raconteurreal

plot, setting, character... ?

2009-09-18T22:21:00.002-06:00

Go to the Facebook 'Discussions' tab and tell me what it is about a book that gets you hooked. I'm giving a copy away to a random response.

i answer your questions

2009-07-29T02:43:00.001-06:00

Leave any other questions you might have in a comment.

short story compilations

2009-06-26T18:43:00.003-06:00

You can read stories from Bed here and read The National Virginity Pledge in its entirety here.

Find Mary Akers on Twitter.

put books in kids' hands

2009-05-22T18:55:00.003-06:00

I'll count email subscribers (you can become one in the sidebar), Facebook fans, and Twitter followers. It's hard for me to count RSS and podcast subscribers so you won't be counted that way for this project.

Find me on Facebook and Twitter .

monica drake's "clown girl"

2009-05-06T22:31:00.011-06:00

Leave your thoughts about Clown Girl in the comments section either here, on Facebook, or leave a quick thought on Twitter .

Upcoming Reviews:
Rose Alley--Jeremy M. Davies
All About Lulu--Jonathan Evison
The Perks of Being a Wallflower--Stephen Chbosky

reviews forthcoming

2009-04-10T16:38:00.001-06:00

We'll start our review series next week. So dust off your reading spot!

follow me on Twitter

2009-03-23T22:12:00.004-06:00

I've tried Twitter in the past and found it to be...pointless, at best. But, as I tend to do with all pointless things, I thought I'd give it another shot. Now you can FOLLOW ME and get musings and updates as rabidly and obsessively as your heart desires.

new review series

2009-03-13T22:40:00.001-06:00

Over the next several months I hope you'll read along with me and other raconteurreal readers as I review several books I've had my eye on. Subscribers have a chance to snag review copies after I've finished reading them.

Rocky Mountain News

2009-02-27T01:47:00.001-07:00

Today is the last day my local paper, the Rocky Mountain News, will print the news. After nearly 150 years, the end has come. And it makes me wonder, along with so many others, what the future of print media is. Do people still care about some sort of journalistic standard? Or even if they do, will they simply elect to read that standard online or by way of other media?

I'm afraid to think what a group of people getting their news solely from the blogosphere might look like.

Tell me: how do you get your news?

podcast episode 4

2009-02-19T15:34:00.002-07:00

More books to give away! Make sure you're signed up. The most recent winner is Pamela from Texas. You can check out her blog here.

There's a great lineup of reviews and writer interviews over the next several weeks and months. Be sure to stay tuned for those.

I'm curious about these e-book readers. With Amazon's launch of the newest Kindle I'm starting to wonder if I want one or if e-book readers are one technological advance I can do without.

Sign up for the podcast .

quick january review

2009-01-31T17:01:00.002-07:00

Recently I've been reading Victor Pelevin's Homo Zapiens, a surreal look at the advertising and media game in post-Soviet Russia. The story follows an ad man, Tatarsky, who is swept into the world of glamorizing products for unwitting Russian consumers. Pelevin certainly follows in the footsteps of other Russian greats like Dostoyevsky or Bulgakov. Perhaps not as great, but certainly following.

Rating: 4/5 -- Worth Owning

under the radar

2009-01-22T01:47:00.001-07:00

I love discovering new books and authors who have stayed a little below the radar for whatever reason. There are the books the New York Times mentions, or Booklist or Publisher's Weekly, and then there are the books that, while still good, don't get nearly the attention they deserve. These are the gems with which I like filling my shelves. So my question to you is: what hidden gems did you discover in 2008? Talk me into reading your favorite and after I do I'll review it here.

dance for change

2009-01-20T14:50:00.000-07:00

narcissism

2009-01-14T13:42:00.001-07:00

The trouble with being a writer is that you don't get acknowledged. I'll go somewhere to write--the coffee joint, a park, the university--but I just don't stick out enough. If I'm writing by hand I'm just some guy doing a crossword puzzle or making out his grocery list in a park, and no one is compelled to approach me and tell me how brilliant I am. If I'm using my laptop I'm just some guy updating his Facebook page at the cafe or doing his homework at the university. Beautiful med students won't tell a guy updating his Facebook page how much they want to sleep with him. They just won't. I need to stick out more.

Maybe if I grow a beard. Yeah, that should do it.

On a more realistic note, I'll be giving away a book I absolutely love at the end of January. I have multiple copies of it, so be sure you're an email subscriber (which you can do in the sidebar) to be eligible for that.

Happy New Year

2009-01-11T23:16:00.001-07:00

Some of my short stories were bought to be printed later this year, which is great, but my resolution remains to finish two manuscripts. I would go out on a limb and make my resolution to actually sell a manuscript...but I won't. Perhaps for 2010 if I can't pull it off this year.

What are your resolutions? Share, whether or not they're realistic.

Happy New Year. I hope your 2009 tops your 2008.

Holidays

2008-12-30T13:34:00.001-07:00

Let me know how your holidays are going. I received several books for Christmas that I'm anxious to get to soon. What books did you receive?

On another note: my critique group is going insane. Everyone is starting to argue about what makes good critique in general, who is mean and who isn't, and other organizational and petty things. I'm on the lookout for some new people with great insight to help me look at my work from a fresh perspective. People like that seem to be harder to find than a decent date.

the reading list

2008-12-08T17:51:00.001-07:00

Ok, it's time to decide what next to read. I have a lot of unread books in my library. I could easily just go to the next one in the row, but I decided it would be better if you all decided. I want to get an idea of what you read. So make a recommendation for me in the comments. I'll read it over the next few weeks and then give that book away in the January giveaway.

On another note, there's actually a good amount of progress on my projects. It is true that I'd rather not be getting distracted by more than one project, but at least I'm moving forward a lot better this month. I'll update the progress meters at the end of the week.

Let me know what to read!

the battle of projects

2008-12-03T10:04:00.001-07:00

I'm now faced with the problem of one project infringing on the other. I had been focusing on the project I started earlier in the year but now my mind has drifted somewhat to something new, something that flows right out both in outline and onto the page. Evil Project B, we'll call it, has taken writing time away from Incrementally Progressing Project A for the last few days. My brain says, "Just see the first project through to the end, then start on the other." But my gut/heart/etc. says, "Screw it, just do both." What to do in this situation?

Also, Heather from Illinois won December's copy of Bernhard Schlink's The Reader. Congratulations to her. Remember, just be a raconteurreal subscriber by email to be eligible for the monthly book giveaway. I also plan to start getting rid of more than one book a month soon, so sign up!

Concerning the podcast, I'm trying to get a new mic so I don't sound like I'm talking on a phone. I think the biggest reason for that so far has been that I was talking on a phone. So a fix is in the works. Stay tuned!

NaNoWriMo--the end

2008-11-30T21:40:00.000-07:00

Well, it's the end of National Novel Writing Month and, truth be told, I failed. It's not that I failed to write 50,000 words in a month, although that's what NaNoWriMo IS. No, I failed to achieve the individual goal I had set out for myself throughout the month of November. As you might remember, I had been trying to finish my manuscript's first draft by the end of the year. That target is looking less and less likely as Thanksgiving is now behind us and New Years lurks nearer.

My goal of having 35,000 first draft words finished by today went belly-up.

So tell me how it went. Did you make it? Did you have any alternate goals for yourself, other than just pure word count?

happy holidays and all that

2008-11-28T17:26:00.001-07:00

I'm anxious to see this movie next month:

I hope you're all having a wonderful beginning to the holiday season despite all that's going on around us. I was going through my library this week and realized I have three copies of Albert Camus' The Stranger. Are there any books you have several copies of?

anthologies of poo

2008-11-17T11:06:00.004-07:00

I was at the bookstore this weekend (typical) and I couldn't help but notice main displays were dominated by three title varieties. It didn't thrill me about what we have to look forward to.

1.) The Twilight Series--They were everywhere, a couple cover art varieties for each book in the series.

2.) Recession/Uber-recession/Doomsday Books--How to handle your finances in a shit storm.

3.) Soon-to-be-Commander-in-Chief Obama--Books by Obama, books about Obama, books about books about Obama.

Apparently this is all we read now. I wonder if something about Wall Street vampires with political ambitions is worth penning.

In December I'm going to give away Bernhard Schlink's The Reader. It was recommended to me and a quick read, so I'll send my copy your way come the beginning of next month. Remember, you just have so be an email subscriber (sidebar) to be eligible for that. Pretty straightforward.

So here's my question for you this week: What's your big-picture writing approach? Do you hit key plot points then fill the rest in later? Do you include important bits about the characters first? Do you outline by scene, by plot, by setting? The nitty gritty--lay it out for me.

the bookseller debate

2008-11-11T10:07:00.001-07:00

As a writer I always find myself pondering the paradox of the big-box bookseller. You know who I mean--the B&N, Borders, etc. Although I do spend a lot of time in my local used bookstore, I'm then at the mercy of what they have in stock. My "want list" in their computer just grows and they call me in should they get the book I want. As someone who has plenty of books to read in the meantime this works fine, but what about everyone else?

Even B&N, et al. are feeling the pinch from places like Amazon.com and other online retailers. Where does this leave the writer? The reader? Overall, all things considered, are the big-box book retailers a blessing or curse? I'm all over the map when it comes to this one. I think my opinion differs drastically from day to day depending on how much I enjoyed my morning bagel or how high gas prices are or if the Broncos are doing well. So set me straight--what do you think?

And be sure to sign up for the podcast. You can add it to iTunes directly from the sidebar.

episode 3

2008-11-07T16:21:00.003-07:00

Let's talk NaNoWriMo. And congratulations to Diana for snagging the Philip Roth copy. I'll let you know soon what I'll be giving away in December.

election day vs. writing

2008-11-05T02:56:00.001-07:00

Wow, 3 AM--a little later than I expected.

don't mind me; testing

2008-11-03T20:36:00.007-07:00

Hey everyone. I've got two projects going simultaneously now. It's not something I really wanted to do but I'm afraid if I don't start putting things on paper with the second one I'm likely to lose whatever magic I may have from the ideas I get.

I'm still focusing on the main project for now but you may see the Project 2 word count creep up over the next several months. Speaking of which, how are your word counts? Progress, I hope.