It has been 19 years.
Fun Fridays – September 7, 2020
You can tell by now I enjoy virtuoso performances of all types (including those by writers!). Today’s video is the indefatigable Lang Lang playing Franz Lizst’s “La Campanella.” I’ve programmed the link to start at the 2:14 mark to highlight the extraordinary finger work needed to play this piece at this speed. The fingers are literally a blur. It also made me wonder …
Only Hours Left to Save the Writers Conference at Mount Hermon
As you may recall, nearly six weeks ago we began a Kickstarter campaign to raise the funding to ensure that the writers conference at Mount Hermon could proceed as planned in 2021. (Click here for the campaign page and for more details.) We are at 61% of the goal as of this writing, which is rather incredible with over 220 people contributing!. But we are still short. The campaign will end at …
Fun Fridays – August 28, 2020
Today’s video is “The Bugler’s Holiday” by four members of the Boston Pops. Wow! My oldest brother is an excellent trumpet player and played this in college when part of the Seattle Pacific University trumpet trio. Back then this was a relatively new song. Me? I was inspired by my brother and tried to play trumpet in junior high, using one of his old instruments. …
A Growing Readership
It recently came to my attention that the email list for our agency’s blog has grown by 40% over the last two years. It’s now the size of a small town or a rather large church! That is only the email list. It doesn’t count those of you who use the Facebook feed, the Twitter feed, an RSS feed, or come to the site directly on a regular basis. That is a pretty big crowd, and it is …
Fun Fridays – August 21, 2020
Who knew this could be a Guinness World Record? Pam Onnen spells 56 words backwards in one minute! Shattered the old record by 17 words. I can’t even spell “radar” backwards one time. Oh, wait. The words are chosen at random. If you’d like to watch the interview with her after, keep watching the video. Wouldn’t it be wild to have a character in your novel or …
When the Gloves Come Off
The publishing experience is rarely done in isolation. This means working with other people. And if their performances or efforts do not meet your expectations, conflict can occur. Over the years I’ve seen more conflict than you can imagine–of all types and variety. But the majority of issues boil down to four areas: Editorial Production (cover design?) Marketing and publicity Getting …
Fun Fridays – August 14, 2020
We all need a smile break. What better than a puppy train? But since this is a blog about the writing industry, which one is the editor? Which one is the agent? Which one is the writer? Which one is the reader? And why? (Don’t forget the person behind the camera!) Smile!
12 Steps to Publication
It takes 12 strikes to achieve a perfect game in bowling. (See last Friday’s video.) It made me think there are 12 things that need to happen in the publication process. Each must knock down all the pins to achieve publishing success. With that simplistic idea in mind, I came up with the following: Idea – A book has to start somewhere Write chapter – if not the whole book …
Fun Fridays – August 7, 2020
A perfect game in bowling is a score of 300. To achieve that you have to roll ten strikes in a row, then roll two more in the bonus. A total of 12 strikes. It is really, really, really hard to do. This guy, Ben Ketola, rolls 12 strikes in a row, in less than 90 seconds. Watch and be amazed. It does give me a moment to brag on my grandfather who bowled a perfect 300. He had the gold belt buckle to …