow the submission guidelines. They are very simple and easily found here.
Step number two:
Please have something of a viable story. I know this might sound like I am just blowing my Jr. Editor horn here, but no, really if you haven’t followed step number one, and then you send your absolute first draft on top of it; well, son, the chances of your piece being accepted by us become next to impossible.
And we, here at OHP bring you the infamous 3!:
If you want our vote, the one thing you can do is personalize your self. I’m not saying beg and grovel. That will just break my heart and MAKE ME HATE YOU! Ummm … sorry. however,
If you, dear submitter, humanize your self to us, and do it convincingly I will become Amateur Sucker Editor Extraordinaire. i will fight for you until the end.
There is, after I consider it, an adendum to this that I must, in good conscience, make you aware of. You will have to follow my blog’s my stuff and buy my stuff. Peace I am Your
Lunch With the Jr. Editor
Lunch Today
Today for lunch I made a tough decision. And no, it wasn’t a decision between pastrami on rye, or the famous Ruben, no this decision was about taste, and class. You see the place I went to eat is a forbidden place. It’s a place shrouded in accusation and innuendo and rumor. My friends laughed at me and made me feel the fool when I revealed that I still ate there. This place is supposed to be morally, if not physically of limits. I should, apparently, pretend to hate it as much as my friends and associates do. But the problem is, I don’t. I truly enjoyed my time there leisurely eating my lunch over a book. It reminded me of afternoons back when I worked waiting tables. The subtle sounds of light lunches frying and boiling in the kitchen, the muted conversations of split shifters on break enjoying their own lunches and bitch fests, and other patrons like myself all made me feel more comfortable about being there. They were familiar sounds but by far not the reason I made the choice to stop there today. I went because I love it. I always have loved it and I decided, while driving through late lunch/early off/heading in traffic that I was going to go on in. I decided that I wasn’t going to stop going just because it’s expected of me.
What place? I can hear you screaming at me. Well it’s Denny’s if you must know. I know some of you, ignorant as I was on the subject, may not know that the corporation had some legal issues with discrimination. In 1993 the corporation was faced with some tough issues over discrimination. They wound up settling for something like $54 million dollars. Was this an admission of guilt? Maybe so, maybe not. Some, like pappy11 from My3Cents.com and Professor Randall Dunham of the esteemed University of Wisconsin in his paper “Denny’s & Racism: These Issues Will Not Go Over Easy” claim the discrimination is ongoing. For more information you are going to have to Google the issue yourself. You are all big kids now. I’m not here to do your research; I am here to tell you a story …
… Where was I?
Oh yes, I am supposed to skip my favorite breakfast anytime joint because some joker in Deep South Screw Up ‘Ville got jacked up in the restaurant one night. If I was going to stop going anywhere due to perceived discrimination it would be that IHOP joint, not Denny’s. Denny’s has better food and a better menu. I like the place better and that’s just it. I can either go to IHOP or one of the “other” joints but I simply don’t want to. I like Denny’s and I didn’t realize until today how much. I was feeling so nostalgic I didn’t even order the breakfast I went in for, I decided to give them a chance and I tried the Buffalo Chicken Wrap. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it.
I solemnly vow that I will not turn my back on my favorite establishments, if I like it, because of something that happened to someone else in some far away Podunk burg. I will continue to take advantage of your delicious 2-4-6-8 menu as long as you continue to offer it during those lazy late lunch afternoons when everyone important is too busy to see me there. Because I like the breakfast and it gives me a comfortable, soothing place to write. Be ready dear friends and fans you may be treated to a few more lunches with the Jr. Editor courtesy of the fine folks at Denny’s.
Oh, P.S.:
Buy our books!
Davin Kimble-Jr. Editor
Doing the Dance
Hello everyone. It’s me … the new guy. I am sure that many of you are wondering who I am. I hope you all have visited my web sites, done your research and drew your conclusions; as all good writers should. I welcome your inquires and criticisms. You see, one of my guiding principles is being a better person today than I was on the day previous and, with much sweating and ponderous speculation I decided not to regale you with my greatness, instead I hope I can give you something I find much more important, how I see the art form we all share.
I see the art of writing much like I see the art of dance. Both are refined arts with years of preparation required before you are truly capable of producing a work of art. While the dancer spends hours in a studio practicing her steps, the writer spends hours spinning their words into sentences, those sentences into stories that grab, hold and dazzle the reader. I love that journey from the realization that the story is inside of you, to the finalization of the tale itself. You almost feel like you almost have to write “The End”, to close the door and free yourself to start again.
For me, there is no higher thing in a person’s life than to do something that has meaning to them. Many of us chase dreams, but few of us figure out that it’s better to put yourself in the path of your dreams so that they come to you. Your path, like mine is the path of the literate. It’s why you’re here; it’s why I’m here. The dance of the words across the page is just too mesmerizing to resist. So we don’t resist, we dance.
Here at Open Heart Publishing we are working to showcase the absolute best of those dances. We want to give our readers an experience that not only they will remember and tell their friends about, but one that they will return to on occasion. We want to create rainy day books, well thumbed and well loved tomes of “sacred texts”. In order to do that we realize that we have to work closely with our writers in order to produce a product that everyone can be happy with and proud of. We know, that this is not a dance we can do alone, this is an orchestra of creativity and it will only come together if we are all writing on the same page.
To that end, with the upcoming An Honest Lie Volume 2, we are going to be spending some time with the authors chosen for the book. We are going to find out some things about their craft, and the inspirations for their stories. We are going to find out what makes them dance across the pages one word at a time until the “The End”.
I hope you will stand by us as we move forward, turning Open Heart Publishing into a house you can rely on to provide you with quality literary entertainment, a serious and focused place you can trust your best work with, and a network that will work along with you to place all of us in the path of our dreams.
So, as I begin here with Open Heart Publishing, as we all continue into the great tomorrows in our lives, I would ask this of you, do your dance, incorporate it with ours if you can, if you dare to elevate yourself. With an open heart I welcome you all.
