The Hope of 2014

The coming of a new year somehow seems to lessen the struggles of the past year somewhat. Though hardly wiping the slate entirely clean, it is rather a time in which one feels renewed to start a new year having lived much and learned much. It starts when Christmas comes. Everyone seems to slow down and start thinking about what they have – or have not – achieved in the past year. Hopes for the new year pulls harder at the heart every day from then. The New Year is in sight! A new beginning. A few days in which you again feel that anything and everything is possible.

A Blank Slate (of Sorts)

In my case, I get a new diary (a blank slate, if you want), a new notebook and new calendar. Today, when I write this, the diary and calendar is no longer blank. Birthdays and appointments are already filling the blocks and pages – a reminder that time will not stand still. Yet, I also take this time to look back at my life and not just the year. I think of loved ones lost and of new friends found. The past year put our whole family through its paces will illnesses and injuries (I would rather not spend a month on crutches again, for one). It was a year which flitted by far too quickly. But it was a full year.

Hope Renewed

It was also a year in which friends got married, or got pregnant, or had children. Children grew up, made mistakes and didn’t want to listen to caution. It was the year in which I was suddenly one of the “elders” the “kids” didn’t want to listen to. But it was also the year in which friendships deepened, hope and faith was found or renewed, and hurts got healed. We’re all left with scars – some faded, some fresh – but I hope that, this year, the hope with which we start 2014 will not extinguish before the end of the month. May it be renewed time and again so that, when we close the diary on 31 December, it is a book we want to keep forever instead of throwing it away or hiding it at the bottom of a dusty drawer.

 Carpe Diem! Make your lives extraordinary!

Perfect for Christmas in Summer

7 Productivity Tips – Tested and Approved*

*by me

After some long hours and lots and lots (and lots) of typing and editing I finally feel that I’m getting somewhere with The Eternal Dissertation. And I am thanking my lucky stars that it’s a subject which I still find interesting! After these few weeks I feel I have some tips on staying productive:

The tips:

• Don’t let you computer catch on fire. Although I would have preferred it if Binky (my poor laptop) didn’t catch on fire on its own account. Very rude.
• A few supportive friends and a great sister (or sibling) who won’t mind you rambling off on a tangent about how much work you need to do on X or Y for a few minutes. Even if they have no idea what you’re talking about. 
• Get your cat to help (or get a cat). Sir T is only too happy to remind me to take breaks by going to sleep on top of my books or in my chair as soon as I get up to make some tea.
• Tea and/or coffee. But don’t overdo the caffeine (rooibos tea is a great option) or the sugar. And remember the biscuits – only to be used as reward, of course *cough cough*. I have yet to meet someone who likes chewing on carrot sticks the whole time they are studying. And a carrot is just not as good a reward as a biscuit – admit it.
• Notebooks! Pens! Sticky notes! While apps are great, I still find pen and paper the best way to get my thoughts ordered.
• Music. Whatever you like, whatever keeps your mind ticking or your fingers typing. My choices usually change during the day. On the days I get up at 4am it’s usually something like Meat Loaf (But not loud enough to wake my neighbours. Because even really nice people don’t want to be woken at 4am by Bat Out Of Hell. You do not want neighbours fervently wishing a lightning bolt would smite you.). During the day some Early Music, a few playlists with my favourite songs or soundtracks and in the evening something like The Parlotones, Theuns Jordaan or Josh Groban.
• Save. Save. Save your work! There’s nothing like losing a file (or losing something because your computer caught on fire) to make you lose all your motivation (Thank goodness this didn’t happen to me. I only lost a few sentences.)

And now it’s back to work for me. 

Image of hand by GraphicsFairy.com 

Traditional Bookbinding

The Joy of Lexicography by Erin McKean

Bookish Things: The Ring of Words

In keeping with posts related to J.R.R. Tolkien’s work, I decided to have a look at some interesting books relating to etymology, philology and language. To start with –

The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary byP. Gilliver, J. Marshall and E. Weiner

The book opens with a quote by Robert Louis Stevenson:

Bright is the ring of words

When the right man rings them,

Fair the fall of songs

When the singer sings them.

Courtesy of OUP

Anyone who has read Tolkien’s works will know of the superb way in which language is used throughout his works. For those (like me) who suddenly found a new world of etymology opened to them, the giddy joy of finding words Tolkien used in other texts is a simple pleasure. As a Tolkien fan, for example, reading the Anglo-Saxon poem “Crist” is a sure way of becoming addicted to the Old English corpus. 

Overview

The book’s first two chapters cover “Tolkien as Lexicographer” and “Tolkien as Wordwright” and examines the craft and care with which Tolkien approached his work. It also gives an insight to the world of lexicography and what it is that lexicographers do*. The bulk of the book, however, is spent on Word Studies. These are given in alphabetical order, and each given ample space for references to Tolkien’ work and other literary sources.

But, whether or not you are an admirer of Tolkien’s work; The Ring of Words, is a delight to anyone who is interested in etymology. The words covered in the book range from elf and dwarf to dwimmerlaik and ruel-bone. The work does not only cover words found in the books regarding Middle-Earth, but also from his other fiction. Blunderbuss, for example, is also included in the word studies. The book’s language is easily accessible, though it may be more interesting to those who are somewhat familiar with Tolkien’s legendarium. Gilliver, et al. have compiled a book for lay readers as well those already familiar with the history of English and other Germanic languages. It is hardly a “stuffy academic” book.

Want to know more?

If you would like to know more about this book, head on over to Oxford University Press or iTunes and download the podcast.

Further reading:

For more about Tolkien’s creation of Middle-Earth, I highly recommend Tom Shippey’s The Road toMiddle-Earth: How J.R.R. Tolkien Created a New Mythology, and John Garth’s Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold ofMiddle-Earth.

* Lexicographers do not spend their time trying to keep new words from entering dictionaries, for example.

Books:Gilliver, J., J. Marshall and E. Weiner. (2006). The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the OxfordEnglish Dictionary. Oxford University Press.

Shippey, T. (2003).The Road toMiddle-Earth: How J.R.R. Tolkien Created a New Mythology. Houghton Mifflin.

Garth, J. (2003).Tolkien andthe Great War: The Threshold of Middle-Earth. HarperCollins.

“A Fair Trade” Published!

“A Fair Trade” – some flash fiction I wrote – is now available to read* on Every Day Fiction.

Courtesy of The Graphics Fairy

*And vote for if you enjoy it, hint hint.