Melancholia

"Ich steh mit einem Fuß im Grabe"


(I am standing with one foot in the grave),

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Life Goes On



The Beatles: Ob-la-di ob-la-da (1968)

Desmond has a barrow in the market place
Molly is the singer in a band
Desmond says to Molly "Girl I like your face"
and Molly says this as she takes him by the hand

Refrain:

Obladi oblada life goes on, bra
lala how the life goes on
obladi oblada life goes on, bra
lala how the life goes on

Desmond takes a trolly to the jewellers store
buys a twenty carat golden ring
takes it back to Molly waiting at the door
and as he gives it to her she begins to sing

Refrain:

Obladi oblada life goes on, bra
lala how the life goes on
obladi oblada life goes on, bra
lala how the life goes on

In a couple of years they have built
a home sweet home
with a couple of kids running in the yard
of Desmond and Molly Jones

Happy ever after in the market place
Desmond lets the children lend a hand
Molly stays at home and does her pretty face
and in the evening she's still singing with the band

Refrain:





Obladi oblada life goes on, bra
lala how the life goes on
obladi oblada life goes on, bra
lala how the life goes on

In a couple of years they have built
a home sweet home
with a couple of kids running in the yard
of Desmond and Molly Jones

Happy ever after in the market place
Molly lets the children lend a hand
Desmond stays at home and does his pretty face
and in the evening she's a singer with the band

Refrain:

Obladi oblada life goes on, bra
lala how the life goes on
obladi oblada life goes on, bra
lala how the life goes on

And if you want some fun
sing obladi blada
Category
Music
License
Standard YouTube License


Six Core Issues Facing Writers Today


Consulting editor Alan Rinzler.

Alan has edited and published Toni Morrison, Tom Robbins, Hunter S. Thompson, Jerzy Kosinski, Shirley MacLaine, Robert Ludlum, Clive Cussler, Andy Warhol, Bob Dylan and others while working as Assistant Managing Editor at Simon and Schuster, Director of Trade Publishing at Bantam, west coast editor for the Grove Press, VP and Associate Publisher of Rolling Stone, where he was also President of Straight Arrow, and Executive Editor at Jossey-Bass/Wiley. 

Alan’s years of experience spans the gamut from commercial to literary, and he’s also edited a wide range of memoirs, histories, biographies, among others. 

We feel fortunate that Alan agreed to share his wisdom and expertise with WU today.

Check out his website and blog at www.alanrinzler.com to learn more. 

.............................................


Six Core Issues Facing Writers Today



Being an author these days requires much more than working alone in solitude. But you knew that, right? Many authors are taking charge of their work and stepping out at conferences, trainings, pitch sessions, writer’s groups, readings, and especially online with websites, blogs, and social networking, no longer stuck in the stereotype of the shy or invisible recluse.

Authors are also required to navigate radical, unprecedented changes in getting published. Prior structures, procedures and assumptions have fallen apart. The balance of power has shifted and it’s unclear exactly who’s in charge as the traditional gatekeepers have lost their supremacy.

What does all this mean for you? 

My view is that it’s the best time ever to be a writer. Best but not easiest. 


Here are some of the questions a writer faces.


State of the Business

Will the book business survive hemorrhaging revenues, downsizing, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, merging haphazardly to reduce overhead, experimenting with one insane ebook program after another, reinventing itself desperately to convert from all print to all digital? Is this at long last the Death of the Traditional Book Publishing?

Have people stopped reading, stopped buying books? Are they getting their news and information for free online, so why spend the money. Is our culture suffering from a universal attention deficit disorder, too busy texting, YouTubing, friending on FaceBook, social networking. Is this the End of Intelligent Reading?

The only thing you can count on for sure is that people who think they know how it’s all going to fall out or what it’ll be like in two years don’t know what they’re talking about.

Have as yet unknown writers been left high and dry as agents won’t take on an author without a track record or platform. Are all publishers so risk aversive that they’re looking for only best-selling stars or celebrities getting contracts?


Reality check

There’s a lot of confusion and contradictory advice going around today among writers and book publishing professionals.

The only thing you can count on for sure is that people who think they know how it’s all going to fall out or what it’ll be like in two years don’t know what they’re talking about.

Nevertheless, I’m happy to play pundit and offer my unabashed opinion about the major issues a writer needs to confront these days, along with my short prognosis of choices to consider.


1. As a first timer with no platform, do I have any chance at all to get a deal with  Knopf or Random/Penguin?


Yes! That’s the short answer. If you read Publishers’ Marketplace (get a subscription it’s worth the $20/month for deep layers of industry information), you’ll see a category of debut author” sales by agents to publishers. It happens.

In some cases it’s a terrific piece of original writing, a brilliant novel, literary or genre, or it’s a non-fiction news breaking journalism, current event, expose.

On other occasions it’s one of those overblown panic driven sales “at auction” where the price has been bid into the stratosphere and everyone involved is gasping for breath — losing, winning, suffering buyer’s remorse or sighs of relief since these big advances seldom earn out.

There is, in any case, a chance for the first timer but against high odds.


2. Do I really need an agent to get a deal with a traditional publisher? 


Afraid so. Unsolicited manuscripts won’t even reach the acquisition editors at the commercial publishing houses these days, and the slush pile is going straight into the recycling bin.

There are various ways to acquire an agent. You can get your foot in the door by meeting them at a writers conference and pitching your book well enough to pique their interest. Or you may know a writer who’s willing to give you an introduction. You can also write a clever, brief query letter and hope they’ll ask for your proposal or manuscript. It helps, of course, if you have a stunning proposal or manuscript, and have written and rewritten it with the guidance of a professional developmental editor.

Unsolicited manuscripts won’t even reach the acquisition editors at the commercial publishing houses these days, and the slush pile is going straight into the recycling bin.


3. Why do I need a platform?


A platform is something to stand on. It gives you visibility, so your head can be seen above the crowd of thousands of other writers competing for readers’ attention. You may have one already, if you’re an expert in some field, high up a company ladder, affiliated with a University, or you have won a serious literary prize, and published a short story somewhere prestigious. If not, get started on this right away, the earlier the better.

Don’t wait. Put up a well-designed web site and start writing those blog posts, at least weekly. It can be about writing the book, posting chapters, asking for feedback which may even be valuable, and building your following. Likewise, you can network, comment on other people’s blog, tweet, make a home video for YouTube where you talk about your work and some interesting aspect of its content. You can also reach out to local broadcast and print media, since doing well in one town can expand to other urban centers nearby.

It can be fun. But avoid this at your peril.


4. Do I have to self-market when I’d rather be writing?


Think of self-marketing as an extension of your creative process. You want to deliver the message of the book, right? So who could be better than you at launching it into the world with authenticity and passion and in your own unique words?

All writers have to self-market these days. Even traditional publishers expect it and often write it into their contracts. The old methods of book marketing don’t work any more. 30 city tours with first class seats, limos, and big hotel suites are extremely rare. Hardly anyone can afford a space ad in the New York Times daily or Book Review, which is why it’s so thin.


5. How should I go about self-publishing, if that turns out to be my choice?

I’m a great champion of self-publishing. A piece on the front page of the New York Times recently celebrated the legendary David Mamet’s decision to self-publish his new novel through a new operation sponsored by his agents at ICM. Barry Eisler turned down a $500,000 advance to self-publish his books and many other authors are going indie.

“Self-publishing now accounts for more than 235,000 books annually, according to Bowker, a book research firm,” The NYT reports. “Big houses like Penguin and Harlequin have opened their own self-publishing divisions because they see it as a profit center of the future.”


The mistake authors can make, though, is to think self-publishing is a cheap and easy road to success.. It’s still hard to write a good book that people want to read.

Watch out for rapacious vendors who have sprung up offering to help you self-publish for absurd fees. The new profit center self-publishing offers for Penguin and others is not sales but the so-called “author services” they urge you to purchase.

Don’t. You needn’t pay a middle man to broker a jacket design for $5,000 when you can get it for much less.

Similar sky-high prices for copy editing and superficial developmental editing can be avoided by finding your own editors. There are lots good ones around. Speaking of which…


6. Should I hire a developmental editor?

I’m biased of course, being one myself, but most of the successful writers I’ve known have worked with
developmental editor on the core issues of story, structure, characterization, and literary style and the earlier in your writing process the better.

Make sure you’re not going off in a wrong direction and make the investment of time and money to get the best manuscript you can. This goes for whether you’re self-publishing or going the traditional right. These days, agents and acquisition editors at commercial houses usually insist on a manuscript that’s ready for production.

The drill is to find a developmental editor with a great track record of producing books you have heard of and enjoyed reading.






filed under: BusinessCRAFT

Source: http://writerunboxed.com/2013/05/15/six-core-issues-facing-writers-today/





John Lennon - Imagine





Imagine

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one


John Lennon 

Category-Music
License- Standard YouTube License
Artist - John Lennon





Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4_ghOG9JQM

http://www.centralpark.com/guide/attractions/strawberry-fields.html





Beatles - Don't Let Me Down (1969)




Beatles - Don't Let Me Down (1969)
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Monday, June 10, 2013

Quotes


"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony." - Mohandas Gandhi



"Real education consists in drawing the best out of yourself." - Mohandas Gandhi


"Human diversity makes tolerance more than a virtue; it makes it a requirement for survival." - Rene Dubos


"Every spirit builds itself a house, and beyond its house a world, and beyond its world a heaven." - Ralph Waldo Emerson


"The sum of one's intelligence is the sum of one's habits of mind." - Lauren Resnick



"The greatest of all weaknesses is to be conscious of none." - Harvey Mackay


"Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above them." - Washington Irving


"There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamed of in your philosophy." - William Shakespeare


"Why not go out on a limb? That's where the fruit is." - Will Rogers


"Faith is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted in spite of your changing moods." - C. S. Lewis


"The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining." - John F. Kennedy


"A problem is your chance to do your best." - Duke Ellington


"Growth in wisdom may be exactly measured by decrease in bitterness." - Friedrich Nietzsche



"Realists do not fear the results of their study." - Feodor Dostoyevsky


"Enthusiasm is a vital element toward the individual success of very man or woman." - Conrad Hilton


Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind." - Ralph Waldo Emerson


"There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly." - Buckminster Fuller


"What one does is what counts and not what one had the intention of doing." - Pablo Picasso


"Difficulty attracts the man of character because it is in embracing it that he realizes himself." - Charles de Gaulle


"No one has ever drowned in sweat." - Lou Holtz


"It is what we do, rather than what we feel, or say we do that reflects who and what we truly are." - Leo Buscaglia


"Everything must be made as simple as possible but not one bit simpler." - Albert Einstein


"The greater the obstacle, the greater the glory we have in overcoming it." - Jean Baptiste Moliere



"There is no hope of joy except in human relations." - Antoine de Saint-Exupery


"Make happy those who are near, and those who are far will come." - Chinese Proverb


"I believe in the faith of people, whatever faith they may have." - Studs Terkel



"Character is the result of two things: mental attitude and the way we spend our time." - Elbert Hubbard



"My success just evolved from working hard at the business at hand each day." - Johnny Carson


What you plant now, you will harvest later." - Og Mandino


It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped." - Anthony Robbins


"Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when he sticks his neck out." - James B. Conant


"My best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake." - Aristotle


"You are forgiven for your happiness and your successes only if you generously consent to share them." - Albert Camus


"Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others." - Robert Lewis Stevenson
 


"What we see depends mainly on what we look for." - John Lubbock



"A single conversation across the table with a wise man is worth a month's study of books." - Chinese Proverb


"Life is an endless process of self-discovery." - John W. Gardner


"Love does not dominate; it cultivates." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe


First keep peace with yourself, then you can also bring peace to others. - Thomas a Kempis


"Arguments are like fire-arms which a man may keep at home but should not carry about with him." - Samuel Butler


"People who shut their eyes to reality simply invite their own destruction." - James Baldwin


Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody may be looking.  - H. L. Mencken


"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." - Marcel Proust



"We are limited but we can push back the borders of our limitations." - Stephen Covey


"If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will avoid one hundred days of sorrow." - Chinese Proverb


"The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials." - Confucius


"Out of suffering comes creativity. You cannot spell painting without pain." - John Lithgow


Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values. - Dalai Lama


"You'll never get ahead of anyone as long as you try to get even with him." - Lou Holtz


Not on one strand are all life's jewels strung.  - William Morris


"Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat." - F. Scott Fitzgerald


"There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy." - Robert Lewis Stevenson


"Through perseverance many people win success out of what seemed destined to be certain failure." - Benjamin Disraeli


"Our patience will achieve more than our force." - Edmund Burke


Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." - John Lennon


"Just as a picture is drawn by an artist, surroundings are created by the activities of the mind." - Buddha



"I attribute my success to this-I never gave or took any excuse." - Florence Nightingale


"There is nothing so practical as a good theory." - Kurt Lewin


"Love received and love given comprise the best form of therapy." - Gordon Allport


When a thing is done, it's done. Don't look back. Look forward to your next objective." - George C. Marshall



"The dread of criticism is the death of genius." - William Gilmore Simms


Thunder is good, thunder is impressive. But it is the lightning that does the work." - Mark Twain


"If you want work well done, select a busy man: the other kind has no time." - Elbert Hubbard


Aristotle Quotes



Criticism is something you can easily avoid by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing. — Aristotle


It is in justice that the ordering of society is centered. — Aristotle


Education is the best provision for the journey to old age. — Aristotle


Even when laws have been written down, they ought not always to remain unaltered. — Aristotle


Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity. — Aristotle


Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom. — Aristotle


Choice, not chance, determines your destiny. — Aristotle


The soul never thinks without a picture. — Aristotle


The gods too are fond of a joke. — Aristotle


Pleasure in the job puts perfection in the work. — Aristotle


The proof that you know something is that you are able to teach it. — Aristotle


Dignity consists not in possessing honors, but in the consciousness that we deserve them. — Aristotle


All men by nature desire to know. — Aristotle


Law is order, and good law is good order. — Aristotle


Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence. — Aristotle


We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit. — Aristotle


What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do. — Aristotle


In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous. — Aristotle


Happiness depends upon ourselves. — Aristotle


It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. — Aristotle


The only stable state is the one in which all men are equal before the law. — Aristotle


A friend is a single soul dwelling in two bodies. — Aristotle


I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who overcomes his enemies. — Aristotle


Nature does nothing uselessly. — Aristotle


Happiness is a state of activity. — Aristotle


To enjoy the things we ought and to hate the things we ought has the greatest bearing on excellence of character. — Aristotle


Well begun is half done. — Aristotle


There was never a genius without a tincture of madness. — Aristotle


   


Quotes


One meets his destiny often in the road he takes to avoid it. — French Proverb


Gratitude is the memory of the heart. — French Proverb


"Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say and not giving a damn." -Gore Vidal


Little by little, through patience and repeated effort, the mind will become stilled in the Self. 
— Bhagavad Gita


The self-controlled soul, who moves amongst sense objects, free from either attachment or repulsion, he wins eternal peace. — Bhagavad Gita

To all those who walk the path of human cooperation war must appear loathsome and inhuman. — Alfred Adler


A lie would have no sense unless the truth were to feel dangerous. — Alfred Adler


 The good life is inspired by love and guided by knowledge. — Bertrand Russell


To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom. — Bertrand Russell


What was most significant about the lunar voyage was not that men set foot on the moon but that they set eye on the earth. — Norman Cousins


Life is an adventure in forgiving. — Norman Cousins


Stress is an ignorant state. It believes that everything is an emergency. — Natalie Goldberg


Trust in what you love, continue to do it, and it will take you where you need to go. — Natalie Goldberg


We will be known forever by the tracks that we leave. — Native American Proverb


Give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way! — Native American Proverb


Never criticize a man until you have walked a mile in his moccasins. — Native American Proverb


Much learning does not teach understanding. — Heraclitus


Nothing endures but change. Change is the only constant. — Heraclitus


You cannot step twice into the same river. — Heraclitus


Change is the only constant. — Heraclitus


 If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. — Isaac Newton


If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has been owing more to patient attention than to any other talent. — Isaac Newton


Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy. — Isaac Newton


An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail. — Isaac Newton


If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulder of giants. — Isaac Newton




George Bernard Shaw Quotes


The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man. — George Bernard Shaw

You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘Why not?’.
— George Bernard Shaw

We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.
— George Bernard Shaw

We must always think about things, and we must think about things as they are, and not as they are said to be.    — George Bernard Shaw

We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.
— George Bernard Shaw

The possibilities are numerous once we decide to act and not react.
— George Bernard Shaw

The golden rule is that there are no golden rules.
— George Bernard Shaw

A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
— George Bernard Shaw

When a thing is funny, search it carefully for a hidden truth. — George Bernard Shaw

Some men see things as they are and say ‘why?’ – I dream of things that never were and say ‘why not?’.
— George Bernard Shaw




Link: http://zenquotes.org/




Henry Miller on Writing:

Henry Miller’s 11 Commandments of Writing:

1. Work on one thing at a time until finished.
2. Start no more new books, add no more new material to “Black Spring.”
3. Don’t be nervous. Work calmly, joyously, recklessly on whatever is in hand.
4. Work according to Program and not according to mood. Stop at the appointed time!
5. When you can’t create you can work.
6. Cement a little every day, rather than add new fertilizers.
7. Keep human! See people, go places, drink if you feel like it.
8. Don’t be a draught-horse! Work with pleasure only.
9. Discard the Program when you feel like it–but go back to it the next day. Concentrate. Narrow down. Exclude.
10. Forget the books you want to write. Think only of the book you are writing.
11. Write first and always. Painting, music, friends, cinema, all these come afterwards.

These rules seem helpful to non-writers as well; in almost everything we do, it helps to stay focused, refreshed, and persistent.



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Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Laura Marling




Published on Jul 12, 2012

In this performance at the NPR Music offices, two pieces from Laura Marling's newest record, 2011's A Creature I Don't Know, bookend a gorgeous new song called "Once." She'd never even recorded "Once," let alone released it, so consider this performance a premiere of sorts.

Set List:

"Don't Ask Me Why"
"Once"
"Sophia"

For more videos and to subscribe to the Tiny Desk Concerts podcast, visit npr.org/tinydeskconcerts.
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