Friday, December 29, 2006
It takes...
It takes a certain amount of wonderful insanity to daily sit before the computer and play with the often wacky paper dolls of fantastic nonsense. This is fiction writing as I see it.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Bookstore, Shall we ever decline?
The modern Bookstore. Ah yes. I'm partial, of course, to Borders, though I won't say I haven't found things I've enjoyed at B&N or even the wretched other store locally (I shall not name it).
I think I enjoy these stores so much because I can still remember times of waiting for things to come back from loan at the library, and ordering books from the local "book store" in our rural town(s). Ah, the book store.
It was an old, old two story house with a vague sense of "Victorian" swoop and a big comfy wrap-around porch. It sat across the street from a fire station and a big corroded barn. Both stories were book filled, and the books you purchased were a sort of function of what they had in stock. I trusted them to stock good stuff, and really never questioned if a book would be good or not.
I was first exposed to science fiction there.
The modern book store, well... to think I can walk in with a book in mind, and the chances are, it's there, waiting for me. The books I buy are calculated, now. I hear something about them, and nab them up.
No more the random. Well, at least, not until yesterday. My wife and I were at Borders and she was buying a present for her mom and a book for herself, and I was confronted with the fact that, "Hey, these books here are 'buy two get one free.' I was the one! I got to pick a book and it would be free!" I didn't really know any of the books on the table (all except "Eats, shoots and leaves," yet I can't bring myself to read a book about grammar and punctuation). I settled on a book called "Through a Glass Darkly" by Karleen Koen.
I've never read it, never heard of the author. It's a thick tome, and I'll read it, I'm sure. I think if you ask the advice of any writer on "how to write," first they will say, "read." Oxford's notes on admission into their English program state that the applicant shall have read widely and voraciously.
In that way, I should mention I was also given a Sony Reader as an early Christmas present. Surprising? Not at all, but exactly what I wanted. I've been piling books on it as well, random smatterings of bookitude from Austen to Asimov. Still not out of the A's. Lots of things to read, though. Interesting thing I've been forced to consider in my time with the Reader: Will this whole advent of techo-reading (if you prefer a less sci-fi term, "ebookin'") finally catch on, after the 5th effort by major manufacturers? Might there come a day when a weekly trip to the book store no longer be practical or commonplace for avid readers? From the moment, with the limitations of online bookstores, it doesn't seem terribly likely, but on the other hand, probably every book is made digital before it is printed on paper, these days... something to consider.
Anyway, there is a point in all of this... this is a great season for reading!
I think I enjoy these stores so much because I can still remember times of waiting for things to come back from loan at the library, and ordering books from the local "book store" in our rural town(s). Ah, the book store.
It was an old, old two story house with a vague sense of "Victorian" swoop and a big comfy wrap-around porch. It sat across the street from a fire station and a big corroded barn. Both stories were book filled, and the books you purchased were a sort of function of what they had in stock. I trusted them to stock good stuff, and really never questioned if a book would be good or not.
I was first exposed to science fiction there.
The modern book store, well... to think I can walk in with a book in mind, and the chances are, it's there, waiting for me. The books I buy are calculated, now. I hear something about them, and nab them up.
No more the random. Well, at least, not until yesterday. My wife and I were at Borders and she was buying a present for her mom and a book for herself, and I was confronted with the fact that, "Hey, these books here are 'buy two get one free.' I was the one! I got to pick a book and it would be free!" I didn't really know any of the books on the table (all except "Eats, shoots and leaves," yet I can't bring myself to read a book about grammar and punctuation). I settled on a book called "Through a Glass Darkly" by Karleen Koen.
I've never read it, never heard of the author. It's a thick tome, and I'll read it, I'm sure. I think if you ask the advice of any writer on "how to write," first they will say, "read." Oxford's notes on admission into their English program state that the applicant shall have read widely and voraciously.
In that way, I should mention I was also given a Sony Reader as an early Christmas present. Surprising? Not at all, but exactly what I wanted. I've been piling books on it as well, random smatterings of bookitude from Austen to Asimov. Still not out of the A's. Lots of things to read, though. Interesting thing I've been forced to consider in my time with the Reader: Will this whole advent of techo-reading (if you prefer a less sci-fi term, "ebookin'") finally catch on, after the 5th effort by major manufacturers? Might there come a day when a weekly trip to the book store no longer be practical or commonplace for avid readers? From the moment, with the limitations of online bookstores, it doesn't seem terribly likely, but on the other hand, probably every book is made digital before it is printed on paper, these days... something to consider.
Anyway, there is a point in all of this... this is a great season for reading!
Monday, December 04, 2006
YOU FAIL
Oof, I will admit it, I completely sacrificed finishing my novel within the bounds of Nanowrimo for school work. I couldn't handle both. I am weak. WEAK!!!!
I don't actually feel guilty. I've proven to myself that I can do the whole "novel in a month" scenario... now, lets see if I can write a good novel in... say, 4 months.
I spent about 10 minutes this evening reading through an old book of poetry from about 7 years ago.
Yikes.
Of course, everyone looks back on their old writings and cringes. It would derail the process of improving if you didn't, I suspect.
It's not that I think everyone should throw out their old work, or deny it... far from it. It's always fun and a little silly to go back and re-read. Still, no point buying a house and living there, in the past... let's see, I think it was Patricia McKillip (Ok, I admit, I know it was her, I'm typing the quote out the book right now to make sure I get it right) that said of her "Riddle Master" series, "It is, and will always be, closest to my childhood's heart, the heart of whoever that young woman was who wrote those novels." It isn't her favorite work, and she could not write it again now, just out of pure... change. Growth? Experience? Change of opinion? Another reason?
I'm going to go write now.
I don't actually feel guilty. I've proven to myself that I can do the whole "novel in a month" scenario... now, lets see if I can write a good novel in... say, 4 months.
I spent about 10 minutes this evening reading through an old book of poetry from about 7 years ago.
Yikes.
Of course, everyone looks back on their old writings and cringes. It would derail the process of improving if you didn't, I suspect.
It's not that I think everyone should throw out their old work, or deny it... far from it. It's always fun and a little silly to go back and re-read. Still, no point buying a house and living there, in the past... let's see, I think it was Patricia McKillip (Ok, I admit, I know it was her, I'm typing the quote out the book right now to make sure I get it right) that said of her "Riddle Master" series, "It is, and will always be, closest to my childhood's heart, the heart of whoever that young woman was who wrote those novels." It isn't her favorite work, and she could not write it again now, just out of pure... change. Growth? Experience? Change of opinion? Another reason?
I'm going to go write now.
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