May Book Buys???

Yeah, I didn't buy any books this month. 

Well, that's not exactly true. I received books, but I haven't bought any - does that make sense? I hope so. 

I've also begun to read some short stories before I turn out the light at night - so I'm getting back into reading again; after such a long stint of not reading and just writing (as you can read from a few posts below). 

But I'm still collecting and my office is starting to become cluttered with books again. Yes, this does mean I have to start on another lot of looking through the collection and figuring out which ones belong and which ones don't. Sad but true. But if I don't, I'll be the crazy book lady of my unit complex... and well, I don't want that.

Anyway, the author I'm reading is Kurt Vonnegut. He put out a few short story books and I found one at the Logan Art Gallery which they were keeping it for art projects and I rescued it! Yay! Now, I'm reading it. Okay, some idiot ripped out the first page of the first story, so I can't read that, but who cares? I'm reading the rest of them.
And besides, I have other books around the place which have poetry and novellas as well - just to get me back into the reading mode again. And I'm hoping to start saving up for another tattoo... this one is going to be book-related and I'm going to get it done next year sometime. 

Well, it's been a good month for me... I've been good in some aspects, bad in others, I'm reading again and I'm also writing some nice, short'n'sweet flash fictions (my last one was around 500 words long; and we had a word limit of 1,000 words). So, until my next post, happy reading! 

Art Words

I've been working with art and words in my life over the last few years - and have found that there's not that many artists who do this.

A lot of them make sculptures out of the books they use. I do as well; and use very old books that are falling apart to do this (so don't worry, I'm not using anything from my collection or anything new).

However, I do book art where I write on the canvas book titles, author names, or song-writers names and they are turned into the shape of waves, leaves or trees. It's difficult to do and I find that I have to have a certain number of names, books or songwriters. It's a difficult thing to do and yet it's something I have the patience for because I have to write out the words in pencil first then paint over them the best way I can... in a contrasting colour. 

Yes, I've almost sent myself blind doing this, so my optometrist has been a great help to me by making me glasses to work up-close and personal with my art.

I not only work with paintbrush and paint, but I also work with putting bookmarks into collages. I have a massive one about Bookcrossing called 'Spread the Word' which I still have sitting behind my front door because there's nowhere to hang it. And there's other works hanging around my library which is all book-related. I've even made a plaster cast torso which is all about books, has quotes on it and I built a book from plaster on it - with the pages all curled up as though they were caught on a breeze - then painted them gold. 

Do you know anyone who's done book art which doesn't involve the sculpture of books themselves? I find that my work takes a lot of time to do; so I don't have that much work to do a proper exhibition as yet, but it does show my passion for the written word in so many ways. Until my next post, happy reading.

UPDATE:

I've been asked in the comments about photos of my work. This is something I forgot to upload - sorry about that guys, I was very tired and it was late. So here's the few I've done so far.

Books on My Mind

20 Years Of Reading (all the books I've read over the last 20 years)

Books Are Joy

Spread The Word

Writing More Than Reading

I've been writing more than reading lately.

This is a good thing; and a bad thing.

Bad in the way that there's no book reviews to read at the moment, but good that I'm getting stories and some books written.

One book I'm working on currently is my 'One Page' project. This is where I write one page about the day I'm having - or have had - in a journal-style notebook. I started it last December and I'm going well with it. I don't write every day, and it's been a great challenge to me, as I don't always fill up every page. Sometimes, it's difficult to fill up the page I've allocated myself, while on other days, it's filled before I know it.

Then, there' my garden journal. This is an on-going project that's being worked on since I moved into my townhouse. I'm onto my second garden journal and it shows a chronological change and life of my garden... I love reading over the old journal of how it's all gone from a desert of weeds, prickles and yellow paper daisies to the pretty little garden it is today - and it's still somewhat a project that's ongoing; and will be ongoing throughout my life.

There's another book I pick at. This one's for my niece. I don't know when this one will be finished as it's something of a book filled with advice I've gleaned from all sources throughout my life... be it my Mum, Grandmother, friends, authors, artists, famous people... just about anyone I've spoken to has given me wonderful (and not-so-wonderful) advice. I'm hoping to put a lot of it into this book over the next few years and fill it up to give to my niece by her 21st Birthday; so she has something to read when I'm no longer around to be there for her. I know that sounds really horrible, but the day will come when I'll be gone; and this book will have everything I want her to know.

Memory Book... now this is a new one. I've been recalling old memories from when I was a child and writing them in long-hand in a notebook. It's a way of getting my autobiography working from a different angle. I hope it works out. So far, I've got some stories from when I was around 7 - 12 years old. High school isn't too hard as I've been going to class reunions and talking to people I went to school with lately (so they're all bringing back good memories of being at school as well as bad - but we need them both). Then, I'm working on funny memories too... so I'm going to look through some photos Mum's got of when I was young. This will be something I'll work on over the next few years. 

Yep, writing is something of a lonely thing I don't mind doing and love to really get into; even if I am working on three things at once. Well, are you a writer? If so, are you working on anything new? Until my next post, happy reading - or writing. 

The Books of the Dead

When I'm walking around bookstores - particularly second-hand bookstores - I wonder how many of these books came from deceased estates. How many families had the painful task of going through somebody's library of books, looked at which ones they wanted, put them up for sale at the garage sale (or two) and then... when they wouldn't sell there... brought them into the second-hand bookstore to trade them in.

The books that are preloved often make me wonder how long they've been sitting on another person's shelf waiting to be read, or were read many times over by that person - lovingly handled and enjoyed by that person because they enjoyed that particular author - and were now haunting the shelves of a cluttered old bookstore with many other copies of the same title from who-knows-where.

When I pick up a book from a shelf in one of these bookstores, I'm don't feel disgusted - like I do in a public library. I'm often not thinking about how many horrible germs may be on the book (millions - after all, so many others have handled the book before me, just looking at it and putting it back), I'm wondering this book's history. I'm wondering how long it'll be in my possession and where it'll end up after I'm gone (that latter thought is something I don't think about much, but I do have that thought when I'm not feeling all that great that day, or I'm battling a cold or flu, or worse still, I'm just feeling older than I really am because of my medical condition). 

Do you ever wonder about the books you received from these bookstores, wonder where they've been, how they've come to be in your hands... how long they'll be with you and where they will end up after you've let them go? It's not a horrible thought, but one I've had over the last few years - and one I had to think about today as a dear friend of mine lost one of his cousins last week suddenly. This makes me think that life is far too short to not read all the books you want, learn everything you want to, watch the sunsets from all around the world and be everything you ever wish to be squeezed into this lifetime... however short or long it may be... possessions mean nothing in the end. They get shuffled around the family, sent away after nobody wants them and sold. But books? They're the gems, the goldmines people tend to get rid of and not realise they can be worth a small fortune if they're not well-informed. What do you think? Is this something I'm thinking into too much, or am I right? Until my next post, happy reading.

Series and Trilogies

As you all know, I love collecting books - yes, I have a huge collection which is growing by the day - but I also love collecting books in their complete series before I start reading them. 

Weird I know, but I want to know the book I need next is right there in on the shelf for me to pick up and read when I finish the first one. 

So far, I have the complete 'Dark Tower Series' by Stephen King, 'Lord of the Rings' is six books kept in three volumes. I have that in one big thick volume, and in three volumes as well as in the six separate books. Then, there's 'The Talisman' and 'Black House' which are a part one and two by Stephen King and Peter Straub. Garth Nix put out a brilliant trilogy I own and have read - must re-read it again. Then, I have my vampire books one of my friends - Debbie Behan - gave me when she and her husband moved up to the Sunshine Coast and they wanted downsize. The P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast books; there's gotta be around ten of these - all in order. I also have quite a few of the Janet Evanovich books - all the numbered sleuth ones - which go from 1 - 18. I don't have all of them, but I have a few of them; would love to have the rest so I can read them all at some point. I have the first one, then ten, twelve, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen and eighteen. Then, there's two other books of hers I have that aren't part of that series. I also have Tad Williams' two books - which I haven't read yet - and other books around the place which are the second books in chronicles of something by other authors; and I've yet to find the first of those, as well as the rest of those books.

Sometimes I wonder if it's all worth it. Like 'The Wheel of Time' books. Yes, the series which outlived the author who wrote them... is all worth the time and effort for the reader and fans to go out searching for these books? I know it takes time to write these books; but if it's going to take so long to do all of this, and once you're finished, you get kinda stuck with the books. However, I'm the type who goes back and rereads a book over and over for the sheer joy of it... of being in familiar territory. So, what about you? Do you enjoy collecting books and the series for the joy of them being around you? Or is it just the hunt you love so much? I love both of these ... the hunt and the joy of having them around me. Reading them is the luxury of all time; especially when it's something I've been wanting to get my hands on for years. Until my next post, happy reading! 

So Many Books!

My townhouse has a little room filled almost to the brim with books. I love these books and I go through them from time to time - to keep the amount of them from becoming too much. 

However, I'm looking at them all now and have found that I really need a new bookcase in the spot where the brown one is - this brown one is old and looks like it's going to fall down soon.

This means I must go through my books and look at them seriously. 

Yes, I'm going to either release the ones I've held onto for far too long into the Wild, control release them (if you don't know these terms, look them up on Bookcrossing.com) or donate some of them to a charity. 
The last time I went through my books, I got rid over around 50 mystery/thrillers and was very pleased with myself - and had a lot more space to fill with other books. Now, I have this problem again. 

However, it's not just the amount of books I have here in the office, it's my townhouse. As much as I enjoy the idea of having my very own little library - of almost 2,000 books - at my beck and call, I really do need to move from this place as my furniture is far too big for this place... my book collection is becoming far too big for this townhouse bedroom/office. 

It makes me wonder how other people with small spaces around the world work with their collections. I've been trying to work with my collection - and feel as though I'm failing in controlling it. So, have any of you - my followers - have any ideas on being able to keep my collection and yet still have the space around me in a small home to enjoy it? I know this sounds like an impossible thing to do, but I'd like to see how this goes. Until my next post, happy reading.

Been Offline

It's been a good while since I last posted; there's a bad reason for it. No, I've not been lazy. My internet connection has been cut for the last 2 weeks. Yep, I've had to borrow my Mum's Telstra Hotspot connection and so I haven't been staying online for the long hours I've wished for.

But today, I had a breakthrough! Yes! Optus called me and we talked and the guy put me back online. He didn't tell me why my internet was cut (I think he couldn't tell me) but he did help me out with it. He asked who I spoke to and how I was treated and was honestly disgusted in how things turned out.

However, since my internet has been on the blink, I have been looking at my book collection and wondering if I really should have everything in proper sections - you know, all the series and trilogies in one area, the poetry in another. Yes, my book collection is a bit of a mess. I did sit down and start reading 'Lord of the Rings' and enjoyed the freshness of it all - after all it's been over 20 years since the last time I read it.

I've also been looking at new patterns on how to make tote bags. They look great! I'm hoping to be able to make one for my brother's girlfriend for her birthday this year - and if not by then, well, one for her for Christmas, along with a few for other people by then too. 

So, I've been reading and looking at patterns for presents this year for birthdays and Christmas (yes already! I'm really getting like my Grandmother; she'd be so pleased with me). Until my next post, happy reading!

Easter Long Weekend

It's the 4-day weekend we all look forward to - well, most of us - and I'm wondering: what are you all up to this weekend?

Today, being Friday, I've already gotten out 3 loads of laundry, put out the rubbish, washed up and put away the reusable shopping bags and folded all the towels and put them away and it's not yet 11am. Yep, I'm an early riser today (and not by choice - as neighbours screaming at each other woke me). 

Otherwise, I'm off to lunch with an online craft group of ladies tomorrow. It's going to be lovely to catch up with them all! I can't wait.

In between my housework and socialising, I'm hoping to read some of 'The Silmarillion' by JRR Tolkien and get into looking at 'Simply Too Good To Be True 6' by Annette Sims (it's a whopper of a volume this one). And I'm hand-writing a couple of books too. 
I've been doing my one-page-per-day experiment since Christmas last year and it's turned out to be harder than I first expected. Some days I can't find the space on that one page to get out what I want to say, while other days I just can't fill the page - how weird is that? Otherwise, it's a good writing exercise on how the mind works. 
I'm also starting to write another book about living in unit complexes and apartment buildings. Seeing that all I've lived in all my life is these places, I thought to give it a try - to write about life in one of these places - and let people know what it's like to see what I've seen. I'd say the public will never see unit/townhouse complexes exactly the same way ever again; nor believe some of the stories that I'll tell.

Well, this long weekend is sure to be an interesting one. Until my next post, happy reading.

Tolkien Reading Day

Today I went out to celebrate Tolkien Reading Day. It's a day of celebrating this great author and his works. And so, when I spotted that this event was on at a local library, I thought it was about time I went to see who was giving the talk; and what it was about.

However, a few days ago, I was at the Logan North Library when I spotted the advertising about this event and called up Peter Kenny - Brisbane's biggest collector of JRR Tolkien memorabilia - and we chatted for a good half hour about just that topic; as well as collecting books. I found that Peter has a huge collection of 'The Hobbit' in a variety of languages, of merchandise, costumes and other information he's researched about the realms that JRR Tolkien created just to write 'Lord of the Rings', 'The Hobbit' and 'The Silmarillion'; as well as other books on how those books came together. 

There weren't many people at today's reading, but the few who were there knew their fair share of information about Middle Earth and some of the specifics. One girl showed up and greeted us in Elvish - a language that JRR Tolkien developed himself to use in the just the books, but people have learned and used for themselves - and she bowed to him as well; fun stuff.

Well, the talk went for over an hour on the history of how the spirit guides and the lands were created. This was very briefly explained. Then, Peter talked in-depth about how 'Lord of the Rings' was about Aragorn more and less about Frodo and him getting the ring he had to Mount Doom. Believe me, I'll be rereading that book again just to pick up on it all.
He also made note that the movies were a mess of mis-quoted lines from the books that were placed in the wrong places, into the wrong character's mouths in the movies.  

Overall, the whole talk was fascinating and was well worth my morning there. I stuck around to chat to Peter more as he asked me to stay after his talk so we could catch up about our books and collections. It was good to talk to somebody about something we both understood completely. What made it worthwhile was that he had a huge amount of knowledge and books I didn't; and I had some books he wanted to look at that he hadn't seen. So, it was good for us both. Until my next post, happy reading.

Milford Method

I've been having problems with critiquing at a new writer's group over the last few months. It's the method of critiquing that has been of importance to them.

Now, being somebody who has been critiquing the same way for the past 20 years, I didn't think there was any new way of doing this. And it took me long enough to learn the way I do it now. So, when I heard about this Milford Method, I didn't believe in it at first - seeing I hadn't heard of it before - so I did some Googling and found there were a few different ways of doing it. But all of them included the person being critiqued to sit quietly while the people who critiqued their work tell them what's wrong with what they've written. This takes around 20 minutes to do, something I can't hold onto in my memory. For those who know me very well in Real Life, you know I have bad recall; and the very idea of sitting through 20 minutes of people telling me things while I sit quietly is huge and quite draining. Most of the time, I just don't remember anything that's been said. And then, I'm handed my piece of writing with suggestions written in and I'm expected to remember the added-on bits they have told me; even though they've written a short piece on the back page of what's what in their opinion.

So, this Milford Method isn't something that works for me; in more ways than one. There is another half.

The way you critique is chopped up into tiny segments. This sounds good, but really I don't work this way. I read the way I edit: I'll read the piece - fixing up the tiny errors as I go through. Then, I'll read it again, going through it with a fine-tooth comb - ie: my editor's cap on. Then, the third time around, I open a new document on the computer and start taking notes (eg: Page 1, paragraph 3: ....) and I'll go from there in a more informal description of what needs to fixed up, looked into, worked on and examined. Then? I save the document, the edited piece of writing and email it back to the author - including the two documents - and it's all done without printing out a single thing. 

I don't leave anything out, I write everything I need to say in this document and so when it comes down to it, when I attend the writer's meeting, they don't have to ask me any questions about their work, they have everything I want to say to them via an email. I also talk about their work in the group - repeating what I've told them to the group. 

However, the group's leader doesn't see how my critiquing method is best and wants me to change it. I have tried it out and find his way isn't something I can work with. Have you guys critiqued somebody else's work? Is there more than one way to critique or do you use the Milford Method as well? Seeing I use one type of method - which I find is easier for me than the Milford Method - what method do you use? I'm just asking as I have come up against some people who think I'm being too critical about this new method. Until my next post, happy reading.

I'm Back!

Woah! It's been a long silence between posts and I gotta apologise to you all.

I've been very busy lately doing a needlepoint for an art deadline which is coming up next week! And finally - yay! Finally! - I've finished it, signed it and it's now at the framers here in Logan City. 

Damned I'm so relieved!

But in between all that needlwork, I've been writing, cleaning out my house - bit by tiny bit - and editing a collection of flash fictions to be looked at by InHouse Publishing at Underwood. I'm hoping to get my name down to get an arts grant as well... hoping is a good word, and I do hope to get it because I do need that grant money to get my first book published.

That's not the only thing I've been doing.

I got my David Bowie 'Blackstar' vinyl off layby, as well as 'Molly' miniseries paid off too. Then, I put a set of retro drawers on layby at Fantastic furniture and I've been eyeing off a new bookcase - yes! I'm finally going to look into replacing The Saggy Bookcase! About time too! I know there's a home-spun theory about how that bookcase is holding itself up through the space-time continuem - with the help of the Sonic Screwdriver and the Tardis (wherever it may be right now) and The Doctor as well - but truthfully, it's not doing me any favours by sitting here and looking like crap. I need a bigger bookcase and I need one that can handle the weight of the books I currently have - as well as take on the weight of more books of an expanding collection.

So, I'm in the search of 'the perfect bookcase' ... if one exists ... to house the books that are on it and the collection that will be in the future of my home library.

Well, that's what I've been up to lately. What about you guys? Have you been hunting for books, bookcases or hoping to get in and read more books (which is another dream of mine... to get in and finish some of the books I've started, instead of sitting in my Reading Chair for 10 minutes and nodding off. Yes, it's that comfy - darned chair! Making sleep when I should be reading! How dare it be that comfy!) Until my next post, happy reading. 

Loving Collecting Books

I totally enjoy my book collection. I also love indulging in being around my books at any time of day - but mainly at night, when it's late and I'm about to go to bed. What I do is I sit in my Reading Chair and look around that the shelves of books surrounding me. From this angle, they appear to reach up to the ceiling and look as though they're about to topple over on top of me (like the huge bookcase almost did in Wales when I found my very first collectible book; and I pulled it from its well-packed case there!), but they're not going to.

The one thing I absolutely love doing is going through my stacks and finding books I had forgotten I had bought; and yet I'll still want to read them. Or funnier still, I'll find about three copies of the same thing because I've forgotten I've bought the first copy.

Now, that's hilarious!

But I do enjoy being around my books so much that I actually miss them when I go on holidays for more than a week. Yes, I come home and just have to touch them with my hands to feel as though I'm really home - and be around them to feel relaxed. 

My reading room/library is a very private room, though. I find that when people do come into the room, they are amazed at how many books there are. From the outside of my place, you wouldn't think I had such a large collection of books, or a room such as this, but it's nice to see one like this.

So, do you have a large collection at  your disposal at your place where you can escape into whenever you want to? Or do you have to go to the library to do that? Until my next post, happy reading.