Writeful

a weblog for readers and writers

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Let’s Go to Madrid

Check out the latest issue of inTravel Magazine to read my latest travel story: “Meandering About Madrid.” It’s in the November/December issue, and you can find it at www.intravelmag.com/in-depth/846-meandering-about-madrid.


In the travel story, illustrated with original sketches by Nataliya Goodman, we bring readers along for visits to the highlights of Madrid, Spain.

“I’m no expert on Madrid, having spent less than a week in Spain’s capitol. But the limited days we spent meandering around Madrid were packed from pre-dawn to post-dusk with exciting visits and enjoyable experiences. Whether we were talking to locals or sharing fiction with expats, touring palaces or steeping in the black paintings of Goya, the adventures did not cease. Our visit lasted long enough to let me know that I need to return when I have more time to get lost in the twisted side streets, be mesmerized in a museum, or to relax in a plaza café with a pinch of 1866 and a plate of tapas. Rain or shine, I’ll be passing through the gateway of the sun again one day soon.”

Join me for a tour of Madrid in the latest issue of inTravel Magazine. And if you like what you read, vote for “Meandering About Madrid” to help make it the most popular story of the issue!

After Madrid, if you’d like to continue our travels, see my earlier travel story, "Bouncing about Barcelona," at www.intravelmag.com/in-depth/834-bouncing-about-barcelona.

Read more at www.intravelmag.com.

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Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Black Friday Offer—Get the Goose on a Train

Black Friday is almost here. Beat the crowds and get these two books checked off your to gift list now!


It’s more important for me to share my books with others than it is to make a profit off of them. That’s why I’m practically giving them away at cost in this Black Friday book bundle special.

Here’s the deal: a copy of Tracks: A Novel in Stories ($15.95 retail) and a copy of Flightless Goose ($15.95 retail) together for only $20 plus $2 shipping!

Order this Black Friday through Cyber Monday and I’ll even throw in a couple freebies: a train-themed pencil, key chain, coloring book, and/or kid’s tee-shirt.

If you would like your books signed or inscribed to yourself or the person you’re gifting to, please let me know and we’ll be happy to sign. I’ll sign Tracks and Flightless Goose, and the illustrator, Nataliya Goodman, will sign Flightless Goose.

You can order by contacting me at my email address (TracksNovel@gmail.com) or in a Facebook message (www.Facebook.com/EricDGoodman).

Payment can be sent by check or money order, or paid electronically by credit card or PayPal.

Learn more about Flightless Goose at the Facebook Fan Page:

www.facebook.com/FlightlessGoose

Learn more about Tracks at the website, where you can read excerpts, reviews, listen to radio readings, and find out what others are saying about the book.
www.TracksNovel.com

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Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Interview with Deborah Kalb

Deborah Kalb is a freelance writer and editor who lives in the Washington D.C. area. She has worked as a journalist in Washington for two decades, writing for Gannett News Service, Congressional Quarterly, U.S. News and World Report, and The Hill. Her latest book, co-authored with her father Marvin Kalb, is called Haunting Legacy: Vietnam and the American Presidency from Ford to Obama. Deborah also writes a book blog, Book Q and As with Deborah Kalb.

I had the pleasure of meeting and talking with Marvin and Deborah Kalb at the author’s reception for the Gaithersburg Book Festival this past summer. I was there to talk about Tracks; they were at the festival to talk about Haunting Legacy.

Learn more about Haunting Legacy by watching this interview with Marvin and Deborah Kalb on the PBS NewsHour.

www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/white_house/jan-june11/vietnamlegacy_06-29.html


Deborah Kalb interviewed me last week for her book blog. You can read the interview at the link below.

www.deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com/2012/11/q-with-writer-eric-d-goodman.html

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Friday, November 16, 2012

Five Stars Down Under

Some time ago, I shared a video review of Tracks that came from down under. Here is a written blog post on the Great Book Reviews blog that also gives the novel in stories a thumbs up down under.

Is Tracks: A Novel in Stories appropriate for children? This young reader from Australia thinks it is!

"Five stars, Mr. Author Man!"

We'll take all five of them with thanks. When you’re putting together your holiday gift lists for the upcoming shopping season, consider Tracks.

Check out one Aussie youngster’s take on Tracks at the Great Book Reviews blog.

http://bookgreatsreviews.blogspot.co.nz/2012/04/tracks-by-eric-d.html

You can also view his video review.

www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4Yk22cFQ7vE

 

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Tuesday, November 13, 2012

British Aristocracy, California Royalty, and Me

Richard Mineards has a distinguished career as a journalist. He covered the Royal Family for Britain’s Daily Mirror and Daily Mail before moving to New York to write for Star Magazine. He’s a regular on CBS, ABC, and CNN. After moving to Montecito (just outside Santa Barbara) about five years ago, he began covering the local celebrity scene.


When Thomas and Gail Steinbeck hosted me for a book event at Tecolote Books in Monteceto this past summer, Richard Mineards covered it in his weekly column for Montecito Journal.

Unfortunately, his column is print only, so I’m not able to share a copy here. In his weekly “Montecito Miscellany” column, Mineards wrote about Chris O’Donnell, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Lady Gaga, Paul Simon, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Douglass, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Tommy Lee Jones, Drew Barrymore … and me!

“Author Eric Goodman is clearly on the right lines … his tome chronicles a single train journey from Baltimore to Chicago and the people on board, with each chapter about different characters, including a hitman, a Holocaust survivor, a former mobster, and a poet.

“Goodman is now finishing off his second work, Womb, he told me at a bijou launch bash at Tecolote, the lively literary lair in the Upper Village, hosted by his friends Thom and Gail Steinbeck.”

It was a brief five-paragraph bit in a celebrity column spanning several pages, but I was honored to be covered (in context with the Steinbecks) by someone used to covering Kings and Queens and Hollywood royalty.

Learn more about Richard Mineards at Montecito Journal.

www.montecitojournal.net/writers

Learn more about Thomas Steinbeck and his great work at his website.

www.ThomasSteinbeck.com


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Friday, November 09, 2012

I Explain Why I Blog in Writers Weekly

People blog for many different reasons. I began blogging in June of 2005, not quite sure what I was doing. I’d always identified myself as a writer, and I specifically wanted to bring some attention to fiction.

As I posted writing advice from authors I’d met at book events, like John Irving, Tom Wolf, E.L. Doctorow, Tim O’Brien, Alice McDermott, Elmore Leonard, Alexander McCall Smith, Salmon Rushdie and the likes, I came to understand my ultimate purpose as a blogger. I was blogging to sell books—to get people interested in reading. IN part, so perhaps one day my readers would read my own book. But primarily because I wanted to get readers reading books.

I write all about my evolution as a blogger in Writers Weekly, the highest circulation freelance writing ezine in the world. You can read the feature article here.

http://writersweekly.com/this_weeks_article/006946_09212011.html

If you’re a blogger, why do you blog? If not, why do you read blogs?

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Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Ready for a Reset?

For many, putting the election to bed last night is a big relief, regardless of which way you lean. A time to reset.

For Gene Silverman, resetting his life is something he sometimes needs to do out of necessity — whether to avoid the mob or dodge a hit man.

Get a taste of Gene Silverman, one of the characters from Tracks: A Novel in Stories, by listening to the podcast from Baltimore’s NPR station, WYPR.

As WYPR puts it: “Novelist Eric D Goodman brings us the story of a computer-geek-turned-criminal who finds himself on the run from the mafia.”

Go ahead and hit the reset button. “Reset” is one of 12 podcasts available at www.tracksnovel.com/radio.html.


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Friday, November 02, 2012

Writing, Baltimore, Zombies in Publish or Die

Last week, I was interviewed by Emily Walker for Publish or Die, a literary blog.

In the interview, we discuss everything from the writing process, and publishing vs. self-publishing to Charlie Brown, Baltimore, and zombies. Here’s a sampling.

Emily Walker: What’s your favorite thing about the writing process?

Eric D. Goodman: My favorite thing is probably having a polished draft ready to submit to my agent. It’s a wonder feeling. But the most exciting part of the process is probably starting a new first draft – when inspiration flows and you’re excited about what is to come.

EW: Anything you would like to say to the aspiring authors reading this blog?

EDG: The best advice I have for aspiring authors would be to spend more time reading than writing because that will make your writing better. Read as much as you can. Then, when it comes to writing, always put aside your draft and plan to do a rewrite a few months (or years) later. That’s the way to improve your writing. Believe me, as good as you may think your first draft is, it’ll always be better in draft two.

EW: Your thoughts on Zombies.

EDG: I think we need to destroy them all before they take over.

Read the entire interview, see the pictures, watch the video, hit the links … it all starts at the following link.

www.selfpublishordie.com/2012/10/30/interview-with-eric-goodman

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