NOBEL LITERATURE PRIZE TO SPANISH LANGUAGE LITERATURE: MARIO VARGAS LLOSA

Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa (born March 28, 1936) is a Peruvian-Spanish writer, politician, journalist, essayist and 2010 Nobel Prize laureate. Vargas Llosa is one of Latin America's most significant novelists and essayists, and one of the leading authors of his generation. Some critics consider him to have had a larger international impact and worldwide audience than any other writer of the Latin American Boom. He was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt, and defeat".

Vargas Llosa rose to fame in the 1960s with novels such as The Time of the Hero (La ciudad y los perros, literally The City and the Dogs, 1963/1966), The Green House (La casa verde, 1965/1968), and the monumental Conversation in the Cathedral (Conversación en la catedral, 1969/1975). He continues to write prolifically across an array of literary genres, including literary criticism and journalism. His novels include comedies, murder mysteries, historical novels, and political thrillers. Several, such as Captain Pantoja and the Special Service (1973/1978) and Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter (1977/1982), have been adapted as feature films.

Video Nobel Prize announcement 2010:

Wes Lang

I came across this artist a while ago and I've been meaning to do a blog post of his work...The two birds are my favorite...

LIFE IS GREAT.HAVE A GOOD FUCKIN' DAY...

Writing for good...

Libraries in Pennsylvania are having a tough go. State funding has been slashed, yet state mandates to provide a requisite number of service hours continue, despite manpower shortages. In Lancaster County where I live, a referendum that would have provided a dedicated tax of ¼ mill applied to the assessed value of all real estate or an estimated total of $6.75 million in funding annually to the Library System was voted down a few years ago.

(Sadly, people where I live will vote down anything that would raise their taxes, regardless of whether it's the right thing to do or impacts the quality of life for anyone other than the voter himself.)

While there is no easy solution to the financial stress our libraries are facing, I want to do something, besides paying overdue fines, which I'm quite good at, and am happy to pay, of course. So, here's my idea:

My area library, the Ephrata Public Library, is a terrific community resource. For years, I have participated in a bestsellers call service where they phone me when my favorite authors' new releases come in. You can download e-books, do research, take out audiobooks on compact disc and MP3 formats. They host specials events for all ages, fundraisers, and workshops. You can buy used books at their gift shop. I've already screened movie series there that would be hard to view through more commercial movie rental outlets.

So, I am participating in a writing marathon hosted by my favorite online forum, The Write Idea, on October 30. All proceeds will benefit the Ephrata Public Library. The writing marathon lasts 12 hours. I'm aiming to write 25 pages or roughly 6,250 words. You can sponsor me by the word, by the page, by the hour, or give a flat donation.

Please consider making a pledge by emailing me at gem4sixers@gmail.com or let me know your pledge amount in the comments section by October 29.

Writing improves thinking

Yesterday, a friend told me she felt especially sad. On the same day she'd sent her late mother's things to auction, her son wrote a poignant blog post about leaving the United States for the mission field in India, forwarding what he'd written.

The post was moving, encapsulating both the excitement of embarking on a journey to a foreign country and a healthy fear of the unknown as well as a sadness at leaving the only life he's known. Here's an excerpt:

Our tickets are bought. November 18. That's the day we uproot our little family, board a plane, and skip across the globe to plant ourselves in South Asia. The date stares at me from the calendar on my desk.

I had breakfast with my brother Joe the other day. I'd always thought moving overseas would be one big, dramatic airport-hugs-and-kisses goodbye. But it's really a thousand goodbyes that creep into everyday moments like bagels and coffee with a brother and make them heavy with solemnity.

My friend's son and his wife have been blogging for years now about raising children and following their call. As a result, he writes clearly. He's able to take what's in his head and heart and put it on paper with clarity, with precision, with style.

No process is better for clarifying thinking than writing. It forces you to confront what you think and feel about things. If you can't express your thoughts in your writing, then you haven't spent enough time alone with them, distilling them. If you want to move people with your thinking, then practice extracting it from your head and putting it into words.

In my experience, if you want to think better, write. Then write better. Plying each skill improves the other, in turn.

Hey, how are those writing goals coming along?

One of the best craft classes at the June creative writing residency at Wilkes University was conducted by poet, novelist, and freelance writer Lori A. May. Maybe Lori's advice resonated deeply with me because this residency was my last one in the master of arts program. Soon thereafter, I would be relaunched into the "real" writing world--where I hung out before starting a formal creative writing program--to succeed or fail based on my efforts, without the crutch of mandatory weekly submissions to faculty mentors.

Lori suggested writers use a simple framework to create and follow concrete goals for themselves, year by year. Basically, you merely set up a three-column table or spreadsheet with these headers:

GOALS FOR 2010-11 | What I Need To Do Now To Achieve Goals | Calendar Months

Then you fill in the spreadsheet. For my 2010-11 goals, I listed:

1. Revise SHAKER mss and resubmit to [certain publisher]
2. Complete three of five WIPs novels
3. Have 4 quality journal credits to add to my clips
4. Make some money from my writing
5. Meet new writers, editors, agents
6. Be a better Literary citizen
7. Improve my visibility as an author
8. Further my craft and push myself as a writer
9. Have a fiction manuscript accepted for publication
10. Cultivate and deepen opera network in preparation for book tour

 In terms of What I Need To Do Now To Achieve Goals, I listed the following concrete steps:

1. Do a week's worth of research and finish rewrite
2. Prioritize list--complete and polish one novel every four months
3. Polish up new stories and submit to a journal every two weeks
4. Send short fiction to paying markets; begin writing pieces for demand studios; look for casual work at a small publisher
5. Find and begin more online relationships; attend a conference; take cards, follow up
6. Write at least one book review per month; find books I can review on Amazon or at other locations, i.e., Twitter once a month
7. Create website, interact on social media, do cross-promotions with other authors, give readings
8. Read 2 pieces of literary fiction; enter two contests;
9. Obtain a new agent with a record of selling fiction
10. Create template for interview questions; do one two interviews a month on Operatoonity.

I  created my spreadsheet in mid-July. So, two full months later, how much have I accomplished?

• I improved my visibility as a writer by winning an national songwriting contest sponsored by the Washington National Opera--my lyrics won first place as selected by Placido Domingo (Goal #7)
• I created this new blog on writing and another blog to review audio-books (Goal #8)
• I attended a Social Media conference. Though not a writing conference, it did expand my social media toolkit for marketing myself and my writing. (Goal #8).
• I widely queried my opera book in August, receiving and fulfilling fifteen requests for partials or complete manuscripts thus far. They continue to dribble in one or two a week. (Goal #9) 
• I followed some new writers, editors, and agents on Twitter, to build my online network (Goal #5)
• I completed and requested new interviews with opera companies, directors, and composers. (Goal #10)
• I did two readings since setting my goals and I sold three anthologies in which my work appeared (Goal #4 and Goal #7)
• I'm doing a write-a-thon on October 30 to benefit my local library (Goal #6)

I have a long way to go toward realizing my goals. But I'm not displeased with my effort in the last two months. I can and will need to work harder in the coming months. Yet, thanks to Lori's framework, I'm heartened and rejuvenated at the progress made, for which I had no mechanism to chart my effort in the past.

How about you? How do you go about setting and realizing your writing and publishing goals?

"EVERYBODY'S GOT TO LEARN SOMETIME", SHARON CORR & THE KORGIS

"Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime" is originally a hit single from the pop group The Korgis. The song was released in 1980 from the album "Dumb Waiters". This was the peak of The Korgis's success, peaking at #5 in the UK Singles Chart. "Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime" is currently the second single by Irish singer–songwriter Sharon Corr from her debut solo album "Dream of You". Sharon Corr was one of the original members from Irish family-group The Corrs, who are a Celtic folk rock band from Dundalk, Ireland. The group consists of the Corr siblings: Andrea (lead vocals, tin whiste); Sharon (violin, vocals); Caroline (drums, piano, bodhrán, vocals); and Jim (guitar, piano, vocals).

Today we present the original song by the Korgis with the lyrics and the video by Sharon Corr.

Video with lyrics "EVERYBODY0S GOT TO LEARN SOMETIME"; Korgis version:

Video "EVERYBODY'S GOT TO LEARN SOMETIME" by Sharon Corr

(Video shot in Nerja and the Alhambra of Granada):

HURTS: THE NEW POP SENSATION FROM THE UK

Hurts are a British synthpop duo from Manchester composed of singer Theo Hutchcraft, (From Richmond, North Yorkshire), and synth player Adam Anderson.

Their debut album called "Happiness" was released on 6 September 2010 and went straight to nº4. Their hit "Wonderful life". We include the video of the song and the lyrics.

Video "WONDERFUL LIFE", HURTS:

Video with lyrics of "WONDERFUL LIFE":