I found this cool contest on the Writer's Digest web page, and decided to enter...one of the requirements is that I mention it on my blog and/or on FaceBook, Twitter or other social network sites...so here's the link to the contest page. It's the "Dear Lucky Agent" contest by the Guide to Literary Agents editor's blog.
I've had some luck with writing contests in the past, and you all know I have a story to tell, so this one seems perfect. I have a great title..."Tracking Elephants in Snow-Memoirs of a Bad-Ass Tracker Chick"
If you have a memoir stuck in a drawer, you should enter it - some of my favorite books are memoirs, and it's one of the hardest types of book to find a publisher for.
One of the coolest things I learned at Wilderness Awareness School is the importance of telling our stories...we all have one so if you are inspired, go read the rules and get your entry in before the end of Saturday.
When you go to the site to check out my entry you do have to look a bit to find the word "comments" in tiny little letters...look below the book covers and just under the "share" button. Click on the word "comments" to see all the entries. No voting required. Wish me luck!
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Friday, November 27, 2009
Book Club Naturalists
Alexia's duck seemed to think we'd lost our minds. The big female Muskovy (Cairina moschata) kept looking in the glass pane of the door - sometimes she'd even peck at the glass with her beak as if she wanted in to see what we were doing.Really, now, is it so surprising that 8 natruralists (and one cat) would gather on the floor in front of the fireplace to look at moss through microscopes and with hand lenses? Our November book club selection was "Gathering Moss:A Natural and Cultural History" by Robin Wall Kimmerer.
We gathered, shared a wonderful harvest potluck, then spent a couple of hours on the floor enchanted by the tiny mossy "forests" and the inhabitants thereof. Miniscule transparent worms, teeny unidentified beings...what an amazing amount of life in a handful of moss.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Books, Books, Books!
I was up waaay too late last night trying to finish a book - like that's never happened before:) Now that I have a bit more free time, I've been tackling the precariously tall stack of books I've picked up at garage sales and the library used book table.
Last night I had to give up around midnight with only a hundred or so pages left in "Memoirs of a Geisha", by Arthur Golden. I'd resisted reading it for a long time because I've often found popular novels to be boring or just awful but I've been enchanted with the story. It's well told, and filled with fascinating bits of history...some of it said not to be quite true. And it's a bit depressing to be reminded of all the things women historically have had to do when men abandon them.
Tonight I'll finish those last hundred pages easily, and then it will be time to choose the next book from my stack. I wonder which one I'll choose?
Here are some recent selections I've enjoyed:
Last night I had to give up around midnight with only a hundred or so pages left in "Memoirs of a Geisha", by Arthur Golden. I'd resisted reading it for a long time because I've often found popular novels to be boring or just awful but I've been enchanted with the story. It's well told, and filled with fascinating bits of history...some of it said not to be quite true. And it's a bit depressing to be reminded of all the things women historically have had to do when men abandon them.
Tonight I'll finish those last hundred pages easily, and then it will be time to choose the next book from my stack. I wonder which one I'll choose?
Here are some recent selections I've enjoyed:
- "The Fellowship of the Ring" by JJR Tolkien - you may remember that my friend Madonna sent that one to me a while back...I'd forgotten how the books differ from the movies! It was nice to revisit Frodo and Sam and the gang.
- "High Country" by Nevada Barr - I enjoy the Anna Pigeon mysteries, each set in a different National Park. This one visited Yosemite, a park I have yet to see.
- "The Mastery of Love" by Don Miguel Ruiz _ don't ask me why I'm reading relationship books...I found it at the library used book table, and had enjoyed his "The Four Agreements" some time back.
- "The Grand Finale" by Janet Evanovich - not her best one, and pure fluff. Check out her Stephanie Plum novels for better reading.
As you can see, it's an eclectic reading list...just the kind I like.
Friday, January 23, 2009
A Nice Surprise Today!
It's always nice to find a package in the mail! Today I got one of my favorite gifts - a book. My friend Madonna sent me a second editon copy of "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien. It's a wonderful book, and one I haven't read in many a year. I'm delighted to have it, and will enjoy it all over again.
It's the second book she's sent me recently. "The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging" by Arianna Huffington and friends arrived in time for my birthday although she mailed it from St. Louis on December 12th. Given our record snows in December I'm surprised it's not still in a drift somewhere. It's a good book, and I have been using some of her hints in this blog. Madonna says I'm going to get rich off it someday. I could live with that. It's a great book if you are thinking about starting your own blog. You might want to check it out.
I've recieved other books as gifts this year, too...One of them I'll feature in another "episode" of my blog because it's a cool naturalist/travel book from my friend Laurie.
It's the second book she's sent me recently. "The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging" by Arianna Huffington and friends arrived in time for my birthday although she mailed it from St. Louis on December 12th. Given our record snows in December I'm surprised it's not still in a drift somewhere. It's a good book, and I have been using some of her hints in this blog. Madonna says I'm going to get rich off it someday. I could live with that. It's a great book if you are thinking about starting your own blog. You might want to check it out.
I've recieved other books as gifts this year, too...One of them I'll feature in another "episode" of my blog because it's a cool naturalist/travel book from my friend Laurie.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Randon Thoughts
Wow, it's been a while since I've posted anything. I confess to going home from work and settling in with a book most days...I've been walking (25 minutes to work from home - 35 back up the hill after.) It's beautiful, with trees in bloom and mild weather. I've seen nest-building birds this week. A robin (Turdus migrtorious - look it up if you don't believe me) in my neighborhood flew off with such a big lengh of yarn that it made me laugh to watch.
I've also noted that the local Blacktail deer (Odocoileus hemionus) are looking pretty shaggy. Loosing your winter coat must itch! I saw one just along the road near Taylor Park one day as I drove home. She was grazing on the new green grass in a yard. People were walking dogs and riding bikes. It makes me happy to see them, and a little afraid that I'll witness an accident.
What I've been reading: "The Serpent's Daughter", the 3rd Jade del Cameron novel by my friend Suzanne Arruda. I love her descriptions of post WWI Africa.
"The Education of Little Tree" by Forest Carter. We sell this book at the Wilderness Awareness School website, and have had some complaints. Recently, nine staff members, Residential Program students (current and past), parents, a forner English teacher, and invited guests read the book and did some research about the author. Yes, it seems that Mr. Carter misrepresented a work of fiction as autobiographical. Yes, he does not appear to have been a nice man - and was in fact a member of the Klu Klux Clan at one point in his life.
And, yes, he wrote a wonderful book. The story, written for young adults, is lovely. None of us detected any underlying message of hate. Regardless of the man's politics, we found no reason to pull it from our shelves. We wondered how it happened that near the end of his life this book came from such an unpleasant person...we found no answers to that question.
I know that I've done and said and thought things in the past that I'm ashamed of now. Perhaps that's what happened to Forest Carter. Something else to wonder at...
I've also noted that the local Blacktail deer (Odocoileus hemionus) are looking pretty shaggy. Loosing your winter coat must itch! I saw one just along the road near Taylor Park one day as I drove home. She was grazing on the new green grass in a yard. People were walking dogs and riding bikes. It makes me happy to see them, and a little afraid that I'll witness an accident.
What I've been reading: "The Serpent's Daughter", the 3rd Jade del Cameron novel by my friend Suzanne Arruda. I love her descriptions of post WWI Africa.
"The Education of Little Tree" by Forest Carter. We sell this book at the Wilderness Awareness School website, and have had some complaints. Recently, nine staff members, Residential Program students (current and past), parents, a forner English teacher, and invited guests read the book and did some research about the author. Yes, it seems that Mr. Carter misrepresented a work of fiction as autobiographical. Yes, he does not appear to have been a nice man - and was in fact a member of the Klu Klux Clan at one point in his life.
And, yes, he wrote a wonderful book. The story, written for young adults, is lovely. None of us detected any underlying message of hate. Regardless of the man's politics, we found no reason to pull it from our shelves. We wondered how it happened that near the end of his life this book came from such an unpleasant person...we found no answers to that question.
I know that I've done and said and thought things in the past that I'm ashamed of now. Perhaps that's what happened to Forest Carter. Something else to wonder at...
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Book Review: "Living Wild and Domestic"
It's an interesting experience to finish a book and think, "I could have done that myself." Of course, I couldn't have done it as well as Robert Kimber. He says things I think with far greater skill than I even manage to think them. I found his book, "Living Wild and Domestic - The Education of a Hunter-Gardener" at the library while browsing the shelves. It looked interesting, so I added it to my pile of take-homes. And read all the others first.
Rarely does a hunter express the dichotomy of loving to hunt while hating to kill with anything approaching Kimber's finesse. Anyone who hunts successfully knows the dilema. There is - or should be - a bit of sadness attending to putting game on the table. It's a serious thing to take a life, even when it's going in the stew pot. It's the same with animals raised for meat. To get dinner on the table, the animal has to die.
Even an unrepentant carnivore like me wants some vegetables to go with the steak. Kimber's wife is the gardener in his equation. It's been about 5 years since I've been able to plant a garden...I miss it. Growing your food makes you responsible for your dinner in a way that going to the grocer does not. The care put into digging, planting and tending is revealed in the harvest. The big thing I miss about Missouri is standing in the garden in the hottest day of summer with fresh tomato juice dripping off my elbow as I eat the first Brandiwine right there.
If you are concerned about your food, where it comes from, and how it gets to the plate, this is a good book to read. If you hunt and/or grow your own food (animal or vegetable) it will sort out your feelings about your actions. If you buy all your food, it might help you understand why some of us do it ourselves.
Rarely does a hunter express the dichotomy of loving to hunt while hating to kill with anything approaching Kimber's finesse. Anyone who hunts successfully knows the dilema. There is - or should be - a bit of sadness attending to putting game on the table. It's a serious thing to take a life, even when it's going in the stew pot. It's the same with animals raised for meat. To get dinner on the table, the animal has to die.
Even an unrepentant carnivore like me wants some vegetables to go with the steak. Kimber's wife is the gardener in his equation. It's been about 5 years since I've been able to plant a garden...I miss it. Growing your food makes you responsible for your dinner in a way that going to the grocer does not. The care put into digging, planting and tending is revealed in the harvest. The big thing I miss about Missouri is standing in the garden in the hottest day of summer with fresh tomato juice dripping off my elbow as I eat the first Brandiwine right there.
If you are concerned about your food, where it comes from, and how it gets to the plate, this is a good book to read. If you hunt and/or grow your own food (animal or vegetable) it will sort out your feelings about your actions. If you buy all your food, it might help you understand why some of us do it ourselves.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Abundant Blessings
This was a day of many surprises...the first being the 3 swans I saw flying in a low formation just south of Monroe on highway 203. I can't drive and take notes at the same time, so I'm not certain which species of swan, only that they were very large, white, and had really obvious black bills. My feeling is that they are Trumpeter Swans (Cygnus buccinator). Perhaps tomorrow I'll get another opportunity to check for the yellow spot near the eye which would make them Tundra Swans ( Cygnus columbianus). What a cool birthday present! I remembered to be grateful.
I've come to expect cool things on my birthday. I saw the swans last year, too. Only instead of going to work, I was headed back to the first class after winter break. And once, 5 or 6 years ago, I went out to the car to scrape ice off the windows in order to go to work at the hospital, and saw the largest meteorite ever streak across the early morning sky. I read that the eastern US and Canada should be able to see the Quadrantid meteor shower in the early morning hours...I wonder if my meteor was one of those?
A number of my Missouri friends e-mailed with birthday greetings, and my Washington friends provided cards, a balloon, chocolate cake - with a tall tapered candle, noise-makers, and sprinkles. All the staff in our office at noon sang to me and shared cake. I got homemade granola, good chocolate, and other gifts. Ellen tells me that it's an auspicious year- 7 x 7 - and that big changes are in store for me.
I stopped at the library on my way home, picking up a handful of books on loan and a few more off the sale table. In the short time I was inside the sprinkles turned to rain and I hurried home to my warm apartment and my cat. In the mail I found a birthday card from my Aunt Irene in Springfield, Missouri, and a box from my Mom in Violet Hill, Arkansas. She and my sister Susan had filled it with books. Mom sent the "National Audubon Society Field Guide to Mammals", one of the field guides that I did not yet own. It's a beautiful book with cool photos, many of them the small rodents that are so hard to identify. I've been puzzling over some photos I took in Idaho this summer, and hope to figure out just which ground squirrels I got pictures of. I'll let you know. I called Mom to thank her, and we talked for half an hour.
I've already put on my "comfortable" clothes and am going to pick a book from the pile on the living room floor. Last night I finished Elmer Kelton's "The Pumpkin Rollers" and am ready for a new one. I'm leaning towards a library book - "How I Write" by Janet Evanovich. Her Stephanie Plum novels crack me up. I expect her writing advice will be sound, and you may benefit from it as well.
I put the tea kettle on for a cup of decaffeinated Celestial Seasonings sweet coconut thai chi tea. They didn't capitalize the name, so I won't either. It's a nice, spicy tea that will go well with a book - and the chocolate. I'm taking the book, the tea, and the cat to the bedroom. We'll talk again tomorrow.
I've come to expect cool things on my birthday. I saw the swans last year, too. Only instead of going to work, I was headed back to the first class after winter break. And once, 5 or 6 years ago, I went out to the car to scrape ice off the windows in order to go to work at the hospital, and saw the largest meteorite ever streak across the early morning sky. I read that the eastern US and Canada should be able to see the Quadrantid meteor shower in the early morning hours...I wonder if my meteor was one of those?
A number of my Missouri friends e-mailed with birthday greetings, and my Washington friends provided cards, a balloon, chocolate cake - with a tall tapered candle, noise-makers, and sprinkles. All the staff in our office at noon sang to me and shared cake. I got homemade granola, good chocolate, and other gifts. Ellen tells me that it's an auspicious year- 7 x 7 - and that big changes are in store for me.
I stopped at the library on my way home, picking up a handful of books on loan and a few more off the sale table. In the short time I was inside the sprinkles turned to rain and I hurried home to my warm apartment and my cat. In the mail I found a birthday card from my Aunt Irene in Springfield, Missouri, and a box from my Mom in Violet Hill, Arkansas. She and my sister Susan had filled it with books. Mom sent the "National Audubon Society Field Guide to Mammals", one of the field guides that I did not yet own. It's a beautiful book with cool photos, many of them the small rodents that are so hard to identify. I've been puzzling over some photos I took in Idaho this summer, and hope to figure out just which ground squirrels I got pictures of. I'll let you know. I called Mom to thank her, and we talked for half an hour.
I've already put on my "comfortable" clothes and am going to pick a book from the pile on the living room floor. Last night I finished Elmer Kelton's "The Pumpkin Rollers" and am ready for a new one. I'm leaning towards a library book - "How I Write" by Janet Evanovich. Her Stephanie Plum novels crack me up. I expect her writing advice will be sound, and you may benefit from it as well.
I put the tea kettle on for a cup of decaffeinated Celestial Seasonings sweet coconut thai chi tea. They didn't capitalize the name, so I won't either. It's a nice, spicy tea that will go well with a book - and the chocolate. I'm taking the book, the tea, and the cat to the bedroom. We'll talk again tomorrow.
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