As an author, I am extremely interested in the idea of e-books and their impact on the future of publishing. Mandy Brown, a writer and designer, takes an interesting perspective on the issue: as long as we’re calling it an e-book, we’re kind of missing the point.
It’s a short, but very insightful essay on the history and future of the book as we know it.
Here’s a great essay by Kurt Vonnegut on writing with style. He breaks it down into seven simple steps. My favorite is number seven: “Pity the readers”. Lord, how I pity my readers.
Ernest Hemingway once wrote a story in six words, and claimed it was the best thing he ever wrote. None of the words was more that two syllables long.
If you’d like to write like Hemmingway, try “Thsrs”. It’s a thesaurus that only returns shorter, simpler words.
For all the readers out there who either 1) are working in the field as writers or illustrators, or 2) aspire to do so some day, here are a few helpful links aimed at the professional side of things.
17 Tips for Freelancers:
http://megillustrations.typepad.com/…
Chris Garret: “My Top 5 Biggest Freelancing Mistakes”:
http://freelancefolder.com/my-top-5…
How to disarm 10 difficult client observations/requests:
I had a little bit of an epiphany today – nothing big, but helpful nonetheless. I’ve had Merlin Mann’s article on “Hacking Your Way Out of Writer’s Block” in my favorites for a long time, and I’ve been meaning to post a link. Merlin runs a great site called 43 Folders dedicated to making your work more efficient and getting things done.
