Lucia and Julian - Conference Research notes continued

So again, for those that weren’t in my great session on research at the recent James River Writers Conference. [Too bad. I do feel a bit sorry for you. ;) ]

Yesterday I shared the wonderful Lucia St. Clair Robson’s reference list. [see October 13, blog post]

And I’ve heard from Lucia since sharing that to add this to the list:

Since making that list I've found another used and OP on-line site I go to first: www.bookfinder.com.

Lucia St. Clair Robson

Thanks Lucia!

The panel was a great give and take and sharing among the writers themselves, Lucia St. Clair Robson, Julian Smith, and JRW’s own Kit Wilkinson, and the audience.

Lucia talked about using these reference books on the list [see yesterdays post], in addition to the internet, and Julian Smith shared how he used books when he started but has also incorporated more internet searching now.

Lucia asked Julian to share his search engines he uses, and he has given me this to post:

The search resources I use a lot are:

Lexis/Nexis: (https://www.lexisnexis.com) - for magazines, newspapers

and lots more

JSTOR: (www.jstor.org) - for academic/science

NewsBank: (http://www.newsbank.com/) - for newspapers

Google Books (books.google.com)

These are usually available through public libraries or universities.

Also, I use interlibrary loan a lot.

Julian Smith

Thanks, Julian!

And do check out Julian’s book Crossing the Heart of Africa, for his blending of past history with his present.

Check out Lucia St. Clair Robson’s books for her wonderful use of detail of period while still keeping you captivated in the story and sending you racing to the end to find out what happens.

More from the research session in blog posts to come so stay tuned!

Lucia’s Ready Reference

To those that missed my great session on research, getting it, organizing it, etc… well, boo. But I understand, there were a Lot of great sessions to go to.

And in the spirit of the writerly sharing that was going on at the JRW Conference, for those that missed the session - and especially for Diann Ducharme…..

Lucia St. Clair Robson

Lucia’s Ready Reference:

Books I keep within arm’s reach:

Webster’s Ninth Collegiate Dictionary (with year of first use).

Rodale’s Synonym Finder

Roget’s Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases

The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations

A 1937 two-volume unabridged Webster’s dictionary

A Spanish dictionary, 1958 edition

A Dictionary of Americanisms

Oxford University Dictionary

Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (2 volumes)

Books that are close but that I have to roll over to in my desk chair:

Amo, Amas, Amat, and More. (Contains useful Latin phrases)

Latin, German, Italian, Japanese, and French Dictionaries

A Bible, a Bible Concordance, and a Bible dictionary

Eleven more quote books

A two-volume book of British poetry and prose, and a text of English literature

Complete works of Shakespeare (from college days. The two volumes cost $3.00, new, which indicates how not-new I am).

Thesaurus of Anecdotes ** I will add note here that Lucia told me this she found most useful

World Treasury of Proverbs

Greek and Roman Mythology

Ultimate Visual Dictionary

What’s What: A Visual Glossary of the Physical World

An Almanac

My father’s old set of Encyclopedia Brittanica

My aunt’s set of The New Funk and Wagnall’s Encyclopedia (1950 edition)

Reference books I have to walk three steps to reach:

Too many to list, but they include books on humor, flora and fauna, clothing, tools, artifacts, furniture, lighting, currency, architecture, inventions, medicine, old technology, transportation, music, poker and other diversions, guns, horses, the military, etc.

For historical details of the colonial period, I recommend anything by Alice Morse Earle.

For language,

Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, (1811 edition),

Shakespeare’s Bawdy by Eric Partridge,

Sut Lovingood by George Harris (a novel written in 19^th century dialect… very vivid expressions),

and

Swearing: a Social History of Foul Language, Oaths and Profanity in English by Geoffrey Hughes.

Shelved above those are books on the current subject, whatever it might be. (Right now I’m on the scout for a Nahuatl dictionary, descriptions of Mexican jails, the effects of dynamite on train tracks, descriptions of old train cars, and examples of Mexican/Zapotec hexes).

The most useful on-line sites I’ve found for buying used and out-of-print books are:

Alibris.com

Bestbookbuys.com

Abebooks.com

Amazon.com (auctions)

I’m sure there are many more, but those are my favorites.

- End of Lucia’s list - but there will be more interesting tid-bits to come. ;)

And since this is my blog I will add a footnote to these, well… because I can. ;) I will put in a buy-local pitch to also check with your local independent booksellers - they are incredibly friendly and knowledgeable lot.

In Richmond we are blessed with:

Fountain Bookstore - has a great new website that needs exploring,

Chop Suey books - that you saw at the Conf.,

Black Swan books that says “We buy and sell fine, unusual and rare books in most fields. We have a diverse stock catering to a variety of interests with particular emphasis in Antiquarian books, Americana, Civil War, History, Scholarly books, Art and Architecture. Additionally, we have an ever-increasing selection of prints, maps, and printed ephemera.”,

and a used book store on Midlothian that I can’t think of the name, and some others that are niggling at the edges of my mind that is still too brain-fried to think clearly anymore.

So Do try those first! If out-of-town, out-of-state, I know at least some of these ship, so send email / call and ask. I will also add a place where I’ve stumbled across out of print books online - Edward R. Hamilton, bookseller. Some I’ve missed by not being quick enough, but I’m often surprised by what I find there while browsing.

Yes, one of these days I will take time to do all the things I'm supposed to - fix this blog, and all that goes with it, change my Twitter from an egg-head, get all the laundry done - again, and oh, yeah, actually do some writing on my books!

And now I have such an urge to go out and search for / find books…. Guess I should rearrange my stacks and bookshelves first. Let me see how many steps…..

Research and Remembering

We are told by the old saying 'Those that don't remember the past are doomed to repeat it.'
Or something along those lines.
No, I didn't look it up.
I get sidetracked enough. Which is not always a bad thing, can find really neat things on off-shoots and side-tracks. But can also find yourself far from home, so far from home it can be difficult to find your way back to your story line.
And find all sorts of things popping up in your head. Like remembering the past. Where's the cross over line where remembering the past becomes too much reliving the past and keeps people from moving on with the life they have now?

Remembering has different functions I suppose. Warnings to not repeat things that did not work in the past to warnings to signs of things going awry while still have time to do something and alter the outcome. Hopefully.

Remembering also helps to remind us how far we've come. Which can be encouraging. Especially as writers. Helps sometimes to see all the words we've accumulated, when all we see is how far we have to go.
And helps to see how much better writers we are today than we were yesterday.

So remembering the past has it's purpose. Keeps us going forward, hopefully.
And keeps us going as writers, since there's always wonderful stories in the past. I didn't say happy stories, although hopefully everyone has those, but also wonderful interesting stories.
And learning how as writers to tell those wonderful stories in our own unique ways. But also learning how to leave the past behind when we need to and live our 'real' present lives as fully and happily as we can.
So I guess that's the line for remembering the past. And knowing how to draw that line. And when.

Research and Writing

Why is research so much more enjoyable than writing?