Month: December 2016

I. Need. To. Do. What ??? (Behind the Scenes #4)

I’m going Behind the Scenes today  to recall some of the major “highlights” of being a writer in 2016. As you’ll see, none of them have anything to do with the actual writing of my new thriller.

I’m not totally sure, but I think Ernest Hemingway would consider himself fortunate for dying before it became a requirement for every author to have a website, and to blog, and to post regularly on social media sites like Facebook.

Returning to fiction writing (after twenty years away) has been quite an eyeopener. You must have a website, they said. An agent won’t even glance at your manuscript if you don’t have a website. Oh, and way before anyone accepts your book for publication, you’ll need to build an audience by blogging on the website, and posting on social media. Continue reading “I. Need. To. Do. What ??? (Behind the Scenes #4)”

News Squib#15 – A High for the Holidays

It’s Squib Saturday. Time to share the best, most interesting (or most entertaining, or most outrageous) tidbit of information I’ve gleaned from all the stuff I’ve read –or done– this week. Today: Brave New Weed – the perfect book gift for anyone who ever wanted to smoke a joint– and now lives in (or is visiting) a state where it’s legal.

 

Joe Dolce, the author of this terrific tome, subtitled Adventures into the Uncharted World of Cannabis, begins by setting out the conundrum which has perplexed me (a Sixties flower child who once enjoyed hard liquor and tobacco) and those members of my generation who have for decades resisted lighting up a joint.

Namely: “If pot is as benign as its adherents claim, and such a miraculous and versatile medicine on top of that, how did it acquire such a bad rap?” Continue reading “News Squib#15 – A High for the Holidays”

Getting Into The Holiday Spirit with The Palm Beach Writers Group

It’s News Squib Saturday — but instead of posting News Squib#14, I’m taking a break from the news (both real and fake) this week to share some highlights and tips from writers with whom I got together last night at the Leopard Lounge, in The Chesterfield, a historic landmark in Palm Beach.

 

 

Swanky

The Leopard Lounge, once described by a Palm Beach Post reporter as the kind of  “dark and swanky” bar that “Don Draper might have taken a paramour during Mad Men‘s first season,” was the location for a holiday gathering of some 35 writers and editors last night. The evening was organized by Cathy (Kat) Helowicz, (aka Hostess with the Mostest) and author of a children’s book,  On Grandpop’s Lap. She is in the middle of writing her first novel for adults, and told me she recently enrolled in author James Patterson’s MasterClass, a series of 22 video lessons on how to write a best-seller. Continue reading “Getting Into The Holiday Spirit with The Palm Beach Writers Group”

News Squib#13 – My Run-In With Big Oil

It’s Squib Saturday. Time to share the best, most interesting (or most entertaining, or most outrageous) tidbit of information I’ve gleaned from all the stuff I’ve read –or done– this week. Today: Duking It Out With the Biggest Heating Oil Company on Long Island 

Every so often I have to get “into the ring” with the company that has been supplying my heating oil for the last eight years.  It goes like this: The company delivers my heating oil on automatic delivery. The driver of the truck leaves a printed receipt on my front door knob. I immediately look at the price charged per gallon;

I log onto Nyserda.gov ( the New York State agency that provides energy information including the month-by-month average price of heating oil throughout the state.)  I then compare the average price on Long Island with the price the heating oil company has charged me. I fall off my chair. I pick myself up.  I call customer service. Continue reading “News Squib#13 – My Run-In With Big Oil”

News Squib#12 – When Fake News Was Funny

 Digital tablet on newspaper concept for internet and electronicIt’s Squib Saturday. Time to share the best, most interesting (or most entertaining, or most outrageous) tidbit of information I’ve gleaned from all the stuff I’ve read –or done– this week. Today: When Everyone Could Tell the Difference Between Fake and Real News

Fake news has been in the…well, in the real news headlines recently. Mark Zuckerberg is fretting about algorithms and standards which could keep fake news off Facebook; Hillary Clinton’s aides are blaming fake headlines about Pope Francis endorsing Trump for steering voters away from her; and most notably the Washington Post this week zeroed in on the #1 reader of an online website that traffics in fake news. Continue reading “News Squib#12 – When Fake News Was Funny”