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I present a passage from HarperCollins Canada‘s The Restoration Artist by Lewis DeSoto.

A realization hit me. Someone had made this. Someone took a brush and dipped it in paint and touched it to the canvas, making these marks and shapes and colours. And he made the world in the picture appear. It was a kind of magic A hand had made this. A hand like any other, even mine. I looked down at my own fingers, almost expecting to see a trace of paint on my knuckle. 

HarperCollins Canada created a special video to celebrate the 100,000 fans who have “liked” them on Facebook.

We’ve embedded the full video above–what do you think? Using the text from the jackets of their books, the publisher had this message for its readers:

Dear Facebook Fans, Thank you for helping create the greatest community of readers online. One hundred thousand strong and growing every day; made up of awesome, incredible book lovers just like you. We hope you’ll continue to share inspiration, share imagination and share reading.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Every writer, without exception, is forced to confront their own insecurity. An internal fear that takes the form of a single debilitating statement: I’m not good enough. Like poison, these four words creep up every time you put pen to paper and make you question the merit of your words. If not dealt with, insecurity can not only sap your confidence but also kill your creativity. So, what do you do? You silence it.

Be warned that this does not happen overnight. Instead, you have to tackle it each and every day. The method you use is entirely up to you. Some writers like to read a quote, others write a phrase and, still others, like myself, recite a statement. The key here is repetition because the more you do this the stronger your belief will become. Slowly the fear will lose its strength leaving you with just your words. Yes, reaching this place of belief is difficult but once you do you’ll have conquered the greatest obstacle of all: Yourself.

Like reading, writing has always been a huge part of my life. And not far behind has been the dream of one day being published. Recently, this dream, which has laid dormant for so long, bubbled to the surface. With its resurfacing, came a renewed focus to see it through. Why did it take so long you? Because only now am I ready to meet the challenges that lie ahead.

For the past year, everyone around me has been urging me to start writing a book. But time and again I told them I will once an idea comes along. After saying this for what felt like the hundredth time I began to wonder why I didn’t have any ideas. I was doing everything right: I was devouring book after book and I was attuned to the world around. However, I wasn’t attuned to myself.

There was a crowd of voices in my head and mine was lost in the echoes. It’s only when I actually stopped to sift through the chaos that I found my own. Listening to it I learned that I’m not a writer. Not really. I’m a poet. I always have been and I always will be. Once I acknowledged this truth about myself did the floodgates open and release the ideas I started to fear would never come. Now when I’m writing I listen to my voice and let the words take me where they will.

On Monday, February 13, 2012, Seth Godin published a piece entitled “The End of Paper Changes Everything“ for The Domino Project. The premise of the piece was that “[n]ot just a few things, but everything about the book and the book business is transformed by the end of paper.” In fact, Godin boldly declared “the book itself is changed.” He’s absolutely right.

My definition of a book has always revolved around its tangible form. To me, a book is made up of a cover, title, paper, weight. But that’s not going to be the case for much longer. The birth of the e-book forces us to answer Godin’s contentious question: “What makes something a book?”

If we take away a book’s physicality, then what we’re left with is its foundation. The parts that make up a book’s substance. A book will now be defined by its characters, plot, themes, setting, message. Perhaps, a book will become what it was always meant to be: A story.

However, this leads us to yet another conundrum: If a book isn’t bound by the restrictions of its physical form, does that mean its storytelling potential is limitless. You tell me.

50 Book Pledge | Book #7: The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary by Andrew Westoll
 

For your reading pleasure, I present HarperCollins Canada‘s This Dark Endeavour by Kenneth Oppel.

This Dark Endeavour by Kenneth Oppel

Let me begin by saying that I was skeptical about reading This Dark Endeavour. Here’s why: I read Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein first and I was in awe of her masterpiece. I couldn’t see how Kenneth Oppel, or any writer, could do justice to the most well-known work of horror fiction in literature. However, the truth is, that This Dark Endeavour: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein was phenomenal.

For me, Oppel’s greatest achievement is the foundation he builds for Shelley’s Frankenstein. The stepping stones he lays are not only believable but also insightful. There’s nothing that’s straightforward about young Victor Frankenstein. In fact, he’s a complicated mess. He doesn’t quite know what it is that drives him. Thus, his personal struggle is absolutely engrossing. Readers of all ages will undoubtedly relish every gripping page of Oppel’s masterful prequel.

This Dark Endeavour is the definition of must-read.