Yeah, Write

Catch Up On Your Books & Crafts

With all the travelling I've been doing lately, I've forgotten to keep you updated about our latest episodes of Books & Crafts. If you've got some time to kill, I highly recommend the following. Or, you know, make the time. It'll be worth it. :)


Book-themed Circle Journal
We present a one-of-a-kind project to tackle with all of your reading friends! This circle journal features lots of unique ways to scrapbook about your love of reading—and to get great book recommendations from your favorite readers while you're at it. Find all of the featured books from this episode at ellapublishing.com/bookpicks

 

Conversation Keepsakes
Inspired by Beethoven's famous book of conversations, we share a fabulous handmade gift for newlyweds plus two scrapbook pages created using an interactive couples' conversation quiz. For this quiz and others, download our Quick & Creative Quizzes eBook or the Quiz Printables booklet , which contains printable quizzes and sketches designed by Cathy Zielske. As always, weekly book picks can be found at ellapublishing.com/bookpicks.

 

Book Decorating
This week, we've decorated, altered, and dressed up a few of our favorite books, and you'll love the results. Check out our fun projects, useful tips, and ideas for decorating books to keep and books to give away as gifts. The featured books from this episode can be found at ellapublishing.com/bookpicks.

What's in a Book Name?

Now, I'm sure it's difficult to come up with exactly the right name for your Great American Novel.

It was certainly difficult enough to name the scrapbooking idea books we produced when I was an editor at Simple Scrapbooks magazine. (Of course, there are only so many ways you can say "scrapbooking.")

But, as I've been noticing while browsing for books on Amazon.com and Goodreads.com, it seems that one of these two title formulas is bound to grab the attention of your friendly neighborhood publisher.

1. Make your book a "Keeper."

   

   

And this is far from all of them that contain the word "Keeper" in the title. There are also several that are simply called Keeper or The Keeper.

Question: If you were to write a "Keeper" novel, what would it be called?

 

2. Write about The Blank's Wife (or Daughter)

   

   

You may have noticed that The Memory Keeper's Daughter actually fits both of the formulas.

Question: What kind of wife or daughter or you? (Or son or husband, for the one or two men who may be reading this blog. :)

Me? I'm The Graphic Artist's Wife. Nah, don't think I'll be writing that novel anytime soon.

And if you know of any other books to add to these lists, please share!

A Godin Afternoon

I attended a luncheon today sponsored by Startup Princess featuring Seth Godin. Proceeds from the event will benefit Red Cross relief for Haiti. I walked out feeling inspired, enlarged, and empowered.

 

I ended up sitting right on an aisle, and as Seth walked past me, he said, "Thanks for coming, Angie." I played it cool and simply said, "Happy to be here." The guy behind me gaped and said, "You KNOW him?" I smiled and pointed to my name tag. Seth can read and he's a nice guy. That's all. :-)

Here are a few highlights from the lecture:

* In many ways, today's public schools are designed to create compliant workers. They want you to fit in so they can ignore you. The only thing graduating with an A average means is "I'm good at school." If you get a job after high school that requires you to take in and memorize information, and there's a test every two weeks, you'll do awesome! But being successful and happy in life takes more than doing well on written exams.

* We live in an age that doesn't need Encyclopedia Brittanica anymore. Facts are cheap. Facts are available to almost everyone all the time. (You can google almost any fact and have your answer in seconds.) What we SHOULD be teaching in schools is to:
1) Solve interesting problems.
2) LEAD.
3) Make decisions when there's no obvious path.

* In the past, it's been about training the next generation of factory workers. The bosses had the machines, and the workers operated the machines, and both the workers and the machine were replaceable. But today, EVERYONE has access to "the machine." It's called an $800 personal computer, and with it, you can create the next big idea and spread the word about it yourself. This is a new era. And this new era is about being an ARTIST in whatever field you're in. Everything is now connected, and you have the whole world open to you. There's no middle man anymore. (You don't have to convince an editor to let you write anymore; you can self-publish a blog or an eBook or even a hardbound book.)

* The way to succeed is to become irreplaceable. The way to be safe in your job is to STAND OUT. If your boss tells you exactly what to do and you do nothing more than obediently follow it to the letter, then you can be replaced. Your boss can find someone else to follow his or her instructions, and probably cheaper. The question is: Are you someone who can solve a problem in a new way? Then believe in yourself and make yourself into more than just a "compliant cog." This is a moment to stand up and say, "Don't fit in MORE; fit in LESS. Do what hasn't been done."

* If you want to be a writer, write even when you don't feel like it. If you want to be a violinist, practice even when you don't feel like it. Just show up and do the work. There's no such thing as "plumber's block." Why do you think that is?

* In a nutshell:
make art (in whatever field you're in, do things new and differently)
give gifts (be generous with your talents)
do work that matters
connect
lead
ship (whatever you're trying to make or produce, just get it into people's hands)
make a difference

* If the current challenges in the world (economic or otherwise) are discouraging you from even trying, remember this quote:
"Just because the tide is out, that doesn't mean there's any less water in the ocean."

		>

p.s. In the lecture, I learned that Seth Godin collects pictures of: groups of lunch ladies, and baseball bats flying into the stands at baseball games (capturing the shock and terror on people's faces as they duck). I think that's hilarious! What quirky thing would you collect pictures of?

Stampin' Up! Should Hire More Swedes

I just finished reading Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, and the title of this post is just one of the many startling conclusions I reached on my journey through the book.

Let me explain.

Last February, when I was toying with the idea of finding another full-time job, I saw an open position at Stampin' Up! that I briefly considered applying for. But one phrase in the job description made it clear this job was NOT for me. 

The phrase was: "must have a high tolerance for ambiguity."

If I know anything about myself, it's that I have a very low tolerance for ambiguity, which is one of the reasons I have not yet cultivated a deep appreciation for modern poetry.

I spend 83% of my time in the act of clarification. I'm either:

• clarifying what I just said
• repeating myself but in a slightly different form (or sometimes just louder) so there's no chance of misinterpretation
• fretting that I may recently have been misunderstood
• asking questions to make sure I understand precisely what you just said
• rewriting and re-punctuating sentences so there's no possible way they could be misread
• explaining to other people that my husband was only kidding just in case the nuances of his humor escape them

My husband, Travis, who's comfortable floating in a constant sea of ambiguity, occasionally finds it exhausting to speak to me. "How is it possible that you're unclear about what I just said?" he'll say. I just shrug. "Well, I just want to make sure we're on the same page." (But that's not precisely true, I don't just want to be on the same page with people, I want to be on the same word, or letter if possible.)

Trav is perfectly fine expressing himself in the general neighborhood of what he means. He thinks the "gist" of things is generally sufficient. Not I. I am rarely satisfied with a mere gist.

This brings me to the Swedes.

In Gladwell's book, in a chapter titled, "The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes," he talks about how different cultures are more prone to "tolerating ambiguity" while others practice "uncertainty avoidance." There's even a country-by-country database that ranks countries on the scale.

The biggest "uncertainty avoiders" are:
Greece
Portugal
Guatemala
Uruguay
Belgium
Angie Lucas

Those most tolerant of ambiguity include:
Hong Kong
Sweden
Denmark
Jamaica
Singapore
Travis Lucas

So, Stampin' Up! if you haven't filled that position yet, you might consider doing a bit of cultural profiling.

Another interesting tidbit I picked up from my friend* Malcolm:
In general, Western communication is "transmitter oriented." In other words, it is considered the responsibility of the speaker to communicate ideas clearly. Hey, I'm just taking my responsibilities very seriously.

In many Eastern countries, however, communication is "receiver oriented." It's up to the listener to make sense of being said. In an environment like this, I would be sure to drive everyone crazy, including myself.

* I'm taking liberties with the term "friend" because I actually e-mailed him once, and he actually responded. And then I made a layout about it.

I have a lot more thoughts about this book, and others I've read recently, and I think I may post some actual book reviews, rather than just random reflections and connections like this one. So stay tuned.

Incidentally, this is one of the things I love most about reading. It opens up my mind and helps me discover new ways of thinking about myself and the world. These "ambiguity avoidance" epiphanies are the kind of thing I save in my Encylopedia of Angie Lucas's Ordinary Life journal, which I started years ago after reading the memoir by Amy Krause Rosenthal. My version is just an ongoing Word document saved on my computer, with various ruminations and memories organized alphabetically by topic. I filed select portions of this post under "ambiguity."

Have you made any discoveries about yourself lately? Make sure you're saving them somewhere.

The Uniform Project = Brilliant

This is so cool. A woman named Sheena Matheiken has come up with an incredibly creative way to raise money for school children in India. Check out The Uniform Project here. And click this link to read her story.

I love how Matheiken uses her innate talents to make a difference in the world. We can't all be surgeons who fly to third-world countries for a month out of the year to provide medical care to impoverished children, but we can use whatever talents we have in positive ways if we'll just think creatively. What a cool and inspiring example.

I've long-been intrigued by Indian culture. And not just since Slumdog Millionaire, although I did find the film both deeply moving and terribly disturbing. I've read about the extreme poverty in the slums of India in poignant articles from The New Yorker (I found "The Last Drop" by Michael Specter particularly enthralling) and elsewhere. I also love the work of Jhumpa Lahiri, author of The Namesake and Interpreter of Maladies. She's a brilliant, Pulitzer-Prize winning writer, and I just have to say it, she's one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen if her book-jacket photo is any indication. (Not that it has any effect whatsoever on her writing.) That aside, my husband and I were both very emotionally touched by the film version of The Namesake, unexpectedly so in fact.

Perhaps this singular interest I have in India partly explains why I was so impressed with Sheena Matheiken's efforts, but I also love to see people working independently and creatively towards goals that mean something to them personally. So I just had to share.

What causes are close to your heart? And how can you use your God-given talents to make a difference? It's something to think about this Independence Day weekend.

p.s. For a few lighter-minded flicks (e.g., romantic comedies that your male relatives may or may not really hate) that are based in India or India culture, check out Bend It Like Beckham or Bride and Prejudice, the latter of which is quite silly and over-the-top in places, but I liked it anyway.

In Memory

I have a shameful tendency to think of Memorial Day in the same light I think of Labor Day and President's Day—as nothing more than another holiday from work, a long weekend to complete projects around the house or vacation in the south of France. (Just kidding. We're far more likely to vacation in the south of Utah or the south of Idaho.) And yes, I know that I'm unemployed, but I am freelancing, and when my clients are on vacation, I'm on vacation.

Perhaps my typical ambivalence toward Memorial Day is due to the fact that I've been unusually fortunate as to the number of loved ones I've lost in my 33 years on this earth. In fact, until my Grandpa Bob passed away in 2001, when I was 25, I had never experienced a funeral in my own family. I made it to my mid-twenties enjoying the blessing of five living grandparents (one of them my maternal great-grandmother). And the three grandparents who have passed away in the intervening years are all buried in Idaho, where their graves are showered with flowers from my many relatives who live nearby. I have no local graves to visit.

Today, I had plans to tend my strawberry patch and my vegetable garden (both first-time attempts for me!), so I hopped in the car to retrieve an eggplant plant my dad kindly picked up for me. The radio was tuned in to NPR, and as I drove I listened to the local KUER host, Doug Fabrizio (great name, right?), interview Gene S. Jacobsen, a local man who authored We Refused To Die: My time as a prisoner of war in Bataan and Japan. I passed dozens of homes displaying the American flag, and I started to cry as I listened to Jacobsen's story. (Here's a link to the KUER interview and another interview transcript.)

I realized I have lots of people to mourn and celebrate and remember. We all do. Countless Americans died to preserve my right to dig around in my backyard garden on Memorial Day and do whatever I want to do. I even have a great-grandfather (Henry Ross Turner) who served in World War I and a great uncle, my grandfather's big brother (Earl Nielsen), who lost his life somewhere in the Pacific in World War II. Thanks to the Jacobsen interview, I spent some time today thinking about them and being immensely grateful.

Jacobsen's interview was a rebroadcast from 2007, and I was most taken by the small details he shared—like the fact that he's not sure his wife fully understands why he always takes huge mouthfuls of rice at dinner. He does it because, while he was imprisoned and starving, he and his fellow survivors would only chew a few grains of weevily rice at a time, stretching their meager rations as far as they would go—the thought of a full mouth or a full belly almost unimaginable.

Because my only experience of this level of suffering (blessedly) has come vicariously, through books, this account reminded me of a novel I read years ago, Fugitive Pieces by the poet Anne Michaels. Although I read the book more than a decade ago, the imagery still haunts me. I think often of the description of a main character's father, who is a Holocaust survivor, spending his days guarding carefully against even the tiniest twinge of hunger. If he ever loses control of his strict eating schedule and finds himself experiencing any hunger pangs at all, the feeling takes him back so forcefully to the horrors of the concentration camp that he devours anything and everything he can find, binging, sobbing, mourning, remembering.

The word "remember" is so powerful. So huge. It encompasses everything. And it is necessary that we all remember those who have gone before, that we partake of each other's stories and record our own, that we take the time to reflect and be grateful.

The KUER story today also inspired me to pull out a book that's been on my to-read list for years and finally dive in. It's the perfect day to do so. The book, Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides, recounts the daring rescue of 513 American and British POWs from a remote camp in the Philippines, some of whom were the last survivors of the Bataan Death March. It's brutal and devastating and fascinating so far. And I feel like I owe it to these men and so many others to learn about and share their stories.

 

As most of this post focused on World War II, a war that has long captured my attention and fascination, I'll share a list of some of my favorite books on the topic. There are thousands and thousands of fictional and factual accounts of the last world war, and I've read only a small handful. But here are a few I recommend:

Nonfiction

Fiction

A Few More Goals

When I decided to start training for the race, using Hal Higdon's 12-week training program for novices (for those who asked), I also set a few other goals to keep myself occupied during my expected free time. Start a blog, check. Find enough freelance writing work to keep me busy 20 hours a week, check. Talk on the phone to Wendy at least 3 hours a week, check. Text Lain several times daily, check. Scrapbook on Wednesdays with fellow Simple alums, check. Get my scrapbook space organized, no check yet. Go to lunch with Wendy, Kelly, Kimmi, Becky, Jenny Webb, Mom, Grandma, Aunt Christine, Carolyn, Jenny Willden, and J.Wo, but not all at the same time...check please.

But above all of these, I have four major goals I'm working on. I'll share mine if you share yours!

1. Cook more.
No longer will I optimistically purchase a week's worth of fresh ingredients for lovely weeknight meals, only to come home from work exhausted every night and run for the nearest Bajio's to pick up dinner, and then throw away bags of zucchini soup a couple of weeks later. (If you've ever let zucchini spoil until it's unrecognizable, then you know what I'm talking about.) Instead, I will optimistically purchase a week's worth of fresh ingredients and (gasp!) actually make meals out of them! This goal is going pretty well. Occasionally we break form and bring in Thai takeout, but that's only because Thai food is irresistible.

This is my beloved Emile Henry pot, which easily transfers from stove to oven. It's French. It is in this pot that I make the most complicated dish in my repertoire, beef bourguignon, which is also French, and which is reserved for very special occasions. Oh, and that's not crusty old food on the front of that pot; it's adhesive I've never bothered to remove. Which is more embarrassing to admit? Speaking of adhesive, check out goal number 4 below.

2. Learn to play Clair de Lune.
I decided I would practice the piano for 15 minutes every day, ideally just after the boys left for work and school, and keep working on this piece until I had the whole thing mastered. (I'm awesome at the first two pages.) I've practiced exactly once. I'll try again, starting Monday. The only problem with this song, which isn't really a problem, is that it now reminds me of Oceans 11. I loved it long before Oceans 11 used it in the final Bellagio fountain scene, but now the two are inextricably linked in my mind. But I suppose I can't complain about anything that sparks mental images of George Clooney and Brad Pitt.

Hey, those little figurines atop the piano are pictured in the Scrapbook Play with Photos special issue! (How often do you find a reason to use the word "atop"?) And if you're a musician who hasn't yet heard of musicnotes.com, you simply must check it out. I downloaded and printed this music at home for only $5. They have everything you can imagine (Chopin, Dvorjak, Hannah Montana), arranged for almost any instrument.


3. Catch Up on My Reading
This picture shows about half of the pile 'o books sitting on the floor next to my bed, and there are dozens of magazines thrown in for good measure. Boy, do I need to invest in some new bookshelves! I am making progress, though. You're looking at the "already read it" pile. (The magazines are another story.)

I highly recommend the book on top: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows. Truly the best book I've read in ages. If you read it, you MUST tell me what you think!
 

4. Finally Remove This Sticker From My Toilet
Those of you who've stuck with me since The Simple Blog days may remember me posting about the sticker that was affixed to the tank of my toilet when we had it installed three years ago. (The sticker has one major grammar/usage problem. Can you spot it?) Even though I think about removing the sticker EVERY TIME I use the restroom, I've successfully ignored it through hundreds of cleaning sessions and probably a thousand sessions of other types. "Oh, I'll take care of that later," I tell myself. This isn't a simple soap-and-water job, you know; it's going to take some liberal applications of Goo Gone, which I keep misplacing.


No matter the odds, I will get rid of this sticker before the year 2010, I will. Granted, I am not the toilet's occupant and am thus violating the rule so vehemently stated on the sticker, but I'm willing to take my chances. In all the years I've been waiting, no sentient toilet occupant has stepped forward to remove the sticker, so I suppose it's up to me, the toilet's owner, to take care of it. (There...did you spot the usage problem now?)

Believe it or not, there's more to this story. (Oh, don't even get me started on toilets; I can go on for hours apparently.) A couple of weeks ago, I babysat my neighbor's 3-year-old daughter one evening at their home, and guess what I spotted in miss Jenny Webb's basement? The same sticker on a very similar commode! And it's been at least 2 years since Jenny remodeled her bathroom, so I guess I'm not the only one suffering from toilet sticker removal avoidance (TSRA). We're thinking of starting a support group.


It's a good thing I always have my iPhone with me for just such situations. Is it weird that I took a secret picture in Jenny's bathroom? I promise that if I ever have occasion to visit your bathroom, I will refrain from unauthorized photography. But Jenny and I are pretty tight; we're on photographing-each-others'-bathroom terms for sure.

Well, that's what I'm working on. How about you?

Lucas out.