Liz Bieler

I recently published my first book, Alice in Condoland. It was a 30-month labor of love that got me through the worst of the pandemic. I worked with a wonderful indie publisher, 3 Swallys Press, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They wrote a press release and reached out to some bookstores. The rest was up to me.

Self-publishing isn’t new. Beatrix Potter’s, Jane Austen, and Mark Twain all did it at some point in their careers. But the advent of online book sellers have brought indie- and self-published authors to…

Creativity requires imagination. All fiction authors strive for it, but they do so in very different ways. Jack Kerouac wrote “On the Road” in 20 days on a single roll of paper. His fitness regime consisted of coffee and Benzedrine. J. R. R. Tolkien wrote “Lord of the Rings” on and off for 17 years. Each author develops their own habits to nurture their creativity. Within this context, I share my own.

View the full blog here on World of My Imagination!

At the beginning of the pandemic, I was home and bored. I started writing. The news at that time was pretty scary, and I wanted to write something funny, but meaningful. Two-and-a-half years and seven rewrites later, my scribbling became a published novel, Alice in Condoland. The book is full of laugh-out-loud moments, but there are layers to this tale. 

View the full blog here on Books of Brilliance!

Getting out. Most musicians I know hate finding their own gigs. It’s uncomfortable to sell oneself and to negotiate compensation. For musicians who are just getting started, it’s a Catch-22; venues want to know where you’re performing and what kind of crowds you can attract before they book you, and you have to start somewhere. A social media presence helps, but it’s not going to get you work. To book gigs, you’ve got to be where the music is!  

Research venues. I started by Googling local jazz venues and…

Recently, I was recording a voiceover for a national brand. The script was being recorded in Spanish and English, and my role was in English. As I settled into the booth, the studio dialed in an out-of-state male character with whom I would be recording. He seemed a pleasant man with a pleasant voice. 

The guys at the studio gave us direction and let us know when they had what they wanted. Now it was time to thank them and leave. My recording partner, however, was not done. He started reading the Spanish…

“There are some things worth having, but they come at a price, and I want to be one of them." 

- From the movie, Out of Africa 

If you are a professional in any industry, then you should be compensated for your work. That compensation can take many forms. You can choose to donate your services to benefit a charitable cause. When you are training, you can work in exchange for course credits or as part of an internship that leads to accreditation. As an artist, you can choose to sit in with a band – for fun or…

"Jazz is there and gone. It happens. You have to be present for it. That simple." 

- Keith Jarrett 

In 1970, my father founded Controls For Automation, Inc. in Waltham, MA. He explained to me that he would go into factories at companies such as Honeywell and GE and redraw workflows to show management and engineers how his machines could replace people and save his customers money. As a kid, I was (and am) proud of my dad. He worked very hard and he actually created jobs for the people who worked at his…

Tonight I was channel surfing and paused at PBS for a disco special.  Do you remember the song, “Don’t Rock the Boat?”  [Here’s the ‘70’s version from The Hues Corporation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfBwsG8ubFw). Hearing it live, a wave of nostalgia came over me, and I put down my remote to watch. 
  
Soon came “Oh, What a Night!” with four, new Seasons and the original Frankie Valli. The audience was full of happy people of all ages who were singing and disco dancing down memory lane. I jumped up in my…