The Guardian Science/Anthropology: “First Britons may have used clothes, shelters and fire to ward off cold”
Yeah, that would probably work better than just blowing into your hands.
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Afterthought: What’s up, Guardian? No Oxford comma?
Monthly Archives: July 2010
In a recent Huff Post blog, author Melanie Benjamin joins the chorus of publishing-related people who are starting to speak some sense in the maelstrom of “everyone can be a writer” cheerleading.
While her main point is that aspiring writers should also be avid readers (her raison d’écrire was Tin House publishing’s decision to require a bookstore receipt for unsolicited manuscript submissions) she touches on the core of my argument that publishing is in danger of becoming a pyramid scheme.
I think that’s the problem today; too many authors, not enough readers. So many people dream of seeing their book on a front table in a bookstore; so few people actually buy books that are on front tables–or back shelves–of bookstores. So few people even know where their closest bookstore is located.
As someone who can think of three chain bookstores, two independent bookstores, and three used bookstores within walking distance of where I live (not to mention the bookstores in the National Mall’s various museums) I could not agree more.
But more importantly, “too many authors – not enough readers” is the Formula of Ultimate Doom for the publishing industry’s current toxic combination of DIY marketing and cross-consumerization of readers into wannabe writers. It’s the reason all pyramid schemes fail: not enough new recruits funneling resources to the top cats who are reaping all the rewards.
Benjamin goes on:
I have no problem with a publisher requiring an aspiring author to show proof that he’s read at least one book lately. Wouldn’t it be great if every writers’ conference required the same thing for all applicants? Wouldn’t it be wonderful–if not strictly ethical–if every literary agent did this, too?
I’ll be honest: considering some of the quirky pet peeves for which agents reject queries, I can’t see the ethical problem in asking for some proof that a writer is involved in the literary process beyond clicking send on an email, so long as the agent doesn’t require that the book be one she or her firm represented.
I have a stack of books knee-high already from 2010 alone. Bring it on!
Heck, if every aspiring author read ten books a year, this industry would not be having the problems it’s having today.
I will see that bet and raise you, Melanie. If half of the aspiring authors (specifically those for whom getting published is more for dazzle than devotion) would shift their enthusiasm for literature entirely from writing to reading, publishing would be both financially and artistically richer.
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For a similar piece by Joseph Bednarik, read “The Law of Diminishing Readership” at Poets & Writers.
During conservation work at Jerusalem’s Damascus Gate, built in the 1500s by Suleiman the Magnificent, workers discovered a 100-year old Turkish hand grenade in the core of the wall.
Israeli antiquities experts believe that someone stashed the grenade in the middle of the wall through some broken stone during the last years of the Ottoman Empire.
But, what if there were another explanation? What if someone from our near future slipped back in time to visit the Grand Sultan during the height of Ottoman rule, making a pit stop in the Empire during World War I to pick up supplies and weapons?
Perhaps the grenade ended up in the wall as it was being built. A good writer could really build a story around that.
I am considering combining the weekly lit agent round-up with the “miscellaneous” publishing pros.
Between the blogs that inexplicably dry up — or consist mainly of their own link lists, Happy Release Day posts, or “everyone can be a writer, don’t give up!” cheerleading — the lit agent offerings have been growing thin. Maybe it’s because of this god-awful heat! What’s the summer version of hibernation?
On to the lit agent links! Continue reading
Another Independence Day come and gone, another summer officially beyond prologue. Especially with the next few days in our nation’s capital predicted to top 100 degrees.
That’s roughly 38 degrees for those of you (scientists and non-Americans) who use the International System. This is the one thing I do prefer about non-SI measurement: Fahrenheit’s nice, round 100 mark indicating when the heat just becomes god-awfully unbearable for human beings.
[cue corny segue] And speaking of hot, here are today’s featured blog posts from writers around the web! Continue reading
George Washington had it built.
Martha Washington mentioned it in a letter to a friend.
And now, two hundred thirty-two years later, archaeologists have found it.
What is it? It’s a log cabin General Washington had constructed behind the main headquarters at Valley Forge, to use as a dining hall for himself and his top advisers. Archaeologists working for the National Park Service have now located it, having identified discolored earth that indicates the presence of the “sill log” that forms the base of a log cabin.
Washington, his aides, servants and wife all lived and worked together in the small headquarters house. To ease the cramped conditions in what some historians have dubbed the “1778 Pentagon,” the general had a cabin constructed. During the encampment, from Dec. 19, 1777 to June 19, 1778, British troops occupied Philadelphia. The cabin served as both a dining hall and war room for Washington and his men.
It is unknown how many critical debates took place in this tiny structure, debates that guided the fate of millions yet to be born, and pointing us to it was a single piece of correspondence from a woman to her friend.
One small cabin, one small letter. Sometimes, the little things truly are what count!
A replica cabin at Valley Forge, similar to the one archaeologists are now excavating near General Washington's headquarters.
I have always been a fan of Mr. Boffo, but sadly I can’t find a periodical in my neck of the woods that carries it. However, artist Joe Martin’s sense of humor is so off-the-wall that I rarely have an opportunity to share it.
No more! Recently, this Mr. Boffo was published, explaining a new literary genre: Mystery Thriller Instruction Manual. Writers, enjoy!
Last night I walked to the National Mall (because I can) to watch the Independence Day fireworks.
In the course of my travels through the crowd I witnessed several conversations and scenes that could very easily be adapted to fiction.
A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned the idea of focusing on short stories rather than full-length books for our summer reading lists. Although no one else has yet picked up the challenge, I have already barreled ahead on my own.
Having picked up a copy of the May/June Fantasy & Science Fiction journal, I read two stories in particular that really stood out for me.
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JACKET _ To cover a bum (motherless) lamb with the skin of a dead lamb. Going by smell, the mother of the dead lamb will then nurse the bum lamb.
– Dictionary of the American West by Winfred Blevins.