April 2013
3 posts
This poem by Sharon Olds (from Stag's Leap)
September 2001, New York City
A week later, I said to a friend: I don’t
think I could ever write about it.
Maybe in a year I could write something.
There is something in me maybe someday
to be written; now it is folded, and folded,
and folded, like a note in school. And in my dream
someone was playing jacks, and in the air there was a
huge, thrown, tilted jack
on fire. And when I woke up, I...
March 2013
4 posts
Cormac McCarthy's Out of Office:
“Gone.”
James Patterson's Out of Office:
“In the time it takes you to read this, I will have written another book and published two more. LOSER.”
Samuel Beckett's Out of Office:
“There is no office.”
ACTUAL JOB DESCRIPTION (not the one you will find...
The Executive Vice President, Director of Publicity and Media Relations for the Knopf Doubleday Group (@paulbogaards) is seeking a Publicity Assistant to provide day-to-day support in a fast-paced, internal/external facing, detail and data driven environment working with authors, agents, booksellers, legacy media professionals, and other half-crazed publishing desperados.
This position will...
January 2013
3 posts
“The form of the story may change. The medium of the story’s transmission may...”
– @mahimkajerry
November 2012
1 post
August 2012
1 post
June 2012
8 posts
In Memorium: Nora Ephron
Only Nora Ephron could come up with a line like, “Sometimes I think that not having to worry about your hair anymore is the secret upside of death.” Over the course of four decades, Nora’s intimate, dry, big-hearted humor kept us laughing, both in her movies (“When Harry Met Sally,” “Sleepless in Seattle,” “Julie and Julia”) and in her books (Crazy Salad, Scribble Scribble, Heartburn, I Feel Bad...
Domains I Am Considering
The Top Twenty:
1) .spanx
2) .dog
3) .cat
4) .ipa
5) .dude!
6) .donpepi
7) .COCKTAIL!
8) .e-fml
9) .sigh
10) .seriously?
11) .WTF
12) .douchebag
13) .fiftyshadescertified
14) .Wife: “You. Are. Not. Going. To. Use. That. On. Me.”
15) .everyonehaspermissiontotakethedayoff
16) .istillhavenoideawhatthefuckiamdoing
17) .mollyringwaldwillyoumarryme
18)...
May 2012
1 post
Those New Yorkers who don't read
The top ten subsets:
10). Facebook advertising team
9). Fox News on-air talent
8). The social media guy sitting in the cube next to you pinning shit on his board
7). The television producer working on your book segment
6). The radio producer working on your book segment
5). The person who is interviewing you about your book
4). Bloggers
3). Publicists
2). Editors
1). Authors
April 2012
1 post
On Reading Fiction
“Reading fiction is important. It is a vital means of imagining a life other than our own, which in turn makes us more empathetic beings. Following complex story lines stretches our brains beyond the 140 characters of sound-bite thinking, and staying within the world of a novel gives us the ability to be quiet and alone, two skills that are disappearing faster than the polar icecaps.”...
March 2012
3 posts
1 tag
“What I love most about the hoopla surrounding Fifty Shades of Grey is that the story here isn’t really about women getting turned on. It’s not even about women desiring more sex with their partners. It’s about women sharing information with each other. It’s about storytelling and friendships.” Dr. Logan Levkoff on Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon
February 2012
1 post
January 2012
3 posts
Hierarchy of Book Publishing The Top 100 (circa 2012)
1). Brand-name authors (still)
Stephen King (since 1974)
John Grisham (1989)
Patricia Cornwell (1990)
Jodi Picoult (1992)
Nicholas Sparks (1996)
Jennifer Weiner (2001)
Etc.
2). Self-published authors with proven track (developing)
J.A. Konrath (since 2004)
John Locke (2009)
Amanda Hocking (2010)
Brittany Geragotelis (2011)
Etc.
3)....
December 2011
1 post
November 2011
1 post
August 2011
3 posts
Ten activities for the fearless New Yorker to...
Sure, it’s a hurricane (and a big one at that). But you’re a New Yorker with a weekend to plan. So here are ten activities you might want to consider for Sunday (most of them, optimally, timed to the arrival of Irene, and all of them with links to help facilitate your adventure).
1). Fly a complex kite in Central Park.
2). Jet ski around Wall Street.
3). Window shop on 5th Avenue with...
July 2011
2 posts
1 tag
This could be your parent (my 99 year-old father,...
Of all the things I can tell you about my father – and there are many – the most important thing is this: he never quit on me. Or anyone he cared about. If you were a friend or loved one, Harry always stood in your corner.
There is one other thing about my dad: actuaries hate him.
My father’s world was small. He loved my mother, his children, my best friend, the men he served with overseas, and...
On the passing of a friend (my best, who often...
My best friend Bobby Girillo died last week at the age of fifty-one. Below are some memories of our time together, and the profound influence he had on my life. I shared portions of these reflections at his wake on Friday night.
“Bob was my best friend.
He was a son to my father, an uncle to my children, and a brother to me.
My best attributes, and there is some debate about whether I have any...
May 2011
5 posts
Author jumps ship, blames publisher (or what the...
Here is the thing about reporting: it’s subtle. When Jeff Trachtenberg writes in the Wall Street Journal that “John Irving is leaving his long-time publisher Random House and switching to CBS Corp’s Simon & Schuster,” one is left believing this is a first of sorts. Or if not a first, something unusual. Indeed, the phrase long-term connotes a kind of fidelity, and continuity among personnel,...
April 2011
2 posts
