Writing Unleashed with Laura M. Harkins

News Books Fighting Back Borders is holding on as it teeters on the brink of bankruptcy.     The company is performing a brand-facelift and adopting a new business plan, which includes the closure of 150 out of 500 stores.   The online and E-reader surge clobbered the unprepared bookstore.  They are working hard to rectify the damage.    The Egyptian youth held hands in peaceful protest, protecting the Alexandria library from looters and vandals.    England sees the dawn as a brand new £200m library  is built in Centenary Square in Birmingham, England.   The country cut budgets forcing half the libraries to close.  Authors and book lovers joined together in protest over the weekend.     Indie Bookstores remain in business despite the insurgence of E-readers and E-books.   The stores attribute their success to their small size, adaptability and non-book revenue. A Quick Aside The New York Times is printing...

digitaltrends.com News The E-Reader Invasion Citizens are racing to Barnes and Noble , Borders and Amazon to join in the e-reader insanity that has taken over the United States.  If you can’t shell out the $139+ to buy the genius reinvention of the book, you can download the Andriod application to your phone.  Google Books and Kindle are a touch away on my T-Mobile G2.  This infectious hysteria is weaseling its way into every aspect of life.   Growing up with the smell of freshly printed pages, the comforting aroma of used books and the collection of bookmarks has proven a struggle for book lovers.  Should they hold on to what they love or buy a ticket for the e-reader train?  Magpie Writes is working through her indecision by investigating the craze to determine the impact it will have on her as a writer.  The debate over e-readers and print books plastered in news papers, magazines, TV and online, proves they are here to stay....

Yesterday marked the first Bucks County Writer’s Group meeting.  Two fellow NaNoWriMo participants and I met up in the café at Borders Bookstore in Langhorne, and with cookies and coffee in hand we dove into the critiques.  Alex  submitted the beginning of her Young Adult (YA) novel and I submitted a horror short story.  I was nominated to go first; Alex wasn’t ready to face the firing squad.  To avoid interruption and to keep the discussion moving, the author is “killed”.  My frazzled nerves and motherly protectiveness over my short story made it difficult to remain “dead” during the critique, so I shoved cookies in my mouth to stifle any attempt to defend or respond. I took notes to refer to later and realized all the constructive criticism was spot on.  Their feedback mirrored all the questions I asked them to focus on while reading my piece.  I was convinced I would want to throw myself out a window after listening to my piece being rippe...