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Monday, July 30, 2012
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Ad of the Week
As requested, Ad of the Week returns with this stunning exhibit of Man Boots:
On a semi-related tangent, last year I had a male student in one of the classes I taught who came in wearing the kind of over large, dark dark green boots that definitely looked like the kind of thing you could comfortably wear while standing in the middle of a river fly fishing.
I asked him if he fished or hunted or did whatever sort of outdoor activity these giant, sturdy, stomping creations were obviously created for. he told me at length that it was more of a misconception on his part. He'd bought them online. He wasn't aware just how outdoorsy they were, he was just looking for a functional rain boot that didn't look, in his words, girly.
Goal accomplished.
On a semi-related tangent, last year I had a male student in one of the classes I taught who came in wearing the kind of over large, dark dark green boots that definitely looked like the kind of thing you could comfortably wear while standing in the middle of a river fly fishing.
I asked him if he fished or hunted or did whatever sort of outdoor activity these giant, sturdy, stomping creations were obviously created for. he told me at length that it was more of a misconception on his part. He'd bought them online. He wasn't aware just how outdoorsy they were, he was just looking for a functional rain boot that didn't look, in his words, girly.
Goal accomplished.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Careers, Critics, and Professors
Kristine Kathryn Rusch recently published a post titled "Careers, Critics, and Professors" in her The Business Rusch series. The article left me saying: Yes! Thank you, yes. Finally someone gets it and articulates it well without being crass, mean, or inflammatory.
I sent the article to a friend getting a graduate degree in music composition. His response was that Rusch was "right on during the half about conservatories ... it sounds like we (the music world) lost out on a great composer."
And where I didn't know anything about music conservatories, I know a lot about graduate and undergraduate writing programs, and Rusch manages to articulate everything (well, almost everything) that frustrated me about my own MFA experience. Frustration that lead me to looking into programs like Clarion and Odyssey and eventually attending the Odyssey Writing Workshop. Frustration that led me to taking the one course offered in three years on publishing and ending up spending more time (because I was more interested) on that coursework than on any other course in my entire graduate career. Frustration that lead me to speak out at the Professors and Graduate Students of Writing meeting that we should offer more publishing classes, offer them more regularly, require students to take them even, not just proceed with "the option to work on the program's associated literary journal."
Oh, and in that meeting, people nodded when I spoke -- one graduate student who had a chapbook published before she started the program also begged for publishing-related coursework because until her publisher sent her a proof of her chapbook, she'd never seen a copyediting mark.
Again, people in the room nodded, then said that students who wanted to learn about publishing should edit the literary journal. I pointed out that the one publishing class they were talking about not offering again had been wonderful because it had been about more than editing. It had been about explaining how a journal works as a business, how a small press works as a business, how a larger press operates, and the course had given a sense of history of publishing and printing.
They nodded again. Then reminded me that, well, the program is an art degree.
I sighed and let it go. I was done with my own degree by that point. I'd been teaching composition for 3+ years on minimal training and lots of hands-on experience. If there's one thing my experiences in academia have taught me, it's how to teach myself by researching and reasoning, improving old skill sets to apply them to new situations. So I'd already sought out other avenues of education on what it meant to have a career and how to go about making one.
Do not mistake my meaning: I learned a great deal in my MFA program. words and line level craft are important and something I needed to be taught. But it's not a holistic approach to the act of writing. And a career cannot be focused on minutia, it has to be holistic.
I'm a work in progress -- aren't all people's careers? -- but I'm fairly certain of what I want and that what I want isn't a PhD in creative writing to perpetuate the art of writing. No, what I want isn't to be an artist, it's to be a career storyteller, whatever form that may take.
I sent the article to a friend getting a graduate degree in music composition. His response was that Rusch was "right on during the half about conservatories ... it sounds like we (the music world) lost out on a great composer."
And where I didn't know anything about music conservatories, I know a lot about graduate and undergraduate writing programs, and Rusch manages to articulate everything (well, almost everything) that frustrated me about my own MFA experience. Frustration that lead me to looking into programs like Clarion and Odyssey and eventually attending the Odyssey Writing Workshop. Frustration that led me to taking the one course offered in three years on publishing and ending up spending more time (because I was more interested) on that coursework than on any other course in my entire graduate career. Frustration that lead me to speak out at the Professors and Graduate Students of Writing meeting that we should offer more publishing classes, offer them more regularly, require students to take them even, not just proceed with "the option to work on the program's associated literary journal."
Oh, and in that meeting, people nodded when I spoke -- one graduate student who had a chapbook published before she started the program also begged for publishing-related coursework because until her publisher sent her a proof of her chapbook, she'd never seen a copyediting mark.
Again, people in the room nodded, then said that students who wanted to learn about publishing should edit the literary journal. I pointed out that the one publishing class they were talking about not offering again had been wonderful because it had been about more than editing. It had been about explaining how a journal works as a business, how a small press works as a business, how a larger press operates, and the course had given a sense of history of publishing and printing.
They nodded again. Then reminded me that, well, the program is an art degree.
I sighed and let it go. I was done with my own degree by that point. I'd been teaching composition for 3+ years on minimal training and lots of hands-on experience. If there's one thing my experiences in academia have taught me, it's how to teach myself by researching and reasoning, improving old skill sets to apply them to new situations. So I'd already sought out other avenues of education on what it meant to have a career and how to go about making one.
Do not mistake my meaning: I learned a great deal in my MFA program. words and line level craft are important and something I needed to be taught. But it's not a holistic approach to the act of writing. And a career cannot be focused on minutia, it has to be holistic.
I'm a work in progress -- aren't all people's careers? -- but I'm fairly certain of what I want and that what I want isn't a PhD in creative writing to perpetuate the art of writing. No, what I want isn't to be an artist, it's to be a career storyteller, whatever form that may take.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
"Somebody that I used to know" Star Wars parody
I recently had my attention drawn to a fabulous parody of the music video for "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Goyt. First I want to post the original video since the video's concept is integral to understanding the parody.
The parody is part humor, part lyrical protest letter. They're the protests we've heard before from Star Wars fans, but never quite this amusingly put, and never involving so much body paint.
The parody is part humor, part lyrical protest letter. They're the protests we've heard before from Star Wars fans, but never quite this amusingly put, and never involving so much body paint.
Monday, July 09, 2012
Bridging gaps and weaving worlds
Today I'm the writer of the guest post for Enchanted Conversation: A Fairy Tale Magazine. Read here to see me make the obvious connection between Rumpelstiltskin and starting a small press.
Meanwhile, writer and blogger Elizabeth Twist is visiting World Weaver Press. her guest post tackles the genre of horror and whether or not it's really a genre or something more pervasive. Her article may just have you rethinking how you define "horror."
Meanwhile, writer and blogger Elizabeth Twist is visiting World Weaver Press. her guest post tackles the genre of horror and whether or not it's really a genre or something more pervasive. Her article may just have you rethinking how you define "horror."
Thursday, July 05, 2012
Press release: Forthcoming title from World Weaver Press
New York, NY (July 2, 2012) – World Weaver Press (Eileen Wiedbrauk, Editor-in-Chief) has announced Shards of History, debut novel by author Rebecca Roland and their first full-length publication as a small press, will be available as a digital edition on Tuesday, August 21, 2012.
“I'm incredibly pleased that our first novel is such a great story featuring a strong heroine who doesn't shirk responsibility even when a perfect storm of conflicts and disasters descends on her,” commented Wiedbrauk. “Shards of History is a fast, interesting read that I hope readers will love as much as I do. Rebecca Roland is a strong new voice in the field of fantasy fiction.”
Rebecca Roland lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she writes primarily fantasy and horror. Her short fiction has appeared in Uncle John’s Flush Fiction and in Stupefying Stories, and she is a graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop. When she’s not writing, she’s usually spending time with her family, torturing patients as a physical therapist, or eating way too much chocolate. You can find her online at Spice of Life, her blog, or follow her on Twitter @rebecca_roland.
World Weaver Press is a publisher of fantasy, science fiction, and nonfiction, dedicated to producing quality novels, novellas, collections, and anthologies. As a small press, World Weaver seeks to produce books that engage the mind and ensnare the story-loving soul.
“I'm incredibly pleased that our first novel is such a great story featuring a strong heroine who doesn't shirk responsibility even when a perfect storm of conflicts and disasters descends on her,” commented Wiedbrauk. “Shards of History is a fast, interesting read that I hope readers will love as much as I do. Rebecca Roland is a strong new voice in the field of fantasy fiction.”
Like all Taakwa, Malia fears the fierce winged creatures known as Jeguduns who live in the cliffs surrounding her valley. When the river dries up and Malia is forced to scavenge farther from the village than normal, she discovers a Jegudun, injured and in need of help.
Malia’s existence--her status as clan mother in training, her marriage, her very life in the village--is threatened by her choice to befriend the Jegudun. But she’s the only Taakwa who knows the truth: that the threat to her people is much bigger and much more malicious than the Jeguduns who’ve lived alongside them for decades. Lurking on the edge of the valley is an Outsider army seeking to plunder and destroy the Taakwa, and it’s only a matter of time before the Outsiders find a way through the magic that protects the valley--a magic that can only be created by Taakwa and Jeguduns working together.
Rebecca Roland lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she writes primarily fantasy and horror. Her short fiction has appeared in Uncle John’s Flush Fiction and in Stupefying Stories, and she is a graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop. When she’s not writing, she’s usually spending time with her family, torturing patients as a physical therapist, or eating way too much chocolate. You can find her online at Spice of Life, her blog, or follow her on Twitter @rebecca_roland.
World Weaver Press is a publisher of fantasy, science fiction, and nonfiction, dedicated to producing quality novels, novellas, collections, and anthologies. As a small press, World Weaver seeks to produce books that engage the mind and ensnare the story-loving soul.
Monday, July 02, 2012
The thing about summer is that it's hot
Heat and I don't mix. I get heat sick fairly easily. Increased water consumption helps, but I'm still miserable until my body cools back down. And while I love summer, the long days, the (false) sense of freedom, the sunlight and color -- the thing about summer is that it's hot.
Shocking, I know.
Which is why, at 9:30 this morning, I was fixing a roasting chicken for the oven. While I'm not in the habit of fixing an entire chicken for lunch, I knew full well that roasting this bird for the dinner hour would result in heat stroke or a rather alarming strain on the air conditioner.
Why bother roasting a chicken when the temp all week is in the mid-90s?
It was on sale.
Sale! Entire roasting chicken, only $0.89 per pound! It called my name. It called to my budget. It called out, "Hey baby, I'd taste so good if you took me home and cooked me up."
Catcalling poultry aside, I also find myself doing laundry and running the dryer in the AM now. I used to wait until night to do such things, but the heat build up this year is tough. It hangs around and doesn't let me out of its grip until 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. It's completely foreign to me to have a load of laundry going before 10:00 AM, but there it is, spinning round and round in the suds.
Right now, as I type, the heat's still manageable. Maybe I'll get in another load before the heat gets oppressive and I shut down appliances in favor of a cool house.
Shocking, I know.
Which is why, at 9:30 this morning, I was fixing a roasting chicken for the oven. While I'm not in the habit of fixing an entire chicken for lunch, I knew full well that roasting this bird for the dinner hour would result in heat stroke or a rather alarming strain on the air conditioner.
Why bother roasting a chicken when the temp all week is in the mid-90s?
It was on sale.
Sale! Entire roasting chicken, only $0.89 per pound! It called my name. It called to my budget. It called out, "Hey baby, I'd taste so good if you took me home and cooked me up."
Catcalling poultry aside, I also find myself doing laundry and running the dryer in the AM now. I used to wait until night to do such things, but the heat build up this year is tough. It hangs around and doesn't let me out of its grip until 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. It's completely foreign to me to have a load of laundry going before 10:00 AM, but there it is, spinning round and round in the suds.
Right now, as I type, the heat's still manageable. Maybe I'll get in another load before the heat gets oppressive and I shut down appliances in favor of a cool house.
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