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Printing Problems at Lulu.com

I've been working with Lulu.com for several months now, and in general, I am pretty happy with their work. They are fast, affordable, and flexible. I ran into a snag, though, with print quality. About 500 copies of Clay in the Potter's Hands have been ordered. Most orders have been just fine. One order of 100 copies was not fine: the pictures are splotchy, the ink is pale, and the cover is not aligned properly. If you ordered from Lulu.com, and you received a defective copy, let me know. I am trying to address the problem. I am really sorry.
Left Image: pale and grainy. Right Image: black and sharp.

Left Image: pale and grainy. Right Image: black and sharp.

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Crazy Creativity (Minas Tirith)

Creativity=Skill+Persistence+One Crazy Concept.

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http://www.matchstickmarvels.com/MinasTirith.htm

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Shakespeare Found Guilty of *gasp* COLLABORATION!

No, Virginia, the Bard was not a solitary genius

I received this heartening note from my friend David Bratman:

I am reading a small book called Shakespeare's Modern Collaborators by Lukas Erne (London: Continuum, 2008), and found this gratifying, and rather familiar-sounding, statement in the Introduction (p. 1):

"Shakespeare's play texts as they reach us are the result of collaboration. What this emphasis on collaboration entails is a view of Shakespeare that contradicts a Romantic understanding, or misunderstanding, of Shakespeare as a solitary genius whose original ideas found direct and perfect expression in his plays, unhampered by any material and social constraints.  Rather, a well-informed view of Shakespeare needs to start with the acknowledgement that what we think of as Shakespeare's plays have been shaped by at least four different forms of collaboration."

And he enumerates them:

1) Actual co-authorship of some plays
2) Collaboration with actors, including writing parts with specific actors in mind to play them, and playhouse alteration of the text, particularly abridgment
3) Printers, who introduced "alterations, omissions, substitutions, transpositions, interpolations, as well as additions"
4) Modern editors, whose choices of texts and of corrections tremendously affects our view of the text.

And #4 is what the book is about, hence the title.

Yessir. That's what I'm talking about.

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Reading “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years”

Here's what it is like to read Donald Miller: I've heard all this stuff before, but it was alway spoken so politely that I could keep my umbrella up and my raincoat buttoned, but when Donald Miller says it, I am suddenly chilled to the bone and soaked clear through.

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Inspiration or Perspiration?

I LOVE this excerpt on the creative process from Frank Cottrell Boyce, author of Cosmic. You can read the rest ofthe interview at http://www.examiner.com/x-19497-Madison-Books-Examiner~y2010m1d24-An-interview-with-Cosmic-and-Millions-author-Frank-Cottrell-Boyce?cid=edition-rss-Madison. Thanks to Lynn Maudlin for the link.

 

PW:  The theme of what it means to be/to have a dad in Cosmic is wonderful. Did that emerge on its own, or was it deliberate?

FCB:  No it emerged on its own, rather late in the day. People think that inspiration comes at the beginning but one of the joys of writing is the late moment of inspiration that comes after months of slog. Cosmic was just about cars and laughs and then I woke up one morning and thought, "Oh, THAT's what it's about" and started all over again.

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Clay in the Potter’s Hands: Preview Edition is Now Available

I will be writing more about my new book, Clay in the Potter's Hands,  but for now I wanted  to let you know that you can buy the preview edition directly from my distributor, Lulu.com, by following this link: http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/clay-in-the-potters-hands-preview-edition/5972187

It's priced at $9.99, but you can get an extra 10% off with the coupon code GREATBOOK.

More soon.

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Winners Announced: Freshman Writing Conference at Azusa Pacific University

I had the privilege of introducing Alyssa Hetschel as she prepared to read her award-winning paper at the APU FWS Academic Conference.

Every year, students in APU's Freshman writing program submit essays and compete in three catagories: best personal essay, best argument, and best research paper. APU welcomed more than a thousand new students this year. Competition? Yea, more than a little.

I'm so proud that one of my students took first place in the personal essay catagory and second place in the researched argument category! Alyssa Hetschel was honored at the recent FWS Academic Conference.
Alyssa writes with a confident voice. She is gifted at recognizing the telling detail, and she knows how to edit distractions to make every word tell. That is what makes her a Great Writer.

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Fun Read for Fantasy Fans: Free!

Here, There Be Dragons

Remember that for one more week, HERE, THERE BE DRAGONS can be read for FREE over at the Simon & Schuster site here: http://books.simonandschuster.com/Here-There-Be-Dragons/James-A-Owen/Chronicles-of-the-Imaginarium-Geographica-The/9781416912279

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Clay Cover (sneak peek)

working cover design by The Seven-Seventy Design Group

working cover design by The Seven-Seventy Design Group

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