Caleb J. Ross's Blog, page 84
February 6, 2011
The Velvet reads at the appropriately named The Velvet Lounge in Washington D.C
Only one day back from Washington DC and already I miss it. The city was wonderful, of course, but what really impressed me was how nice the citizens were. Everyone from CVS counter workers to street repair people went out of their way to smile and offer a hello. And I definitely don't project a [...]
February 1, 2011
Treat every book like The Bible
Can you talk about a single book for one hour every week? Ministers/Priests/Pastors/Reverends/Etc. do. Why shouldn't more books get the attention that religion texts do? Okay, most books don't have a centuries-long history, a following (even a lukewarm one), or a cultivated lifestyle (excluding the Twilights and Harry Potters). What most books do have in [...]
Blogging, Tweeting, and YouTubing from AWP all this week
Between February 2nd and 5th I will be attending the AWP (Association of Writers and Writing Programs) Conference in Washington DC. During this time I'll be temporarily relocated. Check often at the following places, where I (and a team of writers) will be reporting on the happenings at the conference all week. Be sure to [...]
January 25, 2011
David Mamet get bleeped on The Simpsons, and maybe Chuck Palahniuk is there too
More Unexpected Literary references from The Simpsons. Surprised? You shouldn't be. Okay, The Simpsons, time to step aside and let some other cartoon be the smarty-pants lit reference show. You've been the hipster long enough. Your gags are disproportionately literary-based, and for that The Simpsons, I would appreciate more fart joked. By now you are [...]
January 23, 2011
Validating the three publishing options: Traditional, Small/Independent, DIY
Honestly, when in the company of commercial press authors, defending my place as independent press author can be difficult. To those who have "made it" into the commercial presses, I would assume my defense comes across not nearly as articulately and convincingly as I would hope. Afterall, the examples of small press authors immigrating into [...]
January 15, 2011
Social media is a natural fit for authors. Tip your readers!
When I'm not authoring mind explosions, I spend part of my time professionally involved with social media. One of the items my company stresses with our clients is that social media is not about pushing a message of product, product, product. It's about engaging with customers and potential customers on a personal level. This means [...]
January 6, 2011
American Dad fandangles Dr. Seuss' red fish typewriter blue fish
Season 1, episode 15 ("Star Trek"), of the always entertaining "American Dad" plots the sudden rise of Steve Smith as a children's book author. This premise, of course, is perfect for literary nods. Strange, though, that I only caught two. See the entire episode here: Additional hilarious photo (I paused the embedded video at just [...]
January 1, 2011
Literary critics aren't dying, but they are threatening suicide…again.
The December 31st, 2010 episode of the New York Times Review of Books podcast focused on a conversation on the relevance of professional literary criticism, especially in respects to the 'everyone does it' mentality associated with Amazon book reviews, Facebook statuses, and amateur lit crit blogs. Though the entire conversation was extremely interesting, the following [...]
December 23, 2010
The top 5 most popular blog posts of 2010
During 2010 I went from a seldom-posting recluse to an annoying gnat. But apparently some people like being bothered by insects, because a few of my posts actually rose out of the white noise to become respectable accidental meant-to-search-for-porn landing pages. #1 | Great Unexpected Literary References (posted in June) Top entrance keywords: literary references, [...]
December 22, 2010
Ideas I've had (probably while drinking): bottle stories
The beer bottle label is grossly misappropriated real estate. When sold as a six- or twelve-pack, the bottle label is hidden by the outside packaging. And nobody buys a single bottle of beer. So why not use the label for something more than null-advertising? We drink for the morning after stories over greasy breakfast, so [...]
