Summer Entertainment: Books & Movies

Summer is the perfect time to get swept away in a good book or movie. Over at NPR, they've come up with more than 100 movie and book recommendations and staff picks. It's worth checking out just to see the graphics of all those book and film covers. My to be read and watched lists just grew exponentially. Thanks for all the ideas, NPR. :)

Self-Published Surprises: 'The Martian'

When I come across interesting information, I like to share it to encourage interest in books, but also to put a human face to writers and publishers. This is a quick NPR interview about Andy Weir's self-published book "The Martian"and its evolution. 

Weir's candid response about his chances at mainstream success is great, "I thought it was just - oh, you know, it's just a book, you know, by a dork for dorks." I laughed because it's funny to think this self-published "book by a dork" earned Weir a deal with Random House and went on to become an award winning movie. While this doesn't happen to every writer, if you love the story and stick with it, it just might. 

NPR Books: 'The Martian'

Rosie The Riveter's World War II-Era Plant Faces Demolition

The Willow Run plant is part of our nation's history, felt this npr article was worth a read. It could be used as a museum, but it's probably easier and cheaper to knock it down and build something else. Not sure how I feel. What do you think?

Article link:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/04/29/308062125/rosie-the-riveters-world-war-ii-era-plant-faces-demolition?ft=1&f=

Doing The First Novel Hustle: 'The Oracle Of Stamboul'

“I told myself that I would rather be a person who tried to write a novel and failed than be someone who abandoned their novel.”

-              - Michael David Lukas

That quote really hit me as I’ve started, stopped, and started novels not knowing where the journey would lead. It gets hard slogging through the highs and low and even locking some works away until plot or character ‘issues’ can be resolved. Yet, I still write. I thought this advice about pressing on might help fellow writers, and anyone else struggling to achieve their goals.

Here’s a link to the NPR article about this author who kept at it until he published his first novel.

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/01/133965740/doing-the-first-novel-hustle-the-oracle-of-stamboul