Uncategorized Archives - Page 22 of 28

The one (won) about the hat

June 9, 2008 by Stephanie Vanderslice Filed Under: Uncategorized

While we were talking about winning a few posts ago (in a few months there will actually be a picture of me on the Book Guys website sporting my brand new watch!), I was reminded of another thing I recently won. A hat. A Peter Beaton hat to be exact.

Did I ever mention I have a thing about hats? Probably not, because it has so little to do with writing. But I’m going to mention it now because I do. Have a thing about hats. Because I think they’re very romantic and because I think personally, that the right hat can balance me out, draw the eye, ahem, upward, or so they say.

Problem is, that I’m somewhat of a frustrated hat wearer. I have a big head, for one thing, so it’s hard to find one that fits. Or if I find one that fits, it gets so boy-handled by one of my two that it starts to fall apart. Two of my favorite straw summer hats have met that fate in the last few years.

Also, it’s hard to find occasions to wear them. Weddings are one. Nothing like the perfect wedding hat. I got one like this one at Dillard’s a couple of weeks ago and discovered when I got it home, that the tag actually reads, “the perfect wedding hat.”

One hat I’ve long coveted, is, as I’ve mentioned above, a Peter Beaton hat from the eponymous hat studio on Nantucket. For years, I’ve tiptoed into the tiny store on 16 1/2 Federal street and gazed wistfully at their custom wares. For years, the very image of sophistication to me was a woman at a garden party in a Peter Beaton hat. The vintage red roadster parked at the curb of the storefront didn’t hurt either. If you click through to the links, you’ll see what I mean. Victoria magazine even did a feature once on these famous hats.

As you might imagine, they cost a pretty penny. More or less out of my range. Recently, I was gazing at the website late one night, via cyberspace, which is how and when I do most of my window shopping these days, checking out the prices and sighing, thinking sure, maybe, someday, when my ship comes in. And then I had a sudden thought:

Ebay.

So I did a quick search. Nothing. Sigh. Oh well. Then I had another inspiration.

Saved searches.

For those of you who don’t Ebay often, a saved search is when you tell them what you’re looking for and they tell you when it appears at auction. So I entered “Peter Beaton hat” in my saved searches and promptly forgot about it.

Until a week or so later when the email appeared in my inbox.

There it was. On Ebay. It started out amazingly low. So I just watched it. Oh, I watched it. How I watched it. For days. I wasn’t going to bid until the last possible minute. To add to the suspense, my email hiccuped about 5 minutes before the item ended, but fortunately came back up with 1 minute and 28 seconds left–enough time for me to swoop in and grab the brass ring from the two other bidders. Higher than it started, but still within my reach.

So there you have it. My hat story. Nothing to do with writing–just a little vacation reading and a happy ending with a nice little moral. “Sometimes you don’t need your ship to come in, you just need some luck and a little Ebay.”

Bye y’all,

The Artful Edit–A Conundrum

June 6, 2008 by Stephanie Vanderslice Filed Under: Uncategorized

“While we write into a void, we edit into a universe, however ravaged it may be.”
Susan Bell

I just finished Susan Bell’s The Artful Edit last night. Well, sort of. I’d like to give you a full review of it. But the thing is, after singing the praises of the book last time, I got to page 86 and discovered that there was no page 87, or 88, 89. . .on through page 119! This is a significant chunk of the book–the end of the macro edit section and the first half of the micro-edit section.

So, my first response was, this can’t only have happened to my book (which, I believe I’ve mentioned, is a library book). So I checked online googling, “missing pages Susan Bell, The Artful Edit.”

Nothing. Nada. Maybe it is just me. After all, what my web search did find was a few wonderful reviews of the book, indicating that the reviewers had indeed read the whole thing (unless they were fibbing).

Thing is, I was all set to order a used copy on Barnes and Noble.com but now I’m wondering. Will the used copy also be missing those crucial 33 pages? To be sure, I think I’ll have to wait until August, when I can get my hands on the paperback. Surely they’ll have corrected the error by then.

My review will have to wait until I get those 33 pages, but I can say based on the rest of it this one is definitely a must for any serious writer’s collection–but wait for the paperback to be safe.

10 Things I am looking forward to on my “vacation.”

May 29, 2008 by Stephanie Vanderslice Filed Under: Uncategorized

1. Being done packing.

2. The McDonald’s in Germantown, TN. Whee! Well, at least the salads are good and you can’t beat not having to cook.

3. Visiting one of my oldest best friends from college, Hannah, for one night enroute, at her house in Meadville, PA, which I’ve never seen before. So now I will be able to “picture” her there. Also, meeting her 5 year old for the first time! If I’m lucky I see Hannah once or twice a year, but I’ve never met her youngest!

4. Reading my advance copy of America, America because Monda recommended it. Also, eye-candy shelter magazines and a couple of other books tba.

5. Driving pretty much the width of Pennsylvania for the first time, which has famously been described as “Pittsburgh on one end, Philadelphia on the other and Alabama in the middle.”

6. Not needing an excuse to sip a diet coke with crushed ice.

7. Wearing my two new hats. 1. Reharsal dinner=straw panama with black trim. 2. Family Wedding= poufy off white organza. More about the hats soon; they’re getting their own post.

8. Seeing my extended family for the first time in gosh, at least a year and raising eyebrows throughout the Northeast with my “y’alls,” because they have not evolved enough yet there to realize it’s the perfect word. At least my youngest has given up calling his brother “Bubba.” Eyebrows were regularly meeting hairlines during our “Bubba” period. I kind of miss it, though.

9. Hours of uninterrupted time on the road with my family. Strange as it sounds, in our hurried lives, sometimes road trips offer the only respite from the madding crowds.

10. Coming home and loving on my cats and discovering that the hydrangea bush didn’t actually bloom while we were gone, it just looked like it was going to. Also, finding out if Driwater actually works.

I’ll let you know.

Bye y’all.

A sentimental reading story. . .

May 28, 2008 by Stephanie Vanderslice Filed Under: Uncategorized

I love to read to my kids. As anyone who has cuddled up to read with a child knows, there’s not much out there that beats the experience. But last night I was tired. Really, really tired. We’d had two under 10 house guests for four days, kids who I love. But two kids squared is still a handful and I needed some recovery time, so I tried begging off the nightly read-in.

“How about I get tonight off?”

My youngest looked puzzled. Did I mention he’s the one that likes more than a little routine to his days? But he didn’t say anything, just nodded and wandered off.

Hmm. I thought. That was easy.

Soon though, he was back.

“How about this,” he suggested. “How about, I give you tomorrow night AND Friday night off, if you just read to me tonight?”

It was all right there in his face and then some. He was tired too. He had been sharing his Dad and me for days.

How could I possibly refuse?

“All right,” I told him. “But you don’t have to give up tomorrow night or Friday.”

No, I wanted to say, after looking into that swimming-pool-sun-kissed face, those deep blue eyes, eyes which will be staring straight into mine for only a little while longer.

You’re not going to have to give up any nights from now on. You’re going to have to tell me when to stop. And I will. But not till then.

I won, I won, I won!!!

May 24, 2008 by Stephanie Vanderslice Filed Under: Uncategorized

Let me paraphrase:

THE BOOK GUYS LETTERHEAD HERE (use your imagination)

Dear Stephanie,

Congratulations on your winning response to the “Caulfield” quiz. You have a choice of nine prizes. . .

Ok, I won’t detail the nine, I’ll just tell you the prize I picked for winning the quiz on The Book Guys, my favorite radio show on NPR: A Book Guys Watch with the logo and slogan, “Reading Is a Family Affair,” along with the Center for the Books’ slogan, “Building a Nation of Readers.”

It was even signed by Kim Stypeck, who I’m assuming must be related to Allan Stypeck who co-hosts the show along with Mike Cuthbert, and runs Second Story Books in Washington DC, a fantastic secondhand bookstore I used to frequent in my grad school salad days.

I am so PSYCHED. Talk about luck; there must have been a lot of correct entries; the question just wasn’t that hard. In fact, if you go to the website, you can see them. I think mine was the May 8th quiz.

I was actually on the show once about eight years ago, when I learned that the Edith Wharton first novel, first edition I have was worth significantly more than the 50 cents I paid for it at a yard sale (but not enough to consider breaking into my house-FYI).

Speaking of Edith Wharton, I just got another letter from the Edith Wharton Restoration Fund. They have opened for summer business (and if you are anywhere near the Berkshires this summer, believe me, it’s worth a stop) and have another 6 month extension on the loan during which they hope they can raise the other roughly 2 million. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

In other news, I am still reading The Artful Edit and can confidently report it’s one of the best books on writing (well, actually, editing, of course) I’ve read in a long time. I’m heavy into the part where she discusses Max Perkins’ and F.Scott Fitzgerald’s co-editing of The Great Gatsby, from which we could all learn a great deal. The book is littered with my post-it notes, since it’s a library book and I can’t write in it; but I’ll be getting my own copy as soon as I can and hope to report more on it. It’s definitely going to have to nudge something else out of my top five books for writers category.

My niece and nephew are visiting, which means lots of fun kids stuff AND I’m not the only girl in the house for once. Last night was coloring and bracelet making. Now, we’re off to do our nails–and we’ve even got the sparkly polish!

Bye y’all,
SV

A brief borrowed word about engaging the reader. . .

May 20, 2008 by Stephanie Vanderslice Filed Under: Uncategorized

There is a wonderful post over at The Longstockings about engaging your readers called the Hazeet moment–is your curiosity piqued. . .check it out here.

For an idea of what I’m going to be up to the next few days, Monda couldn’t have said it better here.

Bye y’all
SV
PS: Tim: If you’re reading this: The momma post is GREAT! You gotta send that somewhere.

Lance Olson, Where Have You Been All My (Professional) Life

May 18, 2008 by Stephanie Vanderslice Filed Under: Uncategorized

What follows is a quick and dirty post, meaning no pictures and only one link, because I’m on my husband’s older mac and it’s really hard to have more than one window up. That’s my excuse, anyway. So if you encounter anything unfamiliar in this piece, you’ll have to google it yourself.

Work continues, albeit slowly, one of the key projects of the summer, the “revising creative writing in higher ed” book and in the process of reading some important research I had somehow missed before, I stumbled on Lance Olson’s piece of fictocriticism on Electronic Book Review,
Learning to Wish for More. Click on the title if you’re curious; I highly recommend it. It’s a great blueprint for anyone constructing or re-constructing a creative writing program, graduate or undergraduate (hint, hint to any colleagues reading this). Written several years ago, it says many of the same things I’ve been saying, albeit what I’m writing considers the subject on a both broader and deeper scale (it is, after all, supposed to be a book).

Electronic Book Review was also an exciting, embarassingly belated discovery, btw.

This weekend, I planted flowers, shopped, read, baked bread and discovered the screaming unadulterated joy a $12 garage sale skateboard can bring to a seven-year-old who has been pining for one (also: helmet, elbow pads and kneepads = priceless). Tomorrow, I am probably getting the first of a series of shots that will put me in chemically induced menopause for 4-6 months. Fortunately, the next day, I am going on a two day shopping trip to Branson with my girlfriends and hopefully, this will be just the kind of distraction that will smooth over any hormonal rough edges (though actually, I probably won’t feel the full effects for a week anyway).

Bye for now y’all,
SV

Writing Longhand and WIOTD Resurfaces

May 15, 2008 by Stephanie Vanderslice Filed Under: Uncategorized

I’m enjoying a wonderful new book by Susan Bell called The Artful Edit that I’ll be mining for blog discussions in the next several entries. It’s divided into 5 chapters, Gaining Perspective, The Big Picture: Macro-Editing, The Details: Micro-Editing, Master Class, and Servants, Dictators, Allies: A Brief History of Editors. As a connoiseur of writing books, I can safely say, this one is a real keeper.

Right now I’m in the section on writing longhand. Since I’m a big longhand fan, it’s right up my alley. To quote: “the brain and the hand are connected. Once you begin to let an idea unfold, you keep unfolding it. Ink flows, ideas flow with it. When you type. . .into a computer, you don’t give your imagination the chance to really follow things through” (Freeman qtd. in Bell 17). Heather Sellers also writes a good deal on her blog, Word After Word, that her students who draft in longhand often have better, at least more fully realized, first drafts.

Amen! At first I felt I wrote longhand just because I like the sensuous feel of ballpoint (sorry, Monda) on paper. But now I can claim that the “brain-hand” connection is really tapping into my imagination!

Bell goes on to quote from a die-hard computer drafter that he lets his imagination unfold in a similar way by not allowing himself to look at the screen while he’s writing. I imagine this could work in the same way. By typing and “not looking” you don’t interrupt the flow.

I’m interested in my reader’s thoughts on this.

In other news, a wardrobe incident of the day resurfaced this morning. Just when we’d thought we had the sweats or shorts and a t-shirt uniform down, younger son informed us that he had to wear jeans and a plain t-shirt today because he’s in a fifties performance at school.

“In it?” We said incredulously. “You’re actually in it?”

He nodded.

Needless to say, this was the first we’d heard of said performance. So, after checking with the main office and learning that he did, indeed, speak the truth, albeit belatedly, this morning has been a rush of rearranged schedules. As another understanding parent colleague, who was part of the meeting I had to reschedule at the exact same time, said, “Look at it this way, at least he didn’t tell you he needed a tri-fold display on the praying mantis by tomorrow.”

Now there speaks a voice of experience.

That’s all for now. I’m off to write in longhand and then beam proudly at my little guy.

Bye y’all,

Mother’s Day

May 12, 2008 by Stephanie Vanderslice Filed Under: Uncategorized

Thanks to my husband, who’s incredibly thoughtful on most holidays but who pulls out all the stops on Mother’s Day, I had a great one. I also had time to reflect on all the great mothers I’ve had in my life, especially, of course, the one who raised me.

But as tributes to mothers go, this one really does say it better, from one mom to another, check it out at Monda’s blog here.

The picture itself is a jewel.

Tim has been putting up some great poems and posts here, too.

I’ll leave you all with a Mother’s Day favorite, Strickland Gillilan’s The Reading Mother. From me to the woman who taught me that you can NEVER have too many library cards and who now, after living here less than a year, avails herself of lending privileges at more libraries in the Central Arkansas area (including all of Little Rock) than I even knew existed. Thanks, Mom, we love you!

THE READING MOTHER

Strickland Gillilan

I HAD A MOTHER who read to me
Sagas of pirates who scoured the sea,
Cutlasses clenched in their yellow teeth,
“Blackbirds” stowed in the hold beneath

I had a Mother who read me lays
Of ancient and gallant and golden days;
Stories of Marmion and Ivanhoe,
Which every boy has a right to know.

I had a Mother who read me tales
Of Celert the hound of the hills of Wales,
True to his trust till his tragic death,
Faithfulness blent with his final breath.

I had a Mother who read me the things
That wholesome life to the boy heart brings-
Stories that stir with an upward touch,
Oh, that each mother of boys were such.

You may have tangible wealth untold;
Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold.
Richer than I you can never be —
I had a Mother who read to me.

That’s all for now. It’s late. Bye y’all,
SV

Great stuff for writers–and what’s your ritual?

May 8, 2008 by Stephanie Vanderslice Filed Under: Uncategorized

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Wow–I just found a great link to an article on 50 Awesome Open Source Resources for Writers. Check it out here, you won’t regret it. Something for everyone. I can’t wait to start playing around with some of them.

So, while we’re on the subject of writing, I thought I’d ask what your writing rituals are. My question is inspired by one from the ever-attentive Cindi Hoppes who wondered awhile back about writers habits, special foods etc.. The great thing about writing rituals is that they’re different for everyone and show how writing itself is different for everyone, there is no one way/only way to do it.

My rituals are pretty simple. A really good, really smooth ball point pen (not a pencil, no, no, no, nor a felt tip, though I know my friend Monda feels differently), a lined pad or one of my great National Brand chemistry lab notebooks with the numbered pages (another Monda find–you can order them here) and something to drink, coffee, water, or diet coke depending on the time of day. This last necessity is more to keep me from worrying my nails than anything else. I don’t actually eat food when I’m working, but that’s only because when I eat, I try to be mindful about it and focus on the food and when I’m writing I focus on that alone, of course.

So, fellow scribes, weigh in. What are your writing rituals?