I first heard this term back in the early days of dot-com, when I was out in Seattle for the AP covering Microsoft, Amazon and a plethora of startups burning through their cash and primed to flame out. These latter companies, always desperate for capital, never stopped asking for money from investors, honing their pitches down to a mere sentence or two. It’s what the marketing pros call the “elevator pitch” — the compelling pitch for your company, product or offering that can hook someone in the time it takes to ride in an elevator with your target.
Category Archives: Books
The elevator pitch
Thanks, 2011! Hello, 2012!
Have a happy new year! And no, the end of the Mayan calendar will not bring the apocalypse. Sorry.
It was a year ago today, on New Year’s Eve 2010, that I started this blog, so it seems fitting somehow to check back in a year later. When I started, I didn’t have an agent, and my first novel wasn’t really in awesome shape (though I thought it was a gem, of course). The blog was part of an effort to show that I could have a “social media strategy” as an author, thus making myself more attractive to agents and publishers.
What I’m learning from (failing) NaNoWriMo
In this case, I think the hare's winning.
So…what did I do this weekend? One soccer practice and two kiddie birthday parties, a rare dinner out for two, leaves raked, dangling tree limb removed (and wrist tweaked in the process), pork roast made, kitchen cleaned. Today I went to work, then came home and did some pre-Thanksgiving cooking (turkey brine, homemade herb butter, pecan pie). I’m wiped.
You may notice one missing item here — writing.
My first guest post, on writing with immediacy
I’m privileged to be guest posting over at Feliza Casano’s blog today. She’s a member of the University of Toledo Writer’s Guild and, it should be said, is doing a far better job of writing during NaNoWriMo than I am thus far.
Click here to check out the post!
And unto us a book is born
Happy Birthday, new book. May you grow up into something readable.
Today is the first day of the rest of your…book.
It’s odd, really. My first book was a very organic creation, one that was noodled over for years even prior to the process of writing it. I can honestly say I didn’t even pay attention to how many words I wrote per day. It just grew over time, with revisions blurring together in my head, if not in my filing system.
My NaNoWriMo book was merely a notion that was leapt upon by my agent, Sara. Her enthusiasm led me to try to find a way to do it, and then I remembered NaNoWriMo. I quickly outlined and developed the characters, and did everything else that I’d normally spend weeks and months doing.
It’s a contest! Follow me on Twitter and win!
Follow me on Twitter and win! (Button not included.)
That’s right, I’m doing a contest. As part of my NaNoWriMo participation, anyone who’s following me on Twitter by midnight (EST) on Nov. 30, 2011, has a chance to WIN. And it’s not Charlie Sheen-style winning either, which would indicate a mere gloss of confidence thinly masking immense personal loss and self-destruction. There are tangible prizes!
Keeping the keyboard busy
OK…so let’s recap. One book out on submission. The sequel in progress. A third book — completely unrelated — to do during NaNoWriMo. Plus blogging and tweeting, of course.
Speaking of Twitter, a big thank-you to all the recent followers. You are among the chosen, the early adopters. One day, you’ll be bragging on me like the guy who bought the first iPod when it was Mac-only. Meantime, if anyone wants to get a handle on the whole sailing-ships-in-space thing — and yes, I do crash one into a planet — I suggest hitting the About the Book link. You’ll find a short description and links to blog posts where I go a little deeper.
A novel in a month? Why not?
I’ll be the first to admit that the whole community of writers’ groups never appealed to me. Maybe it’s because of my journalism background, which required me to write quickly and accurately without a great deal of attachment to the words. Or because I managed to write a number of non-fiction business books without support groups or reading circles. Maybe I’m really just not the “writerly” type. Or I’m ornery. Whatever. Continue reading
Excel…a writer’s best friend?
Find this icon in your Start menu and get your plot in shape.
Got an e-mail from a friend in the great Pacific Northwest recently. He had seen my previous blog post, and mentioned the time he went to see Ridley Pearson, author of both adult crime novels and YA adventure books, at Third Place Books. I’d like to think I’m a disciplined writer, but apparently Ridley works on three novels at a time, going from one to the other and back with seeming impunity.
Now that takes organization. Possibly a certain level of insanity as well. But definitely organization.
I’m not going to write three novels at a pop. For one, I have a family and a day job. And I tend to be a very linear writer. I need to start at the beginning and finish up before going to something else. But it still takes organization — I need to know where the end is supposed to be so that I can finish in the right place, after all.
And for that, I use Excel. Continue reading
Beat to quarters! Run out the guns!
Patrick O'Brian's frigate brought to life...and I got to go aboard.
When you write fiction with a basis in historical fact, it’s one thing to do the research, quite another to experience something first hand. So while I pored over deckplans, rigging diagrams and various narratives about frigates of the late 18th century, all that effort paled in comparison to setting foot on the real thing.
Well…as close to the real thing as one can manage these days.
On Sunday, I stepped aboard HMS Surprise, formerly the HMS Rose, a replica of a 28-gun English Royal Navy frigate currently docked at the Maritime Museum of San Diego. If Surprise sounds familiar, she should — she was the star of Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, alongside Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany. And that movie was based on the works of Patrick O’Brian, who brought the Napoleonic Era Royal Navy to life through his Aubrey/Maturin books. Continue reading
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Michael J. Martinez 