Swan Song for Your Wallet!

Next time you’ve got an abundance of cash you just can’t seem to get rid of, hit the auction and pick up a couple copies of The Birds of America. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll own a book that costs as much as your own private island.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2012/01/got-10-million-the-worlds-most-expensive-book-could-be-yours.html

If you need more information, please contact us at editor@coldmoonpress.com or Helen Hester-Ossa, event coordinator, at hhes@loc.gov. Get directions here: http://www.loc.gov/visit/directions/

The efforts to save St. Mark’s Bookshop, by the numbers

Writing Tips – On Collaboration

This feeling is normal in many jobs but especially so in our field. Whether you are a writer, an editor, or a publisher, you are constantly challenged to stay motivated. Many of our projects take months, often up to a year or more, to complete. Couple that with the fact most of us do this work as a second job or a hobby and it can be hard to not only find time but also stay interested and motivated.

If you decide to stick with the project, here are a few things you can do to keep going.

• Set smaller goals to meet on the way to project completion. Write them down with a firm deadline date. Then, once you’ve reached the goal, do something to celebrate.
• Get other people involved. This field tends to get a bit solitary. Get interaction (and accountability!) through writing groups or other types of peer review.
• Take a break. If you need to step away from a project, take some time to research, do some planning, or begin your marketing. That way, you’re still moving forward.

What other methods do you use to keep motivated over the long haul? Leave a comment!

Amazon to Launch Library Lending for Kindle Books

As a writer, how do you feel about this program? Vote on our poll or leave a comment!

The Hell with Love: Poems to Mend a Broken Heart:  A reminder that poetry can be fun!

Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West: Beautiful, passionate poems.

100 Selected Poems: Just because I like e.e. cummings.

What We Carry: Real poems from a real (amazing) poet.

River of Stars: A wonderful collection of poems by our very own Vonnie Winslow Crist!

I started writing this blog with the good intentions of making it a technical piece, a nuts-and-bolts guide to something dealing with the business of writing. When I saw this quote, I knew that today was not the day to write such a thing.

As a (new) publisher, I like the idea that every morning is a new beginning, my “do-over” from the challenges of the day before. There is a whole new day ahead of me where I can make better choices and be creative and do something for someone else—even in my very own, tiny way. Maybe those things sorts of things don’t change the entire world, but it’s awfully nice to see the look on a writer’s face the first time they see their book in print!

There are also a lot of other good times that come with this new endeavor. I’ve met some amazing people I might never have met, attended events I might never have attended, and taken risks I might never have otherwise taken. Last Sunday alone, I spent a day with writers, musicians, artisans, and dozens of Fair Folk.

All this does make it tough to plan a day. I have a four-page to-do list on any given day and a calendar full of nearly illegible scribbles. Lucky for me, while I love having some routine in my life, I also thrive when no two days ever look exactly the same.

My plan for today? Spend some time with a few of my favorite little people, cross a couple things off of the ever-growing Cold Moon/Book Mark It to-do list, and let the dogs walk me before it rains. And maybe I’ll grab my tattered copy of Charlotte’s Web before I change the world.

Then, there is Valentine’s Day, of course, which I celebrate as a most sacred holiday, second only to Halloween. I imagine a modern Cupid, mischievous as ever, plotting how to get two awkward, flawed people to finally realize what is right in front of them.

And finally, the birthdays of a few of my favorite writers nestle in toward the middle of the month. Maybe there stories aren’t necessarily about magic, but there is magic in them…sometimes in the plot, sometimes in the characters, but always in the writing.

Kate Chopin, February 8
I read The Awakening at least once a year. I remember the first time I read it…sophomore year of college in a women in literature class. There was something about it that changed me. The writing was as smoldering and dream-like as Louisiana itself. The copy I had in college, now replaced with a hardback, was laden with notes made in the margins and dog-eared pages (both habits I dislike, but I felt a compulsion to remember each beautifully spun phrase). As a writer, I grew by reading it, finally making the connection that the language of a story is just as important as any other single element. Read this bit from her novel.

The voice of the sea is seductive; never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander for a spell in the abysses of solitude; to lose itself in mazes of inward contemplation.

The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace.

Toni Morrison, February 15
You pretty much can’t go wrong with a Toni Morrison book. The language is complex, pulling you feverishly through the story. Several years ago, I picked up a copy of Paradise. I was hooked. It was, literally, one of the best first lines I’ve read of a book. Yes, there is magical realism in this book. But the language is also magic. I was enchanted with the very first line I read:

They shoot the white girl first. With the others they can take their time.

Tonight, if I’m lucky, I will write a sentence or two with a bit of magic in them. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll imagine what creatures lurk outside in the light of the waxing moon.