Writing about Writing about Writing

It's great to read and read and read, but if you're a writer, eventually you'll have to stop reading (and become, dare I say, 'aliterate'?) and start writing. Before that happens though, and most especially if this is the first time it's happening, you'll want to read this first.

In a SlushPile.net article unpacking the book, Scott McKenzie, says that the ocean of DIY writing is full of garbage reference books, and in contrast to that, Mosley really seems to know what he's talking about.

But Mosley's book is neither the first nor the last place any aspiring writer should look to. In the city of Toronto there are dozens of writers organizations who will gladly share their experiences and expertise in the writing life, and be equally glad to hear your version of things too. How fortunate for readers of Read. Write. Think! that our all-new website, coming this April, will have a directory of support for writers!

95.8% -- No Surprise To Us

An interesting study was recently released about the reading habits of Canadians -- here are some highlights:

• 86.7% of the population 15 or older read a newspaper (22.6 million Canadians);
• 78.2% read a magazine (20.4 million Canadians);
• 66.6% read at least one book (17.4 million Canadians);
• a total of 95.8% read at least one of these items (25.0 million Canadians); and
• 52.5% read a newspaper, a magazine and a book in 2005 (13.7 million Canadians).

• 42.6% of the population 15 or older read a magazine at least once a week (11.1 million
Canadians)

• 40% of the population 15 or older read at least one book each month (i.e. 10.5 million Canadians read at least 12 books during the year)

See the full article.

Bitter Irony

E-books have, for many years, been touted as "the next big thing" and some are suggesting that we can start dropping the 'next'. Digital publishing is not new, and publishers like Harlequin are reporting that at least a hundred books go digital every month digitally. As usual, it's going to take society a while to catch up to it's technology. For example, there's a growing need for publishers to become more aware of the ever-increasing number of books published only digitally. Montreal publisher Les Éditions des Intouchables learned that the hard way this week.

Toothpaste, cereal boxes, street signs

What do these things have in common? They're ubiquitous, everywhere. And you read them -- probably without knowing it. Everyday we're confronted by things, various products, our environs, commuter papers and more, that we read without consciously reading. It's sort of non-reading reading.

Isn't that the beauty of things like reading (like breathing, like walking?) Once you know how to do it, reading just happens automatically, without much fanfare or notice. How many times have you heard yourself use a word or a phrase that you picked up clandestinely through something you didn't even realize you had read? Where do words like 'conjuction', 'selenium', or 'quotient' come from when they're not in your typical vocabulary? I think the truth is that a lot of the non-reading reading we consume comes in the form of advertisements and other messaging that's meant to be discretely inserted one's consciousness. Though it's not a pure form of literature by any means, is it ever bad to keep reading?

Daily Head Scratcher

"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them." -- Mark Twain

The ability to read is not a right, it's not a privilege -- it is a gift. Like the ability to sing or paint or handle alligators, reading opens doors that would otherwise stay closed. John G. Ramsay, in an article entitled "Hells bibliophiles", discusses the scourge of aliteracy in North America: "[Twain's] point is that aliteracy is a chosen form of illiteracy, and therefore borders on being a self-inflicted handicap--a radical rejection of literate and literary culture and the recorded wisdom of the ages." More.

Daily Guerilla Gorilla

While wading through the often unusual, ever-interesting posts for artists on craigslist.org, I found something extraordinarily bizarre. On first glance I thought it was just a really wacko sort of post. When I glanced at the reply-to address I noticed it was to raw shark texts at gmail, which is when it hit me -- HarperCollins Canada has just released a book called The Raw Shark Texts and which I of course Googled, and lo and behold. It's a bit of a mystery thus far who planted the post, but it's cool nonetheless.

Shiny, Happy Blogging

Hi. Welcome to Foreword the new blog from The Word On The Street in Toronto -- the best way to celebrate Toronto's biggest and most popular festival of Canadian books and magazines.

Why a blog?

1) This is a really easy way to share interesting articles, links, videos, pictures, etc.
2) It's also a good way to share stuff that's going on in Toronto that The Word On The Street loves and supports, but that aren't necessarily our event.
3) It's a way to provoke discussion - post your opinion about our festival and see where it leads.
4) Because we here at The Word On The Street love our jobs, love this festival, and love the industry -- there's so much cool stuff happening all the time, why not talk about it all in one place???

Everyone who works at The Word On The Street in Toronto will be able to contribue to this blog, so stay tuned -- you're gonna read some really neat stuff.

Feel free to share your thoughts in comments, please remember that all ages will view this site and nothing offensive will be allowed on the blog.

Let's get this party started!