Joe Flood

There Are No Rock Stars

You do not need to take a class with a “rock star” to be creative. This faith in the magical ability of experts to transform lives is ironic in our secular society. Gurus, rock stars, life coaches, Oprah – they can make you change. Most people don’t go to a priest for career advice yet believe that taking the workshop of a famous person will cure their creative funk.

I was thinking about this after reading comments by a talented photographer friend of mine, Mary Kate McKenna. She was writing about “rock star” wedding photographers and their high-priced workshops:

REALLY tired of newbie photogs (I still consider myself a newbie in the industry!) doing workshops for other professionals, charging a lot of money, with no real business skills and embellishing the amount of money they make in the industry. Before attending a “rockstar” workshop, do your research. Continue reading “There Are No Rock Stars”

Murder in Ocean Hall – Now on Amazon!

My book, Murder in Ocean Hall, is now available on Amazon! My book is a mystery, set in DC, about the murder of the world’s most famous explorer. He’s killed in Ocean Hall at the Smithsonian, when the replica of a whale falls from the ceiling, crushing him to death. The book was inspired by the three years I spent working for NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration.

Order your copy today!

Murder in Ocean Hall – Get Your Copy!

You can now order my book, Murder in Ocean Hall. My book is a mystery, set in DC, about the murder of the world’s most famous explorer. He’s killed in the Smithsonian, when the replica of a whale falls on top of him. It’s up to a cynical Washington detective to solve the case.

Murder in Ocean Hall is based in fact, drawn from my experience living in dysfunctional DC, and from working in the field of ocean exploration.

Get this new mystery today, now available in print and Kindle editions.

Murder in Ocean Hall – Print Edition

Murder in Ocean Hall – Kindle Edition

Reel Lessons in Marketing

Check out my article, Reel Lessons in Marketing on FlackRabbit. It was inspired by my experience working for the DC Shorts Film Festival. I’ve been involved with this annual event for several years and have done almost everything – I’ve judged screenplays and films, taken pictures, sold t-shirts, moderated discussions and, of course, attended numerous parties. With my front row seat at this festival, I’ve learned a lot about marketing – lessons for anyone promoting an event, product or cause.

Mount Pleasant, Award-Winning Screenplay, Now Online

Every last page of my award-winning screenplay, Mount Pleasant, is now available online. This script won the Film DC Screenplay Competition. It is a feature-length script, inspired by true events, about gentrification and urban politics in Washington, DC.

Read the whole thing.

FlackRabbit

I wrote a little piece on making your blog look good on the iPhone for FlackRabbit, my friend Margie Newman’s blog. FlackRabbit is filled with useful thoughts on social media and PR. She’s a communications professional who really gets the web – there’s not many of them out there.

Technically, I’m not in PR. But I’ve worked long enough in web strategy and communications to have strong feelings on the subject.

Look for more articles on FlackRabbit in the coming months!

Snow Globe at Transformer Gallery

Transformer kicked off 2010 by inviting DC based artists Jessica Cebra and Zach Storm to transform their project space into a snow globe winter wonderland. Incorporating painting, drawing, and collage to create a whimsical, winter-themed environment, this unique collaboration featured a live ballet performance choreographed by Washington Ballet Director Septime Webre.

I also wrote about this cool event for the Pink Line Project.

Things Fall Apart: The Photos of Kerry Skarbakka

Kerry Skarbakka, Window, 2009. C-Print. 50 X 60 in.

Check out my Pink Line Project review of Kerry Skarbakka, The Struggle to Right Oneself: A Survey. The photos really have a dark humor to them that I really enjoyed. They’re big prints of absurd scenes – like a man in a suit leaping through fire – that tell a story, of people surviving unexpected catastrophe.

Murder in Ocean Hall – Cover Preview

Check out the great cover that my friend Dave Newman designed. I love it!

So, what’s going on with my book, Murder in Ocean Hall? In this murder mystery, a famous explorer is killed in Ocean Hall at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Suspects are many and it’s up to a cynical DC detective to solve the case. The book was inspired by the three years I spent working for the NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research. Nobody was murdered while I worked there but a lot of the science and the background in the book comes from my time with NOAA.

I’m represented by a literary agent and we’ve been following the traditional publishing route. However, the book publishing world, upended by recession and technological change, is in turmoil so it’s very difficult for a new author to get a book deal.

My contract with my agent ends March 1.

After then, Plan B goes into effect – I’ll publish the book through Lulu (using the awesome cover above) and sell print and e-copies online.

One way or another, Murder in Ocean Hall will be published.

2009 Highlights

It’s the end of the year, and the end of a decade. What were my favorite projects of 2009? What did I have the most fun working on?

Murder in Ocean Hall

I can’t help myself, I like to write fiction. People have asked me how I could leave my job and then spend countless hours alone, in a coffee shop, writing a novel. I’ve offered advice on setting a schedule and being committed, but the truth is that writing a book is a huge sacrifice and something that you must really, really want to do. And something that you must enjoy doing more then anything else. Continue reading “2009 Highlights”