Libraries and e-books

After reading this NY Times article on libraries buying and loaning e-books, I'm left with two clashing views. I love libraries. I borrow books just about every week. I read a ton, and if I were to buy every book I read, I'd be broke and have a house that was condemnable due to clutter. And in a broader sense, I think it's only right that literature be available to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay for it. In this vein, I don't see why libraries shouldn't buy the rights to e-books and lend them out like they do traditional books.

That said, I know how much work goes into creating a book. Writers deserve to be paid for that work (much more than most published writers are currently paid). I hope to publish a book some day soon. I hope to make money off that book so I can devote more of my time to writing. So I'm sympathetic to the worries of publishers and authors that no one will buy an e-book if they can get it for free from their library. This argument doesn't apply in the same way to print books--when you buy a print book, you get something you can keep on your shelf and lend to a friend. The same is not true when you buy an e-book. So while I sometimes go out and buy books that I read in the library and really loved and want to own, I can't imagine the same would be true for something I read on my computer/Ipod/whatever other devise one might have.

I'd love to hear other people's thoughts on this debate. Please comment away!

This week's schedule

[Edited on Tuesday: I realize now that this plan is a wee bit too ambitious. I learned this when my body would not get out of bed this morning, which means no spin class for me. I will edit this post throughout the week and add bracketed notes describing how much of the schedule I actually stuck to. This is an important part of learning one's limits--another lesson I seem to need to learn again and again.]

October is slipping away too quickly! (I won't even talk about the fact that it SNOWED here this weekend, making it feel much more like March than October.) It's been a good month, filled with lots of fun social engagements. But, and this seems to be the story of my life, when my social calendar is full, my writing book is empty. Balancing these two needs--the need to feel connected to others and the need to write--is going to be my life's work, it seems. (If only I could ditch the need to work and the need to fulfill what can be lots of other obligations, I'd be all set.)

So, as I always do when life feels too hectic to get a handle on, I need to make a schedule. (I'm also tracking my exercise here, because that's another thing I can't live without if I want to stay sane.)Here goes:

Monday
Exercise: Yoga-pilates class
Writing: Journaling on train in the morning/Revising on computer in the evening
(Also have to fit a PT appointment in the evening, which I go to for chronic headaches)
[Got all of these items done. Whoo!]

Tuesday
Exercise: Spin class
Writing: I have a Cultural Council meeting in the evening. Will probably need to prep for that on the train ride in to work. I plan to go to Starbucks after the meeting to get my journaling/revising time in.
[No spin class, slept late instead.]

Wednesday
Exercise: Run, hopefully before work outside with Rufus (the dog) if the weather is nice.
Writing: Brian has class on Wednesday night, so I plan to take this time alone at home to really pound out some revisions. I'll journal on the train ride into work.

Thursday
Exercise: Nothing formal, some walking to and from the train/various out-of-the-office meetings.
Writing: Journaling on the way into work. Nothing else.
Evening: Volunteer ESL teaching at Unity Church

Friday
Exercise: Yoga class
Writing: Plan to head to a coffee shop to write before meeting some friends for dinner and this Bill Maher show (!).

Saturday
Exercise: Hike with Brian and the dogs
Writing: Will journal post-hike while B studies. Then we'll head to the Boston Book Festival.

Sunday
Exercise: Yoga class in the morning. Then errands. Then I'll head into Boston to work on writing in a coffee shop until book club at 5.

This feels like a good balance of writing and socializing. Let's see if I can pull it off...Wish me luck!

Easton's Cultural Corner

As part of my role on the Cultural Council, I pitched a column to our local newspaper, The Easton Journal, covering cultural issues. They bit, and my first one was printed on Thursday. Check it out here!

Poetry Wheel

A while back, I read somewhere about a poet who rented a booth at a fair and charged a dollar for a poem written on the spot, using a theme or words that the customer offered. Years later, I ran into a similar concept in a NYC subway station--a guy was sitting behind a table with a big sign that read "POEMS". For a donation, he would type up a poem on the spot on his typewriter and give it to you. I participated, and though I can't find the poem he wrote at the moment, I remember it was about a girl in a red coat (the color of coat that I was wearing).

When the Easton Cultural Council (which I am the publicity director for) wanted to come up with an activity we could bring to the town's Fall Festival, those two experiences came to mind. I googled around a bit, and voila! I found a kid-friendly poetry activity: The Poetry Wheel.

Luckily, a friend of one of the Council members had a wheel he made for carnival games at his temple. We borrowed it, and I made some word tags using words I cut out from magazines.



When I first suggested the poetry wheel concept, some members seemed a little hesitant: Would kids really want to write poems at a fair? Wouldn't it be too much like school?

We figured out the answer when, during the first hour of the fair, we got more kids than the three adults manning the booth could handle. We had a line! (Granted, we did offer them candy as a prize after they completed their poem. But even still, 9 out of 10 kids seemed to enjoy the writing part as much as the candy part.)

I just hope one of these budding poets will look back on the Poetry Wheel as one of the things during their childhood that inspired and excited them about writing.

(We also decorated the booth using lanterns made out of soda bottles and tissue paper. We're hoping to bring a lantern walk to Easton, similar to the lantern walk Brian and I participated in in Jamaica Plain for 10+ years.)

More on saying no

If I believed in the universe sending me messages, I would take getting this article in my email box about the freedom that comes from being able to say no as a sign. Especially since it comes on the heals of my post about setting limits.

Along those lines, my friend Shannon just wrote about fitting creative pursuits into her life in a beautifully titled post, Row by Row.

Even if I don't believe the "universe" is sending me this message, I'm picking up on it none the less. Must. Say. No.

30 and Below? Not any more...

I think of myself as someone who's not overly concerned about aging. But I'm starting to wonder if that's just because I'm still relatively young! A few things conspired to make me think about aging: I spent time with four generations of family this weekend, I was incredibly excited when I got carded at my cousins wedding, on the plane ride home I learned that I am not that much younger than People Magazine, and, most relevant to this blog's topic of creative living, I came across this contest for young writers. I clicked on the link announcing the contest and realized I'm too old to participate! Talk about a reality check...

Writerbug regrets that it is impossible, under any circumstances, for her to...

I recently learned of a writing/poetry blog I really like, Book of Kells. Kelli has a post about productivity that I found especially relevent to me and to many of my friends, who are trying to accomplish much--and succeeding, though sometimes at the price of their happiness and sanity.

The post talks about a writer called Edmund Wilson, a very influential book critic in the 1920s. Here's how he dealt with being asked to do too many things: One, he didn't worry about trying to please everyone, which of course is impossible and only distracts you from the things that are important to YOU. And two, he used the following form letters to decline requests:

Edmund Wilson regrets that it is impossible for him without compensation to:

read manuscripts
contribute to books or periodicals
do editorial work
judge literary contests
deliver lectures
address meetings
make after-dinner speeches
broadcast;

Under any circumstances to:

contribute to or take part in symposiums
take part in chain-poems or other collective compositions
contribute manuscripts for sales
donate copies of his books to libraries
autograph books for strangers
supply personal information about himself
supply photographs of himself
allow his name to be used on letter-heads
receive unknown persons who have no apparent business with him.


Pretty awesome, no? What would your list look like, if you had the balls to hand it out?

My list of things I won't do would include:
Stop to hear your schpeel/sign your petition when I am exiting the grocery store

Plan office parties/buy going away presents even if it means that no one else is going to think to do it

Say yes to social engagements that I am not 100% excited about going to. (This already feels impossible, even in my imaginary life. I will ammend to say: "Say yes to social engagements that I am not 100% excited about unless the guilt regarding saying no feels too great." God I'm weak.)

Feel the need to keep friendships going when they don't seem to be nourishing either party

*********
If I could implement these things, I bet my life would feel much more balanced, especially in terms of getting to spend time with the people who really do nourish my soul. At the moment I seem to have many many more friends who I see every few months, than friends I get to see on a regular basis, as often and as much as I would like to.

That said, my priority at the moment is my writing, so some of that is my own doing. (Well, actually, my priority at this very moment is getting over this awful, awful cold, which has pretty much floored me.)

Looking forward to seeing your list!

Dear Diary

As I mentioned previously, I went to see a show called Mortified recently, where people read from their teenage diaries. As expected, it was hysterically funny. It was also poignant.. The readers--men and women, people my age and much older--all wrote and read in different styles and different voices, but so much of the content was the same. It involved boyfriend/girlfriend drama, friends being mean to each other or leaving one another out, people and relationships changing with time... It struck me that adolescence is a time when we all feel so alone, yet in reality, we are all going through the same things.

When I was thinking about writing this post, I realized that that fact isn't just true of adolescence--as life goes by, many of the problems we face are things that feel so isolated, yet that many people face. I don't think there's much of a solution for this. Heartbreak and difficulties seem to inherently make you feel alone, no matter if you know that others are dealing with, or have dealt with, the same thing. But maybe keeping that thought in mind can help getting through that loneliness a little easier.

October To Dos, and NaNoWriMo

October has a special feeling to it now that I'm committed to doing NaNoWriMo again**. I feel like I imagine a mother might feel in the last month of pregnancy, when she's scrambling to get a bunch of things done before she has to devote all her time to her baby. (More on the parallels between writing and motherhood another day.)

So here are the writing/creative things I want to get done in October, pre-NaNo:

+ Finish the two baby sweaters I'm making for my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's babies.

+ Get the short short "Marriages Mysteries" revised and send it out.

+ Get the longer short story "Trying" revised and send it out.

+ Send out my body image essay

+ Write a pitch for the Coupling column of the Boston Globe

+ Write a pitch for an article on simultaneous submissions and find some writing mags where it might find a home.

+ Write a pitch for Utube's first literary journal, Shape of a Box. (Love the concept!)

I'm slightly tired from just typing this all, but I think it can get done.

**I am not going to follow the NaNo rules 100%, as I did last year. I am in the process of completely rewriting my NaNo manuscript from last year. Basically I'm using the idea and the characters that came out of all that writing, but I'm not using the actual writing at all. I don't want to interrupt that process to start on another novel. So I'm going to continue working on my second draft of that first novel, with the goal of getting 50,000 words of it (re)written in November. In any case, November is going to be completed devoted to writing, and that's the point of NaNo, right?

What a difference a year makes

I'm dashing this off before running to meet a friend to see Mortified, a hilarious-sounding piece of performance art where people read from their teenage diaries. I'm feeling a little anxious about going--this is a new friend and I'm realizing more and more what an introvert I'm becoming and how these acts of reaching out unnerve me. That's the reason I'm taking the time to write this now, since writing is one of the things that reliably centers me (walking is the other).

Last year this time was the hardest time of my life. For reasons too personal to share here, last fall was a time filled with darkness and depression for me. I'm reminded so heavily of that time now, as the anniversary of this dismal period is upon me. For example, last year this time, I could not get up the energy or initiative to start up a NaNoWriMo group in Easton, even though I wanted so badly to learn more about the writing and arts scene in our new town. I remember hating myself for not having the focus to do that. (Luckily, Brian stepped up and did this without my help.) This year, on the other hand, I am so excited to welcome NaNo into my life, and I will be contacting our library soon to see about hosting some write ins.

There are other "fun" things, like hosting a French cooking class at my house and having my family over for Thanksgiving, that I look back on and realize how much energy they took up--so much more so than usual because pretending to be OK and happy sucks out whatever little life there is in you when you're depressed.

I know a few friends who are going through some tough times right now. Divorces. Difficult pregnancies. Stresses of kids and working. So I'm posting this now to say, Hang in there. This fall might be truly awful. But in a year, you might look back on this and say, "Phew. So glad that's over and I'm happy again." I hope you can.

Where I write

Check it out, I'm featured on the NaNoWriMo blog! (Along with my cat, Boom Boom)

[34 days until NaNoWriMo 2009!]

Writers' Group Feedback

As I posted on Friday, I had my first meeting with a novel writing group this week. I got great feedback on the first chapter of my novel (3rd+ draft of said chapter...). I thought I would record some of the edits want to make in the next draft here. I want to move ahead and get the 3rd draft of chapter two finished, so this post will serve as a reminder of what I took away from my groups' comments when I get back to chapter 1.

Opening: Move the section where Emily swings on the ledge of the balcony up, and the part about listening to the party noise below it.

Throughout: Watch the mentions of the rain. A bit heavy handed/seemingly metaphorical.

Scene with Hugh: Make it more distinct from scene with David. Maybe Hugh gets mad that she didn't tell him about her sister's death. He definitely should be aggressive and push her toward contacting Colin. Then the chapter will end with her not quite deciding what to do yet.

*******
typ Things to do
I want to end with a short list of things I hope to get done this week:

**Finish typing up long-hand version of chapter 2; then go back and write out longhand the end of that chapter.

**Apply to the two writers' residencies I flagged

**Revise Darfur and Marriages' Mysteries

How to: Make a Journal

I recently discovered that I love writing in small, spiral notebooks. I find them easy to carry, I like the thickness of the lines, and for whatever reason, I found myself more compelled to write in it than the pretty journal I bought.


That said, I wanted to pretty it up a bit. So I went to my old staple of a craft, collaging.

Brian and I happened to be at the dollar store earlier that day, and I found a book of vintage images there for, you guessed it, a dollar--originally priced $25!

I chose this image to serve as my background:


In my mind, the key to collaging is not using regular old glue. It leaves too many lumpy bumps. So instead, I water the glue down. I pour a puddle of glue into a disposable cup (this one recycled from Brian's breakfast), and add water until the glue is about the consistency of pea soup. I stir the concoction with a straw or coffee stirrer.

This time, I painted the glue onto the notebook cover using a corner of a sponge because I couldn't find a paintbrush.

Next I looked through my image book and cut out anything that spoke to me and added it to the background:





I added an envelope to the inside front cover to hold any random images/words I find inspiring and cut out from magazines or other media. Of course, I couldn't leave that envelope plain, so I collaged that with some of said inspiring words:



And tah-dah! A functional, interesting journal that I can't help smiling every time I write in.

Random thoughts on a fall Friday

I met with a new writing group last night. It's made up mostly of people who were in the novel writing class I took last fall at the Harvard Extension School, along with someone from my MFA program and a friend of one of my classmates. This is the first time I'm in a group that focuses solely on novel writing. We're meeting once a month, discussing half the groups' chapters at a time. I'm looking forward to giving and getting feedback about my novel from people who are reading it a chapter at a time, like any reader would. Plus, since most of us came from the same class, we have a similar style/vocabulary around workshopping, which made it feel like a comfortable fit from the get go.

+++++++++

My BCAE writers' retreat class was canceled due to low enrollment. While I am disappointed, I'm also grateful to have an unexpected chunk of time free. I plan to walk with the dogs in the woods near my house, go on a bike ride with Brian, and organize my shed into a gardening shed, instead of a holder-of-random-crap shed.

I think the low enrollment has to do with the cost of the class--they charge $90 for a 4 hour workshop, which seems like a lot, especially in this economy. I'm going to talk to them about changing the price, and also about altering the time/day from Saturday morning to a weeknight class that meets for 3 hours instead of 4.

+++++++++

I have a lot of photos of some creative projects I've worked on recently--a journal I collaged a cover for, a lantern I made, and a shawl I knit. Hoping to post some photos/how-tos this weekend.

++++++++
I just stumbled across this wonderful bookstore, located in Western Mass, Montague Bookmill. It's described as:
"a used bookstore housed in an 1842 gristmill, set on the banks of the Sawmill River,a few miles north of Northampton and Amherst, Massachusetts. The mill building is also home to a unique cafe, a gourmet restaurant, an antique shop, and an artists studio."

I think I have to make a trip west to check this place out!

+++++++
Lastly, I learned about this awesome website, VeggieTrader.com, where gardeners can post if they have too much of one crop and want to trade it for another home-grown plant. That way if you get way too many cucumbers, instead of letting them go to waste, you can trade them for tomatoes or something else.
It seems to just be getting started, and the more people who use it, the better it will be. So spread the word, please!

+++++++

Have a good weekend, all!

Book lovers unite!

Who knew there was such a thing as Book Blogger Appreciation Week? (Poetmom, that's who!) It's a week to "recognize the hard work and contribution of book bloggers to the promotion and preservation of a literate culture actively engaged in discussing books, authors, and a lifestyle of reading." A lifestyle of reading. I like that!

In honor of BBAW, I'm completing this meme. (Mostly its because I love talking, writing, blogging about books.) Let me know if you do, too!

You and Your Reading Habits

1. Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack? Sure. I snack all the time. No particular favorites though at the moment I'm addicted to cheese Pirate's Booty. (Getting a craving as I type...)

2. Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you? I only mark certain books, like how-to books. Sometimes I will underline in fiction books if I feel the book has a lot to teach me about story telling. For example, I just bought a second copy of Ann Patchett's Magician's Assistant so I could underline how she shows the main character's emotions without telling the reader what she is feeling. I couldn't write in my first copy because Ann Patchett signed it, and writing in that copy would be sacrilege!

3. How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open? Usually bookmarked with random paper, like ATM receipts.

4. Fiction, Non-fiction, or both? My first love is fiction, but I throw in poetry and non-fiction from time to time.

5. Hard copy or audiobooks? Both. There's nothing better than knitting and listening to a good audiobook by the fire on a cold evening.

6. Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point? I read to the end of chapters.

7. If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away? No. I try to remember to do so when I'm by my computer/dictionary, though.

8. What are you currently reading? One Secret Thing, poems by Sharon Olds (Another shout out to PoetMom for suggesting this wonderful collection)

9. What is the last book you bought? Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. (I read a library copy first, and then bought it so I can underline and savor it.)

10. Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time? I almost always have a few books going at the same time. Some are better commute reads, some at-home reads, etc.

11. Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read? Any time I can. I do cherish my commuter train reading time.

12. Do you prefer series books or stand alone books? Stand alone.

13. Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over? Ann Patchett, Timetraveler's wife, Bird by Bird by Ann Lamott

14. How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?) I guess by subject...Fiction books are generally all together, then how-to books, etc. But in general, I'm not very organized with my collection. I like the juxtaposition of serious books with funny ones, poetry with classical fiction.

To Dos

As readers of this blog know, I am an avid list-maker. I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately, and so I am hoping that making and posting this list of things to do will calm me down/organize me. Here goes:

* Promote the writing retreat I'm leading at the Boston Center for Adult Ed next Saturday. (Speaking of which, please check it out, dear readers!

*Look at some old stories to see if they are ready to submit: Rest of June, Darfur, Marriages Mysteries (by end of the month)

*Type up the notes from chapter 2 (of my novel). Continue writing it. I would love to have a draft by mid-October.

*Submit, submit, submit.


And in the spirit of patting myself on the back, here are some "recently dones"

* Organize lists of journals to submit to, and journals I have submitted to and been rejected from (wah.)

* Send first chapter of revised novel to writer's group

* Send essay on body image to MFA friends for review

Hope everyone has a nice (if rainy, in New England at least) weekend!

Fall time

I've been thinking about time a lot this past week. The change of season prompted some of this. In the summer, time seems both very limited and in abundance. The days are so long, giving me the feeling of, why rush? There will be light for hours still. On the other hand, though, there are so many things I want to pack into each warm-weather day, knowing as I do that they are in short supply. So in that way, time feels very short.

Of course, when time is short, I feel rushed and overwhelmed, feelings I just don't deal with well. And one of the thing that often suffers from my lack of time is my writing. I was careful not to let this happen too much this summer, but I definitely didn't get as much work done on my novel as I hoped.

And so, as we enter fall, I'm left with the feeling of, will I ever get this novel done?? Part of the solution is to learn some patience. Another part is to use the shorter, cooler days of fall to hibernate a bit more, saying no to some social activities to make more time for my writing.

Themes
As these things go, once I started thinking about my time problem, I started noticing lots of other mentions to other people's time issues. Here's a paragraph from an article on Salon.com that I particularly liked:
"You may not feel ready to do something that is necessary. You do not control the timetable. This is evident when people die, are born, get married, move away, are fired, hired, change their minds: You are not ready for what the changes in the world around you require you to do. Nonetheless, you deal.
You don't have a lot of time. You don't get a lot of chances. People get ready, there's a train a-coming. Don't need no ticket, you just get on board."

I also realized that I've posted a number of times on time issues, so clearly this is a theme in my life.

Lastly, I came across this lovely quote regarding how to use time. I love it in that it applies to so much, not just farming and crops.
"It will not always be summer. Build barns."
~Hesiod

Happy fall!

Umbrella art

I'm heading away for the weekend, but I leave you with a picture of an art installation project that I found very interesting and inspiring. Amazing what you can do with everyday objects.


Click for more umbrella art.

braiding story lines

While I was away, I took the time to catch up on lots of issues of Writer's Digest. One of the articles I read talked about how, when writing a novel,you need three stories lines that run throughout the book. These story lines should be interwoven, just like the strands of a braid.

I found that to be a useful concept when thinking about my novel. I decided that the three story lines are:
1- What happened to Carrie (the main character's sister) that made her commit suicide.
2- Emily (main character) and David's relationship. Will they open up to one another and take a chance on love?
3- The sisters' family and early life, and the current relationships Emily has with her parents(or lack thereof).

Anyway, this video also reminded me of the idea of braiding, though it only uses two strands, and it's more of a study in contrasts and similarities than a true interweaving. In any case, I think it will be helpful to those of us thinking about story telling. And it's funny and about the Red Sox to boot.

Canadian Writers Retreat: In Photos, Part 1

One of the first things Tavi, Tracy, and I did when we got to the beautiful Haliburton, Canada, (no relation to that evil Haliburton company) was take a stroll through the Haliburton Sclupture Park. It was beautiful, and even the sculptures we didn't like very much were entertaining (see the beaver/lamppost picture).

Here's a slideshow of some of my favorites photos from that day. I'll try to make another slideshow soon that shows how we spent most of the week--writing by the lake. Here's Slide Show, part 1: