Published first on Thursday, July 29, 2004 as Ernest Hemingway's Brick
A visit in the early 1970s to Ernest Hemingway's home in Key West, Florida, was an insightful and entertaining travel experience. The house and grounds were crawling with cats and kittens, descendents (so said the docents) from Papa's polydactyl pets. They scampered and draped themselves about, kings and queens of the compound. Hemingway's high desk, where he used to write, standing, made me wonder if the upright position improved his thinking, serving as a counter to alcohol.
The historical society administering the property at the time sold bricks that had surrounded Hemingway's swimming pool. I bought a good one, engraved on one side with the words "Baltimore Block" and bearing remains of the mortar that had once held it in place. This was early in my writing career. My then-husband asked me why I wanted the brick. "For inspiration!" I enthused. Hemingway was one of my favorite writers then and now.
"What're you going to do, sit on it?"
Occasionally the brick has served as a doorstop, but its usual spot is under my feet, helping to balance me as I perch on my desk chair used when computing, keeping me in an ergonomically proper posture to prevent "cumulative trauma disorder" as the physical medicine people call it. The brick is much too heavy to be a paperweight, and I've never imagined any other use. I feel it keeps me grounded as well as balanced. There's little Hemingway in my writing (except on Twitter) and I could not have lived the life he did, but I enjoy having a little Hemingway in my life. It inspires me.
September 30, 2011
September 25, 2011
Burn, Blog, Burn!
This is a compilation of posts that appeared in July 2004.
It's my contention that blogs are a legitimate form of writing. What I don't ascribe to is the apparent notion by many other bloggers that spelling and punctuation are unimportant in this format.Admittedly, I know of no other blogger who is as antique as I, however, that's no excuse for not even using a spell checking program or feature on entries. I feel certain it would catch "ever" spelled "evar" and the confabulation of "purpose" and "proposing" into "purposing." Why do these people expect to be taken seriously? How do they expect to find employment? Am I seriously out of touch with the real world?
I might add that I had a thirty-something daughter who emailed me frequently. She was neither a writer, nor even a college graduate at the time. Nonetheless, I don't recall a misspelled word in her messages. She seldom wrote incomplete sentences, and she never appended "I'm just saying" to any comment. I'm just saying this is a complete mystery. Illuminate me, please.
An acquaintance complained, "Why don't you blog daily?" I could say I was impressed with Wired News: Bloggers Suffer Burnout, but the truth is that I go for quality, not quantity. It's sort of a Zen thing, or a Metaphysics of Quality as Robert Pirsig wrote about in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
While researching Pirsig, I discovered he'd written a new book, Lila's Child, and a website devoted to MOQ. According to a FAQ at MOQ, Pirsig lived in Portsmouth, NH, where I spent three long years in the 60's. My best production at that time was a beautiful baby girl, scoring a perfect 10 on her Apgar. I wonder if that and genetics explain her excellent verbal skills?
September 22, 2011
One Hit Wonders
Originally published Thursday, August 19, 2004
When I was a busy, visible freelance writer and staff reporter, everyone I met knew a great story. They all wanted gratitude for the tips, and they wanted to see the stories in the very next edition of the paper or magazine! Eventually I learned to say, "Wow! I really wish I could follow up on that. Unfortunately the editor tells me what to write about. Why don't you talk to him?"
Conventional wisdom declares that everyone has a book inside, just waiting to be written. Perhaps that explains all the "one hit wonders" in publishing. One book, and you never hear from them again. One issue, and the magazine folds. One pilot, and the series crashes. Remember "Tom Swifties?" she asks quickly. Those were one line jokes with a clever and cogent adverb tacked on the end.
We're probably all pretty good at crafting one liners, whether they're jokes or concepts for movies or book themes. We toss 'em off like popcorn at parties. One hits the floor, no one notices or cares. It's on to the next. What distinguishes the successful writer from the rest is taking that one idea and the next one and applying his or her seat to the chair seat (who said that -- Mark Twain?).
When I was a busy, visible freelance writer and staff reporter, everyone I met knew a great story. They all wanted gratitude for the tips, and they wanted to see the stories in the very next edition of the paper or magazine! Eventually I learned to say, "Wow! I really wish I could follow up on that. Unfortunately the editor tells me what to write about. Why don't you talk to him?"
Conventional wisdom declares that everyone has a book inside, just waiting to be written. Perhaps that explains all the "one hit wonders" in publishing. One book, and you never hear from them again. One issue, and the magazine folds. One pilot, and the series crashes. Remember "Tom Swifties?" she asks quickly. Those were one line jokes with a clever and cogent adverb tacked on the end.
We're probably all pretty good at crafting one liners, whether they're jokes or concepts for movies or book themes. We toss 'em off like popcorn at parties. One hits the floor, no one notices or cares. It's on to the next. What distinguishes the successful writer from the rest is taking that one idea and the next one and applying his or her seat to the chair seat (who said that -- Mark Twain?).
September 18, 2011
Internet and Literature
The following appeared in July 2004 as two separate posts Email as Art? and Not My Imagination.
Daniel Henninger commented on the NEA report in his Wonder Land column in the Wall Street Journal, blaming the decline in reading literature on the Internet! It's true that, counter-intuitively, the research revealed that lit readers watch as much or even more TV than non-readers, but I found no support for the notion that being online reduces reading paper products.
He credited the 'net with reviving communication among friends, however, I cannot support email as literary contribution. If anything, email only accelerates the rate of communication at the cost of quality. Even if you lump together all the emails to a friend in a given period of time, the result is not a coherent communication. It's more like disjointed conversation. (I looked at some of mine.)
It is difficult for me to connect Internet use with the decline in reading hard copy, because I print out much of what I run across online. Onscreen reading is terribly hard on the eyes. (See my ebook, WRITERS & WEBSITES, in the Kindle Store on Amazon.) Mine blur and burn after only a couple of hours.
I print any article more than a page in length to peruse in the pleasure of my lounge chair -- while the TV blares away in the background. Admittedly this leads to my brain sometimes receiving strangely mixed messages. Lounging in front of the TV is also one of my two favorite places to read books. The TV doesn't even have to be turned on, but it usually is.
Research by the National Endowment for the Arts confirmed my rant about the decline of reading literature, especially among the young. Get the 60-page .PDF report. It also offers more global support for reversing the trend. Reading literature is directly correlated with education levels and community participation [attending all kinds of performing arts events (even sports), volunteering, visiting various museums]. Disclaimer: correlation does not necessarily imply causation.
Daniel Henninger commented on the NEA report in his Wonder Land column in the Wall Street Journal, blaming the decline in reading literature on the Internet! It's true that, counter-intuitively, the research revealed that lit readers watch as much or even more TV than non-readers, but I found no support for the notion that being online reduces reading paper products.
He credited the 'net with reviving communication among friends, however, I cannot support email as literary contribution. If anything, email only accelerates the rate of communication at the cost of quality. Even if you lump together all the emails to a friend in a given period of time, the result is not a coherent communication. It's more like disjointed conversation. (I looked at some of mine.)
It is difficult for me to connect Internet use with the decline in reading hard copy, because I print out much of what I run across online. Onscreen reading is terribly hard on the eyes. (See my ebook, WRITERS & WEBSITES, in the Kindle Store on Amazon.) Mine blur and burn after only a couple of hours.
I print any article more than a page in length to peruse in the pleasure of my lounge chair -- while the TV blares away in the background. Admittedly this leads to my brain sometimes receiving strangely mixed messages. Lounging in front of the TV is also one of my two favorite places to read books. The TV doesn't even have to be turned on, but it usually is.
Research by the National Endowment for the Arts confirmed my rant about the decline of reading literature, especially among the young. Get the 60-page .PDF report. It also offers more global support for reversing the trend. Reading literature is directly correlated with education levels and community participation [attending all kinds of performing arts events (even sports), volunteering, visiting various museums]. Disclaimer: correlation does not necessarily imply causation.
September 15, 2011
Scentsibility
Most of this post first appeared Saturday, August 21, 2004 as Fragrant Reminders.
Old Spice deodorant probably isn't the first product, or the last, to play up the notion that fragrances evoke memories better than input to any of our other senses. A whiff of the classic Old Spice after shave lotion, and I'm in my father's embrace, kissing hello or goodbye. And the smell of Old Spice deodorant (classic) reminds me of a husband, in our youthful, erotic years.
Aqua Velva blue takes me to my grandparents' kitchen, so long ago, when my grandfather emerged from his after work bath to join us for dinner. Staying with my grandparents during summers is my happiest, safest childhood memory.
If Gran smelled like anything, it would have been flour; but the scent of their home was apples and bacon and stewed chicken. Occasionally I buy bacon and fry it with a sliced apple, just to relive those happy moments, to recapture those warm feelings before the knowings of adulthood ripped away childhood dreams.
Authors often forget to include references to fragrance in their writing. It's an important part of life, too important to omit. Some scents have universal connections -- who doesn't know the odor of a litter box for cats? Phew! Or the dry, dusty smell of an attic; the mustiness of a damp basement.
Using all the senses in describing people, places and things of a fictional world provides dimensionality. Leaving them out offers only a dry recitation of events, flat characters and sterile dialogue. Spice up your writing!
Old Spice deodorant probably isn't the first product, or the last, to play up the notion that fragrances evoke memories better than input to any of our other senses. A whiff of the classic Old Spice after shave lotion, and I'm in my father's embrace, kissing hello or goodbye. And the smell of Old Spice deodorant (classic) reminds me of a husband, in our youthful, erotic years.
Aqua Velva blue takes me to my grandparents' kitchen, so long ago, when my grandfather emerged from his after work bath to join us for dinner. Staying with my grandparents during summers is my happiest, safest childhood memory.
If Gran smelled like anything, it would have been flour; but the scent of their home was apples and bacon and stewed chicken. Occasionally I buy bacon and fry it with a sliced apple, just to relive those happy moments, to recapture those warm feelings before the knowings of adulthood ripped away childhood dreams.
Authors often forget to include references to fragrance in their writing. It's an important part of life, too important to omit. Some scents have universal connections -- who doesn't know the odor of a litter box for cats? Phew! Or the dry, dusty smell of an attic; the mustiness of a damp basement.
Using all the senses in describing people, places and things of a fictional world provides dimensionality. Leaving them out offers only a dry recitation of events, flat characters and sterile dialogue. Spice up your writing!
September 7, 2011
Writer's Status
First published Friday, July 30, 2004 as Professional, Amateur or Other?
A beginning writer expressed concern about his status. I called him a "beginner" because he does write. He's produced several stories and essays. He will always have amateur status until someone pays him money for a piece of writing. I have to say "pays money" because some publishers consider publishing a work as pay, and some offer copies as a form of payment.You can have a poem published in an anthology and still be an amateur. It has nothing to do with the quality -- or even the value -- of your writing.
Writers are different from, say, athletes, because they have another type of status just alluded to: published or unpublished. Prior to Tim Berners-Lee's inventions of the World Wide Web in 1989 and the first graphical user interface (GUI browser) in 1990, there were only two ways being published: by a publisher in the traditional manner or by yourself (vanity or self-publishing). Even if someone else pays, like a benefactor or indulgent spouse or relative, the condition is still self-published.
Paying just for your work to be printed as a book or booklet counts as self-publishing, too. In that case, you are your publisher. Now you can publish your writing in a blog, on your website or on websites that publish writers (for free or a fee).
Computers further muddy publishing status with the "publish-on-demand" or "print-on-demand" printers and people who call themselves publishers. For a price they set up an electronic version of your work and print (and sometimes distribute and sell) as few as one copy. Having your first published work "accepted" by a demand publisher seems a spurious status change.
The murky waters cleared somewhat with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. It legitimized electronic publishing by the back door method of extending copyright protection to works that are pirated in electronic form.
Why the concern about the publishing status? It's all about "clippings" and contests. Before you scoff and huff away, know that some contests pay $5,000, even $10,000 and more to winners. The catch comes in when the writer has to be "unpublished." And the decision still appears to be up to the contest sponsors or to a specific publisher.
For nonfiction writers especially, the ability to produce clippings of previously published work is often the entry to paid publishing. Is a piece published on the Internet really "published?" Will editors accept an electronic file (which can be easily faked) as a clipping? We can be happy now that more often the answer to these questions is "Yes!"
A beginning writer expressed concern about his status. I called him a "beginner" because he does write. He's produced several stories and essays. He will always have amateur status until someone pays him money for a piece of writing. I have to say "pays money" because some publishers consider publishing a work as pay, and some offer copies as a form of payment.You can have a poem published in an anthology and still be an amateur. It has nothing to do with the quality -- or even the value -- of your writing.
Writers are different from, say, athletes, because they have another type of status just alluded to: published or unpublished. Prior to Tim Berners-Lee's inventions of the World Wide Web in 1989 and the first graphical user interface (GUI browser) in 1990, there were only two ways being published: by a publisher in the traditional manner or by yourself (vanity or self-publishing). Even if someone else pays, like a benefactor or indulgent spouse or relative, the condition is still self-published.
Paying just for your work to be printed as a book or booklet counts as self-publishing, too. In that case, you are your publisher. Now you can publish your writing in a blog, on your website or on websites that publish writers (for free or a fee).
Computers further muddy publishing status with the "publish-on-demand" or "print-on-demand" printers and people who call themselves publishers. For a price they set up an electronic version of your work and print (and sometimes distribute and sell) as few as one copy. Having your first published work "accepted" by a demand publisher seems a spurious status change.
The murky waters cleared somewhat with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. It legitimized electronic publishing by the back door method of extending copyright protection to works that are pirated in electronic form.
Why the concern about the publishing status? It's all about "clippings" and contests. Before you scoff and huff away, know that some contests pay $5,000, even $10,000 and more to winners. The catch comes in when the writer has to be "unpublished." And the decision still appears to be up to the contest sponsors or to a specific publisher.
For nonfiction writers especially, the ability to produce clippings of previously published work is often the entry to paid publishing. Is a piece published on the Internet really "published?" Will editors accept an electronic file (which can be easily faked) as a clipping? We can be happy now that more often the answer to these questions is "Yes!"
September 1, 2011
Did I Loose You?
Original version published Tuesday, June 15, 2004
Online recently I discovered a new example of word confusion: expand and expend. The first means to increase, the latter means to decrease as in to spend or use up. An exhortation to "expend your contacts" was not an incentive to sign up for a business networking service. Other commonly confused words include:
Online recently I discovered a new example of word confusion: expand and expend. The first means to increase, the latter means to decrease as in to spend or use up. An exhortation to "expend your contacts" was not an incentive to sign up for a business networking service. Other commonly confused words include:
affect and effect (both as nouns and verbs)
rap and wrap
lie and lay (as verbs)
accept and except
allusion and illusion and delusion
censure and censor
compose and comprise
imply and infer
founder and flounder
loose and lose
Find more words that are easily confused at Oxford Dictionaries
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