New Piece on Learning Novel Writing v. Learning Bass Guitar up at The Weeklings!!!

Best thing about the Internet? You can take a swipe at a Pulitzer Prize winner and who's gonna tell you no?

That's pretty much how it goes down with my recent piece at The Weeklings where I tell my tale of how I learned bass guitar and compare it to the process of learning to write novels. Enjoy!

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

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Art's Rock and Roll Writing Course Re-Ups for Winter 2011! Plus X-Mas Deals on Ghost Notes/Songs from Memory!

I'm finishing up the first semester of my rock and roll writing course at the Basement Writing Workshop, and I can't tell you how much fun it's been. What great projects my students have, and they're all getting better because they took this course.

It's great to be part of the rock lit revolution as it's happening.

"What rock lit revolution?" you ask.

Keith Richards's memoir Life just came out, for which Richards (and his co-writer) received a seven million dollar advance.

The last year has seen rock lit titles by renowned writers like Nick Hornby, Jennifer Egan and Steve Almond, and each has sold well. Even Jonathan Franzen's 2010 mega-blockbuster Freedom features a major character who is a rock musician.

And Patti Smith just won the National Friggin' Book Award for her Memoir Just Kids.

Sound like something you'd like to be a part of? Well, you can't just show up with your axe and expect to play Madison Square Garden. You have to work on your craft, as all of these writers (or co-writers) did. Here's how to start. Sign up for the Winter session of my online rock and roll writing course.

For my class, you can write fiction or non-fiction; as long as it's rock lit, you will have a place at the table. The class is ten weeks long, and you'll get your rock-tinged work critiqued by me and the others in the class, helping you make it the best it can be. And this all happens online, so you can take the class from the comfort of your home. Sound good? Sign up for the Winter 2011 term and get a discount!

Speaking of rock lit, who would like to read (probably) the best example of rock lit ever to be self-published? You think I'm kidding? Check out the crazy good reviews my novel Ghost Notes has received from complete strangers this year:

The Self-Publishing Review

PODBRAM

The Boogle

And here's the best news. My ridiculous deal from last Christmas is back!

You can buy a copy of Ghost Notes, or its companion piece, my solo CD Songs from Memory, from my web site for just $5!

Nowhere on the web will you find these items cheaper. Every copy of Ghost Notes comes signed by the author (he's an ornery cuss, but I can sweet talk him), and all orders of $20 or over ship for free! Would you like to get out cheap with four friends or family members this holiday season? This is the way to do it, and they'll all praise you for turning them on to such a great, rockin', outside-the-box read. Come on over to my store and save big (this book is $15 at Amazon).

I must have lost my frickin' mind to make this offer last year, and I'm certifiably insane to repeat it this year. Come take advantage of my cerebral malaise.

There's big news ahead in my neck o' the woods for 2011. It will include shopping my third novel, which is tentatively titled Good Night to the Rock and Roll Era; writing the screenplay for Stuck Outside of Phoenix; and starting a memoir project (see, if you make it all the way to the bottom of my posts you get rewarded). Much more on each of these in 2011.

Yours in laying down the law,

Art

Try Ghost Notes, the award-winning novel, in print form for just $5.




Try Ghost Notes the Audio Book as an unabridged digital download.



Or try Ghost Notes the Ebook.

Drummer wins Pulitzer, Drummer wins Pulitzer!!!

Drummer...Pulitzer.

My first thought was, "Hell, if a drummer can do it..."

I'm kidding. Big congrats to Paul Harding and Bellevue Literary Press. I'm thrilled that a novelist/musician won it, and I'm thrilled that, for the first time since A Confederacy of Dunces, a small press won it. I'm keeping a very close tab on myself; if I start to show signs of jealousy, feel free to knock some sense into me, but also remember what I said two weeks ago about firsts.

Of course, I had to go digging for everything I could read about Harding, and I came across this interview at Bookslut. Interestingly, this is what he had to say about the relationship between being a writer and being a drummer:

"They scratch the same itch. I've said this a bunch of times. The differences are superficial and obvious ones. Which is being a drummer in a rock band is loud and you're on stage and doing it in front of thousands of people. Being a writer is quiet and solitary. To me it's just circumstantial whether I pick up a pair of drumsticks or whether I open a laptop. I feel like I'm a transmitter or something like that. Whatever comes through I start tapping out on the drum set or tapping out on the keyboards."

I have to admit this is exactly the opposite of how I feel about the relationship between writing novels and playing music. When writing a novel, I feel like there is absolutely nothing else in the cosmos that wants me to do it. It is all uphill, all work. Here's a word, here's another...Wait, are those the right ones? Should I switch them around? Am I going in the right direction? Is there anything good on YouTube?



Music, for me, is something that comes from inspiration, the transmitter thing Harding speaks of. If I get a musical idea, I find a guitar and strum away. In a day or two--maybe a week or two--it's pretty much as good as it's going to be.

My novels, as we explored last week, only get better with more work, to the point that they're never really done.

So, I'd advise you not to listen to this Paul Harding character and his views on writing novels and composing music. I mean, what's does he know?

Only enough to win a Pulitzer.

Congrats, Paul!

Yours in laying down the law,

Art



Try Ghost Notes, the award-winning novel, in print form for just $5.




Try Ghost Notes the Audio Book as an unabridged digital download.



Or try Ghost Notes the Ebook.