Author Archives: Shawn E. Bell

Today in Self-Publishing History: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll

On November 26, 1865 Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, under the pen name Lewis Carroll published the novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

From Wikipedia:

[Alice in Wonderland] … tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures. The tale plays with logic, giving the story lasting popularity with adults as well as with children. It is considered to be one of the best examples of the literary nonsense genre. Its narrative course and structure, characters and imagery have been enormously influential in both popular culture and literature, especially in the fantasy genre.

Since the invention of the printing press – and becoming increasingly popular since the 19th century – many successful authors would create and publish their own works.  These self-published authors would gain more control of their work, earn greater profits, and eschew the practical bondage required by publishers.  Publishers have repeatedly attempted to frame these and other self-published authors as using “vanity publishing” in an attempt to shame them.  To be clear: most people can’t name a single publisher … but they can name MANY self-published authors.  And English classes don’t have assignments to read Random House or Penguin, but they do have assignments on Twain, Tennyson, Kipling, and Thoreau.

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NaNoWriMo 2013: And now for something completely different.

For NaNoWriMo this year, I tried an experiment. Normally I use Dragon NaturallySpeaking coupled with Scrivener and LibreOffice.

This year, I used Notes, Scrivener, Dragon, and Siri on my iPad and iPhone. I dictated virtually the entire work, sometimes when I was sitting in traffic, or out hiking, sometimes at home, or just wherever (“wherever” includes waiting on annoyingly late dates to show up. I’ve decided that waiting for someone who doesn’t have the respect to show up within 15 minutes of the date isn’t worth waiting for.  No matter how big her boobies are).

My work schedule has been: get up early, dictate while I hike (watching out for coyotes – they’re out in force). Get back home, pick up my computer, head over to get coffee, and spend the hour there organizing everything I’d saved in Notes into Scrivener. Then organizing the Scrivener bits into something reasonably coherent.

I’ve been working roughly 4 hours a day on this project just to see if I’m more productive by using ‘gap time’ (the time between locations, assignments, waiting for the microwave to ding, drive-time, waiting for clients or dates, and down time throughout the rest of the workday).  It isn’t dedication, it’s a science experiment.

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Geocaching in Harmony with Nature

Yes, it’s getting a bit cold outside, and geocaching might take a backseat to cozying up to a cup of hot cocoa next to a warm fire, but – at least in Southern California – we are lucky enough to be able to geocache all year long!

As a conservationist, I like to encourage people to work in harmony with Mother Nature.  Not just because it’s good for everyone, but because she’s a bitch if you cross her.  There are a couple of great new blog posts by Annika over at the Geogaching Blog about geocaching in harmony with nature.  Part I is about hiding a cache, and Part II is about finding caches.

Tips described in detail in Part I:

  • Have a comprehensive geocache details page.
  • Place the geocache carefully.
  • Choose an appropriate geocache container.
  • Work with your geocaching community volunteer.
  • Don’t leave Cache-Trash.

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Celebrating the life of C.S. Lewis (11/29/1898 – 11/22/1963)

“Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives.”
– C.S. Lewis

On this day, November 22, 1963, the world lost a great man. An infinite voice. An unequaled imagination.

From Wikipedia:

Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963), commonly called C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as “Jack”, was a novelist, poet, academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian, and Christian apologist. Born in Belfast, Ireland, he held academic positions at both Oxford University (Magdalen College), 1925–1954, and Cambridge University (Magdalene College), 1954–1963. He is best known both for his fictional work, especially The Screwtape Letters, The Chronicles of Narnia, and The Space Trilogy, and for his non-fiction Christian apologetics, such as Mere Christianity, Miracles, and The Problem of Pain.

“Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.” – C.S. Lewis

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