Noise in the Attic

Holly and Zette have released Vision: The Writing Workshops on Shop.HollyLisle.com. I’ve been a fan of Vision since the first issue, and have always found the Workshops to be a tremendous help and full of good advice from two writers who know what they’re talking about.  At US$6.00, this collection is a steal. Plotting, character development, world building, just about everything about writing is touched on in these workshops. They’re full of good, practical advice and exercises to teach or reinforce good writing practice.

This is one I recommend wholeheartedly.

I really like to get e-mail from my readers.  Really, I do.  The only thing is, I get spam, too.  That makes me a little quick on the trigger when it comes to deleting mail from people whose names I don’t recognize right off.  If we’re not already correspondents, please put either BLOG or NITA in your subject line so I can tell what’s real and what’s not.

Look forward to hearing from you.

I’m back!  Athens is a great town!  Too much fun.  I just can’t keep up with college kids anymore.  Anyway, here are some thoughts about some of the things librariians are thinking about these days.

Information literacy is real big right now. This is not some bullshit jargon term librarians have made up to try to justify our existence in the post-modern Internet Age, though the jargon does flow abundantly around the topic.  “Information literacy” is just a new way to talk about an ancient concept.

Fundamentally it boils down to this: our ability to determine what information we need, our ability to locate that information efficiently and effectively, our ability to discern the accuracy of the information and the authority of the provider, and our ability to use that information legally and ethically.  That is quite a load. It is also a combination of skills that are sadly lacking in the world today.

The Internet is both a blessing and a curse as far as information literacy goes. There is an abundance of information available, but far too much of it is bogus, at worst, or inaccurate, at best. Sorting out the crap from the diamonds can be a big job and demands some critical thinking skills that are just not being taught in our schools. Way too people believe whatever they see and can’t be bothered to think about it or explore further. Way too many people believe that the network news shows and the major newspapers are giving them the whole story.

Working in a technical college library (”We’re not a vocational school anymore!” everyone cries), I see the results of a public education system that is failing miserably. We get high school graduates every year that are not just functionally illiterate, but completely illiterate. They cannot read, write coherently, or do basic math. How are these students going to make decisions about their lives and careers, much less about the greater societal issues that we all must deal with? Short answer: they can’t.

One of my hardest tasks is to help bring these students up to a level of thinking skills and discernment that will allow them to function as contributors to society rather than resource sinks. It’s a tough enough job, but I also have to strugle daily with faculty and administration who are still stuck in the vocational school mentality, who do not recognize the need for a library except to meet accreditation standards, and who often don’t care about the students.

I have to quit now. The urge to rant grows large. Back to work. Paperwork backlog awaits. *sigh*

I will be in Athens (GA, not Greece) Wednesday through Friday this week for the annual Georgia Council of Media Organizations (GaCOMO) conference. Hope to learn some stuff and maybe have a little fun at the same time. I don’t know if I will have Internet access at the hotel, so I may disappear. Given my recent past record, would anybody even notice?

I have a couple of posts simmering on the back burner that I hope to get up one day real soon. Be talking to you soon!

Been lazy about posting the past week.  I actually didn’t have much to say, and I’m very much not fond of spouting empty words just to see them on the screen.  These two articles caught my eye, though, and i thought I would share them.

The first is by Stephen King. He promises to tell you everything you need to know about writing in 10 minutes, and delivers pretty well on that. I have some minor quibbles with a couple of his points, but he’s pretty much on target with this.  Thanks to tambo for the link.

The other is from the e-zine Reflection’s Edge.  This is an article about why they reject stories.  Eye-opening and essential reading for short story writers.  Most of their thoughts also apply to novels, too.

Read, memorize, use, be successful.  Thank you and good night.

You Are From Pluto

You are a dark, mysterious soul, full of magic and the secrets of the universe. You can get the scoop on anything, but you keep your own secrets locked in your heart. You love change and you use it to your advantage, whether by choice or chance. You don’t like to compromise, to the point of being self-destructive with your stubborness. Live life with love, and your deep powers will open the world to you.

Speaking of far-out:

On my way to work this morning, I saw a man dressed in shorts, a T-shirt, white socks, and sneakers zooming around the walking track.  Why is this far out?  He was in a motorized wheelchair.  Ummmmm.  OK.  A little surrealism goes a long way.

Heard on the radio on my way to work this morning:

“Mary, Queen of Squa…uh…Scots”

AND, in reference to the people taking shelter from Hurricane John:

“Tourists of thousands hunkered down…”

Let’s be cartful out there.