Closing this down

All my blogging now takes place at my official website, Oakheart at lizdanforth.com. I'm rebooting the freelancer as of November 2010, and making an effort to post there at least once a week. Come see!

What I promised

My home website went live awhile ago but I've forgotten about this blog until recently. The new site (still using the Oakheart name of my old site) is at http://www.lizdanforth.com. I'm still lazy as heck about posting to my personal site, since most of my writing time goes into my official Library Journal column but hey -- now you know how to find them both.

Touching base

This blog has never really taken off for me (I don't give it the attention/time), and the new website (if I ever get to it) has a blog component. I'll be sure to put in a pointer here, when it does go live.

Life accelerates, and with it comes some pretty amazing things.

For well over a year I have been developing an independent research study on 21st C skills that might be acquired in World of Warcraft -- which I've been playing for 4.5 years -- that might translate to real life. That survey is now live, available at http://tinyurl.com/SkillsSurvey until the end of April 2009. There is an opt-in for a WoW timecard as a thank you for participation. Anyone who plays WoW now or has ever played is eligible. All ages are welcome; minors with parental permission. Passing the word along to other players is deeply appreciated -- your guild's website, your non-gamer friends who don't play but know others who might, friends, students, relatives, co-workers, you name it. The research protocols were developed while I was still at university, according to standard research protocols. Because I have completed my degree, the actual research is now being completed under the auspices of Dr. Chris Johnson and the 21st Century Learning Group LLC, a private research and education firm.

And within the last month, I have been tapped to become the newest columnist and blogger for the venerable publication, Library Journal. Originally launched 132 years ago by Melvil Dewey himself (he of the Dewey Decimal system), LJ's previous games columnist had bowed out of the job at about the time I finally followed through a long-delayed query from the editor. Serendipity! We swiftly agreed to work together. My first post should go up on Sunday or Monday.

And boy, do I have a stack of things to talk about: game advocacy, the crossover of literature and games, unusual programming ideas, what's hot and what's not, gaming history, the academic studies that discuss the pros and cons of video gaming and its effects, the media reports linking game-playing with (take your pick) improved leadership qualities or murderous rampages... the whole nine yards. A lot of it will be about gaming in libraries; a lot of it will be tangential to that, so that non-library folk will also find substance and interest in what I'm talking about -- okay, that's the plan, anyway. You'll have to check it out, to find out. "Games, Gaming and Gamers -- In and Out of the Library."

Not much fiction writing going on right now. I have a lot on my plate.

A friend is helping me rework my cobwebby website, finally. It is moving off the old Oakheart site completely. I'll keep the new site under wraps until it's ready to launch. I can't believe it's taking me this long to get it up and running!! Without Team Preston, it wouldn't even be this far on.

Well, I'm not so sure this blog will thrive after all. I like Blogger but prefer other offerings. Moreover, my old Oakheart website will become Wordpress-bloggified fairly soon (it's due for a complete overhaul) and that will make this redundant.

But I'll post a pointer here for ya when that happens.

Memes and blogs

Blogs and memes go hand in hand, spreading virally around the Net faster than zombies make fresh zombies in bad horror movies (or Stormwind, until yesterday). Although my intent with this blog is to be a little more professional than my long-abandoned personal blog, memes are part of the blogosphere. It's a core element of Web 2.0 which, through the Baker's Dozen, inspired me to get back to blogging (maybe).

And besides: I'm a gamer at heart and that means I rise to a challenge. NP of A Coffee-Stained Writer tagged me; I could not fail to respond. It elicited a major SoaBwtf moment, immediately followed by laughter. So here we go.

Here are the rules for the game.

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they've been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Random Factoid #1: I repaired my car using obsidian-blade stone tools. No, I'm not going to explain -- it would be like explaining a magic trick and you'd say "oh, well that."

Random Factoid #2: When I was about 10, I declared I was going to be a Renaissance man and do something of everything. Gender issues aside, my dad lectured me sternly that jack of all trades was master of none. I respect his opinion, then and now, but I've spent most of my life proving him to be mostly wrong, scoring successes, recognition, respect and awards as artist, writer, editor, entrepreneur and ne'er-do-well free-roaming intellectual and basketcase weirdo. If I didn't know something of everything, I couldn't illustrate as well as I do, write as well as I do, or be a decent reference librarian. And I have half a lifetime yet to go, assuming I don't keel over from exhaustion.

Random Factoid #3: I've been known to run with scissors. I have the scar on my knee to prove it.

Random Factoid #4: I haven't had my TV on in well over a year. It's not that I disdain it per se -- I know I'm failing to keep tabs on popular culture that I should pay attention to. I simply find it too passive and unengaging compared to gaming, where I hang with friends and where I am an integral part of the plotline and the outcome.

Random Factoid #5: I've been published in short fiction and non-fiction, and always thought I'd be a writer long before I'd ever be a working artist/illustrator. Yet I made my name as the latter, and only just finished my first novel-length work.

Random Factoid #6: Three Cardigan Welsh Corgis are my family: "the corgi with the tail" (ie not the Queen's dogs).

Since I had a hand creating the Baker's Dozen (the gaming section is mine, d'oh), I'll tag some likely folks who are participating there .... purely in the interest of continuing their Web 2.0 education, of course. Or maybe because they might actually enjoy it.


Lisa of Bunkermentality

Cathy of The 13 Things Blog

Amber of Intellectual Freedom's Last Outpost

Mira of Vegetarian Ninja Librarian

Gina of 1/2 Marathon Training 2009

and Jen, who I have to tag by email since she didn't post her URL.

On the quality of writing

What is the quality of writing?

I'm in the middle of helping to judge a short story writing contest. The focus is science fiction/fantasy, horror, or any variety of that high-imagination genre. All contestants must be previously unpublished.

Because the contest is a collaborative effort between my library system and the local science fiction crowd, it is the librarian-types familiar with the genre who make the first read-through of entries. Top selections go on for final judging to a panel of professional writers in the genre. This year that's Dennis McKiernan, John Vornholt, Will Shetterly, Emma Bull, Robert Vardeman, Yvonne Navarro, and Weston Ochse.

Because I helped put this effort together, I get to see the scores (0-100) and comments made by other library-judges. (I only looked at the comments after I had read and evaluated my assigned stories, each of which is read by three people.)

And it's fascinating.

Many stories have scores that cluster closely -- everyone agrees on how good or bad the story is. Last year and this, some emphatically do not.

Twice now, I've loved a story that someone else hated. Really hated, as in a score of (let's say) 20 or 30 to my 90-100. I've seen it happen with other readers and other stories too. What's going on here? Is quality that slippery, that ephemeral?

Librarians aren't professional editors, for the most part. (I was, for seven years, but that was a lifetime ago.) Neither are the professional writers, for that matter -- and interestingly enough, I saw the same phenomenon happen when the authors' evaluations come back: one author rated last what others rated first, and vice versa. Fortunately, they agreed for the most part, and last year's placement of winners was straightforward.

What writers and librarians are is well-read, generally speaking. If we don't simply disdain the genre, then we've all consumed an enormous quantity of science fictional text over the years. Writers all say they read a bit differently, more critically, once they get into writing professionally, and I know many librarians who write professionally on the side or endeavor to. We have a lot more to work with than the assertion that plagues visual artists -- "well, I know what I like." That scoring system I referred to above has targetted assessment points: dialog, resolution, characterization, etc. along with 10 points to give or withhold for purely personal reasons. It's not just "uh, I like/dislike this story."

So what is one to make of all this? Does someone who rates a story a 20 just not "get it?" Did my rating of 98 arise because the story struck so close to home it resonated beyond all reason? As I said above: is quality really that slippery? I think so.

One thing I take away from this experience is affirmation of the advice to be found in every book on getting published, as well as on the lips of every writer I've ever known: if you believe in your work, keep submitting it around to the professional markets. One editor might not "get it." But for someone else? It may strike close to home and resonate beyond all reason.