Vacuum

uninterruptability, reading, and attention

from "ruined by reading" -

I envied my older sister her uninterruptability. While I looked up immediately from my book when my name was called, she had the uncanny ability not to hear. I would test her as she read. It was like addressing a stone, except that with a stone, if we are imaginative enough, we can infer some kind of response albeit in stone language. My sister appeared to be present, but she was in the book. This is a great and useful gift. The stunned petitioner retreats, daunted by an invisible power that can drown out the world. (31)

more from and about Lynne Sharon Schwartz

ebooks for kids, via the Cult of the Dead Cow

I want an ebook reader on my phone, so that I can read stories to my kids with the lights out.  Better yet if the ebooks have just enough pictures to satisfy the need for pictures.

I have a bootlegged ASCII text from 1987 published by The Cult of the Dead Cow of Dr. Seuss's "Cat In The Hat". It's perfect to read on my Blackberry.  I don't read the preface to the three year old, which reads as follows:

====

Ed. Note: I typed this file at 7am after a long day under the influence
of too much Diet Coke and DayGlow Abortions music in the background.
At a time such as this, I enjoy Dr. Seuss and find it quite soothing to read
his literature. I also enjoy verbally degrading my dog and hyperventilating.
At any rate, this is a great piece of..literature to have and deserves a place
in your library. Thanks to Tippy Turtle (Bunny Lust author) for providing
me with this delightful book.

====

If I was going to spend any time (personal or professional) doing electronic publishing, I'd aim squarely at the market of parents reading stories to their kids from their mobile phones.

Index Cards, Anne Lamott, from Bird By Bird

I have an index card stuck in my copy of Anne Lamott's Bird By Bird.  In that essay, she exhorts the reader to write down the ideas and thoughts and clever lines of dialog and whatever else they want to remember on a handy index card (carry one, folded, in your back pocket so you don't look bulky).  I just reread it out loud to myself, and now I kick myself for not having recorded myself to listen to it again (not for you all mind you, just for me).

Bird By Bird is one of my favorite books about writing, and it turns out that it reads really well too - marvelous.

I don't carry index cards with me all the time - for a while I did, and now I've stopped, more or less.  That should be fixable, and the completely inexcusable case where I don't even have a pen with me is fixable too.

The digital equivalents I have for them are either pages in my personal wiki (again, not for you, just for me) or posts like this one in whichever blog seems the most relevant.   In both cases the Socialtext and Typepad support for Blackberry devices are key to having some reasonable web-based system that's always available especially when I'm on the bus.

The most fun I've seen with index cards as a system has to be hawkexpress's PoIC ("Pile of Index Cards") system, which combines ideas and methods and rigor in a way that to me is distinctly Japanese.  Aki's PoIC system is new to me, and you can read more about it at next-action.net.  jazzmasterson's "notes to self" capture some of the same ideas.

Related articles

Anne Lamott on Writing

Anne Lamott on how to tackle the Great Blank Page

2013 Index-Card-A-Day Challenge Continues

Bird By Bird

October 18, 2008: Used book sale at Burns Park Elementary, Ann Arbor MI, 9am-1pm

a note from the organizers

There will be a large selection of adult and children’s fiction and non-fiction books for sale at GREAT prices!  Additionally, there will be silent auction of rare and first edition titles including: Roald Dahl, Dr. Seuss, Maurice Sendak, Dick and Jane and many more!  Please visit www.burnsparkpto.org to read more about the silent auction items and to place a bid on-line.  A portion of the proceeds will support the BP Media Center, the rest will go the Karen Thomas Memorial Fund.   Currently the fund has a $1 to $1 matching grant up to $25,000; if you would like to contribute directly to the fund  please visit www.aapsef.org.  I hope to see you ALL on Saturday and please spread the word to your families, friends and teachers as this is a very cost effective way to build home and classroom libraries. 

Olive, the other reindeer

"Olive the Other Reindeer Deluxe Edition: Deluxe Edition!" (Vivian Walsh)

Technorati Tags: olive, reindeer, olivetti-vielmetti, dogs, woof-woof-woof

Best of Tech 2006 online - call for Best of Tech 2007

Nominate your favorite for Best of Tech 2007 today.

from Steven Levy:

As I’ve mentioned earlier, I had the honor and pleasure of editing The Best of Technology Writing, 2007, an anthology published by the digitalculture imprint of the University of Michigan Press. For those who want to dip in and sample, the contents are available online. Or you can get it sent to you, piece by piece to read on your iPhone or Blackberry or on email, via DailyLit.

Here is where you can read my introduction, where I talk about how technology writing has changed in the past twenty years. I also address where tech writing stands vis a vis mainstream media versus blogs.

I am also delighted to hand over the editing chores for the next volume of the series to Clive Thompson. Reading over the stories for possible selection in this year’s volume, there were several of his that were totally worthy of inclusion. (The one I chose was a terrific story about Gordon Bell’s scheme to preserve our memories.) Clive is a great choice to edit The Best of Technology Writing 2008. But he needs your help. What were the best tech stories you read (or wrote) this year, either online or off? Please send your nominations here.

DailyLit is books by email - their about us says

We got the idea for DailyLit after the New York Times serialized a few classic works in special supplements a few summers ago. We wound up reading books that we had always meant to simply by virtue of making them part of our daily routine of reading the newspaper. The only thing we do more consistenly than read the paper is read email. Bingo! We put together a first version and began reading "War of the Worlds" and "Pride and Prejudice". We showed it to friends, added more books and features at their request, and presto, DailyLit was born.

Clive Thompson, the 2007 editor, is an awesome writer who blogs at Collision Detection. Here's what he has to say about this year's submissions:

Taking a cue from the open-source movement, we're asking readers to nominate their favorite tech-oriented articles, essays, and blog posts from 2007. The competition is open to any and every technology topic--biotech, information technology, gadgetry, tech policy, Silicon Valley, and software engineering are all fair game. But the ideal candidates will:

* be engagingly written for a mass audience;
* be no longer than 5,000 words;
* have been published between January and December, 2007.

Technorati Tags: books, writing, tech

Maira Kalman - The Principles of Uncertainty - The illustrated woman (video) - TED talk

Maira Kalman has a new book out. She talked at the NYPL tonight - upcoming.org reminded me of that - and though I missed it I did find this TED talk.

Here's the book:

"The Principles of Uncertainty" (Maira Kalman)

Maira Kalman's wise, witty drawings have appeared on numberless New Yorker covers, in a dozen children's books, and throughout the pages of the Elements of Style. Her latest book, The Principles of Uncertainty, is the result of a year-long illustrated blog she kept for the New York Times.

Books to return to the library for May 2007

I reserve books from the library, and sometimes they stack up at home before I get a chance to read them. Here's some notes from this month's purge so that I get a chance to go surfing to find more to read.

Putt's Law and the Successful Technocrat. Archibald Putt, 1981. Datamation-era book on getting ahead in technology careers, with a heavy dose of Dilbert, Systemantics, and the Peter Principle thrown in. Some choice quotes:

Putt's Law: Every technical hierarchy, in time, develops a competence inversion.

In nontechnical organizations, key positions, once they are filled by incompetent people, remain blocked. In a technical hierarchy, however, incompetent individuals continue to rise. Incompetence is thus flushed out of the lower levels, leaving competent people behind to do the work. In fact, Putt's Law can be regarded as the prime reason for the continued success of technology even in the face of an ever-growing bureaucracy.

There's a 2006 updated edition in print, but none of the libraries I had access to had it; best to read some of these in their originals since the typeface and the old-book smell give you a better sense for the era.

Michael Penn, Resigned. I pulled a copy of his Walter Reed from Podbop - he came to Ann Arbor - and decided to get some of his older work for a listen.

The Dice Man, Luke Rheinhart, 1972. Some bit of profundity (live your entire life by the roll of the dice) is hidden by deep misogyny. I couldn't read more than a few pages. Back to Wayne State University's "storage" for you.

Tyranny of the Moment, Thomas Eriksen 2001. Pre web 2.0 lament at the loss of "slow time" and the ever-increasing instantaneous demands on our time. (2007: e.g. Twitter).

Finn, Jon Clinch 2007. A retelling of the Huck Finn story from the perspective of his father. It looks like a good book club book, or a good reason to read the original again; it didn't pass the open to a page at random and read to see if you get hooked test.

Making Sense of the Organization, Karl Weick 2001. A reader that includes his 1984 classic "Small wins: redefining the scale of social problems". Back to the library it goes, though I'd keep it just for that essay.

Technorati Tags: reading, books, library

Not bad, but PUFFY (from Stephen King's "On Writing")

as seen on the 37 Signals newsletter

"I got a scribbled comment that changed the way I rewrote my fiction once and forever. Jotted below the machine-generated signature of the editor was this mot: 'Not bad, but PUFFY. You
need to revise for length. Formula: 2nd Draft = 1st Draft – 10%. Good luck.'"

"On Writing" (Stephen King)

Technorati Tags: writing, editing

4th Annual Ann Arbor Book Festival: Schedule of Events

From the event website and calendar - please check that site for latest updates!

4th Annual
Ann Arbor Book Festival
Schedule of Events
May 17 — 20, 2007

(Event schedule as of March 22, 2007. Subject to Change.)

This year's Honorary Spokesperson is Stacey Duford, area media personality and children’s author, The Fairy Painting.

May 1-18:
Scavenger Hunt to area bookstores, libraries, and fairy door establishments.

Week of May 14-18:
Author visits to area schools; Mayor declares week: "Ann Arbor Kids Love to Read."

Participating authors include: Ruth Barshaw, Shutta Crum, Stacey Duford, Martin Brennan, Kristin Nitz, Mike Spradlin, and Deb Garrison.

Wednesday, May 16, 7 pm:
Children’s event at Shaman Drum—Local favorite Joan Blos reads from her new book, Letters from the Corrugated Castle: A Novel of Gold Rush California, 1850-1852.

Thursday, May 17, 4:30-8 pm:
Literacy Symposium at WISD (Washtenaw Intermediate School District)—A Celebration of Tried and True Methods and Best Practices, of and by Teachers, featuring Cynthia Furlong Reynolds, Keynote, and area teachers.

Kickoff Event—Thursday Evening, May 17, 7 pm:
At the Ann Arbor District Library—Featuring The Chenille Sisters singing I Love it when you Read to Me and children's authors, along with representatives from local literacy groups.

Friday, May 18:

* Writer’s Conference, 8:00-4:30 pm
Featuring Francine Prose, lunch keynote speaker. Prose is the author of Blue Angel and Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who want to Write Them. There will be a variety of writers and sessions devoted to developing writers.

* Author Reception, AADL, 7-8:30 pm
Reception is free and open to the public. Come mingle with our invited authors, featuring 2007 Michigan Notable Book titles.

Saturday, May 19:
Street Festival 10am - 5pm
Author readings, panels, and signings to take place in the Modern Language Building and in Street Pavilions.

***Slate of authors at the Festival includes: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Francine Prose, Joseph Coulson, Denny McClain, Raymond Arroyo, Nancy Pearl, Timothy Egan, DJ MacHale, Tim Dorsey, and Lee Iacocca.***

Sunday, May 20:
Activities for children and general interest authors, featuring a panel discussion on the writer/illustrator relationship for children's books, a celebration of 826michigan local contributors to their annual journal, a presentation by local Urban Fairy gurus, Jonathan and Kathleen Wright, and more!

EVENTS OF SPECIAL INTEREST TO FAMILIES AND CHILDREN...

May 1-18:
Scavenger Hunt to area bookstores, libraries, and fairy door establishments.

Week of May 14-18:
Author visits to area schools; Mayor declares week: "Ann Arbor Kids Love to Read."

Participating authors include: Ruth Barshaw, Shutta Crum, Stacey Duford, Martin Brennan, Kristin Nitz, Mike Spradlin, and Deb Garrison.

Wednesday, May 16, 7 pm:
Children’s event at Shaman Drum—Local favorite Joan Blos reads from her new book, Letters from the Corrugated Castle: A Novel of Gold Rush California, 1850-1852.

Kickoff Event—Thursday Evening, May 17, 7 pm:
At the Ann Arbor District Library—Featuring The Chenille Sisters singing I Love it when you Read to Me and children's authors, along with representatives from local literacy groups.

Saturday, May 19: (Times and locations TBD)

* Teen Writing Contest finalists gather and winner is announced.

* Nancy Pearl, Book Crush (like Book Lust but for young people!)

* Stacey Duford, honorary spokesperson for the Festival, presents her book The Fairy Painting.

* Christopher Paul Curtis (Bucking the Sarge; Bud, not Buddy) reads from his work.

* Michigan Children’s Author panel featuring Kristin Nitz, Cyd Moore, Lisa Himle, and Martin Brennan.

* David Small and Sarah Stewart present their latest work.

* Kathe Koja, (Going Under), and DJ MacHale, author of the Pendragon series.

* A variety of writers, storytellers, and activities in the Children’s Pavilion.

* The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Michigan chapter, presents a number of noted authors from our area.

* The Literacy Pavilion will feature works and presentations from a variety of schools in the area.

* Jim Ottaviani and Mark Crilley present various aspects of the graphic novel.

Sunday, May 20: (Times and locations TBD)

* AA Symphony presents Peter and the Wolf with local storyteller Laura Pershin Raynor (tentative).

* Jonathan and Kathleen Wright present their Fairy Door information.

* 826michigan hosts a bookmaking workshop for parents and children.

Technorati Tags: annarbor, books, events, festival, calendar, schedule, listing, upcoming