It's been a while since I've been this excited by finding a new author. Maggie Stiefvater writes Young Adult fiction. I've read two of her books in the past month, and I thoroughly enjoyed both of them.
The Scorpio Races
Engaging, with appealing characters and the perfect level of magic. It's hard to suffuse a story with magic but keep the world believable, but this book manages it deftly.
The Raven Boys
I liked The Scorpio Races; I was utterly enchanted by The Raven Boys. For one thing, it's set in Virginia but rich with old-world magic. And the magic has that undefined and undefinable quality of being "right" - at least for me, this magic is plausible, believable, and real. "Yes," I think. "If magic was real, this is how it would manifest."
Character-wise, The Raven Boys was maybe weaker than Scorpio Races. I would love to hear a male opinion on this subject, but I felt like the expressions of maleness in The Raven Boys were a bit off - it rang like a woman writing about men, which of course it is.
But the appeal of the characters, the charm of the magic and the world, overcame all my reluctances. The Raven Boys - read it! Be charmed!
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Portfolio Blog!
After years of shyness, procrastination and sloth, my design portfolio website is finally up and running! Yes, it's still under construction - but I have a web presence!
Find me at katedenwiddie.wordpress.com.
Find me at katedenwiddie.wordpress.com.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
What I'm reading: "Under Heaven" by Guy Gavriel Kay
I'm still trying to decide if each of Kay's books focuses on a single theme, but this one definitely does: Under Heaven is all about power. Wealth, influence, physical strength, knowledge, family connections - all these and more run through Under Heaven, exploring how individual lives and the fate of nations are shaped by the power that people have over each other, and the ways they choose to use that power.
Kay's worldbuilding, as usual, is excellent - there's enough scenery to catch the imagination, without drowning you in detail, or telling the reader things just to prove that the author knows them. Characters are well-drawn, with a believable shared worldview, and extremely human. They might be more or less sympathetic, but they mainly avoid being caricatures.
On the topic of characters, however - there are just too many, and some of them are too random. I can see why you might want to narrate a scene from the point of view of the guy on top of the wall. I guess. But do I really need his backstory? In my opinion, I do not. In my opinion, it interferes with the story. Also because of the character-jumping, I had some trouble keeping track of who-was-supposed-to-know-what.
Overall, I enjoyed Under Heaven, but I didn't respond to it whole-heartedly. Perhaps that's because I don't care enough about the subtleties of power, or perhaps it's because this is one of the less fantastical of Kay's books (I like when there's lots of magic in my stories.) In any case: I cared what happened, but...not as much as I often do, with Kay's work.
I'm currently debating whether to go back and re-read a bunch of Kay's other work, to look for these recurring themes. It came to me, very clearly, that Tigana is about loyalty, and that I REALLY responded to that book. Off the top of my head, I would say that Fionavar Tapestry is about identity, the Sarantine Mosaic is about legacy and creation (what we leave behind us), and that Lions of Al-Rassan is probably about courage. Thoughts?
Kay's worldbuilding, as usual, is excellent - there's enough scenery to catch the imagination, without drowning you in detail, or telling the reader things just to prove that the author knows them. Characters are well-drawn, with a believable shared worldview, and extremely human. They might be more or less sympathetic, but they mainly avoid being caricatures.
On the topic of characters, however - there are just too many, and some of them are too random. I can see why you might want to narrate a scene from the point of view of the guy on top of the wall. I guess. But do I really need his backstory? In my opinion, I do not. In my opinion, it interferes with the story. Also because of the character-jumping, I had some trouble keeping track of who-was-supposed-to-know-what.
Overall, I enjoyed Under Heaven, but I didn't respond to it whole-heartedly. Perhaps that's because I don't care enough about the subtleties of power, or perhaps it's because this is one of the less fantastical of Kay's books (I like when there's lots of magic in my stories.) In any case: I cared what happened, but...not as much as I often do, with Kay's work.
I'm currently debating whether to go back and re-read a bunch of Kay's other work, to look for these recurring themes. It came to me, very clearly, that Tigana is about loyalty, and that I REALLY responded to that book. Off the top of my head, I would say that Fionavar Tapestry is about identity, the Sarantine Mosaic is about legacy and creation (what we leave behind us), and that Lions of Al-Rassan is probably about courage. Thoughts?
Friday, December 7, 2012
Pantone Color of the Year 2013
...Emerald!
Pantone.com
This is a trend prediction for next year, not an analysis of last year. We'll see how it goes - I thought their prediction for 2012, a reddish-orange, fell flat, while the prediction for 2011, a bright pink, was spot-on.
I'm always happy when green is involved!
Pantone.com
This is a trend prediction for next year, not an analysis of last year. We'll see how it goes - I thought their prediction for 2012, a reddish-orange, fell flat, while the prediction for 2011, a bright pink, was spot-on.
I'm always happy when green is involved!
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Relevance
Recently, I discussed the issue of relevance with a group of librarians at our monthly "think tank" meeting. As we discussed the issue, it reinforced my personal opinion: that yes, we can be relevant, but we have to make some decisions about what makes us relevant - and then commit to those projects.
It seems to me that whenever someone says that libraries are becoming less important, someone from ALA stands up and shouts "We are so!", and then begins to list every reason they can think of for the relevance of libraries: we are job search support, computers and Internet for the low-income, we are more reliable than search engines, we are early literacy educators, financial literacy educators, a social hub, a meeting space, a haven for seniors, a place to learn ESL, educational support for schoolchildren, and on and on.
I fear that we're hurting ourselves with this lack of a coherent, cohesive message. In this economy, we are in a position of needing to justify our continued existence and use of funds - not by shouting "How dare you?!" when someone questions that allocation, but by offering powerful, convincing reasons why donations and tax dollars given to the library are well-spent. Small projects and half-baked initiatives are not going to be convincing, not in the way we need them to be.
I think we are going to need to narrow our focus. We might end up needing to spend less money and time on Financial Literacy in order to do a FANTASTIC job on early literacy. Because doing a fantastic job is the only way to win support, both from our users and from financial decision-makers.
Obviously, each library/library system will make different decisions about their raison d'être, leaving the ALA to give the same old list. But if we can choose and succeed at out own reasons for relevance, we won't need the ALA to justify our existence. We'll be demonstrating our value every day.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Marketing electronic resources: our five biggest mistakes
...and how to fix them!
5. Poor web design
Databases are a complex resource, and unless you're careful, they'll be hard to find, hard to browse and hard to search.
The fix: Let designers into the mix. Develop clear web way-finding, make sure we have good instructions and write a good "What are these and how do I use them?" introduction.
4. Marketing them as a lump
Saying "there's great stuff in the resources" isn't working. Very few people think "Ah-ha, THERE'S the great stuff! Just what I was looking for!"
The fix: We need to be promoting what individual resources can do. "Genealogy research? Try HeritageQuest!"
3. Using technical language and jargon to explain them.
You might not think "databases" is jargon, but I think it is - to a lot of people, a database is how you keep track of sales data, not a complex indexing of articles. We also need to watch out for "search Find It Virginia"' and other brand names.
The fix: My personal favorites are "articles" and "research," but you can use anything that makes sense to your non-library friends and family.
4. Attacking Google and Wikipedia.
Google and Wikipedia are fine for most people, who are just trying to find a good-enough answer and get on with their day. When we say "google isn't reliable" without putting that statement in context, we sound like this: "What's that, sonny? The inter-what? No, I don't trust that computer-thingy."
The fix: context! There are circumstances when you really need a specialized resource. When we talk about the differences between subscription databases and Google, we should be giving examples of times when Google won't do the trick.
5. Acting like they are equally useful to everyone.
They're not! Electronic resources are useful to certain subsets of our users, like students, scholars, business owners, etc. So again, be specific about what you're advertising, and to whom.
The fix: we should be marketing specific resources to the particular groups that will find them useful.
5. Poor web design
Databases are a complex resource, and unless you're careful, they'll be hard to find, hard to browse and hard to search.
The fix: Let designers into the mix. Develop clear web way-finding, make sure we have good instructions and write a good "What are these and how do I use them?" introduction.
4. Marketing them as a lump
Saying "there's great stuff in the resources" isn't working. Very few people think "Ah-ha, THERE'S the great stuff! Just what I was looking for!"
The fix: We need to be promoting what individual resources can do. "Genealogy research? Try HeritageQuest!"
3. Using technical language and jargon to explain them.
You might not think "databases" is jargon, but I think it is - to a lot of people, a database is how you keep track of sales data, not a complex indexing of articles. We also need to watch out for "search Find It Virginia"' and other brand names.
The fix: My personal favorites are "articles" and "research," but you can use anything that makes sense to your non-library friends and family.
4. Attacking Google and Wikipedia.
Google and Wikipedia are fine for most people, who are just trying to find a good-enough answer and get on with their day. When we say "google isn't reliable" without putting that statement in context, we sound like this: "What's that, sonny? The inter-what? No, I don't trust that computer-thingy."
The fix: context! There are circumstances when you really need a specialized resource. When we talk about the differences between subscription databases and Google, we should be giving examples of times when Google won't do the trick.
5. Acting like they are equally useful to everyone.
They're not! Electronic resources are useful to certain subsets of our users, like students, scholars, business owners, etc. So again, be specific about what you're advertising, and to whom.
The fix: we should be marketing specific resources to the particular groups that will find them useful.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
2012 Retail Marketing Expo
Once again we visited the Retail Marketing Expo put on by our local retail merchants' association. A quick and belated recap:
Hot topics:
Video for business
The one area where I saw more vendors than I have previously. And it's relevant to us, too - we're in a space to consider videos as part of our new branding effort, or as part of a grant. Prices were actually lower than I expected; I saw packages advertised for $1,500 - $2,000. Lots of money, but not too much to consider.
Cheap or "ganged"' printing
I thought there were more printers here this year than last year, and they were advertising their discounts pretty heavily. I was surprised, though, about how little they were able to offer in the way of information (and not just networking). I was there to actually SHOP, and I had specific products in mind, and it was rare for someone to be able to tell me a price, or even to show me a paper sample. I would have liked an opportunity to get information that I can't get from a website - like the feel and weight of a paper.
Social media strategy
As a library, we really aren't in the market for this kind of service - and I guess they knew it! Even for the simpler types of services (that we might have been able to afford), there were not many ideas for how to apply the service to a nonprofit scenario. : ) To be fair, this was the Retail Marketing Expo - I think we need a Nonprofit Marketing Expo to really meet our needs.
Overall, I'm not sure I will want to go next year. There were some interesting things to see, but frankly the "making contacts" element of this event often seems wasted on me. I might want to for for an hour or so, but not to spend all day.
Hot topics:
Video for business
The one area where I saw more vendors than I have previously. And it's relevant to us, too - we're in a space to consider videos as part of our new branding effort, or as part of a grant. Prices were actually lower than I expected; I saw packages advertised for $1,500 - $2,000. Lots of money, but not too much to consider.
Cheap or "ganged"' printing
I thought there were more printers here this year than last year, and they were advertising their discounts pretty heavily. I was surprised, though, about how little they were able to offer in the way of information (and not just networking). I was there to actually SHOP, and I had specific products in mind, and it was rare for someone to be able to tell me a price, or even to show me a paper sample. I would have liked an opportunity to get information that I can't get from a website - like the feel and weight of a paper.
Social media strategy
As a library, we really aren't in the market for this kind of service - and I guess they knew it! Even for the simpler types of services (that we might have been able to afford), there were not many ideas for how to apply the service to a nonprofit scenario. : ) To be fair, this was the Retail Marketing Expo - I think we need a Nonprofit Marketing Expo to really meet our needs.
Overall, I'm not sure I will want to go next year. There were some interesting things to see, but frankly the "making contacts" element of this event often seems wasted on me. I might want to for for an hour or so, but not to spend all day.
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