Wreaths and Wraiths
(NOTE: The duty of every writer, unless they happen to be deceased, is to pimp their books. Following is unabashed hype to promote THE DOG so the writer can have the vacation his publisher says he needs, and also to stop calling three times a day for sales figures. She has other books, you know.)
Reviews are tough. Writers and publishers wait for them with anxiety and trepidation. We know our books are terrific, but will others agree? The bright, intelligent, and good-looking folks at The Midwest Book Review have hailed THE DOG: “An excellent guide for any writer who would understand how to work effectively with a publisher or editor. It not only covers the basics of good writing and good marketing, but also provides some ‘terrible truths’ about publishing and marketing and educates writers on the publishing business as a whole.”
Such praise makes for a happy writer who can ignore the cruel and rapacious season outside his aerie. Flocked fake trees, suspicious fruitcake, ski vacations without snow, nothing but A Charlie Brown Christmas on television, curdled egg nog, mistletoe hanging over your first cousin with terminal gingivitis, disappointing Xmas bonus or none, Burl Ives, and tone-deaf carolers punishing “O Little Town of Bethlehem” in three-quarter time. Anyone who says they enjoy the holiday season is strange. Gingerbread men baked to the consistency of roof tiles? Bring them on! Cocktail parties where the inebriated hostess stabs the inebriated host in the chest with a sharpened candy cane? What a wonderful time! Shopping for someone you don’t like and being hit with a $200 parking fine while in search of the perfect gift? Happy holidays!
While the nonsense goes on, take a moment after a good cry and think about giving copies of THE DOG WALKED DOWN THE STREET: AN OUTSPOKEN GUIDE FOR WRITERS WHO WANT TO PUBLISH to everyone on your naughty-or-nice list. For those who read and don’t write, THE DOG reveals how books are made. For those who write, THE DOG is cheaper than most creative writing programs. Each copy is printed with ink on paper.
THE DOG is available from BookSense stores (hit the link on the right), many online outlets, Choi’s Home Video on Lombard Street and the Beat Museum on Broadway in San Francisco, Dutton’s Brentwood in Los Angeles, and next to the map stand at a Union 76 gas station somewhere on HWY 101. You can also order directly from the publisher, Cypress House at www.cypresshouse.com
Other Swell Items for the Holidays
Martha Alderson, BLOCKBUSTER PLOTS PURE & SIMPLE (Los Gatos, CA: Illusion Press, 2004)
The perfect gift for the writer whose story has hit more than a few problems. Alderson uses examples from the novels of Rick Bragg, Janet Finch, Mark Twain, and Ernest J. Gaines, instead of movies you thought sucked when they were first released. Available at www.blockbusterplots.com, everywhere THE DOG is sold, and more.
Buck Peterson, CLASSIC CHRISTMAS SONGS PERFORMED BY BUCK’S DUCKS AND THE BIG BABE LAKE BRASS AND BONG ENSEMBLE (Bellevue, WA: Buck’s Ducks, 2001)
Buck Peterson, master-guide-to-all-that-is-wild-in-the-outdoors, breaks open the breech that brings bounty to the table and calls his feathered friends home for the holidays. With this Christmas album, Bucksters are invited to enjoy the songs of the season by Buck’s alpha ducks, Biff and Eddie, and the Big Babe Lake Brass and Bong Ensemble, recorded live down in the duckblind. Available online at www.buckpeterson.com and www.cdbaby.com
Contents: Quacking of the Bells/Blown Away from the Manger/The Nutscracker Suite/O Little Town of Bedlam/Hunter’s Holy Night/Jangled Bells/Joy to the Chase/Wailin’ Hallelujah Chorus/It Came Around About a Midnight Clear/Silent but Deadly Night
THE NEW YEAR BEGINS IN JANUARY, MORE OR LESS
2007 starts with a reading and signing at Black Oak Books in Berkeley, Sunday, January 21 at 7:30 pm. Even for those on the other side of the Bay, Black Oak is a treasure for readers with new and used books, a smart staff, and a hot-damn reading series. Also, the French Hotel down the street serves the biggest espressos anywhere.
READING AND BOOK SIGNING
Sunday, January 21 at 7:30 pm
BLACK OAK BOOKS
1491 Shattuck Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94709
(510) 486-0698
In February, Book Passage offers a workshop with the writer of THE DOG WALKED DOWN THE STREET. Book Passage is a 25-year-old veteran of the Bay Area scene and puts on many swell events. Besides the Corte Madera store, they are part of the revitalization of San Francisco’s Ferry Building. The workshop will be two hours long and divided into two sections, writing and publishing. Bring questions and sharpened pencils.
WRITING WORKSHOP AND BOOK SIGNING
Sunday, February 4 at 2:00 pm
BOOK PASSAGE CORTE MADERA
51 Tamal Vista Boulevard
Corte Madera, CA 94925
(415) 927-0960
The Fourth Annual Big Sur Writing Workshop for adult novels, young adult fiction, and narrative nonfiction is on March 9 to 11. Get your manuscript ready and come on down or up to the Big Sur Lodge in Pfeiffer State Park. From 2 pm Friday until 2 pm Sunday, writers, agents, and editors will dazzle with insights and workshops. Deadline for registration is February 16, 2007. Get your act together now.
Faculty includes:
Andrea Brown, president of Andrea Brown Literary Agency and writer of WRITERS’ AND ARTISTS’ HIDEOUTS: GREAT GETAWAYS FOR SEDUCING THE MUSE.
Suzanne Herz, publisher of Flying Dolphin Press, an imprint of the Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group.
Laura Rennert, senior agent with Andrea Brown Literary Agency, specializes in literary fiction, women’s fiction, crossover fiction, mysteries and thrillers, and narrative nonfiction, and the writer of BUYING, TRAINING, AND CARING FOR YOUR DINOSAUR.
Barry Eisler, writer of RAIN FALL, HARD RAIN, RAIN STORM, and other inclement novels about assassin John Rain thinning the population of Japan.
Eric Adams, producer, director, screenwriter, journalist, and writer of PLOT TWIST and BIRDLAND.
Sal Glynn, freelance editor and writer of the acclaimed THE DOG WALKED DOWN THE STREET.
Robert Hough, journalist and writer of THE FINAL CONFESSION OF MABEL STARK and THE STOWAWAY.
Cynthia Frank, president of Cypress House, has more than twenty-five years experience in writing, publishing, editing and teaching.
Bonnie Hearn Hill, writer of IF IT BLEEDS, CUTLINE, and OFF THE RECORD, featuring hearing-impaired reporter Geri LaRue.
FOURTH ANNUAL BIG SUR WRITING WORKSHOP
March 9–11, 2007, 2 pm Friday to 2 pm Sunday
BIG SUR LODGE IN PFEIFFER STATE PARK
Henry Miller Library
Highway One
Big Sur, CA 93920
(831) 667-2574
www.henrymiller.org
NEXT: The Weather Outside is Frightful
(NOTE: The duty of every writer, unless they happen to be deceased, is to pimp their books. Following is unabashed hype to promote THE DOG so the writer can have the vacation his publisher says he needs, and also to stop calling three times a day for sales figures. She has other books, you know.)
Reviews are tough. Writers and publishers wait for them with anxiety and trepidation. We know our books are terrific, but will others agree? The bright, intelligent, and good-looking folks at The Midwest Book Review have hailed THE DOG: “An excellent guide for any writer who would understand how to work effectively with a publisher or editor. It not only covers the basics of good writing and good marketing, but also provides some ‘terrible truths’ about publishing and marketing and educates writers on the publishing business as a whole.”
Such praise makes for a happy writer who can ignore the cruel and rapacious season outside his aerie. Flocked fake trees, suspicious fruitcake, ski vacations without snow, nothing but A Charlie Brown Christmas on television, curdled egg nog, mistletoe hanging over your first cousin with terminal gingivitis, disappointing Xmas bonus or none, Burl Ives, and tone-deaf carolers punishing “O Little Town of Bethlehem” in three-quarter time. Anyone who says they enjoy the holiday season is strange. Gingerbread men baked to the consistency of roof tiles? Bring them on! Cocktail parties where the inebriated hostess stabs the inebriated host in the chest with a sharpened candy cane? What a wonderful time! Shopping for someone you don’t like and being hit with a $200 parking fine while in search of the perfect gift? Happy holidays!
While the nonsense goes on, take a moment after a good cry and think about giving copies of THE DOG WALKED DOWN THE STREET: AN OUTSPOKEN GUIDE FOR WRITERS WHO WANT TO PUBLISH to everyone on your naughty-or-nice list. For those who read and don’t write, THE DOG reveals how books are made. For those who write, THE DOG is cheaper than most creative writing programs. Each copy is printed with ink on paper.
THE DOG is available from BookSense stores (hit the link on the right), many online outlets, Choi’s Home Video on Lombard Street and the Beat Museum on Broadway in San Francisco, Dutton’s Brentwood in Los Angeles, and next to the map stand at a Union 76 gas station somewhere on HWY 101. You can also order directly from the publisher, Cypress House at www.cypresshouse.com
Other Swell Items for the Holidays
Martha Alderson, BLOCKBUSTER PLOTS PURE & SIMPLE (Los Gatos, CA: Illusion Press, 2004)
The perfect gift for the writer whose story has hit more than a few problems. Alderson uses examples from the novels of Rick Bragg, Janet Finch, Mark Twain, and Ernest J. Gaines, instead of movies you thought sucked when they were first released. Available at www.blockbusterplots.com, everywhere THE DOG is sold, and more.
Buck Peterson, CLASSIC CHRISTMAS SONGS PERFORMED BY BUCK’S DUCKS AND THE BIG BABE LAKE BRASS AND BONG ENSEMBLE (Bellevue, WA: Buck’s Ducks, 2001)
Buck Peterson, master-guide-to-all-that-is-wild-in-the-outdoors, breaks open the breech that brings bounty to the table and calls his feathered friends home for the holidays. With this Christmas album, Bucksters are invited to enjoy the songs of the season by Buck’s alpha ducks, Biff and Eddie, and the Big Babe Lake Brass and Bong Ensemble, recorded live down in the duckblind. Available online at www.buckpeterson.com and www.cdbaby.comContents: Quacking of the Bells/Blown Away from the Manger/The Nutscracker Suite/O Little Town of Bedlam/Hunter’s Holy Night/Jangled Bells/Joy to the Chase/Wailin’ Hallelujah Chorus/It Came Around About a Midnight Clear/Silent but Deadly Night
THE NEW YEAR BEGINS IN JANUARY, MORE OR LESS
2007 starts with a reading and signing at Black Oak Books in Berkeley, Sunday, January 21 at 7:30 pm. Even for those on the other side of the Bay, Black Oak is a treasure for readers with new and used books, a smart staff, and a hot-damn reading series. Also, the French Hotel down the street serves the biggest espressos anywhere.
READING AND BOOK SIGNING
Sunday, January 21 at 7:30 pm
BLACK OAK BOOKS
1491 Shattuck Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94709
(510) 486-0698
In February, Book Passage offers a workshop with the writer of THE DOG WALKED DOWN THE STREET. Book Passage is a 25-year-old veteran of the Bay Area scene and puts on many swell events. Besides the Corte Madera store, they are part of the revitalization of San Francisco’s Ferry Building. The workshop will be two hours long and divided into two sections, writing and publishing. Bring questions and sharpened pencils.
WRITING WORKSHOP AND BOOK SIGNING
Sunday, February 4 at 2:00 pm
BOOK PASSAGE CORTE MADERA
51 Tamal Vista Boulevard
Corte Madera, CA 94925
(415) 927-0960
The Fourth Annual Big Sur Writing Workshop for adult novels, young adult fiction, and narrative nonfiction is on March 9 to 11. Get your manuscript ready and come on down or up to the Big Sur Lodge in Pfeiffer State Park. From 2 pm Friday until 2 pm Sunday, writers, agents, and editors will dazzle with insights and workshops. Deadline for registration is February 16, 2007. Get your act together now.
Faculty includes:
Andrea Brown, president of Andrea Brown Literary Agency and writer of WRITERS’ AND ARTISTS’ HIDEOUTS: GREAT GETAWAYS FOR SEDUCING THE MUSE.
Suzanne Herz, publisher of Flying Dolphin Press, an imprint of the Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group.
Laura Rennert, senior agent with Andrea Brown Literary Agency, specializes in literary fiction, women’s fiction, crossover fiction, mysteries and thrillers, and narrative nonfiction, and the writer of BUYING, TRAINING, AND CARING FOR YOUR DINOSAUR.
Barry Eisler, writer of RAIN FALL, HARD RAIN, RAIN STORM, and other inclement novels about assassin John Rain thinning the population of Japan.
Eric Adams, producer, director, screenwriter, journalist, and writer of PLOT TWIST and BIRDLAND.
Sal Glynn, freelance editor and writer of the acclaimed THE DOG WALKED DOWN THE STREET.
Robert Hough, journalist and writer of THE FINAL CONFESSION OF MABEL STARK and THE STOWAWAY.
Cynthia Frank, president of Cypress House, has more than twenty-five years experience in writing, publishing, editing and teaching.
Bonnie Hearn Hill, writer of IF IT BLEEDS, CUTLINE, and OFF THE RECORD, featuring hearing-impaired reporter Geri LaRue.
FOURTH ANNUAL BIG SUR WRITING WORKSHOP
March 9–11, 2007, 2 pm Friday to 2 pm Sunday
BIG SUR LODGE IN PFEIFFER STATE PARK
Henry Miller Library
Highway One
Big Sur, CA 93920
(831) 667-2574
www.henrymiller.org
NEXT: The Weather Outside is Frightful
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