[SML] blowing my own horn

Thu Sep 22 23:16:36 UTC 2022

  I guess this won't hurt us, or offend too many people. Here's the long version.

  I went to an all-boys Catholic college-prep high school in Orange County, CA, late '60s, a repressive culture in a volatile time. For some reason, the Class of '71 was and has remained very cohesive, and engendered many lifelong friendships. Over 100 of the 144 graduates are now on an active mailinglist. At our 50th reunion, someone asked the table they were at how many of them were writing a book. A surprising number of hands went up. Dave Molina, ever the ringleader and organizer, and now also a dentist, thought we should form a writers group, based on our shared educational background and long camaraderie. A group that could Zoom together, pat each other on the back, engage in competitive exercises that aren't supposed to be contests, share resources, utilize Building Word Power, (one of those learn-this-vocabulary books, which we were forced to memorize, and which remains a standing joke among us,) and snipe at each other's grammar. And thus, the Servite-71-affiliated Writers Anonymous was formed. It's been going now for about a year and a half, is a great way for some of us to keep in touch about a shared passion, and has encouraged us to produce and share some fine and engaging work, across many genres and disciplines.
  Though I have written over 400 songs, and been a storyteller all my life, I've never thought of myself as a writer, but I joined anyway, and, being fiercely competitive, I found myself engaging in the monthly prompts, and putting oft-told tales into print. I still doubt if I'll ever write a novel, but I do have things to say. 
  One of the monthly writing prompts, to write about a near-death experience, in any way that struck the individual writer, led to such a wealth of moving material that we began expanding on it, editing each other's work, and eventually assembled 30 stories by 10 authors into a collection, Matters of Life and Death - Stories from the Brink. 
  Six of the 30 stories are mine, and 2 are by a man who taught English to most of us for those 4 years. A mentor then, a colleague now.
  That book was just published. Hot off the press. Available in print or kindle. We're very proud. We're also now published authors. It's good for our egos.
  Since everything costs money, we need to sell dozens of these books to not look like fools, so we sincerely hope that you'll purchase a copy for your bookshelf, perhaps one for your local library, and give them as Christmas presents to people you like, or maybe people you don't like. We also hope you read it, actually.
  Also, if you do read the book, please leave a review. Reviews are the lifeblood of these small vanity publishing projects. Even if you hated it and said so, a review is better than no review. And the response from such an erudite well-grammared group such as this one can do us no harm.

   Here's the link:

https://www.amazon.com/Matters-Life-Death-Stories-Brink/dp/B0BCSGZ6SV/ref=sr_1_1?crid=E6MSR7ZGFS50&keywords=david+molina+matters+of+life+and+death&qid=1663191997&sprefix=%2Caps%2C174&sr=8-1

  Thanks for listening! And best wishes for all your own projects!

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jon Ares via Stagecraft" <stagecraft at theatrical.net>
To: "Stagecraft Mailing List" <stagecraft at theatrical.net>
Cc: "jonares" <jonares at arescreative.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2022 12:44:16 PM
Subject: Re: [SML] blowing my own horn

Thanks, Don!  Looking forward to checking it out.  And go ahead,
everybody! Blow your horn! This list doesn't get a lot of traffic
these days* so why not. (*Unless the Facebark page gets a lot of
traffic - I don't do FB.)

Here's my Amazon Author page:
https://smile.amazon.com/Jon-Ares/e/B00MQVVCA8/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1

 - Jon

On Thu, Sep 22, 2022 at 12:30 PM Don Taco via Stagecraft
<stagecraft at theatrical.net> wrote:
>
>
>   Matters of Life and Death - Stories from the Brink.  30 stories by 10 authors, developed from a monthly writing assignment for a writing group of my high school peers, about a near-death experience, the theme loosely interpreted by the individuals. 6 of the stories are mine.
> Thanks!
>
>
> Give us a hint about this book!  Or at least a title.
> Congratulations
> Mike
>
> Michael Katz
> narishkup at gmail.com
> C: 857.383.0020
>
>
> On Thu, Sep 22, 2022 at 2:20 PM Don Taco via Stagecraft <
> stagecraft at theatrical.net> wrote:
>
> >
> >   I don't want to waste the entire list's time with the blatant commercial
> > details, but I am one of the ten authors in a collection of stories that we
> > just published through Amazon. Since I think a smattering of you might be
> > interested, I'll cheerfully bore you with the details if you privately
> > message me that you'd like to hear them. Thanks!
> >
> > ____________________________________________________________
> > For list information see <http://stagecraft.theprices.net/>
> > Stagecraft mailing list
> > Stagecraft at theatrical.net
> > http://theatrical.net/mailman/listinfo/stagecraft_theatrical.net
> >
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________
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> Stagecraft mailing list
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> http://theatrical.net/mailman/listinfo/stagecraft_theatrical.net

-- 
Jon Ares
www.arescreative.com

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