Category Archives: Books

Imbolc Poetry Web 2009!

Every year on February 2 a web of poetry winds its way through the Internet in honour of Brighid, the Celtic goddess associated with inspiration and poets. This year’s invitation is here, reproduced on blogs and journals across the world; the original blogger who began the annual tradition says of it, “Why? Some poetry is warming. It cracks the ice in the heart of the Earth to remind her that spring is just around the corner. Or … if you live south of the equator, choose poetry to cool the heart of the Earth so as to remind her fall is coming.” The blog that first introduced me to the poetry web and reminds me of it annually is Pandora’s Ephemera Ephemerae.

Brid is the goddess to whom I am sworn, and that’s probably not a surprise for those who know how much music, writing, and art mean to me. I figured she would be much too obvious and so I looked everywhere else when starting on my spiritual path, until I realised that Brid was bashing me on the head with the proverbial Divine clue by four. I love participating in this poetry web every year. The idea of poems, pictures in words that capture something emotional that prose handles very differently, twining throughout the Internet enchants me.

This is my poetry offering this year.

    It was a hard thing to undo this knot.
    The rainbow shines but only in the thought
    Of him that looks. Yet not in that alone,
    For who makes rainbows by invention?
    And many standing round a waterfall
    See one bow each, yet not the same to all,
    But each a hand’s breadth further than the next.
    The sun on falling waters writes the text
    Which yet is in the eye or in the thought.
    It was a hard thing to undo this knot.

    ~1862, Gerard Manley Hopkins
    “It was a hard thing to undo this knot”

Do you have a poem you’d like to share? A favourite? Something that speaks to your soul right now for some reason? Or perhaps something you’ve written yourself? Take the invitation and spread it far and wide, with joy. For the web of poetry to be connected in cyberspace as well as the world and our hearts, all I ask is that you link back to this post and to the original invitation to help others find it. If you post a poem, leave a comment here with a link to it (if you can, yes, I know there are issues with the comment box not being available off and on), and leave a comment with a link to it at the other poetry posts you read today, too, in order to help weave the web. Enjoy exploring the poetry by following the links you find.

Have a blessed and healing Imbolc, Gentle Readers. The flame in our hearts burns steadily against the coldness of the world. Every poem, every new word set down lights another candle against the darkness.

What I Read This January

Ruled Britannia by Harry Turtledove
The Art of WALL*E by Tim Hauser
The Art of Ratatouille by Karen Paik
Coraline by Neil Gaiman (reread)
Tales of Beedle The Bard by J.K. Rowling
On Writing by Stephen King
All the Windwracked Stars by Elizabeth Bear
The Sister by Paola Kaufmann
How To Knit by Debbie Bliss
The Knitting Workbook by Debbie Bliss
Mr. Darcy’s Decision by Juliette Shapiro
Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher

I could have sworn I read more than this, but that may be because I’ve got two short story collections and a novel on the go that aren’t finished yet as well.

In Which She Flails Incoherently

The Exciting Thing from this past Wednesday has been embargoed till next Tuesday, which means I have to sit on it until then, damn it.

I did, however, just do a follow-up call to someone I don’t know (oh, how I hate cold calling) and not only did I get put right through to the guy, but he was at his desk so I didn’t have to leave a likely-to-be-ignored message, and I wasn’t put on hold at any point. (In this business, that’s miraculous. Especially last thing on a Friday afternoon.) I was therefore able to obtain confirmation of next Tuesday’s Cool Thing and finally firm up the details. And it turns out that it’s even better than before, because (a) it’s twice as long as we’d initially thought (!!!), and (b) as a result of the scheduling I get to do this with a very cool partner who wouldn’t have been otherwise available.

Now I have to sit here and engage in cooled-out flailing all by my lonesome. At least it’s cooled-out flailing, and not panicky flailing. I am past the panic, and am thoroughly cooled out.

ETA: You know, it’s ironic: half my readers will be equally cooled out, and the other half will be, “Huh? What? Why is that exciting?” and dreadfully disappointed when the embargo is lifted. I reserve the right to squee in my own journal about stuff I find exciting!

AUGH!

No, no, this is good. This is good of such magnitude that I can’t encompass it.

I have just been given not one but two of the Best Assignments Ever. This has nothing to do with the rush editing job I’ve been working on all day so far. No, this was a phone call setting up Something Big for tomorrow morning (okay, another rush thing, but I can handle it), and something Even Bigger for next week.

I’m so freaked out that I’m shaking. It’s a good kind of freaked out, but still, there’s an awful lot of panic in there.

Okay. I am okay. But I am a geek. And terrified that I’m not grown-up enough to pull this off.

Repeat after me: Professional writer. Professional writer. I am a professional writer. With tons of experience in the associated areas. How long have I been in the book business? Also, I am a geek, which counts for something when all’s said and done, really.

Professional writer. Professional. I am professional. (If I say it often enough, maybe I’ll believe it or it will finally sink in or something.)

Okay, it might actually be working, because I’m calming down. Or maybe it’s the rapid pacing up and down the hall between typing sentences that’s doing the calming.

Non-disclosure agreements dictate that I can’t share these until I’m told I can share. Trust me, when I’m allowed, I will shout from rooftops. In the meantime I will be over here in a quivering mass, nibbling at my fingertips and mumbling to myself.

I would say that I love my job, except right now I’m eyeing it with a certain amount of disbelief and suspicion.

ETA: And now, an hour later, I am completely exhausted from vibrating at levels of Unbelievably Awesome and have a headache. Yay for extra-strength Excedrin. Also, despite caffeine being the last thing I need right now, I am treating myself to a latte-from-a-packet, because we don’t have enough milk to make hot chocolate.

Link Salada

Because I prefer tea to tossed greens, thanks.

Man who cut pages from rare books gets 2 years in jail: “[A] Harvard-educated historian pleaded guilty to 14 charges involving the theft of illustrations from rare books. He admitted using a blade to cut out 150 pages, including plates and maps, from books in the British Library in London and from the Bodleian Library in Oxford. “As an author, you cannot have been unaware of the damage you were causing,” said Judge Peter Ader as he passed sentence […]. “You have a deep love of books, perhaps so deep that it goes to excess.”

Listening to Schroeder: ‘Peanuts’ Scholars Find Messages in Cartoon’s Scores. “When Schroeder pounded on his piano, his eyes clenched in a trance, the notes floating above his head were no random ink spots dropped into the key of G. Schulz carefully chose each snatch of music he drew and transcribed the notes from the score. More than an illustration, the music was a soundtrack to the strip, introducing the characters’ state of emotion, prompting one of them to ask a question or punctuating an interaction.”


The Society of Animation Studies has created the Emru Townsend Award. “Society for Animation Studies members may now apply for grant awards in the assistance of research and travel for those intending to present at this year’s annual conference.” (Via Tamu at fps.)

Goodness, How Did That Happen?

So that one-page brief overview of a topic that I was asked to write for inclusion in a private collection of educational material turned into a two-page intro plus a page of sources.

Yeah, I know. But it was all important.

And I found a newly published book on the subject that I need to read, too! When I have money to buy books online again, that is.