tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7352126145615780962024-03-05T23:05:08.195-05:00Writing HomeAren't all writers writing homeāand trying to find a home for their writing?B. Blevinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09120005110404535885noreply@blogger.comBlogger293125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735212614561578096.post-29771963274602913702020-09-28T18:14:00.002-04:002020-09-28T18:14:49.859-04:00In which I concede that e-books are sort-of OK...Several years ago on this blog I presented an argument against e-books, vowing that I would never use them. But during this pandemic, e-books (and audiobooks) have been a godsend.That's because the local library is still closed to the public. To borrow a physical book, I have to order the book online, then wait for the librarians to find it on the shelf (at whichever library it is available) and Beth Blevinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09407134088205416043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735212614561578096.post-38992828935718287022020-06-30T15:42:00.000-04:002020-06-30T15:42:47.413-04:00Gardening, listening, creating quiet monuments of narrative experience
Aunt Lydia (from Hulu's Handmaid's Tale), haunts my garden
During the pandemic I've been gardening--a lot. There's really nowhere else to go but my backyard anyway so I might as well be growing salad vegetables and getting rid of the weeds.
After I bought two pairs of overalls to work in, I discovered that I could put my phone in the front breast pocket and listen to podcasts and audiobooks Beth Blevinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09407134088205416043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735212614561578096.post-41487995021162551342020-02-13T15:59:00.000-05:002020-02-13T16:00:37.764-05:00What Korean TV dramas are teaching me about plot<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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Beth Blevinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09407134088205416043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735212614561578096.post-56882319639878805172018-10-31T12:09:00.004-04:002018-11-09T14:53:16.570-05:00On Television (part one)
1. I watch too much TV. In my defense, so much TV is so good now--or maybe it's so easy to watch. One show runs into the next on Netflix and before I can reach for the remote, the next episode has started and, well, it will only be another 21 minutes.
2. I rarely just sit and watch TV--can I pat myself on the back for that? Most of the time I am washing dishes, or cooking dinner, or Beth Blevinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09407134088205416043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735212614561578096.post-45691863652466188402017-10-23T15:56:00.001-04:002017-10-25T11:33:57.265-04:00The impermanence of texts, and everything reallyI am reminded of the impermanence of life as I go through the agonizing process of cleaning out my old iPhone. Its text messages--sometimes the only written communication I've had with people in the last five years--did not transfer to my new phone. And so, before handing the old phone off to the child whose even older phone is dying, I am reading through old texts to see if there is anything Beth Blevinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09407134088205416043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735212614561578096.post-62841262351277705342017-05-26T12:15:00.001-04:002017-05-26T12:20:51.771-04:00 Dirty, Disappointing Dancing
I could not stop watching the trainwreck that was Dirty Dancing 2017 (though I only watched it in fits and starts while washing the dishes). I was never a huge DD fan, but I mostly watched it because I wanted to see how someone would update/alter it.
The problem with DD for me has always been that the heart of the story is kind of icky, if you think about it: Teenage girl helps a pregnant Beth Blevinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09407134088205416043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735212614561578096.post-29505278479950346862017-03-21T11:40:00.001-04:002017-03-21T11:40:09.677-04:00The blog is dead! Long live the blog!In case you haven't noticed, I've mostly quit blogging. And I'm only blogging right now because I handed out my business card at a conference this weekend and noticed I still had my blog address on it. (For those checking it out because of the card, Welcome!)
I don't think I'm the only one lately to neglect her blog. Blogs are so last year (or two years ago). What are we doing/reading instead? Beth Blevinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09407134088205416043noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735212614561578096.post-3066381538479512732016-10-29T12:08:00.003-04:002016-10-29T12:09:20.601-04:00Window Shopping
I took over 2,000 photos during my three-week vacation in Europe this summer--not so many that I hope I didn't miss the experience, and not so few that I hope I didn't miss recording at least one picture of each place we visited. It's easy to take a lot of pics when you're not paying for film and film development, and you have a phone in your pocket ready to do the job and quickly.
One thing Beth Blevinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09407134088205416043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735212614561578096.post-48089656367714864812016-09-24T13:14:00.000-04:002016-09-24T13:14:03.982-04:00Street music in FranceI walked by a lot of street music in London and France when I was there this summer, but only took the time to briefly film it three times. Here is the short (44-second) video I made of three very different performances.
The first band, Radio Kamerger, seems to have been on a Russian TV show equivalent of The X Factor. And there they were, playing on the street in the Latin Quarter of Paris.Beth Blevinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09407134088205416043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735212614561578096.post-70770247135364781882016-09-23T12:43:00.000-04:002016-09-23T12:43:15.702-04:00Somewhat feminist musings at the Musee d'Orsay
The Musee d'Orsay has been one of my favorite museums since I first saw it in 1991, on my first trip to Paris.
What's not to like about a museum that has entire sections/rooms devoted to Van Gogh, Monet, Manet and Degas? Housed in the former Gare d'Orsay train station, a Beaux-Arts structure completed in 1900, the building, with its massive, gold-embellished clocks and elegant arched Beth Blevinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09407134088205416043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735212614561578096.post-29220815385553239472016-09-20T12:17:00.002-04:002016-09-20T12:18:16.035-04:00While reading Cheryl Strayed's Wild...
1.
I am listening to Wild on audiobook in my car. Like the people in those Audible ads, I am immersed in the book. I may appear to be driving, but I'm hiking hot stretches of the Pacific Coast Trail or rounding an icy bend balancing the weight of my pack. I push on to the next goal post by pushing my foot on the accelerator, driving further in an hour than what Cheryl Strayed walked Beth Blevinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09407134088205416043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735212614561578096.post-56595351917738897802016-08-23T16:18:00.000-04:002016-08-26T18:16:40.281-04:00Is it art or is it Prisma?
I took a lot of photos when I was in Italy recently. It's easy to take a good pic there because there is so much beauty. Even the handles on these garage doors in Lake Como looked like works of art:
When I got back, I wanted to linger over my photographs, perhaps to hang on to the experience a little longer. So I began to play around with Prisma.
Here's one of my original photos of a Beth Blevinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09407134088205416043noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735212614561578096.post-14629832364921136532016-08-18T17:41:00.000-04:002016-08-18T17:41:00.894-04:00Short story in a vending machine
I saw this vending machine in an Italian train station last week. It contains items useful to nearly every stage of life.
Surely there is a story or at least a short poem there?
Dental floss.
Razor blades.
Deodorant.
Condoms. Lubricant.
Pregnancy test.
Baby butt paste.Beth Blevinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09407134088205416043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735212614561578096.post-68874199109014335432016-08-17T16:55:00.000-04:002016-08-17T20:02:17.534-04:00Should I stay or should I go?
There comes a time in every blog's life where the blogger has to decide whether to keep it going or to abandon it.
Or, in my case, to not make any decision but to simply neglect it, thinking I'll get to it tomorrow.
I was surprised when I realized that my last post here was made in April. I had written a few posts in my head since then, but they somehow didn't get magically transferred to Beth Blevinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09407134088205416043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735212614561578096.post-88451315547474039562016-04-06T10:21:00.003-04:002016-04-06T10:23:39.276-04:00Farewell to being a public librarian
Years ago, after attempting other occupations I thought were compatible with a writing life, I decided to become a librarian. That way, I thought, I could be around books and help people find information. It would combine the best parts of my previous two jobs, of bookstore manager (being around books) and newspaper reporter (finding information), leaving out the parts I disliked, like Beth Blevinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09407134088205416043noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735212614561578096.post-89932617304433487302016-03-05T21:12:00.001-05:002016-04-06T09:45:02.347-04:00Celebrities? Who cares?
I really don't give a crap about celebrities.
This isn't a new thought, from me or anyone else. But I had this particular epiphany yesterday while sitting in a doctor's waiting room, desperate for reading material. I picked up People Magazine (the best choice among some really poor offerings) and scanned it, trying to find something of interest. Except for looking at the book and movie Beth Blevinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09407134088205416043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735212614561578096.post-12017539082912723842016-01-07T12:49:00.002-05:002017-07-30T18:19:41.821-04:00The omnivorous reader
In order to pursue my Goodreads challenge this year (a target of 20 books, with a self-imposed limit of books written by women), I neglected to read anything not within the confines of a book cover. Magazines piled up, one story issues remained unopened, newspapers were recycled before I unfolded them.
I love books but I am an omnivorous reader--I like to read anything, especially Beth Blevinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09407134088205416043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735212614561578096.post-84109271555143620162015-12-11T12:44:00.003-05:002017-07-30T18:21:32.963-04:00Let's hear it for Hugh Grant movies
Hugh Grant movies are a visual Prozac for me. With the exception of Cloud Atlas (which I liked, but for other reasons), they offer a couple of hours of bumbling safety and warmth, and the surety of a happy ending.
They are good movies to watch in the winter, when darkness comes on quickly and gray mornings offer little respite from the gloom.
In the past I wouldn't have publicly Beth Blevinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09407134088205416043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735212614561578096.post-78570927386855606812015-09-22T15:34:00.003-04:002015-10-02T16:35:31.974-04:00A life in patterns
Cleaning out my mom's house this past summer, it surprised me how unsentimental I felt, even though it was the last time I was going to be there. Instead, it was a hurried effort in efficiency--quilts and coverlets in one pile, pillows in another, kitchenware stacked into boxes.
In the closets and cabinets in all her rooms, I found nothing that bore witness to her life beyond what she had Beth Blevinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09407134088205416043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735212614561578096.post-56880542037400838792015-08-11T16:23:00.001-04:002015-08-11T16:23:47.516-04:00Women Only
At first it was accidental. I began the year finishing Lila by Marilynne Robinson, then moved on to Mansfield Park (which, I a devoted Austen fan, had somehow never gotten around to), then to Poisonwood Bible.
Then I realized: "I've only been reading women writers this year!" After proclaiming this to my friends, I made an effort to keep it that way. Books by men on my "To-Read" list on Beth Blevinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09407134088205416043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735212614561578096.post-11772946727664124912015-07-03T22:51:00.001-04:002015-07-03T22:51:46.247-04:00The unexpected flowerFor the last couple of years, I've pulled a weed that kept creeping up in my front yard bed. Why was it a weed? Because (ask any gardener) I hadn't remembered planting it.
It was an unremarkable dark green plant that didn't seem to have any purpose. I ripped it from the soil and into the compost bin it went.
But this spring I wasn't so fanatical about weeding. Rainy weather and some out-of-townBeth Blevinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09407134088205416043noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735212614561578096.post-1742633636176127312015-05-07T14:29:00.000-04:002015-05-08T07:47:53.283-04:00The empty streets of Blogville
When iGoogle went away, I lost track of the personal blogs I used to read on a regular basis. (It was easy to see which blogs had been updated with iGoogle because snippets of their recent posts appeared on my front/search page in Chrome). I didn't easily find another way to keep up with them. But the other day, through with my medical treatments and with more time on my hands, I Beth Blevinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09407134088205416043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735212614561578096.post-45465555639426463462015-04-11T21:22:00.000-04:002015-04-13T11:28:24.090-04:00Too much TV
If only there was a Goodreads for watching TV. If so, I would be a top viewer.
I watched a lot of television in the 11 months I went through cancer treatments. Not just a wimpy sitcom here and there, but dramas that required a certain type of allegiance to plow through them. Every episode of every season, sometimes one, two, even three a day.
Go ahead and call it "binge watching." But I Beth Blevinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09407134088205416043noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-735212614561578096.post-18022555999606766862015-04-03T21:20:00.003-04:002015-04-03T21:20:55.470-04:00Using the watermark feature in MS Word to distinguish your drafts
Maybe most writers already know this, but I stumbled upon something accidentally tonight that is going to help me more easily distinguish which draft of a manuscript I am looking at.
While trying to insert page numbers in a document, I saw that one of the options under the "Insert" pull-down menu is "Watermark..." I realized I might be able to use a watermark to show which draft I am printing Beth Blevinshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09407134088205416043noreply@blogger.com0