Even during the Renaissance, writers knew that sex and violence were the way to make money. So much so that when I get around to writing it, I’m going to put together a multi-series piece about sex in Renaissance literature and how things written back then would make a lot of people blush today.

But I’m diverging from my topic. I came across an interesting article on cnn.com about a woman, who out of boredom, started writing erotica in her spare time. Given the subject matter, and given the public’s insatiable appetite for sex, she soon developed a healthy following on the internet. That initial success lead to a book deal and the rest is, as they say, history.

According to the article she has some 2.7 million books in print, and she is also a publisher, running Strebor Books (an imprint of Simon and Schuster). All this from a woman who calls herself Zane (her pen name) and one who never planned on being an author.

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The results are in and the winners of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize have been announced today. The big winner in the fiction category is The Road by Cormac McCarthy. For poetry, it’s Native Guard by Natasha Trethewey. I send my personal congratulations to all the winners in all the categories!

For a complete list of winners, check out the Pulitzer Prize website here:
2007 Pulitzer Prize Winners

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In a previous post I wrote called 10 Ways to Jumpstart Your Writing  I talked about ways to get ideas for your writing. Inspiration is all around us and how you get your "creative juices" flowing is as much a matter of personal choice as the clothes you wear.

One of my favorite topics to read about other, more well-known authors is just that, how they get their juices going. Do they sit at their desk waiting for inspiration to strike? Probably not. But I came across this article from the Guardian Unlimited that chronicles a few well-known authors and their methods for inspiration – which includes everything from a squeaky chair to holding an axe in a hand!

Like I said, methods vary wildly. Something that would drive me crazy while trying to write (ie. a noisy bar full of drunks) might be just the perfect atmosphere for another writer to pound out a novel in record time. Finding your method of inspiration is all about discovery – you need to find what works well for you. A lot of it seems to boil down to being comfortable.

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Tragically, Kurt Vonnegut has died. But the good news is that his writing will live on for generations to come, perhaps inspiring younger would-be writers to keep plugging away and putting pen to paper. He certainly inpsired people before, an entire generation of young ones grew up under his influence and many writers credit Vonnegut with inspiring them to keep writing.

I feel sad for saying this, but I am unfamiliar with Vonnegut’s work. I haven’t read Slaughterhouse-Five or Cat’s Cradle or any of his other works. Apparently, I have missed something good:

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I woke up this morning to the news that literary legend Kurt Vonnegut has died at the age of 84. Vonnegut is the author of such works as "Cat’s Cradle" and "Slaughterhouse-Five". He was a very prolific writer, with well over a dozen novels to his name and countless short stories and essays.

You can read news coverage of his death here:
Novelist Kurt Vonnegut Dies at age 84

When some people hear the word "escort", it conjures up images that might not be so clean. The profession of being an escort usually involves the exchange of money for sex, or at least a hot date. So what’s this "literary escort" you ask?

First, it’s nothing quite as dirty as the above example I gave of what an escort can be. No. The escorts I’m talking about are actually quite lucky because they get to rub shoulders with some of the most well-known authors around. Not only that, but a writer that’s tired from a long plane ride might even catch a quick nap on the escort’s home couch!

That’s right, the escorts I’m talking about are the one’s who pick up the writer from the airport and drive them to the bookstore for their signings. They might also drive the writer to other places as well, such as the hotel they’re staying at, a bar for a nightcap, or even to the store to pick up some forgotten toiletries.

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No matter how old you are, or how old you feel, it’s never too late to start writing. Just look at Harry Bernstein! At the ripe young age of 93, faced with lonliness after the passing of his wife, he decided to start writing as a way to deal with the loss and other ghosts from his past. The result turned out to be the novel The Invisible Wall. He says he doesn’t worry about little details like deadlines, he just writes until there’s nothing more to say. He’s now 96 and working on yet another book.

Surely Mr. Bernstein is an inspiration to all of us in the "younger generation." In fact, I felt guilty after reading the article about him by the Associated Press. All my excuses and procrastination some how seem petty when compared to what Mr. Berstein has accomplished.

The other lesson found in Mr. Berstein’s story is that you never know where your writing will take you. What started out as a form of therapy for him, turned into a new career as a novelist. He didn’t sit down one day and say "I’m going to write a novel now." So even if you think you’re writing crap, don’t give up on it because you never know how it’s going to turn out, or who’s going to like it.

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