Christopher Meeks's Blog, page 23
September 1, 2009
The Vatican to Vegas
LAS VEGAS: LOVE AND HATELas Vegas used to be easy to hate. When I passed through a few times in college, I sensed what the place was exactly: cheap eats at bland buffets, Midwesterners blowing too much money in smoky casinos, and drunks everywhere. Elegant meant funky Egyptianesque costumes on cocktail waitresses at Caesars Palace where the fountains were large.Now Las Vegas is something ...
August 31, 2009
DYSON HEAVEN
We have six pets at this point -- four cats and two dogs. Each came to us under special circumstances, so it's not like we're collectors of living things. We're not becoming the kind of people who wear t-shirts with our pets' photos or drool and chatter about canned pet food versus kibbles. However, I will talk about the amount of pet fur that lands on our carpets -- more fur than on Tony ...
August 21, 2009
THE CHALLENGES FOR THE SELF-PUBLISHER
A few years ago when I first used Lulu.com to publish and distribute my first book, a collection of short stories called The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea, I happened to go into the Barnes and Noble store in Union Square in New York City and found my book for sale there. I was ecstatic. I later called Barnes and Noble's Small Press Department in New York to find out if my book was in any other ...
August 12, 2009
SELF-PUBLISHING VS. "REAL" PUBLISHING – How To Get Your First Book Out
My panel proposal for this topic has been accepted at the country's largest gathering of creative writers, the AWP Convention, which will be held in Denver in April. The Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) includes individual writers and most graduate and undergraduate creative writing programs in this country and Canada. Alternate forms of publishing have never been a topic of ...
August 8, 2009
Love and the People Who Live It: "(500) Days of Summer"
While I like to think of myself as adept when it comes to relationships, a handful of former girlfriends and an ex-wife have shown me I may as well be a toll taker for the Bridge of Sighs. That hasn't stopped me from writing stories about love, and my male characters, like me, tend not to see situations for what they are. Men often need help, which is why Deanna Troi on Star Trek: The Next ...
August 5, 2009
KINDLE: The Emerging Elephant in the Room
"Look at this," my sister-in-law Annie said, showing me her Kindle, the $299 wireless reading device from Amazon. It looked like a giant cell phone with a big readable screen. "I don't need to sync it up with a computer," she said, "because it connects to Amazon.com. I just look for the digital version of books I want, and they appear on my Kindle in moments after I ...
July 28, 2009
NEW BOOK MARKETING (A Positive Approach for Negative Times)
Many novelists I know are a bit like Rodney Dangerfield, feeling like they get no respect. Yet after diving into publishing three years ago. I remain optimistic. Before I explain why, let me remind you of the state of publishing: book advances continue to diminish; imprints are disappearing; red ink flows. New York magazine in an extended article called "The End," shows that up to ...
July 17, 2009
Going Beyond
Yesterday happened to be the 40th anniversary of the lift-off of Apollo 11, which led Neil Armstrong, who had flown 78 combat missions over Korea as a Navy fighter pilot, to take the first steps on the moon. The crew of three--Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins--blasted off from Cape Kennedy and arrived in space and an earth orbit in twelve minutes.Yesterday also happened to be the ...
July 16, 2009
THE VIGIL
My stepfather continues to live, but his body is starting to shut down. He's been moved today to a home-like hospice setting. The antibiotics have been stopped, and because he can't swallow, he has an IV for water and nutrition. Even if the pneumonia could be stopped, too much else is failing. He wanted no heroic measures. As my brother Stuart just wrote, "He clearly stated that was not ...
July 14, 2009
TODAY THE DAY?
One hundred and twenty-eight years ago today, New Mexico sheriff Pat Garrett, from Lincoln County, shot and killed William H. Bonney alias Billy the Kid, after Bonney's escape from jail. On this same day, another death, one that means more to me, may happen. Today may be the day my stepfather Phil passes. I'm trying to wrap my head around this. In my last post, I mentioned that his doctor had ...
