Fiction
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A Self-Interview with the Author, Jacke Wilson
Today’s self-interview is with the author and sole proprietor of this blog, Jacke Wilson. Jacke’s novella The Race is available now at Amazon.com. Q: Thank you for sitting down with me today. A: It was no trouble at all. Q: How long have you been writing fiction? A: As a serious endeavor, approximately 18 years. Q:… Continue reading
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Advice from Saint Stephen: Don’t Punch Down
Longtime readers will recall my struggles with tone. I honestly am trying to keep this blog positive, forward-looking, and helpful. A beacon of fairness and integrity. And yet… one of my most popular posts refers to a famous novelist as a Horse’s Ass. And then there’s the series of posts referring to a prominent reviewer… Continue reading
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The Jacke Wilson One-Word Test: Are Your Themes What You Expected?
Years ago The New Yorker ran a cartoon after Ken Burns had just come out with his second major documentary, Baseball. (The first, of course, had been the masterpiece The Civil War.) The cartoon showed a man’s hand holding a piece of paper with “Ken Burns To-Do List” at the top. Underneath the title it said: WAR SPORTS… Continue reading
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NaNoWriMo: A Full-Throated Defense
This is national novel writing month (NaNoWriMo), which isn’t something I’ve ever participated in, mainly because I write fiction year round and don’t need any extra incentive. What has struck me this year is that there are such strong opinions AGAINST it. Even purported supporters often give NaNoWriMo participants the back of their hand –… Continue reading
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Writing For Free: Must We Be Blockheads?
Blogs are free. Podcasts are free. Why not e-books? Umm…. Because I hope people think they shouldn’t be? Derek Thompson takes a thoughtful look at the arguments for and against writing for free: This discussion typically ping-pongs between two extremes: (1) It’s deeply unjust and insulting to ask people for free work, including free writing; and… Continue reading
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What They Knew #12
“WAIT.” –Franz Kafka (from the sign he had posted above his writing desk) Continue reading
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Inmates, Asylums, Etc.
Noreen Malone provides a fascinating look at Simon & Schuster’s Jeremie Ruby-Strauss, The King of Trash Publishing: He was the very picture of civilized, a quality less abundant in the books he acquires. Ruby-Strauss had just come from the set of the “Today” show, where he’d shepherded three new authors, the young women behind the… Continue reading
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On Digitization, Democracy, and Dignity
Several times now we’ve referred to the dignity of small audiences in arguing for self-publishing as a worthy endeavor, which should be celebrated rather than stigmatized. I’m glad to see the great Jeremy Waldron (incidentally a former professor of mine, and one of my favorites) has come out with a new book on the subject.… Continue reading
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Beta Readers: New Jacke Book Shipping Today!
Definition of a good day: A Halloween post on the indie-publishing spirit of nineteenth-century France (did you miss the Halloween connection? look again!) Shipping out copies of the next Jacke Wilson book to my fantastic early readers I’m trying a new tactic this time: hard copies, a comment sheet, and a return envelope, postage paid.… Continue reading
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Independent Publishing: What Would Stéphane Mallarmé Do?
Steve Moyer provides a fascinating look at the intersection of technology and publishing in nineteenth-century France. As Moyer observes, Stéphane Mallarmé not only excelled in poetry, essays, and translations, but in reconceptualizing the nature of the book: He was given to imagining new possibilities for the book, and in the 1870s and 1880s, he worked to… Continue reading
Jacke Wilson 