Ranting
Writing Books Part 5 Writers' Notebooks
08 Dec 2010 08:33 PM
Here is my fifth installment on the writing books I have read. Today, I will review Books on Writers’ Journals. If a book is so hideous I want to sue to get my money back, I will not list it here. If your favorite book isn’t reviewed, I might not have read it yet. Go to my contact page and leave me a suggestion. This review is much shorter as there are only two books.
I have journaled for about ten years. My own journals tend to be in 9.75 X 7.5 Composition books. I used to like Mead but they have gone to hell. The paper is so thin a regular Pilot Rolling ball V5 now goes through not just one sheet but onto the next! We are talking two sheet penetration! So... by going cheap... they now have reduced the usefulness by 1/2 as a 200 pages is now barely 100 as you can only use one side.
Disgusted, I wrote them a letter and got an email back. Sounds good right? Wrong. They claimed that the specs hadn’t changed. Um... yes, they had. A week later, I got a Fedex from Mead. In it was a letter and a gift. The letter was written on thick paper (obviously NOT a Mead product) and in it the customer service rep admitted the specs had changed... duh. The gift was several packs of ruled index cards. Cards? Not kidding. Sounds nice, right? No. Read More...
I have journaled for about ten years. My own journals tend to be in 9.75 X 7.5 Composition books. I used to like Mead but they have gone to hell. The paper is so thin a regular Pilot Rolling ball V5 now goes through not just one sheet but onto the next! We are talking two sheet penetration! So... by going cheap... they now have reduced the usefulness by 1/2 as a 200 pages is now barely 100 as you can only use one side.
Disgusted, I wrote them a letter and got an email back. Sounds good right? Wrong. They claimed that the specs hadn’t changed. Um... yes, they had. A week later, I got a Fedex from Mead. In it was a letter and a gift. The letter was written on thick paper (obviously NOT a Mead product) and in it the customer service rep admitted the specs had changed... duh. The gift was several packs of ruled index cards. Cards? Not kidding. Sounds nice, right? No. Read More...
Inspirational Writing Books
12 Nov 2010 03:09 PM
We are less than halfway through the month of November and that mean less than the halfway mark for NaNoWriMo. Yes, Thanksgiving no longer dominates this month. Many of my Wrimos have asked me for advice on writing books. I have read dozens... literally. So I went through my annotated bibliography and will start uploading my reviews. This is just my personal opinion so don’t whine if you don’t agree with my assessments. Try a few and if we have similar tastes... or the exact opposite... then this list should help you. Today’s list will include writing books that have inspired me (or not but sit in that classification). Over the next few weeks, I’ll add my reviews on books in the following categories: Writer’s Life, Keeping a Notebook, Editing, The Craft of Writing and Genre Specific Books. I have already written a review of Jeff Vandermeer’s book on the business of writing here. ENJOY! Read More...
Writing vs. the Business of Writing
25 Oct 2010 04:58 PM
I recently read Jeff Vandermeer’s Booklife (2009). The book is split into two halves. The first half is dedicated to the external/public book life (goals, platforms, new media, blogs, etc.) with the second half addressing the internal/private book life. The book is based on new media blogging and is in the form of short essays. The information is very useful for writers who are already professionals with publications on their CV. It is less so if you don’t have a contract pending. Once you do, pick up this book and learn how you are required to sell yourself. This used to be done by the publishers but now you get paid $%^& and have to do their jobs too. Read More...