Engineering majors don’t get a lot of choice in college electives. We take what we’re told and are lucky to graduate in 5-years. On the one occasion that I remember actually having an elective without restrictions, I chose to take a class in World Literature. “We’ve never had an engineering major take an elective in … Continue reading
I love women’s soccer, but I usually don’t like to watch it. It just stings too much that my generation didn’t have the chance to play for a national team. Today was the exception. I finally watched…and the U.S. women won gold! I’ve been working on my book this evening and happened to read over … Continue reading
I missed my hometown library’s book sale in Newtown, Connecticut this year. 120K books for sale, and I missed it – darn! A few weeks later I happened to visit the Martin Luther King Library in San Jose, California. The downtown library of the 10th largest U.S. city is about a zillion times bigger than … Continue reading
The Wall Street Journal reports (July 19, 2012) that Penguin (owned by Big-6 publisher Pearson) has announced that it will acquire the self-publishing company Author Solutions, Inc. for $116M in cash. It seems that the publishers want to make money from writers as much as from readers. In addition, Author Solutions has “..a trove of … Continue reading
I received feedback on my manuscript about a month ago, that I needed to provide a lot more background about my parents to explain why my childhood was both so fun and funny. One reviewer (thanks Jen!) suggested that I explain why my father was such a good cook and why I grew up in … Continue reading
Hooray! The Espresso Book Machine (EBM) is now available at the independent bookseller called Bookshop Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz, CA. (http://www.bookshopsantacruz.com/). This device is pretty much a gigantic printer that can print and bind books to look pretty much like every other book in the bookstore. With color cover capabilities, varying trim sizes, … Continue reading
The graphic designer gave me a first look at four cover options today. They are all terrific! What makes a good book cover? From my web reading, it sounds like the cover has to intrigue someone to pick up the book as well as suggest something about what the book is about. Obviously, the cover … Continue reading
This is my very first post. My blog will focus on memoirs. I wrote a few of my childhood stories for my 80-something parents as a 2011 Christmas gift. I wanted to write the funny little stories that had been told and retold around the dinner table so many times. I started out with the … Continue reading
