E-Book Conversions, vol 1

Jun 11, 2012 by

E-Book Conversions, vol 1

I’ve been working on converting a manuscript into an e-book for a client. Mind you, not really my area of expertise, but I am learning an awful lot about the process. Mostly, that I am not very good at it. OK, in my defense, though, I am actually fully trained in Photoshop and while I can’t bill myself as an expert, I’m definitely in the advanced group. That said, I’ve never touched InDesign before in my life. And that’s a bit of a problem here. I’ve worked with Illustrator, and hell, way back in the day, I worked with PageMaker. (Oy, my age is showing.) But I’ve never worked with InDesign before. Not once. This is making for an interesting project. Obviously, the internet is my best friend in this situation, and I’m learning as I go,...

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Pablo Neruda

Jun 8, 2012 by

Pablo Neruda

We don’t read a lot of translated books around these parts–these parts being the US. Only around 3% of what we read here is translated text; mostly, US readers either read books in their original language, which is often English, but not always. We’re not savages, many US citizens are indeed bilingual (yes, including me – I speak Hebrew, though I learned it against my will. It was required of any Jewish child in my family). We’ll get into why I don’t call us Americans at a later date. That is not a rant for today. Today I am sharing a fascinating article about book translation and how amazing a job it is. When you translate a book, you dig deep into the meaning of the author, you almost delve into their mind. I...

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Expressionless

Jun 6, 2012 by

Expressionless

There are more expressions than frowning, smiling, laughing and crying. One eyebrow can loft quizzically. The side of her mouth could quirk upwards. His brow can furrow dangerously. Her lips could twitch as she tries to control her laughter. He looks towards the ceiling at the stupid thing she said, she worries at her bottom lip. The thing about expressions is that there are very few just alike. Practicing in the mirror is good, yes, but so is people-watching. Real people, not movies – the actors in movies are highly over-played, even when it doesn’t seem so. Turn off the sound sometime, leave off the captions. Really watch a sitcom that way. Who actually puts up both hands, shrugs both shoulders, widens their eyes and shakes their head too? Have you ever actually seen someone...

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Stress

May 30, 2012 by

Stress

Stress is an ever-present issue in today’s world. Stress, and the soapy smell of kitty litter–at least if you’re a writer. Most people consider themselves stressed in general, and that’s not the best state of being we could have, as an overall rule. We should be relaxed, happy, or even just “alright”. But we’re not, we’re stressed. No author has ever come to me and said “I want to write this book, but time’s no issue. Let’s take it nice and slow, a year or two, I like to do things leisurely.” No, authors, like everyone else, want their product as soon as possible. Thus today’s real topic: chocolate. Or more specifically, M&Ms. Chocolate is a writer’s best friend. Some may claim cats are, but they’re probably lying or trying to meet some unseen idyllic...

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Buh Bye, M.S.

May 16, 2012 by

Buh Bye, M.S.

I’m very excited about an upcoming book by my mentor, Claudia Suzanne, called Buh Bye, M.S., a true-life story of how she overcame and god rid of Multiple Sclerosis. Claudia had chronic-progressive M.S. for most of her life and through a series of seemingly ridiculous circumstances and a lot of argument and determination, she managed to somehow rid her body of the disease entirely. The pre-order page just went up, and I highly suggest you head over and check it out, if for no other reason than that the pre-order comes with a free digital...

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Ghostwriter Certification

May 4, 2012 by

Ghostwriter Certification

Ah, the crux of it. No one quite knows what it is, but it seems like it’s self-explanatory. It’s not. Ghostwriter certification training is a complex, intense and ridiculously difficult training program offered by Claudia Suzanne and Left Coast Institute. It’s been a privately-taught course for several years, but will be moving to CalState Long Beach come 2013, and as I understand it, become more expensive–but not easier. GCT is grueling, time-consuming and painful, but it’s incredibly necessary. Let’s go back a few years. Fifteen years ago, there were around fifty ghostwriters in the US. They were counted, in fact, at one point. But as the publishing industry began to implode, and then eat itself, ghostwriting became a fallback position for out-of-work writers, editors and journalists. Because they knew how to write, they assumed...

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