Helping to Change the World…Word by Word
The Steve Laube Agency
Helping to Change the World Word by Word
Little known fact. While in college I worked for a few months in the back room of the school library, restoring damaged books. When I found today’s video, I was fascinated by the extraordinary skill of Sophia Bogle, book restorer.
Hope you find this 10-minute video an education on a lost art.
Significant books are published every year. Here’s a personally curated list that I hope sparks some good memories and honors the work of the past. Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus, by Nabeel Qureshi (2014) – 10 years New Morning Mercies, by Paul David Tripp (2014) – 10 years Forgotten God, by Francis Chan (2009) – 15 years The Hole in Our Gospel, by Richard Stearns (2009) – 15 years 90 Minutes in …
AI (artificial intelligence) is here to stay. I’m told that using an AI engine, you can paint a picture, create a spreadsheet formula, write a term paper, research a character or setting, and even—believe it or not—compose a blog post. (See where I’m going with this?) So I decided to try it. After all, how hard can it be? Here, with no changes, is what AI produced when I asked it to “write a blog …
The opening lines of a novel are like an introduction to the rest of the story. Some have become famous. “It was a dark and stormy night” is the well-known beginning of that struggling novelist Snoopy in the cartoon Peanuts. It is also the first line of Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s novel Paul Clifford (1830), as well as the first line in Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time. (L’Engle admitted she …
Time to blow your mind. Today’s video is a visual representation of J.S. Bach’s “Canon” that was written to be able to be played forward and backward–and simultaneously front to back. Genius composition on display. Seemingly simple and even mundane. Just wait for it to unfold. Apparently composed in response to a composition challenge by King Frederick the Great …
Now that you’ve had time to settle in for 2024 and break most of your New Year’s resolutions, here’s a checklist for your website and ideas for electronic decluttering. I’m working along with you. New Author Websites If you are a new author, do you have a website? If not, I recommend creating one while you finish your book and before you query agents. In my office, we …
Welcome back to Story Structure. Using our story we’re creating with Oliver and Sophia, we come to Pinch Point #2. Pinch Point #2 comes after the midpoint of your story, where the main conflict and stakes have been clearly established or escalated. This is about ¾ of the way through. In our story, this is after the revelation that the face reconstructed by Oliver is not Cassidy but her friend …
I try to post something about this every year. This year is no exception. In the United States, under U.S. copyright law, works published in 1928 and earlier are now in public domain. One can publish them or use them without securing copyright permission. In case you are wondering about the specifics, the Copyright Term Extension Act (passed in 1998) gave works published from 1923 through 1977 a …
Since many of you have been experiencing an extra dose of winter this month, I thought this video about the symmetry of the snowflake is fascinating. As you watch the video, consider the magnificence of God’s handiwork. Awe-inspiring. Worthy of worship.
Hey, fellow wordsmiths! Let’s talk about something we all seem to struggle with: those self-imposed deadlines that we believe will catapult us into the publishing stratosphere. I get it; we’re hungry, we’re driven, and we’ve got stories burning within us. But, my friends, there’s a fine line between ambition and self-sabotage. So, grab your favorite writing beverage …
