Christopher Meeks's Blog, page 19
April 15, 2010
TO PUBLISH OR SELF-PUBLISH AND OTHER ADVENTURES (Part Three of the AWP)
Just over two years ago when I was teaching creative writing at USC in the Master of Professional Writing Program, I'd volunteered to head up a search for fellow faculty to write proposals for the next AWP Conference. We were between program directors then, and the associate dean who was temporarily in charge said that the next director, Brighde Mullins, who had been hired but would not start ...
April 13, 2010
FOR THE BENJAMINS (Part Two of the AWP)
Denver is like a giant bag of silica gel. Moisture is sucked right out of you the moment you land at the white teepee-covered Denver International. The first thing to do in Denver is drink a lot of water and kiss Chapstick like your new lover. Coat yourself in Aveeno. That's all in hopes your throat might not become sandpaper, and your skin, scabs. The city is dry. Just over 24 hours after I ...
April 12, 2010
EPIPHANIES AT THE AWP (Part One)
I just returned from the AWP Conference in Denver, which was a rich and intense experience that's still washing over me. The AWP (the Association of Writers and Writing Programs) puts on a yearly conference where writers and creative writing instructors from North America gather. Over three days, there are over 300 panels to choose from, a football-field-sized Bookfair to walk though where ...
April 3, 2010
DESIRE UNDER THE RUNWAY
I'm not ashamed: I'm hooked on Lifetime Channel's Project Runway. For some weeks, such as this week, it's the only television I watch. That's because the show, more than any other reality show, revolves around creativity--and that revolves around "desire."Each season Project Runway begins with twelve or more budding fashion designers, culled from many who apply, and each week model ...
March 21, 2010
TRUTHS IN FICTION (And a List of Five)
One of the happy accidents in my life was when the chair of the Santa Monica College English Department, Nina Theiss, had called me out of the blue and asked if I'd consider teaching English at the college. She said she'd heard I was a great teacher, and I had been recommended by a colleague. That eventually led to my discovering new things in reading and writing fiction.At the time of Dr. ...
March 13, 2010
A VIABLE EBOOK LIFE
Lately, there has been much discussion of publishing in terms of printing vs. digitizing-- books vs. ebooks--and the news swirls in a faster spinning vortex. With the iPad about to debut, there's much speculation on will ebooks become more popular than they are now? "Yes" is the answer because books on the iPhone are already tops in aps (click here to see the chart and article), and it ...
March 12, 2010
WHAT TODAY'S WRITERS NEED TO KNOW
Last night at USC, I attended a panel discussion, "The Best of Times: Writing in the Age of the Internet," moderated by author Gina Nahai (Caspian Rain). The students in USC's Master of Professional Writing Program, having honed their craft and about to graduate, wanted to know is there a job out there for them? Could they make a living writing?Panelist Tom Lutz, director of the MFA ...
March 6, 2010
MARITAL BLISS OR WHO SAID I HAD TO CLEAN THE CAT BOX?
I rarely ever listen to KPCC, a radio station out of Pasadena, because it's mostly talk, but I happened onto it the other day when I heard a comedic duo, Annabelle Gurwitch and Jeff Kahn, who've been married to each other for thirteen years. They were on the air talking about what it takes to be married and stay together, and they wrote about it in their book, You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up: A ...
February 22, 2010
CHERI & 151 BEST MOVIES YOU'VE NEVER SEEN
NPR last week had a story on Leonard Maltin's new book about great movies that were marketed poorly or where people simply stayed away in droves. It's called 151 Best Movies You've Never Seen. One of the films he mentions is The Weather Man with Nicholas Cage. I saw it and I agree with him. It's great.This weekend, my wife and I went to Blockbuster. Yep, there are still people who actually ...
February 17, 2010
AUTHORS IN THE EBOOK AGE
Ever since Macmillan Publishing took on Amazon a few weeks ago in regards to a new contract, the cost of eBooks have been bandied about. Some readers seem to think that publishers are greedy and have money raining down on them by pricing their books over $10. In one Amazon discussion group, a reader asked, "What's the price of a few electrons?" He reduced the cost of a book to the ...
