Neil Gaiman’s Good Writing Practices

I was hooked on the first page of Neil Gaiman’s, The Graveyard Book, and followed Nobody Owens, to the END. I crave reading the writing practices of famous authors; not  only famous but beloved...wow...okay...but it’s true. We do fall for author’s that have taken us on a ride to somewhere over the rainbow. With that, I will list Neil Gaiman’s Good Writing Practices. Number 1 says it all. But here is the rest. The article on Neil Gaiman’s Good Writing Practices was taken from, The Guardian. Bold print is my idea because that’s where I need to listen.

1. Write.
2. Put one word after another. Find the right word, put it down.
3. Finish what you’re writing. Whatever you have to do to finish it, finish it.
4. Put it aside. Read it pretending you’ve never read it before. Show it to friends whose opinion you respect and who like the kind of thing that this is.
5. Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it. they are almost always wrong.
6. Fix it. Remember that, sooner or later, before it ever reaches perfection, you will have to let it go and move on and start to write the next thing. Perfection is like chasing the horizon. Keep moving.
7. Laugh at your own jokes.
8. The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you’re allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it’s definitely true for writing.) So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly, and tell it as best you can. I’m not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter.

THE GOD OF NIGHTMARES

After reading Paula Fox's novel, "The God of Nightmares, I got into her character's lives and watch how each character seemed to be dire jeopardy and sat on a jolting ride. But I went on that ride and rode the waves and jumped to shore with wanting more.  So it goes when I read a compassionate writer.

 "The God of Nightmares," takes you to New Orleans in 1941. You smell and taste the steamy streets of the French Quarter. The book caught my interest when I read about the author--Paula Fox. She addresses the issues: "How do we go armed into the world? And what does the world do to us if we are not sufficiently prepared to understand it?"

Had to order "The God of Nightmares," from Amazon. On the very last page I felt a beat for more; I pressed the last page between my fingers. Fox left me imagining more... that's the way to write a novel.

HOW THE MYTH OF CYBER CITY WAS BORN

So there I was up-dating my i-book, The Myth of Cyber City, to incorporate the origin of how my book came about in the first place. In the first place my book idea emerged when I saw spectacular visuals of cyber lines and colors dancing on my computer screen. I was dazzled by this performance. I set out to write text for the images.

 Bit by bit, a mythical story invented itself. I visualized a city in cyberspace. In cyber city you enter the phenomena of Information Art. A city where cyber robots build mysterious complex structures under the sandy bridge. Microchips are retrieved and stored. So my i-book, The Myth of Cyber City was born.  Anyway, that's how it began. 

The link to my i-book is in the iBookstore. 

A Blueprint in the Wind

A Blueprint in the Wind has a major update, an update that ties in Tom Parisi's blueprint illustrations to Floyd Bennett Field Gateway. On the month and year of his death--December, 2011--his hand-built model air planes had been commissioned by HARP, to be exhibited in Hanger B, in the Historic Aircraft Restoration Project at Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, New York.

It has been a long journey to get all of my brother's life's work together, but an uplifting journey, at that. I have gain considerable knowledge about my brother and do hope I have done what was important for his legacy. I do know that through the mystery of cyber space, his work is LIVE in the i-bookstore.

The Theme of A Blueprint in the Wind.

A spiritual journey down memory lane inspired by the power of technical drawings and lyrical notes my late brother, Tom Parisi, left behind, in a mix of Edgar Allan Poe's poetry.  The book contains Interactive elements and pop-ups .


Why did I write this book? My brother left me. He is in a free place strumming his guitar. He is missed. My husband Bob and I needed to make his presence felt even if he is so far off in the distance. This little ibook was assembled with much love with lots of tough decisions. Like, would Tom like this?After all, he wasn't into Facebook or social networking. He was into his own world playing his music. So where do I, his sister, decide to promote his life's work, the little that I have. His technical drawing. The music he had sent to me over the information highway. A birthday gift.

My husband Bob encouraged this book, encouraged me to "do it." And so with my husband reading it over and over and over and when he believed it was right, I submitted, A Blueprint to the iBookstore publishers. Not an easy task. I had to wait until the book was approved. Apple wants the book to be the best it can be. That is, the way it is. Actually, I'm quite happy about that.

Anyway, here it is for you to judge. Maybe, there is someone whose spirit you can feel too.

My brother's memory book is in the iBookstore.

A Blueprint in the Wind

The Writer's Block Q&A

So there I was in cyberspace and met with Raychelle Muhammad. I was delighted to be invited to The Writer's Block. It was an amazing experience. It offered me an opportunity to reflect up my journey of my writing and digital art life and where I am going and where I have been. The Writer's Block

A WRINKLE IN TIME--THE FEMALE PROTAGONIST

A WRINKLE IN TIME--THE FEMALE PROTAGONIST

“It was a dark and stormy night,” begins Madeleine L’Engle’s challenged book, A Wrinkle in Time, published in 1962 after having been rejected by major publishers. According to "A Special Message from Madeleine L'Engle" on the Random House website,  "A Wrinkle in Time had a female protagonist in a science fiction book." The story is about Meg’s search for her father who disappeared on a secret mission. It takes you on a mystical journey and we encounter what some groups considered an offensive journey. I’d loved reading how young Margaret Murray, the protagonist of the book, “On the way home from school, walking up the road with her arms full of books, one of the boys had said something about her “dumb baby brother.” At this she’d thrown the books on the side of the road and tackled him.” L’Engle sent a message in her book that female characters can play an assertive role.

The Wind
NJP

L’Engle persevered. Through a chance meeting she met John C. Farrar; Farrar, Straus and Girouix. once published, A Wrinkle in Time was banned.The reasons quoted and listed in Frequently Challenged Books begin with, “Offensive language; witches; crystal balls; challenges religious beliefs.” After reading that A Wrinkle in Time had been banned, I’d said to myself, “Right on L’Engle. You fight for female female protagonists taking on lead role.  Margaret Murray carried the story on the ground--and in the wind. 

GHOSTS IN CYBER CITY

"GHOSTS IN THE MACHINE"

Talk about a coincidence.
My book, The Myth of Cyber City journeys into cyberspace, where robots work on complex structures and ghosts hide in those structures. In the July 20th edition of The New York Times, (Weekend Arts) one of the featured articles, reads:

"Technology Advances, Then Art Inquires. GHOSTS IN THE MACHINE, at the New Museum."

The article by Roberta Smith/Art Review--begins:

"If Ghosts in the Museum," an ambitious, multitasking, somewhat austere exhibition at the New Museum were itself a machine, it would have lots of movable parts, but not all of them would be performing with equal efficiency."

I am in No Way affiliated with the New Museum.

In a somewhat spiritual way I've got to admit the timing of the publication of my book and the New Museum exhibition, GHOSTS IN THE MACHINE, blew me into a spin.

"Ghosts in the Machine" continues through Sept. 30 at the New Museum, 235 Bowery at Prince Street, Lower East Side; new museum.org.