‘So Many Ideas Coming At Me’ The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly is just the one you know off the top of your head. Hundreds of film scores later, a 24-hour marathon of music by Italian film composer Ennio Morricone, has provided a compelling opportunity for authors to dip into the world of “contemporary… Read More
Music For Writers: Gregory W. Brown’s Natural Selections
Missa Charles Darwin — And Amino Acids In order to bind the work together I devised an opening idea linked to Darwin, evolution, and genetics. Using a portion of the genetic sequence from Platyspiza crassirostris(a bird from the group commonly known as Darwin’s Finches), I translated the amino acids into notes, thereby deriving a melody. And Gregory W.… Read More
More Terminology In Self-Publishing’s Winter Garden: Are They ‘Royalties?’
Another Day, Another Ill-Used Term In the strictest sense, there really is no such thing as royalties in self-publishing! Mick Rooney is a little kinder than I am, warning you to sit down before you read that line about there being “no such thing as royalties in self-publishing.” Me, I prefer to dump the ice… Read More
In The Hothouse Of Publishing, Our Terminology May Need Pruning
Let’s Give ‘Hybrid’ Back To The Botanists It’s not as if the industry! the industry! doesn’t have enough transition to contend with. Oh, what a lovely disruption we’re having, and at a time of upheaval like this, we’re going to see changing phrases, new jargon, and updated iterations of various terms come and go. Not… Read More
What Are We Rewarding In Children’s Literature? (#GuysDoRead)
Are Children’s Books ‘A Women’s Profession’? The announcement today of the shortlist for the annual Waterstones Children’s Book Prize brought an early response: While the award’s shortlists started out as reasonably gender-balanced, they have tended to favor female authors and illustrators in recent years. The 2014 shortlist caught my eye last year as there were only three… Read More
Music For Writers: The Pettersson Legacy Of Fire And Ice
‘When Inspiration Flows’ The opening tone — lonely and anticipatory — is the last serene moment of the late Allan Pettersson’s Symphony No. 4. Whether he has his strings rush up to a precipice and hold while the woodwinds dither on the edge — or sends whole sections of his orchestra chasing each other, repeating… Read More
Music For Writers: ‘Self-Publishing’ Cellist Kate Dillingham
Crossings: ‘A Whole CD Of New Music’ It’s a big change that’s happened in both literature and in music. The DIY aspect of it. Do it yourself.The necessary focus that many of us maintain these days on the development of the self-publishing sector in the books world can sometimes cause us to look right past the fact… Read More
Does A ‘Writing Community’ Really Foster Writing? Or Community?
‘Connect With Readers While You Write Your Book’ That’s the brand promise of a site called Tablo. Familiar with it? It’s the work of writer and developer Ashley Davies of Melbourne, Australia. That’s a city we Australian Open tennis viewers feel we know very well after two weeks at the Rod Laver Arena (and two… Read More
Music For Writers: The Colorist Kaija Saariaho’s ‘Instants’ Of Love
‘Perfume Of The Instant’ While writers talk of “color commentary,” they actually mean something not that different from what in music we might call great “colorists” among composers. And in world music, Finland’s composers are surely among those most prized for their work in creating sonic “color.” Einojuhani Rautavaara is perhaps chief among the great… Read More
Eyes Wide Open: Can Canelo Cross The Coals?
If Anybody Should Know This, It’s Publishing People Enough disrupting! Disrupting is the unthinking mantra of technology companies desperate to carve a niche. – Michael Bhaskar During the FutureBook Hack in London last June, Faber Press’ Henry Volans said to me that it’s interesting that “publishing has taken the digital disruption very hard.” As it… Read More