tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41214198063740936802024-02-18T21:23:39.492-05:00Doom Eager: a writing blogA blog dedicated to the rapture, and the misery, of writing.KM Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18246169806891212476noreply@blogger.comBlogger144125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4121419806374093680.post-22616447470812195182012-12-20T12:01:00.000-05:002012-12-20T12:01:31.880-05:00This blog is no longer active. Please follow my new blog, Life on the Page, on Tumblr. Thanks!KM Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18246169806891212476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4121419806374093680.post-69101512719566369932011-11-14T00:06:00.007-05:002011-11-14T00:23:12.041-05:00I'm the worst blogger in the world!I haven't posted anything in four months. I must be the worst blogger in the world. On a good note, I have been writing, both my own work and work for others.Currently, I'm ghostwriting a memoir for a client about his journey overcoming addiction. Also, I've started by second novel and am plotting books two and three in the GEMS series. I would love to hear how others maintain their blogs and KM Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18246169806891212476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4121419806374093680.post-87358495788942517542011-07-07T11:20:00.008-04:002011-07-07T12:14:48.114-04:00David Mamet on the purpose of literatureIn his essay "The Humble Genre Novel, Sometimes Full of Genius," David Mamet writes about the "purpose of literature":The purpose of literature is to Delight. To create or endorse the Scholastic is a craven desire. It may yield a low-level self-satisfaction, but how can this compare with our joy at great, generous writing? With our joy of discovery of worth in the simple and straightforward? Is KM Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18246169806891212476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4121419806374093680.post-18103121387539097962011-07-06T17:21:00.006-04:002011-07-06T17:29:33.373-04:00Should authors sign up for a StumbleUpon account?See video here.StumbleUpon CEO Garrett Camp talks to mediabistro.com's Media Beat about the "discovery engine" StumbleUpon. Calling the site not a "social network" but a "discovery engine" where account holders discover fun things they like and give those things a "thumbs up," Camp shares that its 15 million users "refer almost as much traffic as Facebook." So, should authors sign up for a KM Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18246169806891212476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4121419806374093680.post-53254188228251702132011-07-05T12:17:00.007-04:002011-07-05T12:33:14.669-04:00John Green on book editorsAuthor John Green spills the beans about working with a book editor. Green feels they may be more important than writers. There is a case to be made for that sentiment. Marc Jaffe on editors: "A competent editor is a publisher in microcosm, able to initiate and follow a project all the way through."If you work with an amazing book editor, don't take the relationship for granted or complain about KM Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18246169806891212476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4121419806374093680.post-14054659644949886442011-06-16T11:23:00.019-04:002011-06-16T12:45:32.242-04:00my latestest treat - discovering Lynn Freed's memoir on life and writingPicked up an engaging book on life and writing at an estate sale a few weeks ago. I had never heard of Lynn Freed, much less read one of her five novels or her award-winning short story collection The Curse of the Appropriate Man (a title, by the way, I desperately wish I'd thought of), but I was immediately drawn to the picture on the front cover of her collection of essays Reading, Writing, andKM Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18246169806891212476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4121419806374093680.post-3430202228585068342011-03-24T22:31:00.006-04:002011-03-24T23:04:16.098-04:00William Saroyan answers the question How do you write?American author William Saroyan answers the question How do you write? in his essay "Starting with a Tree and Finally Getting to the Death of a Brother." I think this is perhaps the number one question young and beginning writers want the answer to: How do you write?, meaning how can I write, how can I get good at writing. Here are a few passages from Saroyan's essay:"My answer is that I start KM Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18246169806891212476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4121419806374093680.post-40028720100863193432011-03-22T19:00:00.006-04:002011-03-22T19:10:49.395-04:00asking authors questionsInterviewer: How many drafts of a story do you do?S.J. Perelman: Thirty-seven. I once tried doing thirty-three, but something was lacking, a certain--how shall I say?--je ne sais quoi. On another occasion, I tried forty-two versions, but the final effect was too lapidary--you know what I mean, Jack? What the hell are you trying to extort--my trade secrets?"Why do people always expect authors to KM Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18246169806891212476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4121419806374093680.post-73951010618140524682011-03-22T00:40:00.012-04:002011-03-22T01:01:45.261-04:00transmedia, the analytics of social media, and paradigm shifts in "traditional publishing": PW reports on the SXSW Interactive FestivalRachel Deahl and Calvin Reed report for Publishers Weekly on another cool event I didn't get to attend, this year' South by Southwest Interactive Festival. Topics included paradigm shifts in "traditional publishing," analyzing the effectiveness of social media, and the dangers and delights of transmedia. Reading their article made me so jealous I don't get paid to cover neat stuff like this.Read KM Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18246169806891212476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4121419806374093680.post-18775801398552186352011-03-20T23:59:00.012-04:002011-03-21T00:45:51.943-04:00novel finished . . . now the hard part startsSo, I haven't posted anything since Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Am I the worst blogger ever? I have been working hard, though. I finished the novel and have been steadily working on freelance writing and editing gigs, which is great because I have a thing about keeping the power on and the pantry stocked.Finishing the novel was a glorious feeling. I felt high for days--that great writing euphoriaKM Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18246169806891212476noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4121419806374093680.post-25518444600283291232011-01-17T15:20:00.011-05:002011-01-17T15:30:30.861-05:00words of courage and hope from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.On this day of celebration, a day set aside to recognize the birth of a great leader, a beacon of hope and transcendence, some words from the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle. And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom. A man can't ride you unless your back is bent. Darkness cannot KM Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18246169806891212476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4121419806374093680.post-17504435204255560572011-01-14T16:23:00.006-05:002011-01-14T17:12:11.485-05:00Faulkner on a "formula to follow to be a good novelist"Faulkner's advice to those working to become a good novelist is taken from a 1956 interview for The Paris Review:Interviewer: Is there any possible formula to follow in order to be a good novelist?Faulkner: Ninety-nine per cent talent . . . 99 per cent discipline . . . 99 per cent work. He must never be satisfied with what he does. It never is as good as it can be done. Always dream and shoot KM Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18246169806891212476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4121419806374093680.post-26935978516176526032011-01-01T15:38:00.007-05:002011-01-01T16:06:30.357-05:00help creativity flow in the new year"It all begins when the soul would have its way with you." - Ralph Waldo EmersonIf opening up "the soul" allows our creativity to flow, in this new year here's hoping we will all engage in activities to open "the soul" (whatever that term may mean personally) and help our creativity flow. Here are ten of my favorite techniques for pumping the creative juices:1. Taking a walk.2. Reading poetry.3. KM Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18246169806891212476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4121419806374093680.post-80432751165460773162010-12-30T20:28:00.005-05:002010-12-30T20:36:23.583-05:00Authors choose their favorite books of 2010Authors choose their favorite books of 2010Salon.com's Laura Miller shares notable authors' picks for best books of 2010. Check it out!Most of my reading in 2010 was in the YA genre. This year I really liked Jessica Blank's realistic 1980's coming-of-age story Karma For Beginners (Hyperion Teen), Kimberly Derting's debut thriller The Body Finder (HarperTeen), and Carrie Vaughn's fantasy tale of aKM Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18246169806891212476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4121419806374093680.post-82237900094803560682010-12-20T12:16:00.006-05:002010-12-20T12:33:28.998-05:00Why we love bad writingWhy we love bad writingLaura Miller muses on why so many of us love bad writing in her article posted at salon.com. I have to admit, as much as I despise "bad writing," Miller has a point in her article: the masses love quick to gobble up, easy to digest, filler plot-heavy novels. I imagine it's much in the same way many of us like fast food, plasticware, and disposable razors. Last night before KM Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18246169806891212476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4121419806374093680.post-13173001794795959382010-12-16T10:43:00.008-05:002010-12-16T11:05:25.388-05:00a comment on art by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. was specifically addressing the benefits of attending university creative writing programs when he wrote, "The primary benefit of practicing any art, whether well or badly, is that it enables one's soul to grow." Most of us writers won't get the opportunity to attend an established writing program. But many of us can be blessed enough to hook up with a supportive and talented KM Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18246169806891212476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4121419806374093680.post-82578884425062388182010-12-08T11:36:00.012-05:002010-12-08T12:07:08.262-05:00writing as a "series of permissions"I love this quote from writer Susan Sontag. It's taken from her essay "Directions: Write, Read, Rewrite. Repeat Steps 2 and 3 as Needed" reprinted in the 2001 publication of Writers on Writing: Collected Essays from The New York Times."Writing is finally a series of permissions you give yourself to be expressive in a certain way. To invent. To leap. To fly. To fall. To find your own KM Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18246169806891212476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4121419806374093680.post-76053938708327348882010-12-07T15:28:00.009-05:002010-12-07T16:17:11.377-05:00my morning at a storage auctionEvery time I turn on the television these days, I see commercials for the handful of new "reality" shows centered around auctions and "picking" antiques. You know the ones, they star gruff-looking, everyday types who make their livings from buying other people's junk and reselling it for a profit. The latest of these genre of shows are the storage unit auction shows, including Auction Hunters andKM Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18246169806891212476noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4121419806374093680.post-83405501139620291872010-12-06T16:31:00.010-05:002010-12-06T16:59:30.753-05:00steps for staying "tuned in" for what you need"Once you're into a story everything seems to apply -- what you overhear on a city bus is exactly what your character would say on the page you're writing. Wherever you go, you meet part of your story. I guess you're tuned in for it, and the right things are sort of magnetized." - Eudora WeltyGood source material for our writing is around us all the time. I think we are most "tuned in" to it whenKM Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18246169806891212476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4121419806374093680.post-6773611525191853802010-12-04T19:46:00.007-05:002010-12-04T20:12:20.740-05:00the problem of the struggling writerWhile being interviewed for The Paris Review, writer Frank O'Connor was asked by the interviewer: "What about the problem of the struggling writer who must make a living?" Frank O'Connor answered with the following story:"Now, that's something I can't understand about America. It's a big generous country, but so many students of mine seemed to think they couldn't let anyone else support them. A KM Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18246169806891212476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4121419806374093680.post-32943269369865300152010-11-28T18:26:00.002-05:002010-11-28T18:28:26.374-05:00Thought for the Day"Why do people always expect authors to answer questions? I am an author because I want to ask questions. If I had answers I'd be a politician." - Eugene IonescoKM Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18246169806891212476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4121419806374093680.post-2741786770493181002010-11-27T13:47:00.005-05:002010-11-27T13:58:20.210-05:00John Gardner on what writers do"What the writers I care most about do is take fiction as the single most important thing in life after life itself -- life itself being both their raw material and the object of their celebration. They do it not for ego but simply to make something singularly beautiful. Fiction is their religion and comfort: when they are depressed, they go not to church or psychoanalysis but to Salinger or KM Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18246169806891212476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4121419806374093680.post-43256893398267484342010-11-23T11:41:00.006-05:002010-11-23T12:43:21.241-05:00minimize procrastination and worry"I became an afternoon writer when I had afternoons. When I was able to write full-time, I used to spend the morning procrastinating and worrying, then plunge into the manuscript in a frenzy of anxiety around 3:00 P.M. when it looked as though I might not get anything done. . . . The fact is that blank pages inspire me with terror. What will I put on them? Will it be good enough? Will I have to KM Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18246169806891212476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4121419806374093680.post-16475746982927902332010-11-22T11:28:00.006-05:002010-11-22T11:44:42.978-05:00it's out there ... so write about it!"The material's out there, a calm lake waiting for us to dive in." - Beverly LowryIn my case, it seems it's not a "calm lake" of material waiting for me to dive in but more an ocean of waves crashing in. I can catch a wave and ride it in, or I can drown. Think I'll let my writing be my surfboard.Began a short piece this morning entitled "Spoiled Milk." I'm not sure where it's going yet, but the KM Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18246169806891212476noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4121419806374093680.post-25050261982178916212010-11-17T18:01:00.014-05:002010-11-17T18:48:19.525-05:00"Clutter" appears in FWA "Slices of Life" 2010 AnthologyThe Florida Writers Assoication presented their second volume of short stories, Slices of Life, last month. My author's copy came in the mail Monday. It's always a nice treat to see one's work in print. "Clutter" was a piece that rolled around in my mind for six months or so before I finally sat down and put it to paper. FWA's call for short "slice of life" stories seemed the perfect occasion forKM Smithhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18246169806891212476noreply@blogger.com0