May 2013
2 posts
July 2012
1 post
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Please visit me at www.jamiebrenner.com
June 2012
7 posts
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“I always read the last page of a book first so...
I was in the Barnes and Noble on the Upper West Side last night when I learned about the death of Nora Ephron — what an appropriate place to get the bad news. What a loss!The LA times has a great piece today with some of her best movie quotes:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-nora-ephron-movie-quotes-20120626,0,5851932.story
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Writers of Tumblr: Writers of Tumblr is now OPEN... →
writersof:
Regarding submissions - PLEASE, read the submission guidelines before submitting, and the post explaining the new process and rules of submitting. When you do that, and you should because submissions with any more or less information that requested will be disregarded, you can submit your…
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Move over, television dramas. Books are moving...
From Heroes and Heartbreakers today:
http://www.heroesandheartbreakers.com/blogs/2012/06/pass-the-serial-the-romance-serial-that-is?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HomeHeroesAndHeartbreakerscom+%28H%26H%3A+Front+Page+Partial+-+Blogs+and+Stories%29
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“Write no matter what dramas and conflicts are happening in your life. Storms...”
– Jessica Page Morrell, The Writer’s I Ching
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Writers and booksellers aren't the only ones...
RIP Nolan Miller. The designer who created the costumes on Dynasty — one of the all time great nighttime dramas (aired before most of the cast of Revenge was born) -said in in an interview with W magazine that he lamented the changes in Hollywood where actresses often wear a designer’s creation for only a night before returning it.
“Nobody buys a dress anymore,” he said. “When I started,...
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Ann Patchett: an author with balls as big as her...
Ann Patchett is the author of my favorite novel of last year, State of Wonder. She also opened an indie bookstore in her hometown when every other bookstore closed. Yesterday, she took on Amazon in her BEA speach:
...
May 2012
23 posts
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“It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when...”
– Oscar Wilde (via 4mbivalent)
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“Never be so focused on what you’re looking for that you overlook the thing you...”
– Ann Patchett, State of Wonder (via 4mbivalent)
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If you're only using social media to sell books...
From author Nathan Bransford’s blog about the imperfections but usefulness of social media:
3) There are benefits to using social media beyond sales If you’re only using social media to sell books you are absolutely using it wrong. Yes, it can sell books. But the sales benefits are far down on the list of benefits that you will accrue using social media the right way. More likely:...
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For writers: Chuck Wendig's timely hockey analogy...
As I’m working today with the Rangers game on in the background, I especially appreciate Wending’s topical analogy in his “25 Ways to Earn Your Audience”
“Take more shots at the goal for greater likelihood of hitting the goal.”
http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/05/15/25-ways-to-earn-your-audience/
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Good Writing Genes
So I was just reading about an fantastic sounding debut novel called The Innocents by a writer named Francesca Segal. It’s a modern day re-telling of The Age of Innocence. I wanted to order it but it’s not on sale yet, so I started googling the author and apparently she is the daughter of the brilliant writer Erich Segal, author of Love Story. Anyway, here is her website:
...
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Super Sad True Habits of Highly Effective Writers:...
I’m excerpting part of a great post by Courtney Maum via thetinhouse. I love the part by Heather Hartley and sadly relate:
“Writers, they’re just like us! They fret, they procrastinate, they fondle talismans, sometimes they even pray. This week, in the second part of “Super Sad True Habits of Highly Effective Writers,” we’ll get down and dirty with some seriously successful...
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Let's Put the Work of Self-Promotion in...
This 2009 blog post by Colleen Lindsay is a must-read:
http://theswivet.blogspot.com/2009/02/self-promotion-or-warning-being.html
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A lesson for romance writers, courtesy of Elmore...
Elmore Leonard isn’t a romance writer, of course. But the adaptation of his novel Out of Sight gives us one of the best romances I’ve ever seen in film (or read in a book.) The Steven Soderbergh film creates such tension between the hero and heroine (played by Georgia Clooney and Jennifer Lopez) that it’s like a blueprint for anyone interested in romance writing. If you...
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On my to-read list...
Speaking of Louise Brooks, the upcoming novel The Chaperone looks fantastic:
THE CHAPERONE
by Laura Moriarty
Only a few years before becoming a famous actress and an icon for her generation, a fifteen-year-old Louise Brooks leaves Wichita to make it big in New York. Much to her annoyance, she is accompanied by a thirty-six-year-old chaperone who is neither mother nor friend. Cora Carlisle is...
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The Writing Life = No life (when 2 books a year is...
“Authors are now pulling the literary equivalent of a double shift, churning out short stories, novellas or even an extra full-length book each year.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/business/in-e-reader-age-of-writers-cramp-a-book-a-year-is-slacking.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1336910617-Zd45Q3JlpJVUSIMTndOKHg
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Own It, Writers
I love this piece from Chuck Wendig’s blog:
“Writers are often ashamed at who they are and what they do. Other people are out there fighting wars and fixing cars and destroying our country with poisonous loans — and here we are, sitting around in our footy-pajamas, writing about vampires and unicorns, about broken hearts and shattered jaws. A lot of the time we won’t get much respect,...
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"Any writer working today who can't answer the...
a must-read article about fandom from The Guardian: #writinglife
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/may/09/fandom-writers-respect-followers-pay-careers?CMP=twt_fd
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You Can Judge a Book by its Cover
Random House book designer Chip Kidd talks at TED
http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/chip-kidd-offers-book-designing-tips_b51163
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It's not Munch's The Scream, but I'm going...
http://gothamist.com/2012/05/02/courtney_love_5.php?utm_source=Gothamist+Daily&utm_campaign=a8d1d36813-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email#photo-4
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How style went from an 'insiders game' to...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-shaw/thats-so-last-century_b_1467206.html
April 2012
8 posts
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Is this your way of saying sorry for the...
If so, I accept! (Go Anne of Hollywood)
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/e-unveils-first-scripted-slate-317899
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When a writer should slow down
There’s a ton of advice for writers out there about how to get published, how to get an agent, etc. But what about the writers who already have contracts, and need to balance workload, deadlines, and knowing how much writing is too much writing?
Check out this blog post by romance goddess Sylvia Day (Seven Years to Sin, Bared to You)
http://www.murdershewrites.com/2012/04/23/wild-weeks/
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Vicki Lame: Inspiration →
vickilame:
Admittedly, I never really felt the need to blog before. I’m always too busy editing other people’s words to edit my own, much less write them. However, one of my new authors, Suzanne Palmieri (The Witch of Little Italy, Winter 2013) wrote a post yesterday that I found entirely inspiring….
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Dept of Justice Strikes a Blow to Book Publishers
From New York Times
Any victory for consumers will be short-lived, and that the ultimate effect of the antitrust suit will be to exchange a perceived monopoly for a real one. Amazon, already the dominant force in the industry, will hold all the cards.
“Amazon must be unbelievably happy today,” said Michael Norris, a book publishing analyst with Simba Information. “Had they been puppeteering this...
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world-building -- it's not just for sci fi and...
See Wendy the Super Librarian’s post about world-building in erotic romance, “If You Build It, They Will Come”
http://www.heroesandheartbreakers.com/blogs/2012/04/if-you-build-it-they-will-come-erotic-world-building
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RIP Kurt Cobain...18 years ago today
March 2012
6 posts
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If you're following the Astor story...
The articles in the New York Post about the fight over Brooke Astor’s will are just part of an incredible life story. Check out Frances Kiernan’s The Last Mrs. Astor. #Fridayreads
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Zelda said...
“By the time a person has achieved years adequate for choosing a direction, the die is cast and the moment has long since passed which determined the future. ” — Zelda Fitzgerald
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the wisdom of Hedy Lamarr
“The world isn’t getting any easier. With all these new inventions I believe that people are hurried more and pushed more… The hurried way is not the right way; you need time for everything - time to work, time to play, time to rest.”
February 2012
1 post
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“There must have been moments even that afternoon when Daisy tumbled short of his...”
– The Great Gatsby (via abangnotawhimper) 