Results tagged “Writing” from Kristin Swenson

I attended a great session at the 2010 VA Fest of the Book on the business of reviewing books. C-Span's Book TV recorded it. I just recently watched it again, after receiving some very nice comments about the question I asked (Is it appropriate to thank a reviewer? - some said "yes," others "absolutely not"). I was in the audience, though, not part of the program and found it to be awesome -- insightful, entertaining, inspiring, and surprisingly funny. I recommend it. The panelists, from left to right if you watch the video were: Rebecca Skloot, reviewer and also author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks; Bethanne Patrick, of The Book Studio; Ron Charles of The Washington Post Book World; Katharine Weber, review and author of True Confections; David Montgomery, reviewer for the Chicago Sun-Times and The Daily Beast and author of Thriller 2. The moderator was Bella Stander, of Book Promotion 101.

The Virginia Festival of the Book kicks off today, St. Patty's Day! I'm on for a Bible Babel book talk tonight -- 6pm at the Charlottesville Barnes and Noble on Emmett. If you're in the area, do come! I had a chance to visit over coffee yesterday with my fellow panelist, Winn Collier, and our charming and insightful moderator, David Bearinger. I think it's going to be great fun. The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities has been putting on this remarkable event for years. You can check out the line-up for each day (it goes through Saturday) by following the link above. Hope to see you there!

The James River Writers conference was a smashing success! Many thanks to Jason Tesauro, Ginny Pye, the Library of Virginia, volunteers, organizers, soiree hosts, agents, editors, panelists, moderators, and all who helped make it great! Although finally only writing is writing, talking about the craft, hearing the stories of how stories came to be, and simply hanging out with folks whose passion is the word is inspiring and invigorating. In the ups and downs of this business that some do pursue for the business of it all but most for love of the written word, the poem finely wrought, the tale that grabs and holds, the novel take on a nonfiction subject, it's good to be reminded that each book is unique and the whole process innately subjective. Another's success is to be celebrated as much as one's own. This isn't, as Katherine Neville pointed out, a zero-sum game. How great to have an opportunity to be with others sharing the experiences and products of our solitude.

Of these sentences, which do you think is better?

1) "The Bible is a singular document of inestimable influence; but all evidence to the contrary, it can be really, really hard to understand."

2) "The Bible is a singular document of inestimable influence, but despite all evidence to the contrary, it can be really hard to understand."

Oh, and feel free to weigh in on how many "really"s should be included!

This sentence, in some form or another, will appear in the first paragraph of Bible Babel's chapter 1. FYI, one of my goals for Bible Babel is that it be a light, swift read, humming along even while it introduces and engages serious and heady info.

Here's the greater context (Ch.1's first full parag):

Thinking about writing is not writing; talking about writing is not writing. Only writing is writing, or so the wisdom goes. The school semester is in full swing, and I'm finding it increasingly difficult to carve out the time and maintain the concentration required to make progress on the projects I'm eager to do. So, I'm excited about attending our annual James River Writers conference in early October. Open to all -- folks just beginning to sketch out their ideas, poems, and stories on paper; and seasoned pros who make a living at the craft -- meetings such as this never fail to inspire and encourage. Sort of like the paradox of taking more time to sleep can help a person to get more done, carving out space for a writing conference here or there can boost the profoundly solitary experience of putting pen to paper or fingers to the keyboard. So, about that thinking and talking bit...