latest dispatch, the first in nearly a year, tells of her decision to return to wearing a covering but Mennonite-style rather than her mother’s Quaker so what’s this about more hot wheels, eh, or clicking those heels, ah, to prefer dwelling in New England as I recall our discussion comes back, so I learned last night nothing else new comes to mind to report look forward to the next mailing, of course I’m not always a sterling example of what some embrace as Christian Love with or without the olives, yes, definitely, stay securely on your feet or knees the heartbreaking headlines demand attention regardless of the deadline every small detail adds up
Category: Arts & Letters
In case you’re wondering what others are saying
Listen to this from a five-star review Beth Collea posted at Smashwords.com’s Quaking Dover page:
Jnana Hodson combines solid historical research with his engaging writing style. Light touches along the way keep the text moving. His own historical wonderings give us the feeling of personal involvement in the quest for insights and answers.
Drawing on the work of David Hackett Fischer, he contrasts the local folkways and customs of the area of England where the Puritans came from and the Devon region where the settlers to the Piscataqua area originated. Spoiler alert: the English in the Devon region so highly valued hospitality and welcome that they dared to host and harbor traveling Quaker ministers, especially if they were in need.
Hodson gives us a wonderful historical lens to use as a framework for general understanding and especially for exploring Quaker history in the U.S. The timing is perfect as the City of Dover prepares for the 400th anniversary of European settlement in 2023.
~*~
Some things I learned from the book release party
It was a lot of fun and had people really excited. Of course, a presenter learns a lot by doing it, too, leading to refinements.
Among the things on my list:
- Focus on reading a section or two from the book. Save more of the chat for Q&A time.
- Resize the photos to fit the screen. Or, for online presentations, the Zoom format.
- Create memes, including more effective maps.
- Pack a tall music stand to hold the script, in case a lectern or the equivalent isn’t available.
- Don’t try to use split screen when showing slides and trying to read my script from the same laptop in a darkened room.
- Venmo is a definite sales help, even with an older crowd.
- Think about attire that also works in the dark.
Here’s one book that would be really useful
My proposal for a sure-fire hit:
Bachelor Survival Food:
20 recipes to give to your nerdy brother or boyfriend.
Make it really basic, like instant pudding or ramen soup with tofu, but a step beyond peanut butter and jelly or frozen pizza.
What would you include?
Moving forward in an ancient time signature
in the Quaker circles, how many in their sixties and seventies are still quite bustling well on into their eighties and nineties, I would add compared to so many on respirators and walkers the problem is we need a lot more half that age moving forward yes toward New Jerusalem where are all welcome and made anew whole
Still chewing on this
In my novel What’s Left, should Carmichael’s specialty sandwich have been a Hoagy?
Before hearing the sales pitch
my list: Desert Boots so I’ll have a very comfortable pair of shoes at the office, but it turns out that the original kind are impossible to find, and pricey but rather than being upset by that fact today, I found myself intrigued by the hunt, I’ll just keep watching and waiting a jaunty rain-repellant windbreaker to replace the decade-old one my now ex-wife gave me which I’ve never really liked, color or cut, even when it drew favorable comments, it just wasn’t me or a dressy raincoat as in a London Fog, I still wound up buying some nice, and essential, overdue items, including winter boots the old L.L. Bean muck-luck style, but fun and necessary for a New England winter now I can mud it up with the best of the locals and keep my head up and a new wallet as for the Japanese robe or pea jacket very nice cut but still more than the one at the sporting goods store), not yet a consumerist, yrs truly in comfy new wraps
Writing versus real life
There are many reasons I spend so much butt time at the keyboard, as poet/novelist Charles Bukowski once compressed the practice.
I’ve examined some of them elsewhere, but what I’m circling back to today is the necessity of bringing some kind of order to the seeming chaos of what happens to each of us in “everyday life,” at least through the lenses of my own encounters.
What emerges is hardly objective, no matter my training in objective journalism. If anything, I lean on the hopeful side of history. The side we see as progress, even in the face of the clouds of doom.
Long ago I crossed a threshold where I couldn’t move forward without drawing on so much that had accumulated before then. I think of it as turning the compost, to give it air and enrichen future crops, worms and all. Yes, those blessed red wigglers. Or wrigglers, depending on your spelling.
Am I self-deluded? Or is my practice of writing one of prayer, even in the face of so much hopelessness?
What is life, anyway, apart from what we experience subjectively?
So here we are, all the same.
Keep writing, those of you in this vein. No matter the outcome.
Beloved saintly Tess hear my confession
because I haven’t really known how to shop for myself expertly I’ve hated selecting birthday or Christmas that is, excepting books and records and a few groceries I’d like for myself you’d think spending would be a simple if you had enough cash and my dependable depression reflected insufficient variety or sassy style on the racks here but price tags on anything I desired conveyed, As I learned, kid, look, you aren’t worth anything as far as your job and life are concerned and maybe if you stole from dying widows or threw single-parent kids into the street, you’d be rich and then honestly, most men still dread shopping so what do you really want in gift wrapping?
Cutting the book’s trim size cut my royalty
You might think it’s a minor thing, deciding whether your new book should be 9-by-6 inches or the usual trade paperback 8½-by-5½ inch dimension, but the smaller trim size does look and feel more professional, even elegant.
It’s easier to retrieve from some of my bookshelves, too.
It comes at an added cost, though – an additional $1.40 or so, out of my royalty.
You wouldn’t expect that for the smaller size, would you?
At some point, that might be the swing factor in raising the cover price.
For now, I simply want this one to be just right. Besides, it will still take a lot of sales for that difference to add up, and we are dealing with the story of a small faith community which just might not have that much interest for anyone else unless this takes off like, well, something about covered bridges in Iowa.
Jnana's Red Barn 