Posts

Now designing WEB POSTERS!

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Above is the first "web poster" I've designed.  I had been seeing folks make these and sharing them on facebook and wanted to try to do one.  They are REALLY fun to do!  As soon as I posted this one on facebook, people started sharing them with friends.  It's a good way to go viral with a message. If authors, artists, entrepreneurs, nonprofits or regular folk are interested in having me design a cool, impactful web poster, let me know!  I can help with crafting the message and choosing the background, fonts, tag lines, etc. I think this could be a great tool for lots of folks to create awareness of their books, their passions...very cheaply.  What do other folks think?  Have you seen similar stuff popping up online lately?
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    I'm tweaking the tagline for my blog.  Currently the tag is:  The Adventures of Novelist Dwight Okita.  But I want to focus more clearly on the value I provide my blog followers.  So for now the tag is: Lessons Learned as a Self-published Writer, Movie Deals in the Making, Confessions of a Movie-holic, the Single Gay Man's Guide to Love in the New Millennium. For this post, I wanted to share an email I received recently from a woman who works on the live action films for Disney.  Her focus is the book-to-film projects.  She came across my novel THE PROSPECT OF MY ARRIVAL while search on Amazon.  She loved the book and wanted to know about movie rights.   Here was the amazing email she sent me January 2012: hello Dwight!  loved your book! i'm a book to film scout at disney live action feature films and i was wondering what's up with the film rights to PROSPECT OF MY ARRIVAL. before talking to anyone else at the studio about it, i'd

Amazon Reviews that authors live for

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Every once in a while, an author receives a review of their book from a reader that totally gets what they were trying to do. I think authors live for reviews like this one. If I only get one like this, I feel I've  succeeded. It's a long, thoughtful response to Prospect of My Arrival on Amazon from a reader named Josh Keidan who I don't know: A deep philosophical (yet enjoyable) book, July 27, 2012 By Josh Keidan Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: The Prospect of My Arrival (Kindle Edition) In the novel Prospect of My Arrival author Dwight Okita tries to do what many people have done before him, which is figure out he meaning of this bizarre, funny, painful, boring, over stimulating hybrid we call life. What sets this philosopher-poet apart is how he tackles the question. The plot is simple, the main character Prospect has three weeks to decide if he wants to be born or not. He gets to try life and see if it is something he wants to expe
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NOTE:  My colleague Dawn Raffel's lovely new book THE SECRET LIFE OF OBJECTS   has been published. It contains tiny, luminous pieces of narrative.  In celebration of that, I and other writers from LEA, the League of Extraordinary Authors, have been asked to write a piece of flash fiction of our own.  This is mine. "I Was At The Zoo"   by Dwight Okita I was at the Lincoln Park Zoo gift store, browsing the dizzying menagerie of toys on sale.  One stuffed animal called out to me -- a small, furry stuffed penguin.  My mother would love it. But as the penguin sat in my apartment that night, bashful beside the white lamp, I knew my mind was changing. I could not part with my new friend. The next day, I made a full confession. "I was going to give him to you, Mom, but he's just too cute to give away." "Oh, I have lots of stuffed animals.  You keep him. I've got stuffed animals coming out of my ears!" "Are you sure it's oka
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SNEAK PEEK: HERE IS AN OPENING PAGE OF A NOVEL I MIGHT WRITE. A NOVEL ABOUT A NOVELIST. I KNOW YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO DO THAT BUT I WANT TO. WHAT YA THINK? "Do you think you'll ever put me into one of your crazy books?" Jordan asked, tapping the ashes of his cigarette into his empty Dr. Pepper can. We sat in my apartment in the middle of what was for many a work day. Jordan was not my best  friend, but when you can't be with the one you love – love the one you're with, as they say. This made me a little sad to consider whether I even had a best friend anymore, or did I just surround myself with a lot of second fiddles? "What makes you think I haven't?" I said, drinking my Dr. Pepper from a frosty beer mug chock full of ice cubes shaped like little flying saucers. I had sent away for novelty ice trays from the famed Oriental Trading Company a year ago and have not once regretted the purchase. In fact, I wish I had bought a few more. Truth i
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A perfect read for Memorial Day, a novel which honors the war dead.  So it goes... SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE. I was moved throughout, but let down a bit by the end. Wondered what others thought of the ending. I just reread Slaughterhouse Five. When I first read the book as a youth, I remember the humor. But now as a grown man and author, I was deeply moved by the gravitas, absurdity, and surrealism. The writing itself is gorgeous and haunting. The chapters were so compelling, I couldn't stop reading. That rarely happens with me. So I was surprised when I came to the end that it wasn't more satisfying or affecting. I know Vonnegut drops hints that it's not a regular story with character and plot. But I think I was expecting some full-blown scene between the man who was killed for stealing at teapot (Edgar Derby) instead of the passing reference. Or a scene between Billy Pilgrim and his wife or son. I suppose the closest type of scene like that was between Bill
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I want to welcome the five most recent followers of my blog "Long Day's Journey Into Dwight." Cats*N*Tats Perspectively Speaking Mimi Fogarty Amelia Wright DrDm Beads * Please feel free to browse past posts.  We love comments.  And I will try to do the same.
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(Click above to enter the AVEC Pleasure website!) DWIGHT'S CURRENT WEBSITE CLIENTS FOR MAY 2012 GEORGE NELSON -- Designing his musician's website. DWIGHT SORA -- Designing his actor's website.    ANNE MCGRAVIE -- Needs updated homepage.  External blog for upcoming new plays!  WEBSITES I'VE DESIGNED FOR CLIENTS  AVEC PLEASURE, an Australian-based venture for international arts tours & services DANNY POSTEL, international man of mystery/ journalist/ adventurer IRENE'S HOME, an emerging Chicago nonprofit for single mothers with substance abuse issues PC DESIGN STUDIO, a dental laboratory devoted to making perfect crowns ANNE MCGRAVIE, award-winning Scottish American playwright ALZHEIMER DIARY, for the launch of Michelle Montgomery's memoir of the same name VIDEOS, BOOK TRAILERS I'VE DESIGNED FOR CLIENTS OPTIBALANCEPET FORMULAS, three videos for flower essences to enhance pet behavior RUSSELL WILEY IS OUT TO LU
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I've been enjoying the new TV show SMASH.  Saw the season closer tonight! This is an amazing finale song which is about the life and death of Marilyn Monroe.  Katherine McPhee has a gorgeous voice as Marilyn. What a perfect ending to the show after Marilyn dies tragically in bed, making one last phone call to a friend...she rises from the dead to sing this one. The legacy of Marilyn being that more than a star she was a human who needed some encouragement, some sheltering. And when she didn't find it, she died. Great lyrics and melody and performance.  Produced by Steven Spielberg, songs by the team behind the musical HAIRSPRAY. Click below to hear the song.  Leave comments telling if the song floats your boat or no. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkFVOuO2gZ4&feature=related Don't Forget Me ~ Smash ~ Katharine Mcphee www.youtube.com
Introducing the cutest new way to promote great books for the beach!