Okay, who took January? It can’t be February next week. It’s too soon. The Christmas tree is still on the deck waiting for someone to notice it died, I still have cranberry sauce, but ran out of turkey (thank heaven), daffodils are nodding at me from the garden, and I’m thinking, “Didn’t this same thing happen last year? Like, so recently.”
Champagne
I need a few magnums to share with all of my friends who have been so supportive in this book writing effort.
I’ve got a contract. I’ve got a wonderful editor who likes what I write and is efficient as well as understanding.
Life is good.
Blaaag
Guess it’s time to write something here–anything is better than nothing, isn’t it? I may have an offer from a publishing house for one of my YA novels, and I’m excited while at the same time a bit apprehensive. I’m leaving one very comfortable niche in this writing business and entering another that is not familiar. That’s okay, I suppose because pushing the envelope is always a learning experience.
Excuse me while I go learn something.
Writing Power
It would be interesting to be able to measure the collective power of a group like we measure the power of water over a dam or current through a meter. Based on my interaction with so many writers, I believe the power they generate could light up the world for years. Think of the benefits if we switched from oil to writer power.
Some Thoughts
The Parallel Text: A Symptom?
When I was very young and considered myself a sage, I scribbled relentlessly in the margins of all my texts. Shakespeare bore the brunt of my rapier wit, but Dickinson, and Elliot came in for their fair share. Later term papers weighted by heavy “borrowing” from these and other literary notables, received mid to high praise from professors, encouraging the elevation of my self-image as a creative writer, an innovative thinker. However, the truth is platitudinous: There is nothing new under the sun.
So if we accept the platitude, then we must accept that expressing others’ ideas as our own is inescapable. Cultures less inclined to individualistic worldviews hold that ownership of ideas is as ludicrous as ownership of air. But in the west we have a very firm grip on reality: ideas and air are commodities with a dollar value; therefore, copyright laws set out fines and penalties for violations, and if your tires need air, until recent law changes, you anted up twenty-five cents to inflate them.
Obviously, I’m heading toward the topic terrible: plagiarism. But along the way I want to stop at Cousin Marginalia. Let’s go metaphorical for a minute. What kind of game would tennis be if one player continually hit the ball over the net without the opponent returning it? One action doomed to be repeated with only slight variation. The exciting game of marginalia provides the reader opportunities to interact directly with the writer and to become involved in the creation of new ideas and arguments. What one voice serves up another must react to and that is exciting whether that reaction expands on the original or tears it down. After all, the reaction itself will soon receive the same treatment. Infinite comes to mind and infinite is too large to package and sell.
Today marginalia has a whole new to court to play on, and the notion of authorship is undergoing change as quickly as DSL can link us to the Internet. Cutting and pasting lifts the core ideas and puts them squarely into a new context with a new focus and only a hint that what was marginally in the mind is plagiarism on the page. Charges are made that hypertext is killing the author by unfixing and digitalizing his text–a text that should, according to copyright laws, be his domain alone.
Perhaps what we have to reconsider is much larger than the issue of plagiarism or the power of marginalia. Perhaps what we have to reconsider is our world view of ownership. What can we own? Once an idea escapes your brain and surfaces on paper or screen, is it a free agent to go to any other author with a use for it? And can you honestly say that you generated that idea and didn’t at first react to another’s in some margin of a magazine or book?
Teleseminars
This week I participated in a teleseminar with Roxyanne Young of Smart Writers fame and Bruce Hale. The topic was Writing Series.
I’d never been on a telephone conference like this one, so I didn’t know what to expect. It turned out to be painless, informative, and interesting. The first portion consisted of Roxyanne interviewing Bruce. The others of us online could only listen. After the interview, the lines were opened for Q&A.
Bruce covered a lot of territory in about 55 minutes: Here’s the outline.
1. Benefits of Writing a Series
2. The Series Market
3. Types of Series
4. Considerations before Writing a Series
5. What a Series should Include
6. Mistakes Writers of Series Make in Proposals
7. Good Proposals
8. Tips for Sustaining a Series
9. What Agents and Editors Say about Series
Keep an eye out for other teleseminars. I think they are worthwhile and they are not expensive.
Blog Content
I didn’t know you could actually buy blog content, did you? On Constant Content you can buy that and much more–all written by authors that do a great job. I’ve joined in the group and am enjoying writing articles as a way to clear my head of what I usually labor over.
Halloween
It just ain’t the same. I mean tonight it will still be light when the tiny ghosts trek to my door. How can a ghost be spooky in daylight? And my witchy costume is so shabby from years of use that I rely on nightfall to conceal all of the patched pieces and cider stains. Sigh.
Well, no matter what, we are having Halloween. It is my absolutely favorite holiday. I don’t have to plan a family gathering, I don’t have to be sure to seat Uncle Pete away from Cousin Sadie, I don’t have to make a vegetarian side dish for Leah Ann who is sixteen and turning Zen on me. All I have to do is buy a few trinkets and candy and have fun. My kind of holiday.
Art
Two years ago I did something that I considered rather brave. I invested in a piece of art by an artist that I enjoyed and that felt enhanced my home. This week I was invited to attend a celebration of this artist who is now being widely appreciated. I was able to meet the man who created the art I appreciate and enjoy everyday in my home. It was special and invigorating as is his art.
More News
Just sold Time to Relax! My it does come in spurts, doesn’t it?