Death of My Vacation

I ended up having a very bad vacation, including a trip to the hospital. Seeing elderly people in various stages of dementia is not anyone's ideal vacation, nor is a CAT scan. However, I'm doing better and I was released --- and now it feels more like summer vacation.

Work is looking up and I'm happy about that. Will keep you posted on what's going on. Should have some good news by next week! That's making me happy, and that's half the battle, right?

In the meantime, my goal is to destress and enjoy life. That means I can have ice cream, right? I hope so, but that may not be possible with my new lifestyle. Changes are hard.

First Day of Vacation

That's what I like to call it anyway. It's actually the first day that I don't have anything due or any assignments. And since my blogging gigs dried up I'm pretty free to devote myself to my lesser-paying but more personal ventures like this one.

So, what shall I do? Work on my summer school syllabus? Find another job? Or just take a nap? I have to say the latter is sounding very good right now.

I spent the last week copywriting for a website, which is generally advertising copy. The time to do it was only 7 or 8 hours, but I found myself being unable to do it for more than an hour or two at a time. I realized that I can't really write advertising copy because I guess I disagree with it fundamentally -- the idea that I must create desire for something, to get someone to buy something by making it sound appealing. In journalism it felt like I wrote the truth and there it was......but I guess in some way I was writing it to be bought, too.

Sometimes being a writer is confusing and disheartening. So, on that note, I've decided to concentrate on my book which I've ignored for the last year. I think it's time.

Does this mean I'm taking a vacation from freelancing? Technically no. I'll still be pitching and writing when I can but my primary focus will be on my book. If I work hard I think I can have a workable manuscript by Christmas -- although I find making arbitrary deadlines is setting myself up for failure. So, let's just see where we go as the seasons change.

The Abundance Post

My sweetie, SO, whatever you would like to call him, doesn't believe in "The Secret" or much of the hullabaloo about what used to be called creative visualization. However he does believe in some personal mythology culled from ideas like it.  I admit that I'm arrogant and don't always listen to him.

One day he came home and we talked about buying a painting or two by an artist I had been following for ages. I had just been laid off and money should have been tight -- although we always seem to have extra now -- and I told him I felt odd buying an expensive painting when I just lost my job.


He said, "I read something the other day, about acting from a place of abundance. That if you act like you will always have an abundance of money, there will be."


I told him that sounded dorky, but he explained how it's a philosophy and that if you believe you will make more money, buying something expensive isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things.


Someone had already pounced on my first choice, "Wish for the New Year," so I bought two smaller paintings and felt silly. My wholesome, San Joaquin Valley upbringing made me nervous about spending thousands of dollars on art, and I told myself that I was not just buying the paintings, but funding an artist. Without people like me, artists couldn't exist. Without people like me, paying $30 for a book, writers couldn't exist. Every dollar I spent supported the artistic community.


We were just readying for a flight to Ireland, not so much thinking from a place of abundance but already-paid, nonrefundable tickets, when the gallery owner e-mailed me and asked if I still wanted "Wish for the New Year."  The buyer, a NYC day trader, backed out after being laid off from his job.


I wrote: "I was laid off in July, too, but as my husband says, 'Think from a perspective of abundance.' Just think of all the luck it will bring into our eccentric home!'"


I received a contract position a few weeks later and the pay has been unexpectedly good. I don't seem scared or desperate about money. I am blessed.


The painting hangs prominently on my wall. My husband stares at it sometimes as if he wants to see the painting materialize into a retirement plan. I enjoy it for what it is, a painting of a defiant girl suspended in mid-air, determinedly hanging onto to a rope, swing-chiming so her desire can be heard by the gods.

Does it All Come Down to Electronic Publishing?

A lot has been said about the future of books will be digital. I suppose to many it seems that way -- although I can't think of anything stupider than buying an iPad (but what I think doesn't matter, if 10 milion of you out there buy them.) Nonetheless, the new digital frontier of publishing was at the forefront in New York City at BookExpo America.

Ultimately, consumers want freedom, said David Shanks, chief executive of leading publisher Penguin Group USA.

"Our fondest wish is that all the devices become agnostic so that there isn't proprietary formats and you can read wherever you want to read," Shanks told Reuters. "First we have to get a standard that everybody embraces."

The issue, he said, is the fear of piracy and how to set a common digital rights management system to thwart it.

The battle over technology formats is a familiar one. A century ago, Edison and Victor made records that could not be played on each other's players. There was the Betamax/VHS videotape struggle and more recently Blu-ray beat out HD DVD.

So, publishers -- as should be consumers -- are hesitant about embracing one universal technology and go the way of the Betamax. I can see how easy that would be...but not as financially devastating as all that. From the Times article:

Several large publishers said that e-books now make up aboit 8 percent of their total sales of trade books, a small but growing number. One publisher suggested that in five years e-books will make up more than half of the book market, a figure that some industry experts dismissed as far-fetched.

Michael Norris, a senior analyst at Simba Information, which provides research to publishers, gave a presentation titled “I’ll Never Pay More Than $9.99 for an E-Book! And Similar Lies.”

Mr. Norris said that in 2008, 56 percent of adults in the United States bought at least one print book. In 2009 the number increased to 57 percent.

“The hype never matches up with reality,” Mr. Norris said. “There’s money to be made in e-books. There’s money to be made in print books too. There’s no reason why publishers shouldn’t pursue both and just not let the hyperbole get out of control.”

Well, that was a refreshing change. I agree with Norris. I don't think the future is entirely digital, because not everyone likes to read digitally. I certainly don't, and it's not great for your eyes either. For me it's easier just to grab a paperback to read on the beach -- and if someone steps on it, it's not a big deal.


Although there are some new writer opportunities for publishing digitally, I haven't seen it rip wide open as some of my colleagues seemed to think it would. So far the digital revolution has been sadly civilized.

What to Do When Creepy Moves Next Door

Author Joe McGinnis has moved next door to Sarah (and husband, Todd) Palin to glean more information about a book he's writing about the former Alaska governor. The Palins are debating a move at least for the summer from their Wasilla home.

Todd decided to check out the new neighbor and walked over to introduce himself. He and McGinniss had a brief conversation, during which Todd challenged McGinniss about a magazine article he had written that was critical of then-Gov. Palin’s handling of a gas pipeline project. Todd was unconvinced by McGinniss’s claim that he only wanted to be a good neighbor: “What we read is he’ll nice you to death and then stab you in the back.”

“It’s very creepy. Knowing that someone is going to be writing a hit piece, and he’s 15 feet away from you.”

The Palins have added onto their fence and are now debating legal action. McGinnis is now making the talk show rounds trying not to appear "creepy."


Many nonfiction authors I know of have done similar "creepy" things, like basically doing a job or activity just to write about it. (See Bare: The Naked Truth About Stripping or Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper  or even Dishwasher: One Man's Quest to Wash Dishes in All 50 States.) To me, that sounds repellent. I know that was advice from several in the industry, and quite a few other nonfiction mentors will likely suggest it, too, but if my life isn't interesting enough as it is then that's how it is. I think going into a situation "to write a book" is just dishonest and, well . . . creepy.


It's not for me, but maybe it's perfectly fine for many others. Because it's already a contrived scenario that will have to be crafted into a story. You conned an editor into a premise where you downgraded yourself to a mere actor in play. Is that really nonfiction? Or is it really fiction from the very beginning because the whole action onlyl exists for the specific reason of writing a book about it?


McGinnis moving next door to the Palins is similar, but doesn't quite fill me with as much ickiness. At least he's making no attempt at objectivity and no one expects it.