The Vintage Reader

Every once in a while an editor at a real live publishing house starts up a blog, and within DAYS every aspiring writer on the Internet is hanging out and commenting, clearly hoping that the editor will take note of the writer's sparkling wit, incisive critical thinking skills, and delightful prose and propose a working relationship. It always takes me a while to find these blogs, because I don't usually hang out at the writing blogs (except occasionally during November, when I do NaNoWriMo).

What I've noticed is that they tend to start out being all nicey-nicey and "ooh, I really LOVE to read everything you lovely talented people write" and end up being all snarky and "look at the RIDICULOUS thing some IDIOT sent me today. Publishable? AS IF!" Such is the case with one I've been following for a while now. I'm not going to link to it, but I will say this: in any field, it is extremely unprofessional and also just plain old bad form to a) publish the personal correspondence that clients send you; b) make fun, especially in a mean, snarky way, of people who ask you questions in a professional capacity, regardless of whether their question could have been answered with a Google search or not; and c) publicly analyze the work of people who did not specifically give you permission to do so.

What I think is really interesting about this is that I also read several blogs by professional copy editors, and they are unfailingly sensible and good-humored, with none of the I'm-smarter-than-you-so-there snark of the acquisition editors' blogs. I have to wonder: is there a fundamental difference in temperament between copy editors and acquisition editors? I don't know, having missed my calling and never worked in the traditional settings these folks seem to be in (newspapers for the copy editors, publishing houses for the acquisition editors). But it occurs to me that it might be like the difference between catalogers and reference librarians, introverts and extroverts, public interest reporters and sports reporters. Just a thought.

Because of stuff like this:



(eternal thanks to Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Novels)

Via Retro Recipe Challenge #7 I have found a wonderful blog: Vintage Style Files. Lots of great retro and vintage style (obvy) but also lots of links and other extra stuff!

Is there such a thing? If you don't think so, you should come over and help me pack up the vintage reading material in the attic. It's a plethora of pulps! A metric ton of magazines! An embarrassment of ephemera!

Actually, I'm thinking of auctioning most of it off, since I never got around to blogging about it and probably never will, now that I'll have not only a toddler but also an elderly parent to care for. Is this the kind of thing people buy on eBay? I mean, I do, but I buy all sorts of stupid things on eBay that most people would laugh at and pass on. Maybe I'll have a contest and give it all away. But now I must go clean the bathroom so the house can be shown.

I'm looking for a quote from Cheers, and the Internet is being naughty tonight and not yielding it up for me. Come on: I would have thought that every single line ever spoken on Cheers would be out there somewhere, but evidently not.

I don't remember the context, despite seeing the episode probably a dozen times, but Frasier is talking about some highway or another and he says something along the lines of "One wrong turn and it's hello, Tulsa!" If anyone remembers the episode and can tell me approximately what season it is (or better yet, has it on DVD and can verify the quote for me) I'd appreciate it.

Well, this will probably come as no surprise to any of my regular readers (all three of you!), but the Vintage Family is pulling up stakes in Buffalo and moving back to Oklahoma. In some ways I'm looking forward to it, but in some ways I'm dreading it. I will miss my neighborhood, and my house, and the friends I've made here over the years. I won't so much miss the winter that lasts until May, although I will miss the times like Thanksgiving a few years ago, when we went over to a friend's house to feed the cats and walked back through the twilight with the snow falling gently past the old, old street lights of our neighborhood, and everything smelled like roasting turkey and wood smoke. And say what you will about the winter weather here, but I may never again see anything as amazing as a chunk of ice the size of a minivan being dashed to bits on a rock in the middle of the Niagara River, headed for the falls, on a sunny 15-degree February day. Or as wonderful as fireworks reflecting off three feet of freshly fallen snow at Delaware Park, like the time a couple of weeks after we moved here when we heard fireworks and grabbed our brand new snow boots and took off running (well, trudging, anyway) to see where they were, and ended up at the park. And I must admit that I will really, really miss 75-degree days in July, because after all, there HAS to be a payoff for the six months of winter.

Posting will be even sparser than usual, if you can believe it, as we pack up and put our house on the market and move back across the country. Have a great summer!

NOBODY but you calls Oklahoma City "Oke City." Likewise, I suspect that you are the only ones who actually call Boston "Beantown." And people in the center of the country cringe when they hear "Middle West." So PLEASE stop talking like gum-snapping, fast-talking shmoes from the talkies.

Thank you.