British Library on Copyrights
From yesterday’s Ars news:
The British Library has the Magna Carta, the Lindisfarne Gospels, and Leonardo da Vinci’s notebook, but it’s still not happy. Why not? Because it has the intellectual property blues.
The Library issued a manifesto today on intellectual property law in the UK and offered six suggestions for cleaning up the current mess, all of which attempt to strike a proper balance between the rights of creators and consumers of content. […]
Overall, the proposals are well-balanced, though parties on both sides of the debate will find bits to dislike. Copyright holders will dislike the restrictions on contracts and DRM, while those in favor of “open access” may be disappointed that the British Library advocates a “life + 70 years” copyright term. Still, it’s good to see an institution with the stature of the Library arguing for such a balanced set of proposals, and we hold out hope that the Library of Congress will one day advocate for many of the same proposals on this side of the pond.
Hear, hear.
Posted by Giles, Tuesday, September 26, 2006, at 9:15 PM.
Posted to Books | Ethics | Freedoms and rights | Libraries | Public domain | Writing
DO: This is My Process
The Design Observer’s Michael Beirut notes, somewhat tongue-in-cheek:
When I do a design project, I begin by listening carefully to you as you talk about your problem and read whatever background material I can find that relates to the issues you face. If you’re lucky, I have also accidentally acquired some firsthand experience with your situation. Somewhere along the way an idea for the design pops into my head from out of the blue. I can’t really explain that part; it’s like magic. Sometimes it even happens before you have a chance to tell me that much about your problem! Now, if it’s a good idea, I try to figure out some strategic justification for the solution so I can explain it to you without relying on good taste you may or may not have. Along the way, I may add some other ideas, either because you made me agree to do so at the outset, or because I’m not sure of the first idea. At any rate, in the earlier phases hopefully I will have gained your trust so that by this point you’re inclined to take my advice. I don’t have any clue how you’d go about proving that my advice is any good except that other people — at least the ones I’ve told you about — have taken my advice in the past and prospered. In other words, could you just sort of, you know…trust me?
Great article. Check it out.
Posted by Giles, Tuesday, September 12, 2006, at 11:36 AM.
Posted to Advertising | Book and design blogs | Business | Design | Jobs | Whatever | Writing
Google Book Search Allowing Downloads of Some Books
From Ars:
When Google Print was first unveiled, it was clear that the site would become an amazing resource. It provided full access to books that were already out of copyright, but only if you viewed them online, one page at a time. What people most wanted, though, was the ability to download full PDF versions of the books, which they could read or print at their leisure and on their own machines. Oh, and they wanted Google to provide this free of charge.
Google went ahead and did it. Books no longer in copyright are now available for download from the Google Book Search site.
Wow. Google strikes again, in a big way.
Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO, joining Apple’s board is an interesting thing, too. They certainly have become the company to watch.…
Posted by Giles, Friday, September 1, 2006, at 12:36 AM.
Posted to Book sellers | Books | Computers | Freedoms and rights | Libraries | Public domain | Publishing | Technology | Writing
'Nuther Design Observer Must-Read
We get the word “koan” from Zen Buddhism, where in Japanese it translates literally as “a matter for public thought,” sort of an open-source philosophy for ancient times. Koans often demonstrated the inability of logical reasoning to produce enlightened thought, and, as a trained lawyer and insurance clerk throughout his life, no one knew the deadening effects of logic better than Franz Kafka. Writing was his escape, his meditation, and, fittingly, Meditation was the title of his first published work, released in 1913. While all 18 koans inside are very much worth enjoying, it’s the shortest of them all — the penultimate “Die Baüme,” or “The Trees” — that I’d like to read as a meditation on typography.
Read the rest. Nice article, Rob Giampietro.
(Check out Coudal’s Field-tested books, too, courtesy of DO’s Observed column. What a great idea!)
Posted by Giles, Wednesday, June 21, 2006, at 11:49 AM.
Posted to Book people | Books | Type and typography | Writing
On Photography and the Canon Digital Rebel XT, Part 1
Phew: Survived. The last six weeks have been out-of-control busy, in case you couldn’t tell by the lack of posting (or comment moderation). Why? Well, six book covers (including the two Bush covers I’ve posted about), two magazine ads, a new edition of a 56-page catalog, and 100+ hours into this POD project I yapped about a few days ago now. Speaking of which, I’m starting with this because it’s fresh on my mind, then will work my way backwards through my list of once-intended posts over the next few days.
This post is a little off-topic for a book design blog, but I’m posting it for two reasons: One, uh, well, I can. Great thing about blogs — built-in soapbox…;)
Two, some of our “regular” readers might be interested either in this particular camera and how it worked (and didn’t work) for me in a very demanding test, or might be thinking about professional protography and are interested in the opinion of what amounts to an amateur shooting his first wedding — with a camera he’d used for only a few hours, didn’t have a manual or more than one effective (in my hands) lens for, and who undertook this project more than a little ragged after weeks of eighteen-plus-hour days.
Am I glad I did it? Yes. Absolutely, emphatically yes. I learned more about the hoops necessary to do this effectively than a thousand lectures from the best professionals in the world could have given; got to gift a good friend with more than a thousand photographs of his bachelor party, rehearsal dinner, wedding, reception, and a kickin’ party afterwards; and find out under the most grueling conditions possible whether a certain camera system will work for me before I put down the investment.
Couple of notes before I get the review proper underway: Product reviews are not my forté, so I’m hoping you’ll forgive a bit of a haphazard style. I’m going to give you good and bad, followed by a sample gallery of photos, posted through my Flickr account. Some photos are straight out of the Rebel XT (or my current Sony f828), some are altered in Photoshop. No matter what, it’s my opinion. There are Canon vs. Nikon wars aplenty; we don’t need one here. I’m not qualified to speak with authority on anything other than how I feel about this camera equipment, relative to what I have now, as someone serious about taking the step from “amateur” to “professional” photography. (I’ll explain that better, too.)
Continue reading "On Photography and the Canon Digital Rebel XT, Part 1"
Posted by Giles, Monday, May 22, 2006, at 4:24 AM.
Posted to Book cover photography | Book design | Books, design, art | Business | Computers | Flickr | Personal | Photography | Site news | Technology | Writing
Preserved for Posterity
Found myself downright barking at a professional photographer tonight who had argued that restricting access to her work online was better than dealing with a few people out to cause trouble. I felt kinda bad afterwards; I was perhaps a little harsh. (Who? Me?)
I’m not a professional photographer, in the sense that I earn a living exclusively selling photographs, but I do sell photos, deal with photographers’ rights, and sell a creative, copyrighted or work-for-hire product/service that, while not as easily “stolen for use elsewhere,” is subject to a good deal of competition. Above-board, honest people and grab-your-ideas-and-undersell-you-later types alike.
Pushing your work farther and farther out into the world instead of walling it off clearly works. Foreword is my evidence.
Click through to Flickr and look at all the little notes by moving your mouse over the boxes on the photo. They’ll run you through all the stuff in the picture, including the icons, menu items, etc. (Warning: geek alert…;)
Sure, there are hassles. (Looking at new web servers [hosts] this week, for instance, so we can rebuild pages in the middle of the day without timeouts. You wondered why so few mid-day posts…?) It’s definitely a challenge to post regularly with the quality we’d all like to see — and that keeps traffic growing. Oh, and have I mentioned there’s still the rest of the web site to finish?
But it’s so worth it. Glad we can be here together, learning about book design. Whether it’s your first visit or your thousandth, thanks for coming by.
Posted by Giles, Monday, April 10, 2006, at 5:51 AM.
Posted to Book and design blogs | Book cover photography | Book design | Books, design, art | Business | Computers | Design | Ethics | Flickr | Freedoms and rights | Jobs | Love | Personal | Photography | Public domain | Publishing | Site news | Technology | Type and typography | Whatever | Writing
Bookslut: Kidd Awkward, Indifferent
But somehow the book winds up with something resembling a positive review:
This awkwardly designed, slippery slab of a book, with a half-split cover and the wingspan of a raven, is a physical ordeal to hold and to read. But it’s a rewarding ordeal. Containing nearly 400 pages of book jacket designs by Chip Kidd, one of the pre-eminent designers of our time, Chip Kidd: Book One is an exhilarating chronicle of how one creative mind can transform a moribund art form merely by taking a slightly sidewise approach to its hidebound conventions.
[…] Kidd’s secret? One of them, at least, is that, as he relates in the accompanying copy, he actually reads the books he’s assigned, from beginning to end; the reason he’s not irritatingly literal is that he’s gratifyingly literate, as the encomiums from some of “his” authors included in this book would indicate. Even John Updike himself contributes a fine introductory essay. It’s too bad, then, that the rest of the book is indifferently written (by Kidd himself) and horribly copy-edited — “loathe” instead of “loath,” “it’s” instead of “its,” “premiere” instead of “premier,” and “who’s” instead of “whose,” to cite just four depressing examples. But if you can look past that and, ironically, this book’s own uncomfortable layout, Book One is a treasury of brilliant book design.
Posted by Giles, Thursday, April 6, 2006, at 12:00 PM.
Posted to Book and design blogs | Book design | Book people | Books | Books, design, art | Writing
Covers I Like Today
The Dead Beat:
9.1 x 5.3 inches — interesting. Like the type and treatments, although I wish the dingbat were the lighter color (it stands out too much for me). Sounds like a delightful light read, too.
Posted by Giles, Thursday, March 16, 2006, at 4:10 PM.
Posted to Book design | Type and typography | Writing
"Creative Nonfiction"
Had an interesting conversation with someone yesterday about creative nonfiction, a category of literature I didn’t even know about. We were discussing it because of this:
The person I was speaking with specifially mentioned that Oprah had stood behind it, but I noticed in this morning’s NYTimes that she “rebuked” the author and kicked him out of the book club. Heh.
And the cover? Well, let’s say I didn’t need the Times to tell me someone needed a rebuke…! “The sticker’s an improvement,” I can hear someone saying. Newsflash: not for long.
A customer on Amazon left an image of this title as an alternate — and I like the cover:
It asks more questions. (A million more? Sorry. Had to go there.) Not perfect, certainly, but gets you thinking about what’s inside — an excellent measure of “success” in my book.
We have this second cover to think about because someone left a comment on Amazon. Been a good trend here recently, too. Thanks.
Posted by Giles, Friday, January 27, 2006, at 10:40 AM.
Posted to Art | Book design | Book people | Book prizes | Books | Books, design, art | Ethics | Freedoms and rights | Writing
Follow-Ups
Trying to break the (bad) habit of posting at four in the morning. Wish me luck…;)
If you haven’t alredy, read yesterday’s entry first. Thanks.
1. The poster went down in flames today. One word: “groupthink.” Monica defended it well, I understand, but that’s the way it goes. They’re going to pick another photo and we’ll try again. (Will save the details for another time, heheh.)
2. Managed to get through the missive last night without mentioning Google. Foreword is the #1 response to a search for book design, with or without quotes. Ahead of Amazon! That’s seriously cool.
That’s also exactly why I’d love to spur more conversation. The description on Google, a community in the service of books and book design, is exactly the purpose. Yes, it’s about me. But it’s also about Todd, Chip, Joseph, J., Amanda, and so many others, past, present, and future. Us. A diverse “community,” in the best sense of the word.
3. I don’t feel the “arrogant American” thing was worded well. I absolutely do not care where you physically work from, what language you grew up speaking, what color you are, or how you live your life. I do care about the quality of your work a great deal, however. And I want to help make it better. Because I learn — we all learn — as part of that process.
No matter who you are or where you’re from, if you’re here, it’s for the same reason I am: to have a greater knowledge and understanding of book design.
When I said “quest for expertise,” I meant “collective quest.” By posting a comment that brings an idea to the table, we all benefit. Good design ideas can, thankfully, transcend cultures — someone, somewhere, will look at that idea, and it will lead to another.
For freelancers in a trade such as book design, the internet is the great equalizer. It no longer matters where you live, only that you know what you’re doing. But that doesn’t remove culture.
Foreword is American-centric because the posters and active commenters are mostly American. I’d love to broaden that — we’d all benefit. Bring something to the table, though. Don’t just ask how to do it. Get involved in how to do it. That’s why we’re all here. Let’s share those ideas.
4. Speaking of sharing, I welcome feedback and ideas for improving how this site actually functions. The redesign includes some improvement in code related to comment moderation and posting, but will mostly be a visual thing. I’m currently going around (and around) regarding “quickie” posts; whether I’d do enough “Hey, this is cool…” posts to justify a third column and the CSS tricks necessary to do that properly. Probably not. Site loading speed’s a consideration, too. Simple code with striking visuals (well, and good posts…;) works best for me.
Now is the best time to talk about it. What would you like to see next? Leave a comment.
Posted by Giles, Thursday, January 19, 2006, at 10:46 PM.
Posted to Art | Book and design blogs | Book cover photography | Book design | Books | Books, design, art | Business | Design | Flickr | Freedoms and rights | Personal | Photography | Publishing | Site news | Whatever | Writing
How do I...? Well, that's the question. Every day.
Been meaning to write this post for a while. It’s a good, mid-life crisis kind of entry. Pull up a chair.
First off, let me apologize — again — for the lack of posting. As I’ve mentioned before and no doubt will again, the past few months have been, shall we say, interesting. In no particular order, I’ve watched my marriage spring a leak, run around entirely, then finally sink into an angry sea; a business that I loved and, for a while, did together with my (former) wife, suddenly get very complicated; moved; been depressed and excited, both about life and work; moved again; rediscovered the joy of photography, Flickr, Photoshop, and, well, how much I suck as a photographer; ran behind in work; caught up; ran behind again; worked too many hours; ate too little; the list goes on. Generally, what was needed to get by and more only when I could get it.
When you’re self-employed or run a business, your personal life is so much more important to the daily goings-on — it’s impossible to take a few days on the employer’s dime to recover (you know what I mean — we’ve all been there). You either produce or you starve.
Perhaps that was on my mind when I named this photograph My Life:
A statue on the grounds of the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida, gets overtaken by and slowly cumbles under the most relentless force of all: nature. His expression seems, I think, appropriately horrified.
Worse, there’s the constant swirl of everyday business pressures, including (the current lack of) health insurance, for instance — and don’t even get me started on the IRS. Been around and around with CPAs and have finally had to hire a tax attorney to sort it all out. I’m an artist, for cryin’ out loud — isn’t there someone who can just tell me what to do and where to sign?
Absolutely. With varying sizes of hands out, depending on how good they are. Just like all of us.
I’m thankful to be on my own, occasional contractor aside. I’ve watched people torn apart ethically and profesionally, and met more than a few for whom the money is more important than the ethics or the professionalism, in the quest to sustain employees. Once you’re a “business,” it’s this whole other thing. Like a child, it can be nurtured or exploited, but just like a child, I think that if you’re going to put it out there, it should be the best it can be. My approach (to either, honestly, which is absolutely why I don’t have kids — yet) demands that I not back down from what I believe in. Employees, like children, people who depend on you, make those beliefs seem less like “lines” and more like “gray areas” that can be tread upon when the payroll’s due (or the shareholders want to know why this year’s profits “aren’t growing sufficiently”). It’s easier to starve yourself for what you believe in any day — and I have respect indeed for those that somehow manage the balance.
Parenthetically, my old boss at “Trop” — another family member, and yes, I have been lacking sanity at times — and I have never really talked about my leaving corporate life to forage on my own. Here it is, Tanya: I think we both know I’m more like Blair (yet another family member — long story) than either of us were comfortable with, or were prepared to admit at the time. But we’ll save the details of “days spent working for [a graphics contractor for] a major juice company” for another post…;)
In my life, right now and for the foreseeable future, I need lines that represent those professional and ethical obligations. I need to make sure that every piece put out there, whether here on the blog (present entry excepted, perhaps), on Flickr, or, especially, in the work that I do, is the best it can be. Even if it means bending over backwards, moving, dealing with attorneys, going without food or sleep, whatever’s necessary to make sure those lines stay sharp. With all the crap going on, though, it’s hard to do in a timely manner.
A couple of clients have bailed because of the delays, reschedulings due to personal problems, and the like; one was comepletely professional, and the other was, well, an asshole. (Ahem. Excuse me. It’s late, and we’re being honest.) Either way, though, I understand and wish them well.
Those clients who have hung tough, though — some of whose projects have come through almost on time, and I haven’t even started on the troubles my iMac has given me this week (and will again next — but that’s yet another post) — have gotten some of my best work. That I haven’t been doing a good job of putting up on the web.
Trying to do better with that. Like the poster. Or this catalog, for instance:
A number of things stand out regarding this photo:
— It represents progress graphically. The Sunshine State Cookbook was relatively early project I did for this client, but the page around it is infinitely more sophististicated. Some of that’s better software (ahem — InDesign? Will post on that and the Quark 7 beta soon), but most of it’s several years of working every moment I could to make myself a better designer. (I didn’t do The Florida Bounty, and while I did do Mastering the Art of Florida Seafood, it’s okay if it’s a little lost off the bottom…;)
— It represents progress, especially, in terms of photographic (and Photoshop) skills. I’ve bitched about my camera’s shortcomings, both here and on Flickr, but the reality is that it does exactly what I need: takes good enough pictures. Some are great out of the box, but most need some Photoshop skills. Flickr’s various groups, especially Photoshop, have really allowed me to explore what others have done and work on doing similar things myself.
The shot of the catalog above is entirely fake, and it’s a fake I’m proud of. The catalog page only exists electronically — and is a draft. (Forgive. A recent bad habit.) But it doesn’t seem right to just post the page anymore; now it’s possible to “throttle” it. The lighting and shadows, the subtle (and hopefully natural) curve to the page, the perspective and cropping, the background and background page edges, the three-dimensionality, if you will — all exercises to highlight the design of the page itself. While learning about Photoshop. (25 layers in the .psd file; about half an hour all-inclusive to put together, including deciding to go back and add fanned pages in the background and re-uploading the photo, but a pristine hi-res PDF ain’t a bad starting place for Photoshop experimentation.) Never stop learning.
— It’s absolutely not perfect. The mistake caught on Flickr (see the note) aside, it’s already evolved from its original design and will again. Other mistakes will be found — please comment away! — and probelms solved. I’m sure, too, that months or years from now I’ll look back both on the catalog and photo and perhaps wish I’d done something differently. But that’s what evolution’s about.
— It (and My Life, above) represent the first photos posted here actually hosted by Flickr. Might cut down on the 4-5GB of bandwidth Foreword pushes through the internet every month — or, at least, source part of it from someone with better servers…;)
The “self-taught” thing is no small deal, either. I have a college degree, but not in graphic design. I figured out in high school that I was as good — okay, better — at making papers look good than writing the content. (Still probably true. Witness this post, for instance.) I figured out how to make money off of that skill on college, and ospreydesign was born, to use the child analogy again, nearly twenty years ago. Everything since then has been fits and stumbles, exploration and learning, conferences and classes, and most importantly, problems solved against deadlines.
This blog wasn’t started because of expertise in book design. It was started as a quest for expertise in book design. It remains, and will remain, that way.
Which brings me back to the beginning: “How do I?” “How did I?”
Ben writes (forgive for quoting without asking first):
Hello, I am painter, photographer, and draftsmen who has created many images that would be suitable for the covers of books, and I was wondering how one gets into the business. If you could give me any information, I’d be very thankful.
English might be a second language here. Lots of Foreword’s readers are from overseas. Not going to nail him for the poor wording, but it might be something to improve before going to look for, say, a prospective paying U.S. client. I wouldn’t dream of going to another country and begging for work this culturally aware, for lack of a better term, without knowing the language well indeed. (Might an arrogant American viewpoint, but that could be said about most of this post. Sorry.)
Or this gentleman, who writes:
Hello Osprey Design
I just came across your blog, which I’m now feeding via RSS thank you very much.
I am a [insert skill set here] and I’m looking for tips on how to get into book cover design. I would appreciate any helpful tips, resources, etc… that you could share to help me go forward.
Heh. Reminds me a little of this, when Amanda set me up to meet Chip Kidd in New York after I’d just finished and exhibited The Playmakers. One of the fond memories from my marriage — thank you, Amanda — Chip was very gracious to some wet-behind-the-ears book designer jerk still trying to figure out what he wanted (wants) from life.
He did then — and continues to, thank you Chip, and thank you Todd for the awesome post that triggered his most recent visit — do what I’ve always tried to do here, which is exactly what was requested: “share to help … go forward.” That’s why it’s called Foreword — it’s a play on books and “moving the ball,” as a friend says. (But then, you all knew that. Right? Right? Anyone? Okay, sorry, it’s late.)
So to Ben, the other guy, and the countless others that write, I’m sorry I didn’t answer you personally, and I’m truly honored you looked to me — and Foreword — for advice. Look around, search the posts, review the categories. Stay tuned for the refreshed web site (yeah, I’m really working on it), when it’ll be even easier to find stuff. I don’t mean to be impolite. I’m already doing everything I can with the few scaps of time I can put together — doing what you request. What we all seek. A quest forward to an expertise in book design.
Most importantly, know that I’m eager to share and absolutely welcome work or (better) links be sent along. But. Give me more to work with than just “how do I…?” Give me a reason to find a minute to post about it. Please!
“Success,” however you measure it, is up to each and every one of us to achieve, according to our own standards. Even if I don’t say it often enough — and I surely don’t — thank you, thank you, for trying to move forward, uh, Foreword, here.
If you’ve made it this far, hats off. Take the next step: leave a comment. This site gets more than five thousand real (read: nonspam) views daily, on average, and pathetically few comments. Most of that’s my fault; I just don’t have the time to actively participate in as many discussions as I’d like. (Here, Flickr, another blog, real life, wherever.)
To Ben and everyone, I keep hoping discussions will take off on their own. Post a comment to an entry that you’re interested in. People can keep track of topics with the “Discussions” links at the top of the page. I’ll do my best to keep up with the comment moderation. And, when the new web site’s implemented, it’ll have code for TypeKey users (a Movable Type thing — yet, yet another post) and code to recognize frequent commenters and approve them automatically so moderation’s delays will matter less.
Thanks for bearing with me, for reading Foreword, for being passionate about book design (and photography, perhaps), and, especially, for helping to build a community for all of us for move forward.
Be sure to read the follow-ups. Thanks.
Posted by Giles, Thursday, January 19, 2006, at 4:18 AM.
Posted to Advertising | Book and design blogs | Book cover photography | Book design | Books | Books, design, art | Business | Design | Flickr | Jobs | Love | Personal | Photography | Site news | Whatever | Writing
If you're not reading Waiter Rant
you are really missing some moving stuff
Go here now to read Baby Bucks and here to read Nunc Dimittis.
Posted by , Sunday, July 31, 2005, at 8:33 PM.
Posted to Writing
New Yorker Heaven
Oh, this is wonderful:
For the first time, every page of every issue of America’s leading magazine—from full-color covers to spot drawings, from poetry to Profiles, from cartoons to advertisements—on reader friendly and highly searchable DVDs.
The Complete New Yorker covers The New Yorker’s entire history, from February 1925 to February 2005, the magazine’s 80th anniversary, providing a detailed yet panoramic history of the life of the city, the nation, and the world during the most exciting and astounding decades any society has ever known.
Quantities are limited. Reserve your copy today.
In stock by mid-September.
Purchase here. Via BoingBoing.net.
Posted by , Thursday, June 23, 2005, at 9:11 PM.
Posted to Writing
De Profundis
For us there is only one season, the season of sorrow. The very sun and moon seem taken from us. Outside, the day may be blue and gold, but the light that creeps down through the thickly-muffled glass of the small iron-barred window beneath which one sits is grey and niggard. It is always twilight in one’s cell, as it is always twilight in one’s heart.
Posted by , Sunday, April 24, 2005, at 11:39 AM.
Posted to Writing
Shotgun Golf with Bill Murray
Hunter S. Thompson’s final article.
Posted by , Monday, February 21, 2005, at 9:23 AM.
Posted to Writing
A "Best Posts" List
Kottke writes:
In doing this site for the past six and a half years, I’ve grown quite fond of short form writing, especially nonfiction short form writing. Magazine articles, newspaper pieces, weblog posts, etc. As I’ve said before, I’d love to compile an end-of-the-year Best Online Writing book or do a monthly Reader’s Digest-style magazine that compiles the best short-form writing from a variety of sources, but there’s a lot of hassle to deal with (securing rights, working with publishers, killing trees).
Anybody remember Cover magazine? It’s long-gone now, perhaps because of those hassles.
Luckily, the magic of the Internet allows you to do things that aren’t quite perfect but work well enough that it’s worth the trade-off. In lieu of a book or magazine compilation of the best writing of 2004, here are some of the best things I linked to in the past year.
Here’s Jason’s list. Some great, great articles on here that I’d already seen, and a few I hadn’t. Some are design oriented, most aren’t (like Big and Bad, some truths about SUVs), but it’s enjoyable reading. Or will be.
If, unlike me, you’ve got a little bit of slack time at the end of the year at your place of employ, this should keep you busy for the rest of the day.
Heheheh. This is probably why I hadn’t seen all of them: I lack extra time in a big way these days. For those of you who have a few extra minutes around the holidays, though.…
Posted by Giles, Thursday, December 23, 2004, at 10:04 AM.
Posted to Writing
Josh Sowin on Austen
Here isin partwhat Josh has to say:
Now, today, the Feminists try to twist Austen into a feminist monster like themselves. The introduction I read to Persuasion was atrocious and most of the writers assertions about Austen were based on pure speculation with no backup for her claims. She was trying to make Austen fit her image of feminism and miserably failed (she says on xvi that the prissy, quaint, modest, humble Jane Austen is a myth, yet fails to produce one shred of evidence why). So these feminists push Austen for all to read, to show that feminism was alive and well in the early 1800s! Well, its a lie, but they did succeed in keeping Austens image high.
Hmmmm. My question to Josh would be:
1. What other nineteenth-century women writers have modern feminists claimed as their own? All of them or just a few whose writings have stood the test of time? What is their motive?
Continue reading "Josh Sowin on Austen"
Posted by , Wednesday, August 4, 2004, at 7:00 AM.
Posted to Writing
Choose Your Own Adventure
Honestly I have no idea if this is a brilliant idea or just stupid.
This site is an interactive fiction writing engine that allows you to read and write Choose Your Own Adventure stories. When you get to an end of a story, you can add on to it thereby creating a never-ending story.
Have any Foreword readers tried this out?
Posted by , Tuesday, August 3, 2004, at 7:11 AM.
Posted to Writing
Josh Sowin
refuses to divulge his theory about why Jane Austen is so popular.
Posted by , Wednesday, July 28, 2004, at 10:28 AM.
Posted to Writing
A Lesson in Obfuscation
We were surprised and pleased to find our dear Grandma Amy had published an article in Sunday’s Sarasota Herald Tribune. If you have the time, take a moment and read an excerpt from her memoirs. Thankfully, my own 8 year old hasn’t thought to ask what adultery means. Whew!
Amanda, do you think Grandma has tons more like this?
Posted by , Monday, July 26, 2004, at 3:32 PM.
Posted to Writing
Congratulations Dave Zobel
From the prestigious 2004 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest:
She resolved to end the love affair with Ramon tonight . . . summarily, like Martha Stewart ripping the sand vein out of a shrimp’s tail . . . though the term “love affair” now struck her as a ridiculous euphemism . . . not unlike “sand vein,” which is after all an intestine, not a vein . . . and that tarry substance inside certainly isn’t sand . . . and that brought her back to Ramon.
Brilliant. Dale Peck would be proud.
via Jason Kottke
Posted by , Wednesday, July 21, 2004, at 12:36 PM.
Posted to Writing
All the news?
The Poynter Institute stays on top of these things.
Thirty thousand people have died over the last year and a half in Darfur, Sudan. Even in a best-case scenario, 300,000 more Sudanese will die over the summer.
Have you heard?
Maybe you have. The New York Times has given more than 10,000 words to stories that mention Darfur since May 23, says Lexis-Nexus.
In the same period, the paper has devoted at least 17,000 words to stories mentioning Paris Hilton.
via MoorishGirl
Posted by , Wednesday, June 30, 2004, at 3:11 PM.
Posted to Writing
Editorial Rejection
One woman shares all of her rejection letters.
Posted by , Sunday, June 20, 2004, at 8:52 AM.
Posted to Writing
Bloomsday celebrates legacy of James Joyce
Published in Paris in 1922, James Joyces’ epic novel “Ulysses” was denounced by the Irish as un-Christian filth, banned in Britain and burned by U.S. censors. Joyce’s British contemporary Virginia Woolf complained that it “reeled with indecency.”
But today, despite this, Ireland launches its biggest-ever literary shindig over it. Thousands gather on Dublin’s streets for the centenary of “Bloomsday” — a day immortalized by Joyces’ famous novel.
Posted by Puck, Wednesday, June 16, 2004, at 4:52 PM.
Posted to Writing
More on Melanie Craft
from one of our favorite blogs: Beatrice.
Posted by , Tuesday, May 18, 2004, at 5:03 AM.
Posted to Writing
The Personal Side of War
Giles and I have now had the privilege of working with extraordinary writer Frank Schaeffer and his publishing company Regina Orthodox Press for almost a year now. In addition to publishing, Mr. Schaeffer has chronicled the very funny life of Calvin Becker, a child of Reformed missionary parents, in Portofino, Saving Grandma, and Zermatt. However, in the past three years, Mr. Schaeffer has written about another personal subject in Keeping Faith: A Father-Son Story About Love and the United States Marine Corps which he wrote with his son John and, most recently, Faith of Our Sons: Voices from the American HomefrontThe Wartime Diary of a Marine’s Father.
Today, Mr. Schaeffer is published in an article from USA Today. He writes:
It is time for my fellow citizens to remember that whole families feel as though they have gone to war with their sons and daughters. We who have children in danger feel powerless to help them. Our lives have been changed forever. And right now, we care about something a lot more immediate than election results or how the death and suffering of our flesh and blood affect this or that opinion poll or candidate’s chances.
To us, our children are not political cannon fodder to win elections with. They are all we have.
You can read the full article here. Frank Schaeffer can also be reached through his Web site.
Posted by , Thursday, May 6, 2004, at 8:55 AM.
Posted to Writing
Sigh.
More of that silly Da Vinci Code from Saturday’s Language Log
The writing goes on in similar vein, committing style and word choice blunders in almost every paragraph (sometimes every line). Look at the phrase “the seventy-six-year-old man”. It’s a complete let-down: we knew he was a man the anaphoric pronoun “he” had just been used to refer to him. This is where “curator” could have been slipped in for the first time (without “renowned”). Look at “heaved the masterpiece toward himself until it tore from the wall and Saunire collapsed backward in a heap beneath the canvas.” We don’t need to know it’s a masterpiece (it’s a Caravaggio hanging in the Louvre, that should be enough in the way of credentials, for heaven’s sake). Surely “toward him” feels better than “toward himself” (though I guess both are grammatical here). Surely “tore from the wall” should be “tore away from the wall”. Surely a single man can’t fall into a heap (there’s only him, that’s not a heap). And why repeat the name “Saunire” here instead of the pronoun “he”? Who else is around? (Caravaggio hasn’t been mentioned; “a Caravaggio” uses the name as an attributive modifier with conventionally elided head noun “painting”. That isn’t a mention of the man.)
via Beatrice.com
Posted by , Monday, May 3, 2004, at 8:29 AM.
Posted to Writing
Among Wolves
Hi. My name’s Scott O’Connor, and I get to be your guest blogger this morning. (Thanks, Amanda!)
I’m the author and designer of Among Wolves, a somewhat comic/somewhat terrifying novella about a young boy who believes that his parents and older sister have been replaced by nefarious imposters. You may have seen it—it’s the smallish red paperback with the blue gargoyle face on the cover (a disquieting photograph I took on a merry-go-round in San Francisco, adding to the argument that most things adults devise to enrich their children’s formative years—clowns, public schools, etc.—lead more often to 50-minute hours in the therapist’s office than pleasant childhood memories).
I hadn’t necessarily planned on designing the book. By last fall, I had finished the manuscript and was desperately in need of a vacation, or at least a decent night’s sleep. But when my esteemed publishers at The Swannigan & Wright Literary Matter suggested that I might be the guy for the job, I jumped at the chance-interpreting their offer as a show of unprecedented faith in my artistic ability rather than a weasely way to avoid paying an outside designer.
It took about three months, from first sketch to finished book. I learned a lot in the process-mostly about the thorny technical realities of translating an idea into something that people can actually, you know, read. And along the way, I developed a renewed sense of appreciation for the folks this site celebrates: people who design books well —books that I not only enjoy reading, but enjoy holding in my hands and showing off on my shelves.
And now my book is out, available online and in the fiction section of finer bookstores, right between Flannery O’Connor and John O’Hara. You can pick it up and hold it in your hands. You can smell the ink on the pages and feel the glossy spot varnish on the cover. You can stick it in your purse or your back pocket until you have an hour or two to grab a cup of coffee or a beer and sit and relax and read.
Hopefully it won’t send you running to your therapist.
Posted by , Monday, March 15, 2004, at 12:06 AM.
Posted to Book design | Writing
20-minute writing contest
ends at 5:00 p.m. est today!
Write a story in no more and no less than twenty minutes. We are relying on the honor system here, but trust that our judging team knows the difference between a story that was actually written in twenty minutes, and one that just looks like it was written in twenty minutes. You may contemplate the story ahead of time, but the actual drafting period should be no longer than twenty minutes. We shudder to think about the karmic implications for those who try to bend or break the twenty-minute time limit. All entries must include the location and time of writing at the bottom of the story.
Go to McSweeney’s for more information.
Posted by , Friday, December 19, 2003, at 8:24 AM.
Posted to Writing
Citing a Weblog Entry
Need to cite a Weblog entry for an MLA-styled paper? Go here!
The APA doesn’t acknowledge that someone might want to cite a Weblog on their site. Nevertheless, I’ll take APA-style over MLA any day!
via Steven Cohen at Library Stuff.
Posted by , Monday, December 15, 2003, at 7:09 AM.
Posted to Writing
A challenge!
Doesn’t this look like fun? Well done to The Guardian for giving power to the people.
Posted by , Wednesday, October 29, 2003, at 1:49 AM.
Posted to Writing
Media Ecology Association
I’m finally listening to Camille Paglia’s 3 hour interview from last weekend.
She just noted that she quit MLA “in disgust” and joined the Media Ecology Association. Anyone have anymore information regarding this organization?
Posted by , Friday, August 8, 2003, at 3:37 PM.
Posted to Writing
Neil Gaiman
Publisher’s Weekly has a lengthy feature on author hot Neil Gaiman this week.
Posted by , Thursday, July 31, 2003, at 12:16 PM.
Posted to Writing
Mere Comments
Touchstone Magazine now has a blog and needs a full-time designer in their Chicago office.
Will life feel more complete when First Things gets on the blogging bandwagon?
Posted by , Tuesday, July 22, 2003, at 9:02 AM.
Posted to Writing
It was a dark and stormy night
The winners of the 2003 Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest have been announced. The winner is Mariann Simms of Alabama who penned:
They had but one last remaining night together, so they embraced each other as tightly as that two-flavor entwined string cheese that is orange and yellowish-white, the orange probably being a bland Cheddar and the white . . . Mozzarella, although it could possibly be Provolone or just plain American, as it really doesn’t taste distinctly dissimilar from the orange, yet they would have you believe it does by coloring it differently.
Er, congratulations Mariann!
via Blogcritics.org
Posted by , Friday, July 18, 2003, at 10:33 AM.
Posted to Writing
Orphans in Literature Empower children
From USAToday.com:
“The literary orphan dramatizes the difficulty of being a child,” says Kansas State University assistant English professor Philip Nel, who specializes in children’s literature. “That is, to be a child is to be subject to the forces of people more powerful than you are. Well, being an orphan makes the powerlessness of childhood that much more visible. At the same time, many literary orphans are resilient characters who, despite their relative lack of power, find the emotional resources to beat the odds and make their way in the world.”