S.L. Viehl's Blog, page 136
February 2, 2013
Vintage Story Mines
I have a modest collection of vintage ledgers and journals, to which I recently added a sorority chapter secretary's notebook. My latest find has entries spanning from the late 20's to the early 30's, and was kept updated by at least five different college girls of that time period:
It was fun and surprising to browse through this notebook. I was expecting it to be mainly handwritten but most of the entries were neatly typed. While the notations were comprised of meeting notes and other formal/official chapter business, each secretary added little bits of her personality to what she wrote. A great deal of attention was given to pledges, from recruiting to initiating them. By today's standards what the pledges had to endure sounds pretty tame, but these girls were quite serious about who they let into their sorority -- and who they didn't:
"Miss Martha Meyers was voted upon for Pledge but received more than the quota of black balls allowed by the by-laws and therefore will mot be permitted into the Sorority."
If you're not familiar with the vintage version of black-balling, the members of old social groups like this would vote on membership matters by using actual white and black balls. They'd usually pair them with a wooden box that had a concealing cover or lid (this so each member could vote anonymously.)
I like seeing the handwriting of that era in the penned entries; in some cases it looks surprisingly modern, like this one:
It's also interesting to see the different social activities these girls enjoyed. Bridge seemed to be huge with this sorority; almost every entry mentions someone holding a game -- and sometimes who should bring what to it (I wonder if the cigarettes were the social norm or something sneaky.)
Aside from the entertainment value it holds, this notebook is a storyteller's goldmine of information. There are literally hundreds of full female names, addresses and personal details noted throughout the entries which are (obviously) authentic to the era. I have pages listing dozens of social events, activities, charities and work and school schedules as well as period prices for everything from food to jewelry.
I can also glean a lot from the tone of the entries. One secretary seemed to delight in tormenting pledges by repeatedly listing what must have been cruel initiation tasks (wearing a vegetable corsage or being dressed as a mummy? Horrors!) Not every secretary was a sorority snob; one sweetheart regularly mentioned members who were sick or hospitalized. Evidence of new financial hardships -- probably brought on in part by the 1929 Stock Market crash -- shows in how the sorority made two major adjustments in dues collecting and debt forgiveness. Right now I have enough material in just this one notebook to write an outline for a novel -- or draw on parts of it for three other story projects.
Some things to consider when using antique real-life material:
1. Unless you're writing a biography, always try to sufficiently alter or recombine names versus using them verbatim from your source document. While these people may no longer be alive they've probably got descendants, and it shows respect for their personal history.
2. Make copies of the original document for personal annotation or any form of alteration versus writing on the document itself. Keeping the source in its original condition helps preserve it for the next generation of storytellers.
3. Donate any historically important vintage journals to an appropriate museum, library or other nonprofit organization dedicated to preservation. While it's lovely to own a piece of history sharing it by donation will virtually guarantee its longevity. It will also make the information it contains available to teachers, students, researchers, curators, biographers etc.
If you're interested in finding your own vintage story mines, you can hunt for antique journals in a variety of places: thrift stores, rummage sales, old book stores, antique paper and emphemera dealers (try Etsy, which is where I found this one) and estate sales. For a marvelous free online resource, check out the massive list of links at The Diary Junction.
It was fun and surprising to browse through this notebook. I was expecting it to be mainly handwritten but most of the entries were neatly typed. While the notations were comprised of meeting notes and other formal/official chapter business, each secretary added little bits of her personality to what she wrote. A great deal of attention was given to pledges, from recruiting to initiating them. By today's standards what the pledges had to endure sounds pretty tame, but these girls were quite serious about who they let into their sorority -- and who they didn't:
"Miss Martha Meyers was voted upon for Pledge but received more than the quota of black balls allowed by the by-laws and therefore will mot be permitted into the Sorority."
If you're not familiar with the vintage version of black-balling, the members of old social groups like this would vote on membership matters by using actual white and black balls. They'd usually pair them with a wooden box that had a concealing cover or lid (this so each member could vote anonymously.)
I like seeing the handwriting of that era in the penned entries; in some cases it looks surprisingly modern, like this one:
It's also interesting to see the different social activities these girls enjoyed. Bridge seemed to be huge with this sorority; almost every entry mentions someone holding a game -- and sometimes who should bring what to it (I wonder if the cigarettes were the social norm or something sneaky.)
Aside from the entertainment value it holds, this notebook is a storyteller's goldmine of information. There are literally hundreds of full female names, addresses and personal details noted throughout the entries which are (obviously) authentic to the era. I have pages listing dozens of social events, activities, charities and work and school schedules as well as period prices for everything from food to jewelry.
I can also glean a lot from the tone of the entries. One secretary seemed to delight in tormenting pledges by repeatedly listing what must have been cruel initiation tasks (wearing a vegetable corsage or being dressed as a mummy? Horrors!) Not every secretary was a sorority snob; one sweetheart regularly mentioned members who were sick or hospitalized. Evidence of new financial hardships -- probably brought on in part by the 1929 Stock Market crash -- shows in how the sorority made two major adjustments in dues collecting and debt forgiveness. Right now I have enough material in just this one notebook to write an outline for a novel -- or draw on parts of it for three other story projects.
Some things to consider when using antique real-life material:
1. Unless you're writing a biography, always try to sufficiently alter or recombine names versus using them verbatim from your source document. While these people may no longer be alive they've probably got descendants, and it shows respect for their personal history.
2. Make copies of the original document for personal annotation or any form of alteration versus writing on the document itself. Keeping the source in its original condition helps preserve it for the next generation of storytellers.
3. Donate any historically important vintage journals to an appropriate museum, library or other nonprofit organization dedicated to preservation. While it's lovely to own a piece of history sharing it by donation will virtually guarantee its longevity. It will also make the information it contains available to teachers, students, researchers, curators, biographers etc.
If you're interested in finding your own vintage story mines, you can hunt for antique journals in a variety of places: thrift stores, rummage sales, old book stores, antique paper and emphemera dealers (try Etsy, which is where I found this one) and estate sales. For a marvelous free online resource, check out the massive list of links at The Diary Junction.
February 1, 2013
Winner
The Publishing Fairy is quite pleased with all the entries for her giveaway. So am I; I love seeing what everyone is reading. As for the winner, PF has done her wand thing, and a BookWish has been granted to:
Leslee, who wrote: I just finished The Peculiar Pets of Miss Pleasance by Delilah Dawson and Club Monstrosity by Jesse Peterson. I am finishing up Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger, so fun. Then it will be on to House Rules by Chloe Neill.
Leslee, when you have a chance please send your full name, ship-to address and the title for your BookWish to LynnViehl@aol.com. My thanks to everyone for joining in.
Leslee, who wrote: I just finished The Peculiar Pets of Miss Pleasance by Delilah Dawson and Club Monstrosity by Jesse Peterson. I am finishing up Etiquette and Espionage by Gail Carriger, so fun. Then it will be on to House Rules by Chloe Neill.
Leslee, when you have a chance please send your full name, ship-to address and the title for your BookWish to LynnViehl@aol.com. My thanks to everyone for joining in.
January 31, 2013
Pitch Your NanoNovel
As of today, NaNoWriMo is kicking off their third annual Pitchapalooza, which offers a neat opportunity for pitching and possibly receiving feedback. The winner lands a nice opportunity, too:
For those of you not familiar with Pitchapalooza, here’s the skinny: You get 250 words to pitch your book. Twenty-five pitches will be randomly selected from all submissions. We will then critique the pitches online so you get to see what makes a great pitch. We will then choose one winner from the group. The winner will receive an introduction to an agent or publisher appropriate for his/her manuscript. We will also crown a fan favorite who will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).
Beginning February 1, 2013, you can email your pitch to nanowrimo@thebookdoctors.com. All pitches must be received by 11:59 PST on February 28, 2013. The 25 random pitches will be posted on March 5, 2012. Winners will be announced on March 15, 2013. Anyone can vote for fan favorite, so get your social media engine running as soon as the pitches go up!
More details can be found here at the Office of Letters and Light blog.
For those of you not familiar with Pitchapalooza, here’s the skinny: You get 250 words to pitch your book. Twenty-five pitches will be randomly selected from all submissions. We will then critique the pitches online so you get to see what makes a great pitch. We will then choose one winner from the group. The winner will receive an introduction to an agent or publisher appropriate for his/her manuscript. We will also crown a fan favorite who will receive a free one-hour consult with us (worth $250).
Beginning February 1, 2013, you can email your pitch to nanowrimo@thebookdoctors.com. All pitches must be received by 11:59 PST on February 28, 2013. The 25 random pitches will be posted on March 5, 2012. Winners will be announced on March 15, 2013. Anyone can vote for fan favorite, so get your social media engine running as soon as the pitches go up!
More details can be found here at the Office of Letters and Light blog.
January 30, 2013
The Publishing Fairy Strikes Again
I'm in the midst of finishing up some work, so I've invited the Publishing Fairy to stop in and wave her wand over one of you. No, you won't turn into an author. Unless you're a frog. I can't do anything about any accidental amphibian anthropomorphisms.If you've got a book to wish for, in comments to this post tell us the title of the last book you read (or if you can't remember, just toss your name in the magic hat) by midnight EST on Friday, February 1st, 2013. I'll draw one name at random from everyone who participates, and PF will grant the winner a BookWish*. This giveaway is open to everyone on the planet, even if you've won something here at PBW in the past.
*A BookWish is any book of the winner's choice available for order online and that costs up to a maximum of $30.00 U.S. dollars (I'll cover any additional shipping costs involved.)
January 29, 2013
Bye Bye Birdie
A few days ago our mourning dove's twins looked almost big enough to fly solo, so camera in hand I started checking them regularly in hopes of getting a shot.
On Sunday morning they were so restless I was pretty sure it would be the day, and parked myself, my work and my camera on the porch.
They were too fast for me to snap their first flight, but I managed to capture their first landing. Good luck, little ones.
January 28, 2013
Free Your Fonts
UrbanFonts.com touts its collection of over 8,000 freeware fonts as amazing, so while looking for a promo style for Disenchanted & Company I decided to test drive an install and see how it worked. First I found a font in the free section that I thought was unusual and exceptional, Celtasmigoria by Sorcerer (to get a better view, click on the image to go to the site page for this font):
I clicked download, and the following screen came up:
From there I clicked Install, and like magic the font was added to my system, which allowed me to select and type with it in Word:
While it doesn't really suit my D&C project, this particular font would work as inspiration for a Celtic embroidery project a friend of mine is working on; the pictoral art of the capital letters is perfect for her needlework. I imagine you indie authors and webmasters can probably find some neat free fonts at this site to use in your cover art and site designs. Note: if you do want to use any free font for a commercial project you should always a) let the font designer know first and b) give the designer proper credit and linkage.
Here are links to other free fonts at the site that I've used or thought were very cool:
A Lolita Scorned
a picture alphabet
Anarchistic
And then some
ARDENWOOD
bulky Refuse
Chicory
FLORALIS
Freebooter
Mael
Old Copperfield
Sanford Book
WildWood
Yataghan
I clicked download, and the following screen came up:
From there I clicked Install, and like magic the font was added to my system, which allowed me to select and type with it in Word:
While it doesn't really suit my D&C project, this particular font would work as inspiration for a Celtic embroidery project a friend of mine is working on; the pictoral art of the capital letters is perfect for her needlework. I imagine you indie authors and webmasters can probably find some neat free fonts at this site to use in your cover art and site designs. Note: if you do want to use any free font for a commercial project you should always a) let the font designer know first and b) give the designer proper credit and linkage.
Here are links to other free fonts at the site that I've used or thought were very cool:
A Lolita Scorned
a picture alphabet
Anarchistic
And then some
ARDENWOOD
bulky Refuse
Chicory
FLORALIS
Freebooter
Mael
Old Copperfield
Sanford Book
WildWood
Yataghan
January 27, 2013
No Cost Ten
Ten Things You Can Have for Free
Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.
7 Sticky Notes is a "good 100% free desktop notes software that creates Sticky Notes directly on your Desktop. It has a really good-looking realistic sticky note appearance for ultimate user experience and it offers amazing and cool features that makes 7 Sticky Notes at the same time powerful, simple to use, reliable, and light" (OS: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7)
ArsClip is a "freeware utility for the windows clipboard. ArsClip monitors the clipboard and keeps track of the entries. Pasting is done by using a triggered popup window. This window can be triggered by a hotkey, holding right-click, a special trigger window, and other methods" (OS: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7)
Funny Photo Maker "lets you enjoy photo editing. Helps you export photos in image file and gif animation. Easily turns your photos into artistic and interesting masterpieces" (OS: Windows XP/Vista/7)
The free, full-featured trial version of ImageWell is a "compact, powerful image editing application that lets you quickly resize, crop,watermark, edit your images, take screenshots and then instantly upload them to the web, save to your computer or email them to a friend. ImageWell also lets you annotate your images with text, shapes, arrows and lines, quickly and easily. And it doesn't stop there - add a drop shadow, a shaped border, flip or rotate your image, adjust the sharpness and brightness, plus so much more" (OS: Mac)
LyX is a "document processor that encourages an approach to writing based on the structure of your documents (WYSIWYM) and not simply their appearance (WYSIWYG). LyX combines the power and flexibility of TeX/LaTeX with the ease of use of a graphical interface. This results in world-class support for creation of mathematical content (via a fully integrated equation editor) and structured documents like academic articles, theses, and books. In addition, staples of scientific authoring such as reference list and index creation come standard. But you can also use LyX to create a letter or a novel or a theatre play or film script. A broad array of ready, well-designed document layouts are built in. LyX is for people who want their writing to look great, right out of the box. No more endless tinkering with formatting details, “finger painting” font attributes or futzing around with page boundaries. You just write. On screen, LyX looks like any word processor; its printed output — or richly cross-referenced PDF, just as readily produced — looks like nothing else" (OS: Linux/Unix, Windows, and Mac OS X; available in several languages.)
Scheduler allows you to "schedule tasks to perform at a particular time of day. Tasks include the ability to open any file in its default program, open a URL in the default web browser and shutdown or restart your computer. The main window can be minimised to the system tray. The uses of this range from using it as an alarm clock or reminder to shutting down your computer at a set time after any remaining tasks have been completed" (OS: Not specified but it looks like Windows.)
Scribus is "an Open Source program that brings professional page layout to Linux/UNIX, Mac OS X, OS/2 Warp 4/eComStation and Windows desktops with a combination of press-ready output and new approaches to page design. Underneath a modern and user-friendly interface, Scribus supports professional publishing features, such as color separations, CMYK and Spot Color support, ICC color management, and versatile PDF creation" (OS: Linux/*nix/BSD, MacOSX(R) and Windows(R))
SoftCard Manager uses your scanner to "store Business cards and other similar sized cards. SoftCardManager stores digital images of each Card. Each one highly compressed is immediately available for viewing. Scan in a card, enter it into a phone book (basic details, Name, Company, Email address) and you can look at all their details instantly" (OS: Not specified but it looks like Windows.)
SSuite Office My Money Portable is "a simple to use personal finance manager that is also portable. Features: create and add unlimited accounts; make income or expense transactions against your accounts; supports inter-account money transfers; includes a custom report builder. A French version is also available. (OS: All Windows; designer notes: "If used in Windows Vista / 7 / 8, set the application to run as an Administrator")
VueMinder Lite USB is a "free calendar program that can run from a USB stick - no installation required. It can auto-sync with Google Calendar. A calendar browser allows addition of many events, such as holidays, local weather, sport schedules, religious occasions, and much more. You can also create your own calendars, which are overlaid into day, week, and month views. Events are also visible directly on the Windows desktop, even when offline" (OS: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/7 [32-Bit/64-Bit])
Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.
7 Sticky Notes is a "good 100% free desktop notes software that creates Sticky Notes directly on your Desktop. It has a really good-looking realistic sticky note appearance for ultimate user experience and it offers amazing and cool features that makes 7 Sticky Notes at the same time powerful, simple to use, reliable, and light" (OS: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7)
ArsClip is a "freeware utility for the windows clipboard. ArsClip monitors the clipboard and keeps track of the entries. Pasting is done by using a triggered popup window. This window can be triggered by a hotkey, holding right-click, a special trigger window, and other methods" (OS: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7)
Funny Photo Maker "lets you enjoy photo editing. Helps you export photos in image file and gif animation. Easily turns your photos into artistic and interesting masterpieces" (OS: Windows XP/Vista/7)
The free, full-featured trial version of ImageWell is a "compact, powerful image editing application that lets you quickly resize, crop,watermark, edit your images, take screenshots and then instantly upload them to the web, save to your computer or email them to a friend. ImageWell also lets you annotate your images with text, shapes, arrows and lines, quickly and easily. And it doesn't stop there - add a drop shadow, a shaped border, flip or rotate your image, adjust the sharpness and brightness, plus so much more" (OS: Mac)
LyX is a "document processor that encourages an approach to writing based on the structure of your documents (WYSIWYM) and not simply their appearance (WYSIWYG). LyX combines the power and flexibility of TeX/LaTeX with the ease of use of a graphical interface. This results in world-class support for creation of mathematical content (via a fully integrated equation editor) and structured documents like academic articles, theses, and books. In addition, staples of scientific authoring such as reference list and index creation come standard. But you can also use LyX to create a letter or a novel or a theatre play or film script. A broad array of ready, well-designed document layouts are built in. LyX is for people who want their writing to look great, right out of the box. No more endless tinkering with formatting details, “finger painting” font attributes or futzing around with page boundaries. You just write. On screen, LyX looks like any word processor; its printed output — or richly cross-referenced PDF, just as readily produced — looks like nothing else" (OS: Linux/Unix, Windows, and Mac OS X; available in several languages.)
Scheduler allows you to "schedule tasks to perform at a particular time of day. Tasks include the ability to open any file in its default program, open a URL in the default web browser and shutdown or restart your computer. The main window can be minimised to the system tray. The uses of this range from using it as an alarm clock or reminder to shutting down your computer at a set time after any remaining tasks have been completed" (OS: Not specified but it looks like Windows.)
Scribus is "an Open Source program that brings professional page layout to Linux/UNIX, Mac OS X, OS/2 Warp 4/eComStation and Windows desktops with a combination of press-ready output and new approaches to page design. Underneath a modern and user-friendly interface, Scribus supports professional publishing features, such as color separations, CMYK and Spot Color support, ICC color management, and versatile PDF creation" (OS: Linux/*nix/BSD, MacOSX(R) and Windows(R))
SoftCard Manager uses your scanner to "store Business cards and other similar sized cards. SoftCardManager stores digital images of each Card. Each one highly compressed is immediately available for viewing. Scan in a card, enter it into a phone book (basic details, Name, Company, Email address) and you can look at all their details instantly" (OS: Not specified but it looks like Windows.)
SSuite Office My Money Portable is "a simple to use personal finance manager that is also portable. Features: create and add unlimited accounts; make income or expense transactions against your accounts; supports inter-account money transfers; includes a custom report builder. A French version is also available. (OS: All Windows; designer notes: "If used in Windows Vista / 7 / 8, set the application to run as an Administrator")
VueMinder Lite USB is a "free calendar program that can run from a USB stick - no installation required. It can auto-sync with Google Calendar. A calendar browser allows addition of many events, such as holidays, local weather, sport schedules, religious occasions, and much more. You can also create your own calendars, which are overlaid into day, week, and month views. Events are also visible directly on the Windows desktop, even when offline" (OS: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista/7 [32-Bit/64-Bit])
January 26, 2013
The Quick Brown Whatsahoosit
If you're a poet or writer who likes playing with nouns you might try to feed some of your text to the N+7 generator, which according to the site "involves replacing each noun in a text with the seventh one following it in a dictionary. (In French, it is also referred to as the 'S+7' procedure.) Here you can enter an English text and 15 alternative texts will be generated, from N+1, which replaces each noun with the next one in the dictionary, to N+15, which takes the 15th noun following."
I tried a classic bit of typing practice, and here are the results:
N+0: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dogs.
N+1: The quick brown foxglove jumped over the lazy dogcarts.
N+2: The quick brown foxhole jumped over the lazy dogfights.
N+3: The quick brown foxhound jumped over the lazy doggies.
N+4: The quick brown foyer jumped over the lazy doggies.
N+5: The quick brown fraction jumped over the lazy doglegs.
N+6: The quick brown fracture jumped over the lazy dogmas.
N+7: The quick brown fragment jumped over the lazy do-gooders.
N+8: The quick brown fragrance jumped over the lazy dogsbodies.
N+9: The quick brown frail jumped over the lazy doilies.
N+10: The quick brown frailty jumped over the lazy doles.
N+11: The quick brown frame jumped over the lazy dolls.
N+12: The quick brown frame-up jumped over the lazy dollars.
N+13: The quick brown framework jumped over the lazy dollops.
N+14: The quick brown franc jumped over the lazy dollies.
N+15: The quick brown franchise jumped over the lazy dolphins.
(Generator link swiped from Gerard over at The Presurfer)
I tried a classic bit of typing practice, and here are the results:
N+0: The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dogs.
N+1: The quick brown foxglove jumped over the lazy dogcarts.
N+2: The quick brown foxhole jumped over the lazy dogfights.
N+3: The quick brown foxhound jumped over the lazy doggies.
N+4: The quick brown foyer jumped over the lazy doggies.
N+5: The quick brown fraction jumped over the lazy doglegs.
N+6: The quick brown fracture jumped over the lazy dogmas.
N+7: The quick brown fragment jumped over the lazy do-gooders.
N+8: The quick brown fragrance jumped over the lazy dogsbodies.
N+9: The quick brown frail jumped over the lazy doilies.
N+10: The quick brown frailty jumped over the lazy doles.
N+11: The quick brown frame jumped over the lazy dolls.
N+12: The quick brown frame-up jumped over the lazy dollars.
N+13: The quick brown framework jumped over the lazy dollops.
N+14: The quick brown franc jumped over the lazy dollies.
N+15: The quick brown franchise jumped over the lazy dolphins.
(Generator link swiped from Gerard over at The Presurfer)
January 25, 2013
Opinions Wanted
These are fonts I'm considering for use with promotional materials for Disenchanted & Company, my new urban fantasy series for Pocket Star. I've whittled down a long list of possibilities to these, but I can't make up my mind which is the most attractive/appealing of the final five.
Which one do you like best? Please vote by number in comments.
January 24, 2013
Shelter Cats
Instead of the usual Friday video I'd like to share some pics I took during a recent visit to a no-kill cat shelter. No music or lols, just beautiful, lonely creatures:
S.L. Viehl's Blog
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