Alexander M. Zoltai's Blog, page 191

Writer’s Block ~ Is It “Real” or Should We Be Kinder To Ourselves?

Writer’s block can seem very solid and real to many writers… Yet, there are writers who believe the “block” should be seen as a “break”—induced by deeper levels of the mind—a time to refresh and renew so the writing can, later, flow… Back in April I published a post called “Writer’s Block” ~ Scourge orChallenge?. [...]

Global Blogging for Readers, Writers, and Publishers

I was born in the U.S.A., lived most of my life here, visited 4 other countries, and lived for a year in Viet Nam. I work hard to write this blog for a world audience. True, I can only write in English :-( But, I have visitors from over 120 countries of our world. Little [...]

PC vs Mac Comedian Reveals Some Truths About Books . . .

You may remember the popular series of U. S. TV ads with two men pretending they were a PC and a Mac, with the Mac being Cool and Rational and the PC being a Buffoon—see the video below :-) Engadget has a post interviewing the PC-guy, John Hodgman, former self-professed literary agent, about the future [...]

Publisher Helps Local Libraries Become Community Publishers !

Should We All Self-Publish ABook? was a previous post that featured libraries’ new capability to be Print-On-Demand publishers. Now we have a further development: Authors Can Now Design, Publish and Distribute Books in Print and Digital Formats Through Libraries ! It’s one thing to walk into a library with your book on a flash-drive and [...]

Writing About The Invisible Things . . .

A writer’s mind is invisible to the reader… …unless the writer sits down and gives it revelation through words. So, imagine a writer sitting down and revealing through words the existence of gravity, or the world that atoms inhabit, or the texture of a magnetic field… Writing about the invisible can be an epic challenge, [...]

Banned Books Week plus Secret Banning . . .

Yesterday began Banned Books Week sponsored by American Booksellers Association; American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression; the American Library Association; American Society of Journalists and Authors; Association of American Publishers;Comic Book Legal Defense Fund; the Freedom to Read Foundation;National Coalition Against Censorship; National Council of Teachers of English; National Association of College Stores; PEN American [...]

Editing ~ By Writers & By Editors . . .

Last night, I was sitting in the Writers’ Block Cafe on Book Island in Second Life. There were four other writers there and we got to talking about editing our own writing—sometimes called revision—though mere editing of improper grammar or clunky sentences is much different that the larger task of Re-Visioning… One of the writers, [...]

The “Self”-Education of Writers . . .

I must begin this post by making it clear that many fine writers have completed what’s considered a full education—appropriate degrees and banners flying high. Yet, many other fine writers have tasted the fare of society’s brand of learning and decided, sometimes seemingly “against their will”, to set their own sails on their own ship [...]

National Punctuation Day ~ I Missed It, #@/%#* … !

Yep, me, a published author, missed National Punctuation Day—for the last nine years!! Who knew? Why didn’t we all get a letter from some official? At least, our publishers or editors or agents could have alerted us! Now, let us prepare for next September 24th (those of us in the U.S.A.—other countries may adopt it, [...]

The War of The Book Worlds ~ E-books & Common Sense

What happens when an online retailer (like Amazon) slashes the price of an e-book from another publisher? * Legacy publishers act like they’re at war even though the retailer still pays them full price. * The readers get a break. * The authors get their full royalty. Yet, the screaming and threats and lies in [...]