Rob Smith's Blog
March 4, 2017
Free Download
I just finished my second foray into the world of audio books with the release of "McGowan's Call" by Audible.com. For those who enjoy "reading" this way, I have a deal for you. Audible has listed this 4 hour presentation at $15, but they gave me a number of codes so that I can provide free downloads for intrepid book lovers. If you send me an email (rob@smithwrite.net) I'll send you a code (as long as the supply lasts).
"McGowan's Call" is the first of four (at this point) and has been well received. In fact, it's been catalogued with some of my other books in the Library of Congress.
"McGowan's Call" is the first of four (at this point) and has been well received. In fact, it's been catalogued with some of my other books in the Library of Congress.
January 15, 2017
Audio Books
I find a great deal of pleasure in writing. It provides the opportunity to get lost in a story. The punishment for writing a book, however, is trying to sell it. I'll admit that I don't have a great profit motive, I do want my work to reach readers.
Currently, I am embarking on a new format: audio books. I set up a "studio" in our guest bedroom (if a blanket over a frame and a microphone in a foam-lined box is a sound stage).
I wanted to see if I had the techno-savy to meet the standards of audible.com. So, I created mp3's for a children's book that I wrote. "The Spell of Twelve" is for early teens, BUT my writer's group insisted on listening to the very end.
"The Spell of Twelve" is now out and will be for sale at Amazon and iTunes. Additionally, I have a number of codes to give FREE copies for promotional purposes.
PLEASE, help deliver me from the purgatory of authors having to sell by taking a listen. If you download and "read" audio books, please be one of the first 10 to ask me for a free book. If you know someone who would like this, tell them to send an email to: DrinianPress@smithwrite.net. Put the word "Twelve" in the subject line, and I'll send you, or your friend, the magic word to get a free copy.
Currently, I am embarking on a new format: audio books. I set up a "studio" in our guest bedroom (if a blanket over a frame and a microphone in a foam-lined box is a sound stage).
I wanted to see if I had the techno-savy to meet the standards of audible.com. So, I created mp3's for a children's book that I wrote. "The Spell of Twelve" is for early teens, BUT my writer's group insisted on listening to the very end.
"The Spell of Twelve" is now out and will be for sale at Amazon and iTunes. Additionally, I have a number of codes to give FREE copies for promotional purposes.
PLEASE, help deliver me from the purgatory of authors having to sell by taking a listen. If you download and "read" audio books, please be one of the first 10 to ask me for a free book. If you know someone who would like this, tell them to send an email to: DrinianPress@smithwrite.net. Put the word "Twelve" in the subject line, and I'll send you, or your friend, the magic word to get a free copy.
May 6, 2011
Strangers and Books
Last month I had a book release event at the Lakewood Public Library near Cleveland. I told the people gathered that, as an author, it's rewarding to find my novels on the shelf of such a fine library. I then added the corollary, there's nothing more depressing than going to a fine library where my books are still sitting on the shelf. Shouldn't they be checked out with a waiting list?!
Last night I was the guest of the mystery book club at the Ida Rupp Public Library in Port Clinton, Ohio. This group of twelve strangers had been living with McGowan's Return for the past few weeks and came with questions, opinions, and hopes for the future of my characters. The event had some of the feeling of a reunion with old friends. The only "past" we shared, however, was a story, and the hour was characterized by the rapid of speech people trying to catch up on the news. There were some differences in our perspectives. They wanted to know the mind of the author, and I took my energy from their investment in the imaginary people who were no longer strangers to any of us.
How different are the events where the writer is along to supply the sales hype, and those where the strangers in the room have already visited the pages! Rob Smith
Last night I was the guest of the mystery book club at the Ida Rupp Public Library in Port Clinton, Ohio. This group of twelve strangers had been living with McGowan's Return for the past few weeks and came with questions, opinions, and hopes for the future of my characters. The event had some of the feeling of a reunion with old friends. The only "past" we shared, however, was a story, and the hour was characterized by the rapid of speech people trying to catch up on the news. There were some differences in our perspectives. They wanted to know the mind of the author, and I took my energy from their investment in the imaginary people who were no longer strangers to any of us.
How different are the events where the writer is along to supply the sales hype, and those where the strangers in the room have already visited the pages! Rob Smith
February 12, 2011
Cadence or Cliché?
Some of my colleagues live in absolute fear of cliché. They are so hung up on it that we’ve had discussions on whether or not it is permissible to have characters within a story speaking in cliché. As a person who has always listened to the voice of real people, the discussion is pointless. In real life conversation, cliché rules the day. To get characters that sound real to the reader, my warning is “avoid cliché at your own peril.”
Maybe I need to come clean at this point (note the cliché), my graduate degrees are in religion and philosophy. In my department, cliché is a useful tool and we have our own particular dialect. For example, philosophy instructors often quote Descartes as saying, “Cogito ergo sum.” We know better. It’s just a cliché used of Descartes, not a quote. Nowhere in his Latin text do these words appear. (His French text comes closer, but I digress.) Why do we do it? Because the cliché cuts to the chase (oops, did it again). It is the lecturer’s shorthand to get to a point that is basic in an important argument.
The avoidance of cliché at any cost, in my opinion, creates tedium for the reader. Sentences and paragraphs constructed obtusely to create a pageant of language uniquely tied to the invention of a master of words has me reading everything twice. Is the author saying anything interesting or is it fear of cliché? If it’s the latter, go to the library and find something better to read.
Oral storytelling is an art form that incorporates musicality in its cadence. Some parts of a tale are dolce and lento, but as they rush to a conclusion, they are all allegro. The writer who would tell a story has to understand tempo in much the same way. My proposal is that cliché moves the eye faster across the page and the reader into a quicker pace of firing neurons. It uses the familiar to rush toward the point. When the only rule is to avoid the familiar, the reader has to stop.
It’s reminiscent of an old theological joke. “Billy Graham and Paul Tillich died and went to heaven where Jesus asked them, ‘Who am I?’ Graham said, ‘You are the Lamb of God.’ Jesus nods approval. Tillich says, ‘You are the ground of all being.’ Jesus says, ‘Huh?’” (Relax, it’s just a joke.) As far as personal preference goes, I find Tillich’s theonomous metaphysics more helpful (pardon the non-utilization of cliché).
A book that runs on cliché is in trouble. Then again, a book that is written by a cliché-phobic is destined to find an audience of one. I expect that this blog will stir up passions. My belief is that cliché, in the hands of the storyteller, sets the pace of a good read.
Maybe I need to come clean at this point (note the cliché), my graduate degrees are in religion and philosophy. In my department, cliché is a useful tool and we have our own particular dialect. For example, philosophy instructors often quote Descartes as saying, “Cogito ergo sum.” We know better. It’s just a cliché used of Descartes, not a quote. Nowhere in his Latin text do these words appear. (His French text comes closer, but I digress.) Why do we do it? Because the cliché cuts to the chase (oops, did it again). It is the lecturer’s shorthand to get to a point that is basic in an important argument.
The avoidance of cliché at any cost, in my opinion, creates tedium for the reader. Sentences and paragraphs constructed obtusely to create a pageant of language uniquely tied to the invention of a master of words has me reading everything twice. Is the author saying anything interesting or is it fear of cliché? If it’s the latter, go to the library and find something better to read.
Oral storytelling is an art form that incorporates musicality in its cadence. Some parts of a tale are dolce and lento, but as they rush to a conclusion, they are all allegro. The writer who would tell a story has to understand tempo in much the same way. My proposal is that cliché moves the eye faster across the page and the reader into a quicker pace of firing neurons. It uses the familiar to rush toward the point. When the only rule is to avoid the familiar, the reader has to stop.
It’s reminiscent of an old theological joke. “Billy Graham and Paul Tillich died and went to heaven where Jesus asked them, ‘Who am I?’ Graham said, ‘You are the Lamb of God.’ Jesus nods approval. Tillich says, ‘You are the ground of all being.’ Jesus says, ‘Huh?’” (Relax, it’s just a joke.) As far as personal preference goes, I find Tillich’s theonomous metaphysics more helpful (pardon the non-utilization of cliché).
A book that runs on cliché is in trouble. Then again, a book that is written by a cliché-phobic is destined to find an audience of one. I expect that this blog will stir up passions. My belief is that cliché, in the hands of the storyteller, sets the pace of a good read.
February 8, 2011
Lost in Familiar Places
No, this is not a blog about being disoriented. Rather, it describes the place I find myself on the eve of one of my books becoming public. I have this sudden onset of paranoia. Let me explain:
Like most writers, I was brought up on the maxim: "write what you know." I may not have been the best student, but it didn't take a lot of smarts to figure out that the people who were writing about things they didn't know came across as ignorant to everyone but their own clever selves. To avoid this, I always had my characters live in a house like mine, and sail in the old sloops that I knew. They also lived in towns that had industries and neighbors that felt like home. Besides, I enjoy the familiarity of place, and it helps me as an author to stay close to my characters. The problem comes when I decide to let the readers into my real place. I give some real world landmarks.
My latest book takes place in Cleveland (do I hear snickering?) It's the city I knew as a young man, and I wanted the color of that experience to be in my book. I could have made a fictional place by blending the metropolis with other places I have lived, Columbus, Dayton, Princeton, Oil City, but it would have changed (even hurt) the story. So I wrote my imaginary story in a real place. This is where the paranoia sets in.
Some reader is going to freak over the fact that my imaginary serial killer lives on the next block. So, I stick his apartment on a street that isn't on Mapquest or GPS. I blend the real "what I know" with the "only in my imagination," and hope that no one from the real place will tell me that I've damaged their product or ruined their sleep.
Do other writers feel this way? Caught between the desire to bring readers into a familiar place without violating the current residents. I know lawyers have opinions on this, but writers do as well.
Like most writers, I was brought up on the maxim: "write what you know." I may not have been the best student, but it didn't take a lot of smarts to figure out that the people who were writing about things they didn't know came across as ignorant to everyone but their own clever selves. To avoid this, I always had my characters live in a house like mine, and sail in the old sloops that I knew. They also lived in towns that had industries and neighbors that felt like home. Besides, I enjoy the familiarity of place, and it helps me as an author to stay close to my characters. The problem comes when I decide to let the readers into my real place. I give some real world landmarks.
My latest book takes place in Cleveland (do I hear snickering?) It's the city I knew as a young man, and I wanted the color of that experience to be in my book. I could have made a fictional place by blending the metropolis with other places I have lived, Columbus, Dayton, Princeton, Oil City, but it would have changed (even hurt) the story. So I wrote my imaginary story in a real place. This is where the paranoia sets in.
Some reader is going to freak over the fact that my imaginary serial killer lives on the next block. So, I stick his apartment on a street that isn't on Mapquest or GPS. I blend the real "what I know" with the "only in my imagination," and hope that no one from the real place will tell me that I've damaged their product or ruined their sleep.
Do other writers feel this way? Caught between the desire to bring readers into a familiar place without violating the current residents. I know lawyers have opinions on this, but writers do as well.
