Charlotte Gill | author site & blog

June 13, 2008

Writing rooms

Vancouver Int'l Writers Fest features my workspace this week as part of its ever-growing "office gallery."

My voyeuristic interest in the writing spaces of others is ongoing, especially those housing the Salman Rushdies and the Margaret Atwoods of the world. I want to see what really pimped offices look like. And also, are you people really that clean and organized? Or did you faff an afternoon away recycling and decluttering for the sake of the photo. Like I did:

Usually my desk is so strewn with books and magazines, accretions of dishware and junk mail, it overflows onto the floor like some kind of terrible glacial wave of paper detritus and procrastination. It trails out near the door in punch-hole confetti.

Go here for all the writing rooms and mini-essays that accompany.

May 23, 2008

Milkin' it

"Eating Dirt" picked up a nomination for a Western Magazine Award in the Human Experience category. For all the finalists, clickety here.

May 12, 2008

Book weeds

You may watch me eat these words, but I think Kindle is a stupid invention. A plastic tablet illuminated with blinky lights and scrolling text so that it looks like a book, but when you drop it in the tub, ain't no hairdryer in the world going to save your Jane Eyre. That aside, I've been devouring all the debate recently on digitizing books, and what it means for us content providers.

I just love the internets. Despite all the blingin' visuals, it's made for text. And it's basically free. Naked boobs aside, of course. I've never understood why people plaster their websites with copyright notices and all kinds of legal signage. I thought wholesale rip-off was the entire point of the internet. Cory Doctorow has an awesome little piece on why it pays to let your stuff float around on the tides. And also why you should never, ever give your books away online. Unless you're Jewel and can afford the pro bono sharing.

Internet users have short attention spans. The moment of consummation--the moment when a reader discovers your book online, starts to read it, and thinks, huh, I should buy a copy of this book--is very brief. That's because "I should buy a copy of this book" is inevitably followed by, "Woah, a youtube of a man putting a lemon in his nose!" and the moment, as they say, is gone.

I'm curious about downloadable audio books and if the same wisdom applies.

April 30, 2008

National Magazine Awards

"Eating Dirt," last year's non-fiction piece about treeplanting, has been nominated for a National Mag Award. Also nominated from the pages of the Vancouver Review are Terry Glavin and Mark Mushet. Way to go VR!

April 29, 2008

Bathroom books

I stumbled upon a NYT recommendation for a tome that seems destined for the toilet cistern lid. I'm quite chuffed with my own small but potent water-closet library, particularly with the most recent addition sent to me yesterday by Ma G, Do You Remember?: The Book That Takes You Back. I fear Ma G may feel slighted by the stowage of her recent gift in the bog, so allow me to share with you the esteemed titles with which it shares shelf space:

The B.C. Guide to Buying Rural and Recreational Property, John Ince.

Dessous: Lingerie as a Dangerous Weapon, Gilles Neret.

Every Person on the Planet: An Only Somewhat Anxiety-Filled Tale for the Holidays, Bruce Eric Kaplan.

The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint Exupery.

The Curious Sofa: A Pornographic Work, Ogdred Weary (AKA Edward Gorey).

Pushcart's Complete Rotten Reviews & Rejections, Eds. Bill Henderson and Andre Bernard.

canada gees mate for life, bill bissett.

Eats, Shoots & Leaves, Lynne Truss.

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, T.S. Eliot.

Doggerel: Great Poets on Remarkable Dogs, Martha Paulos.

And, in my own personal opinion, the piece de resistance of the collection, a very lucky find in a Kamloops remainder bin:

Clean and Decent: The Fascinating History of the Bathroom and The Water-Closet by Lawrence Wright.

I'm still on the hunt for a copy of Fuck, Yes!: A Guide to the Happy Acceptance of Everything by the Reverend Dr. Wing Fu Fing. A bit long for a bathroom book, it's true. You risk losing dinner guests between dinner and dessert. Not to mention the dreaded pink buttock ring. But I'm willing to suffer for a worthy edition.