Sir Walter Scott’s Baffies Up For Grabs

A pair of baffies (a.k.a. slippers) once worn by Sir Walter Scott, are expected to fetch several thousand pounds at an auction in Edinburgh this week.

The slippers were gifted to Scott in 1830, after visitors to his home at Abbotsford became dismayed at the state of the ones he was wearing. They were personally crafted for him by two daughters of a close friend, Mrs Cadogan, from Leamington Spa.

Consultant Dr. Duncan Thomson said: “She and her daughters had visited Abbotsford and they noticed his slippers were in a pretty bad state, so they decided he needed a new pair. They’ve been knocked around a bit, but they are in pretty good condition.”

Although Dr. Thomson declined to speculate on the expected price the slippers might reach, it is quietly hoped they could fetch as much as £5,000.

“They are relics of Scott – something that takes you very close to the man,” continued Thomson.

Executive Manager of Abbotsford House, Jacquie Wright, added: “We would love to have them here and put them on display, but unfortunately we just don’t have the funds to bid.”

Prospective purchasers can view the slippers at Shapes auctioneers in Edinburgh on Thursday and Friday, before the sale takes place on Saturday 1st March..

Related Links
www.scottsabbotsford.co.uk
www.shapesauctioneers.co.uk
www.walterscott.lib.ed.ac.uk

~ Colin Galbraith ~
www.colingalbraith.co.uk

The Non-Writing Sabbatical

Many writers dream of being able to take a sabbatical from their daily lives. This is possible, if you’re willing to plan and willing to give up the mistaken notion that if you leave your family for a few weeks or months, everything will fall apart. If you’re with the right partner, your partner will help you plan it – whether it’s a few weeks at an artists’ colony, or a year off from the “day job” with child care available during designated writing hours so that you can write.

But there’s another type of sabbatical that most writers will need to consider at some point in their lives: The Non-Writing Sabbatical.

That’s correct: a period of time when you don’t write.

I am an advocate of writing every day, whether you feel like it or not. That’s the only way you’re going to build a career: Treat writing like a second job until you’re in a position to make it your only job. And, once it is your only job, you don’t have the luxury of not writing.

Unless you take a sabbatical.

All creative people suffer from burn-out. Burn-out is different from “block”. Again, in my opinion, writers’ block is a luxury that professionals can’t afford. But everyone burns out, no matter what field they’re in, no matter how passionate they are about the calling. People get tired; they need to recharge the creative batteries.

Instead of simply staring at the blank page and getting frustrated, take a sabbatical.

Decide, ahead of time, how many days or weeks you will take away from writing. It might be three days. It might be three weeks.

The important thing is that you do not write AT ALL during your sabbatical. No notes on projects, no articles, no short stories. Nothing. No writing allowed.

You do anything you want that’s not writing-related. Go to museums, movies, sports events, try a new interest you’ve pushed to the wayside for lack of time. Take a class in something that’s not writing related.

But don’t write.

Even when you want to.

Believe me, after a day or two, the urge to write will rear its head. You’ll feel the pressure build up. Characters will start talking. Conversations you overhear on the bus or in a café will seem much more intriguing than they did a week ago – even though the words are the same.

Don’t write.

If you’re worried you’ll forget something, repeat it a few times; replay the scene in your mind every few hours, or at least once a day, to imprint it.

Don’t write.

Do not write AT ALL until your self-imposed sabbatical is done. Then, when you sit down at the page, enough will have built up so putting pen to paper or fingers to the keys is like opening the floodgates.

It doesn’t matter where you start. You simply start putting words on the page, and fly.

I do not suggest doing this in the middle of a life crisis. You may have to take a non-writing sabbatical when there’s a life crisis, but in times of enormous stress, you need to be able to write, whether it’s creative writing, journaling, list-making, whatever, in order to relieve the pressure. That’s a completely different kind of break than the kind I’m talking about today. Today, I’m talking about when you feel creatively tapped and burned out.

Taking an occasional writing sabbatical will replenish your creative well and remind you of the physical joy of writing as much as the emotional.

–Devon Ellington

Rankin Handprints Marked For Posterity

A Caithness flagstone was unveiled in the courtyard of Edinburgh City Chambers yesterday, and dedicated to top crime author, Ian Rankin.

The writer of the best selling Rebus series of novels was witness to the unveiling of the flagstone, which has been engraved with his handprints in order to commemorate his Edinburgh Award in 2007, and mark the beginning of nominations for the 2008 award.

The Edinburgh Award was first awarded last year, its aim to recognise outstanding achievement and contribution to the city of Edinburgh. The intention is to have the handprints of the annual winner added to the concrete quadrangle outside the Chambers building on the Royal Mile.

Nominees for the award must meet several criteria, which include either having been born in Edinburgh, or having resided there for at least 12 months. They must also have made a positive impact on the city by way of contribution to science, culture, sports, enterprise, technology, charity, or education.

Rankin said of the unveiling: “It is a thrill, as the first recipient of the Edinburgh Award, to have my handprints preserved for posterity on the flagstones outside the City Chambers.

“Having written for years about the travails of ‘the cooncil’, it is only proper and fitting that those same councillors now get to walk all over me for a change.”

He added: “It’s incredible though, as the Royal Mile is full of monuments for dead people, it’s nice to have something for people who are still alive.”

The Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Rt. Hon George Grubb, said the handprints would “serve as a lasting tribute to one of Edinburgh’s most celebrated and best-loved authors.”

Image courtesy of PA/BBC Online

Related Links
www.ianrankin.net

~ Colin Galbraith ~
www.colingalbraith.co.uk

Writing is Work

Some of the participants in writers’ forums never cease to amaze me. They wax loquaciously about only writing when they feel like it, make excuses for not writing for large chunks of time, and don’t want to set a schedule or make firm commitments because “that makes it seem like work and that takes all the joy out of writing for me.”

Of course, these are the same ones who wonder why they can’t find an agent for the novel they plan to write that’s bound to be a bestseller. But they’re not willing to write it until they have a contract even though they have no published credits. They’re the ones  who always ask where to find the $1/word freelance assignments, yet don’t want to be tied to any sort of deadline.

They don’t want to do the work.

Hate to break it to you, baby-cakes, but if you’re going to have a career in this business, you’re going to have to put some work into it. If you’re not willing to dive in and quit the day job, you still have to work at it. You need to treat it like a second job until you’re in a position to make it your only job.

If you don’t work at your writing, you won’t publish. There are few brilliant idiot savant writers who can pull off sitting down once every three months and create a work of genius.

Chances are you aren’t one of them.

Acting like a professional and treating your writing as a job doesn’t have to mean the joy goes out of it. What’s wrong with loving your job? Plenty of people do. Most of them work in the arts, or deep into the sciences, and are passionately involved with what they do. They work at it AND they love it. Just because you sit in a cubicle all day hating your life doesn’t mean that is the only way to live.

But it won’t happen unless you MAKE it happen.

And that takes effort.

The words don’t write themselves. You have to create them. On schedule, without excuses. Unpublished writers have the luxury of not writing. Published writers do not. Not if they want to keep publishing.

There’s also a wonderful sense of accomplishment and joy when you finish a piece. Beyond finishing, there’s a sense of deep pleasure in honing the work to be the best it can be before you send it out on submission. It’s beyond satisfaction; it’s the sense of fulfilled creation.

The flip side of loving your work is that many people believe if you love it, it must not be worth much money. It often happens in the arts – producers feel you are “privileged” to work for them, and, whether they are undiplomatic enough to say so or not, many believe you should pay them to ply your craft. They forget that, without artists and craftsmen, they have nothing to sell. They want your talent to make large profits for themselves, but don’t think you should be proportionately compensated.

Wrong.

As many of us who’ve learned the hard way try to advise newcomers, if you gain a reputation for writing $4/500 word articles, you won’t graduate to the $1/word assignments. If you give it away too cheaply, it won’t be valued. And you won’t work your way out of the crap-writing hole.

That doesn’t mean never do a gig for nothing or for low pay. But balance it. Figure out if that particular assignment gives you something unique. It may only be great for you, not any of the other freelancers you know, and they may think you’re nuts to accept it; but if you see something good from it, do it. Not because the guy says, “Oh, do 20 articles at $1/pop and there’s a chance for ongoing work” but because you learn so much from doing a pro bono gig for your favorite foundation that you can parlay that passion and the craft you put into the project into high paying work for someone else down the line.

Hone your art and your craft. And don’t sell yourself short.

–Devon Ellington

One Book – One Edinburgh

The now regular One Book – One Edinburgh event is to take place again this year commencing Friday 22 February for nine days. UNESCO’s first City of Literature is to release thousands of copies of Robert Louis Stevenson’s dark tale, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, as part of its citywide reading campaign.

Jekyll and Hyde is a classic Scottish story from one of Edinburgh’s best-loved writers, the concept of which being heavily influenced by the duality of the city’s own inherent character. A UNESCO spokesperson said: “Everybody thinks they know the story – but how many people have actually read it?”

From 22 February, thousands of copies are being given away free in a specially produced paperback edition. The following outlets will all receive copies:

• Edinburgh lending libraries from Friday 22 February
• Edinburgh High Schools and special schools
• Adult learners through CLAN (City Literacy and Numeracy)
• Youth literacy groups and looked-after children
• Community outreach programmes

A series of dedicated Jekyll and Hyde-related events will also take place to support the event. Running from 21 Feb through to 2 March, there are to be film screenings, storytelling, walking tours, graphic novels, discussions, and a special event from Stevenson fan and Edinburgh writer, Ian Rankin.

For more information, click over to the City of Literature’s website.

A Huge Thank You

I received an email during the week from Karen Dionne, administrator of the Backspace forum and convention, and one of the people behind last week’s blogging day for Patry Francis. This email goes out to everyone who supported Patry’s promotion last Tuesday, and to all of you who clicked over to see what it was about and lend your support.

“I want to thank you for the support you gave in helping to spread the word about Patry Francis’s novel as part of THE LIAR’S DIARY Blog Day. Patry is completely overwhelmed, and deeply grateful. Her agent said: “[Tuesday] was one of the most rewarding days – if not the most rewarding day – I’ve had in publishing…” Patry’s own thank you is posted on her blog.

“In the end, very nearly 400 bloggers helped move her novel from a ranking of 55,000 on Amazon at the start of the day, to #1 in Mystery, 375 overall by evening. Those statistics prove the day was a success, but we knew it would be even before the day began because we could see the groundswell of support and feel the sense of community.

“Canada’s National Post did a story about our effort on the 29th, and the next day, told us it was their third most-read online article EVER. We’re hoping that others in the print media will now come on board. What took place was a remarkable demonstration of the power of the Internet community, and deserves to be told. And of course, we hope Patry’s sales continue to soar, and more importantly, that her recovery goes smoothly.

Thanks again so much for your help!”

Related Links
www.cityofliterature.com
www.patryfrancis.com
http://simplywait.blogspot.com
www.bksp.org

~ Colin Galbraith ~
www.colingalbraith.co.uk