Passion for Books

I've been reading A Passion for Books, a book lover's treasury of stories, essays and lists on collecting, reading, borrowing, lending, caring for, and appreciating books. While reading, my mind wondered to titles and authors of books that have affected my life, affected enough that I remember them after many years.

The Odyssey, Homer
Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank
Walden, Henry David Thoreau
The Lord of the Flies, William Golding
The Goal, Eliyahu Goldratt
University of Success, Og Mandino
Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill
Flawless Consulting, Peter Block
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
Thriving On Chaos, Tom Peters
On Writing, Stephen King

There's about a thousand others, but these books stick in my mind. Why these? I'm not sure. They're each a classic in their respective genre and they have in some way affected my mind, my heart and my soul. I'm sure others will percolate up to the surface. What books have affected you?.

Family Jewels

This brings on a whole new meaning to the term "Family Jewels" -- LifeGem.

A LifeGem is a certified, high quality diamond created from the carbon of your loved one as a memorial to their unique and wonderful life.

Yes, you read that right -- they turn deceased love ones into synthetic jewels!

Good Powerpoint?

Yes I was working on another PPP (PowerPoint Presentation) when I came across beyond bullets and read about some new ideas. I have come by many blog entries talking how bad PP is, including my own, PP Stigma and PP Makes you Dumb.

One common complaint when someone sees a typical PowerPoint is, "I can read your bullet points myself, so why do I need to be here? Just give me the slides and we don't need to waste each others' time."

Read the author's comments and ideas. Since I'm a Toastmaster, I especially enjoyed his comments on PowerPoint and Toastmasters. I know our club, Downtown Akron, No.1894, needs an upgrade from overhead projector to PP.

PowerPoint desperately needs Toastmasters, and Toastmasters desperately needs PowerPoint, and I hope the two will come together at some point because the union would be quite productive.

And check out how Disney uses Powerpoint for storyboarding.

Holiday Frame of Mind

I'm in a holiday frame of mind. You're probably thinking Flag Day or maybe 4th of July. But no -- I'm thinking Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year holidays. Why you ask? Because I've got a couple proposals out for articles, and magazine editors usually work 4 to 6 months out. Some are working on issues for NEXT summer! So while trying to wrestle up some ideas for articles, I did a search for "lesser known" holidays thinking I could expand on the traditional stuff. Boy did I land a jackpot.

I missed National Doughnut Day last week. That's okay since I'm watching my carbs. Besides, it's within a day or two of National Hunger Awareness Day! If you can't believe there are so many weird observances, just wait for for Sunday, June 13 - International Skeptics Day, which is also the last day of Superman Week and the first day of National Flag Week. All this is within Potty Training Awareness Month.

We could have some messy parties on July 17th, which is both Cow Appreciation Day and Shark Awareness Day. Hmmm, if you appreciate your cow, stay away from the water. Others go together, like National Hamburger Day and National Mustard Day, August 7th. And I'm looking forward to both Nude Recreation Week, July 5-11 and September, which is Pleasure Your Mate Month. I don't know if it's a good or bad thing that they'll be over before October - National Family Sexuality Education Month.

And please don't whine about all this....National Whiner's Day is the day after Christmas.

Cover Letter Tips?

I sure hope this is a joke of some sort. The purported writer tells about the rules of submitting your book or article to agents and publishers. Cover Letter Tips sounds like the beginning of endless rejection letters. Just take a look at tip number four:

Tip Four: Never published anything? Lie a little. Yes, lie. A cover letter is a persuasive document designed to do one thing: entice an editor or agent to read your manuscript. Say whatever you have to, within reason, to accomplish this. No publication credits? Write the words "West Coast Fiction Review" on a piece of paper, staple it to one of your stories, and boom, you've just been published in West Coast Fiction Review. Is there such a publication? Not that I know of, but it sure sounds impressive. No awards? Ask your best friend--let's say her name is Martha Green--to give you the 1999 Martha Green Award for Outstanding Achievement in Fiction. What's the Martha Green Award worth? Not much, unless it entices an editor or agent to read your work.

A Literary Dream Job

Years ago, I dreamed of opening a book store, but that was before Borders, Barnes & Noble and Amazon..In Vermont, town browses for a new bookstore could be the seeds of another dream.