Writer's Block

scribnerbooks: Early ad for The Sun Also Rises. “The publishers...

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 00:18:01 -0400

Early ad for The Sun Also Rises. “The publishers advise you to be very much aware of this book from the start.”

Great ad for a great book!

timemagazine: The latest issue of TIME, “The Wireless Issue: 10...

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 15:50:20 -0400

The latest issue of TIME, “The Wireless Issue: 10 Ways Your Phone Is Changing The World,” will hit newsstands Friday.

In this issue, TIME investigates how mobile phones are changing essentially every aspect of our lives. In July, our editors did a call-out for Instagram photos from around the world — today, 288 of those photos from over 30,000 submissions grace the cover of TIME.

This is so interesting to me because it is so true. The digital age is not only changing the face of the publishing industry, it is changing our day-to-day lives! Not only that, things change so quickly these days that it’s hard to even imagine what will happen within the next 5 years. I must pick up this issue of TIME!

"It felt good to be surrounded by books, by all these objects that could be ripped page by page but..."

Wed, 01 Aug 2012 00:02:31 -0400

“It felt good to be surrounded by books, by all these objects that could be ripped page by page but couldn’t be torn if the pages all held together. So much of the information we received was ephemeral— pixels on screen, words passing in the air. But here I felt that thoughts had weight.”

- David Levithan, Wide Awake (via bookmania)

Many people think that the publishing industry is dying-that...

Sun, 15 Jul 2012 14:20:00 -0400

Many people think that the publishing industry is dying-that there isn’t a market or audience for print books anymore, and to be honest, to a certain extent, I used to agree. But after all I’ve learned while in the Summer Publishing Institute at NYU this summer, I am so excited to start working in this industry. With many publishers going digital, there are many exciting changes going on. Yes, print sales are struggling, but really, this industry has always had obstacles to overcome. Rather than being negative about it, the key is to embrace the challenges as the come. In other words, it is not the end of publishing, it is the start of a new beginning.

timemagazine: Today marks 15 years since the original Harry...

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 00:19:28 -0400

timemagazine:

Today marks 15 years since the original Harry Potter book was released.

Ah, 15 years of magic — can you believe it?

"The only really necessary people in the publishing process are now the writer and the reader,..."

Thu, 28 Jun 2012 23:59:00 -0400

“The only really necessary people in the publishing process are now the writer and the reader, everyone else has opportunities and challenges.”

- Russ Grandinetti, Amazon (New York Times, 10/16/2011)

I agree with this statement, but I am also excited for the future of publishing because as we learn to embrace those challenges as opportunities, the more exciting and fresh everything becomes! The industry is definitely going through changes, but sometimes, change is not only good, it is necessary.

scribnerbooks: Stephen King, age 14. It’s never too...

Sun, 24 Jun 2012 23:16:00 -0400

scribnerbooks:

Stephen King, age 14.

It’s never too early or too late to start writing.

bookmania: The Infinity of Knowledge. The Prague Municipal...

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 21:04:18 -0400

bookmania:

The Infinity of Knowledge. The Prague Municipal Library at Marianske Square, Zilina, Slovakia is definitely worth visiting because of an amazing sculpture made of numerous books by Matej Kren, a young Czechoslovak artist. This wonderful sculpture is placed in the Prague Municipal Library, consisting of books and mirrors, creating an unusual effect of infinity. It kind of reminds us of Alice in Wonderland, (Down the Rabbit Hole!), the amazing, infinite path towards knowledge, but it gives us a feel of obscurity — totally, a must-see piece of art in the world of optical illusions!

story-dj: Losing the “believe” part of this is the scariest and...

Thu, 31 May 2012 20:16:32 -0400

story-dj:

Losing the “believe” part of this is the scariest and worst thing.

Inside the Front of the Book

Thu, 31 May 2012 20:03:00 -0400

Inside the Front of the Book:

“When you look at these four magazines [New York, Wired, GQ, and Esquire], they all have a very firm idea of what their readers are most interested in and a very firm grip on a stylish kind of service journalism. Many of these finalists combine that with an intelligence, cleverness… and a last thing — a sort of X-factor — some spark or element of the unexpected that makes the section especially captivating for readers.”

- Sid Holt, Chief Executive of ASME

American Society of Magazine Editors - Ads on Covers? ASME Says No

Thu, 31 May 2012 17:56:00 -0400

American Society of Magazine Editors - Ads on Covers? ASME Says No:

“The cover is the face of the magazine; it is not an advertising position. The cover is editors’ and circulators’ most effective tool for communicating with newsstand buyers as well as subscribers. Using the cover to promote products other than the magazine itself weakens the power and effectiveness of the cover. Advertising on the cover suggests editorial endorsement of advertised products, indicates that editorial coverage is for sale and threatens editorial independence. Cover ads compromise the relationship between editor and reader, impair circulation tactics and efforts, weaken the value of magazines to advertisers and potentially damage the brands of marketers that advertise both on the cover and inside the book.”

This is important to think about because as it says in the statement, the cover is the face of the magazine, so should/would we want to cover it in ads?

Michael Bloomberg Reads Eight Newspapers a Day - FishbowlNY

Thu, 31 May 2012 17:43:21 -0400

Michael Bloomberg Reads Eight Newspapers a Day - FishbowlNY:

The only way to stay on top of the news is to keep reading!

bookmania: Shiba Ryotaro Memorial Museum, Osaka,...

Thu, 31 May 2012 13:19:00 -0400

bookmania:

Shiba Ryotaro Memorial Museum, Osaka, Japan. The Shiba Ryotaro Museum is the former house of the Japanese author Shiba Ryotaro. Inside, one sees the huge bookshelf which is 11 meters high with 20,000 books in it. With these books the author wrote about 500 historical novels, essays, critical essays and many other works. The museum was designed by Ando Tadao, a famous Japanese architect, to show the creative world of Shiba Ryotaro. (Photo by Alex Roman)

"But it was another girl, young and new to the city, fiddling with her keys."

Thu, 31 May 2012 11:57:31 -0400

“But it was another girl, young and new to the city, fiddling with her keys.”

- Jennifer Egan, from A Visit From the Good Squad (thanks, offitgoes)

This is exactly why I believe it is very important to cultivate...

Thu, 31 May 2012 11:49:53 -0400

This is exactly why I believe it is very important to cultivate a love of reading in children starting from a young age.

bookstairs: The Third Teacher: 79 Ways You Can Use Design to...

Thu, 31 May 2012 11:47:49 -0400

bookstairs:

The Third Teacher: 79 Ways You Can Use Design to Transform Teaching & Learning (Architecture)

Author: Inc. OWP/P Cannon Design, VS Furniture, Bruce Mau Design

Book Description: Created by an international team of architects and designers concerned about our failing education system, The Third Teacher explores the critical link between the school environment and how children learn, and offers 79 practical design ideas, both great and small, to guide reader’s efforts to improve our schools. Written for anyone who has school-age children in their life, from educators and education decision-makers to parents and community activists, this book is intended to ignite a blaze of discussion and initiative about environment as an essential element of learning. Including a wealth of interviews, facts, statistics, and stories from experts in a wide range of fields, this book is a how-to guide to be used to connect with the many organizations, individuals, and ideas dedicated to innovating and improving teaching and learning. Contributors include children’s singer and advocate Raffi, author and creativity consultant Sir Ken Robinson, scientist and environmentalist David Suzuki, inventor James Dyson, and other experts who are working to create fresh solutions to problems and create a new blueprint for the future of education.

Available on Amazon.com

via: BookStairs
Facebook // Twitter // Google+ // Pinterest

"The Thought Fox" by Ted Hughes

Thu, 31 May 2012 00:28:00 -0400

I imagine this midnight moment’s forest:
Something else is alive
Beside the clock’s loneliness
And this blank page where my fingers move.

Through the window I see no star:
Something more near
Though deeper within darkness
Is entering the loneliness:

Cold, delicately as the dark snow
A fox’s nose touches twig, leaf;
Two eyes serve a movement, that now
And again now, and now, and now

Sets neat prints into the snow
Between trees, and warily a lame
Shadow lags by stump and in hollow
Of a body that is bold to come

Across clearings, an eye,
A widening deepening greenness,
Brilliantly, concentratedly,
Coming about its own business

Till, with a sudden sharp hot stink of fox
It enters the dark hole of the head.
The window is starless still; the clock ticks,
The page is printed.

I came across this poem in college and I immediately fell in love with it. It describes the curious, sometimes fustrating, and yet rewarding feeling you experience when you finally have that “break-through” moment in your writing.

During my senior year of college, I had the opportunity to be an editoral intern for an organization called The Podium Foundation. The organization publishes an annual print literary journal that showcases the creative writing and artwork of high school students all over the Richmond City School District. I had the opportunity to help with the pilot issue of Podium Online, the organization’s new online literary journal.

One of the greatest and most valuable lessons I learned through the internship was that as an editor, along with copy and line editing, my job was to make sure that even through the edits, each piece stayed as authentic as possible - that is, the piece remained true to the author’s original intent and voice. If I let myself get too carried away, it would become MY work instead of theirs.

That being said, in the future, I will strive to be an editor, who in a sense, can help the writer “coax the fox out of the forest.” While most of the creative content may come from the author, I do not believe that the writing process is something the writer can do alone. I believe every author needs an editor who they can freely share their ideas with because a lot of the time, that is the only way to realize what it is you really want to say.

Six e-Book Trends to Watch in 2011

Wed, 30 May 2012 23:53:00 -0400

Six e-Book Trends to Watch in 2011:

Bundled books, social reading, e-Book clubs, e-First publishing, free e-Readers, and monetization experiments? Even though this article is a bit old, I think it’s still relevant today.

Young Children Use Digital Media Frequently | Common Sense Media

Wed, 30 May 2012 23:27:00 -0400

Young Children Use Digital Media Frequently | Common Sense Media:

The digital shift that the publishing industry is experiencing not only effects adult sales. It is also changing the way children are reading and interacting with books. This article shows that the age at which children are introduced and starting to interacting with various technological devices is getting younger.

The Top 10 Tear-jerkers of all Time

Wed, 30 May 2012 18:44:00 -0400

scribnerbooks:

1. Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

2. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

3. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

4. Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

5. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

7. My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult

8. The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough

9. Charlotte’s Web by E B White

10. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

(via The Sacramento Bee)

What titles would you add?

I would have to add The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man’s Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945 by Wladyslaw Szpilman. I read it several years ago, but the chilling, compelling, tragic, and courageous story made a deep impression on me that I still remember today.