I mis-read the name of the site I’m going to tell you about, as Pointless Portraits. Actually it’s Selfless Portraits.

To be honest, it is kind of pointless but it’s also refreshing because it’s fun and nobody’s trying to (terrible word) monetize it.

The way it works is that you allow the site to access your Facebook photo. They send it to somebody else who has registered with the Selfless Portraits site. That person draws you, based on your Facebook photo. If you want to see the result, you have to draw a picture of someone whose Facebook photo is sent to you.

See what I mean? Random and pointless, but  amusing. You can look at a gallery of the results at the site without signing up. As you’ll see some people just load the photo into Photoshop and click on a filter. Others match the face with a photo of the animal the other person most resembles. The rest draw or paint the face, with varying results...

If you want to do a variation of this that is geared to writing, you need an accomplice. You send them the name and address of someone you know but they don’t, and they do the same. Then each of you sends a cryptic postcard to the person whose information you were given. It could be a favorite quote or a reference to a surreal event, or whatever you want (avoid the temptation to refer to a fictional assignation, we’re not trying to start divorces here).

Sure, that’s kind of pointless as well, but I think everybody should have at least five minutes of intentional pointlessness a day. 

• Email to a friend • Article Search • View comments •

I just read a press release about a self-published novel written by eleven-year-old Hannah Edge, the ebook “Timekeepers of Ancra.”

First, congratulations to Hannah, it’s a rare eleven-year-old who writes a novel.

Second, some constructive advice: go easy on the hype.

The press release says “Shocking literary critics by releasing a thought-provoking novel…” and “Critics praise Edge for talent and initiative that allows her to directly compete with many of literature’s biggest names.”

Really? I did a search of the web and haven’t found any reviews of the book, much less ones that compare her to many of literature’s biggest names.

The first sentence is “The azure sky was cloudless and the effulgent sun was beaming over the scenic gorge.” Not a sentence many kids of her age could write, but not a serious threat to Hemingway or Fitzgerald, either.

Also, at 57 pages in length, it’s not a novel. It’s a novella or novelette.

Again, full credit to Hannah and I wish her every success, but whoever is advising her on promoting her book would do well not to engage in hype. 

Also, whoever wrote the press release should consult a grammar book to see what’s wrong with this sentence: “Having also created the stunning digital imagery found throughout the book, critics praise Hannah…” (Hint: it wasn’t really the critics who created the digital imagery, was it?)

• Email to a friend • Article Search • View comments •