Sunday, December 12, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Writing tips from John Berendt
Berendt said: "When I'm writing, I like to gain distance from my work so I can tell how it will strike a reader who is seeing it for the first time. I do this through a trick I devised while I was living in Savannah writing Midnight — I would call my apartment in New York, the answering machine would pick up, I'd read the page of text I'd just written, then I'd hang up. A minute later, I'd call my apartment again and listen to the "message." Hearing my own voice reading the page over the phone — my voice having traveled 1,800 miles (900 each way ) — gave me just the detached perspective I needed."
His advice to aspiring writers:
"Keep a diary, but don't just list all the things you did during the day. Pick one incident and write it up as a brief vignette. Give it color, include quotes and dialogue, shape it like a story with a beginning, middle and end — as if it were a short story or an episode in a novel. It's great practice. Do this while figuring out what you want to write a book about. The book may even emerge from within this running diary."
From Garrison Keillor's Writers Almanac http://www.elabs7.com/functions/message_view.html?mid=1132854&mlid=499&siteid=20130&uid=4087b6131e
His advice to aspiring writers:
"Keep a diary, but don't just list all the things you did during the day. Pick one incident and write it up as a brief vignette. Give it color, include quotes and dialogue, shape it like a story with a beginning, middle and end — as if it were a short story or an episode in a novel. It's great practice. Do this while figuring out what you want to write a book about. The book may even emerge from within this running diary."
From Garrison Keillor's Writers Almanac http://www.elabs7.com/functions/message_view.html?mid=1132854&mlid=499&siteid=20130&uid=4087b6131e
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Words of wisdom from Timm Rawlins
"Remember when editors are involved writing is discouraging to all of us".
Monday, November 1, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
A letter to Timm
I think I tried to send this to you before; this is my book page at Shelfari (owned by Amazon). A few jokes here, but not hilarious. (This is sort of a contest to get mentioned in their newsletter, which probably has total circulation of 37 readers.)
Just click on the various categories to read the unconsidered marks of the Author, who is no grand fellow. He was caught recently having supper over the kitchen sink. He somehow managed to have a grand allergy sneeze which sent his shredded wheat flying through his nose. A harrowing experience.
I spent much of this week at these two Amazon sites. Was proud of myself that I figured out how to use a feed to have blog sent to my Author page.
Also trying to get the Inside the Book thing done at Amazon. Even flirted with having book converted into a Kindle edtion so people could have the option of not reading Hidalgo on online, as well as current option of not reading it in print.
But it's been fun to fill in some of the blanks in the author page.
Dan not the Man (as Musical was called, I think) but the Wreck that avoided tall buildings and speeding bullets.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Hello.
Attention Amazon Shoppers: I'm adding this blog to my author page, as it needs something. All it has now is a bio and a vintage photo of the author at the age of eight, which was taken by my dad in 1953. (I know this because Dad had thoughtfully printed the year on the back--a very rare instance of photo dating in my family.)
I thought maybe my Commonplace Book might be of interest to Amazon readers, as it is basically clippings about books,writers, and writing.
Today I'm posting a link to E. B. White's Paris Review interview. Happy reading!
http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4155/the-art-of-the-essay-no-1-e-b-white
I thought maybe my Commonplace Book might be of interest to Amazon readers, as it is basically clippings about books,writers, and writing.
Today I'm posting a link to E. B. White's Paris Review interview. Happy reading!
http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/4155/the-art-of-the-essay-no-1-e-b-white
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Pithy remarks on writing by Dilbert's creator
My World: Scott Adam's Tips on Writing
Keep your writing simple, as if you were sending a witty e-mail to a friend. Be smart, but not academic. Prune words that don’t make a difference.
Keep your writing simple, as if you were sending a witty e-mail to a friend. Be smart, but not academic. Prune words that don’t make a difference.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Why Dave Barry won't read your stuff (Bad Language Alert!)
Dave Barry - FAQ
If you want to know why, and you can handle some bad language (yes, he uses the F-word) (a lot), please read this blog post by Josh Olson: I Will Not Read Your F***ing Script.
If you want to know why, and you can handle some bad language (yes, he uses the F-word) (a lot), please read this blog post by Josh Olson: I Will Not Read Your F***ing Script.
About the Author by Philip Gulley
Ran across this at Amazon and had to send to you, as I know you wonder why I never write.
About the Author
I was born in February of 1961. My mother went into labor while she and my father were watching Gunsmoke. My father was taken with that program and wanted to name me for one of the characters. Unfortunately, my cousin was named Matt, which left the name Festus for me. My mother, a Catholic, wanted to name me after her favorite pope, Cletus. They compromised by naming me Philip, the guy in the Bible who became a disciple of Jesus and was never heard from again.
I live in the same town where I was born. I moved away at the age of 19 to work, where I met my wife, Joan Apple. We were married on June 2nd of 1984 at the Quaker meetinghouse in Paoli, Indiana. I began attending Marian College in Indianapolis where I studied theology and sociology. I then enrolled at Christian Theological Seminary where I graduated with honors, to the utter amazement of everyone who knew me.
While in seminary, I became the pastor of Irvington Friends Meeting in Indianapolis. While there, our two sons were born, and I began writing essays for our church's newsletter. One Sunday, Paul Harvey, Jr. and Dina Kinnan attended our meeting for worship and began receiving our newsletter. A few months later, they were approached by a publisher with an offer to write. Already committed to a publisher, they recommended my writing instead. I was invited to send the newsletters I'd written to the publisher, who agreed to publish them. That was my first book, Front Porch Tales. I've been writing ever since.
In 1998, my family and I moved back to my hometown. I took a year off to write, then agreed to become the part-time pastor of Fairfield Friends Meeting, a small Quaker meeting near my home, where I continue to minister.
I write five days a week, usually in the morning. I knock off for lunch and a nap, then am back at it until my boys get home from school. Once a week or so, I travel somewhere to give a speech. This is not nearly as exotic as it sounds. If humanity has invented a more dismal way to travel than the airplane, I'm not aware of it.
I don't work on Saturdays, unless I've goofed off through the week and need to catch up, a not uncommon occurrence. Sundays are spent at Quaker meeting for worship and in my recliner, asleep, with the newspaper in my lap. I have single-handedly raised the Sunday afternoon nap to an art form.
This marriage of pastoring, writing and speaking is one that appeals to me. Each activity complements the other. I once spent a summer during college working for the state highway picking up roadkill. Compared to that, what I do now is a breeze.
Product Details
Hardcover: 176 pages
Publisher: HarperOne (November 6, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0060006277
ISBN-13: 978-0060006273
About the Author
I was born in February of 1961. My mother went into labor while she and my father were watching Gunsmoke. My father was taken with that program and wanted to name me for one of the characters. Unfortunately, my cousin was named Matt, which left the name Festus for me. My mother, a Catholic, wanted to name me after her favorite pope, Cletus. They compromised by naming me Philip, the guy in the Bible who became a disciple of Jesus and was never heard from again.
I live in the same town where I was born. I moved away at the age of 19 to work, where I met my wife, Joan Apple. We were married on June 2nd of 1984 at the Quaker meetinghouse in Paoli, Indiana. I began attending Marian College in Indianapolis where I studied theology and sociology. I then enrolled at Christian Theological Seminary where I graduated with honors, to the utter amazement of everyone who knew me.
While in seminary, I became the pastor of Irvington Friends Meeting in Indianapolis. While there, our two sons were born, and I began writing essays for our church's newsletter. One Sunday, Paul Harvey, Jr. and Dina Kinnan attended our meeting for worship and began receiving our newsletter. A few months later, they were approached by a publisher with an offer to write. Already committed to a publisher, they recommended my writing instead. I was invited to send the newsletters I'd written to the publisher, who agreed to publish them. That was my first book, Front Porch Tales. I've been writing ever since.
In 1998, my family and I moved back to my hometown. I took a year off to write, then agreed to become the part-time pastor of Fairfield Friends Meeting, a small Quaker meeting near my home, where I continue to minister.
I write five days a week, usually in the morning. I knock off for lunch and a nap, then am back at it until my boys get home from school. Once a week or so, I travel somewhere to give a speech. This is not nearly as exotic as it sounds. If humanity has invented a more dismal way to travel than the airplane, I'm not aware of it.
I don't work on Saturdays, unless I've goofed off through the week and need to catch up, a not uncommon occurrence. Sundays are spent at Quaker meeting for worship and in my recliner, asleep, with the newspaper in my lap. I have single-handedly raised the Sunday afternoon nap to an art form.
This marriage of pastoring, writing and speaking is one that appeals to me. Each activity complements the other. I once spent a summer during college working for the state highway picking up roadkill. Compared to that, what I do now is a breeze.
Product Details
Hardcover: 176 pages
Publisher: HarperOne (November 6, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0060006277
ISBN-13: 978-0060006273
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