Booklife Strategies And Survival Tips For the 21st Century Writer by Jeff Vandermeer

Booklife Strategies and Survival Tips for the 21st Century Writer by Jeff Vandermeer

Booklife is about the process of becoming a better writer. It is not as focused on how to write, although there is an essay called How To Write A Novel In Two Months. The author suggests
you should have a blog, be part of social media, and participate in online activities.

The language is very clear and concise. We learn about what an agent does, the process of how a book goes from a submitted manuscript to a published book, how book public relations and marketing are done, and many other skills a writer needs to understand to succeed.

The book is not just about the public aspects of writing. It is also how about how to manage your time as a writer, keep healthy and focused, and have good relations with other writing professionals like librarians, booksellers, editors, and agents.

I enjoyed reading the book. For those interested in learning what a writer does, or who are seeking a better understanding of how social media and new media changes a writing career this book would be a useful tool.

In order to get the full benefit of the book, I think it is necessary to take a little time to look at the blog as well, Booklife Now, http://www.booklifenow.com . Jeff Vandermeer includes many useful tools which are not in the book in the associated blog including a blogroll and numerous additional essays on writing.

The main complaint I have about the book is that there is no index in the book. This made it hard to backtrack to find certain subjects. The layout of the book was excellent. It had wide paragraph breaks, bolded headings, and many bullet pointed suggestion lists.

Jeff Vandermeer invited a variety of guest writers for the appendices. The two essays which I liked were Marketing Versus Publicity by Colleen Lindsay and Additional Notes on New Media by Matt Stagg.

This is well worth reading. Jeff Vandermere has a blog at http://www.jeffvandermeer.com . He has written many fantasy novels including Finch and edited a variety of anthologies including Steampunk which he co-edited with his wife, Ann Vandermeer.

Daily Thoughts 7/18/2010

Scottish Poetry Library, Crichton's Close, Canongate, w:Edinburgh Designed by Malcolm Fraser Architects, shortlisted for Channel 4's Building of the Year 2000, Picture taken by Brian D. Osborne, Creative Commons Share Alike Attribution 2.0, Found on Wikimedia.

Daily Thoughts 7/18/2010

I checked Google Webmaster Tools this morning and found two sites that were interesting with links to mine. The first is More Vikings which uses this title because the author wishes Jane Austen had more vikings. It is a blog about speculative fiction. I like their lists of different genres including Noire, Steampunk, Weird Westerns, and Cyberpunk. http://www.morevikings.com/

Another blog which had me in their blogroll is http://shakespearewroteformoney.wordpress.com/ It reviews many literary titles.

I changed the signature on my personal email to include a link to this blog and added a link to the Mount Vernon Public Library Foundation http://www.mvplfoundation.org/ . In addition I went into my work email and changed it to include a link to the Mount Vernon Public Library Foundation with the words please donate.

There is something called Signature Marketing. This means if you work in a company, all of the signatures should contain the persons name, title, address, phone and extension, a link to the company, and a link to the products for sale. This way if someone sends out a message, they will always be selling the company.

First-ever National Study: Millions of People Rely on Library Computers for Employment, Health, and Education 77 million people used library computers and Internet access in past year
http://www.imls.gov/news/2010/032510.shtm

Jeff Vandermeer on a Persons Private Booklife Versus Public Booklife

I read some more of Booklife on the train to work today. While I was reading Publishers Weekly, I came across a starred review for The Third Bear a collection of fantasy short stories by Jeff Vandermeer. I also put Clay Shirky's new book, Cognitive Surplus Creativity and Generosity In A Connected Age on hold. I don't usually work Sundays. This is the first time.

On the way home, I finished reading Booklife on the train. The book is more about the process of being a writer than about how to be a writer. It explains what is being done, not how to do it. I will probably write a review later this week.

Daily Thoughts 7/13/2010

Mary Pickford, writing at a desk in a kimono, February 1918
This image is available from the United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs Division under the digital ID ppmsca.18842

Daily Thoughts 7/13/2010

Seeing Stars: How I ignored my inner librarian and got kids excited about books again! This is an entertaining comic. http://www.slj.com/slj/home/885428-312/seeing_stars_how_i_ignored.html.csp

The city found emergency funds to restore the laid off people as well as prevent the demotions. It makes me quite happy to say this. Sometimes things change for the better. Now, it is on to the next step that deals with advocacy, trying to make sure this does not happen again. This means playing closer attention to fundraising.

I picked up a copy of Booklife Strategies and Survival Tips For the 21st Century Writer by Jeff Vandermeer. It is about how to have a writing career in the modern publishing world. Jeff Vandermeer has done many anthologies, has a blog, facebook account which I follow, and is very up to date with the latest technology. He writes weird tales and fantasy.

I had a little bit of time today to read Publishers Weekly and the New York Times Book Review, check the donations for items to add, and look through the new books. I had a chance to pick out some of the new graphic novels which I ordered recently for the Graphic Novels club which is tomorrow. As always, I checked the displays to make sure they are up to date.

Tomorrow, my colleagues come back and it should even be busier than usual. I have a lot to do. There is also a Brown Bag Book Chat from 12:15-1:45 p.m. in addition to the Graphic Novels Club which is later in the afternoon.

I have been reading more for my Readers Advisory 101 course and learning more about reviews. I know most of the review sources, Library Journal, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and the New York Times Book Review. I just learned that the Washington Post Books is also a standard for reviews. I guess I might have to start reading it. I have an assignment to do tomorrow for the class which compares review database that looks interesting.

There were a few new sources for reviews which I saw, NPR Book Reviews http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1032, Overbooked, http://www.overbooked.org and the Amazon New York Times Bestseller Page http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/549028/ref=b_tn_bh_ny/002-7565199-2545635

I started reading Jeff Vandermeers' book Booklife. Jeff Vandermere has a blog called http://www.jeffvandermeer.com which is entertaining. He also runs a site with his wife Ann Vandermeer called http://www.booklifenow.com which is about being a writer. I follow Jeff Vandermeer on Facebook as well. It is rather entertaining to follow writers on Facebook.

Finch by Jeff Vandermeer

Finch by Jeff Vandermeer

Finch is the third book in a trilogy. The reader does not have to read the trilogy to understand the story. Each book stands alone. The books in the series are all avant garde in their writing style. Each book does make references to the other books in the series.

In this book Ambergris, also called the City of Saints and Madmen from an earlier title in the series has been taken over by the gray caps, a strange mushroom people. The city is rotting, covered with fungus, spores, and mushrooms. Even some of the people in the story have become infested with mushrooms and spores.

Detective Finch must find out why a gray cap and a human have been murdered in the same room together. This is during an ongoing civil war. The story tries to be a mystery, a spy story, and a dark urban fantasy all at the same time. It can be confusing at times, but the author manages to pull it all together successfully.

As you read, the novel becomes stranger, slightly more mind bending, and sinister with each page. It is a descent into an otherworldly place where loyalty and trust are not always clear. Characters are not who they seem to be, even the detective is someone else in the end.

Daily Thoughts 1/26/2010

"Our Three-Volume Novel at a Glance", a cartoon by Priestman Atkinson, from the Punch Almanack for 1885 (which would have been published in late 1884). This is a jocular look at some clichéd expressions which were overused in the popular literature of the time. It contains absurd literalistic interpretations of a number of conventional metaphors, accompanied by some outrageous visual puns. In the nineteenth century, popular novels often appeared in three-volume editions when first published, in order to allow three customers of commercial "circulating libraries" to be reading parts of the book simultaneously. I've abridged the second and third "volumes" of the cartoon in this scan. From Wikimedia.

Daily Thoughts 1/26/2010

This morning, I took some time to look at Microsoft Word 2007 Quicksteps on the train so I could familiarize myself with the new version of Word which we have on the public computers. Another day, I'll probably sit down and check the program some more.

I also read some more of The Medieval Craft of Memory. It makes me think how much we take certain things for granted. For example we have a specific numerical order to the alphabet which we are taught as children, we are also taught to associate each letter of the alphabet with a specific picture like a for apple.

We also use sequential numbers for street addresses. This makes it easier for people to find and remember where an address is. We create to do lists in sequential order to get things done. Many of these are techniques to make us remember. Right now, I am reading the section called The Art of Memory by Jacobus Publicius. This section unlike the others is not focused on religion. It has a more general approach.

I think this is a book which is very interesting, but is not likely to be reviewed in the popular journals. One of my colleagues has asked to read it after I am done. It is the kind of book which is very hard to review. The content is quite philosophical in nature. I am not sure I could give full justice to some of the content. Much of the content is on how to memorize large portions of the bible. There are some very striking images on how to memorize the parts of the gospels. There are supposed to be three steps in memory, first the memorization of poetry, then memorization for oratory, then memorization for the law and religion.

Most of the content was translated from latin. It is very hard to find similar material. It also opens people to a very different view of the world. This material was written for practical use by teachers, priests, academics, and intellectuals during the middle ages. This makes the book a very specialized subject. Some of it still has relevance for our time.

I picked out some graphic novels for the graphic novels club this afternoon. I also chose some books on Thailand to go out to the book mobile. This morning, I had a chance to read through the latest New York Times Book Reviews as well as Publishers Weekly.

I planned on doing the graphic novels club for teenagers and adults. I had one of those unexpected things happen. A lot of the ten to fourteen year olds ran in to look at the graphic novels. I made some adjustments in my selections of graphic novels. The tweens. They mainly came in for soda. They took out a number of them, including a few dvds. X-men was the favorite comic. One of the dvds was Max Fleischer's Popeye. Also, Baby Mouse was popular as well as some of the shojo-- ladies manga. There were a number of girls who wanted more girl superheros. I'll have to look for more comics with lady superheros.

I started reading Jeff Vandermeer, Finch. This feels like a very experimental novel. Jeff Vandermeer has been building a fairly strong author website. His blog announces the promotion of his wife, Ann Vandermeer to Editor in Chief of Weird Tales. http://www.jeffvandermeer.com/2010/01/25/breaking-news-weird-tales-announcement/ . I find this rather interesting. It reminds me a bit of the marriage of C.L. Moore and Henry Kuttner who both wrote fantasy novels.

The novel Finch is published by Underland Press, http://www.underlandpress.com . This is a relatively new press. It has a brand new set of authors, many of which I am first seeing. I found the opening dialog to be quite different in style than many books I have read. I think the book has quite a bit of experimental content in it. I think some people may like it. It is a mix of urban fantasy, weird tale, and detective story with a bit of psychedelia thrown in to make it stranger.