An Unfinished Book

Last night I made the difficult decision to let go of a book. You may remember from a couple weeks ago that I was reading The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan, the first in his famous Wheel of Time series.

Logan has been obsessed with the series for a couple months now, so I told him I would read them so he'd have someone to talk to about them. I made it about a third of the way through when I finally admitted to myself that I just wasn't enjoying the story.


I can't really put my finger on why I wasn't enjoying myself. The writing style is fine, the characters are pretty interesting, and the plot is fun. It has all the elements of stereotypical fantasy I usually enjoy in a book, but it just wasn't cutting it. I didn't feel myself drawn to read it like I normally am with books, and every time I picked it up, it felt like homework, not something enjoyable to spend my free time on.


Have you ever had books like that? Books that you just didn't like for some reason you couldn't quite explain? Do you go back and try them again later, or let them go for good?

Jane McGonigal: Gaming Can Make a Better World

I recently watched the above video for class and found it absolutely fascinating. Go ahead and take 20 minutes to enjoy it -- I'll wait.

Cool, right?

If you didn't watch it (shame on you) McGonigal is basically saying that video games make us awesome people and we can use games to better our world. She completely convinced me. Everything she said about how we play games and change our mentalities as we play rang true. I am more optimistic in games than anywhere else. I am more social. I am more willing to help others even when there's nothing in it for me.

The real question now is how am I going to apply those skills to my real life? I'm sure there's a way, I just haven't figured it out quite yet.

The Work/Play Relationship

For my Writing in the Digital Age class, I read an article by my professor titled "The Game of Facebook and the End(s) of Writing Pedagogy." It was an interesting exploration of Facebook, how social media and digital writing are changing the way we view writing, and the ever complicated relationship between work and play.

This work/play relationship is a subject I am also interested in, so the article was particularly enjoyable for me. I've often asked myself where the line between work and play is, partiuclarly in my writing. I write for fun almost every day, but I also write for work. What separates the two?

Honestly, not much. For example, for my Honors senior Capstone (read: big final project) I decided to write a novella. The story started out as a lot of fun, but now that I'm in my second semester and third draft, it's starting to feel more and more like work. It's the same story and the same characters that I loved before, but something shifted and I can't quite put my finger on where that shift occurred or even why.

This is true of more than just writing. My knitting often undergoes a similar transformation. Those of you who know me in real life (probably all of you) know that I'm knitting a big shawl for my wedding. It started out fun, and I would still probably call it fun, but it has also started to feel like work.

Why do you think things start to feel like work even when they started out as play? Do you have any examples of something that started out as work and transformed into play?

To My Class

Dear Writing in the Digital Age Class,

You all are the best.

Ever since my presentation on Thursday, I have been receiving lots of tweets and some blogs about yarn, knitting, and social interaction. I haven't gotten the chance to catch up on everybody's blogs yet (my bridal shower was this weekend), but know that I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone has to say.

Thank you for being so attentive during my presentation and humoring my unhealthy passion for yarn-y things. I'm sure I came across like the Helvetica guys in the video we watched, but hey, passion is a good thing.

And thank you all for your tweets. Each and every one that has been sent my way has made me really happy. I'm so glad our class is together.

Love,
Autumn

Just Some Stuff

Usually I come to the blog with some sort of plan, but not so much today. Because of this, I figured I'll just share with you some of the things I'm into right now.

Logan started reading the Wheel of Time series and reeeeeeeally wants to talk to me about it, so I've jumped in. So far, so good, but I'm only about half through the first book. Hopefully it continues to be good, but I'm not going to jinx it by sending praise its way too soon. (Picture credit)

I'm still playing Red Dead Redemption, sort of. I wish I were playing Red Dead, but I never have the time any more. It's especially sad because I was starting to actually do story quests when my school work picked up. Also, does anybody know where I can find this horse? (Picture credit)

I'm still plugging away on the wedding shawl, and I won't post a picture because I want to save it for a big reveal. It's great, though. Use your imagination to picture its beauty, then double that. You're close to how gorgeous it actually is.

What are you into right now?

My Notebook Collection

Sometimes I miss writing things by hand. Reading A Better Pencil's chapters on handwriting and writing on clay tablets has made me nostalgic for how I used to run my writing life.

This was my favorite notebook in high school.

At my apartment, I have an entire shelf of notebooks full of the stories I would write in middle and high school. I usually got done with assignements early in class, so I had plenty of free time during the school day to fiddle around with my ideas.

When college started, I didn't have any time during class to work on my writing and I wrote on the computer when I was in my dorm. It was faster and easier on my hands with the additional benefit of not taking up as much precious room as multiple notebooks.

I didn't believe in right hand margins back then.

But now that I have some space once again, I've found that I really like having those notebooks. They give me a bigger sense of accomplishment than the works stored on my computer. When I'm having a rough day or just need a bit of a boost, I can look at my bookshelf and feel validated by the volume of work readily apparent.

But why is that? Why does my physical paper feel any more real than my virtual paper? There's no real difference. They're both just spaces filled with words.

I'm interested to hear your thoughts. Do you feel like you've done more when  you handwrite something versus type something? Why do you think people view handwriting and typing differently in the first place?

So many notebooks! And a Kindle.

iPhone Update to iOS 7.0

So, Apple just released the iOS 7.0 for iPhone, and it just finished downloading on my phone. I just got my iPhone (4S) and I love it, so the change has me a little nervous. I haven't looked up anything about it and have no idea what's coming, so I thought it would be fun to give my thoughts as I experience them.

So far so good, I like my phone telling me "Hello." Is that Helvetica? Ooooh, the new passcode buttons are pretty snazzy.

Asking for location services permission first thing is quite nice. Even though I'll probably change my mind later, I appreciate Apple allowing me to disable the service up front. The openness and availability of information on what location services is and how it's used makes me feel good. 

Typing the password for my Apple ID gives the first glimpse of the new keyboard, and I love it. I'm 99% sure it's in Helvetica now and the clarity is much improved (period).

Haha, updating my iCloud. I don't think I even have anything in there.

Oh. The home screen is a bit disappointing. The running header thingy with the time, charge level, and signal amount looks nice, but the apps and whatnot look kind of cheap. I'm sure I'll get used to it, as I get used to everything, but my initial reaction is that everything appears a bit flat. But that's just aesthetics, so I'm going to start getting into actual usability.

Since I use my calendar more than anything, I'm going to start there. My initial reaction is that there's a bit too much going on. I don't want to see the days of the week, I just want to see today. I liked the old list look, rather than the time blocks I'm seeing currently. Because I don't have any other calendars besides my personal one, and I don't use the invitation feature of the calendar, the bottom bar is just taking of valuable screen space. It's not enough to make me switch from Google calendars to something else, but it does feel a little clunky to me.

So I accidentally swiped up from the bottom, and now there's a handy screen! Nice, I have all my frequently fiddled with settings right there so I don't have to go into my actual settings menu to fool with it. As well as flashlight, alarms, calculator, and camera. Wonderful! And whatever I'm listening to at the time has a handy-dandy little section. Loving this!

Just sent a message to Mom, and the layout is much nicer to read quickly. The new font really helps improve clarity, and the keyboard is immediately easier to use.

I'm also digging the fact that pictures are now sorted by date taken. The web is cool too. I'm having too much fun playing to continue typing now.

TL:DR -- new update is super cool.