Alexander M. Zoltai's Blog, page 59
April 25, 2017
Writers gathering at the corner of Forest Avenue and Main Street
Another voice from the Main Street Writers Movement…
I’ve been a fan of Forest Avenue Press practically from the beginning (they received an Oregon Literary Fellowship in publishing the year after I received mine for fiction), and one of the things I’ve always loved about the press, publisher Laura Stanfill, and their authors is how mutually supportive they all are of the larger literary community.
Now they’re turning that general principle into a conscious movement, beginn...
April 24, 2017
Need to Think Like a Reader? Start Thinking Like a Librarian…
One of my good friends is a librarian.
[image error]Image Courtesy of Pawe Sobociñski ~ http://www.freeimages.com/photographer/Sobocinski-40805
He’s also a writer—read his interview here…
I think he might like today’s post :-)
So…
Melodee Elliott got a Master’s degree in Library sciences; then, she wrote a novel…
Then, she wrote an article on the Reedsy blog called, Using Tricks of the Librarian Trade to Market my Book.
And, as usual, I’ll share a few excerpts that I hope will entice you to take that last...
April 23, 2017
Rotten Reviews and Terrible Trolls
Today’s re-blog is for writers; and, also, for friends of writers to share with their writer friends; and, also, for those of you who might have a small ember of the writing fire warming your heart…
You will get bad reviews. It’s inevitable, I promise you. Take comfort in the fact that it’s a rite of passage all writers go through. Every – single – one of them, and after the first one has you on the floor, bawling your eyes out, and inexplicably trying to chew your own fo...
April 22, 2017
The Pen is Mighty
Ah, pens…
Today’s re-blog shows what can happen when you use one :-)
Writing is a powerful thing. And, so is reading. To my surprise and delight, this is what I received in the mail recently:
Yes, it is a postcard from author Kate DiCamillo. It is even signed, “Your Friend”. I sent her my blog post on ‘Really Understanding Children’, because Beverly, the character in her book RaymieNightingale, is just like my Beverly at summer camp. Well, it was really more than...
April 21, 2017
Friday Story Bazaar ~ Tale Forty
Whose Dreamscape Is This?
by
Alexander M Zoltai
~~~~~~~~~
John Perkins rose from his desk.
He was in his private car on the 10th Anniversary Transcontinental Run of his company’s premier passenger train, Dreamscape One.
He drew aside the deep blue, velvet curtains and had to marvel at the view—he’d been working at the desk since morning, when he was near the Plains of Casvella—now, he could see a sliver of the setting sun in a cleft of the highest peak of the Sage mountain range.
His car was...
April 20, 2017
I Am Not a Writer
Can you write and still not be a “writer”…?
Today’s re-blog puts forward some fascinating opinions………
By Sheila Siegel
According to all the books on writing that I have read, I am not a writer. I am a psychologist, an anti-slavery activist, and a reader, but I am not a writer. Yet, I have written a book.
I approached writing as I do everything, with focus and determination, but, when I am writing, get stuck, and feel I have nothing to say, I don’t sit down at my comp...
April 19, 2017
Creating a Literate World
“Literacy is transformative: it increases earning potential, decreases inequality, improves health outcomes and breaks the cycle of poverty.”
~ UNESCO
Just in case you didn’t know, UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, based in Paris, France.
And, they organize World Book Day (held April 23 in some places…)
Amazon is jumping in to help three literacy organizations this year:
I’ve never written about the f...
April 18, 2017
The In-Between by Shawna Coppola
What do you do when you’re “between” books?
Today’s re-blog is a fine exploration of what’s possible…
We nerdy bloggers write (and talk) a lot about being immersed in books. We muse, long and hard, about books that make us weep, that cause our abs to ache with laughter, and that move us, on occasion, to toss ‘em across the room in a fit of anger. (Or maybe that’s just me…heh heh.)
How often, though, do we talk about the time that we spend in between being absorbed in our belo...
April 17, 2017
Fake News ~ in Self-Publishing . . .
This makes the 38th post where I pass on information from Joel Friedlander.
[image error]Fake News or Alternative Facts
He’s the power behind The Book Designer.
Today, I’ll share a few excerpts from his article, Fake News! In Self-Publishing, in the hope that you take that last link and read the whole thing…
Fairly soon in the piece, Joel says:
“…it’s undeniable that there’s plenty of ‘fake’ news out there, and although it may not be coming from teenagers in Macedonia, the sooner we learn to spot it, the...
April 16, 2017
5 essential habits I learned while ghost-writing – guest post at Jo Malby
This re-blog has Roz Morris re-directing us to a guest post she did — ah, the paths we take on the Web :-)
Some of you know that I began my writing career incognito, as a ghost-writer. It gave me certain habits and approaches that I still use to this day, and I’m sure they were a head start for productive writing processes. Today I’m talking about those habits at Jo Malby’s blog. (And as I’ve had two guest posts this week, I hope you’ll forgive me for taking the rest of the we...
