Almost everyone knows Hamlet’s soliloquy on death, “To Be or Not to Be,” with its sinister doubts about the hereafter. But, if research is to be believed, those who have encountered the Grim Reaper and survived seem to benefit from the experience. I can testify to this fact. Yea
A couple of months ago I unearthed a play I’d written in the 1980s. It had been a semi-finalist in a local theater contest and enjoyed a couple of staged readings. I’ve worked on it, off and on, for a number of years. Finally, I decided to get a professional critique. When the wor
A couple of months ago one of my Facebook friends who is a writer confessed she’d received only $10 in royalties from books sales in the last quarter. She wondered how she could increase her numbers. If I had an answer to that question, I’d share it. All I could do was offer to bu
Yesterday I gave advice about where a beginning author should spend money to promote his book. Today I’m going to do the opposite: make recommendations on where NOT to put your money and then make a few positive suggestions. Here’s the list of what not to do: 1. Book tours: unless
After 4 years of struggling as an author, I’m spending the next two days writing a short primer for beginning writers. Most of us who write won’t make money from our work, but there are plenty of “experts” who will attempt to make money from our aspirations. They’ll be happy
I went to the snooty secondhand bookstore today with four books to sell. The clerk took one of them and returned the rest. Still, I got $2.30 which brings the total on my credit to $18.00. I’m closer to affording Haruki Murakami’s latest book, 1Q84, which sells for $30. After the
While I love books, there is one type I loathe: instruction manuals, particularly those having to do with electronics or all things mechanical. I particularly loathe manuals with charts and diagrams. I tend to read a graph horizontally when I should be reading it vertically or vice ve
Question: If you were browsing through a bookstore and read the blurb below would you buy the book? The character-driven novel “XXX”* brings a distinct knowledge of literature and literary convention together with current knowledge on crime, punishment and “green” architecture
“Reason for Living: The good life without God” is a convoluted essay by Christopher R. Beha, editor for Harper’s, that reviews three books about morality without the existence of God. I touched upon this issue in my blog of June 12. In this recent piece, Beha reinforces the argu
I’ve expressed my view several times that each of us can change the world simply by making changes in ourselves. Personal responsibility is an important issue with me and while I understand the need to complain about the course of history which seems so much larger than ourselves, i