C h a z z W r i t e s . c o m

We are the publishing revolution

11/05/2010 • 2:15 PM 1

CanWrite! 2011 Conference Announcement

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In 2011, the Canadian Authors Association has announced CanWrite! 2011

will be held in Grand Bend, Ontario, May 2-8!

For more information on the conference/writer’s retreat, here’s the link.

If you’re a writer, please consider attending. I attended the CanWrite! Conference in Victoria, British Columbia last summer. I learned so much there. I took in workshops, had my eyes opened to the future of book publishing and best of all, met a lot of really cool writers. (I even got to do a live reading of one of my short stories.)

Writing is a lonely profession. It’s fun and useful to connect and recharge. This year, CanWrite will operate like a writers’ retreat so yes, you can get stuff done!

(Thanks to my friend Kim for the heads-up.)

Indie Revolution Update: The 2011 San Francisco Writers Conference “Goes Indie” (prweb.com)
How To Write and Publish A Book For The First Time – For Teachers (brighthub.com)

Filed under: publishing, self-publishing, Useful writing links, Writing Conferences, Canwrite Conference, publishing, Writers Resources, writers retreat, writing conference

11/05/2010 • 10:31 AM 3

Censorship: American Psycho, Canadian Psychos

Support censorship: Botticelli's "Birth o...

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God so loved the world he sent his only Son…instead of a committee.

For a couple of years I sat on a committee for Freedom of Expression representing editors and publishers.

Here’s what I learned:

Many people are staunch defenders of free expression as long as they agree with the views expressed.

I say I “sat” on the committee because my impression was that nothing would ever get done. The one time I chaired the committee, I was criticized for being too controversial.

Flash forward: I was no longer on the committee and was now working for Cannon Book Distributors. Brett Easton Ellis‘s American Psycho had been out for a short time and I was selling it across Canada. I met a former employer with whom I’d locked horns before in a Toronto street. He looked smug; he had no other facial expression, actually. He thought he had me.

“Now how do you feel about having to sell American Psycho?” (He didn’t say “ha-HA!” but the unspoken hung in the air between us.)

“Great,” I said. “I let grown-ups decide what they read. Otherwise, I’d be treating them like children.”

“You’re a civil libertarian, then?” he asked. He asked the question the same way you might ask an acquaintance how often he buggered syphilitic goats.

“Yes.”

He shook his head. No hope for me.

Here’s what censors don’t seem to get: Either you read a book you found offensive and decided for yourself it wasn’t for you (in which case everyone else should have that same privilege) or you didn’t read it, in which case you shouldn’t condemn it. I’ve already got two parents. I really don’t need more authority figures telling me what not to read.

I love a list of censored books.

Almost invariably, that’s where to find great, or at least interesting, books.

Book Talk: Bret Easton Ellis on the lottery of success (reuters.com)
American Psycho To Slay Audiences In Front of the Footlights [The Theatre] (gawker.com)
28 reviews of American Psycho (rateitall.com)
Bret Easton Ellis (jimdempsey.wordpress.com)

Filed under: banning books, censors, American Psycho, Bret Easton Ellis, censors, censorship

11/05/2010 • 9:47 AM 2

Kevin Smith loved the blog post! The aftermath…

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Good morning! First off, big thanks to Kevin Smith for the bump love and encouragement. He liked yesterday’s post, twittered it to his followers and within 20 minutes my blog got 500 hits. A couple of hours later? Seven-hundred and climbing. Kevin has a huge following and every morning he must wake up, blaze up and say, “It’s good to be the king.” Because it is and he’s earned it.

Thanks, too, to all the kind tweeple who sent me such nice feedback on the blog post and shared their feelings about the event. I wasn’t the only one so impressed with the experience. I received several tweets from people from Kitchener and area who were equally effected. We went for the laughs. We got much more than we expected. I know he must inspire tons of people because, of all the feedback I got, people were kind and there wasn’t even a hater in the bunch.

I’m earnest about earning my piece, too. An Evening with Kevin Smith really was an eye-opener and course correction for me and I’m already working away on that. (I hope some of you stick around or swing by once in a while to see my progress.) I have books to write and books to edit and I’m going into overdrive to get them edited, out the door and into the marketplace.

Great people make you feel like you can be great, too. Someone famous said something like that. Kevin exemplifies it. Thanks again, sir!

Okay, a little later today, I’ve got a story about American Psycho and me wrestling with censors…who, strangely, didn’t think they were censors.

Also, some ace writing and publishing links will be posted this afternoon.

Finally, a National Novel Writing Month update will be posted this evening.

Are you making progress? That’s what it’s all about.