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LIFPC Update #1

October 23, 2007 by Nathan Bransford 40 Comments


Me at 8:36 Pacific Time.

Filed Under: Contests Tagged With: contests

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Laurel Amberdine says

    October 23, 2007 at 3:50 am

    Nice Macbook Pro. 😀

    Reply
  2. Anonymous says

    October 23, 2007 at 3:54 am

    Nathan, a side question if you will…please?

    Us newbies hear that our first novel should be 100,000 words, agent query says 80 to 100,000.

    how do we know what is right or what is wrong, is there a magic #, or formula? thanks for your time.

    Reply
  3. Nathan Bransford says

    October 23, 2007 at 3:55 am

    laurel-

    Actually it’s a PowerBook G4 with more dents than used pick up truck, but I definitely love it. We’ve been through quite a few queries and partials, this old computer and me.

    Reply
  4. Nathan Bransford says

    October 23, 2007 at 3:55 am

    anon-

    I’m not really a word-count stickler, so you’re asking the wrong guy. I always say, if it works it works.

    Reply
  5. Anonymous says

    October 23, 2007 at 3:57 am

    thanks, for the time to answer my stupid question.

    Reply
  6. Karen Duvall says

    October 23, 2007 at 3:57 am

    Gotta love a Mac…

    Anyway, regarding the photo, that are you eating? More to the point, drinking? Looks like the hard stuff, man. I imagine you’re prepping for reading all those graphs, lol! You have your job cut out for you. 8^)

    Reply
  7. Ello says

    October 23, 2007 at 4:02 am

    Nathan,
    Chinese food, donuts and Captain Morgan’s! That is a power dinner! After opening up the floodgates might I suggest a bottle of Tums on the side?

    Cheers!

    Reply
  8. Ozal says

    October 23, 2007 at 4:08 am

    Captain Morgan?

    Nathan, you seriously need to be bribed by an Australian. Preferably a Queenslander. Bribe of choice, Bundaberg Rum. For a competition like this, only a 40oz square bear will do.

    Captain Morgan. You are ruining your image. Sigh.

    Reply
  9. Nathan Bransford says

    October 23, 2007 at 4:09 am

    Ozal-

    Believe me, this isn’t typical behavior (I prefer bourbon), but sometimes you have to make do with what you got.

    Reply
  10. Ozal says

    October 23, 2007 at 4:17 am

    Yeah, I know it. That’s how I came to discover how dreadful Captain Morgan is…

    (I’d routinely send Bundy with query letters, but I suspect it wouldn’t make it past customs. And I mean leaving Aus, not entering the US!)

    Reply
  11. Nathan Bransford says

    October 23, 2007 at 4:21 am

    Ozal-

    Now THAT’S what I call a query letter.

    Reply
  12. midnight oil says

    October 23, 2007 at 4:30 am

    one of these things is not like the other…..half eaten hostess donut…..chocolat, msg and booze, long night?

    Reply
  13. jjdebenedictis says

    October 23, 2007 at 5:07 am

    Would some adulation and grovelling gratitude help make it better?

    *grovel, grovel*

    *genuflect*

    You are awesome, Nathan.

    ♥

    Reply
  14. cathellisen says

    October 23, 2007 at 5:21 am

    So now you’re the pirate agent?

    It’ll take more than one bottle to get you through the paragraph entries, however.

    Reply
  15. Other Lisa says

    October 23, 2007 at 5:30 am

    A bottle of rum and a plate of unidentifiable food…I’m getting a hangover just looking at this.

    Reply
  16. Curtastrophe says

    October 23, 2007 at 6:45 am

    Hahahhha! Great pic Nathan.

    Reply
  17. Luc2 says

    October 23, 2007 at 6:50 am

    LOL, great pic. Bourbon is better, indeed. The important thing is to avoid gin, to distinguish yourself from Miss Snark.
    Good luck with this great contest!

    Reply
  18. Roxan says

    October 23, 2007 at 7:01 am

    Don’t listen to all the anti Captain Morgan comments. My respect for you went up when I saw the bottle.

    Reply
  19. JJ Cooper says

    October 23, 2007 at 9:30 am

    Hi Nathan,

    New to your blog, although I check your posts over at AW. Heard about your contest and thought I’d give it a go. Good luck getting through all of the entries – you may need more Captain Morgan.

    JJ

    Reply
  20. Mrs. Revis says

    October 23, 2007 at 11:09 am

    Now we know it’s gin for Miss Snark and bourbon for Nathan…. if only I ran an ABC store, I’m sure I’d have an agent by now! 😉

    Reply
  21. Church Lady says

    October 23, 2007 at 11:19 am

    It’s obvious (from the orange graphic on your computer) that you’re only pretending to read the entries.

    🙂

    Okay, maybe I do feel a little sorry for you. A little….

    Reply
  22. Precie says

    October 23, 2007 at 11:30 am

    It’s only Tuesday morning, and there are 207 posts…not counting myspace, which I assume you’re including again too.

    Dude, you’re gonna need more liquor.

    Reply
  23. Kimber An says

    October 23, 2007 at 12:20 pm

    Do we get to vote on our favorite paragraphs? I like gerri’s. “…we haven’t had a backed-up loo since we left base.”

    P.S. Nice computer.

    Reply
  24. Heidi the Hick says

    October 23, 2007 at 1:01 pm

    “Actually it’s a PowerBook G4 with more dents than used pick up truck, but I definitely love it. We’ve been through quite a few queries and partials, this old computer and me.”

    As some one who’s just had to say goodbye to my darling G3 Powerbook (Mac Black) I wish you many long years with your dented pick up truck of a computer!

    (Is the rum there for enjoyment or toleration?)

    Reply
  25. Danette Haworth says

    October 23, 2007 at 2:30 pm

    Ha! So now we know how agents really live! The myth is true!

    Reply
  26. Dwight's Writing Manifesto says

    October 23, 2007 at 2:59 pm

    That is a great pic. Still laughing.

    Reply
  27. L.C.McCabe says

    October 23, 2007 at 3:21 pm

    Bourbon, eh?

    The worst bourbon I ever drank was Jeremiah Weed.

    It was basically done on a dare by a girlfriend of mine. Four of us were partying back home the night before Thanksgiving when the bar we were at closed, it was still early so we sought another watering hole.

    We found a dive.

    Lori spotted the label of Jeremiah Weed on the mirrored shelf behind the bartender and gave an audible groan.

    So we all had to try some, just to see how bad it was.

    It lived up to her billing.

    Oh, and for some reason we decided to test out its flammability. Not only did the shot of Jeremiah Weed burn like sterno, but the residue clinging inside the shot glass burned as well.

    Nasty. Of course maybe setting it on fire before drinking it negatively impacted the taste.

    Anyway, have fun with your contest.

    Linda

    Reply
  28. sex scenes at starbucks says

    October 23, 2007 at 3:34 pm

    Hey, at least our boy is eating!

    Reply
  29. Isak says

    October 23, 2007 at 3:53 pm

    I was hoping for a follow-up contest like this. It’s really a great opportunity to see a multitude of different writers and their styles.

    Thanks Nathan

    Reply
  30. Nathan Bransford says

    October 23, 2007 at 4:03 pm

    church lady-

    Actually that picture wasn’t staged. My fiancee looked at me said, “Um, someone should take a picture of you right now.” That someone was her.

    Reply
  31. JaxPop says

    October 23, 2007 at 4:30 pm

    So that’s what millionaire agents have for dinner. Hmmm… Nathan -The Captain Morgan doesn’t bother me – though I prefer Bushmills or Jameson Irish Whiskey – but you’re gonna hafta take a trip down here to Florida for some fresh caught shrimp (the size of your hand), some Mahi (blackened is best), & some artery clogging Hush Puppies!!! Me n’ Josephine & Isak from these parts could hook you & your fiancee’ up with some real food (with the promise that we won’t wave a MS in front of you). FWA conference is in November – great time of year for a visit! The contest is awesome – lots of great entries. Thanks for putting yourself through it all again.

    Reply
  32. Josephine Damian says

    October 23, 2007 at 5:29 pm

    Jaxpop! Count me in! But don’t be too surprised if I “just happen” to leave a few MS pages under Nate’s plate of seafood! lol

    Donald Maass is gonna be ambushed by me when he does an all day workshop in Bonita Springs in Jan.

    Enjoy the FWA con.! Me? I gotta work on term papers. 🙁

    Reply
  33. Nathan Bransford says

    October 23, 2007 at 5:32 pm

    jaxpop and josephine-

    Actually, the photo in my profile was taken at Toucan’s in Mexico Beach, FL (and I’m wearing a t-shirt from the Piggly Wiggly in Apalachicola). I’m a big fan of southern food! My arteries? Not so much.

    Reply
  34. Isak says

    October 23, 2007 at 5:44 pm

    jaxpop,

    Don’t forget pompano and blue crab, some of the best Florida seafood fare, with a nice, ice cold glass of anejo rum…

    Reply
  35. Dead Man Walking says

    October 23, 2007 at 10:58 pm

    Dang. Just when I start believing the myth that agents don’t make any money, I see this picture. I’ll bet you even buy your TV Guide off the newstand, too, eh?

    Reply
  36. Nathan Bransford says

    October 24, 2007 at 1:37 am

    dead man walking-

    Was it the cheap liquor that tipped you off? The leftover Chinese food? The three year old beat up computer?

    The pumpkins?

    Reply
  37. Chumplet says

    October 24, 2007 at 2:43 am

    Mmmmmm…. mashed potatoes.

    Reply
  38. Chumplet says

    October 24, 2007 at 2:45 am

    Hey, that’s my computer! The dent is on the left front corner.

    Reply
  39. Dead Man Walking says

    October 24, 2007 at 10:52 am

    None of the above – I think it was the donuts you were ignoring. Your posture in the picture makes you look like you eat them so often, you don’t even know you’re doing it. Eventually, I suspect you reached for another (with eyes fixated on your blog) and your hand grabbed an empty wrapper.

    Anyone who blows through donuts like that is never going to have any extra moolah for sailing trips to Catalina. You need to buy the boxes of donuts. Sure, they go stale faster, but they cost less per pound.

    Reply
  40. Bodyshop Girl says

    October 24, 2007 at 3:27 pm

    Carrie brushes her hair out of her eyes as she looks towards the tree line. she thinks back to the day she was taken to the darkness. In all her nightmares she never thought one would actually happen to her. Her body bears the scars from that fateful night when her innocense was so savagely taken from her. She looks up the sky as the breeze continues to blow. She closes her eyes and lets out a shallow sigh. Her nightmare is over and she must begin again.

    Reply

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Hi, I’m Nathan. I’m the author of How to Write a Novel and the Jacob Wonderbar series, which was published by Penguin. I used to be a literary agent at Curtis Brown Ltd. and I’m dedicated to helping authors achieve their dreams. Let me help you with your book!

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