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I don't usually post anything like this, but I had to share this news item:
Jim Bond, of Killarney Vale, [Australia] who is unable to read or write properly, alleges that in April last year he rang then education minister Carmel Tebbutt's office to discuss the lack of services for dyslexia sufferers.
"(A staff member) told me to put it in writing," Mr Bond, 47, said.
(He's suing them).
I'm not a big fan of writing software in general (other than formatting programs for writing scripts) but there is a new program that looks intriguing. It's for Mac users (for a change...) and is called Avenir. Here's what their blurb says:
"Avenir is a new kind of software for writers. Part word processor, part database, completely focused on the creative process. Whether you are brainstorming for your first short story or putting the finishing touches on your latest best-seller Avenir provides the tools you need to manage the creative process from inception to publication.
You can track, tag and filter characters, scenes, locations, research and more with the unique dynamic outline. It even provides special tools for fiction writers like word frequency counting and a progress meter to help you meet your daily writing goal."
This is not an endorsement, I've just downloaded it for a free 30-day trial and eventually I'll come back with a review--but I thought you might be interested in trying it for yourself. The free trial version is available for download here.
It's one of the cliches of writing that you must record your ideas or they will disappear. In his Problogger blog, Darren Rowse had some specific ideas about a few different ways to do it:
" * Idea folder on desktop - for those times that the ideas hit me while I’m in front of my computer - I jot them as a text file and park them in a folder on my desktop.
* Memos on phone - I’m increasingly relying upon my phone to keep me organized (it’s synced with my computer’s calendar) but also to help me capture ideas. I’m constantly adding memos to myself.
* SMS yourself - since getting a phone with a better memo function I don’t do this as much but I used to text message myself all the time with ideas
* Leave yourself a voice message - sometimes it’s not practical to write yourself a memo or text message and you need to capture an idea verbally. I do this my calling my mobile phone, from my mobile phone which then diverts me to my voice mail service where I leave myself a message with the idea that’s buzzing around in my head. In a sense this becomes a dictaphone of ideas. In recent times I’ve stopped doing this and have started recording my ideas on my phone in video to replay later."
I would add that having a little digital tape recorder that you carry around is also useful--Olympus has one that is wafer-thin but holds many hours of recordings.
In a column in the (Massachusetts) Republican, LaWanda Banks had some suggestions for writing groups:
"In my group, we don't explain anything. We just read what we have written. That's the best way to learn how your work is perceived.
Rule 1: Let the writing speak for itself!
Rule 2: Don't defend your work. If someone offers a critique, and you disagree, don't make the change but don't tell us what you were thinking or argue why you wrote it as you did. This not only takes up too much time, but it's a sure way to get group members in the habit of not bothering to critique your work in the future.
Rule 3: Offer a helpful critique to others. As soon as a member of your group begins to read, reach for your pencil and jot down notes about the work. Did you like the beginning line? Did it catch your attention? Why? Why not? Is the piece well organized? Does it flow smoothly or is it awkward? Is there a line that doesn't seem to fit? Was it interesting? Where did you lose interest? Was it believable? Did it end well? With these notes, you will be able to offer a good critique.
If you can't find an existing writing group close to home, start your own."
Writers have experimented before with publishing their books, or parts of their books, online, but now for the first time a mainstream UK publisher, Headline, is doing this with a book called Contract, written by Simon Spurrier. The material will appear on the site, www.itsallaboutthemoney.co.uk, which goes live in about two weeks (hmm, in terms of internet marketing, wouldn't it have been better to have the title of the book in the name of the website?).
In the (London) Times, Piers Blofeld, of Headline, said: "The publishing industry has been tiptoeing around publishing books online. While there are obvious issues for publishers, the main point for me is that above all else, writers need readers." Blofeld denied making a commercial mistake.
The book will be online for a limited time, and the website will also sell the complete book for those who don't want to wait.
There has been a lot of debate about whether doing this is shooting yourself in the foot. Internet guru Seth Godin is a believer that offering your work for free on the web stimulates interest in the paid-for version, but his material is all non-fiction. Watch this space, we'll be tracking the results because they have implications for any writers trying to figure out today's confusing marketplace (that's me and you).
ps: If you're wondering what the rocket ship to the left has to do with anything...initially I thought the Spurrier book was science fiction. It seems actually to be more of a crime thriller with metaphysical elements, but I still like the rocket ship.
Mediabistro.com is a membership site to which I belong, that features news and useful information about writing, agents, markets, and so on. They host panels and workshops in various cities, and I was interested to see they have a new feature they call "MediaBistro on Demand."
It's a collection of videos of panels and short courses that you can access for a fee. You can have access to each video online for 30 days, and each one comes with a crib sheet with notes and links. A panel discussion on "First Person Writing," for example, features the editors of The New York Times “Lives” and “Modern Love” sections, book agent Elizabeth Kaplan, Villard editorial director Bruce Tracy, Jane editor Esther Haynes, and authors Gael Greene and Susan Shapiro. It's one hour and 41 minutes long and costs 20 dollars (15 for members) to download. Is that good value? Well, would you pay that amount to attend such a panel? If yes, watching it on video is probably a good deal.
However, a fifteen-minute 'crash course' on "Understanding How Readers Use the Web" costs 15 dollars. That seems a bit high--but I guess it's down to how much you want the information. Frankly, for that topic, I'd be more inclined to have a quick search around the web for free articles.
The reason I find this interesting is not so much as a consumer, but as a writer who is always alert to new models for marketing what we write. I'm a bit skeptical about whether this will take off, but I've been wrong plenty of times before. I'll keep an eye on it and let you know.
Publishers Simon and Schuster are to launch a book video channel next month called Bookvideos.tv. The videos will be produced by digital media company TurnHere, and available on the S & S website and YouTube, among others.
They are starting with 40 videos, each two minutes long, and with their big names, including Mary Higgins Clark, Phillipa Gregory, and Jennifer Weiner.
If you've visited my website, www.yourwritingcoach.com, you know that I use video myself, both to talk directly to visitors and to provide video interview bonuses for those who buy the book (Your Writing Coach, published by Nicholas Brealey, available in two weeks in the US--you can pre-order it now from your favorite book store or online book site). Other publishers have already done videos of their authors, of course--the question is whether the S & S effort will eventually have enough content to turn into an actual "book video channel" as they promise.
In last Sunday's Observer, writer Nick Cohen was pretty harsh in his appraisal of the candidates for the Lulu Blooker Prize (for books based on blogs):
"I can't speak for the other judges, but to me, the supposedly radical medium of the future seemed as parasitic on traditional publishing as political bloggers are on traditional newspapers. We had the escapades of an American who moves to France, which was Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence redone for a US audience; Breakup Babe; a well-written piece of chick-lit whose author admitted her debt to Bridget Jones's Diary; and Monster Island, a seventh-rate horror novel, which ripped off every zombie movie ever made. (The author's only original touch was pitting his zombies against a fantasy army of assault-rifle-bearing, 14-year-old Somali schoolgirls.)"
He did find one gem: "And yet... buried underneath the dreadful and the derivative was a rough diamond: My War: Killing Time in Iraq by Colby Buzzell. It tells the reader what it's like to be a grunt fighting in the Sunni Triangle with more power and authority than the best embedded reporter in the world could manage. My War has been a cult hit in America - just before he died, Kurt Vonnegut sent Buzzell a fan letter - and it would never have been written if blogging had not been invented."
This was the most interesting part of Cohen's observations--namely that the very nature of blogging was responsible: "In theory, Buzzell could have kept a diary, gone home and turned it into a book. In practice, he wouldn't have had the self-confidence. His blog gave him strength because it attracted praise from hundreds of readers in the eight weeks before the authorities stopped him posting from a cyber cafe at the US base in Mosul. Their encouragement made him realise he could make it as an author."
I've already written that I intensely dislike "The Secret," the marketing phenomenon that claims that if you get your head shot off or suffer from cancer, it's your own darn fault for not thinking the right thoughts.
There's an entertaining article on Slate.com by Emily Yoffe, about what happened when she tried following The Secret's method of positive thinking, and she points out one of The Secret's many flaws, which becomes a lesson in how not to qoute. Yoffee writes:
"The book is dotted with quotations from great men of history that supposedly back up The Secret's assertions. Take this one from Winston Churchill: "You create your own universe as you go along." Something about this struck me as sounding not terribly Churchillian. I looked it up and it turned out Churchill did write it, but it was his mocking characterization of the metaphysical twits of his day."
She also points out, "Apparently the universe has a language-processing disorder and doesn't comprehend standard English usage of the words don't, not, and no. So, as the book explains, if you summon the universe by saying, 'I don't want to spill something on this outfit,' the universe translates this as, 'I want to spill something on this outfit.' If only Rhonda Byrne, the television producer who is the author of the book and creator of the DVD, had been there to counsel those negative authors of the Ten Commandments!"
Another variation on the online-movies idea has surfaced: Twisted Pictures (the people behind the "Saw" horror films) is developing a new horror picture that will have its U.S. debut online, in three-minute chunks. They will retain all foreign, pay TV, and home video rights to exploit after the film has run on break.com.
Obviously, the marketing strategy is the driving force--they haven't even selected the final script or director yet. The idea is to build up the popularity of Break.com (a video web site), to create profits for Twisted Pictures, and to build up the web presence of Ubiquity Partners (digital packagers who comprise the third element in the deal) in the horror field.
What's interesting to me as a writer is that they claim "We are making this just like any other feature" (according to Twisted exec. Oren Koules).
I don't think there are many feature films that break down into a full collection of 3-minute chunks that work well on their own. Let's see how well they handle this--this kind of thing could be an interesting new market for writers, but I think it will require thinking and working in a different way.
Here's an inspirational story of an artist who has created a niche for himself and is exploiting it intelligently and with determination. Artist Dave Devries takes childrens' drawings of monsters and turns them into finished artwork. Out of this has come a book, a poster (left), a presentation for elementary schools, another presentation for art students, and he's working on more books and lots of other ideas.
His website is www.themonsterengine.com and there's an entertaining short film about his work and plans here. Whether or not, like me, you're into drawing and cartooning, his story is a great example of how a creative person can combine talent and good marketing instincts.
Samir Husni, Chair of the University of Mississippi's Department of Journalism and a consultant known as Mr. Magazine, had some interesting observations about the relationship of on-line writing and writing in magazines (I found this on Bo Sacks' "Heard on the Web" Media Intelligence newsletter):
"Two things we have to do [in magazines and newspapers]. We have to use more narrative and more pictures. If you look at the Financial Times that was completely redesigned last week, a lot of their stories are a full page. But you read that story and you'll get everything you need to know about that subject. More magazines are moving toward more narrative. I tell my magazine clients we have to deepen the story and chase the photographs. For the service part, send people to the web."
This goes counter to those who believe that people's attention span is shortening and the lesson is that, like the web, magazines should reduce their stories to bite-size bits. Husni goes on:
"The biggest mistake we are doing now, and I don't understand why, is we are duplicating magazine content and putting it online. Why would I have the exact same thing on the screen if it exists in print? If I wanted to have a magazine online I would do something like Monkey magazine that Dennis Publishing is doing that's designed specifically for the Internet."
Interesting observations, and if people pay attention to his advice, there should be a greater demand for in-depth articles by journalists and free-lance writers.
Gretchen Rubin is a writer who is working on a book called “The Happiness Project,” her memoir of the year she spent test-driving every possible bit of advice she encountered about how to be happier. On her blog, also named The Happiness Project, she shares tips on different topics every Wednesday. In her archives I found these tips for getting some writing done:
Write every workday; don’t wait for inspiration to strike.
Write in brief chunks of time; taking frequent breaks keeps you fresh. And don’t mislead yourself with thoughts like, “If I don’t have five or six hours clear, there’s no point in starting.”
Don’t procrastinate and don’t binge on writing. These habits lead to burn-out.
If you have trouble re-entering a project, stop working in mid-thought—even mid-sentence—so it’s easy to dive back in later.
Stay patient; don’t get distracted by how much you are or aren’t getting done.
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that creativity descends on you at random, or that by staying up all night you cultivate your muse. Creative thinking comes most easily when you’re writing regularly and frequently, when you’re constantly thinking about your project.
Remember that lots of good ideas and great writing come during the revision stage.
Develop a method of keeping track of thoughts, ideas, articles, or anything that catches your attention. Combing through these materials helps stimulate your creativity.
Pay attention to your physical comfort. Do you have a decent desk and chair? Are you cramped? Is the light too dim or too bright? Make a salute—if you feel relief when your hand is shading your eyes, your desk is too brightly lit.
Check your body. Lower your shoulders, make sure your tongue isn’t pressed against the top of your mouth, don’t sit in a contorted way.
Try to eliminate interruptions—by other people, email, or poking around the Internet—but don’t tell yourself that you can only work with complete peace and quiet.
Over his writing desk, Franz Kafka had one word: “Wait.” My friend Tad Low, however, keeps a different word on his desk: “Now.”
Advice from Virginia Woolf: “The way to rock oneself back into writing is this. First gentle exercise in the air. Second the reading of good literature. It is a mistake to think that literature can be produced from the raw.”
Creativity coach Eric Maisel has a new book out called “Creativity for Life.” Here is one of his observations about how to stay creative:
“You maintain lifelong creativity by maintaining daily creativity. Even on the busiest days, when the commute to work, a stressful job, and the commute home take up most of your waking hours, you can still have an art-committed first hour of the day, as you work on your novel, an art-filled evening, with music and the scent of flowers, and an artful day throughout as you mindfully bring your talents and your passion to the ordinary tasks of living. Artful living, an art-filled life, and an art-committed life are each available to you if you build up the habits of daily awareness and daily practice.”
I've mentioned this once before but wanted to point toward it again because in my recent workshop I gave out the wrong link for it: the site is Meet the Author (www.meettheauthor.com) and it contains almost 900 videos of authors pitching their books to camera.
The man who runs the site makes short videos (for a fee) of authors talking about their books. The resulting videos appear on this site as well as on the authors' sites, some bookstore sites, etc.
It's a brilliant source of examples of how to pitch well...and how NOT to pitch. If you spend a bit of time roaming around randomly you'll see everything from suave confidence to sheer terror on display. Great fun to watch--and learn from!
