The Office of Letters and Light Blog

Embrace the Geek

Last week, I went to the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo for the first time. It was, in fact, my first real “con” experience, at least of that scale. I’d contemplated going before, but when they announced a full reunion of the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation I was finally sucked in.

It feels appropriate that it was TNG that got me to a con, since that show was really my first foray into geek culture. These days, I sort of dabble in the pool of full-fledged fan geekery; I don’t read comic books or dress up for movie premieres (except for the brown coat I wore to the opening night of Serenity), but I will get fanatically attached to certain TV shows and am pretty literate in internet geekery.

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Happy “Read Across America” Day!

If there’s anything we at the Office of Letters and Light love as much as writing, it’s reading. (And marmots.) So imagine our delight to learn that on this day, Dr. Seuss’ birthday, Random House and the National Education Association (NEA) celebrate Seuss’ legacy of exceptional children’s books by encouraging people  to pick up a book and read to a child.

What could be better?

Well, maybe encouraging people worldwide to pick up a book and read to a child. So that’s what we are doing today here at OLL: encouraging our participants around the world to share the love of books and reading with the nearest and/or dearest kidlet.

We also invite you to share your fondest reading memory from childhood here.

I’ll go first…

When I was a kid, I read to my dad instead of the other way around. I still have a photo documenting this nightly ritual, an inverse of the norm. I am reading animatedly from Matilda… and he is fast asleep under my pink striped duvet.

Your turn!

– Lindsey

Note: The amazingly awesome coffee mug pictured above belongs to Script Frenzy Program Director Sandra. I need that mug.

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!

The Sacrificial Mitten

Sometimes, there are things in life that are just meant to happen, and much though you might try to change the course of destiny, you can’t.

I lost my mitten again. I’m pretty sure it’s gone for good this time. You see, I left it in a cab in New York City on my way from LaGuardia Airport to my hotel. And I’m okay with it being gone, for two reasons. First of all, that mitten obviously longed to be free, and I was oppressing it by forcing it to live in my pocket. It was obviously an adventure-seeking mitten, and I was lucky to get an extra two years of mitten-y love after it made a break for it a few years back.

And second of all, it became clear over the course of the week that the mitten was my sacrifice to the gods of New York City. And based on the rest of my trip, they deemed my sacrifice worthy.

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The Play’s the Thing

Until last week, it had been about a year since I went to “see a show”: a stage production of Beauty and the Beast.

I was reminded then, as I always am when I go to the theater, how much I love plays and how I really ought to see more of them. And more regularly.

And then another year passed before I found myself happily—luckily—invited to see Cirque du Soleil’s Immortal Michael Jackson tour. Not your traditional stage play by any stretch, but still theater to be sure.

The intersection of story (a loose bio of Jackson), tribute to his life and loves, and spectacular performance-art-as-music-video certainly ranked this production in the “like nothing I’ve ever seen” category. The astronomical production value, the astonishingly ornate costumes, the interpretations of history and the music that ranged from the wildly creative and abstract to the literal,  the pyrotechnics (!), the acrobatics, and the sheer awesomeness of the music heard in a different context all left me slack-jawed, starry eyed, and one million percent dazzled.

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It’s the simple things in life.

Last February, I posted a story about my nerd-out over the arrival of my new seed catalog. I love to garden and I was deciding on what to plant for the season. Right before Script Frenzy kicked off in April, I managed to plant an assortment of vegetables, herbs, and flowers. I wasn’t sure what was going to take, but I hoped for the best.

By July, my garden was bursting with three types of squash, plenty of herbs, cucumbers, strawberries, jalapeños, bell peppers, and sunflowers. It was wonderful, and my friend snapped a photo to share with you. Ah, it really is the simple things in life that make me happiest.

What’s been making you happy lately?

– Sandra

Calling all YA and Middle Grade Novelists!

We just caught wind of a tremendous opportunity for Wrimos who have written a young adult or middle grade novel. And it supports a wonderful humanitarian cause that also champions our shared passion for literacy and libraries!

Thanks to a contest hosted by literacy charity Book Wish Foundation, you could get feedback on your writing from literary agents and renowned authors like Ann M. Martin, winner of the Newbery Honor for A Corner of the Universe, and Cynthia Voigt, winner of the Newbery Medal for Dicey’s Song and the Newbery Honor for A Solitary Blue.

(We’re excited to see past NaNo and YWP pep talkers Meg Cabot and John Green are involved in this project, too!)

From Book Wish Foundation:

Visit http://bookwish.org/contest for full contest details. To enter, write a 500-word essay about a short story in Book Wish Foundation’s new young adult anthology, What You Wish For. Write the best essay about Meg Cabot’s story, and you’ll win a manuscript critique from one of the top YA literary agents. Write about Ann M. Martin’s story and the author of the mega-bestselling The Baby-sitters Club and the Newbery Honor-winning A Corner of the Universe could provide feedback on your NaNoWriMo novel.

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Happily Holidayed

I love the winter holidays. In spite of the persistent (and often very bad) music, the frenzied crowds, and the abundance of naughty foods that make me a little cuddlier by January 1, I still give the Thanksgiving-to-New Years stretch of serial holiday-time a thumbs up.

For me, it comes down to tradition, many of which have little to do with the actual holiday we’re celebrating and more to do with, well… the food.

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Why Do You Write?

As part of the National Day on Writing, and the National Writing Project’s “Why I Write” campaign, we asked NaNoWriMo staff and interns to think about their own reasons for writing.

Why do you write? Take part in the conversation:

• Answer in the comments.
• Answer on our Facebook page.
• Answer on Twitter with the hashtag #whyiwrite. (Tweet @NaNoWriMo, and we’ll retweet our favorite ideas!)

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My Friend, the Simile

I haven’t always been skilled at reading figurative language. I remember having to read a passage by Shakespeare for school. The passage was supposed to be funny, but the joke was soaring way over my head, and upon struggling with the imagery, I eventually just imagined Shakespeare putting his hand on my shoulder, saying, “You had to have been there. But trust me. In the sixteenth century, it was hilarious!” 

If you were ever in school between the ages of 11 and 18, you probably know what a simile is. If not, it’s totally okay. Similes and metaphors aren’t one of those life things you have to know, like how to properly feed yourself when you become an adult. And you can forget what a simile is and be okay, but you can’t really survive off instant noodles alone (as I have learned). Here are some of my favorites, which I have stumbled across over the years:

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Bowling: Where “strikes” equal success

I have already written at some length about my love for baseball, tennis, and soccer. And also my simultaneous inability to play any of the three—or any other sport—with a shred of skill.

But the tides are turning. Two weekends in a row now, I have bowled my little heart out, and it has been glorious. Glorious!

Last weekend, in fact, I bowled the high score of the night (granted, it was only a 128) and I won best of five games (only to lose best of seven). I’m no Lebowski, but this represents never-before-precedented success at something that might be considered a sport.

I can’t help but enjoy the positive connotation of “strike” in bowling, versus its negative meaning in baseball. Plus the shoes are really cool. And the soundtrack, more often than not, is pretty killer.

Funky shoes, “Funky Town,” glow-in-the-dark equipment, and joyous shouts of “strike” all sound like a good time to me.

What’s your newly discovered passion (or guilty pleasure)?

– Lindsey

On the road… again?!?

Hi there. Lindsey here. Remember me? I’ve been quiet on the blog lately, in part because I have been really busy! Apart from getting ready for NaNoWriMo (just under 40 days and counting, y’all!), I have been traveling. A lot!

This month alone, I went to Atlanta, GA for a family event; Fort Collins, CO with Chris Baty to throw a party for that fabulous fundraising region; and this past weekend I went up to Healdsburg, CA for some bike-riding and bowling birthday fun.

And that’s just September!

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