New Media

"Most good (neat, innovative, wild, woolly) ‘stuff,’ large and small, happens in the boondocks, far, far from corporate headquarters, corporate politics, and corporate toadying." Tom Peters

Last week I went to the monthly luncheon of the Colorado Authors’ League to hear local author, Justin Matott speak about how he took his first book from self-published to a major publisher. I’ve heard so many stories about big publishers picking up self-published books that I believe that this is the new process for getting published. Not everyone agrees.

At the same luncheon, I sat next to an older woman who has published several books the traditional way and clearly turns her nose up at the very idea of self-publishing. She writes a local column reviewing fiction and, I learned later, had refused to review my friend Irv’s wonderful mystery novel, No Laughing Matter, when she learned he had self-published it. She had been very interested in the same book when she thought it was published the traditional way.

Some people just can’t seem to accept that change happens, even in the stodgiest of industries. While it’s true that many self-published books are iffy or downright BAD in both content and presentation, it is also true that some really wonderful books have been published by the author first, including the original writings of William Blake, Virginia Woolf, Walt Whitman, William Morris, and James Joyce. Here’s a short list of other books you may be familiar with that started as self-published books:

The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield

The Joy of Cooking by Irma Rombauer

What Color is Your Parachute by Richard Nelson Bolles

In Search of Excellence by Tom Peters

Eragon by Christopher Paolini

The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans

If you only do things the way they’ve always been done, you’ll never get a new result.

©2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

Carryall

"The human passion to carry all things everywhere, so that every place is home, is well on its way to homogenizing our planet."

Barbara Kingsolver

“I really like your purse,” Maureen told me at our last Joyfully Jobless meeting.

“It isn’t a purse, it’s a yoga bag,” I said.

“Why do you call it a yoga bag?”

“It’s made to hold all your yoga gear.”

“Do you do yoga?”

“No.”

“Are you planning to take up yoga?”

“No.”

“Why do you have a yoga bag?”

Before our conversation turned into an Abbot and Costello routine and while she examined all the various zippered compartments, I explained that my sister-in-law takes yoga and asked for a yoga bag for Christmas. When I looked at ebags, I found that the black bag she wanted also came in purple, so I had to have that one.

Although I may never use the straps on the bottom meant for a rolled-up yoga mat, the bag works for me when I need to carry books or folders but don’t want to carry a briefcase.

Maureen says I’m her purse guru. She learned about the healthy back bag from me, too. (I have three of them.) If I have interesting purses, it’s because I’m a little obsessed with cornering the market on purple purses and also because I haven’t yet found the perfect purse, one that is compact, light-weight, organized, but big enough to carry my various books and notebooks. It would be nice if it also changed color when I change outfits because moving my stuff from one purse to another is a drag. I always seem to leave something I need in the old bag.

Usually we talk about our businesses: how things are going, what we need help with. When you work at home alone, it’s nice to have a colleague to check in with occasionally.

©2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved

The Creative Age

"The really frightening thing about middle age is the knowledge that you'll grow out of it. " Doris Day

Did you hear about the 95-year old woman graduating from Fort Hays State University next month? She will be come the oldest college graduate, breaking the previous record of a 90-year old woman.

I love these stories that prove you’re never too old to follow your dreams. Okay, so if you’re 55 and your dream is to become the next Pussycat Doll or L.A. Laker, that probably is not going to happen, but your could become part of a singing or dancing troupe or join a senior basketball team.

The truth is that your dreams don’t go away as you get older. Sometimes they come back stronger than ever. Middle age is the time when many people finally sign up for piano lessons or a Spanish class or a painting workshop. Maybe it’s because they have more time or more discretionary funds now that their children are grown and gone. Or may it’s because they realize that their time on earth is limited. As one group of over-60 women said at a recent luncheon, “It’s now or never.”

©2007 Dixie Darr. All rights reserved