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

See all my books at AllThatChazz.com.

02/10/2011 • 8:47 PM 1

Writers: Self-published book wins big on CBC’s Canada Reads

Cover of The Best Laid Plans

CBC’s Canada Reads winner is Terry Fallis,

**author of The Best Laid Plans.**

Congratulations to Mr. Fallis

for his well-deserved victory.

You know what’s really great about this story, right? Mr. Fallis submitted his manuscript to agents and publishers everywhere and was turned down flat.

Next, he podcasted his book.

Then he self-published his book.

That would have been the end of it, but when he won the Stephen Leacock award, finally McClelland & Stewart paid attention.

Now Best Laid Plans is celebrated.

(I wonder, are any of the publishers who passed up on the opportunity to publish the book questioning their judgment today? Of course not. That’s a rhetorical question.)

Shrill British paint guru Debbie Travis defended The Birth House (poorly). She might have fared better if she understood that (a) she should have read all of Best Laid Plans instead of dismissing it with such disdain, and (b) she might even have won if she wasn’t so damn cranky. When she dismissed other contestants’ objections as “ridiculous” I knew she already lost.

The Birth House might be a good book, but after Debbie Travis’s poor representation, I’m sure I’ll never give that one a chance. It’s kind of important to be likeable, even in debate. No, it’s not fair to the author, Ami McKay, (sorry Ms. McKay!) but it’s clear it’s more diatribe than novel.

Note to CBC Radio‘s Q host Jian Ghomeshi: Maybe she’s good for ratings but she’s no good for books. A judge who doesn’t read all of the books, and then has the temerity to condemn it without reading it all, shouldn’t be back on air.

The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis wins Canada Reads (theglobeandmail.com)
Best Laid Plans tops Canada Reads (thestar.com)
Canada Reads names 2011 winner (cbc.ca)
Terry Fallis wins Canada Reads competition (arts.nationalpost.com)
How authors and other experts can use audio products (trafcom.typepad.com)
Jeff Lemire’s graphic novel out of competition (windsorstar.com)
Essex County by Jeff Lemire makes final five on Canada Reads list (windsorstar.com)

Filed under: authors, Books, Contest announcement, podcasts, Publicity & Promotion, publishing, Rant, self-publishing, writing contests, Ami McKay, Best Laid Plans, Canada Reads, CBC, Debbie Travis, Jian, McClelland & Stewart, Terry Fallis, The Birth House

02/10/2011 • 12:45 PM 0

Writers: Your Thursday afternoon reward

Image via Wikipedia

This week is so busy, it already feels like Friday. Tomorrow guest blogger Rebecca Senese will show you how to use Smashwords to publish your e-books. I can’t top that, so this afternoon, it’s time for an early reward post.

People ask what I listen to for fun and illumination and to escape the aching hell that is the mundane. (I can’t do laundry or go to the grocery store if I’m not armed with my iPod.)

I’m a podcast junkie. Hop over to iTunes and check out my top ten podcasts:

1. Hollywood Babble-on with Ralph Garmin and Kevin Smith: Filthy, funny pop culture.

2. Best of the Left Podcast: A political theme-based podcast that’s a survey course on what’s wrong with Republicans. It’s stimulating, irksome and often funny.

3. I Should Be Writing with Mur Lafferty: Solid writing advice.

4. The Joe Rogan Experience: Explicit, funny and philosophy on weed. If you only know Joe as “The Fear Factor Guy”, you don’t know Joe. He often hosts excellent guests who are either hugely funny stand-ups and or the uber-intelligent. Or both.

5. Slate Spoiler Specials: This is movie reviewing after the fact. The reviewers assume you’ve already seen it so they aren’t coy about spoilers and discussing everything about the move in-depth.

6. Writing Excuses: Each 15-minute episode tackles a theme about writing to help you improve your craft.

7. Irreverent Muse: I just discovered Mike Plested’s podcast this week and now I have 49 more episodes to catch up on. Oodles of publishing advice.

8. The Smartest Man in the World: Greg Proops freestyles his unique brand of comedy. You’ll feel a giddy, hallucinogenic effect listening to him bounce effortlessly from topic to topic.

9. Smodcast: This is the Kevin Smith/Scott Mosier podcast that started the Smodcast network of podcasts. Funny stuff that’s just bent. Lots of personal stuff and then strange digressions that involve Hitler and the judicious use of time machine technology. If you’re looking for a funny Kevin Smith podcast that’s a bit more grounded, try Plus One, the podcast Kevin does with his wife Jennifer. When they talk about their kid growing up I think of my own kids and get misty right along with them.

10. Slate Political Gabfest: It goes up each Friday afternoon. I find the gabfesters are often a snooty bunch but the topics are often interesting. (I find American politics riveting, unlike just about any aspect of Canadian politics.)

Related Articles

Book Marketing: What I learned from Joe Rogan (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
Writers: Action Items and Mega-links! (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
Which SModcast is the best kind of SModcast? Does @ThatKevinSmith agree? (onegoodminute.wordpress.com)
Chazz Writes: The Top Post of 2010 was… (chazzwrites.wordpress.com)
Inside Kevin Smith’s Booming Podcast Business (fastcompany.com)
The Problem of Free (idratherbewriting.com)
Joe Rogan’s wide variety of interests pulls fans in from all over (pbpulse.com)
Coming up with podcast ideas (trafcom.typepad.com)

Filed under: Intentionally Hilarious, Media, podcasts, Top Ten, web reviews, writing tips, Arts, funny, Greg Proops, iPod, iTunes, Joe Rogan, Kevin Smith, movies, Podcast, podcasting, politics, Pop Culture, publishing, reward, SModcast

02/10/2011 • 9:49 AM 2

Come for the flash mob VIDEO. Stay to think about why word choice matters.

The power of the pink shirt inspires me. When I was in high school, a guy would have definitely been harassed and probably been beaten if he wore a pink shirt. (Notice I didn’t say beaten up. For some reason, “up” trivializes what it really is.)

I don’t even care for the word “bullying.” I know schools everywhere have anti-bullying campaigns, but that trivializes the act, as well. If an adult tries to bully another adult, we don’t call it that. We call it assault and we call the police and a lawyer. Children are more vulnerable because we say “boys will be boys” and “girls are just like that sometimes.” Boys fight. Girls typically employ social shunning behaviors to manipulate their victims. Both sexes do damage that lasts.

What is the point of videos like this? I think it shows kids there are better ways to be cool than to be angry loners. The kids in this video are having fun doing something positive together. Kids who bully or are bullied are not having fun. These issues tear me up now more than ever because I worry for my son. Perhaps because he’s profoundly colorblind (or way cooler than his dad was at his age), social anxiety around the color of clothing is a mystery to him. He’s much more open to trying new things than I was. His life is richer because it’s not ruled by fear of criticism, failure, derision or violence.

Unlike me. I was an angry loner. I was bullied until I learned self-defense. That’s how I coped at the time, but it wasn’t the best way. I mistook fear and wariness for respect. You can’t have a sense of humor when you’re wound that tight. You don’t try new things or go out of your way to meet new people and make friends because everyone is a potential risk.

Bullies and victims come to share something: oversensitivity to any slight, real or imagined. (Maybe they’re that writer in your critique group that went home enraged and never came back.)

My training did give me some confidence, but it also made me suspicious and hyper-reactive. I was still trapped in fear. I was afraid I’d have to fight. I was afraid of getting hurt. I was afraid my rage would boil over and I’d go too far. (And yes, sadism breeds sadism and victims can become victimizers.) I was afraid to be honest and connecting with others was a risk. Community is a threat when all you expect is violence and criticism. Violence in our words and our actions breeds life’s bystanders.

Your words matter. Choose them carefully. Use them well and they can stimulate, educate and entertain. Choose them poorly and you may rob yourself and the victim of dignity for a day. Or the victim may live a smaller life forever after because of your influence.

Are people glad to see you coming? Think about that.

And this:

Adults shamed as children.

Related Articles

Parenting Solutions: Bullying (education.com)
Exclusive: One Life to Live’s Cyber-Bully Revealed (seattlepi.com)
Video: Bullied Kid Turns Survivor (cbsnews.com)
Can We Stop the Gay Bullying Epidemic? (education.com)
Upper Darby, Pennyslvania Bullying “Wolf Pack” Arrested for Brutally Bullying 13 year old (themoderatevoice.com)
Flash Mob Breaks Into Dance At University Basketball Game (neatorama.com)
Married in a flash mob! Video captures couple’s dance inspired wedding at shopping mall (dailymail.co.uk)

Filed under: getting it done, movies, Rant, Rejection, What about Chazz?, Writers, assault, bully, bullying, David Lloyd George, Flash mob, inspiration, life skills, Middle school, shame, Social anxiety, Vancouver, Violence and Abuse, word choice, youth

02/10/2011 • 5:21 AM 1

The Charles Bukowski Quote

Image via Wikipedia

From the novel, Hollywood:

The screenplay went well. Writing was never work for me. It had been the same for as long as I could remember: turn on the radio to a classical music station, light a cigarette or a cigar, open the bottle. The typer did the rest. All I had to do was be there. The whole process allowed me to continue when life itself offered very little, when life itself was a horror show. There was always the typer to soothe me, to talk to me, to entertain me, to save my ass. Basically, that’s why I wrote: to save my ass, to save my ass from the madhouse, from the streets, from myself.

~Charles Bukowski, Hollywood, p. 88, 1989, HarperCollins

He’s an ordinary guy who transcends ordinary. His poetry inspired me to write poems (that he would hate.) His prose reminded me how easy writing should feel, even if I don’t share his ease at the keyboard all the time. He was a bewildered, unapologetic drunk. He didn’t write from his brain or his heart. Bukowski wrote from his balls. If you’re unfamiliar with his work, I recommend it (whether or not you enjoy the image of writing that seems to originate from the genitalia.)

Hollywood takes a delicious stab at Jack Kerouac for whom Bukowski obviously had no respect. It’ a fun read, especially when Norman Mailer shows up in a disguise so thin you can imagine Bukowski giving you a funny little wink.

Bukowski is the uncle you’re supposed to hate, but you can’t bring yourself to think he’s unredeemable. There is an innocence there, like a child unaware of social norms that define good behavior.

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