Thursday, January 17, 2008

An Illuminating Update

The January Illuminata is up with a longish, somewhat technical, piece from me called “A Grammar Primer.” (It’s the January 08 issue.) This is a shorter, edited version of a longer piece that will be published down the line, and I cover such issues as “tense,” “subject/verb agreement,” “conjunctions,” and another element or two.

Bret Funk, the editor of the newsletter, also announces that The Illuminata will be going quarterly for the rest of the year. This is way down from the monthly schedule he’s maintained for something over five years. I understand his need to take this step, though, and support him. Besides his own writing, he’s got plenty to do with a new family and new job. His opening essay in the newsletter explains it all.

To tell you the truth, the monthly schedule for producing a column was starting to tell on me as well. Coming up with new ideas was getting pretty difficult after over five years and it won’t hurt me to take a little breather. It’s actually a bit lucky that this slow down comes now. Several other fiction projects and possibilities have suddenly loomed on my horizon and I’m going to need the energy. Sometimes, when a drought ends, the rain falls hard and ruts the land even as it nourishes.

19 comments:

Lana Gramlich said...

If you arbitrarily gave all of your students "C"s it would free up a LOT of time for writing. ;)

Steve Malley said...

Or re-allocate that time for irate calls from interfering parents! :)

I love the idea of new possiblities booming on your horizon! Go, go GO!!!

Miladysa said...

"Sometimes, when a drought ends, the rain falls hard and ruts the land even as it nourishes."

Lovely :)

Interesting website - I am going spend more time there later.

Life 'reads' exicting for you Charles - hope the 'projects and possibilities' are thrilling :)

Lana Gramlich said...

Steve; Okay then...Give them "B"s. :)

Charles Gramlich said...

Lana, you shouldn't tempt me when I am weak.

Steve Malley, I've fielded my share of such calls. Once I was even dismissed by a parent who had gone over my head with a "we don't need you anymore."

Miladysa, there is quite a bit of good stuff there, a lot that can be downloaded if one has the time.

Lana, Get thee in front of me, you devil. Oooh la la.

Sidney said...

This is proving to be a grueling January. I find usually the pace is wild one place, oddly, it's wild everywhere.

LoveRundle said...

I like schedules, but I agree that it would get more than tight on one having to produce a column. I admire your ability to get so much writing done. Can't wait to hear about the fiction projects. Hopefully you have time to get them started very very soon.

Susan Miller said...

"Sometimes, when a drought ends, the rain falls hard and ruts the land even as it nourishes."

Killer line, Charles.

I look forward to watching for your future rains.

Bernita said...

May the rain beat hard against your windows, Charles.

Tyhitia Green said...

As for as your column, everyone needs a break every now and then. There's nothing wrong with it. :*)

Charles Gramlich said...

Sidney, January has been rough. I remember just a few weeks back I was so relaxed over the break. Now I'm running, running, running.

Christina, sometimes I feel pretty productive. At other times not so much.

Susan, good to hear from you. I trust you are doing well. Thanks for the comment.

Bernita, lately it has been, both literally and figuratively.

Demon Hunter, I agree absolutlely.

ivan said...

I sometimes wonder why I produce 300,000 words a year in blog.
There is probably to stress to this I am not aware of.
...Certainly getting more and more ecceentric every day.

Well, you seem to be in good with Funk, Charles.

Can Wagnalls be far behind? :)

Shauna Roberts said...

A tip from someone who has monthly columns—after five years, you can revisit topics from the first year because there has been turnover in readership and because most people have forgotten what you wrote and need a refresher.

I find that as long as I don't read the earlier column before writing the new one, the new one contains somewhat different information in a different format.

Good luck with your new projects. Hope they are fulfilling and lucrative.

Cheri said...

There's nothing wrong with knowing when you gotta take a step back. You wouldn't want to come into hating something that once brought you joy, right?

Charles Gramlich said...

Ivan, "in good with Funk. Can Wagnalls..." Well done, my friend. Excellent play on words.

Shauna, good advice. Thanks. I may find myself doing that in the future, since I still will have to produce four columns a year.

Cheri, yes. I've known folks who decided to do their "fun" hobby as a job and came to hate it soon after. Good point.

Ello - Ellen Oh said...

Ha ha! I love Lana's idea! Can I do that too?

Charles Gramlich said...

Ello, I'll do it if you will.

steve on the slow train said...

Kenneth Rexroth used to give all his students A's, as did Duke philosophy prof Rick Roderick. Of course, Rexroth got away with it because of who he was, and Roderick didn't make tenure.

I appreciated your column on grammar. It reminded me of a post on Julie's Virtual Journey, in which she wrote, "The fish and chips has arrived." I replied that in the States we'd say "have arrived," but that perhaps in England fish and chips is sort of a collective singular, such as "all glory and honor is yours."

AvDB said...

I'm a little late in commenting, but I was out of town, so you'll have to forgive me. That was a great article, and not too terribly long.