I happened to catch her gaze coming at me from a promotional poster at my favorite bookstore.
I shouldn't be a bad sport; Dom's book sounds quite a bit more exciting than mine. I'd probably like it. It has a spaceship in it, and a global disaster - related, I presume, to the eponymous comet - betrayal, love, and young adults who save the human race. Mine doesn't even have a plot, not really. It's more like a bunch of nonfiction short stories.
Well, I do like that sort of thing, too. I'm reading an interesting book now that provides glimpses of a bunch of people's lives. It's Danny Danziger's Museum: Behind the Scenes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Composed of 52 interviews with people who work on the five acres in New York that are home to that grand institution, from curators and board members to security guards and janitors. Some of them talk about art. Some of them don't. I found it at the library.
Once again I'm reminded how much I love that kind of work - hearing and telling people's stories. Maybe instead of spending tens of thousands of dollars to go to grad school - as I've been contemplating - I should just spend that much-needed sabbatical I hope to get on conducting a project like Danziger's: research, reflection, writing. By the way, he had an advantage I've never had... someone else to transcribe his tapes!
Topic: Writing
6 comments:
how odd. not only is it the same girl, it's the exact same shot, and even the same half of her face... what a shame. I remember feeling a bit put out when a graphic designer who had designed the cover for my booklet then proceeded to use parts of the same design in other things around the college... I'm not such a fan of this economising on creativity!
I hope you get the sabbatical you want. That would be a hard decision... grad school or research, reflection and writing.
I presume you have read the books of Studs Terkel?
Thanks, all. Someone thinking about starting a blog recently wrote and asked me what advice I'd give him. I said, be sure to answer your comments promptly. Yet I do not do that... Sorry!
Fiona: yeah, we're dependent on the whims of people like our designers, aren't we? Graphics folks in our office afterwards gently scolded me about not asking them to do it, but it never ocurred to me that I could have asked them - not when they were overworked, it wasn't official one of our ministry's projects, and the publisher assumed stuff like title and cover were their prerogative. All I had mental reservations about was that I didn't want it to be pink or flowery or cursivey - you know, as if being a woman means that's how you're supposed to be.
Angie - yeah, sabbatical is a hard decision. Not that I will necessarily get what I ask for but finding the creative/emotional energy to figure out and sell others on a good plan is still a bit beyond me right now. I've waited just a little too long on this, I think. It's getting a bit past preventative maintenance!
Home office people don't get furloughs but with how I'm wired, in a way I think that's what I need.
Dad - No, can you imagine, I haven't read any Terkel books? I know all about him and have heard him on the radio. But I haven't read any of his books. What would you recommend? Perhaps I ought to just see what our library has.
Talk about being slow on the uptake: I have been reading your blog on and off for some time, and only through this post realized that you are the author of a book I know and highly appreciated. What can I say? - I am very bad with remembering names.
Anyway, I recommended your book to many people. I lost track of who has my copy of the book at the moment.
Hi J! Thanks for stopping by. And, I'm glad you enjoyed the book. I had a great time putting it together - and thanks to the help of a great editor, I think it really sings. I'm glad to see people finding it useful, too!
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