When last I updated this message, the biggest thing in my writing and teaching career was the April 2005 Jack London Writers Conference (JLWC) and my presentation on "The Diligent Editing Process." Well, a month later, May 5th to be exact, I was offered the opportunity to start and run a fiction publishing house: KOMENAR Publishing. I only needed five minutes to agree to it, but I took a good twenty-four hours to say it out loud.

So what is KOMENAR Publishing? In late August you can go to the website (komenarpublishing.com) and find out all the details. Here I only want to share a bit, and I'll start with what this means to you and me.

I will continue teaching private and public classes. Both my Monday and Wednesday evening private classes will continue as before. Only my public classes will see changes.

• First, public classes will only be six-week courses now.
• I will still teach the Tuesday fiction writing class at Piedmont three semesters a year (Fall, Winter, and Spring).
• The Thursday fiction writing class at Lafayette Parks and Recreation will go on this Fall, but that will most likely be the last class I teach in that arena. (Special thanks to all of you who have attended and the wonderful Parks and Rec staff who have been my friends and supports.)

As for private students, I must now consider things like time, energy and conflict of interest. So each private student relationship and project will be set up only after considering those conditions. New private students will more likely than not be referred to wonderful people such as Frank Baldwin, Anne Fox and others whose writing, editing and professional work I know well. I will post on this website more information on this later this year.

KOMENAR Publishing means an incredible opportunity for me and for you to see talented writers with novels that I believe are great, fun and/or fascinating reads reach readers. In 2006, three such novels will come out, the first being Over the Edge, by Marc Paul Kaplan, in January. His book takes place in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in 1969 ... more information and an excerpt will be available at the KOMENAR website later in August. The other two novels will be announced September 1st, and three more will be announced for 2007 in January 2006.

Some of you are already wondering if we might consider your novel ... or at least what will be involved in submitting to KOMENAR. All that information will be on the website as well as short articles about and by first time novelists. I think you'll find that there will be much that is pertinent to your interests and concerns. KOMENAR hopes to offer good advice and opportunities to dedicated and talented writers.

So the academic year of 2005/2006 promises to be one of the most exciting of my life. And, besides all the "regular" stuff covered above, I will be doing other things as well. The Marin Branch of the California Writers' Club has invited me to a one-day workshop on editing in October. (Check their website for more information: www.cwcmarinwriters.com) And I'll speak on what you should know about small publishing companies at the Peninsula Branch CWC monthly meeting in January 2006. Yes, I believe in CWC. So check out the main website at www.calwriters.org for information about all aspects of the California Writers Club.

As for this website, I intend to update information at least twice a year and maintain materials here on writing, classes, workshops, announcements about my own and other people's work and successes. You can always contact me, just as before. I am not going into any kind of seclusion, though I have noticed already that my intensity and focus on good writing has increased. I have learned a great deal about where teachers and editors think their responsibilities end and what they need to know about publishing versus what a real-life publisher things and knows to put out a great and successful book. Perhaps I will write that "memoir" some day. But as of right now that book will be about this stage of my life. And, because it will be nonfiction, I too will have to find an agent and a publisher. KOMENAR doesn't publish nonfiction!

Sincerely,
Charlotte Cook

Here's the first page from the JLWC editing handout. I'm keeping it on the website because I have been told that the information is helpful:

Editing is a discipline, and the word doesn't conjure up anything fun. You ask yourself: What did I do wrong? What am I doing wrong? And, if I don't figure it out, will I ever get published? You figure that all those (mean and disrespectful) comments people write on your manuscript or say in workshop are now the very things you are supposed to determine for yourself. Then, after that, you have to fix all those problems yourself. So, that's why editing is so intense and so frequently unsatisfying.

However, editing can also be rewarding and even fun. Editing can become a kind of game in which you succeed because you know the rules and have the necessary skills and strategies. This from someone who thought discipline meant getting punished and self-discipline, punishing yourself.

I often think of my friend Donna who practiced the piano for two hours each day. My mother said that was discipline, and I needed some. So I thought about what a miserable two hours for Donna every day. Practicing chords on the keyboard while a metronome swung back and forth above her head, beating out a taskmaster-like rhythm. But Donna didn't see it that way at all.

Finally I asked her why she enjoyed those two hours every day. "It's not the two hours," she said. "It's learning to play the music to the rhythm of the metronome. It's hard work, but I love it. The music makes it all worthwhile."

Well, editing is the same thing. It's learning to use the right skills and strategies to bring out the best qualities of your story, of your characters, of your talent. So, since you are here today, you must want to find the "music" in your writing.