Monday, September 29, 2008

Economy is Hurting Everyone!!

My girlfriend just sent me this:

Creative Loafing Publisher Files For Chapter 11 In Tampa

Published: September 29, 2008

TAMPA - Creative Loafing Inc., which publishes an alternative weekly newspaper in Tampa and several other cities, filed today for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, court records in Tampa show.

The company said in its filing that affiliated papers in Sarasota; Charlotte, N.C.; Birmingham, Ala.; and Washington also filed bankruptcy petitions in U.S. federal court in Tampa.

Chapter 11 gives companies time to reorganize finances while they are protected from creditors.

Friday, September 26, 2008

The Fate of Newspapers

From Poynter Online:
Analyst: Next 18 months may be "make or break" time for newspapers
Reflections of a Newsosaur
Deutsche Bank's David T. Clark says marketers "are 'flummoxed' by the multitude of media choices they have right now, so there is an opportunity for newspapers to step in and offer a multi-platform �big idea� to major retail advertisers." The analyst adds that it's unclear whether many papers are up to the challenge, "though there appear to be some that are."


No for my two cents:

Can you imagine a life with no newspapers? I can!
The prices just went up to $0.50 for St. Pete Times and Tampa Tribune and even when they were $0.25 I constantly saw papers sitting in the boxes at the end of the day. The only time I really see empty newspaper boxes is Sunday because everyone is after the coupons.

What I can not imagine is no online newspapers. In the digital age we have grown accustomed to, I think the online newspapers will simply get bigger and hopefully better. The biggest complaint for newspapers has been that as they go online no one knows how much to charge or how to measure the value of ad price to readership ratio. Hopefully some genius will solve this math problem soon and then the cycle will continue as journalism gets more and more digital.

The moral of this post is if you ain't good at working them there computers, you best be gettin to a class soon cuz soon that's all they gunna be is computers and televisions. The good news? Radio still ain't goin nowheres :)

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Check out this link!

I love the blog Write to Done.
Check this post out:
http://writetodone.com/2008/09/09/5-clever-ways-to-keep-your-muse-on-speed-dial/

Thursday, September 4, 2008

What kind of person are you?

First of all, I want to give props to Ashley for putting up such a fantastic (and very true!) post recently. With all we have going on (school, work, family, friends), it's definitely more difficult than ever for us aspiring writers to make ANY progress with our "work," let alone get anything published.

Now that I am holding down a full-time job and have decided (wisely, I think) to give my graduate program at USF a break, I am finding that it is difficult to muster the energy to come home and write after an entire day's work. However, like Ashley mentioned, if you want it bad enough, you will make the time to do so, even if it means having to sacrifice some things for a while.

In my case, I feel like actual progress with my screenplay is long overdue. Just to put this in perspective, I have been mulling the idea of writing a screenplay since high school (!) and still have not truly completed one. There are a million things I can blame this on, but really, it comes down to the fact that I have been too lazy to discipline myself to... just get it done already! As a result, I have been dissatisfied with several aspects of my life for a while (seeing years tick by while your passion project collects dust will do that to you).

But recently, I realized that the very fact that this stagnant state of my startup creative writing career was affecting my mood was a clear indication that writing is what I was meant to do. Besides my journalistic day job, I have come to see that telling stories is not only something that I want to do... it's something I have to do. My disappointment was a testament to that. For years, I have had dozens of stories burst into my head, and not on had fully come to fruition. After all the days spent thinking and analyzing and mulling over story ideas and where to take them, I still could not honestly refer to myself as a creative writer.

That's just the kind of person I am. I don't seek out these creative thoughts (ideas for short stories, screenplays, songs, novels, etc...). They just come to me, and I see now that I am destined (if you could call it that) to transcribe them to the best of my ability and share them with the world. How else do you explain it when your best ideas come when you're not even trying? Like I said, being a writer is my calling. It's who I am.

So... what kind of person are you?

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

REMINDER: One week until the 2nd-ever Crooked Table meeting!!!

REMINDER: Up-and-coming writers' blogsite The Crooked Table is hosting its SECOND-EVER meeting on Wednesday, September 10. Like last time, we will meet at Cafe Kili at 7pm to discuss the future of the Table, the logo, everyone's project and more. In addition, we will be having our first critique session so feel free to bring a sample of your work. This could be a short story, a poem or two, a chapter of a novel, a few scenes of a script or even a song. Constructive criticism only so don't be shy!

Cafe Kili closes at 9pm, and then The Crooked Table Crew will move the party over to the University Area Hangout down the road (across from University Mall). Karaoke madness begins at 10pm so be ready for your moment in the spotlight.

If you're unable to make it to the meeting but still want to take part in the after-party (or vice versa), feel free to do so. And as always, please help support the creative-minded goals of the Table by spreading the word! Thanks everyone!

If you have any questions or anything, feel free e-mail me at RobertYaniz1983@aol.com. I hope to see you all at the meeting!

-Rob