Why You Should Write - Reprise

The Scribe's Refreshment

From the Guardian, UK:

James Frey ignores publishing houses to release new book

through art gallery

Bad boy of American letters prints just 10,000 copies of
his latest work, The Final Testament of the Holy Bible, in
time for Easter

James Frey: ‘I tried to write a radical book; I’m releasing it in a radical way.’ Photograph: Antonio Olmos/ Antonio Olmos

These are tough times for the publishing industry, so writers are increasingly turning to unconventional ways to market their work.

There is the horror story printed on toilet paper, the novel composed of 2,000 tattoos etched on volunteers’ skin, the unbound book in a box that can be shuffled and read in any order, and of course the numerous collaborative Wikinovels.

Now the bad boy of American letters, James Frey, has jumped on the bandwagon with the announcement that his next book will be published by an art gallery. Just 10,000 copies will be printed on paper, with an additional collectors’ edition of 1,000 signed volumes.

Frey’s original manuscript will be printed on canvas and displayed by the publisher, the Gagosian gallery in New York, alongside new artworks by several top American artists to illustrate it. They include Richard Prince, Ed Ruscha, Richard Phillips and Terry Richardson.

Posted today at Jim's website, bigjimindustries

Back in October of 2009, I was reading Bright Shiny Morning, by James Frey. I am nearly done. What a gem. In the back of that book is an essay Jim entitled Music and Talking. He points out that he nearly always writes to loud music in the background. He points out that he always talks first what he writes and that if you talk you will see that language is only partially guided by grammar and mainly guided by context. Thus because he seriously writes as he speaks, he tends to write without many grammatical conventions, which do not show up in speech. He doesn't say, but he knows he should write. I know I should write.

Why You Should Write

The writing you do
reveals the design not yet
in God's world until
your hands and heart place
it precisely, a jewel.
That is what you do.

February 16, 2009 8:28 AM

First posted, October 6, 2009