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I'm still experiencing a bit of a holdup on releasing my new book, "Corporate Ties," for a number of reasons. The biggest, though, is that I want the book to be super awesome and not cause too many issues, which of course, is causing a delay. In the meantime, I've picked up a bit with the marketing side. I've enlisted two graphic designers to assist me with artwork for the book.
As a writer of workplace novels, I try to stay up on the latest and greatest new business books that are out there. There is generally a clear distinction between self-help and narratives, but I do not think it always has to be like that.
I received an email recently about a new movie and a contest for a trip to New York. The new movie, "Fix" starring Olivia Wilde, seems like it could be pretty decent. It's based on a true story, centering around the director trying to bail his brother out of jail in a single day.
I'm sitting in my cube right now, wearing shorts, a T-shirt and tennis shoes. On the other side of the sensibility coin, analyst firm Gartner is predicting that avatars will have business dress codes by 2013. How do people come up with this stuff?
The Library of Congress is up to its old tricks again. Chronicling America has a number of scanned newspapers from 1880 to 1922 from various American states. The site, which is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities as part of the National Digital Newspaper Program, allows users to search based on topics and zoom in to read papers from the more than 100 years ago.
Update (09/28/08): The links in this original column no longer work. I suppose that just goes to show how fast stuff becomes obsolete online!
Everyone likes pictures: taking pictures, posing for pictures, ripping up pictures of exes.
Now that I said that, you're probably thinking you're one of those people who cannot stand getting your picture taken.
While it's doubtful Richard Simmons has already finished reading my book, "The Developers," it is worth noting that he already has good things to say about it.
Simmons, who is constantly referenced in the book as a lookalike of one of the characters, Rex Burns, recently responded to the book copy I sent him at his Burbank location.
"Thank you for your kind words and sense of humor," Simmons wrote on an autographed photo. "You are a gifted man!"
Some people I know who refuse to date people online say so for one simple reason: "I don't know if people are who they say they are."
This is a funny comment first off because even if you met people out somewhere, at work, etc., you rarely don't know who they are until you REALLY know them. Even then, it's debatable how well you know them, not just their physical appearances, but their personalities as well.
The Crawfordsville Journal Review recently featured my book, The Developers in its weekend ETC edition. The article is no longer available on the newspaper's website, so here's the full version.
'The Developers' compacts romance, humor with computer technology
By Mel Robertson | mel@jrpress.com | 05/27/05
A humorous, fictional novel of five "quasi-qeek" Web developers who attempt to link a small Michigan community together through the virtual world conveys a romantic-filled comedy mixed with computer technology.
By Ava
Once upon a time, there was a princess whose name was Ava. And then there was a horse. And then the horse had a prince on it. And then the prince told the princess how to do art. And then she already made art. And then she showed the prince her art project.
THE END