MY HANDPRINT

By Dennis Lantz Every moment of every day I strive to appreciate life. Small moments, like strolling barefoot through wet grass, witnessing the movement of smoky gray clouds or taking notice of a million beautiful details lift the spirits and bring us closer to the four cornerstones of happiness… love, joy, peace and purpose.  I haven’t posted anything for a few months, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been working or productive. I put my agent search on hold for a very important reason. It is difficult to get an agent to look at a first novel when it is 145,000 words. That is simply too long. Their immediate thought is that the writer lacks the editing skills to cut the excess baggage from the story. Even if the writing is good – and I don’t doubt that mine is – production costs alone merit fewer words. And I am certain that even by editing it again, it would not be possible to get down to 80,000 and develop characters or keep the plot as written. But I have a pl...

By Dennis Lantz The process of writing a story seems speedy compared to what comes after. A first time novelist, which is what I am, must answer some basic, but important questions and resolve specific details in order to be properly prepared. Obviously the most significant factor is that the manuscript needs to be complete and in a state as close to publishable as possible. When I started My Handprint, I believed my mutation story was ready. I was wrong. It was a lengthy 171,000 words which would probably dissuade an agent or publisher from taking a closer look. Now it is revised, refined and still a robust 145,700 words. But it is so much better for the loss. Self-publishing or finding an agent and publisher? I am not averse to self-publishing in general. As I said before, I may take that road for Zander’s Tale . But I want to establish myself as a writer and the best way to do that, I believe, is to find an agent who can sell my work to a publisher. The process is not...

Do you remember how we lived before social media sites became such an integral part of our lives? Instead of broadcasting our daily details via our smart phones, wifi-glasses, Dick Tracy watches and other devices of which I am blissfully unaware, we went on computer forums to seek out those with similar interests. As best as I can recollect, these were called chat rooms. I didn’t go into chat rooms. I was primitive. I was more into ancient technology like atlatls and flint knapping than all the modern stuff. Tanner reflected those thoughts in his articles. The following was written in 2005, not long after meeting my awesome future wife. For the record, we did not meet in a chat room, but we did email a considerable amount. If you don't remember email, watch the movie You've Got Mail with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. This will explain everything.     I Have A Big Cranium by Tanner Z. Landsight (Oct. 2005) I like a sense of the absurd. I enjoy putting two or m...

It is winter. The snow drifts are deep along Rink Road and I bide my time thinking about spring and summer. Yesterday, due to the weather, I was unable to make it to work . The power was off for five or six hours and I had time to think. Here is some of what I thought about: I appreciate electricity. I enjoy lights and heat and microwaves and flushing toilets. I am not as good at leisure as I used to be. I sat in my basement and read a few chapters of the first Harry Potter book and couldn't get past the feeling that I should have been at work or doing something 'more productive.' Tanner wasn't like that. I know he appreciated modern conveniences, but he lived in the moment. If he had been snowed in, he would have been outside building a snow fort or strapping on a pair of snowshoes to take a walk. If he sat down to read, he would not have let his thoughts drift to other projects. Reading would have been productive enough. Here is a Tanner article that ...