Came across an unique business in an article by Brittany Lyte of the  Stamford Advocate. The business is called “Demand Poetry” and is run by Elizabeth Howard. She gets back to the essence of writing by putting words in ink on paper with an electric typewriter. For a modest fee, she takes requests and writes poems for men who don’t know how to express their feelings to their wives or girlfriends. It reminded me of Cyrano De Bergerc; romantic and wistful. Typing poems takes us back to a simplier time when we had time to ponder our feelings rather than just banging out a text message in harsh abbreviations that flits through the air and vanishes with a click of the delete key. Howard’s poems can be framed as a lasting memory of emotion.

Great ingenuity! Wishing her success as she helps us pause in our frantic lives to examine our inner world.

Here’s her link: http://elizabethhoward.net/demandpoetry/

It’s a dream come true…for all fiction junkies, the Harvard Business Review now says that research proves that reading fiction can help you earn more money. How? Because people who read fiction learn superior emotional intelligence skills by absorbing their favorite character’s responses to the trials and tribulations their authors put them through. Emotional intelligence or the ability to appropriately read and respond to other’s emotions is key to gaining promotions and earning higher salaries.

So next time you feel guilty for settling into the couch with a blanket, a cup of coffee and a good book, don’t. The dishes can go in the dishwasher. The dust isn’t hurting anyone. So get to work on that promotion and get reading!

Here’s the full story:

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/01/the_business_case_for_reading.html

This is the kind of story I love. A group of smart, twenty-something New Yorkers disenfranchised by traditional literary society/industry strike out on their own and create a new journal and intellectual salon. These writers and editors could have given up when all the doors slammed in their face. But they didn’t. They pushed on and created something new themselves. Now they are starting to gain national attention for their work.

They might not be raking in big salaries yet, but that’s beside the point. They are on the right path. They are on the path of opening doors themselves, not standing outside closed doors passively and waiting for them to open. There may be twists and turns on the path and it may get discouraging, but it’s essential to keep trying and keep learning. Most successful people have experienced plenty of failure as well, but the key thing is they learn from it and move past it.

Here’s the whole story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/fashion/new-yorks-literary-cubs.html?pagewanted=3&_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha210

In September I launched a new social site, http://dudequote.me

This site lets visitors post their own original philosophical musings and share them with friends plus rate quotes from others. It’s another way to spur creativity and innovation. It’s also a way to look inside and find strength to overcome adversity- especially needed in this tough economy.

Visit Dudequote.me any time and post your unique quote. Hope you enjoy this recently published feature article that overviews my business ventures and writing projects (including the recently published e-book ”Small Business Rocket Fuel: Marketing Tools to Boost Revenue”) as well. It’s always exciting see your business through someone else’s eyes.

http://www.acorn-online.com/joomla15/wiltonbulletin/news/localnews/108643-the-business-of-writing-uplifting-quotes.html

No matter how crazy the economy gets, the things that can’t be taken away are aspects of your core personality. Creativity is one of these. Creativity is resilient, but there are still ways to feed it and grow it. One of these is through new and interesting experiences. These experiences can be used to build stories and spark new ideas.

My MBA program has been a tremendous idea sparker. As I look back on what I’ve learned over the past year plus, it’s been life-changing in many ways. It’s hard to believe that the end is growing ever closer.

Besides taking classes, new experiences can be gained through travel and meeting new people even at local conferences.

The new economy has given many of us a new perspective. Life isn’t all about what you can buy, but about what you can be.

In keeping with this philosophy, I’m hard at work on the next book in the “Small Business Rocket Fuel” series as well as finishing up novel 3 (really novel 4 except it jumped ahead and demanded to be worked on).

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Take a look at this interesting article on how experiences can benefit you more than be part of the “buy culture”.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/americans-rethinking-prosperity-162216815.html

1. Give yourself time to daydream. I find great ideas come when I’m doing something physical that requires little thought like running, working out on an exercise machine at the gym, gardening, etc. So unplug the iPod and let the thoughts swirl about in your brain.

2. Go someplace new. While going to the same vacation spot every year is comfortable and creates warm memories, going somewhere new can get new ideas pinging about.

3. Talk to people. Listen to people. I have come up with some great ideas during lectures, presentations or even just meeting and talking with someone new at a conference. Often just one word or phrase from someone else will spark a cascade of ideas related to some problem I’d been mulling for days.

I just love coming up with new ideas. I find myself delving into whole new areas and becoming quite passionate about them. The hard work comes when implementing the ideas. That’s when you have to roll up your sleeves and get to it. This is when the good ideas are sifted out from the less good. But it is also a stumbling point for many. Not only does it take effort to start something new (like a book, project or business), it also takes courage. Many new efforts fail. Even if yours fails, you deserve praise for having tried. And learned. If starting something new were easy, then more people would do it instead of opting out before they start. So don’t look down into the darkness of failure. Be Courageous! Be Passionate! Just Start!

In New England, we’ve passed from inferno hot back to pleasantly cool and grey. I admit it was hard to think in the heat sometimes even with the air conditioning on. So nice to be past that. Despite the weather had some good writing days this month on my thriller #4 manuscript. Starting to see the “light at the end of the tunnel”. It’s always hard to write middles. But I love writing endings! That’s what I’m into now.

Also not forgetting the Small Business Rocket Fuel series. This is such a great series and there are so many more ideas to explore. So exciting to be contemplating a blank slate of a new project.

Hard to believe we’re moving into the final stretch of summer…

I read a great article about James Rollins recently (he’s one of the founders of the International Thriller Writer’s Association, which recently held it’s annual conference in NYC). I  had been searching for awhile for a good definition and most seemed nebulous or incomplete. However, I thought James Rollins’ definition to be complete and on target- at least for my work.

He said, “Thrillers deal in science fiction, romance, suspense, mystery.” That encompasses all the various aspects of my thriller and it’s a useful framework in developing new novels.

Hope you find this definition useful too!

RWA National Conference had a beautiful sunny day for opening day today. Great article in the WSJ today on Eloisa James who will be speaking at the conference. They discussed some of the challenges in balancing two careers- in her case between academic and best-selling romance writer. They also touched on family versus career challenges including her year spent living in Paris, which spawned a new book. Sounds like she is handling all of her challenges fabulously.

I find challenges a daily juggling act (which sometimes lead to reduced blog posts in exchange for, hopefully, great things).

Breaking my longer than intended silence to announce that shortly I will be posting some exciting news. I can at least say that while I have been delinquent in keeping up this blog, I have at least been productive.

Besides my writing life, I am now nearing the end of the first year of my MBA program. It might seem odd for a writer to be going to business school. However, I strongly believe writers should have a solid grounding in good business practices. After all, writing is a business if you intend to make a profit. If you don’t, then you are writing as a hobby, which is also fine in and of itself. But, if your goal is to be widely read, to be known and respected as a writer plus earn a living then you must take the path of professional writer rather than that of the hobbyist.

As a business person, you need to watch many aspects of your business at once. First, profits. Have you set the right price (high enough to cover your variable costs like office supplies as well as your fixed costs, if any, such as rent)? Is your price low enough that a sufficient number of people will pay that price? Your profit essentially is the volume times the price you sell at minus your costs (variable and fixed). Remember- your time is a variable cost. You have to include a salary for yourself to be considered a working professional. If you are giving away your books or charging so little that you’re losing money then you have violated the first rule of business- to make a profit. No company exists for long while losing money. Often I hear writers (and even some readers) tell me- what I (or the writer) really need(s) is readers. The old idea of “build it and they will come”. For writers this translates to “if I give enough away, people will start paying me one day.” Think about this though- have you ever received a give-away that when you didn’t get the item for free you wanted so much that you finally started paying for it? How about most Internet content? When a web site (like say the New York Times) converted to a pay model, did you start paying? Or were you annoyed that now you had to pay so you stopped visiting the site?

“Hey,” you say, “I got a free spoonful of ice cream the other day then I bought a whole cone. That’s free switched to pay.” Actually, you just got a sample, not free product. I agree free samples can encourage purchases. Many products are sold with this approach. Even Amazon allows you to sample books before buying.

I’ve thought a lot about the psychology of the “free to pay” concept. I believe the reason people refuse to pay for things they’ve gotten for free in the past is that they’ve been taught the item has no value. After all, it’s free, right? If it was worth something, the company would charge for it. With capitalism, an item is worth whatever someone will pay for it. Free = worthless in our minds. That doesn’t mean no one wants the item. Think of how you feel on being handed a free pen or free bookmark or balloon for your kid. Right at that moment, you say, “Cool! What a nice ______.” Five minutes later the balloon is popped, the pen broken, the bookmark lost and you don’t give it a further thought. Why should you? You didn’t pay for it anyway.

I believe writers should re-evaluate their approach of giving away their work in hopes that someday they will be paid for it. Free samples, yes. Occasional small free give-aways in combination with a larger size purchase, yes. But not totally free all the time. The only exception to this is if you have electronic works on a web/blog or in print with enough traffic to earn good money from advertising (the favorite tech company model.) Even then, this strategy is risky and often doesn’t work as illustrated by the many failed tech companies.