New posts up at The Faster Times, The Nervous Breakdown and This I Believe

Vacation in Israel got me behind in essay writing but now I'm catching up.

First, to be timely, it's politics and election season. I know it's not a very nice (and admittedly, possibly naive) thing to say but here's the new The Faster Times ad column: Advertising Politics: The Best Ads are the Negative Ads. In it, there's also a personal anecdote from a college campaign which just came back to me. 

On a more personal side, a recent overdue visit to the dermatologist had me thinking about our expectations when we go to the doctor. So up is my second post at The Nervous Breakdown for which I'm now a contributor in the memoirs and essays sections. I love this online magazine, some really terrific writers, writing, book reviews and even a book club you can join. On the trip, I started TNB creator Brad Listi's novel Attention. Deficit. Order which I recommend. Quite good + funny. You can also keep track of my TNB posts here.

Separately, I just learned from This I Believe that my essay was accepted. Really honored; it's such a storied show and project capturing voices and deeply held beliefs. Mine is about an important lesson I learned from my very first boss, Dennis Ferrone, which has stayed with me. You can find the essay here.

At the NYCWC Write Your A** Off Write-A-Thon

Gwen, her friend Pauline and I are the New York City Writer's Coalition annual write-a-thon Raising money for free writers workshops across the city. Writer Nicholas Dawidoff is lunchtime speaker. Picture of is 'prompt station' if you get stuck. We're also doing a workshop at 2PM.

The space in midtown is the library of the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen and the Center for Independent Publishing. Beautiful.

Worked on a submission for This I Believe and next week's column for The Faster Times.

Faster writing

Excited and honored to become the first advertising columnist in The Faster Times. Great paper. I try to lay out my principles for it in the first post. I'm trying to do it weekly or bi-weekly depending on how much of a groove I can get into but Tuesday looks like it'll be my regular publishing date.

Support The Faster Times by becoming a member, and choose me as your writer! There are great bonus gifts too for all levels of membership from $12-60.

There's a slew of good columns so I must be in good company.

• The Generic Foods Investigation (readers voted among two choices the investigation could be between)
• Brief Observations by Sarah Silverman (!)
• Unsolicited Advice by Rachel Shukert
• Nostalgia by Eryn Loeb

The NthWord

My favorite new magazine is one I'm admittedly I'm in.

The nthWord issue #6 is out with a piece by me on advertising getting back to selling. I wrote in this winter even before The Search for the World's Greatest Salesperson debuted but selling was obviously on my mind.

I like the creativity and sensibility of nthWORD. If you flip through the current issue and the archive you'll see what I mean about what they choose to include and how they present it.

From their mission statement: The nthWORD is an online magazine that serves as an exhibition for writers and visual artists. Our purpose is to transmit a juxtaposition of visual and textual information to people who are passionate about ideas, words, and images.

Thanks nthWORD for letting me a part of Issue #6.

2009: Culture Year in Review

Every year, I post a summary of a lot of the things I saw, read, did, experienced in the last 12 months. I'll add a little commentary and links where I can if you want to see more or buy the book at my Amazon store or elsewhere. Share your favorite experiences from 2009 too please.

BOOKS

Nonfiction:

• King of Madison Avenue, David Ogilvy biography, by Kenneth Roman -- poignant and detailed biography of the legend. I read this the month before I came back to Ogilvy and it was worth it.
• Five Men Who Broke My Heart, Susan Shapiro
• Only As Good As Your Word, Susan Shapiro -- good advice for writers from my writing teacher
• The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls (memoir)
• You Better Not Cry: Stories for Christmas, Augusten Burroughs
• How We Decide, Jonah Lehrer
• The 4-Hour Workweek, Timothy Ferris -- shocking approach to life, including don't watch the news. If something's important, someone will tell you.

Fiction:

• Speed Shrinking, Susan Shapiro -- hilarious & my teacher's recent novel.
• Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout (Short stories) -- excellent collection. Won the Pulitzer.
• It's Beginning to Hurt, James Lasdun (Short Stories)
• East of Fifth Bliss, Doug Light (novel) - great East Village story, and by former colleague at Ogilvy
• The Vast Fields of Ordinary, Nick Burd - first novel from a great writer. Recommend buying it, reading it plus also good way to support emerging writers.
• How It Ended, Jay McIerney

FILM

• Objectified — a documentary about objects
• Julia & Julie — The better Meryl Streep vehicle in 2009
• Where the Wild Things Are — stunning
• A Serious Man - Quirky Cohen Brothers picture
• The September Issue, documentary — The real Devil Wears Prada
• A Single Man — Tom Ford's film. Beautiful and haunting.
• Up in the Air — killer opening credits and music
• The Hangover — finally saw this
• Avatar — didn't see it in 3D and it was still good.
• OSS 077: Cairo, Nest of Spies - French sendup of Bond and Austen Powers. Not great.

ART & ARCHITECTURE

• Musuem of Art & Design, New York
• Brooklyn Museum
• Rubel Collection, Miami (Feb)
• Shepard Fairey Exhibit, ICA Boston (April)
• Museum of Handbags & Purses, Amsterdam (March)
• Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (March)
• Anne Frank House, Amsterdam (March) - Book tickets in advance!
• Congress Hall, Philadelphia (April) - Went with Adam. Ran for president.
• Dwell House Tour, Brooklyn (May)
• Frank Lloyd Wright Exhibit, Guggenheim (June)
• Intrepid Museum (July) - not as good for kids as you'd think
• Sistine Chapel, Rome (Sept) - worth waiting on line in the rain for 2 hrs
• Roman and Imperial Forum, Rome (Sept) - worth doing a private tour
• Salk Institute, San Diego (Oct)
• ArtHome, Palais du Tokyo, Paris (Nov) - food meets design/art. Read the review.
• Louvre, Paris (Nov) - re-visited Venus de Milo, Winged Victory & La Jaconde
• Cite L'Architecture, Palais Chaillot, Paris (Nov)

THEATRE/MUSIC

• Met Opera Backstage Tour (March) - we took my parents on a saturday afternoon and it was a good way to see behind the scenes.
• Alan Cumming, Rose Hall (Feb) - if you can ever see him in person or perform, do it.
• Next to Normal (June) - thought it was going to be another coming out musical but it was not. recommend it if you love bold lyrics and heartbreaking story.
• U2, Giants Stadium (Sept) - amazing spectacle
• Aida, Met Opera HD - got to eat popcorn and watch live opera. (November)
• Brief Encounter, Noel Coward, St Anne's Warehouse Brooklyn (December)

WROTE/PUBLISHED:

• Minding the Snore, New York Press
• Talk to Me About My Pet, Our Town and West Side Spirit
• Clean Plates -- I only named it. Jared Koch wrote it. Fabulous guide to healthier eating too
• Real Simple Life Lessons Essay -- on my mugging when I first moved to NYC (waiting to hear)
• Advertising Age DigitalNext pieces (5)
• Lots more - will update

Ezra Pound in Print

The West Side Spirit and Our Town published a piece of mine about dog parenthood, featuring Ezra. You can find it in this week's street boxes on the Upper West Side and Upper East Side of Manhattan, or over here.

Minding the Snore in the NY Press

Last year's sleep test experience just got published in The New York Press's 8 Million Stories column, "Minding the Snore."

Please go read, rate and comment it.

Instant Gratification Was Fast Enough

I just finished my five-week writing class, "Instant Gratification Isn't Fast Enough."

Let by Susan Shapiro, it was a terrific hands-on, uber-practical, no-nonsense dive into the world of creating and selling your work to publications. She does a great job of demystifying publishing and also fostering a workshop-like environment and giving tough critique to work we bring in based on her curriculum. Excited, too, to have so quickly built up a bit of a better nonfiction portfolio and know better how to creatework that sells and even have started to send out some of the essays, op-eds, and service pieces.

Sue Shapiro, a journalism professor at The New School and NYU, also has a new book Speed Shrinking coming out August 4. Pre-order it here. Sure to be hilarious.

Sponsor My A** Off

May 16 is the next annual Write Your A** Off, a day dedicated to writing to raise money for the NYC Writers Coalition. 

They're an amazing group who bring writing classes and workshops to the underserved, including homeless, disadvantaged kids, elderly and more. 

We spend an entire Saturday writing and talking about writing. Here's my experience from last May if you want a taste of it. We raised $37,000 in one day.

This year, I am trying to raise at least $400 as my part, which is modest but these are tough times for people. At the event, unless I'm deep into a storyline, I plan on twittering as well or perhaps doing a closed status update to the people who sponsor me.  

It's easy to put in $5, $15, $25, $50 or more. Please, please sponsor me here.

First sentence at Paragraph

So I've started at Paragraph, a writer's workspace in Manhattan with a part-time membership. It's amazing, started by two MFA grads who saw a need and started a business around it. There's room filled with cubicles and desks that any member can use. It's super-quiet and orderly with couches in the middle if you need a break or the kitchen/lounge to visit where you can keep stuff in the fridge or make coffee or hang out.

Today is my first day, so I blocked out a few hours to work here on a story I want to finish for submission to some mags. In just the first two hours, I put a really good dent in the editing which shows how much you can get done without any distractions. There's also the tone of feeling like a writer, which must do something on some level. I've just met one other writer briefly and brewed one cup of coffee in the kitchen. Found a bunch of flyers and resources like editors, new books out and members-only events like agents who come by.