This week's Lundi Links features some of the sites that show the internet's power for good. These sites connect those with money to donate with those who need it. I have a long list of sites of specific organizations I'd like to help, but the ones I'm posting today are the ones that serve as directories or connections between many individuals or groups. To be clear, I haven't used these sites yet myself, but I have heard good things about most of them.
http://www.donorschoose.org is a very popular site where teachers can ask for funding for micro-projects: one set of books, supplies for one chemistry experiment, etc. I'm sure some of them are a bit bigger, but I love the simplicity and specificity of it, almost a poetry.
http://www.kickstarter.com is a little like donorschoose but helps fund small businesses, inventions, and creative projects. I've read up on a documentary about Matthew Shepard, a stylus tip that attaches to a regular Sharpie to make it easy to draw on an iPad, and funky drink koozies called Freakers (ILM-born!). Most of the requests have videos, and many have rewards that increase with the amount you donate.
http://www.razoo.com is a little like kickstarter but for nonprofits.
http://www.kiva.org is your path to being a microfinancer. The site partners with existing microfinance organizations (which are an inspiring and brilliant concept in themselves, although I seem to recall hearing something bad about one recently, like it went under or something?) to get small amounts of money into the hands of folks all over the world who can turn it into more resources for themselves, their families, and their communities. You can loan in $25 increments, and I believe you have a choice of receiving the money back or keeping it circulating in the Kiva system. It's incredible what these "small" amounts can do in most parts of the world.
http://www.modestneeds.org lets individuals post a specific need at a specific amount. A new muffler, travel expenses for a conference, a fan for a sick child in the coming summer, things that cost money but not astronomical amounts and that will make big improvements to the people's lives. There's some kind of point system involved.
There are several sites that keep track of charities and their activities so you know they're on the up and up (love that brand identity at Target, by the way, pipes up the designer in me). I haven't used these at all, but a couple of them for your perusal are http://www2.guidestar.org, http://www.charitynavigator.org, and http://www.charitywatch.org.
The internet, like pretty much everything, has the capacity for the most wretched evil and the most elevating good. I am so impressed with humanity when I see sites like these, how they bring strangers together for just a few minutes and a few dollars to help each other and the world. What a beautiful thing! I'm going to make a $1 donation right now. I hope you'll consider trying one of these sites.
Showing posts with label lists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lists. Show all posts
Monday, May 30, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
Lundi Links: Useful
Under this category in my Favorites are mostly boring things like my bank and Mapquest and the Weather Channel; you can figure out what you need in that department. But there are a few that you may not know about, things that have come in quite handy.
At http://www.icantfindmyphone.com, you can type in your phone number, and it'll ring for you as you poke around the house playing the hotter-colder game with yourself.
http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com is a pretty ingenious concept. If you have trouble getting to a site, you type in the URL and it tells you whether it's your problem. If only there were a site like that for personal problems.
At http://www.oneacross.com, you can type in the clue that's stumping you in a crossword puzzle, plus the pattern (like, "refined" and "cl***y"). You'll get a list of possible answers rated by likelihood. Whether this is useful, because it aids a relatively non-useful pastime, is debatable, but I like it.
Another site of debatable usefulness, and one I've never actually used but is a cool concept: http://www.filleritem.com helps you find something to get you just over the $25 mark on Amazon so you can get free shipping. Or you could join Amazon Prime and always have it. Or, shop at used book sales instead.
That's it for today. Check back for more Lundi Links next Monday, and maybe a regular post or two in the meantime.
At http://www.icantfindmyphone.com, you can type in your phone number, and it'll ring for you as you poke around the house playing the hotter-colder game with yourself.
http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com is a pretty ingenious concept. If you have trouble getting to a site, you type in the URL and it tells you whether it's your problem. If only there were a site like that for personal problems.
At http://www.oneacross.com, you can type in the clue that's stumping you in a crossword puzzle, plus the pattern (like, "refined" and "cl***y"). You'll get a list of possible answers rated by likelihood. Whether this is useful, because it aids a relatively non-useful pastime, is debatable, but I like it.
Another site of debatable usefulness, and one I've never actually used but is a cool concept: http://www.filleritem.com helps you find something to get you just over the $25 mark on Amazon so you can get free shipping. Or you could join Amazon Prime and always have it. Or, shop at used book sales instead.
That's it for today. Check back for more Lundi Links next Monday, and maybe a regular post or two in the meantime.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Lundi Links: Art and Visuals
Today's focus for Lundi Links is the sites that make me go "ooh" and "ah" in a purely visual sense.
http://www.guidodaniele.com is the site of an artist who paints mostly on other people's hands. It's awesome stuff.
http://azuregrackle.com/periodictable/table/ is a project that recruited different artists to design prints for each element of the periodic table. Extra points for blending art and science.
http://www.brickartist.com has some very impressive Lego sculptures, including Conan O'Brian.
http://www.abelardomorell.net is the site of a really neat photographer. One of the first things you find is camera obscura work.
At http://irinawerning.com/back-to-the-fut/back-to-the-future/, you can find grown folks reenacting pictures from their childhoods. Cross-reference: Funny.
Five at a time is enough, so that's all for today's Lundi Links. Check back next week for more, and possibly some regular posts in the meantime.
http://www.guidodaniele.com is the site of an artist who paints mostly on other people's hands. It's awesome stuff.
http://azuregrackle.com/periodictable/table/ is a project that recruited different artists to design prints for each element of the periodic table. Extra points for blending art and science.
http://www.brickartist.com has some very impressive Lego sculptures, including Conan O'Brian.
http://www.abelardomorell.net is the site of a really neat photographer. One of the first things you find is camera obscura work.
At http://irinawerning.com/back-to-the-fut/back-to-the-future/, you can find grown folks reenacting pictures from their childhoods. Cross-reference: Funny.
Five at a time is enough, so that's all for today's Lundi Links. Check back next week for more, and possibly some regular posts in the meantime.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Lundi Links: Funny
Here are a few things on the 'net that consistently make me laugh.
http://catalogliving.net has a perfect eye for the absurd. The creator is the lady from this and several other funny commercials: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjHoxSKqE0M&feature=related.
http://slushpilehell.tumblr.com is a real agent's mental responses to real queries.
http://tinyartdirector.blogspot.com is a chronicle of a young girl's responses to her professional-artist dad's drawings. It is rarely updated, but maybe it is new to you.
http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com shows pictures of signs all over the place that misuse quotation marks, and a brief response about what they really mean.
http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com is just a really good, funny blog.
On http://www.overheardinnewyork.com, people send in things they really overheard. From there, using the colored rectangles, you can find Overheard at the Beach, Overheard at the Office, Overheard Everywhere, and Celebrity Wit.
Enjoy! Next Monday will bring links in a new category.
http://catalogliving.net has a perfect eye for the absurd. The creator is the lady from this and several other funny commercials: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjHoxSKqE0M&feature=related.
http://slushpilehell.tumblr.com is a real agent's mental responses to real queries.
http://tinyartdirector.blogspot.com is a chronicle of a young girl's responses to her professional-artist dad's drawings. It is rarely updated, but maybe it is new to you.
http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com shows pictures of signs all over the place that misuse quotation marks, and a brief response about what they really mean.
http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com is just a really good, funny blog.
On http://www.overheardinnewyork.com, people send in things they really overheard. From there, using the colored rectangles, you can find Overheard at the Beach, Overheard at the Office, Overheard Everywhere, and Celebrity Wit.
Enjoy! Next Monday will bring links in a new category.
Monday, April 4, 2011
Quel Jour
The language of the title is in honor of Peter Mayle's Encore Provence, which, read by an Englishman on a CD played in my car, helped keep this day from being a completely wretched loss.
Let's see.
-My boss has zero communication skills, at least via email. This can not be a problem for weeks or months at a time, but now we have started a new project--webcasts!--which requires much more communication than usual. The webcasts are fun, but I literally never know whether I am doing the right thing when I'm writing the scripts and doing the related work.
-I was going to renew and return some library items but ran too late in the morning.
-I drove an hour to my first assignment, an hour to do the webcast, and an hour back to the same place where the first one was! Then an hour home. Again, thank you, Peter Mayle, and the lovely English audiobook reader.
-I had a splitting headache today, which I never have, and was very tired after my delicious weekend and an early jog. I really needed caffeine and was looking forward to checking out a new-to-me coffee shop. Closed on Mondays.
-I went to McDonald's to get coffee instead, but Boss called while I was in the parking lot, so I had to go to the library instead and write the script for tomorrow's webcast.
-You know, the public library, where I loiter with my computer because I don't have an office, and where a baby was crying.
-I had been going to read my Bible while drinking the coffee, and I never got to. ("Had been going to"? Is this OK?)
-When I called the number I found online for the library (the other library, the one where I live, which is SO FAR AWAY from where I work), it had been disconnected or something. Double bad: I now have a fine, and I cannot stand misinformation of that sort on the internet or elsewhere.
-When I finally got to McD's and took my ibuprofen with a sip of iced coffee, the straw was so big that I may have lost a pill in the drink. I then drank it really fast so as to finish before the pill dissolved and made that awful taste. I may have taken the pill just fine, but the possibility was pretty upsetting.
-Mom texted me that Dad was going into the hospital for a skin infection. I got it just before the evening meeting I covered, so I couldn't call for details, and I was distracted for much of the meeting by the possibilities. (The text (and the fact that it was a text and not a call) made it clear that I didn't need to come home or anything, it was for my information. I don't want you to think I got that news and callously went ahead to the meeting.)
But I'm not saying this just to complain. Partly to complain, yes, but also to tell you this: (Lent mode engage!)
I had a lot of plans for today, and most of them did not happen. This is the case on many days, but today it was pretty piled on. Missing my Bible-reading time was especially bad because I needed it more than usual.
On the retreat this weekend, after that long night of Apples to Apples, I knelt by my bed for a few minutes and whispered my prayers. I found that this worked well because the kneeling and whispering kept me focused. If I'm forming the words with my lips, I'm much less likely to find myself on a whole new topic than when I just pray in my head. I'm not a great pray-er, partly because I'm like, "If God knows everything, why do I need to tell Him stuff?" partly because it doesn't feel like an accomplishment, and probably for several other reasons. So it's always nice to find something that works, and I decided to try the out-loud/whisper thing regularly.
In the car tonight, on the way home from the meeting, I called Mom and had to leave a message. Anxious and antsy, I turned off Mr. Mayle's book and started to pray out loud. I felt better almost immediately.
Yes, it would have been great to do my Bible reading, but what a blessing to know that we can reach God, and He can reach us, even when our plans for doing so are foiled. It's good to have those plans, in fact it's crucial to arrange time and mental space for Him, but we also have to be open to God in other ways and times and places. If we insist that music or reading or a certain type of prayer or some other specific thing is the only way we communicate with God, we shut off a whole wing of our life with Him. So, listen for Him all the time, and try speaking to Him in new ways.
Mom called as I was praying. She and Dad had been going to urgent care since Friday morning, and he's been taking different forms of antibiotics. When the doctor there said today that IV antibiotics were next, they both said, "Yes, yes, we want that." They are ready to kick this thing. So, apparently, it's a good thing that he's in the hospital? Better, she said, than being at home and wondering whether he's improving. They both sounded pretty upbeat. Also, her iPad arrived today (I didn't even know they'd ordered it), and we talked about my coming there at Easter and how I'm going to make Rice Krispie treats and put them in greased plastic eggs and make a hollow in the middle and put candy in the hollow and take them out of the plastic eggs and put the halves together and it's going to be the best Easter snack ever. (I was about to put "best Easter thing ever." But that would be the original event. Good save, Jenkins.) So, I'm feeling a lot better than I did two hours ago. I have a lot to be thankful for.
Let's see.
-My boss has zero communication skills, at least via email. This can not be a problem for weeks or months at a time, but now we have started a new project--webcasts!--which requires much more communication than usual. The webcasts are fun, but I literally never know whether I am doing the right thing when I'm writing the scripts and doing the related work.
-I was going to renew and return some library items but ran too late in the morning.
-I drove an hour to my first assignment, an hour to do the webcast, and an hour back to the same place where the first one was! Then an hour home. Again, thank you, Peter Mayle, and the lovely English audiobook reader.
-I had a splitting headache today, which I never have, and was very tired after my delicious weekend and an early jog. I really needed caffeine and was looking forward to checking out a new-to-me coffee shop. Closed on Mondays.
-I went to McDonald's to get coffee instead, but Boss called while I was in the parking lot, so I had to go to the library instead and write the script for tomorrow's webcast.
-You know, the public library, where I loiter with my computer because I don't have an office, and where a baby was crying.
-I had been going to read my Bible while drinking the coffee, and I never got to. ("Had been going to"? Is this OK?)
-When I called the number I found online for the library (the other library, the one where I live, which is SO FAR AWAY from where I work), it had been disconnected or something. Double bad: I now have a fine, and I cannot stand misinformation of that sort on the internet or elsewhere.
-When I finally got to McD's and took my ibuprofen with a sip of iced coffee, the straw was so big that I may have lost a pill in the drink. I then drank it really fast so as to finish before the pill dissolved and made that awful taste. I may have taken the pill just fine, but the possibility was pretty upsetting.
-Mom texted me that Dad was going into the hospital for a skin infection. I got it just before the evening meeting I covered, so I couldn't call for details, and I was distracted for much of the meeting by the possibilities. (The text (and the fact that it was a text and not a call) made it clear that I didn't need to come home or anything, it was for my information. I don't want you to think I got that news and callously went ahead to the meeting.)
But I'm not saying this just to complain. Partly to complain, yes, but also to tell you this: (Lent mode engage!)
I had a lot of plans for today, and most of them did not happen. This is the case on many days, but today it was pretty piled on. Missing my Bible-reading time was especially bad because I needed it more than usual.
On the retreat this weekend, after that long night of Apples to Apples, I knelt by my bed for a few minutes and whispered my prayers. I found that this worked well because the kneeling and whispering kept me focused. If I'm forming the words with my lips, I'm much less likely to find myself on a whole new topic than when I just pray in my head. I'm not a great pray-er, partly because I'm like, "If God knows everything, why do I need to tell Him stuff?" partly because it doesn't feel like an accomplishment, and probably for several other reasons. So it's always nice to find something that works, and I decided to try the out-loud/whisper thing regularly.
In the car tonight, on the way home from the meeting, I called Mom and had to leave a message. Anxious and antsy, I turned off Mr. Mayle's book and started to pray out loud. I felt better almost immediately.
Yes, it would have been great to do my Bible reading, but what a blessing to know that we can reach God, and He can reach us, even when our plans for doing so are foiled. It's good to have those plans, in fact it's crucial to arrange time and mental space for Him, but we also have to be open to God in other ways and times and places. If we insist that music or reading or a certain type of prayer or some other specific thing is the only way we communicate with God, we shut off a whole wing of our life with Him. So, listen for Him all the time, and try speaking to Him in new ways.
Mom called as I was praying. She and Dad had been going to urgent care since Friday morning, and he's been taking different forms of antibiotics. When the doctor there said today that IV antibiotics were next, they both said, "Yes, yes, we want that." They are ready to kick this thing. So, apparently, it's a good thing that he's in the hospital? Better, she said, than being at home and wondering whether he's improving. They both sounded pretty upbeat. Also, her iPad arrived today (I didn't even know they'd ordered it), and we talked about my coming there at Easter and how I'm going to make Rice Krispie treats and put them in greased plastic eggs and make a hollow in the middle and put candy in the hollow and take them out of the plastic eggs and put the halves together and it's going to be the best Easter snack ever. (I was about to put "best Easter thing ever." But that would be the original event. Good save, Jenkins.) So, I'm feeling a lot better than I did two hours ago. I have a lot to be thankful for.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Any day now...
...I'll be ready to sit and read, or enjoy a loaf of fresh bread, or settle down with one of the seven $1 DVDs I got at Harris Teeter, without doing mental wheelies and donuts about:
-teaching English in France (darn you, UNCW careers website, for raising long-dead possibilities!)
-the Sojourners internship
-what I would do with my couch, bed, books, &c in either of the above cases
-seminary/div school wheres and whens
-the one-hour Office that's coming on tomorrow. Holly's back!
-Christmas baking and how I can limit it to ingredients I have on hand and whether my modifications to an existing recipe will be successful
-whether it will still be this cold on Saturday when I cover a Christmas parade
-whether I should buy more socks or assume this cold snap will be over soon
-when I'm going to get my necklace fixed
-the yoga I should be doing
-the running that the cold keeps me from doing (oh, shucks)
-How I Met Your Mother season 4, which is seriously tempting me to drop the more grown-up and necessary work I've vowed to do
-this very blog
-the fatigue I've felt today and yesterday even though I got almost 8 hours of sleep each night and haven't exercised. I think cold is tiring, in part because I hunch and tense my shoulders and fists like crazy.
-plenty of other stuff on plenty of scales, from "where does that comma belong?" to "where do I belong?"
Bill said this morning that it's exciting, my having so many possibilities before me. I said I had hoped that would be over and I could sit back for a while. He said I guess God didn't have that in mind. While I have had a great few weeks at work, almost eerily so, it still doesn't feel like a long-term fit. There's too much tension in the rest of life, too many things changing course. And then this stupid France thing comes up (I'm talking thirty minutes ago) and muddies the waters even further. The deadline is January 1. The engagement would begin in October. I have no clue how many people apply or how hard it is to get, but I am demonstrably awesome at French. Unlike with seminary or some of the other possibilities, this feels pretty final, like if I don't do it this go-round I will not do it. The paperwork alone is enough to deter me if I don't feel a loud and clear call to go there. But my heart did truly leap within me when I saw the possibility, more than it has in a long time. Maybe that was the coffee.
-teaching English in France (darn you, UNCW careers website, for raising long-dead possibilities!)
-the Sojourners internship
-what I would do with my couch, bed, books, &c in either of the above cases
-seminary/div school wheres and whens
-the one-hour Office that's coming on tomorrow. Holly's back!
-Christmas baking and how I can limit it to ingredients I have on hand and whether my modifications to an existing recipe will be successful
-whether it will still be this cold on Saturday when I cover a Christmas parade
-whether I should buy more socks or assume this cold snap will be over soon
-when I'm going to get my necklace fixed
-the yoga I should be doing
-the running that the cold keeps me from doing (oh, shucks)
-How I Met Your Mother season 4, which is seriously tempting me to drop the more grown-up and necessary work I've vowed to do
-this very blog
-the fatigue I've felt today and yesterday even though I got almost 8 hours of sleep each night and haven't exercised. I think cold is tiring, in part because I hunch and tense my shoulders and fists like crazy.
-plenty of other stuff on plenty of scales, from "where does that comma belong?" to "where do I belong?"
Bill said this morning that it's exciting, my having so many possibilities before me. I said I had hoped that would be over and I could sit back for a while. He said I guess God didn't have that in mind. While I have had a great few weeks at work, almost eerily so, it still doesn't feel like a long-term fit. There's too much tension in the rest of life, too many things changing course. And then this stupid France thing comes up (I'm talking thirty minutes ago) and muddies the waters even further. The deadline is January 1. The engagement would begin in October. I have no clue how many people apply or how hard it is to get, but I am demonstrably awesome at French. Unlike with seminary or some of the other possibilities, this feels pretty final, like if I don't do it this go-round I will not do it. The paperwork alone is enough to deter me if I don't feel a loud and clear call to go there. But my heart did truly leap within me when I saw the possibility, more than it has in a long time. Maybe that was the coffee.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
AWP 7: To Publish or Self-Publish?
The main guy who talked at this panel was Will Harris.
Self-publishing has a bad name, but if you're an indie filmmaker or musician, that's cool. So think of self-publishing as being an indie publisher.
If you're going to self-publish, you'll probably have some control over the cover. People always judge books by their covers, so be sure to make something great. Here are some things to keep in mind with covers.
1. Distill the book's theme and tone.
2. Be clear, even obvious.
3. Be bold, with no boxed-in tiny images. Let the image fill the field! Type in it, not next to it.
4. Be open to the unexpected.
5. Trust your designers. Don't be married to a specific concept. It's OK to argue with the designer, but if you do, have a reason that's related to the book.
Which leads us to the next list, Working with a Designer.
1. Brief them in one page about the project.
2. Be clear about themes.
3. Show covers you like, but...
4. ...no expectations.
5. Feel first--don't overthink.
6. Don't tell them how to design! You can share ideas, but don't say, "Put a cat in the corner."
Don't use timid type. Put nudity on the cover if possible (subtle nudity, to make sure it stays on shelves).
Pitfalls of design:
weak type
anonymity
too much going on
image or type too small in relation to cover
Pictures or people are very effective--people look at people--but not too specific, just a suggestion. You don't want to nail down how the reader can imagine a certain character.
All the major self-publishers are fine, there are no glaring differences or problems with any. The question is what you are going to do, how you are oging to separate writing from editing and designing.
Find your tribe. There are probably ten million people for each author who already love you, agree with you, and want to be your friend. You have friends, a family, colleagues. List fifty people in real life who really like you. Build from there, and that's your tribe. Also go after your mentors and heroes and say you love them. Most of them will honestly and sincerely relate to you if you do so with them. Concentric circles will grow outward from who's already in your life. All of the platforms (Facebook, etc.) are what you make of them. Make sure the relationships on there are actual ones that will help, not just friends for the sake of having a lot of friends.
The two types of people most preyed on are actors and authors. "They'll buy anything if they think it's magic." Don't be in that group. Think about what you're paying for, what you'll get out of it.
Make sure you get an ISBN and a listing in the Ingram catalog. That's how you get on Amazon and stuff.
Readers don't distinguish between self-published authors and traditional publishing. Virginia Woolf, Joyce, Poe, and a long list of others self-published. If it's good, it'll fly. Yes, a lot of self-published books are bad. The founder of lulu.com said, "We specialize in bad poetry that sells six copies to the friends of the author." But remember there are also a lot of terrible books that were published traditionally. The majority of music is bad, but if you make your own CD, nobody cares that it's not produced by a house.
Think about why you're not publishing traditionally. Are you ignoring feedback? You can overcome the bad-book stigma with self-awareness, confidence, and credibility. Time will also help cure the stigma.
Finally, "Technology doesn't make a good book. You make a good book."
Some of the resources he and others mentioned:
http://www.360digitalbooks.com- printers, will ship anywhere
http://www.iuniverse.com
http://www.lightningsource.com- discount for stores, returnable books, but less simple--you have to have a fully formatted PDF for the whole book and the cover.
http://www.lulu.com
http://www.authorhouse.com, consolidating several sites
http://www.redroom.com
The next post will be about Digital Publishing and cover some of the same ground as this one. See you next time! Thanks for reading.
Self-publishing has a bad name, but if you're an indie filmmaker or musician, that's cool. So think of self-publishing as being an indie publisher.
If you're going to self-publish, you'll probably have some control over the cover. People always judge books by their covers, so be sure to make something great. Here are some things to keep in mind with covers.
1. Distill the book's theme and tone.
2. Be clear, even obvious.
3. Be bold, with no boxed-in tiny images. Let the image fill the field! Type in it, not next to it.
4. Be open to the unexpected.
5. Trust your designers. Don't be married to a specific concept. It's OK to argue with the designer, but if you do, have a reason that's related to the book.
Which leads us to the next list, Working with a Designer.
1. Brief them in one page about the project.
2. Be clear about themes.
3. Show covers you like, but...
4. ...no expectations.
5. Feel first--don't overthink.
6. Don't tell them how to design! You can share ideas, but don't say, "Put a cat in the corner."
Don't use timid type. Put nudity on the cover if possible (subtle nudity, to make sure it stays on shelves).
Pitfalls of design:
weak type
anonymity
too much going on
image or type too small in relation to cover
Pictures or people are very effective--people look at people--but not too specific, just a suggestion. You don't want to nail down how the reader can imagine a certain character.
All the major self-publishers are fine, there are no glaring differences or problems with any. The question is what you are going to do, how you are oging to separate writing from editing and designing.
Find your tribe. There are probably ten million people for each author who already love you, agree with you, and want to be your friend. You have friends, a family, colleagues. List fifty people in real life who really like you. Build from there, and that's your tribe. Also go after your mentors and heroes and say you love them. Most of them will honestly and sincerely relate to you if you do so with them. Concentric circles will grow outward from who's already in your life. All of the platforms (Facebook, etc.) are what you make of them. Make sure the relationships on there are actual ones that will help, not just friends for the sake of having a lot of friends.
The two types of people most preyed on are actors and authors. "They'll buy anything if they think it's magic." Don't be in that group. Think about what you're paying for, what you'll get out of it.
Make sure you get an ISBN and a listing in the Ingram catalog. That's how you get on Amazon and stuff.
Readers don't distinguish between self-published authors and traditional publishing. Virginia Woolf, Joyce, Poe, and a long list of others self-published. If it's good, it'll fly. Yes, a lot of self-published books are bad. The founder of lulu.com said, "We specialize in bad poetry that sells six copies to the friends of the author." But remember there are also a lot of terrible books that were published traditionally. The majority of music is bad, but if you make your own CD, nobody cares that it's not produced by a house.
Think about why you're not publishing traditionally. Are you ignoring feedback? You can overcome the bad-book stigma with self-awareness, confidence, and credibility. Time will also help cure the stigma.
Finally, "Technology doesn't make a good book. You make a good book."
Some of the resources he and others mentioned:
http://www.360digitalbooks.com- printers, will ship anywhere
http://www.iuniverse.com
http://www.lightningsource.com- discount for stores, returnable books, but less simple--you have to have a fully formatted PDF for the whole book and the cover.
http://www.lulu.com
http://www.authorhouse.com, consolidating several sites
http://www.redroom.com
The next post will be about Digital Publishing and cover some of the same ground as this one. See you next time! Thanks for reading.
Monday, April 19, 2010
AWP 4: "What's Your Platform? What Agents & Editors Are Looking For in Writers
This panel was more Q&A than planned little speeches. I'll mimic the structure by introducing everyone and then diving into what they said.
Christina Katz- This panel is about how to be an empowered artist. We're all responsible for our careers, not just putting them in the hands of agents or publicists. Becoming visible, getting known.
Robin Mizell, literary agent.
Venn diagram--one group that has studied craft and is talented, one group that has studied how to promote and sell. The sweet spot where they intersect could be "larger and more dangerous." We can cross-pollinate. Jane Friedman says the challenge is writers who are very talented but don't have a mindset for the business.
David Sanders- Ohio University Press and Swallow Press.
Connection between how much of a presence a writer has in the world and how they succeed.
Jane Friedman, Publisher and Editorial Director of Writer's Digest.
Sage Cohen, founder of Sage Communications. Not sure she was actually at the panel--I rarely take notes on who said what--but her sites are cool, so here they are.
When creating your platform, think about what else you do besides writing. How are you going to become visible and rise above the crowd? Our job as writers is to stand out. It can be fun and exhilarating and creative. When you think your writing career is fun and exciting and interesting, it will become that way to others and draw people. Your platform is not your CV. It's an ongoing effort to connect with your readers and others who want to know about you and what you're doing. It takes years of work--it's never too soon to start. It's a journey, a lifelong process, part of your growth as a writer with a career.
Your platform includes:
1. The authority or credentials you bring to the table. It's a presence. Ezra Pound had the best platform of the 20th century.
2. Visibility. Antyhing that was available, Pound would exploit it, advertise his cause (not himself). This is your life. Get your friends to tell you the truth, not stroke your ego.
That was the opening remarks. Here begins the panel discussion proper.
Question 1: How can writers build a platform and gain visibility? It's not what you did, it's what you do and what you're going to do.
Answers:
Build!:
websites,
blogs,
e-zines,
e-classes,
real classes.
Write.
Get published,
give talks,
readings,
workshops,
keynotes,
panels.
Host or organize author visits and reading series.
Coaching, training. (These are all things Christina Katz does.)
Facebook,
Twitter,
LinkedIn,
YouTube.
HARO- Help A Reporter Out- requests for experts, you can answer and get media coverage. Vlogging.
del.icio.us or delicious.com, social bookmarking.
Embrace all the opportunities that exist to help writers become authors. You already have a network in the real world. Guest blogging opportunities, interviews, reviews. You should say yes to anything you're invited to until you're so overbooked that you can afford someone to say no for you.
Create an online presence. It makes you discoverable 24/7, even when you're asleep or unavailable.
Brian Solis has a graphic called The Conversation Prism that shows all of the possibilities for online connectivity, all the different sites. There's a version 2.0 but I'm linking to the older one because 2.0 made my computer not only say "error on site" but make an unprecedented beeping noise.
With all this online stuff, you don't have to be where everyone else is--don't join a site just because other authors are. You can choose what's comfortable for you and what makes sense in relation to your intended audience.
The BBC has a list of the top 100 websites, in a graphic showing proportional traffic. (Just rollover the blocks to see what they are.) You can't spread yourself among all the networks. Once you're inactive on a site, it's not effective. (my addition: probably less effective than not being on it in the first place.) You make a long to-do list and do just a little of it each day. Use what fits not just you but your audience. Where they work, live, where they go, use the tools they are using. Twitter is very effective for writers. People spend more time on Facebook than on Google! Your platform often builds with what and who you already know, where you already are. Reinforce the personal aspect of it. Extend the reach. Communicating and connecting are why we read and write. Being a big fish in a small pond is good. Oprah took away from us the idea of baby steps--we now think we can just write a really good book and then suddenly be famous. She made us think we can put all of our energy into the book and all we have to to is go on Oprah. But our career is 100% our responsibility, even if we land our dream deal with our dream publisher. Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Dorothy Parker all had really messed up relationships with their publishers--they were parent figures in a way, or saviors who were supposed to deliver them. We don't want that! We're going to deliver ourselves.
Question 2: What are the challenges in building platforms for writers?
Answers:
1.Time. The most important thing you have to do is write. But you can't write 50 hours a week unless you're Balzac. You're the expert! Be the expert! Let the world know what you know. If you're not writing nonfiction, write about the process, write about writing, learn what the tools are. That requires some time-budgeting to pay attention to what's happening and your contribution, to further your career. For a writer, your career is something that you don't put down.
2. Getting comfortable with technology and tools. Get comfortable with slow growth--don't ask someone to review your book the minute they friend you. It may feel at first like no one's paying attention. You have to move through the feeling of meaninglessness--give it time to develop, just like any other relationship, to grow before you ask for huge favors.
3. Overcoming the attitude that self-promotion is vulgar or an admission that you're not talented. Remain other-focused. Chris Brogan's book Trust Agents embraces being present in other communities and focused on them for a long time before you even mention your writing or projects. Comment on other people's sites. Attitude is the most important thing. A bad one is the biggest obstacle. Also, clarify who you are, what you do, why you matter, why you're relevant, from the standpoint of common ground with others, through their eyes.
4. Confusing platform development with socializing. Not zooming in on what you can offer.
5. Thinking too much about yourself and not enough about others.
6. Not having a plan. Hope is not a method. Being overconfident, thinking you have more of a platform than you do.
7. Burnout.
Find three role models who are not necessarily largely famous, but whose techniques have brought them success. Quality resources are key. Quiet time thinking about your platform will help. Libel, copyright infringement, privacy violations, and similar issues will get you automatic rejections from publishers.
Well, that's a sweet note to end on. Sorry these notes are quite scattered--I didn't realize blogger wouldn't let me cut and paste, so I couldn't re-order some of the info. Next up: Spirituality and Writing! Woo hoo! Quite a departure from the nitty-gritty practical panels of the first morning.
Does anyone know how to email or otherwise send a comment to the postsecret blog? I have some mind to speak.
Christina Katz- This panel is about how to be an empowered artist. We're all responsible for our careers, not just putting them in the hands of agents or publicists. Becoming visible, getting known.
Robin Mizell, literary agent.
Venn diagram--one group that has studied craft and is talented, one group that has studied how to promote and sell. The sweet spot where they intersect could be "larger and more dangerous." We can cross-pollinate. Jane Friedman says the challenge is writers who are very talented but don't have a mindset for the business.
David Sanders- Ohio University Press and Swallow Press.
Connection between how much of a presence a writer has in the world and how they succeed.
Jane Friedman, Publisher and Editorial Director of Writer's Digest.
Sage Cohen, founder of Sage Communications. Not sure she was actually at the panel--I rarely take notes on who said what--but her sites are cool, so here they are.
When creating your platform, think about what else you do besides writing. How are you going to become visible and rise above the crowd? Our job as writers is to stand out. It can be fun and exhilarating and creative. When you think your writing career is fun and exciting and interesting, it will become that way to others and draw people. Your platform is not your CV. It's an ongoing effort to connect with your readers and others who want to know about you and what you're doing. It takes years of work--it's never too soon to start. It's a journey, a lifelong process, part of your growth as a writer with a career.
Your platform includes:
1. The authority or credentials you bring to the table. It's a presence. Ezra Pound had the best platform of the 20th century.
2. Visibility. Antyhing that was available, Pound would exploit it, advertise his cause (not himself). This is your life. Get your friends to tell you the truth, not stroke your ego.
That was the opening remarks. Here begins the panel discussion proper.
Question 1: How can writers build a platform and gain visibility? It's not what you did, it's what you do and what you're going to do.
Answers:
Build!:
websites,
blogs,
e-zines,
e-classes,
real classes.
Write.
Get published,
give talks,
readings,
workshops,
keynotes,
panels.
Host or organize author visits and reading series.
Coaching, training. (These are all things Christina Katz does.)
Facebook,
Twitter,
LinkedIn,
YouTube.
HARO- Help A Reporter Out- requests for experts, you can answer and get media coverage. Vlogging.
del.icio.us or delicious.com, social bookmarking.
Embrace all the opportunities that exist to help writers become authors. You already have a network in the real world. Guest blogging opportunities, interviews, reviews. You should say yes to anything you're invited to until you're so overbooked that you can afford someone to say no for you.
Create an online presence. It makes you discoverable 24/7, even when you're asleep or unavailable.
Brian Solis has a graphic called The Conversation Prism that shows all of the possibilities for online connectivity, all the different sites. There's a version 2.0 but I'm linking to the older one because 2.0 made my computer not only say "error on site" but make an unprecedented beeping noise.
With all this online stuff, you don't have to be where everyone else is--don't join a site just because other authors are. You can choose what's comfortable for you and what makes sense in relation to your intended audience.
The BBC has a list of the top 100 websites, in a graphic showing proportional traffic. (Just rollover the blocks to see what they are.) You can't spread yourself among all the networks. Once you're inactive on a site, it's not effective. (my addition: probably less effective than not being on it in the first place.) You make a long to-do list and do just a little of it each day. Use what fits not just you but your audience. Where they work, live, where they go, use the tools they are using. Twitter is very effective for writers. People spend more time on Facebook than on Google! Your platform often builds with what and who you already know, where you already are. Reinforce the personal aspect of it. Extend the reach. Communicating and connecting are why we read and write. Being a big fish in a small pond is good. Oprah took away from us the idea of baby steps--we now think we can just write a really good book and then suddenly be famous. She made us think we can put all of our energy into the book and all we have to to is go on Oprah. But our career is 100% our responsibility, even if we land our dream deal with our dream publisher. Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Dorothy Parker all had really messed up relationships with their publishers--they were parent figures in a way, or saviors who were supposed to deliver them. We don't want that! We're going to deliver ourselves.
Question 2: What are the challenges in building platforms for writers?
Answers:
1.Time. The most important thing you have to do is write. But you can't write 50 hours a week unless you're Balzac. You're the expert! Be the expert! Let the world know what you know. If you're not writing nonfiction, write about the process, write about writing, learn what the tools are. That requires some time-budgeting to pay attention to what's happening and your contribution, to further your career. For a writer, your career is something that you don't put down.
2. Getting comfortable with technology and tools. Get comfortable with slow growth--don't ask someone to review your book the minute they friend you. It may feel at first like no one's paying attention. You have to move through the feeling of meaninglessness--give it time to develop, just like any other relationship, to grow before you ask for huge favors.
3. Overcoming the attitude that self-promotion is vulgar or an admission that you're not talented. Remain other-focused. Chris Brogan's book Trust Agents embraces being present in other communities and focused on them for a long time before you even mention your writing or projects. Comment on other people's sites. Attitude is the most important thing. A bad one is the biggest obstacle. Also, clarify who you are, what you do, why you matter, why you're relevant, from the standpoint of common ground with others, through their eyes.
4. Confusing platform development with socializing. Not zooming in on what you can offer.
5. Thinking too much about yourself and not enough about others.
6. Not having a plan. Hope is not a method. Being overconfident, thinking you have more of a platform than you do.
7. Burnout.
Find three role models who are not necessarily largely famous, but whose techniques have brought them success. Quality resources are key. Quiet time thinking about your platform will help. Libel, copyright infringement, privacy violations, and similar issues will get you automatic rejections from publishers.
Well, that's a sweet note to end on. Sorry these notes are quite scattered--I didn't realize blogger wouldn't let me cut and paste, so I couldn't re-order some of the info. Next up: Spirituality and Writing! Woo hoo! Quite a departure from the nitty-gritty practical panels of the first morning.
Does anyone know how to email or otherwise send a comment to the postsecret blog? I have some mind to speak.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
AWP 2
I'm going to do this in chronological order as closely as possible. So, the first panel I went to was about Shamelessly Promoting your Book. It was fun and really informative and practical. I'm just going to put my notes on here, incomplete sentences and inconsistencies and all.
Promotion is communal, fun, a lot of people involved. Twitter. "No sale yet but bravely planning for inevitable success." "Who's excited about what you can do on your own? Who feels beleaguered and confused?"
Jon Spayde- Living the Dream. book: How to Believe: portraits of Christian believers. Don't draw a foolish line between creation and commerce. "rapidly morphing and who-knows-what's-next publishing world" is more interesting and creative every day. Mini-connections instead of major outlets. Reaching out begins with idea and continues all the way to blog, blurb, podcast, reading, coffee house artist residency. Book morphs from static object into one stage of a complex process of communication. Communication and connection are the point. Better sales are a by-product.
Margaret Hasse- Premeditated Promotion. Freelance worker, consultant to nonprofits. Successful promotion requires a creative visionary thought-out tangible PLAN. Consult heart's desire and others.
1. Plan should have a context--statement--what you do as a writer and why. Mission--process, philosophy, passion, breadth, durability, challenge, distinction
2. picture of what will be different in community because of your writing.
3. PRODUCT--what you make and do that people might want to know about and make use of.
4. PEOPLE. Whom do you want to engage? Qualities of prospective readers who would like your book if only they knew about it.
5. PLACE. Where will you and readers find each other? How wide to cast net?
6. price. consider list price, advance. Charge for services like reading, etc., and think about what to volunteer your time toward. "Finance is a footnote to my story."
7. Promotion--how to reach and inform and inspire the people you've identified. Paid ads, profiles and interviews and reviews, website, email and direct mail, personal, trade shows, events
8. definite course of action--timetable, maybe budget. "You will hit some dead ends and turn to new adventures."
plan--from drawing on flat surface--also connected to Plant. Planting seeds.
Todd Boss. Get Committed. poet.
Poetry for popular audience. It should not be shameful for a writer to seek an audience--it's our privilege and duty, our contribution to the world. In other countries, poets are household names! It's perceived as belonging to all audiences, a public resource.
Let's commit to 2 assumptions:
1. The world is our audience.
2. It is our duty to give the world the poetry it craves.
How to act on it:
1. Commit to a public role. Become a poet laureate. Assert your leadership, assign yourself a role as a local public figure with a constituency.
2. Make a website. Make it yourself so that you can use it and update it easily, move with it nimbly. Use iWeb on a Mac.
3. Make audio. "Audience" comes from "audere--to hear." The world doesn't just crave poetry, it craves the sound. Without it, you're giving the world only half of the poetry it craves. When you sign a book contract, reserve electronic rights.
4. Encourage commissions. Offer on your site to write poems in praise or gratitude toward someone, from someone else. Create a new market based on emotional necessity, urgency, and deep artistic commitment.
5. Collaborate across media. Call for collaborators on your website. Think of yourself less as a writer and more as an artist. Chances are you're a filmmaker, librettist, and playwright too.
Commit to a poetry-craving public in as many ways as you can think of. It will make traditional promotion obsolete.
Marisha Chamberlain. The Good-Enough Book Tour.
Weariness and bitterness can seep through in readings, especially from the financially successful authors.
Touring may make you poorer--you will be paying your own travel expenses. Could be considered delusional.
Achieving profit goals makes people more tense and jittery, not less so.
Tour for reasons other than book sales. Not about me, not about my book, but about a few brave souls who celebrate literature. Sometimes bears no resemblance to the idea you have of a book tour. Your publisher might not send enough copies, or any!
It's not a do-or-die effort, it's good enough. To be all together and alive in the same room caring about literature.
That's the bulk of what Squad 365 said that morning. I have two more pages of notes from the Q and A portion, which I'll put in another post. I hope this is helpful for someone who's reading this. If nothing else, it's good for me to further digest it by typing it up. More to come; writers and non-writers alike, stay tuned!
Promotion is communal, fun, a lot of people involved. Twitter. "No sale yet but bravely planning for inevitable success." "Who's excited about what you can do on your own? Who feels beleaguered and confused?"
Jon Spayde- Living the Dream. book: How to Believe: portraits of Christian believers. Don't draw a foolish line between creation and commerce. "rapidly morphing and who-knows-what's-next publishing world" is more interesting and creative every day. Mini-connections instead of major outlets. Reaching out begins with idea and continues all the way to blog, blurb, podcast, reading, coffee house artist residency. Book morphs from static object into one stage of a complex process of communication. Communication and connection are the point. Better sales are a by-product.
Margaret Hasse- Premeditated Promotion. Freelance worker, consultant to nonprofits. Successful promotion requires a creative visionary thought-out tangible PLAN. Consult heart's desire and others.
1. Plan should have a context--statement--what you do as a writer and why. Mission--process, philosophy, passion, breadth, durability, challenge, distinction
2. picture of what will be different in community because of your writing.
3. PRODUCT--what you make and do that people might want to know about and make use of.
4. PEOPLE. Whom do you want to engage? Qualities of prospective readers who would like your book if only they knew about it.
5. PLACE. Where will you and readers find each other? How wide to cast net?
6. price. consider list price, advance. Charge for services like reading, etc., and think about what to volunteer your time toward. "Finance is a footnote to my story."
7. Promotion--how to reach and inform and inspire the people you've identified. Paid ads, profiles and interviews and reviews, website, email and direct mail, personal, trade shows, events
8. definite course of action--timetable, maybe budget. "You will hit some dead ends and turn to new adventures."
plan--from drawing on flat surface--also connected to Plant. Planting seeds.
Todd Boss. Get Committed. poet.
Poetry for popular audience. It should not be shameful for a writer to seek an audience--it's our privilege and duty, our contribution to the world. In other countries, poets are household names! It's perceived as belonging to all audiences, a public resource.
Let's commit to 2 assumptions:
1. The world is our audience.
2. It is our duty to give the world the poetry it craves.
How to act on it:
1. Commit to a public role. Become a poet laureate. Assert your leadership, assign yourself a role as a local public figure with a constituency.
2. Make a website. Make it yourself so that you can use it and update it easily, move with it nimbly. Use iWeb on a Mac.
3. Make audio. "Audience" comes from "audere--to hear." The world doesn't just crave poetry, it craves the sound. Without it, you're giving the world only half of the poetry it craves. When you sign a book contract, reserve electronic rights.
4. Encourage commissions. Offer on your site to write poems in praise or gratitude toward someone, from someone else. Create a new market based on emotional necessity, urgency, and deep artistic commitment.
5. Collaborate across media. Call for collaborators on your website. Think of yourself less as a writer and more as an artist. Chances are you're a filmmaker, librettist, and playwright too.
Commit to a poetry-craving public in as many ways as you can think of. It will make traditional promotion obsolete.
Marisha Chamberlain. The Good-Enough Book Tour.
Weariness and bitterness can seep through in readings, especially from the financially successful authors.
Touring may make you poorer--you will be paying your own travel expenses. Could be considered delusional.
Achieving profit goals makes people more tense and jittery, not less so.
Tour for reasons other than book sales. Not about me, not about my book, but about a few brave souls who celebrate literature. Sometimes bears no resemblance to the idea you have of a book tour. Your publisher might not send enough copies, or any!
It's not a do-or-die effort, it's good enough. To be all together and alive in the same room caring about literature.
That's the bulk of what Squad 365 said that morning. I have two more pages of notes from the Q and A portion, which I'll put in another post. I hope this is helpful for someone who's reading this. If nothing else, it's good for me to further digest it by typing it up. More to come; writers and non-writers alike, stay tuned!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
keeping up the pace
Reading Seagrove blogs has gotten me all bloggy, plus I hope to make 2010 the Year of the Blog by being more diligent about it, so here's a post practically on the heels of the last one.
Things Taize and Seagrove have in common:
-They both make me feel at peace and I want to be there a lot.
-They both have remarkable people producing pottery.
-They have complex relationships with outsiders.
-They began with one visionary person or couple.
-From there, they ballooned quickly as a surprising number of people responded and loved the idea of the place. But for all that,
-popularity was never really the goal for either but is certainly a means to two desirable ends in both cases.
www.taize.fr/en just might change your life. Certainly changed mine. (To be clear, the website, while it's great, is less likely to change your life. I'm referring to the place.) Would you like to go with me sometime? One of my life goals is to go back one day, ideally with a group. Plus we will get to see Shakespeare & Company and whatever else you want to see in Paris. I'm an excellent tour guide, ask anyone.
I'm feeling bolstered lately by the uncertain euphoria of almost constantly thinking, "This is my last semester!" I absolutely can't wait to see what's next.
It's very nice to have Tuesday off. Unlike having Friday off like last semester, it's an unexpected little tiramisu (pick-me-up). In a couple weeks I'll start doing pub lab hours on Tuesdays, but for now it's sweet.
Things Taize and Seagrove have in common:
-They both make me feel at peace and I want to be there a lot.
-They both have remarkable people producing pottery.
-They have complex relationships with outsiders.
-They began with one visionary person or couple.
-From there, they ballooned quickly as a surprising number of people responded and loved the idea of the place. But for all that,
-popularity was never really the goal for either but is certainly a means to two desirable ends in both cases.
www.taize.fr/en just might change your life. Certainly changed mine. (To be clear, the website, while it's great, is less likely to change your life. I'm referring to the place.) Would you like to go with me sometime? One of my life goals is to go back one day, ideally with a group. Plus we will get to see Shakespeare & Company and whatever else you want to see in Paris. I'm an excellent tour guide, ask anyone.
I'm feeling bolstered lately by the uncertain euphoria of almost constantly thinking, "This is my last semester!" I absolutely can't wait to see what's next.
It's very nice to have Tuesday off. Unlike having Friday off like last semester, it's an unexpected little tiramisu (pick-me-up). In a couple weeks I'll start doing pub lab hours on Tuesdays, but for now it's sweet.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Procrastination
The new world order goes like this. The order of importance is
1. Eavesdropping on the people next to me here at Java Dog. Two of them are going to get married! Like, today or tomorrow! Probably not today, come to think of it, because they wouldn't be here, would they? And they seem pretty relaxed.
2. Putting off eating the rest of my farmers' market cinnamon bun, delayed gratification being key to maturity and self-control.
3. Alternating between anger, pity, and apathy about The Department's seemingly neverending issues. Sometimes I think we should just outsource everything to non-writers.
4. Wondering if that new show Community with Joel McHale and Chevy Chase is going to be any good.
5. Playing Text Twist 2 online. (Seven letters, not six! But some of the words are joke words, like jiveass and fatbird.)
6. Then and only then, writing syllabi and le thesis, which is what I came here for. Maybe we'll call today a practice run for the school-year-Saturday routine.
Last night a bunch of people went out for Brooks's birthday. I went a little reluctantly, having so enjoyed the hermit life lately, but as usual, it turned out fun and I was glad I went. Met three new students, caught up with a couple of people I hadn't seen literally all summer, practiced my yelled-conversation skills, and got smoked out of the Blue Post. It had a very first-party-of-the-school-year feeling. Made me one baby step more ready for the thing, hence my attempt at syllabus-writing today. While the transition can be a little eye-roll-inducing, I don't mind a routine once it starts. I even like it most of the time. So I think this year is going to be great. I'm going to write the best thesis ever and have lots of fun.
As for after graduation, it hit me hard the other day that it's well under a year until I'm no longer a student or a TA, and even less than that until I have to start looking in earnest, not in a lah-di-dah way, for a job. When I realized that, I had a brief moment of something like panic, but then I realized I actually trust God with this. Because He has a great track record with jobs and moves for me, always providing the right opening at the right time. It was nice, because I had been feeling antagonistic toward Him and anything but trusting, mostly because I've been majorly agitated over not having a boyfriend and thinking, "So are You going to leave me hanging another twenty-five years, Punk?" While I know it's not ideal to trust God only about things He's proven Himself "good at," and I shouldn't need a track record to trust Him with a certain thing, it was at least a step in the right direction and a reminder of His providence. I still have lots of my own ideas and criteria for the job I want next year: I really don't want to move, I don't want an internship-type thing where it has an endpoint, I'd like something career-oriented and not minimum-wage. But I'm also thinking, God knows how much I want to stay here, so if He does move me, it will probably be for something infinitely better than what I have here, to make it worth the uprooting. (Hard to imagine, friend-wise and house-wise and location-wise, but then many of His plans are hard to imagine.) I feel a little underqualified because I don't want to teach and that's what I've been doing (though not exclusively) for three years. I figure I'll just overapply, apply to everything I remotely want to do, and statistics dictate that I'll have to get a call-back from at least a couple. I think it will feel good to be able to act on my interest when I see a good opening--I often look online at jobs but can't really do anything about it, but come Spring, when The Change is actually impending, I'll be able to respond and not just speculate. That's exciting.
In summary, if anyone knows of a job opening in copyediting, proofreading, or indexing that I can do from home or in Wilmington, send the vitals my way. My dream is to rectify all comma splices and live in an error-free world, at least on paper and onscreen. Yes we can.
1. Eavesdropping on the people next to me here at Java Dog. Two of them are going to get married! Like, today or tomorrow! Probably not today, come to think of it, because they wouldn't be here, would they? And they seem pretty relaxed.
2. Putting off eating the rest of my farmers' market cinnamon bun, delayed gratification being key to maturity and self-control.
3. Alternating between anger, pity, and apathy about The Department's seemingly neverending issues. Sometimes I think we should just outsource everything to non-writers.
4. Wondering if that new show Community with Joel McHale and Chevy Chase is going to be any good.
5. Playing Text Twist 2 online. (Seven letters, not six! But some of the words are joke words, like jiveass and fatbird.)
6. Then and only then, writing syllabi and le thesis, which is what I came here for. Maybe we'll call today a practice run for the school-year-Saturday routine.
Last night a bunch of people went out for Brooks's birthday. I went a little reluctantly, having so enjoyed the hermit life lately, but as usual, it turned out fun and I was glad I went. Met three new students, caught up with a couple of people I hadn't seen literally all summer, practiced my yelled-conversation skills, and got smoked out of the Blue Post. It had a very first-party-of-the-school-year feeling. Made me one baby step more ready for the thing, hence my attempt at syllabus-writing today. While the transition can be a little eye-roll-inducing, I don't mind a routine once it starts. I even like it most of the time. So I think this year is going to be great. I'm going to write the best thesis ever and have lots of fun.
As for after graduation, it hit me hard the other day that it's well under a year until I'm no longer a student or a TA, and even less than that until I have to start looking in earnest, not in a lah-di-dah way, for a job. When I realized that, I had a brief moment of something like panic, but then I realized I actually trust God with this. Because He has a great track record with jobs and moves for me, always providing the right opening at the right time. It was nice, because I had been feeling antagonistic toward Him and anything but trusting, mostly because I've been majorly agitated over not having a boyfriend and thinking, "So are You going to leave me hanging another twenty-five years, Punk?" While I know it's not ideal to trust God only about things He's proven Himself "good at," and I shouldn't need a track record to trust Him with a certain thing, it was at least a step in the right direction and a reminder of His providence. I still have lots of my own ideas and criteria for the job I want next year: I really don't want to move, I don't want an internship-type thing where it has an endpoint, I'd like something career-oriented and not minimum-wage. But I'm also thinking, God knows how much I want to stay here, so if He does move me, it will probably be for something infinitely better than what I have here, to make it worth the uprooting. (Hard to imagine, friend-wise and house-wise and location-wise, but then many of His plans are hard to imagine.) I feel a little underqualified because I don't want to teach and that's what I've been doing (though not exclusively) for three years. I figure I'll just overapply, apply to everything I remotely want to do, and statistics dictate that I'll have to get a call-back from at least a couple. I think it will feel good to be able to act on my interest when I see a good opening--I often look online at jobs but can't really do anything about it, but come Spring, when The Change is actually impending, I'll be able to respond and not just speculate. That's exciting.
In summary, if anyone knows of a job opening in copyediting, proofreading, or indexing that I can do from home or in Wilmington, send the vitals my way. My dream is to rectify all comma splices and live in an error-free world, at least on paper and onscreen. Yes we can.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Everything
1. It seems antioxidants are nothing but vitamins A, C, and E. I feel a little gypped, like it should have been something more mysterious and involved.
2. Singing can treat stomach problems.
3. My editing project taught me a lot of cool Chinese words, and I love how one word in another language can mean a lot in ours. Reminds me of German. Here are just two I learned from editing: shenda- being cautious about greatness; shenshi- being aware of power.
4. I just made some peanut butter brownies from a Mollie Katzen recipe and now have the happy task of finding people to share them.
5. It's Writers' Week! Which means no class, and instead we get to go to seminars and movies and readings. They had the greatest documentary about Andre Dubus. He seemed misogynistic and self-centered and misguided, but I really like the guy and would like to have hung out with him. I'm totally ready to go out and get all his books and everything about him. Tonight is Dusty and Ace, AKA Philip and Clyde, the highlight of any Writers' Week. Can't wait.
6. I had to write a cinquain for Wednesday morning (a poem with 2 syllables in the first line, 4 in the second, 6, 8, 2). So I wrote this:
Barack
Obama is
our president. Not that
I expected anything else,
but wow.
It gave away that I waited until the last minute, but I think it was OK. It's hard to see anything as not OK for a while, because our president can speak without embarrassing us; he even makes me proud.
2. Singing can treat stomach problems.
3. My editing project taught me a lot of cool Chinese words, and I love how one word in another language can mean a lot in ours. Reminds me of German. Here are just two I learned from editing: shenda- being cautious about greatness; shenshi- being aware of power.
4. I just made some peanut butter brownies from a Mollie Katzen recipe and now have the happy task of finding people to share them.
5. It's Writers' Week! Which means no class, and instead we get to go to seminars and movies and readings. They had the greatest documentary about Andre Dubus. He seemed misogynistic and self-centered and misguided, but I really like the guy and would like to have hung out with him. I'm totally ready to go out and get all his books and everything about him. Tonight is Dusty and Ace, AKA Philip and Clyde, the highlight of any Writers' Week. Can't wait.
6. I had to write a cinquain for Wednesday morning (a poem with 2 syllables in the first line, 4 in the second, 6, 8, 2). So I wrote this:
Barack
Obama is
our president. Not that
I expected anything else,
but wow.
It gave away that I waited until the last minute, but I think it was OK. It's hard to see anything as not OK for a while, because our president can speak without embarrassing us; he even makes me proud.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Thinking Everything is All Right
The Oscars: Could Tilda Swinton look more like Conan O'Brien?
I often rail against annual awards because they contain an inextricable fallacy: too much depends on the year, so great movies can go unrecognized and bad ones can win because of their competition. But when I actually get to watch the Oscars, I remember how freaking fun it is! There are so many movies I want to see, or want even more badly to see, after tonight. It feeds my starry-eyed admiration of artists, and if it doesn't, I get to criticize their dresses.
My favorite moments from this year:
-Helen Mirren poetically presenting Best Actor. May I be like her when I'm her age.
-The song from Once winning over three from Enchanted.
-The writer of said song getting a second chance to give thanks after she got cut off.
-Jon Stewart existing.
-TV Guide Channel's red carpet coverage, specifically the hairdo analysis done by white marks on the screen like in football.
-Those adorable freres Coen pulling simultaneously on their earlobes. Watch a tandem interview and note how they have the same mannerisms at the same time. And they're not even twins!
-Marion Cotillard thanking life.
Prom 2.0!
My friend published a novel, and her book release party was a prom. I got a kiss on my gloved hand, a "Rachel's my favorite person in the world," a flurry of variations on "You look nice," and a nice warm feeling all evening. The book's sequel is scheduled to come out in February 2009, so we're already planning for the next prom!
On the way there, another friend brought up the song "Yakkity Yak," and I said it brought back memories; my dad used to sing it to me, "That and--oh, what was the other one? I can't think of it..." My friend jumped in with "Splish Splash," phrased not as a question but as an answer. Shockingly, that was exactly the song I meant! I'd definitely never told her that. She said those songs are universal, sung by all dads to all daughters, but I'm not so sure. I think it explains a lot about why we get along so well.
My last few weekends have been characterized by natural unplanned movement from one activity to the next: walking to shopping to slacklining to dancing downtown, for example. I relish that picaresque episodic quality in a day, the sense that I'm really living and loving every minute of it in the most cliche but deeply right way. The quality of my company is sometimes hard to believe, it's so high. The extent to which I'm a raging extrovert is becoming laughably clear. I'll let Walt Whitman say what I'm feeling:
"I have perceived that to be with those I like is enough,
To stop in company with the rest at evening is enough,
To be surrounded by beautiful, curious, breathing, laughing flesh is enough,
To pass among them or touch any one, or rest my arm ever so lightly round his or her neck for a moment, what is this then?
I do not ask any more delight, I swim in it as a sea.
There is something in staying close to men and women and looking on them, and in the contact and odor of them, that pleases the soul well,
All things please the soul, but these please the soul well."
I often rail against annual awards because they contain an inextricable fallacy: too much depends on the year, so great movies can go unrecognized and bad ones can win because of their competition. But when I actually get to watch the Oscars, I remember how freaking fun it is! There are so many movies I want to see, or want even more badly to see, after tonight. It feeds my starry-eyed admiration of artists, and if it doesn't, I get to criticize their dresses.
My favorite moments from this year:
-Helen Mirren poetically presenting Best Actor. May I be like her when I'm her age.
-The song from Once winning over three from Enchanted.
-The writer of said song getting a second chance to give thanks after she got cut off.
-Jon Stewart existing.
-TV Guide Channel's red carpet coverage, specifically the hairdo analysis done by white marks on the screen like in football.
-Those adorable freres Coen pulling simultaneously on their earlobes. Watch a tandem interview and note how they have the same mannerisms at the same time. And they're not even twins!
-Marion Cotillard thanking life.
Prom 2.0!
My friend published a novel, and her book release party was a prom. I got a kiss on my gloved hand, a "Rachel's my favorite person in the world," a flurry of variations on "You look nice," and a nice warm feeling all evening. The book's sequel is scheduled to come out in February 2009, so we're already planning for the next prom!
On the way there, another friend brought up the song "Yakkity Yak," and I said it brought back memories; my dad used to sing it to me, "That and--oh, what was the other one? I can't think of it..." My friend jumped in with "Splish Splash," phrased not as a question but as an answer. Shockingly, that was exactly the song I meant! I'd definitely never told her that. She said those songs are universal, sung by all dads to all daughters, but I'm not so sure. I think it explains a lot about why we get along so well.
My last few weekends have been characterized by natural unplanned movement from one activity to the next: walking to shopping to slacklining to dancing downtown, for example. I relish that picaresque episodic quality in a day, the sense that I'm really living and loving every minute of it in the most cliche but deeply right way. The quality of my company is sometimes hard to believe, it's so high. The extent to which I'm a raging extrovert is becoming laughably clear. I'll let Walt Whitman say what I'm feeling:
"I have perceived that to be with those I like is enough,
To stop in company with the rest at evening is enough,
To be surrounded by beautiful, curious, breathing, laughing flesh is enough,
To pass among them or touch any one, or rest my arm ever so lightly round his or her neck for a moment, what is this then?
I do not ask any more delight, I swim in it as a sea.
There is something in staying close to men and women and looking on them, and in the contact and odor of them, that pleases the soul well,
All things please the soul, but these please the soul well."
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Husbands 4 Hillary
I saw a sign that said that on TV today, behind Mrs. Clinton at a speech. It was a very good speech, I thought. "I want the government to be transparent....I want you to hold me accountable if I get elected and say, 'You told us about that new health care plan, so why haven't you done it?'" The health care thing was intriguing: she wants to make the plan Congress uses available to regular people. She also talked a lot about the need for new energy sources, which I can certainly get behind.
It's a shame I don't really believe her. Or anyone else in politics.
On My Good Side:
1. Ace of Cakes
2. Writing down a menu for every day and sticking to it
3. No class for MLK day!
4. Jesus. I went to church twice this weekend!
5. School of Rock
6. Lynda Barry
Not So Much:
1. Trying to get used to school again
2. Cold so cold you don't want to go outside
3. Rain that lasts more than an hour
These are in no particular order. Numbers just make me feel good.
It's a shame I don't really believe her. Or anyone else in politics.
On My Good Side:
1. Ace of Cakes
2. Writing down a menu for every day and sticking to it
3. No class for MLK day!
4. Jesus. I went to church twice this weekend!
5. School of Rock
6. Lynda Barry
Not So Much:
1. Trying to get used to school again
2. Cold so cold you don't want to go outside
3. Rain that lasts more than an hour
These are in no particular order. Numbers just make me feel good.
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