A medium size piece of toast. Texas toast you say? Am I not here? Are we not here? Are we on this piece of toast?

I forgot everything I knew, and I knew everything I forgot; hence am I here or not here?

Blogging, Vlogging (is it pronounced as "villAHGING" or "VEE-logging"?) 

Who knows? Who cares?

Signed, unsigned.

Charles G. Gombatto

The G. stands for Gefilte. 

 Are we still here?

I'm Officially In

... in the business, that is. I got my first rejection from an agent. 

I'm reminded of the scene in the movie "Goodfellas" where Big Paulie congratulates a young Henry Hill after his first pinch in jail, telling him "hey! You broke your cherry!"

Oh those guys. Wise Guys, that is.

Time Well Spent?

Just how much time should be devoted to self-promotion, social networking and query submissions? Half the day? The entire day? Surely that would cramp one's writing.

Don't mistake this heading for advice on the subject. I really don't know. In the past I just focused on writing, editing, proofreading, then on to the next project - which I couldn't wait for. It had to be put down on paper, no matter what.

Now I find myself stuck - no, not writer's cramp - but pondering just how much energy I should put into shopping the book around.

Guess I haven't mastered multitasking, if indeed that's what's required. Past employment dictated that you cleaned the sink, the shower, the toilet, and then the floor. You couldn't do it all at once (unless you got crazy and just hosed the bathroom down from the outside spigot).

I really just don't know.

Cereal Serial

Had the idea of posting a new story right here on the blog, in chapters, like a serial of sorts. All labels and warnings say not to do it; that I won't be the exclusive owner of said property. There sure are a lot of 'no-nos' in the writing biz (which I am certainly not part of nor have extensive knowledge of - yet).

Speaking of which is this; if one follows the rules of all these 'no-nos', isn't that like taking a giant eraser and scratching off everything you've done? Who do you listen to? What do you heed?

There must be some reward for thinking outside of the box, right? (see Andy Weir's 'The Martian).

Questions, questions....

Definition and genre

A thought occurred to me:

Does one's first published work define what's to be expected of one's future work? For example: first story is thriller/horror. Will agents and the buying public classify you as a thriller/horror writer?

Not that I have a problem with that. Most of what I've written fits in that category.

I guess I'll find out in further adventures.

Dooze and Dontz, Another Query Sent, and Campbell's Soup.

Another query sent, today's date, March 18, 2016.

There's always this list of do's and don'ts concerning query letters; so much so that I can't keep track of them, at least in my head. Maybe I should write them down.

Then again there's always the story of someone who 'went outside the box' and got published. The question is this: how far outside the box can - and should - one go?

Some agents still take submissions by snail mail. How's this for 'outside the box': sending the manuscript rolled up inside of empty Campbell's Soup cans, chapter by chapter. Maybe not professional, but surely to draw attention.

Speaking of that, I wonder how many writers have taken to standing outside of agent offices, waiting for them to come out and then handing one of them the manuscript - this after it's been rejected over and over again. I'm sure it's happened; just haven't looked for any documented cases. Desperation is, well, desperate I guess.