Write Stuff: The Economics of Writing: 0

The first in of a series titled “The Economics of Writing” appears here on Write Stuff. Let’s face it, every writer wants to be #1 on the NYT bestseller list. No writer wants to find copies of their beloved manuscript on the $1 rack at Barnes and Noble. Which means every writer wants to succeed. In order to succeed one needs a plan. I began writing this piece as a way to re-examine my writing/publishing strategy.

Just when I think I should give up

Awhile ago this essay was published in an obscure local paper. I didn’t think it made much of a difference in anyone’s life. Then one day a blogger emailed a reply that included these encouraging words:

“You are very right when you say we don’t have to have it all figured out and ourselves all neatly put together.”

A month later another reader emailed me these kind words:

“I appreciate what you wrote… it is encouraging to know that this is not an abnormal way to feel…”

It is nice to know a couple people were moved enough to respond to something I wrote–a blessing indeed. Then I came across a link to my essay from a blog that promotes a book titled Get Up Off Your Knees. One of the books editors, Beth Maynard, writes that

“it’s a nice piece of writing…”

And this encourages me to finish an essay I don’t want to write in a paper that many people overlook and I wonder why I should keep writing–why keep typing late into the night with the glow of the laptop screen guiding me to explore inner thoughts, doubts, questions of reality and spirituality and ritual.

Confessions : 02

01. Friday night’s poetry reading was fantastic…
02. it was the first time I read a blues poem…
03. it seemed well received.
04. Duck-Rabbit Milk Stout is a new favorite of mine… though I completely missed the duck-rabbit diagram philosophical overtones where its name originates.
05. My feet are still cold…
06. I’m dreaming of Wisconsin woodlands.
07. A consultant shouted at me in a business meeting…
08. but I suspect the consultant was a wee bit over-caffeinated.
09. I woke up at 5:40 AM.
10. I’m reading three business books: The Forward-Focused Organization, Rules for Revolutionaries, Kotler on Marketing (opps, four titles: How to become CEO).

I’m on NPR!

Okay, my wife called this morning and said they mentioned my name on the local NPR radio station–WCQS. It is in regards to the Arts & Events Calendar–specifically the poetry reading at the Flood Fine Arts Center. I will be reading 6 to 10 poems with other poets–read press release.

So I had my three seconds of NPR fame. Back to your regular activities. But don’t forget–Friday night, 7PM, Flood Fine Art Center.

(Now if I can get Garrison Keillor to promote this gig…)

Poetry reading, be there

So, there’s this poetry reading Friday night and you’re all invited. And I think there’s drinks and food available. So, like, I guess I’ll see you there.

Write Stuff: Valintine’s Day Card

This week’s contribution to Write Stuff is a Valintine’s Day Card.

Poetry : Press Release

Flood Fine Art Center, Asheville, NC

Asheville, NC (January 31, 2007) – On February 16, 2007, Flood Fine Arts Gallery will host its monthly poetry reading at 7:00 PM, featuring the following poets:

Britt Kaufmann lives in Burnsville with her husband and three pre-school aged children. She hosts a local women’s open-mic at Blue Moon Books and serves on the steering committee for the Carolina Mountains Literary Festival. Her work has appeared in The Pedestal, Literary Mama, Rapid River, WNC Woman, SouthLit.com, and The Mennonite.

Matthew Mulder is a senior contributor to an independent monthly newsmagazine, The Indie, a weekly contributor to Write Stuff (a Web log about writing), and had been published in ISM Quarterly, The Blotter Magazine, Rapid River, and other small press publications. His poetry chapbook, “Late Night Writing”, is available from Wasteland Press and Amazon.com. He lives with his wife and children in Asheville.

Brian Sneeden has lived and worked in Asheville for three years. His one-act play, Act of Kindness, is currently in rehearsal for a mid-March world-premier. Brian’s work has been found in Wander, Headwaters, and Eye for an Iris, as well as the spoken word compilation CD, Objects in Mirror. Brian is a recent recipient of the UNC-A Undergraduate Research Grant for Playwriting, and his first manuscript of poetry, Antlers, was completed earlier this year.

Barbara Gravelle spent many years of her writing life in San Francisco’s North Beach poetry scene. There she completed North Beach Women of the Fifties, a series of interviews and discourse with women integral to the Beat movement. Archangel Books published her first full-length poetry book, Dancing the Naked Dance of Love, in 1976. Gravelle is currently active in the local writers’ group, Women on Words, and is completing a new manuscript, The Woman on the Roof.

Confessions

01. I did not watch the Super Bowl.
02. I am working at Biltmore Coffee Traders via their WiFi.
03. I find it ironic that Al Gore is nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work on Inconvenient Truth when most of the US is experiencing record cold temperatures…
04. and I find it truly ironic that Rush Limbaugh is nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize–it must be the dawn of a new ice age.
05. My feet are really cold…
06. and my office is so cold, like 50 degrees, that I am forced to migrate between Asheville’s WiFi hotspots…
07. and I rather enjoy the life of a WiFi nomad and may never return to the 10×10 windowless office…
08. and a French lady from Wisconsin called to tell me it is snowing and would I like to buy a house.
09. I think I need another coffee.
10. Sorry I didn’t say hi, EM, I was meeting with a client.