Neil Ostroff's Blog – November 2011 Archive (11)

It’s raining today. Drops slide down my window like translucent

snails. Water puddles in the street. Worms

tunnel up from drowning liquid and sprawl across the sidewalk. And here I sit

in front of my computer belting out another novel. I forget who said it, but I

remember a quote that summed up the writing life completely. The quote went

simply; being a writer is like having homework every day for the rest of your

life. And that’s true for the serious, passionate…

I just did something that I’ve never done before. Something

I ignorantly hoped to avoid but always knew would happen. I just paid hard

earned dough to promote my books. Well, not my books individually, but my blog

and author’s site. I signed up for two marketing ideas that I believe may

actually work. I also have a third PR person in line to do search engine

optimization. Who would have thought being a writer and selling books could get

so complicated. The first site…

It’s happened! I’ve finished a new book (DREAM TRAVELER) and

it’s about to go live. So, what do I do now? Well, besides all the marketing

and promotion I’m planning in the coming weeks, it’s time to start a new novel.

I’ve had this one simmering in my brain for a long time; about thirty years.

What’s it about? Well, I learned long ago not to talk-out a book before you’ve

put it to page, but I have come up with a tagline. ‘You and me and the world we

live in is nothing…

Happy Thanksgiving to all! That said, I have to tell you

that since I’m in the service industry, I work every Thanksgiving. So today,

black Friday, is my day to celebrate. Oh it’ll be a hoot. Got the family coming

over, got friends of the kids stopping by, got lots of food and drink. By the

time most of you read this I’m going to be knee-deep in overindulgence. But for

now, I must write. This post is only the beginning of about two hours I’ve set

aside this morning to…

So, you married yourself a writer, eh? You bought into the

romantic notion of the two of you sitting fireside, you drinking a glass of

pinot noir while your significant other sits beside you writing the next great

American novel. The only sound is the crackling fire and the tapping of their

keyboard. Every once in a while your significant other looks up from their

masterpiece and flashes you a smile that makes you feel like you’re the most

special person in the world.…

Got a new book coming out next week and I must say it’s a

great feeling. Not because I finished another book, but because I finished a

book that I started writing in 1997. As I slowly weed through more than two

decades of manuscripts, there’s a certain joy that comes each time one is

finally declared “finished”. Even as I re-read the manuscript for the

thousandth time, I could still picture myself fourteen years ago, sitting

upstairs in my sweltering bedroom…

Please check out my latest interview.

http://susanwhitfield.blogspot.com/2011/11/neil-ostroffs-insectland.html

Home from vacation and looking forward to working sixty

hours in the next six days… not! There are many reasons why people attempt to,

or actually do, write a book. Some are for purely egotistical reasons: money,

fame, the adulation of pretty girls and boys. Some people write books because

they feel they have a story to tell the world, whether it’s fiction or

non-fiction. Some people write stories purely for the joy, and care little if

no one else but family members…

I’m sitting on the dock this morning, my fishing rod baited

with a shrimp and hoping to catch some lunch when a strange thought occurred to

me. Fishing and becoming a successful author are similar activities. Except

when you’re fishing, you use bait to catch stuff and when you’re a writer you

use your books to try and catch something, that something being an agent,

publisher, or audience. The analogy expounds even further. With fishing, the

quality of bait is…

As readers of my blog know, I am currently on vacation in the Florida Keys while my step-kids are at our house up north. The Keys is and was home to many famous artists and writers including its most notable resident, Earnest Hemmingway. Hemmingway lived and fished here, and wrote some of his most memorable novels in this tropical paradise. So, how has my own writing been going? I must admit the scenery is breathtaking and watching the sunsets really does get the creative juices flowing. But…

As I write this I am on vacation. Yes, vacation. That

magical two weeks a year when you leave your cares behind and head off into the

sunset. In my case, this is Key West Florida. It’s beautiful! Right now it’s 82

degrees and sunny with low humidity. I watched the recent snowstorm in the

northeast on television and thanked my lucky stars that I left Pennsylvania two

days before it hit. I do write on vacation, usually in the morning before the

high heat of the day sets…