Lev Raphael's Blog, page 35
September 12, 2015
Writers Are Not Robots
Well, I'm not, anyway.
I do have writer friends who can produce a book (or more) a year no matter what kind of crisis is hitting them at home. Contracts pull them through. That, and stubbornness. I couldn't work with so much pressure; I'd feel like I was on an assembly line....
I was just at a party and someone asked me what I was working on. I said, "Nothing. I published my 25th book last Fall. I'm taking time off." He looked at me like I was a slacker or something. But that's not an unu...
I do have writer friends who can produce a book (or more) a year no matter what kind of crisis is hitting them at home. Contracts pull them through. That, and stubbornness. I couldn't work with so much pressure; I'd feel like I was on an assembly line....
I was just at a party and someone asked me what I was working on. I said, "Nothing. I published my 25th book last Fall. I'm taking time off." He looked at me like I was a slacker or something. But that's not an unu...
September 8, 2015
Why Not Speak Their Language When You Travel?
When you go to Europe, don't be shy: Try speak the language of your destination. It can be fun!
Preparing for my first German book tour, I took an on-line grammar test from a language school. Big mistake. I was never good at test-taking and I bombed, despite having studied some basic German for more than a year. I told this to a friend who teaches German and he said, "Forgot it. Nobody's going to test you over there. The key thing is, can you communicate? If you make mistakes, so what? Don'...
Preparing for my first German book tour, I took an on-line grammar test from a language school. Big mistake. I was never good at test-taking and I bombed, despite having studied some basic German for more than a year. I told this to a friend who teaches German and he said, "Forgot it. Nobody's going to test you over there. The key thing is, can you communicate? If you make mistakes, so what? Don'...
Try Speaking Their Language When You Travel
When you go to Europe, don't be shy: Try speak the language of your destination. It can be fun!
Preparing for my first German book tour, I took an on-line grammar test from a language school. Big mistake. I was never good at test-taking and I bombed, despite having studied some basic German for more than a year. I told this to a friend who teaches German and he said, "Forgot it. Nobody's going to test you over there. The key thing is, can you communicate? If you make mistakes, so what? Don'...
Preparing for my first German book tour, I took an on-line grammar test from a language school. Big mistake. I was never good at test-taking and I bombed, despite having studied some basic German for more than a year. I told this to a friend who teaches German and he said, "Forgot it. Nobody's going to test you over there. The key thing is, can you communicate? If you make mistakes, so what? Don'...
September 7, 2015
When Authors Beg for Blurbs...
Before I got my first book published, a novelist I knew quipped, "The only thing worse than not being published is being published." I had no idea what he meant, but I soon figured it out.
Take blurbs. Begging for blurbs for your forthcoming book is a definite downside of being published. It's humiliating to have grovel for them rather than have your publisher take care of it. You can feel like Dorothy menaced in Oz.
Far too many of us authors think blurbs will magically rocket a book to...
Take blurbs. Begging for blurbs for your forthcoming book is a definite downside of being published. It's humiliating to have grovel for them rather than have your publisher take care of it. You can feel like Dorothy menaced in Oz.
Far too many of us authors think blurbs will magically rocket a book to...
September 6, 2015
How to Write a 'Big Book'
Lots of writers dream of writing a big book.
A book that gets advertised and reviewed everywhere. A book that people are reading on trains, planes, and listening to in their cars on cross country trips or morning commutes.
A book that everyone sees at airport book racks. A book that makes all the best seller lists and prompts speculation about who's going to star in the movie.
A book that becomes part of the cultural conversation, even briefly. A book that gets the author onto The View a...
A book that gets advertised and reviewed everywhere. A book that people are reading on trains, planes, and listening to in their cars on cross country trips or morning commutes.
A book that everyone sees at airport book racks. A book that makes all the best seller lists and prompts speculation about who's going to star in the movie.
A book that becomes part of the cultural conversation, even briefly. A book that gets the author onto The View a...
September 3, 2015
Kim Davis Is Not Being Persecuted by Nazis
Kim Davis's lawyer yesterday said something stupid and obscene.
He compared her to Jews living in Nazi Germany.
Why is this deplorable? Because Davis has beenrefusing to do her job, unlike tens of thousands of law-abiding Jews in Germany who wanted to work and faced a blizzard of restrictions. Some 2,000 laws and regulations were aimed against them.
(Nazi-era sign: Jews Are Not Welcome Here)
In April 1933, Nazi Germany fired all Jews from teaching jobs, from positions in the judiciar...
He compared her to Jews living in Nazi Germany.
Why is this deplorable? Because Davis has beenrefusing to do her job, unlike tens of thousands of law-abiding Jews in Germany who wanted to work and faced a blizzard of restrictions. Some 2,000 laws and regulations were aimed against them.
(Nazi-era sign: Jews Are Not Welcome Here)
In April 1933, Nazi Germany fired all Jews from teaching jobs, from positions in the judiciar...
September 1, 2015
Saying Goodbye to Bruges
I once joined a discussion on a travel forum about Bruges and apparently pissed some people off who said you could see Bruges in a day or a day and a half. I suggested close to a week was more like it, and was grossly misinterpreted.
They misread me as saying that you should see everything there, relentlessly. But I wasn't suggesting you had to score points in some manic touristic game and beat your rivals, so that when you got home you could boast that there wasn't a corner of Bruges you h...
They misread me as saying that you should see everything there, relentlessly. But I wasn't suggesting you had to score points in some manic touristic game and beat your rivals, so that when you got home you could boast that there wasn't a corner of Bruges you h...
August 30, 2015
Save Us From Canada!
Scott Walker has boldly gone where no GOP candidate has gone before.
He wants to wall us off from the true international menace we've been ignoring for years: Canada.
He thinks building a wall along the 5,000+ mile border we have with Canada is an idea worth considering. Finally!
He is a certified visionary. Because while Sarah Palin claimed she could see Russia from wherever, she forgot Canada was sneaking up behind her--and she never even knew it!
But score one for Walker. He knows...
He wants to wall us off from the true international menace we've been ignoring for years: Canada.
He thinks building a wall along the 5,000+ mile border we have with Canada is an idea worth considering. Finally!
He is a certified visionary. Because while Sarah Palin claimed she could see Russia from wherever, she forgot Canada was sneaking up behind her--and she never even knew it!
But score one for Walker. He knows...
August 20, 2015
Jeb and Hillary Need Political Viagra!
For weeks now, the pundits have asked the same stupid questions and made the same stupid predictions. Every day I keep hearing that Donald Trump is just a reality TV star and a clown and going to say something so outrageous that he's going to flame out. Not gonna happen. He's a rumbling volcano of contempt and rage. He's the voice of countless people who think just like him on the Right.
The same applies to Bernie Sanders on the Left. Why is he so popular? He's too much of a Socialist, his...
The same applies to Bernie Sanders on the Left. Why is he so popular? He's too much of a Socialist, his...
August 16, 2015
The Impressionists and Philadelphia
I hadn't been to Philadelphia in so long that I couldn't even pin down the date, but when I heard about the Impressionists exhibition at the Art Museum, and its focus on their indefatigable cheerleader and art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel, I knew I had to go. This was bound to be something different.
It absolutely was. I'd been enjoying those painters since elementary school on Sunday visits with my parents to the Metropolitan in New York, but I had no idea that Durand-Ruel worked so feverishly...
It absolutely was. I'd been enjoying those painters since elementary school on Sunday visits with my parents to the Metropolitan in New York, but I had no idea that Durand-Ruel worked so feverishly...
