A Passage from Willa Cather

This is from Death Comes For The Archbishop (c. 1927, Willa Cather; c.1955, The Executors of the Estate of Willa Cather)Vintage Books, New York, p. 50.

Father Vaillant began pacing restlessly up and down as he spoke, and the Bishop watched him, musing. It was just this in his friend that was dear to him. "Where there is great love there are always miracles." he said at length. "One might almost say that an apparition is human vision corrected by divine love. I do not see you as you really are, Joseph; I see you through my affection for you. The Miracles of the Church seem to me to rest not so much upon faces or voices or healing power coming suddenly near to us from afar off, but upon our perceptions being made finer, so that for a moment our eyes can see and our ears can hear what is there about us always."

Eliot Asinof Died Yesterday

At the risk of screwing up the link, I attempt to post the link to the obituary in today's New York Times by Daniel Weber.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/11/sports/baseball/11asinof.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

You Are Invited! (What Happens When the Fat Lady Sings)

You Are Invited!

♣--- ♦--- ♥--- ♠

WHO:
The Mallorys, Bacons, O’Flahertys, etc.

WHAT:
Family Reunion.

WHEN:
June 20, from 10:30 a.m. to ?????

WHERE:
The Lake.

COST:
A favorite dish, plus $25.00 per couple, $7.50 per child, to help defray the cost of renting The Northwest Quadrant of the Winnehaha Pavilion.

RSVP:
Sally Millhouse, (712) 555-1234

SPECIAL NOTE:
We’ll be sitting for family portraits!

________________________________

Follow Samantha as she prepares for the family reunion. As she hunts for artifacts for the family display, she finds this old letter:

Oct. 29, 1959 (I am sorry this is late)

Dear Auntie,

Thank you for the $10 for my birthday. I will buy a pretty red pink blue dress you will like (I hope). I am skinney now, dr. Noonan put me on a strick diet (ugh!). Lettuce, cellery and cottage cheese.

I HATE

Mrs. Niles died last month, Nana says she wieghed over 500 lbs, I would DIE if I weighed over 500 lbs. I am in the St. Bonyfi Boniface chior now, we sang at Mrs. Niles funneral.

L♥ve Sammy

PS: Nana says Mrs. Niles was buried in a piano crate!

(Samantha Anne Mallory, age 9)

C'mon in!

This is a must-attend event!

A command performance!

The family awaits you!

Go to The Fat Lady Sings.com

About The Fat Lady Sings

Jennifur: An Internet Baby

"Creating Baby Names, One Domain at a Time."

--From Jennifur.com

Question: What's the difference between a $xx,xxx domain and a $x domain?

Answer: one letter "e" morphed into "u."

Domaining is a crazy business that I still stumble around in, but one thing I have learned: one letter in a domain name can make a huge difference in its monetary value.

It's no secret: I would love to own Jennifer.com, but unless I come into a large windfall and a willing seller, that will never happen. Moreover, the .dot-tv people are holding Jennifer.tv ransom for $500.00 a year. I would be willing to pay a one-time fee of $500.00, but I can't see paying that much yearly for what is basically a vanity domain.

Thanks to my parents, I'm fortunate in that I have a great first name that I love. Unfortunately, during the early 1970s, millions of parents also named their daughters "Jennifer," resulting in an annoying glut of rugrat Jennifers who eventually grew up and are now in their mid to late 30's and making their mark in the world.

And then there's Jennifer Lopez, Aniston, Garner, Love-Hewitt, etc., so the Jennifer domains, in all Top Level Domains (.com, .net, .org, etc.), are highly prized and priced.

So, as they say, "Get over it."

Back in August, I stumbled upon this article; some domain-savvy parents are selecting names based solely on domain availability. Being somewhat new at this domain game, I thought it was an amazing concept, for when I was growing up, parents wanted to name their children after parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, etc. and/or a name that they liked.

But in an odd sort of way, wanting to give one's unborn child a solid web presence is a form of legacy and an act of love--we all want the best for our children, and the gift of a personalized domain is especially important these days and will probably be extremely important in the next 20-30 years and beyond.

Basically, if you don't have a web presence, you don't exist.

One hundred years from now, domain names may be passed down from one generation to the next, so JohnQDoe.com might be willed from father to son or grandfather to grandson. More young women with personalized domains might decide to hang onto their birth names after they marry, and, perhaps, even pass their birth names (and domains) to their daughters and granddaughters.

It's definitely a brave new world.

So what's all this got to do with Post Foetry? Not a whole lot, except this: For the past few weeks, I have been kicking around the idea of writing an internet story or novella about a child who has been named "Jennifur" because this first-name dot-com domain was available.

I have already written Chapter 1; if you wish, you can see for yourself at Jennifur.com.

So now you know the full answer to the question posed at the beginning of this post:

Jennifer.com = $xx,xxx

Jennifur.com = $x

But perhaps my minor creative endeavors will help to build some traffic for Jennifur.com.

In any case, it will be a fun and interesting experiment in domain-building and writing rough-draft creative work directly on the web.

New Letters Writing Awards Guidelines: Mixed Review

The announcement for this year's New Letters contest arrived in my mailbox today. I haven't entered a fee-based writing contest in years, so I'm surprised that I continue receiving these mailings.

Still, I took a look at the journal's online guidelines and discovered that, for the most part, they are friendly toward writers.

Thumbs up:

--"Current students and employees of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and current volunteer members of the New Letters and BkMk Press staffs, are not eligible."

--An entrant receives something in return for his/her fee: "Entry fee [$15.00] includes the cost of a one-year subscription, renewal, or gift subscription to New Letters, shipped to any address within the United States. (Subscriptions mailed outside the U.S. require a $12 postal surcharge [This is a fair charge, given the expensive nature of sending magazines overseas])."

--Simultaneous submissions allowed--fantastic!

--One entry: up to six poems may be submitted--very generous.

--One fiction/prose entry: up to 8,000 words--again, very generous.

--The guidelines are clear on submission expectations and deadlines.

--The First Prize is generous.

Thumbs down:

--Not naming the final judge in advance. I don't buy into the argument that judges will be "harassed" by toadying writers. There is an email delete button for a reason. What happens if the entrant knows the judge and the judge recognizes the entrant's submission (blind or no blind)? In that case, would the entrant's submission be disqualified? If so, would the entrant receive a refund of fees (minus the subscription fee)? In this case, it seems unfair to not offer a refund, given that the entrant has no idea who's doing the final judging. Also, such secrecy almost guarantees that such information will leak out anyway and/or rumors would circulate.

--"Friends of the screeners/judge ineligible" not specified (related to the non-transparency of the above "thumbs down").

--Not clear if there is Second or Third Prize: "Judges have the option to select work for second runner-up and honorable mentions" is a bit nebulous.

--No statement regarding what would occur if a First Prize isn't awarded at all. If this happens, would entrants receive a refund?

___________________


We have posted some Ideal Guidelines for both entrants and contest administrators to consider.

By posting a "thumbs down" section for a contest, we are not addressing the issue of honesty or dishonesty; we are simply noting that some red flags exist and that entrants should email the administrator of the contest for further questions.

If you are comfortable with the contest guidelines, by all means enter.

What is your past experience with this contest? Feel free to post your comments in this thread.

Best,

Jennifer

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

I am finally reading this novel. Ironically, I was offered free tickets to a screening of the movie last week, and knew that I'd want to read the book first...Well, I'm at chapter 17, so please post(tell me) nothing about its ending.

I'm not sure if I can comment about this without cliches. A friend had told me that he couldn't "get into it" and so my expectations weren't high...It's not light reading, but it's compelling. My son read the back cover and asked why I'd want to read something so horrible. ! Blurbs gone wrong!

Some times a bestseller is deservedly so.

I think the narrator and I were born in almost the same year...into such extremely distinct settings...I don't know where my ex husband is, but this is the kind of book we talked about and led me to fall in love.

FictionHQ.com -- Fiction Headquarters

Woo! I picked up FictionHQ.com at a GoDaddy Fire Sale, thinking that I might develop it at some point, but I then discovered that it had already been an active user-generated content fan fiction website, and my parking stats bear this out.

I wonder why the original owner let the site drop? It IS a natural for such a site.

If any original Fiction HQ members of this now-defunct site are out there and would be interested in seeing this website rise from the ashes like the Phoenix, let me know through the comment feature of Post Foetry.

Such a site would have to be user-generated because I'm already stretched thin in this blogging and domaining enterprise.

I just have to learn how to set up a user-generated site (which is why you'll see a similar post on my domaining blog).

Best,

Jennifer

Doris Lessing wins Nobel Prize

One thing I know: she was not on the list of odds-on favorites. I have to admit that I haven't read her books, but I've certainly heard of her.

I'm sorry I've been such an errant blogger.

I get a kick out of their awarding this to a person of her age.

Any thoughts out there?

NOTE: Thanks, Nomi. Hope you don't mind, but here's a partial blurb and link to the story:

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Doris Lessing, author of dozens of works from short stories to science fiction, including the classic "The Golden Notebook," won the Nobel Prize for literature Thursday. She was praised by the judges for her "skepticism, fire and visionary power."

The Swedish academy's announcement was stunning even by the standards of Nobel judges, who have been known for such surprises as Austria's Elfriede Jelinek and Italy's Dario Fo.

more

I didn't see this coming either, but I'm glad to see that this noted writer was awarded this prize.

Best, Jennifer

New Feature: Plug Your Book Here

I'm pleased to announce that the comment thread attached to this post will remain open to those of you who want to plug your books or the books of a friend. Creative writers don't have a lot of opportunities to blurb about their efforts, so I thought I'd offer. This is a genuine offer, BUT...

There are some caveats:

• No book reviews. Just the title, author, a short blurb, and link to where one can buy and/or see more information/review about the book.
• You may use this thread only; blurbs in other comment sections will be deleted.
• By posting your blurb, you do leave yourself open to comments about your work, and these comments cannot be deleted, at least on this thread--at least I haven't figured out how to do this.

Thank you!

Best, Bugzita