Posted: February 7th, 2014 | Author: aarondietz | Filed under: Events | 2 Comments »
Now through February 14, if you post a review of any of the 12 in 12 books (listed below) on Amazon, Goodreads.com, or any other site where they sell the book, you can get another of the 12 in 12 titles for free!*
Thanks to Emergency Press and Timid Pirate for allowing us to include their titles in this promotion!
The books you have to choose from are below:
- The Minute (Kindle)
- Just the War, Just the Peace (Kindle), published by Emergency Press
- Ka-Pow! (Kindle), published by Timid Pirate Publishing
- Uno Kudo: Volume 3 (ebook)
- Super (iPad version), published by Emergency Press
- In Case I Die (Kindle)
- Spam and Elephants (Kindle)
- Adventures of Dogboy (Kindle)
*This offer is limited to digital copies only, sent to you through email.
Posted: January 21st, 2014 | Author: aarondietz | Filed under: Other People | 7 Comments »
A couple years ago, I came up with the idea of separating Tolstoy’s War and Peace into two volumes. Then I went ahead and did that (Just the War, Just the Peace, Emergency Press 2013).
But I didn’t get the idea out of the blue. I got it from my friend, Lauren Hoffman, who once told me she didn’t read all of War and Peace–just the “peace” parts. And she apparently didn’t get the idea on her own, either. Recently, she reminded me that she got it from reading Lois Lowry’s Anastasia at this Address. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: January 7th, 2014 | Author: aarondietz | Filed under: Long, Other People, Serious | 6 Comments »
In 2013, I spent most of my free hours working on the 12 in 12 project. It’s a project in which I attempted to produce 12 books in just 12 months. I finished the year with nine. Overall, I’m happy with that. After all, it took 10 years to write and produce my first novel, Super. Nine in one year is amazing. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: December 10th, 2013 | Author: aarondietz | Filed under: Events, Long, Other People, Serious, With Pictures | 2 Comments »
While I was working on splitting Tolstoy’s War and Peace into the two separate books, Just the War, and Just the Peace, I would occasionally tell people what I was up to, and most people would laugh and think it was a joke. And it was a joke! A very funny one, too! But I didn’t let that stop me from actually doing it. Just the War, Just the Peace is now available from Emergency Press. Both volumes are sold in one simple ebook, in most of the major ebook formats (Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble–I believe Google is coming soon). At $0.99, it’s a bargain!
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: December 2nd, 2013 | Author: aarondietz | Filed under: Other People, Serious | No Comments »
In case you’re not following Andrew Wiggins’ basketball career, I’ll give you a quick update. He’s possibly the best basketball player of his age, or at least could potentially one day be. Right now, he’s a Freshman playing at Kansas University, but will likely be a very high draft pick in the 2014 NBA draft.
When you’re as good at basketball as Andrew Wiggins is, some people expect you to score all the points and have a big game every time you play. Contrary to this expectation, Wiggins has not had a big game every time out so far this season. Jay Williams even quoted an anonymous NBA scout who implied that Wiggins has no skills. Tyler Brooke and others have chimed in with articles about the need for Wiggins to be more assertive.
But let me tell you, news people and basketball fans whom Wiggins apparently is disappointing: Wiggins does not need to live up to your expectations.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: October 12th, 2013 | Author: aarondietz | Filed under: Long, Other People, Serious, Super Blog Posts, With Pictures | 1 Comment »
My novel, Super, is now available on the iPad, which fills me with tremendous joy–not only is it wonderful to see my book in one of the most prominent “bookstores” on the planet, it’s also wonderful to finally be able to present the book in a format that can handle the interactive needs of much of Super‘s content.
But of course it’s not all about fancy features and interactivity. Sometimes it’s just nice to see elements from the book with a little color.
Does the RBZ sign really need to be in red? Yes. It really does need to be in red. The black-and-white printed interior of the paperback version is fine–but it doesn’t have a red RBZ sign.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: February 11th, 2013 | Author: aarondietz | Filed under: Long, Other People, Serious, With Pictures | 5 Comments »
I’m super happy to announce that Charlie Potter has officially joined the 12 in 12 project as Art Director. This means that he’ll be responsible for producing the covers for 11 of the 12 titles (one of the titles will be put out by Uno Kudo, the non-profit organization headed by designer Erin McParland), as well as oversee the development of any guest art included in the project. For one or two of the titles, he’ll do some interior illustrations also.
Charlie Potter is the brilliant book designer for Super, a book that required an intense amount of design in simulating physical documents as well as emulating the look of a corporate superhero environment (letterheads, etc.). As part of promoting Super, Charlie also developed posters, desktop backgrounds, stickers, props for the trailers, and more! Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: January 29th, 2013 | Author: aarondietz | Filed under: Long, Serious | 13 Comments »
Crash thinking is a huge influence in my life right now, and partly the reason why I’m attempting the 12 in 12 project (producing 12 books in 12 months).
Crash thinking means using the knowledge that sometimes you can do something better by using an approach that defies all logic as well as your best instincts.
Example: Pretend you’re in charge of safety at the Space Needle. You know that it’s technically possible for people on the observation deck to climb over the railing, through the ropes and stand out on the spokes that circle the top of the tower (view an image of the Space Needle and its spokes here). How do you make it safer?
Answer: By making it more dangerous. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: October 27th, 2012 | Author: aarondietz | Filed under: Long, Serious | 12 Comments »
I work in online high school course development. The field is at an historic moment in history: the moment just before an innovative online education company takes over the field and sets the standard for online high school education.
I’ve taken to calling this theoretical education company “the future Amazon of online education,” a phrase that often raises scoffs among people who will listen to me. Many don’t think a single company can dominate online education in the same way that Amazon dominated the book market. And when they say so, usually I just think silently to myself, That’s probably what people thought about the book market before Amazon.
But dominating the online high school education market wouldn’t be that difficult. It would just depend on an intelligently designed content management system. I’m going to describe that content management system to you now. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted: May 14th, 2012 | Author: aarondietz | Filed under: Serious, Short | 2 Comments »
Most superhero origin stories begin with something beyond control happening to someone. A chemical spills on someone. A radioactive spider bites someone. Gamma radiation radiates someone. Someone’s genes mutate. Someone’s parents put their baby in a ship headed for Earth.
If you ever feel like something has been done to you beyond your control, use it. You are a superhero in the making.
