Writers and JK Rowling Envy

BBC NEWS | Magazine | JK Rowling, the new Roger Bannister

If asked whether I suffer from the condition commonly known as JK Rowling Envy, I can't say no.

Like any other writer who is not JK Rowling, I can't say no because my teeth are so tightly gritted in a smile of good sportsmanship that tiny fragments of enamel are given off into the atmosphere, and if I opened my mouth any further a long howl of anguish would be released, tapering into a convulsive whimper, punctuated with deliriously mumbled statistics. 325 million copies. 65 languages. A thousand million dollars. A million billion roubles. Gazillion fantabulon megayen...

Technorati Tags: writing, writers, envy, JK Rowling,

Why Write Erotica?

Omgili - Why Write Erotica?

Why write erotica? 1) It's fun. 2) It's interesting. 3) It connects with people, sex is the 2nd strongest human drive behind survival. 4) If you can write erotica you probably have the courage to tackle any other genre or topic under the sun or moon.

Technorati Tags: writing, writer, erotic, sexual, erotica

Query Letters

How to Write a Query Letter | Writer's Resource Center

Query letters are a much-debated practice in the writing community. The majority of writers swear by them, but others feel they are a waste of time. There are many successful writers who stick to sending completed manuscripts or informal, ultra-brief queries. This practice has especially grown in the age of email, where a less formal writing style has taken root. See Bob Sassone's article The Query Trap if you want to look further into that strategy.

Technorati Tags: query letters, writing writer, writers,

NY Post Headline: Lindsay Lohan

Nanowrimo

Don't ask me. I'm just the author. - Tiisme’s blog

I'm working on my second novel right now. The first was written for National Novel Writing Month, a challenge held every November to write a novel of new material and at least 50,000 words, starting November 1st and submitting it by 11:59pm on November 30th. I managed 50,133 words in 24 days and, not surprisingly, it was a story of little depth. It was amusing and I was pleased with some of my descriptions and dialogue. It also got that first crappy novel out of the way and taught me the value of outlining, which I'd never done before. I think outlining was the key to finishing the novel, even though I had to veer off-outline several times in order to not contradict myself.

Publish America Ordered to Repay Author

Publish America Ordered to Repay Author | Writer's Resource Center

According to an article in The Frederick News-Post, Publish America, the self-proclaimed "nation's number one book publisher" was recently ordered to repay one of its author's for breach of contract. Phillip Dolan, the author of A Handsome Guy, won what he calls a "substantial settlement" through arbitration.

I've heard many complaints about Publish America. There are claims that they misrepresent themselves as a traditional publisher when in actuality they are a vanity press. There are claims that people get locked into onerous long-term contracts. There are claims that Publish America cheats authors out of their rightful royalties.

Satire by Sroka

satire-by-sroka

New satire, humor, comedy, sarcasm, weirdness and fun from the creator/writer of Digital Diarrhea, Unpublished Proceedings, the original World Famous Calendars and Short Stories, and the new crazy Berserk Briefs

Technorati Tags: satire, humor, sarcasm, comedy, sroka

Writing Credentials

Civil War Medicine (and Writing): School of the Writer - Part II - "Credentials"

Before I launch into lessons on how to get your work published in one of the many magazines targeted to Civil War enthusiasts, I wanted to discuss the subject of "Credentials." What are "credentials" and why are they important when it comes to pitching ideas to - and writing articles for - magazines?

Golden Age of Literature?

blog.myspace.com/timmyg4ever

Right now is a veritable Golden Age for the world of literature. If you like reading, being alive right now is the equivalent of liking theater and being alive in Shakespeare-era London, or liking rock and roll and being alive in the 60's, or liking to be mauled by prehistoric predators and being alive in the stone-age. Why are we, right now, at the peak of our literary prowess as a civilization? One name:



J.K. Rowling.

Travel Writer Found dead on Chinese Mountain

Travel writer's body found on Chinese mountain - Independent Online Edition > Australasia

One of Lonely Planet's most experienced travel writers, Clem Lindenmayer, has been found dead on a Chinese mountainside, three months after he was reported missing.

Mr Lindenmayer, 47, had set out to climb Mount Gongga, in a remote area of south-west China, telling his family that he expected to complete a circuit in six days. When they failed to hear from him, his relatives posted messages on travellers' websites. China's official Xinhua news agency reported yesterday that villagers had found his body last Thursday.

Technorati Tags: writer, travel, travel writer, Lonely Planet, Clem Lindenmayer

Harold Bloom's Eloquence re: Harry Potter

Harold Bloom, literary lion, loses his shit on Potter fans…again « raincoaster

Some of those New York intellectual types can be rather tightly wound. Here, the OriginalUnoriginal reports as eminence grise Harold Bloom, the king of litcrit heavyweights, Sterling Professor for the Humanities at Yale University, and Berg Professor of English and American Literature at New York University, goes apeshit on some hapless Pottermaniacs.

“It’s crap! It’s fucking crap! It’s double fucking crap!” He ranted at the assembly of overtly nerdy adults and blank-faced children – many wearing faux dark-rimmed glasses and wizard hats – who seemed more perplexed by Bloom’s sub-references than intimidated by his harangue.

Technorati Tags: writier, JK Rowling, Harry Potter, books, Harold Bloom

Steps to Better Writing

Get Anyone to Read Every Word You Write With These 7 Steps | Copyblogger

Read over your compositions, and when you meet a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out. ~Samuel Johnson

Technorati Tags: writing, writer, writing skills

Thoughts on Eharmony

Slate -> The Fray -> Ad Report Card

Several years ago I joined eHarmony for 6 months and $150. I never received ONE match. After a few months with no matches, I suspiciously asked the friend who told me about it (who happens to be a devout Christian) if it was a Christian-based site, because I had responded "atheist" to the religion query on eHarmony's questionaire. She didn't know. Now I understand the lack of matches. eHarmony should disclose its Christian roots up front so atheists such as myself won't throw our money away.

Collaboration/Creativity Tool

ThinkFold: Realtime outlining for groups

Collaborate in realtime using a structured and flexible outline format.

Create ideas, make notes, build plans, share files, agree tasks and organise everything in a single shared workspace, using just your web browser.

Technorati Tags: writing, collaboration, tool, writing tool, collaborative

Mindmapping/Creativity Tool

Welcome to Glinkr

Map and share your views of contents on the Web. See example on the right of a map of the debate "Which answer to the oil supply crisis?". Glinkr is free, simple to use and aims a broad variety of usage.

Technorati Tags: mindmapping, creativity, tool, online tools, writing, writer, writer's

The Complete Review

Complete Review - Welcome to the Complete Review

A selectively comprehensive, objectively opinionated survey of books old and new, trying to meet all your book review, preview, and information needs.

7th Harry Potter Book

Collected Miscellany

I am still slogging through the Harry Potter tomes as fast as I can - four down two to go - but I just realized that there is going to be a problem with me trying to read the seventh book as soon as I get it.

Iranian Literature

Iran’s contemporary literature must be globalized, literati say

The fourth gathering of the “Iran’s Contemporary Literature in the Global Perspective” sessions was held on Sunday at the Tehran Art and Cultural Complex.

Abbas Pejman and Fat’hollah Biniaz, who are both writers and critics, delivered lectures during the session in which they elaborated on the status of Persian literature.

Commenting on some countries’ efforts to globalize their literature, Biniaz said, “What countries like Turkey, South Korea, and China did in translating their literary works have helped introduce their literature across the globe. Even a country like China, which has monopolized Iran’s market, is interested in monopolizing Iran’s literary scene as well.

Market: 3AM Magazine

3:AM Magazine » Submissions

Submissions are the lifeblood of 3:AM. We don’t pay our writers (theirs is a spiritual reward) but we have an editorial policy designed to encourage and facilitate new writing. Our preference is for fresh, innovative and irreverent writing. With the following caveats…


1. Familiarise yourself with 3:AM and look at what kind of writing we already carry. Can you envisage your article on here?


2. Articles submitted to 3:AM should be unpublished. If you are submitting work which has already appeared in print or online, please let us know beforehand.

3. Complete articles are preferred over story pitches.

Technorati Tags: Writing Market, writer, writers, fiction, nonfiction, poetry

Online Books, Poems, Short Stories

Online Books, Poems, Short Stories - Read Print

A warm welcome to Read Print, your free online library. Our website offers thousands of free books for students, teachers, and the classic enthusiast. To find the book you desire to read, start by looking through the author index. If you need help with something, feel free to drop us a line.

Technorati Tags: Books, fiction

WHAT YOU HAVE LEFT

Girl, Interrupted - washingtonpost.com

The title of Will Allison's first novel, What Yo u Have Left, is a play on words. What Wylie Greer leaves behind in 1976 is his 5-year-old daughter, Holly. And what Holly is eventually left with is her aging grandfather and an ache that no amount of rage, alcohol or video poker can satisfy. The novel takes its place on the shelf of American abandonment fiction, a subgenre that ranges from Huckleberry Finn to Housekeeping. In spare, transparent prose, Allison takes us through nearly four decades in the lives of a South Carolina family crippled by the past and unarmed for the future.

Flash Fiction - Casino Jesus

Casino Jesus

No one wears electric blue sharkskin suits anymore. His is impeccably tailored, shines like the iridescent body of a garbage fly. The suit fit glove tight. His slight frame resembles Prince with Larry King sunken shoulders. He looks weedy, sprouting up from ankle high–side zipper boots. His hair–slick–gunmetal black is Zevonian perfect. His birth name is Jesús DeCicco Dominguez. On the strip he’s known as Casino Jesus.

Technorati Tags: writing, writer, fiction, flash fiction, story, stories, literature

The ability to commit...

The ability to commit to something, to maintain concentration and see a project through, this is what you need to be able to write well and consistently. The truth is that writing is often not about the quality of what you are putting out, but is often about the quantity. quality comes from practice, you get practice by writing in quantity. You get a feel for how words work and how to express concepts and ideas by using words on a daily basis.


Technorati Tags: writing, writer, write, fiction, nonfiction

Gambia's First Internationl Literary Festival Starts Today

allAfrica.com: Gambia: Gambia's First Internationl Literary Festival Starts Today (Page 1 of 1)

The first International Literary Festival in The Gambia commences today, Friday 13 to 15 July 2007, at the Sun Beach Hotel at Cape Point. The festival is organised by SABLE "Lit Mag," an international literary magazine that features writers of African and Asian decent and other nationalities, from across the globe.

BBC Radio 4's adaptation of Adams' novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | BBC recruits Douglas Adams sleuth

The first series will consist of six 30-minute episodes

Comedian Harry Enfield is to play Dirk Gently, the eccentric detective created by late author Douglas Adams, in the character's first UK broadcast series.

BBC Radio 4's adaptation of Adams' novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency will begin in October.

The six-part drama is being directed by Dirk Maggs, who the late author chose to make a new radio version of his Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.

Technorati Tags: Douglas Adams, BBC, Harry Enfield, radio

German Writer Wants to Read 'Satanic Verses' in Cologne Mosque

German Writer Wants to Read 'Satanic Verses' in Cologne Mosque

Paddy O'Reilly

Fire burns slow and bright | The Courier-Mail

IT WAS something of a surprise when Paddy O'Reilly suggested we go to Hell's Kitchen. Not living up to its name, it was a quiet place to speak.

O'Reilly is a Melbourne-based author with a growing national reputation.

A multi-award winner for screenplays and fiction, her first novel, The Factory, was voted one of the best books for 2005 by The Australian Book Review. Her latest book, The End of the World, is a fine collection of short stories.

Random Writer's Contest

BCNG Portals Page (R)

As part of the festival, writers are asked to compose a short, short story of 150 words or less for the Friday, July 20 writers’ coffee house.

Prizes will be awarded by Nina Dickins for the best entries read during the coffee house that runs from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Sorrento OAPO Hall, adjacent to the Memorial Hall.

Bad Authors

The Chronicle: 6/29/2007: No Bad Authors

By the time I left publishing, in the mid-90s, I had decided there were no bad books, only bad authors.

That, of course, is not true. There are plenty of bad books. But after a dozen years in the industry, the whining and whingeing of authors had worn me down: The conspiracy theories about how a publisher set out to ruin an author's career by not sending his 15-year-old book to a small regional conference; the notion that a publisher sullied an author's reputation by giving her a red cover; the complaint that there were not enough ads promoting the book (there were never enough ads); the indignation that we didn't get the author reviewed in The New York Times, or booked on Oprah.

Book Reviewers Vs Bloggers

Battle of the book reviews - BOOKS & IDEAS - Los Angeles Times - calendarlive.com

"If you were an author, would you want your book reviewed in the Washington Post and the New York Review of Books, or on a web site written by someone who uses the moniker NovelGobbler or Biogafriend?" Michael Dirda, a Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic, wrote in the Washington Post. "The book review section … remains the forum where new titles are taken seriously as works of art and argument, and not merely as opportunities for shallow grandstanding and overblown ranting."

The Boring Literary Novel

Essays: 'Divine comedy' by Julian Gough | Prospect Magazine May 2007 issue 134

What is wrong with the modern literary novel? Why is it so worthy and dull? Why is it so anxious? Why is it so bloody boring?

Classic Literature is Mostly Padding

Publisher makes lite work of the classics - Times Online

To howls of indignation from literary purists, a leading publishing house is slimming down some of the world’s greatest novels.

Tolstoy, Dickens and Thackeray would not have agreed with the view that 40 per cent of Anna Karenina, David Copperfield and Vanity Fair are mere “padding”, but Orion Books believes that modern readers will welcome the shorter versions.

prose crammed with as many infuriating phrases as possible

Telegraph newspaper online

Eager to preserve the English language against a rising tide of nonsense, we asked readers to compose a piece of prose crammed with as many infuriating phrases as possible. Christopher Howse is amazed and amused by the torrent of replies...

7 Highly Useful Tools for Writers

1. freelance networking for writers


2. U.S. Copyright Office


3. Authoratory: find an expert in any field


4. Freemind - Teaching Tool or Story Outliner?


5. Reach-a-Mail


6. Jarte - A Free Word Processor


7. Writer's Database

Paying Markets: T3A Space � Guidelines

T3A Space � Guidelines: "We publish new Science Fiction and Fantasy (Interzone), Horror (Black Static) and Crime (Crimewave) stories of up to about 10,000 words in length."

Technorati Tags: submission, guidelines, paying, market, writers, writing, freelance, fiction, story, short, short-story, writer's, literary, literature

Paying Market: G o i n g D o w n S w i n g i n g -- Literary Anthology

G o i n g D o w n S w i n g i n g -- Literary Anthology: "SUBMISSIONS EXTENDED FOR GOING DOWN SWINGING #26
Submissions of fiction, poetry, comics and spoken word tracks for issue #26
are now open until 31st July 2007."

Technorati Tags: submission, guidelines, paying, market, writers, writing, freelance, fiction, story, short, short-story, writer's, literary, literature

Fourth Genre: Explorations in Nonfiction

Fourth Genre: Explorations in Nonfiction: "Given the genre's flexibility and expansiveness, we welcome a variety of works—ranging from personal essays and memoirs to literary journalism and personal criticism. The editors invite works that are lyrical, self-interrogative, meditative, and reflective, as well as expository, analytical, exploratory, or whimsical. In short, we encourage submissions across the full spectrum of the fourth genre. The journal encourages a writer-to-reader conversation, one that explores the markers and boundaries of literary/creative nonfiction."


That's a mouthful. It sounds like the kind of mealy-mouthed academic shit people read because they have to, or because they think it will make them smarter, rather than stuff that edifies or entertains. It reminds me of the poeple who go to Barnes and Noble or the library to pose as readers. Oh, look at me, I'm carrying books!!!!!

freelance networking for writers

freelance networking for writers: "Writing is connection. I love cars, you love cars. My role as a writer is to research new models, accessories, cost of gasoline, insurance issues, new places to drive, among other things and then get that information into your hands."

Technorati Tags: writing, writers, write, publish, publisher, publishing, freelance, freelancer, freelancers

Publicist, Publisher, and Writer Team up to Help Authors

Publicist, Publisher, and Writer Team up to Help Authors - PR.com: " Last October, Yvonne Perry of Nashville, Tennessee started a podcast called Writers in the Sky as an outreach of her company Write On! Creative Writing Services. Since then, she has interviewed more than 30 authors and continues to upload a new show to her Weblog each Friday."

Technorati Tags: writing, dream, dream, talent, writers

What You Love vs. The Day Job

How exactly do you reconcile the distance between doing that you love and doing what you have to do to eat? It means a constant state of dissatisfaction with your life as it is. You are unfulfilled by your day job, so it makes you miserable. You are not successful at what you love, so you don't earn enough from it, therefore you are unsatisfied with that too. This is how dreams get crushed. At some point a voice in your head is going to say, "grow up". People usually see following dreams in adulthood as a sign of immaturity, especially if you are not immediately successful. Most people don't have dreams, or gave up on them a long time ago. Misery loves company.


Technorati Tags: writing, dream, dream, talent, writers

Movie Critic Joel Siegel Dies at Age 63 - Associated Content

Movie Critic Joel Siegel Dies at Age 63 - Associated Content: "Good Morning America film critic Joel Siegel, best known for his honest movie reviews as well
as his glasses and bushy mustache has died at age 63, according to CNN.Mr. Siegel died
Friday afternoon, surrounded by family and friends. He had been battling colon cancer for ten years."

Make money as a freelance writer

Make money as a freelance writer - course :: Freelance UK: "Freelance journalists in need of a motivational boost were yesterday invited to a masterclass in how to make money as an independent writer."

Technorati Tags: writing, writer, writers, course, how-to, freelance,