A Single Layer

Everybody and their mother is posting this thing, so I might as well jump on the bandwagon. I don't think it's as funny as everyone else seems to, which is why it didn't end up here right away. But it's still a little funny. I guess.

I am learning everything there is to know about paper, thanks to my current work as publisher emeritus. Here's a boring-looking web page that has suddenly become my paper bible: iPaper ! With my new-found knowledge, there will never be surprises! Looking forward to putting my paper-genius to work on Jeff's book in the next few weeks.

Thanks to Father Stephen for this, appropriately timed for me. Everything you do, all your work, can contribute towards your salvation. It depends on you, on the way you do it. History is replete with monks who became great saints while working in the kitchen or washing sheets. The way of salvation consists in working without passion, in prayer…. May God give you the strength to keep your spirit, your mind, and your heart in the spirit of Christ. Then everything that happens to you can very quickly be radically transformed. What was tiresome and discouraging will disappear, transfigured by your desire to be there where Christ your God is…. Elder Sophrony of Essex

My sister, Amanda, has had an unusual amount of internet access over the last few days. This means a few more updates to her blog than usual. I am sure I have referred to her blog here before (right? surely I have...), but I'd like to link to it again: http://lamander.blogspot.com/ There are some lovely lemurs pictured here, as well as highlights from her initial training and subsequent village indwelling. Take a look!

Remember reading From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler , and then every time you went in a museum or gallery afterward, you thought of what it would be like to live there? Well, now you can. Not the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but a pretty fascinating alternative. Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry is offering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity (unless, of course, they offer it again next year) to live in the museum for one month. You get paid for it too. $10,000. (Of course, this should clue you into the small detail that this is more of a job than an rebellious adventure, but still....) Check out the link here . There are some submissions requirements, of course, and the more this is blogged about, the harder the competition will be. I can think of about five people I know off-hand who would be fabulous at this.

I just came across an email I wrote to my favorite professor at Wheaton College many years ago. It was in response to a class conversation we'd had on Emily Dickinson and her manipulation of seclusion for the purpose of social control. It sounds a little fancy there, but let me tell you, the email I wrote was fancier. I don't think I was trying to be smart, either, because I used a very personal example - which I will not elaborate here - regarding my understanding of Dickinson's motivations and the manner in which her behavior would translate into the world of modern technology. I was not trying to be smart, but from my present perch, it sounded smart. I'm wondering what happened to that deep-thinking academic. Wondering all the more how it is possible that such thought processes actually diminished during my post-graduate education rather than flourished. Oh, academia. What a fickle beast you are.

I simply have to link over to this omnivoracious article because, 1) I like China Mieville, 2) I like this book cover, and 3) this is a great website.

Dear Readers, My sister's blog is awesome. No joke. It's cute and little and lively. Which is why it's called: http://cutelittlelife.blogspot.com . Click through and show your support for bloggers, crafters, and cute people across America! Thank you, MollyBGood

I'm thinking of changing the URL of this blog, which is tricky, since it's been my blog for several years and you all know me by now. You'd have to change all your settings and stuff. Let me know if you'd be prepared for this, or if it's a terrible, terrible idea. I mean, obviously I'd provide a little link saying 'to read more from this phenomenal blogger, please click here'. You know, just let me know.

Just went on a walk with my mother down to the beach. It's a beautiful view, despite the rubbish along the waterline, and it was good to see a few other people enjoying it. After the hoards along the bluff on the 4th, it can be difficult to enjoy living on such a public street. The calm walk and evening view is a restful reminder of why we do.

When I was a child I often had a toothache, and I knew that if I went to my mother she would give me something which would deaden the pain for the night and let me get to sleep. But I did not go to my mother--at least, not till the pain became very bad. And the reason I did not go was this. I did not doubt she would give me the aspirin; but I knew she would give me something else. I knew she would take me to the dentist next morning. I could not get what I wanted out of her without getting something more, which I did not want. I wanted immediate relief from pain: but I could not get it without having my teeth set permanently right. And I knew those dentists; I knew they started fiddling about with all sorts of other teeth which had not yet begun to ache. They would not let sleeping dogs lie; if you gave them an inch, they took an ell. Now, if I may put it that way, Our Lord is like the dentists. If you give Him an inch, He will take an ell. Dozens of people go to Him to be cured of som...

I have been too busy to read anything but legal documents, vendor forms, unedited manuscripts, packing slips, social networking sites, and the book of Matthew for a few months now. My brain feels tight around the edges. My eyelids are losing elasticity. Here are a few books I've been eyeing for the last little while in hopes for a rainy day: 1. Jane Eyre (re-read) 2. Out of Africa (bought a re-print of the original translation, very pretty) 3. anything by C. S. Lewis (and I mean anything. From Miracles to Perelandra to the one-sentence quip on the daily calendar in the kitchen, I'm all over it.) 4. Mockingjay !!! (comes out in August. This will be the first in the series that I haven't received early as an advanced reader. I'm so excited!!!) 5. The Message in the Bottle (Walker Percy, NOT Nicholas Sparks. Read much, but not all of this piece of genius. Also want to read everything else he ever wrote) 6. Godric (again) 7. War and Peace (but only after I finish...) 8....

I've been feeling a little conflicted about my life as a blogger. There are so many things I want to post about, but I'm suddenly aware that running a company makes me in many respects a 'public' figure, and what I write here on this very personal blog has implications for my work and the reception of my company by the outside world. I'm not worried about the personal stuff - I don't post much of anything I wouldn't mind anybody reading. But when I visit the printer or get an acceptance letter from our distributor or any number of awesome things happen, I want to write about it. And then I stop and think, is this too much information? I'll figure it out eventually. For now, just know that all is going very well. I am excited to do what I do, and everything is falling beautifully into place. Thank you Jesus.

Going through the files on my computer, I found this passage plucked from an article by David B. Hart, from First Things , many moons ago. It seemed particularly relevant considering the sermon I listened to (while driving), from my pastor two weeks ago. I've been thinking about the importance of the novel, and of storytelling, all the more since I've made publishing my career. It is good to know I'm investing in something I have believed in for so long. Whatever quality the writing, the seeds of this higher possibility remain. At the same time, one must acknowledge that part of the special enchantment of the novel, considered as a distinct literary form, is the illusion it can create of a fully realized world; a truly great novel is like a magic mirror, whose surface reflects not only the appearances, but the souls of living men and women. Precisely because of its special combination of immensity and intimacy, it affords its author room, scope, time for the subtlest gestu...

The time between blog posts just gets longer and longer. I have become one of those people who does nothing but work. This would be a sad thing, except that I am beginning to see the fruits of my labor. Perhaps I shall post a picture of said fruits sometime soon. In the meantime, please bear with me. I miss you all more than I can say. But it won't last long. I promise.

I talked with someone a while ago about how I like to visit churches. There's even a post or two below about the careful processes behind it. I don't consider myself a church tourist, of course, because the implication behind that phrase is a disinclination to attach oneself to a given church. And I am far from disinclined. I am eager for the Church I will call Home. I think I have such a one in Long Beach, but I know that I am hesitant there. Not because of theological disagreements, although I know I have a few. Not because of the people or the preaching or even the largeness of the space. If anything were to deter me, it would certainly be the presence of a coffeeshop on the church grounds - but strangely, that's not it either. It's the general feeling of nomadism that I still have. I will settle in a church when I settle in myself. But I am still unsettled. One of my favorite bloggers just posted about her own church 'tourism', and I was delighted to read i...

It has been a long time since I've actually blogged about my life. There's a reason for that, and it mostly has to do with work. As long as work people have access to my blog, there are certain things I can't be wildly open about - like starting my own business. Of course, this is not a problem if you quit. Which I just did. Out of the blue? Yes. But then again, no. I have known I would quit as soon as publishing got off the ground for a while. I jumped the gun by a month or two because I quickly became convinced that publishing couldn't get off the ground if I didn't devote myself to it full-time. These are the things that convinced me: 1. a release date set for one month from tomorrow. 2. two other authors waiting behind it, plus an additional e-book, all three which need to be edited. 3. the first author's first book which we may be able to get the rights to, which also needs to be edited (again). 4. needing to set up in-store events for every weekend from J...

I know I can be rather critical of certain authors at times (how anyone thought D. H. Lawrence was worth reading past the first few pages of arrogant, noxious, formulaic Freudianism, I do not know), but it seems I am in good company .

It's been a while since I've linked over to my favorite blogger, so here's a brief snippet from him. Mostly I just like the quotation.