In response to a question about lessons they'd learned from the failure of a book to sell as well as expected — something that was acknowledged several times as being the norm not the exception — one offered an example of an unnamed book that the stars had seemingly all aligned for: it was a great book the editor loved, that their publisher believed was going to be a hit, that got great reviews from all of the major mainstream outlets... and it flopped. In the final bit of unacknowledged irony, one of them briefly noted that examples of successful self-publishing were rare and magical.
I’m way behind again, the furthest yet, and am “cheating” a little bit to catch up by going with only one of the PAD prompts I missed (Day 21) and two from the Acentos Writers Workshop I facilitated today. I’m still commited to making 30/30 by the end of the month, but from here on they might not all be via the PAD prompts, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Prompt: Pick a place and an emotion; personify the former using the latter.
Prompt: Write a poem about a paradox.
Prompt: “Two for Tuesday”: Write a haiku, or write about the haiku.
YANKEE STADIUM CRIED
As its replacement evolved
from good intentions to boondoggle
the House that Ruth built and Dent furnished
looked across the street and shed
no tears, confident that its memory
would live on in the hearts
of the true fans who can’t afford
to embrace something new.
How can u b an expert without legitimate knowledge or legitimate experience Shaq oneal
about 9 hours ago from TwitterBerry
It’s been fascinating watching the odd, mostly one-sided battle going on between so-called social media experts and traditional marketing and PR professionals, as the former continue to pound their virtual drums on a daily basis about how they’re the future and without their expertise, companies are doomed to failure.
DOOMED!
I wrote about the need for some perspective a couple of weeks ago in “Attack of the Social Media Gurus“, and have been tracking the growing backlash there with links to relevant articles as they pop up — including one of my favorites from Ad Age featuring Unilever Chief Marketing Officer Simon Clift’s wise observation: “Social media is not a strategy. You need to understand it, and you’ll need to deploy it as a tactic.” — but a recent comment by social media “rock star” Chris Brogan really rubbed me the wrong way, giving flashbacks to the explosion of the first dot.com bubble, and underscoring one of the main reasons some marketers, and the executives they report to, are reluctant to fully embrace social “media”.
Shaquille O’Neal, of all people, pretty much nailed it last night on Twitter with the aforementioned tweet.
I don’t do many events these days beyond the random open mic appearance at louderARTS or Urbana, so I’m very excited about these two gigs this week, the NY Round Table Writers’ Conference and Acentos Poetry Workshop, as well as the Conversational Marketing Summit I’ll be attending in June.
The Acentos Writers Workshop was established with the purpose of nurturing the newer voices in the poetry community. With writers from across several genres donating their time, the workshop encourages newer writers to hone their craft, establish and create community, and perform their work in front of growing audiences. The workshop accepts writers of all backgrounds and skill level to foster growth and maximize their full potential and grow as writers.
I’m falling behind more frequently as the month progresses, but still trying to stick to the 30/30 goal instead of combining a few prompts into a single poem. Every one of my NaPoWriMo poems has been a first draft, but these four are especially so.
Prompt: Pick a color, make that the title of your poem, and write a poem that is inspired by that color.
Prompt: Write a poem with the following title: “All I want is (blank),” where you fill in the blank with a word or phrase of your choosing.
Prompt: Write a poem with an interaction of some sort.
Prompt: Write an angry poem. That is, a poem about someone or something that gets angry.
BLUE (for India)
It’s no surprise you favored
blue over pink from the start,
defining your own identity,
defying easy categorization.
Society prefers labels, though,
requires them to [dys]function,
loves to segregate with clever
wordplay and games of semantics.
When you chose blue and pink
nail polish, alternating fingers
that pick rocks as comfortably
as they draw dinosaurs,
I was stumped by yesterday’s prompt and had to sit on it for a day, so I’m doubling up to hit the halfway point right on schedule!
Prompt: “Two for Tuesday”: Write a love poem or write an anti-love poem.
Prompt: Take the title of a poem you especially like (by another poet) and change it. Then, with this new altered title, write a poem.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
The first time I was unfaithful
I ended up serving two-plus
years in the Army, sleeping
off the hangover from a year-long
fling with SoBe, her exotic,
uninhibited twin sister.
A few years later, there
was the one-night stand,
seduced by Austin, her distant
cousin, twice removed, less refined,
but with an accent to die for and
the kind of inner-beauty fairy
tales are written about.
There were others, including Virginia,
a beer goggles moment I still regret,
and when it was finally time to settle
down, I realized it would never work,
chose the quiet step-sister,
and lived happily ever after.
“Oh, I get it. It’s very clever. How’s that working out for you?”
–Tyler Durden, Fight Club
Well, it seemed like a good idea.
Magazine publishing executives are under a lot of pressure these days after the perfect storm of a wretched economy and the deflating of the emedia bubble have wreaked havoc on their already narrow profit margins as advertising declined precipitously in 2008 and isn’t looking much better so far in 2009. Many people have lost their jobs as a slew of magazines have folded, contracted, or moved to an online-only existence, and the most optimistic projections don’t predict a turnaround before 2010.
Which magazines will still be standing next year is anyone’s guess, but in the midst of much hand-wringing and speculation, Time, Inc. launched an interesting initiative that caught my attention: mine: My Magazine, My Way — a single-sponsored, customized publication, print and digital, featuring content from up to five of their eight most advertiser-friendly brands.
I got my first issue in the mail last night and, if it represents the best effort Time, Inc. can put forward, I’d suggest selling their stock quickly if you’re crazy enough to still own any, and considering a Plan B if you work for a print-centric media company.
