Yesterday, Chuck Wendig shared the cover of his upcoming novel, Blackbirds, on his blog. (Go here to see the whole thing in all its stunning glory; it’s mighty impressive stuff! And if you’re curious what Wendig’s writing is like, I can think of a pile of worse things you can do today than dropping $2.99 […]
Banned Books Week 2011
The closest I’ve ever come to getting political on The Juggling Writer was last year, during banned books week. It’s banned books week, but this time, I’ll be more personal than political. Why I Am I grew up with a library of science and geography books at my disposal. Because those books were available in […]
The Book Pile: Bernard DeVoto’s The Hour: A Cocktail Manifesto
It’s been one of those weeks at work, the kind where time moves back and forth in an odd dance in the mind, making it feel like minutes are hours and hours, minutes. Deadlines, chaos, and nerves–there’s something big to work on, and when the sun meets the horizon (at this time of the year, […]
In the Future, There Will Be Books
I’ve written about it before — there’s no denying that e-books are on the rise. I’ve also written about why I believe there will always be books. Here’s why… Meet John Picacio I have a friend who illustrates book covers. While he’s concerned about the trend of some publishers not going all out for many […]
Stuck in a Rut: Reread
All this week, I’m writing about ways to get out of a writing rut and recapture the spark from when you first started writing. Yesterday, I wrote about visiting old friends and how that can help. Today, I’m writing about rereading. * * * I recently sat down on a rainy day with my favorite […]
Banned Books Week
While I’m very opinionated, I rarely espouse my beliefs on The Juggling Writer. Not today… * * * “Where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people.” – Heinrich Heine * * * It’s banned books week, a week when all those evil, foul, and corruptible texts about gay penguins and other things get the […]
The Book Pile: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
I believe Haruki Murakami when he says in his book, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running(affiliate link): “Most of what I know about writing I’ve learned through running everyday.” The parallels of running any kind of distance and writing are very similar. There’s a sense of monotony, a feeling of “when the […]
The Future of Books and Publishing
I recently watched Richard Nash’s talk about the future of books and publishing. (I found it here, on Booklife.) There are some great points made in the presentation, but there were two that really stuck out: The reminder that the long form narrative is a feature, not a bug. Most writers — whether they know […]
Cover Story
Yesterday, The New York Times ran a story about book covers and e-books. I know we’ve all heard that you can’t judge a book by its cover, but covers do matter. I’ve judged more than a few books by their covers in my time (found my favorite book that way), and in almost every case […]
E-Book Pricing
Recently, on a friend’s Facebook page, the subject of e-book pricing came up. Right now, it seems many people think e-books are priced too high. When people hear about publishers going from the $9.99 Amazon standard for an e-book up to $14.95, they say, “That’s ridiculous!” One can definitely make that argument; after all, the […]
Can Technology Save Storytelling?
I have a very busy friend — he’s the Assistant Vice President of Application Architecture for a large company. Almost every morning, he’s up early for a run in his neighborhood or on his stationary bike. He has two young daughters who keep him very busy. He’s not the kind of father who puts work […]
The Book Pile: The Man Who Loved Books Too Much
I’ve been meaning to write a review about Allison Hoover Bartlett’s The Man Who Loved Books Too Much for awhile, now. The book was given to me as a Christmas gift; it was one of my favorite gifts received last December. The Man Who Loved Books Too Much is the true story of John Gilkey, […]
Will Write for Food
In the comments of a recent post, a member of the writing group I’m in said this about e-books becoming more common: “I suspect it will be easier to get an audience via the e-book revolution, and harder to make a career” – Mark Felps I’ve seen things get harder when the self publishing boom […]