Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one— Bruce Lee What can writers learn from Bruce Lee? He defied the odds. He adapted to his environment. He set high standards for himself. He was a creative force, inventing his own style of fighting, Jeet Kune Do, based on traditional Wing Chun. He was a philosopher and communicator who changed the way the West thinks about Martial Arts. What did Bruce Lee think was important? He once said, "Training is one of the most neglected phases of athletics. Too much time is given to the development of skill and too little to the development of the individual for participation. ... Jeet Kune Do, ultimately is not a matter of petty techniques but of highly developed spirituality and physique." As a teacher, Bruce Lee advised his students to "Be like Water." “You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like … [Read more...] about What Writers can Learn from Bruce Lee.
Archives for 2015
Happy Halloween!
The Traditional Publishing Industry Is Killing Books | Opinion | teleSUR English
An interesting opinion piece by Tamara Pearson, author of the novel, The Butterfly Prison (Open Books, 2015). She is an activist, journalist, and editor living in Latin America— The publishing industry’s focus on profits amounts to a censoring of a diversity of viewpoints and experience.Books are lives compressed, humanity summarised into screaming or striking stories. One would think the book world would be a safe haven from inequality, but instead the traditional publishing industry – the big corporate publishers - is perpetuating prejudice and limiting ideas by elevating certain authors, characters, and thoughts above all others, with significant social consequences.The big publishers are big businesses with monopolies over a product, as much as other industries. They are driven by profit, rather than the social importance of books, and only publish books that are a sure thing, causing quality to be lost to lowest-common-denominator marketability. Sure things are books by celebrities, books with a guaranteed (forced) market such as text books and required readings in … [Read more...] about The Traditional Publishing Industry Is Killing Books | Opinion | teleSUR English
A Glimpse Behind the Mask: Bill Cosby by Alan P. Sloan
Who is Bill Cosby? Is he a funny, charming performer, doling out sage advice and entertaining children? Or does his warm smile hide a decadent and unrepentant serial rapist? Is he wearing a mask? On Monday, the Associated Press obtained 2005 documents where Bill Cosby admitted to obtaining quaaludes to give to young women and "other people" for sex. With at least 42 women accusing Cosby of sexual assault, observers are left with the uncomfortable revelation that this amusing comic that many of us grew up with, was wearing a mask. With that in mind I want to share an extraordinary excerpt from an upcoming memoir by a long-time Hollywood insider Alan P. Sloan, who worked as a high level executive and producer in Hollywood, recalling a revealing encounter with Bill Cosby. BILL COSBY (Excerpted from the memoirs of Alan P. Sloan) The day I spent with Bill Cosby was one of the most unpleasant experiences in my career as a television producer. Unlike the public picture of the witty, relaxed comedian he was a bully who went out of his way to make certain we … [Read more...] about A Glimpse Behind the Mask: Bill Cosby by Alan P. Sloan
Author Robert Gregory Browne on Storytelling and the Art of Composing
The age of eBooks has opened the door to an exuberant array of writers. We have new voices, bright with potential. Sometimes they are raw, tentative and hobbled by an uncertain grasp of spelling, grammar or technique, but the talent is there. On the other end of the scale are the seasoned pros, writers with a past who for one reason or another have stepped away from traditional publishing. When I run into these writers, it’s always a bit of a surprise. They have old school polish but are producing work in the new frontier of the Internet, riding the cutting edge of technology. These writers are sleek and agile craftsman, wordsmiths who know how to turn a phrase, build tension and create tight, well paced plots. Why are they good? Because they’ve done it before. ALOT. They are professionals. Robert Gregory Browne is one of those writers. Robert has been to the mountaintop. An ITW Thriller Award nominated novelist, he started his career penning short stories and went on to write books for St. Martin's Press and Penguin Dutton. He’s worked under his own name and under top … [Read more...] about Author Robert Gregory Browne on Storytelling and the Art of Composing
Is SHE Available: Defying the Physics of e books
Igor Goldkind’s genre busting book Is SHE Available: Tales of Sedition and SUBVERSION released by Chameleon Publishing, challenges the typical boundaries of literature, maybe even space and time. The book uses graphic art, poetry, spoken word, music and animation to create an immersive, multimedia experience. Having worked with Igor at Titan Books, UK, I’ve seen his innovative instincts before when, for example, he took the term “Graphic Novel” (with permission from Will Eisner) and propagated the phrase around the world without the help of the Internet. So I listened to his description of his book with growing curiosity. A book that incorporates art, music, poetry and motion? Igor Goldkind defying convention didn’t surprise me, it’s sort of his M.O. After graduating from San Diego University with a degree in Philosophy, Igor worked as a political journalist in Paris, studying with the French post structuralist Michel Foucault and graduating with a certificate from the Sorbonne. He’d always been an iconoclast. What did surprise me when I opened the book was that he would defy the … [Read more...] about Is SHE Available: Defying the Physics of e books
Big Five Publishing: A Murmur of Denial
Lately, a strange murmur has rippled across the publishing industry and echoed through my inbox; e books are just a fad, close your eyes, take a deep breath and they'll go away. Despite Nielson's own findings that print sales of adult fiction have declined by 37% since 2009 to the tune of over £150m loss, a brief flurry of physical book sales at Christmas appears to have triggered an industry-wide fantasy. Articles proliferated across the web declaring the e book dead. I must have read Tim Waterstone's quote half a dozen times, "— e-books have developed a share of the market, of course they have, but every indication – certainly from America – shows the share is already in decline. The indications are that it will do exactly the same in the UK.” A revisionist reality began to take shape. And across the post modern boardrooms of the Big Five, I could practically hear the murmurs of denial. At this year's London Book Fair Publishing for Digital Minds Conference, keynote speaker Author David Nicholls characterized publishers as social crusaders saying, “But we should … [Read more...] about Big Five Publishing: A Murmur of Denial