Brian Bolke, Owner, Forty Five Ten

Books: I wish I had more time to read. I guess Vanity Fair isn’t really a book. But here goes. Just finished The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson when I was on vacation. Couldn’t put it down — a great mix of murder mystery and family anthology. Looking forward to the next one, The Girl Who Played With Fire. The author is now deceased, so I have to read it slowly.

Bookmarks: WWD.com, Style.com, and, yes, perezhilton.com

Magazines: W, Elle Décor, Vogue, Details, Vanity Fair

Newspapers: New York Times junkie

On November 1, 15 brave FrontRow readers took up the challenge of attempting to write a novel in a month as part of the National Novel Writing Month challenge. We knew our writing didn’t have to be polished, interesting, or very good. It was only necessary to try and accomplish the heavy lifting of novel writing – the grueling schlepping through chapters and plot and character development to get the bare bones of a finished work of fiction on paper by the stroke of midnight, November 30.

Some of us have already confessed to giving up – myself among them. But, impressively, others have accomplished the task.

And so, brave souls, who as of today can claim to have finished a complete work of fiction?

As promised, we will host a public reading for the participants. Details on that will follow in the coming week.

Michael Solis, Creative Director, Store Development, Visual Planning, Neiman Marcus

I”m reading Outliers : A Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell, a blueprint of the hidden advantages that got certain people to where they are — from athletes, The Beatles and Bill Gates to even your date of birth. It’s a great  ”WOW” book. Also Process: 50 Product Designs from Concept to Manufacture by Jennifer Hudson. This book is an in-depth study of the creative and manufacturing processes behind 50 contemporary domestic design objects. I love the thought process involved in making things. You see design morphing though the initial ideas /sketches to the final product. Its always amazing to see how things come to fruition.

Bookmarks: core77.com; youtube.com – ( any daily monster video); instructables.com;mocoloco.com; neimanmarcus.com

Magazines, newspapers: Frame magazine; Dwell; Rolling Stone; New York Times

So much for support groups. I have completely crashed out of the National Write a Novel in a Month project. At some point I told myself that Thanksgiving would be my time of last minute proliferation, but it wasn’t to be. . . for me, at least.  Though I had all but forgot about my failed efforts, this note dropped in my inbox from one of the writers in FrontRow’s group: 

Sunday night, 65,031 words (35,000 of those in just the last three days) with three more good hours of typing left in the evening.  Unfortunately, I am not even 3/4 through the story.  There’s still a hit-and-run, a murder and kidnapping to be written.

Did I mention that it’s a romance?

I also have a title for my next book:  How I Ended Up Divorced From Writing 65,000 Words In One Month.

 Too long? 

So fearless novel writers for a month, tomorrow is the deadline. Who among you is still standing?

I’ll admit that two weeks ago there were more than few times when I imagined printing out the fruit of a month’s worth of hard labor, collating pages that, when arranged and stacked high, contained around 50,000 words of prose fiction – a finished novel. Now, half way into the National Novel Writing Month project, I haven’t even written a quarter of the words required. Judging from the feedback, other writers in FrontRow’s NaNoWriMo support group are making remarkable progress, and others, like me, are sluggish. The problem is I have given up hope, which basically means I’ve given up. 

These words of encouragement dropped in my in box this morning from NaNoWriMo’s Chris Baty:

The most common refrain at the Struggler’s Party, though, is that we’re just feeling Blah. Our stories are Blah, our writing is Blah. We’ve spent the last two weeks mining our creative depths, and many of us have emerged with too few diamonds and way too many lumps of coal.

Blah indeed. Throw the coal into the fire. So fellow NaNoWriMo – how goes it? Who’s all but given up? And who has an idea about how to turn around the negative inertia?

At this point, I’ve basically given up hope that I’m going to hit that 50,000 word mark by the 30th. I’ll keep writing and will try to find time each day, but I’m only at about 6,000 words and it is day ten, so at this pace I’m only going to get close to 20,000 words – not even half.

But there are other obstacles that are fazing me more than the marathon logging of words. I’ve only been able to ..read more

Allison V. Smith, Photographer

Books: Looking in: Robert Frank’s The Americans: Like any good photographer, I am a big fan of Robert Frank’s The Americans. I have two editions of the 50-year old classic and recently purchased Looking In which documents the book in every way possible. The most breathtaking part of the book is the countless number of Frank’s contact sheets, printed in full with Frank’s own editing marks. Basically, I could stare at those pages for hours. It’s fascinating to see how a real master works. Asakusa Portraits by Hiroh Kikai: Japanese photographer Hiroh Kikai’s black-and-white street portraits from the Asakusa quarter of Tokyo are as haunting and beautiful as Diane Arbus and simple and striking as Avedon’s American West. Kikai’s portraits span over 30 years and each portrait is more intriguing than the last. I feel very lucky to have a personalized signed copy. Pyramids by Mike Slack: Polaroid announced last year that they would no longer be producing their famous instant film. This will be Slack’s final book of Polaroids. Slack finds beauty in the overly offbeat and obviously overlooked. I recommend his past two books OK OK OK and Scorpio for the full Slack collection (together they look sharp on the bookshelf!) New Mexico by Lee Friedlander: Friedlander’s latest book of scenes from New Mexico is exquistly printed by Radius Books. The large format black-and-white book is filled with Friedlander’s quirky view of life. Most appear to be shot out of his driver’s side window.

Blogs: lens.blogs.nytimes.com; myparentswereawesome.tumblr.com; journal.davidbyrne.com; glasstire.com; gotopublicschool.com/

Magazines: Oxford American, Texas Monthly, SHOTS magazine

It’s day four of the NaNoWriMo project, and while the comments on this post seem to indicate that many of the participants in FrontRow’s support group are making stellar progress, I’m in dire straights. Total hours devoted to the project since Nov. 1: a little less than four. Word count: 3,732. At this rate I’ll have less than half the required length needed by Nov. 30^th. I’m going to have to use nights and weekends. Thanksgiving will be given over to coffee-fueled writing binges. On the content front, a new character has emerged this morning, and I have no idea how she fits into the story. Perhaps there won’t be enough time for her to show up in the other storyline.

Other novel hopefuls, how goes it?

Yesterday kicked off National Novel Writing Month, and a group of 15 have joined FrontRow’s NaNoWriMo support group. The task at hand: finish one 50,000 word novel by the stroke of midnight, November 30. To find out how we fared on day one, jump.

For me, day one was a disaster. Here’s my writing plan: 6 to 8 a.m. Monday through Friday, a chapter a day at around 2,500 words, which, after twenty days, would put me at the 50,000 word ..read more

The writing commences on Monday, and there are currently 14 of us signed up to undertake the foolhardy task of completing a novel in a month. So far, we have been promised a young adult mystery set in small town Texas, a historical romance novel set in Dallas in the 1960s, a story set in a Texas nail salon in the 1980s, and a “steampunk fantasy novel set in the dark woods beneath the light of the moon.” In other words, this is going to be darn good fun. There have also been plenty of jitters expressed, so if you are holding out on your decision to go all in, we’re here to help. Join our support group as we set out like mariners hunting the albatross of our literary ambition.

Last week we announced our intention of diving head first into the shallow end of the literary pool by joining the National Novel Writing Month challenge of completing a new work of fiction – 50,000 words or 175 pages – by the toll of midnight on November 30. The rules, as set forth on the NaNoWriMo site, are simple: sign up, start writing on November 1, and make sure you are finished up by the end of the month.

Remember, bad writing is expected. The project is a way of working out the cobwebs, throwing out qualitative hang-ups, and just writing. Think of it as that 20 mile run a few weeks before the marathon: it burns, it hurts, it doesn’t feel very good when it’s over, and it still isn’t the real deal. But without it, 26.2 ain’t happening.

So sign up here to join our NaNoWriMo support group, and we’ll stay in contact throughout the month, blogging about the experience. We have 12 brave souls who have jumped in already. When all is said and scribbled, we hope to have a reading with the participants at the D Magazine offices in December.

And to kick this off, a question to our participants: do you know what you will be writing about yet, and if so, what? Leave your answers in the comments. And to you literary voyeurs: any character, situation, or topic  requests?

Photo: James Baldwin, William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Dorothy Parker, Heinrich Böll, and Franz Kafka.

“Thirty days and nights of literary abandon,” that’s how the National Novel Writing Month describes its project. The idea is simple, write a 175-page (50,000 word) novel in thirty days. From NaNoWriMo:

Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved.

Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all ..read more

Ike Isenhour, Dallas-based interior designer

I’m reading John Irving’s Last Night in Twisted River. He wrote my favorite book, ever, A Prayer for Owen Meany. I am also reading, less aggressively, The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President by Taylor Branch. Next on my list is: The Laguna, by Barbara Kingsolver. I keep on my coffee table two books from the exhibits  Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years and  Chanel at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Always on my nightstand is  In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, which I read a bit at a time, because his writing inspires my design sensibilities. Capote’s voice was so American and I find his writing beautiful, artful, descriptive, almost minimal, yet effective – the way I like interiors to “read”. And for the beach in Mexico over Thanksgiving: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz.

Magazines, newspapers: I read the New York Times. And all the trade magazines.  I am sad that Metropolitan Home is folding. My favorite is World of Interiors and I always grab German Architectural Digest, which I think does a superb job. The British Magazines are great (House & Garden) and they keep me busy when on my connections through Heathrow.

Scott Simons, Executive Marketing Director, Whole Foods, Southwest Region

Right now, I’m reading two books.  Moral Disorder and Other Tales, a collection of related short stories by Margaret Atwood, and You Better Not Cry, the new holiday-themed memoir by Augusten Burroughs.

I’m reading Moral Disorder because, after having my heart broken and mind blown by Atwood’s The Blind Assassin a few years ago, I set out to read all of her books. She’s one of my favorite authors and I’m fascinated by her writing style, smart feminism, themes and cleverness. Moral Disorder tells the story of one family’s emotional and psychological struggles through the eyes of a daughter, and is, so far, fairly somber and far from uplifting. However, the stories live in Atwood’s inimitable clever style, which makes it worth it. I love her use of language.

You Better Not Cry is an absolutely hysterical set of stories that had me belly laughing on a plane this week, much to my embarrassment. I highly recommend this one as a hilarious holiday ride with the hyper-creative child of a 1970′s dysfunctional family. The book also manages to be quite poignant in many instances.  A delight to read.

Bookmarks: Homesick Texan – great food blog all about Texas fare with good photography; Boston Herald‘s The Big Picture – amazing aggregate site for photojournalism; Desire to Inspire – total and complete design porn; New York Times online – for real news.

Magazines, newspapers: Elle Décor, my heart sings when a new issue hits the mailbox. I love their aesthetic. Bon Appetit– don’t care for their new photo styling at all, but always like their recipes. Dwell – I waffle on the content in almost every issue, and their art director is heavy handed, but I can’t imagine my life without it. Saveur – my absolute favorite food publication.  Great photography and an egalitarian love of all good food.

Lucy Billingsley, Partner, The Billingsley Company

Books: Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese – beautifully written and totally absorbing; The Case for God by Karen Armstrong – clarity  and depth of knowledge; Too Big to Fail by Andrew Ross Sorkin – required reading; The Brain that Changes Itself by Norman Doidge – the best survey of the great research and insights on the brain.

Websites: I only go when required.

Magazines: D Magazine (Dallas’ Best) and if I read magazines  regularly I would read The Economist. Sadly office paper work takes precedent every time.

Newspapers: The New York Times and Dallas Business Journal.

Those of us who have wedded our lives to the printed word live nervously these days, and we spend much of our free time wondering what on earth the future of publishing will look like. The Wall Street Journal’s book blog had a brilliant idea for coming up with a solution: ask a science fiction writer. William Gibson, the author of books like Neuromancer and Spook Country, had what seems to me an idea with legs:

My dream scenario would be ..read more

I’ve been purusing the fall’s art happenings and events over the past few days, and something tells me this is going to become a recurring theme this fall: there’s someone speaking at Southern Methodist University that you really can’t afford not to go see. This week it is Renaissance expert and Renaissance man Leonard Barkan, who will be speaking at the DeGolyer Library tomorrow beginning at 6:30 p.m. Barken is a Princeton professor and an expert on Renaissance art and ..read more

CEO and Artistic Director, Dallas Film Society/DALLAS International Film Festival

Books I’m reading: Stealing Castro’s Daughter by first time author Lee Brooks, is an enthralling book. It is a true story of an American man’s quest to liberate the woman he loves from the clutches of Cuba. Full of unbelievable adventure and romance; even in the most desperate of times, humor prevails. You want to cry, but find yourself laughing out loud. It reminds me of how fortunate we are to be free. My wife Melina finished the book last month so she teases me with more information each night, sort of competitive reading. It will be a fun movie! The book is self distributed on http://www.facebook.com/l/dc244;Amazon.com. The New Earth, Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose by author Eckhart Tolle is sort of my mental yoga. When we returned from Greece this summer I committed that my next real project would be “me.” This book allows me to focus my thoughts and remember the power and calmness of fully living in the moment and making friends with now. I’m half way through the book and I look forward to picking it up and escaping the static that can block out the good that surrounds us, if we are only open to it.

Websites: facebook.com; TED.com; dallasfilm.org; nytimes.com; variety.com; pandora.com; asmallworld.net; kcrw.org; indiewire.com; attpac.org; snopes.com(it’s just fun); archive.org, (I’m hooked); twitter.com/dallasfilm; theonion.com

Magazines, newspapers, journals: Zoetrope -All Story, Vanity Fair, D Magazine, NY Times, Robb Report

Roger Horchow, catalog magnate, Broadway producer, author.

Books:  The Outliers by Malcom Gladwell; Rogues Gallery: The Secret History of the Moguls and the Money that Made the Metropolitan Museum by Michael Gross; Texas Rich: The Hunt Dynasty from the Early Oil Days Through the Silver Crash by Harry Hunt III; Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Journey to Change the World… One Child at a Time, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin.

Magazines:  Economist, Forbes, D Magazine, Vanity Fair, New Yorker, Town and Country

Newspapers:  New York Times, Wall St. Journal, Dallas Morning News, Nantucket Inquirer & Mirror, New York Observer

The first issue of Camera Obscura Journal of Literature and Photography just landed in my mailbox with a letter explaining that the smart, clean-looking volume is published out of Addison by a writer named M.E. Parker. The journal is a balanced mix of short stories and photos. Parker explains that the photos are chosen by artistic and technical merit, undergoing “the same editorial scrutiny as the writing.” The result is a collection of images that display virtuosic character, distinguished by a strong sense of texture, precise display of motion, and occasion photograph tricks (one shows a translucent, ghostly woman embracing a man from behind). The book feels weighty, and the authors are pulled from across the country. I haven’t dug into any of the stories yet, but the book is promising enough that it’s now in my back pocket.

Elaine Liner, Editor, Theater Jones, and Dallas Observer theater critic

I’m reading The Mirror Effect: How Celebrity Narcissism Is Seducing America by Dr. Drew Pinsky. Smart new book about everything wrong with celebrity culture and celebrity journalism. Dr. Drew is by far the smartest, nicest celebrity I’ve ever interviewed. I keep in touch with him just to remind myself that there are “TV doctors” who are the real deal. Just last week, he saved a kid’s life at his own sons’ prep school football game. I’ve often said that Dr. Drew is like Google and God — he’s everywhere and knows all the answers. Acting in Film: An Actor’s Take on Movie Making by Michael Caine. I’ve read and re-read this one many times. Caine breaks down the technique of film acting better than anyone else I’ve ever seen, heard or read. Read this and you’ll be a better movie viewer. Sam Mendes at the Donmar: Stepping into Freedom by Sam Mendes. Tim Shane, founder of the Dallas Hub Theater, recommended this book about how Mendes turned a low-budget warehouse performance space into London’s most exciting theater. It’s what some good, small Dallas theaters, including the Hub and Matt Posey’s Ochre House, are trying to do right now.

Bookmarks: http://TheaterJones.com, of course. www.HuffingtonPost.com, www.The Daily Beast.com, www.Gawker.com, nytimes.com and www.londondailymail.com just to see if the royals have done anything trashy, which they usually have. http://djmrswhite.livejournal.com/ — a daily blog by gay L.A. film critic Dave White. http://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/ — Andy Dehnart’s terrific blog and reviews of the reality TV shows I don’t have time to watch. http://hulu.com — which makes having a TV redundant. My “queue” includes the old Bob Newhart show and “30 Rock.” http://lovelineshow.com — a library of Dr. Drew’s late-night call-in show, still on the air (except in Dallas) after 25 years.

Magazines, newspapers: I do almost all my periodical and news reading online. Haven’t bought a dead-tree newspaper in at least five years. The only magazines I buy are Tatler and Vanity Fair. I used to subscribe, but they arrived up to a month after they hit newsstands, so now I waste money to get them earlier.

Pam Nelson, Dallas-based painter and public artist

Right now I’m reading “A Short Life of Trouble” by Marcia Tucker. Just finished “Gate at the Stairs,” by Lorrie Moore. I abandoned but may pick it back up, “Abide With Me” by Elizabeth Strout. I occasionally read the very repetitive “Inside the Painter’s Studio” by Joe Fig.

Bookmarks:  artsjournal.com/man/MAN ( Modern art notes by Tyler Green); renegadebus.com (Dallas art scene); glasstire.com (Texas art scene); artcards.com (announces every  New York art opening, also DC, SF and LA).

Magazines, newspapers: New York Times, The New Yorker (duh), but also really enjoy D Magazine and especially D Home.

We spend a lot of time wondering about Dallas’ cultural worth – what this city makes, where it’s going, and how it is perceived. Especially since we shouldered the weight of the responsibility of those great, expensive buildings on the northern edge of downtown, we wonder how they will elevate this city or how we will rise to meet the challenge of greatness they present for us.

But sometimes lost in this chatter is the recognition that a city’s culture is ..read more

Call me crazy, but I think stories about superheroes should be fun. And in the late 1980s, there was one group of heroes whose stories were not only fun but funny too.

In 1987, DC relaunched its Justice League of America comic as the simply titled Justice League. Written by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis and illustrated by Kevin Maguire, it stood out from everything else on the stands because it was … well, goofy.

The team that Giffen and DeMatteis assembled ..read more

Missed one event in our gallery openings roundup: Conduit will be hosting a book signing for Lance Letscher this Saturday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. If you attended the Dallas Art Fair, you might remember Letcher’s collage motorcycle, which he made to photograph for his children’s book, The Perfect Machine. The book features many of Lecher’s collage creations. For additional info, click here.