Prezintly, I Have a Few Questions

                No, that was not a misspelling. This class has made me increasingly intrigued about how I, as a writer, could help to lead this progression of Book Culture for the publisher. I’ve spent hours at times reeling in the idea of a progressive reading context. Not just eBooks - in the world I was picturing they would be the “slow” technology like hardback books are being looked at more and more today. In the world I imagine a couple different options.

            First will come the eBooks that have sound bites and YouTube clips filtered in. Kindle will have to adapt their technology a little bit, but these kinds of books could be available on iPad even tomorrow if they have been written. The sound bite idea has always made me think of Leap Frog or those rather corny audio books (not all of them are corny – usually it’s mainly the books written for children or the very young adults in their pre-teens or early teens), but now I’ve taken to imagining memes or YouTube clips that accentuate parts of the story. I never thought I’d be saying that’d be a cool idea, but I see it as like YouTube was for the film world.

            Ok, but we’ve heard this idea before. What about something that’s a little different? What about text that literally moves with the reader? No, not a video like text that is read to the reader, but literally text that moves to excite the right energy for the right parts of the story. This idea sprang from hearing about  a story that was partly written in PowerPoint and how it affected the presentation of the information and added to the story being told. Recently I’ve been thinking about the energy contained within a Prezi and the energy it creates. So, here’s my thought – what if the story was written in a Prezi (for now, though it might actually be better as a video later) and the way the words were written (how they were placed, if they were zoomed into, if they were placed within other words, etc.) would create the meaning. This idea was further birthed from the idea of the narrative poem. In the time of Homer, these giant narrative stories were written in poetic form, but the epic poem has in some ways died as something to aim for and conquer. Some forms of poetry focus on the placement of the words and what that can mean. This PreziBook would be a way to marry this concept of poetry and the narrative – an epic poem of this technologically advanced day and age.

            This summer I plan to embark on this journey already taken by Homer, Virgil, Shakespeare, and others, and while I don’t hold that mine shall be anywhere as glorious I do hope to grasp the future and experience a new creative experience. Who knows? Maybe it could become my thing? My art? My special mark on the world?

I've Wandered For So Many Years

This may be a strange, strange situation, but sometimes I am extremely distracted while reading. This happens more often than I'd like to admit. There will be absolutely nothing to distract me, but there I'll be thinking about what's for dinner, or who I might talk to, or the societal structure of ducks, or on occasion how certain words came to be. I'm not quite sure what to do about it, but I know it happens. Sometimes I blame the reading material - "It was too dry," "Nothing to hold my attention," "I have to get through it for class" - but honestly that's probably not the truth. Don't get me wrong - for some of the pieces that is precisely part of what is going on. But for most readings, it is not the case. 

What is frustrating about it is that it is hardly time efficient. For a girl who has a lot on her plate, it makes it just a little harder to keep things from slipping off. Sometimes during the semester there would be hints of mashed potatoes plopping to the floor or some poorly barricaded peas that would cascade in a suicidal attempt to flee from the swaying plate that held them. These reading casualties can be partly attributed to this difficulty. For many stories and independent pages, I have to read them several times in order to actually read them. 

Let me explain: The first read sometimes would have the best of intentions and then come to a word that started with a "gr-." Instantly my mind would jump to the thought that my stomach was "gr"owling, which led to what to feed it, which led to what would take place while I was making that, which would lead to having to do dishes, which would lead to making a list of all the chores I hate doing (dishes being one of them), which would lead to when was the last time I vacuumed the apartment, which leads to my roommates, which leads to..., which leads to..., which leads to.... END OF PAGE. Uh-oh. I realize at this point generally that while my eyes have read every word, my brain has ... not.

If at first you don't succeed- try, try again. So, I do. This time I want to make sure I get every word, so I chant to myself: "Focus. Focus. Focus," which turns into "Car. Camera. Photo," which leads me down yet another rabbit hole. END OF PAGE. This time there is not uh-oh. There is only frustration and anger. My inner self chews me out to let me know I can do better. 

So, I try, try again, again and find that my finger following down the words is distracting. I thought it would help me focus on individual words, so I could concentrate on the message, but now I'm just focused on hitting every word at the same time and so I'm not taking it in again.

I think to myself, "Get your act together. Sure, you'll sound a little crazy, but go ahead and read it out loud if that will help." So I try that and the idea that I'm reading it out loud is distracting because of self-conscious factors and how my voice sounds. 

At some point, you throw in the towel and decide, "Tonight's not the night to read. Maybe tomorrow." While this does not happen all the time, it has happened to me before. I know this is a weird topic to openly talk about, but I know I can't be the only one that inadvertently thinks of other things as she reads. I'm an avid reader, but sometimes my head has other ideas. Try as I might, there's no going against that. So, I write this not for self-benefit or self-appreciation, but for those handful of people who feel the same and struggling with the difference.

Second Half of the Interview with Michael Sherrod (See Allana Wooley's Blog for Part 1)

R: Ok, so we’ve heard a lot about some of the changes and innovations that you have been a part of, what are your forecasts for the future? What do you think’s coming? A lot of these things have happened in just the past few years.

M: I’ll give you another example of something else they didn’t want to do that someone picked up on. So, we had a thing at AOL, an actual digital city called Local Experts where people could make comments about local businesses – they could write in what they thought about the restaurants, hair dressers, or whatever. What does that sound like?

A: Yellow pages?

R: What’s that one with the lady’s name?

M: Sounds like Yelp.

R: Oh.

M: But Yelp was the one that took that idea and made it actually work. AOL shut it down after less than a year because they were afraid of liability – afraid they’d get sued a lot by local restaurants and businesses. So, a lot of things that were new back then got refurbished when there was more band width, when there was more interest in social media, and that sort of thing. But it took time. It took time for a certain amount of awareness about social media and how it worked and developed. It took younger people coming on and review what it had to do. I mean, a lot of things had to happen to make that work. And sometimes you may have a great idea, but the world and the company just isn’t ready for that yet. That’s one of the problems that I’ve had in the past – a lot of my ideas were just too far ahead. You have to learn how to do things that aren’t too far, but far enough that you don’t get caught up in a lot of competition.

R: I wonder with publishing specifically, I know that we’ve talked in class a lot about interactive reading now and where eBooks are giving us the ability to have some…

A: where you can read a passage and share that with your friends…

R: or music…

M: What a lot of people don’t realize is – all an eBook is is a website. Literally, it’s written in ePub, or XML5. It can do anything a website can do. So, inside that eBook you can do anything you can do in a website. You can have eCommerce, you can have videos, you can have sharing, you can – whatever. It can do anything inside an ePub or XML5 eBook that you can do on a website. The only problem is download time. If you want to have it stuffed full of stuff it may take you 10 minutes to download it as opposed to a few seconds if it was just text. So that’s the next problem people are trying to figure out – how to stuff it full of all of these enhancements and it not take 20 minutes to download.

R: do you think people want that?

M: So far, no. One of the things I think is happening is when you look at the people who really read books – like people who read Good Reads – they read 79% of the books that are sold. Because they read so many each year. So those are true avid readers. And what avid readers want – they don’t want a movie in a book. They don’t want a whole lot of extraneous BS in their book. What they are looking for is the feeling they get when they read a book: the sense of intimacy that you get with the characters, the great story art that is going on in the book and the story fades away and you see it all in your mind. That’s part of the experience that an enhanced book doesn’t give you because it is giving you how the characters look. You don’t necessarily want that. You want to see them in your mind based on what you are reading and what the author said. And I think there is a psychological thing about being in a book, and being really interested in a book, you don’t want those distractions. Now that may change over time as people who are digital natives, who’ve grown up with that kind of thing, begin to read more and more, but I think for people who grew up with books in some part of their life – and not even all of it – still want that private, intimate experience of reading a book. So, I think it’s going to be a while before highly enhanced books become the style or become what people expect or want. Now some books you want that – like if I was reading a book about fly fishing. Now I’d want that so I could watch somebody do it, I could zoom in and see what they were doing, so I could learn how to tie a fly.

R: Like How-To Books.

A: And Non-fiction and informational.

M: Exactly, and how-to books.

R: That would be cool so you could have Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech and watch it while you’re reading.

M: Exactly.

R: Then I wouldn’t hate that but fiction, I would be enraged.

M: Yeah, fiction is the area that sells most in eBooks by a long shot. eBooks aren’t selling as well in other categories. I mean not so much that they are taking over the book sales like they have in literature.

A: Do you think that shift will be made to eBooks being used for things that are informational?

M: Well, I think you have to be careful about the term “book” when you get into things like that. It’s really not a book anymore. It’s really just content that’s in a container. WE call it a book to give it a sense of what it is, but eventually books will be a much more integrated and immersing experience. They’ll become much more like entertainments. Which is why I think there will always be the book for that private moment, but I do believe we’ll get to the point where you’ll put something on and the book will come to life for you. Like a visor or glasses where the book is actually played out and there’s text and there’s movies and there’s connection with other people. I think we’re eventually going to get to that.

R: Like a hologram ring that you could sit in the middle of and it could be going on all around you.

M: Those things could happen, but they are very expensive now. So, first they’ll be for the very wealthy and then the price will come down and then they’ll be mass entertainments where the people will go together and the audience will partake and be part of the movie or be part of the book.

A: Fahrenheit 451.

M: That kind of stuff is definitely gonna happen. How or what form they use to do it – we’ll see who actually makes that happen. It’s going to be really interesting. And I think that there will be massive changes in the workplace overtime based on media and gaming backgrounds. Because when you think about it, as it becomes easier to connect with people all over the world and companies figure out how to manage people who are dispersed all over the world, I think a big part of the productivity around that management is going to have to use social media and gaming platforms, so that you can create a marketing team of people who are in 50 different countries but who can work together as part of the game environment to create a marketing plan and have all of this data coming in that they need. The gaming platform will give them the structure that they need to work together as a team for an objective, and the social media platform will be there as a way to sort and contain the data.

A: Right now you think the books will still be there for the personal, private moments, but publishers are having problems being able to afford the printing of them. Do you think books that you hold will go?

M: No, I don’t think those kind of books will ever go away because there will always be people who are willing to – at some point they are going to be rare and very valuable. They will become a very high-end symbol of status.

A: So, they will be retrograded to when they first came out?

M: The nobleman in the village who’s got 5 books in the library and it’s worth everything. It’s all the 

knowledge in the world at that time.

R: Life really does cycle.

M: That’s right. So there will always be people who collect old books. There will always be people who will want to have the finest possible bindings and the most beautiful books. There will be companies arise – there are already companies who are doing this. Crack and Opus is one. They are creating books that cost $40,000-$50,000, and they are selling them off for a quarter of a million to a million dollars, because they are very limited editions, absolutely gorgeously printed on 64 color presses in China, paper that is (*kiss sound*) to die for, and the design is beautiful, it’s all original. And they’ll do things like Dallas Cowboys, or the SuperBowl and have every Super Bowl MVP sign 50 copies of the book. Or they’ll do Manchester United – they’ll do the same thing. The book will be $40,000 - $50000 - $60000 for a single book. And they are this wide, and this tall, and weigh 40 pounds.

A: And they turn a profit?

M: Yeah. They are doing one of the Vatican…You name it and they’re picking topics and creating these books. So, that’s the kind of thing that you’ll see happen as wealthy people. Everyone can have one of these now (iPhone) and the world is at your fingertips. Being able to have a book that you could leaf through at some point? Very cool.

A: That’s such a turn from even 10 years ago.

M: Yeah, there will always be a place for that. And the other thing that will happen will be people who actually have the time and leisure to read a book. That will become more and more rare, so that will be a symbol of your status as well. Oh, yes. “I read this book in print over 4 hours.” How can you do that? You must be really rich. Those are the kind of things I think will happen. Not in the next few years, but down the road a ways.

A: Ok, so time and leisure are going away. In China they have these cell phone novels that you subscribe and every day they send you a chapter. Do you think that will become more popular here?

M: Those are very popular in China. Well, you know that’s an old, old model. That was used way back in Dicken’s day.

A: Yeah, subscriptions. Three Musketeers…

M: So, the subscription model works extremely well in China because it is much easier in China to use your phone and make payments than it is here. They are so far ahead of us in China, Japan, and Europe too with cell phone technology. Did you know that in Japan you can walking down the street with this and you get a text from the competitor saying, “Hey, we’ve got a much better deal for you. And we’ve got all these new characters that you can use in your stuff blah blah blah. If you want our service, sign up.” All you have to do is click yes, and they change everything and you are now one of their customers. We just don’t have that here because the telecom companies have lobbied Congress to not allow that kind of stuff to happen. They want to keep competition down as low as they possibly can. But in Japan and China, no. You can just change it with the touch of a button. Europe is similar too. So, it is much easier for them to pay for that as they need it or want it. That model has not taken off in the US, it hasn’t got much traction. A lot of people are trying it. A lot of people think it’s going to happen. One of the ways they are doing it is selling a lot of books by chapter. So, what they’ll do is break the book up and make a URL out of every page. So, essentially each one will have a unique designator for the web, and they’ll SEO it, on each one of those URLs and then when people search the web or Google, they hope that topic, that page will come up and when they go to that page and look at it, it’ll give them an offer to buy that chapter or some piece of it for $0.99 or $3 or whatever it may be for the chapter. And they’re hoping that that is a way that you can take a book and sort of dis-aggregate it. But I don’t know if that’s gonna work or not.

A: And that’s more for nonfiction where you would only need a chapter?

M: Mostly for nonfiction. That’s as close to anything we have that’s like a subscription service in the United States that I’m aware of. There are people who’ve tried it in the past and did not have much success yet that I’ve heard of. The closest anyone has come is Huddle where they prepackage deals with game companies and book publishing companies for a 30 book package that you can buy for $30 or $40 or some really reduced price and then they advertise it across the web to all of their users. That’s been popular, but that’s not a subscription model, that’s just a big discount bundle. Bundling has became kind of popular. But not subscription in the US. There is a Chinese company that claims they are bringing their subscription model to the US. I haven’t seen it arrive yet, but I just don’t see it happening here. People want it now. They don’t want to wait a week for the next installment.

A: We do have a lot of YouTube channels. I just got finished watching one it was the Lizzie Bennett diaries and it would come out every Monday and Thursday. And you subscribe to this channel – and it’s free, of course – but you have to wait until the time. And even though I could have just sat there and watched the whole thing at once. So I think there are different media…

M: Well I think the subscription model for media is much more likely to happen than for books. We’re much more used to that. We’re used to paying the cable company, the game company, whatever. So I think that if you’re a member of WOW you pay at a monthly basis. So that’s a model that much more amenable to the American culture because we’re more broadcast or video oriented than we are print oriented. So I think that the model has a lot more opportunity there than it does anywhere else. And I think that subscription model videos are becoming a big deal. A lot of people are jumping into that marketplace.

A: If you were to start any of your magazines like Texas West or the Odessa today, how you do it differently with technology where it is?

M: Well, I wouldn’t start a local publication. That’s really hard. In fact, if I were to start a local population it would be on the web but it would be a monthly magazine and there would be a lot on the web. It would be about day-to-day money issues, pocket book issues – this new road’s going in, it’s going to make it hard for the businesses, these companies are coming to town, these new restaurants have opened, this new freeway is coming and is going to mess up your commute, if you’re coming from Weatherford: it’s going to be bad, if you’re going to Dallas: it’s going to take an extra 30 minutes. Anything that effects your life and your pocketbook or how you navigate the city with your kids. It would be hyper-local, but it would be about money, about how-to get the most out of your city. It would go out once a month and be on the web as well. And that’s a tough model, but I think that’s the best model for print. If you’re going to do print, that’s the only way to succeed right now. If I were going to start a magazine now, I’d start a national-based magazine and put it on the web. The hard part about doing any of this is finding the audience. Anyone can publish anything, but finding the audience is the really hard part, which is why I would not start a magazine. But if I did I would do it on a national basis so I’d at least have a good shot of bringing together a lot of people from a lot of different areas of the country to create a large enough audience to interest advertisers, and it would be on a pretty narrow topic, so I could get to that niche quickly that no one else was in, and bring enough people to it to bring interest from advertisers, OR I’d not have any advertising in it and sell it under a subscription basis only – like Cook’s magazine or the Sun. Both of those are very successful magazines and take on no advertisers.  The Sun is the most successful non-advertising magazines by a mile.

R: I believe you said you were a journalism major in school – With that, looking at what your experience has been going through your career and working with the business side of books, would you have changed your major or done something more business related? Or, how has your liberal arts major affected your career?

M: I wouldn’t give up my liberal arts background for anything, because I think that has been a huge part of what has made me successful. I know a business degree would not have helped me that much; all it would have done is given me a head-start on accounting issues. Everything else, if you’re a reasonably smart person you can figure out. But the reason I value my undergrad education so much (Great Books Program) is it taught me how to think, it taught me how to look at data – a lot of data – and how to synthesize it, and how to pull out what was most relevant to what I needed. That is probably the single greatest skill I have as an entrepreneur, or even as a business person – the ability to look at a lot of data and data points that exist around companies, people, businesses, or trends and very quickly see what is most salient and turn that into leverage-able things very quickly. I can almost give you step by step how learning how to read carefully and think carefully about ideas and philosophies and how people were creating these ideas and how those ideas from their origination from today got changed and modified and either made better or worse by the people who picked up on those ideas. Knowing how to look, analyze it, understand it – I think that’s the single most important thing I did. There’s nothing in the business school that teaches you how to do that. I encourage my business students to read, read, read, read, read, and every entrepreneur that I bring in – without prompting – says read everything you can get your hands on. And not just about your own business, but about everything. Because you have to have an eclectic interest about what is going on in the world. Not just politically and financially, but culturally – what’s happening in movies, music, literature, business, design, the art world. So you have a sense of what’s going on in science and culture, so you can have an alignment with it that allows you to think – so this is what allows this to work in this cultural context. Because if you don’t have that – you can come up with all kinds of idea, but if they don’t fit the culture and the context of the time, they are not going to work. So you have to think like that, or you have to think like: “Well, I know if I produce a high-end book that it’s going to become more valuable over time, and people who are wealthy are going to want those as symbols of their success.” So you have to think forward and retrograde at the same time. I think that business is one of the single most creative things you can do, because – and this is why I think business majors should start most businesses – if business majors started most businesses all the businesses would be in deep trouble. Because really, they think about the shareholder, they think about money, we need people who think about the passion of what they do, the love behind what they do, the desire to help people understand music, dance, art, engineering, or whatever it may be – they are in that to create a better product for their customers. They are not in it to make a lot of money. IF we lose that, we lose the soul of business, and the small business person is critical to the U.S. Even more critical to the United States, because now if you look at the largest companies in the United States, they really aren’t companies of the United States, they are worldwide companies. They don’t have any allegiance to the United States anymore. 40% of their profits sit somewhere else – they don’t re-patriate them, because they’d have to pay taxes on them. Better to be kept out there, be taxed where they are, and not bring them back to the United States. More and more these companies – and this is one of the reasons I think Wall Street is problematic, because they don’t care about the United States. They’re allegiance is only to money. So as a result, back in the ‘30s the President could go to the business leaders and say the country needs your help – you need to hire people now. And they would actually do that and hire people and lose money, or not make as much money, so people could have jobs. Today, they’d laugh in the president’s face. There’s no way. They’re going to choose the labor in China, because “it’s best for our shareholders.”

R: Whatever the most efficient way is that can make you the most money, that’s the path that they take.

M: The small business person becomes ever more important to maintaining our cultural ties, in ways that a lot of people don’t understand yet.

R: What is a key value or take away that you get from working on the business side of the publishing and writing industry? What makes you get up every day and do it?

M: I freaking love it. If you look at my background, it’s been about books from day one. Reading them, publishing them, writing them – I love everything about the business whether it’s newspapers, magazines, books – I especially love books. Newspapers are fun because there are a million different variables that happen every single day that could mess you up that you have to solve – like a big puzzle every day. Magazines are interesting because you can be really thoughtful with a month or a week in between. So you can think about what you want to put in there and you can do longer pieces and it can be much more targeted.  But books. Books are where ideas live, books are about culture and the continuation of culture. If you do not have books, in whatever form they’re there, it’s really hard to maintain your culture and it’s really hard for the culture to develop beyond that. Because that’s where culture and ideas are shared. That’s where things that people are thinking that are a little out there get into the public domain. Now, the greatest thing that has ever happened with books is the internet and all the tools we have, because self-publishing now is not looked down as a vanity publishing thing. It’s now indie publishing, much like indie records. So now it’s got a positive aspect to it. That’s where most of the ideas are going to be coming from, because these big corporations – the big 6 publishers – they go for celebrities and what they know will make money. They have no connection to their customers. They just put out books they like and put them out there and hope they sell. They know by having celebrities or famous people or crooks or whoever has been in the news, that they have better opportunities. Small press and indie publishers are the place where new ideas are going to spring up. And they have to have  a better way to be found – which is what my new company is about. The thing I get out of it is I absolutely love it. Publishing is what keeps me going every day. I can’t think of anything more fun, more interesting, that encompasses more things, more topics in the world than publishing. You can do anything when you’re a publisher. You can explore any topic. You can talk to any author. You can find the best people to write things. It’s just an awesome, awesome thing to do.

A: And you always get to keep learning.

M: It never stops. So, it gets me up and keeps me going. It motivates me to keep going and to be an entrepreneur.

R: That’s wonderful that you’ve found that.

The "Art" of Writing

            Writing as an art form is spoken about constantly: show don’t tell, show and tell, details, mystery, etc. This is commonly discussed in English courses, both writing and literature based. Recently I learned a lot about writing from a course I never thought I’d get tips about the “art” of writing from: Marketing Management – Neeley Fellows, Honors.

            One of the many sources of abnormality that I possess is my opposite interests: Math and Writing. Somehow this has turned into an Accounting degree (I won’t lay out here the formula I created to help me decide that), and an accidental Writing minor. Writing is a real passion of mine, and it has definitely lead to some teasing from some students in the Business School as well as some questions about my interest in Accounting. Let me say it plain here: I want to be an Accountant – a Forensic Accountant specifically. However, I also want to be a writer. The two aren’t mutually exclusive. Keep this information in mind – it’s key to understanding the experience.

            So, last semester in two of my business classes I learned a valuable lesson: in business classes details aren’t desired unless asked for. In my business plan I turned in, some adjectives were circled and points were taken off because they were details and thus unnecessary. I thought that was just good writing, but I made a note, and tried again. The next time my grammar was too good, so points were taken off. I pulled up Meriam-Webster’s online to show him that I had even looked up the rule, and he said it didn’t matter. It didn’t read like he thought it should, so the point deduction remained. Then on an essay I was told my answer was "too thorough" and that I should have just answered the question asked and only that – again, points deducted. I took note of this: English classes remember to have good grammar and details as needed, Business classes simply answer the question asked more with minimal details. I would not take grade cuts in the next semester – I had learned my lesson.

            Or so I thought. This semester I took my first purely essay based exam in a non-English course. Marketing, Fellows style. On this exam I consciously thought about the lessons I’d learned last semester. The first question was posed and I thought, “Perhaps I should outline all the phases in the last 100 years of marketing because I know them, so why not? Why not? It takes up precious time, that’s why not. You got points off last semester, that’s why not. If he wanted that information he would have asked for it, that’s why not.” Let me let you in on a little secret, friends: I found out why when the tests were returned. The details that had been my friends for 15 solid years of literacy and creative writing had been feeling neglected for a whole semester, and now – when their presence was desired most – I had not used them out of fear.

            Fear. “There is nothing to fear, but fear itself.” Thanks, FDR. While some books start out pointing out the hurt that was created in some lives by that quote, I will begin this paragraph commenting on the hurt that was created in my life by not remembering the moral from that quote. I should have not feared the consequence and went with my gut – my gut said, “Write the information,” and Fear said, “Remember last time?” Oh, Fear, well played this time. But I shan’t let you remain triumphant. I shall prevail. Writing is an art form – it’s a point that I’ve argued against many an Art and Business major. I am an artist with a pen, not a brush. But learning Business writing is proving to be rather difficult. There seems to be no hard and fast rule. I’m told one semester that my details make it inefficient and unprofessional, and the next semester I am told that writing is an art form that is more difficult than I think. I'd heard of Fear hurting writing and impeding the message. Guess I understand it fully now. Wish it hadn't affected by GPA, but still. Small points off on a GPA represent lessons learned, right? Maybe?

            Mistakes, mistakes. Writing is natural for me – even more so than breathing (I’m heavily asthmatic). But I believe my non-writing classes may be giving my writing a new kind of challenge: fitting into a undefined box that it has fought it has fought for years to be free from.

Dr. Langlinais Interview: Recap and Takeaways

     Dr. Langlinais is always a great professor to talk to so it is no surprise that our interview with her went so well. She has an especially unique perception of the world and writing. She is very visual – she values art, drama, and poetry – so her view of writing and inspiration for writing is considerably different from what we might call the “typical” writer.

     One of the initially interesting things she shared during our interview was the amount of interest she had in the actual publishing process. When she published her chat-book of poetry with a friend of hers, she explained how intrical the process was to the thought and message of the chat-book itself. The publisher literally strung the pages together to create the book, after Dr. Langlinais and she had discussed the possible options as far as color and print of the book. She said that handcrafted-ness of the chat-book created part of the meaning that would be lost if the poems were simply posted on an eBook.

     If there were indeed a concrete range of people ranging from complete adaptation of eBooks (10) and only using traditional books (1), Dr. Langlinais is on the latter end of the scale. While she realizes that eBooks are becoming more and more common, she says there is just something about holding the text and thus interacting with it. It brought up memories for her of her childhood. When taking her class, I remember her strong desire for everything to be printed out for her to grade or to read. She says that it depends on what she is writing as to if she writes by hand or on the computer initially. Generally she uses the computer when working on poetry, because you can move the poetry around the page and visualize it better. However she has plenty of paper journals from friends who know she writes, so she likes to use them for fiction or little ideas – but each has a specific, organized purpose.

     Dr. Langlinais is rather relaxed about writing. She even says something to the effect of “I know I should write every day at a certain time, but I just don’t.” She admits that it’s more of an on-a-whim basis that she writes than regimented. This contradicts one of the most well-known given pieces of advice that you should set aside a certain time every day that you write.

     The interview with Dr. Langlinais (1) inspired me to write more and make my “accidental” English minor into a more pre-meditated action, and (2) to understand better from the writer’s point of view. I had questioned how writers felt about their novels moving from print to eBook, and while Dr. Langlinais’s was only one opinion (and most may conflict with it), I understood how it would be a different experience for an author to see their book in print rather than on screen. For my way of thinking, I can see my writing now on a screen even as I type. What I have always dreamed of is the solid binding, the smell of the crisp page, and the pliability of the page as your index finger runs the length of it to turn it. For some writers, it is just the fact that the book was published. For Dr. Langlinais and I, publishing is so much more.

Ahhh, Romance

          Candy Hearts, the constant symbol of Valentine’s day. With the “I love you”s and the “Be Mine”s, they are always a treat. No one – might be a bit of an exaggeration here – really enjoys the candies that much. They are simply used for their charming messages – or not-so-charming messages. I have actually heard some stories of people proposing using Candy Hearts. Just imagine it: separate little Conversation hearts saying “You’re cute,” “Be Mine,” and “I love you” all leading up to the  Heart that is in the ring box that reads “Marry me.” How very adorable?!

          Then there are those who make a mockery of Conversation Hearts. They are just plain mean...

That's mine!

     Amidst the paper writing season there is always much talk of plagiarism and what it means to steal someone’s idea or words. Recently as I have begun embarking on the powerful journey from brainstorm to final draft in some of my classes, the discussion has started circling my consciousness. It finally connected in my head this weekend the connection between today and the near paranoia against plagiarism and the original printing days where the name of the game was share and share alike. This switch is fascinating to me.

     In the days of original printing, according to the Book, people would see material that they liked and just re-print it, whether that mean word for word, the abridged version, or in a new translation. No permission was needed at all, and even more than that it was seen as enriching the literary culture. The seemingly chaotic re-printing of different pieces of literature was helpful when printing was first occurring because there was a higher demand at the time for printed books than there was a supply.

     This is not the case today. We have plenty of paper literature to read and independence is more and more the theme of our lives as democracy and self-sustaining thought grow in power on the global scene. With this system in place, you are rewarded for your accomplishments and that is how you grow in status – through your deeds. I think this plays into the idea of our focusing on what we did as opposed to what someone else did. In meetings, executives are often heard to specify “Jim gave a great idea, he said…” or “In our meeting, I suggested we…” instead of saying “In our meeting, we discussed…”

    

     It is the same way now with literature now. Even in essays and creative writing now we make sure to enunciate that Nancy wrote what Nancy wrote and not that someone else wrote it for Nancy. This is not in any way my saying that it is bad that we are accountable for what we write and that we earn the credit for it. I actually love the fact that no one can take the credit for my hard work. Perhaps that is because I was brought up in this age, and perhaps not, but the idea still stands.

     From what I understand in the book, they didn’t like piracy of books either, but it was just not regulated or watched in the way we are yet. Thus, my point in all of this is that it served a purpose for the time. So even though it was not something that they liked or a good thing (to steal books – or anything - is never a good thing really, is it?), it served the purpose to make the written word more available at a time when it was just starting out. It served to entice people to read. It served as a way to answer the unquenchable demand.