I thought “New Moon” was great. I liked it much more than the first movie. It seems everyone thought it would do well opening weekend, but no one expected it to do this well. It broke all kinds of records.

The big story in publishing last week was Harlequin announcing it was launching a self-publishing side. Many authors and organizations (including RWA) are not too happy about it.

I have no problem with self-publishing provided that (1) the author has a platform—a sure way to sell the books, and (2) the author really, really, truly understands what he/she is getting into. The majority of the time, an author doesn’t meet both those criteria and things end up going a way they didn’t expect.

Times have been changing, especially with the economy and the Internet, so I think we need to know that these publishing companies are going to be changing as well. We can fight against it all we want (and we should to an extent), but it will still change. As for the companies, I feel they would be better off doing separate names, websites, etc… This would probably help the authors, editors, and the rest of the publishing community not get so upset. I think I did hear that Harlequin was considering changing the name of the new self-publishing imprint.

Book Reviews

“Story of a Girl” by Sara Zarr
2008
Little, Brown

I’m sorry to say that I have just now read my first Sara Zarr book. I have wanted to for awhile. “Story of a Girl” is a poignant tale of a girl who gets caught (by her dad!) having sex with an older guy when she was thirteen. Now, a few years later, she struggles through the pain and those who won’t forgive her (and the fact that she can’t forgive herself). A very fast read with a complex character. I look forward to reading more of Zarr’s books.

“When You Reach Me” by Rebecca Stead
2009
Random House

I hardly ever read Middle Grade. Actually, come to think of it, I never read MG. But I had heard good things about this one, so I thought I’d check it out. The story takes place in the 70s, and shows a girl dealing with her game show obsessed mom and the loss of her best friend. Along the way strange things are happening, and she starts getting notes from someone. I really enjoyed the mystery in this. It kept the pages turning for me. Compelling book with some good character development and interactions. I can’t tell much about it without giving the plot away. It’s gotten great reviews, and I suspect it will do well.

Have any ideas for a great fiction read-aloud book? Post your comments here.

A few things to keep in mind:

• The book shouldn’t be too long, not over 200 pages.
• It should be a story that makes us think about the character, about ourselves, about the world.
• Maybe it could have a girl as the main character, since we’ve read two books with boys as the main characters?
• What about Wendy Mass’s book “A Mango-Shaped Space?”
• Other ideas…?

Callie Shell: “It was primary morning in New Hampshire. Barack and Michelle Obama had been campaigning separately all week. In the first few months of 2008 their private time seemed to consist of a few crossover moments in back hallways before rallies. This moment was rare and you could tell they just loved being able to sit together. Jan. 8, 2008.”

“Most people who bother with the matter at all would admit that the English language is in a bad way, but it is generally assumed that we cannot by conscious action do anything about it.  Our civilization is decadent and our language–so the argument runs–much inevitably share in the general collapse.  It follows that any struggle against the abuse of language is a sentimental archaism, like preferring candles to electric light or hansom cabs to aeroplanes.  Underneath this lies the half-conscious belief that language is a natural growth and not an instrument which we shape for our own purposes.” (77)

This is how George Orwell’s essay titled “Politics and the English Language” begins.  It can be found in his collection of essays Shooting an Elephant New York: Harcourt, Brace & World (1950), 77-92.  Now, while this essay is a commentary on political writing it is also packed full of great writing advice.  I originally came across it through a series of emails that were circulating on campus amongst the faculty and one suggested that we should all go back and review this essay.  Seeing as I had never read it I decided to give it a try. 

Near the beginning of the essay, Orwell gives five examples of poor political writing, which he later comments on in detail, but all have two common qualities: “staleness of imagery” and “lack of precision”.  He then goes on to illustrate the ways that prose-construction is avoided:

• “Dying metaphors.  A newly invented metaphor assists thought by evoking a visual image, while on the other hand a metaphor which is technically ‘dead’ . . . has in effect reverted to being an ordinary word and can generally be used without loss of vividness.  But in between these two classes there is a huge dump of worn-out metaphors which have lost all evocative power and are merely used because they save people the trouble of inventing phrases for themselves.” (80)
• “Operators or verbal false limbs.  These save the trouble of picking out appropriate verbs and nouns, and at the same time pad each sentence with extra syllables which give it an appearance of symmetry.” (80)
• “Pretentious diction . . . [results in] an increase in slovenliness and vagueness.” (81-2)
• “Meaningless words.“ (82)  Orwell describes this best, but I think the phrase is descriptive itself. 

Honestly, I recommend you take the time to read this essay.  It is a quick read and full of constructive advice.

“As I have tried to show, modern writing at its worst does not consist in picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images in order to make their meaning clearer.  It consists of gumming together long strips of words which have already been set in order by someone else, and making the results presentable by sheer humbug.  The attraction of this way of writing is that it is easy.  It is easier–even quicker, once you have the habit–to say In my opinion it is not an unjustifiable assumption that than to say I think.” (85)

I love his sarcasm here:

“By using stale metaphors, similes and idioms, you save much mental effort, at the cost of leaving your meaning vague, not only for your reader but for yourself.” (85-6)

He quickly moves to further advice:

“A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus:  What am I trying to say?  What words will express it?  What image or idiom will make it clearer?  Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?  And he will probably ask himself two more: Could I put it more shortly?  Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?  But you are not obliged to go to all this trouble.  You can shirk it by simply throwing your mind open and letting the ready-made phrases come crowding in.” (86-7)

As he gets further into his commentary about political writing, Orwell does not hide his opinion:

“The great enemy of clear language is insincerity.  When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink.” (88-9) 

Are you a cuttlefish?

And, predictably, the author admits he has probably committed many of these offenses himself. (89) He is in part, like others, influenced by his environment.

“But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.  A bad usage can spread by tradition and imitation, even among people who should and do know better.” (89)

As he nears the end of the essay, Orwell makes several more writing recommendations and then clearly maps out six rules to follow when logical instinct fails in the writing process:

“(i)  Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

(ii)  Never use a long word where a short one will do.

(iii)  If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

(iv)  Never use the passive where you can use the active.

(v)  Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

(vi)  Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

These rules sound elementary, and so they are, but they demand a deep change of attitude in anyone who has grown used to writing in the style  now fashionable.  One could keep all of them and still write bad English, but one could not write the kind of stuff that I quoted in those five specimens at the beginning of this article.” (91-2)

So, how are you doing with your writing?  Well, I certainly have a lot of room for improvement.  In a time where self-publishing is so easy, I think we should make a conscious effort to review and revise what we publish on a regular basis.  Well, at lease I should.  Wish me luck!  And go read Orwell’s essay.

…Captain Dan Mathews rubs his jaw speculatively. The moment passes. Thirty-five years later I watch him rub his jaw speculatively. The moment passes. I am writing about Broderick Crawford rubbing his jaw. The moment passes. The moment of the moment passing passes.

A lot of what is ordinarily referred to as mental illness is really just noticing things that pass notice.

…

Murderers take heed: the man you kill may be somebody’s father. Somewhere there is a little boy who needs to kill that father himself in order that he may grow up strong and true.

It’s very dreary, inside the house.

Walked the li’l crits. It was cold and Bella, the older beagle, could barely keep up with Gracie. Whenever self saw a dog coming in the opposite direction, she would tug the two dogs to the side. Thank goodness, Gracie refrained from giving her usual foaming-at-the-mouth-let-me-just-make-like-I’m-a-Rottweiler rendition.

Today, self has no idea where her head is at. She’s been reading the same two pages of Mme. Precious Ramotswe’s latest adventure, Blue Shoes and Happiness, over. And over. And over. Perhaps she just needs to give herself time to adjust to the new clime? The last mystery she finished, after all (Boris Akunin’s The Death of Achilles — four stars!) was set in 19th century Moscow, and here she is now in Botswana! And everyone knows how hot it is in Botswana, no question it’s way different from the chilly clime of Russia!

Went to the Honeybaked Ham store in Palo Alto (just north of San Antonio Road), and such was hubby’s panic at the thought of never being able to taste Honeybaked Ham again, that he bought an eight-lb. ham, and four side dishes (!!@@##) even though there are only three of us at home for Thanksgiving.

Self still recovering from loss of the Axe yesterday. But, will wonders never cease? The worst team in the league, the Oakland Raiders, shocked the Cincinnati Bengals by beating them this afternoon, 20 to 17.

Let’s see, what else did self do this weekend?

Oh yes, self stayed up until 2 a.m. last night, watching Tom Wisdom in Romanian sci-fi epic, “Fire and Ice.” She nearly burst out laughing at first sight of him with moustache, because he reminded her so much of the young Cary Elwes in “The Princess Bride.” And there was not a single kissing scene between him and his co-star, even though the movie was supposed to be this big fantasy/action/romance thing. And the dragons (one “Fire,” so it was red; the other “Ice,” so it was grey) were absolutely the cheesiest thing self had ever seen since, since — “Jason and the Argonauts”? But, anyhoo, self quite content to see Mr. Wisdom again, and she fell asleep right afterwards, no problemo.

Stay tuned, dear blog readers, stay tuned.

Earlier today, I watched Control, the movie about Ian Curtis of Joy Division. Excellent movie, with a rightfully praised performance by Sam Riley’s performance as Curtis. The thing that impressed me most is the subtlety of his transformation into someone whose profound unhappiness led him to commit suicide at the age of 23.

Curtis killed himself before I became aware of Joy Division, but I was a fan of New Order, the name that band took as they continued in the wake of Curtis’s death. The thing is, I love, love, love, “Love Will Tear Us Apart”, Joy Division’s biggest single. I didn’t know, though, that it was Joy Division — or maybe that knowledge just never stuck.

~*~*~*~*~*~

I have an author to add to New To Me: Emily Arsenault for her debut, The Broken Teaglass. Publisher’s Weekly put it better than I can: “In Emily Arsenault’s quirky, arresting debut, two young lexicographers find clues to an old murder case hidden in the files at their dictionary company…The result is an absorbing, offbeat mystery–meets–coming-of-age novel that’s as sweet as it is suspenseful.”

One of the things I particularly liked about the book is that it demonstrates the importance of context. Quotes that seem to mean one thing, to have one tone, have a different meaning, a different tone in a different context.

 ~*~*~*~*~*~

Things have been difficult on the writing front. I came closer than I have before to quitting Dragonfly — I was convinced its problems were insurmountable, or at least would mean cutting roughly 25% of the existing work. That made me sad, made me feel as if the wretched thing will never be finished.

Fortunately, before I got out my machete, I got to the heart of the real problem…and figured out the real solution. Whew! So now it’s just a matter of implementing it…

People, I really wish to perform a full revision before posting, but since I’m so late and will have no time as soon as I can see, I decided to post it anyway.  Hopefully, there will be not (lots of) huge stupid grammar/misspelling mistakes…  :S

Round 10 –  to kill off one of your characters.

Much like the age old questions, “chicken or the egg?”, and “pirates or ninjas?”, Science Fiction vs. Fantasy is one of those unanswerable questions of life. But, while I can see the appeal of the first two questions, I have to wonder why we bother to ask this third question in the first place. I believe Fantasy and Science Fiction are two sides of the same coin, different only in the trappings, not in the actual spirit of pure imagination which I believe goes into both. Furthermore, the line between these two genre’s is blurry at best. Let me explain.

First, a couple of definitions, as gleaned from our friend of the Information Age, Wikipedia.

“Fantasy is a genre that uses magic and other supernatural forms as a primary element of plot, theme, and/or setting” from the Fantasy Page.

Science Fiction – “It differs from fantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically-established or scientifically-postulated laws of nature (though some elements in a story might still be pure imaginative speculation)” from the Science Fiction Page.

I like to think of Science Fiction and Fantasy as two ends of a spectrum. At either end you have the extremes, Asimov at the SF end, and Tolkien at the Fantasy end. In the middle, the exact distinction becomes less clear, with authors such as Anne McCaffrey and Raymond Feist. McCaffrey’s Pern books are a brilliant example of this blurriness. At the beginning of that series (within the timeline), the books are almost pure SF, with space travel to other planets, genetic science and computer technology. Yet as Pern progresses, they become Fantasy novels, with quests, dragons, and in a strange sense magic, or at least communication with what are essentially large animals.

Another prime example of this fuzziness between the genres is actually Robert A. Heinlein. The book that I am thinking of specifically is called The Glory Road, and is one of my favorite works of Heinlein’s. However, I could not consider this book to fit neatly into either Category alone. While there is space travel, or rather travel between dimensions, and technology, there is also a sword-wielding hero, dragons, and in some sense magic. Now, I also think that Heinlein deliberately was blurring the line, as several times one of the characters explains her technology to the less technological Earth-man as “magic”. And indeed, it sounds like magic. But it is also equally clear that to her this ‘magic’ is as simple and straightforward as computer technology is to us.

I feel that I also must touch on the sub-genres of Urban Fantasy, and Steampunk/Cyberpunk and the many variations thereof. Steampunk and Cyberpunk are both technologically driven, though the aesthetic is rather different, yet Steampunk is considered a sub-genre of Fantasy, rather than Science Fiction. Urban Fantasy is another odd example, combining as it does themes such as elves, magic, dragons, vampires, werewolves, and modern day technology. One might almost dub these three sub-genres “Science Fantasy”, for they clearly combine the magic or semi-magical elements of Fantasy, with rational scientific explanations for many parts of the story.

Though I can by  no means claim to be the first to have these thoughts (or else why would the Bookstores shelve the two genres together?), I do think they are important considerations for an aspiring author. I think the question should not so much be “Science Fiction or Fantasy” as it should be a question of weaving your story clearly within the framework of the world or worlds you create.

Thought for the Day: “One man’s magic is another man’s engineering. Supernatural is a null word.” Robert A. Heinlein

Currently Reading: Village Life in Ancient Egypt: Laundry Lists and Love Songs ~ A.G. McDowell

At LendforPeace.org, we think of our mission as extending beyond the field of international development and into the realms of awareness and education.  We work with a region tied to many contentious and complicated issues, and one in which mutual understanding will be necessary in order to bridge the divides of borders, political opinions, religions, and ethnicities.  LendforPeace.org is a good venue for this kind of dialogue because it is a common ground initiative; no matter where you stand politically, we can all agree that there is no winner in poverty.

It is this emphasis on education that makes us so excited to announce a collaboration with McNally Jackson Books in SoHo, orchestrated by two LendForPeace volunteers.

LendforPeace.org Display at McNally Jackson Books

McNally Jackson is currently featuring a LendforPeace.org themed display with five very informative books chosen by LendForPeace.org: “The Missing Peace” by Dennis Ross, “Inequality Reexamined” by Amartya Sen, “Banker To the Poor” by Muhammad Yunus, “The Israel-Arab Reader” edited by Walter Lacquer and Barry Rubin, and “How to Change the World: Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas” by David Bornstein. We hope the selection can bring a bit of background and understanding to anyone interested in the work LendforPeace.org does.

If you’re in the area, please drop by McNally Jackson at 52 Prince St. to pick up an LendForPeace.org flier and a couple of these excellent books!

Speaking as a future teacher, I feel it is extremely important to be familiar with different programs that promote literacy and provide great resources for teachers and students. It is not a surprise that students learn differently and need individual instruction. As a future educator it is imperative to help children succeed in every way possible. Introducing different interactive programs into the classroom presents successful educational outcomes. Rigby Reading is a great website that provides advanced and effective learning solutions to meet every individuals needs. A spotlight program relating to Rigby that I like is called Literacy by Design. This literacy program gives teachers insightful examples and explanations about how to better instruct students in a differentiated classroom. It presents educators with different strategies to help improve students’ reading, comprehension and grammar. These strategies can also be incorporated into other subjects in order to enhance learning in the classroom. To learn more about this program, visit http://rigby.hmhco.com/en/literacydesign_comprehension.htm

Since I am an elementary education major studying for my reading certification, I think this program will be beneficial to both me and my students in the future!

Hi,

Why, hello, blogging universe! How’s it been going? Good, I hope? Unfortunately my normal time spent obsessing over you has been neglected, thanks to, as I have mentioned a thousand times before, good ol’ NaNoWriMo. I apologize for that, if you care, but all this writing is quite miserable lately. My characters are crap, my storyline is crap, my sentences are crap, etcetera. It’s the sort of ordeal when I think all it’s doing is leaving me a worse writer. And like I don’t like writing as much as I did going in. Oh well, I guess. It’s hard to describe how fantastic it feels to be writing–here, now–out of enjoyment and choice, as opposed to “ugh…okay, word count….678 words..ugh….come on, Naomi, hold it together only another half hour to go.” as it has been all week. I’m in the home straight for all of that though, hallelujah.

Right, now moving on. Thanks to the time gap since my last writing(November 12th? Whoa. I left for en eternity…) and to everything that’s happened in between, I guess I’ll just jump from topic to topic in some sort of Minutemade Lemonade-enduced frenzy. Ready, Set, GO.

Okay, where to start? Ah, how about last Saturday. I went to a sort-of-friend’s birthday party. I say friend, but I honestly don’t like her much. That’s sounds cruel, and yes it is, but we don’t talk very often. I don’t talk very often to most people, and therefore I can say how my opinion of a person may be difficult to read. The party was themed as an 1800s(or possibly 1700s….or 1600s….or ignorant) Tea Party(yes, seriously). The theme fell to pieces, although some people showed up in some cheap dresses. I was offered to wear one, as I think the girl was quite desperate to see me in something other than jeans and t-shirts. Dresses don’t work on me. They ended up giggling and dropping poor uses of innuendo at every turn and making those prank calls to people on their contact lists, which in itself is illogical, but somehow they seemed to gather some enjoyment from it. Also, after failing at answering truthfully in a game of Truth Or Dare and playing a game of Wii Fit with a friend and the birthday girl’s 6-year-old brother, my finest anti-social moment so far got to shine. While the others when Hiding and Seeking, I plopped myself out on the bed, grabbed her copy of Taylor Swift’s Fearless and flipped through on a “good lyric hunt”. Yes, I really don’t understand why I thought it a good idea to do such a thing, but I did.

PS; Sadly, the best lyrics are in You Belong With Me, and only because they’re relatable. I like metaphors and poetic-style stuff. And the best of those is “It rains when you’re here/and it rains when you’re gone”. I can’t remember which song that’s from, and I don’t particularly wanr to. But it’s not really like I’d find anything really outstanding, is it?

Okay, next thing, would be school. This week was our first full week since mid October, which is quite irritating. I need my sleep. A few days ago in English we read a few memoirs by Tumon Capote which were interesting. I can’t say I’ve ever been a big fan of memoirs. Life doesn’t have a plot. Memoirs don’t have plots. And what is a good story without a plot? And, of course, we had to make our own. After long verbal fights and headaches from this, I took a short, mundane(but real) setting, and created a story from it. Oh yes, I lied, basically. As a friend said to me online a few days ago, those really are the best kinds. And, guess what, I got a whole four and a quarter pages from a lie. Social Studies lately is making me fall asleep and/or hate this country to pieces, I’m afraid to say. I had a test on the Revolution on Thursday and, God, was studying for that pure torture. Sooo many names, so many battles, sooo much cramming needed. As I sat at the back of the classroom, with my pencil suffocating in my grip and “Bunker Hill, Saratoga, Yorktown” flashing back and forth in my head, I came to the realisation that “if she’s asking me for a French general’s name, I swear I’m just gonna walk out.” She didn’t, though, so unfortunately I did not get to have my diva moment as one might have hoped. Science we’re currently doing some properties of gases and it’s alright but rather repetitive. I wanna move onto the Table Of Elements, damn it! Math is currently hypotenuses of 30/60/90 and 45-45-90 triangles. I get it, but my teacher is just awful and it’d totally make sense if you didn’t get it(which is the case for the majority). No, Mister, whatever array of numbers you decide to put on the board certainly is not 6th grade math, nor is it 7th, or for all that I know, 8th. If you want us to write equations the length of the Great Wall of China, you could go ahead and teach us, right? And he calls this is the basics.

Okay, my writing was just begging for a new paragraph there, though it wasn’t necessary at all. In Espanol we’re started to write poems for the pictures we took ona a field trip a few weeks ago. Last time I checked, poetry was all about metaphors and beautiful language and all that jazz, not using online translating systems to compile 8-10 lines of crap, but hey, I could be wrong. Let’s just say I don’t really think I’m learning anything from that. Tomorrow or more likely Tuesday for Health, my group are doing our project on Stimulants. Have I mentioned this before? I can’t remember. But, as always, my group isn’t exactly the best; There’s me, and there’s the kid who does nothing and doesn’t know how to even when he wants to, there’s the friendly but careless guy who will just talk to the others most of the time but at the end of the day gets a little work done, the annoying popular guy who likes to irritate everyone else, and the stuck up super-competitive “Go go go go go” sort of guy. We shall probably survive with at least a 70%, but my whole class is sick to the core of Jeapordy games so I can’t help but think we won’t hold attention for very long. And lastly, in gym we’ve started to do badminton. I like the game relative to most others but I’m awful at playing. I’m the one who stands at the back of the group, and lunges slightly but misses whenever the birdie comes in my direction. The others say I’m kind of good, but the haven’t seen me put myself into it, really, and then they’d see how much of a failure I’d be. I gave up trying on Friday, but hey, at least we’re at the end of the “Chumps” court, so there’s not that much room for humiliation against the nerds and giggly girls.

Of course as the whole world knows, Thanksgiving’s next week. My school gets half of Wednesday off and it’s a tradition for that morning to be spent having a little 8th grade-vs-teachers football game. The day before last we got given our roles, after giving our recommendations. From an outsider’s point of view, it’s really good because everybody gets to play to their strengths; The sporty people get to play, them, um, cheerleaderish girly girls get to dance, the musicians and actors get into the halftime shows(last year they played Teen Spirit and I died of happiness <3), anybody who loves attention gets to be a super fan, and for everyone else who can’t do anything gets to be in concession. Yes, that’s where I am! Oh, my uselessness makes me so happy sometimes. I get to do nothing with my two friends and all that stuff. It’s actually something to look forward to!

Next thing. Last time I blogged, I believe, I was struggling my way through Great Expectations, yes? At last I finished that, and then I moved onto Oliver Twist. Considering my opinion of the latter, I don’t really understand why I chose that but it was okay. The pace was strange compared to the movie and the characters weren’t as good as Expectations but it was easier to handle and the plot twisted and turned a bit more to my liking. Currently I’m reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and it’s absolutely fantastic. The main character is really realistic compared to the book’s contemporaries, and I like the sci-fi genre in general, and I think the idea is really interesting. Some plot twists later have become obvious to me, I think, but it’s definitely one of the better books I’ve read so far this year and everyone should totally buy it.

Oh, and lastly; music. Only Revolutions by Biffy Clyro hasn’t arrived yet. In fact, Amazon sent an e-mail last week that said it may not get here until Christmas. There’s no way I can wait that long, so I switched an order to Best Buy and I’m hoping that may arrive in a month or so if they’re being nice. I’m trying to avoid the band so the Biffy-less days go by faster but it isn’t working too well. Hank Green(of Vlogbrothers) new CD This Machine Pwns N00bs arrived a few days ago, with the special Pre-order signed guitar pick, and it’s funny and catchy and everything I would expect of it. Lately I’ve been listening to some different stuff, and it’s been quite an interesting time for my music tastes…I’m still really loving Arctic Monkeys and have been listening to Whatever People say I Am That’s What I’m Not on repeat all week and it might just be overtaking Humbug as far as my favorite AC album goes. I’ve lost the CD pamphlet, though. I have terrible luck with CDs. I like The Beatles lately and was listening to Abbey Road earlier and it’s good. I should probably get another Beatles album for Christmas. Magical Mystery Tour, perhaps?  Also I still quite like Ellie Goulding and Under The Sheets is brilliant but I can’t buy it cause I live in this country, The Cure, The Flaming Lips, Josh Woodward, Morissey, Oasis, White Lies, and in particular Turin Brakes. Go listen to Fishing For A Dream. Yes, I don’t know how, but I’ve actually found a sappy folk song I really love.

Oh, and my guitar lessons are going well. My teacher is completely insane of course but it’s all good. I’m starting with Wake Me Up when September Ends. I haven’t liked Green Day in a year or so but it could be worse. Also, yesterday me and my teacher had a competition to guess how old Elvis Costello is and I totally won. He’s 55. Hoorah.

Have a nice week, everyone?

- Naomi

The cover design for my novel, Universal Coverage, has been finalized. Here is a look at the front:

A few cover blurbs came in at the last minute, which kept the designers working over time. I think it was worth it. I like the look, the message it sends, and the way it stands out among other books. Look for it online or at a bookstore near you on 15 December 2009. You can pre-order if you like, too.

The key to a successful reading list is to keep it manageable. I have five weeks of winter break to use. In addition, the following things are in need of accomplishment over winter break:

1. Moving a few blocks — This means several days of packing, cleaning, loading, unloading, cleaning, unpacking.

2. Holiday cheer — Maryssa and I will have our obligatory New Years Eve fight. Last year I was driving around town looking for her when she was back at the apartment the whole time. The year before that—well, never mind, seriously.

3. Revising my fiction pieces to the best of my ability and sending them to about forty journals.

4. Finishing the essay I started two days ago. I’m aiming it at Tin House.

5. Finding and proceeding to cook a duck.

So, given all of this excitement, what reading quests might I accomplish?

First priority is researching for the essay I plan to write in the spring. Second priority is reading some John McPhee, because I haven’t. Third priority is reading as many back issues of Harper’s as I can, because that’s where I’m aiming to publish the essay I’m writing in the spring. Crazy, I know.

The List:

1. Mormon Thunder: A Documentary History of Jedediah Morgan Grant, by Gene A Sessions.

Dr. Sessions has included photo copies of tons of original primary sources in this exhaustive book on my great great great grandfather, captain of one of the first waves of plains-crossing Mormon Pioneers, first mayor of Salt Lake City, aggressive preacher of Blood Atonement, husband of seven wives, and father to Mormon prophet Heber J. Grant. I can hardly wait.

2. Radical Origins: Early Mormon Converts and Their Colonial Ancestors, by Val D. Rust.

A look at the Puritan ancestors of early Mormon converts, like Jeddediah Morgan Grant. I’ll only need to read a few chapters.

3. The Founding Fish, by John McPhee.

McPhee has written so many books that I can hardly decide where to start. This is a recent one in which he tracks the historical significance of a particular fish he loves to fish for. That’s something I’d like to write; I’m curious to see how he makes this interesting.

4. Annals of the Former World, by John McPhee.

This is McPhee’s Pulitzer Prize wining compilation of his previous works on the geological history of the US. I’ll be reading a fraction of the 700 page compilation of four books and an essay. I want to see the way he deals with science and geology in literary nonfiction prose, because I have a specific interest in geology.

5. Harper’s.

The USU library has every edition 2005—present bound and available for two day checkout. I’m looking for the articles that strike me as non-current-event features. Last night I read two articles from 2008, one about a craps (gambling) course and the tendency for humans to want to control uncontrollables, and one about the Magic Olympics.

6. The Fallen Sky: An Intimate History of Shooting Stars, by Christopher Cokinos.

I started this book before the semester began and haven’t been able to get back to it. Chris is my friend and the professor who assigned the essay I won the Norman Mailer Award with. He’s also likely to be my thesis chair.

I think that’s all I’ll get to, if that. In the event that I accomplish these feats of reading, I’m going to read Gessner’s Sick of Nature and Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma, which is one of those books I talk about like I’ve read but HAVEN’T!!

“It’s very Kafkesque.”

“Yeah, that’s because it’s written by Franz Kafka.”

—From The Squid and the Whale, when the main character is describing the end of the book he has not yet read.

Reading lists, anyone? And what book do you love to talk about despite the fact you’ve not ever actually read it?

I never realized usability testing was such a big part of website creation.  I guess I just assumed people made websites in ways that were easy to understand and didn’t need to test them.  It makes sense now though.  It’s kind of similar to when you’re thinking about something to yourself and then all of a sudden turn to the person next to you and say, “It should work fine, right?”, forgetting that they weren’t a part of the conversation that got you to that point.  If you’re creating a website, you’ll most likely have all the background and all the information you need to know about the site and what goes on with it.  So it’s much easier to assume the audience will understand how to navigate the pages since it seems so obvious to you, having come up with the organization.

It’s hard to completely realize the importance of usability testing with the projects we’re doing.  The navigation is pretty self-explanatory and doesn’t have an enormous number of pages to go through.  Websites like eBay and Amazon would definitely need to test their sites because of the amount of information they have.  I think it would be nice to be one of the subjects that is tested, because you probably get paid, it’s easy, and apparently there is no wrong answer when being tested.

So ‘unfriend’ is the word of the year for 2009.  According to Christine Lindberg, Senior Lexicographer for Oxford’s US dictionary program, “it has both currency and potential longevity.  In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood  … ‘unfriend’ has real lex-appeal.”  It beat such competitors for the title as hashtag, intexticated and sexting.

Lex-appeal.  Right.  I reckon they need a wider demographic for that judging panel.

My three-year-old’s singing an elaborate invented song from the back of the car.  Suddenly she breaks off.
“Mum!”
“Yep?”
“You know how we say the sky’s cloudy or sunny or rainy or windy?”
“Yes.”
“Why don’t we say it’s darky?”
“Well… that’s a good question.”
“Why?”
“Um…I don’t know.”
“And last day…”
“Last day?  You mean yesterday?”
“Yes.  In the night.  Yesternight.”
“We don’t say yesternight.  We say last night.”
“Or last day.”
“No.  It’s crazy, I know, but we do say yesterday.”
Silence while this baffling error in logic is absorbed.
“Well, yesterday, that man with the stick…”
“When?”
“The man pointing it at the people playing the violins.”
“Was he?”
“Yes, Mum, yes!  You remember.  Why he waved that stick?”
“Oh, the conductor.  It’s called a baton.”
She sighs from the back.  Then adds in a smaller voice: “Does everything in the world have a name?”
And I kick myself, again, for throwing up these obstacles pointlessly, like road barriers, in her way.  “I don’t know why we don’t say ‘darky’, “ I say. “That’s a really good word.”
My daughter wakes up of a morning and her mind instantly revs into a perfectly-tuned machine of creative enquiry, free of guile, ready to get started.
“I want a biscuit.”
“Oh do you now?  And what’s the magic word?”
“Abracadabra?”
“Fair enough.”
I wish when I was sitting at the desk I had a quarter of her inventiveness and faith in the flashing power of language.  Like Shakespeare, she believes that if you don’t have a word or phrase at hand, just make one up.  There’s probably no time in her life she’s ever going to be this linguistically unselfconscious again – soon enough she’ll be corrected when she invents or mispronounces a word, just like I found myself doing with ‘yesternight’ in the car.  Soon enough the world will be anxious to let her know that her rich, complex attempts are mistakes to be fixed, or gaffes adults will ask for like an adorable comic performance piece.  I try really hard not to ask her to repeat her attempts to other adults, no matter how cute they are.  I hate that dawning realisation on her face that the word she used sincerely is a joke to others, a joke we’re all sharing except her.
And yet I still find myself unthinkingly, reflexively correcting her, even when it doesn’t matter.  What could it possibly matter, for example, that she knows a conductor uses a baton rather than a stick?
It’s a narrow, deeply-rutted track, that prescriptive path of correct answers.  I see kids struggling with it when I teach a poetry session in a school.  Sometimes I resort to games just to get over the default mechanism they’ve been trained to operate within.
“Describe the world without using the letter ‘a’,” I say, “or only in words of one syllable. Let’s try describing a day on the beach using similes, and the person who uses similes nobody else has thought of is the winner.”
“What will they win?”
“What? Oh, I don’t know.  This Freddo Frog.”
The kids’ faces look at me with a mixture of wary apprehension, suspicion and anxiety I’ve never seen, yet, in my three-year-old.  “Is this a test?” someone will say uneasily.
“No.  Just have a go.  Just for fun.”
It’s been my limited experience that the older the kid, the harder they find an exercise like this.  Like Picasso said, all the best artists are in kindergarten, and I will never forget the grade three girl once who wrote: “The sun like a slice of pineapple, and my dad’s big watermelon smile.” God, if I could write a line like that I’d count myself a better poet.  In fact, I think the most valuable thing I was ever taught about poetry came from a four-year-old child.  Home from playgroup, she was pumped with an important discovery.
“This is five,” she announced jubilantly, holding up her outstretched hand.  “Did you know that?  That it’s five?”
“Yes, I know,” I said, the answer excited kids must get barraged with all the time.
“But do you know what?  This is also five!”  She held up her other hand.  “They’re both five!”
“Yes,” I said, diligent absorber of fifteen years’ worth of competitive education, “but what about when you put them both together?  Do you know what you get then?”
“Yep,” she said, bringing her two open hands together.  “A butterfly!”
Now, you are writers, so you will know that in that moment I felt a piercing jolt of pure envy.  I wanted her wonderful, limber, exultant four-year-old mind.  Not my own, because clearly, all I could see was ten.  One tunnel-vision correct answer.   Five plus five equals ten, and that’s all there is to it.
I was thirty-eight before I really tried to write a poem, and I still find it the most difficult thing to attempt, of any form.  Something’s lost there, choked into submission – the thing that would let me observe in a flash that five plus five might occasionally equal a butterfly, the rush of seeing.    It feels like there’s a vestige of it left there, like a little patch of remnant rainforest, and the rest is plantation, all correct and accounted for.  I wonder about this fear of getting it wrong, and the way it misplaces our inspiration and true intention.  The way some first-year university students once reacted when I asked them to write me a short outline with their poem when they submitted it, so I would understand better what they were trying to do, and try the near-impossible task of assessing and grading poems.  (Can poetry even be taught?  What do you think?)   Oh, a sea of eager hands.  How long did the outline have to be?  As long as it needed to be, I said, don’t get sidetracked by it.  Just half a page or a page.  Was that single-spacing or double-spacing? they wanted to know.   Well, let’s say single.  Then came the clincher:  What size font?
I wish I was joking about the font question.  I really do.

“Mum!”
“Hmm?”
“Do you know this broom is tired because it’s sweepy?  It’s really sweepy!”
Oh, remind me again – never correct this, let me see the unadulterated delight on her face, and remember how it felt.  Remind me again that writing is sitting at the desk and willingly getting it wrong, over and over and over again.  Acknowledging that not everything in the world has a name.

Did you know that when the word “lengthy” came into common usage it was mocked by word-purists?  Whatever next, they scoffed, “widthy”?   Well, yeah, why not widthy?  I was thinking about this strolling home across the track from my little study last night.
Mum!” my daughter was calling from the house.  “It’s time to come and read a story! Come and read one very now!”
The sun, that big slice of pineapple, had gone down and the first few stars were appearing.
I humbly submit to you, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the sky was not crepuscular, twilit, gloaming, eventide or dusk-like.  It was not noctilucent, meridian, murksome or even tenebrous. Yesternight, I am pleased to confirm, just very then at that moment, the sky was darky.

This is my last post, so thanks for having me.  Let’s just all keep at it

After a hectic week, I was looking forward to sleeping in a bit (7 maybe?) yesterday, but unfortunately we found ourselves scrambling to get to the vet as soon as it opened.  Our little monster was having stomach… issues (I promise to spare you the details), so we rushed to the vet just as soon as they opened.  This is where we discovered our dog is stressed out.

I believe getting “snipped” would be cause for stress.  I’m feeling a bit frazzled myself, and I closed out the week with no missing parts and no sign of the flu (Nick is feeling much better, by the way.  Thanks!).  So I suppose Clark is entitled to his stress-induced colitis.  Sorry, I think I just broke my earlier promise.  After a week of little sleep and lots of worry, I am happy to be enjoying a lazy, laaaazy Sunday.  It started with a little jaunt to Home Despot (just a few more moving boxes for tomorrow’s long awaited office move, a major source of annoyance this week), and Target (cake mix for Thanksgiving!), and a bit of laundry and cleaning.  With almost everything in order, I plopped down with a stack of magazines and a cup of tea and have barely budged since.

The x-ray film is a nice touch.

Nothing beats a good book, but when my pea brain is a bit scattered, I love nothing more than the pick-up, put down, read what you want of a magazine.  SJP as Carrie Bradshaw said, “When I first moved to New York and I was totally broke, sometimes I bought Vogue instead of dinner. I found it fed me more.”  And Madonna wrote a whole song about the magazine… or was that about actually voguing?  Either way,  I don’t have any Vogues in my stack today (because Carrie ate all of them).  Nothing fashionable.  Just a few Shapes and Body + Souls.  Here’s what I absorbed this morning.

From Body and Soul/November issue:

• Cinnamon can help lower cholesterol levels and regular blood sugar.  The cinnamon we use in the US is usually actually cassia, a relative of Ceylon (actual cinnamon).  Both come from the bark of tropical evergreens typically found in Asia.  Speaking of cinnamon, I still haven’t gotten around to baking that apple crisp.

These apples are patiently waiting to be crisped.

• Want to boost your immunity and up your defenses against a cold or the flu?  Brew a pot of Immunity Tea.  On page 49, the recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of astragalus, 1 tablespoon of dried ginger, 1/8 teaspoon of dried lemon peel and 1 tablespoon of lemon balm.  Simmer the first three ingredients in a covered quart of water for twenty minutes.  Turn off the heat and add the lemon balm; re-cover and steep for another 20 minutes, discard the herbs.  Add honey, if you please.   Tea will keep in the fridge for a day and can be re-heated.
• From page 79, raw or lightly cooked garlic appears to have antiviral and antibacterial properties and are thought to boost immunity.  Gnaw on some garlic while your Immunity Tea is brewing.
• And from the last page, “See physical fitness as a practice, not a goal.”

From Real Simple/December issue:

• From page 136, fight free radicals (sources include irritants, pollution, smoke, UVA/UVB rays and cell processes like metabolism) with these 10 foods: unpeeled apples, pomegranates, dark chocolate, dried plums, red wine, artichokes, pecans, blueberries, strawberries and spinach.
• According to the Money Guide on page 223, the Twelve Days of Christmas in 2009 would cost $21,080.10.  The lords-a-leapin’ alone would cost you $4,413.61.  I’ll take the french hens for $30; seems like a bargain.
• I love the Sesame letterpress coasters from Cursive New York, featured on page 308’s Discounts & Deals.  Click here to buy, enter REAL SIMPLE at checkout to receive the readers’ discount.

From Shape Magazine/November issue:

• Once I get through this little pile of mags, and finish the three books I’m in the middle of reading, I will surely be looking for my next read.  Shape recommends www.bookseer.com, a website that will offer recommended reads, based on books and authors you favor.  I just entered a few books and the site recommended Good Evening, Mrs. Craven.  I’m intrigued.
• Three pages worth of sneakers, including two pairs of trainers I might consider for Zumba and other dance/cardio classes (running shoes just don’t cut it).
• From the back page, 5 simple “stay-fit strategies,” which include cooking your own meals (and controlling both ingredients and portion sizes), having fitness DVDs on hand for those days you could’ve/should’ve/would’ve hit the gym, avoid temptation by bring your own healthy snacks to work, exercise in the morning (how many times have we heard that.. and then hit snooze?), and make time to meditate.

Also On Tap for Today:

• Catch up with Kristine (unless she’s on her way to Hawaii already, which I think she might be.  Aloha, friend!)
• Get moderately organized for the week
• Re-watch a few of the segments from CBS’ Sunday Morning (I especially loved the ones about cooking teacher Wilma Stephenson and Julia Child’s book editor, Judith Jones and pleasures of cooking for one.)

How do you unwind and become less prickly?  And what are you currently reading?

But I just wanted everyone to know that I give New Moon two thumbs up.
I have heard that the movie didn’t get very good reviews from the people who actually know what they are talking about but I find that the movies that they like, I do not, and the movies that they do not like, I am in love with. Needless to say, New Moon is a winner in my heart. Some things that I enjoyed about the movie:

1. I was pleasantly surprised by how closely the book was followed. I am always expecting there to be several changes that stray from the story as well as things that the writers remove and I am completely content with the fact that they cannot put every single thing in the book into the movie. With this being said, the writers of New Moon did a fabulous job of getting the point of the movie across without taking out or adding in a ton of things. It made me happy.

2. Although New Moon was my least favorite book of the series, I think that the movie will definitely not be the worst. It might be a stretch, but I think that if the movie was not better than the book, it was very close.

3. It made me not hate Jacob so much; the writers did a good job of not making him so whiney in the movie, which I greatly appreciate. I still do not like him though.

4. It was just all around a great movie. Although there are things that you will not get the full grasp of if you have not read the books, I think that they did a good job of making it appealing to people who are not really the reading kind.

In conclusion, I think that it was a great movie and I definitely say GO SEE IT! Some things were definitely better than Twilight but I think that Twilight is just so classic that I still love it just as much.