There are two impulses. One is to leave a legacy. Maybe it’s children or creations, good works, discoveries, or even a legacy of kind acts. There are other things to be remembered for, but those seem the most important.
The other is this. To be able to say, at the end of one’s life, “You gave me this gift and I used and appreciated it. I looked at the way the wind moves in the trees and the flecks of light in more than one cat’s eye. I took time to watch sunsets and how they changed from minute to minute. I practiced gratitude for this wonderful world and the fact that is is always moving, always acting, even in the stillest moments. I participated in the dance and let myself hear the music. I listened when people were showing me their souls and in return they gave me bravery and honesty and joy.”
Joy IS the skill of skills. Everything is subservient to that collective joy, the shout of being and doing.
Will you, won’t you, will you join the dance today?
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"(On the writing F&SF workshop) Wanted to crow and say thanks: the first story I wrote after taking your class was my very first sale. Coincidence? nah….thanks so much."
~K. Richardson
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Welcome to the New Year!
Yesterday I blogged about some of the things coming in 2011, and I’d like to raise the question to the readers of this blog – what would you like to see more of in 2011 (on this blog, although in the world in general might be entertaining too.)
Today also marks my first review for a new site, Rise Reviews. The site’s devoted to reviewing small press books, and my first pick was an anthology edited by Joselle Vanderhoof, Steam-Powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories from Torquere Press. I hope you’ll check out my review of Steam-Powered, and perhaps the anthology as well (alas, I could not find it on Amazon).
Here's some of the books, stacked in the hallway and waiting to be sorted through. It's a fairly representative sampling. Redlaw was picked up at a con; it's a good thriller reminiscent of Paul Cornell's London Calling. Nicola Griffith's Slow River is a book I hate to part with and I know there's a good chance I might reread it at some point but for now...out it goes. There's some issues of the Magazine of F&SF, and Lawrence Durrell's Clea, which was part of "I will improve myself as a writer" reading.One of the things 2014 is bringing is all sorts of interesting and awesome changes, but part of that is a need to trim down drastically. So I’ve been going through my books getting ready to sell a lot of them. Many are from teen years, college, or grad school. Others are gathered at cons, sometimes with stories attached. Some sparked stories, or were gifts from, or were written by people I respect and admire and sometimes love. Some are signed. Some have notes jotted in them. Some are books that changed my life.
So far I’ve winnowed 700 or 800 books from the collection and there’s still a lot left. Not to mention there’s a storage locker holding at least another 1000. Argh.
But rather than dump them all at Value Village, I’m taking these last days to sort through them. Because some of these books are old, old friends. So I’m checking them on Amazon (and finding a few worth unexpectedly more, which is nice) and listing all the ones for sale in a spreadsheet, with a few notes and a price. A few I’m putting aside to give to specific people. There’s two boxes laid aside already for my godchildren.
My plan with the ones for sale is to give my two best friends, my brother, and my mom first crack to see if there’s any they want. (Or any that are actually already theirs, in mom’s case, since the boundary between my mom’s books and mine has been pretty fluid from time to time.)
After that, time to see if I can get a little filthy lucre for them. I’ll offer to share the spreadsheet with my writing group, students, other friends, and anyone else interested. (Drop a line here if you are.) Lots of fiction, particularly short stories, a lot of Women’s Studies texts, assorted odd bits and interesting historical stuff. The usual round of books about writing.
I’ll be blogging about some of the books as I hit them. After this comes a similar pass at all the knick-knackery I have accumulated. Not looking forward to that too much, but there’s also a good feeling, a wind-through-one’s-soul feeling that comes with shedding stuff.
There are two impulses. One is to leave a legacy. Maybe it’s children or creations, good works, discoveries, or even a legacy of kind acts. There are other things to be remembered for, but those seem the most important.
14 Responses
Lovely! Thank you for the reminder.
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