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Anthony Alvarado

Anthony Alvarado

Monthly Archives: April 2014

Which type of writer are you?

28 Monday Apr 2014

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adventurer, aesthete, artist, dandy, writer

The purpose of art is the lifelong construction of a state of wonder.

— Glenn Gould

A book is an outgrowth of the writer’s personality. To write Moby Dick one must first live Herman Melville’s life. The thing that makes Melville Melville is the sea, and the world he bumped up against and the life he lived. If a book is made out of the character of its creator, and the character of a person is shaped by world and life that person inhabits, then the first step to writing a good book is to live well.

mobydick2

One school of thought is that the artist must live life like a burning tyger. In this way they will see and taste the fuel that they can turn into beautiful poetry and prose. This school of thought gives us Hemingway, Rimbaud, Christopher Marlowe, Jack London, the Beats (Burroughs, Ginsberg, Kerouac.) These people understood that if they live a life of excitement and adventure they have plenty to write about. It is a good way to do things, and fun.  The danger lies in burning too brightly and burning out.

Just as a stone can be polished to give it burnish and glow, a person’s character/soul can be made bright, bold and beautiful by polishing itself against challenges, obstacles, and deprivation. This is the path of the adventure, it is effective but risky.

The other path to consider is the way of the romantic, the poet,the dandy, the dilettante, it is the path of the aesthete. (One might say the path of the adventure is masculine, the path of the aesthete feminine.) It is wine instead of whisky. The idea is to surround oneself, at all times, with things of aesthetic beauty, with flowers and music, and starlight. One can do this by carefully making ones own surrounding beautiful, or going to beautiful places, and beautifying the world and the day. Or consider the strategy of the dandy, which is to just do this for one’s own self and thereby create a mobile bubble of good taste and beauty.Montesquiou,_Robert_de_-_Boldini

 

I was reminded of the aesthetic path recently while taking a brief writing retreat at the Sou’Wester in Seaview Washington.

I wrote these notes while sitting in a beautiful, tastefully decorated room, at a small table with lots of light and sweet air. A room with timeless decor and attention to detail. Flowers on the table in a cream pitcher, wood paneling from the 40’s everywhere, and actual art on the walls not reproductions. A room with a view and an oriental rug . . .

table

I know that some would argue this is a less effective path to inspiration than adventure. But there really is something to it. Living in surroundings with no plastic, no logos, no junk. It does something for the mind, it relaxes ones senses and sensibilities. One might argue none of this should affect the process of making art. But sitting here, even for a moment my intuition tells me otherwise. (Note, living an aesthetic life soes not mean surrounding yourself with expensive $hit, in fact vintage second-hand stuff has a much more poetic and soulful quality.)

Of course these two strategies:  that of the aesthete, and that of the adventurer are not mutually incompatible. They can work in tandem. The combination is akin to zen mindfulness.

 

Let us be like samurai, able to wield both the warrior’s sword and the poet’s pen!

samurai-sword-history

Piketty and Kingsworth are talking about the same thing

21 Monday Apr 2014

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capital in twenty first century, dark mountain, end of the world, global collapse, picketty

Anybody else notice this confluence? There were two articles in this week’s Sunday edition of the NY Times, both are on the topics that are the largest challenges of our time. What is interesting is that these two gigantic challenges are somehow viewed as two separate issues, even though they are caused by the same thing.

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(Pictured above, Paul Kingsworth, founder of Dark Mountain movement, and a big sissy who thinks it is time to give up the fight.)

 

The articles I am referring to are one on the Dark Mountain movement. A group of former activists and ecologists who have thrown in the towel, and given up, it is too late, we can’t save nature and the planet. Let’s give up. The other article is on the new book on economics by french professor Picketty called Capital in the Twenty First Century. I haven’t read it yet, but it deals with the huge rise in inequality between the super wealthy and everyone else. We have two landmark moments here. A group of people, many of whom have long been the radicals and activists fighting to save the planet have given up hope. It is a bad sign when that happens, it likely means that the only reason more people haven’t given up all hope is because we are naive and don’t fully appreciate the direness of the situation. the other landmark moment, is that not too long ago saying that wealth inequality was a big deal problem was seen as radical, as the kind of talk you’d expect to hear only on a the campus of a bohemian college, maybe after a couple of puffs of reefer. But not this message: that the inequality of wealth is getting worse and worse and soon it will threaten the fabric of democracy . . . this is the message of the day in what is being lauded as THE big watershed book on economics. It is being touted as  the agreed upon thing in Academia and journalism.

 

We are destroying the planet by not caring for it, we are also damaging society with mind-boggiling $ inequality. These seem to be the two biggest challenges we face right now. Why I am bringing this up here is because I think it is crazy that no one has thought to point out that these, the two biggest challenges faced by humanity now, are caused by the same thing! Capitalism. Commercialism. The power of money, and uncontrolled greed left to run rampant over everything else.

This is actually good news! It means that rather than facing down what might look like two evil, nasty giants, we only face one. Like the Dark Mountain people I agree that our situation is bleak. Unlike them I don’t think it is time to throw in the towel. That’s a sissy move. If there is one thing I have learned from playing chess it’s not to give up,  ever, but to keep fighting even when you are down a piece and it looks hopeless. You can still win, even when you are way behind as long as you don’t give up. If you give up you can’t win at all, of course.

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Professor Pikkety suggests that progressive taxes which help redistribute wealth are a solution. I think they are a great start but not nearly enough. It seems to me that what is needed is a much deeper change. A change in values, in the way we see things, and in the ethics of what we value. We need to acquire a vision that allows us to see nature as precious enough so that we as a species will make whatever sacrifices we need to in order to save it. And a vision that teaches us to see unchecked greed and wealth accumulation for what it is: merely a sad, and gross disease. Not something to be envious of. In short, policy changes are not enough, we need to work on a new vision. A change that happens not just on the level of policy and legislation, but on the level of the heart. It is while looking for this new vision that I came up with the thoughts and ideas, and way of looking at things that became my book DIY Magic. Yes, I think what is needed is a magical way of seeing things, a sort of soul vision.

 

Is this even possible? Many would say no.  It is time to give up, and stop fighting. Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow the world dies, in fact what else is there to do but get all the cash you can and enjoy yourself. That is the battle cry of those who have given up. Folks feel overwhelmed, they feel that we face too many enemies to overcome. But what if the challenges we face are really a part of the same common cause? And therefore can be tackled with a common solution? A new way of seeing? I say that this battle has only just begun.

Twelve things you need to know after you sell your first book

16 Wednesday Apr 2014

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aspiring authors, david lynch, DIY Magic, getting published, new authors, platform, quotations, quotes, twitter, writer's platform

This post is for everybody out there that wants to write a book someday, but doesn’t know what happens after you land that first book deal. If you are like me you imagine the scenario goes down something like this: you get a call from your agent “hey we sold your book, now you are famous!” Then you have a big party, with clowns and champagne. And after that you basically become Hemingway and spend the rest of your days going to bullfights and marlin fishing of the coast of Cuba.

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Ok, maybe my imagination ran away a bit. But honestly, I didn’t have a clear picture of what happens after you sell your book to a publisher. It turns out that getting your book accepted is just 50% of the battle. You still have a lot of work to do between when the ink dries on your book contract, and when your book (hopefully) climbs up the best seller list and does what it is supposed to: sell books!

So, here is my list of top 12 things I have learned recently about what you have to do once you do sell a book. And if you are an aspiring author I recommend checking this out now, because you can actually start building a lot of this stuff now, and it will make you and your book more attractive to prospective literary agents and publishers. Hell, I wish someone had told me this stuff 3 years ago!

 

1. You need a platform. (Try blogging)

What’s a platform? Well, the ultimate platform is being famous. If you are named Shakira or Justin Bieber you can already skip to  step 12. Indeed, if you are Justin Bieber you could probably write a book called “101 Recipes for Plain Oatmeal” and sell about a million copies.  If you don’t happen to already be famous, you need a platform. A platform is anything that gets your voice out there. It can be a blog, a podcast, a radio show, appearances, interviews, twitter. It is ways that people can see you on the media.

Think of it like this. The equation that a lot of publishers are going to be thinking is:

A x P = book sales.

Where A = Awesomeness of book. And P = Platform. We writers often tend to just think about one half of the equation.

Don’t know where to begin with building a platform? Here is my recommendation try blogging. It’s free, it’s fun, it will build your platform slowly. Perhaps best of all, it is a great way to practice your writing on a small scale in front of a live audience. Think of it as practicing your scales. You know what made John Coltrane the best sax player of all time? Hours and hours of practicing scales in his garage! Start practicing now.

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2. If you are a fiction writer you don’t need a platform quite as badly as a nonfiction writer. If you are writing nonfiction YOU NEED A PLATFORM!

 

I really don’t know why this is. It’s not fair, but that’s how it is.

 

3. You need to know how to position your book.

 

What’s position mean? Think of it this way, when you look your book up on Amazon, what’s going to be the “customers also looked at these titles” books that also appear? Or try this, walk to the place in the bookstore where your book is going to be shelved. Now, what’s the competition? Now, just because your book is going to be next to some other books that are super-famous-big-sellers is not a bad thing! That just means you are writing about a popular subject. That said, you don’t want to position your book so that it is the less sexy book on the shelf. You want it to be the sexiest thing 20 feet in every direction!

You also don’t want your book to fall in the shadow of any other books. I was talking to a guy last night who has a dream to one day write the go-to book on Apple Orchards. I talked with him about positioning his book idea. Apple Orchards is obviously way too broad a topic. “You want something that fits in a unique niche,” I told him. With a little bit of brainstorming, we were able to tweak his Apple Orchard idea to make it unique, sexy even. We gave it a good position, so it stands out from the other gardening books. (Obviously I can’t tell you what that is, but I think he has a much better chance of impressing a publisher now.)

4. You don’t get paid right away

Sold your book? Congratulations! Now think twice before you quit that day job as a barista or whatever. I’m not saying that you can’t, but just look at the facts. You don’t get your lump sum all at once. They (the publisher) pay you 4 times. First when they buy the rights to the book. Second when they accept the manuscript (after it’s been edited). Thirdly when the book actually get’s published (which in many cases is 1-2 years after you sell the book!) and fourth, if you’re lucky, when you sell the foreign rights to the book. I’m just saying, those checks are pretty spaced out . . . a part time barista job might not be the worst thing in the world . . .

5. Get comfortable with the idea of public speaking

Sold your book? Congratulations! Now guess what’s in your future: readings, conferences, interviews on television and radio, podcasts, cold calling book store owners to set up events. If the idea of speaking in front of a crowd makes you jumpy, you might want to practice getting comfortable in front of others now, so you’re ready when the time comes.

6. Get comfortable with new media

When I was younger I thought I could like, write books on a freaking typewriter and they would be genius and that’s all I needed. If I had a time machine I would go back to my younger self and say “PShhhhaw, yeah right kid!” Twitter, Facebook, podcasts, blogs, the internet as a whole; these things are not going away, my friends. And they are terrific ways to get your name out there.( See principle # 1 building your platform.)  I am telling you this now, because no one is more guilty of ignoring this stuff until the last minute than I am. I have held out against Twitter for years. It wasn’t until my wonderful editor at Perigee books told me I should really try out Twitter that I finally succumbed. And guess what, it’s actually a lot of fun! Duh. So what are you waiting for, it’s just another way to write! It’s not like we should pretend to be Shakespeare and write with just ink and a giant goose quill. Trust me, if William Shakespeare were alive today, not only would he be tweeting, (@billshakestweeter) he would have 9 million tweet followers.  Get with the times! (Oh, btw you can follow me @anth_alvarado)

7. Know who you wrote the book for

Ask yourself; who is my ideal reader? Figure that out and get to know your ideal reader.

Now you just have to figure out how to connect with that ideal reader. That’s going to be different for different demographics.

For example I wrote DIY Magic for a younger version of myself. I wanted to write a book of tips, tricks and wisdom that is all the stuff I wanted to learn in college  but nobody was teaching. You know, the really cool underground ideas that you have to go digging for? Because of this, I now want to really make an effort to reach out to University and college campuses etc., to make sure that my book is available in the local campus book store, and to do as many appearances at colleges as I can.

 

8. Get a decent author photo taken.

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“C’mon Shel, smile for the birdie! . . .”

“No. I will not.”

“Uh, ok, it’s your face.”

 

9. Hold off on that celebration party until you actually send in the manuscript.

You sold your book? Congratulations. But guess what, you still have a lot of work to do on the manuscript before you send it off. So if you are planning a vacation or a celebration you might want to wait awhile.

10. Using quotes in your book can be a real pain in the ass.

When the first edition of DIY Magic came out, I used a ton of quotes without bothering to get permision. I quoted Built to Spill, David Lynch, MC Chris. Turns out you can really only quote stuff freely like that if it is from 1922 or earlier. In retrospect this is kinda obvious, but I just didn’t think about it. Yeah, you can try to get permission from everybody you quoted. Good luck getting David Lynch on the phone! I ended up just cutting some of those quotes, or finding older (and better) quotes to use.

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10. Your Bio actually matters.

It’s your life story in a paragraph! Originally I sent in something dumb for my bio, like ” I live in Portland with a cat and a dog.” Ugh. That’s the bio for half the books ever written: “Lives in Portland with a cat and a dog.” I’m working on making that a more compelling bio now.

11. At the end of the day, it is really the quality of your book that matters.

I know, I know, I’ve been telling you about platform, and Twitter, and your author photo, and so on. But guess what, when it comes right down to it none of this stuff is going to make a difference unless you wrote an out-of-the-ballpark, awesome book! That is what comes first, and don’t forget it. The writing!

 

12. Have fun with it!

If you have gotten to this stage you are already incredibly fortunate. You should enjoy yourself. When I first sold my book to Perigee Books, I kinda freaked out and got stressed out for awhile. All of a sudden I felt a lot of pressure because it felt like my writing was now on a bigger level than it had been. I went through that experience, a sort of dread of success, for a couple weeks, than I realized that, hey, If I ‘m not going to loosen up and enjoy this, I might as well go back to my boring old job! Screw that! Since then I’ve tried to loosen my grip, and approach the whole thing as a game, and I’m having a lot more fun, and enjoying the whole experience. Writing is the best job in the world. It is hard work, and challenging, of course it is, if it wasn’t it wouldn’t be the best job a person could hope for.

My top 10 posts of all time

15 Tuesday Apr 2014

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000 hits, 000 visitors, 10, anthony alvarado, blog posts, DIY Magic, grand rapids, popular, top ten, zerzan

Hey folks, lot’s of stuff coming up here in the next few weeks so keep an eye on this site. I recently finished and sent in my manuscript to Perigee books, so I am going to have more time now to devote to this blog, and some other cool projects coming up. I am especially excited about developing a podcast to share with you guys. (Step one, I gotta buy a bunch of microphones, cables etc.) So stay tuned! In the meantime, this little WordPress blog recently passed the 10,000 visits benchmark!  Which is pretty cool. (95% of those visits are from this past year) 10 thousand, hey that’s the population of a small town! A town you would probably want to leave as soon as you turned 18, but a town nonetheless.

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In celebration of reaching the size of Big Rapids, Michigan, here are my top ten blog posts. Here are the all time posts that have been most searched for, read, and some of my personal favourites. Check out the ones you may have missed.

NUMBER 10

The 12 habits of highly creative people. 

This is basically just a list I made for my own notebooks on the things that succesful creative people tend to do.

NUMBER 9

A brief history of magic.

So this one is kind of long, woolly, and weird. The funny thing is that it’s got a lot of pics of cave man art. I get emailed about the cave art quite a bit, people want to know where and when it is from. But it is an essay on magic. So I suspect kids are researching cave art for some school project, and then if they are cribbing from my blog they are handing in some pretty weird essays to their English teachers on Magic!

NUMBER 8

Beat the common cold

Reads, like it says. Gets a lot of traffic in the Winter.

NUMBER 7

Memento Mori

I am a little bit surprised this one is as popular as it is! It is a meditation on death. But I think people are curious about these ideas, exactly because our culture tries to ignore the subject

NUMBER 6

Van Gogh on Creativity

People frigging love Van Gogh. And for good reason!

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NUMBER 5

Interview with Green Anarchist: Jonathan Zerzan

An oldie but a goodie. I interviewed Zerzan who is the grandfather of Green Anarchism. Highly intelligent man, thinking along paths that few other people are willing to tread.

NUMBER 4

Picasso on Creativity

This post is kind of insanely popular. Especially considering that I just threw it together, for my own amusement in like 30 minutes. But hey,when it comes to artists Picasso is King Kong, Muhammed Ali, T-rex. The archetypal artist.

NUMBER 3

Ritual

I’m happy this one is so popular. I think it shows that people are tired of a modern life that feels rootless and lacking in traditions. And that we are beginning to search for something new. I am all about that!

NUMBER 2

Self-hypnosis

Self-hypnosis is cool. And it is easy. It’s time has come, and I bet you in the next 5 years there is going to be an explosion of people trying this technique out.

NUMBER 1

DIY Magic!

No big surprise the most popular search that brings people to this blog is for my book DIY Magic. The small press edition is all sold out, sadly. The good news is a new edition is coming out next year from Perigee books. I couldn’t be more excited! I just saw the new cover design and it is FUCKING GORGEOUS! (Sorry for the language there, I will put a dollar in the Swear Jar now, but it was worth it.)

Also, there are actually a whole lot of posts on this site about DIY Magic. I don’t know if I could pick a favorite, so this is simply a link to dozens of the artists who contributed illustrations. They are all amazing, check em out!

Meet my tweets

07 Monday Apr 2014

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Hey, I’m trying out the tweeting thing. I am a twitter illiterate. (Twitterilitterati?) I don’t know the first thing about twitting. But thought I might try it out, you can see me tweeting away from now on @anth_alvarado

There should be a follow my tweets button appearing, just to the right . . .ah, there it is!

Please enjoy the tweets!

 

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