Monday, January 17, 2011

Small Presses, Dezz's Party, and Quotes

I had an unexpected request last week to contribute to Michelle’s series on small presses. My contribution is featured with several others today at The Innocent Flower. Please stop by and read why you should consider a small publisher.

Yesterday was the Hollywood Spy’s annual awards party! Everyone showed up in their finest, and there were many awards given to those in attendance. Dezz, thanks again for bestowing SF Star Award upon me and for allowing me to end the ceremonies with a guitar solo. You rock!

One more week to the Top Ten Countdown Music Blogfest!

And to honor Martin Luther King Jr. today, I selected a couple quotes that spoke to me:

“I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.”

"From every mountainside, let freedom ring. When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

63 comments:

BTN Hip Hop said...

MLK was so badass

Unknown said...

Great quotes! :) Happy MLK day

Vicki Rocho said...

Miracle of miracles, I have my music blogfest post written and scheduled!

Off to check the small press post...this has been resonating lately, so I'm curious what those who've 'been there, done that' have to say.

Elizabeth Spann Craig said...

Thanks for the quotes!

I think small presses are the *best* way to break into the industry. That was the road I chose, too.

DEZMOND said...

glad you like the award, and if I knew your guitar solo would last for almost an hour I would've reconsidered my decision to let you play at the gala ;) Fortunately the guests were already totally tipsy and didn't notice it while snoring in their seats. Strangely only Arlee woke up when you hit that heavy metal part in the 45th minute. I could swear he and Mary drank the most shots.

Jeremy [Retro] said...

Long Live the King's Words!

Old Kitty said...

I was just commenting on lovely Elizabeth Mueller's blog how Mr King Jr's legacy of quiet determination, intelligence, humanity are so needed now more so than ever.

I'll check your guest posting later as you're still not up out there!! Take care
x

vic caswell said...

inspiring still! :)

i thought your guitar solo was captivating! congrats on your award! :)

Matthew MacNish said...

Dez's party was awesome. I never blog on weekends and I still had to make an appearance, it was that good.

Congrats on the award, and congrats on being part of Michelle's series. It rocks.

Jules said...

I'm working on my post already but man just 10 is tough!

Great quotes. If only people remembered to apply the words :)
Jules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow

Carol Kilgore said...

I just checked out your post and the entire series on The Innocent Flower. Good job by everyone. Thanks for the link.

Notes Along the Way with Mary Montague Sikes said...

Loved all the Hollywood green--especially the glitzy--last night!

Will check The Innocent Flower!

Monti
NotesAlongTheWay

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Vicki, glad you're on top of things!

Elizabeth, that's good to know.

Dezz, at least someone enjoyed it!

Kitty, it's up now!

Aspiring, I'm glad you liked my guitar solo.

Thanks, Matthew!

Jules, ten is tough.

Thanks, Carol!

Unknown said...

Great quotes! I'm going now to check out your other post.
CD

Nicki Elson said...

Thanks for the tip on small press---I'm with a small publisher too, and truly believe it's the way to go, so I look forward to reading those posts.

Congrats on your SciFi award! And thank you also for the quotes---beautiful words for beautiful sentiments, and a good reminder of why we set aside a day to honor this man and the light he shed on this world.

P.S. I've made You Tube playlist of my top 10 & will refine the list as the week goes on. ;) (Seriously, you ought to at least TRY an emoti. You can't get addicted on just one...)

Charles Gramlich said...

Quite a lot going on at my school for MLK day.

Ellie Garratt said...

Great quotes!

Teutorix said...

Martin Luther King Jr. was such a great human..

Sangu Mandanna said...

Thanks for linking to the post about small presses, Alex! I loved reading so many different authors' take on it, including yours.

Jane Kennedy Sutton said...

Congratulations on your award! My publisher is also a small press so I am heading over to see what you have to say about them.

Donea Lee said...

Such inspiring quotes! Happy MLK day ~ :) Just joined your blogfest - what a fantastic idea! I've been seeing it all over sidebars today. Now, to decide on just ten....

Michael Di Gesu said...

Yes,

A small press could be the way to go. I might look into if for my first novel.

Thanks for the tip Alex.

Hey, I finished my WIP last night at 9pm... let the editing begin! I'm doing the happy dance at my blog.

How's yours going. OR ... DID YOU WATCH FOOTBALL! lol

Michael

RaShelle Workman said...

Alex - Nothing wrong with a small press. For some, it's great! Thanks for the quotes.

And, I thought your solo rocked. I was just hiding in the back. The heel on one of my shoes broke - dang Jimmy Choos. They're so pretty, but ya gotta be careful with em. LOL =D

Wendy Tyler Ryan said...

I've been thinking about small presses for a long time, why not?

Top 10, still working on it, it's really hard.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Small presses have their advantages.
And congrats on the award.

Southpaw said...

Wonderful quote. Congrats on your award.

Arlee Bird said...

I've gotta get busy on my Top 10!

And for your information Mr. Smartypants Dezmond, I wasn't asleep I was just resting my eyes and getting into the guitar solo. Now let me nurse my hangover--pass the buttermilk please.

Lee
Tossing It Out

Christian James said...

Congrats on your 'Dezzie' Alex.

You rocked at the awards.

Michelle D. Argyle said...

Thanks for the mention! And thanks for sharing your experience on my blog. :D

Anonymous said...

Great quotes, the man was more than a visionary. Seemed more like a Moses prophet leading people out of captivity.

Jai Joshi said...

Thanks for the fantastic Dr. King quotes.

And congrats on your SF star award!

Jai

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

Congrats on your Dezmond award, well deserved.

Yvonne.

Pat Tillett said...

Congrats on yet another award! All well deserved!

thanks for the quotes...

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Thanks, Nicki! And glad you're ready for the fest. Sorry, don't think I'm the emoting kind.

Charles, that's great.

Sangu, glad you enjoyed it.

That's good stuff, Jane.

Donna, glad you could join us and thanks for the follow. I know ten is tough, but a top 40 would've been too much!

Good for you, Michael. And proud to say I did both - football AND editing.

RaShelle, thanks. SOMEONE appreciates a good guitar solo!

Wendy, if you need to fudge with a top eleven, no one will take you hostage, I promise!

Lee! Not the buttermilk!!

Thank you, Christian.

Michelle, thanks for the opportunity.

Stephen, good analogy.

Thanks, everyone.

Abby Minard said...

Ah, love those quotes. Thanks for recognizing a great man today!

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Loved your guitar solo! Congrats too on your award :)

Susan Gourley/Kelley said...

Congrats again for your award. I'm published with three different small presses. I'm going to go check out the link.

M Pax said...

The small press info was great. Thanks for the link. And congrats on the Dezzie!

Colene Murphy said...

What a great post for today! Nicely done!

T. Powell Coltrin said...

Congratulations on your award. The quotes are really great.

T

Saumya said...

Happy MLK :) Congrats on your award!!

WritingNut said...

Wonderful quote... and congrats on your award. I'm off to read your guest post now :)

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Thanks everyone! And nice to see so many interested in small presses or with one already.

N. R. Williams said...

Reading Martin Luther King's speech took me to the place where I could hear him. Mighty powerful.

I'll go read your guest post now.
Nancy
N. R. Williams, fantasy author

Mary@GigglesandGuns said...

You sure covered it all today, Alex. Was news writing your day job?
Missed your humor last week.

Melissa said...

I really like the quotes. Thanks for sharing.

COngrats on the award.

Copyboy said...

I knew the first one, but didn't know the others. Interesting.

Jemi Fraser said...

We do a lot of discussions about MLK in my class. He has the best quotes! Powerful stuff

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Thanks, Nancy!

Hey Mary! Only if you count movie updates...

Thanks everyone and glad I selected such powerful quotes.

Mason Canyon said...

Congratulations on the award. Love the quotes.

Mason
Thoughts in Progress

George Beremov [Nebular] said...

Congrats on the award, Alex. You deserve it, as you're a true SF STAR :)

Karen Lange said...

Thanks for the links, and for sharing the quotes. Inspirational.

Tara said...

The music blogfest is killing me. I have been agonizing over songs since I signed up. I've come up with two. Yeah, I said 2. Eek.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Thanks everyone!

And Tara, just eight more to go. You can do it!

Jennie Bailey said...

I love both those quotes, but the second one is my favorite. I think it's wonderful that so many people put quotes on their blogs in honor of the day. I wish I had thought of that!
I can wait for the Blogfest!!

Golden Eagle said...

Congratulations on your award!

I love the quotes.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Jennie, I'm amazed I even thought of it! Glad you liked the quotes. Blogfest very soon!!

Julie Musil said...

Alex, those quotes gave me chills. Thanks for the reminders.

I'm hopping over to read about small presses. I would totally consider that! The objective is to reach readers, and small presses seem approachable and nice to work with.

Hannah said...

I love MLK quotes. Everything he said was profound and he had the pipes to carry them.

Ella said...

Great quotes and you rocked that guitar solo the other night! I wish I could do your latest blogfest, but 10! Yikes, I will stop by though and read and comment, sounds exciting. You never know, I might jump in at the last minute~

Patricia Stoltey said...

Those are wonderful quotes, Alex.

Jamie Gibbs said...

Congratulations on the award, Alex!
I'm getting more familiar with small publishers, and what I've seen so far has been impressive. I'm looking forward to seeing more :)

Eric said...

Congrats Alex. I'm sorry I missed the guitar solo and festivities, but I'm sure you did awesome. And what a wonderful quote. Nice job!