Blurb Books May be the Answer to Gift Giving Concerns

Instant gratification. Instant gifts.

Well, I'm not sure the time frame from start to finish, but I've heard from two fabric artist friends who have made the most beautiful books using Blurb free book software with the option of using their professional staff. Pictured here is a cover of a new release.

They can do it themselves as fancy or simple as they want. Photos seem to be the mainstay with fewer words.

One artist, Virginia Spiegel, included essays as well as photos and artist statements and whatever she felt like. It is her second book with Blurb and she's totally satisfied. Here's what she recently wrote in her newsletter:

"Wild on the Edges: Inspiration from a Creative Life by Virginia Spiegel. This book evolved by keeping in mind the kind of book I like to take to bed with me (maybe with a glass of wine or a mug of hot chocolate) and peruse as the spirit moves me.You will find encouragement for art and living, a sense of wonder, a little advice, closeup photos of art and nature and, last, but not least, a very personal view of the driving forces behind my creative life.Wild on the Edges will be available soon from Blurb books."

Virginia has taken more than a dozen trips into the wilderness with her sister and has kept journals and created an exquisite series of fabric art pieces based upon her experiences. This is not her first book with Blurb, she's made several for family and friends. But this is the first she's offering for sale.

Judy Coates Perez just blogged about making her first book and what I can see of it, it is quite tastefully done. I adore Judy's fabric art and was so pleased to see her win an award for her Moon Garden at Houston in October, 2009. Who says fabric art and books and words don't fit together like a hand and glove?

I look at Judy's fabric art and can see the world she has created and it is a place I'd enjoying visiting for an extended stay!

I wonder if this might not be a fascinating way to get an agent's or a publisher's attention. Make your own book and then present it to them to see if they'd like to feature your work? I don't suppose it would work for multiple submissions, but perhaps just one agent you want to love you -- maybe it would work. But it would definitely need to be really WELL DONE!

No failure, just results -- unless you don't try

There is no such thing as failure. There are only results. --Tony Robbins (Robbins in photo)


Well, there you have what I've been trying to say for several weeks now. This is what I learned in my Play with Paint class taught by Lyric Kinard. No failure, just results. Yep, that's the way it is.


Bums me out that Tony Robbins is the one who said what I wanted to say, but at least it is now said! 


No failure, just results. Unless you don't try.

Then there aren't even results. Then there is just the feeling that you could have, or should have or might have, but you'll never know. And for some that's much better than success. Live with a fantasy of what could have been may be better than discovering that it was in fact just a fantasy and it could never happen.


But then aren't you just a bit curious? Could your tinkering with words make you the next J.K.Rowling? Or even the next Lewis Grizzard or Dave Barry or Elizabeth Berg? Don't you have something to say that is eating at you and you just wish it was okay to write it?



Aren't you even the least bit curious about what happens when you chain up your censor and just write what feels good? I've often wondered if there are more Sue Monk Kidds out there who have limited themselves to good acceptable restrained, did I say 'censored' Christian writing. And like Sue Monk Kidd they break loose, embraced the Goddess and write their own Secret Life of Bees or Mermaid's Chair before slipping back behind the curtain of respectability and pious Christianity to once again pen how to be the perfect wife....


How many more lives did she touch with her Bees and Mermaids than with her When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life's Sacred Questions -- I wonder?Writing for the saved and writing for the unsaved masses.... Which fulfills the Christian calling? But who am I to have such thoughts?

Certainly I am no Tony Robbins. Certainly not Sue Monk Kidd. So who am I and where do I belong in this world. I can enjoy my fantasy at night when the lights are out and I close my eyes and envision this successful, revered writer. Is that enough? Or do I need to see if that is in fact the life I should be leading?

How does one get from the here to the wow!?

One word at a time.

Flash-Fiction Addiction

Glen Binger, editor of 50 to 1, has a few words to offer about flash fiction and words of encouragement to all writers. Please welcome Glen to Observations. -- Dawn

The first time I referred to myself as a writer in conversation I shocked myself. I was probably a freshmen in college and still learning the ins and outs of how to gather an audience of some sort; whether it be my friends or people I didn't know. Then I discovered blogging. It seemed long-winded, but so did everything else. Blogging turned into Twitter. And thus, flash-fiction/nano-fiction/micro-fiction/whatever-you-want-to-call-it was born and evolved and grew tremendously in popularity. But now people's attention spams are limited. How does this affect the way writers write?

As the editor of 50 to 1, I try to keep this idea in mind. I know people want to read something short and still want to feel like they've accomplished something by doing so. It is the same for writing these micro pieces. It is definitely something that every writer should keep tucked away in the back of their brain.

I don't necessarily agree with the realm of flash-fiction storming literature the way it is, but I do see why it is gaining numbers. Don't get me wrong; I love reading a strong piece of flash-fiction. If you write something that short that is so strongly developed, then you have done a lot. That's what I look for as an editor. It is hard to write a 50-word story and still have it do something. When it works, its awesome. When it doesn't, its just a couple of words blotched together.

I just don't like to see the other forms of literature go unnoticed because of this. I want people to keep writing novels, poetry collections, short stories, etc. I want to keep reading them. As should everyone calling themselves a writer.

I guess what I'm getting at; don't let a good story or poem go unread because it is too long. And, in that same idea, don't shorten the length of your work because you want it to be published somewhere. Don't change your style to gain an audience; that's no fun. Most writers know they are readers first, writers second. So most writers understand the differences people have in style. Yes, there are writers who dedicate most of their work to flash fiction. And, vise versa, there are writers who dedicate their work to novels and lengthier fiction. But they understand the importance of the opposite category. Most writers I know dabble in just about any area they can; even though they'd like to call themselves a strict flash-fiction-ite or a strict novelist.

Maybe I'm not making any sense at all. I don't know. I'm certainly no expert on the area and I probably sound like an idiot. But hey, what the hell. I like all kinds of literature and, basically, I think that is what should be important to any writer. Just be open to anything and stay true to yourself. Have your favorites, write whatever you want, and read everything. Your audience will come to you and continue to grow if you just keep at it.

Glen can be contacted at: glenbinger@gmail.com