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Top Posts from 2011

4 Jan

 

One of the most bewildering aspects of blogging is how readers find your blog and which blog entries become the most popular.  My first year of blogging, I discovered I have a lot of stalkers.  “Stephanie Nikolopoulos” was one of the most common phrases that brought readers to my blog.  I’m only kidding when I call you stalkers.  I know that a lot of you landed here after hearing me speak or reading my writing elsewhere, and I’m so excited that you took the time to find my personal site.  Welcome!

Okay, so the blog entry that seems to bring an awful lot of readers here is Gripster: The Greek Michael Scott.  A lot of people who search for “michael scott mykonos” or “michael scott greek character” end up here.  Hey, I’m a big fan of The Office too obviously and miss Steve Carrell.  I’m just surprised by the amount of people searching for information on one of Michael Scott’s alter-egos.  I wonder if I should post more on Greek characters on tv….

Less surprisingly, my coverage of the Gabby Awards also brought a lot of readers to the site.  That was such a fun event to write about.  I hope I’ll get a chance to cover the 2013 Gabby Awards in LA.

The interesting thing is that although the Greek Michael Scott post among the most popular, it never received a single comment!  The most commented on blog post isn’t one that brings people to the site usually.  It was My Material World Project.  As I start to think about blog posts for 2012, I’ll be keeping this information in the back of my head.  It’s fun having such varied readers, but I want to make sure I’m writing content that makes readers want to subscribe and come back to read more.

That said, I’ll leave you with a quote from Michael Scott:

Do I need to be liked? Absolutely not. I like to be liked. I enjoy being liked. I have to be liked. But it’s not like this, compulsive, need, to be liked. Like my need to be praised.

 

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Military Tanks

22 Dec

It’s late in the morning, and I’m drinking a cup of black coffee that has turned cold because of how slowly I’ve been drinking it.  I’m sitting Indian style on my chair and editing a book on military tanks.

Normally, a weaponry book would get on my nerves.  I’d wonder what choices I’d made in my career that got me to the point that I’m editing books so far from my own gushy interests of literature and birds and art.

Today, though, I’m reminded of another morning.  I remember riding the bus into Manhattan with my dad, passing the Teaneck Armory, and my dad telling me about his days serving in the Greek army.  My dad’s rather private, a trait that runs deep in the family, and I had never really heard him talk about being in the army.  Even though it’s required of all Greek males to serve in the Greek army, the detail that my father served in the army never really cliqued in my mind.  It made me realize how some details in our lives slip away, forgotten until triggered by a source outside us.

Some stories we share over and over again, til the point our friends roll their eyes from having to hear it again.  Other stories we burrow away.  Maybe because they’re painful to remember.  Or maybe because they just seem insignificant.

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Gift Guide: Gifts for Writers

19 Dec

Everyone’s doing the mad dash to get gifts right now so I thought I’d offer a few last-minute gift ideas for writers.  Keep in mind this is just a general list and each writer is different, but at least this will give you a starting point if you’re stumped on what to get for your writer friend.

  • Trader Joe’s Gift Card:::  Banish the term “starving artist” from your writer friend’s bio with a gift card to Whole Foods, Starbucks, Chipotle—any chain* that’s easily accessible and open late.  I picked Trader Joe’s because they offer delicious, quick-to-prepare foods on the cheap.  (*Better than a chain is your writer’s favorite neighborhood haunt, but if you don’t know what that is and you suspect your writer friend is too busy and/or nervous – writers like stability – to go traipsing off to some unknown gem, stick to someplace obvious.)
  • Coffee and Tea:::  Stereotypes of the drunken writers prevail, but many writers prefer caffeine.  Jack Kerouac wrote On the Road fueled by coffee (and split pea soup … oh yeah and Benzedrine).  A hot cup of coffee or tea is especially welcome in the cold winter months that writers burrow away and get most of their writing done.  Bonus: add a travel mug that boasts a quote from their favorite author or some specialty chocolate.
  • Nail Polish::: Our fingers might as well look pretty as they clak clak clak against the keyboard.  Obviouls
  • Stationery:::  Even if nowadays we like the convenience of email, we still know the power of the written word.  Agents, editors, performance space hosts, and other authors are all deserving of handwritten thank you notes.  Throw in some stamps and you’re golden.
  • Mix Tape:::  Make a mix CD of instrumental music based along a theme or that is personal to you and the writer.
  • Tickets:::  Tickets to a play, an opera, the symphony, or passes to an art museum will inspire us not just to get out of our pajamas but to embrace different forms of the arts.  Sometimes seeing a beautiful production shakes up our senses and gives us new insight into our work.  Tickets to the movies also work.
  • Class:::  Writers have interests other than writing.  It gets pretty boring to just write about writing.  If you know your writer friend has an outside passion in cooking, yoga, art history, or something else, pay for a class.  One day courses are usually ideal because they’re low commitment.
  • Candles:::  Help set the mood for a night of writing.

Gifts Not to Buy Writers::: Other books—especially how-to-write books–exception: first editions; fancy pens; bookmarks; office supplies (we can write a lot of this off on our tax returns as a business expense).

Writers, what’s the best gift you ever received?

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Writing Wednesday: A Blurb Job

14 Dec

When Joan Williams asks William Faulkner to blurb her book, it takes an ugly turn.  In telling the story of their affair (a story also told by Lisa C. Hickman in William Faulkner and Joan Williams: The Romance of Two Writers), Glen David Gold makes a compelling argument for not sleeping with writers in “On Not Rolling the Log,” in The Los Angeles Review of Books.

Gold goes on to say:

How confusing it is to entangle acclaim and love. How much of a balancing act to determine your real value to another person. When you cultivate a literary friendship, it’s good to remember — and hard to prove — that it’s the work which is a commodity, not you.

An editor was telling me recently that Ken Kesey asked Jack Kerouac to blurb one of his books and he refused.  He was very protective of his name, his brand.

Some writers whore out their name.  Others keep it under lock and key.  The book business is a small and incestuous one, and a blurb from the right author can propel sales.  But at what cost?

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Writing Wednesday: I Don’t Own a Book

7 Dec

Image via 24Symbols' Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/24symbols

 

“I don’t own a tv,” is the hipster’s constant refrain.  They’re too busy reading Luc Sante, holding smug conversations about sustainable design over Stellas in dive bars, contemplating getting owl tattoos, and arguing over which Radiohead song is the best, right?  Maybe sometimes.  But a lot of the time they’re watching tv; they’re just watching in on the Internet.  As in, they’re rewatching the entire season of Arrested Development on Hulu for the sixteenth time now that the series is coming back.

Meet the Hulu Plus of books: 24symbols.

For a paid subscription you can read as many books.  Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords, reported about it in the article “A Bright Future for Scandinavian Digital Publishing” on Publishing Perspectives:

At present, users of 24Symbols can read books online for free, and 24Symbols splits the ad revenue with the publisher. Currently, according to Hidalgo, the service is mostly offering public domain content, with about 50% of the content Spanish language. The service has already attracted 50,000 registered users, a number which he expects to reach 100,000 within the next few months. In 2012, the service will launch the paid subscription portion, where customers will purchase paid monthly subscriptions to gain increased access to premium content from mainstream publishers. Hidalgo acknowledges the business isn’t profitable for participating publishers yet, but he expects this to change in 2012 as he scales the reach and participation of paid customers.

Sounds like it still has a way to go, as public domain content is pretty pervasive, but the concept is intriguing especially if you’re a voracious reader or a writer looking for inspiration.  I’d subscribe to 24Symbols if they had the books I’ve been wanting to read available.

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Writing Wednesday: Story Clouds

30 Nov

Remember childhood days of laying out in the grass in cut-offs, staring up at the blue blue sky, and making up stories about cloud shapes?

When did having an imagination and making up stories become such hard work?  Maybe it’s time we lay out in the park and let the puffy white clouds inspire silly stories.  Maybe we need to think like a kid again.

Maybe we need a little wonder in our lives.

I took these photos from the rooftop of the Met.  What shapes do you see?

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Writing Wednesday: Your Taste Is Killer

23 Nov

For the first couple of years you make stuff, it’s just not that good.  It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not.  But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer.  And your taste is why your work disappoints you. …It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. 

~ Ira Glass

via A Lovely Being

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Follow Friday

18 Nov

Happy Friday!  Do you have any special plans this weekend?  Here are a few links to keep you occupied.

Writing

5 Alternatives to a Creative Writing MFA via MediaBistro

Success Stories via Literary Kicks

Greece

Greece debt crisis: Who is Lucas Papademos? via the Christian Science Monitor

Vignettes of Modern Greece via GreeceInPrint

Amid Greece’s Challenges, Kalamata Basks in the Sun via CNN

Beat Generation

Jay Farrar channels Kerouac, reaches the heart of America via Good Times

St. Petersburg bar pays tribute to Beat author Jack Kerouac via St. Petersburg Times

The Woman behind Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” via Marin Independent Journal

Kate Linhardt on “Crazy Wisdom: The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodies Poetics” via IndieWire

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Writing Wednesday: Becoming a New Media Innovator

16 Nov

Success isn’t just about doing—it’s about innovating.  It’s about creating something new or doing something in a new way.  It’s not always mind-blowing.  Sometimes it’s so obvious that it’s surprising no one had done it before.  And yet, it’s the game changer.  It’s the concept that makes you rise above all the hi-ho, hi-ho dwarves.

The New York Times recently published an article called “21 New Media Innovators.”

The article shows how writers—mainly journalists—use Twitter, “the art of multipurposed multi-platforming,” aggregated data, video, ereaders, text messages, crowd-sourcing, message boards, citizen journalism, sponsored posts (aka advertorials), widgets, slideshows, and other technological mumbojumbo to bring stories to you in new and relevant ways.

So, what does this mean for writers?  How does a memoirist become a new media innovator?

For one, multi-platforming allows a memoirist to represent different facets of herself and her conversation.  Here on my blog, you get my personal stories as well as updates and tools for writers, but if you “friend” me on Facebook you are privy to the more day-to-day goings on in my life and you have more opportunity to interact with me through comments and even live chats.  I’ve also brought you audio via Broadcastr, as an experiment in whether voice allows for more connectivity.

What sort of new media do you think is particularly relevant for memoirists?  Most of the memoirists I know stick to blogging and Tweeting, and I’d love to hear about any memoirists that are utilizing new media in creative ways.

How would you like to see me use new media?

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Jeffrey Eugenides’ Vest Is Tweeting

11 Nov

In the City that Never Sleeps, I attend more events than I have time to tell you about.  One of these events was hearing Greek American author Jeffrey Eugenides speak at the New Yorker Festival.  His The Marriage Plot is on my read-when-the-semester-ends list.  Til then, I’ll be amusing mself with Tweets from Eugenides’ Vest.

Yeah, so have you seen that big billboard of Eugenides in Times Square?  Well, in the photograph the Pulitzer Prize-winning author is wearing a vest.  And now that vest has a Twitter account and is spouting off about what it’s like to be Eugenides’ vest.

 

Eugenides' VestEugenides’ Vest

Walter Isaacson is writing misleading books about me, claiming that Joan Baez and Jennifer Egan have worn me at the same time.
27 Oct
You can follow here.  And feel free to leave a comment about what item of mine you’d like to see Tweet, haha.  In the meantime, just follow me on Twitter at @StephanieNiko.

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