A student asked:

“When do you know when you’re ready to write a book?”

Most new writers, I think, start with short pieces–essays, articles, short stories. There’s the gratification of starting and finishing. Jumping into a book length manuscript takes a ton of commitment and new writers don’t know how committed they are, generally. It’s a little bit like running: Before you run a marathon, you will run around your neighborhood, run longer routes, and get in shape before you attempt a marathon.

You may find, in writing short pieces, that you want to say more, that short pieces are, well, too short. That’s when you know.

Or you have a burning passion to tell a story that needs more room than a short piece can offer.

My short stories became longer and longer, which is when I knew it was time for a book. I still write short pieces, but I always seem to need a book-length project in the works.

What about you, out there? When did you know it was time? Or do you remain loyal to the short form?

Marrie Stone moderates a poetry panel with Linda Pastan, author of Queen of a Rainy Country, Martha Serpas, author of The Dirty Side of the Storm, and Lisa Williams, author of Woman Reading to the Sea.

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(Broadcast date: November 5, 2008)

Today my guest will be Julia Glass, author of I See You Everywhere. Tune in at 9 a.m. Pacific at KUCI-FM, 88.9 in Orange Co., CA. Listen via iTunes at Public radio, or at www.kuci.org.

Podcasts of past shows can be heard here.

Thanks for listening!

Marrie Stone interviews Stephen Baker, author of The Numerati and Padma Viswanathan, author of The Toss of a Lemon

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(Broadcast date: October 1, 2008)

Has everyone been reading the paper, listening to the news and the online reports about the publishing biz?

My publisher, Harcourt, now merged with Houghton Mifflin to be Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, has a six month moratorium on buying new manuscripts. Whoa, Nellie,

There’s been a shake-up at Random House, too.

Publishing has been circling the drain for some time and the gurgles are becoming louder.

All this talk of bailouts–what about publishing? In my view, books are more important than cars and lots and lots of people are employed in the publishing industry. Why aren’t publishers going to Washington?

Maybe I just don’t understand politics. If I were a publisher, that’s where I’d be headed.

New books are more important (to me) than new cars.

An editor came on my show last year and said too many books were being published, but how could publishers stop publishing–it’s what they do: publish books.

If anything should slow down, it should be self-published books. Except for a rare few, I would venture to say no one reads self-published books, except family and close friends. I’m harsh, I know.

Yet, I’m still cranking, making progress on the umpteenth revision of my novel. I can’t stop because publishing looks dismal. When I’m writing, I keep those dire reports away.

When I was pushing ahead with Pen on Fire, agents told me writing books didn’t sell. Lots and lots of days and nights, sitting alone, being anti-social, writing and wondering if I would ever see the fruits of my labor. I’m here to say it was worth it. A pretty good deal, and a book that’s in the 7th printing.

Writers write. What a cliche that’s become. And yet it’s so very true. You’ve got to have hope. Writers are a hopeful lot. Without hope, you would put down your pen, close up your computer, and do something else.

Meanwhile, is anybody talking publishing biz bailout, and if not, why not?

An article in today’s New York Times puts things a bit more in perspective, especially after yesterday’s report in the Wall Street Journal that my publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, is putting a freeze on acquiring new manuscripts, for at least six months.