Top 5 posts of this blog in 2012

The end of the year is always a fascinating time to browse blog statistics, reflect on the posts, and see which were visited most often. For 2012, the most popular posts of this blog reach from a Women's Blog Carnival to Modern Poetry, and from How-to-posts to the list of current calls:

March On, Women
In honour of International Women’s Month, editor & writer Michelle Elvy created a mini-blog fest featuring women around the world...

How to create a book cover for print-on-demand services like CreateSpace 
Here are some notes on creating a book cover for print-on-demand services like Lulu or CreateSpace - back in August, YB-editor Rose Hunter and i mailed back and forth about her "Foal" cover. The mail dialogue includes the steps from first layout to final proof...

Current Calls
A list of current theme calls, weekly photo challenges, reading challenges, literary web events etc.

Literary courses online: Modern & Contemporary American Poetry + Fantasy & Science Fiction
The literary course "Modern & Contemporary American Poetry (ModPo)" by Al Filreis is a fast-paced introduction to modern and contemporary U.S. poetry, from Dickinson and Whitman to the present...

top 50 book blogs, 65 literary tumblrs & 5 lit blog streams
There’s an abundance of book blogs out there, with a wide range of themes: from current prize winners to crime and science fiction, and from books in translations to historic books to newcomers. But how to find all those blogs? Here are some links...

Solstice Reflections - an online gathering

Solstice Reflections is an online gathering of reflections by seven women on the spirit of winter and the migration from darkness to light, collected by Stephanie in her blog Creative Living Experiment in the hope that these reflections may offer a momentary respite from a sometimes hectic season, allowing you to sit with your own reflections as you enter your personal winter.

The Solstice Reflections include photography, art, poetry, a solstice podcast, and other contributions by Pixie Campbell, Liz Coleman, Juliette Crane, Jo-Anne Guimond, Rebecca Klier, Jen Lee and Kelly Letky.

Stephanie writes: "I've always liked images of winter. They soothe me, calling me to slow down and take stock. It's why I've chosen to highlight the official arrival of winter in the past and why I choose to highlight it again here, now, with the help of other kindred spirits.

During the next three weeks leading up to December 22nd I will offer guest posts from seven lovely women to help welcome winter, its rituals and its transformations - each woman interpreting the subject through the medium of her choice.

I am warmed and humbled by the contributions I've seen, by the pieces of themselves these women have chosen to share with me and with you."

All posts to date:  Solstice Reflections

(this is a re-post from 2011)

Writer's Houses - field guide & database

Writers’ Houses is an online publication dedicated to the exploring of writers’ spaces and art of literary pilgrimage. The website link is: Writer's Houses

The website was founded in July 2010 by writer A. N. Devers, she explains that the site was inspired by "a growing obsession, since childhood, with books, travel, and making connections between a writer’s work and place. It also came from a realization that there wasn’t a comprehensive resource online, or in print, that helped literary pilgrims find their way."

The Writers’ Houses database is designed to be a field guide to deceased writers’ homes, searchable by author, state, city, and country. The site features more than 130 writer's houses.

Suggest a Writer's House
The plan of Writers’ Houses is to document all writers’ houses open to the public in the world. The site notes: "This is no small task and can’t be done overnight or without help. There are apparently 290 writers’ houses in France alone. For that reason, the website is looking for experienced writers and editors to contribute to the blog and field guide. If you are interested, please feel free to get in touch, but please note that Writers’ Houses, being a labor of love, cannot offer compensation beyond the pleasure of having your work in its virtual pages."

Link: Writer's Houses

(with thanks to poet Marcia Arrieta for sharing the link)
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The Books They Gave Me

"The Gift of a book becomes part of the story of your life" 

Perhaps it came with a note as simple as “This made me think of you,” but it takes up residence in your heart and your home. The Books They Gave Me is a mixtape of stories behind books given and received. Some of the stories are poignant, some snarky, some romantic, some disastrous—but all are illuminating.

Jen Adams collected nearly two hundred of the most provocative stories submitted to the tumblr blog TheBooksTheyGaveMe.com to capture the many ways books can change our lives and loves, revealing volumes about the relationships that inspired the gifts. These stories are, by turns, romantic, cynical, funny, dark, and hopeful:

There’s the poorly thought out gift of Lolita from a thirty-year-old man to a teenage girl. There’s the couple who tried to read Ulysses together over the course of their long-distance relationship and never finished it. There’s the girl whose school library wouldn’t allow her to check out Fahrenheit 451, but who received it at Christmas with the note, “Little Sister: Read everything you can. Subvert Authority! Love always, your big brother.” These are stories of people falling in love, regretting mistakes, and finding hope. Together they constitute a love letter to the book as physical object and inspiration.

Illustrated in full color with the jackets of beloved editions, The Books They Gave Me is, above all, an uplifting testament to the power of literature.

More about the book: The Books They Gave Me
& Tumblr-blog with new contributions