Slate has been running a series on the rituals and techniques of great artists. Today’s article, focuses on ignoring the idea of waiting for inspiration.

“Waiting for inspiration to strike is a terrible, terrible plan,” Mason Currey writes. “In fact, perhaps the single best piece of advice I can offer to anyone trying to do creative work is to ignore inspiration.” It’s not necessarily earth-shattering to most serious writers, but it is a useful reminder.

The people who can most obviously benefit from this type of advice are the — for lack of a better description — posers. The folks who spend all day at Starbucks with their computer open, hoping someone will ask them what they’re working on so they can spout off their lofty ideals about the muse, and art, and all that.

But even writers with a fairly dedicated routine can still benefit from the prescription to ignore inspiration. Even if you’re diligent about sitting your ass in the chair for a set number of hours a day, worrying too much about getting in the zone can lead you to bail out too quickly, to say, “It’s just not happening today.”

Finances are rarely as they seem.

The sports media blasts $100 million dollar deal headlines on an almost daily basis. But it’s only been in recent years that they began drawing the distinction between the guaranteed portions versus the purely imaginary Monopoly money the player will never actually receive. While basketball and baseball contracts are locked in, football contracts can be broken at any time by the team.

The entertainment media reports huge recording contracts, without referencing that the deal also covers merchandising and tour support. A band might “receive” a certain amount of cash in their agreement, but that pays for their studio time and tour bus rental, as opposed to pure profit.

Of course, lawyers, agents, assistants, and everyone else takes their cut as well.

As a result, we often assume that people have more money than they do. Just because TMZ and other outlets reported that Farrah Abraham “struck a deal” for almost a million dollars for fucking in a fake amateur sex tape doesn’t mean the Teen Mom star is depositing a check for exactly seven figures any time soon.

All of which is to say, I get it. You might seem like a big time player in a particular industry, but that doesn’t mean you’ve got piles of cash buried in the backyard, ready to be invested at a moment’s notice. Whatever your accomplishments may be, your bank account might not line up accordingly. Once again, I get it. But I’ll be goddamned if I can understand why we should subsidize a self-described successful Hollywood producer’s efforts to publish a book about becoming a successful screenwriter.

GalleyCat reported that Gary W. Goldstein, producer of Pretty Woman, The Mothman Prophecies, and other movies launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $12,000 to self-publish a book described as a “practical roadmap of every insider strategy I’ve learned on how to make it in Hollywood as a successful screenwriter.”

Let’s highlight the keywords and phrases in that description: “insider” and “make it” and “successful.”

In fact, the word “successful” is used about five times in the Kickstarter profile. Doesn’t this conjure images of someone who can make an investment in their own business and product? Maybe he’s not cruising a Bentley up and down the PCH on the way to his Malibu pad, but at least you’d think someone choosing to self-publish would, ya know, cough up the money to pay for self-publishing. I suppose you could argue that Goldstein’s fundraising effort is, on a small scale, precisely what a producer does: he seeks and puts together money from a variety of sources. Leveraging other people’s cash is old hat to Hollywood folks (and Wall Street) so maybe that’s what’s going on here.

Goldstein’s IMDB profile doesn’t show any projects since 2002 so maybe he’s hit a dry spell. Which doesn’t necessarily negate his knowledge and expertise on the subject. We’ve all gone through fallow periods or maybe changed careers and direction.

But the whole online fundraising thing is simply out of hand. No longer relegated to truly indie projects, charitable efforts, low budget start ups, and outrageous, outlandish flights of fancy, now Kickstarter and Indiegogo are employed to make a success of how-to-be-successful book from a success guru?

During my time in graduate school at the University of Mississippi, I was lucky enough to work at Square Books in Oxford. So I was particularly pleased to see the news today that Publishers Weekly named the store as Bookseller of the Year.

Check out the full article here.

Congratulations to all the gang down there on a well-deserved honor!

GalleyCat referenced an interesting post by Arthur McMahon in which he expresses a bit of amazement at the fact that “Completing a novel didn’t change my perception of life like I expected it to.”

Some commenters at GalleyCat claimed they didn’t expect completing a novel would have any change, they write for themselves, not riches or fans or feedback, and all that.

But I totally understand what McMahon is getting at.

In his full post, available here, he writes that it’s a long-haul proposition. The completion of the first book is but a step towards the next one. And so forth.

It’s worth checking out and then examining your own opinions… Do you think that completing a book will change your life?

Also, while enjoying this one, I stumbled across a blog dedicated to Bad Book Covers.

Like record covers, some of these are so bad as to be almost cool.

When I was in graduate school at the University of Mississippi, noted William Faulkner biographer Joseph Blotner visited campus. I met him in Square Books, the well-known independent bookstore where I worked at the time.

I was heavily into Faulkner, stacking up class upon class, filling my transcript with as many Faulkner courses as possible. And one of my teachers introduced me to Blotner.

He signed his book to me, “To Scott, a certified Faulkner scholar.” I realized he was only being nice, but still, that autograph and brief note meant the world to me.

So I was saddened to see the announcement of his death in The New York Times. Blotner passed away in Oakland, California in mid-November. The Times has a pretty lengthy bio of Blotner with details of his friendship with Faulkner.

A while ago, there was an uproar of discussion regarding the nature of book reviews and whether the critic should be, in the most simplistic way of speaking, “nice” or not. Quite a bit of the conversation centered on William Giraldi’s self-congratulatory, excessively assholish, show offy, “Let’s see how many references and allusions I can cram in because I’m so smart” critique of Alix Ohlin’s work.

As a rule, I don’t think book reviews have an obligation to bend over backwards to be complimentary, nor do I think critics should be hard-hearted, impossible-to-please ogres either.

But lost in this discussion of nice-versus-mean was another problem that plagues many book reviews: Critics who don’t criticize positively or negatively.

Check out this entirely non-commital Janet Maslin review of Robin Sloan’s Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore.

I’ve read this review three times now and I’m still not sure if Maslin likes the book or not. There are a handful of seemingly positive comments tossed in:

–A series of fantasy novels “are parodied here with great affection…”
–The author’s characters are “wittily-drawn…”
–The author “niftily embellishes his book…” with another character.

But that’s about it. There are no outright declarations of success or failure. Take for example the following passage: “Mr. Sloan is intent on connecting these Tokeinesque types to the bookstore’s real-world existence. That’s a big burden to place on such a mild-mannered, easygoing novel.” But instead of following up with letting us know about Sloan’s skill at shouldering that burden or his weakness under the weight, Maslin goes back to plot summary.

Ultimately, reviews like this are little more than book reports. And while I don’t believe readers need to be spoon-fed with explicit star systems or thumbs up/thumbs down methods of conveying quality at a glance, it is frustrating to read a review and not know whether the book is any good or not.

As many of you know, November is National Novel Writing Month. To help folks blast through their 50,000 words in 30 days, GalleyCat has been providing writing prompts, tips, and words of encouragement. Most notable is this roundup where they collected two years worth of tips into a single post.

This week, they referred to some words of wisdom from Carolyn Kellogg. It’s a simple admonition, easy to implement, and cheap. And something that all of us writers need to remember from time to time, even if we’re not trying to churn out a novel this month.

Simply go offline.

That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less. Here’s Kellogg’s entire post.

Longtime entertainment and sports industry veteran David Fishof is appearing at Book Soup in Los Angeles today at 7:00pm.

Once a sports agent to athletes like baseball slugger Lou Pinella and quarterbacks Vince Ferragamo and Phil Simms, Fishof switched his focus to the entertainment world in the eighties. He reunited the Monkees and started the highly successful runs of Ringo Starr’s All-Star Band tours. These days, he most well known for running the Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp, an amazing experience where regular dudes get to jam with legendary rock stars.

I participated in a RRFC when I was writing my latest book Power Chord. I had a fantastic time hobknobbing with folks like Ace Frehley, Rudy Sarzo, iconic producer Eddie Kramer, and many more. It’s a great, great event and I was amazed at how well-run and organized the weekend was. I’ve put together a few conferences and stuff before, nowhere near the scale and complexity of the Rock Camp, and it’s a tough, tough job. So I was really impressed at Fishof’s team.

Now, Fishof shares the lessons he’s learned on tour and in the production rooms of major rock tours in Rock Your Business: What You and Your Company Can Learn from the Business of Rock and Roll. It’s a fun, informative read about how you can apply many of the characteristics of rockstars and their agents in your own daily life, whether you’re an attorney or run a hardware store. But Fishof’s lessons saves you the destroyed hotel rooms and embarrassing mug shots.

If you’re in the Hollywood area tomorrow, make sure to swing by the event at Book Soup. And if you’re a rock fan, take your autograph book. It wouldn’t be surprising if some of Fishof’s heavyweight pals make an appearance.

Add guitarist and singer Lita Ford to the burgeoning list of rockers with book deals. [Here's a round up of hard rock books.] Reports are that the former Runaways member and longtime solo artist has signed a publishing deal with William Morrow for a memoir called Living Like a Runaway. Joel Selvin is flying co-pilot on the book. The book is scheduled for publication in 2013.

Ford (pictured here in a shot I took when she performed with Queensryche in 2009) has been promoting her most recent solo record, with the same name as the book, in recent days. It’s a rocking disc, well worth checking out if you’re a fan of guitar-driven rock. It’s a pleasant return to form, and a very genuine and sincere emotional journey, from someone who went through a few tough years.

The news about the book promises to cover Ford’s trials as “she had to escape a terrifying marriage that cut her off from the rest of the world.” After previous romantic connections with head bangers like Nikki Sixx, Chris Holmes, and Tony Iommi, Ford married former Nitro vocalist Jim Gillette in 1994. The couple divorced in 2011.

I’ve got high hopes for this book, as Ford definitely has a unique perspective on late seventies and eighties hard rock that we haven’t heard before. her former bandmate Cherie Currie’s Neon Angel was a good book and Ford was largely absent from the film version of the stories about the Runaways. But at the same time, I’m cautious because there have been so many disappointing music memoirs lately. And Vince Neil’s atrocious book, which also used the same title as a solo record, sets a bad precedent for repeating monikers. But I’ll definitely check out Ford’s book when it’s released.

I was thrilled to read the great review of Power Chord by the Associated Press. Linked here to the Washington Post publication of the review, the key takeaway is that PC is “entertaining travelogue of sorts that hits all the right notes.”

Be sure to the entire review here!

To the outsider, the world of books and publishing is sometimes perceived as a stuffy, stodgy, genteel world of college professors, pipes, and tweed jackets with elbow patches. Now imagine that quiet book reading, with a string quartet playing the corner, being crashed by a bunch of unwashed, drugged out rockers. That clash of cultures is probably what a weekend is like for Jeremie Ruby-Strauss, heavy metal book editor extraordinaire at Gallery Books.

Earlier in his career, Ruby-Strauss cranked up the volume on the bestseller list by working on Marilyn Manson’s book The Long Hard Road Out of Hell and Motley Crue’s The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band. More recently, Ruby-Strauss blasted off into orbit to work with the Spaceman himself, Ace Frehley.

Now, obviously, I’ve covered hard rock literature pretty extensively here at Slushpile.net. And my own recently published book, Power Chord: One Man’s Ear-Splitting Quest to Find His Guitar Heroes deals with hard rock and heavy metal. And I must confess… I’ve grown slightly skeptical of the metal book genre because some of the recent releases seemed to be little more than quick and easy product, as opposed to something of substance. So I wanted to get Ruby-Strauss’ opinion on the trend.

The respected editor spoke about the deluge of hard rock books, about when Ace Frehley met Keith Richards, about Stephen Pearcy’s new book, and about his own personal musical tastes.

Slushpile: Just a few years ago, the prevailing wisdom in publishing was that “metal heads don’t read.” Now, it seems like every rocker with a Marshall amp stack gets a book deal. What changed?

Ruby-Strauss: Probably just the perception of what the prevailing wisdom is at any given time. While it felt very edgy to publish Marilyn Manson in 1998, the truth is that Aerosmith’s Walk this Way and David Lee Roth’s Crazy from the Heat came out in 1997.

Motley Crue’s The Dirt and KISS and Make-Up by Gene Simmons followed in 2001; then Dave Navarro’s Don’t Try This at Home, Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis, and Tommyland by Tommy Lee in 2004.

Slash by Slash and The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx were in 2007.

I Am Ozzy by Ozzy Osbourne, My Appetite for Destruction by Steven Adler, and Mustaine by Dave Mustaine came out in 2010.

And 2011 was ridiculous with Does the Noise in My Head Bother You? by Steven Tyler, Iron Man by Tony Iommi, Seven Deadly Sins by Corey Taylor, It’s So Easy by Duff McCagan, No Regrets by Ace Frehley, and Red by Sammy Hagar.

And that’s just off the top of my head. So the genre’s been chugging along the whole time, and also gaining a lot of steam in the past two years.

Slushpile: At this point into the trend, when there have been so many heavy metal and hard rock memoirs published, what catches your eye now? What does a book need to accomplish today, that might be different from when the trend was just starting?

Ruby-Strauss: Asking for an exciting rock memoir is a little like asking for wet water. I mean, if the pinnacle of aspiration, adoration, inebriation, fornication, and self-immolation doesn’t entertain you, I’m pretty much fresh out of tricks. So I’m looking for all of that, plus a passionate fan base, but it’s a rare rock star who doesn’t have all of those things in spades.

Slushpile: Ace Frehley has been quoted in media reports as working on a sequel to his bestselling memoir No Regrets which you acquired. Will you be involved with the sequel?

Ruby-Strauss: I certainly hope so—call me, Ace!

Slushpile: What’s a sort of standout memory of working with Frehley? When you think of Ace, what comes to mind?

Ruby-Strauss: I’ll never forget our initial meeting, he told a story of wanting to meet Keith Richards, but neither of them could physically stand up—so they were both propped up by assistants so they could shake hands briefly, before each slumped over.

It was also very memorable when he rejected our cover and proceeded to design it himself. But you know, why not? We loved it and went with it, and the book went on to be a huge best seller.

Slushpile: I’m a huge RATT fan and they play a role in my new book, Power Chord. So I’m dying to know, what led to your recent acquistion of the memoir by Stephen Pearcy, vocalist for Ratt? What really ‘stands out’ about Pearcy’s story?

Ruby-Strauss: I was a big RATT fan back in the day. I had the poster, listened to the cassette on my Walkman, the whole thing, so I have a soft spot for the band. But what also really interested me was the idea of documenting the pre-AIDS Sunset strip, the last great era of American debauchery, from the unique perspective of a guy at the very top of that social scene—a crown prince of it.

Slushpile: Publishers Marketplace pegged Pearcy’s book deal as being between $100,000 and $250,000. Can you be more specific than that, or provide a more narrow range?

Ruby-Strauss: Pimpin’ Ken, star of Pimps Up, Hoes Down and author of Pimpology: The 48 Laws of the Game, told me never to count another man’s money.

Slushpile: Pearcy has said in television interviews that his book will make Motley Crue’s The Dirt look like a sandbox. Can you give us a hint of some of the stories in there?

Ruby-Strauss: There will be a ton of sex, mind-boggling amounts of drugs, and of course a whole lot of RATT & roll. Hence our current working title, Sex, Drugs, RATT & Roll: My Life in Rock. There’s also stuff about him breaking both legs as a kid and whatnot, but are you seriously not more intrigued by the sex and drugs?

Slushpile: Some rockers work with ghostwriters and co-authors and others go solo. Is Pearcy working with any assistance?

Ruby-Strauss: He’s working with Sam Benjamin, who also co-wrote American Outlaw by Jesse James. I think he does a good job of making male sexuality more interesting and complicated than people expect.

Slushpile: In some cases, we’re reaching the point where almost all members of a band have published books, plus journalists have written about the group and the band itself may have an official biography. For example, 4 out of 5 members of Aerosmith have (or are working on) books, 3 out of 4 members of Motley Crue have books, and so forth. How much further can this genre go before it simply runs out of steam?

Ruby-Strauss: Nothing ever runs out of steam. Something to do with the second law of thermodynamics. Instead, people declare a thing dead, and then experience the drama of it coming back to their complete surprise, when it never left at all.

Slushpile: You’ve worked with hard rock books, but what is your own personal musical tastes?

Ruby-Strauss: Smooth jazz stylings, Toy Story soundtrack, K-Pop…the usual.

Slushpile: Who would be your dream musician to work with? Even if it’s someone who has already published a book, let’s just say, ‘If I could edit a book by any musician, who would it be?’

Ruby-Strauss: Two answers: professionally, David Bowie; personally…you know what? Who am I kidding? David Bowie!