Tag Archives: books

Best Quotes of the Week – February 5, 2022

“There have always been efforts to censor books, but what we’re seeing right now is frankly unprecedented. A library is a place of voluntary inquiry. That means when a student walks in, they’re not forced to check out a book that they or their parents find objectionable. But they also don’t have authority to say what books should or shouldn’t be available to other students.”

Carolyn Foote, a retired school librarian in Austin who’s helping to lead the #FReadom campaign

#FReadom campaign is a grassroots effort to fight back against book challenges (translation: censorship) in Texas.

“Well, if you are digesting Russian misinformation and parroting Russian talking points, you are not aligned with longstanding, bipartisan American values, which is to stand up for the sovereignty of countries, like Ukraine but others.  Their right to choose their own alliances, and also to stand against, very clearly, the efforts or attempts or potential attempts by any country to invade and take territory of another country. That applies to Sen. Hawley, but it also applies to others who may be parroting the talking points of Russian propagandist leaders.”

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, in response to a reporter’s question about Sen. Josh Hawley’s suggestion the U.S. not support Ukraine in its ongoing efforts to thwart a Russian invasion

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Word of the Week – January 29, 2022

Apodictic

Adjective

Latin, 17th century

Clearly established or beyond dispute: originally from Greek “apodeiktikos” and “apodeiktos” and Latin “apodicticus”, it stems from the verbal adjective of “apodeiknynai,” meaning “to show off, demonstrate, show by argument, point out, prove.”

Example: My apodictic knowledge of the history of canines is due to my life-long love for dogs.

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February 2022 Book Marketing Opportunities

A writer’s job is never done.  That includes marketing – which most of us hate.  We’re writers – not salespeople!  At least I’m not.  Regardless, we scribes HAVE to take every opportunity to sell our writings and we HAVE to use any means necessary – preferably those that fall within the bounds of legality.  The Marketing Deities have established unique reasons to mark every day of the year.  With February close upon us, here are some prime marketing opportunities for each day of the month.

  • February 1 Spunky Old Broads Day
  • February 3 Feed the Birds Day
  • February 4 Bubble Gum Day
  • February 4 Thank a Mailman Day
  • February 5 National Shower with a Friend Day
  • February 5 National Weatherman’s Day
  • February 6 National Chopsticks Day
  • February 7 Send a Card to a Friend Day
  • February 9 Toothache Day
  • February 10 Umbrella Day
  • February 13 Get a Different Name Day
  • February 13 National Wingman Day
  • February 14 Ferris Wheel Day
  • February 15 Singles Awareness Day
  • February 15 Susan B. Anthony Day
  • February 16 Do a Grouch a Favor Day
  • February 17 Random Acts of Kindness Day
  • February 20 Love Your Pet Day
  • February 22 Be Humble Day
  • February 26 Open That Bottle Night
  • February 26 Tell a Fairy Tale Day

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Word of the Week – January 22, 2022

Tsundoku (積ん読)

Noun

Japanese (slang), 19th century

Acquiring reading materials and letting them pile up without reading them.  It combines elements of tsunde-oku (積んでおく, to pile things up) and dokusho (読書, reading books). As currently written, the word combines the characters for “pile up” (積) and the character for “read” (読).

Example: My vast tsundoku looks overwhelming, but it’s still comforting to me.

Image: Ronnie Filyaw – Whomp!

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Cartoon of the Week – January 22, 2022

Only working writers can truly identify with this!

Lars Kenseth, New Yorker, 01/21/22

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A Ten Year Blogiversary!

Happy 10th Birthday to me!  This month marks a full decade since The Chief entered your lives and brought unmitigated joy, anger, heartbreak and questions about how someone of such deranged mental capacity as me could possibly get onto the Internet.  Aren’t you glad you showed up and stayed?

I can’t even begin to describe the mixture of curiosity and trepidation I felt launching this blog.  I had never really put myself into the public eye under such circumstances.  It’s odd, if you knew me, because in a previous life I’d wanted to be a professional actor.  When I felt my life was going out of control in the late 1980s, I seriously began researching life in California and New York.  But I decided to remain in Texas and hoped someone of importance would notice me.  They didn’t.  Bastards!

Now I’ve resigned myself to being a hermit writer.  I’ve always been introverted and thus, was isolating myself at home long before the COVID-19 pandemic made it fashionable.  That means blogging came natural to me – like eating good food, drinking good wine and having regular orgasms.

I realized almost immediately the blogosphere is ideal for any writer or creative visionary.  It has taken the written word and placed it into the hands of ordinary people.  Whether what they create is valuable or authentic is often purely subjective or subject to fact-finders.  But – for better or worse – people no longer have to rely upon established publishing houses or newspaper editorial boards to determine if they get something published or not.  It’s not necessarily vulnerable to censorship or opinionated editing.

I feel this blog has improved my writing and widened my own eyes to the world around me.  I used it as a platform to promote my first published novel, “The Silent Fountain”.  I’ve been able to broadcast short stories and essays that renowned editorial deities didn’t like.

For all of you who have stayed with me over the past decade, I love you and thank you.  Stay with me!  There’s more psychological shenanigans to come!

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In Memoriam – Joan Didion, 1934-2021

“We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget. We forget the loves and the betrayals alike, forget what we whispered and what we screamed, forget who we were.”

Joan Didion, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, 1968

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In Memoriam – Bell Hooks, 1952-2021

“I think the truth is that finding ourselves brings more excitement and well-being than anything romance has to offer, and somewhere we know that.”

bell hooks

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A Frankenstein Million

Who would have thought a mirthful challenge would last two centuries and spark a horrific enterprise?

Last month a first-edition copy of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein sold for USD 1.17 million at auction at Christie’s Auction House; much more than its estimated value of USD 300,000.  Only one of 500 known existing first-print copies, the book is the most expensive tome by a woman ever sold.  Published in 1818, Frankenstein: or, the Modern Prometheus is now considered to be the first science fiction novel.  At the time, however, it was met with lackluster reviews – many of which bore an obviously sexist bent.  “The writer of it is, we understand, a female; this is an aggravation of that which is the prevailing fault of the novel,” noted one reviewer in the “British Critic”.

Looks like Mary Shelley has had the last laugh.

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In Memoriam – Larry McMurtry, 1936-2021

“You expect far too much of a first sentence. Think of it as analagous to a good country breakfast: what we want is something simple, but nourishing to the imagination. Hold the philosophy, hold the adjectives, just give us a plain subject and verb and perhaps a wholesome, nonfattening adverb or two.”

Larry McMurtry

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