yuvi zalkow - novelist, failed writer, schmo

I’ve begun dabbling in the world in stop-motion animation. What does this mean? This means that I wait for my toddler to take a nap and then I frantically begin playing with his stuffed animals.

My excuse this time for playing with his toys is that I want to talk about writing groups. I’ve been in plenty of writing groups and here is my take on what makes an (in)effective writing group:

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How is this for bad self promotion: I’m reading last night at Blackbird Wine Shop in Portland, OR.

On the other hand, you can check out the story that I read (“A Proper Love Story“) at intentionalducati.org. Thanks to Stevan Allred and Joanna Rose who put on this fabulous event.

Call me slow, but as far as I see it, there are two ways to write a book:

METHOD #1

Buy a new house. Not to live in, but to write in. (Yeah, you heard me correctly: I ended that sentence in a preposition. My upcoming novel is full of those kinds of sentences, and also dangling modifiers, and split infinitives, and run-on sentences, hot damn do I have a lot of run-on sentences! And sentence fragments.)

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So I’ve finally put together a presentation describing how I make my presentations. It’s a pretty geeky little video that focuses on the tools that I use. I’ve honestly stumbled my way into this video-making process, so it is definitely flawed…

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My people have asked me to get slightly more savvy in the social media and marketing realm. Since I’m a pretty low key sort of person, I wanted to step up my online game in a way that still felt suited to who I am. Basically, I didn’t want to get a sick feeling in my stomach as I proceeded. So here is how I handled the situation:

1. I hid in the bathroom weeping for 30 minutes. My people didn’t specifically ask me to do this, but I find that this is an effective first step in any great (or tolerable) plan.
   

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There’s a saying in the presentation world: “once you need your wife to film you naked for a presentation, you’ve gotten too desperate.” OK. That’s not really a saying… But it should be.

In any case, I hope you find some of this presentation useful. I took the tremendous risk of getting my wife to film me naked for this video (which is risky for both my presentation gig and my marriage) because I wanted to show you many of the ways I try to get a fresh look at my own writing. Let’s see if it pays off…

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I cheated my way onto the 5by5 podcast network. This week, I appear on the Cocktail Napkin, a video podcast with Jeremy Fuksa. He calls the show “a periodical of uncurbed ideas”. Jeremy saw my Obsession x Voice video and asked if we could sit down and talk about failure and creativity. (Two of my favorite subjects.) Thanks, Jeremy, for the fun conversation. Click on the link below to watch…

The Cocktail Napkin, Episode #49

My story “Love” is now available in issue #10 of the Los Angeles Review. It looks like a great issue. Thanks to Stefanie Freele and all the other great folks who work on this magazine.
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Here is my video about failure. I talk about my love affair with failure and how it serves me as a writer. I also reveal a bit too much about my psychoses. And I talk about martinis.

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I just got a copy of iPad at Work (Amazon, iBook), written by my online friend, David Sparks. This book is so well put together. What I mean is that it’s more than just a list of cool iPad apps; it’s more than a bunch of productivity insights; it’s more than a bunch of really useful (and often amusing) screenshots. From start to finish, it’s clear that David spent a great deal of time ensuring that this book makes you more productive on your iPad. Read more…