Writer's Block?

I was speaking with an acquaintance yesterday, who called me from BVI where she lives in the winter. We were speaking about some events that have impacted both of us and many friends, trying to come to terms with our feelings. I had written an email to her earlier in the day.

"You write so well", she said, "you should do so more often".

I found myself saying "I used to write a blog..." I startled as I realized I had used the past tense.

"You should do so more often," she said.

Yes, I should, but I just haven't been able to sit down, clear my thoughts and write for so long. Funny how the longer one goes avoiding something, the more daunting it becomes. Even when I have drafted something in my head, I have been unable to get it down with pen and paper or keyboard and screen. Posts about books and movies and plays, about daffodils and bleeding hearts starting to poke through the leaves in the woods or pictures the old dead stump of a tree that is about to fall, about the small joys of family, or how I've struggled to recognize the good in a difficult employee and suddenly we are able to laugh even when we disagree; about how writing status updates in 160 characters is too confining to me and that I think Facebook for finding high school friends is stupid, but that it has been a wonderful tool for communicating with a specific circle of friends, even in times of crisis: all of these and more would have been great posts; perhaps some will appear in the future.

In the grand scheme of things, I'm not worried about not being able to write again --it is temporary -- but I wonder how much of this is a general malaise that I see in many of my friends right now. I don't know if it's being at mid-life, if it's the economy, if it's only because it is still winter, despite the recent warmer days, but it seems that everyone I am friends with is going through some sort of major life stress -- stress at work, fear of losing their jobs and the fear of not being able to find another one, sickness, death of elderly relatives, struggling relationships, pain from one kind of loss or another.

It is all very real, painful; psyches bobbing in rough wakes. Not quite gale force winds in open seas, but stormy. It can wear you down and make it seem like there isn't time, or strength, or determination to do things like write.

As I read through this, I can predict that some people might conclude that I'm depressed. Let me assure you that it isn't something as drastic as that. It isn't as if I can't laugh, can't enjoy family and friends, or am ready to jump off cliffs real or metaphoric. It is only that writing is the activity that is getting squeezed shut right now.

Thanks to those of you who periodically stop by here. I don't intend to let the past tense to describe permanently this blog. But I don't know if I'll be back here tomorrow, or next week, or in a few months.

Peace,
Cam

I'm Back -- with survey results

It has been almost a month since my Year End survey closed, but I had yet to post results. I decided today, that if I didn't do it today, I might never. Sometimes it's hard to get back into something if you leave it too long. But, I felt I couldn't post on anything else if I didn't publish the results. I wish more people had participated this year; maybe next year I'll do something different. So, here are the results

1. Favorite book you read this year:

Wesley the Owl

Imperium (nonfiction)

Paper Towns (YA)

Chess Story (Short fiction)

Stranger on a Train, Jenny Diski

The Gone Away World, Nick Haraway

2. Favorite Blog you read regularly:

Bookfoolery and Babble

Tales from the Reading Room

"I have too many to play favorites"

"I can't choose one favourite. I keep my blogroll small because it is the people I look forward to reading".

"I have a long list of blogs I read. I can't keep up with all of them on a daily basis. What I read each day depends on how much time I have and what sort of blog I want to read. I read some blogs that are strictly book reviews, others more general topics, some criticism, so it really just depends on my mood and available time. The problem with not reading some blogs every day is that you lose out on the comments discussions as others have moved on to more recent posts."

3. What surprised you most about blogging this year?

"How international blogging really is."

"How wide-spread the blog phenomena have become."

"How I really have come to know some bloggers, and regard them as friends. Sure, I only have a limited perspective presented in their blogs, in emails, etc., but I only present certain faces in some public arenas. I'm not sure what to call them if not friends."

"I didn't expect to get to meet so many bloggers in real life and to have online interaction with them in places other than my blog (email, Facebook, Twitter)."

"What always surprises me is that anyone out there wants to read what I write! And also, that a fair number of people are very interested in shoes."


4. Did your blogging change this year? Why?

"More posts."

"Yes, I feel as though the character of my blog 'settled' a bit and that my writing became freer."

"I began to post less frequently than in previous years, mostly because I have less time than I used to and perhaps a bit less energy too."
"It reduced, because I have less time at home."

"I thought I had posted less frequently but I checked and I had the same number of posts last year. I wrote less about books this year, but I also read fewer books."


5. How many books did you read this year?

21 -50 1 respondent

51-75 3 respondents

76-100 1 respondent


6. How frequently do you post?

1 -2 times a week - 2

3 -5 times a week - 2

daily - 0

1 -4 times a month - 0

Randomly - 1

7. If you participated in any sort of blogging challenge, how did it impact what you read and what you wrote? Did it challenge any assumptions you had? Change the way you read or wrote? etc.

"I hosted the Southern Reading Challenge. It opened my eyes to the amount of readers a little Mississippi blog could generate. I did add more "southern" posts during the challenge."

"The only thing challenges end up doing is frustrating me. I say I'm going to read many things, but the nature of my reading is more impulsive and I really like it that way. I still ended up reading and blogging on whatever I felt like. I don't know why I bother to do challenges, but I will probably do a few more next year."

"I didn't participate in any challenges. I'm trying to keep my reading plans as open as possible."

"I tried to participate in a reading challenge, and realised they are not for me. Even though I just fitted what I already wanted to read into the challenge, as soon as I committed to reading those books, I didn't want to. But, I thoroughly enjoyed NaBloPoMo, even though it was a lot of pressure. It showed me that I could find more blogging time when pushed (although I have fallen back into my old ways since)."

"I am always tempted to join every reading challenge I come across, but I've learned not to make commitments, since I never seem to meet the challenge. I do follow some of them though, as I discover interesting books that I might want to read. "

8. Participants:

Maggie Blogging since 2005

Ted Blogging for 1.5 years

Dorothy W Blogging for 2 1/2 years

Becky Blogging almost 2 years

Thanks to those who participated and thanks to all of you who continue to stop by my blog to help blow away the cobwebs. I intend to be posting more regularly in Feb and beyond. It was good to be away -- but it's always great to return to home!

The Absent Blogger

I haven't abandoned this blog - just snowed under (metaphoricallly, though it is cold & snowy here). Promise I'll be back here soon. For those of you in snowy climates: stay warm.

3rd Annual Year End Survey

Updated: I'm up to my eyeballs in work stuff, so I won't be able to post until midweek. So, I'm keeping this open until Tuesday night if you're interested in completing. Click here to participate.

For the 3rd year, I'm doing a survey and asking for participants to comment on books and blogging. None of the questions are mandatory -- you don't even have to give your name. As in the preceding year, this is a survey of your favorite books and blogs, not a competition to see who is most popular.

Because Emily has written many times that there is an unwritten rule about memes being limited to 7, I've limited the survey to that number -- unless you want to indicate your name and blog name. Blogging alias are okay, of course.

Survey closes at 11:45pm (EST) on Sunday, 4-Jan. Results to be posted sometime during the week of 4-Jan. If you indicate your name/blog, you'll be cited here.

Stay tuned for what's coming up in 2009 at Cam's Commentary.

You'll find the 2008 survey here.

Blogging 2009 Goals: Posting with a purpose

Happy New Years!

January 2 marks the third anniversary of this blog. I had no idea when I started that I would still be doing this three years later.

While I've been consistent in the number of posts each year overall, I've always posted rather sporadically. Not sure if that will continue this year or not. I'm not setting any goals for the number of times I will post this year.

Something that I did in 2008 that I liked doing, was to have a tie-in between my blog and a charity. During NaBloPoMo, I donated $1 to Water Partners International for each comment left on my blog (71 comments).

This year, I've decided to start a lending team on Kiva. Kiva is a web-based organization that allows individuals (or teams of individuals) to help fund micro-loans to individuals in developing countries. By working with Kiva, you can actually do something about poverty. You'll know exactly to whom your money is loaned and what they're using it for. Most of all, you'll help someone
build a sustainable business that will provide income to feed, clothe, house and educate their family long after the loan is paid back.

My goal is to have my lending team contribute $1000 in 2009. I challenge each of you who read this blog to join my lending team, Booklovers, and make a commitment to help alleviate poverty. Anyone can join. You decide how much you want to contribute and you get to decide who will be the beneficiary of your loan. When the loan is paid back, you can redirect your money to another loan applicant or you can get it back.

Today, I made a loan to an entrepreneur named Mary Nkrumah, a fabric retailer in Ghana, who is trying to raise $725 to grow her business. You can help Mary raise funds for her loans, or you can support another qualified loan applicant on Kiva. Just be sure to indicate that this is part of our Lending Team so we can track how much we raise in 2009.

Each month I will feature a different way in which my blogging will support microloans on Kiva. For this month, I pledge to donate $1 per comment, $1 per person who joins my lending team, and $1 for each new commenter on my blog. This money will go to Mary Nkrumah until her fundraising goal is met. Then, I'll find another entrepreneur to invest in on Kiva.

Won't you join me in this? Try it for 1 month! You can make a donation for as little as $25, and the Kiva site uses PayPal, so your transaction is secure.

I'm working on a badge you can put on your blog if you join the Booklovers lending group.

10 Things I've Learned From Blogging Every Day

What I've learned from NaBloPoMo participation this year:

1. Writing every day is damn hard work.

2. I am not content to just throw anything on my blog. I am too much of a perfectionist to not write, rewrite, edit, proof. And then go back to make adjustments if I don't like how the paragraphs align on the page. And then edit some more. I realize that sounds just a bit compulsive.

3. I spend less time reading other's blogs when I'm posting every day. I think that others participating in NaBloPoMo have less time to read blogs too.

4. I didn't have any time to visit the NaBloPoMo site and see how others were doing. If I read anybody participating, it was only because I already had them on my blogroll. I want to spend time in December visiting some sites of participants I haven't read in the past. I hope to post about some of them in the next month.

5. I didn't have any problem coming up with ideas to write about, and wrote about a variety of topics. I don't think I could have selected a theme and written about it for 30 days.

6. I had difficulties finding the time to write.

7. Since I made the commitment to do this, I was unwilling to not post on certain days and found a way to do so despite two trips, bone-aching fatigue on a few days, work and family commitments. This dedication meant that there was more than one evening where I found myself falling asleep at the keyboard. If only I had the same commitment to other areas of my life!

8. I think my visit stats increased (I hadn't checked them in a long time), but only because there were additional hits from random, odd queries (see below).

9. I like writing longer posts and I hope to continue to do so in the future. I'm considering creating some sort of regular writing prompt that others can participate in by contributing longer, more essay-like posts on their blogs, perhaps on a monthly basis. More details later.

10. I will be making a donation to Water Partners International for at least $80, based on the 80 comments posted this month. This may increase based on additional comments I receive in the next few days on my NaBloPoMo posts. I want to continue to have some sort of charity tie-in to my blog and am working on something that other bloggers can participate in as well. Details to follow on how and for which charity. This may possibly be a lending team on Kiva and I'm leaning towards something related to reading and education. Emily has already indicated an interest. If you're interested too, email me or leave a comment.

After participating in NaBloPoMo for two years, I don't think that I will do it again. However, I hope that I will post more regularly. There have been a few months this year where I only posted two or three times. I'm hoping I can stay motivated to post two or three times a week. This was a beneficial exercise and helped my blogertia, that condition of lack of motivation to blog as named by Bloglily a few months ago.

Here are some stats from this month:

Posted once every day, and three times posted additional posts.

Used 26 different tags:

• using one tag five times
• two tags four times each
• Four tags three times each
• five tags twice.
• Most popular were: miscellany, food, politics, art, books, blogging, life, NYC

I linked to other posts 57 times.

Posted one you-tube link and 19 pictures, but only one post was dedicated to photos with only minimal words.

Had 669 unique visitors according to StatCounter, with an average of 23/day.

Only did one meme, but I wrote a lot of commentary on it, which was not part of the meme. Did one quiz.

Hits:

• Oddest hit from google query this month: Toss up between ounces in #2 cam and black and white picture of Paul Newman in bath.
• Most frequent hit query: concept that heaven is 3 feet up.
• Query I found the funniest: someone in Denmark who returned to my site a few times with the query I peed my pants.
• Seven queries took the inquirer to landing pages from last year's NaBloPoMo.
• Queries that most pleased me: Four related to the opera Dr. Atomic and the aria from that opera based on John Donne's sonnet Batter My Heart 3-person'd God

Congratulations to all who undertook the NaBloPoMo Challenge this month. Give yourself a round of applause!

My Blog, Review Copies, Honest Criticism

I haven't participated in Booking Through Thursday before, but I do read the posts of some who do regularly. Today Ted's post caught my attention.

I received a review copy yesterday and I started reading it today. Someday I will post about it. But, like Ted, I have no obligation to write niceties about a book simply because the publisher or publicist gave me a copy. When I first started writing reviews, I tended to be very harsh in reviewing books that I didn't like. I have soften that somewhat -- not because I don't want to hurt the author's feeling, but because I don't want my blog to be a snark-fest. That doesn't mean that one can't be critical, however. If I choose to write about a book -- whether it is a review copy given gratis or a book I have purchased -- I will write about it honestly. As Ted writes in his post: This is my blog.

Only once have I had an author comment about a negative review. The comment was very simple; paraphrasing, it was something like: I'm disappointed you didn't like my book. It pained me at first to read that. I thought: Oh, he actually read my blog. I might have hurt his feelings. Then I recovered, realizing that he shouldn't -- who knows, maybe didn't -- expect all reviews to be positive.

Upon further reflection, I realized that I was not only disappointed in the book, but disappointed in the author's comment. I wish that he had addressed some of the issues I had brought up (this was a non-fiction book, and I questioned his approach and assumptions). It seems like there was a lost opportunity there.

I don't get too many requests to review books. I do get review copies sometimes through LibraryThing's Early Reviewer Program, and occasionally through a program offered by Harper-Collins. I have been approached a few times, but I've been wary about accepting them. When I first started blogging, I had someone, who appeared to be a publicist, request that I review a book. I agreed, but was astonished at how amateurish the book was. I didn't finish reading it and I never posted. I figured that if it wasn't published professionally, a negative review might not be accepted in a professional manner either. I never regretted not having reviewed the book.

Not at all James Bondian

Saturday morning, as I sat in Catherine's kitchen drinking coffee and watching the fog slowly lift to reveal the magnificent cathedral of St John's the Divine, the phone rang. It was her friend Taradina, who I had the pleasure of meeting while in NYC on business last year, calling from Senegal.

Catherine told her that I was in New York to meet someone from Germany, along with some NY-area people, none whom I had ever met in real life.

Really? Sounds rather James Bondian she said with a giggle.

Well, I didn't have to get any sort of combo driving-flying-boating spy vehicle to arrive at the rendez-vous point. There were no secret passwords or handshakes. I simply walked out the door and around the corner to the designated spot, The Hungarian Pastry Shop. I didn't even have cool boots and an umbrella a la Diana Rigg. The Avengers was always more my thing than Bond. Not that anyone would ever mistake me for Diana Rigg -- or a spy.

The Pastry Shop has more of a college vib than some sort of secret service haunt in a Rive Gauche cafe, a Monaco casino, or hookah bar in Marrakesh: cramped, crowded, oddly matched tables and walls covered with literate graffiti, flyers for happenings at nearby Columbia, ads for people selling dog-walking services or organizing one's apartment, people busily scribbling in notebooks or typing on laptops, or just chatting with friends. As I walked in, I only glanced for a nanosecond at the delicious baked goods in the display case. To walk past this is an act of courage for most sweet-tooths. I immediately spotted a table at the back with 6 people looking expectantly at each person who walked in the door. I immediately recognized Emily from pictures on her blog and Hobgoblin because I remember him writing once that he wore his hair in a ponytail. Then I saw Charlotte, who has also posted pictures of herself on her blog. Immediately I was introduced to them and to Dorothy, Marcy, and Becky.

We each had some sort of delicious baked good -- I had an apricot linzer torte & a cup of tea, perfect for a foggy, grey day -- and commenced talking. Hobgoblin and Dorothy know Emily and Becky. Emily, Becky and Marcy know each other through professional contacts as well as their blogs. Charlotte and I were the ones who hadn't met any of the others in real life. After a bite to eat, we were off to the Strand with its 18 miles of bookshelves. Charlotte wanted to see some of the city by walking, but the 7 miles to the Strand was a bit too far. We walked for a bit and then took taxis. I appreciated that everyone was understanding that I, feeble-footed as I still am from my accident last year, couldn't walk very far.

The Strand is one of those overwhelming bookstores that any booklover can't believe they've landed in. There are books on tables, books stacked on the floor, books on shelving up to the high ceilings -- on 3 floors. It is one of those places where you don't find books; they find you. My advice to anyone visiting the Strand - unless you have about a day & half to spend there -- is that you have a plan for 2, maybe 3 sections, that you want to browse. I immediately hit upon a section of travel essays and picked up two books, a translation of Guy de Maupassant's Afloat, and The Search for the Pink-Headed Duck: A Journey into the Himalayas and Down the Brahmaputra by Rory Nugent.

The de Maupassant book is described as a merging of

fact and fiction, dream, polemic and documentation in a wholly original manner. Humorous and troubling stories, unreliable confessions, stray reminiscences, and thoughts on life, love, art, nature and society....

The Pink-headed duck is about a journey through India, which appears to have much to do with India, and only a little to do with a bird that hadn't been seen in a half century. How could I pass up either of them?

But my real find of the day was found on a remainders table between fiction, literary biography and poetry: a book reproducing William Blake's illuminated poems, Songs of Innocence and Experience, with transcriptions and commentary on each of the individual plates. When I showed it to Catherine that evening, she said (as anyone on the business side of publishing might), This is expensive paper. I don't know why they used it in the signatures that are just text, yet they were too cheap to use colored end papers. As a lover of books, of poetry, and of art, who first discovered Blake's paintings as a young college student wandering through The Tate, I don't care how unprofitable such a book might be; I just care that it is a marvelous book, beautiful to hold and to read. I even like the two brown ribbons, for page marking both the plate and the corresponding commentary, that match brown fabric on the spine of the book. It is lovely. Although heavy, I carried it aboard the plane today so that I wouldn't chance the airlines loosing it.

After The Strand, we had a late lunch. If you read Dorothy's blog today, you may have wondered about mimosas and mac 'n cheese. They don't really sound like they'd go together, but they mixed well with good conversation and an intermittent commentary on the 80's music that was playing. It was fun spending time with the other bloggers. As Dorothy wrote today, it does feel a little strange to meet people in real life who you know only through their blogs. It is like you know them, but yet, you only know their on-line persona, one aspect of their lives. I wasn't surprised by anyone though. I think that each is very similar to their online voice. I am glad that I had the opportunity to meet them. If you don't know any of these bloggers, go to their blogs now and meet them online.

PS -- I also discovered the real-life name of Dorothy & Hob's pseudonymous dog, Muttboy. All I'll say is that it is fitting, although I will always think of him as Muttboy.

NaBloPoMo

I'm attempting it again this year -- posting every day. There are some days where it may be a challenge to get this done. For instance I have a quick business trip next week. Thursday will be a long day & my flight isn't expected to land until after 11pm -- that is if I don't miss a tight connection and have to spend time at the Philadelphia airport. And I'm planning to spend a day meeting several other bloggers in NYC on the 15th. Committing to post daily means that I just committed to lugging my laptop to NY for the weekend. Blah....I miss the days when it was so easy to carryon all your luggage, but the TSA one bag requirement will work against me if I decide to bring my laptop.

Taking a cue from Charlotte and her pledge on Blog Action Day, I will make a charitable donation for every comment left on my blog during the month of November. I'll post later this month about which charities I have selected, but the cause will be related to efforts to eradicate hunger and water scarcity.

So, please read along with me this month and be sure to leave comments. If you are participating in NaBloPoMo, I look forward to reading your posts too!

Antidote for blogertia

BlogLily wrote today about blogertia, that syndrome where one wants to blog but seems to have lost the spark for actually blogging. Lily gives some suggestions for overcoming blogertia and asked for others to make similar suggestion. Mine: post a list of things you've thought about blogging about. Then do it!

So, walking the talk, here are some of the things that I've thought about writing about but haven't moved out of the brain and into the blog.

- Ants & frogs and helping my son move into his first college apartment (yes there is a connection). There's a wonderful poem that goes along with this (not written by me).

- my recent efforts to be more aware of the environment and my impact upon it, as part of the Eco-Justice Challenge (which also seems to be suffering from extreme blogertia).

- writing about Michael Ondaatje's poem, 'The Cinnamon-Peelers Wife'. I was struck by this poem when it was read by Julie Christie in the movie Away From Her. I have read it several times since I first heard it. I thought about writing about this during National Poetry Month as part of Kate's Modest Poetry Challenge -- that was in April!

- writing about any of the books I've read in the last several weeks, or any of the 3 books that I'm reading now.

- Answering the question, how many books are too many to have by one's bedside (on the nightstand, under the nightstand, behind the nightstand, under the bed, etc...). I cleaned this area recently and found the answer. (As a born clutterer, I consider cleaning a highly overrated activity). Maybe this isn't an entire post. So here's the answer: 52.

-- do one or another lame meme that I've bookmarked in my blog feeder.

-- Why does my news addiction, so well controlled most times, flare up every 4 years, especially since all of the talking heads are driving me crazy.
OMG, Chris Matthews just referred to 'Senator Barack'. Does he only have one name now?

-- Related to the above post, an screed about a really biased 'news' story. I started writing this a few weeks ago. But I hated to post it because it was favorable to McSame who I will NOT be voting for. But, maybe I should post it, because it isn't about him, but about the news.

--Book clubs, in particular, my bookclub which has a rather interesting makeup.

--Scrabble.

--The only movie that I've ever seen that has a 100 rating on Rotten Tomatoes: Man on Wire. Don't know that I'd actually review the movie as much as write about how one can't segregate in one's mind the symbol that the Twin Towers have become from what they were, although this film tries. It isn't about 9/11 but about the towers on August 7, 1974.

-- Highlight some of my favorite blogs/bloggers.

-- Hold another 'Roundtable' like I did last November.

-- create a meme

-- Visit this place since I haven't been there since it re-opened and write about it. Take some pictures of the cool architecture too. Surprisingly, there aren't any pictures of the new addition to the library on the web.

-- Write about the spot where we vacationed when I was a kid -- the lake, Sherman's Dairy, the 'Indian Path' and the 'jumping off point'.

-- write a post or two for What She Said.

-- write about some of the more memorable teachers I had.

-- try to write about my grandfather without being sentimental.

-- post about some of the cookbooks I've used recently -- my attempt to participate in Soup's On Cookbook Challenge, without actually joining.

-- write about my hair turning gray

And if this doesn't give me something to write about, I'll just continue to post photos.

Errant Blogger Returns

Hi everybody, if there's anybody still out there reading this. Been absent for a few weeks due to an underwhelming enthusiasm for writing anything.

Been so unenthusiastic about even logging in, that I never posted who won the little give-away that I did on 5/28. How's that for being a really bad blogger? Three of you answered -- Emily, Bloglily, and the blogger formerly known as Chief Biscuit now using her IRL name, Kay. (BTW, Kay has changed the name of her blog to Made for Weather, which is also the title of her most recently published book of poetry.)

None of you guessed the right answer, though Lily was closest: I thought Jonathan Strange would be cool for those reasons and gifted it to my son who thought 800 pages!. And so it sits unread. Since you each responded, you each win. Send me your postal address and I'll send you a little bookish surprise. Emily -- I have your address and will send with the book I promised (Rosalind Franklin and DNA) to you soon.

The answer? Stevenson's Treasure Island was a holiday gift meant to be read with my husband's grandson, but he was more interested in my son's Harry Potter book. That was when he was just learning to read, and longer ago than I'd like to admit. Not only has he now read for years, last year's gift was Michael Chabon's book Summerland. Sigh! I think he is too old now to think that Treasure Island is a cool book, even though it has pirates in it.

I don't think that there is any one reason why people have books they haven't read. I think most bibliophiles have so many unread books because we always are reading at least one and always on the look out for something to read in the future. As if we were squirrels storing up nuts for the winter, we stock books on our shelves lest we not run out of something to read.

While I haven't been posting here, I have been reading and have finished 4 books in the last 2 weeks. Escape by Carolyn Jessop, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Erik Larson's The Devil in the White City, and Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon.

The last two were books I read for book groups I'm in. I've been intending to write about book groups for some time, so maybe there will be such a post here soon. Escape was a book I couldn't put down and stayed up until 5am one Saturday night/Sunday morning to finish. I've thought much about the Texas CPS/YFZ issue since April and, while I in no way support the cult's treatment of women and children or their bizarre beliefs, I was uneasy with how the State Government of Texas went into the YFZ Ranch and placed all of the children in protective custody. It seemed to me that it was more about the state not sanctioning the cult's polygamist beliefs. But, after reading Jessop's book about life in the FLDS, I've had to rethink my positions.

Currently, I'm trying to plow through Earth Community, Earth Ethics as part of the EcoJustice Challenge. I'll write about that when I finish, either here or at the challenge site. And, I found Gilgamesh stuck under the seat of my car and started to read it while waiting for a store to open during a heavy downpour. I'm completely taken by the first lines.

So, it's not like I don't have anything to write about. I intend to be here more regularly. Hope you'll stop by again.

In the meantime, here is a picture I took last night during a sudden 10-minute hail storm. I'm lucky that I haven't been flooded out, but I am so tired with all this rain!

Advice to a new blogger

A friend recently said that he was thinking of starting a blog, but wasn't sure. So he asked me for info on blogging to help him decide.

What advice would you give to a would-be blogger? What would you do differently if you were starting a blog now? If you post your suggestions on your blog, leave a link in the comments below.

Survey Says....

The results from the Favorites of 2007 Survey have been compiled. As I did last year, I found the results surprising and interesting. A total of 12 different people replied, although not all completed every question.


1. Favorite Fiction Read in 2007 (12 responses)

- Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince & The A-List series.

- Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. I loved Ishiguro's take on a science-fiction topic -- who would have thought a book about clones would be so beautiful?

- Is it too trite to say Margaret Mitchell's GONE WITH THE WIND? I was so, so surprised by it, not expecting to like it anywhere near as much as I did.

- Of Human Bondage, Somerset Maugham

- The Oasis

- A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini

- Goldberg: Variations by Gabriel Josipovici - A favourite because it expanded my ideas of what fiction could be.

- The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield

- Spook Country, William Gibson

- The Forsyte Saga, John Galsworthy


2. Favorite Non-Fiction Book Read in 2007 (11 responses)

- James Boswell's Life of Johnson. This biography captured not only Johnson, but the 18C wonderfully well.

- That's a really, really tough one, but I think Rose Macaulay's PLEASURE OF RUINS just squeaks by (by a hair) Vicki Constantine Croke's THE LADY AND THE PANDA.

- The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins

- Light on the Hill, by William D Snider

- Black Dog of Fate, Peter Balakian

- Demons and the Making of the Monk by David Brakke - A well-written, excellently researched, entertaining book about spiritual warfare -- often literally. Who could not love a book that combined philosophy with monks and demons duking it on a monastery terrace or at the bottom of a well in the desert?

- Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters

- The Wild White Swan by Jiyu-Kennett

- Fathers and Sons, Alexander Waugh


3. Favorite Author Read for the first time in 2007 (11 responses)

- Stephenie Meyer & Zoey Dean

- Gabriel Josipovici. Goldberg: Variations was an amazing novel.

- Armistead Maupin, no question or tough choices there.

- Richard Dawkins

- Wilson Crawford

- Khaled Hosseini

- David Treuer - His book enthralled me from start to finish. Outstanding. It was hard not to give his book to the top spot in "favourite fiction".

- Neil Gaiman

- Richard Morgan

- John Galsworthy


4. How many books did you read this year? (11 responses)

<10 0% (0)

<25 9.1% (1)

<50 27.3% (3)

<100 54.5% (6)

I was suppose
to be counting? 9.1% (1)

Books? 0% (0)


5. Favorite Daily Read (11 responses)

- Time & Nylon magazines, Stephanie Meyer, & perezhilton.com

- Tales from the Reading Room. The blog is always smart and the blogger always gracious.

- Ian's Blog. I'm biased. He's my brother, and it's a great way to keep up with each other, as we each lead such busy lives. But I know I'd read him everyday, even if he weren't my brother, because he's just so damn funny and such a talented writer.

- A Fraternity Of Dreamers Kookiejar discusses books and pop culture...what's not to love?

- http://progresscity.michaelcrawford.com/

- That's a hard choice, but probably Dovegrey Reader Scribbles.

- The Sharp Side I am guaranteed to learn something new, whether it's an "outmoded" author or a political issue overlooked by the media, and it's always told in the most spirited, engaging manner. Excellent stuff.

- Fraternity of Dreamers It's a favorite because I can count on her to post every day, because she post a lot of interesting tidbits besides just her book reviews, and because she's funny and smart.

- Very unfair to pick one but I've learned more from Achelois than almost any other blog - always funny and often challenging.

- Telecommuter Talk - with QC Report a close second, this post in particular. Both make me laugh and brighten my day.


6. I like to read blogs about.... (10 responses)

- The book industry 20% (2)

- Soon to be published books 40% (4)

- Literary Criticism 50% (5)

- Reviews of Books read 70% (7)

- Blogs that summarize and
link to other posts 20% (2)

- Reviews printed in newspapers first 0% (0)

- Some book news and reviews, but
other topics too 80% (8)

- Other (specific answers below) 30% (3)
**Cooking and recipes
**life, parenting, music, politics
**Whatever my favourite bloggers write about


7. Favorite Commenter (9 responses)

- Danielle, A Work in Progress. She asks great questions and makes great observations.

- Mandarine

- Jenclair, from A Garden Carried in the Pocket

- Stefanie at So Many Books

- Sylvia, from A Classical Bookworm - she's never afraid of challenging my views.

- Litlove, at Tales from the Reading Room. Her comments are insightful on other people's blogs, but I especially love the comment conversations on her blog.

- God! That one's too difficult.

- Emily, who lured me into this whole blogging thing in the first place.


8. How often do you post to your blog? (9 responses)
- Every Day 11.1% (1)

- 1-2 Times/Week 22.2% (2)

- 3-5 Times/Week 33.3% (3)

- A few times a month 0.0% (0)

- Infrequently 0.0% (0)

- Whenever I have something to say 33.3% (3)


9.Favorite Reading Meme or Challenge (7 responses)

- The Outmoded Authors challenge received 3 votes. Comments included:

I've really enjoyed which is getting me to read authors that are new to me

So far I have loved everything I picked up; and the posts by other bloggers completing the challenge are inspiring me to so many other authors too.

- TBR Challenge

- Russian Reading Challenge (but I guess that one doesn't count for 2007 yet. ;-) ) In 2007 I didn't participate in any challenges.

- The Great Imperative Meme

- The songs we sing meme


10. How has blogging changed the way you read this year? (# of books, type, etc.) (7 responses)

- I have read more books than ever before because blogs keep me focused a bit more on reading than I was before.

- I read more carefully, always mindful that I might want to post about the books I'm reading, which I didn't used to do, paying attention to quotable material. Blogging hasn't changed the number of books I actually read, but it's certainly changed the number of books I add to my TBR list.

- I'm reading more authors from other countries.

- I guess for me it's the other way around: reading changed the way I blog! I started a separate litblog this year besides my already existing blog. I wanted to blog about books and reading, my one lifelong passion.

- I've begun to search for and read Jamaican novelists for the first time! I'm very pleased about that.

- I've gone out and bought at least one book I wouldn't otherwise have.

- It has broadened my reading, and encouraged me to read more critically.


Thanks to all --whether identified or not -- who completed the survey.

The Participants (who identified themselves in blog comments):

Dorothy W., Of Books and Bicycles
Emily, Telecommuter Talk
Myrthe, The Armenian Odar Reads
Dewey, The Hidden Side of the Leaf
Imani, The Book of My Numberless Dreams

Second Chance for Great Blog Posts

Recently, I announced a new feature here -- a regular post highlighting other bloggers' posts that were either overlooked (didn't get the hits the blogger expected) or a piece of writing that one wanted to bring to the attention of new readers. To do this, I asked readers to recommend posts from their blogs. The only rule is that it be submitted by the blogger, and that it have been posted previously on his or her own blog. There are no restrictions regarding content, subject matter, length, or when first posted. I will do this monthly, with deadline for submission by Saturday night of the first weekend of the month. That is, the first Saturday of the month that isn't the 1st day of the month. Trivia fact of the day: This is called Lasagna Weekend in my household. Sit down with the comfort food of your choice, a cup of tea, or some warm cocoa and enjoy reading the following links: three excellent and very different posts from three interesting bloggers. Not only should you read each of these posts, but you also should consider making each of these blogs frequent stops on your travels around the blogosphere.


Charlotte of Charlotte's Web submitted her post from February, 2007, titled In Which I Gate-Crash History. Charlotte writes movingly of the first day of Parliament of the new South African government. In submitting this post, Charlotte commented: The reason I like it is the comparison between the formal, disinterested prince and the warm, informal South African style. Also, the vision of me in purple suit and gold brogues running around Cape Town like some sweaty underperforming superhero. How can you pass up clicking on a link like that?

Smithereens writes about how some books, while difficult to read, are well worth the trouble, in the post Jaan Kross, Treading Air. Smithereens commented: I feel kind of sorry for the Estonian book I reviewed this week. I know Estonia is a small country most people can't locate on a map, and Estonian books are not the thing you're most likely to find at your local mega-bookstore, but I thought the book was well worth reading...

Dorothy of the blog Of Books and Bicycles write about her first experiences reading the novel Don Quixote and how books that may have been written after Cervantes wrote his masterpiece have influenced her reading of the work. Dorothy writes: I'm fond of this post because it expresses my love of books that talk about books, something that Don Quixote does so very well. Reading and Writing in Don Quixote can be found here.

Submissions for next month's featured posts should be sent to the email address on the sidebar no later than January 5th.

What's your best blog post?

Do you have a favorite blog post you'd like highlighted, maybe one that you'd like others to read or re-read? Just a quick reminder that I'll be posting links to some great blog posts this weekend (see details here). If you'd like to be included, please send me an email by Saturday. I've extended my deadline by a day. I'll post on Sunday evening.

Your post can be funny or serious, long or short, a review of a book or movie, or just a slice of life story. I don't have a timeframe requirement for when you published the post, just that it be something posted on your blog in the past, recent or otherwise.

Please send to an cam jong AT yahoo DOT com.

I already have a couple great posts to feature. Can't wait to read what else you send me!

2 New Things and 3 Beautiful Things (or maybe that's 3 new things....)

Thing One:

One of the things I noticed about NaBloPoMo (yes, I'm still dissecting the experience, but stick with me here for a moment...) is that, while my overall blog traffic was increased for the month, on a daily basis, the number of repeat visitors was down. One reason for this may be that those who were doing NaBloPoMo (or the truly dedicated & hardy writers doing NaNoWriMo) were busy posting, and may not have been reading as many blogs as normal. I had less time to read since I was trying to post everyday. Was that your experience too?

During this time, I did the Blogging Roundtable (which was a great experience for me because 4 interesting bloggers participated). One of the items mentioned was a schedule for reading blogs some days and writing on others. Another point discussed was how one's best writing sometimes doesn't get the number of hits one would expect. Sometimes you can't predict when readers will land on your site; sometimes it isn't because of the writing. So, here is a new thing I would like to do on this blog:

I want to periodically feature posts that the blogger considers a great post. This isn't my evaluation that a post is great -- it is your evaluation that a particular post is great. I'll post a brief descriptive summary of the post & a link to your blog. This is like a blogging carnival, except there is not a common subject to the posts. The only qualification is that it be a post that you'd like to be highlighted for others to read, something that you consider worthy of a wee bit more attention than it may have received already.

Here is what you need to do to be included: Send an email to the address on the sidebar (Please don't leave a link in the comments to this post). Any emails sent before midnight (EST) 12/7 will be included in my post on 12/10. If you want to include a brief sentence or two about why you think this is a great piece, please include that in your email. There are no other rules -- your post can be funny or serious, long or short, a review of a book or movie, or just a slice of life story. I don't have a timeframe requirement for when you published the post, just that it be something posted on your blog in the past, recent or otherwise. If there is enough interest, I will do this on a periodic basis (maybe monthly).

Item the next:

I had a lot of fun with the Blogging Round Table Discussion that I did with Imani, Litlove, Smithereens, and Emily. When I came up with the idea, I hadn't thought through how it might work, how long it should be (I asked too many questions!), the logistics of sending comments amongst the participants. Overall, it was a great experience, and I would like to do it again (sometime after the first of the year). But, before I move forward with another one, I'd like feedback from you about what you'd like to see -- should the format be different? was it too long? did posting it over 3 days make it easier to read? Any topics you'd like to recommend for another one?


Third Item:

I love blog serendipity -- that experience of clicking on a link, which leads to clicking through to another site, which leads to an oh my gosh! this is awesome find. New to me -- but obviously not new as I found many sites doing this -- is this site I found yesterday: Three Beautiful Things. I find this fascinating, and so simple -- list three things that you consider beautiful, things that, as the site explains, "...amaze and delight".

Looking for things of beauty isn't always easy, especially when you have experienced a rotten day. But, recognizing the small things that we take for granted is surely an exercise that overtime could change your perspective on things. Isn't it better than bitching all the time about what is wrong? I know I do that far too often. So, here are 3 beautiful things I noticed today:

Removing the leaves from my koi pond was actually relaxing, despite the cold and blowing winds. The leaves drift slowly through the water as I move the net to capture them. The fish, at first startled by the disturbance of the leaf-blanket covering the pond, are curious for a few minutes, then continue on their graceful laps around the pond, swimming down towards the bottom, weaving in and out between the plants. I think I have a glimmer of understanding of zen gardens.

Occasionally long rambling phone calls with relatives who live across the country can be fun, even if you have to discuss unpleasant family things. Being able to chat, understanding each other enough to know when to make a wry joke, share a bit of black humor, is comforting and eases the distress of the things that aren't so much fun.

Apples on the verge of becoming mushy make great applesauce. I discovered today how easy it is to make: cut up some apples, add a little sugar, juice a lemon, sprinkle in ground cloves, and heat over medium flame for about 20 minutes until they liquefy. Stir about every 5 minutes so that you don't have a mess to scrap off the bottom of the pan. Hot applesauce = great comfort food on a blustery winter afternoon.

Stumbling Across the NaBloPoMo Finish Line

It's Nov 30th. I did it: I posted every day for 1 month. I wasn't sure at the beginning that I could do it, but I did. It may not be that difficult for those who blog nearly daily or daily, but it was a huge leap for me to try.

Topics & Tags:
Tags used once:
Family
Language
Laughter
Religion
Wonder

Tags used twice:
Africa
Art
Food
Memes
Movies
Music
Nature
Nonfiction
Poverty

Thrice-used tags:
Culture
Roundtable
Miscellany
Politics

Tags used five times:
Books
Poetry

Tags used six times:
Life
Writing

Tag used seven times:
Reading

Tag used eight times:
Blogging

New and Different: Roundtable Discussion

Most Difficult: Posts that were more creative writing or stories.

Number of Books Discussed (though not necessarily main topic of post): 4

Number of Photos Posted: 11

Number of Comments: 88

Largest Number of Comments on one post: 17

Most Boring Post/Poorest Excuse for a Post: This one!

Congrats to all who participated in NaBloPoMo and succeeded -- whether you were able to post every day or not.

Have a good weekend everybody!

Editor (Almost) Constantly at Work

My cousin swears that she once saw a sign that read:

Trespassers Will Be Violated

Hmmmm...if that sign was on an empty lot in the middle of nowhere, should the police have been looking for bodies?

Misspellings, poor word choices, incorrect punctuation: you can find examples every day. Sometimes I dislike that I notice these things, especially when what I find distracts me from the message. I want to turn off my internal editor sometimes; I don't want to imagine picking up a pen when I read and drawing bright, red circles around offending errors. In print I don't expect to find such errors. I don't expect to find them in emails and business documents either, but I do. I don't want to rant about lack of spelling and grammar skills, but I do wonder: do people not know, are they careless, or do they just not care? For me, the thought of having a typo as big as a barn door in my writing is anxiety-producing. I don't want anything that I have written and is available to others to read to have mistakes in it.

Now, lest I come off as looking like I think I'm perfect, I must admit that my last post was full of errors. I was nodding off to sleep last night as I wrote my post on Beowulf. I was suffering from that kind of tired where it is impossible to keep an entire thought in your head for the length of one sentence. Random words were typed as if I were using a Ouija board rather than a keyboard. Determined to post because of NaBloPoMo, I reviewed my post with a sleepy proofreading eye. It all made sense to me. Until this morning when I re-read the post. Not only did I find several grammatical errors (I think I've fixed most, but I wouldn't be surprised if more remain), but it was worse than a first draft of anything. Ill-formed, poorly worded, not very interesting. For a blog post, maybe it shouldn't matter too much. But it does to me.

Rereading that post -- and deciding whether I would just hit the delete button -- led me to thinking about this endeavor to try to post everyday for a month. As a writing discipline, it has been good exercise. I've written when I didn't want to. I've written when I didn't think that I had anything to say, only to find that I did. Without a commitment to writing something on a regular schedule, it is too easy to blame Writer's Block and turn off the computer. But, writing something for the sake of simply meeting a quota doesn't support good quality writing. While some people may use their blogs as a personal journal, I like my posts to be a bit more polished than a journal entry. I cringe when I see that I have a typo or other error in my posts, and I tend to labor too much on them. Knowing that someone might read it -- even if it is only a couple dozen people, most of whom I am not likely to meet -- it's difficult for me to post something that has mistakes in it.

The disciplined routine of writing regularly can be beneficial. I'm just not sure that this spot is where I will continue to do so on a daily basis after this month ends. 3 more days to go!

How Blogging Has Impacted My Life:

I need more bookcases!

Yes, stacked 2 or 3 deep!

And, elsewhere, we have stacks like this:

Exhibition Catalogs. As you can see, I acquired my first a looooong time ago....

And then there is the Presidential Biography project going on at Maison Camille. Spouse and a friend are undertaking this reading list -- all of the Presidents. I'm not exactly participating ....yet. But, I have heard details of each of the books read so far. I'm thinking I can jump in & catch up. Sequentially, household meter is at #3, Jefferson. Look closely...too optimistic?

Roundtable: Blogging About Books (Part III)

Blogging about Books

The Roundtable discussion about blogging about books continues below, with Emily, Imani, Litlove, Smithereens, an international panel since these four bloggers live in the US, Canada, England, and France. A full description of their blogs is in Part I. At the end our our discussion, Litlove asked her own questions. You can read those questions and the responses at the end of this post. Also, each blogger has given her recommendations for litblogs to read.

Part I, Books and Blogging is here.
Part II, Writing, Audience and Blogs is here.


Do you write exclusively about books, literature, and writing?

Imani: For the most part. Occasionally I post links to political articles, especially if I'm covering any London Review of Books issue, or something religious if it has to do with Anglicans.

Emily: No.

Litlove: Pretty much, with occasional visits to chez Litlove.

Smithereens: Yes (but some events in my life have an impact on my reading/writing habits)

Cam: Now that you mention it, I think that most people’s life events impact in some way what they choose to read and when. I’d never really considered that before, yet I think your comment must have some universality to it. This is something that I would like to explore in depth sometime. Interesting.

Imani: Ha! How true. If someone knew what types of books I like to read during up or down periods they’d be able to get a good idea of my mood by examining my book lists.


We hear 'death of' laments frequently... the death of newspapers, the death of book reviews, the death of the short story, the death of"readers".... Is blogging a cause or an effect?

Imani: I don't buy into any of the death scares. They are mediocre journalism's tired leavings, faithfully recycled every year.

Emily: My prediction is that newspapers in print form will die. Reference books in print form will die. Biographies, novels, short story collections, poetry, etc. in print form will not die. After all, radio didn't die when television came along. However, radio drama pretty much did. I think the opposite will happen with books. The drama will remain in print, but news and factual information will all be electronic. Readers, I don't think, will die. They have traditionally been a very small part of the population and probably will continue to be so, but they will have many options, I'm hoping, as to the format of the way the written word is presented to them.

Imani: I disagree about reference books dying in the print format. The fact is that no electronic format has rivaled paper in terms of length of storage and “compatibility”. There are too many unknowns with electronic means of data retention for anyone to be sure of that.


Litlove: People have been predicting the death of literature and reading, or at least its terminal decline, since Gutenberg first thought of print as a medium. So I don’t take any of that seriously. It seems to be part of the character of a certain kind of literary critic who particularly admires his (and it always is his) voice in the mode of lament. The simple existence of the extensive book blogosphere proves that reading stories and talking about them is as popular as ever.

Smithereens: I don’t believe in all these laments. French people especially lament all the time; I just don’t listen to them. Bookblogs are a proof that readers care (and exist). Book reviews are worthwhile and read when the reviewer writes it with care. Professional reviewers who, in one hand, despise bloggers for being mere amateurs, while in the other hand, despising authors and just skimming through books have only themselves to blame.

Cam: I can’t help but think that some of the despise of book bloggers is a fear of extinction. Not all agree. I think of Jerome Weeks, of book/daddy, who previously was a newspaper book review editor and now blogs. He certainly doesn’t have that arrogant attitude towards bloggers. Or Frank Wilson, also a book review editor, who blogs at Books, Inc. Their blogs differ significantly (Wilson links to blogs and online articles, Weeks writes extensive posts). Adaptation to the new media on their part. And there are other examples, too. Still, the high-profile negative comments by some print-world reviewers just astound me as they seem to be intent on alienating the very public that are their readers. It’d be like a blogger starting a post with “you’re probably too stupid to understand this, but read it anyway because I know what's good for you”.

Emily: I love the fact that Paul Krugman forced all the NY Times editorials and op-ed pieces to be provided free (used to be online readers had to pay to read them) by taking his discussions out into a blog where the Times could do nothing about it. That’s a great sign to me of the power of those who are more interesting in educating and getting the word out (“saving the world,” maybe, even) and encouraging open dialogue with their audiences than in their own egos and making money. Now, I just wish writers for The New Yorker would do the same.

Litlove: You’re so right! But it’s all the media know how to do – start an argument by making a hugely provocative statement so that people still pay attention to them. Ultimately, however, this kind of strategy will result the in the alienation of its audience. It’s a shame because papers and blogs could easily support one another.


What do you think is the role of literary blogs? Do you think that they have/will have an impact on what people read? on how publishers might market? what gets published?

Imani: I don't look at literary blogs as a monolithic structure that has a self-defined or imposed "role". Lit bloggers are just lots of folks on-line talking about books as the internet medium evolved to accommodate it and similar activity. By themselves they do not have or will have any significant impact on what people read. They do and will continue to add to that accumulative effect in which a reader first sees a book mentioned in the local newspaper, then the magazine they subscribe, then on a favourite blog in their feed -- finally she is persuaded to buy.

I know that publishers have already adjusted their marketing plans to include blogs judging by what I read on the backs of ARCs, or the fact that I and others are offered them in the first place. Dzanc books existence attests to the fact that blogs can have an impact on publishing -- but the important thing to note there is that effect is coming directly from the blogger getting into the business himself.

Litlove: No! But I’m not sure what would be. Tracking hits, I guess , would be better, as well as links.

Smithereens: I’d like to add that this is only for North America (perhaps UK?? I don’t know), but all the websites I visited who have advance readership programs never send books overseas (and I can count on conservative French publishers to be as late as possible to adopt the new trend).

Emily: Literary blogs give people who love books the chance to come together and discuss them. I definitely think they have an impact on what people read. I've been reading all kinds of things this year I never would have if it weren't for literary blogs, and those I know who read literary blogs tell me they've been affected in the same way. Publishers are still trying to figure out what this means for them (and, I'm sure, all wish they had crystal balls). It's also an exciting time for publishers, though, as things change and evolve. What gets published will also be affected. I can imagine popular lit bloggers being paid to review book proposals for major publishing companies, as well as being paid to review published books.

Cam: Being a consumer of the industry, not in the publishing industry, I never really thought about bloggers being book proposal reviewers. But, it makes sense to listen to your market, doesn’t it? Interesting though that you indicate ‘popular litbloggers’ being approached to do this.

Emily: Cam, that’s because I’m realistic enough to know that publishing companies care more about the bottom line than anything else, so they’ll go for what they think will help them sell, i.e. “popular litbloggers.”

Cam: Which leads me to another question: there is so much out there that is good, but not all of it is popular. How does one determine what is/isn’t popular? A lot of ranking systems seem to be based solely on links to/from, and not readership. Is this the best way of determining the strength of a blog?

Imani: Well there’s Alexa in which you can actually measure traffic to and from the site, rather than links which, I agree, is not an effective measure. I read quite a few more litblogs than I actually link to in my blogroll. I think the most popular method is to assess how many unique daily visitors over a particular day.

Emily: I don’t think it is, but it’s probably the only way unimaginative corporations will be able to figure out how to judge the strength of a blog. After all, I’m sure horrible blogs about stupid people get far more hits than many of the terrific blogs out there, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anyone should be paying attention to what they have to say. My guess is that publishing companies will judge by numbers of hits and then have someone who does some sort of “authority control” with justifications for using certain blogs. It’s like the print review media. Many, many fantastic books never get reviewed, because they’re written by midlist authors, and publishing companies aren’t willing to buy out the review media to “pay” for reviews of these books. Yes, I hate to disillusion you, but publishing companies do this sort of thing. That, however, is a way blogs can help midlist authors. Bloggers can review books that the publishers aren’t bothering to push as hard to the review media.

Litlove: I don’t think that they will have so much of an impact on the external publishing market because the internet becomes a form of publishing in itself. I think the community will only grow and become more diverse, and that increasingly people who write experimentally and who enjoy the less commercial forms of literature, like the essay and literary criticism, will turn to it ever more frequently. I see it more as a space in which uncommercial voices can be kept alive and nurtured, and that can only be good.

Emily: Litlove, I completely agree that this is where those coming for essay and literary criticism will be coming in the future. The animal known as the “academic monograph” has all but disappeared from those companies that used to publish them.

Smithereens: If we assign any definite role to literary blogs, it will become stifling. Other lit-blogs do have an impact on what I read, at least. I have become much more open to different books, and even got back to classics I’d never thought I’d dare try. But lit-blogs are far away from the market and I’m not sure publishers can “use” them to guess what manuscript in their pile will be a success.

Cam: I agree. They are too diffuse to be able to predict market trends. But I think that more publishers are aware of bloggers and trying to get their books in front of bloggers for reviewing. I don’t have a ‘high traffic’ blog by any accounting, so I’m surprised when I get the occasional offer of an ARC.

Smithereens: I had a small publisher commenting on a book I reviewed that was on its list, and the translator of another who visited too. I find this nice, because it’s really a dialogue between both ends of the market, something that didn’t exist before.


Is book reviewing a skill that must be mastered? Is the "opinion of the masses" (or "the democracy of idiots" as I heard one charge recently) that is part of the internet phenomena killing the idea of a 'review' or 'criticism'?

Imani: If your aim is to provide formal, professional book reviews, even if it's just on your blog, then it's worthwhile to put some effort into it. As I previously said, I see my blog as a mixture of reading journal, notebook and scrap book; I write about a book in whatever form I can manage, and I consider few of my labeled "review" posts to actually fit the term, but I admit it on my site.

I don't think that litblogging is "killing" the idea of book reviews and criticism -- this assumes that all or most litbloggers engage in the activity to do reviews/criticism. But really, the majority of book buyers and readers don't even read blogs or reviews. The smaller subset of that group who do, have the wit to assess what each entity's intentions is, be it newspaper editor, or retiree librarian on wordpress. If anything is "killing the idea of a 'review'" it is the mediocre book journalism that the major national papers in USA & Canada trot out every week.

Cam: Maybe the question that book review sections of newspapers should be asking isn’t whether it is profitable, but what book blogs offer that the newspapers don’t. I think the answers include variety in opinions and in types of books discussed.

Imani: And the potential to engage directly with them, even if the change is never taken up. It’s clear from recent articles that for many book critics the idea of interacting directly with their readership is akin to mingling with a lower caste.

Emily: One of the answers to that question, of course, is that litbloggers are posting about more than just books that are being released this season by the publishers. You can read about books written in any century.


Emily: If book reviewing is a skill that must be mastered, I don't know why so many teachers assigned so many book reviews when I was a student, unless they were training us all to be book reviewers. Many, many who are well-read and passionate about books can write good book reviews. There are only so many professional book review spots available, and (as with any other job), just because someone happens to land one of those spots, does not necessarily make him or her a better book reviewer than someone who pursues a different career path or someone who tried and was turned down for that position. I'm convinced that the internet is just like everything else in society: there are television shows that cater to the "democracy of idiots" and those that cater to people who are looking for more, just as there are books and movies that cater to the "democracy of idiots" and to those who are looking for more. I'm not at all interested in reading blogs devoted entirely to someone like Paris Hilton, so I don't read them. Mostly, I read litblogs and cooking blogs. I imagine others do the same.

Litlove: Book reviewing, like all kinds of writing, is about how well you write. Yes, it’s a skill like any other, but it’s one that anyone can do, and one for which there are no definitive rules, no matter what journalists like to claim. I’ve seen it done every which way, and the more original the voice, the more perceptive and entertaining and reasonable the opinions, the more I like it. I particularly detest the kind of review that is all about making the reviewer look clever, generally identifiable by the amount of sneering it involves. Those pages I use to line cat litter trays.

Emily: Litlove, oh yes, I really hate to read “look-how-clever-I-am” reviews. Funny (isn’t it?) how they often seem to be written by mediocre, published authors whose books are also written with a similar sort of smug pride.

Smithereens: I don’t think professional reviewers in newspapers are the appointed guardians and judges of literary quality. In France, we have a bunch of self-important journalists/reviewers who write book reviews without any “qualification”. So I find their opinion just as good as anyone else’s. I can find all kinds of reviews interesting, as long as it isn’t limited to “I like it/ it’s crap”. A review is always subjective, but when someone has an extensive knowledge of literature, I stop and listen to their personal impression. But literary criticism (in the academic sense) demands, in my opinion, a specific knowledge and can’t be done on the internet by anyone.

Emily: Smithereens, I agree that literary criticism is something different, but I disagree that it can’t be done on the internet, especially since academic publishers are beginning to disappear, and more and more academic journals are right now publishing simultaneously in print and online. I expect they will one day move online exclusively, which means they won’t have the constraints of the printing costs incurred from number of pages printed and will be able to publish more articles with each issue. Those who used to go to publishers with dissertations can now self-publish and get immediate peer review through emails and comments without the help(or hindrance, as the case may have been) of publishers. Ultimately, I’m convinced this will be good for the consumer, because there will no longer be editorial teams making decisions about what does and doesn’t need to be published (still based on the bottom line). Thus, if someone is researching some really esoteric topic that a commercial publisher would deny publication, because it wouldn’t make money, he or she will still be able to find what, thirty years ago, never would have been published, because someone else who maybe did research on it five years ago didn’t have to go to a publisher to get his/her research out there for all to access.

Imani: I would disagree. There are a number of literary academics blogging online and sharing their expertise. The Valve is the most obvious example of this. The Little Professor is another.

Smithereens: Just to clarify my point, I didn't mean that the internet wasn't a good vehicle for academic journals, but that writing literary criticism needs some specific skills that not just anyone can improvise.

Cam: I saw an interview on CSPAN recently (I wish I had made note of the critic/paper, but I didn’t). The comment was the bloggers were unqualified. I had wished that the interviewer had asked what qualifications a print journalist needs to review a book. This man was about my age and likely attended college around the same time I did. I studied English and Journalism and I don’t think that book reviewing – as it exists in the print media in the US today – was ever covered in either. In fact, the common derisive comment in J classes was that one's writing was ‘English Lit” if you wanted to write on any topic considered too ‘arty’.

Imani: I don’t adhere to it, but yes that could be classified as a blog convention. It only detracts from a review in which discussion of a spoiler isn’t necessary, but is only part of a long plot synopsis with little to no analysis. I think Litlove gave the best definition of what literary criticism is, btw.


Would you differentiate between a 'review' and 'criticism'. If so, how?

Emily: It depends what source you're reading, because I think sometimes different journals confuse the two. Criticism, however, to me, indicates something academic: thorough research and a solid knowledge of either the author (fiction) or the subject (nonfiction), as well as something that's quite lengthy, often even book-length. Reviews I think of as resources for helping readers make decisions about whether or not to buy/read a book, and I think of them as being much shorter.

Litlove: Yes, I certainly would. Literary criticism is not about making a value judgment. A literary critic might hate the book he or she has just read, but their job is to show how it creates its effects, how it explores its themes, how it fits into its genre and historical context; whether they liked it or not is irrelevant. A review is based on an individual opinion about the amount of pleasure a book gives a reader, although it might contain elements of literary criticism.

Smithereens: Criticism is, in my opinion, an academic analysis of a book in the light of theory. Review is a lighter exercise, a subjective opinion of a book.

Imani: I would, although I use these definitions for purely personal use and am a bit unsure how they would stand on their own. For me, book reviews are shorter, more conventionally written assessments of a book's merits; you keep to the book for the most part. Literary criticism is intentionally longer and more insightful, able to place the work more clearly in author's overall output, in the current state of literature. "Spoilers" may abound because it's a less promotional form of prose.

Cam: Spoilers. Sylvia at Classical Bookworm posted recently on spoilers, suggesting that revealing plots was a no-no. Like Syliva, I don’t think that I agree. Is this one of those ‘standards’ mentioned earlier: that you shouldn’t reveal plots without posting a warning message? I hadn’t realized that it was. Do you think that detracts in any way from the function of a review?

Imani: I don’t adhere to it, but yes that could be classified as a blog convention. It only detracts from a review in which discussion of a spoiler isn’t necessary, but is only part of a long plot synopsis with little to no analysis. I think Litlove gave the best definition of what literary criticism is, btw.

Smithereens: I warn before writing spoilers -- out of respect for the readers, because some like it and others don’t. I wouldn’t really intentionally keep the suspense because I’m not in the business of selling the book to others, as some journalists do.

Emily: Good question, Cam. When people warn me about a spoiler on a blog, I don’t mind at all. Sometimes it’s absolutely necessary in order to really discuss what did or didn’t work in a book. However, I get so upset with book review media when they include a spoiler with no warning. I pretty much won’t read reviews of the latest books by authors I love until I’ve read the book, because I don’t want anything given away before I can read it (I was so mad with the NY Times when they revealed who’d been responsible for Own Meaney’s father’s death in their book review. To me, that was such a big part of the book and never should have been revealed for those who hadn’t read it, which I had by the time I read the review, but it still made me mad).


Litlove Poses Her Own Questions to the participants:

Litlove: Imani, forget that you are SO young! I was wondering how pressurised you felt when blogging to be clever or smart or meaningful in what you say, or whether blogging was instead the place where you could relax. I remember being a graduate student and comparing my writing relentlessly with every form of published discourse on the planet! It's where one forges a writing style whilst both admiring other critics and somehow taking them on at the same time, and I wondered how blog writing fed into that or resisted it. Of course, your experience could be completely different to mine.

Imani: Oh litlove, that's so reassuring. You've described exactly how I feel, never mind the agonizing over my inferiority. I *try* to keep my blog a venue for relaxed musings but I admit that every other time I write about a book I'm distressed that it doesn't read like the ones in Time Literary Supplement. I am rarely satisfied with the final product (but if I waited until I was I would probably blog about once a month). It is of no use to remind me that the TLS writers are twice as old with a million degrees and decades of experience. I would say that my blog feeds into and resists it at the same time. The fact is that I don't and wouldn't want to approach books in an academic fashion but I'm also working under the assumption that that's exactly what one should aspire to. In the end I try to say something *meaningful* when it's warranted; I have no flair for the sort of cleverness that other grad student blogs seem to admire, so it would be no use to try.

Litlove: Emily, I wondered to what extent you felt that you constructed a Persona when blogging. So much of what you write is personal, and yet I feel the extent to which you edit and hold back in certain circumstances (and quite fair enough). But I wondered whether you felt the Emily of the blog was a kind of idealised version of yourself. I often feel that way about Litlove!

Emily: It's a very interesting question and one I've thought about a lot. It may be something friends and family members can answer better than I can. I tend to think I have created a persona or an idealized version of myself, because the Emily of my blog is funnier than I think of myself being in real life, and she doesn't worry as much, isn't constantly concerned she might be hurting someone else's feelings (although there's a little bit of that), and seems to handle everything that comes her way with a sense of humor, which I know I don't do. I think that's why when life gets really tough for me (like during the move and while dealing with the crisis of my nieces' accident), I find it very hard to blog. It's difficult to keep up the persona. On the other hand, that may have more to do with never wanting to be too emotional with strangers than with a real change in persona. Also, I often find myself turning all kinds of things I'm saying to people in real life into blog posts without changing what I originally said much, so sometimes I think there's much, much more of me, parts of me that I just can't help being no matter what the forum, reflected in my blog than I realize (for instance, maybe I really AM that funny, even in real life). I'd be really curious to see what people think who've met me first through my blog and now know me in person (like Hobs and Dorr). People who knew me first, I think, tend to read my blog with my voice and to see the Emily they already know.

Litlove: Smithereens, do you notice a difference between European styles of book analysis and American ones? Only I think I do and I wondered if you'd agree. I find American bloggers less concerned (on the whole) with the historical context of what they are reading, and more likely (on the whole) to judge classics by modern day standards. I've read elsewhere a purported difference between French and Anglo-American critics is that the latter take the book as an object of analysis, to be taken apart, whereas the French school was more interested in following alongside the writing and producing more of an explication du texte. I just wondered what you thought about cultural differences in literary appreciation.

Smithereens: As for Litlove question, it was both difficult and interesting! Here's my answer: I do agree of your comparison between Europeans and Americans. There is obviously a difference between French reviewers and Anglo-American ones, because I don’t really like the French ones while I read the others with pleasure, but to me it’s very difficult to define this difference. My attempt: French reviewers’ tone (in newspapers, radio talk shows like Le Monde, Libération, Les Inrocks, Le masque et la plume) is often quite aggressively judgmental and ad hominem (think Michiko Kakutani going personal…). Also the author’s intention is very important to French reviewers, even more than the result I think. The books are often viewed in the light of how innovative (on structure, form, themes) they are, compared to other recent ones, rather than judging whether readers will be moved, pleased, shocked…

Litlove: Cam, I think there was quite a measure of agreement between all our answers. Did you expect that or did you think we would disagree more? We're an international crew, but all women. I wonder if a man would answer differently?

Cam: I really didn't know what to expect with this. Even at the beginning, I didn't know whether to expect that anyone would want to participate. The similarity in answers to some of the questions doesn't surprise me at all, in retrospect. Although all of your blogs are different, I think that the general interests, tone and quality are similar and therefore it shouldn't be surprising. For example, I don't think that any of you are ever rude to readers or fellow bloggers. But, there are some bloggers who can't disagree with someone without resorting to ad hominem attacks. Do I think that a man would reply differently? I'm not at all sure. Maybe in a general sense, yes. But like the simirlities in your responses, I think that if my participants were limited to those who read my invite on my blog, all would answer similarly regardless of gender. Interestingly, I have frequently had people assume that 'Cam' is a man -- that both puzzles and amuses me. I could go on & on about that.....maybe I'll save it for a post sometime. :)


Summary:

Book blogs: Good? or Bad?
Imani: Good
Emily: Very, very good.
Litlove: But good, of course!
Smithereens: Good of course!

Critical Reviews in old media: Goodbye & good riddance? or We will miss you?
Imani: The second one. Better predictable book blather than nothing at all. I would sincerely miss literary magazines.
Emily: We will miss you (but I'm not really sure they're going away).
Litlove: The more publicity for books and reading the better – there’s room in the world for us all.
Smithereens: Depend on the reviewer…

The blogging form: Here to stay? A flash-in-the-pan fad? Still evolving?
Imani: Can I choose two? Here to stay and still evolving.
Emily: Here to stay and still evolving.
Litlove: Here to stay, certainly, and still evolving.
Smithereens: I’d say "Here to stay!"


Who are some of the blogs you would recommend to a new blog reader interested in reading about literature, writing, reading.... (besides the participants in this roundtable).

Imani:
It would depend on their reading tastes.

For romance readers I would suggest:
Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Books
Dear Author
Paperback Reader

For the more speculative I'd send them:
The Mumpsimus
Torque Control

For those who like historicals:
A Work in Progress

For those whose tastes cover mass markets to classics:
Superfast Reader

And for those of a more "literary"/academic inclination:
The Reading Experience
The Sharp Side
The Little Professor

For book news I'd suggest:
The Literary Saloon
Laila Lalami
The Elegant Variation

Emily:
Bloglily
Of Books and Bicycles
The Hobgoblin of Little Minds
So Many Books
A Striped Armchair
Ian’s Blog II
The Public, the Private, and Everything Inbetween
Charlotte's Web
Musings from the Sofa
The Library Ladder
Make Tea Not War
Mandarine (who doesn't write much about literature, writing, or reading but anyone interested in such things should be reading him anyway)

Litlove:
For intelligent debate:
The Reading Experience

For adding to one's reading list:
A Work in Progress

For a bit of everything:
So Many Books

For Community Projects:
The Hidden Side of a Leaf

Smithereens:
Of Books and Bicycles
Eve’s Alexandria
Reading Matters



Cam: I hope you have enjoyed reading what these four bloggers have had to say. Want to continue the conversation? Please do so in the comments.