Is My Garden Warning of a Fierce Winter to Come?

When we first moved to Maine, I read A Year in the Maine Woods by Bernd Heinrich…twice. That book helped me learn about the intricacies of nature’s seasonal dances in Maine, which are far different from those in Texas. One of my favorite passages from Henrich’s book is from August 14th: “The fields are daily coming more alive with crickets and grasshoppers, a sure sign that fall is near.”
Max cocked his head suddenly and whispered, “Sssshhhh.” Following his lead, I did the same and we both smiled at each other and said, “CRICKETS!” at the same time. It wasn’t just one cricket. A cacophony was emerging…

Amazon Ebooks Are NOT Outselling Paperbacks!

The publishing world was awash in seeming hysteria last week when Amazon issued yet another press release designed to promote the Kindle. The release stated: “Amazon.com customers now purchase more Kindle books than hardcover books…”
Of course, those in the industry recognize that “hardcover” means just that – a hardcover / hardback book; not a paperback. When you look at the “news” in those terms, the impact is far less dramatic. In fact, it’s pretty ho-hum…
In response to Amazon’s latest press release, people not in the industry (and even some that are), may have automatically assumed, and some even announced, that Amazon’s Kindle ebook sales had surpassed ALL PRINT BOOK SALES (ahem)…

Hidden Gems: Out-of-the-Way Fiction Markets By Laura Yeager

When a short story writer thinks of sending out her stories, she usually thinks of sending them to literary magazines such as The Missouri Review, Zoetrope or The North American Review. And, if she has her sights set very high, she might try submitting to The New Yorker. But how often does she think of sending fiction to places like Hemispheres or Country Woman? I wager not very often.
My question is “why not?” There are great publishing opportunities and a lot of money to be made “off-the-beaten-path.”
Below are 14 paying, out-of-the-way fiction markets…

Should Writers Rewrite Punctuation Rules? NO!!!

THE PROBLEM:
I recently exchanged a few emails with a young author. It was difficult to read her emails because every single word started with a capital letter. I finally got a bit frustrated because reading her emails made my eyes water. I wrote: “May I ask why your email program capitalizes every word of your email?”
HER EXPLANATION:
“The Capitalization Of Every Word Is My Doing. It’s Something I Have Been Doing Since I Started Typing (September I’ll Be 26).I Must Confess… My Mother Told Me Not To Write A ‘Business’ Letter In My Fashion But I Believe Each Word Is Just As Important As The Next…”

Thinking in Multiples: How To Turn A One-Time Client Into A Steady Customer By Don Baumgart

I’m a journalist, but, anyone who has tried both knows that the money is in business promotion writing. I’ve learned to quickly take the initial assignment further than the client has envisioned.
For example, one way to change a client’s perception from a single ad to an ad campaign is to rough out a series. I had a lot of fun with a mystery campaign I wrote for the opening of a year-around Christmas store…

Whispers And Warnings For July 28th

COMPLAINT about ZSB Writers / zsb.us / Stephanie Roberts / Steven Cox – Writer alleges she’s owed $400.
COMPLAINT about Tim J. Damka / The Omni Group International LLC / omniint.com / Call Omni Telemarketing / omnicalling.com / OMNI Telemarketing / omnitelemarketing.com – Writer alleges she’s owed $125; publisher contests, claims work wasn’t published; WritersWeekly finds the articles posted online; legal@omniint.com says work was published to a “staging server” (but anybody could see the articles online); WritersWeekly asks “legal@omniint.com” if they are an attorney; WritersWeekly doesn’t not receive a reply.

Dinner with the President in Maine!

I’d like to preface this post by telling you that, no, we didn’t vote for Obama. Most of you probably already know I was raised in the south by die-hard Republicans. However, you don’t have to be a Democrat to eat within pea-flinging distance of the current President of the United States.
Our daughter works at a fine dining restaurant on the coast of Maine where’s she has a summer externship. Last week, the owner of the restaurant made a comment about making sure they had up-to-date photo IDs for the employees because Obama was coming to town. Our daughter thought there might be a chance he’d come to that restaurant because it’s a really nice one. We’d had reservations to go to Bar Harbor for a short vacation for a few weeks and, admittedly, we weren’t too happy when we learned last week that Obama and his entourage were coming, which would result in closings, detours, and more…

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