A Winner in My Book

I woke up tired yesterday morning. Happy, but tired. I’d stayed up much too late finishing a good book, and I know you understand how much fun that can be. Which book, you ask? None other than Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See, which rightfully placed as a 2014 National Book Award Finalist.

What can I say about this marvel? I was captivated from page one, although I was ready not to be. The story of a blind girl. The story of a Nazi radio whiz. Show me, I thought, in deference to living in the stubborn state of Missouri. Show me how to make that sort of story, those sorts of characters, work.

Hats off to you, Mr. Doerr. Your book has indeed impressed this writer. The book starts at a fast clip and gallops along until the end. Short, tense, lovely chapters. Intriguing, well-portrayed characters. A good dose of history, too – the book details the post-D-day bombing of St.-Malo, France, and the beginning of the end of WWII. What’s not to love? I suggest you delve into this wonder as soon as you can. Even if you lose a little sleep, I bet you’ll be glad you did.

Worth Quoting

Anyone who knows me knows I’m a sucker for a good quote.  

Today, for your reading pleasure, I present you with ten little wonders I’ve stumbled upon lately.  

Which one speaks to you?

1.  I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than closed by belief. – Gerry Spence

2.  Money often costs too much.  – Ralph Waldo Emerson

3.  If you want others to be happy, practice compassion; if you want to be happy, practice compassion.  – The 14^th Dalai Lama

4.  Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field.  I will meet you there.  – Rumi

5.  Fear is the cheapest room in the house.  I would like to see you living in better conditions.  – Hafiz

6.  Say not, “I have found the truth,” but rather, “I have found a truth.” – Kahlil Gibran

7.  Trying to satisfy one’s desires with possessions is like trying to put out fire with straw. – Confucius

8.  The constant assertion of belief is an indication of fear. – Jiddu Krishnamurti

9.  The winds of grace are always blowing, but it is you who must raise your sails. – Rabindranath Tagore

10.  What we plant in the soil of contemplation, we shall reap in the harvest of action. – Meister Eckhart 

The Handwriting on the Wall about Handwriting

Is handwriting the new educational dinosaur?  Finland seems to think so.  As of 2016, in a nod, apparently, to the age of keyboarding, handwriting will no longer be taught in Finnish schools.  Is handwriting important?  Do children need to learn it?  Take a peek at this fascinating (and short) article (click here) by Misty Adoniou about the history, methods and madness of handwriting and handwriting education.  Whether you're a leftie, a bottom-to-top letter-former, or an ALL-CAPS sort, you'll now have conversational fodder for anyone who points a judgmental pencil at you.  Or will you?

Today is the Day

Today, for you, are some of my favorite quotes about living in the moment.  Which one is your favorite?

1.  “What day is it?" It's today," squeaked Piglet. My favorite day," said Pooh.”

 – A.A. Milne

2.  “Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

3.  “Forever is composed of nows.”

― Emily Dickinson

 

4.  “Happiness, not in another place but this place...not for another hour, but this hour.”

― Walt Whitman

 

5.  “Be present in all things and thankful for all things.”

― Maya Angelou

 

6.  “Life is a preparation for the future; and the best preparation for the future is to live as if there were none.”

― Albert Einstein

 

7.  “Learn from yesterday, live for today, look to tomorrow, rest this afternoon.”

― Charles M. Schulz, Charlie Brown's Little Book of Wisdom

 

8.  “You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment.”

― Henry David Thoreau

 

9.   “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of.”

― Benjamin Franklin

 

10.  “Look at everything always as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time: Thus is your time on earth filled with glory.”

― Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

 

 

Sudden Achy Arm Syndrome

For the last week or so, my left arm has been behaving strangely.  It has been sore and achy enough to wake me up some nights.  What in the world?  I was perplexed.  Had my daily writing stints included an abundance of asdf sequences?  Was I developing left-arm-itis?  I even went to my massage therapist and she, too, was baffled by this imbalance. 

Then, last night, as I was finishing the absolutely wonderful 771 page (2# 6oz.) novel, The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt, I finally understood my malady.  I had spent more than a little time lately with this hefty tome held aloft in my left hand, so as to better turn pages, sip beverages, and adjust my reading glasses with my right hand.

Definitely an ah-ha moment – one that tells you just how utterly engrossing this amazing book is.

So, although I highly highly highly recommend Tartt’s deliciously satisfying read (and thank my neighbor, Mary, for recommending it to me), I would suggest would-be readers of Tartt’s masterpiece to save themselves from sudden achy arm syndrome by periodically shifting their book from left to right hand, or, better yet, to read this one on an electronic device.  Take it from me, once you’re into it, you won’t notice your eyes getting crossed, your arms falling asleep, or your house burning down around you. 

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

2014: The Year of Reading Women

 

Women writers won't be surprised to learn that female authors are read less frequently and are given less exposure than male authors.  The organization VIDA:  Women in Literary Arts, founded in 2009, has documented women's unequal representation in print and their less-favorable reviews.  Feminists have long discussed the "male aesthetic," or the idea that cultural references and expression lean more heavily toward male characters, male writers, ideas of masculinity, and the portrayal of male experiences.

 

Recently, authors, bloggers, publishers, book sellers, and reviewers are trying to address this imbalance by unofficially declaring 2014 "The Year of Reading Women."  Check out this post in The Guardian to see their take on the subject, which includes a list of 250 excellent female-authored reads.  Want more details?  Click on VIDA's website to see the stats and pie charts.

 

For my part, I just finished Amy Tan's The Valley of Amazement and am starting Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch.  I adored Tan's latest novel and have heard great things about Tartt's book. 

 

What about you?  What female authors have your read lately that you'd recommend?



A Word from the Wise

Jiddu Krishnamurti

“No expectation, no judgment.” ~ Jiddu Krishnamurti 

This is one of my favorite quotes and one I try to remember when faced with life’s “grand” events.  (Now, whether I’m actually successful in remembering this sage advice is sometimes another story.) 

Do you have a favorite tidbit of wisdom to share this holiday season?  Well, don’t just keep it all to yourself – do tell, do tell!

 

Gratitude

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and I know I'm not the only one who feels that way.  We spend a lovely day feasting and holding our dear ones close and then . . . we dash full steam ahead into holiday mode.  Keep that Thanksgiving feeling alive a little longer by taking a peek at these famous/infamous gratitude quotes.  Today, I like the Proust one the best. What about you?  

1.  " Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others."  ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

2.  “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” ~ John F. Kennedy

3.  “Gratitude is the sign of noble souls.” ~ Aesop

4.  “Gratitude is the fairest blossom which springs from the soul.” ~ Henry Ward Beecher

5.  “Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” ~ Melody Beattie

6.  "Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." ~ Marcel Proust

7.  “At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” ~ Albert Schweitzer

8.  “Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.”  ~ A.A. Milne  (Winnie-the-Pooh)

9.  “When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.” ~ Maya Angelou

10.  “We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” ~ Thornton Wilder



The Space Debate

First of all, let's all agree that the lone picketer on the right who advocates a line break after every sentence is dead wrong.  That bald and lonely caricature belongs with people (ahem, mostly students looking to "stretch" a paper) who use line breaks after every paragraph -- also maddeningly wrong, in my humble opinion.

Now to the real issue -- one space or two after a period.  This debate is more heated than one-lump-or-two tea table conversations.  Oh, the judgment that ensues.  The animosity!

Personally, I am old school.  As you study this blog, it will become painfully clear to you that I use two spaces after periods.  I cannot help myself.  My fingers just do it.  And, yes, I also admit that every single piece of work that I've had published is edited and the number one edit always always always is to change my double spaced wastefulness into the more prudent, and popular, single space after periods practice.  In fact, lately, after typing in my old-fashioned way, I run a find-and-replace and usually fix the issue myself, in order to look more low maintenance to editors.  But, I still love the look of the two spaces.  I think it allows the writing to breathe a little.  To pause.  See?

What about you?  Where are your battle lines drawn?  If you'd like more information about this great debate, check out this thorough blog post, and be oh so informed:  One Space or Two?  (Don't say I never gave you fascinating dinner conversation topics!)

Thanks, Crunchy Betty!

This, to the left, is me taking a break from writing and cleaning my windows. Just kidding. I do take breaks from writing and I do sometimes clean my windows, but this isn't me or anyone I know. I do, however, like the blue sky and clouds reflected in those perfectly clean streak-free windows.

 

True confessions:  one of my pet peeves is looking at streaky glass – windows, mirrors, glass tabletops. Basically anything that has come within spitting distance of a Windex bottle (sorry, Windex). I hate Windex. But, I've been using Windex nigh these many years because I haven't found anything better to streak my windows, mirrors and tabletops with. You'd think a glass cleaner would, ah, clean glass, but I've, apparently, never figured out how to properly use commercial glass cleaner so that the glass products I am trying to clean actually get clean.  Maybe it’s just me.  Windex, forgive my outburst.  You’re probably fine in more capable hands.

 

Anyway, since I sometimes peer off into the distance during my writing time to refocus my eyes and get my head clear (ah, that window metaphor again!), I don’t want to be distracted by streaks.  I want nothing between me and the great beyond.  I want to look out and see the edges of the world.

 

And that requires a better glass cleaner.

 

So, I hunted and hunted around until I found some homemade glass cleaner recipes and tried one this weekend.  (Don’t worry, I did other fun things this weekend besides trying homemade glass cleaner recipes, I promise!)  I know you’re on pins and needles, wondering if my search was fruitful.  In a word – YES.

 

Thanks to blogger Crunchy Betty, whose "Alvin Corn" recipe is printed on her blog (and here), I have clean table tops, light fixtures, mirrors and windows.  Okay, once I realized how great this stuff worked, I went a little crazy, but I did not get all geared up and start cleaning skyscrapers.  Promise.  

 

But, I am so happy that I had to share the wealth with you!  Get our your pencils . . .

 

Alvin Corn Homemade Glass Cleaner

1/4 cup rubbing alcohol

1/4 cup white vinegar

1 Tbsp. cornstarch

2 cups warm water

 

Put it all into a spray bottle and shake it well.  Shake it periodically as you use it because the cornstarch will settle to the bottom.  Enjoy sparkly clean glass.  Write the great American novel. 

My newest favorite thing

That, to the left?  Why, it’s my newest favorite thing – a real, live, authentic professional baking book that used to belong to my grandpa.  (Thanks, Mom!)  My grandpa has always held a sweet spot in my memory banks, and, it turns out, we share our love of baking.  As a young adult during the depression, he, like so many others, did his share of odd jobs.  But, he often fell back on baking as a way to make a living – starting off as a baker in a lumberjack camp in Northern Wisconsin, and working on and off in various bakeries for several years afterwards.

You may not be able to read it, but the book is called “Cakes and Pastries,” and is the sort of cookbook used to feed the masses.  For example, there’s a recipe for Pecan Butterscotch Rolls – makes 27 dozen (there is an annotation that “these rolls are a very good seller”), a recipe for 10 dozen “cheap” cupcakes, and a recipe for 10 dozen sheet cakes that you are supposed to “bake fast.”

Printed in 1925, the book was written in the days of less-than-fancy ovens.  Bakers are instructed to bake confections in “moderate,” “cool,” or “hot” ovens, and it is assumed that the recipe readers know their ways around recipes.  Instructions include such specifics as: “give rolls some proof,” “let dough rest for some time,” add enough water to make a good mixture,” “extra icing can be set aside in a stone jar and covered with a damp cloth,” berry cream pie “keeps well and eats well,” and cheesecake should be “cut into 10 or 15 cent slices.”

The book covers all the basics – French pastries, cakes, cookies, pies, tarts, tortes, candies, and, of course, breads and rolls.  There are recipes for things I’ve never heard of, like “Hermits” (dark and light, no less) and “Sally Lun Muffins,” and recipes for things like “Pepper Nuts” (no nuts in the recipe), “Cocoanut (sic) Rocks” (no rocks in the recipe), and “Spanish Strips” (that apparently had to have pink frosting) – all labeled “Hard Goods for Showcase.”

I have loved perusing this artifact of my grandpa’s life.  But, the showstoppers are at the back of the book where he penned his own recipes and notes.  So, readers, here, in my late-grandpa’s own lovely hand, is his tried and true recipe for 100 loaves of bread.  It's the ingredients, anyway.  A real baker knows what to do with them.

Connection



Thanks to: CinemaBlend.com for this instructive image

Everything is connected. 

That sounds like a cliché, but it is interesting how often I need to be reminded of the phrase’s importance.  I may be the last person around who has finally encountered the amazing story of “Cloud Atlas."  The 2004 novel, by David Mitchell, and the 2012 film, Directed by Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski, and Lana Wachowski (which I just viewed via Netflix), explores how the actions and consequences of individual lives, delivered in six nesting narratives, impact one another throughout the past, the present and the future.  Reincarnation?  Maybe.  Connection?  Absolutely.  A fantastic story?  Well, I saw it two weeks ago and am still thinking about it.  So, yes. 

Read it.  Or rent it.  But, do enjoy it.





Contemplation Day

Each new season seems to beg for a little personal introspection.  As we ease slowly into shorter days, consider these ten inspirational quotes and decide if any of them speak to you.

1.  “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” – Kurt Vonnegut

2.  “The unexamined life is not worth living.” – Socrates

3.  “It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.” – Lou Holtz

4.  “I was never really insane except upon occasions when my heart was touched.” – Edgar Allan Poe

5.  “Imagine there's no country.  It isn’t hard to do.  Nothing to kill or die for.  No religion too.  Imagine all the people living life in peace.” – John Lennon

6.  “I dream my painting and I paint my dream.” – Vincent van Gogh

7.  “You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” – Jack London

8.  “It's hard to beat a person who never gives up.” – Babe Ruth

9.  “Why do they always teach us that it's easy and evil to do what we want and that we need discipline to restrain ourselves? It's the hardest thing in the world--to do what we want. And it takes the greatest kind of courage.” – Ayn Rand

10.  “Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: ‘It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to.’” – Jim Jarmusch

Which quote do you like best today?  Is there another quote that you’re drawn to lately that you’d like to share?

Candy is dandy . . .

 

A dear friend of mine recently gave me the book The Best of Ogden Nash.  What fun to peruse these funnies!  Here, for your mid-week boost are a few of the quotes that jumped out at me.  Read.  Grin.  Share.

"Happiness is having a scratch for every itch."

"If you don't want to work you have to work to earn enough money so that you won't have to work."

 "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of."

"The bed is a bundle of paradoxes: we go to it with reluctance, yet we quit it with regret; we make up our minds every night to leave it early, but we make up our bodies every morning to keep it late."

And, of course:  “Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker.”

What's your favorite?

Snow Day!

It's the third snow day in less than a week, here in Missouri, and I wanted to share the magic.  There's something about snow days that bring out the kid in everyone.  What a weird phenomenon -- first crouching around the radio or T.V. to be extra sure your school or place of business is, indeed, closed; then the celebratory jig or sigh; then the "free" day to spend shoveling, cooking, eating, playing.  Former U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins nails the essence of a snow day in his poem bearing the same title.  Enjoy!

 

Snow Day

By Billy Collins

 

Today we woke up to a revolution of snow,

its white flag waving over everything,

the landscape vanished,

not a single mouse to punctuate the blankness,  

and beyond these windows

the government buildings smothered,
schools and libraries buried, the post office lost

under the noiseless drift,
the paths of trains softly blocked,
the world fallen under this falling.

In a while, I will put on some boots
and step out like someone walking in water,

and the dog will porpoise through the drifts,  

and I will shake a laden branch

sending a cold shower down on us both.

 

But for now I am a willing prisoner in this house,
a sympathizer with the anarchic cause of snow.
I will make a pot of tea
and listen to the plastic radio on the counter,
as glad as anyone to hear the news

that the Kiddie Corner School is closed,
the Ding-Dong School, closed.
the All Aboard Children’s School, closed,
the Hi-Ho Nursery School, closed,
along with—some will be delighted to hear—

the Toadstool School, the Little School,
Little Sparrows Nursery School,
Little Stars Pre-School, Peas-and-Carrots Day School  
the Tom Thumb Child Center, all closed,
and—clap your hands—the Peanuts Play School. 

So this is where the children hide all day,
These are the nests where they letter and draw,
where they put on their bright miniature jackets,
all darting and climbing and sliding,
all but the few girls whispering by the fence. 

And now I am listening hard
in the grandiose silence of the snow,
trying to hear what those three girls are plotting,  
what riot is afoot,
which small queen is about to be brought down.

Billy Collins, “Snow Day” from Sailing Alone Around the Room: New and Selected Poems (New York: Random House, 2001). Copyright © 2001 by Billy Collins.

 

 



NBCC Lifetime Achievement Award



Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, circa 1970s

 

I couldn’t be happier that Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, two leaders of the feminist movement, have been named winners of the 2013 lifetime achievement award from the National Book Critics Circle. Their twelve books, especially The Madwoman in the Attic (1979) and The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women (1985) have been broadly read and taught, and have changed the face of literary criticism and influenced generations of students and scholars. I’ve personally used both books extensively in my women’s literature and Women’s Studies courses, and am grateful for the work these two women have put into their scholarship.

The two friends met in the early 1970s when they were teaching English at Indiana University. They designed a new course together on literature by women and went on to collaborate on a dozen books, working by phone and through the mail after Gilbert went to teach at the University of California at Davis. Gilbert’s and Gubar’s voices have long spearheaded feminist literary criticism and Women’s Studies, and they richly deserve this award, which will be presented Feb. 28 in New York. Here, here, Gilbert and Gubar – enjoy your well-deserved accolades!

 

Techli and me . . .

Now, not many of you would think of me as a techie, but, believe it or not, I was a guest blogger yesterday on Techli, a wonderful technology blog.  My post?  CEO Sundays: Why Communication Needs to Be a Part of the Science.  So, all of you whiz-brained geniuses out there, give this little missive a gander, and let me know what you think.

To read my Techli guest post, click here:  Science and Communication

 

 

 

 

Grammar Gaffes

Holy Cow!  I got to be a guest blogger on the blog, Writing Forward.  Check out my article, "Don't Let the Decline of Spoken English Ruin Your Writing," running today on their terrific creative writing website.  And while you're at it, be sure to catch up on all of the amazing posts and links Writing Forward offers.  It's truly a one stop shop for writers.  (And, don't let the hyperactive pencil animation drive you nuts.  I think I gave him too much cyber coffee.)

Click here to read the article:  Writing Forward

Haruki Murakami's 1Q84

You know how it is.  You read a book and put it down.  You continue to think about that book for a while (that’s how you know it was a good one).  You continue to think about that book for more than a while, for months even – and that’s how you know it was a great one.

I read Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84 this summer and am still thinking about it.  It is a crazy book – one of those that I would read, then put down and shake my head over.  What was happening?  What sort of book was this?  What sort of writer was this?

After finishing the looonnnggg read, I was sad that the strange, twisting Murakami-conceived literary adventure was over. I’m still sad that it’s over.  Murakami’s works are considered humorous and surreal and deal with modern culture.  I particularly enjoyed his views about modern Japanese culture in 1Q84. 

The Guardian praised Murakami as "among the world's greatest living novelists" for his works and achievements.  ,Murakami’s fiction and non-fiction have garnered critical acclaim and numerous awards, including the Jerusalem Prize, Franz Kafka Prize, Tanizaki Prize, World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year, Yomiuri Prize for Literature in Fiction.  He has spent time in the U.S., teaching at Princeton and writing several books while in residence here.

 

In sum, go read him.  And then, let me know what you think.

 

 

 

 

Unusual Historicals Guest Blog

Today I am honored to be featured as a guest blogger on the very cool blog, "Unusual Historicals." 

Of course I waxed enthusiastically about Fanny Fern and Shame the Devil, but the editors of the blog asked interesting questions about writing and the writing process, too.

Take a peek at my recent interview, if you please.  And while you're at it, check out the extensive listing of great books, interesting authors and terrific takes on history.

Click here for fun and adventure:  Unusual Historicals