Christmas Wish: Better discipline toward marketing December 22, 2010
Posted by William Spear in >> Out Basket.add a comment
Dear Santa,
As you prepare to dole out gifts in the coming days, may I submit one tiny wish: Make me a better marketer. Temporarily setting aside the whole naughty-or-nice criteria, which would be a dealbreaker for me, there is a legitimate argument to support my plea.
Intellectually, I get it with marketing. Connecting readers to my work is essential for success of all kinds. But it is much easier to start a new piece or rewrite a current piece than executing page 14, table 9 of the Two Plus Plus international marketing infrastructure.
But if you make me a better marketer, I’ll promise these three things:
- I won’t grumble (as much) about the 11th rewrite of a seven-page short;
- I’ll actually get out of bed at 5:00A to have an hour of quiet time for writing; and
- I’ll work towards finding solutions for global warming and international peace. (Those last two are stretches but I’m desperate.)
Thanks, Santa. Now about the whole naughty thing . . .
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2011 Writers Workshops – The Early Outline December 21, 2010
Posted by William Spear in >> News.add a comment
During the first four months of 2011, the Teen Cafe program of North Hiunterdon County Library in Clinton, New Jersey will conduct writers workshops. Held once a month, the workshops will present different formats and genre to the writers.
Mixing the premise that all participants are encouraged to help each other become better writers with the exploration of genre, the workshops will be presented as follows:
- Comedy: Everyone likes to laugh and laugh and laugh – Character development within the novel format as the basis for telling funny stories.
- Action: Hold on tight for fiteen minutes – The speed and power of short stories will be used to to get audiences into, and quickly out of, fast-moving situations.
- Autobiography: Your life, page one, in any format you can imagine – You are as interesting as any character; why not tell your life story?
- Mystery, suspense, and supernatural in metered verse: Thrills and chills of writing scary poems – Poetry’s flexibility makes it suitable for scaring readers; let the Wednesday Night Frights begin.
Also included are the following:
- Each workshop will include a segement titled “Opening Paragraph.” Participants may write and read the first paragraph of a new work or read from an existing story.
- Each workshop will also include a segment titled “Publishing your Work: Finding an audience is the hard part” which presents ways for finding an audience and getting published.
This is the second year for the workshops and should be as much fun as the last.
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Channeling Christopher Robin: “If you look in the right place . . .” December 2, 2010
Posted by William Spear in Uncategorized.Tags: christopher robin, winnie the pooh
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One of the great joys of working in retail is the range of personalities of my colleagues. While universally brilliant and comedic, their other characteristics are so riotously diverse as to fill a noisy football stadium.
This extends to conversations with them.
Last night, after 10:00P, only a few days removed from the tiring pace of Black Friday, a colleague was amazed that she was able locate merchandise previously believed undiscoverable. When she ruled out all the places the merchandise might be, and went to where it was supposed to be, she found the missing goods. With a lighning bolt of insight, she proclaimed the following:
If you look in the right place, you’ll actually find what you’re looking for.”
The insane eloguence of her comment combined with her stunning timing — she reacts as well as any performer –drove me to my knees laughing. The whole moment reminded me of Christopher Robin talking with Winnie the Pooh.
For the shear joy of reliving an excellent moment, the whole sentence is repeated here:
If you look in the right place, you’ll actually find what you’re looking for.”
Thanks, Chris. And please say hello to Pooh.
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