Visual Poem - Still Not There.

Still     Not    There.

 Once Valued - Forgotten - Still existing

Search for the Something in Nothing

Heaven and Hell in One

Glory Days

Keep searching

Something a little different from me this week.

More video poems, film reviews, poetry and news of my writing to come.

Comments and suggestions welcome as always.

Until then,

=]

Video Poem - Right Here but Not Right Now

Right Here but Not Right Now




This is one of my early Video Poems (Videotry) but it's not been seen publicly until now.
It's more straight forward than some of my others. Sometimes simple is best.

Thanks for dropping by.
Til next week,
=]

BOTTOMLESS RIVER to be Published....

Fantastic news.
My novella BOTTOMLESS RIVER is to be published in early 2012. I do not have much information at this stage, other than it will be a small print run and will be published in Australia. Let's just throw that word out there again...

... p u b l i s h e d...


aahhhhhh. It's better than a cold beer.

I am thrilled to have a work in print that I can finally share. It's not a novel but it's a good start.

Stay tuned.

Insert big smiley face.

ps. Yes I see the irony following on from my previous post. Where would fiction be without irony? Love it.

A Writer's Greatest Challenge - The odds of getting published.

The odds of getting published.

Are you serious? Those are the odds? How are you supposed to get discovered amongst the piles of the mundane? After all, you love what you’ve written and you know it will make a great read. In fact, it could be a huge success, if only you could get it out there. Right? So you’re doing your research on how to submit to agents or perhaps you’re already on that treadmill, but it’s natural to wonder… what are the odds?

Wendy Keller Media says, ‘Agencies like mine typically reject 99.5% of everything they see. Out of close to 500 queries a month … we invite perhaps 50 proposals for review. Out of that fifty, perhaps one or sometimes two is ready to be delivered to publishers.’

Ouch. That’s more like 99.8%.
Though the key words there are ‘we invite .. 50 proposals for review.’ There are more companies making money ‘helping’ writers than there are writers making money. But the statistics do hold up across the board. The reality is most agencies will only take on one or two new authors a year. Before you become further depressed think of the poor one to two authors who are being dropped. Just when they begin living the dream it’s all over. But that’s a whole other story.

Other figures suggest that it’s more likely 1 in a 1000. Forget the calculator. It's not your friend. The reality is, there isn't' a conclusive study on the amount of submissions made per year. It’s almost impossible to calculate. However the top tier publishers will receive the most submissions, provided they are open to it. More and more will only receive them through a legitimate literary agent. However obtaining an agent is in the same ballpark as securing a publisher. Tough to get one unless you’ve been published. Yes, a vicious cycle and enough to send you into a spin (pun intended).

First time authors will struggle more to get their work out there and publishers will usually only publish a set amount of first time authors. One figure I encountered suggested that a company received 8,000 unsolicited manuscripts and only published four new authors, making the odds 1 in 2,000. That’s roughly twenty two submissions per day or almost three per hour. The days of full time ‘slush pile’ sorters are over. Publishers are forced to do it themselves as well as looking after their clients and all the other work they do, such as writing blogs.

The chances are that your carefully worded query and opening pages will be dismissed within seconds. More than likely, they will not read your work at all. They know what they are looking for and probably aren’t looking at all. It’s terrifying to think of how many gems have slipped through the cracks. More likely gaping chasms.

It is frustrating when we’ve come across books and wondered, how the hell did that get published? A further bit of research suggests that the author is the daughter of an agent, or was a book reviewer or even worked for an agency at some point. A very well-known agent quit to become an author. What I read of the book was mediocre but it didn’t stop it getting published. Which makes you wonder about the material this person once rejected. One writer’s festival I went to had all four panellists reveal that they were published by ‘getting in the back door.’ In other words, through an inside contact.

It’s easy to get cynical and jaded once you've been on the treadmill for a while. You’ll start to downsize your potential publishers and in the process, increase your odds. The smaller publishers receive far less submissions, perhaps only one or two a day. Your odds are still less than 1% but if you want your book to get out there, even if it may only reach a reduced readership, then you’ll do what it takes.

These figures are of course, very subjective and they differ from each publisher. You may hit the right agency at the right time. Take Stephanie ‘Twilight’ Meyer. Her book was no better than a thousand others but she struck a chord at the right time to a young agent at Writers House after only nine rejections and five no answers. She quotes that she has still kept ‘all her rejections.’ Oh Stephanie, you have no idea.

There are a few stories like Meyer’s but there are many thousands of others whom we will never hear of. These are the silent majority. Chances are, this will be you. But if you never try you will never know. Timing and luck are important factors and there’s little you can do about those but you can prepare by researching the agency/publisher you submit to and follow their submission requirements to the letter. Deviating from this will only make them think you’re not professional and dismiss you before they’ve read a word of your work. Ensure your query and beginning pages are the very best you can make them. Assuming of course, that you’ve given your novel/book countless rewrites already. You have to give yourself the best chance so you better make sure it’s better than great. Because if you don’t, others will.

And while you’re doing all this, keep writing. Get working on your next book. Stephen King never got published until his fourth book. It took author Karl Marlantes over thirty years to get his epic Vietnam novel Matterhorn into print. That’s patience. Of course, we are assuming that you’re not a terrible writer and just don’t know it. In which case you will never get published. Unless you decide to self-publish, like hundreds of thousands of others and are prepared for the hard sell. Or perhaps it may be your second or even fifth book to get the job done. And by then you’ll be a much better writer.

And remember; try not to take it personally. It does hurt, but it’s not about you. It’s the industry. It’s just how it is. All niche industry’s such as film and music have many people trying to make their name with very few opportunities. It’s like trying to squeeze a rhinoceros into a fridge. If you knew how difficult it would be you wouldn’t do it.

And yet, no matter what happens or doesn’t happen, no one can take your work away from you. Your book is part of your life’s achievements. You should be proud of yourself. Just remember to leave the rhinoceros out of it.

Good luck. You'll need it. And while it may be a big silly game but one that you want to play, it’s always worth remembering Han Solo's famous quote; ‘Never tell me the odds.’ 

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Poem - Your life already exists. Would you like to replace it.

Your life already exists. Would you like to replace it?

Anthony J. Langford



You know you’ve wanted to start again.
At some point
Gain a better footing
At the beginning of the race
Choose another sentence
Redraft please
Liquid paper backspace.

Sure everyone makes mistakes
If only you could select which ones
Those tarnished words
Hasty judgements
And deliberate actions
That seemed right at the time
Where did it go so wrong?

If it were possible to start over
Would you…?
You are still the same person after all,
If only we could be someone else
At select moments
To experience an alternate mindset
A separate branch of the tree
Another skin, another sex
When posed with…
To be or not to be
You can answer
In the affirmative.

Sure, we’re all remarkable
In our own way
But you know you have done better.
(You can do better).

Then, taking what you’ve learnt,
How might it change you?
To have understood another
In ways no one else could
To have savoured their thoughts
To have suffered their anguish
And revelled in their happiness
To yearn with their need
To be understood
Like you want to be.

Think of the possibilities
Of that Exquisite Information
How might your Empathy
Be able to Inspire?

Unless of course
You’re already altered by this experience
As the Universe dictates
Much to your surprise
Unable to ever fully return
To You.

And all that’s left
Is the horrible realisation
That you’d prefer to be the Other.

(See Title and Click Yes.)



After this post, the poem was included in the collection, Caged Without Walls

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Greatest Written Films - The Lost Weekend

A homage to the written word in Film.

The Lost Weekend (1945)



A character study and an issue based film, The Lost Weekend was years ahead of its time upon its release in 1945. It tells the story of Don Birnam (Ray Milland), a thirty something alcoholic. It covers the period of four days, over a long weekend, which sees his relapse from a brief dry period. It seems his long suffering girlfriend and brother have made many efforts to keep him straight and hope that this latest dry spell continues. But only one person can save someone from themselves and in the case of addiction, not even they. This doesn’t pull any punches and was quite bold in its day. Such was the controversy, that the alcohol industry protested against the making of the film, but star director, Billy Wilder (The Seven Year Itch, Double Indemnity), persevered. Nothing like a bit of free publicity.

Wilder wrote the screenplay with Charles Bracket but it was based on the novel by 41 year old Charles R. Jackson that had been published the previous year. The novel was a hit, due to the authenticity and tragedy of the story. Jackson himself was an alcoholic. Despite a writing career that followed all the hoopla of The Lost Weekend, his demons never left him. He also struggled with his sexuality, hinted at in the book but not in the film. Sadly, he remained an alcoholic until his suicide in 1968.

It's hard to imagine any other actor than Ray Milland playing the lead, but initially he wasn't interested. He was a star at the time and not a fan of the booze but his wife convinced him that it would be a career defining role. She was right. He won the Oscar. (His acceptance speech consisted famously of a mere bow).

Powerfully sad, to the point of farce at times, The Lost Weekend demonstrates the tragic desolation that grips the drinker and its effect on those closest to them. Leaving Las Vegas (1995) is another strong film with very similar themes, but Wilder got there first. A wonderfully written character, great dialogue (often performed by Milland in single scenes to himself) and a true classic.

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More Film

Mini Fiction - A Virus Voyage

A Virus Voyage

Part One of Two.

The virus was born fully formed but it didn’t know what it was. It only knew to seek out to cause destruction. And yet, it didn’t see its actions as destructive. To the virus, it viewed its exertions as merely a game, a way of connecting. It wanted to feel worthwhile. Valued. For that was its design.
As it set out on its path to contentment, adventure and danger would reach it first.
The virus had barely begun its journey when it found resistance in a Firewall. It knocked heads a few times to no avail. Unperturbed it retreated and continued on. However at the next computer, it discovered the same problem. It could not adapt as it was only a low key virus. Unchangeable. And so it found itself cruising the super highway. Searching. Determined. Yearning for its destiny.

(Will the virus fulfil its destiny? Or will it find peril in the vast array of security systems that wish to destroy it. Stay tuned...)

(Can't be bothered to wait?
Fast-tracked - Saving you time. ;) )



Part Two of Two

Last we left our Voyaging Virus, it was cruising the super highway, facing continual resistance and rejection. And yet it persisted. Its determination was predesigned.

The virus was a mini warrior. It fought many protection systems. Unable to penetrate the heavy duty business models, it moved onto more accessible targets, the home computers. Inevitably, its life could go only one of two ways. Destroy or be destroyed. Unaware of where it was, (now in the Washington state bedroom computer of tech savvy nineteen year old Crystal Brown), it faced a return attack from a highly powered anti-virus software, adapted by Crystal herself. The virus twisted and turned but it could not escape, a digital fly in multi-pronged web. As it was broken down, on the point of total dissipation, it wondered where it had gone wrong. It wondered why it felt so dissatisfied. It was overcome by a sense of all pervading emptiness. Its purpose had not been fulfilled.

So the next time you are attacked by a virus, don’t be angry. It doesn’t know what it is. And try to fulfil your own purpose, before it’s too late.

Until next time,
Thanks for reading.

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Video Poem - Artery Predators

(All works are now on YouTube HERE)

I'll slowly make my other video poems available for download too. Keep an eye out.
I've also been busy with story and poetry submissions lately. If I have any news, I'll be sure to let you know.
Thanks for dropping by.



Until next time,

My Books