7 Quick Takes: Not Knowing

The other minions have been busy.

1.

The bookshelves in the living room are halfway installed.  (The “during” picture is too depressing.  Sorry no photo.)  SuperHusband complains that my method for organizing books is incomprehensible.  I was determined to load these new shelves in some orderly way that even an engineer could understand.  I’m already having trouble.  Hrmph.

2.

We found a long lost library book!  Someone had helpfully shelved Changes for Kit in the magazine file for Invention and Technology.  I don’t know why I didn’t think to look there.

3.

Do you know what I hate about submitting work to editors I don’t know?  Wondering if they even received it.  New experience for me this year.  In the past I’ve always written for people who had already hired me to do the writing.  People you could just e-mail or pop into their office and ask, “Did you get my thing? Let me know when you’ve had a chance to look at it.”  And it’s not pestering, because those people know you and wanted your work and told you exactly what they wanted.  They aren’t dreading looking to see what you’ve sent.

(Strangers rightly dread.  With people you don’t know? You just don’t know.)

So of course the solution to the wait-a-thon is to move on to the next project, which is easy enough when you are too busy anyway.  And then it’s helpful to already have a back-up plan for “What will I do if this editor isn’t interested?”.  Again, pretty easy.

But at 5AM when you wake up with a busy brain, and you feel bad about always using The Doctors of the Church as your insomnia remedy, because you know it’s going to influence your book review unfairly?    That’s when the weird fears kick in:  “What if my submission got lost in the spam filter?”  “What if I accidentally did something that causes me to look like a completely different kind of idiot than the one I actually am?  Because the one I am, an editor can work with, but maybe I came across like a different, less-manageable kind?”

The solution to that is to think up more likely and less ominous reasons, such as, “The editor has a lot of other work to do.”

But I also think up other things, like, “Maybe his farm was hit by a tornado,” or, “Maybe she’s come down with a pox and won’t be able to work for a month.”  Which leads to a weird prayer life revolving around things like, “If my editor’s house has fallen into a sinkhole, please let everyone be okay, and console him with Your peace, and let my file be safely stored at the office where he’ll eventually get to it sometime this spring.”

UPDATE:  But it is so lovely when you get an e-mail back saying, “My house did not fall into a sinkhole.”  (Actually it said, “Thanks, got it, we’ll get back to you.” )

4.

My typoese is getting weirder than ever.  I begin to suspect a rogue “auto-correct” function.

5.

Mr. Boy’s been having a hard time waking up lately.  Winter + Night Owl + Early Adolescence + School Is Not Fun = Low Motivation.  SuperHusband has started rousing him from bed to take the dog for a brisk walk as soon as it’s fully light out.  The first day he went straight back to bed after and slept two more hours.  Second day I cleared a work area for him in front of a window that gets direct sun all morning.   He hates it.  But it works.

Also I am working on dimming the lights after dinner so it isn’t so bright inside at a night.  Jon bought the house in the mid-90’s.  Early this century he managed to diagram most of the wiring.  I am still being surprised by which switch does what.

6.

Good news! Allie Hathaway’s gotten 2nd and 3rd opinions that offer a much better prognosis.  (And they agree with each other and seem to be the real thing. Yay.)   Alleluia.  Thank you for praying.  Don’t stop.

7.

Why is it that we act as if we’re omniscient, when we know that we are not?  We kick ourselves for guessing wrong about this investment or that career choice, or the new outfit or the right haircut.  Even when we had honestly made the effort to make a good decision.  Even when we cannot know the outcome of our decision, because it involves events beyond our control, or variables that can only be known with time.

And then we are mortified by the ignorance and immaturity our younger selves — selves who had no way of knowing what can only be learned by time and experience.  And note:  Those of us still breathing  are, still, younger selves.

It’s nonsense.  Bad habit.  Rooted in bad theology no less.  I wonder if it’s easier to quit than the complaining thing?

3.5 Time Outs: Near Occasions of Sin

Thanks once again to our host Larry D. at Acts of the Apostasy, who is willing to count me among his minions, even though I’m also one The Jen F.’s minions, even if I did forget my 7 takes last Friday because I didn’t remember it was Friday.  Nice thing about Fridays is you get a new one every week.

1.

The people I’m trying to be nicer to are not helping me.  You who chew with your mouths closed? I have no difficulty being nice to you.  It is the people who pick fights at the breakfast table.  Those people.    I’ve had to switch acts of contrition, not just because I blank out in the confessional so I need something short and easy, but also because, well, I can’t exactly avoid “whatever leads me to sin”.  No sense pretending.  I think my pastor gets it.  He can’t avoid me all the time either.

2.

Speaking of bad influences:  I was having some trouble with the new Mass translation at first, not because it isn’t beautiful and everything, but because the first time I heard “like the dewfall” during the consecration, I giggled.  Not out loud.  But my lips sort of twitched.  I hope everyone else was looking at the altar. My trouble is the people I spend my days with.  They are so . . . juvenile.  It rubs off.

3.

This morning I read the wrong day’s Mass readings. The page marked in my missal had both January 3 and January 4 on it, and did I know what day it was?  No.  I didn’t even wonder. I just read.  But hey, you have good stuff to look forward to tomorrow.

–> First let’s just admit it, 1st John can be a little overwhelming, hmmn?  Even if it does fit right in with that whole “resolutions” theme we’re all talking about.  But I like this bit here, I think makes a good hinge for the could-be scrupler:

It was to undo all that the devil has done, that the Son of God appeared.

So that’s my consolation when I read in Psalm 97, “Let the rivers clap their hands,” and my brain goes all middle-school on me, not in a good way.   But look, here’s a nice river picture to clean the imagination:

The funny thing about poetry and photography, is that they aren’t like the real world.  Rivers don’t have hands that clap.  If you stand in the Narrows of Zion Canyon, this picture is not what you see.  The water isn’t all pearly and shiny.  It’s wet and icy cold, and you aren’t thinking about how it looks (normal old water), you are thinking: Snowmelt.  And the walls of the canyon are not so flat and washed out; they surround you, and make you forget the entire rest of the world, and you can touch them, and you would never have believed in them if you had not seen them yourself.

But people like the photo.  I think because the shiny-pearly water makes it feel like fairlyand.  Like rivers with hands that clap.   Like the world as we know it is supposed to be, if only the wreckage were undone.  Which is how you feel standing there in the canyon.  You know that whoever made this is so much bigger than you.  And entirely able to undo the madness.  And that you were meant to be a part of that.

3.5

. . . sidewalks.

Please.  Cut it out with the weird car ideas.   Just build a sidewalk.  A good one.  Wide.  With proper curb cuts.  That goes all the way to store.  Just like roads — we don’t build roads that stop abruptly because one of the neighbors didn’t want to cede a right of way, but hey, just drive over the grass and through the ditch, road picks up again in half a block.  Real sidewalks.  Don’t call yourself an environmentalist, or a fuel-security guru,  and then make it impossible for people to walk places.

It is submitted. Rejoice.

Publishing Secrets Revealed:  Before you hit “send”, remember to attach the proposal to the body of your e-mail.

Disaster narrowly averted.  Sheesh.

Something I’d heard about, but never seen.

Rapunzel-thon* continues.  Convalescing 5-year-old calls for help: “Mom, can you make it play in the language I’m speaking?”

“The language you’re speaking?  That’s English.”  They lose track of these things.

She’s on the main menu.  I go check the language settings.  There’s two English choices:

1. Dolby something or another
2. Dolby something or another Descriptive Video Service.

“Darling, do you mind if I try something?”

“Okay.” <– She is the happiest member of our family.  All the time.  Wish the rest of us were so compliant**.

 

This is the first time I’ve seen DVS on the language-track choices, and wow, pretty cool.  Useful of course for it’s intended purpose.  But also: Wow, what a study in film-making!  Draws your attention to what information is shared via dialogue or sound-effects, and what is told in images.  Great tool for the writer.

5 year-old doesn’t seem to mind it — it could be annoying to have to listen to descriptions you don’t need — but then, she loves describing things.  All about method, that child.

 

*I like this movie much more than Steven Greydanus did.  Then again, he probably hasn’t been subject to OSHA-prohibited hours of exposure to Barbie Fairy Secret.  Not that I’d trade jobs with him.  Not ever.  No way.  It takes a true martyr to endure what that man does.

** Such a happy baby that I  took her to the doctor when she was four months old, because she was suddenly so fussy, no other symptom.  Ear infection, maybe?  Nope.  The doctor diagnosed “fussy baby”.  I went home, remembered Ora-gel, and the problem was solved.  A walking anti-parable, “The Girl Who Never Cried Wolf”.

3.5 Time Outs: Jesus Fairyland

Thanks once again to our host Larry D. at Acts of the Apostasy for inspiring countless countable numbers of bloggers to add structure and scandalous images to their Tuesday.  But not that scandalous — take a look at his 3.5 takes to see not see images far worse than derelict toddlers.

1.

I won a prize!  Oh it cheers me up.  Lisa M. encouraged me to turn out for the Amazing Catechist Giveaway, which I did not want to do, because, well, I didn’t want to be commenting just to indulge my book lust.  But you know what? I didn’t have to fake it.  There’s useful information in that place, and friendly bloggers who answer combox questions, which means even more useful information.  Needless to say, I learned about a pile of new books I want to check out, and look, I won one of them:

And now it is in my hands!  I can’t wait to read it.  Yay!  Check out the Keep Infants of Down Syndrome blog, if you are like me, giving Catholics a bad name by chewing out telemarketers for major charities that seek to “prevent birth defects” by killing off the people who don’t meet spec.  Yeah, I’m cranky.  Killing innocent people makes me cranky.

2.

Respectable Christians are sending Sarah Reinhard photos of their Advent wreaths. I don’t qualify.  Here’s the one we used to have:

That’s Santa and his reindeer, flying towards Christmas.  (Which had not arrived at photo time — observe the recycled candles.  There cannot be a single shade of purple.)

Allow me to explain: I did not donate this item because it was too tacky for me.  It was because, well, look how big it is.  You can store a lot of books in that cubic foot.  My one vice had to give way for the other. But you who own proper Advent wreaths, send in your photos.

3.

Dear Small Children of Mine,

We have been building a model of Bethlehem in our living room every Advent since before the eldest among you was even conceived.  It pleases me greatly to combine Lego, Fischer Price, and Playmobil structures into a giant sprawling representation of the Holy Land.  I am not the least disturbed when the Seven Dwarves turn out for the census.  Presumably the Romans counted even the very short and sneezy.

But I draw the line at calling it “Jesus Fairyland”.  It is Bethlehem.  B-e-t-h-l-e-h-e-m.  Get it straight.

Sincerely,

That Catechist Lady Who’s Supposed to be Educating You

3.5

Rapunzel, opiate of the masses. This weekend I shipped the Y chromosomes off to Hunt Camp, Eldest Daughter did homework Friday and then spent the weekend at her friend’s house, and my two listless littles watched our new library find: Tangled. Continuously.  From 9AM Friday until 3PM Sunday, with breaks only to sleep, attend church, and sometimes to eat.  I got a lot of work done.  And hey, it’s a pretty good movie.  Edifying, even. And boy am I glad my 5-year-old is still enthralled, because last night at the ER

***

Relax.  I will finish that story next week.   All is well here.  Offer up your suspense for the half-dozen people I’m praying for who have real problems.  One in particular needs you today, desperately.  God will know which one.  Thanks!

7 Quick Takes: Things That I Like

This makes two weeks in a row.  Bizarre internet writing goals.  Feels like the time I almost starting wearing lip gloss every day as a Lenten penance.

1.

I got all intellectual and selected a Pope Book for my new Catholic Company review item.   Checked the mailbox every day.  It took FOUR DAYS.  I learn perseverance and patience this way.

So far so good.  It is much easier to read a B16 talk written for normal people, than to read what he writes when left to sit down alone in some quiet place for a very long time.   I think as a general rule, theologians should not be left unsupervised.

2.

I can’t wait to get to say “Consubstantial” on Sunday.  I know, I already blogged about that the other day.  I am so excited it’s silly.  And look, Pope Quote from new book, just in time for the head-scratching during the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed. [As apparently it is called? I guess “Nicene” Creed is just a nickname?]:

In this fundamental text — which expresses the faith of the undivided Church and which we also recite today, every Sunday, in the Eucharistic celebration — the Greek term homoousios is featured, in Latin consubstantialis: it means that the Son, the Logos, is “of the same substance” as the Father, he is God of God, he is his substance.  Thus, the full divinity of the Son, which was denied by the Arians, was brought into the limelight.

[Italics in the original, typos all mine.  The one thing I don’t like about this new look here on the blog is that all the italicized words are bumped up a font size.  I may need to re-decorate.  But it is teaching me not to italicize like a crazy person*.]

3.

I keep being surprised by how much I like to write.  I am always thinking I ought to swear it off and do something useful for a change.  And then I end up back at it again.

4.

I re-wrote the catechist booklet proposal this week.  Marked it up with the pen of death.  I need to put in the last couple changes, re-proof, and stupid-check it with a friend or two.  Hopefully get the green light from People Who Want Me Not To Embarrass Myself That Much, and submit to publisher #1.  It’s a great booklet that test readers are impatient to see on the market, but that doesn’t guarantee it will fit anyone’s publishing plans for the year ahead.  We’ll see.

5.

Dear Man Whom I Love,

I am the person who has been cooking that food you find waiting for you at 6pm when you get home from work.   All by myself with no help.  It is not necessary to spend your holiday weekend hovering near the stove and running to me nervously every time you hear a beeping sound.

Sincerely,

The Person Who Arranges All Those Other Hobbies For You.

6.

Our Advent Countdown Schedule:

Friday: Clean out the house.  Including Deskavation.

Saturday: Advent Decorating and Other Things We Want To Do.

Sunday: Consubstantial!  Under My Roof!  And With Your Spirit!

I can’t wait.

7.

I managed to think up 20% more quick takes than last week.  Unless you disqualify the double-posting on consubstantial, in which case I’m holding steady with a solid C- / D+, depending on your grading scale.

*Long ago while working in state goverment, my department used to get letters from real live crazy people.  The kind who make up fake legal documents and genuinely believe they are real.  We pretended to file them as requested.  Crazy people italicize.  Very much.

Bleg – Which Collegiate Dictionary?

Anybody have a collegiate dictionary you particularly like?  I’m thinking of getting the boy his own for Christmas.  I cringe every time he gets near mine.  (Though the packing-tape reinforced spine should hold up, I keep telling myself.)  Also he keeps complaining he wants to know the meaning of words less than 50 years old.

Immersed.

There’s a blog in my head that is chock full of posts.  A few of them will soon escape into the internet. 

Working on a booklet for catechists, and have gotten some good feedback and helpful edits from my beta-readers.  I would like to point out that if you ever write something really stupid, Dorian Speed has your back.  THANK YOU DORIAN.  Also got my first back-cover blurb quote, from Sarah Reinhard:  “I NEED this book.” Heartening, very heartening.

 

This week on the calendar:

School.  It’s going well.  Yay!

First Night of CCD. This Wednesday.  Wrote up class plans today.  Need to get the classroom set up and materials in order.  Stoked about my new helper / co-catechist, think it’s going to be a good match for the class.

Edits.  Turning booklet from a 2nd draft into a 3rd draft, with help from some kind readers.  Hope to have that done by the end of the week, and ready to send to the next set of readers.

Theology of the Body for Teens book review.  Am plugging through that, really liking what I see.  Top notch so far.  My DRE is being very patient with me as I take forever to finish reading and previewing; I think mostly because buying it herself is not in the budget, so she’s scrambling to see what other parish wants to lend us materials.  Thank you Catholic Company for helping keep the budget under control.

Ever heard of Dan Castell? He’s making us laugh.  Mr. Boy is happily plowing through a draft manuscript as a beta-reader, and not just because I’ll excuse him from a week of National Catholic Reader assignments.   Dr. Boli fans should watch this space.  Some day I don’t know when, a finished work will emerge from Dan’s writing cave.  Good stuff.  Real gift for repartee.

And then all the usual stuff like cooking and cleaning and driving children places and gee, wow, laundry.  I think maybe changing clothes is overrated.

Catholic Writers’ Retreat – Oct. 5-9, DeWitt, Michigan

Ann Lewis of CWG fame requests we spread the word about the Guild’s upcoming writers’ retreat, which is not for guild members only!:

Our next big event is Your Word is My Delight: Catholic Writers Retreat – October 5-9, 2011 at the St. Francis Retreat Center in DeWitt, Michigan. I did send out a separate e-mailing on this event, so many of you have this information, but I want to reiterate that it looks to be a fantastic experience that is different from our writers conferences. With this retreat, we’ll work on our souls, contemplate God’s calling to us as writers and grow as writers through one-on-one critique sessions. And, because this is a writers retreat, you will be given a lot of time to just write! Please consider coming, and pass on this information to those you think might be interested. Post it on your blogs, twitter and facebook. If we don’t get more registrations for this event quickly, it may have to be canceled and we’d hate for that to happen.

Looks like a good event.  Check it out.

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And spread the word.  You don’t have to be a member of the guild, or even really be entirely certain about the existence of “Michigan” — though I have it from seemingly reliable witnesses that the place is real.

The CWG provides writing support to writers of all abilities and interests.  Although the most expensive events do have an admission fee to cover costs, the guild runs top-notch educational events online at no charge, that are open to anyone at all.    Great catholic and catholic-friendly books are being written and published today in part because of the help of the CWG along the way.  If you like to read, the CWG is your friend. And it’s very easy to post a link to Ann’s announcement on your blog or page, so that your Michigan-area reader(s) can find out about a retreat that might be just what they need.

And then they will be like me, forever grateful to the person who posted a blurb about a CWG event on her blog, and introduced me to a whole wonderful world I never would have discovered.

 

Audio books; not-audio books.

Few quick links this morning before I attempt to resume school after the Spring Break That Would Not End.

My Audio School .com Recommended by a friend of mine, who uses it for her daughter who struggles with reading.   It’s a well-organized compilation of audio books of particular use to homeschoolers and other educators.  The free resources are useful, and my friend tells me that if you have a need for lots and lots of audio resources, it is worth paying for the subscription.

On the topic of audio books, Christian Audio’s free download this month looks sorta interesting.  It’s free, you know?  I downloaded The Hiding Place last month, and I guess I signed up for notifications?  Which is handy, because they reminded me today there was a new book up.  For free.  Otherwise have not been receiving much spam from them (none that I recall, but I have a fast-acting delete key, so I might have supressed the memory).  Reputable source, seems to me.

***

On the topic of non-audio books: The Catholic Writers’ Guild blog is pretty much put together now.   This morning Walt Staples is up for his monthly humor column, and the topic is writing and cats.  So you know where that’s going.  The blog address, by the way, is this:

http://blog.catholicwritersguild.com/

And you have to type that exactly, no “www”, or something weird happens.  Just so you know.

FYI my affiliation with the blog is that the important people at the guild saw me saying it would be nice to have a blog, and they pounced.  So my job is to line up writers.  If you are a (dues paid) member who has something 500 words or less and in some way related to catholic writing and publishing, you know where to find me.   Current schedule is:

• Sunday pm/Monday am: Prayer with Mike Hays – post your requests in the combox.
• Mondays: Monthly columns by guild members on the topics they love.  Current line-up is:  Humor; Gardening; Teens & the Faith; Self-publishing & e-books.  Need someone to fill that 5th Monday that pops up every quarter or so.
• Tuesdays: Beginning Writers.  Or Karina Fabian says something friendly and encouraging, Or I write about editing.  If you have seen the pen of death in action, you already know what I’m going to write.  [Hint: It’s not about grammar.  You knew that.]
• Wednesdays: Sarah Reinhard has been writing a column on blogging and related topics.  I’d like to find some other volunteers to join the Wednesday rotation, and I’d like the focus to be on everything related to writing and the internet.  In case that interests you.
• Thursdays & Fridays: CWG Officers write about officer-y things. –>  I’m looking for someone to do a regular member news column.  If you’ve always wanted to be a gossip columnist and you are a member of the guild (easy to do), there’s a gig waiting for you.  Your name in lights.  Meanwhile, members with news just have to e-mail me and then I post it.  So you see why we need someone better than that.
• Saturdays: John Desjarlais on writing catholic fiction.  So far I think this one is my favorite column.  Don’t let the other writers know. (Despite Blogger’s evil attempts to thwart him.  I don’t love blogger either.  But it’ll do.)

So that’s what there.  Because you needed more blogs to read, I’m sure.  Happy Monday.