Friday JohnKu – AKA TGIF #JusJoJan

January 1, 2016December 31, 2015 ~ John W. Howell ~ 23 Comments

A brand new year with the promise of a new beginning. It is funny how one day can be so different from another. Yesterday was so last year and today is what is happening now. I hope everyone had a lovely New Year’s Eve. Mine is usually pretty mild. We normally have a nice dinner and then pretty much sit and do what we always do. A little talk, some iPad time and one hour of a favorite show that has been pre-recorded. We are usually in our reading room (a euphemism for the bedroom) well before midnight. On New Year’s Eve, we don’t make an exception. Of course, we do have to put up with the tourists who think it is legal to shoot off fireworks on the beach (it’s not). So we have an interlude of explosions and idiots yelling from midnight until about one o’clock. Maybe I’m being persnickety but I think the choice of being up for the new year should be mine.

Today’s JohnKu talks about the difference in one day to another. I hope you enjoy it and Happy New Year one more time.

Nighttime comes this year,

The resolutions are made…

Dawn reconsider.

This post is part of Just Jot It January. If you want the lowdown visit Linda Hill at http://www.lindahill.com

One Hundred is as One Hundred Does

February 5, 2013August 1, 2021 ~ John W. Howell ~ 4 Comments

I went online just before the Super Bowl on Sunday to see if I could find out just how many books had been written about the Super Bowl. To most of you; the answer to this question is about as important as finding out how many calories in a hot fudge sundae. Once you know the answer then what? I had no plans to take the information and maybe justify to myself why there is room for yet another book about the Super Bowl and then go to work composing. Nope, that wasn’t the reason. I just wondered that’s all. I think the connection between being a writer and wondering about who wrote what- about- who just comes naturally. When I explain this natural wonder to others who don’t write, I get the slow back up and the patronizing nods of the head that seem to have as a purpose warding off a bigger meltdown.

Ah but I digress. (Another statement that convinces people I am certifiable) Anyway, I was not able to get the answer. I did come across some tidbits that I thought could be used during slow moments at wakes and cocktail hours. Did you know that Google has estimated that there are 129,864,880 books in the entire world? What is really interesting is to go on-line and actually read how Google came to that estimate which includes all the books published ever. This estimate was developed in spite of the fact that the ISBN system has only been available in the Western World for less than forty years. I can just see you walking up to some hapless innocent at your next cocktail reception and holding them in rapt attention. “Can you believe that there are only 129,864,880 books on the planet so I guess there is room for my next million seller.” Wow what an impact.

I also found a list of what Martin Seymour-Smith a British poet thinks are the top 100 most influential books ever published. His book is titled The 100 Most Influential Books Ever Written: The History of Thought from Ancient Times to Today. Although done in 1998 it is an interesting compilation.

My observation: The first eighty books were published prior to 1900. It is probable that none of us have working knowledge of too many of the books written prior to the twentieth century. Of course, some of them were required reading in specific courses of study (Dante’s Divine Comedy for example). The remaining twenty have familiar themes and are basically non-fiction, but here they are as published on Wikipedia.



#	Author	*Book Title*	Year Published
81	William James	Pragmatism	1908
82	Albert Einstein	Relativity	1916
83	Vilfredo Pareto	The Mind and Society	1916
84	Carl Jung	Psychological Types	1921
85	Martin Buber	I and Thou	1923
86	Franz Kafka	The Trial	1925
87	Karl Popper	The Logic of Scientific Discovery	1934
88	John Maynard Keynes	General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money	1936
89	Jean-Paul Sartre	Being and Nothingness	1943
90	Friedrich von Hayek	The Road to Serfdom	1944
91	Simone de Beauvoir	The Second Sex	1948
92	Norbert Wiener	Cybernetics	1948, revised 1961
93	George Orwell	Nineteen Eighty-Four	1949
94	George Gurdjieff	Beelzebub’s Tales to His Grandson	1950
95	Ludwig Wittgenstein	Philosophical Investigations	1953
96	Noam Chomsky	Syntactic Structures	1957
97	Thomas Kuhn	The Structure of Scientific Revolutions	1962, revised 1970
98	Betty Friedan	The Feminine Mystique	1963
99	Mao Zedong (attributed)	Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong (Little Red Book)	1966
100	B. F. Skinner	Beyond Freedom and Dignity	1971

The entire list can be seen at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_100_Most_Influential_Books_Ever_Written

Grumpy is as Grumpy Does

February 1, 2013August 1, 2021 ~ John W. Howell ~ 8 Comments

More research activity turned up an interesting article at Mental_Floss written by Stacy Conradt titled; 11 Authors Who Hated the Movie Versions of Their Books. I thought it interesting since there are listed some pretty good movies and some surprising reasons why the authors of the original story hated them. Here is a recap of the article’s substance and you will see what I mean:

Mary Poppins – P.L. Travers loathed the movie’s animated sequences and was perturbed that Mary Poppins’ strict side was downplayed.

The Shining – Stephen King felt the director Stanley Kubrick couldn’t grasp the sheer inhuman evil of The Overlook Hotel. So he looked, instead, for evil in the characters and made the film into a domestic tragedy with only vaguely supernatural overtones.

Interview with the Vampire – Anne Rice thought the casting was “so bizarre,” she said, “It’s almost impossible to imagine how it’s going to work.” When she saw the movie, however, she actually loved Cruise’s portrayal and told him what an impressive job he had done. She still hasn’t come around to liking Queen of the Damned, though, telling her Facebook fans to avoid seeing the film that “mutilated” her books.

Forrest Gump – Winston Groom did not like omission of plot points and sanitizing some of the language and sex. He also felt he was not paid what he was owed. He started the Gump sequel with the lines, “Don’t never let nobody make a movie of your life’s story,” and “Whether they get it right or wrong, it don’t matter.”

Sahara – Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt tales have a cult following. Dirk Pitt movies don’t, especially Sahara which was a certified flop: the $145 million production made just $68 million at the box office. Cussler said it was because the producer failed to give him total script control as agreed upon and sued for $38 million. He lost. In fact, Cussler was ordered to pay $13.9 million for legal fees incurred by the Sahara production company. Though that order was overturned in 2010, it’s safe to say that Cussler probably won’t be pursuing that relationship again.

Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger consented to have his short story Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut made into a movie retitled My Foolish Heart. He was so mortified by the swooning love story that he swore his works would never be butchered again and there has not been a movie made of Catcher in the Rye.

A Clockwork Orange – Anthony Burgess disliked the movie based on his novella A Clockwork Orange, he later regretted writing any of it in the first place. “The book I am best known for, or only known for, is a novel I am prepared to repudiate: written a quarter of a century ago, a jeu d’esprit knocked off for money in three weeks, it became known as the raw material for a film which seemed to glorify sex and violence. The film made it easy for readers of the book to misunderstand what it was about, and the misunderstanding will pursue me till I die. I should not have written the book because of this danger of misinterpretation.”

The Informers – Bret Easton Ellis says, “That movie doesn’t work for a lot reasons but I don’t think any of those reasons are my fault.”

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl felt the movie version of his book was “crummy,” found Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka to be “pretentious” and “bouncy,” and thought the director had “no talent or flair.” He vowed that film producers would never get their hands on the sequel to similarly ruin it, at least not in his lifetime.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kesey was not impressed. He was originally slated to help with the production, but left two weeks into the process. Though he claimed for a long time that he didn’t even watch it and was especially upset that they didn’t keep the viewpoint of Chief Bromden, his wife later said that he was glad the movie was made.

I Am Legend – Richard Matheson has been annoyed with the adaptations of his book since 1964. The first one, The Last Man on Earth, starred Vincent Price. “I was disappointed in The Last Man on Earth, even though they more or less followed my story. I think Vincent Price, whom I love in every one of his pictures that I wrote, was miscast. I also felt the direction was kind of poor.” Another version, The Omega Man, starred Charlton Heston. “The Omega Man was so removed from my book that it didn’t even bother me,” Matheson said. And when I Am Legend starring Will Smith was announced, the author commented, “I don’t know why Hollywood is fascinated by my book when they never care to film it as I wrote it.” The most recent adaptation, by the way, completely changed Matheson’s ending because it didn’t test well with audiences.

Read the full text here: http://mentalfloss.com/article/31001/11-authors-who-hated-movie-versions-their-books#ixzz2JfpV9NrF
–brought to you by mental_floss!

Submission is as Submission Does

January 25, 2013August 1, 2021 ~ John W. Howell

Since I am in the sweaty process of submitting my work to find an agent and/or publisher, I have come across many different kinds of submission policies. Some policies are very simple; send a query letter and we’ll get back in five minutes to tell you that we can’t do you for XYZ reasons.(You can pick one). Some of the policies are very complex; like the Oxford Press Guidelines for Author Submissions, which requires the hiring of a consultant to complete. The simple ones are somewhat merciful, in that, there is not much effort wasted when the results come back unfavorable. Not true with the complex. It takes hours to prepare a submission and then usually a six-week waiting period. (Which generally is more like six months) The whole effort then becomes a killer exercise when the rejection arrives. (Notice I say when) Sometimes there is no response since the agent or publisher only responds to those whose work they want to review more closely. Nicely most of these undercover agents publish this fact on their web site, so for warned is for armed.

Just for fun

For fun I thought I would take the Oxford Press Guidelines (Warning:Very Complex) and pretend I am an agent trying to get the Bible published for the first time. I want to use Oxford as my publisher. The disclaimer here is; this is only fiction and is not intended to be taken seriously. Further disclaimer; I am not on any better speaking terms with this story’s client than anyone else on the planet, therefore I cannot help you with anything. Okay with those disclaimers, here goes:

Guidelines for Author Submissions by Oxford Press USA

The Book

Brief Description – In one or two paragraphs, describe the work, including its rationale, approach, and pedagogy. ?This book is… It does… Its distinguishing features are…?

My Answer: Um…God lays down the law to all of mankind and do it with stories that mankind can understand, so by its nature it is pretty simple.

Outline – A detailed outline of the book should be prepared, including the chapters being submitted for review. This gives us an idea of how the material fits together, and how the remaining chapters will be developed. It should include chapter headings and sub-headings, with explanations as necessary.

My Answer: It goes from the beginning to now with a couple of notes on how the world ends

Outstanding Features List – Briefly what you consider to be the outstanding, distinctive, or unique features of the work.

My Answer: My client tells me that it is his word

Apparatus

Will the book include photographs, line drawings, cases, questions, problems, glossaries, bibliography, references, appendices, etc.?

My answer: My client says,” Nope”

If the book is a text, do you plan to provide supplementary material to accompany it? (Teacher’s manual, study guide, solutions, answers, workbooks, anthology, or other material.)

My Answer: My client says, “I’ll leave the material up to the readers to develop.”

Competition

Consider the existing books in this field and discuss specifically their strengths and weaknesses. Spell out how your book will be similar to, as well as different from, competing works.

My Answer: My client says, “nothing compares.”

Consider what aspects of topical coverage are similar to or different from the competition. What topics have been left out of competing books and what topics have been left out of yours?

My Answer: My client almost left out Adam and Eve which have become pretty interesting characters.

Please discuss each competing book in a separate paragraph. (If possible, please provide us with the publisher and date of publication as well.) This information will provide the reviewers and the publisher a frame of reference for evaluating your material. Remember, you are writing for reviewers and not for publication, so be as frank as possible regarding your competition. Give credit where credit is due, and show how you can do it better.

My Answer: My client says, “Judge not, lest ye be judged.”

Market Considerations

The Primary Market

What is the major market for the book? (Scholarly/professional, text, reference, trade?)

My Answer: Sinners

If this is a text, for what course is the book intended? Is the book a core text or a supplement? What type of student takes this course? What is the level? (Major or non-major; freshman, senior, graduate?) Do you offer this course yourself? If so, how many times have you given it? Is your text class-tested?

My Answer: Core and there will be a bunch of folks teaching eventually

If the market is scholarly/professional, reference, or trade, how may it best be reached? (Direct mail, relevant journals, professional associations, libraries, book or music stores?) For what type of reader is your book intended?

My Answer: Reach by Fire and brimstone meetings. The reader is anyone who needs to be saved.

Status of the Work

Do you have a timetable for completing the book? My Answer: DONE
1. What portion or percentage of the material is now complete?
2. When do you expect to have a complete manuscript?
What do you estimate to be the size of the completed book? My Answer: HUGE
1. Doublespaced typewritten pages normally reduce about one-third when set in type; e.g., 300 typewritten pages make about 200 printed pages. There are about 450 words on a printed page.
2. Approximately how many photographs do you plan to include?
3. Approximately how many line drawings (charts, graphs, diagrams, etc. ) will you need?
4. Do you plan to include material requiring permission (text, music, lyrics, illustrations)? To what extent? Have you started the permissions request process?
Do you plan to class-test the material in your own or other sections of the course? (Any material distributed to students should be protected by copyright notice on the material.)

My Answer: Nope let er rip

Sample Chapters

Select one or two chapters of the manuscript that are an integral part of the book. They should be those you consider the best-written ones, and do not have to be in sequence. For example, you might submit chapters 3, 7, and 14 of a 20-chapter book, so long as these chapters represent the content and reflect your writing style and pedagogy in the best possible light. It is also advisable to submit any chapter that is particularly innovative or unique. Sample chapters should contain rough sketches, charts, hand-written musical examples or xerox reproductions, and description of photographs to be included. The material need not be in final form, although it should be carefully prepared and represent your best work. In your preparation, emphasis should be on readability. Please do not bind your manuscript, as we will have to unbind it in order to make photocopies for reviewers. Also be sure all pages are numbered either consecutively or double-numbered by chapter.

My Answer: I would go with Genesis through Ruth which is attached. When you see the words “Thee and thou,” that means you.

Reviews

If we are interested in your project, we will commission outside reviewers to read and evaluate your proposal. We will, of course, obtain the best available reviewers to consider your work. If you wish to suggest the names of experts in your field whom you believe to be ideally suited to evaluate your proposal, you may provide their names, titles, and email addresses. While we are unlikely to approach these scholars to act as reviewers themselves, we may ask them for their suggestions for peer readers. Naturally, we do not reveal the names of reviewers without their permission.

My Answer: The Devil hates it. The Angles love it. ( I don’t mean LA)

Author Background

Please include a current CV or brief biography of your writing, teaching, and/or educational background and experience. Be sure to list any books that you have previously published, and any other information about yourself on why you are qualified to write this book.

My Answer: In the beginning my client made the Heaven and Earth

Response Time

Please allow at least 6-10 weeks for the manuscript proposal evaluation and review process. We will contact you as soon as we have had a chance to thoroughly examine your manuscript proposal. Thank you for your interest in Oxford University Press. We look forward to reading your materials.

My Answer: Talk to you then. My client is available everywhere.

Sorry for the length of this post. Hope you enjoyed. Have a nice weekend

Rule is as Rule Does

January 22, 2013August 1, 2021 ~ John W. Howell ~ 8 Comments

Rule is as Rule Does

I was doing some research (ahem make that surfing the net) when I came across an article from the Guardian UK describing a number of author provided rules for writing. I have already published Elmore Leonard’s famous ten rules list back in November, but I was taken with the list of Richard Ford; Pulitzer Prize winning author of Independence Day. Here is the list:

1 Marry somebody you love and who thinks you being a writer’s a good idea.

2 Don’t have children.

3 Don’t read your reviews.

4 Don’t write reviews. (Your judgment’s always tainted.)

5 Don’t have arguments with your wife in the morning, or late at night.

6 Don’t drink and write at the same time.

7 Don’t write letters to the editor. (No one cares.)

8 Don’t wish ill on your colleagues.

9 Try to think of others’ good luck as encouragement to yourself.

10 Don’t take any shit if you can possibly help it.

I don’t think Richard warrants that if you follow these rules you will win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, but you may be a lot happier.

Here is the link if you would like to see other lists by other authors most are quite funny.