Recently I’ve begun watching the television series 24. My local library had a couple of seasons on DVD, and I ended up going through marathon sessions (I just finished season five). Basically, when I get a new season, nothing else (reading or writing) gets done. I watch episode after episode. I can’t understand how people [...]
People reading 10.7% slower when reading on a Kindle as opposed to a print book, and 6.2% slower when reading on an iPad, according to a study released Friday by the Nielsen Normalcy Group. The study tested 24 readers using a story by Ernest Hemingway (the report doesn’t say which story), “because his work is pleasant and engaging to [...]
Social networking is a necessary evil. As writers, it’s one of the best ways to help promote our work. It’s also one of the worst ways to promote our work. Lately I’ve become rather bored with Facebook. I enjoy using Twitter so much more. With Twitter there’s a simplicity that is almost unexplainable. Basically, you [...]
A first novel, a coming-of-age story set in the South. The author is utterly unknown, has no academic or media affiliations, no Web site, no blog, no Facebook page, no Twitter account. She is shy. What’s a publisher and a publicist to do? In this case, the publisher is J.B. Lippincott. There’s no record of [...]
My Fellow Internet Blogging People: The most annoying thing about the Internet is once someone does something — like, say, a list — then everyone else has to bitch and moan and make up their own something — like, say again, a list — too. Of course, there was the New Yorker’s list, followed up [...]
Roxane Gay did a great post about etiquette and rejection over at the PANK blog. It reiterates the ongoing question of what makes a professional writer. Back when I helped edit Flesh & Blood years and years ago, I don’t remember getting that many angry replies to the rejection letters we sent out, if any. Maybe [...]
Last year I’d asked what makes a professional writer, and while there were a lot of different great responses, the consensus seemed to hinge on whether or not that particular writer acted in a professional manner. So now I want to ask what should a writer who acts in a professional manner do regarding negative [...]
Let’s talk about characters for a moment, shall we? Almost every story has them. They’re crucial. Without characters, there really isn’t much to propel the plot. Even stories that are “character-driven” have a plot of some kind, a story that is happening. So yes, characters are important. But what about character names? Oftentimes writers will [...]
Last week I received an interesting and well thought out e-mail from Simon Thalmann regarding Hemingway’s six-word story. In fact, the e-mail was so interesting and well thought out that, with Simon’s permission, I’m going to reprint a good chunk of it here: I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the “For Sale: Baby shoes, [...]
So what was the point of yesterday’s post besides a nice blast from the past? To give you an idea of how advertising have changed over the past twenty years. It’s different, yet in a way it’s the same. As our culture has evolved, so has the way companies try to sell us stuff we [...]
