Introductions, Nicola's work, and Mordicai, I've NO idea why your thumb smells like rubbing alchohol. What've you been scratching at?

[Realmcovet]

So, this is to be OZYMANDIAS, a Google Group of collectives, be it
writer, reader, illustrator, editor, publisher, musician and any other
fancy of any sort that you could think of to be tickled, in an
attempt to "reach for the stars".

These are the very desires in my heart that keep my awake nights,
daring to dream of establishing some sort of a mark on the universe,
however small or insignaficant it may be.

I am truly excited about this project, and as of now, I understand
that "we", (those who have chosen to sign up for this "Google Group",)
are in the attempts of introductions of one another, as well as coming
up with a "MISSION STATEMENT".

There are so many fleeting "thumps -n- bumps" of overwhelming joy in
simply knowing that I am part of a collective of such talented and
open minded folk! I think in the midst of all the newborn chaos and
birth of excitement, many are forgetting that the beauty of a driving
force combining their efforts to attain a shared goal is what we are
all here for in the first place.

I have to "grudgingly" admit that I am very much intimidated of all
the talent that is swimming about in this "ocean" of opportunity. :) I
feel as though I'm a little fish swimming to keep up with Great White
Sharks and Exotic Killer Whales....What I LOVE is how Nicola put it so
beautifully; That NO ONE is any better than anyone else. That we WE
ARE ALL fucking special! Yes! She said "fucking special". Soooooo my
type of gal. :)

But can one understand what I'm up against here, and why I may be a
bit hesitant to introduce myself?

I've no previous experience with publication, not one drop. No merits
of official job status to claim, nor hefty title or book to share with
the group that's gone into publication. (Phooey!)

I've only that very raw form of gnawing, fevered, ever-growing desire
to write, to produce words as they make their way into existence, to
make into "utterable nuances" a form of communication, be it music,
poem without prose, visual stimulant, whatever it may take, into a
substance that can be shared, digested and appreciated by one another,
in whatever means possible, minus the backstabbing. To share the
beauty (and sometimes "un"beauty) I see with others in the universe.
Is that not the ultimate intent of any artist?


I've been recently diagnosed with Bi-Polar as well as PTSD, (which I
meant to drop a line in your blog about Tetris reducing PTSD episodes
Nicola, which I found to be VERY interesting!) My 12 year old son is
high-functioning autistic. "Snookms" (my significant other) has been
clinically deemed Obsessive-Compulsive. So, I have a rich life, full
of the differences our human culture manages to "silently" live with,
day in and day out, and it somehow provides such a beautiful backdrop
to the ever-growing sense of awakening that is one's life.

Nicola seems to have the inate ability to express this very basic and
fundamental truth with simplistic beauty and ease, and nothing gives
me more pleasure than to know I am a part of all this, along with all
the other talented entities I've had the pleasure of reading up on
since I've joined this group.

My name's Rachel. I'm 32. A stay at home mom, opting to produce my
first published work, a very unconventional "memoir" titled
"Fartsmeller by Day, Bounty Hunter by Night". Basically
autobiographical confessions of a Bi-Polar Mother, with offhanded
attempts at humorous side stories. I've 3 kids. The two boys are 12
and 11. The 12 year old is the the autistic, (and if you must know, I
embrace and celebrate not only autism, but ANY difference of ANY sort
that life has to offer with every fiber of my being.) I've also a 9
year old daughter that shows signs of being Bi-Polar as well. Been
married 12 years. Words have been my best friend since the moment I
became aware of their existence. Playing electric guitar comes in as a
close 2nd, friend wise when Snookms isn't present.

Grew up in a culturally diverse household, my mother is Filipino (a
nationality of Malaysian descent,in case there are any that were
unaware) and my father was/is yer typical "W.A.S.P." kind of feller.
"Typical" not so much, only in the sense that it sounded good in
throwing it in as a juicy adverb of sorts. Grew up in an extremely
unconventional upbringing with 3 younger brothers, me being the oldest
and only daughter. "Mum" was raised Catholic while growing up in the
Philippines, but then went Christian in the States after marrying. She
is now sowing some of her "wild" Catholic oats once again, insisting
"Christian" undertones all throughout. The combination of living with
a blue eyed, blonde haired Anglo Saxon-claimed Atheist-but-is-now-
rather-Agnostic father and angry, sometimes machete-wielding mother
made for interesting memoir fodder. as well as a desire to write till
my hands fell off from numbness.

With thus being said, A "MISSION STATEMENT"?

Hmph.

To open windows where doors have been shut? That sort of thing? Am I
way off here? Do let a feller know!!

And where to start as far as works go....I initially fell in love with
every last one of you all's ideas, and hope to utilize each and every
one of them as the time goes on, but again, we must start with only
one, and it makes perfect sense that it should start with Nicola's
already produced works. I will shamefully have to admit that I've not
had the opportunity to read any of your works Nicola, aside from your
beautiful blog where I originally discovered you in the first place,
but I'm currently on a mad hunt to delve further into the works of all
things Nicola. Does this automatically opt me out of Ozymandias as a
standing member, what with my lack of knowledge in Nicola's writings?
I certainly hope not.

So if this doesn't get me "kicked off the island", hopefully we can go
from here after all the introductions have been made and the MISSION
STATEMENT has been accomplished as to what we'd all like to see happen
with Nicola's works? Add graphic-novel like illustrations? Jennifer
Durham beautified photos? (And by the by, Jennifer? I LOVE the
"Contact" ideal!! So awesome it makes my heart explode with the
possibilities!!) Poems by "yours truly" along with others?
Commentaries??

Is this what were thinking?

[malinda]

"To open windows where doors have been shut" sounds, to me, like an
awesome mission statement/tagline. I love it. I think it really speaks
to a sense of optimism.

Thanks, Rachel! What does everybody else think? Maybe I'm just feeling
optimistic this morning and this just speaks to me on a Friday morning
rather than as something workable ... ?

Malinda

[Adam Lowe]

Yes, that sounds pretty cool. But if that's the case, we'd have to establish pretty early on that, say, half of all the work we produce should be on new authors/projects that are  unviable elsewhere. Otherwise we're automatically negating that mission statement. That's why, as much as I like the idea of opening with a known author's work, we'd have to make sure that whatever comes next really is something new and unknown.

2009/1/16 malinda <malin...@gmail.com>

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[malinda]

Hmm. I guess I read that idea differently, but I can see why you
thought that. I thought of it as more of a philosophical idea. As some
roads become worn down, we build new ones. As one branch of publishing
dies, we create something else.

But also -- maybe I'm misunderstanding you -- I thought the point was
to produce new work that's unavailable elsewhere? I didn't think this
was a place to do reprints. ?? Personally, I'd prefer to not do
reprints.

[malinda]

I see now that there has been some talk about working with Nicola's
memoir, so technically this would be a reprint. To be honest i thought
she meant she was going to write the next chapter of her memoir! :)

[Adam Lowe]

Well that was my point. Is the short story collection all new stuff? Or does it include reprints?

But the way I see it, if we're making a new model of publishing, we also have to publish new people as well as new ideas. There's no point changing the publishing model if it only benefits the elite. Known authors (I think someone mentioned Le Guin and Moorcock, for example) with big publishing contracts are excellent for giving us a big boost in PR, but what's the point in changing publishing so they benefit even more if we're still not doing anything to benefit the little people? Sure, the big people could do with better deals too, but let's work on narrowing the gap between the big authors and little authors first.

Cheers

2009/1/16 malinda <malin...@gmail.com>

[Adam Lowe]

Ah yes, this is what I was thinking of. I thought someone had mentioned a reprint and I couldn't put my finger on it. It was the memoirs I was thinking of, as I've seen them in their pretty little box from P&S.

2009/1/16 malinda <malin...@gmail.com>

[Realmcovet]

Thanks Malinda. I'm glad you like the idea. I've been trying to keep
up with the convo you & Adam have had in regards to this statement and
how it needs to reflect what we're all trying to succeed in doing. I
think your "monthly" idea is an awesome way to start, but (and forgive
me for my lack of knowledge in this area) I have a question.

How long will it take for Nicola's memoir idea to be put into motion?
More than a month? I would really like to utilize this idea of
Nicola's Memoir, even though I have yet to have read it. I desire it
though, like Gollum desires the One Ring. Karina had left a comment in
regards to Nicola's blog rant about "Not being cheap". Karina had
offered to sell her very coveted copy of Nicola's Memoir, "And Now We
Are Going To Have A Party", used, to any who would like to buy it, and
that Karina would then use that money to purchase a brand new copy of
Nicola's Memoir, which I thought was a beautiful gesture. I am going
to put up the same link that Karina did of Nicolas "And Now We Are
Going To Have A Party" Memoir on my own blog in an attempt to make
other's who may happen to visit my blog aware of Nicola's works. I'm
also going to put up some linky love in regards to this Google Group
as well.

With that said, (forgive me if it seem like I went off topic for a
bit, I have somewhere I'm trying to go with this) I wonder if after we
work on Nicola's Memoir "reprint", or whatever one would like to
regard it as, that we could then resume your idea of working on a
month to month basis, giving opportunity to those "unknown" authors to
get exposure as well, regardless of how long it takes for Nicola's
project to launch. (If that's something she's down with. I agree with
you in the sense that it's kinda unfair to expect so much of her, what
with her working on her own sword swangin' fantasy novel.)

I also think that somehow we can work it into Nicola's Memoir project
(if that's what winds up taking off as our first project) a way to get
all our names in there, contributing whatever any of us have to offer,
if that "floats Nicola's boat". Like Jennifer Durham's beautiful
photography, also, inspired poems and sidestories from "us unknowns",
there are those that have visual arts know-how whom can contribute to
fan vids (like Karina's) or whatever else they might wanna cook up,
and then the Cartoonist-Who-Writes guy can put in some really cool
humourous stuff with his frog comics in regards to the more humourous
aspects of Nicola's Memoir (I'm sure there's humour in there
somewhere, because let's face it, Nicola is fucking hilarious when she
wants to be!!) And I also know that Nicola is all about the music as
well, and we can work in putting references to other "unknown"
musicians who may or may not be made known of in this group, or just
if any of you have friends who have a band you know of that would like
to see get made mention of. Stuff like that. Mordicai could even build
up an RPG world based off the happenings in Nicola's Memoir. I've seen
some of his work first hand on his own blog, and let me tell ya, the
guy's a world building genious! :)

I know I've not touched base with what everyone has to offer here, but
that's where I would like and hope to see it go. I think everything
will wind up falling right in the place it needs to be. There is so
much talent on board here!!!

[Karina Melendez]

Rachel, just a quick clarification...

You say, "Karina had offered to sell her very coveted copy of Nicola's Memoir, "And Now We Are Going To Have A Party", used, to any who would like to buy it, and that Karina would then use that money to purchase a brand new copy of Nicola's Memoir, which I thought was a beautiful gesture."

No. That's not what I'm offering. My copy is my copy, and it stays with me. I offered to donate a brand new copy of Nicola's memoir to our gestating book club, so anyone in our group (and Nicola's blog readers) who can't afford the memoir has a chance to read it. But people are shy! No one has volunteered so far to take it home first. If you're interested, I'd ask the publisher to ship the memoir directly to you, as it would be a waste of time and money for me to pay for international shipping plus the 40% Canada import tax they usually charge me when I order stuff from the US, then ship it back to the US. Let me know. All you commit to is to ship it to the next person who wants to read it when you're done.

Sorry if I wasn't clear before. I hope I am now. I hate being ESL sometimes. *sigh*

Cheers!

[Realmcovet]

Karina, I apologize for my mistake. I still think it is an AWESOME
gesture though, and I'm totally open to getting dibbs on it, if you're
down for it. Here's my info:

Rachel Turner
7162 Jupiter Drive
Indianapolis, IN 46241

I am JUMPING on this while it's still hot. Thank you so much for this
opportunity, and trust me, your efforts won't go unnoticed. I will
repay you somehow for your awesomeness. :))))))

If there's anything else you need to know, feel free to ask. You are
doing me, and others as well I imagine, such a wonderful favor.

Rachel

On Jan 16, 2:35 pm, Karina Melendez <simula...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Rachel, just a quick clarification...
>

> You say, "*Karina had offered to sell her very coveted copy of Nicola's

> Memoir, "And Now We Are Going To Have A Party", used, to any who would like
> to buy it, and that Karina would then use that money to purchase a brand new

> copy of Nicola's Memoir, which I thought was a beautiful gesture.*"

>
> No. That's not what I'm offering. My copy is my copy, and it stays with me.

> I offered to *donate* a brand new copy of Nicola's memoir to our gestating

> > > Malinda- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Adam Lowe]

I like the monthly fiction thing. That would work well for the
creatives amongst us if the the more business minded folk are working
on Nicola's book in the meantime. And that's a better balance, to me,
between playing it safe with established writers and putting something
unknown out there as well. That way we get the big name pull and the
kind of underground, just-discovered rawness that would keep the coop
fresh.

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