So excited I can hardly contain my excitement!!
Wednesday, 19 September 2012
Tuesday, 18 September 2012
* * *
Talent...writing! Apart from fiction, also essays, business/tech communication, and the like. Ironically, my non-fiction writing has met with more personal success than my fiction. But that's ok.
Olorius wrote a great post on his blog about talent--how, even if you think your talents seem inconsequential, God has given them to you so that you would put them to good use, for His glory. In the same vein, I know I personally can get so swept up in the thoughts of "Why is this skill of mine so ineffective?", that I forget how He gives me many opportunities to use my talents, if not in the way I planned or expected. And the most seemingly random opportunities can be much more effective than (and just as rewarding as) my laborious plans.
Friday, 14 September 2012
Some days I get the inklings of a feeling I have lived through all the stages in life and come back from the future ones. Factually, this is contradictory nonsense. I guess if a catalog were written up of U.S.'s Most Inexperience Persons, my name would be near the top. A million people would chant, simultaneously, Older, Wiser, and You Say That Now!. The last one is my favorite. It oozes mystery and worldly wisdom, like some storybook spell that promises conventional plot twists in your storybook life. And you wonder, are they right. And you don't want them to be right (never), but you wouldn't go out of your way to prove them wrong. You keep being you, because it's the most stable thing to do.
After all. It could be you don't even 'say that now'. Well, you never feel invincible, and they all reminisce about that addicting influence when they were Your Age. I felt invincible ten years ago, ten years too soon. I was so exceptionally invincible that even reality would not bother me. Reality was a two-faced picture, and the good side was propped up by storybook monsters that were nice because they weren't real. In your invincibility, you don't choose favorites. You take whatever comes because you can take it, with a smile.
I haven't been invincible in a long time.
And the storybooks give misleading information. When the prince kills the dreadful ogre, there's no mention of the psychological scars the battle leaves in him. After the princess becomes a nicer person, it doesn't tell how she continues being nice. Even the Tin Soldier is a sad, wonderful fellow, but he resigns himself to his unhappiness with little care of getting burned to a crisp. Why doesn't he care?
For some, deep conversations are more rare than deep. We like to live and we like to learn, and so much of this learning is shared as a common experience to multitudes that society has decided to call it Life. And it is much discussed, and everyone has their own brand of deep conversation. Some people's brand is more obscure than others; you look up and down and all over the immediate world, and then the internet, and then sometimes you see glimmerings of a deep conversation you understand. For a moment, you feel relevant and wise; not invincible, but so relieved and daring you might say anything to anyone, feeling suddenly as foolish as to imagine you understand all other deep conversations, too. Overwhelming, empowering, and likewise a great handicap, for:
So I give more credence to my weaknesses than my strengths, and I call myself reserved and not an introvert, and I drink coffee with cream instead of sugar. And I presume to understand things. Of course.
After all. It could be you don't even 'say that now'. Well, you never feel invincible, and they all reminisce about that addicting influence when they were Your Age. I felt invincible ten years ago, ten years too soon. I was so exceptionally invincible that even reality would not bother me. Reality was a two-faced picture, and the good side was propped up by storybook monsters that were nice because they weren't real. In your invincibility, you don't choose favorites. You take whatever comes because you can take it, with a smile.
I haven't been invincible in a long time.
And the storybooks give misleading information. When the prince kills the dreadful ogre, there's no mention of the psychological scars the battle leaves in him. After the princess becomes a nicer person, it doesn't tell how she continues being nice. Even the Tin Soldier is a sad, wonderful fellow, but he resigns himself to his unhappiness with little care of getting burned to a crisp. Why doesn't he care?
For some, deep conversations are more rare than deep. We like to live and we like to learn, and so much of this learning is shared as a common experience to multitudes that society has decided to call it Life. And it is much discussed, and everyone has their own brand of deep conversation. Some people's brand is more obscure than others; you look up and down and all over the immediate world, and then the internet, and then sometimes you see glimmerings of a deep conversation you understand. For a moment, you feel relevant and wise; not invincible, but so relieved and daring you might say anything to anyone, feeling suddenly as foolish as to imagine you understand all other deep conversations, too. Overwhelming, empowering, and likewise a great handicap, for:
Maybe it is this new humbleness that stops all notion of invincibility from making inroads into your mind.As high as we have mounted in delightIn our dejection do we sink as low;
So I give more credence to my weaknesses than my strengths, and I call myself reserved and not an introvert, and I drink coffee with cream instead of sugar. And I presume to understand things. Of course.
Friday, 7 September 2012
My sister told me to check out Google's interactive doodle! I know it's illogical, but I love this show, corny scripts and all. Live long and prosper.
Thursday, 6 September 2012
Yes, it is possible!
I'm a Nook girl, but having the opportunity of turning my poetry book into a Kindle book (via KDP), I decided to make my book available for at least one e-reader brand. A couple of days later, I have just finished the rough draft, which works on every conceivable Kindle there is (except maybe Paperwhite? I guess we'll find out.).
Rather than ramble on about the process (which I may do later), here are some key points I learned:
I believe I have also figured out how to properly save/publish the e-book file so that Table of Contents shows up in Kindle Previewer...more on that in a future post.
I'm a Nook girl, but having the opportunity of turning my poetry book into a Kindle book (via KDP), I decided to make my book available for at least one e-reader brand. A couple of days later, I have just finished the rough draft, which works on every conceivable Kindle there is (except maybe Paperwhite? I guess we'll find out.).
Rather than ramble on about the process (which I may do later), here are some key points I learned:
- Each line of poetry constitutes a paragraph. I investigated the possible solutions for widows and orphans that I could find (incl. div's around the stanzas, with page-break-inside: avoid;), but because of this fact (and also, perhaps, limited CSS compatibility), it is impossible to eliminate widows and orphans. The spacing/margins/font-size flexibility on e-readers results in drastic changes on your pages' length/appearance, and the safest thing to do is to do nothing.
- Universally-accepted hanging indentations are possible.
- E-books just aren't very fancy. You get bold, italics, font size, and that's just about it. Even the Twilight Kindle book looks boring inside.
I believe I have also figured out how to properly save/publish the e-book file so that Table of Contents shows up in Kindle Previewer...more on that in a future post.
Wednesday, 5 September 2012
I was just commenting somewhere that I would be adding Zola to my reading list--and what do you know! His book The Ladies' Paradise is one of my "required" books for the 19th-century European history class I'm taking this fall. Timely, I'd say. I don't know if we'll be reading the whole book or not. As it is 480 pages, I feel it would be better for me to start immediately and err on the side of caution.
My other history class--20th-century Britain--involves a book called Writing in History. This should be interesting!
Third class is a newbie programming class. I'm kind of glad to start at "level 1"; it should keep everything fresh in my mind for the next two years.
School (quarterly schedule) doesn't start up again until the 24th. In the meantime, I'll be battling Kindle formatting and finishing 20,000 Leagues and (hopefully) reading Robinson Crusoe. And starting Ladies' Paradise, whatever that entails. O_o
Saturday, 1 September 2012
I'm going to start posting the Weekend Quote meme at Tanglewood, as well as Book Commentary, the Robinson Crusoe Read-Along, and any other book challenges/series I might begin. Though I like blogging about books here, it is more logical to post all bookish posts on one blog...
Lydia commented about the Gone With the Wind challenge, and I also stumbled across another challenge, September in Paris. I'd love to join the Paris one, as there are some Paris-themed books on my reading list as well, but we'll see how Robinson Crusoe goes. I'm close to finishing 20,000 Leagues, and at the moment my educational read is Utopia.
Altogether, I haven't read any gargantuan masterpieces this summer (well, South was long, but it was a spring/summer read). But that's ok. It's been a good summer for reading. I hope to keep this up when school starts, and reading gives me something besides school to blog about!
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