A Little Bit of This…and That - 4!

What's New?

A couple of authors recently interviewed by 3 Questions…and Answers have had some big announcements in the last couple of weeks. Kezia the Poet, a.k.a. Kezia Snipe, recently released her book of poetry, Unclassifiable: Entries from Entities, co-written with Louis W. Bryant, III. The book is available on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com. You can contact Kezia through her FaceBook page.

Children's author James Dashner has signed with Random House to publish his book Maze Runner in 2009. His second 13th Reality novel also comes out in 2009 so he will have his hands full for the remainder of this year and beyond. You can read his announcement and check out his upcoming tour on his blog "The Dashner Dude."

What are "Book Trailers" or "Book Screeners"?

Promoting your book can involved video as ironic as that sounds. One of the fastest growing promotional trends in publishing is video. Book trailers or screeners are brief dramatic summaries of your book, not unlike movie trailers, but much longer. Book trailers typically run five to seven minutes long and are used to promote books to booksellers as well as to the general public. I haven't heard of a publishing house paying for these yet, usually it falls to the individual author, but there may be exceptions.

The two production companies I have found also produce author interview videos, which authors use to introduce themselves to members of the media. The media is also free to use some or all of the video in any promotional or news event they may schedule.


One of the most common uses of both the trailers and the interviews are on the author's own website. Web surfers like the immediacy and the interactive aspects of videos over plain text.

Here are two companies: Reel Line Productions and Writers-in-Motion. James Dashner has used Reel Line both for a screener and a interview. Screenwriter/filmmaker Bill Olsen is a director and writer for Writers-in-Motion. Visit the companies' websites for more information and sample videos.

Do you find useful stuff on blogs?

Well, I would hope so. Recently two articles from blogs have come to my attention.

Author Julie L. Cannon introduced me to A Good Blog is Hard to Find, written by a series of southern writers including Cannon. The other day I found "11 Tips for the Debut Novelist" by Karen Harrington, a first-time author of the novel Janeology. She lists and explains all the things she has learned in her first three months as a newly published author. There's general advice like "1. Have courage" and the more specific like "7. Figure out how to flex your pitch to men and women." Some of it is common sense; some of it you just need to hear and some will spark a "why didn't I think of that" moment.

My favorite librarian Leslie put me on to this article, originally on the website JobsProfile.org. "50 Awesome Open Source Resources for Online Writers" asks writers, "why not take advantage of all the opportunities to get great free and open source resources that can help you to write, edit and organize your work?" The 50 resources are divided into such categories as word processors, web tools, references and others.

Top Books Since 1983?

Why these 25 years?

Is it just me or does the release of Entertainment Weekly's list of the top 100 books of the last 25 years seem like a case of odd timing? Twenty-five year spans fit neatly between years like 1925 and 1950, 1975 and 2000, but 1983 and 2008? Waiting two more years and doing the top 100 from the last 30 years makes more sense and is much easier math.

Actually, Entertainment Weekly does have a reason for selecting these particular 25 years. The pop culture magazine is celebrating its 1000th issue with a double-issue edition June 27/July 4. In addition to books, the magazine tackled movies, music, TV shows and more, compiling a list of the 1000 best things in pop culture.

The New Classics: The 100 Best Reads from 1983 to 2008 was released on the ew.com site on June 18, causing book bloggers and columnists everywhere to ponder the selections. Phil Kloer of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution calls the list "preposterous. A Harry Potter Novel at No. 2, ahead of all the literature written in the last 25 years, will start that little vein throbbing in your temple."

Novelist Janice Harayda writes on her blog "One-Minute Book Reviews" that the magazine's annual list of the year's worst books is "usually right on the money. " However, this list "falls a bit wider of the mark." She goes on to name 10 books she would've put on such a list.

Bloggers Jan and Jenny of Sibling Revelry don't comment on the list, but instead throw out a challenge to each other and their readers. The duo plans to read or at least attempt to read each book. They will blog about their thoughts and feelings and invite their readers to comment as well.

What was Entertainment Weekly's measure for a book making the list?

Good question. According to the New York Times book blog "PaperCuts" (June 20), the magazine polled its staff for their favorites. I couldn't find any mention of the criterion on Entertainment Weekly's website, but I did find a commentary on ew.com called "Breaking Down the List," which offered no insight into the selection process.

Only two of the top ten New Classics made the list of "10 Books that Spent the Most Weeks on the New York Times Hardcover Best-Seller List." One book from the top ten made the "Oprah Blessed Titles" list. Of the "Five Prolific Writers," only two had a book apiece listed in the top 20. So Entertainment Weekly didn't take best-selling status or the skill and mastery of the authors or even Oprah into account. And they call these books "classic"?

Which books are on the list?

You can see the entire New Classics: The 100 Best Reads from 1983 to 2008 on Entertainment Weekly's website. Here are the top 10 books:

1. The Road, Cormac McCarthy (2006)
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling (2000)
3. Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)
4. The Liars’ Club, Mary Karr (1995)
5. American Pastoral, Philip Roth (1997)
6. Mystic River, Dennis Lehane (2001)
7. Maus, Art Spiegelman (1986/1991)
8. Selected Stories, Alice Munro (1996)
9. Cold Mountain, Charles Frazier (1997)
10. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami (1997)

This Just In…

Unrelated but with a deadline fast approaching, Memoirs Ink announces its annual writing contest:

"Memoirs Ink is hosting our Fifth Annual Writing Contest. For five years, we have been advancing the cause of creative nonfiction. The late deadline for our annual contest is August 15, 2008. Writers may submit personal essays, chapters of memoir, narrative journalism, and other forms of creative non-fiction. The Grand Prize is $1000 and publication online and in our upcoming anthology. (This is the last annual contest that will be included in our five-year anthology—so if you haven't entered before, this is the year.) Full guidelines are available on our website. Previous entrants get a discounted entry fee."

Meet...storyteller Aesop

Was Aesop a real person?

Famous for his many fables, Aesop is believed to have lived between 620-560 B.C., although some scholars still deny he existed beyond legend. He is mentioned in the works of Aristotle, Plato and Socrates, among others. Some facts of his life have remained constant in reference after reference. He was a slave on the Greek Island of Samos. He had a quick wit, a gift for sarcasm, which enhanced his oratory skills. He has been depicted in sculptures as having a physical deformity and there are several references to him being mute or having a speech impediment that was cured by the goddess Isis.

Aesop died in Delphi, after being accused of stealing. The sentence for the crime was to be thrown from a cliff. He maintained his innocence, even cursing the Delphians. The area suffered through pestilence, famine and war, which many attribute to Aesop's unjust death.

How many fables did Aesop write?

The number of fables attributed to Aesop varies depending on whom you ask. Some say as many as 600 while others say most of the called "Aesop's fables" actually were written in much later in the Middle Ages and collected with the other tales under Aesop's name, much like nursery rhymes were collected under the name of Mother Goose.

One reason for the dispute is the believed purpose of fables in society. Today Aesop's fables teach moral lessons to children, using animals and metaphors to relay the consequences of telling lies or being greedy or being proud. In ancient time, the primary purpose of fables was to explain natural phenomena or unusual occurrences, not moral lessons.

Another reason for doubted the fables' author is that it is unlikely that Aesop actually wrote his stories down. He was a slave so it was unlikely that he could write. Written copies of his fables didn't begin to appear for more than a century after his death. Socrates reportedly passed the time while he was in prison in the early fourth century B.C. by turning some of the fables into verse.

Later collections appear to compile other folk tales from Europe and Asia with the fables under Aesop's name. Still some titles are widely accepted as the storyteller's own fables, including "The Tortoise and the Hare," "The Ant and the Grasshopper," "The Shepherd and the Wolf" (a.k.a. "The Boy Who Cried Wolf") and "The Fox and the Crow."

What impact do the fables have today?

Still a popular collection of stories for children, Aesop's fables have been adapted into plays, films, games and more. The fables inspire contemporary writers to retell them in new settings and with new characters. The appeal stems from the simple, gentle way the life lessons are taught to both the characters within the stories and the readers.

You can find various editions of the collected Aesop's fables plus many of the individual tales on Amazon.com, Alibris.com, Barnes and Noble and other bookstores. The stories also appear as VHS and DVD films and you can also find games and toys with an Aesop theme.



Sources: BiographyBase.com, Collection of the World's Fairy Tales, and The Literature Network.

Song of the Century?

In 2001, the Recording Industry of America Association (RIAA), the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Scholastic Inc., and AOL@School compiled 365 songs of the 20th century to "promote a better understanding of America's musical and cultural heritage" to American school children. Being such a long list, you would rightly imagine that it has songs from every decade and every genre, from Broadway musicals to rap and hip-hop, from big bands to disco.

What are the top 10 songs of the 20th century?

Having looked over the list, I would hope that the songs aren't ranked. Why would the Village People's "YMCA" outrank Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" by six slots? But the top 10 songs and the performing artists on the RIAA list are:

1 "Over the Rainbow" Judy Garland



2 "White Christmas" Bing Crosby
3 "This Land Is Your Land" Woody Guthrie
4 "Respect" Aretha Franklin
5 "American Pie" Don McLean
6 "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" The Andrews Sisters
7 West Side Story (Album) Original Cast
8 "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" Billy Murray
9 "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" The Righteous Brothers
10 "The Entertainer" Scott Joplin

At number one, "Over the Rainbow" has nearly 150 recordings on listed iTunes by about 135 different artists. It has been recorded by variety of artists from Judy Garland to Willie Nelson.

Who wrote "Over the Rainbow"?


Yip Harburg wrote the lyrics for composer Harold Arlen's melody. The two had teamed up on Broadway before heading to Hollywood in 1934. Harburg wrote most of the lyrics for "The Wizard of Oz," winning an Oscar for Best Song for "Over the Rainbow."

Harburg wrote the lyrics for more than 600 songs for film and Broadway, including "It's Only a Paper Moon," "How are Things in Glocca Morra" and "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" Because of his liberal political ideals, he fell victim to the Committee on Un-American Activities in the 1950s and was blacklisted in Hollywood. He did, however, continue to work on Broadway.

Did the song win a Grammy?

The Grammy Awards were not established until 1958, nearly 20 years after the song's debut in "The Wizard of Oz." The Judy Garland recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1981, and the Ray Charles and Johnny Mathis recording won arranger Victor Vanacore a Grammy for Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) in 2004.





Other noted recordings of "Over the Rainbow" include Eva Cassidy and Israel Kamakawiwo'ole.

Looking for Inspiration?

Software for writers abound. From StyleWriter to Final Draft, the right software can help you plot, create characters and format your manuscript. If you need help finding and developing ideas, take a look at the aptly named Inspiration by Inspiration Software, Inc.

What is Inspiration?

Developed for teachers and students, Inspiration offers users a visual way of developing and organizing ideas. In one mode, you can draw out your idea with a variety of shapes, colors and arrows. In the second mode you can work in the traditional outline format. Click a button and you're drawing is immediately organized into one of six diagrams or one of five "stacking models." Click a second button and you're drawing's been translated into the outline format.

The program comes in different versions, including one for hand-held devices, for kids and for organizing collected data. Inspiration has versions for both Macintosh and PC computers as well. "Inspiration for grades 6 to 12" is marketed to both teens and adults.

How would writers benefit from Inspiration®?

The act of brainstorming is messy. You've got a scribble here. Another thought scratched over there. Sometimes one piece of paper won't hold it all so you have to grab another then link it up somehow if the pages get shuffled. Inspiration's page stretches with you. You can go as wide and as long as you want.


Click and there's a circle waiting for you to type in a thought. Click again, another circle. You can move the circles around, bunch them together, change their colors to help you keep the idea flowing and developing. You don't even have to use circles. The toolbox offers multitudes of shapes and even figures like plants and animals to designate the different points as your idea takes shape.

Once you've written out every word, phrase and thought you have about this idea, Inspiration can help you organize it. You can draw arrows between your shapes to link subtopics to topics. You can designate one color for, say, chapter titles, then another for the plot points in the chapters, even go as far as making each chapter's points their own color. Then you can diagram your notes with a click and get a chart that flows top to bottom, left to write or however you'd like.


At any point, you can hit a button and your idea becomes an outline. Edit in that mode or swap back to the diagram and add items there. (see the pictures of both modes. click on them to enlarge.)

Where can you get Inspiration?

The company website has a free trial download so you can try before you buy. You can order it from the company or I also found it available on Amazon.com from individual vendors. Cost is $69 from the company or anywhere from $60-$65 from the Amazon vendors.

And the Winner is....

Last week, I announced a celebration to honor the readers of 3 Questions...and Answers as the blog/zine turns one month old. Although I only have one gift to give, I want everyone to know how much I appreciate their readership and support. Thank you!




Now to select the winner of this handmade journal, I gave every entrant a number then had an uninvolved 3rd party pick one of those numbers at random. This person didn't even know who entered, let alone what number each was assigned.



And the winner is...Madame Queen!!


Congratulations, Madame Queen! I will be contacting you about getting the journal to you shortly.




Thank you to everyone who entered! I plan to do this again sometime so don't despair.

Meet...poet Gwendolyn Brooks

What should you know about Gwendolyn Brooks?

Born in 1917, Gwendolyn Brooks became the first African American to receive a Pulitzer Prize. Gwendolyn published her first poem at the age of 13. In 1945 Harper & Bros., now HarperCollins, published her first collection poetry A Street in Bronzeville. Her collection about growing up in Chicago, Annie Allen, came four years later, winning the Pulitzer in 1950. At the time she was a homemaker and mother, writing poems between chores and caring for her son. Her daughter was born a year later and Gwendolyn continued to find moments to write.

Did her career end with the Pulitzer?


No, Gwendolyn continued to write throughout her life. Her last book, In Montgomery: And Other Poems was published after her death in 2003. In addition, she taught at many colleges and universities, received fellowships from the Academy of American Poets and the Guggenheim Foundation as well as numerous awards. She was name the poet laureate of Illinois in 1968. In 1999 then-First Lady Hillary Clinton presented Gwendolyn with the First Women award. She was constantly working to inspire and encourage writers, especially elementary and high school students.

Gwendolyn died in 2000 at the age of 83.

Can the Pulitzer-Prize-winner still be found?


Several of her books are still available for sale. I found her novel Maud Martha on Amazon.com as well as the collections Bronzeville Boys and Girls, To Disembark, and Aloneness, and her Primer for Blacks and Young Poets' Primer. However, I could only find Annie Allen on the used book sites alibris and abebooks. First editions were selling at prices ranging from $75 to over $600. Her first book, A Street in Bronzeville, was also on alibris, going for $75 to $750.

Don't forget to check your public library. I also found three copies of Annie Allen searching in the Georgia Public Library System's electronic catalog.


Sources: aalbc.com, Circle of the Brotherhood Association, Cybrarian's Cyberworld


Don't forget the deadline to enter to win the free handmade journal is Wednesday Feb. 27, 6pm EST. Click here for full details.

Book Blogs for the Readers in All of Us…

Writers are readers. We have to be. In order to write well, you must read and read all sorts of things. Here are some links to book blogs and pages that are out there, offering book reviews, book and publishing news and author interviews. They are not listed in any order, nor does their inclusion here mean they are any better than any other blog/page. They are merely a selection.

Where shall we start?

I started with newspapers because every newspaper I've ever encountered had a book page or section published once a week. Now with most papers online, editors/writers are also hosting blogs to keep readers up to date, even up to the minute, on all the news in the literary world.

Newspaper Book Blogs:

• Paper Cuts - New York Times blog
• Jacket Copy - Los Angeles Times blog
• Books, Inq.: The Epilogue - Philadelphia Inquirer blog
• The Book Page - Atlanta Journal Constitution blog
  

Newspaper Book Pages:

• Washington Post
• Chicago Tribune
• Denver Post
• Seattle Times

Find more newspapers online at NewsVoyager.


What other kind of book blogs are out there?


Name it; it's there. There are blogs for genre fiction, different topics like cooking and outdoor adventure books, anything you could want. Here are a few general ones I found.


Readers Read - This is an extremely cluttered blog with lots of frames and sections, but it offers not only news but reviews, essay and interviews.

The Millions - This isn't really a visually pleasing site either. It feels backwards to me with the reviews on the left and all the links, ads and other stuff on the right. However, it is chocked full of stuff: reviews, reading lists, book links, etc. The 10 readers bios are also featured, which are interesting themselves.

The Bookslut - Part magazine, part blog, this site has reviews, interviews and news in every area of writing imaginable from children's books to romances and all points in between. If you can't find it here, it might not be on the web.

A Good Blog is Hard to Find - This blog is written by a collection of Southern writers, mostly women but there are a few men. They write about news and their own experiences with publishing and promoting books and about books in general. Julie L. Cannon, who will be interviewed here later this month, is a contributor to this blog.

Where can you find more blogs?

I started with Google and searched "book blogs". From there I found Book Blogs Directory on Blog Flux and Guardian Unlimited Book's Top 10 Literary Blogs. The latter is based in the United Kingdom. I'm sure there are thousands more deserving book blogs out there. There is no way to list them all.

Ramblings about Resources...

Looking for something to do on your summer vacation?

When it comes to writers' conferences, workshops and retreats, there is literarily something for everyone. Most are open to anyone and anyone who wants to pay the tuition, but a few, like Bread Loaf in Vermont, requires an application, which must be approved by a board before you can attend. http://www.middlebury.edu/academics/blwc/

ShawGuides is a tremendous resource for researching writers' conferences. You can search by genre, month, state and even country! You can also use keywords. Like everything else, some conferences are better than others. Be sure to research the faculty and weigh the costs v. benefit.

Do you like newspapers?

Newsvoyager is a gateway to newspaper websites all over the web. Drop menus on the home page allow you to search US and International newspapers, college newspapers, media organizations and other newspaper groups. You can select a state on the drop menu or click the map or type a paper's name or city into the keyword box. It is a great research tool.

Are writers' associations worth your time and more importantly your money?

It depends…on you and on the group. Some groups sponsor conferences and contests, have publications that might have market listings or other helpful tips or have critique services or groups. They are as varied as writers. Membership in some looks really good on your resume. Others have high powered conferences that offer prime networking opportunities. Others are just in it to make money. Know what you're looking for in terms of benefits and services. Check out the membership and those administering the group. Weigh the costs. One good thing is that most groups offer 1-year memberships so if you're not getting your needs met, you can move on.

Here a links to different writers associations:



SongwriterUniverse (click resources)
Screenwriters Associations
National Federation of State Poetry Societies
General Writers Associations

Presidential Pages...

Today is Super Tuesday, meaning there are presidential caucuses or primaries in 24 states, more than on any other day. Billions of words have been written about the candidates in newspapers, magazines, even books.

Of the remaining candidates, which have WRITTEN books themselves?


A quick search on Amazon reveals about a half-dozen titles penned at least in part by Hillary Clinton and as well by Barack Obama. On the Republican side, John McCain has about a half-dozen too, as does Mike Huckabee. Mitt Romney only has one.

Which presidents are published authors?

This was no quick search, but thanks to my Favorite Librarian Leslie and her team of interns, I can tell you 29 of our 43 presidents are/were published authors. While most published letters, diaries and autobiographies, others published books on history, politics, and foreign affairs. Jimmy Carter wrote a novel and Gerald Ford wrote humor. The most prolific presidential author to date is our 26th president Theodore Roosevelt. He wrote more than 40 books on variety of topics, including Rough Riders, his 1899 memoir on the Spanish-American War.

How many of these presidential books are still available?

Again turning to Amazon, I found books by nearly all the presidential authors of the 20th including Bill Clinton, George H W Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson, John F Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower, Harry Truman and Herbert Hoover. Most of the titles only appeared as used, but a few were, like Kennedy's Profiles in Courage, new editions.

On Alibris, a used and out-of-print books website, I found titles by Martin Van Buren, Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt and even a couple by Thomas Jefferson. None of these books were the original editions but isn't it amazing they are still available to us?

The Ultimate Writing Contest…

How do the Academy Awards honor writers?

The 2008 Academy Awards ceremony (the 80th annual) is scheduled for February 24 on ABC. Hopes for the traditional big glitz ceremony waver in face of the writers' strike, but the Academy will award its 24 Oscars nonetheless. Among those will be 3 specifically for writers: best adapted screenplay, best original screenplay, and best original song. Each of these awards has 5 nominees.

Of the 5 films up for Best Picture, the top dog prize, 3 are adapted screenplays and all 5 are up for the writing awards.

Does the Best Picture always win a Best Screenplay award?



No, in the last 20 years only 13 Best Picture winners also won for their scripts. Of those 13, adapted screenplays (from novels, stage plays, short stories primarily) won 9 times. This gives the authors of the adapted work boasting rights, if not an outright award. Who doesn't want to see "Made into the Academy Award-Winning Picture" splashed across his/her book jacket or advertisement?

What about songwriters?

There is an award for best original song. This year the movie "Enchanted" nearly swept the category with 3 out of the 5 nominations. The writing team of Alan Menken (music) and Stephen Schwartz (lyrics) have been nominated 18 and 8 times respectively, while it is the first nomination for Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (Falling Slowly - Once) and for Jamal Joseph, Charles Mack and Tevin Thomas (Raise it Up - August Rush). Unfortunately, none of these movies are up for best picture.


The Oscars website has a complete list of nominees plus ton of photos, trivia and a live countdown to the big show. Enjoy!

I Write the Songs.....

Do you know these people?

Tom Higgenson, Shawn Carter, Chris Thompkins...

They're just a few of the songwriters nominated for Song of the Year at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards airing February 10 on CBS. On the surface, the Grammy's seem to be all about the performers, but without the songs, there'd be no performances. That's where these folks come in.

Tom Higgenson wrote "Hey Ther Delilah" for the Plain White T's. Shawn Carter, Kuk Harrell, Terius "Dream" Nash and Christopher Stewart penned "Umbrella" for Rihanna. Chris Thompkins and Josh Kear wrote Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats". Singers Amy Winehouse and Corinne Bailey Rae round out the category, writing "Rehab" and "Like a Star" respectively.

Top Shelf...

What is the best selling book in the country?

It depends on whom you ask and what kind of book you're considering. The New York Times has 10 best seller lists, including Hardback and Paperback lists for Fiction, Nonfiction, Advice, Children's, Business, as well as for Trade Paperback (a larger format paperback, commonly used for literary titles) and Mass Market Paperback (A small format paperback edition). Thank you Judith Kelman's Writers' Room.

On the other hand, USA Today has only one list of 150 and all genres and editions are mixed in together. Amazon.com updates it's list hourly and like USA Today, everyone gets lumped together, including books that are not even available yet, based on their pre-order reservations.