OMG, Look Who's Indie Publishing, Plus an Awesome Quote from Novelist Cynthia Ozick

Jackie Collins is the queen of the sexy and sleazy potboiler. She has sold over 400 million books, many of which have been made into films and TV series. Examples of her splashy titles are Dangerous Kisses and Hollywood Kids. Her famous older sister, Joan Collins, played the diva Alexis, on the eighties hit, Dynasty.

So why in the world would Jackie Collins want to self publish? In her own words, "Because everyone is doing it, and I want to see what it's like!" Read more about her decision here. Oh, and the title of this novel? The Bi*ch. Oh-kay...

On the flip side, someone recently posted this quote from novelist Cynthia Ozick on Facebook. It's about how, in writing, you need to block out all of the noise, but not just from the outside. You need to block out your own noise about how your writing will be seen in the world---at least while you're actually hard at work writing. It has stuck with me all week:

“One must avoid ambition in order to write. Otherwise something else is the goal: some kind of power beyond the power of language. And the power of language, it seems to me, is the only kind of power a writer is entitled to.”