Stephen Brooke's Blog: Stephen Brooke's Scribblings, page 6
December 13, 2012
Coming Up
As a writer—and sometime publisher—I’ve fallen down some this past year. Life intruded a bit.
That is as that is. There will be new work soon. Yes, really. Oh, I know I’ve made promises before but I mean it this time!
Actually, a book should be ready shortly after the New Year, assuming the graphics turn out properly (I’d hate to have to rephotograph everything and, yes, I still use a film camera.). That will be a retrospective of “The Art of K. Page Brooke.” The text is all written and ready to plug in.
Oh, you noted the similarity of our names? K. Page Brooke is my mother and was a pretty decent painter in her time (she’s 94 now, has Alzheimer’s and no longer paints). A very minor painter to be sure, not known much beyond the southern Florida area where she lived and worked. I wanted to create this book in memory of her art and career.
After all, if I didn’t, who would?
Beyond the art book, 2013 is something of a blank slate. I’ll write something on it eventually.
That is as that is. There will be new work soon. Yes, really. Oh, I know I’ve made promises before but I mean it this time!
Actually, a book should be ready shortly after the New Year, assuming the graphics turn out properly (I’d hate to have to rephotograph everything and, yes, I still use a film camera.). That will be a retrospective of “The Art of K. Page Brooke.” The text is all written and ready to plug in.
Oh, you noted the similarity of our names? K. Page Brooke is my mother and was a pretty decent painter in her time (she’s 94 now, has Alzheimer’s and no longer paints). A very minor painter to be sure, not known much beyond the southern Florida area where she lived and worked. I wanted to create this book in memory of her art and career.
After all, if I didn’t, who would?
Beyond the art book, 2013 is something of a blank slate. I’ll write something on it eventually.
October 28, 2012
Being Critical
When first I came to GoodReads (and once or twice since), I added a few books without writing reviews. I have made a commitment not to do that sort of thing anymore and to post a review -- even if as brief as a line or two -- on each book I read and rate.
I am also going back and reviewing any book I listed as read, as I have time. Previously, I have mentioned the idea that writing reviews, of being critical, can make one a better writer. If you do or don't like a book, put it into words. It will help you recognize the failings (or successes) of your own efforts.
I am also going back and reviewing any book I listed as read, as I have time. Previously, I have mentioned the idea that writing reviews, of being critical, can make one a better writer. If you do or don't like a book, put it into words. It will help you recognize the failings (or successes) of your own efforts.
September 12, 2012
On Typos, Typography, and Literary Types
I was shocked — shocked, I tell you! — when leafing through my first book of poetry (Pieces of the Moon), published some nine years ago and found a quite glaring typo in the title of one of the pieces. How could I and everyone else (unless they were too polite to mention it) miss this for so long?
Admittedly, it is the sort of thing one would not notice because the word in question was correctly spelled. It was simply the wrong word: shown where it should have been shone. In the poem itself, the correct word was used but somewhere along the line the wrong usage found its way into the title. Revised edition, anyone?
Eventually. I have too many old copies on hand to worry about that right now. Maybe I should go through them all and ink in the correct word. Instant collectors’ edition. right?
Why am I ending each of my paragraphs with a question?
I am decidedly picky about such things, very much a perfectionist. Yet they will happen, no matter how careful one is, no matter how times one proofreads.
Being picky (or obsessive/compulsive, if one prefers psych terms to the Queen’s English – does Elizabeth say ‘picky,’ I wonder.), I do put a lot of attention to detail not only into my writing but also into the design of my books. Art is my background, after all. That includes being rather selective about the typography.
That’s one of the reasons I rather dislike e-books, even while offering my work as such. There is a loss of design. The fonts may not be those we chose. I do offer each in PDF format for those to whom such things matter, even if it is less readable on a small screen.
But there is nothing quite like holding a well-designed (and, we would hope, well-written) book in ones hands. I suppose that does not matter to many readers. At least, not consciously; a good design can subtly make a good impression.
Some of us are bibliophiles. That’s all there is to it. We love the object as well as the words. I know this is not true of all literary types, but to me it is all one.
So be it. Now I must go get those stacks of books off the floor and place them on the new shelves I just bought.
Admittedly, it is the sort of thing one would not notice because the word in question was correctly spelled. It was simply the wrong word: shown where it should have been shone. In the poem itself, the correct word was used but somewhere along the line the wrong usage found its way into the title. Revised edition, anyone?
Eventually. I have too many old copies on hand to worry about that right now. Maybe I should go through them all and ink in the correct word. Instant collectors’ edition. right?
Why am I ending each of my paragraphs with a question?
I am decidedly picky about such things, very much a perfectionist. Yet they will happen, no matter how careful one is, no matter how times one proofreads.
Being picky (or obsessive/compulsive, if one prefers psych terms to the Queen’s English – does Elizabeth say ‘picky,’ I wonder.), I do put a lot of attention to detail not only into my writing but also into the design of my books. Art is my background, after all. That includes being rather selective about the typography.
That’s one of the reasons I rather dislike e-books, even while offering my work as such. There is a loss of design. The fonts may not be those we chose. I do offer each in PDF format for those to whom such things matter, even if it is less readable on a small screen.
But there is nothing quite like holding a well-designed (and, we would hope, well-written) book in ones hands. I suppose that does not matter to many readers. At least, not consciously; a good design can subtly make a good impression.
Some of us are bibliophiles. That’s all there is to it. We love the object as well as the words. I know this is not true of all literary types, but to me it is all one.
So be it. Now I must go get those stacks of books off the floor and place them on the new shelves I just bought.
May 10, 2012
Vantages
I start from the proposition that all things are metaphor. We understand them through the labels we apply to their existence.
This does not mean that they have no separate reality. There is a difference between being and understanding that being. We understand these things that are only in part, through the structures we create.
The foremost method of constructing these is language, but there are non-linguistic metaphors as well. A painting is a visual metaphor. A page of sheet music is a visual metaphor for something we might hear – something that is ‘real’ but we can not directly understand except through words, through notes on a page, even through a memory of the physical act of playing it – a kinetic metaphor, one might say.
For that matter, it could be through the scientist’s graph of sound waves. All of these are the piece of music, in part, metaphors for its existence, yet they are not its totality. We can never fully grasp nor voice that. We can, however, edge ever closer to it, triangulate on its being, that reality we feel in the wordless center of ourselves.
Note that what we feel, that which goes before the metaphor (and which becomes metaphor by the act of acknowledging and naming it), is no more the thing, the totality, than is the metaphor. It is the question, not the answer. There is no magic, unconscious path to understanding. We understand by defining, by building our structures, by metaphor.
Every image in a poem or story is, then, metaphor. Every metaphor is an image, as well, a snap shot of reality from one moment and one angle. What goes on before and after, from a different vantage point? That can only be suggested.
As I see it, that is the primary purpose of poetry (and the arts in general), to suggest those other views, those other parts and aspects of reality that we know also exist. Again, we do this through metaphor, grasping after the totality which must forever remain beyond our reach. By creating symbols and images we take the mind in new directions, help it see that reality from the elusive different vantage. We increase our understanding. We find our enlightenment.
Our feet may remain firmly planted in the mud of our everyday lives but, through a poem, we may glimpse being from a place among the stars, from the depths of hell or the heights of heaven. Or from one step to the left – come over here and take a look.
This does not mean that they have no separate reality. There is a difference between being and understanding that being. We understand these things that are only in part, through the structures we create.
The foremost method of constructing these is language, but there are non-linguistic metaphors as well. A painting is a visual metaphor. A page of sheet music is a visual metaphor for something we might hear – something that is ‘real’ but we can not directly understand except through words, through notes on a page, even through a memory of the physical act of playing it – a kinetic metaphor, one might say.
For that matter, it could be through the scientist’s graph of sound waves. All of these are the piece of music, in part, metaphors for its existence, yet they are not its totality. We can never fully grasp nor voice that. We can, however, edge ever closer to it, triangulate on its being, that reality we feel in the wordless center of ourselves.
Note that what we feel, that which goes before the metaphor (and which becomes metaphor by the act of acknowledging and naming it), is no more the thing, the totality, than is the metaphor. It is the question, not the answer. There is no magic, unconscious path to understanding. We understand by defining, by building our structures, by metaphor.
Every image in a poem or story is, then, metaphor. Every metaphor is an image, as well, a snap shot of reality from one moment and one angle. What goes on before and after, from a different vantage point? That can only be suggested.
As I see it, that is the primary purpose of poetry (and the arts in general), to suggest those other views, those other parts and aspects of reality that we know also exist. Again, we do this through metaphor, grasping after the totality which must forever remain beyond our reach. By creating symbols and images we take the mind in new directions, help it see that reality from the elusive different vantage. We increase our understanding. We find our enlightenment.
Our feet may remain firmly planted in the mud of our everyday lives but, through a poem, we may glimpse being from a place among the stars, from the depths of hell or the heights of heaven. Or from one step to the left – come over here and take a look.
April 30, 2012
Schedules
The best laid plans can indeed run into difficulties. For example, my hopes that my latest book – whatever that might have chanced to be – would be out by the end of the first quarter of 2012, the first day of April.
It seems I was an April Fool. However, there will be a new title officially released tomorrow, May 1, from Arachis Press. Who knows, I may yet meet my goal of publishing four new titles this year, even if the first was a month late.
That doesn’t really matter, of course. New material will come out when it’s ready. In the mean time, there is a great deal else going on in my life that requires my attention.
So, the book: that would be ‘The Contrary Fairy,’ ostensibly a beginners’ chapter book. About 4000 words, spread over 11 chapters and forty pages, with 18 black and white illustrations. The pictures are all mine, naturally, and I think them adequate, considering I don’t really believe I’m that great an illustrator.
‘Fairy’ is available, as are all my titles, through The Arachis Press (http://arachispress.com and http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/arachis...). Retail price for the paperback is 6.99; the PDF runs 1.99. I have eschewed an EPUB version for this book as it is not well suited to products for small children.
What comes next? Much of that depends on how my life goes, my time spent as a caregiver, my projects in music, and so on. There will be more writing, more illustrating, more books. Just maybe not on schedule.
It seems I was an April Fool. However, there will be a new title officially released tomorrow, May 1, from Arachis Press. Who knows, I may yet meet my goal of publishing four new titles this year, even if the first was a month late.
That doesn’t really matter, of course. New material will come out when it’s ready. In the mean time, there is a great deal else going on in my life that requires my attention.
So, the book: that would be ‘The Contrary Fairy,’ ostensibly a beginners’ chapter book. About 4000 words, spread over 11 chapters and forty pages, with 18 black and white illustrations. The pictures are all mine, naturally, and I think them adequate, considering I don’t really believe I’m that great an illustrator.
‘Fairy’ is available, as are all my titles, through The Arachis Press (http://arachispress.com and http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/arachis...). Retail price for the paperback is 6.99; the PDF runs 1.99. I have eschewed an EPUB version for this book as it is not well suited to products for small children.
What comes next? Much of that depends on how my life goes, my time spent as a caregiver, my projects in music, and so on. There will be more writing, more illustrating, more books. Just maybe not on schedule.
January 1, 2012
Criticism
Being active in poetry criticism is one of the best ways to carve out an idea of poetry firm enough to stand up to the public demands of a career as a poet. ~ Annie Finch
This would, of course, apply to any of the arts. Shoot, it would apply to ditch-digging. It's one of the reasons I write reviews -- to get my thoughts straight about why I like or dislike something and apply it to my own work.
I'll admit it: I've written my share of 'puff' reviews of work by friends. But if I truly disliked any of it, I would have declined to write a review at all. It's a good exercise to dig in and find just what aspects are worthy of compliment. Ignoring, of course, the weak points or, at least, glossing over them.
Chances are I'm a little too nice most of the time anyway. It's not really in me to savage other folks' work. I respect anyone who is willing to do anything and put it out there.
The exception being those who rub me the wrong way by espousing a viewpoint I find morally repugnant. If you are evil, I will say so. And then come burn down your village. :D
This would, of course, apply to any of the arts. Shoot, it would apply to ditch-digging. It's one of the reasons I write reviews -- to get my thoughts straight about why I like or dislike something and apply it to my own work.
I'll admit it: I've written my share of 'puff' reviews of work by friends. But if I truly disliked any of it, I would have declined to write a review at all. It's a good exercise to dig in and find just what aspects are worthy of compliment. Ignoring, of course, the weak points or, at least, glossing over them.
Chances are I'm a little too nice most of the time anyway. It's not really in me to savage other folks' work. I respect anyone who is willing to do anything and put it out there.
The exception being those who rub me the wrong way by espousing a viewpoint I find morally repugnant. If you are evil, I will say so. And then come burn down your village. :D
December 21, 2011
Seeing Stars
Not surprisingly, when I 'reviewed' my own books here at Good Reads I gave them five stars. That was just to get the ball rolling and, of course, to let folks know I value my work.
Honestly, though, if they were by some other author they would probably receive three or four stars. I don't think any of my titles are duds but I don't deceive myself that they are masterpieces, either.
My very best work is yet to come. I have improved as a writer of fiction, as a poet. I have greatly improved as a non-fiction author since last I had a print magazine article published. That was so long ago I was still using a typewriter!
There will be more books with my name on them this coming year, at least as illustrator. With any luck, some I've written as well. A sequel to 'The Middle of Nowhere?' Maybe, maybe, but not right away. Another volume of poetry? Quite possible.
There will almost certainly be a book or two for the children. That's where my concentration is at the moment, as artist -- the texts are there already.
And they all will, of course, receive five gold stars from me!
Honestly, though, if they were by some other author they would probably receive three or four stars. I don't think any of my titles are duds but I don't deceive myself that they are masterpieces, either.
My very best work is yet to come. I have improved as a writer of fiction, as a poet. I have greatly improved as a non-fiction author since last I had a print magazine article published. That was so long ago I was still using a typewriter!
There will be more books with my name on them this coming year, at least as illustrator. With any luck, some I've written as well. A sequel to 'The Middle of Nowhere?' Maybe, maybe, but not right away. Another volume of poetry? Quite possible.
There will almost certainly be a book or two for the children. That's where my concentration is at the moment, as artist -- the texts are there already.
And they all will, of course, receive five gold stars from me!
December 7, 2011
Magic
True art is magic.
Not the mystical stuff of fairy tales and fantasy; no, art is the skilled stagecraft of the illusionist, the sleight of hand and lateral thinking that directs our minds to see that which is not, strictly speaking, there. Art leads us to believe in real magic, the magic that lies within us.
It requires the illusions of words, of paint, of misdirection, to allow us to suspend our disbelief. Art opens us up to possibilities we would not otherwise see, that do exist yet remain so hard to recognize.
The creation of art, true art, good art, requires all the craft of the stage magician. It does not spring forth without thought or plan from the artist. The idea that it is all talent is simply part of the illusion, a mystical pass of the hands, a flip of a flamboyant but concealing cape.
Does it hurt to know how the trick was performed? Not really; if anything, it opens the mind to new ways of dealing with problems. At the same time, it is certainly not necessary to have any inkling of the mechanics for one to be profoundly affected by either art or magic. The feeling of wonder, of suspecting there are things we do not know -- but should -- is the important part.
I will now produce a poem from my hat. Chances are, you'll never see how it was done, as your eyes will be on my beautiful assistant.
Not the mystical stuff of fairy tales and fantasy; no, art is the skilled stagecraft of the illusionist, the sleight of hand and lateral thinking that directs our minds to see that which is not, strictly speaking, there. Art leads us to believe in real magic, the magic that lies within us.
It requires the illusions of words, of paint, of misdirection, to allow us to suspend our disbelief. Art opens us up to possibilities we would not otherwise see, that do exist yet remain so hard to recognize.
The creation of art, true art, good art, requires all the craft of the stage magician. It does not spring forth without thought or plan from the artist. The idea that it is all talent is simply part of the illusion, a mystical pass of the hands, a flip of a flamboyant but concealing cape.
Does it hurt to know how the trick was performed? Not really; if anything, it opens the mind to new ways of dealing with problems. At the same time, it is certainly not necessary to have any inkling of the mechanics for one to be profoundly affected by either art or magic. The feeling of wonder, of suspecting there are things we do not know -- but should -- is the important part.
I will now produce a poem from my hat. Chances are, you'll never see how it was done, as your eyes will be on my beautiful assistant.
December 1, 2011
Double-space Steve
After a bit of finaglin' I figured out how to add more books to my author profile (instead of to those two guys with my name in England and Australia). Two spaces in the middle of my name will do the job. So I can go ahead and add my other two print titles when I feel ambitious and my execrable dial-up connection permits.
I'll think upon adding the ebook editions eventually.
Oh well, if I have trouble spending time online, I should get more writing done, shouldn't I? Yeah...sure. :)
I'll think upon adding the ebook editions eventually.
Oh well, if I have trouble spending time online, I should get more writing done, shouldn't I? Yeah...sure. :)
November 28, 2011
What, Me an Author?
I've always written. There is a trail of bad poems behind me stretching back to somewhere around age eight. My first story came out of me then, too, about a pirate. I actually learned to use my mom's typewriter so I could have a professional-looking copy of it.
But I didn't pursue it. Yes, I kept writing but my focus became fixed on art for a long time. I actually started submitting stuff eventually, not from the love of writing but because people told me I was good enough to make money from it. So I did the freelance magazine article thing for a few years, mostly for the 'fitness' press.
Also, in the mid-80s, I rediscovered song writing. Oh, I'd turned out some mediocre lyrics when I was younger; most have fortunately disappeared! That in turn led to me taking poetry more seriously -- I started submitting pieces, was published here and there, even won some legitimate awards at festivals and such. I started taking myself seriously, even.
So, in the mid-00s I decided to self-publish a chapbook, mostly for my friends. That would be 'Pieces of the Moon,' which I'll have listed in my books shortly. One job at a time, please. This was home-made, with my very own laser printer.
That's a task I never wish to undertake again. A couple years later I moved it to Lulu and have used them ever since. Yes, I continue to self-publish but I consider myself an 'indie publisher' now. :) It's the logical way to go these days -- we do it for our music, our art(I have a load of designs at Cafe Press), so we might as well take control of our publishing too.
I now have four titles out there, all from my own Arachis Press, and will add more. All illustrated by me too; if I wasn't competent in art and design I might not have tackled this! I do love that sort of work, actually.
But I also love writing. I love words and all the symbols and meanings wrapped up in each of them. I suppose that's why I think of myself as a poet who sometimes writes fiction.
Which I should go do right now!
But I didn't pursue it. Yes, I kept writing but my focus became fixed on art for a long time. I actually started submitting stuff eventually, not from the love of writing but because people told me I was good enough to make money from it. So I did the freelance magazine article thing for a few years, mostly for the 'fitness' press.
Also, in the mid-80s, I rediscovered song writing. Oh, I'd turned out some mediocre lyrics when I was younger; most have fortunately disappeared! That in turn led to me taking poetry more seriously -- I started submitting pieces, was published here and there, even won some legitimate awards at festivals and such. I started taking myself seriously, even.
So, in the mid-00s I decided to self-publish a chapbook, mostly for my friends. That would be 'Pieces of the Moon,' which I'll have listed in my books shortly. One job at a time, please. This was home-made, with my very own laser printer.
That's a task I never wish to undertake again. A couple years later I moved it to Lulu and have used them ever since. Yes, I continue to self-publish but I consider myself an 'indie publisher' now. :) It's the logical way to go these days -- we do it for our music, our art(I have a load of designs at Cafe Press), so we might as well take control of our publishing too.
I now have four titles out there, all from my own Arachis Press, and will add more. All illustrated by me too; if I wasn't competent in art and design I might not have tackled this! I do love that sort of work, actually.
But I also love writing. I love words and all the symbols and meanings wrapped up in each of them. I suppose that's why I think of myself as a poet who sometimes writes fiction.
Which I should go do right now!
