Shanna Swendson's Blog, page 209
February 13, 2013
Our Changing World
I can almost breathe this morning. It's very exciting. I'm so very sick of being sick. Back-to-back colds with just a few healthy days in between is no fun. The worst thing was that Television Without Pity was down for the past couple of days -- on days when I didn't have any serious work to do and didn't feel like doing much of anything. They need to go down again on some day when I need to be productive.
The other morning as I was lying in bed, sort of awake but still coming out from under the effects of cold medicine, I found myself thinking. We used to talk about how much the world changed during my grandfather's lifetime -- he was born in the late 1800s and died in the early 1990s, so in his childhood, horse and buggy was still the primary means of transportation, but before he died, men had walked on the moon and voyages into space had become routine. And then it struck me how much the world has changed just during my adulthood. During my office clean-out project, I was purging old files, which included things I'd clipped and saved from my first job out of college. Most of that got trashed because it's all information that's readily available online, but I'd saved it at the time because that was how you saved information then.
Just during my adulthood, communication has changed entirely. Then, only the very rich might have a car phone. The day I moved into this house, I had to run to the fast food place on the corner to use a pay phone when the movers didn't show up and I'd already transferred the phone service to the new place. Now even children have smart phones that are essentially pocket computers. We have access to any information we need, at any time, from a device that fits in our pockets. When I left college, the Internet was something only the serious geeks at academic or government institutions were into. Now it's just part of the fabric of daily life. It's how we communicate with our friends, look up information, do business, pay bills and buy stuff.
And then I started thinking of how buying books has changed. When I was in college and for a few years afterward, just about every mall had a Waldenbooks or a B. Dalton. They were small stores without a great selection -- the science fiction section was probably about the size of my science fiction section at home -- but they did get in most of the new releases, and they might have a copy of each earlier book in a series when the new one came out. For more depth, there were a few Bookstops in the area -- a no-frills forerunner of the superstore. We also had a local independent chain, but I seldom shopped there because they weren't big on genre fiction and were openly snooty if you bought something they didn't approve of. If there was a book I was suddenly possessed of an urgent desire for, it could require a journey around town to search for it. I'd hit the Bookstops first because they usually had a bigger selection, they were 10 percent off the cover price, and if you had their card you got an even bigger discount. Then I'd hit the mall stores and finally the local chain, steeling myself for the insults at the checkout. There were a few other mom-and-pop bookstores that sold mostly used books but that would have new releases of mostly romances at the front of the store.
They opened the first Barnes & Noble in our area in the early 90s. I remember being in awe when I went to an event at one with some writer friends. They had a restaurant in a bookstore! It was amazing. I felt so very sophisticated having writerly discussions with my writer friends as we sipped cappuccino in a bookstore (it was my first cappuccino, and I was somewhat disappointed to find that I didn't like it, but that shouldn't have been a surprise because I don't like coffee). There were writers who had all kinds of doom-and-gloom predictions about superstores, though I never entirely understood them because they had much more depth than the mall stores. As more of those stores opened and as the Borders also moved into town, the Bookstops were closed, as were all the mall stores. The local chain went under. But it did become easier to find any particular book I was dying to get my hands on, especially when they opened a B&N just down the street. For a while, the bookstore was the center of my social life. I was in book groups there, and that was where I'd meet up with friends.
Somewhere along the way, Amazon showed up, and suddenly it was easy to get any book. It took me a long time to get on board because I liked the process of going to a store and buying the book right then instead of waiting for it to be delivered. But then the chains started getting weird about what they ordered, so they were less likely to have the books I wanted, and then they started closing the chain stores. They closed my nearest Borders, then the whole chain went under, and now they've closed my neighborhood B&N. Meanwhile, e-readers and e-books have taken off like crazy. I haven't jumped on board as a reader yet, but it's definitely changed the way books are sold. With a reader, you can get that instant gratification without driving all over town to find that one particular book.
And that's how the world's changed in the past 20 years -- from lots of places to buy books to just a few, but with the ability to get any book delivered to your home in just a few days or delivered instantly to a device. That also means that there are more options for authors -- for good or for bad. There are ways to get your book in the hands of readers without going through a publisher, but that also means the supply of books is less curated. That means a lot more choices that aren't so strictly defined by mass tastes, but it also means quality control can be iffy.
I trashed a lot of publishing industry and writing advice stuff I'd filed because it's no longer relevant.
The other morning as I was lying in bed, sort of awake but still coming out from under the effects of cold medicine, I found myself thinking. We used to talk about how much the world changed during my grandfather's lifetime -- he was born in the late 1800s and died in the early 1990s, so in his childhood, horse and buggy was still the primary means of transportation, but before he died, men had walked on the moon and voyages into space had become routine. And then it struck me how much the world has changed just during my adulthood. During my office clean-out project, I was purging old files, which included things I'd clipped and saved from my first job out of college. Most of that got trashed because it's all information that's readily available online, but I'd saved it at the time because that was how you saved information then.
Just during my adulthood, communication has changed entirely. Then, only the very rich might have a car phone. The day I moved into this house, I had to run to the fast food place on the corner to use a pay phone when the movers didn't show up and I'd already transferred the phone service to the new place. Now even children have smart phones that are essentially pocket computers. We have access to any information we need, at any time, from a device that fits in our pockets. When I left college, the Internet was something only the serious geeks at academic or government institutions were into. Now it's just part of the fabric of daily life. It's how we communicate with our friends, look up information, do business, pay bills and buy stuff.
And then I started thinking of how buying books has changed. When I was in college and for a few years afterward, just about every mall had a Waldenbooks or a B. Dalton. They were small stores without a great selection -- the science fiction section was probably about the size of my science fiction section at home -- but they did get in most of the new releases, and they might have a copy of each earlier book in a series when the new one came out. For more depth, there were a few Bookstops in the area -- a no-frills forerunner of the superstore. We also had a local independent chain, but I seldom shopped there because they weren't big on genre fiction and were openly snooty if you bought something they didn't approve of. If there was a book I was suddenly possessed of an urgent desire for, it could require a journey around town to search for it. I'd hit the Bookstops first because they usually had a bigger selection, they were 10 percent off the cover price, and if you had their card you got an even bigger discount. Then I'd hit the mall stores and finally the local chain, steeling myself for the insults at the checkout. There were a few other mom-and-pop bookstores that sold mostly used books but that would have new releases of mostly romances at the front of the store.
They opened the first Barnes & Noble in our area in the early 90s. I remember being in awe when I went to an event at one with some writer friends. They had a restaurant in a bookstore! It was amazing. I felt so very sophisticated having writerly discussions with my writer friends as we sipped cappuccino in a bookstore (it was my first cappuccino, and I was somewhat disappointed to find that I didn't like it, but that shouldn't have been a surprise because I don't like coffee). There were writers who had all kinds of doom-and-gloom predictions about superstores, though I never entirely understood them because they had much more depth than the mall stores. As more of those stores opened and as the Borders also moved into town, the Bookstops were closed, as were all the mall stores. The local chain went under. But it did become easier to find any particular book I was dying to get my hands on, especially when they opened a B&N just down the street. For a while, the bookstore was the center of my social life. I was in book groups there, and that was where I'd meet up with friends.
Somewhere along the way, Amazon showed up, and suddenly it was easy to get any book. It took me a long time to get on board because I liked the process of going to a store and buying the book right then instead of waiting for it to be delivered. But then the chains started getting weird about what they ordered, so they were less likely to have the books I wanted, and then they started closing the chain stores. They closed my nearest Borders, then the whole chain went under, and now they've closed my neighborhood B&N. Meanwhile, e-readers and e-books have taken off like crazy. I haven't jumped on board as a reader yet, but it's definitely changed the way books are sold. With a reader, you can get that instant gratification without driving all over town to find that one particular book.
And that's how the world's changed in the past 20 years -- from lots of places to buy books to just a few, but with the ability to get any book delivered to your home in just a few days or delivered instantly to a device. That also means that there are more options for authors -- for good or for bad. There are ways to get your book in the hands of readers without going through a publisher, but that also means the supply of books is less curated. That means a lot more choices that aren't so strictly defined by mass tastes, but it also means quality control can be iffy.
I trashed a lot of publishing industry and writing advice stuff I'd filed because it's no longer relevant.
February 12, 2013
Book Report: Odd Books
I still have a stuffy head, and it's driving me insane. I feel like my head's been filled with cement and then encased in a cement block. Spicy food seems to open my sinuses temporarily, but even decongestants aren't helping much. It makes it hard to think.
But I have been able to read, and I'm halfway through the final book in my huge stack of books I was reading for award nomination consideration.
One recent read was Terry Pratchett's venture into science fiction, along with co-author Stephen Baxter, The Long Earth. A diagram for a device involving circuits, a potato and a switch is posted to the Internet. When people make the device, they find that it sends them to an alternate earth. This discovery leads them to realize that there's an infinite chain of other earths that can be "stepped" to using this device. The book explores some of the impact this discovery has on society -- the people who go "homestead" on remote earths, the emptying of inner cities into these other places as people with nothing for them here seek their fortunes elsewhere, the economic impact as gold is found in the same places on the other earths. It also gets into a travelogue as a young man who seems to be a natural "stepper" who can go between worlds without the device and without any ill effects is chosen by a sentient artificial intelligence (that may possibly be the reincarnation of a Tibetan motorcycle mechanic who found his next existence in a computer's biomemetic gel) for a mission to travel through as many other earths as possible, sort of a Lewis and Clark expedition.
As you can tell, this is an odd book. It's short, but it took me a long time to read, probably because it's rather episodic. It's a series of incidents with no real narrative drive until near the end, which is apparently setting up a sequel. This isn't necessarily a bad thing because each of the incidents is interesting and there's some really intriguing extrapolation going on about what would happen with this kind of knowledge. It's just that without any real aim there's nothing making it imperative to turn the pages. I could read an incident or two before going to bed and then put the book down and turn out the light instead of feeling compelled to keep reading.
Then there was The Troupe by Robert Jackson Bennett, which was another odd book. A teenaged boy in the early years of the 20th century gets a job as a pianist at a vaudeville theater because he's trying to track down one particular troupe. He believes that the leader of the troupe is the father he never knew. But there's something odd about this troupe: no one who's seen their act seems to be able to actually remember it. When he does catch up with them, he finds out why and that by meeting up with them, he's put himself in terrible danger. This one was a real page-turner, though I did figure out one of the secrets/mysteries fairly early on. It gets really out-there in places, but it was a fascinating read. If you haven't figured out one of the mysteries early on, it would be one of those books that's different when you read it again with the knowledge you get at the end. I would say that there's a dreamlike quality to the book that almost makes you wonder if the last third of it was really what you read or the nightmare you had when you had to put the book down and go to sleep without finishing it. If you liked the HBO series Carnivale, I would say to give this a try. It's different eras and topics, but there's something that strikes me as similar in feel.
Now I have to finish the book I'm reading now, and then I may take a break and read something totally outside the genre, maybe something from the To Be Read shelf.
But I have been able to read, and I'm halfway through the final book in my huge stack of books I was reading for award nomination consideration.
One recent read was Terry Pratchett's venture into science fiction, along with co-author Stephen Baxter, The Long Earth. A diagram for a device involving circuits, a potato and a switch is posted to the Internet. When people make the device, they find that it sends them to an alternate earth. This discovery leads them to realize that there's an infinite chain of other earths that can be "stepped" to using this device. The book explores some of the impact this discovery has on society -- the people who go "homestead" on remote earths, the emptying of inner cities into these other places as people with nothing for them here seek their fortunes elsewhere, the economic impact as gold is found in the same places on the other earths. It also gets into a travelogue as a young man who seems to be a natural "stepper" who can go between worlds without the device and without any ill effects is chosen by a sentient artificial intelligence (that may possibly be the reincarnation of a Tibetan motorcycle mechanic who found his next existence in a computer's biomemetic gel) for a mission to travel through as many other earths as possible, sort of a Lewis and Clark expedition.
As you can tell, this is an odd book. It's short, but it took me a long time to read, probably because it's rather episodic. It's a series of incidents with no real narrative drive until near the end, which is apparently setting up a sequel. This isn't necessarily a bad thing because each of the incidents is interesting and there's some really intriguing extrapolation going on about what would happen with this kind of knowledge. It's just that without any real aim there's nothing making it imperative to turn the pages. I could read an incident or two before going to bed and then put the book down and turn out the light instead of feeling compelled to keep reading.
Then there was The Troupe by Robert Jackson Bennett, which was another odd book. A teenaged boy in the early years of the 20th century gets a job as a pianist at a vaudeville theater because he's trying to track down one particular troupe. He believes that the leader of the troupe is the father he never knew. But there's something odd about this troupe: no one who's seen their act seems to be able to actually remember it. When he does catch up with them, he finds out why and that by meeting up with them, he's put himself in terrible danger. This one was a real page-turner, though I did figure out one of the secrets/mysteries fairly early on. It gets really out-there in places, but it was a fascinating read. If you haven't figured out one of the mysteries early on, it would be one of those books that's different when you read it again with the knowledge you get at the end. I would say that there's a dreamlike quality to the book that almost makes you wonder if the last third of it was really what you read or the nightmare you had when you had to put the book down and go to sleep without finishing it. If you liked the HBO series Carnivale, I would say to give this a try. It's different eras and topics, but there's something that strikes me as similar in feel.
Now I have to finish the book I'm reading now, and then I may take a break and read something totally outside the genre, maybe something from the To Be Read shelf.
February 11, 2013
Rearranging the Office
I got the office mostly rearranged over the weekend. Now comes the real organizing, which is going to take more time. I have an L-shaped desk and already had a filing cabinet at one end. I moved the second filing cabinet to the other end, so I can reach both of them while sitting in my desk chair. I moved the two bookcases behind my desk, one to where the filing cabinet used to be in front of my desk and the other to the opposite wall where I had a cart/shelf thing. The cart got moved behind my desk to hold mailing and filing supplies and will also eventually be my incoming mail center. All this means that the area behind my desk where I sit feels a lot more open. I got most of the books reshelved, as well, moving the books I tend to refer to into my office. One of the bookcases is deep enough to get multiple layers of books, so I got most of the to-be-read books off the bookcases in the loft, where they'd been stacked haphazardly. There was also some purging of the shelves, and I may need to do another round of that. I was just getting the TBR books off the shelves so I could get other books shelved, so there was no evaluation as to whether I'd ever want to read any of those books. I think I need to do an honest assessment there.
Now comes the hard part. For one thing, I need to drop a lot of books off at the library for their book sale. Most of the books I'm getting rid of, I'd barely get anything for them at a used bookstore, but if they can help the library, I get more benefit. For another, now that I've rearranged things, I need to start putting together a system and putting things away. This is the point when I tend to lose interest in a project, but I can't stop now because the stuff from the office is spread over the rest of the house. The area around my desk is currently the neatest, most organized part of the house.
Unfortunately, all that furniture moving and book rearranging stirred up some serious dust, which kicked in the allergies. Or else I've got another cold or a continuation of the last cold. At any rate, I'm all stuffed up and sniffly. I gave myself yesterday off from the organizing and just took allergy medicine and lay around all day. I may try to set up the filing system today, if I can focus, since that shouldn't be too dusty. I got most of one filing cabinet purged of "why am I keeping this?" stuff over the weekend. The other cabinet may be rather more challenging. I'm afraid if I don't do any work on it today, I'll lose momentum, but I'm not sure I'm making my best decisions while on allergy medicine. I can just imagine trying to find things later in a filing system devised while on Benadryl.
So I think today there may be some purging of files but mostly some reading and resting while I try to breathe.
Now comes the hard part. For one thing, I need to drop a lot of books off at the library for their book sale. Most of the books I'm getting rid of, I'd barely get anything for them at a used bookstore, but if they can help the library, I get more benefit. For another, now that I've rearranged things, I need to start putting together a system and putting things away. This is the point when I tend to lose interest in a project, but I can't stop now because the stuff from the office is spread over the rest of the house. The area around my desk is currently the neatest, most organized part of the house.
Unfortunately, all that furniture moving and book rearranging stirred up some serious dust, which kicked in the allergies. Or else I've got another cold or a continuation of the last cold. At any rate, I'm all stuffed up and sniffly. I gave myself yesterday off from the organizing and just took allergy medicine and lay around all day. I may try to set up the filing system today, if I can focus, since that shouldn't be too dusty. I got most of one filing cabinet purged of "why am I keeping this?" stuff over the weekend. The other cabinet may be rather more challenging. I'm afraid if I don't do any work on it today, I'll lose momentum, but I'm not sure I'm making my best decisions while on allergy medicine. I can just imagine trying to find things later in a filing system devised while on Benadryl.
So I think today there may be some purging of files but mostly some reading and resting while I try to breathe.
February 8, 2013
Tempests and Past Lives
While going on about my office organizing project, I totally forgot to share my latest adventure with the kindergarteners. I'd found a book on rhythm stick activities in the supply closet in the choir room, and they had a couple of things I thought would be fun to try. One was to use the sticks to make a rainstorm, starting slowly and softly, building up to the storm, then tapering off. The other was to play along with the first movement of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, with the big, loud opener that goes into softer strings. Then I discovered that my CD of that also has the Sixth, the Pastoral, which has a "Tempest" movement where the music sounds like a storm. These kids love to dance, and whenever I put on music, they just dance around the room like crazy. I can barely get them to learn to sing the songs, they're so busy dancing. So I thought we could make our own thunderstorm, then listen and dance along with the thunderstorm music -- if you can't beat-'em, join 'em.
So, what did they do when I put on the thunderstorm music for them to dance to? They decided they were small animals, so they hid in the corner during the storm to stay out of the rain. They did do a really good impression of squirrels, I must say, so they weren't just cowering in the corner. They were doing it in character. Then one of them became a hawk and started attacking the squirrels. The other squirrels became hawks, too, and aerial combat ensued that the adults had to break up. Mind you, these are all girls. The lone boy was too busy fighting demons from the underworld.
Next week, the man in the church who collects flutes is bringing his collection for them to learn about. I think I have some early music recordings that use flutes and recorders, so maybe we can dance to that.
Now, back to Project Office. In addition to the organizing book, I've been reading another one by the same author, called something like Shed Your Stuff, Change Your Life that's about the psychological aspect of it. It's not so much about organizing as it is about the things we hold onto that may once have been useful or valuable but that no longer are because you're in a different place in your life, and holding onto those things may be keeping you from really heading into the next phase in your life. I've been thinking about that as I empty the bookcases around my desk in preparation for moving them because it's possible that part of my book collection could fall into this category. Not only were they not books I needed to have easy access to behind my desk, but I'm not sure they're books I really need at all.
The shelf behind my desk is essentially my collection of autographed books and books by authors I know. At least, that's how it started. It ended up being mostly a romance collection, as the autographed science fiction and fantasy novels are in the regular f/sf shelf in the loft/library. When I set up this office, I was writing romance and chick lit (or trying to) and hadn't really admitted to myself that I didn't like it and that what I really wanted to write was fantasy. So, having the books by the romance and chick lit authors I knew surrounding me seemed like a good idea for inspiration. Those books were "work." Now I look at those books and have mixed feelings. There are a few I really liked that I might read again. There are some I never read -- I used to go to booksignings for authors I knew, just to support them, and I always tried to buy at least the first book by any friend. A few of those people were mentors, of a sort, so seeing their books reminds me of being supported and encouraged. Most of them, though, never returned the favor when I had a signing and aren't in my life anymore. Some of the books do have sentimental attachment in and of themselves, like the copy of Shanna autographed by Kathleen Woodiwiss to "the real Shanna." I think I need to go through this collection and keep the books that really do inspire me and the ones by the people who really meant something to me. The rest, I can slice out the page with the autograph if it's personalized (because you never know where it may end up -- they'll never see that I don't have their books on my shelves, but they may find a book that's been donated) and donate to the library book sale. I don't know that these books are in any way holding me back emotionally, though I suppose they may be a subconscious reminder of a failure or of trying to be something I'm not, but it can only help to surround myself with things that really do inspire me where I am now instead of things that don't really matter to me.
Now I have to decide how to reallocate my book space. Do I incorporate the keepers into the regular shelves? If I do, something else will have to move into the office shelves. I don't want that to be the fantasy collection because I do more actual writing in the loft next to those shelves. Maybe it should be some of the non-fiction that I might use as reference material. I also need to do a purge of the To-Be-Read pile and admit that I will never read many of those conference giveaway books. That will clear a lot of bookcase space.
So, what did they do when I put on the thunderstorm music for them to dance to? They decided they were small animals, so they hid in the corner during the storm to stay out of the rain. They did do a really good impression of squirrels, I must say, so they weren't just cowering in the corner. They were doing it in character. Then one of them became a hawk and started attacking the squirrels. The other squirrels became hawks, too, and aerial combat ensued that the adults had to break up. Mind you, these are all girls. The lone boy was too busy fighting demons from the underworld.
Next week, the man in the church who collects flutes is bringing his collection for them to learn about. I think I have some early music recordings that use flutes and recorders, so maybe we can dance to that.
Now, back to Project Office. In addition to the organizing book, I've been reading another one by the same author, called something like Shed Your Stuff, Change Your Life that's about the psychological aspect of it. It's not so much about organizing as it is about the things we hold onto that may once have been useful or valuable but that no longer are because you're in a different place in your life, and holding onto those things may be keeping you from really heading into the next phase in your life. I've been thinking about that as I empty the bookcases around my desk in preparation for moving them because it's possible that part of my book collection could fall into this category. Not only were they not books I needed to have easy access to behind my desk, but I'm not sure they're books I really need at all.
The shelf behind my desk is essentially my collection of autographed books and books by authors I know. At least, that's how it started. It ended up being mostly a romance collection, as the autographed science fiction and fantasy novels are in the regular f/sf shelf in the loft/library. When I set up this office, I was writing romance and chick lit (or trying to) and hadn't really admitted to myself that I didn't like it and that what I really wanted to write was fantasy. So, having the books by the romance and chick lit authors I knew surrounding me seemed like a good idea for inspiration. Those books were "work." Now I look at those books and have mixed feelings. There are a few I really liked that I might read again. There are some I never read -- I used to go to booksignings for authors I knew, just to support them, and I always tried to buy at least the first book by any friend. A few of those people were mentors, of a sort, so seeing their books reminds me of being supported and encouraged. Most of them, though, never returned the favor when I had a signing and aren't in my life anymore. Some of the books do have sentimental attachment in and of themselves, like the copy of Shanna autographed by Kathleen Woodiwiss to "the real Shanna." I think I need to go through this collection and keep the books that really do inspire me and the ones by the people who really meant something to me. The rest, I can slice out the page with the autograph if it's personalized (because you never know where it may end up -- they'll never see that I don't have their books on my shelves, but they may find a book that's been donated) and donate to the library book sale. I don't know that these books are in any way holding me back emotionally, though I suppose they may be a subconscious reminder of a failure or of trying to be something I'm not, but it can only help to surround myself with things that really do inspire me where I am now instead of things that don't really matter to me.
Now I have to decide how to reallocate my book space. Do I incorporate the keepers into the regular shelves? If I do, something else will have to move into the office shelves. I don't want that to be the fantasy collection because I do more actual writing in the loft next to those shelves. Maybe it should be some of the non-fiction that I might use as reference material. I also need to do a purge of the To-Be-Read pile and admit that I will never read many of those conference giveaway books. That will clear a lot of bookcase space.
February 7, 2013
Project Clean Office
I've made huge progress with my office organizing project. Most of the ideas in the book I mentioned weren't exactly rocket science, and I'm sure I've heard some of them before (I think I've seen the author on Oprah), but sometimes it takes reading something at just the right time when you're ready to hear it.
So far, the top of my desk is clear, as is the area under/around/behind the desk. I think my next step will be to get out the tape measure and the graph paper and reconfigure my office. When I made this room my office more than ten years ago, I just put the furniture where it seemed to fit, then put the stuff in the shelves, etc. I've realized that this layout is very inefficient. I have to get up and go around the desk to get to the color printer. The bookshelves behind my desk are full of novels that I have no need to refer to while I'm working. Mailing and printing supplies are scattered in a couple of different locations. One file cabinet is difficult to get things in and out of because there's a bookcase too close to it, and the other is on the other side of my desk, where I don't even use it, which means the one close to my desk is overstuffed. So I need to think my way through some new layout possibilities.
The big lightbulb moment for me was realizing that decluttering and organizing are two different things. Decluttering may be part of organizing, but if you don't organize when you declutter, you'll only have clutter build up all over again. That's what happened last year when I had made some progress with decluttering, but all I was doing was going through a space and throwing out what I no longer needed, then putting the remaining stuff right back. That meant I still didn't have a proper home that made sense for everything. To stay decluttered, you have to figure out a logical home for everything so that it's easy to put things away.
One thing that's helping with this process is the idea of sorting before coming up with a system. Before, I'd create a system, then get paralyzed when I came across something that didn't fit, and I'd just cram it somewhere, and then I'd never find it again. This way, sticking Post-its on file folders as temporary labels means I can create a system that fits the stuff I have. It also helps that I don't have to purge as I sort. If it's obvious to get rid of something at this stage, I can, but if there's any doubt, I can sort it and then put more thought into it when it's time to put it away.
The other huge revelation for me is that the advice to only handle any item or piece of paper one time is not set in stone. I think that's been my biggest problem over time. It may work for some people and some things, but if you're a perfectionist or someone who likes to mull over things before acting, it will just paralyze you. If you can't deal with it perfectly the first time you touch a piece of paper, you'll put off that first time, and then you'll end up with a pile of stuff to deal with in that vague time in the future when you're up to dealing with it, and then that becomes overwhelming. But it's okay to look at something and then put it aside to deal with later, as long as you have a system in place so you won't lose it and so you'll deal with it in time.
The one downside of this project is that it's stirred up an epic cloud of dust, which isn't helping my allergies. I may need to get a mask. But once I get things really cleared out, a good vacuuming will probably help matters, and it should be easier to keep things clean. Now to measure my space and the furniture and play with arrangements. I'm ridiculously excited about this. I'd eventually like to really redecorate my office, but that will have to wait until I have the money for new flooring, new paint (and the ceiling height means professionals to do the painting) and new furniture.
So far, the top of my desk is clear, as is the area under/around/behind the desk. I think my next step will be to get out the tape measure and the graph paper and reconfigure my office. When I made this room my office more than ten years ago, I just put the furniture where it seemed to fit, then put the stuff in the shelves, etc. I've realized that this layout is very inefficient. I have to get up and go around the desk to get to the color printer. The bookshelves behind my desk are full of novels that I have no need to refer to while I'm working. Mailing and printing supplies are scattered in a couple of different locations. One file cabinet is difficult to get things in and out of because there's a bookcase too close to it, and the other is on the other side of my desk, where I don't even use it, which means the one close to my desk is overstuffed. So I need to think my way through some new layout possibilities.
The big lightbulb moment for me was realizing that decluttering and organizing are two different things. Decluttering may be part of organizing, but if you don't organize when you declutter, you'll only have clutter build up all over again. That's what happened last year when I had made some progress with decluttering, but all I was doing was going through a space and throwing out what I no longer needed, then putting the remaining stuff right back. That meant I still didn't have a proper home that made sense for everything. To stay decluttered, you have to figure out a logical home for everything so that it's easy to put things away.
One thing that's helping with this process is the idea of sorting before coming up with a system. Before, I'd create a system, then get paralyzed when I came across something that didn't fit, and I'd just cram it somewhere, and then I'd never find it again. This way, sticking Post-its on file folders as temporary labels means I can create a system that fits the stuff I have. It also helps that I don't have to purge as I sort. If it's obvious to get rid of something at this stage, I can, but if there's any doubt, I can sort it and then put more thought into it when it's time to put it away.
The other huge revelation for me is that the advice to only handle any item or piece of paper one time is not set in stone. I think that's been my biggest problem over time. It may work for some people and some things, but if you're a perfectionist or someone who likes to mull over things before acting, it will just paralyze you. If you can't deal with it perfectly the first time you touch a piece of paper, you'll put off that first time, and then you'll end up with a pile of stuff to deal with in that vague time in the future when you're up to dealing with it, and then that becomes overwhelming. But it's okay to look at something and then put it aside to deal with later, as long as you have a system in place so you won't lose it and so you'll deal with it in time.
The one downside of this project is that it's stirred up an epic cloud of dust, which isn't helping my allergies. I may need to get a mask. But once I get things really cleared out, a good vacuuming will probably help matters, and it should be easier to keep things clean. Now to measure my space and the furniture and play with arrangements. I'm ridiculously excited about this. I'd eventually like to really redecorate my office, but that will have to wait until I have the money for new flooring, new paint (and the ceiling height means professionals to do the painting) and new furniture.
February 6, 2013
Finding Critique Partners
I've got another writing-related reader question this week: How do you find outside readers?
Whether or not you have outside readers, like a beta reader, critique partner or critique group, is an individual decision. Some people work better with someone else to bounce things off of while others work better alone.
There are different levels of partnership. I know of writers who get together to brainstorm plots but who then work independently. I know of writers who send each other each chapter as they go. There are those who just want a critique or review after the book is done, and they may want either big-picture notes or a detailed edit. It may be a reciprocal arrangement, in which you review each other's work, or it may be one-way if the other person isn't a writer.
Why would you want a reader? Sometimes it helps to get an outside opinion. You know all the stuff that goes behind your story, which makes it hard to tell if you've explained it well enough for someone who doesn't have all that information to understand it. An outside eye may help you find plot holes or inconsistencies. It's easy to get into the habit of reading what you think should be there rather than what's really on the page, and spotting deviations may require someone who doesn't know what should be there.
When you look for an outside reader, you're not looking for validation. It doesn't do you any good if they just tell you how awesome you are. If you need that, send it to your mom or someone else who isn't critical of you. What you need is someone who can spot the flaws before you send your work to someone who matters, like an agent or editor. You need someone who knows something about the genre you're writing in, who has experience either as a writer or as a reader. If you're developing a partnership where you also read that person's work, make sure it's a genre you enjoy reading and know something about, and make sure you like that person's work, in general.
Finding a trusted partner can be a real trick (and that's the main reason I don't have a regular critique partner). You may find critiquers in writing forums or organizations. Some writing groups provide matches or critique services. If you go to a workshop or conference, look for the person who asks the good questions or the questions you'd have asked. I know of published authors who've enlisted those readers who e-mail them with detailed critiques of their published books -- if they can spot the problems after the book is published, why not let them look at the books before they're published?
To make it work, you need to be able to trust your critique partner -- not just their opinion about your work, but not to spread it to others or post it online (that has happened). I've heard authors say it's like a marriage, so it's worth it to take some time to find the right fit.
Whether or not you have outside readers, like a beta reader, critique partner or critique group, is an individual decision. Some people work better with someone else to bounce things off of while others work better alone.
There are different levels of partnership. I know of writers who get together to brainstorm plots but who then work independently. I know of writers who send each other each chapter as they go. There are those who just want a critique or review after the book is done, and they may want either big-picture notes or a detailed edit. It may be a reciprocal arrangement, in which you review each other's work, or it may be one-way if the other person isn't a writer.
Why would you want a reader? Sometimes it helps to get an outside opinion. You know all the stuff that goes behind your story, which makes it hard to tell if you've explained it well enough for someone who doesn't have all that information to understand it. An outside eye may help you find plot holes or inconsistencies. It's easy to get into the habit of reading what you think should be there rather than what's really on the page, and spotting deviations may require someone who doesn't know what should be there.
When you look for an outside reader, you're not looking for validation. It doesn't do you any good if they just tell you how awesome you are. If you need that, send it to your mom or someone else who isn't critical of you. What you need is someone who can spot the flaws before you send your work to someone who matters, like an agent or editor. You need someone who knows something about the genre you're writing in, who has experience either as a writer or as a reader. If you're developing a partnership where you also read that person's work, make sure it's a genre you enjoy reading and know something about, and make sure you like that person's work, in general.
Finding a trusted partner can be a real trick (and that's the main reason I don't have a regular critique partner). You may find critiquers in writing forums or organizations. Some writing groups provide matches or critique services. If you go to a workshop or conference, look for the person who asks the good questions or the questions you'd have asked. I know of published authors who've enlisted those readers who e-mail them with detailed critiques of their published books -- if they can spot the problems after the book is published, why not let them look at the books before they're published?
To make it work, you need to be able to trust your critique partner -- not just their opinion about your work, but not to spread it to others or post it online (that has happened). I've heard authors say it's like a marriage, so it's worth it to take some time to find the right fit.
February 5, 2013
Getting Organized (again)
I haven't made it quite back to 100 percent, but just having the mental fog lifted has been wonderful. I was able to read non-fiction books yesterday and get information out of them, which I wasn't able to do last week.
As a result, I may be ready to make yet another stab at an organization project. I had a few lightbulb moments while reading, and I think I've uncovered some of my organizational issues. One is that I'm more of a perfectionist than I realize. If I can't do something perfectly, I put off doing it at all. Another problem, which ties back to the first one, is that I don't really have a good "home" for everything -- which is because I haven't found the "perfect" system. And I can't start organizing without a system.
The book I was reading, Organizing From the Inside Out, by Julie Morgenstern, suggests figuring out your system as you organize instead of starting with a system and trying to make everything fit. Tackle one area and sort absolutely everything in it into categories. The categories you end up with will help you create a system that makes sense for putting things away -- and you put things away based on why you'd need to find it again. Her other big idea is to think about a kindergarten classroom, where things tend to be put into activity centers, with all the stuff you need for that activity in the center, and then bins, boxes and other clearly labeled storage for everything, so that it's not only easy to put everything away, it's also kind of fun. Thinking in those terms indicated that my office is set up all wrong. There are too many tasks that require getting up and going around the desk or where the storage for an item on the desk isn't in easy reach of the desk. I'll have to get out the tape measure and graph paper and see if I can come up with another set-up that makes more sense.
I should probably take some "before" pictures and chart my progress.
As a result, I may be ready to make yet another stab at an organization project. I had a few lightbulb moments while reading, and I think I've uncovered some of my organizational issues. One is that I'm more of a perfectionist than I realize. If I can't do something perfectly, I put off doing it at all. Another problem, which ties back to the first one, is that I don't really have a good "home" for everything -- which is because I haven't found the "perfect" system. And I can't start organizing without a system.
The book I was reading, Organizing From the Inside Out, by Julie Morgenstern, suggests figuring out your system as you organize instead of starting with a system and trying to make everything fit. Tackle one area and sort absolutely everything in it into categories. The categories you end up with will help you create a system that makes sense for putting things away -- and you put things away based on why you'd need to find it again. Her other big idea is to think about a kindergarten classroom, where things tend to be put into activity centers, with all the stuff you need for that activity in the center, and then bins, boxes and other clearly labeled storage for everything, so that it's not only easy to put everything away, it's also kind of fun. Thinking in those terms indicated that my office is set up all wrong. There are too many tasks that require getting up and going around the desk or where the storage for an item on the desk isn't in easy reach of the desk. I'll have to get out the tape measure and graph paper and see if I can come up with another set-up that makes more sense.
I should probably take some "before" pictures and chart my progress.
February 4, 2013
Wake Me When It's Monday
I don't really have anything to say about the weekend because I slept through most of it. After fighting for about an hour to stay awake on Friday night, I ended up going to bed at 8:30. Then I slept until 8:30 the next morning and finally dragged myself out of bed at 9. I managed to stay awake but was foggy for the rest of the day. There was a baby shower for a friend in choir I went to, then I got home, made it for a few hours lying on the couch in a fog and was in bed by 9:30. I had to get up early Sunday because I had to sing for both services and forced myself to stay awake all afternoon, even though I could have used a nap, then had the lights off by ten.
On the up side, I think I finally feel human again. Almost all the cold symptoms are gone, and I'm a lot less foggy than I was. I'm optimistically hoping that one more night of good sleep and I'll wake up feeling normal again. Having energy would be lovely because my house is a disaster.
My big fun for the weekend was freaking out one of my teenager friends from the choir trip by letting her know I'm older than her parents. She couldn't seem to wrap her mind around that. She's going to the same university I went to and was home for the weekend. I said something about what it was like "back in the dark ages" when I went there, and she said it wasn't that long ago. I told her when I graduated, and she realized her parents were there at the same time I was, just one year behind me. I should have told her to check her parents' yearbooks. On second thought, no one needs to see those pictures. It would scar her for life. Or else make her realize that things can only get better.
This is going to be kind of a nervewracking week and I have lots of petty little business type things to deal with (plus a dentist appointment). I tend to procrastinate the petty little business stuff, which only makes it worse when I do have to do it. I've checked some books on time management and organization out of the library to see if I can come up with some ideas to add to my process.
And now, on with Monday!
On the up side, I think I finally feel human again. Almost all the cold symptoms are gone, and I'm a lot less foggy than I was. I'm optimistically hoping that one more night of good sleep and I'll wake up feeling normal again. Having energy would be lovely because my house is a disaster.
My big fun for the weekend was freaking out one of my teenager friends from the choir trip by letting her know I'm older than her parents. She couldn't seem to wrap her mind around that. She's going to the same university I went to and was home for the weekend. I said something about what it was like "back in the dark ages" when I went there, and she said it wasn't that long ago. I told her when I graduated, and she realized her parents were there at the same time I was, just one year behind me. I should have told her to check her parents' yearbooks. On second thought, no one needs to see those pictures. It would scar her for life. Or else make her realize that things can only get better.
This is going to be kind of a nervewracking week and I have lots of petty little business type things to deal with (plus a dentist appointment). I tend to procrastinate the petty little business stuff, which only makes it worse when I do have to do it. I've checked some books on time management and organization out of the library to see if I can come up with some ideas to add to my process.
And now, on with Monday!
February 1, 2013
More Cold Reading
I never did get my nap yesterday, but I made up for it by sleeping ridiculously late this morning. I resorted to the prescription cough syrup to get a good night's sleep, and it did stop the coughing. But that meant it took a really long time to get going this morning. Fortunately, I've taken care of my key business for the morning. I just need to restock on tea. Well, one kind of tea. I have plenty of other tea. Plus, I have a new tea cozy. I needed to think, so I did some knitting. I don't knit well -- just squares or rectangles. I've made a few scarves, I made a cozy for my phone (and it worked, too. Once my purse tipped over and spilled everything onto the pavement, and my phone came through unscathed), and now I've made a cozy for my second teapot that I use for flavored teas. My thermos keeps my regular tea hot, but I don't want to put flavored teas into it, and my secondary teapot is smaller, so I just need to keep the second cup warm. I'm looking forward to putting the cozy to the test. And I may put off the tea run to next week when it's warmer. I think I can survive on what I have.
One good thing about this nasty cold (the final, annoying stages are lingering, when I'm not really sick but not 100 percent) is that it's given me time to read, since I don't much feel like doing anything else. I've made it through my first huge stack from the library with The Rook by Daniel O'Malley. I'll be getting the paperback of this one to keep because it needs to be re-read. It's one of those books that will change once you know what's really going on. Plus, it's a lot like Terry Pratchett's books, where you need to read them at least twice, once to get the story and then more times to catch all the jokes woven into the narration.
I'd describe this one as The X-Men meets Men in Black meets The Bourne Identity, with a dash of Haven, as written by Terry Pratchett after a Lovecraft binge. It's about a woman who opens her eyes to find herself in a field, surrounded by dead bodies, with no idea who she is or how she got there. She finds a letter in her pocket telling her that if she's reading this, then she's been erased. It tells her who she is, that there's someone out to get her, and gives her instructions for what to do next. It turns out that she's a high-ranking bureaucrat in a secret organization of people with supernatural abilities who deal with supernatural events. She discovered a traitor in their midst, which got her memory erased. But she had warning of what would happen to her, so she dealt with her impending fate by documenting everything and leaving all the information she could for her future self to follow. Now this woman who has no memory of this has to step into her shoes and try to pretend to be herself to track down the traitor, since her former self had only figured out the fact of a traitor and what he/she was doing, but didn't learn the identity until just before being erased. The story goes back and forth between the present day and her past self's letters to her future self, documenting things that are happening to her and saying what she really thinks about the people in her life. One thing her enemies didn't count on is that her past self was apparently really timid and uncomfortable with using her powers, but once all her emotional baggage from childhood is removed in the memory wipe, they're dealing with someone else entirely.
This is a real page-turner. I put off a number of TV shows, deciding to watch OnDemand later because I wanted to finish reading this book. It's delightfully quirky, a little gross (I did mention Lovecraft), and laugh-out-loud funny in places, but it's also surprisingly poignant when it really brings home what it would be like to know that you may not physically die but that you will soon cease to exist. I suspect it will be even funnier on a re-read because, as I mentioned, most of the jokes are just woven into the narrative as a turn of phrase or a way of describing someone or something. And there's a big dose of British whimsy (though the author is Australian).
This is the kind of thing I was hoping for more of when they first started talking about "urban fantasy" in publishing. It's got that real world vs. magical world clash, all while dealing with supernatural stuff in a familiar bureaucratic setting. It's a bit more violent than my books, but I think it might appeal to fans of my series who like that magical workplace stuff.
One good thing about this nasty cold (the final, annoying stages are lingering, when I'm not really sick but not 100 percent) is that it's given me time to read, since I don't much feel like doing anything else. I've made it through my first huge stack from the library with The Rook by Daniel O'Malley. I'll be getting the paperback of this one to keep because it needs to be re-read. It's one of those books that will change once you know what's really going on. Plus, it's a lot like Terry Pratchett's books, where you need to read them at least twice, once to get the story and then more times to catch all the jokes woven into the narration.
I'd describe this one as The X-Men meets Men in Black meets The Bourne Identity, with a dash of Haven, as written by Terry Pratchett after a Lovecraft binge. It's about a woman who opens her eyes to find herself in a field, surrounded by dead bodies, with no idea who she is or how she got there. She finds a letter in her pocket telling her that if she's reading this, then she's been erased. It tells her who she is, that there's someone out to get her, and gives her instructions for what to do next. It turns out that she's a high-ranking bureaucrat in a secret organization of people with supernatural abilities who deal with supernatural events. She discovered a traitor in their midst, which got her memory erased. But she had warning of what would happen to her, so she dealt with her impending fate by documenting everything and leaving all the information she could for her future self to follow. Now this woman who has no memory of this has to step into her shoes and try to pretend to be herself to track down the traitor, since her former self had only figured out the fact of a traitor and what he/she was doing, but didn't learn the identity until just before being erased. The story goes back and forth between the present day and her past self's letters to her future self, documenting things that are happening to her and saying what she really thinks about the people in her life. One thing her enemies didn't count on is that her past self was apparently really timid and uncomfortable with using her powers, but once all her emotional baggage from childhood is removed in the memory wipe, they're dealing with someone else entirely.
This is a real page-turner. I put off a number of TV shows, deciding to watch OnDemand later because I wanted to finish reading this book. It's delightfully quirky, a little gross (I did mention Lovecraft), and laugh-out-loud funny in places, but it's also surprisingly poignant when it really brings home what it would be like to know that you may not physically die but that you will soon cease to exist. I suspect it will be even funnier on a re-read because, as I mentioned, most of the jokes are just woven into the narrative as a turn of phrase or a way of describing someone or something. And there's a big dose of British whimsy (though the author is Australian).
This is the kind of thing I was hoping for more of when they first started talking about "urban fantasy" in publishing. It's got that real world vs. magical world clash, all while dealing with supernatural stuff in a familiar bureaucratic setting. It's a bit more violent than my books, but I think it might appeal to fans of my series who like that magical workplace stuff.
January 31, 2013
Naptime Pending
That training session turned out to not be worth the worry I put into it. The "interview" was a questionnaire sheet we had to fill out there, mostly to prove we were at the session. I sat next to the children's music director, and she said for long-term volunteers like me, there were enough people in the church who could vouch for me that they didn't need to worry about references. The whole thing was over in half an hour, and I stayed a little longer to finish my coffee cake and chat.
That means I have time for a nap this afternoon. To keep from being groggy this morning, I didn't take cold medicine last night. That meant it took me forever to get to sleep, and then I woke up because my throat was scratchy and couldn't get back to sleep for a few hours. So, I ended up being groggy this morning. But I found some throat soother tea at the grocery store this morning, and we'll see if that helps. I imagine that going through a choir sectional rehearsal and a full choir rehearsal last night didn't help. I kept saying I was just going to listen, but then I'd find myself singing.
Fortunately, the kids were relatively sedate last night, and I had a small group. One of them was really hyper and had to be settled down a few times, but the rest would have been happy with a 45-minute naptime, I think. The hyper one was being really random. At one point she blurted out, "Halloween was awesome!" At first, we weren't sure why that came up, but then she started talking about how she was Merida from Brave, and I think my hair triggered it. I'd taken a shower that afternoon, so my hair was loose and really curly, and I think that was where the free association came in. One kid bouncing off walls and the others lying on the floor made for a bit of a teaching challenge. The one kid wanted to dance around and the rest wanted to sit still and do quiet things. The teacher wanted to join the napping.
Some fun things are afoot that aren't ready for public discussion (and this is not an invitation for my friends to call or e-mail me to find out what it is), but I hope to have an announcement in the next week or so.
That means I have time for a nap this afternoon. To keep from being groggy this morning, I didn't take cold medicine last night. That meant it took me forever to get to sleep, and then I woke up because my throat was scratchy and couldn't get back to sleep for a few hours. So, I ended up being groggy this morning. But I found some throat soother tea at the grocery store this morning, and we'll see if that helps. I imagine that going through a choir sectional rehearsal and a full choir rehearsal last night didn't help. I kept saying I was just going to listen, but then I'd find myself singing.
Fortunately, the kids were relatively sedate last night, and I had a small group. One of them was really hyper and had to be settled down a few times, but the rest would have been happy with a 45-minute naptime, I think. The hyper one was being really random. At one point she blurted out, "Halloween was awesome!" At first, we weren't sure why that came up, but then she started talking about how she was Merida from Brave, and I think my hair triggered it. I'd taken a shower that afternoon, so my hair was loose and really curly, and I think that was where the free association came in. One kid bouncing off walls and the others lying on the floor made for a bit of a teaching challenge. The one kid wanted to dance around and the rest wanted to sit still and do quiet things. The teacher wanted to join the napping.
Some fun things are afoot that aren't ready for public discussion (and this is not an invitation for my friends to call or e-mail me to find out what it is), but I hope to have an announcement in the next week or so.
