I follow the blog Letters of Note which posts every day a letter from someone in history, some famous and some not. I'm catching up a bit; a few days ago an extraordinarily beautiful letter by Henry James was the one chosen. About this letter, the editor of the site writes:

In July of 1883, the novelist Henry James received an emotional letter from Grace Norton — a good friend and fellow writer who, following a death in the family, had recently become depressed and was desperate for direction. James's beautiful response can be seen below. It is, without a doubt, one of the greatest letters of advice I've ever had the fortune to read.

(Source: Henry James: Selected Letters)

131 Mount Vernon St.,
Boston

July 28th

My dear Grace,

Before the sufferings of others I am always utterly powerless, and the letter you gave me reveals such depths of suffering that I hardly know what to say to you. This indeed is not my last word—but it must be my first. Read the rest of the letter here.

The editor's right. This is an extraordinarily beautiful and wise response to suicidal despair.

Thanks, Henry James.

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Lauren Myracle (@LaurenMyracle on Twitter), you are one classy lady.

I am several days behind in my reading so I am just learning now of the sad story of Lauren Myracle, who received the happy and exciting news that her book Shine was a finalist for the National Book Award, only to be told later that, oops, that was a mistake, and gee, we'd mixed up your book with the real finalist, Chime, and um, why don't you publicly participate in your own humiliation and help us cover our asses by graciously withdrawing? Read the entire story of the debacle over at libba_bray's journal here.

There was no way the National Book Award committee could come out of this by looking like anything but hurtful idiots, but Lauren Myracle rose above this humiliating debacle in an magnificent way. Shine, in case you do not know it, is about a hate crime against a gay teen and how it affects an entire community. This is, sadly, a reality for teens in much of the world, and, as Lauren said in her gracious statement, “I was also deeply moved that in recognizing "Shine," the NBF was giving voice to the thousands of disenfranchised youth in America—particularly gay youth—who face massive discrimination and intimidation every day. So that something positive may come of their error, I have strongly suggested that the NBF donate to the Matthew Shepard Foundation [a charity focused on respecting human dignity among young people].”

Well, there is one silver lining. As Lauren reports in her first person account, there has been an outpouring of support for the book. Follow the hashtag #ISupportShine on Twitter.

Another interview.

This entry was originally posted at http://pegkerr.dreamwidth.org/1548923.html. There are comments on the post.

Yes, I am still obsessing about Occupy Wall Street. Now there's a way that writers can help. A new website has been started called Occupy Writers (they're on twitter as @OccupyWriters). Read about it here:

Taking up their pens to fight, more than 100 authors have signed up at Occupy Writers, a Web site that launched last week as a rallying point for authors to show their support for the protest movement.

Francine Prose, author of “Blue Angel,” “Reading Like a Writer” and “Goldenglove.” (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)
As well as offering a petition (which succinctly reads, “We, the undersigned writers and all who will join us, support Occupy Wall Street and the Occupy Movement around the world”), the organizers of the site are asking the authors to write about their experiences and thoughts about the protests. So far, two authors have posted messages.

The first, from author Francine Prose, is a short, impassioned paragraph about the protests moving her to tears.

“I kept thinking about how, since this movement started, I’ve been waking up in the morning without the dread (or at least without the total dread) with which I’ve woken every morning for so long, the vertiginous sense that we’re all falling off a cliff and no one (or almost no one) is saying anything about it.”

Poet D.A. Powell also added his voice to the conversation, in a poem titled “The Great Unrest.” Lemony Snicket, the penname of author Daniel Handler, posted thirteen observations “while watching Occupy Wall Street from a Discreet Distance.” Number 11: “Historically, a story about people inside impressive buildings ignoring or even taunting people standing outside shouting at them turns out to be a story with an unhappy ending.”

Other authors are using Twitter to show their support for the protests. Salman Rushdie was one of the first writers to agree to sign up for the Occupy Writers protest. On Sunday, he made a trip to Zuccotti Park, writing on Twitter about his experience there.

The list has a mix of radical writers and moderate ones.

This entry was originally posted at http://pegkerr.dreamwidth.org/1548530.html. There are comments on the post.

It's always wonderful to see new authors enter the world of publishing. Stephanie Burgis' (stephanieburgis, on Twitter as @stephanieburgis) new novel A Most Improper Magick is out in the UK today. You can read the first three chapters on her website here. (She's running a contest to offer someone a free copy, along with book-related swag. Boost the signal for her to enter. See the details here.

This entry was originally posted at http://pegkerr.dreamwidth.org/1386735.html. There are comments on the post.

The scanner is up and running. Hurrah! You can click on any of the pictures to see it closer up.

The title of this first card is a reference to my favorite poem in all the world, Yeat's The Two Trees. The ravens he speaks of in the poem have come to represent depression for me. I went back and forth as to whether this card is a "Committee Card" (something inside of me) or a "Council Card" (something archetypal). I have tentatively decided (for now) that it is a Council Card, but in fact it may be a bridge card between the two suits.

( The Ravens of Unresting Thought - Council SuitCollapse )

( The Bearer of Burdens - Committee SuitCollapse )

Here's one to honor one of my favorite authors. It is unusual because I use words on this card, which as a rule I think I will want to avoid when making soulcollaging cards. But this first paragraph is so famous that I couldn't resist using it. (I used the Jane Austen font, which is based upon her handwriting.) These are the table and chair she used when writing her novels.

( Jane Austen - Community SuitCollapse )

Maybe my life is a living example of what she's talking about here.

It's funny.

But I wince.

Here it is. I can't believe they left off The Shining, Moulin Rouge, Bullets Over Broadway and most of all, my all time favorite, Romancing the Stone:

"Joan Wilder? THE Joan Wilder?! I read your books! I read all your books!!!"

What movies would you add to the list?

A clip from the documentary "JK Rowling - A Year in the Life", showing the final moments of Jo writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Her blog is syndicated at eleanorarnason. Eleanor is a science fiction writer who lives and works here in the Twin Cities; I met her for lunch today. I've known her for years, and consider her a good friend. We talked a bit about the process of blogging (I see she's already posted about the conversation.) She's quite a bit more wary about it than I am. I suggested that the difference between us might be that I've kept a paper journal for years and so perhaps have been much more familiar and comfortable with the process of journaling.

I've been missing vast swathes of my friends list; it's a combination of busyness (all that dojo cleaning) and other life stuff that's been going on--please be aware that it's not personal, and I don't mean to snub anyone. Anyway, I just ran across the discussion over the 2007 Hugo and John W. Campbell finalist list. Congrats to everyone on the list, etc., etc., but as has been pointed out, the list (along with all the other major sf/fantasy award finalist lists this year) is very embarassing in one respect: there is only ONE woman's name on the list, naominovik, for His Majesty's Dragon (which is an excellent book, by the way, very deserving of the nomination, and you all should read it). Anyway, in all the discussion, sdn cleverly ran the 2006 Hugo nomination list through a website called Regender.com and came up with this. Interesting food for thought, no?

It's fun to run a lot of websites through Regender.com. Like the first chapter of Genesis, or Google News. Or this Livejournal. Apparently, in another life, I am Peter, married to Robin, and with two sons, Dennis and Frank. Who knew?