Serendipity

Further to yesterday's post I felt it worth noting that thanks to my meandering following of Katrina Lantz I was directed to a #writeoncon online video workshop with Mark McVeigh, lietary agent which was both inciteful and informative for how one side of the publishing industry works. Opportunities like this (it was 10:30pm where he was in the USA) aren't always available to mere struggling library staff (in Australia) so the access to online content is invaluable and the fact that I only came across it through an act of serendipity rather rewarding.

The value of rss and twitter to my RA & Reference skill set

I was over at Sandy Fussell's blog recently and found a cute little button for the Top 50 Australian Blogs for Writers. Curious I followed the trail of breadcrumbs and was taken to Copywrite and an amazing list of blogs.

From a Collection Development point of view this is an invaluable resource.
From a Readers Advisory point of view this is even better. Not only do I have a quick pick list of Australian writers, I've got access to their blogs - ie, to the information about them, from them, about their books, etc. What's out now, what's coming soon, where in the world they happen to be right now, that sort of thing.
I realised that over the last 12 months my selection of rss feeds and twitter streams has developed to a more organised and focussed agenda. This got me thinking about the way I use Twitter and RSS feeds to inform my Readers Advisory (and Reference) skillset. I have feeds set up for various writers, including Sandy Fussell, Anita Heiss, and Stephen Fry. I also follow a literary agent and Amanda Palmer this way (this last one mainly because I've found this is the easiest way for me to read Amanda Palmer as opposed to via Twitter, Facebook, etc).

When I look at my twitter stream I'm following Sandy Fussell again, Stephen Fry also, Neil Gaiman, Katrina Lantz, Melissa Marr, Kate Forsyth, Diana Tixier Herald, The Reading Agency (UK), Waterstones (UK), Nancy Pearl, the British Library, GalleyCat, AusLit, Australian Literature, Penguin Books Australia, Random House Australia, Simon & Schuster Australia, Pan Macmillan Australia, Harper Collins Australia, and Aurealis Xpress .... thus far...... There are many other people I follow whose opinion and comment also inform my skill set but these ones I've specifically earmarked as worthy and useful for my personal interests and for the questions I find myself being asked. This list is certainly not finite and I most certainly see myself adding to and subtracting from it over time as I discover more authors and publishers and literary agents and booksellers whose comments and contributions I find useful and bring light to the day.

Back to the value of the Top 50 Australian blogs for Writers though. Here I now find a myriad of blogs to follow should I choose. What I really like about this list is the options it offers me: - here's the blog name - add them to your rss feed; here's the blog writer's name and what genre they fall into (whether they're a novelist/copywriter/screenwriter/etc so at least you know what perspective they're coming from and just who on earth they are); some Technorati etc stats (always good for understanding why they're ranked at the spot they are); and finally their Twitter tag should they have one 'cause maybe that's an easier option for you to follow them.

I can see me spending a lot of time with this list working out just who I want to follow and how. I'm sure to meet some new people along the way and learn so many new and exciting things to further enhance my continually expanding skill set for both Reference and Readers Advisory.

Can't wait.

Desiderata

Last night my family were trolling through old photo albums and out fell an old yellowed copy of a Desiderata dated 1692 from Old St Paul's Church, Baltimore.

Go placidly amid the noise and haste and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons they have their vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons ... than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is. Many persons strive for high ideals and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars. You have a right to be here and whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be and whatever your labours and aspirations in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham and drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.
Be careful. Strive to be happy.

These words express such sincere sentiment to a life well lived and a life lived well - it's nice to be reminded of them. Oddly enough it puts me in mind of a poem by W.B. Yeats which my father often recited to me as a child and which I ended up studying at Uni (oh so many years ago now).


I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
Nine bean-rows will I have there, a hive for the honey-bee;
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
I hear it in the deep heart's core




Be well.