Kevin Janison has got to be one of our happiest authors. He loves getting kids excited about reading and writing and they love his zany Deputy Dorkface, star character of his trilogy of children’s books. Presenting 100+ school assemblies a year, from the left coast to the Atlantic, he teaches the kids the process of writing, illustrating, and producing a book. Each DD book focuses on something the kids like — and the parents, too! After “deputizing” his audience, they head back to their classrooms or home, and armed with their new knowledge and enthusiasm, and begin writing their own fantastical stories. Kevin’s day job (well, technically, it is a night job) is predicting the weather. He’s a meteorologist for Channel 3 News here in Las Vegas. You might think Las Vegas weather would just be reporting hot, hotter, and blazing hot, but we really do have “weather” here. Sometimes it even snows! Check out the Deputy at here. If you’d like to request Kevin make a presentation to your child’s school, just get in touch at info@stephenspress.com.

Double Quotation Marks for Scare Quotes

Double quotation marks can also be used sometimes to indicate that a word is special in some way. I bet you’ve all seen quotation marks used as something called scare quotes, which are quotation marks put around a word to show that the writer doesn’t buy into the meaning. For example, I could write the sentence:

Women achieved “equality” when they were granted the right to vote in 1920.

That would indicate that although women getting the right to vote was heralded as equality at the time, I don’t think it was enough of a gain to merit the word equality. More often though, scare quotes (which are also sometimes called sneer quotes) are used to impart a sense of irony or disdain. They’re especially common in nasty political commentary, as in Politicians “care” about their constituents*.

You can read here entire post, full of helpful rules and tips on using quote marks here.

Grammar is “fun” stuff. Really!

One of my favorites events, year after year, is the opening kick-off reception for the Las Vegas Writers Conference. It is just so much FUN to hang out with literary-minded folks — writers, editors, agents, publishers — who love their craft and encourage each other. Their creative spirits and determined optimism inspire me.

My Working Titlez readers know that I’ve always recommended would-be authors both join a critique or writers group and also attend a writers conference or two. You’ll learn so much. You can find out more about the LVWC here.

But wait, there’s more! All interested writers are welcome to attend the reception, even if you can’t attend the conference this year. This is a super event for getting together with other writers and networking in the publishing biz. Add it to your calendar and come on over!

Jane Friedman knows of what she speaks when it comes to anything book/writing/publishing related. Her excellent blog recently featured the best explanation of “author’s platform” I’ve seen.

Platform is more about putting in consistent, focused effort over the course of a career, and making incremental improvements in extending your network. It’s about making waves that attract other people to you—not about begging others to pay attention.

Her list of what a platform ISN’T should be required reading for all now and future authors.

Read the whole post here.

Local colleges, community centers, and writers’ groups offer advice and support, and often classes … but they can be costly as well as difficult to schedule.

Now through iTunes, writers can access a veritable plethora of courses, both general and genre-specific, for free! Check out the list below, courtesy of MediaBistro.com:

New Mexico State’s Mythology Course

Open University’s Creative Writing Course

Washington College’s The Tolkien Professor Course

Oxford University’s Approaching Shakespeare Course

Liberty University’s Composition & Rhetoric Course

Open University’s Start Writing Fiction Course

Oxford University’s Tolkien at Oxford Course

Stanford University’s Literature of Crisis Course

Missouri State University’s Knights & Maidens Literature Course

University of Alabama’s Zombies! The Living Dead in Literature Course

Nobody knows that better – or has done that better than Marta Becket.

For over 45 years, Marta Becket has told stories through dance, art, and theatre, captivating audiences, young and old, at the Amargosa Opera House in the otherwise unforgiving landscape of Death Valley in the California desert. And for those unable to have seen her in person, her story is memorialized in her autobiography, To Dance on Sands.

And now, Marta’s closed another chapter, giving her last performance on stage before an adoring crowd. One of her most devoted fans, Las Vegas Review-Journal journalist John L. Smith, dedicates a column to the creative artist that is Marta.

Marta’s last performance certainly not an end to her artistry

On Valentine’s Day, I have a blushing confession: I’m in love with a ballerina. Have been for years.

I know I am not alone in this regard. In fact, it’s safe to say I am just one of thousands of Stage Door Johnnys to visit the Amargosa Opera House in Death Valley Junction and make moon eyes over the amazing Marta Becket.

For the past 45 years, Marta has been a one-woman wellspring of creativity in a most unlikely oasis in the California desert less than two hours from Las Vegas.

On Sunday before a capacity crowd at the opera house, Marta officially had her final performance. A series of injuries have prevented her from dancing, and her friends say she decided to put an end to any speculation that she might have one more comeback in her. I would say the remarkable woman has more than earned her bouquets and ovations. She is, after all, 87.

As a boy on desert prospecting trips with my father and grandfather, we passed through Death Valley Junction not long after Marta began her incredible run. She was no more than an oddity then. Some desert rats thought it strange that a trained ballet dancer would inhabit the cobwebbed Corkhill Hall in what was then essentially a ghost town. But that’s one of the great things about the desert: There’s room for every eccentricity.

Marta didn’t just sweep out the Pacific Borax Co. recreation center. She transformed it by painting murals of as eclectic an audience as was ever assembled in the Old Globe. Within a few years, she gained an international celebrity and coverage in major magazines, National Geographic among many.

Decades later, I brought my daughter, Amelia, to meet the great woman. They exchanged books and talked about art. Marta was still mending from injuries suffered in a fall but was generous with her time and energy. As always, she was the gracious hostess.

Although she no longer will perform, Amargosa Opera House Director of Operations Rich Regnell tells me she will continue her artwork and greet visitors. While many of those are curious tourists, a fair number are artists themselves who have learned of Marta’s devotion to her own artistic quest.

“She’s a legend,” Regnell says. “She’s an icon in the business, but she’s also an inspiration. She’s Marta. People are inspired by her. She has inspired people to do what they love. She would say, ‘Do what you want to do and don’t worry. The money will come.’ She’s inspired dancers, writers, choreographers, memoirists, playrights, moviemakers, people who teach art to kids. It’s amazing the amount of people who have been impressed to move forward and do their own art thanks to Marta.”

When word went out that Marta would be ending her long, long run in Death Valley Junction, Regnell’s phone rang constantly. The opera house quickly sold out with a 10-page waiting list to spare.

“The calls varied all the way from ‘Oh my gosh, what do you mean I can’t get tickets,’ to crying on the phone because they’ve been so inspired by her,” he says. “I keep asking Marta if she wants to retire again next weekend.

“This is a new beginning. It’s not the end. Marta will focus on what she wants to do with her art. She’ll continue to meet with visitors.”

There’s even a plan to develop “Dinner and a Movie with Marta” nights at the opera house. No doubt they’ll be a draw.

After all, she is beloved.

Ray Bradbury had it right many years ago. After watching her perform, Bradbury wrote, “Tears came to my eyes. Marta represented to be the spirit of the individual. The spirit of the theater. The spirit of creativity.”

That lovely spirit endures at the Amargosa Opera House in Death Valley Junction.

John L. Smith’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. Email him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call 702-383-0295. He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/smith.

Winter Break Internship: Fun!

By Brooke Mikkelsen

When I came in my first day of being an intern at Stephens Press, I thought it would just be a good way for me to get out of the house over Winter break.

Upon arrival, I was given a notebook and told to start taking notes. Then Carolyn launched into all the things I would need to know and do, never repeating herself without my asking, but explaining things that needed explaining.

The scariest part to me was answering the phone. I’ve always been good at communicating with people, but somehow, when that phone starts ringing, I start to doubt myself. This internship really forced me to turn that fear into a skill that I shall probably use for the rest of my life.

The best part was how trusted I was. I got to be the face of Stephens Press for a few weeks, writing letters, returning calls, and even talking to the press!

At the end of every day, when I was about to leave, Carolyn asked me if I had had fun that day. Every day, I answered in the affirmative. Even though my tasks had been to help me grow as an intern, they were also exciting.

I’d like to thank Carolyn Uber for not only giving me this internship, but letting me become a part of Stephens Press. I hope that my positive impact lasts longer than the few short weeks that I have interned!