Gift Ideas for Writers

My loved ones puzzle over what to get me for Christmas every year. They ask, then shake their heads at my answers. The answers are always the same…every year and truth is, boring: books, notebooks, really cool extra fine point pens in black and red, stuff for my cameras (which they know won’t be used for normal pictures of loved ones but instead, research: What the hell is this picture of the corner of a log cabin for? Why photos of fencing, buckskin horses, guns, clothing…well, you get the idea.), post-it notes, more post-it notes, project display boards, more post-it notes, printer ink.

My ‘job’ doesn’t require fancy clothes (or clothes, for that matter, other than the commute, it goes right past picture window highway, so pj’s, at least.) and I’m a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl anyway. The only jewelry—earrings, transportation—shank’s ponies, no smart phone, I’m too busy observing the actual world, no tablet, (yet) I have a laptop, thank you.

I wonder, are their others out there struggling to find gifts for the writer on their list?

Suggestions:

Books:

Vex, Hex, Smash, Smooch by Constance Hale: I worried this book would be boring, too difficult, but it was fun, so full of information. I read it cover to cover and it now has a prominent place on my reference shelf.

Rivet Your Readers with Deep Point of View by Jill Elizabeth Nelson: Tiny book, quick read, tons of help.  Worth buy at twice the price. http://www.facebook.com/JillElizabethNelson.Author

The Emotion Thesaurus, A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi: A great starting place for showing emotion. http://www.thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com

A Dictionary of Costume and Fashion, Historic and Modern by Mary Brooks Picken: A must for describing, with proper terms, clothing of any period.

Anything on writing by James Scott Bell: Bell just tells it like it is and then helps you get through it, whether plotting, revising, or The Art of War for Writers, which is my personal favorite. I consider Bell a friend to writers, you know, one of those who made it and keep putting out a hand to help someone else.

Pens: I love pens, fat pens, skinny pens, pretty pens, plain pens. I collect pens. I have pens nobody, but nobody, better use. I have expensive pens…pens I love but I never use and I have pens I write with. I must have one of those pens to work. My favorites: Dr. Grip Gel by Pilot, Retractable T l fine point from Office Max, absolute fav: Precise V5 rt extra fine point by Pilot

Notebooks: I have tons of these, some I use, some I can’t bring myself to write in. I try every new notebook that comes out. I love them all, but for carrying with me on my research jaunts, Staples Gold Fibrė Writing Pad by Ampad.

Post-its: I go with the Post-it™ brand. They’re generally on sale somewhere. I do like the lined.

Oh, and chocolate is never wrong.

I’m not the only fussy writer: Pencils must be round. A  hexagonal pencil cuts my fingers after a long day. –John Steinbeck

 

Reading and Happiness

Great article in this month’s Reader’s Digest titled, “How Reading Makes You Happy” by Jessica Cassity. The list of reasons: encourage positive thinking, friendship, teaches empathy, stirs memories, inspires.

Wow, just from reading. Seems impossible. Yet, I do remember the exquisite happiness of every other Saturday when the family made the trip to the library. To this day, nothing makes me as happy as browsing through shelves and stacks of old books. Old books are like the library of my youth. The Children’s section was in the basement and every visit was full of wonder and tactile sensory invasions. Of lemon oil and heavy oak furniture, card files, long scarred tables and chairs that scuffed and dragged the wooden floor. Books and books and books, hardback books, books with library cards and cream-colored pages, just slightly musty, the outside covers dark muted navy or green or burgundy. The hushed whispers, the occasional too-loud laugh, the white-haired, grandmother-faced Mrs. Peterson shushing.

I was in fifth grade when Mrs. Peterson told my mother I had scoured through and read everything in the children section I was even possibly interested in. (That summer I decided to read every fiction book on horses in the library. It was a whole shelf long, but I did it. How I wish I could remember the titles. That was also the year I decide I wanted to grow up and be just like Louis May Alcott. Hey, look where writing got her.) She told mother to take me on upstairs to the Adult fiction.

Truth to tell, the Adult section wasn’t nearly as sensuous. Truth was it was a bit of a letdown. There were no doll collections, no aquariums, no terrariums, no stereoscopes, but the upside was I could look in the same section as my older siblings. I thought I was something and I did find reading to fall in love with and yes, happiness. Think Gone with the Wind, Forever Amber, Rod McKuen, Shane and Mrs. Mike and happiness. 

Note: One of my regrets, not really a life changing one, but, maybe, a life enriching one, is that I didn’t write down all the many, many books I read from the time I started reading, especially, from that year on. I didn’t think about doing so until 1994. How I wish I had. It’s tough going back, but I do try. I wish I had encouraged my children, all good readers, to do so, but I didn’t think of it. You can be sure I encourage my grandkids.

Remember these two things:
The world would be a happier place if we got rid of illiteracy, right?
When the world is crazy and things like 9/11, Sandy, shootings happen and you're sitting at your desk wondering if what you're doing is important, remember...it is. 

Persevere Is To Live

The last several weeks have been a mad dash to finish harvesting and putting to bed my garden as well as my mother’s. As usual, Mother Nature and the fates have not cooperated, but I persevere. Hey, if nothing else, I am tenacious. (All right, some would say stubborn, but I like tenacious. It rolls off the tongue….nicer. All those a’s and the sh sound. Sounds like a word to be prouder of.)

Then something was slowing up my desktop computer and I might be computer challenged but I know when to call an expert. My laptop, as well, started giving me little nudges. Polite little messages: It’s time to think about replacing your battery. I don’t wait for the brick to land on my head, not anymore. So, a call to my computer guru. Withdrawal started as he walked away with my Ruby Dee (Don’t tell me you don’t name your computer. Ruby Dee is red. Why red, well I think it was my computer tech’s way of being nice. At the time, my laptop was red. Why? I’m cheap. It was 10% off, if I bought the red. I could just Skinit down the road if I couldn’t stand it, right? So, the red computer.)

But, I have a laptop. My tech had a new battery. Battery faulty, but still I had the old laptop and I don’t mind being plugged in. I kept on working, looking after my mom and looking forward to an antique fair. It was a stomach bug that leveled me.

Desktop back in action. Yeh! Still working on the battery for the laptop, but things are straightening out.

One last chore in the garden before the snowstorm predicted for Friday: