Attention all you editors: That is NOT a typo in the above headline. I did mean “singing,” not “signing.” But if it’s any consolation, the term “Book Singing” and the book marketing concept it represents did originate from a simple typographical error.
Is it considered plagiarism if you use bible verses from the bible while writing a children’s christian storybook?
The old woman caught my eye one morning on my way to school. I was in the 8th grade and had just turned 13. She called to me from her porch rocking chair and startling me out of my morning daydream as she asked, “Penny for your thoughts?” I can still remember her little wrinkled face and thought she must have been 100 years old. I politely smiled, yet continued to walk faster. I wondered if she could read my mind.
When our three oldest children were little, I used to read to them at bedtime. Their favorite series was The Berenstain Bears. I think we owned the entire set at that time. Somehow, over the years, all but two of the books…
Last week, I was alerted by a Booklocker.com author who found a fr*e copy of his book on the Internet. It was posted on the foreign website of a CPA. I started composing a letter to the CPA, telling him he was violating copyright laws, etc. In the process, I started hunting around on his website for his contact information. And, hoo boy, did I find that and more! I found not only the copyrighted book, but also his workout schedule, a list of debts he owed to his girlfriend, music lyrics and what appeared to be actual music files, a bunch of tax forms, his resume, other meaningless stuff and, you’re not going to believe this one, a copy of his actual personal income tax return…
This Week:
Ah, good old writer’s block. Those moments of utter frustration, when you are stumped for ideas. Can’t write a ******* thing. If you tell a fellow writer that you are suffering from a case of writer’s block, chances are you will get your hand held. Sympathy follows. Then, tips galore on how to overcome your dreaded block. I rarely suffer from writer’s block. I suffer from something far more insidious. Something I call it “writer’s brick”.
The first page of my article had been photocopied and sent along. I wrote and asked for the “jump” page. The editor said she copied the story from a bound volume and couldn’t send the continuation. I checked the publication website and found a complete list of last year’s articles. If one wanted a copy of a particular article, I read, one could send along $3.00.
The Baltimore Sun’s Travel Editor called in January with some fantastic news–they were planning to run a short essay and photo I submitted to them. My piece and 4×6 photo ran on Sunday, February 20th!
We bought Max a brand new bed of his very own (not a hand-me-down) last week. We went ahead and bought him a queen, thinking he’ll be able to take it with him someday when he moves out. And, I wasn’t too keen on having a bed that looks like a car or a spaceship (ug!) in our house.
