This is an archive of the Writer’s Oasis Chat, which meets on BeYourArt.com and AOL. It invites authors and professionals to speak on various topics in writing. Contact Shirley Flanagan, the Writer’s Oasis Chat Administrator, or join the Writer’s Oasis Topic to be added to the mailing list.

Sunny: Introducing our million seller, Holly Jacobs

Holly: Okay, so I feel a bit presumptuous with the title of this. Although, the geek in me was truly excited when I did the math last year and realized more than a million of my books had sold worldwide, an

Sunny: Its amazing Holly

Holly: and realized more than a million of my books had sold worldwide, and I was even happier when I made it past the million and a half mark last royalty statement. Holly: That worldwide is a big part of the number. That and the fact that Harlequin is truly a global entity. I just did an article on Harlequin’s overseas distribution.

Holly: . They sell books in more than a hundred countries. I’ve had books come out in only about a quarter of them so far.

Tinny: Don’t keep us in suspense What did you write that sold 1 M? Read more…

Co-Published: BeYourArt.com and The North Shoreian Magazine, The Christmas Issue, Volume 1, Issue 12, Practicalities of the Surviving Artist, December 2008. Written by D.T. Arcieri.

D.T. Arcieri with his Underwood #5 typewriter (circa 1910)

I had been writing successfully for at least five years when I came up with the idea. And by successfully I mean that my one-act plays had been produced at nice, albeit small, venues in the City and here on the Island. They were all good little shows that, of course, made no money. Which was fine with me because I just wanted to do quality work. And I think I was. But then I thought maybe I could do better if I had… a studio.

Writing at home and at work was full of hazardous distractions. Things like, say, refrigerators and telephones and televisions and cats. And actual responsibilities, both familial and professional. They got in the way, too. Not to mention people: colleagues, family, friends, strangers, whoever. Distractions! All of them! Keeping me from doing the best I could to write that brilliant play, that full length play, the one I needed to win that Pulitzer prize.

Yes! I needed some privacy, some isolation. A place to focus. To concentrate.  To write. I needed a creative environment full of cool artsy stuff like an antique typewriter on a chipped and pitted desk; a vintage black & white art museum poster of Georgia O’Keeffe nude; Bach or Kid Rock playing in the background; a string of red chili pepper Christmas lights glowing on the wall; a stick of nag champa burning in front of the plastic Buddha I bought at the flea market that summer. I needed an environment that caressed all my senses gently, putting me in zone. The writing zone.

Read more…

Co-Published: BeYourArt.com and The North Shoreian Magazine, The Altruism Issue, Volume 1, Issue 11, Practicalities of the Surviving Artists, November 2008. Written by Pamela Reese.

Photo By Nino Andonis

The faltering economy has impacted most segments of business and industry, and those involved in the arts have not been exempt. Nevertheless, fiction publishers have taken action to provide new options to aspiring writers. Publishing has begun to affect a myriad of changes in an attempt to remain relevant and competitive in an increasingly tight struggle for entertainment dollars.

Given the current volatility in the book business, smaller profit margins and the need to entice a new generation as the avid readers of the baby boom are aging; publishing is at last seeking solutions to longstanding difficulties.

The publishing industry, deeply entrenched in long traditions and reluctant to initiate sweeping changes in a tight economy, is experimenting with ways to eliminate some of their most vexing issues. Those solutions may have a very direct impact on writers and their art. Read more…