A lot of buzzing and scoffing these days in the world of independent publishing about the “fact” that ebook sales are down. Blogger Nate Hoffelder tries to set the facts — the real facts — about ebook sales straight. Source: Damn the Facts: The “Ebook Sales Are Down” Narrative Must be Maintained at All Costs […]
About Jim Stovall
Jim Stovall, a retired journalism prof, is now a novelist, self publisher, watercolorist, gardener, woodworker and beekeeper -- among others things.Revelations by scholastic journalists come by just ‘looking it up’
“You can look it up.” If you remember anything about baseball in the 1950s (and fewer and fewer of us do), you would remember Casey Stengel’s famous conclusion to almost all of his long soliloquies to surrounding newsmen. Stengel was the manager of the New York Yankees, and his teams won pennant after pennant in […]
E.B. White on a writer’s responsibility
One of the great writers — a true craftsman — of the the 20th century, E.B. White, had this to say on the responsibility that writers have: “A writer should concern himself with whatever absorbs his fancy, stirs his heart, and unlimbers his typewriter. I feel no obligation to deal with politics. I do feel […]
Literary journalism, explained
If it is to be literary journalism, the writer must be a journalist, not a fiction writer. That is, the writer cannot make anything up. The facts, descriptions and quotations must be true. They must be things that happened. Sometimes, for the sake of the story, writes create “composite” scenes or characters. If they do […]
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A journalist writing a novel
What’s the biggest different between writing journalism and writing fiction? Since the publication of Kill the Quarterback, I have been asked that question more than once. For an old line journalist like me (when I started in the business, they still used typewriters and pastepots), writing a novel had one big advantage: You could make […]
50 years ago, Harrison Salisbury did not win the Pulitzer Prize
Fifty years ago when the Pulitzer Prizes were awarded, politics — not merit — kept Harrison Salisbury from winning the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting. This week’s announcement (see below) of the latest prizes brings this sad tale to mind. Salisbury was a reporter and editor for the New York Times who already had […]
Rules for using commas
Ever wish you had a single sheet with all the basic rules for using commas on it? You could hand that to your students and say something like, “Here, learn this. We’ll have a test next week. You won’t ever have an excuse for misusing a comma again.” Well, your dream has been fulfilled. JPROF.com […]
At the corner of Banjo and Watercolor
A couple of weeks ago, I went onto YouTube (the modern source of all wisdom and knowledge) to find a video of someone playing or singing “Cumberland Mountain Deer Chase,” an old Uncle Dave Macon tune. My local dulcimer group was playing it, and I needed to get a good idea of the melody. I […]
Watercolors for the beekeepers
Here are a couple of recently-completed watercolors that I am donating to the Blount County Beekeepers Association annual auction on Monday evening. Both have mountain-ish backgrounds, and one is based on a recent photograph by my good friend Jim Bennett. The BCBA auction raises money for grants to new beekeepers, one of the many great things the […]
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