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Books
over Kindle:
(No Batteries Required)
March 27, 2008:
 Have you ever felt lonely?
Outside, it's raining, and inside, the house feels cold. Not even
the fireplace warms my bones. Either by want or circumstance,
you feel alone. During these moments, I don't turn to wine or
spirits but instead to a book.
This [sensual feeling] leads
me away to a different time and place, sometimes I know where
and when, other times, I only know that I am leaving-temporarily.
This journey begins with a trip into my library.
There, I run my fingers along
the shelves, wandering toward the book spines, some paper both
old and new, others made of a solid stock, and I smell the paper,
an unmistakable scent that reminds me that this room is not simply
a library, but a passageway away from loneliness.
I have rows and rows of books,
and because I am a structured man, I separate the books into sections
based less upon the Dewey decimal system but on the Terry system:
Fiction in alphabetical order, nonfiction by subject, big books
on the lower shelves (mostly), and books I don't like on shelves
I can't reach. Call it being organized; call it me being anal.
Whatever you call it, when I run my fingers across the books,
I reaffirm my existence and that I am a reader and a writer for
a greater purpose. My library is my church, and the words on every
page remind me of my place.
I love the ink, the letters,
the words, the ideas, the poetry, the pages, the ideas, the story,
and the feel of holding a book, as a book is my connection to
the improbable world around me.
Amazon recently added a new
product. A Kindle. It is a small idol of technology capable of
holding a gazillion pages of up to 200 books (for now) and is
about the size of a paperback (7.5" x 5.3" x .7" at 10.3 ounces).
Amazon describes it as:
"...Revolutionary
electronic-paper display [with a] high-resolution screen that
looks and reads like real paper."
Looks and reads like real
paper. Wow. It doesn't say feels and smells like real paper.
Obviously, if I were back
in school, a Kindle would be a great idea to load up those out-of-date
textbooks. (You know the ones.) To this day, I remember riding
my bike to class while toting 50 pounds of books. Probably closer
to a hundred pounds. A Kindle would have reduced my burden. All
for the price of a few downloadable 1s and 0s and a few batteries.
So why is it that I can't
imagine tracing the edge of my Kindle and longing for another
time and place? When it rains, will I feel inspired to press my
Kindle to my chest? Will I learn to love the smell of a quirky
gizmo and give up the need for forty- or eighty- or sixty-year-old
paper? What will my 1926 copy of A
Farewell to Arms smell like in electronic
form? True, I won't have to worry about tearing a page. Just finding
an internet connection. And true, I won't have to worry about
having three different kinds of pens or highlighters and Stickies
to mark pages. But what will I leave for the next generation-the
ones who will buy my books at some future estate auction? I want
to share my love of Story with those I love. I desire to demonstrate
a need that propels me toward other worlds and loves; I want to
be angry and fall in love and murder and forgive, to be greedy,
and to be a part of another's redemption. I want to share my romantic
side with people who know me and with those I have yet to meet.
After I'm gone, a bibliophile
perusing my library will know a part of me. A friend would say, "Terry loved his books." A lover would say, "This library is a
small part of him." To me, a book holds words like a woman holds
love.
My library: a look inside
my head for others. For me, a walk around my universe. Come with
me. You. Are. Invited.
The First
Amendment of the United States Constitution:
Congress shall
make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech,
or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble,
and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
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Amateur
or Professional? 1
January 1, 2008:
In case you haven't heard,
there are no rules to writing, other than to sit down and write.
And with all the talk of what differentiates a professional writer
from an amateur, one (me) tends to believe that if you're worried
whether you're a one or the other, then you're really just procrastinating.
Stop the left-brain chatter
and write.
Here are some commandments
you might want to consider instead:
Writing
Commandments
I. Thou Shalt Write
II. Thou Shalt Learn to Write
Well
III. Thou Shalt Revise, Revise,
Revise
IV. Thou Shalt Neither Write
Nor Submit Based on N-of-One Stories
V. Thou Shalt Learn to Be
Patient
VI. Thou Shalt Learn about
the Publishing Industry
VII. Thou Shalt Knowledgeably
Seek Agents and Editors
VIII. Thou Shalt Learn to
Use Rejection Rather than be Abused by It
IX. Thou Shalt Not Irritate
Agents and Editors
X. Thou Shalt Restrain Thyself
Until thy Published Work is in Thy Hand
I picked up these words somewhere
along the learning trail, not sure who credit, and I made them
mine. Like many writing suggestions, the words are ours to share.
Make them yours.
Thus, stop stalling and get
back to story creation. We have readers waiting on us.
Want to read more? Click here
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