But they have a long way to go.
Author Loraine Despres will give you short takes on love, life's little ironies, and the world as she moves through it, with detours including how to attract men and keep them happy. That's easy. Writing, that's harder. The writer's life, that one is the hardest of all.
Friday, November 10, 2006
Monday, September 18, 2006
The Huffington Post
BECOMING FEARLESS
Check it out. My article on “The Courage to Live Your Life” is featured today on the Huffington Post on her Becoming Fearless page along with Arianna’s blog, an amusing note from Nora Ephron, If I Could TiVo My Life and much more.
But if you decide to check it out, beware.
The articles on the First Female Space Tourist and the effect she’s having on women in Iran, Madrid enforcing the skinny model ban, articles by Harry Shearer (the postings change minute to minute) are highly addictive. You are likely to find yourself addicted, blurry-eyed, surfing the web for hours on end instead of getting on with your life.
Check it out. My article on “The Courage to Live Your Life” is featured today on the Huffington Post on her Becoming Fearless page along with Arianna’s blog, an amusing note from Nora Ephron, If I Could TiVo My Life and much more.
But if you decide to check it out, beware.
The articles on the First Female Space Tourist and the effect she’s having on women in Iran, Madrid enforcing the skinny model ban, articles by Harry Shearer (the postings change minute to minute) are highly addictive. You are likely to find yourself addicted, blurry-eyed, surfing the web for hours on end instead of getting on with your life.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
THE COURAGE TO LIVE YOUR LIFE
THE COURAGE TO LIVE YOUR LIFE
“It’s Okay for a woman to know her place. She just shouldn’t stay there.” That’s Rule Number 48 Sissy LeBlanc’s SOUTHERN BELLE’S HANDBOOK. I started every chapter in both my novels with a rule. Some of them were satirical, some ironic, but this is the one I live by.
I was a single mom in New Orleans scraping along in a cheap apartment when I decided to pack up my son in my old car and go out to Hollywood to break into show business. Within two years I was writing for network television. Within four years I’d written the most watched show in the history of TV (at that time) and had saved up enough to make a down payment on my own house in Malibu.
Was it scary? You bet. I knew a couple of people in the business from New Orleans and I thought they’d help me. They didn’t. Was it hard? Did I sometimes think of giving up? Of course. But it was exciting, too.
I didn’t know how to break in, so I did everything. I’d worked in educational film, and I was able to hustle some free-lance educational film assignments, which allowed me to join an organization called Women In Film as an associate member.
I made myself useful. If there was an envelope to stuff, I stuffed it. If there was a conference or a panel where I could learn, I was there. I took classes at night and kept on writing. I wrote three un-produced screenplays. So when I finally got a break, (and I think that anyone who really puts themselves out there will eventually get a break) I was ready.
My son cried he was so happy. I took him skiing to celebrate. It was our first real vacation since moving to Los Angeles. Years later, I decided to stop writing TV to follow my new dream of writing novels about women, who think they’re stuck, but manage to take their lives into their own hands. The heroine of my first novel, THE SCANDALOUS SUMMER OF SISSY LEBLANC is stuck in a bad marriage in a town too small for her. In the end she learns as I did Rule Number 2: A smart girl can’t just sit on the porch and wait for her life to start.
The heroine of my new novel, THE BAD BEHAVIOR OF BELLE CANTRELL, comes from an earlier, more repressive era, when women were fettered by the rules of propriety. It was 1920 when Belle decides: The most important thing about virtue is to talk as if you’re in favor of it. (A rule some people in Washington unfortunately follow even today.) But when she has to overcome her fear and rescue her friends, she screws up her courage and declares: Sometimes a girl just has got to stop thinking and get going.
“It’s Okay for a woman to know her place. She just shouldn’t stay there.” That’s Rule Number 48 Sissy LeBlanc’s SOUTHERN BELLE’S HANDBOOK. I started every chapter in both my novels with a rule. Some of them were satirical, some ironic, but this is the one I live by.
I was a single mom in New Orleans scraping along in a cheap apartment when I decided to pack up my son in my old car and go out to Hollywood to break into show business. Within two years I was writing for network television. Within four years I’d written the most watched show in the history of TV (at that time) and had saved up enough to make a down payment on my own house in Malibu.
Was it scary? You bet. I knew a couple of people in the business from New Orleans and I thought they’d help me. They didn’t. Was it hard? Did I sometimes think of giving up? Of course. But it was exciting, too.
I didn’t know how to break in, so I did everything. I’d worked in educational film, and I was able to hustle some free-lance educational film assignments, which allowed me to join an organization called Women In Film as an associate member.
I made myself useful. If there was an envelope to stuff, I stuffed it. If there was a conference or a panel where I could learn, I was there. I took classes at night and kept on writing. I wrote three un-produced screenplays. So when I finally got a break, (and I think that anyone who really puts themselves out there will eventually get a break) I was ready.
My son cried he was so happy. I took him skiing to celebrate. It was our first real vacation since moving to Los Angeles. Years later, I decided to stop writing TV to follow my new dream of writing novels about women, who think they’re stuck, but manage to take their lives into their own hands. The heroine of my first novel, THE SCANDALOUS SUMMER OF SISSY LEBLANC is stuck in a bad marriage in a town too small for her. In the end she learns as I did Rule Number 2: A smart girl can’t just sit on the porch and wait for her life to start.
The heroine of my new novel, THE BAD BEHAVIOR OF BELLE CANTRELL, comes from an earlier, more repressive era, when women were fettered by the rules of propriety. It was 1920 when Belle decides: The most important thing about virtue is to talk as if you’re in favor of it. (A rule some people in Washington unfortunately follow even today.) But when she has to overcome her fear and rescue her friends, she screws up her courage and declares: Sometimes a girl just has got to stop thinking and get going.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
The Mel Gibson Mess
What I fear is some of those good people, who don’t go to movies, but flocked to see The Passion of the Christ are tacitly agreeing with Mel Gibson’s anti-Semitic statements, even as he more or less denies them. I’m afraid they may be glad a big celebrity gave voice to their beliefs. Because I write Southern novels, I tour the South. I’ve spoken to groups in beautiful homes, stuffed with antiques, where even at 10:00 AM a miasma of bourbon floated from the thick, silk drapes and Oriental carpets. When I said I was Jewish a frisson rippled through the well-dressed crowd. They were invariably polite, but it was clear, I was no longer “their kind.” I am also afraid some of the not-so-closeted anti-Semites in bars and back-yards not just in the South but across the country are nodding their heads and saying, “You tell it like it is, Mel.”
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Women Writers
Hot New Zine for Women Writers
It used to be that Women Writers didn’t get no respect. Now there’s a Zine, WomenWriters.net devoted to scholarly essays and creative writing by and about women. WomenWriters.net puts essays, poetry, fiction, and in the current issue book reviews at your fingertips. You can submit your own work or get advice on writing, publishing, and much more.
Kim Wells, the Editor, and Creator of the site is not only a serious scholar, but blessed with great critical insight. Okay, I’m biased. She published a rave review of my latest novel, THE BAD BEHAVIOR OF BELLE CANTRELL by Julie Schoerke who really understood my book. Obviously, Julie is a woman of deep perspicacity.
Check it out for yourself at: http://www.womenwriters.net/summer06/bellecantrell.html
Oops! That’s the link to the review of BAD BELLE. Here’s the Zine’s home page: http://www.womenwriters.net/index.htm
Hope you’re having a great summer. Let me hear from you at: Loraine@LoraineDespres.com
Stay cool.
It used to be that Women Writers didn’t get no respect. Now there’s a Zine, WomenWriters.net devoted to scholarly essays and creative writing by and about women. WomenWriters.net puts essays, poetry, fiction, and in the current issue book reviews at your fingertips. You can submit your own work or get advice on writing, publishing, and much more.
Kim Wells, the Editor, and Creator of the site is not only a serious scholar, but blessed with great critical insight. Okay, I’m biased. She published a rave review of my latest novel, THE BAD BEHAVIOR OF BELLE CANTRELL by Julie Schoerke who really understood my book. Obviously, Julie is a woman of deep perspicacity.
Check it out for yourself at: http://www.womenwriters.net/summer06/bellecantrell.html
Oops! That’s the link to the review of BAD BELLE. Here’s the Zine’s home page: http://www.womenwriters.net/index.htm
Hope you’re having a great summer. Let me hear from you at: Loraine@LoraineDespres.com
Stay cool.
Monday, June 26, 2006
ANN COULTER THE QUEEN OF MEAN
ANN COULTER THE QUEEN OF MEAN
I don’t want my occasional blog to become a political screed, but while the Southern Belle loves wit, she was offended by Ann Coulter’s mean spirited attacks on the women whose husbands died in the 9/11 attacks. I sent this letter to the WASHINGTON POST.
Howard Kurtz, in his article “The Coulter Conundrum” in the WASHINGTON POST, (June 12, 2006) quotes Ms Coulter as saying, of the widows of 9/11, “These broads are millionaires lionized on TV and in articles about them, reveling in their status as celebrities. . . . I've never seen people enjoying their husbands' deaths so much. . . . And by the way, how do we know their husbands weren't planning to divorce these harpies? Now that their shelf life is dwindling, they'd better hurry up and appear in Playboy."
They say artists always draw themselves, well it seems to me Ms Coulter is talking about herself… a millionaire, lionized on TV and in articles about her, reveling in her status as a celebrity… enjoying (or at least making hay) from the deaths of those who died on 9/11. Maybe she should take her own advice and hurry up and appear in Playboy or is that what she’s been angling for all along?
Was I too mean spirited? What do you think?
I don’t want my occasional blog to become a political screed, but while the Southern Belle loves wit, she was offended by Ann Coulter’s mean spirited attacks on the women whose husbands died in the 9/11 attacks. I sent this letter to the WASHINGTON POST.
Howard Kurtz, in his article “The Coulter Conundrum” in the WASHINGTON POST, (June 12, 2006) quotes Ms Coulter as saying, of the widows of 9/11, “These broads are millionaires lionized on TV and in articles about them, reveling in their status as celebrities. . . . I've never seen people enjoying their husbands' deaths so much. . . . And by the way, how do we know their husbands weren't planning to divorce these harpies? Now that their shelf life is dwindling, they'd better hurry up and appear in Playboy."
They say artists always draw themselves, well it seems to me Ms Coulter is talking about herself… a millionaire, lionized on TV and in articles about her, reveling in her status as a celebrity… enjoying (or at least making hay) from the deaths of those who died on 9/11. Maybe she should take her own advice and hurry up and appear in Playboy or is that what she’s been angling for all along?
Was I too mean spirited? What do you think?
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
What a Southern Belle Needs
What a Southern Belle Needs
The other day I got a call from a friend in need. A beautiful, well-educated, clueless friend from New Jersey. She said she’d met a great guy, early forties, never been married, and very attractive. He seemed to like her a lot whenever they got together, but they didn’t get together enough to suit her. “What should I do?” my Yankee friend asked.
“Well, if he’s in his early forties and never been married, he’s not likely to be impetuous.”
“I should let him take his time?”
“Until you get bored and decide to move on. It might be OK to invite him to a small party at your house or tell him you have an extra ticket to a baseball game, but you have to actually give a party or buy tickets.”
“Then I shouldn’t I tell him I need more attention?”
I was floored by the question.
I explained that when you tell a man you need something, he hears: she has a problem and it’s up to me to fix it. And if he can’t fix it or believes it’s too much of a commitment, he’s out of there.
I made up a new rule on the spot:
Before a man commits, the only need a Southern Belle can safely admit to is help moving a heavy object from one place to another.
Rule Number 205, The Southern Belle’s Handbook
Moving a heavy object will give him a chance to flex his muscles and a chance for you to admire them. Of course, if he’s mechanical you may safely ask him to help you set up an electrical appliance, but not a computer. That takes real commitment.
Agree? Disagree? Let me know at loraine@LoraineDespres.com
The other day I got a call from a friend in need. A beautiful, well-educated, clueless friend from New Jersey. She said she’d met a great guy, early forties, never been married, and very attractive. He seemed to like her a lot whenever they got together, but they didn’t get together enough to suit her. “What should I do?” my Yankee friend asked.
“Well, if he’s in his early forties and never been married, he’s not likely to be impetuous.”
“I should let him take his time?”
“Until you get bored and decide to move on. It might be OK to invite him to a small party at your house or tell him you have an extra ticket to a baseball game, but you have to actually give a party or buy tickets.”
“Then I shouldn’t I tell him I need more attention?”
I was floored by the question.
I explained that when you tell a man you need something, he hears: she has a problem and it’s up to me to fix it. And if he can’t fix it or believes it’s too much of a commitment, he’s out of there.
I made up a new rule on the spot:
Before a man commits, the only need a Southern Belle can safely admit to is help moving a heavy object from one place to another.
Rule Number 205, The Southern Belle’s Handbook
Moving a heavy object will give him a chance to flex his muscles and a chance for you to admire them. Of course, if he’s mechanical you may safely ask him to help you set up an electrical appliance, but not a computer. That takes real commitment.
Agree? Disagree? Let me know at loraine@LoraineDespres.com
Friday, March 31, 2006
The Southern Belle Sounds Off
The Southern Belle Sounds Off
I just returned from
My husband and I drove out to Lakeview. Unlike the now famous 9th Ward, Lakeview was home to middle-class and upper-middle-class families mostly white. These were people who’d made it, who’d bought a home between
For the most part these houses survived Katrina, the earthen levees along the lake held, but not those around the
In each of these neat, modern homes were families who before the storm worried about what we all worry about-- how to pay the mortgage, why weren’t their children applying themselves in school, how to build their business, or the stupidity of their bosses. Regular things. Now their lives have been changed forever. It’s as if the raised cemeteries spread out to cover over half the city. The freeway underpasses are still burial grounds for hundreds maybe thousands of abandoned cars.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
ON THE ROAD
ON THE ROAD – PALM SPRINGS
A lot of authors complain about book tours. Not me. So when Leanna Bonamici of Casablanca Studios in Desert Hotsprings, asked me to speak to the Palm Springs Chapter of Women In Film at their monthly breakfast on February 11th, I jumped at the chance. While the East Coast was covered with snow, I got to spend the weekend in the sun surrounded by one of the world’s most beautiful golf courses. Unfortunately I don’t play golf, somehow I’ve never been able to connect with little balls, but after the breakfast I spent an hour swimming in the pool.
I’m only sorry I didn’t get any pictures of Leanna, or my hostess, president of the Palm Springs Chapter of Women In Film, the beautiful Denise DuBerry Hay and her beautiful sisters. However, here are some pictures of the house and the meeting as well as one with Craig Lawver from Borders of Rancho Mirage who was gracious enough to come out and sell books. OK, here’s the truth, I’m hoping I can get Picassa to send the pictures.
A lot of authors complain about book tours. Not me. So when Leanna Bonamici of Casablanca Studios in Desert Hotsprings, asked me to speak to the Palm Springs Chapter of Women In Film at their monthly breakfast on February 11th, I jumped at the chance. While the East Coast was covered with snow, I got to spend the weekend in the sun surrounded by one of the world’s most beautiful golf courses. Unfortunately I don’t play golf, somehow I’ve never been able to connect with little balls, but after the breakfast I spent an hour swimming in the pool.
I’m only sorry I didn’t get any pictures of Leanna, or my hostess, president of the Palm Springs Chapter of Women In Film, the beautiful Denise DuBerry Hay and her beautiful sisters. However, here are some pictures of the house and the meeting as well as one with Craig Lawver from Borders of Rancho Mirage who was gracious enough to come out and sell books. OK, here’s the truth, I’m hoping I can get Picassa to send the pictures.
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
SAVE A LIFE
SAVE A LIFE FOR THE PRICE OF A FEW STAMPS.
Here I am the Southern Belle and I’m supposed to be sounding off on men, how to get them and what to do with them once you’ve got them.
Instead I’m going to ask you to send letters to save the life of a journalist living in a country you may never see. But can you resist the chance to save a life, just by writing a few letters?
Last year as a member of PEN USA I took on the job of special “minder” to a Bangladeshi editor and journalist who’d been arrested at the airport in Dhaka on November 29, 2003 on his way to Israel address a conference on the role of the media in bringing about peace in the Middle East. He was thrown into jail in Bangladesh, not the best place to be, and languished there for 17 months. Then on May 2005, following appeals from around the world including a focused campaign by PEN USA, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury was released on bail. And on November 9th Pen USA made him their recipient of the 2005 Freedom to Write Award.
Things were looking up. In October 2005 he was again allowed to publish his Bangladeshi Weekly Jamjamat and The Weekly Blitz, an English language tabloid. You can check out the latest edition at http://www.weeklyblitz.net/blitzV21/ You’ll learn about what people in Bangladesh are concerned about and see for yourself that Choudhury is against violence. He risks his life to write against terrorism. He even publishes American Richard Benkin’s series on saving the Temple Mount in Israel.
Although he is out of jail, his life is still in jeopardy. He goes on trial in the next few days or weeks (we don’t have the date yet) and sadly sedition is a capital offence in Bangladesh. So his life is in danger.
Here’s what you can do: Write the Prime Minister (a democratically elected woman,) the Minister of Home Affairs and/or the Bangladeshi Ambassador. I’ll give you the addresses and phone numbers. I’ll even give you a letter you can copy. Here it is:
Your Excellency,
I am writing to you on behalf of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, who is currently out on bail after 17 months in prison on unproven charges of “sedition.” I am concerned that these charges against him have not yet been dropped. Choudhury was arrested for the peaceful expression of his opinions; a right guaranteed by Article 19 the United Nation’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. His message is that of peace and cooperation between all people and a rejection of violence.
After many hearings and postponements of his court date, Choudhury is again scheduled to appear in the High Court.
Bangladesh is a great democratic nation whose people have the reputation for tolerance. I respectfully request that you urge your government to drop the sedition charges against Mr. Choudhury.
Sincerely,
That’s it. All you have to do. Here’s where you send the letter with 84 cents in stamps:
Begum Khaleda Zia
Honorable Prime Minister Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh
Prime Minister's Office
Old Sangshad Bhaban
Dhaka
Bangladesh
And
Md. Lutfuzzaman Babar
Minister of Home Affairs
Bangladesh Secretariat
Building 4
Dhaka - 1000
Bangladesh
And
Ambassador Shamsher M. Chowdhury, BB
Bangladesh Embassy
3510 International Drive NW
Washington, DC 20008
Telephone : (202) 244 - 0183
You can even Fax him at :(202) 244 - 5366
You don’t have to write them all, but the more letters you send, the better chance he has to walk free. Please forward a link to this blog to ten friends. I can’t promise instant riches if you do or bad luck if you don’t, but it’s got to be good for your karma.
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Friday, June 24, 2005
0000-00-00 0:00 AM
Here I am the Southern Belle and I’m supposed to be sounding off on men, how to get them and what to do with them once you’ve got them.
Instead I’m going to ask you to send letters to save the life of a journalist living in a country you may never see. But can you resist the chance to save a life, just by writing a few letters?
Last year as a member of PEN USA I took on the job of special “minder” to a Bangladeshi editor and journalist who’d been arrested at the airport in Dhaka on November 29, 2003 on his way to Israel address a conference on the role of the media in bringing about peace in the Middle East. He was thrown into jail in Bangladesh, not the best place to be, and languished there for 17 months. Then on May 2005, following appeals from around the world including a focused campaign by PEN USA, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury was released on bail. And on November 9th Pen USA made him their recipient of the 2005 Freedom to Write Award.
Things were looking up. In October 2005 he was again allowed to publish his Bangladeshi Weekly Jamjamat and The Weekly Blitz, an English language tabloid. You can check out the latest edition at http://www.weeklyblitz.net/blitzV21/ You’ll learn about what people in Bangladesh are concerned about and see for yourself that Choudhury is against violence. He risks his life to write against terrorism. He even publishes American Richard Benkin’s series on saving the Temple Mount in Israel.
Although he is out of jail, his life is still in jeopardy. He goes on trial in the next few days or weeks (we don’t have the date yet) and sadly sedition is a capital offence in Bangladesh. So his life is in danger.
Here’s what you can do: Write the Prime Minister (a democratically elected woman,) the Minister of Home Affairs and/or the Bangladeshi Ambassador. I’ll give you the addresses and phone numbers. I’ll even give you a letter you can copy. Here it is:
Your Excellency,
I am writing to you on behalf of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, who is currently out on bail after 17 months in prison on unproven charges of “sedition.” I am concerned that these charges against him have not yet been dropped. Choudhury was arrested for the peaceful expression of his opinions; a right guaranteed by Article 19 the United Nation’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. His message is that of peace and cooperation between all people and a rejection of violence.
After many hearings and postponements of his court date, Choudhury is again scheduled to appear in the High Court.
Bangladesh is a great democratic nation whose people have the reputation for tolerance. I respectfully request that you urge your government to drop the sedition charges against Mr. Choudhury.
Sincerely,
That’s it. All you have to do. Here’s where you send the letter with 84 cents in stamps:
Begum Khaleda Zia
Honorable Prime Minister Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh
Prime Minister's Office
Old Sangshad Bhaban
Dhaka
Bangladesh
And
Md. Lutfuzzaman Babar
Minister of Home Affairs
Bangladesh Secretariat
Building 4
Dhaka - 1000
Bangladesh
And
Ambassador Shamsher M. Chowdhury, BB
Bangladesh Embassy
3510 International Drive NW
Washington, DC 20008
Telephone : (202) 244 - 0183
You can even Fax him at :(202) 244 - 5366
You don’t have to write them all, but the more letters you send, the better chance he has to walk free. Please forward a link to this blog to ten friends. I can’t promise instant riches if you do or bad luck if you don’t, but it’s got to be good for your karma.
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Friday, June 24, 2005
0000-00-00 0:00 AM
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
The Wild and Wonderful Texas Queens
Here I am in the center of some terrific Texas Queens who know how to have fun.
Dancing with the Pulpwood Queens
Here I am at the big Hair Ball dancing with Timothy Schaffert, who wrote The Singing and Dancing Daughters of God. Tim and I had a "thing" in Jackson, Mississippi.
THE PULPWOOD QUEENS
DANCING WITH THE PULPWOOD QUEENS
Just came back from a great weekend with the Pulpwood Queens. Hundreds of women from reading clubs all across the South and the Midwest descend on Jefferson, Texas once a year to meet authors, wear tiaras, and let their hair down or put it up. As Kathy Patrick the Queen of Queens says, “The higher the hair, the closer to God.” Kathy, who owns a bookstore and hair salon, started the Pulpwood Queens to promote literacy and to have some fun. Kathy’s is a girl who likes a good time and wants those around her to join in.
She asked me to give the keynote speech to a very enthusiastic sold-out luncheon crowd. I told them how after a couple of years as a hippy mother in New Orleans, I slung my ten-year-old son over my shoulder and headed out to Los Angeles to break into show business. Then after over ten years of writing for some of the biggest TV shows in the country I again decided to follow my dream and wrote a novel, which became a national best-seller.
Timothy Schaffert who wrote The Singing and Dancing Daughters of God was there, along with almost two dozen other authors. He and I gave a joint reading at Lemuria Books in Jackson Mississippi last fall, so I told everyone, “Tim and I had a thing in Jackson.”
He responded, “I followed her to Oxford MS. But it ended badly.” (He really did follow me. He had a reading there the next day.)
After a day of books, Kathy puts on a party. The first night was blue jeans and boots to a great old rock and roll band. The second night was the big Hair Ball, where everyone was encouraged to wear their wildest.
Just came back from a great weekend with the Pulpwood Queens. Hundreds of women from reading clubs all across the South and the Midwest descend on Jefferson, Texas once a year to meet authors, wear tiaras, and let their hair down or put it up. As Kathy Patrick the Queen of Queens says, “The higher the hair, the closer to God.” Kathy, who owns a bookstore and hair salon, started the Pulpwood Queens to promote literacy and to have some fun. Kathy’s is a girl who likes a good time and wants those around her to join in.
She asked me to give the keynote speech to a very enthusiastic sold-out luncheon crowd. I told them how after a couple of years as a hippy mother in New Orleans, I slung my ten-year-old son over my shoulder and headed out to Los Angeles to break into show business. Then after over ten years of writing for some of the biggest TV shows in the country I again decided to follow my dream and wrote a novel, which became a national best-seller.
Timothy Schaffert who wrote The Singing and Dancing Daughters of God was there, along with almost two dozen other authors. He and I gave a joint reading at Lemuria Books in Jackson Mississippi last fall, so I told everyone, “Tim and I had a thing in Jackson.”
He responded, “I followed her to Oxford MS. But it ended badly.” (He really did follow me. He had a reading there the next day.)
After a day of books, Kathy puts on a party. The first night was blue jeans and boots to a great old rock and roll band. The second night was the big Hair Ball, where everyone was encouraged to wear their wildest.
Friday, December 30, 2005
15 Minutes of Fame
15 Minutes of Fame
Andy Warhol said everyone gets 15 minutes of fame. But who would have thought mine would be in Bangladesh. It’s true, the editor of the Weekly Blitz, an English language magazine interviewed me and has put that interview on page one along with Bin Laden’s secret meeting with absconding Bangladeshi terrorists and Radical suicide squad in kindergarten schools!
Blitz Exclusive
I wrote answers to such probing questions as, [Your] promotional says, this book is a story of murder, adultery and regular church attendance…How do you personally look into adultery as a human being?
You can see it all for yourself at: http://www.weeklyblitz.net/blitzV13/front.htm
Andy Warhol said everyone gets 15 minutes of fame. But who would have thought mine would be in Bangladesh. It’s true, the editor of the Weekly Blitz, an English language magazine interviewed me and has put that interview on page one along with Bin Laden’s secret meeting with absconding Bangladeshi terrorists and Radical suicide squad in kindergarten schools!
Blitz Exclusive
I wrote answers to such probing questions as, [Your] promotional says, this book is a story of murder, adultery and regular church attendance…How do you personally look into adultery as a human being?
You can see it all for yourself at: http://www.weeklyblitz.net/blitzV13/front.htm
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
Belle's Book Tour
Belle’s Book Tour
William Morrow/HarperCollins gave Belle Cantrell in spite of her disreputable conduct. I tagged along.
Sept 15, 2005 – Winston-Salem, NC
Belle sashayed over to Winston-Salem, North Carolina where I spoke about her at the Southeastern Book Sellers Association or SEBA.
Sept. 27, 2005—Beverly Hills, CA
Belle debuted in style at Barnes and Noble’s – store at the Grove in Beverly Hills, where over one hundred people showed up for a celebration of Louisiana. I donated half my royalties to victims of Katrina.
October 2, 2005—Memphis, TN
Belle’s tour began in earnest when I flew to Memphis.
October 3, 2005—Memphis
Bright and early the next morning I was dressed and smiling for “The Morning Show” on FOX 13 at 7:15 AM. Belle was of course ready, gazing beguilingly from the cover of her book. From there we went over to WREG CBS Channel 3 where I was “Live at Nine.” That evening the wonderful bookstore, Davis Kidd hosted a “Bad Girls’ Night Out” with champagne and chocolates for Miss Belle.
October 5, 2005—Blytheville, AK
I met Mary Gay Shipley and read at That Bookstore in Blytheville, one of the great independents in the nation. If you-all have the good fortune to be in Blytheville drop in on Mary Gay and bask in her cultural oasis.
October 6-9 2005—Nashville, TN
The Southern Festival of Books greeted Belle with enthusiasm. Too bad it was pouring down rain most of the weekend. But the wonderful people at the Festival gave me the auditorium for my speech. I met the delightful people at Joseph-Beth Booksellers as well as some fascinating writers, such as Juno-award winning singer-writer Connie Kaldor & and her husband, music producer Paul Campagne, from Montreal, who were there with her children’s book and music. Belle and I joined Ray Brassfield at WKCT-AM, “Drive Time,” and I was able to visit the beautiful capitol building. It was a real thrill to walk around the Assembly Room where women finally got the right to vote.
October 10, 2005—Birmingham, AL
I began at “Good Day Alabama.” WBRC-TV (FOX) and spent the rest of the day with the delightful ladies of the Birmingham Junior League. My special thanks goes to Juliet “Juju” Beale who accompanied me to all three bookclub meetings and who was too much a lady to act as bored as she must have been when I was asked the same question for the third time.
October 11, 2005—Atlanta, GA
My very social cousin, Joel Lowenstein and her husband, Irwin, were kind enough to give me and bad girl Belle a book signing party before I went to the Chapter 11 for my official book signing there.
October 12, 2005 I flew back to LA, the first leg of my book tour over.
William Morrow/HarperCollins gave Belle Cantrell in spite of her disreputable conduct. I tagged along.
Sept 15, 2005 – Winston-Salem, NC
Belle sashayed over to Winston-Salem, North Carolina where I spoke about her at the Southeastern Book Sellers Association or SEBA.
Sept. 27, 2005—Beverly Hills, CA
Belle debuted in style at Barnes and Noble’s – store at the Grove in Beverly Hills, where over one hundred people showed up for a celebration of Louisiana. I donated half my royalties to victims of Katrina.
October 2, 2005—Memphis, TN
Belle’s tour began in earnest when I flew to Memphis.
October 3, 2005—Memphis
Bright and early the next morning I was dressed and smiling for “The Morning Show” on FOX 13 at 7:15 AM. Belle was of course ready, gazing beguilingly from the cover of her book. From there we went over to WREG CBS Channel 3 where I was “Live at Nine.” That evening the wonderful bookstore, Davis Kidd hosted a “Bad Girls’ Night Out” with champagne and chocolates for Miss Belle.
October 5, 2005—Blytheville, AK
I met Mary Gay Shipley and read at That Bookstore in Blytheville, one of the great independents in the nation. If you-all have the good fortune to be in Blytheville drop in on Mary Gay and bask in her cultural oasis.
October 6-9 2005—Nashville, TN
The Southern Festival of Books greeted Belle with enthusiasm. Too bad it was pouring down rain most of the weekend. But the wonderful people at the Festival gave me the auditorium for my speech. I met the delightful people at Joseph-Beth Booksellers as well as some fascinating writers, such as Juno-award winning singer-writer Connie Kaldor & and her husband, music producer Paul Campagne, from Montreal, who were there with her children’s book and music. Belle and I joined Ray Brassfield at WKCT-AM, “Drive Time,” and I was able to visit the beautiful capitol building. It was a real thrill to walk around the Assembly Room where women finally got the right to vote.
October 10, 2005—Birmingham, AL
I began at “Good Day Alabama.” WBRC-TV (FOX) and spent the rest of the day with the delightful ladies of the Birmingham Junior League. My special thanks goes to Juliet “Juju” Beale who accompanied me to all three bookclub meetings and who was too much a lady to act as bored as she must have been when I was asked the same question for the third time.
October 11, 2005—Atlanta, GA
My very social cousin, Joel Lowenstein and her husband, Irwin, were kind enough to give me and bad girl Belle a book signing party before I went to the Chapter 11 for my official book signing there.
October 12, 2005 I flew back to LA, the first leg of my book tour over.
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
IN A BANGLADESHI MAGAZINE
WHO KNEW?
I didn’t know whether or not to tell you-all, but I found a picture of myself in a Bangladeshi magazine. Earlier this year through PEN USA, I learned about a journalist with the difficult name, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, who’d been thrown in a Dhaka jail cell, after being picked up at the airport in on his way to speak to an international writers’ conference in Israel.
I contacted PEN and offered to be his minder. That meant I would, personally, concentrate on his case. I organized many letter-writing campaigns at the same time a writer in the Chicago area, who was also working for his freedom, contacted a Congressman who discussed the case with the Bangladeshi Ambassador. We got him out of jail, but he was still under indictment for sedition, a capital offence.
PEN USA named Mr. Choudhury as our 2005 Freedom to Write Award Winner, which we hoped would send a message to the Bangladeshi government that we care about him and were watching them. So far the charges have not been dropped, but the good news is Mr. Choudhury is home with his family and has been allowed to publish again. Since he was under indictment and couldn’t travel outside his country, I accepted the award for him.
He published my picture in his English-language magazine, The Weekly Blitz. The headline read:
Celebrated novelist Lorraine Despres Eastlake receiving prestigious Freedom to Write Award on behalf of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury on 9th November 2005 in Los Angeles. PEN USA accorded this award to Choudhury.
Bangladesh is a democracy of 140 million people and we never hear about them, except occasionally during a flood and recently because of terrorist bombings there. A traditionally moderate Moslem nation, they are at the crossroads in response to this new wave of fundamentalists. When I wrote The Bad Behavior of Belle Cantrell, I wasn’t just writing a romp or a steamy love story, but drawing parallels to the intolerance sweeping the world today, with the year 1920, the year a terrorist bombed Wall Street, Hitler began raving in beer halls, Henry Ford published his anti-Semitic rants in the Dearborn Independent, and the Ku Klux Klan swept the United States.
In case you’re interested in what’s going on in Bangladesh, here’s a link: http://www.weeklyblitz.net/blitzV10/other.htm or for a full look at the paper:
http://www.weaklyblitz.net
I didn’t know whether or not to tell you-all, but I found a picture of myself in a Bangladeshi magazine. Earlier this year through PEN USA, I learned about a journalist with the difficult name, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, who’d been thrown in a Dhaka jail cell, after being picked up at the airport in on his way to speak to an international writers’ conference in Israel.
I contacted PEN and offered to be his minder. That meant I would, personally, concentrate on his case. I organized many letter-writing campaigns at the same time a writer in the Chicago area, who was also working for his freedom, contacted a Congressman who discussed the case with the Bangladeshi Ambassador. We got him out of jail, but he was still under indictment for sedition, a capital offence.
PEN USA named Mr. Choudhury as our 2005 Freedom to Write Award Winner, which we hoped would send a message to the Bangladeshi government that we care about him and were watching them. So far the charges have not been dropped, but the good news is Mr. Choudhury is home with his family and has been allowed to publish again. Since he was under indictment and couldn’t travel outside his country, I accepted the award for him.
He published my picture in his English-language magazine, The Weekly Blitz. The headline read:
Celebrated novelist Lorraine Despres Eastlake receiving prestigious Freedom to Write Award on behalf of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury on 9th November 2005 in Los Angeles. PEN USA accorded this award to Choudhury.
Bangladesh is a democracy of 140 million people and we never hear about them, except occasionally during a flood and recently because of terrorist bombings there. A traditionally moderate Moslem nation, they are at the crossroads in response to this new wave of fundamentalists. When I wrote The Bad Behavior of Belle Cantrell, I wasn’t just writing a romp or a steamy love story, but drawing parallels to the intolerance sweeping the world today, with the year 1920, the year a terrorist bombed Wall Street, Hitler began raving in beer halls, Henry Ford published his anti-Semitic rants in the Dearborn Independent, and the Ku Klux Klan swept the United States.
In case you’re interested in what’s going on in Bangladesh, here’s a link: http://www.weeklyblitz.net/blitzV10/other.htm or for a full look at the paper:
http://www.weaklyblitz.net
IN A BANGLADESHI MAGAZINE
WHO KNEW?I didn’t know whether or not to tell you-all, but I found a picture of myself in a Bangladeshi magazine. Earlier this year through PEN USA, I learned about a journalist with the difficult name, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, who’d been thrown in a Dhaka jail cell, after being picked up at the airport in on his way to speak to an international writers’ conference in Israel.
I contacted PEN and offered to be his minder. That meant I would, personally, concentrate on his case. I organized many letter-writing campaigns at the same time a writer in the Chicago area, who was also working for his freedom, contacted a Congressman who discussed the case with the Bangladeshi Ambassador. We got him out of jail, but he was still under indictment for sedition, a capital offence.
PEN USA named Mr. Choudhury as our 2005 Freedom to Write Award Winner, which we hoped would send a message to the Bangladeshi government that we care about him and were watching them. So far the charges have not been dropped, but the good news is Mr. Choudhury is home with his family and has been allowed to publish again. Since he was under indictment and couldn’t travel outside his country, I accepted the award for him.
He published the picture on the right in his English-language magazine, The Weekly Blitz. The headline read:
"Celebrated novelist Lorraine Despres Eastlake receiving prestigious Freedom to Write Award on behalf of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury on 9th November 2005 in Los Angeles. PEN USA accorded this award to Choudhury."
Bangladesh is a democracy of 140 million people and we never hear about them, except occasionally during a flood and recently because of terrorist bombings there. A traditionally moderate Moslem nation, they are at the crossroads in response to this new wave of fundamentalists. When I wrote The Bad Behavior of Belle Cantrell, I wasn’t just writing a romp or a steamy love story, but drawing parallels to the intolerance sweeping the world today, with the year 1920, the year a terrorist bombed Wall Street, Hitler began raving in beer halls, Henry Ford published his anti-Semitic rants in the Dearborn Independent, and the Ku Klux Klan swept the United States.
In case you’re interested in what’s going on in Bangladesh, here’s a link: http://www.weeklyblitz.net/blitzV10/other.htm or for a full look at the paper:
http://www.weaklyblitz.net
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
IN A BANGLADESHI MAGAZINE
WHO KNEW?I didn’t know whether or not to tell you-all, but I found a picture of myself in a Bangladeshi magazine. Earlier this year through PEN USA, I learned about a journalist with the difficult name, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, who’d been thrown in a Dhaka jail cell, after being picked up at the airport in on his way to speak to an international writers’ conference in Israel.
I contacted PEN and offered to be his minder. That meant I would, personally, concentrate on his case. I organized many letter-writing campaigns at the same time a writer in the Chicago area, who was also working for his freedom, contacted a Congressman who discussed the case with the Bangladeshi Ambassador. We got him out of jail, but he was still under indictment for sedition, a capital offence.
PEN USA named Mr. Choudhury as our 2005 Freedom to Write Award Winner, which we hoped would send a message to the Bangladeshi government that we care about him and were watching them. So far the charges have not been dropped, but the good news is Mr. Choudhury is home with his family and has been allowed to publish again. Since he was under indictment and couldn’t travel outside his country, I accepted the award for him.
He published the picture on the right in his English-language magazine, The Weekly Blitz. The headline read:
Celebrated novelist Lorraine Despres Eastlake receiving prestigious Freedom to Write Award on behalf of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury on 9th November 2005 in Los Angeles. PEN USA accorded this award to Choudhury.
Bangladesh is a democracy of 140 million people and we never hear about them, except occasionally during a flood and recently because of terrorist bombings there. A traditionally moderate Moslem nation, they are at the crossroads in response to this new wave of fundamentalists. When I wrote The Bad Behavior of Belle Cantrell, I wasn’t just writing a romp or a steamy love story, but drawing parallels to the intolerance sweeping the world today, with the year 1920, the year a terrorist bombed Wall Street, Hitler began raving in beer halls, Henry Ford published his anti-Semitic rants in the Dearborn Independent, and the Ku Klux Klan swept the United States.
In case you’re interested in what’s going on in Bangladesh, here’s a link: http://www.weeklyblitz.net/blitzV10/other.htm or for a full look at the paper:
http://www.weaklyblitz.net
IN A BANGLADESHI MAGAZINE
WHO KNEW?I didn’t know whether or not to tell you-all, but I found a picture of myself in a Bangladeshi magazine. Earlier this year through PEN USA, I learned about a journalist with the difficult name, Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, who’d been thrown in a Dhaka jail cell, after being picked up at the airport in on his way to speak to an international writers’ conference in Israel.
I contacted PEN and offered to be his minder. That meant I would, personally, concentrate on his case. I organized many letter-writing campaigns at the same time a writer in the Chicago area, who was also working for his freedom, contacted a Congressman who discussed the case with the Bangladeshi Ambassador. We got him out of jail, but he was still under indictment for sedition, a capital offence.
PEN USA named Mr. Choudhury as our 2005 Freedom to Write Award Winner, which we hoped would send a message to the Bangladeshi government that we care about him and were watching them. So far the charges have not been dropped, but the good news is Mr. Choudhury is home with his family and has been allowed to publish again. Since he was under indictment and couldn’t travel outside his country, I accepted the award for him.
He published the picture on the right in his English-language magazine, The Weekly Blitz. The headline read:
Celebrated novelist Lorraine Despres Eastlake receiving prestigious Freedom to Write Award on behalf of Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury on 9th November 2005 in Los Angeles. PEN USA accorded this award to Choudhury.
Bangladesh is a democracy of 140 million people and we never hear about them, except occasionally during a flood and recently because of terrorist bombings there. A traditionally moderate Moslem nation, they are at the crossroads in response to this new wave of fundamentalists. When I wrote The Bad Behavior of Belle Cantrell, I wasn’t just writing a romp or a steamy love story, but drawing parallels to the intolerance sweeping the world today, with the year 1920, the year a terrorist bombed Wall Street, Hitler began raving in beer halls, Henry Ford published his anti-Semitic rants in the Dearborn Independent, and the Ku Klux Klan swept the United States.
In case you’re interested in what’s going on in Bangladesh, here’s a link: http://www.weeklyblitz.net/blitzV10/other.htm or for a full look at the paper:
http://www.weaklyblitz.net
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
HOW TO GET STARTED WRITING A BLOG
HOW TO GET STARTED WRITING A BOOK
I get letters from fans all the time. I always try to answer them. Here’s one I received shortly before I left on my publicity tour. I told her I’d answer her question in my blog,
Dear Loraine,
I am interested in how to get started writing a book. I want to tell my story. I was head teacher at my school. I was in the system for 33 years. I retired last year. I have been a very successful teacher in this community. I had some interesting experiences during my teaching career. I have always been well respected. I have always wondered if I would have been as successful had my situation been reversed. I want to write a book. I have kept a journal some through the years but I just cannot seem to get going. I was a reading and language art teacher. I was always very good at motivating students to write. I know what the process is all about. Do you have some advise? Your Fan M---
Dear M---
You way you were good at motivating others. Maybe you need someone to motivate you. It’s very hard to write for the wind, to go into a little room all alone, sit down to an empty page and write for what, for whom? It’s hard even if you have wonderful stories to tell.
Perhaps you could take a class or join a workshop. Years ago, I wrote some award-winning poetry while simply trying to show off at a poetry workshop in New Orleans.
When I began writing screenplays I needed a partner, someone to show up and be brilliant for. None of those screenplays were ever produced, but I used one as a sample and got my first TV assignment. After that, there were producers and agents counting on me. I had plenty of motivation. It was either write or get fired.
I still thought of myself as a screenwriter, when began my first novel, but I was burned out from years of pleasing producers and network executives. So to get the juices flowing again, I took a creative writing class in the mountains around Los Angeles. As the character of Sissy LeBlanc began to take shape, I was able to bring in pages and get feedback. I still consult other writers when I have a creative problem. We take these story conferences very seriously.
If you don’t want to join with other writers and can’t get yourself to go into that little room by yourself day after day, don’t worry. There are only two reasons for writing: for the sheer creative pleasure or for money. Never feel guilty about living your life instead of writing about it.
I get letters from fans all the time. I always try to answer them. Here’s one I received shortly before I left on my publicity tour. I told her I’d answer her question in my blog,
Dear Loraine,
I am interested in how to get started writing a book. I want to tell my story. I was head teacher at my school. I was in the system for 33 years. I retired last year. I have been a very successful teacher in this community. I had some interesting experiences during my teaching career. I have always been well respected. I have always wondered if I would have been as successful had my situation been reversed. I want to write a book. I have kept a journal some through the years but I just cannot seem to get going. I was a reading and language art teacher. I was always very good at motivating students to write. I know what the process is all about. Do you have some advise? Your Fan M---
Dear M---
You way you were good at motivating others. Maybe you need someone to motivate you. It’s very hard to write for the wind, to go into a little room all alone, sit down to an empty page and write for what, for whom? It’s hard even if you have wonderful stories to tell.
Perhaps you could take a class or join a workshop. Years ago, I wrote some award-winning poetry while simply trying to show off at a poetry workshop in New Orleans.
When I began writing screenplays I needed a partner, someone to show up and be brilliant for. None of those screenplays were ever produced, but I used one as a sample and got my first TV assignment. After that, there were producers and agents counting on me. I had plenty of motivation. It was either write or get fired.
I still thought of myself as a screenwriter, when began my first novel, but I was burned out from years of pleasing producers and network executives. So to get the juices flowing again, I took a creative writing class in the mountains around Los Angeles. As the character of Sissy LeBlanc began to take shape, I was able to bring in pages and get feedback. I still consult other writers when I have a creative problem. We take these story conferences very seriously.
If you don’t want to join with other writers and can’t get yourself to go into that little room by yourself day after day, don’t worry. There are only two reasons for writing: for the sheer creative pleasure or for money. Never feel guilty about living your life instead of writing about it.
Friday, November 18, 2005
The National Book Awards
The National Book Awards were announced and instead of fireworks we had the usual caviling about too many awards. Too many? How is a good book supposed to come to the attention of a reader? You walk into a bookstore and are immediately on overload. There are so many books. And so little time to read them. How do you find the one that will be worth your time, not to mention your money?
Few newspapers have book review sections any more. The ones that do can only review a small number of books. The independents do their best hand selling to their customers. The chains such as Barnes and Noble try with their Discover Great New Writers which helps introduce dynamic new literary writers to the reading public, selected by volunteer readers from around the country. (Full disclosure: The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc was a Discover Great New Writers Selection, so I’m partial to the Program. I believe a lot of readers would never have found Sissy if Barnes and Noble hadn’t promoted it. So bless you Barnes and Noble and your Discover program.)
We live in a noisy world. Concerts and clubs have become ear-splitting experiences. Movies bombard us with noise. But as E.L. Doctorow said at this year’s National Book Award, “Books are written in silence, and read in silence. They are the finest and most uncertain form of communication that we have…”
Movie and TV studios spend millions in TV ads, print ads, and journalist junkets. Publishers don’t. One of the few ways to bring a worthy book to the attention of readers is through awards. But even these are met in relative silence.
On Wednesday November 9, PEN USA held their 15th Annual Literary Awards Gala in Los Angeles. The silence on the part of the press was almost deafening. The New York Times ignored it. The L.A. Times gave it only a brief mention in a wrap-up column entitled: The Envelope: Styles and Scenes, which featured Charlie Kaufman who wrote the award winning screenplay of course, with the briefest of mention of some of the other awardees. If you want to learn about the wonderful writers who won the 2005 Pen USA awards go to http://penusa.org/go/awards/section/431/
Few newspapers have book review sections any more. The ones that do can only review a small number of books. The independents do their best hand selling to their customers. The chains such as Barnes and Noble try with their Discover Great New Writers which helps introduce dynamic new literary writers to the reading public, selected by volunteer readers from around the country. (Full disclosure: The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc was a Discover Great New Writers Selection, so I’m partial to the Program. I believe a lot of readers would never have found Sissy if Barnes and Noble hadn’t promoted it. So bless you Barnes and Noble and your Discover program.)
We live in a noisy world. Concerts and clubs have become ear-splitting experiences. Movies bombard us with noise. But as E.L. Doctorow said at this year’s National Book Award, “Books are written in silence, and read in silence. They are the finest and most uncertain form of communication that we have…”
Movie and TV studios spend millions in TV ads, print ads, and journalist junkets. Publishers don’t. One of the few ways to bring a worthy book to the attention of readers is through awards. But even these are met in relative silence.
On Wednesday November 9, PEN USA held their 15th Annual Literary Awards Gala in Los Angeles. The silence on the part of the press was almost deafening. The New York Times ignored it. The L.A. Times gave it only a brief mention in a wrap-up column entitled: The Envelope: Styles and Scenes, which featured Charlie Kaufman who wrote the award winning screenplay of course, with the briefest of mention of some of the other awardees. If you want to learn about the wonderful writers who won the 2005 Pen USA awards go to http://penusa.org/go/awards/section/431/
The National Book Awards
The National Book Awards were announced and instead of fireworks we had the usual caviling about too many awards. Too many? How is a good book supposed to come to the attention of a reader? You walk into a bookstore and are immediately on overload. There are so many books. And so little time to read them. How do you find the one that will be worth your time, not to mention your money?
Few newspapers have book review sections any more. The ones that do can only review a small number of books. The independents do their best hand selling to their customers. The chains such as Barnes and Noble try with their Discover Great New Writers which helps introduce dynamic new literary writers to the reading public, selected by volunteer readers from around the country. (Full disclosure: The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc was a Discover Great New Writers Selection, so I’m partial to the Program. I believe a lot of readers would never have found Sissy if Barnes and Noble hadn’t promoted it. So bless you Barnes and Noble and your Discover program.)
We live in a noisy world. Concerts and clubs have become ear-splitting experiences. Movies bombard us with noise. But as E.L. Doctorow said at this year’s National Book Award, “Books are written in silence, and read in silence. They are the finest and most uncertain form of communication that we have…”
Movie and TV studios spend millions in TV ads, print ads, and journalist junkets. Publishers don’t. One of the few ways to bring a worthy book to the attention of readers is through awards. But even these are met in relative silence.
On Wednesday November 9, PEN USA held their 15th Annual Literary Awards Gala in Los Angeles. The silence on the part of the press was almost deafening. The New York Times ignored it. The L.A. Times gave it only a brief mention in a wrap-up column entitled: The Envelope: Styles and Scenes, which featured Charlie Kaufman who wrote the award winning screenplay of course, with the briefest of mention of some of the other awardees. If you want to learn about the wonderful writers who won the 2005 Pen USA awards go to http://penusa.org/go/awards/section/431/
Few newspapers have book review sections any more. The ones that do can only review a small number of books. The independents do their best hand selling to their customers. The chains such as Barnes and Noble try with their Discover Great New Writers which helps introduce dynamic new literary writers to the reading public, selected by volunteer readers from around the country. (Full disclosure: The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc was a Discover Great New Writers Selection, so I’m partial to the Program. I believe a lot of readers would never have found Sissy if Barnes and Noble hadn’t promoted it. So bless you Barnes and Noble and your Discover program.)
We live in a noisy world. Concerts and clubs have become ear-splitting experiences. Movies bombard us with noise. But as E.L. Doctorow said at this year’s National Book Award, “Books are written in silence, and read in silence. They are the finest and most uncertain form of communication that we have…”
Movie and TV studios spend millions in TV ads, print ads, and journalist junkets. Publishers don’t. One of the few ways to bring a worthy book to the attention of readers is through awards. But even these are met in relative silence.
On Wednesday November 9, PEN USA held their 15th Annual Literary Awards Gala in Los Angeles. The silence on the part of the press was almost deafening. The New York Times ignored it. The L.A. Times gave it only a brief mention in a wrap-up column entitled: The Envelope: Styles and Scenes, which featured Charlie Kaufman who wrote the award winning screenplay of course, with the briefest of mention of some of the other awardees. If you want to learn about the wonderful writers who won the 2005 Pen USA awards go to http://penusa.org/go/awards/section/431/
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