hegemony rules

I'm coining a new word, courtesy of Dictionary.com's Word of the Day.

blogviate \BLOG-vee-ayt\, intransitive verb: To use one's blog to speak or write at length in a pompous or boastful manner.

Posted by Adrienne at 03:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I may be a bit ambivalent about Adbusters magazine's mission,^* but I thought this call for short written submissions for their next issue looks interesting...

Dear Jammers and Creatives,

We're already hard at work on the next issue - #68, dedicated to creative non-fiction - and we're hoping that some of you will let us pick your brains. We're looking for 100 to 200 word, punchy, sad, crazy, or rude pieces inspired by a major event or epiphany in your life. It could be about anything really . . . a haiku, a poem, a travel remembrance, an anecdote about living in the post s11 era, a piece about discovering one of your family's dark secrets. We're looking for stories that provoke and that go straight to the heart, with a "slice of life" feeling to them.

We'd like to pepper these short pieces throughout our upcoming issue. One warning: the deadline is tight, so we need all submissions sent to editor@adbusters.org by July 26th. If we decide to go with your submission, you'll get to see your name in print, and we'll also pay you 50 cents/word.

Remember: keep it short, keep it true, and fire it off to us as quickly as you can.

Cheers,
The Adbusters Team.

Posted by Adrienne at 09:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you fall a few words short of the daily goal, a slap on the wrist will do—perhaps something like the forcible removal of a pinkie nail using needle-nose pliers. Failed to produce at a satisfactory pace for a week straight? Hire a local tough to deliver a good kneecapping. (Make sure it's scheduled during nonwriting hours, and that the blow isn't so severe as to require extended hospitalization, which would take away from writing time.)

And if, for example, you're under contract to complete a writing-advice book and you still have a third of it to go with only three weeks until the deadline, chain yourself (literally) to the chair with your feet immersed in a bucket of acid (not too caustic, just strong enough for a tingling burn). Believe me, you'll have never typed faster in your life.

Posted by Adrienne at 01:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I just happened to catch Tom Wolfe on CSPAN2 (Book TV - and, yes, there is such a thing) speaking at Duke. He ended his talk with a few book recommendations for people interested in learning how to write well. They all come from 1893-1939 - the "greatest time period for the American novel." Also, they're all authors who have influenced his journalistic approach to the novel.

Here's the list:

• The Grapes of Wrath
  
• Red Badge of Courage
  
• Elmer Gantry
  
• Sister Carrie
  
• Appointment in Samarra or BUtterfield 8
  
• Look Homeward Angel

Posted by Adrienne at 07:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Something's up. I'm not sure what it is, yet, but I have the distinct impression that my brain is in the process of being rewired by an as-yet-unknown force that has left me with little will and even less impetus to blog. It may have a little (ok, a lot) to do with my exams and dissertation which keep peeking their heads around the corners of my mind and often descend upon me late at night, shaking me awake from my normally sound slumber with whispers about a future that is both exciting and terrifying. It may also have something to do with the fact that GWB is almost certainly going to win the election - thus proving, once again, that Americans ingest jingoist propaganda with the same voraciousness that they eat Big Macs. Or, it may have something to do with my temporary change in venue and the extreme contentedness I'm feeling (thanks, A), which has left me wondering if my will to write is inversely related to my happiness - a scary proposition that I refuse to contemplate when in my right mind. (The tortured artist thing is so played out.)

Those are all excuses, however, which mask a much larger question - if I love writing so damn much, why is it so hard to do? Why do I struggle with the structure and cadence of each sentence as though each might be my last, as if someone at my funeral might actually say, "Well, she was a good writer some of the time, but did you see the split infinitive and comma splice in her last blog posting?" And then, of course, the over-analytical, slightly OC part of me kicks in and wonders if all of these questions are a veiled (and narcissistic) attempt to procrastinate.

Some stuff that I didn't write but found interesting (and especially good if you're wanting to procrastinate):

• Lossless, pleather, DSL, and dream catcher are now official entries in the 11th edition of the Merriam Webster dictionary.
  
• Craftster, the hipsters' crafting Web site, finally has its own blog. Recent postings include patterns for iPod cozies and a listing of sources for button making.
  
• Adbusters has created an anti-brand - Blackspot Anticorporation - to market their anti-sweatshop, Chucks-inspired sneaker. Naomi Klein is mad.
  
• I stumbled upon the blog of death and thought of the famous Emily Dickinson poem.
  
• Edward Tufte, he of information design genius, has made one of his newest book chapters available online. Mmm...arrows!

Posted by Adrienne at 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)