Michael Janairo

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Category: Writing

  • The writing game is a waiting game

    When I was in college, my friends and I often joked about the life of being of writer, especially the low pay, imagining a scenario in which a publisher would say something like  … “Great story. Here’s a dollar. What else ya got?”

    What we didn’t talk about was all the waiting that goes along after sending stories out, and the sometimes in-between emails that can come it.

    So on March 17, I got an email from a writers contest telling me of my status in the contest. I was told my story wasn’t lost, that others had been told they hadn’t won, and some had gotten Honorable mentions, but that I was in the “hold” category — which I had never knew existed. The thing is, in one of the write-ups announcing the contest, it had said that winners would be notified around the end of March, so I wasn’t expecting to hear anything — certainly not as soon as March 17. (more…)

  • A few words to a young writer about arts journalism

    I was recently interviewed via email by a high school student interested in arts and entertainment journalism. Here are some of the questions and answers:

    Q: What different professions have you held in order to get where you are now?
    A: I had a journalism internship at the Bellingham Herald in Bellingham, Wash., when I was still a college student majoring in journalism, but I also taught English in Japan, edited a phone book, worked as a copy writer for an advertising agency, and worked as a copy editor at a newspaper before becoming the arts and entertainment editor, all the while I wrote freelance reviews of books, plays and concerts.

    Q: What classes did you take, throughout high school and college, to put you in a place to get the job you wanted?
    A: In my high school, I was on the honors track, meaning I got to take AP classes (history, chemistry, English, calculus), as well as other advanced-level class, but I also took theater courses throughout high school. In college, I was a journalism major, but also took many courses in political science, philosophy and English. In graduate school, I earned a master’s of fine arts in creative writing, but also studied Japanese language and culture.
    (more…)

  • February 2014 Story of the Month

    Vote for The Duck! Do so before the poll closes on March 2, 2014.

    Bartleby Snopes Story of the Month

    The voting for the February 2014 Story of the Month is now open. Read all of the February stories and then vote for your favorite. Voting will close on March 2nd. Please only vote once.

    The winning story will earn an automatic spot in the 12th Issue of our semi-annual magazine due out in July 2014.

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  • Update: The Duck on Bartleby Snopes now live

    Screen Shot 2014-02-22 at 12.43.38 PM

    UPDATE: Fresh new fiction from yours truly now live on Bartleby Snopes http://www.bartlebysnopes.com/theduck.htm

    I just got a note from the editor of the online journal Bartleby Snopes that my short story, The Duck, will be going live online next week at http://bartlebysnopes.com.

    So be on the lookout for the story AND be sure to stay tuned, because the story will be in competition for Story of the Month, with voting done online by readers just like you.

    I’ll have links to the story and to the voting site when they go live.

  • That was fun

    Today is my last day as a newspaperman.

    When I was a kid, I was a paperboy.

    When I was a college student, I was a journalism major.

    As an adult, I’ve done lots of different things (teach English in Japan, teach college writing courses), but for more than 15 years, I’ve been working in newspapers, with most of that time spent at the Times Union.

    Things change — and soon I will be the Assistant Director for Engagement at the Tang Museum.

  • New on Goodreads: Veterans of the Future Wars

    VFWCoversmAn anthology of military sci-fi that I am in — Veterans of the Future Wars — has just been added to Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20691034-vfw.

    If you haven’t already seen it, go check it out today. It is being put together by Martinus Publishing.

    Here’s what’s cool about the anthology:

    It’s military sci-fi about veterans, to honor veterans, and several of these stories were written by actual veterans. Read these tales to share in the adventure, the triumphs and tragedies, and if you like your freedom thank those who have served to protect it. 10% of all profits will be donated to Disabled American Veterans.

    Thanks!

  • My latest identity upgrade: ‘Goodreads Author’

    I just got this email from Goodreads:

    Hi Michael,

    Welcome to the Goodreads Authors program! We have upgraded your profile to an official author account. Your special status as a Goodreads Author gives you greater access to the millions of readers in our Goodreads community—so expect to get to know some passionate book lovers!

    Here’s the link https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7796395.Michael_Janairo

    I haven’t done anything with it just yet, but this next step is all thanks to being listed as one of the authors of the Long Reads anthology.

    Anything you’d like to see on my Goodreads Author page?

     

     

  • A little bit about ZZ on his birthday

    A little bit about ZZ on his birthday

    ZZ (Times Union archive)
    ZZ (Times Union archive)
    I got to write a little bit about ZZ, our family dog who died a few years ago and whose ashes we have saved. The article is called “A human need to say farewell to pets,” and is more about readers’ comments on the web about a funeral home planning to offer pet funerals and cremations than about my dog. But it was nice to see his photo in the paper. You can see a video about ZZ here.

    Anyway, ZZ died a few months shy of his 19th birthday, about six months after the photo of him was taken.

    I’ve just been thinking about the little guy today and missing him.

  • How to write a bestseller with ‘stylometry’

    How to write a bestseller with ‘stylometry’


    Scientists say they’ve uncovered the secret to writing a bestselling novel. By using a process called “statistical stylometry,” which basically means data mining an overload of printed matter — in this case 40,000 books and film scripts — to find patterns of wood usage.

    The Stony Brook University researchers say that books that used more conjunctions (and, or, but) and thought-processing words, such as “recognized,” did better than books that had a higher percentage of verbs, adverbs and foreign words.

    Do you believe them?

    Here’s a quote from one of the researchers, which gives a sense of what it means to write about research (and maybe a good example of how not to write a bestselling sentence (look at those action verbs and a verb of being, but then again there’s that all-powerful “and”).

    “Based on novels across different genres, we investigated the predictive power of statistical stylometry in discriminating successful literary works, and identified the stylistic elements that are more prominent in successful writings.”