tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72606922024-03-23T11:31:40.249-07:00Stones In the FieldRandom notes and maunderings about writing, life, and whatever struck my fancy lately.Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01846076773328384778noreply@blogger.comBlogger263125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7260692.post-84709496355744263692010-06-22T10:55:00.000-07:002010-06-22T10:57:28.261-07:00A Gallimaufry, to Start Myself Posting Here AgainOver on <a href="http://margueritebutler.blogspot.com/">Marguerite Says</a>, we're talking about games we played as kids in the <a href="http://margueritebutler.blogspot.com/2010/06/on-zombies-yardwork-and-waterparks.html#comments">comments thread, here</a>. It's awfully funny, and a miracle most of us lived to grow up. You should come play too. Especially if you invented hair-raising and death defying games with your siblings.<br />
<br />
Completely unrelated, except via the tenuous link of nostalgia, you know how sometimes an ad just...misses? This old bicycle ad elicits a baffled wtf, from me. Anyone else? Buehler?<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cb8X3tSjMfE/TCD3VodVdBI/AAAAAAAAAHY/l5j_B1omF7k/s1600/monarchhugelionlg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cb8X3tSjMfE/TCD3VodVdBI/AAAAAAAAAHY/l5j_B1omF7k/s640/monarchhugelionlg.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
I have NO idea what's going on there. Was she trying to make the bear-lion thing ride the bicycle? Is she going to escape the bear-lion thing, on the handy Monarch bicycle? This is not a narrative I'm understanding.<br />
<br />
Finally, I'm also blogging <a href="http://creating-home.blogspot.com/">cooking, living and eating well, and creating home on a budget, all with my Mom</a> and with Lisa, who you can also find at <a href="http://somethingpacificnorthwest.blogspot.com/">Something Pacific Northwest</a>. You'll find all of us at <a href="http://thecreatinghome.com/">http://thecreatinghome.com</a> or <a href="http://creating-home.blogspot.com/">http://creating-home.blogspot.com/</a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15518901832997598597noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7260692.post-35232868082159350292010-02-20T18:31:00.000-08:002010-02-20T18:59:41.685-08:00Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition<p> <br />
<h2><strong>Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition</strong></h2><br><br />
<a href="http://www.shortstorycompetition.com" target="_blank">www.shortstorycompetition.com</a><br><br />
$2000 Awaits Winners of Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition<br />
</p><br />
<p>Writers of short fiction are encouraged to enter the 2010 Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition. The competition has a twenty-nine-year history of literary excellence, and its organizers are dedicated to enthusiastically supporting the efforts and talent of emerging writers of short fiction whose voices have yet to be heard.<br />
</p><br />
<p>Lorian Hemingway, granddaughter of Nobel laureate Ernest Hemingway, is the author of three critically acclaimed books:<br />
<em>Walking into the River</em>, <em>Walk on Water</em>, and <em>A World Turned Over</em>.<br />
Ms. Hemingway is the competition's final judge.<br />
</p><br />
<p><strong>Prizes and Publication:</strong><br />
</p><br />
<p>The first-place winner will receive $1,000. The second and third-place winners will receive $500 each. Honorable mentions will also be awarded to entrants whose work demonstrates promise.<br />
</p><br />
<p><strong>The Saturday Evening Post To Publish First-Place Winner:</strong><br />
</p><br />
<p>The Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition is pleased to announce that each year -- beginning with our 2009 competition -- The Saturday Evening Post will publish our first-place winner in its pages. And occasionally, the Post may also choose to publish our runners-up, either in its pages or on its website. <br />
</p><br />
<p>The Post will pay a fee to winners upon publication of his or her story, in addition to the $1,000 first-place prize given by the Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition. The Post's payment will be in keeping with the magazine's general rate structure for fiction at the time of publication. Entrants whose stories are published will allow The Post first serial rights, nonexclusive electronic (including online) rights, and nonexclusive anthology rights. This is a standard agreement for magazine publication.<br />
</p><br />
<p>For many years it has been our dream to be able to offer an assured publication for our first-place winner. The Saturday Evening Post, through its generosity and deep appreciation for new voices in literary fiction, has made that dream come true.<br />
</p><br />
<br />
<h2>Breaking News:</h2><br />
<p><strong>THE SATURDAY EVENING POST PARTNERS WITH INTERNATIONALLY RESPECTED LORIAN HEMINGWAY SHORT STORY COMPETITION, BECOMES EXCLUSIVE PUBLISHER OF WINNING STORY</strong><br />
</p><br />
<br />
<p>"Lazarus" by 2009 Winner Gregory Loselle is Published in Jan/Feb 2010 Issue<br />
</p> <br />
<p>Lorian Hemingway Joins The Post's Prestigious Fiction Advisory Board Along with New Members Robert Stone, Gary Svee and Ray Bradbury<br />
</p> <br />
<p>Indianapolis, IN, February 4, 2010 - The Saturday Evening Post, the nation's oldest magazine, which traces its roots to Benjamin Franklin and is famous for covers that illustrate the lives and experiences of the American people, today announced its exclusive partnership with the internationally respected Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition, publishing 2009's winning story in its Jan/Feb 2010 issue. Joan SerVaas, chief executive officer and publisher of The Saturday Evening Post, made the announcement.<br />
</p> <br />
<p>The Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition (<a href="http://www.shortstorycompetition.com/" target="_blank">www.shortstorycompetition.com</a>), in its 30th year, supports and encourages the efforts of emerging writers of short fiction. As part of the partnership, The Post will have the first serial rights to and annually be the exclusive magazine publisher of the competition's winning story. "Lazarus," by 2009 winner Gregory Loselle, can be read in the magazine's current issue.<br />
</p> <br />
<p>Throughout its history, The Saturday Evening Post has introduced and published fiction and poetry from a long list of celebrated writers, including Edgar Allan Poe, Kurt Vonnegut, Mark Twain, Jack London, Agatha Christie, William Faulkner, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. The magazine's new alliance with the competition is part of The Post's recent restoration of fiction as an important component of its editorial mix.<br />
</p> <br />
<p>"While it's important to tap into our vast archives of fiction, it is equally important for The Post to maintain its role as the leader in finding the next great American fiction writers, and forming this partnership is a significant step toward meeting that goal," said SerVaas."<br />
</p> <br />
<p>Lorian Hemingway, author of the critically-acclaimed books Walk On Water, A World Turned Over and Walking Into The River, said, "For many years it has been our dream to be able to offer an assured publication for our first-place winner. The Saturday Evening Post, through its deep appreciation for new voices in literary fiction, has made that dream come true."<br />
</p> <br />
<p>In addition to the alliance, Lorian Hemingway has joined The Post's prestigious Fiction Advisory Board, along with new members Robert Stone, Gary Svee and Ray Bradbury. The board advises the magazine's editors on fiction selections and recommends up-and-coming fiction writers.<br />
</p><br />
<br />
<h2><p><strong>Eligibility requirements for our 2010 competition are as follows:</strong><br />
</p></h2> <br />
<p><strong>What to submit:</strong><br />
</p><br />
<br />
<ul> <li>Stories must be original unpublished fiction, typed and double-spaced, and may not exceed 3,000 words in length. There are no theme restrictions. Copyright remains property of the author, with the exception of the first-place winner, whose work will be published in The Saturday Evening Post.</li>
</ul><br />
<br />
<p><strong>Who may submit:</strong><br />
</p><br />
<br />
<ul> <li>The literary competition is open to all U.S. and international writers whose fiction has not appeared in a nationally distributed publication with a circulation of 5,000 or more. Writers who have been published online or who have self-published will be considered on an individual basis.</li>
</ul><br />
<br />
<p><strong>Submission requirements:</strong><br />
</p><br />
<br />
<ul> <li>Submissions may be sent via regular mail or submitted online at: shortstorykw@gmail.com. Please visit our online submissions page for complete instructions regarding online submissions. Writers may submit multiple entries, but each must be accompanied by an entry fee and separate cover sheet. We do accept simultaneous submissions; however, the writer must notify us if a story is accepted for publication or wins an award prior to our July announcements. No entry confirmation will be given unless requested. No SASE is required.</li>
<li>The author's name should not appear on the story. Our entrants are judged anonymously. Each story must be accompanied by a separate cover sheet with the writer's name, complete mailing address, e-mail address, phone number, the title of the piece, and the word count. Manuscripts will not be returned. These requirements apply for online submissions as well.</li>
</ul><br />
<br />
<p><strong>Deadlines and Entry Fees:</strong><br />
</p><br />
<br />
<ul> <li>The entry fee is $12 for each story postmarked by April 1, 2010. The late entry fee is $17 for each story postmarked between April 2 and May 15. We encourage you to enter by April 1 if at all possible, but please know that your story will still be accepted if you meet the later deadline. Our dual deadline must be imposed this year due to information already in print in Writer's Market, etc. that states May 15 as our final deadline. We apologize for this inconvenience. Beginning with our 2011 competition we will have a single deadline. Entries postmarked after May 15, 2010 will not be accepted. Entries submitted online after May 15 will not be accepted. Writers may submit for the 2011 competition beginning May 16, 2010.</li>
</ul><br />
<br />
<p><strong>How to pay your entry fee:</strong><br />
</p><br />
<br />
<br />
<ul> <li>Entry fees submitted by mail with their accompanying stories may be paid -- in U.S. funds -- via a personal check, cashier's check, or money order. Please make checks payable to LHSSC or The Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition. Entry fees for online submissions may be paid with PayPal.</li>
</ul><br />
<br />
<br />
<p><strong>Announcement of Winners and Honorable Mentions:</strong><br />
</p><br />
<p>Winners will be announced at the end of July 2010 in Key West, Florida, and posted on our website soon afterward. Only the first-place entrant will be notified personally. All entrants will receive a letter from Lorian Hemingway and a list of winners, either via regular mail or e-mail, by October 1, 2010.<br />
</p><br />
<br />
<p>All manuscripts and their accompanying entry fees should be sent to: <br />
</p><br />
<p>The Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition<br><br />
P.O. Box 993<br><br />
Key West, FL 33041 <br />
</p><br />
<p>or submitted online at: <a href="mailto:shortstorykw@gmail.com" target="_blank">shortstorykw@gmail.com</a><br />
</p><br />
<p>For more information, please explore <a href="http://www.shortstorycompetition.com/" target="_blank">this website</a> or e-mail: <a href="mailto:shortstorykw@gmail.com" target="_blank">shortstorykw@gmail.com</a><br />
</p><br />
<p><strong>Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition Online Submissions</strong><br />
We are pleased to announce that we are now able to accept online submissions to our competition, in addition to continuing to accept entries by mail. We have been accustomed to doing things the old-fashioned way for so long -- 2010 will mark the 30th anniversary of the competition -- that accepting stories online seems like a bold step into a brave new world, and while we have a bit of stage fright we do believe that this additional option of submitting your stories will help save a few trees in the long run.<br />
Below please find what we trust are rather simple guidelines for online submissions:<br />
</p><br />
<p><strong>Online Submission Guidelines:</strong><br />
</p><br />
<br />
<p><ul> <li>All submissions must meet the requirements set forth in our regular guidelines. Stories must be original, unpublished fiction. Word count: 3,000 words or less.</li>
<li>A Paypal account is required for online submissions. If you would like to sign up for Paypal, please click this link to be taken to their signup page: Paypal Signup. If you do not wish to have a Paypal account, please follow the normal submission procedures described on the Guidelines page.</li>
<li>Use the PayPal drop-down selection to pay for your submission prior to sending your story. You will be given a choice of paying for the April 1 deadline entry fee or for the April 2 - May 15 late deadline entry fee. Please make sure you choose the appropriate one.</li>
<li>In the subject line of your submission please write the Transaction ID number given to you by PayPal, along with your full name as it appears on your PayPal receipt.</li>
<li>Please print out a copy of your PayPal receipt for your records.</li>
<li>Once your transaction is completed you may submit your story to shortstorykw@gmail.com after following the very important guidelines provided below:</li>
<li>Stories must be submitted in Microsoft Word Document format, as an attachment. Please do not send your story in the body of an email.</li>
<li>Each story must be accompanied first by a cover sheet that includes the writer's name, the title of the story, his or her complete mailing address, e-mail address, phone number, and the word count of the work submitted. The author's name should not appear on the story. Only the title should appear on the manuscript.</li>
<li>Writers may submit multiple entries, but these must be submitted as separate Microsoft Word documents, with separate cover sheets and separate entry fees.</li>
<li>If you have questions regarding online submissions please do not hesitate to contact us at: shortstorykw@gmail.com</li>
</ul><p><strong>Many thanks and the very best of luck to all who enter!</strong></p></p><br />
<p>Lorian Hemingway Short Story Competition Submissions<br><br />
Through April 1st, 2010 $12.00<br><br />
April 2 through May 15, 2010 $17.00<br />
</p>Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15518901832997598597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7260692.post-5726048733642048022009-12-24T16:39:00.001-08:002009-12-24T16:41:37.327-08:00A Christmas Story<a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1886249210?tag=worldcat-20&camp=14573&creative=327641&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=1886249210&adid=1RSZ7J38A32D5FRGP76V&">Writer Joe Ekaitis</a> sent me this. I thought it was very much worth sharing.<div><br /><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/fi7d938fXMw&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fi7d938fXMw&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object><div><br />Joyeux Noel, everyone. Every year that passes, I continue to feel blessed by your presence.</div></div>Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15518901832997598597noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7260692.post-61530959936525208292009-12-21T10:57:00.000-08:002009-12-21T11:02:57.344-08:00The longest nightSolstice morning in Newgrange, 2007:<br /><div><object width="420" height="339"><param name="movie" value="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/x3tzon"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/x3tzon" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="420" height="339"></embed></object><br /><b><a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/swf/x3tzon">Newgrange solstice 2007</a></b><br /><i>by <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/erickfp">erickfp</a></i></div><br />Happy Solstice to you. May the turning of the year find you warm, loved, with plenty.Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15518901832997598597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7260692.post-2317934519514003942009-11-26T13:04:00.000-08:002009-11-26T13:07:24.042-08:00A Very Merry Thanksgiving, AllI so want to deep-fry a turkey, one of these days.<br /><br />Just not in this tiny little third-floor apartment...<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OLNLYL24qUA&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OLNLYL24qUA&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15518901832997598597noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7260692.post-59140181849785067722009-09-20T15:50:00.001-07:002009-09-20T16:38:51.115-07:00End of Summer 2009<p>Fall in the Pacific Northwest really is incredible. Today was one of those crystalline-perfect autumn days, when the air is just cool enough for a jacket, but the sun is bright and slanting golden, and the sky a brilliant watercolor wash of blue. Definitely a fine day for a walk, since anyone who has lived here long enough to see the seasons change a few times knows that the weather can't last, and soon enough the rains will come sweeping in, then stay for months.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cb8X3tSjMfE/Srax299671I/AAAAAAAAADU/ZulDMSDp7xc/s1600-h/HPIM0327.JPG"><img style="margin: 5pt 5pt 10px 10px; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 238px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cb8X3tSjMfE/Srax299671I/AAAAAAAAADU/ZulDMSDp7xc/s320/HPIM0327.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383685962473336658" border="0" /></a></p>A walk down to the fish hatchery, then up <a href="http://www.sahale.com/whatcom.htm">Whatcom Creek</a>, past the back of the library, stopping to buy a bottle of cheap wine and a quarter's worth of fine sea salt at the public market, made for a very pleasant stroll of about three and a half miles. Admittedly, it always makes me miss having a dog, watching other people in the park playing frisbee with their pups.<br /><br />I'm utterly smitten and enchanted by the salmon working their way up the fish-ladder at the fish hatchery. And even more enchanted by the fish working their way up through the water spilling down the rocks of Whatcom Creek. And, for a wonder, I remembered my camera today, too.<br /><p>All I can think about, watching them, is all the different stories about magical fish. There are <a href="http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=2942">stories about salmon</a>, specifically, from lots of different cultures and folk traditions, too. Local First Nations traditions include many <a href="http://www.siskiyous.edu/Shasta/fol/nat/coyote.htm">anecdotes and intersections</a> between <a href="http://www.thinksalmon.com/">salmon</a>, people, coyote, and the waters that run out to the sea:<br /></p><p></p><blockquote>A disagreement between Tyee Salmon and Steelhead resulted in only Tyee Salmon going up the north fork of the Puyallup River and red salmon only going up the south fork. Salmon run all the way up into the Cascades because Coyote broke the weir constructed by the Sandpiper women and cleared the way for salmon to go upstream. Because of that, the Naches people could also fish for part of their food.</blockquote><p></p>And in <a href="http://www.digitalmedievalist.com/news/2009/09/salmon-and-celts.html">Celtic traditions, salmon</a> figure into stories of heroes, bards, and kings. <a href="http://www.eat-online.net/english/schools/salmon_of_kKnowledge.htm">Fionn Mac Cumhail</a> caught and cooked the legendary Salmon of Knowledge at <a href="http://www.knowth.com/rossnaree.htm">Rossnaree</a>, according to legend.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cb8X3tSjMfE/Srax2BY2DjI/AAAAAAAAADM/E6Pfg7csDkU/s1600-h/HPIM0325.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 238px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_cb8X3tSjMfE/Srax2BY2DjI/AAAAAAAAADM/E6Pfg7csDkU/s320/HPIM0325.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383685946211700274" border="0" /></a>And in about ten days I leave for the east coast, for Viable Paradise. It's odd to think that the rains could come while I'm gone, and this all might look very different when I come home again.<br /><br /><p><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cb8X3tSjMfE/Sra1SBZ3XaI/AAAAAAAAADc/hHW499OEIkw/s1600-h/HPIM0311.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 301px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cb8X3tSjMfE/Sra1SBZ3XaI/AAAAAAAAADc/hHW499OEIkw/s400/HPIM0311.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5383689725787200930" border="0" /></a></p>Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15518901832997598597noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7260692.post-1501135277034624632009-09-16T22:11:00.000-07:002009-09-16T22:12:54.899-07:00Requiescat In PaceMary Travers has died.<br /><br />My mom had all their records, stuck in the very back of the big console record player, with her previous name written with indelible marker, using careful and pretty cursive, on the album covers.<br /><br /><lj-embed id="11"><object height="344" width="425"><param value="http://www.youtube.com/v/3t4g_1VoGw4&hl=en&fs=1&" name="movie"><param value="true" name="allowFullScreen"><embed allowfullscreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3t4g_1VoGw4&hl=en&fs=1&" height="344" width="425"></embed></object></lj-embed><br /><br />I asked about those albums, once. The resulting conversation was one of those odd and slightly disconcerting experiences that result when children discover that a parent was complete human being, with stories of her own, before having children.Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15518901832997598597noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7260692.post-60667568866853497652009-09-12T13:44:00.000-07:002009-09-12T14:01:42.593-07:00Health CareThere was a Bellingham rally for the single-payer option, today, and as the chanting throng of people wended their way under my window, I could hear the occasional heckler shout from a passing car.<br /><br />The cat sat in the window and growled at the commotion.<br /><br />And I haven't been able to stop thinking about the discussion on <a href="http://jaylake.livejournal.com/1916632.html">Jay Lake's LJ post</a> where he posted a short list of questions, polling his readers about their positions on illegal immigrants and American health care.<br /><br />I gave <a href="http://mac-stone.livejournal.com/31069.html">my own answers on LiveJournal</a> instead on in Jay's comment thread, because there's plenty of sound and fury there, already -- and if ever we needed a meme, folks, a meme about things that really matter is worth the time to at least think about deeply, even if you don't want to say anything out loud for whatever reason. These are questions everyone in this country needs to look at head-on, though.<br /><br />And there comes a time that you have to decide what's right and what's wrong, and oddly enough? I've never actually found, in 42 years of living so far, that there's any meaningful and intrinsic relationship between a price tag and doing the right thing.<br /><br />Finally, that oft-repeated right-wing meme about illegal immigrants sucking off of everyone else? How come the people repeating that never mention the estimated<a href="http://usliberals.about.com/od/immigration/a/IllegalImmi_4.htm"> 7 BILLION dollars paid into Social Security by undocumented workers? Or the estimated 1.5 BILLION dollars paid in Medicare taxes</a>?Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15518901832997598597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7260692.post-6183641997938556902009-04-13T15:09:00.000-07:002009-04-13T15:11:44.773-07:00Monday, Monday...<p> If you Google-search "Amazon rank" this morning, the top three hits don't actually take you anywhere near amazon.com. Those top hits either take you to <a href="http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/amazonrank/" target="_blank">this page</a>, instead, or to commentary about why the Google-bombing happened. And I'll confess, I was deeply, seriously tempted to link the words "Amazon rank" above to the <a href="http://www.smartbitchestrashybooks.com/index.php" title="A funny, smart blog" target="_blank">smartbitchestrashybooks.com</a> page, too, because I think it's funnier than heck, and I'm spitting mad about Amazon.com pretty clearly not caring enough about this Easter-weekend "glitch" (that apparently has been going on since late last year, in actuality) to issue any sort of substantive statement beyond what amounts to, "Gosh, there seems to have been some sort of glitch."</p> <div style="border: 1px solid rgb(51, 51, 51); margin: 3px; padding: 5px; width: 250px; line-height: 1.8em; font-size: 1em; float: right;"><strong>More Amazonfail links: </strong><br /><a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2009/04/amazon-responds-to-adult-queries-blames-a-glitch.html" target="_blank">LA Times book blog</a><br /><a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/04/13/blogs-and-twitter-coin-amazonfail/" target="_blank">Wall Street Journal blog</a> on Amazonfail story<br /><a href="http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2009/04/12/amazon-possibly-using-category-metadata-to-filter-rankings/" target="_blank">Dear Author</a>, on metadata, has the best theory so far </div> <p> I dunno. Maybe I'm just not in a demographic that Amazon cares about. Right now, though, I'm looking at the Amazon ad in AW's sidebar, and thinking a button that goes to Powell's would look pretty good there, instead. <a href="http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight" title="Full disclosure: My favorite blog EVAR" target="_blank">Making Light</a> has a cogent and <a href="http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/011173.html#011173" title="Good overview, excellent discussion following" target="_blank">rational discussion</a> about the #amazonfail debacle, with a smarter-than-average bunch of tech-savvy commenters participating. </p> <p> And speaking of Twitter, we're playing a <a href="http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3488813#post3488813" title="Play along at home, if you'd like" target="_blank">query-writing game</a> on the AW forums, inspired by <a href="http://theswivet.blogspot.com/2009/01/contest-query-in-140-characters-or-less.html" title="The Swivet" target="_blank">Agent Colleen Lindsay's blog</a> contest back in January, and by<a href="http://edittorrent.blogspot.com/2009/04/how-to-put-it-together-into-one-neat.html" title="Query writing exercise" target="_blank"> this exercise</a> (via agent Janet Reid, on—you guessed it—Twitter!) It's a fairly difficult exercise, which makes it a lot of fun. If you don't want to post in public, think about playing along at home to sharpen your own query hooks. </p>Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15518901832997598597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7260692.post-18423005651003520072009-04-12T10:05:00.000-07:002009-04-12T10:12:10.018-07:00Okay, big changes a-comingI've managed to fix the archives. That's the good news.<br /><br />The bad news is, I had to nuke and pave the customized template.<br /><br />However, that's okay -- it gives me a fun reason to start all over, and my sidebar links were pretty out of date, anyway.<br /><br />So, umm -- Hi, folks. Welcome back. In the meantime, you can find me blogging at <a href="http://northwestspecialties.com/">Northwest Specialties</a>, at <a href="http://horse-forum.net/">The Horse Forum</a>, and <a href="http://blues-talk.com/">Blues Talk</a>. I'm having rather a lot of fun doing it, too, so I hope to see you there.Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15518901832997598597noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7260692.post-65487568413162856942009-01-18T15:09:00.000-08:002009-01-18T15:12:36.424-08:00A summer of diversity in E-fiction<a href="http://mac-stone.livejournal.com/22838.html">My own response to the Great Debate 2009</a> regarding post-colonialism, cultural appropriation, sexism, racism, etc. in Science Fiction and Fantasy is this:<br /><br />Let's stop wanking, and do something constructive.<br /><br />I run a small ezine, and a large website/newsletter for writers, as well as a pretty big message board. I will commit my energy and resources to spotlighting fiction about and from the "Other" all summer.<br /><br />Join me?Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01846076773328384778noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7260692.post-55884973738657292762008-10-09T14:28:00.000-07:002008-10-09T14:25:50.238-07:00Multimedia message<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://www.macallisterstone.com/stones/uploaded_images/bm-image-750244-750258.jpe"><img src="http://www.macallisterstone.com/stones/uploaded_images/bm-image-750244-750255.jpe" border="0" alt="" /></a></p>Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01846076773328384778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7260692.post-51990068418459542722008-10-09T14:00:00.000-07:002008-10-09T13:57:52.059-07:00Multimedia message<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://www.macallisterstone.com/stones/uploaded_images/bm-image-772062-772082.jpe"><img src="http://www.macallisterstone.com/stones/uploaded_images/bm-image-772062-772079.jpe" border="0" alt="" /></a></p>Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01846076773328384778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7260692.post-70249242900201418922008-10-09T12:14:00.000-07:002008-10-09T12:12:32.948-07:00Multimedia message<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://www.macallisterstone.com/stones/uploaded_images/bm-image-752951-752970.jpe"><img src="http://www.macallisterstone.com/stones/uploaded_images/bm-image-752951-752966.jpe" border="0" alt="" /></a></p>Turning North.Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01846076773328384778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7260692.post-16508983146378925012008-10-09T12:08:00.000-07:002008-10-09T12:05:44.888-07:00Multimedia message<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://www.macallisterstone.com/stones/uploaded_images/bm-image-744891-744905.jpe"><img src="http://www.macallisterstone.com/stones/uploaded_images/bm-image-744891-744902.jpe" border="0" alt="" /></a></p>Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01846076773328384778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7260692.post-24425060108922598772008-10-09T11:55:00.000-07:002008-10-09T11:53:07.921-07:00Multimedia message<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://www.macallisterstone.com/stones/uploaded_images/bm-image-787925-787940.jpe"><img src="http://www.macallisterstone.com/stones/uploaded_images/bm-image-787925-787936.jpe" border="0" alt="" /></a></p>I love the interwebs.Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01846076773328384778noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7260692.post-62297850617988166862008-10-09T11:19:00.000-07:002008-10-09T11:17:21.110-07:00Multimedia message<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://www.macallisterstone.com/stones/uploaded_images/bm-image-741112-741133.jpe"><img src="http://www.macallisterstone.com/stones/uploaded_images/bm-image-741112-741129.jpe" border="0" alt="" /></a></p>Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01846076773328384778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7260692.post-68669908383582921232008-10-09T11:15:00.000-07:002008-10-09T11:13:05.341-07:00Multimedia message<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://www.macallisterstone.com/stones/uploaded_images/bm-image-785347-785377.jpe"><img src="http://www.macallisterstone.com/stones/uploaded_images/bm-image-785347-785373.jpe" border="0" alt="" /></a></p>Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01846076773328384778noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7260692.post-7928151587299153842008-10-09T11:13:00.000-07:002008-10-09T11:11:01.121-07:00Multimedia message<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://www.macallisterstone.com/stones/uploaded_images/bm-image-761124-761149.jpe"><img src="http://www.macallisterstone.com/stones/uploaded_images/bm-image-761124-761145.jpe" border="0" alt="" /></a></p>Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01846076773328384778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7260692.post-16037327501815116722008-10-09T11:09:00.000-07:002008-10-09T11:06:44.030-07:00Multimedia message<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://www.macallisterstone.com/stones/uploaded_images/bm-image-704034-704055.jpe"><img src="http://www.macallisterstone.com/stones/uploaded_images/bm-image-704034-704053.jpe" border="0" alt="" /></a></p>Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01846076773328384778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7260692.post-48147560465778736492008-10-09T11:07:00.000-07:002008-10-09T11:05:12.178-07:00Multimedia message<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://www.macallisterstone.com/stones/uploaded_images/bm-image-712181-712204.jpe"><img src="http://www.macallisterstone.com/stones/uploaded_images/bm-image-712181-712200.jpe" border="0" alt="" /></a></p>Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01846076773328384778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7260692.post-58352939206466879162008-07-07T01:48:00.001-07:002008-07-07T01:48:43.274-07:00Tiresome Administrative Tasks<a href="http://technorati.com/claim/k4wjnrcspu" rel="me">Technorati Profile</a>Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01846076773328384778noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7260692.post-69330918644793360212008-05-10T19:22:00.000-07:002008-05-10T20:27:21.257-07:002008 Kalamazoo PaperPosting the text of the paper presented this afternoon, at the 43rd International Congress on Medieval Studies (because I said I would.) The happy part is that I can actually hyperlink the stuff that ought to be hyperlinked -- which , of course, is how God Meant for Text to Be.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Text in Motion: Navel-Gazing as Pedagogical Strategy</span><br /></div><br /><br />John Gower wrote:<br /><blockquote>That men mowe take remembrance<br />Of that thei schall hierafter rede:<br />For in good feith this wolde I rede,<br />That every man ensample take<br />Of wisdom which him is betake,<br />And that he wot of good aprise<br />To teche it forth, for such emprise<br />Is forto preise; and therfore I<br />Woll wryte . . . (<a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=_W-HKRVsfoQC&dq=john+gower+confessio+amantis&pg=PP1&ots=th8y8QpFAM&sig=e4Q75GWSpLpcqO9xA22QVLEjqqs&hl=en&prev=http://www.google.com/search%3Fhl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26hs%3DpH1%26q%3DJohn%2BGower,%2BConfessio%2BAmantis%2B%26btnG%3DSearch&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title&cad=one-book-with-thumbnail">John Gower, <span style="font-style: italic;">Confessio Amantis</span> 1.76-84</a>)</blockquote><br />Okay, maybe he wasn't talking specifically about blogging -- but he knew that written text lasts in a way the spoken word simply cannot. Blogging continues an unbroken tradition of writing that is simultaneously personal and pedagogical, both private and public: it's a hybrid of journaling, conversation, and writing-as-performance.<br /><br />This isn't a new idea, of course -- but implies that the nature of text itself is perhaps less static than we might like to think, but at the same time rather more stable than we might fear; even while digital text changes the very nature of how we perceive and use the written word.<br /><br />The word itself, text, is from the PIE base *tek- "make" -- cognate with technology. <a href="http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=text&searchmode=none">The etymology</a> implies a process, weaving, possessing texture and dimension -- which is an excellent description of electronic text: text as action, in addition to text as object.<br /><br />I've been hearing people express concern about the future of text almost since I began to read. I remember a Philosophy professor laughing at himself but also expressing real anxiety over the delete function of his word processor. He talked about envisioning all those deleted words and letters, laying somewhere at the bottom of a dark pit hidden by the cover. While it was funny, he also was expressing very real consternation and anxiety over the forced changes in his own perception of what text actually <span style="font-style: italic;">is</span>, how it's created, and what we can do with it.<br /><br />In the introduction to <span style="font-style: italic;">The Electronic Word: Democracy, Technology, and the Arts</span>, <a href="http://www.press.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/hfs.cgi/00/12401.ctl">a collection of essays</a> published in 1993, Richard Lanham said:<br /><blockquote> For the changes brought by electronic text, including the very redefinition of what a "text" is, touch upon practically every central question on the current humanist agenda. The volatility of electronic text, its mixture of alphabetic and iconic information, and its essential typographical plasticity, seem, much more than film, the perfect fulfillment of the Italian Futurists' desire to abolish the book in favor of a more dynamic medium.<br /><br />Electronic text thus leads us to the many twentieth-century attempts to release language from the traditional rules print has dictated.</blockquote><br /> And electronic text has come much further, since then. How does this change what we do in a text medium, then? If, rather than a static object -- a book or a page -- text is dynamic and liquid, what practical challenges and considerations arise? And what possibilities?<br /><br />One of the most exciting things that happens is that text is entirely set free of any specific temporal place and physical location. This paper I'm reading right now can be poured, essentially, from screen to flash drive to page, and later I'll go home and post it on my own blog. It's liquid.<br /><br /> Just the overwhelming variety of modern fonts, instantly available, is something John Gower could never have envisioned. And isn't it interesting that those same fonts that offer us an amazing range of choices also limit us in a way pen and ink do not, in terms of creating text as art? It's still a finite number. The way around that, of course, is to simply design our own fonts -- and we can do that now, too. Maybe it's still not calligraphy, but we can hyperlink the gloss to any esoteric terms, embed video and sound, animate the words themselves; and when we've finished all that, have a quick vanity-Google to see who has linked to us most recently.<br /><br />That inherent flexibility of digital text creates a remarkable platform with which to parse complex ideas and examine the history of our language, art, and literature -- all the while reaching an audience that's both interested and participatory -- and in many cases will provide near-immediate feedback. Text in motion.<br /><br /> That's excellent news for medievalists, who have an unprecedented opportunity, then, to bring the past into the present in a nearly tangible and immediate way -- and capture the intimacy and immediacy of personal conversation in the permanence of text.<br /><br /> Essentially, the difference between a blog and "regular" website is a difference in container for text -- similar to the way this page, that browser, or the flash drive in my pocket are different containers for text. Blogs are characterized by features that we don't see in other websites, typically -- although more and more of those features are starting to cross over, as their value becomes ever more evident.<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/au/790">Meg Hourihan</a> wrote an excellent early examination of blogging several years ago, called "<a href="http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/javascript/2002/06/13/megnut.html">What We're Doing When We Blog</a>":<br /><blockquote>If we look beneath the content of weblogs, we can observe the common ground all bloggers share -- the format. The weblog format provides a framework for our universal blog experiences, enabling the social interactions we associate with blogging. Without it, there is no differentiation between the myriad content produced for the Web.<br /><br />Whether you're a warblogger who works by day as a professional journalist or you're a teenage high school student worried about your final exams, you do the same thing: you use your blog to link to your friends and rivals and comment on what they're doing. Blog posts are short, informal, sometimes controversial, and sometimes deeply personal, no matter what topic they approach. They can be characterized by their conversational tone and unlike a more formal essay or speech, a blog post is often an opening to a discussion, rather than a full-fledged argument already arrived at.</blockquote><br />Characteristics in common, that differentiate a website from a blog (cribbed heavily from both Meg Hourihan's essay linked above, and Lisa Spangenberg's <a href="http://lisaspangenberg.com/it/2002/07/31/the-rhetoric-of-web-logs/">The Rhetoric of Blogging</a>):<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">-- frequent updates: </span>fresh content provides fodder for the social interaction we associate with blogs. Even if you have your comments turned off, a blog predicates on the idea that the same people will be following your thoughts from day to day, week to week. The comments feature allows those readers to respond, contribute, and interact with those ideas.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">-- hyperlinks: </span>Again, a blog is about conversation. The intersection and dynamic tension between various viewpoints, and the response and interaction between writers, whether those writers are reader-commenters or other bloggers.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">-- timestamps:</span> We're working with text that, again, has been released from the constraints of temporal and physical location -- a timestamp, then, offers an anchor to a specific context; a specific place in time to use as reference to the world at large. When a news article about a new archaeological discovery comes out, that timestamp offers a context for the environment in which you wrote your own response to that discovery.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">-- permalinks:</span> Beginning from the premise that a blog is liquid, flowing, constantly changing text -- a tiny current in the larger river of the net itself -- the permalink provides a reference point allowing a return to a specific previous point in that stream. It also allows other bloggers and respondents to link to that point.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">-- RSS or other feed:</span> Blogs typically have a feed that lets you subscribe. This is important because it means your blog-reader will go and fetch the text back to your own tool, you don't have to go out and find the site via bookmark and mouse clicks, then wait for it to load, in order to read. The text comes to you.<br /><br />Those key characteristics of blogging allow for more flexibility and a much greater range of communication and interactivity than offered by a more fixed and static website. This flexibility and interactivity creates unique opportunities for scholars to introduce, discuss, and hone ideas; similarly, the immediacy and versatility inherent to blogging allows reader/audience participation on a scale and with a degree of engagement not always possible in a more formal or traditional academic setting.<br /><br />And blogging is an amazingly egalitarian process. You don't have to be a scholar. People blog about the most amazing things - their kids, gardens, medical issues, cats, recipes, and knitting projects. The magic happens when we establish connections to like-minded souls, forming communities with a commonality of interests and passions.<br /><br />Our audiences are motivated to be there, reading and interacting -- otherwise, they'll just close the window or click the next link on their reader. There is, then, a sort of inherent "survival of the fittest" built directly into this textual conversation: if you're boring, people don't come back.<br /><br />That sounds alarming, perhaps -- but it's not really that bad. That dynamic provides some checks and balances. The presence of an engaged community provides us incentive to post, stay interesting, and say something fresh; while our readers have incentive to engage, participate, ask questions, and make observations. Readers who lack that incentive either "lurk" or drop away entirely -- leaving the blog with a community of actively interested participants.<br /><br />That passionate, active interest combined with the inherent flexibility of liquid text creates a new classroom, also cut free from the moorings of time and place. There are, of course, some challenges too, then -- there's an amazing amount of crap on the internet, right? And how are we teaching people to differentiate? How do we convey the ever-growing requirement for critical thinking, that being the case? I don't actually have answers for that, other than we all bear individual responsibility to teach when and where we can, by example.<br /><br />What an amazing time and place we're in, though. For example, I just encountered (through a link on Dr. Nokes' blog, <a href="http://unlocked-wordhoard.blogspot.com/">Unlocked Wordhoard</a>) a newish blog started by novelist Nicola Griffith, specifically for the purpose of research.<br /><br />From the sidebar description of <a href="http://gemaecca.blogspot.com/">Gemaecca</a>:<br /><blockquote>This is a blog about writing a novel. The novel is based on the life of Hild of Whitby. I intend to not contravene what is known to be known about those people and those times, but while I'm a good novelist (I've published and won awards for five) I'm an indifferent scholar. I'm going to need help. I don't think in footnotes. I don't remember references. I read a little Latin and I've picked up a smattering of Old English (enough to pick out a word or two) but I'm much more at home with translations. My hope is that those who know more than I do about seventh century Britain will be generous enough to share their thoughts from time to time. Meanwhile, I'll share my process, that is, to the degree that it's comfortable. I don't usually discuss works-in-progress; if it turns out to be too uncomfortable, I'll fold my tent quietly and steal away.</blockquote><br />This is a remarkable thing. When and where in history have we had the sheer access to information that we now have, let alone the ability to intersect and interact with one another about that information, without waiting months for letters and pictures from across the country -- or across the world? Anything we're interested in Google will fetch right to our fingertips in an instant. A passionate interest that takes our search deeper will provide weeks, months, or years worth of reading; then blogging allows us to either join or establish a community just as passionately interested in engagement with the subject, creating a dynamic conversation captured in text that's both liquid and permanent.Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01846076773328384778noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7260692.post-91667987756067832712008-03-21T09:15:00.001-07:002008-12-10T23:13:07.957-08:00Multimedia message<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uFwdceuPHio/R-PfL3luTWI/AAAAAAAAAEs/qXzq_CIbemo/s1600-h/bm-image-742837.jpe"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_uFwdceuPHio/R-PfL3luTWI/AAAAAAAAAEs/qXzq_CIbemo/s320/bm-image-742837.jpe" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5180229391399931234" /></a></p>Puget Sound.Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01846076773328384778noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7260692.post-49238213523483838302008-03-21T09:14:00.001-07:002008-12-10T23:13:08.199-08:00Multimedia message<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uFwdceuPHio/R-PeyXluTVI/AAAAAAAAAEk/Y3aHTo3Zu-k/s1600-h/bm-image-741297.jpe"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_uFwdceuPHio/R-PeyXluTVI/AAAAAAAAAEk/Y3aHTo3Zu-k/s320/bm-image-741297.jpe" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5180228953313267026" /></a></p>Machttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01846076773328384778noreply@blogger.com0