Archive for November, 2005

Blowing Buy Nothing Day

Published at November 25, 2005 in pre-wp. 0 Comments Print Email This Post AddThis Social Bookmark Button

I’ve been awake for less than three hours and already I’ve blown Buy Nothing Day [BND in the UK]. It all started with an empty carton of milk and ended with me standing in line at the No Frills wrestling with my conscious (it wasn’t a very difficult struggle, really.)


It’s easy to mock culture jamming protests like BND and TV Turn Off Week, but it’s surprisingly hard to successfully participate in them. These culture jamming actions aren’t going to shake the foundations of capitalism or our society (and that’s not their goal), but they do get people thinking and hopefully talking about this stuff. And that’s a good place to start.


So, see how long you can go today without buying something. If you’ve already blown it like me, try again tomorrow. Trust me, society won’t notice, but you will.


Now, I’m off to pour some of my ill-gotten milk into my fair trade coffee – does that balance it out?


tagged:

No tag for this post.

posts that might have something to do with what I just said:

  • darn bots can't compute - try the search up top for more posts

Raincoast’s podcasting promos

Published at November 19, 2005 in pre-wp. 0 Comments Print Email This Post AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Thanks to Arthur, I now know my publishing crystal ball really works. In an earlier post, I suggested that publishers could use podcasts to promote their authors. Arthur sent me this CBC article which puts Raincoast on front when it comes to publishing trends (yet again):


Raincoast Books has launched a new series of podcasts featuring interviews and readings with its authors.


The Vancouver publisher is making the recordings available on Apple’s iTunes or through the Feedburner website.


The literary podcast series will include material from the 2005 Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival.

Raincoast plans up to 15 podcasts in 2006.


Please note that in order to maintain the high journalistic standard of this blog, I didn’t even bother to search google when I spouted off about publishers and podcasting. As far as I know there are many publishers out there promoting their authors work through podcasts. But really, using my google toolbar is so much work, so I’d rather make sweeping generalisations. They’ve never hurt anyone before, so I figure I’m safe.


If you know of any other podcasting publishers/authors, please send me the links – googling is such hard work.


tagged:

No tag for this post.

posts that might have something to do with what I just said:

  • darn bots can't compute - try the search up top for more posts

Pirates, pirates everywhere

Published at November 18, 2005 in gaming and pre-wp. 0 Comments Print Email This Post AddThis Social Bookmark Button

For the last two months, my life has been ruled by pirates. This isnt something Ive wanted a lot of people to know, but now Im coming clean.

Stacked on my desk are half a dozen books on the subject, each one outlining the nefarious deeds of men like Captain Kidd, Blackbeard and the man who launched a thousand mojitos, Henry Morgan. My recent descent into the realm of buccaneers started with an assignment from Capstone Press and its spiralled out of control from there.

Im just putting the finishing touches to four new books in the Real World of Pirates series for Capstone. The books will be out next year and they crack open the secret world of piracy, bustin myths and telling the truths that other landlubbers were too scared to speak. (Did you know the whole walking the plank thing is a load of pirates grog? Never happened. Except in movies and books. )

Soon word got out that I was the go-to guy for all thing piratical. About a month ago, I was hired by Stone Arch Books to write a historical graphic novel about the demise of Blackbeard. Ive just finished the first draft of that and had a lot of fun writing it.

Up until that point, my interest in pirates was purely professional. But Ive crossed a line. Two weeks ago, I became a pirate.

Every night from 7 pm until about 10 pm, I climb on board my brig and set sail across the tropical waters of the Caribbean, aiming my cannons at any unfortunate merchant who crosses my path. Just because its in the world of Sid Meiers Pirates doesnt make it any less real for me. But it is starting to scare me.

What started out as research has now spiralled into something more weird. Now I lurk around the shipping lanes just off Barbados, waiting for treasure-laden merchant ships. I lie awake at night wondering if pirate Jack Rackham will track me down and demand his treasure back. And now I cant write unless Im wearing my trusty eyepatch.

This is a warning to all those who are tempted to write about pirates: theyre addictive. Theyll suck you in with their charming villainry, daring deeds and sadistic tortures. (Did you know that Montbars of Languedoc cut open the stomach of a prisoner, nailed the entrails to a post and then forced the victim to dance by beating his backside with a burning log?)

Id tell you more, but Ive got to set sail. Theres a Spanish treasure ship out of Havana with my name on it. Those ship repairs arent cheap, yknow.

tagged:

No tag for this post.

posts that might have something to do with what I just said:

  • darn bots can't compute - try the search up top for more posts

Arthur Slade’s monstrous podcasts

Published at November 16, 2005 in pre-wp. 0 Comments Print Email This Post AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Writers are always looking for new ways to connect with their readers. This is especially so for many children’s writers, who spend much of their time visiting schools and giving readings to students.


In the past, websites have been a great way for readers to learn more about their favourite author. With the arrival of podcasts, some enterprising kids writers are connecting with students in new ways.


Arthur Slade is one of those writers. He is also a writer that I fear. Arthur’s writing is so smart that I cringe each time he releases a book, or develops a new idea. With each new title, I’m like “Hey, I wanted to do that! I just hadn’t thought of it yet.”


So it is with Arthur’s new book Monsterology and his new series of podcasts for young writers.


Using his own material as a springboard and drawing on his own broadcasting roots, Arthur dishes up writing tips and tricks for aspiring writers old and new. With titles like “Rewriting Strikes Back”, “How to Be Hillarious” and “How to Write the Next Harry Potter”, Arthur’s podcasts are at their heart a series of simple writing tips. But they are also much more.


Teachers can play them to their creative writing classes, they’re great sticky content for Arthur’s website and a fresh way for fans of Arthur’s writing to connect with the writer. With a simple 5 minute audio file, Arthur has created an effective promotion tool and a new way to reach readers. As podcasts and videoblogs become easier to create, I predict more writers will add them to their sites (possibly even this writer?)


The people who should really be paying attention to these original ideas of self-promotion are the publishers and possibly booksellers. At the end of the day, these podcasts will result in greater exposure for the authors and that can only mean increased book sales. Ideas like meettheauthor.com are already doing this too.


Maybe in the future, a series of author podcasts will be lumped in with the traditional book tours and signings. Who knows? That would be cool and it would also achieve the perfect marketing balance for hermit writers: book promotion from the comfort of your pajamas. Excellent!


tagged:

No tag for this post.

posts that might have something to do with what I just said:

  • darn bots can't compute - try the search up top for more posts

Opening my Office

Published at November 7, 2005 in pre-wp. 0 Comments Print Email This Post AddThis Social Bookmark Button

With the arrival of my new computer, one of my goals is to move away from Windows and run Linux (at least for my work related activities.) Right now, I’m too busy to really start the shift, but that doesn’t mean I can’t sample the joys of open source.

Thanks to some great work by the open source community, I can run open and free software on my proprietary Windows XP system. Being a writer faced with tight deadlines, I needed a word processing program on this new system right from the start. For that reason, my decision to not buy MS Office (with the almighty Word) was a bit of a risk. And that’s where Open Office comes in.

Open Office is completely free and offers all the software packages that MS Office has: word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, even math database applications (because every kids writer needs a solid mathimatical equation quantifier in his desktop of tricks.)

With a deadline looming on Monday (this morning), I downloaded Open Office early Saturday morning with the hopes of getting it running by dinner. I was expecting a relentless series of errors, mismatched file types and other cryptic computer glitches. Fortunately, I didn’t get any of that. What I got instead, was an easy install with clear instructions that had me typing my first document within minutes.

So far, I’ve only explored Open Office Writer, the open source version of Word, and I love it. It’s designed with Word users in mind, so many of the commands are the same. Creating Word formatted documents is also a snap, which avoids any embarrassing emails from editors asking: “wtf format is this document?”

For you poor unfortunate readers, I will be documenting my move to Linux, over the next few weeks. Right now, my first taste with open source software has been very pleasant and I look forward to trying out other open source programs, like GIMP and actually running one of the many Linux OSs.

If you are upgrading your computer, or just tired of living in the software shadows by running that version of Word burned for you by your brother-in-law’s IT dude at work, then I suggest you check out OpenOffice at www.openoffice.org.

Speaking of which, time to head back to my newly opened office and start meeting those deadlines.


tagged:

No tag for this post.

posts that might have something to do with what I just said:

  • darn bots can't compute - try the search up top for more posts

Goodbye 166

Published at November 5, 2005 in pre-wp. 0 Comments Print Email This Post AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Part of the silence around here has been due to the anticipated arrival of my new computer. My old one (and I mean old – Pentium 166 old!) just couldn’t handle doing anything more than creating Word documents. Posting to blogger (or any blog software) caused delays, hang ups and too many headaches. But all that is over as I say goodbye to the ol’ P166 that had its daily warning messages (that I learned to ignore) and its constant hum that sounded like a disconnected phone (that I learned to tune out) and its lack of speakers (wow – this internet comes with sound!)


I’m not going dwell on why I took so long to get a new system. Right now, I’m basking in the multi-tasking joy of having a brand new computer that meets all of my needs – and then some.


So goodbye 166 and thanks for booting up each morning.

No tag for this post.

posts that might have something to do with what I just said:

  • darn bots can't compute - try the search up top for more posts