Monday, August 06, 2007

I should dedicate my next book

...to this sesame and cilantro vermicelli salad. It's divine! Poetry on a plate. I could live on it. It fuels my work. Seriously though, this Bookninja post on acknowledgment pages leaves me wondering why they get such a bad rap. Not only do I enjoy them, but I think they are an important element of a book. I'd wager those who value acknowledgment pages far outnumber those who don't.

As for news, I spent the past week with a batch of poems. Today I hit Send. It was time.

After that I took a break and wandered around online. I stumbled across a few things:

Bookninja pointed me to McNally Robinson's great looking new site.

I see Geist has a nice new look as well.

Big changes are coming at Greenboathouse Books.

And dear old Lucy is in the news again.

Whatever.

20 comments:

Zachariah Wells said...

I've decided to do away with personal acknowledgments in my next book, mainly because it's such an overdone thing. And because it's usually the first page I turn to when I pick up a book...

Brenda Schmidt said...

No way! That's terrible. Thanks for the heads up though. I'd hate to get a paper cut thumbing around for a page that doesn't exist. I treat acknowledgments much in the same way that I treat the log on your site. I'm always looking for leads when it comes to books. If I like your book and you thank Daffy Duck in it, I'd look for books by Daffy, too. I'm always disappointed when I see a book with no acknowledgments. In fact, I feel downright robbed!

Anita Daher said...

I too love the acknowledgements page!

pohanginapete said...

Mmmm... that salad sounds (& looks) awesome. I actually dreamed of salads while I was overseas in places salads were too much of risk to ... er, ... risk.

Ariel Gordon said...

While I didn't ACTUALLY dream of cheese while living in South Korea, I like to SAY I dreamed of cheese.

Brenda Schmidt said...

Glad to hear I'm not alone, Anita! That said, acknowledgments are becoming increasingly difficult to write. It's impossible to credit, much less recognize, everyone and everything that might have influenced the work. Argh. Maybe Zach has the right idea.

Pete, you should treat yourself to this salad and give yourself even more to dream about as your journey continues. I think everyone who has the good sense to give this salad a try should really thank me in their acknowledgments...

Ariel, that comment was just plain cheesy.

Ariel Gordon said...

Got a recipe for cheese salad, then?

Brenda Schmidt said...

Ha!

Anonymous said...

Cheese Salad:http://www.hugs.org/Cheese_Salad.shtml

Brenda Schmidt said...

Ah, the mysterious anonymous cheese salad recipe poster has struck my blog. I knew this day would come.

Anonymous said...

I can't recommend the cheese salad. It was just the first recipe I found. As you know I take my cheese straight.

Brenda Schmidt said...

Ha! I thought it was you!

Kelly said...

I'm a fan of acknowledgments. They're like the sports pages for writers. They let you know who knows who and what they've been inspired by. You might not be able to judge a book by its cover, but you can by an acknowledgment page, I think.

Brenda Schmidt said...

Ha! They are like the sports pages for writers! I think you nailed it, K.A.

Anonymous said...

I've got a nice little recipe for a kale salad if anyone wants one... pine nuts, feta cheese, red pepper, rice vinegar, honey or maple syrup, white balsamic...

very west coast

SMSteele said...

what about when the acknowledgments are longer than the manuscript itself?

Brenda Schmidt said...

Sznn, please send that recipe my way. Sounds great. I'm a sucker for pine nuts and I eat way too much feta, so I'd welcome another excuse to indulge in them.

H and I had a discussion about acknowledgments the other day after he read the comments here. He figures they should be super brief while I'm one that could go on and on, thanking the world.

Brenda Schmidt said...

Heads up! The kale salad is AWESOME!

Thanks, Sznn!

Kimmy said...

despite the myriad arguments to the contrary -including people actually holding my book saying things like, "oh yeah? well, how did THIS person help you??" (which i can always answer), i'll never publish a book that doesn't include the names of everyone who actually helped me write it in some way. it could be someone who hosted the first outloud readings of the baby poems, or the people who lent me their farmhouse for a week to finish the draft, etc. i think it's absolutely essential to have it, and like you, i feel totally robbed when there isn't one.

Brenda Schmidt said...

Well said!