Book Review: Ten Word Tiny Tales to Inspire and Unsettle by Joseph Coelho

Ten Word Tiny Tales to Inspire and Unsettle
by Joseph Coelho (jP Coelho)

The 2022-2024 United Kingdom Children’s Laureate, Joseph Coelho, wrote twenty 10-word mini-stories in this picture book and had illustrator friends come up with their artistic idea of what he was writing. Some came up with scary or weird drawings, but many of the stories could also have been the beginning of cool adventures. Either way, a story in 10-words is a fascinating idea.

 

He encourages you to think of your own 10-word stories and offers creative suggestions to get yourself there. His sample story was “He’s in every photo of me, in the shadows smiling” a 10-word story that definitely has Twilight Zone shadings. I also liked “The Venus Flytrap keeps edging closer to Grandma’s favorite chair” (maybe Grandma had recently died and the flytrap wanted a close connection to something of hers). Definitely eerie – “We buried her on Wednesday, again on Thursday, and Friday.”

 

At the end of the book, he offers suggestions on how to lengthen your 10-word story if you wish.

 

This was an interesting collection of 10-word tales. Even though this is a picture book, I would aim this toward the 1st-5th grade age group.

 

Following the author’s suggestion, I wrote my own 10-word story – “Alone in the dark house, I heard a muffled sneeze.”

 

( publisher’s official Ten Word Tiny Tales web site ) | ( official www.thepoetryofjosephcoelho.com web site )

Read Scott C’s review of It All Changed In An Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs From Authors Famous and Obscure in the July 2010 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!

 

Recommended by Charlotte M.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Music Book Review: How to Write Lyrics & How to Write Chord Sequences by Rikky Rooksby

How to Write Lyrics and How to Write Chord Sequences
by Rikky Rooksby (Music 781.315 Roo and Music 787.87 Roo)

This pair of books from long-time guitar teacher Rikky Rooksby are a great compliment to other songwriting books, because they’re more technical in nature. Once you get inspired by other books, these are a great place to turn for some concrete, line-by-line breakdowns of how to get lyrics to work their best, for example, or how to use chord progressions that will best support the kinds of melodic ideas that you’re working with.

 

In “How to Write Lyrics,” Rooksby starts with some big-picture ideas, but quickly moves into more detailed techniques to find the best way to phrase your ideas so that they are lyrically impactful but also musically punchy. After introducing a lot of concepts, I especially liked sections 7 and 9, in which he annotates a variety of good lyrics with the tools and techniques they contain. The enormous section 10 is also very intriguing, highlighting a variety of common themes in popular songwriting and listing noteworthy songs that have addressed them in the past.

 

In “How to Write Chord Sequences,” Rooksby is essentially presenting some basic music theory, aimed primarily at guitar players (though pianists will be able to follow along as well), introducing common chord progressions and song forms and discussing the hows and whys behind them. The book covers all of the basic chord progressions and song forms used in popular musical idioms, and eventually it gets into some fairly advanced harmonic ideas, too, again explaining how and why they work. I think books like this are especially valuable for aspiring songwriters in that they can help to both learn what has traditionally been done, while also pushing writers to try new things with some understanding of how they can be done successfully.

 

Between these two books, I think most songwriters focused on popular music genres will find the nuts and bolts of how modern music is put together, and in combination with other songwriting books that are more philosophical in nature, readers can really position themselves for success.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Music, Lyrics, and Life: A Field Guide for the Advancing Songwriter by Mike Errico, Saved by a Song: The Art and Healing Power of Songwriting by Mary Gauthier or How to Write a Song That Matters by Dar Williams — see review below!)

 

( official Rikky Rooksby web site )

 

Recommended by Scott S.
Polley Music Library

 Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Check out this, and all the other great music resources, at the Polley Music Library, located on the 2nd floor of the Bennett Martin Public Library at 14th & "N" St. in downtown Lincoln. You'll find biographies of musicians, books about music history, instructional books, sheet music, CDs, music-related magazines, and much more. Also check out Polley Music Library Picks, the Polley Music Library's e-mail newsletter, and follow them on Facebook!

Music Book Review: How to Write a Song That Matters by Dar Williams

How to Write a Song That Matters
by Dar Williams (Music 781.316 Wil)

Author Dar Williams has been a very successful singer-songwriter in the folk, folk-pop, and alt-country genres for decades. With 15 albums and dozens of singles and EPs under her belt, she certainly knows her way around songwriting. The writing style, a mix of practical knowledge and moments of zen-like insight, remind me a lot of the classic “Writing Down the Bones” by Natalie Goldberg, an essential book for aspiring writers. While I’m mentioning it, that book can be useful for songwriters, too — songwriting is a close cousin of literary writing, after all.

 

Williams addresses just about anything an aspiring songwriter might need to consider, including details of working through lyrics verse by verse, basic chords and how to use them, where ideas can come from, and carefully evaluating the little kernels of inspiration that can sometimes become a great new song. Toward the end of the book, the advice extends to reaching out to the world in meaningful local ways, like starting or participating in song circles or open mic nights. Most of her advice comes with personal anecdotes that support how these ideas have worked for her, though she also recognizes that different people sometimes needs different kinds of workflows. So don’t feel like you have to incorporate every idea in this book, or similar books—use what works for you.

 

The only weakness in this book is that it focuses overwhelmingly on lyrics and the big-picture elements of songwriting, rather than chords and harmony, arranging, etc. Considering that Williams has mostly worked in singer-songwriter contexts, this makes sense—she just needs a guitar and her voice to get her songs out to the world. There is a chapter that includes some basic musical concepts around chord structures and voicings, but it doesn’t really get into chord progressions and how basic music theory works. I think that’s okay in this case—there are plenty of other places to dig deeper into that information, and what’s here is incredibly valuable and approachable. It doesn’t really get into the new-fangled ways of marketing your own music, either, but again, there are other places to find that information as well, and what you’ll take away from this book relates directly to nurturing your own relationship with the art and craft of songwriting. You won’t have much to market if you haven’t absorbed the kinds of material in How to Write a Song That Matters first!

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Insider Secrets to Hit Songwriting in the Digital Age by Molly Leikin, Music, Lyrics, and Life: A Field Guide for the Advancing Songwriter by Mike Errico or Saved by a Song: The Art and Healing Power of Songwriting by Mary Gauthier.)

 

( official Dar Williams web site )

 

Recommended by Scott S.
Polley Music Library

Did you know that the Polley Music Library sponsors a Songwriting Club that meets monthly at the library -- Call us at 402-441-8520 to find out more!

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Check out this, and all the other great music resources, at the Polley Music Library, located on the 2nd floor of the Bennett Martin Public Library at 14th & "N" St. in downtown Lincoln. You'll find biographies of musicians, books about music history, instructional books, sheet music, CDs, music-related magazines, and much more. Also check out Polley Music Library Picks, the Polley Music Library's e-mail newsletter, and follow them on Facebook!

Book Review: Revenge of the Librarians by Tom Gauld

Revenge of the Librarians
by Tom Gauld (741.5 Gau)

For the past several years, I’ve been seeing the wry, comic art panels of artist Tom Gauld regularly showing up in my Facebook feed, shared by many of my friends…especially those with a love of literary humor. Gauld’s comic strips (frequently seen on the online features of The Guardian) feature simple, uncomplicated art, with “characters” that are often little more than stylized stick figures. His works always appear as variations on the traditional “comic strip” format — long horizontal boxes that can sometimes be just a single box, but can also be subdivided into the traditional 3 or 4 boxes that are reminiscent of newspaper comic strips, but he also frequently uses the space to create a multitude of tiny art boxes.

 

Gauld’s humor is dry, wry, slightly sarcastic, and pokes fun at tropes and established traditions. This particular book collects dozens of his strips that all share a thematic connection — books, reading, libraries, writers, publishing and more along these lines. I absolutely adored this entire collection, and will be looking to purchase a copy for my own personal library. If you, too, appreciate the ability to have fun with literary traditions, you’ll appreciate this collection as well.

 

( official Tom Gauld web site )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

No Plot? No Problem! A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days

No Plot? No Problem! A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days
by Chris Baty [808.3 Bat]

Amusing, insightful and inspirational guide to writing from the founder of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). NaNoWriMo started in 1999, as an experiment to challenge a small number of aspiring writers to put their noses to the grindstone and crank out a 50,000 word novel between November 1 and November 30 (or at least a first draft). Each November since then, hundreds and now thousands of participants have pushed themselves to reach a 50,000-word-count goal, so that they can claim the honor of "winning" NaNoWriMo! Numerous professionally published novels have resulted from this intense "writing camp" (including The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern). In this book, Baty provides a great deal of humorous insight on good ideas for preparing for a month of intense writing, and what kind of hurdles to expect during the month of November, including how to have a life outside of the writing environment, how to deal with family members seeking your time, and how to deal with inevitable issues of writers block and other technical complications. For anyone wanting to participate in NaNoWriMo, this is an excellent tutorial. For writers not wanting to push themselves quite so hard, this volume still has come good ideas about the basics of a writer's life. [If you enjoy this, and you're interested in other books that will help you participate in NaNoWriMo, I encourage you to check out the booklist for my 2011 NaNoWriMo booktalk -- Write? Right! -- also available as an audio podcast!.] -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[ official National Novel Writing Month web site ] | [ official Chris Baty web site ]
 
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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

New Customer Reviews - Writing Books for Teens

Customer Allison H.-F. recently submitted several reviews to the Customer Reviews pages of BookGuide, all on the topic of encouraging teens and other youth to write. You can check out her reviews of Write Your Own Story, Writing Mysteries, Movies, Monster Stories and More!, Spilling Ink: A Young Writer's Handbook, What's Your Story, and Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly on the 2011 Customer Reviews page.

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New Customer Reviews appear regularly in the pages of the BookGuide web site. You can visit the Customer Reviews page to see them all and/or submit your own, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually as we receive them.

On your mark...get set...WRITE!

It's midnight, turning from October 31st 2011 to November 1st. If you're a wordsmith, you're probably one of the thousands of aspiring writers around the world who've just started your latest novel...as part of annual authorial event known as National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for short).

Participants can go to the NaNoWriMo website, sign up for a free account, and then begin writing their own version of the Great American Novel. Everyone who takes part is encouraged to aim for the ultimate goal -- start with 0 words on November 1st, and finish with a complete 50,000-word novel (or longer!) by the stroke of midnight at the end of November 30th.

Looking for some moral support as you keyboard your way to literary greatness? You can hang out with the 475+ other Lincolnites who are registered participants -- bemoan your progress in the discussion forums -- identify your friends as Writing Buddies and track their daily word count -- get together at regularly scheduled NaNoWriMo gatherings (known as Write Ins) in Lincoln -- and look forward to the big celebration party for local writers after the November 30th deadline has passed! You can keep your writing completely private or open it up to everyone else to read and critique.

Although a complete 50,000 novel in a month may prove to be too much for you, the creative and supportive environment of NaNoWriMo is sure to get your literary juices flowing, no matter whether you're writing a political thriller or Chick Lit!

So...check out NaNoWriMo.org, get started writing, and drop us a note in the comments here to let us know what your "handle" is on the NaNoWriMo site...we'll keep an eye on your progress!

P.S.: NaNoWriMo also has a Young Writers Program, aimed at more youthful participants.

Space Travel

Space Travel

by Ben Bova with Anthony R. Lewis [808.388 Bov]

Third of four volumes in Writers Digest's Science Fiction Writing Series. Bova and Lewis provide a good overview of the history of actual spaceflight technology and physics, then explore the many conceptual or theoretical methods of space exploration from a scientific background. Their discussions of the theoretical methods of space exploration include both interplanetary as well as interstellar travel. I particularly appreciated chapters entitled Starships, The Universe and the concluding chapter Military Uses of Space. As with previous volumes in the this writing guide series, there is both an extensive glossary and bibliography at the back, leading readers (and writers) to many additional sources for more detailed, more technological assistance. Of the four volumes in this series, this was probably one of the most reality-based guides, and should prove to be a helpful tool for both beginning and experienced writers of speculative fiction. -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[ official Ben Bova web site ]

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month.

Do You NaNoWriMo?

It's still early in November, and that clickety sound you're hearing in the background is the thousands of aspiring writers and wordsmiths around the world who are actively participating in the annual event known as National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for short).

It's not too late for you to take part! Participants can go to the NaNoWriMo website, sign up for a free account, and then begin writing their own version of the Great American Novel. Everyone who takes part is encouraged to shoot for the ultimate goal -- start with 0 words when you register, and finish with a complete 50,000-word novel (or longer!) by the stroke of midnight at the end of November 30th.

Looking for some moral support as you keyboard your way to literary greatness? You can hang out with the 400+ other Nebraskans who are registered participants -- bemoan your progress in the discussion forums -- identify your friends as Writing Buddies and track their daily word count -- get together at regularly scheduled NaNoWriMo gatherings in Lincoln -- and look forward to the big celebration party for local writers after the November 30th deadline has passed! You can keep your writing completely private or open it up to everyone else to read and critique.

Although a complete 50,000-word novel in a month may prove to be too much for you, the creative and supportive environment of NaNoWriMo is sure to get your literary juices flowing, no matter whether you're writing a political thriller or paranormal romance!

So...check out NaNoWriMo.org, get started writing, and drop us a note in the comments here to let us know what your "handle" is on the NaNoWriMo site...we'll keep an eye on your progress!

World Building

World Building

by Stephen L. Gillett [808.3 Gil]

Another book in the Science Fiction Writing Series, put out by Writers Digest. Geologist and astronomer Dr. Stephen Gillett approaches the science of creating planets in other solar systems in a fairly simple, easy-to-understand method for the layman. Chapters in this helpful volume include Why World-Build?, The Astronomical Setting, Making a Planet, The Earth, The Ancient Earth, The Other Planets, Stars and Suns, and Not As We Know It. Although a little understanding of geology, astrophysics and general physics helps to start with, this writers' guide really breaks down the science needed to accurately portray the development of alien species on life-supporting planets that differ dramatically from Earth. I particularly appreciated the final chapter, dealing with non-traditional life-supporting worlds -- water worlds, worlds heavy in nitrogen atmosphere, and what Gillett refers to as "Brimstone worlds". Also helpful, especially for those of us not well-versed in scientific minutiae, is an extensive glossary of scientific terminology, a bibliography of sources for additional research, and an index to science fiction stories that Gillett cites as examples of the various scientific principles he's explaining. -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[ Reviews of this title at LibraryThing ] [ Edited bibliography from this book ]

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?
New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month.

Aliens and Alien Societies

Aliens and Alien Societies

by Stanley Schmidt [808.388 Sch]

This is the first volume in a four-volume set put out by Writers Digest Books under the umbrella Science Fiction Writing Series. This entire series is highly recommendable, and you'll probably see the other volumes reviewed here by me in the future. Aliens and Alien Societies features 11 chapters, an extensive bibliography of related source books, and a 7-page glossary of terms that are common to science fiction writing that focuses on believable science. Schmidt is the long-time editor of Analog Science Fiction magazine and has a PhD in physics. He provides scientifically-detailed, yet easy-to-understand explanations about astronomical history, biochemical basics, bioengineering, the logical underpinning of alien societies, creative use of non-human language, and the motivational psychology of non-human species. I really enjoyed the examples he spread throughout the book, from established science fiction authors, of alien species, societies and cultures as found in genre literature of the past 40 years. If you're an aspiring writer of science fiction, whose stories are likely to feature aliens in an alien environment, or humans interacting with aliens, this volume should be required reading. -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[ A conversation with Stanley Schmidt at sfsite.com ] [ Stanley Schmidt page at SFWA ]

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month.

Staff Recommendation - Tolkien: A Biography

Tolkien: A Biography
by Humphrey Carpenter [B T578c]

I have enjoyed reading about the development of "The Lord of the Rings" into a published work -- a process that took J.R.R. Tolkien over a decade to complete! -- recommended by Kim J. -- Bennett Martin Public Library/Reference

[ The Tolkien Library web site ] [ Bio on The Tolkien Society web site ] [ official J.R.R. Tolkien Estate web site ]

Have you read this one? What did you think?

Ten new reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog over the course of the entire month.

Ready...Set...Write!

It's only a few hours and counting until thousands of aspiring writers and wordsmiths around the world launch into the annual event known as National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for short).

Participants can go to the NaNoWriMo website, sign up for a free account, and then begin writing their own version of the Great American Novel. Everyone who takes part is encouraged to shoot for the ultimate goal -- start with 0 words on November 1st, and finish with a complete 50,000-word novel (or longer!) by the stroke of midnight at the end of November 30th.

Looking for some moral support as you keyboard your way to literary greatness? You can hang out with the 340+ other Nebraskans who are registered participants -- bemoan your progress in the discussion forums -- identify your friends as Writing Buddies and track their daily word count -- get together at regularly scheduled NaNoWriMo gatherings in Lincoln -- and look forward to the big celebration party for local writers after the November 30th deadline has passed! You can keep your writing completely private or open it up to everyone else to read and critique.

Although a complete 50,000 novel in a month may prove to be too much for you, the creative and supportive environment of NaNoWriMo is sure to get your literary juices flowing, no matter whether you're writing a political thriller or Chick Lit!

So...check out NaNoWriMo.org, get started writing, and drop us a note in the comments here to let us know what your "handle" is on the NaNoWriMo site...we'll keep an eye on your progress!