Burning Furiously Beautiful, the book on Jack Kerouac I’m collaborating on with Paul Maher Jr., is taking shape. Paul suggested I make a Pinterest board based on the book, and I’m super excited about the way it came out. So far I’ve cataloged photographs with captions to tell the story of part 1 of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. It’s such a fun way to explore a story.
Want to check it out? I’d love to hear your feedback.
I’m involved in social media at the publishing house in which I work, and we’re obsessed right now with Pinterest. Have you heard of it? It’s basically a virtual corkboard to “pin” ideas to, an inspiration board.
Galleycat has a great (and ever-evolving) write up on it called Pinterest Tips for Writers.
I decided to get in on the action and have signed up for Pinterest as a way to create boards based on the different characters and settings I write about. I created boards based on Beat-related imagery as well as imagery related to my memoir. I also made a board called Lit Life, which features books, glasses, desks, typewriters, wine!, you know … delicious imagery associated with reveling in writing and reading.
One of my favorite Pinterest boards to create was one called My Sixteen-Year-Old Self. It’s got a lot of photos of bands I used to listen to (remember Green Day before they were on Broadway?!), the fashion I wore (or at least wished I had been brave enough to wear – hello, baby-doll dresses and combat boots!), and the things I did (walk up and down the railroad tracks). Although my memoir mainly focuses on my twenties, there’s a bit of a bildungsroman feel to it—I’m a late bloomer—and to understand my twenties, you have to understand my youth.
Are you on Pinterest? How are you using it for your writing? What do you think of it in terms of how it affects the reader experience? Does getting snippets of imagery make you curious about an upcoming book or does imagery ruin your opportunity to imagine the characters and the scenes in a book for yourself?
PS: Don’t forget I’m also on Twitter!
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’ 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
Image via Tweetpi
You know you’re Greek when your name is too long for Twitter.
I’m several years late to the game, but I finally signed up for Twitter. I’ve been Tweeting for other companies for a while, so I figured it was about time I bit the bullet and created my own personal account, as in “These Tweets are my own opinions and do not represent anyone but myself.” I mean, I was already on Google+ for crying out loud. Why not join Twitter too?
Okay, but here’s the rub: my multisyllabic Greek last name is too long for Twitter! And I don’t just mean too long for the Twitter handle; I mean too long for my profile name.
That means, you can now follow me as @StephanieNiko on Twitter.
It’s probably better in the long run. I bet you can’t spell my last name correctly anyway.
Stephanie Nikolopoulos is a writer, editor, writing teacher, and speaker based in New York City.
She is the coauthor, with Paul Maher Jr., of "Burning Furiously Beautiful: The True Story of Jack Kerouac's 'On the Road.'"
You can email her at stephanie_701 {@} yahoo.com
Stephanie Nikolopoulos 