A couple of years ago, a reputable speaker at a literary conference told me that if I did not build a social networking platform I would be of no use to publishers in the future. In other words, I had to bring the audience to me, which in the past I had thought the publisher […]
Social Networking – a must-have or a time waster? Read More »
I read a meritorious review of a novel in a national newspaper recently, which highlighted how in a single sentence the novelist describes a character’s worn trousers as containing “the urine he couldn’t cut off due to the cold, the semen from his last wet dream, cocoa spilled from the day before, snot he’d rubbed
Less is More. Or is it? Read More »
When I saw TV footage last weekend of the burning police cruiser in downtown Toronto, of the guys in balaclavas and black suits breaking windows of commercial establishments, and of the armour•bearing cops in black marching down familiar streets, herding protest groups into smaller segments to render them ineffective, I realized that our World Class
Men in Black – whose side are they on? Read More »
I’ve been watching a spate of recent championship games – the NBA finals, the NHL finals, the World Cup soccer finals – and I have been more interested in seeing the faces of the coaches of the participating teams. They must be the most keyed•up, unhappiest people in the stadium, perhaps on earth, at that
I love to sit in my libraries (one at home, and one in my office) during my spare hours, and when not reading or working, I try to visualize the tears, fears, joys and adventures that led to the writing of the tales within the pages of those many books on the shelves. Sometimes, when
In the company of great minds Read More »
I recently read an article in the Harvard Business Review (a venerable magazine that I have read over the years and continue to devour from end to end) that Indian management types are now adopting “employee first” practices and are anecdotally accounting for this shift being part of their country’s successful emergence as a global
Same old story, different place and time Read More »
Bill sets down his second coffee cup, rubs his eyes in the early hours of the morning and starts on his blog. In it, he declaims world hunger, the war in Afghanistan, greedy corporate types and the malaise among readers who were still migrating over to TV, twittering and texting, and leaving the printed word
A day in the life of a shameless self-promoting writer Read More »
Jack had always wanted to be a writer, ever since he was little. When his fifty•something friends— many laid off in the last recession—took time out to write their novels, Jack did not want to be left behind. Besides, his back was hurting from playing golf on weekends and he needed a more sedentary pursuit.
The adventures of a wannabe writer (a very short story) Read More »
When I go out to read as a guest to writer’s groups these days, no one is really interested in hearing me read my work. Instead, everyone is interested at hearing of my adventures as a writer struggling to break into the big time. They want to know about my travails in the old self•publishing
Waiting for the e-book bomb to drop Read More »
After taking two years off to focus on my writing, I recently returned to the business world that earns me more money in a day than in a whole year as an author. Was this caving in? Selling out? Giving up? It was all of the above, and the achievement of wisdom that the business
Returning to the Grind Read More »