I started my first nonfiction book proposal tonight. I wasn’t sure how to craft one so I turned to Eric Smith’s website. Eric is an agent, author, and one of the most generous people in the publishing industry. I highly recommend all his Twitter and website to every writer I know!
He shares his tips for a successful nonfiction book proposal he put together with one of his clients. He also links to several excellent posts by Jane Friedman, Nathan Bransford, and Brian Klems who provide amazing advice for nonfiction book proposals on their own websites.
I just heard about President Jimmy Carter’s fall. This weekend, I learned a friend’s mother sustained a serious injury from a fall. Over the summer, we lost a dear friend of our family after he fell and injured his spine.
Recently, I’ve started to think about how I could use biomimicry to develop products that protect older adults from falling injuries. The stats are more startling than I realized:
– Every 11 seconds, an older adult is treated in the ER for a fall
– 1:4 Americans over the age of 65 falls each year—29M falls causing 7M injuries
– Scariest of all, every 19 minutes an older adult dies from a fall
People ask me why science is so important to me, why I would make this career change now to study biomimicry when I could just happily continue along as a fan and promoter of science, and not a practicing scientist. This is why: it can change people’s lives. Science is service, and if we aren’t being of service to one another then what are we doing with our time? There are many ways to serve – millions of them every moment of every day. The combination of science, product development, business, and writing about all of it just happens to be the one that lights me up.
Last week, I tried taking a Tech Sabbath. Started by Casper ter Kuile via Twitter with the hashtag #TechSabbath, it’s a ritual of shutting off social media, email, your computer, and your phone as much as you can after work on Friday night to Saturday night. I mostly disconnected from technology for that 24 hours and it was amazing. I finished outlining my third novel that I’ll write as part of National Novel Writing Month this November and then spent Saturday with friends in Philly. I came back to tech today with a little less attachment to it and more joy. So it’s safe to say that I’ll be making #TechSabbath a part of my self-care.
As a scientist-in-training in the field of biomimicry and a beginning filmmaker, the Imagine Science Film Festival is a perfect lab for people like me who want to use the medium of film to ignite and inspire curiosity and wonder about our natural world.
The New York City-based festival kicks off this week on Friday, October 18th, and runs through next Friday, October 25th. There are events each day at various locations around the city, and the majority of the films are short-format. Whether you’re interested in science, filmmaking, or a combination of the two, this festival is a wonderful way to see new research that’s emerging as well as new ways of explaining and communicating science. Get a feel for the festival by check out the trailer at https://vimeo.com/363581326
The whole schedule is available online, along with links for tickets sales, and here is a summary with all of the direct ticket links for each:
Friday, October 18 Phantasmic Futures
Opening Night of the Imagine Science Film Festival | The spaces between utopia and dystopia, gene editing, and the post-anthropocene.
Saturday, October 19 Science for Nanos: Taking Flight
Film program for kids at the Imagine Science Film Festival | Whether by wing, flipper, jet, or rocket, everyone must leave the nest someday.
Hi, AI
Can humanoid robots be our friends? Scientists and tech visionaries believe that artificially intelligent robots will become an integral part of everyday life.
Sunday, October 20 Emergent Minds
Films on perception and memory, consciousness and identity, and the spaces that lie between mind and circuitry.
Tales from the Biosphere
The surface of the earth teems with stories, a drama which has played out over millenia. Will we continue to play a part of it all?
Monday, October 21st Symbiosis Lab: Talks, Films, and Drinks
Watch six working scientists and six pro filmmakers as they compete to create new genre bending works in science filmmaking.
Tuesday, October 22nd Self-care, Alchemy, and Other Life Hacks
Each year we save some of the most audacious reconfigurations of scientific themes for a program of largely animation and experimental film
Modern Hauntings
The film program in which we allow some of the phantoms banished by science back into the proceedings.
Wednesday, October 23rd Twilight Geologies
This program collects 4 brilliant experiments in light, landscape, perception. Luminous photochemical effects. Climactic celestial events.
Thursday, October 24th Eyes on Elsewheres
How do we observe that which we cannot experience directly? Whether searching the surfaces of distant planets or peering into the quantum world, science seeks to extend our perception ever further.
Friday, October 25th Emergence
Six new science films in which emerging filmmakers and working scientists have been paired and supplied with production funds to create new genre bending works in one week examining all aspects of emergence.
I’m closing out this week on a really wonderful high note! I’ve been put on retainer with one of my fantastic clients in my independent product development consulting practice, DoubleOrNothingMedia.com. In exchange for about one day per week, I’ll be able to fully cover all my expenses plus a little extra. I love this client and the work I do for them is creative, gratifying, and impactful.
This happy news also gives me a huge amount of flexibility and peace of mind to pursue my independent projects over the next few months in my writing, biomimicry practice, and film. I’ll also use this time to seek out other clients as well. So I definitely won’t be resting on my laurels, but instead making hay while the sun shines with the stress of being a business owner subsiding for a bit. I’m so grateful.
I know there are a lot of you out there, slugging it out as independents and trying to establish your own businesses and consulting practices. I want you to know it’s possible; it’s not a pipe dream. It’s hard work and it takes time, but it’s attainable.
Thank you to so many of you who have been cheering me on, especially during this challenging rollercoaster of a year in 2019. I appreciate it more than I can say. Happy weekend, friends.
The writing moment I love best: I write a scene, do research for the next scene, and find an eerie, wonderful synchronicity with secret history I uncovered in my research and never knew before. These magical moments makes me feel that the story I’m writing is meant to be written by me. It’s happened to me many times, especially in the course of writing my second Emerson Page novel. Every single time it happens, I’m amazed.
Hi all! Quick question for you: I’ve thought about starting a biomimicry podcast because there isn’t one (which is shocking considering there’s a podcast for nearly everything!?) If I did start one—interviewing people who practice, use, teach, and study biomimicry, and talking about new cool biomimicry inspirations—would you listen?
In case you haven’t heard of biomimicry, it’s the practice of applying the genius designs of nature to the human-built environment. This could be products, systems, processes, buildings, whole cities, you name it! If humans design it, looking to nature for design inspiration and guidance will make designs more sustainable, efficient, and beneficial for the planet. Check out more about what biomimicry is by visiting https://biomimicry.org/.
I spoke to five DC-area schools about parent involvement in education, and folding diversity, inclusion, and mindfulness into their curriculum for a piece I’m writing for The Washington Post. I’ve freelanced for The Post for four years and this is my favorite piece I’ve written for them. It’ll be in the October 27th Magazine. I’ll post a link or PDF of it when it’s live.
If you’re a writer looking for some encouragement in your process, I got you. There are so many of us out here and you are not alone on your journey. If you walk your fingers over to Twitter, check out these hashtags for encouragement, resources, and inspiration:
#NaNoWriMo (stands for National Novel Writing Month):
Every year in November thousands of people around the world attempt to write 50K words in a month. It’s how I wrote the first draft of my first novel. I’ll be participating again this year to work on a completely new book – historical fiction romance set in an Italian bakery in New York City during the early 1900s.
#MSWL (stands for manuscript wishlist):
Agents and editors tell you what types of books they’re looking for. Great if you’re in the query writing stage.
#FinishUrBookFall:
Started by author Claribel Ortega, this is an encouraging stream of tweets from authors attempting to complete their current manuscripts by December 21, 2019.
#PitchWars:
Now open for submissions, this is a way for non-agented authors to get their current pitches in front of agents for their consideration.
This summer wasn’t the one I expected or wanted, though it was absolutely the one I needed. The adversity and disappointments made me stronger and more compassionate, and for that I’m very grateful. Welcome, Fall. I’m so happy to see you. I’m ready for whatever you bring.
Christa Avampato 