Sunday
Friday
Thought for Friday
"I have born 13 children
and seen most all sold into slavery
and when I cried out a mother's grief
none but Jesus heard me. . .
and ain't I a woman?
...
that little man in black there say
a woman can't have as much rights as a man
cause Christ wasn't a woman
Where did your Christ come from?
From God and a woman!
Man had nothing to do with him!
If the first woman God ever made
was strong enough to turn the world
upside down, all alone
together women ought to be able to turn it
rightside up again."
Alice Walker Reads Soujourner Truth from Voices of a People's History.
Wednesday
A Few Things
I haven't done as much writing as I would like lately. I've been working a lot, and also working out. I am going to participate in the Austin Half Marathon as a member of Team LIVESTRONG in honor of a friend who was diagnosed with cancer last year.
If you're so inclined, you can donate to the cause. Any donation is welcomed and appreciated.
I'm not really prepared to run a half marathon. I suspect I will be walking quite a bit of it, but in the end I'm not doing this for athletic/training reasons so that's okay. But I am trying to do enough training so I don't get injured and that, naturally, has cut into my writing time.
Also, Nate and I started rewatching the first season of Lost and talk about a time suck. We intend to watch one episode and then keep watching. As I'm writing this I wonder if that's the wisest use of my time when I'm getting closer to finishing this draft, especially since my workload will only get busier so now is the best time to try to finish.
I'll ponder that but leave you with this:
I have somewhere between 7-10 chapters left to write. I have a list of things I still need to write about but I can see how some might be combined into one chapter. Hard to say for sure, though. Sometimes what I expect is going to be a short section grows and others I expect to be long are handled quickly. But 7-10 is a rough idea.
If you're so inclined, you can donate to the cause. Any donation is welcomed and appreciated.
I'm not really prepared to run a half marathon. I suspect I will be walking quite a bit of it, but in the end I'm not doing this for athletic/training reasons so that's okay. But I am trying to do enough training so I don't get injured and that, naturally, has cut into my writing time.
Also, Nate and I started rewatching the first season of Lost and talk about a time suck. We intend to watch one episode and then keep watching. As I'm writing this I wonder if that's the wisest use of my time when I'm getting closer to finishing this draft, especially since my workload will only get busier so now is the best time to try to finish.
I'll ponder that but leave you with this:
I have somewhere between 7-10 chapters left to write. I have a list of things I still need to write about but I can see how some might be combined into one chapter. Hard to say for sure, though. Sometimes what I expect is going to be a short section grows and others I expect to be long are handled quickly. But 7-10 is a rough idea.
Sunday
Reading List 2010
First two books I read this year were zombie books. That seems foreboding, doesn't it?
World War Z, an Oral History of the Zombie War, Max Brooks
This book showed some serious research and a Renaissance man's knowledge. Also, I admired the fact that he wrote so many oral histories--different ages, genders, nationalities and was able to make them sound distinct. A trait not many writers possess in their toolbox.
Boneshaker, Cherie Priest
This book made me think about some anti-ebook commentary I've read. I'm of the generation that had computers pretty early on but we didn't grow up with them as a matter of everyday existence the way the current generation has. I love physical books, but I also have no issues with reading a book on a Kindle (or other device) screen.
My strategy with physical versus ebooks is this. There is absolutely no reason to buy a mass market paperback. As objects, they are not beautiful. They fall apart and they take up space on your book shelf. For me, that translates into a book I will read on my Kindle or check out from the library.
With trade paperbacks and hard covers, I think about a few factors. Is the book itself beautiful? Is it something I will read over and over again? If so I will probably buy the physical book. If it's just your standard trade paper or hard cover, I will compare prices between the ebook and physical book but chances are I will buy the ebook. My shelves are already full so you need to be very good or beautiful to make it up there now.
I bought Boneshaker as a physical book because it looked different (different font color, for one thing) and I liked the way it was produced. And it makes me think books are going to have to do things differently to continue to thrive as physical objects. I have no doubt people will continue to read (we can argue if short attention spans may change what they read, but that's a discussion for a different time), but how they read will change.
Younger people have been trained through Netflix and other services to expect instant gratification. If they hear about a book, a movie, a TV show, they want to be able to experience it instantly. They don't feel like waiting, planning a trip to the bookstore, maybe finding out it's not in stock (with those short attention spans if your product isn't available they'll probably move onto the next thing that catches their eye).
I don't think I'm saying anything new or different from what others have said, but I hear people my own age and older talking about not wanting to read on a screen. I think it's an inevitable change, whatever form it ends up taking. We're in the beta/VHS wars of ebook readers but I have no doubt in the future we'll be in the Netflix/DVR version of books and it's going to happen a lot faster with books than it did with movies because other industries have paved the way.
I'm excited. If there was a way they could figure out a good way to showcase magazines or newspapers on these devices I would subscribe to more.
Anybody out there have any thoughts on the matter?
World War Z, an Oral History of the Zombie War, Max Brooks
This book showed some serious research and a Renaissance man's knowledge. Also, I admired the fact that he wrote so many oral histories--different ages, genders, nationalities and was able to make them sound distinct. A trait not many writers possess in their toolbox.
Boneshaker, Cherie Priest
This book made me think about some anti-ebook commentary I've read. I'm of the generation that had computers pretty early on but we didn't grow up with them as a matter of everyday existence the way the current generation has. I love physical books, but I also have no issues with reading a book on a Kindle (or other device) screen.
My strategy with physical versus ebooks is this. There is absolutely no reason to buy a mass market paperback. As objects, they are not beautiful. They fall apart and they take up space on your book shelf. For me, that translates into a book I will read on my Kindle or check out from the library.
With trade paperbacks and hard covers, I think about a few factors. Is the book itself beautiful? Is it something I will read over and over again? If so I will probably buy the physical book. If it's just your standard trade paper or hard cover, I will compare prices between the ebook and physical book but chances are I will buy the ebook. My shelves are already full so you need to be very good or beautiful to make it up there now.
I bought Boneshaker as a physical book because it looked different (different font color, for one thing) and I liked the way it was produced. And it makes me think books are going to have to do things differently to continue to thrive as physical objects. I have no doubt people will continue to read (we can argue if short attention spans may change what they read, but that's a discussion for a different time), but how they read will change.
Younger people have been trained through Netflix and other services to expect instant gratification. If they hear about a book, a movie, a TV show, they want to be able to experience it instantly. They don't feel like waiting, planning a trip to the bookstore, maybe finding out it's not in stock (with those short attention spans if your product isn't available they'll probably move onto the next thing that catches their eye).
I don't think I'm saying anything new or different from what others have said, but I hear people my own age and older talking about not wanting to read on a screen. I think it's an inevitable change, whatever form it ends up taking. We're in the beta/VHS wars of ebook readers but I have no doubt in the future we'll be in the Netflix/DVR version of books and it's going to happen a lot faster with books than it did with movies because other industries have paved the way.
I'm excited. If there was a way they could figure out a good way to showcase magazines or newspapers on these devices I would subscribe to more.
Anybody out there have any thoughts on the matter?
Thursday
Output
I did not work on my novel over the holiday break. First there was traveling and Christmas, then I was in the grips of what I think was the flu. Nate and I were both sick 11 days or so and we're still not fully functional. That seems more severe than a cold. So, not much work on the novel.
I did, however, write a short story that's just over 5,000 words (even my short stories tend to be long). I'm not really sure where the story came from. But they come when they come and it's possible to for the train to go off the tracks if you don't ride it when it's time. So I have a draft, I'm letting it sit, and hoping to get back to the novel now that I am more or less healthy again. I'll revisit the story after it's had some time to ferment.
In other output news, Zoe has been making some great strides in potty training. Our pediatrician said that the term potty training is inaccurate because you don't "train" them so much as they reach a point where they are physically and mentally ready and they start using the potty on their own. For the most part that seems to be happening.
She started using the potty around 18 months and did really well until she passed her second birthday. Then using the potty sometimes became a power struggle and if you fight with a two year old chances are you will lose, so I tried not to push it.
Over the holiday break we often found her on the potty on her own initiative. We weren't asking her over and over if she needed to go and she wasn't telling us she needed to go. She figured out she needed to go and we'd find her in the bathroom doing her thing. Needless to say, this is very exciting. It isn't 100 percent of the time and she still has accidents, but it seems like we've turned a corner.
All in all, not so bad on the multiple output fronts.
I did, however, write a short story that's just over 5,000 words (even my short stories tend to be long). I'm not really sure where the story came from. But they come when they come and it's possible to for the train to go off the tracks if you don't ride it when it's time. So I have a draft, I'm letting it sit, and hoping to get back to the novel now that I am more or less healthy again. I'll revisit the story after it's had some time to ferment.
In other output news, Zoe has been making some great strides in potty training. Our pediatrician said that the term potty training is inaccurate because you don't "train" them so much as they reach a point where they are physically and mentally ready and they start using the potty on their own. For the most part that seems to be happening.
She started using the potty around 18 months and did really well until she passed her second birthday. Then using the potty sometimes became a power struggle and if you fight with a two year old chances are you will lose, so I tried not to push it.
Over the holiday break we often found her on the potty on her own initiative. We weren't asking her over and over if she needed to go and she wasn't telling us she needed to go. She figured out she needed to go and we'd find her in the bathroom doing her thing. Needless to say, this is very exciting. It isn't 100 percent of the time and she still has accidents, but it seems like we've turned a corner.
All in all, not so bad on the multiple output fronts.