Today’s video is a marvelous a cappella version of “Angels We Have Heard on High.”
Turn up the volume, close your eyes, and let the beauty wash over you.
Attend the 2025 Write to Publish Conference
If you are thinking about attending a Christian writers conference in 2025, I’d like to encourage you to consider Write to Publish (WTP), held in June in Wheaton, Illinois. This conference has been in operation for over 50 years. Our agent Dan Balow (who lives in Wheaton) continues his directorship responsibility for WTP and has put together a stellar group of faculty members. Registration for the …
Fun Friday – December 13, 2024
This came out in 2011 and is still one of my favorite commercials of the Christmas season.
Fun Fridays – December 6, 2024
A little fun to help to set the mood for the Christmas season. Sung by the choir of Clare College, Cambridge. Conducted by Graham Ross.
Are You Pitch Perfect?
A critical key to landing a book deal is the presentation of your idea in such a way that the editor or agent is completely sold on the concept. In musical terms, perfect pitch is the rare talent to name or pick out a note without having any reference point. This is illustrated by this youtube video where they clear your mind, then give you a tone, and ask you to name the note; most people fail …
Fun Fridays – November 29, 2024
Enjoy today’s “ruff” draft of a short story. (It wasn’t my pun so don’t blame me for your groan of despair.)
Blessed Thanksgiving!
A blessed Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating it. “Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.” (Psalm 107:8-9, ESV)
The Anatomy of the Publishing Cycle
If you ask an editor or an agent, “What’s hot right now?” you are too late with the question. The nature of the publishing business is that what you see selling today are books that were conceived, written, published, and marketed over the past couple of years or more. That is why we, on this side of the table, avoid making pronouncements on current trends. In some ways, the agent and the …
Fun Fridays – November 22, 2024
I want to know where I can buy a case of this product! It can change the world. Might even change your Thanksgiving meal time next week (for those in the U.S.). And honey, if you are watching this, I am not “Harold Weathers.” I’m just a little hard of hearing.
Judging a Book by Its Cover
We’ve heard the cliche “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” True. But you do “buy a book by its cover.” We all do. That colorful billboard attracts the eye, disseminates information, and sells the content. Even when the billboard is the size of a postage stamp on Amazon.com, BN.com, or iTunes, you make a judgment on the quality of the book based on its cover. It …