The Office of Letters and Light Blog

Archer’s Story Begins Here…

I’d like to introduce the newest member of the OLL family, Archer Grayson Stewart-Streit. This handsome little genius was born on December 21 (Winter Solstice!) at 6:07 AM, weighing in at seven pounds, six ounces. So far, his likes include eating, trees, Goodnight Moon, light fixtures, and balloons. His dislikes include being hungry, tummy aches, and much to his parents’ dismay, getting dressed.

While most babies and toddlers have an aversion to clothing, most parents just love to dress their kids up in cute, hip little outfits that reflect their own interests and fashion leanings. This is very true for my husband and I, who both (both!) love spending our Sundays clothes shopping. And now we have someone else to shop for and dress each morning!

What we discovered, though, is that there is a serious lack of baby clothes that reflect my love of writing and literature. Love dogs? You got it. Love robots, monkeys, cowboys, rock and roll, outer space, and trucks? You got it!  Love books? Too bad.

Then, on the day of Tupelo’s launch party, we finally found this number:

Awesome, right? This got me to thinking that there are all these writers out there who have or know babies, and next to no writerly baby clothes.

So, what if we did a NaNoWriMo onesie? What would you like it to depict? What about a slogan? Let us know, and we may add it to this fall’s new line of NaNo swag. And if we pick your suggested concept, we’ll send you a $50 gift certificate to the store!

All You Need Is Love

Although some critique Valentine’s Day as a Hallmark card holiday (and, yes, I’ve said those words as a young lad, much to my romantic peril), it’s hard to argue with pausing in this crazy life to celebrate love—whether it’s loving your sweetheart, your granny, your pet toad, your novel, or the meter maid you yelled at last week for giving you a parking ticket.

The only thing the Office of Letters and Light loves more than writing is love itself—so we want to spread amorousness to all on Valentine’s Day in ways that are more fun than cheesy Hallmark cards (although we love many cheesy things, such as the fake roses in our office window).

Join us in a group hug:

On February 14, we’ll be talking about our favorite movie love scenes on Facebook, whether they make you cry, cringe, or guffaw. Scarlett O’Hara? John Cusack in Say Anything? I’ve been tearing up at Downton Abbey lately.

Download a snazzy NaNo or Script Frenzy heart to post as your profile photo on Twitter or Facebook.

 

     

Love your novel by learning how to pitch it. The Book Doctors, Arielle Eckstut and David Henry Sterry, are back for the second annual Pitchapalooza, February 1 to 29, for NaNoWriMo participants.

Flipping Valentine’s Day: Generosity Day

If you’re still a critic of Valentine’s Day, then there’s an alternative. Some creative folk (who probably did NaNo one year) have “rebooted” Valentine’s Day as Generosity Day—“one day of sharing love with everyone, of being generous to everyone, to see how it feels and to practice saying ‘Yes.’”

One way of saying “Yes” is to sign up for GoodSearch and designate the Office of Letters and Light as your charity. We have 6,100 supporters on GoodSearch, but we aim to reach 25,000 supporters by the end of 2012 so that we can improve our programs—for you!

Download the GoodSeach toolbar and with each Web search you’ll contribute money to OLL. And if you use GoodShop and GoodDining (say, to buy chocolates and roses or pens and paper), up to 6% of each purchase will go to support OLL (we’re sorry, but unfortunately many of the merchants and restaurants are only in the U.S.—they’re working on a more global presence).

Love. Love. Love. In whatever way you can. Even if it’s just writing a romantic scene.

– Grant

Aliza, I Am.

I guess I should start off by saying that today is my first day working here as an intern with Script Frenzy. My first task? To write a little bit about myself. Sounds easy enough, right?

I’ve never been the best at writing on spot—even Facebook status updates take about 15 minutes of thinking through, editing, and re-editing. However, I’m trying to grow away from that, so this helps.

I’m currently an English major and creative writing minor over at UC Berkeley. This time next month I hope to know whether or not I’ll be accepted into the writing MFA programs that I applied to. Fingers are crossed. (I made sure to cross them as I typed that so as not to come across as a liar.)

What else? I’m a habitual abuser of hyphens, commas, and alliteration. Without spell-check I would be completely lost, and I love dresses, kittens, and reading.

What drew me to Script Frenzy was the program’s amazing intent. It’s like a world-accessible workshop course equipped with deadlines, goals, and fun! So far I’ve met some gorgeous, kind people who seem truly enthusiastic about their jobs.

I’m excited to learn more and become part of the Script Frenzy team!

– Aliza

First Day at the Office of Letters and Light

It is the very first day of my internship with Script Frenzy and what do you know, they’re already making me write. I’m a little nervous but mostly excited to be here.  As an English student at UC Berkeley, I’m used to doing a lot of writing, but this is actually my very first blog post ever—which I realize is pretty strange for someone in their 20s. Anyways, I hope I’m doing this right.

I was fortunate enough to grow up in Santa Cruz, California, one of the greatest places on the West Coast, or let’s face it, the world. I’ve always felt very at home in Northern California and I’ve been bouncing around the Bay Area since high school.  But I’m graduating from Cal this Spring and I plan on relocating to East Coast so I’m trying to mentally prepare myself for “seasons,” meaning snow in the winter and humidity in the summer. What are you supposed to wear in July when it’s 80 degrees out and raining?

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Hello, this is me.

On my first day of this internship, I’m having flashbacks to my 11th grade English class.  The one where I had to write a personal essay. The kind about myself. Eek. However, looking at those flashbacks now with a good extra six years of life experience I feel vaguely more prepared. Or I’ll fake it til I make it…

I’m Shelby, a recent Mills College graduate, trying to make my way in life with a Bachelor’s in English. When I was 12, I read Mrs. Dalloway for the first time, not understanding a word of it (no chapters! no plot! insanity!), but that was the moment when I decided I wanted to work in literature, whatever that means. Be it reading, writing, or helping others do a bit of both, it’s a pretty great life to lead. My 12-year-old self would also be really impressed with my senior thesis on Virginia Woolf, and I like to think that her opinion is all that matters.

I am a Bay Area native—although some silly people will debate the Bay Area-ness of the suburbs on the other side of the tunnel—with a love for crafts, finding the perfect parking spot, long sentences, and breaking the writing “rules” I learned in junior high.

This is a very exciting, though nerve-wracking, day for me. I’m looking forward to working with all of these eclectic, passionately literary people. And I’m looking forward to getting back into writing; apparently a two-month long hiatus between graduating in December and now is too long. So, yay! And hello!

– Shelby

An interview with Grant Faulkner, OLL’s new Executive Director!

On January 9, the OLL-iverse changed in a very important way. Our new Executive Director, Grant Faulkner, arrived at 3354 Adeline for his first day on the job. I sat down with Grant at his excellently appointed desk and we chatted about him, his life and loves, and what he’s most looking forward to now that he is OLL’s fearless leader. Here’s what he had to say.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I tend to drop a lot of things, but I’m really good at catching them. I drive my car with a mug of coffee in one hand and a thumb on the steering wheel while singing to songs on the radio. Sometimes I’m also eating a bagel and asking my kids if they did their homework. I bring numerous books, journals, and pens on plane flights and stack them on my tray as if I’m engaged in a serious research project, but then end up reading Vanity Fair.

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The Office of Mittens and Brrr

Here in the Bay Area, we’re having a quite beautiful, quite temperate winter.

But in the OLL office, we cannot get out of an ongoing cold wave. Try as we might, even with the heater pumping, we’re just not feeling the warmth. I blame our high ceilings and big windows—nice the rest of the year, but they provide insufficient structure for maximum toastiness. At least one of us has even taken to wearing a Snuggie at the coldest points in the day. (It’s a leftover merchandise sample… Did we ever tell you that we thought about making NaNoWriMo Snuggies?)

Many of you live in colder parts of the world, and we thought you might be able to help. How do you stay warm while working—whether on your writing or at your day job? Better yet, give us your most ridiculous idea to stave off the cold, and we’ll take a picture of a staff member wearing or doing it.

Thanks in advasbnm,ce (Whoops, mitten-related typo.)

– Chris A.

Photo by Flickr user Syniq

Thanks for Your Readership

Some time during our office’s holiday nap, this blog quietly reached 10,000 Tumblr followers. A pretty sweet milestone.

Today I reread the staff “Blog Manifesto” that started it all, and this phrase jumped out:

We want to show people who we are and what we care about.

I think we’re accomplishing that—through posts both silly and serious, on topics from the height of NaNoWriMo to the bottom of the Mariana Trench and everywhere in between. And even more importantly, we’re learning a lot about our readers through the great discussions that happen in the comments section.

But, we can always do a little bit better. We’d love to hear from you: What’s your favorite part of reading the OLL blog? What features do you want more of? Any new ideas or questions?

Thanks for your readership, and thanks in advance for your thoughts. We appreciate you making OLL a part of your day.

– Chris A.

Photo by Flickr user mollybob

Thank You, Chris Baty!

As he’s told you, our own Chris Baty—founder of NaNoWriMo, Executive Director of the Office of Letters and Light, and Supreme Kicker of Pants—will soon be leaving our organization to write (and tend llamas) full-time.

But we can’t just let him walk out the door without another round of appreciation.

We’re compiling a collection of video thank-you’s to Chris for all his hard work and inspiration. Check out the example from OLL board member Jason Snell, and then post your own as a response. (Click on the YouTube comments section, then “Create a video response.” You can also post a text thank-you there if you’d prefer not to film.)

When he’s not collaborating with our new ED Grant Faulkner (or pricing bulk llama feed), Chris will be enjoying your videos during his last days in the office. Thanks in advance for sharing your gratitude!

– The OLL Staff and Board

Our December Nap

Well, Wrimos, the time has come for all of us OLL critters to hunker down in our caves and nests for the traditional holiday nap.

The office will reopen on Tuesday, January 3. Until then, have an excellent end-of-2011 and a happy new year!

Best wishes,

Lindsey, Chris A., Sarah, Tim, Chris B., Dan, and Jez

Things You May Not Know About OLL

I’m bad with goodbyes. I mean, absolutely awful. It’s all never-ending tears and my blotchy red face. Far from attractive. The truth of the matter is, I’m a big ol’ softie at heart, and an incorrigible romantic to boot. And I have fallen so desperately in love with this office. This also means I’ll probably have to rewrite this post four times before it gets down to a palatable level of sappiness. 

I don’t feel I’m exaggerating when I say the Office of Letters and Light is the best place in the world to work. Everyone knows about the fancy-schmancy Google offices, with their beanbag chairs and special cafés. But do they have a hand-painted Tom Selleck? That’s what I thought. Mustachio aside, the OLL office overfloweth with people, objects, and moments chock-full of charm and delight. Let me enumerate them for you.

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A Nod to the Nog

The office is especially full of winter cheer today. We’re counting down the hours to our annual staff holiday party, where we’ll don our coziest sweaters and our finest nog-drinking mittens. Oh, and this year, we’ll also be playing bocce.

The high point of the night is always the white elephant gift exchange. Man, it gets intense. Last year, the in-demand items included a Star Wars USB drive, a brass-knuckles coffee mug, and zombie card game. Who knows what strange and wondrous goods await this evening?

What are your office holiday parties like? Any good stories? (We promise we won’t tell HR.) What’s the best, worst, or weirdest thing you’ve ever gotten in a gift swap?

– Chris A.

Photo by Flickr user H. Michael Karshis