Blogs We're Loving: Passive-Aggressive Notes

Emily Sproch - Let's be honest: a lot of blogs are just "eh." You poke around, you read half a post, you move on. But every once in a while, you stumble upon a blog so amusing that you spend half the morning scrolling through old entries.

That was my experience today with passiveaggressivenotes.com. The concept couldn't be simpler: people from all over the world send photos of amusing notes (from fridge notes to office memos and everything in-between), and then the good folks at PAN post them for us to laugh at. Much like this:

Or this:

Passive-Aggressive Notes has 89,000 Facebook Likes. The lesson? Keep it simple (and hilarious).

Want to start a blog and learn how you can turn an online hobby into a money-making career? Explore The Complete Course in Professional Blogging from NYICD.  

How to Host a Genre-Reveal Party

Emily Sproch - The latest trend among soon-to-be parents is the "Gender-Reveal Party." It works like this: you get your ultrasound technician to write the sex of your unborn child on a scrap of paper and then have them seal it in an envelope. Next, you take the envelope to your local bakery and have them whip up a cake that is filled with either pink or blue frosting. Finally, you gather your closest friends and family, cut the cake, and voila: the big reveal.

Last week, author Jessica Francis Kane parodied the trend on McSweeney's, introducing bookish types to the Genre-Reveal party, where you find out if critics have dubbed your work "Literary Fiction" (Hooray!), "Women's Fiction" (Damn!), or "Chick Lit" (Noooooo!). Kane captures the inanity of it all quite well.

For an approach that doesn’t include dessert, ask a trusted friend to put helium balloons in a box. At the party, open the box and see what color balloons float out. Alternatively, depending on budget and resources, have a friend jump out of a cake or a box wearing the mask of an author who is iconic in your book’s genre. 

Read the entire piece HERE.

And check out Kane's new collection of short stories HERE. 

Want to learn how you can improve your writing and to delve into traditional and self-publishing markets? Check out the The Complete Course in Fiction & Memoir Writing at NYICD.  

On Shelves Now: Branding for Bloggers!

It's arrived! The NYICD Branding for Bloggers book has hit the shelves, and we are giving away three signed copies! Post a little something about the book on Twitter or FB and include a link back to this post. Then leave a comment below letting us know that you've completed the task. We'll draw three winners next week!

In the meantime, have a "Look Inside" on Amazon!

Want to start a blog and learn how you can turn an online hobby into a money-making career? Explore The Complete Course in Professional Blogging from NYICD.  

NY Times 'Draft' Column

Emily Sproch - Buried within the "Opinionator" section of the NY Times website is a delightful little series called Draft. It really is a must-read for any writer.

Struggling writers will identify with Ben Dolnick's "Stupid Writer Tricks," an essay about the seductive trap of immitating the strange habits of geniuses (did you know that Saul Bellow liked to do headstands to get in the mood?). In this week's "Am I an 'Immigrant Writer'?", Amit Majmudar delivers a thoughtful analysis on what makes a writer different from a minority writer. And then there's my personal favorite: a piece by Tim Kreider called "The Power of I Don't Know," in which Kreider explains why writers are, ultimately, just full of BS.

Draft features essays by grammarians, historians, linguists, journalists, novelists and others on the art of writing — from the comma to the tweet to the novel — and why a well-crafted sentence matters more than ever in the digital age.

Want to learn how you can improve your writing and to delve into traditional and self-publishing markets? Check out the The Complete Course in Fiction & Memoir Writing at NYICD.  

NYIP Promo Video

Check out this recent post on our sister school's blog:

WHO ARE WE?

Here at the New York Institute of Photography, we pride ourselves on the reputation we have established through the comprehensive learning experience we have provided our students over the years.

Want to learn more about what makes NYIP so great? Don't take our word for it! Check out our new About Us Video in which students and staff discuss what makes the New York Institute of Photography the best home-study photography school in the world. 

Go to our website at nyip.com to find out more and enroll in one of our stellar photography courses today. Your own NYIP experience is just a few clicks away.  

Want to start a blog and learn how you can turn an online hobby into a money-making career? Explore The Complete Course in Professional Blogging from NYICD.