Does the End of The Royal spell the end of Book Ends?

I cannot imagine writing a novel by typewriter. Or perhaps even more difficult, a screenplay. All the formatting would drive me insane. Or perhaps that is why folks choose to write by typewriter still? It's either insanity or they thrive on the insanity that such an endeavor creates and thus this is what makes them great writers? (Or just crazy!)
I prefer a Mac. Of course I think the rhythmic clacking, those sounds of the old keys clunk clunking and the bell dinging would be strangely soothing.  But then I would screw up and a whole page of work destroyed and I would cry like a baby or need a cocktail. Perhaps this is why writers back in the day had so many issues?
I have an old Royal, but it's just a book end. And recently the last company to manufacture old fashioned typerwriters went out of business, so I guess these contraptions have become something of a bookend in history themselves. Propping up the last of the books while everyone goes digital. With the advent of eBooks soon the bookend itself will be obsolete, too? Now, as I finish this post, I'm beginning to understand why people have resisted giving up their old Royal.  Maybe I need to get mine fixed and start banging away on my next novel?
What are your thoughts? Shall we hold a funeral for the typewriter?

Manic Monday --- Writing Tips to Live By... Tip #1 Writing Space

So you fancy yourself a writer in training, you want to be a writer, or you just quit being a writer ten minutes ago?  If you fall into one of those categories, then hopefully my Monday tips will give you a little push towards getting to work on that project you've either been putting off or haven't found the time to finish.

For Tip #1 I'm going to share a little secret with you about writing. Whether you're one of those committed writers who can put in several hours a day at the computer, or like me, totally manic and write in fevered, spastic, and sporadic bursts, this tip can help.
Simply: You need a writing space. This space can be physical or mental or both. Essentially you need a place where all that happens there is writing, writing, and more writing. I'm lucky that my house is a little bombshelter on the side of a mountain, so I have a great physical environment to write in --- but still I also need some mental space, an escape of sorts from the noise of modern life.  I'm lucky that my folks have a homestead in the middle of nowhere with no running water or electricity (just a generator to charge the laptop) and this is the place I go, when I can afford it, to finish projects. In the midnight sun of summer I can write endlessly in endless daylight, or in the winter I can type beside the crackling woodstove with the aurora swirling above in the night sky.  I realize this isn't a place that most writers have, so to tell you that all you need is a place like I have would be ridiculous (and not at all simple). 
The truth about the cabin space for me is that when I am there I put myself in a mental space that demands from my brain a special focus and an expectation that I will complete the project at hand. So I don't need the remote cabin to accomplish this, so much as the determination to insist that the time I spend there will be productive.  
Essentially, I gear my brain to shift into a mode that tunes out distractions.  The solitude of the forest around helps, the silence of the Takotna River at first makes my ears ring as they adjust to a world without the hum of civilization. Then just the clicking of a keyboard might mingle with the raindrops on the metal roofing and I am all but completely immersed in the writing at hand.
Since you don't have the lonely cabin in the woods option, don't be discouraged. What you need to do is find a routine that puts you in that same space. Close your web browser, turn off your phone, and turn off the TV/RADIO/NOISE BOX, and get to work. Perhaps a fan for white noise or just the right music to set the atmosphere.  If the distractions are at a minimum then you'll have no choice but to focus. If home is a place that simply won't allow you to find that magic space where writing can happen, then seek it out. Get creative. Try the library. Try a park. Try a cave.  Try something.
Find the space that will inspire you to finish one of your projects.

What I learned from my Father...

My father shooting a birch arrow I made.

 

My father taught me how to hunt, and how to ride horses and snow-gos and boats to get to the hunting grounds. He taught me how to camp and build a fire when we got there, and how to cook over that fire. He taught me how to tell stories to friends around the fire we just cooked over, and how sometimes the only friends a man needs to have around the fire are his wife and children. My father taught me how to survive blizzards, rain storms and shit-storms. He taught me how to appreciate the finer things in life, like a good cup of coffee, a good book, a straight shooting rifle.
And today, Father's Day, the day I was born, his father's day gift --- now my first as a father --- I realize something else he taught me. The most important gift of all. He taught me how to be a father, too.

Don Rearden
6/19/2011

Blogging for Blooms Day & My Birthday! Book Giveaway!

After a slight blog hiatus to put the finishing touches on my up-coming novel and for the birth of my first baby (how do you like those excuses?). I'm about to roll out some mind-blowing blog posts. You'll get cool interviews with some of the hottest writers and editors in the publishing business, and if you're lucky I'll say something worthwhile (but don't count on it!).

Little Bigfoot (photo by Alaskan Photographer Katie Basile)

It has been an amazing year for me, to say the least.  Publication of my first novel, The Raven's Gift, with Penguin Canada, some great reviews and press, a reading at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto, a stint on Amazon Canada's Top 100 list for over 50 days and the birth of Atticus.  So that was thirty-six. I look forward to what this next year brings. If thirty-seven is even a shadow of this year, I'll take it. (Plus thirty-seven is the new thirty-six, right?)

To celebrate Blooms Day and the adventures of  Ulysses and my birthday. Post a comment and at 11:59pm tonight, while it is still daylight in Alaska, I'll pick one of you to win a copy of The Raven's Gift.

49 Writers: Andromeda: Pull-outs, Pilot Bread, a party and a p...

Here is a mention from the 49 Writers Blog, written by author Andromeda Romano-Lax, about the recent book launch party. I'll try to get around to posting something about the event this weekend...

CLICK below...

49 Writers: Andromeda: Pull-outs, Pilot Bread, a party and a p...: "So, Borders is pulling out of its South Anchorage location and shuttering about 200 stores nationwide over the next few weeks. It's not une..."

49 Writers: Things My Fancy Author Friends Never Told Me: A G...

49 Writers: Things My Fancy Author Friends Never Told Me

Above is the link to a posting I wrote for 49 Writers. It includes never before shared secrets of the publishing world. Be sure to check it out and never share it if you hope to someday become a writer. It also includes a list that goes all the way to five, for those who like numbers.

Raven Meets The Peacock! My first television interview about The Raven's Gift on NBC