So, imagine my surprise when my friend invited me and another friend to attend a new TedX event – TedX Times Square on April 10. Once I checked the schedule to make sure that I could make it to the event and back during school hours, I quickly accepted the invitation. It was such a welcome change of pace to scurry off to the PATH train rather than scurry back to my house to clean or pay bills.

The theme was “openness” and featured speakers from a broad range of backgrounds. The speakers tended to all extoll the virtues of openness, as expected, but i was surprised to not see a lot of discussion about the finer points of openness such as when openness is not appropriate or how to minimize the downsides of openness. And some of the speakers talked about openness as a general “good” for society but failed to talk about the specifics of what openness can bring to an individual or organization. But in spite of those critiques, many of the talks were quite interesting. I wanted to highlight a few of my favorites for you:

• Architect Guy Geier gave a surprisingly interesting talk about the impact of physical surroundings – specifically buildings – on the idea of openness. In designing commercial properties, he is finding that by introducing architectural elements that encourage openness, it can have a dramatic affect on the way the companies conduct their business. His firm, in fact, designed the auditorium TedXTimesSquare was held in at the New York Times Building and he drove the point of his talk home by dramatically raising the screen that formed the backdrop for the stage which exposed a lovely outdoor space. His talk caused me to think a lot about my own home (which is also my work space) and how openness – or, in some cases, lack of openness – affects us.

• Mark Taylor from Vistage NYC gave a short but engaging talk about the importance of networking or partnering with groups of 3 rather than 2. With a partnership between two parties, there is a tendency to be either competitive or defensive which results in both parties being less open to feedback. However, with a triad, everybody tends to be more open to constructive criticism because everybody is seen to be on even footing. It’s an interesting lesson and one that is fairly easy to put into practice; if you find yourself in a partnership that seems to be stuck, possibly bringing in another partner could unstick the logjam.

• Collin McLoughlin, a singer and musician, sang a lovely song called “Chasing Dreams” (you can hear it on his site, it’s #9 on the Sound Cloud widget). He was on Adam’s team on “The Voice” last season (I’m a big fan of the show!). His music career has taken a very unusual path including not only “The Voice” but You Tube. He talked about the importance of being open to new ideas and new directions and, along the way, being opportunistic.

• Peter Shankman, in the last talk of the day, spoke about the importance of not only being open on social media and in networking in general, but also on the importance of being positive. He talked about the idea of the “negative sharer” – those who either share negativity or share things that don’t add value to other people. If you’re 100% positive, then you don’t seem real in social media, but you definitely don’t want to take the opposite approach or nobody will seek you out for networking. Shankman attributes his success as an entrepreneur to organically growing his connections by being open and positive.

For a list of all of my tweets during the event, check out my Storify – “TedXTimesSquare“.  And if you have some time to kill, you can stream the entire event or watch any of the other individual presentations.

As a footnote, I’ll mention that there’s nothing like doing something completely out of the ordinary to inspire creativity. I consider TedXTimesSquare my first “Artist’s Date” (a la Julia Cameron) in quite some time. And, the fact that I attended with two of my dear friends made it even better!

“I had a great idea for a new book, although come to think of it, maybe it is just a Facebook post. But it would be called Pre First Draft, and address the way we suit up and show up to be writers, artists, and general tribal-two-stomp creative types.

I think it would begin with an admonition: if you used to love writing, painting, dancing, singing, whatever, but you stopped doing it when you had kids or began a strenuous career, then you have to ask yourself if you are okay about not doing it anymore.

If you always dreamed of writing a novel or a memoir, and you used to love to write, and were pretty good at it, will it break your heart if it turns out you never got around to it? If you wake up one day at eighty, will you feel nonchalant that something always took precedence over a daily commitment to discovering your creative spirit?

If not–if this very thought fills you with regret–then what are you waiting for?

Back in the days when I had writing students, they used to spend half their time explaining to me why it was too hard to get around to writing every day, but how once this or that happens–they retired, or their last kid moved out–they could get to work.

I use to say very nicely, “That’s very nice; but it’s a total crock. There will never be a good time to write. It will never be easier. If you won’t find an hour a day now, you won’t find it then.”

It’s the same belief as thinking that once you lose weight, you’ll begin to feel good about yourself. No, you won’t. If you’re not okay with yourself at 185 pounds, you’re not going to be okay at 140. It’s an inside job.

How do you begin? The answer is simple: you decide to. Then you push back your sleeves and start writing–I.e., scribbling words down on paper, or typing at a computer. And it will be completely awful. It will be unreadable shit! You won’t have a clue how it account[s] to anything, ever. And to that, I say, Welcome. That’s what it’s like to be a writer. But you just do it anyway. At my church, we sing a gospel song called, “Hallelujah anyway.” Everything’s a mess, and you’re going down the tubes financially, and gaining weight? Well, Hallelujah anyway.

So you decide to get back to work creatively, and you write up some thoughts or passages or memories or scenes. Then what? Then you write some more. Everywhere you go, you carry a pen, and take notes–ideas will start to come to you. You’ll see and overhear and remember things that you want to include in this mysterious quilt you’re putting together, so you jot them down. Imagine a rag-bag guy who lives inside you, who collects images, descriptions, holy moments, snippets of funny conversation, for you to use in your writing–but he doesn’t have any hands, and needs you to help him amass the rags with which you can make squares for the quilt.

That’s all you have to do today: pay attention–being a writer is about paying attention. Stop hitting the snooze button. Carry a pen with you everywhere, or else God will give me all these insights and images that were supposed to go to you. Hang up a shingle on the inside of you: now open for business. Wow! You won’t have to wake up at 70, aching with regret that you threw your creative essence under the bus. And if you already are seventy, then you won’t have to wake up at eighty, confused and in despair about how you let your gift slip away. Because you will have been writing–or dancing again, or practicing recorder–every single glorious, livelong, weird, amazing day.”

-Anne Lamott - Facebook page entry – May 1, 2013

In my “Inspired Links” feature, I provide links and brief descriptions of thought-provoking articles that I have come across in the previous week.  Happy Browsing

Note: I am experimenting with various ways to make these lists easier to compile. This week’s experiment is with my “old” method of using html hyperlinks. Please let me know what you think of the format. Regardless of the tool, rest assured that all of the links are hand-picked by yours truly and have not been generated by an automatic tool.

Reading:

• The BBC is reporting that spending on fiction is rising and they are crediting the rise of the e-book. Ubiquitous books makes for ubiquitous reading, apparently.
• “Lifehack: Make your bookshelf searchable by taking a picture with Evernote” (Courtesy of Piotr Kowalczyk) means what it says. No, not your e-book bookshelf, but your *old school* book shelf. Using Evernote’s OCR technology, it can pick up book titles straight from a picture. I can’t *wait* to try this!
• In “JK Rowling Is Not Your Bitch,” John Wiswell proves that he isn’t either. We love writers who take risks and venture into unchartered territory.
• This post doesn’t have to do with reading per se, but you’ll find a humorous example of social media in action on Neil Gaiman’s Tumblr.

Writing / Publishing:

• In “Confessions of a Pantser, or What I Failed to Learn in Grad School” on the Storyfix blog, Eric Neyer has an interesting discussion of pantsing versus plotting and comes down decidedly in favor of plotting.
• In “Editing with the Kindle,” Joanna Penn talks about how part of her editing process involves using annotations on her Kindle.
• If you’d like a treasure trove of good info on writing craft, check out this summary with links to the #litchatbetsy event held on Sept 18-19.
• If you are interested in serial fiction and/or Amazon’s new Kindle Serials, you’ll want to check out Claudia Christian’s three part post for Tuesday Serial: “Kindle Serials: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.”

In my “Inspired Links” feature, I provide links and brief descriptions of thought-provoking articles that I have come across in the previous week.  Happy Browsing

Note: I am experimenting with various ways to make these lists easier to compile. This week’s experiment is with embedded tweets. Please let me know what you think of the format. Regardless of the tool, rest assured that all of the links are hand-picked by yours truly and have not been generated by an automatic tool.

Reading:

• Whatever happened to ads promoting reading? I love these:

<3 RT @brainpicker: If you missed these gems ☞ Vintage ads for reading and libraries from the 1950s-1960s j.mp/S5VdWr #fb

— Metro Fiction (@MetroFiction) September 12, 2012

• The Man Booker Prize finalists were announced this week:

RT @latimesbooks: Man Booker 2012 shortlist announced (before we were up) lat.ms/SAZCaf #fb

— Metro Fiction (@MetroFiction) September 11, 2012

• “I’d like a double skim latte and a Jane Austen on the side.”

Cool RT @writerunboxed: Print-on-demand (POD) bks could soon be everywhere, according to an announcement made yesterday huff.to/U2KwZ4

— PJ Kaiser (@PJ_Kaiser) September 14, 2012

• And at last we have definitive proof that reading is good for your brain:

RT @huffingtonpost: Why reading is good for your brain huff.to/RRsFiU #fb

— Metro Fiction (@MetroFiction) September 15, 2012

• Trying to unplug more so you have time to read? Here’s why your having trouble doing it: according to scientists, it’s because social media triggers dopamine:

RT @nickkristof: Why are we addicted 2 twtter? Tweets “ideally suited 2 send your dopamine system raging” bit.ly/Of1IFr via @kvox

— PJ Kaiser (@PJ_Kaiser) September 13, 2012

• If you’re looking for more *free* reading material, check out this week’s Tuesday Serial report:

Not sure what serials r all about? We have 24 serial installments this wk in the #tuesdayserial report, incl 2 debuts bit.ly/NoYkMt

— PJ, Tony & Larry (@TuesdaySerial) September 14, 2012

Writing / Publishing:

• I put together a post for Tuesday Serial about their recent announcement of “Kindle Serials” which has the potential to shake up the web serial world:

Thx! RT @debramarrs: WRITERS: Excellent wrapup article w/ many links about latest news re: #Kindleserials by @pj_kaiser bit.ly/OKA1Wx

— PJ Kaiser (@PJ_Kaiser) September 14, 2012

• Writers, you won’t want to miss this in-person (Miami, FL) and virtual event hosted by Lit Chat:

Darn-i was in Miami Beach 2 wks 2 early RT @litchat: You’re invited to the FREE #LitChat Literary Salon @thebetsyhotel ow.ly/dHqDm

— PJ Kaiser (@PJ_Kaiser) September 14, 2012

• Here is a quick audio clip from a writer I greatly admire: O. Henry:

Interesting RT @explorer: Rare audio of O. Henry, who would’ve been 150 today, on the secret of writing good stories j.mp/S9acia

— PJ Kaiser (@PJ_Kaiser) September 12, 2012

• Lindsay Boruker talks about ways self-published authors can get advance copies of their books into readers’ hands and other important publishing topics in this terrific post:

Good info RT @goblinwriter: My monster post on “How to Sell Advanced Reader Copies as a Self-Published Author” lindsayburoker.com/e-publishing/h… #Selfpub

— PJ Kaiser (@PJ_Kaiser) September 12, 2012

• Over on the Tuesday Serial site, we recently featured a post by the writer “SgL”: “How to Rock Wattpad for Your Serial Fiction.” This week came the news of a writer who’s done just that:

RT @huffpostbooks: 18-year-old snags MAJOR publishing deal for vampire novel huff.to/OBJqPX #wattpad #tuesdayserial

— PJ Kaiser (@PJ_Kaiser) September 11, 2012

In my “Inspired Links” feature, I provide links and brief descriptions of thought-provoking articles that I have come across in the previous week.  Happy Browsing

Note: I am experimenting with various ways to make these lists easier to compile. This week’s experiment is Readlist. Please let me know what you think of the format. Regardless of the tool, rest assured that all of the links are hand-picked by yours truly and have not been generated by an automatic tool.

Readlist doesn’t allow descriptions or categories, so I’ve edited the titles of the list to provide a general category – I hope it’s helpful for scanning through the list.

Note: It doesn’t seem to be bringing in the whole list into the post (at least in preview mode) – click on the top line below (“Inspired Links …”) and it will take you to the readlist site where you can view all the entries.

In my “Inspired Links” feature, I provide links and brief descriptions of thought-provoking articles that I have come across in the previous week.  Happy Browsing

Note: I am experimenting with various ways to make these lists easier to compile. This week’s experiment is Storify. Please let me know what you think of the format. Regardless of the tool, rest assured that all of the links are hand-picked by yours truly and have not been generated by an automatic tool.

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My story is called “Egg-ceptional” and takes place on a moonbase some time in the future.  That’s all I’ll give away for the moment.  The full table of contents can be found on the Literary Mix Tapes site.

See the press release below for all the scoop:

Literary Mix Tapes unveiled its third cross-genre anthology Deck the Halls: festive tales of fear and cheer today; a revamped and extended offering primed to subvert readers’ notions of the holiday season, in time for Australia’s own spin on a cold weather Christmas.

“This revised edition, pays homage to the imprint’s origins,” founding editor Jodi Cleghorn said. “In early December 2010 I had an idea for a collection of web-published stories after sitting through my son’s school carols night.

“In my mind the lyrics of ‘Deck the Halls’ were potent writing prompts to create twisted, non-tradition Christmas stories. It was intended as some fun. Nothing more.”

On the back of the success of the Christmas collection, Cleghorn launched the Valentines anthology Nothing But Flowers: tales of post-apocalyptic love and established Literary Mix Tapes as an official imprint in February 2011. eMergent Publishing took the imprint under its umbrella in June the same year.

“Many of the cornerstones of Literary Mix Tapes came from assembling those original Christmas stories,” said Cleghorn.

Those key characteristics include crowd-sourcing authors via social media, guaranteed inclusion after successful nomination, short fiction built on lyrical prompts, peer support and what Literarium co-owner Tom Dullemond has termed “a collective submissions process”, making Literary Mix Tapes unique among small and large presses in Australia and abroad.

“All the authors beta read and line edit for each during the three week writing period,” Cleghorn said. “Rather than competing against each other for inclusion, they work together to produce the best possible collection of stories for publication.”

The imprint boasts an impressive international line up of more than 70 authors after 18 months of operation, and a reputation for investing in and working with emerging authors.

“Central to Literary Mix Tapes  is the editor-author relationship,” said Cleghorn. “We see that relationship as the core function of a publishing business, and essential in supporting up-and-coming authors and producing a quality books for readers.”

Perfect for commuters and lovers of speculative fiction, Deck the Halls: festive tales of fear and cheer goes on sale July 10^th in an exclusive Australian launch ahead of Christmas in July festivities. The book will be available as an instant download via the eMergent Publishing Bookstore and as a paperback in selected retail outlets.

‘Readers can expect the bizarre and twisted from the 32 authors who have each put their unique spin on the holiday season in these bite-sized pieces of fiction. From corset-bound adventurers to troll hunters, intergalactic anthropologists and petrol-toting politicians the stories cover everything from the Summer Solstice to Modraniht, in equal measures of humor, horror and heartache.”

An international release is slated for late November.

For more information see the official Literary Mix Tapes website or contact editor Jodi Cleghorn.

{Sorry for the long absence here … you always know where else you can find me, right?  Of course, there’s my Twitter, Metro Fiction and Tuesday Serial … that’s where I’ve been putting my attention lately. But don’t worry, I will be back soon In the meantime …}

I want to share some exciting news with you!  My story “Golden Opportunity”, which appeared in Literary Mix Tapes:  Nothing But Flowers, has been selected, along with nine other stories, for inclusion in the “Movie Project.”  The movie project – led by Jodi Cleghorn and Devin Watson – will be coordinating authors, scriptwriters and film crew to adapt the films to the big screen.

I’ve been paired with lovely and talented Emma Kerry who will be writing the screenplay based on my story.  For more information about the project, you can visit the Literary Mix Tapes site or, for more specifics, you can see Devin Watson’s posts over at Write Anything.

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