http://iamlearningdisabled.com/surpise-some-of-us-dont-like-surprises/ Hometown Reads concept is simple. It’s a website for local readers to discover local authors and for authors to create a platform in their own city. Founded by Becky Robinson in 2012, Hometown Reads represents 21 cities across the United States. The website includes a catalog of over 250 books in a variety of genres. Robinson recently spoke to a… Read more »
You sold your first piece of work! Hooray! Congratulations! Celebrate that check, because it is a major moment of creative validation. You have mad creative skills—skills with financial value. If you want to pursue your art/writing professionally it is important to understand what your talent is worth, figure out how to quantify it, and start maintaining good financial records. It… Read more »
Kansas City Voices managing editor, Jessica Conoley, recently spoke with award winning author, Angela Cervantes. Cervantes’ debut book, Gaby, Lost and Found, was named “Best Youth Chapter Book” by the International Latino Book Awards and a “Bank Street College of Education’s Best Books of 2014.” Her second novel, Allie, First At Last, debuted in Spring 2016. She first showed up… Read more »
Many poets are also dedicated readers of poetry. I certainly am; I read with a notebook and pen at hand to jot down intriguing words, lines, stanzas. That notebook is source of writerly inspiration, insight, and, occasionally, epiphany. If a quote inspires a poem, I acknowledge that fact by citing the quote as an epigraph. The Poetry Foundation defines an… Read more »
Poetry and memoir can be alike on some levels, different on others. Jill Bialosky, in “The Unreasoning Mask: The Shared Interior Architecture of Poetry and Memoir,” (The Kenyon Review, Spring, 2013) says “… what the two art forms share are a tone of intimate connection with a reader …” One of the biggest differences is that memoir is thought by… Read more »
Shelly Cascio opened brandonjacobs gallery in the Crossroads Arts District in Kansas City, Missouri in February 2016. Here at Whispering Prairie Press, Cascio is our go-to advisor for recent art trends in Kansas City and has become our educator in the art collection process. Cascio and her team provide a platform that connects artists and collectors nationwide. We were fortunate… Read more »
As a professional editor, I routinely receive requests to edit all sorts of materials. However, what these prospective clients mean by “edit” may vary. Do they want me to find the weaknesses of the argument or narrative, or do they simply need someone to correct the grammar? So I often find myself helping them figure out just what type of… Read more »
Kimberly Beer is a writer, photography, entrepreneur, and self-proclaimed “creative adventurer.” Beer’s journey as an artist and writer has not been an easy one. “I’m a mixed bag of tricks,” she says, “People who know me as an artist or writer don’t realize I’m an entrepreneur who owns and operates a working cattle ranch.” The demanding hours as a cattle… Read more »
I did not choose to become an artist. At midlife, after 40 years of living in a left-brain-dominated attitude, after earning a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering and working 15+ years in the IT and computer programming fields, I inexplicably found myself painting and writing poetry. This uncharacteristic behavior coincided with an equally unbidden urge to revisit my childhood and re-evaluate… Read more »
The best thing about the current publishing environment is anyone can publish a book; the worst thing about the current publishing environment is anyone can publish a book. Publishing is different from a decade or two ago. The digital revolution has made publishing easier, cheaper, and convenient. There’s an entire galaxy of self-published books. Like the real galaxy, a large… Read more »