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publishing, mel's book, etc.

updated tue 26 aug 08

 

Kelly Savino on sat 23 aug 08


Publishing: People who knew about my folklore fieldwork or have read my
blather on line have said, "You should write a book!" I determined that
I would begin one, when my kids leave home and I "retire" from the mommy
portion of my job.

Ironically, by then, books may be a thing of the past.

Meanwhile, two days ago, 1,174 people visited my website --
specifically, a page with instructions for the chore chart I designed to
keep my kids organized and keep me from nagging.

I also get lots of hits for my homemade tofu recipes, designs for a
homemade hoop house, the woodfired earth oven for bread and pizza. My
blog, too. Not pots. (Not since I quit selling my niche pots, anyway.)
None of it makes me a dime and I'm not selling ads.

Which, I think, is part of the problem out there. Everything is
available, on line, for free. If I want to look at ceramic eye-candy, I
can google half a dozen shows, galleries, potters' websites. Spend a
whole evening at it, print the ones that inspire me.

If I am looking for recipes, kiln plans, details about pigeon
breeding... I google it up.

I would not want to be without Josie Walter's "Pots in the Kitchen" --
or Jack Troy's book about wood firing -- or half a dozen books currently
next to my bed bookmarked and highlightered. But I can barter for them,
buy them cheaply used on line, or get them at the public library. It's
no wonder publishing houses are scrambling.

Mel, I would be happy to offer anything that might be of use with my
kiln project, but don't know if it's really "kiln building", since it
began with an ebay purchase of an already standing kiln arch. (Granted,
it was not finished, had never actually been fired, and had some major
design problems.) I took some pix when I built the wooden arch form to
disassemble (and reassemble) it, and will certainly turn these boxes of
hodgepodgey new-and-used bricks into something new, by the time it is
done -- (plus buy new bricks to build the front, figure out burners and
ports, build a roof, etc). But technically, I didn't buy these bricks
brand new and start from scratch, I bought them "already arched" on
ebay, so I'm not sure I qualify as a "kiln builder". I've participated
in the building of a cat once before, and fired it long enough to know
what I thought was wrong with it... but I suspect I'll learn a lot by
trial and error along the way with this next kiln, and still end up with
a "work in progress". Donovan Palmquist I ain't.

I have a good looking construction crew, though.. lookie here

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog/popup_slideshow.html?p=277&id=F9wc9lYhaa8
dQH1YUDHbmk_tbQ--

Yours
Kelly in Ohio... dovecote finished, so I am busy this weekend relining
the barrel of my pugmill, and looking into rewiring the computer
controlled Skutt KM-1227 I bought for a song from the Potter's Guild...
also robbing the bees, and jarring up chunks of comb floating in golden
honey. I planted the cool weather greens from seed, today, in the square
in my garden where the cold frames and hoop house will go up before
frost. Like Joyce, though, we're hot lately: it was 99 F on my van's
thermometer. We tried to take in the Levis Commons art fair, but Miss
Molly (standing in line to get her face painted) passed out from the
heat, so we spent some time in a nice air conditioned ambulance -- being
checked over by paramedics (why are EMTs invariably handsome?) before
heading home to find cooler pursuits.

Arnold Howard on mon 25 aug 08


From: "Kelly Savino"
> Ironically, by then, books may be a thing of the past.

I believe books are becoming more popular than ever. This is
due perhaps to the number of formats available: mp3 audio
books that you can listen to as you drive, print-on-demand
for limited circulation books, ebooks read on portable
devices, Acrobat files for reference books. And of course
paper books for mass circulation titles such as novels and
biographies.

In spite of the free content on the Internet, the future
looks good for writers. I will gladly pay for a good book,
because the price is the smallest part of my investment. My
biggest investment is hours of my time to read the book, so
I want to be sure it is well written.

Sincerely,

Arnold Howard
Paragon Industries, L.P., Mesquite, Texas USA
ahoward@paragonweb.com / www.paragonweb.com