Wine and Books?

I just heard of a neat book promo/event idea!

A group of five authors teamed up with a wine bar and held a vino & livros evening. The wine steward had read each of the books beforehand and chose a wine to match each book.

The pairings were based on the tone of the book, the plot, the characters and anything else that might indicate that "this particular book is a Chablis" and "that particular novel is a Merlot", and so on.

It's a great idea for cross-marketing. A wine bar and steward would probably get a kick out of doing something like this on a quiet evening (maybe a Monday or Tuesday). And for attendees it could be a fun evening out.

What do you think? If you were going to pair your novel with a wine, what would you choose?

Tips and Tools for Writers

A quick look at some useful sites & tools for writers:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/ overall grammar

http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/punct.html a handy guide to punctuation

http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/wodcalendar.pl The word of the day archive is great for building vocabulary

http://www.timeanddate.com/ Help figure out dates/days of the week for years past/present/future

http://www.behindthename.com/ Some background about first names and their meanings

Words to live by? Quotations on Crime.

Crime does not pay ... as well as politics.
Alfred E. Newman

Life is nothing but a competition to be the criminal rather than the victim.
Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970)

Behind every great fortune there is a crime.
Honore de Balzac (1799 - 1850)

Indeed, history is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.
Voltaire (1694 - 1778)

Organized crime in America takes in over forty billion dollars a year and spends very little on office supplies.
Woody Allen (1935 - )

Crime butchers innocence to secure a throne, and innocence struggles with all its might against the attempts of crime.
Maximilien Robespierre (1758 - 1794)

The judge is condemned when the criminal is absolved.
Publilius Syrus (~100 BC)

Truth versus Fiction

I've been looking for inspiration for my next work and have therefore been paying more attention to the news. I've heard many authors say they get inspiration from what they see on TV or what they read in the newspapers.

Do you think there are any limits to real life as inspiration for fiction works?

I have two crime novels in mind as I write this post. The fist was a blatant rip-off of a particularly ghastly crime, and I hated the book. I could hardly finish it, and my feeling toward the work was partly based on the lack of originality, and partly a reaction to the ickiness of the crime (which disgusted me when I had read news versions of the story in the press a year or two earlier).

The other book did it right. It had elements of a well known crime, but was adapted and revised in so many ways that it worked and worked well. The story was original, the real life events were far from obvious.

I think if one were to write in such a way as to pretty much mirror the real crime, then it may be best to call it creative nonfiction and then to proceed in the manner of Truman Capote in "In Cold Blood".

What are your thoughts on truth versus fiction?

A Question for Writers

There are all kinds of writers's groups and organizations out there, some new, some well-established; some have just a few members, while others have upwards of one thousand.

What do you look for when you join a writers' group? I'm sure I can guess at many reasons, such as networking, making new friends, getting feedback, and so on.

What is MOST important to you as a writer? What do you hope to gain and/or how do you expect/hope to benefit from membership?

Criticising the Critiques

This may be at the top of the Ten Crankiest Things I've Ever Written (or said...)

Without mentioning names or book titles, there are a few authors I have been keeping my eye on. I catch the reviews when they come out, I notice if they have done events, or interviews, etc. etc. etc.

It pains me to say that I have seen a number of reviews that were positive, praises the book(s) and complimented the author, but but but ... Some of the reviews are so poorly written, they almost aren't worth bragging about!!!

Now, I don't mean a typo or a sloppy bit of punctuation (I'm probably guilty of both of those crimes in this very posting). I mean poorly chosen words, repetition, awkwards (or incorrect) sentence structure, spelling mistakes that are not simple typos. And one more time: awkward, clumsy sentence structure, vague word choices, and so on.

Furthermore, I have noticed in many cases the reviewer gets the author's name wrong and/or misspells the name of the main character(s).

I'd like to think that reviewers took pride in their work and that they took the time to revise and proofread and revise again. Sadly, this does not seem to be the case, at least not all the time.

Deadlines & Reminders

Hey GTA Writers:

Reminder that the deadline for the current Work In Progress grant from the Ontario Arts council is February 16th. Applications must arrive at 151 Bloor Street West (5th Floor) by 5:00 p.m. (8:00 pm if you drop it off in person).

Also, from February 15th until May 1st, you should sign up for Public Lending Rights. It's well worth your while to participate in this - the average earnings per author for last year were $600.

Also, for books set in Toronto, the deadline for consideration for the Toronto Book Awards is March 31st.

Cheers and good luck!