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Dec 6 2011

Writers Block? Why not change your blog theme …

If you check this blog regularly, first, God Bless You, and second you probably noticed I changed the theme yet again. I am a theme addict, I admit it. I am always on the quest for the perfect theme (and of course what this entails changes with my moods and ideas). For some reason the last few days I just haven’t felt up to posting reviews and so this is what I occupied my time with.

There was just something about the layout of the last theme that wasn’t quite right. This one allows for more customization and I like the overall style better.

Let me know what you think and I will return to blogging reviews shortly.

By Kevin Holtsberry • Site news • 0 • Tags: , , ,

Nov 30 2011

Podcast: Books we read in 2011

FYI: In today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, I am joined by Pejman Yousefzadeh and Hunter Baker to discuss the eventful and impactful books we read in 2011; including autobiographies of Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Condeleza Rice; the growth of the church in China; The Hunger Games series and more.

By Kevin Holtsberry • News • 0 • Tags:

Oct 29 2011

From wannabe rockstar to successful writer

Interesting piece on how author Andy Ferguson (Crazy U, Land of Lincoln)  ended up writing political journalism:

Andy Ferguson never wanted to be a writer.

Not when he was growing up outside Chicago. His dream was to be a rock star.

“I wanted to be one of the Beatles,” Ferguson said. “Then it turned out they weren’t hiring, and I wanted to be a first baseman for the White Sox.”

Since he couldn’t do either of those he tried fiction but that failed as well eventually leading him to Washington, DC by way of Bloomington, Indiana:

Ferguson planned to write the Great American Novel. He was living in an adobe shack in Albuquerque, N.M., and continually sent pieces of novels and short stories to magazine editors.

“I think they had some kind of automatic system where the minute my envelope came in the office it just flung out a rejection letter,” he said. “So I was papering this little shack I was living in with rejection letters from The Atlantic and New Yorker and The Hudson Review.”

Ferguson came to the conclusion that if he were going to write, he would have to get involved with print journalism. So he moved to Bloomington, Ind. to attend the journalism school at the University of Indiana. At the time, Bloomington was the home of the editor of The American Spectator. Ferguson met him, struck up a friendship, and soon went to work for the magazine. When the publication picked up and moved to Washington, D.C., Ferguson followed.

“So suddenly from my little adobe hut in Albuquerque I found myself right in the middle of Washington journalism,” he said. “It was quite a thrill.”

Seems few writers take an easy path …

By Kevin Holtsberry • News • 0 • Tags: , , ,

Oct 26 2011

Swamplandia! author Karen Russell in Columbus November 3

Karen Russell, author of Swamplandia!, is the final author in The Thurber House’s Evenings with Authors Fall series:

Thursday, November 3, 7:30 p.m.
Columbus Performing Arts Center
549 Franklin Avenue
Columbus, Ohio 43215

The accolades for this debut novel catapulted it to the top of bestseller lists from coast to coast. Recipient of the National Book Foundations 5 Under 35 Award; featured in The New Yorker’s list of “20 under 40 Authors to Watch”; nominated for the Orange Prize, Karen Russell’s stellar talent leaves others breathless in her wake. Swamplandia! is a rundown tourist attraction in the Everglades of Florida, owned by a clan of alligator wrestlers. To reveal more would be to rob the reader of the experience of getting to know the BigTree family, each of them vivid and exuberantly rendered characters set in an equally vivid and exuberant story.

Russell was recently named the recipient of the Mary Ellen von der Heyden Berlin Prize and Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin for Spring 2012, she is currently writer-in-residence at Bard College in upstate New York. Swamplandia! was just optioned by HBO for a half hour series produced by Scott Rudin, who worked on The Social Network feature film.

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By Kevin Holtsberry • News • 0 • Tags: , ,

Oct 21 2011

Niche blogging this ain’t

Statistical meaning of The Long Tail

Image via Wikipedia

Excuse the colloquial and inartful title, but it seems to capture my perspective on this subject.

And what exactly is the subject here? Well, my inability to stick to any particular genre or subject or age group, etc.  It seems to me that basic strategy when it comes to building an audience online is know your audience and give them what they want. Pick what you know, or want to know, and cover it well.  Unfortunately for me, I seem unable to do either. Heck, I can’t even settle on a theme or design for this blog for very long.

(I take that back. My audience is Google and I give them what they want by leaving these review for them to find in their searches. My strategy is bet the house on the long tail …)

But the more specific point I wish to make is that if any one is reading this blog on a regular basis – as opposed to surfing in from search engines (when you have a book report due or when you are looking for reviews in preparation for writing your own, trying to decide whether to read said book, or look for reactions to a book you just read) – then I want to warn you about the book reviews headed your way in the days and weeks to come.

You might already have noted that there has been a higher ratio of non-fiction of late and with a spiritual or theological flavor. This will continue. I am not really sure why but I have gotten onto a theological kick of late and so have been reading books in that realm. I have both more time on my hands and less information to process these days so non-fiction is something I am able to read more of. Right now it’s theology and spirituality but there is sure to be history, culture and politics thrown in as well.

And since I review fiction faster than I do non, I end up with a large backlog of non-fiction books to post on. I tend to post these then as I am able and am in the mood. So in reducing this backlog, I will be foisting more reviews that touch on theology and Christianity.

But as soon as those who enjoy such reviews get comfortable, I am sure I will switch back to reading young adult fantasy or literary fiction or some other genre or focus. But to be fair, the title of the blog is Collected Miscellany. Eclecticism and unpredictability is the name of the game around here.

Hence the title of this post …

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