Coffee & Conversation: How often do you use your library?

07 Monday Sep 2020

Posted by Emmi Lawrence in Coffee & Conversation

Tags

answer, FAQ, library, question, reading, Writing

Or do you use your library? I certainly do. I wouldn’t be able to afford my reading habit otherwise.

I think the prices on books is fair given how long it takes to write a novel and how much an author puts into their work, but it takes far less time to read a novel than it takes to write one, which means we need a higher supply than what my wallet can afford.

I don’t browse in libraries. Or at least, rarely will I.

Mostly, I’ll see a book I want to read, write the title down, then look it up on my library’s search engine and just put in a request. Then I’ll only have to stop into the physical library once my book(s) are on hold.

Nowadays it’s gotten even easier. Don’t even have to get out of my car because my library has created a literal drive-through for book-pickup/drop-off. I just book an approximate appointment time, drive up and give my name and get handed a big ol’ bag filled with my already checked-out requests. It’s seamless, takes less than 30 seconds, and means I don’t have to see or talk to anyone inside the library (there’s probably a detriment there in terms of socially isolating myself, but during COVID that’s a blessing).

As to the actual answer to the question of how often I’ll use the library… All the time. I have a special “library bookshelf” next to my front door that is never, ever empty.

~Emmi

Coffee & Conversation: What profession do you think is the most undervalued today?

31 Monday Aug 2020

Posted by Emmi Lawrence in Coffee & Conversation

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

answers, FAQ, question, reading, Writing

This has been discussed by a lot of people, many of whom are more intelligent and knowledgeable than I am, but I think it still needs to be said: teachers, especially those of younger children, are incredibly undervalued.

Professors teaching at a higher level are given a great deal of respect, but the lower one looks, the less respect teachers receive. Glance at a few pre-school teachers and no one thinks anything of them, which drives me crazy because the younger a child is the more capable they are of learning and the faster they learn. With each passing year, children mature, gain experiences, and their brains becomes more firm and less versatile. Most people accept that it’s easier to learn a second or third language when quite young vs as an adult, and yet, for some hapless reason, we still completely dismiss and disregard all the people responsible for those young minds.

Those first few years at school (and the time before, of course) are some of the best times to help children advance, to encourage them to go beyond simple rubrics. They are far more capable than the school systems in the U.S. allow them to be and this is demonstrated by the low salaries, low appreciation and dismissive behavior concerning teachers.

Teachers put in a lot of themselves, much of their own time and money outside their typical hours are spent on their classroom, their students and even correspondence with parents. The good ones put their students first and are obvious by how those kids will continue to stop by long after they no longer have those teachers. Continue reading →

Coffee & Conversation: Would you rather be hated or forgotten?

10 Monday Aug 2020

Posted by Emmi Lawrence in Coffee & Conversation

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

answers, FAQ, meditation, question, reading, Writing, writing advice

The Book That Was Forgotten

There was this book once that I read and thought, meh. Didn’t go back and touch the author’s other stories and instead moved on.

About a year later, I saw a book that interested me. I bought it, read it, and thought, it’s okay. Not amazing, but definitely good enough to read through a couple more of the author’s books.

I later discovered that I’d already read one of this author’s books because it had been saved in my ebook.

I don’t remember this author’s name, only a few vague details about the books.

The Book That Was Hated

Then there was this other book I once read that I thought, wow, this author is a sexist, bigoted asshat.

Never bought a book from that author again.

I do remember that author’s name.

The Books That Are In Question

Now, obviously, if I had a choice my books would be remembered and liked (can I say loved?). That would be the best outcome. But in the decision between Hated or Forgotten, I’m torn. Continue reading →

Coffee & Conversation: What do you like to discuss with other people?

03 Monday Aug 2020

Posted by Emmi Lawrence in Coffee & Conversation

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

answer, editing, FAQ, question, reading, writer's block, Writing, writing advice

I like to discuss difficult or erroneous plotting or character issues. Though discuss might not be the best term for what I like to do when I run into trouble. It’s more of a talking-at someone.

Here’s what I’ll do:

1) Get the person caught up with all the characters and setting and what’s been happening and what might have happened or what kinds of things are going to possibly happen and who the people are and what kinds of things they’re motivated by, and so on and so on… [This is usually answered with confused stares that attempt to look polite.]

2) Answer questions that all my pronoun usage, non-linear narrative babbling has caused.

3) Pitch my problem and all the reasons why it’s a problem. Usually I’ll state somewhere in there that my story is a mess, that it’s unsalvageable, that I’m a horrible writer, etc. All the boring, melodramatic stuff that spills from our mouths when we’ve hit a figurative wall. Continue reading →

Coffee & Conversation: Have you ever had a blessing in disguise?

20 Monday Jul 2020

Posted by Emmi Lawrence in Coffee & Conversation

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

answer, coronovirus, COVID, FAQ, question, reading, Writing

I know everyone right now stands at heightened levels of frustration. That we all are exhausted and nervous.

We’re trying to live, to care for ourselves and our loved ones in the best ways we know how. And we’re also trying to keep ourselves afloat among difficulties with jobs, with family, with social-political unrest and change, with finances, with loss. It’s difficult out there right now in most parts of the world.

Yet, I can’t help but feel that now, after many months of this, there are certain parts that are blessings. So this is a post about the positives, not the negatives.

For one, we’re getting to see people we normally might only see in passing. Sure, it can be hard to be cooped up in one place without much time for ourselves, especially for us introverts, but if looked at in another light, we’re getting to talk more, to laugh more, to just sit and be together more. More meals happening together. More learning much more about who these people are who we love. Continue reading →

Coffee & Conversation: Do you trust your co-workers?

06 Monday Jul 2020

Posted by Emmi Lawrence in Coffee & Conversation

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

answer, FAQ, question, reading, work, Writing

Not even a little bit.

Especially during coronavirus season. I have so many more co-workers than normal. They always want my attention and yet will inevitably have ulterior motives. Even the cat.

Especially the cat.

In fact, I think the cat might be conspiring against me. There’s this stray I keep finding outside our house. Oh, he runs off whenever I step outside, little coward that he is, but he keeps coming back. Think they’re up to something, the two of them. Talking through the window.

Maybe I should start closing the windows. Keep the blinds down during the day so she can’t stare at the birds and chat with her co-conspirator.

I think I shall to interrogate her next time she climbs onto my lab while I’m working. She’s always trying to see what I’m writing. Little spy. I’ll find out just how much of the plot she knows and then I’ll change it. Make her look the fool when she tells her little friend and he finds out the story’s something entirely different.

If the ending isn’t what you had in mind… Well, blame the cat.

~Emmi

Coffee & Conversation: What’s the most valuable thing you own?

29 Monday Jun 2020

Posted by Emmi Lawrence in Coffee & Conversation

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

answer, Fantasy, FAQ, question, reading, Writing

Many years ago, after I lost a flash drive (one of those incredibly old, barely hold anything but a couple of documents and don’t you dare try to put art or (gasp!) music on it or else it will implode) I requested another for Christmas. I ended up finding the first one again, but that doesn’t matter because I still got a higher storage one from my honey as a present anyway.

It was the cutest turtle, with a keychain attachment and everything.

You’d pop off his little head and stuff his butt in your computer and he’d save all your stories in 1997 word so you wouldn’t have to use the crappy upgraded ribbon bullshit until you were ready for internet access.

I’ve since broken the keychain part. (That didn’t actually take very long to do because I carried my keys around daily.) And then went ahead and lost the head part a few years later. So now all that’s left is the butt. The cute turtle butt that sticks out of my computers, his invisible little head somewhere inside eating my stories up and storing them in his belly.

If I had to rescue one (writing-related) thing from a burning fire, that would be the thing I grab. A little turtle butt that stores all my completed stories. (And if I’m being honest, I’d probably make it one of a top three things I’d grab if we headed into an all things situation and not just writing-related things.)

Since, I’ve also been gifted a panda bear and an elephant and though they get their time occasionally in the sun, they’re probably put-out that an old, dirty turtle butt gets more use and love.

~Emmi

Coffee & Conversation: What is your favorite nursery rhyme?

15 Monday Jun 2020

Posted by Emmi Lawrence in Coffee & Conversation

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

answer, Fantasy, FAQ, question, reading, Writing

There’s a ton of nursery rhymes about boys, right. And even a few about men. But no, my favorite one is about a lady:

Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross,
To see a fine lady upon a white horse;
Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes,
And she shall have music wherever she goes

I want to write a story using this as my base inspiration. I’ve even brainstormed it a bit, things like gender-bending the lady, altering her actual importance in the rhyme, etc., yet I haven’t quite come up with something I like yet. Nothing that really hits on the music theme and the ability to get it all into a story without it being too far on the side of corny.

And magic. There needs to be a magical element and though I have ideas, not a one of them are any good thus far. This is one of those ‘one-day-maybe’ ideas that might never get priority.

~Emmi

Coffee & Conversation: What scares you the most about getting older?

08 Monday Jun 2020

Posted by Emmi Lawrence in Coffee & Conversation

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

answer, FAQ, question, reading, Writing

When I was young I’d get these debilitating fears over the fact that I’d never get to read everything I wanted before I die. I’d spend whole summers cooped up inside, damn near reading a book a day. And if I thought about it for too long, this sharp fear would grasp my heart and turn me all cold. Because all those books I might never get to!

I’m happy to say that this fear has become far more demure and will never be listed ever again as a problem. Rather, it’s quite nice to think that there’s always so much more out there to discover.

Nope, I’ve just transferred this fear into its counterpart. Now I’m afraid I’m going to die before I get to write all the stories I want to tell. What’s worse, is that there are new story ideas for miles every year. I don’t even work on most of the damn things; they just sit in saved files or notebooks or bookmarks online so I can refind something cool that would be neat to write about.

It’s awful. I wish I wrote ten thousand words a day. Then maybe I’d make a dent on the list and not get these dreadful fears that I’ll die without having finished the hundred books I want to write. Continue reading →

Coffee & Conversation: What is your #1 priority in the morning?

01 Monday Jun 2020

Posted by Emmi Lawrence in Coffee & Conversation

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

answers, FAQ, question, reading, Writing

Coffee.

I could probably leave things there and be pretty freaking accurate. Reality is, I have a love/hate relationship with this liquid. It’s delicious and wonderful and perfect and yet hateful and traitorous. Caffeine is awful. Caffeine is glorious. Sometimes decaf is necessary. Why must something so bad for you taste so good? I’ll just leave this here: Ode to Coffee.

Okay, as for the rest of my morning priorities: feed the cat (so she doesn’t kill me), water and turn the plants, open the window blinds (again, so the cat doesn’t kill me), check my phone (so I can think about answering…maybe later), pick up and love on the cat (until she wants to kill me).

I’m so normally boring it hurts.

~Emmi