This past weekend we went to several yard sales. We don't go very often, and this weekend was the reason why. We had planned on looking for some end wrenches for Jon to use in a project he is doing. Instead, we found a lot of things we did not need. Do we really need three sets of darts with real feathers? Granted, they are real feathers, and we do have a dart board, but no on has thrown anything at it - dart or otherwise - for at least a year. I did get a few good things, like a lamp for my office and a few necklaces.

All the yard sale shopping led us to the conclusion that we need to get rid of some stuff, if only to make way for new stuff. So, we are going to have our own yard sale on Saturday. We have already put together a few things, and I think our pile will grow quite a bit as the week goes on.

Yard sales do make me a bit anxious though. I worry our items are not worth what we think they are, or that people will whisper to each other about how ugly things are, or how many weeds we still need to pull out of our flower garden. Pretty much I am worried that the people who come shop at my sale will be yard salers just like me. I try not too judge too much. For one thing, I am just excited to see all the things people have in their houses. For example, at one yard sale we went to they were selling more than 100 tobacco pipes. And for $5 each, they were making a killing. Some of them were really cool with ornate carving or silver handles. It makes you wonder what other things they collect. My mind goes to snuff boxes and even preserved or mummified human lungs. (Can you tell I have been watching that show Oddities?)

We won't be selling anything as unique as that, but if someone is looking for some good summer reading, a bird cage, a wireless Nintendo controller, a small entertainment center or a homebaked cookie (Moira is running a bake sale) then we've got you covered.

Last week I went for a walk around campus and ended up at the library. Ok, who am I kidding? I always end up at the library. Anyway, from the top of the Terrell Library you can look through the skylight and see down into the rotunda. It's a beautiful building.

On the ground floor of the library there were rows of chairs set up, along with a baby grand piano and a few tables. I decided to find out what was going on- hoping there was a recital I could stay for. As I entered the library, I saw a large sign with a photo of John Tarnai - it was a memorial service. Tarnai worked for more than 30 years in the Social and Economic Sciences Research Center. He had served as the director of SESRC since 1996.

I know all this because a nice woman came up as I was looking at the sign and asked if I was attending. I told her I had never met Tarnai, and asked her who he was. After telling me about his service at Washington State University, she directed my gaze to a table on the edge of the room.

The long table was covered with library books. There had to be more than a hundred - most were pretty unique from their neighbors. There were books on writing and journalism, entomology and chemistry, research and economics and many others. The woman let me take them all in before telling me they had placed them there so attendees could understand a little more about Tarnai's personality. She told me all of the books on the table had been found in his office after his death. All of them were books from libraries on campus and, from what she said, the majority of them were recommendations. She said he would come to the library to check out a book a colleague had recommended, or he had been wanting to read, and he would leave with several books recommended to him by the librarian who helped him. It sounded like he tried to read them all.

I couldn't stay for the memorial, since it started later and I had to get back to work, but I am told they shared stories about Tarnai that had been sent in by people from all over the country. People who had worked with him, corresponded  with him, or knew and used his research.

I hope there are such stories about me when I die, and I really hope they involve books.

My two short stories have finally come out in print. The Literary Lab's Notes From Underground Anthology is available starting today on Amazon. Here is the link to buy the book in paperback and also in ebook for Kindle.

You can also purchase the book from CreateSpace. A larger percentage of money from CreateSpace purchases goes to the charity — The Writer's Emergency Assistance Fund. So, to help us donate even more money, you can buy books there.

The books are reasonably priced at $10 a piece. I am so excited. I ordered several copies this morning and urge all of you to do the same.

I feel like I have accomplished something huge, and it gives me a little push in the right direction. I am reinvigorated and even feel like I can begin to submit more of my stories for publication. Forget about rejections — I welcome them. I have been writing more lately and might take some time off from work soon to really delve into it.

I was sad to hear Powell's Books in Portland had to layoff more than 30 employees this week. They say this is in response to consumer spending, or lack thereof, where books are concerned. I think e-books are neat, and I know lots of people like their Kindles, but I would rather have a solid book in my hands any day. 

So, I am starting a campaign to save books from eventual extinction and Powell's employees from unemployment. I implore you, dear readers, to buy a book (new or used) from Powell's and other book stores around the nation. I plan on going to their website right now and doing my part.

You can find almost everything you are looking for at the Powell's Books website.

Here is the news story about the layoffs:

 

Powell’s Layoffs

10 February 2011

 

Powell’s, the largest independent new and used bookstore in the world, announced via press release (PDF) Tuesday that it would lay off 31 employees. The layoffs affect only unionized employees; no corporate/management jobs were axed. According to the release, the cuts were made due to changes in “consumer behavior,” which

has changed dramatically over the past several years. It’s a story that’s hard to miss with daily articles about the book industry, the future of physical bookstores, and the rise of eBooks. As technology evolves, Powell’s expects consumer reading behavior to continue to change as new options and formats for reading develop and improve over time.

The cuts — which affect employees at retail locations in Portland and Beaverton and in the company’s warehouses — were announced by Emily Powell, who said, “I feel it is critical to make some very difficult adjustments at this time, to address our current reality and to prepare the company for success in the future, a future that looks very different than our business today.”

A report in The Oregonian by Laura Gunderson quotes union rep Ryan Van Winkle saying that the layoffs represent more than 7 percent off staff, not counting management and security guards. The laid-off workers were predominantly full-time and most were retail sales staff. About 25 percent worked in technical operations on the store’s website. It was the first round of layoffs since the workers formed an union in 2000.

In an internal e-mail memo distributed to employees and posted on the Portland Mercury site, the company notes that

Sales for this fiscal year are down and we expect this trend will continue. The largest decreases have been in new book sales. We see this as a clear indication that we are losing sales to electronic books and reading devices. Given the company’s declining sales, combined with industry data on the rapid growth of electronic book sales, we expect to see continuing erosion of new book sales over the next few years. While we believe we can compensate for some of the loss with solid used book sales and growth in gift sales, the erosion of new book sales will continue to take its toll.

The memo further points out that Powell’s will reduce benefits to non-union employees by initiating a pay freeze on July 1, and suspending the company’s 401(k) contributions effective Feb. 21st–both for at least a year. Employees who are members of the union will receive complete pay and benefits, the company said. While those cuts should be enough to offset the current fiscal year’s sales decline, further drop in sales would mean more cuts.

This story is from the following website:
http://mhpbooks.com/mobylives/?p=27989

Okay, so it's not the classics, but this reading challenge from Book Chick City is going to be a blast. I love smutty romance books during the summer, so this is perfect for me. 


If you love to read, even if you aren't a fan of romances, you should still join this challenge. I'm going to have the best book reviews ever!!!!


Here's a challenge going out to my friend Maxine — I know you want to do this in your heart of hearts. You don't have to tell anyone but me. I swear I won't tell a soul you are reading books that make you blush!!!!!

 I like to think I am unique, but today, after Googling myself (I don't recommend it unless you need to bring your mood down a few notches) I realized that not only do I share my name with a few others, but some of them even share my profession. The other one is a plumber, which is not that far removed from a journalist. (We both are knee deep in poo for half our careers.) The "real" Erin Harty (that's me) doesn't show up until page 2.  The most prevalent of the Erin Hartys is not only an accomplished veterinarian, but a published author and journalist. She has written a book on horses, has a blog, a domain name using my name and she is starting to annoy me. Okay, I confess, she looks great on paper and if she loves animals, she is probably okay, but now I feel the need to change my name, or at least add an initial or even a silent letter. Hmm, maybe an H — Ehrin Harty? No, okay, what about an O —Eorin? Whatever!

Anyway, in an effort to bump my name to page one I am going to repeat my name over and over in this blog post hoping Google recognizes that 36 Erin Hartys in a row are better than one.

Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty

Although I have had strong feelings about them before, it wasn't until my mother called and stirred up the rage in me that I thought I would post my feelings on the Twilight series books. First of all, let me preface this by saying that I have read the first three books. Curiosity and my inner desire for them to improve drove me to it, but I just couldn't get myself to finish the whole series.

That being said, I want to express my horror that these books have received good reviews from any reviewer who knows anything about good literature. While I admit, the story was at first compelling and entertaining, they are written atrociously, with bad character development, little profluence and negligent editing.

I know the public likes a good underdog story — Stephenie Meyer after all is an LDS mom, just doing what she loves (this is where I stick my finger down my throat and exclaim "gag me"), but these books do not do her any favors. As an LDS woman I truly wanted to root for Meyer, but after I read the books I kind of wish she hadn't advertised her religion. She gives Mormon writers everywhere a bad name.

I have a theory. Meyer's books became popular at first because of LDS women across the nation. They read the books, (by a woman like themselves) and then passed them on to their daughters, who then passed them on to their friends and the cycle began. Shame on you original readers. I hear all the time about how finally there was a PG-13 love story for LDS teens, but mothers, have you truly read the books? The main character, Bella, may not have had sex with her pale and rather uninteresting vampire, but she sure didn't have purity in thought either. Is this really the type of drivel you want your children reading? There are so many amazing books out there and surprise, surprise, you can actually find good teen fiction that isn't written by an LDS author.

The blame for the Twilight phenomenon, or tragedy as I have come to know it, should not entirely be placed on the reader. The world could have been spared from the stilted writing and bad dialogue if the publisher had not been so greedy and the editor of the books had actually given some editorial direction. If I am wrong and in fact, the editor did do their job, then why didn't the books get sent back to Meyer again and again for revision? The only reason to publish books like these before they are fully developed and reworked is to make money. The publisher may have read the story line and with their knowledge of the current market saw a gold mine. The books alone sold like hot cakes, but then there are the movies and posters, action figures and Barbie dolls. It is sad to say that money will triumph over good, solid literature these days.

I will say now that I did not write this post to purposely stir the pot and poke sticks at those who already have their hackles raised over criticism of the books. I simply felt the need to get my opinion on this series out there and just so you know, I am not the only one who feels this way. If you don't believe me just look up the reader reviews on goodreads.com.