Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Packing

I'm finally packing for NY. Well, actually, I already finished. I pack in about three minutes. Then I leave the suitcase at the foot of the stairs and add things to it as I remember them. My daughter still hasn't packed, but she's said to me at least a hundred times, 'I wish I was in NY already!'. She's tired of school. In France, we have the longest school day of all European countries, and yet we're not the top performer - Finland is with the shortest day of all European schools, but they have a higher teachers per student ratio, and they offer lots of after school tutoring. My daughter loved the Finnish school system (she went there on a class trip). I wish they would shorten the school day here, but although our new president has said he wants to reform the education system, there haven't been any concrete propositions.
I haven't been blogging much - sorry. Busy with the garden (summer means lots of work outside - I love it!) And my son is on vacation from the university, so that means he's often on the computer during the day. I've been busy with Calderwood Books (and again, loving it. I enjoy reading the query letters and delving into the slush pile. I'm still excited about finding new books. I am waiting for one author to send in his contract, but he's hesitating because he's not sure he really wants to publish an e-book (he's holding out for a bigger publisher). In one way I'm disappointed. I fished his book out of the slush pile and loved it. But I understand an author's reticence. E-books don't have the best reputation of making tons of money for an author. And as much as I try to say that regular books don't do much better, it's true that even a small advance is often more than an e-book ever earns out over its lifetime.
I keep hoping that there will come an inexpensive and perfomant e-book reader. I think that books DO pollute. The industry is terribly wasteful. (But most industies are, come to think of it.) E-books are a good economic and ecological choice, but it's hard reading on a computer, even a laptop, and not many people have e-book readers yet.
I keep hoping...
And hoping.
A good, cheap e-book reader.
No bells and whistles.
Just a paperback size.
Thin, with good lighting.
Able to read several file formats.
Rechargeable battery with a long charge.
And then e-books will finally catch on. Imagine, you can carry a whole library in your pocket!
OK - time for lunch.

5 comments:

Gabriele Campbell said...

I just love the feel of real books, and I love to have them on my shelves. A flat without lots of books looks bare.

But if the technology improves, I may give it a try, esp. for traveling.

E-book publication would be an option for books I feel to be too exotic for the big houses. Maybe Kings and Rebels which is such an odd hybrid of Sword & Sorcery, Alternate History and Historical Fiction. :)

John Nez said...

Packing a suitcase in the summertime for a trip. This is the essence of excitiment. Especially if one happens to work as a stay-at-home creator of words & pictures.

On the topic of e-books... I suppose the verdict is still out. I remember back in the mid '90's when everyone was certain that the CD ROM was going to replace children's books. In fact they turned out to be a big flop.

Real books do have their advantages. They can be tossed carelessly into the back seats of cars. They can be used as doorstops. They can also prop open windows on hot summer days.

And they smell delicious!

lol!

Anonymous said...

If we ever do move onto a boat I will turn to ebooks exclusively.

Too many people think ereaders are the only way to read ebooks. I love my Palm Pilot. It's a personal organizer, calendar, phone book, note pad, photo album, game player and even word processor. And I can take a bookshelf worth of books on vacation with me.

Multi use items are so much easier to market than single use.

My CP is also holding out for print. Me, I'm heading for epubs as soon as I'm ready to sub.

Unknown said...

Enjoy your trip to the fullest!

Wynn Bexton said...

Enjoy your holiday as much as I enjoyed mine. Now I'm home again, jet-lagged and suffering the usual culture shock. How I wish I could have stayed in Greece longer...