simple clockwork

Enjoying Instagram

2012-05-06T09:45:00.000+08:00

I can be a late-comer when I wanted to, that is why I just recently discovered how cool Instagram can be. Here are the six photos I posted through the app so far:

A bouquet of white flowers from the boyfriend

Raw fish (not recommended for sensitive stomachs)

Cruising the Bojo River in Aloguinsan, Cebu

Enjoying the very low tide while vacationing in Camotes Island, Cebu

A view of Lake Danao in Camotes Island, Cebu

My dinner last night at Diamond Suites, Cebu: Chicken fetuccine al fredo (yum yum!)

What do you think?

- Nancy -

[Reflections] We see churches and then we don’t.

2012-05-04T13:34:00.000+08:00

This short post, which is particularly directed to my fellow Filipinos, is inspired from a recent exhibit on Spanish-era churches mounted through the partnership of Ortigas Foundation Inc., Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc., and the Archdiocese of Cebu.

Like many of us, I am surrounded with a lot of churches. There’s almost always a church in my place every seven kilometers. Because I see them more often than I could count, when I go to another province as a tourist, I don’t bother checking up these religious structures, which is, I recently realized, a mistake. I could say my mother who has only gone to three places outside Cebu and took photos of and appreciated the architecture of the churches (and at the time I could not understand why) is a more advanced tourist than I am who had gone to thrice as more places than her.

Churches in the Philippines, no matter what denomination they are, are not only witnesses to history for decades. As in the case of the Spanish invasion in my country, these churches that are tangible representation of Christianity somehow compose part of the map on where the Spaniards spread their mission. And one would be surprised when seeing a small sturdy church by a coastal remote area still standing after all theses decades. The double wonder there is how in the world did they do it. There was hardly any proper civil engineer in the 1500s to guide them through in the first place.

I would like to attribute the book “La Casa de Dios: The Legacy of Filipino-Hispanic Churches in the Philippines” by Fr. Rene B. Javellana, SJ for opening my eyes to the beauty and awe and encouraging me to take pride of the religious structures we have. The book is dedicated to Rafael Ortigas Jr. who initiated the project of documenting all Spanish era churches in the country. The book is owned and distributed by Ortigas Foundation, Inc.

I wanted to post some photos in the book here but for some reason, I decided to take photos of full churches in Cebu from the Internet instead. Please click on the image for the credits/original source.

The old Boljoon Church in Cebu (source: takenfromdwater.blogspot.com)

The Basilica Minore del Sto. Nino in Cebu City (source: philippineinfo-iphilippines.blogspot.com)

The Church of Argao (source: beachanatic.blogspot.com)

The pilgrim Church of Simala in Cebu (source: beachanatic.blogspot.com)

Parish Church of Carcar, Cebu (source: beachanatic.blogspot.com)

- Nancy -

Q & A with me, as a book blogger

2012-05-03T07:00:00.000+08:00

I enjoy answering questions about my interests and about my country, so when Zara, an Ontario-based blogger who blogs at “Zara Alexis: The Bibliotaphe’s Closet” invited me to be featured in her participation for the All Things Asian blog even a couple of weeks ago, I grabbed the opportunity to network with her and put my thoughts in order.

You can check out the interview (All Things Asian Event Post: 04.15.2012 – Asian Blogger Spotlight – Meet Nancy from Simple Clockwork!) here. Zara asked me 20 questions. If I were to arrange them according to my favorite list of questions, I would choose: “What are your favorite Asian foods?” To which I enumerated: Lechon (roasted pig), Buwad (dried fish), Liempo (Pork Belly), Pork Sisig, Kaldereta, Nilat-ang Baboy, Tinolang Isda, Gambas, Grilled Squid, Halo-halo, Dried MangoesBibingka, Budbud, Masareal, Puto, Chicharon, Otap, and Ampao, among many others.

Next to reading, writing, and blogging, my next hobby is eating. Because of this, a large chunk of my pay goes to exploring dishes in new stores in town.

Anyway, I came across Jillian’s (of A Room of One’s Own) list of questions (similar as Zara’s) and, just for fun, I decided to answer some, if not all, of them:

1. Sum yourself up in twenty-five words or less.

I’m the kind of person who continuously seeks life-work balance (with no inkling whether or not I'm doing it right) because I think balance is much safer and preferable than insanity.

2. Do you read? If so, why, what, and how often?

I like to read very much as often as I can because it’s relaxing, fun, thought-provoking, and exciting. As an eclectic reader, I read anything clean. My favorite genres are short stories, classics, romance, children’s books, Christian fiction, and Philippine literature.

3. Do you blog? If so, your blog’s name & focus?

I blog at Simple Clockwork (www.nancycudis.com). I focus on my favorite genres mentioned above.

4. Your favorite adult book(s) &/or children’s book(s)?

Oh, lots! My favorite adult book, among many, would be Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte for the classics category; Linnet and the Prince by Alyson Holman for the fantasy category; The Doctor’s Lady by Jody Hedlund and Love Finds you in Annapolis by Roseanna White for historical fiction; Just the Way You are by Barbara Freethy for contemporary fiction category; The Bobbsey Twins by Laura Lee Hope and The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner for the children’s books category; works by O. Henry, Oscar Wilde, and Maria Edgeworth for the short stories category; and works by Amador Daguio and Manual Arquilla for the Philippine literature category.

5. Your favorite movie(s)?

I like strong female characters, stories about friendship, dancing, and mind-boggling action, so I’d go for Mulan, Jane Eyre, Step Up 3, Footloose (both the old and new version), Grease, The Avengers, Thor, Transformers Trilogy, Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Harry Potter (book 1), Dream Girls, The Three Idiots, and Sex and the City, among many others.

6. Most challenging book you’ve read in your life?

Definitely War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy. Need I explain? I should probably also mention To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf.

7. Book(s) you’re currently reading, if any?

The Koga Papers by Col. Manuel F. Segura

8. Book(s) you’re most looking forward to reading?

The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey and Villette by Charlotte Bronte

9. Author whose works you’re curious to explore soon?

It’s more about their plays that I want to explore--Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde, and also Woolf’s stream of consciousness

10. Book you’re most scared to read but might read eventually, anyway?

Margaret Atwood’s works, starting with The Handmaid’s Tale

11. Book you have re-read the most times in your life

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and all the favorites mentioned in item 4.

12. If you could spend a day in any era, where would you go (including “I would not go anywhere! I LOVE the 21st century!”)?

I love the 21st century as it is, but I would like to visit and get Jose Rizal’s autograph (on my copy of his Noli me Tangere book) during the Spanish colonial era in the Philippines.

13. Your favorite season?

Although I like the only two seasons in my country (wet and dry), I like the wet or rainy season when I can cuddle with a good book and a cup of good tablea.

Thank you, Jillian, for these questions. I decided to post them on my blog instead. I hope that's all right. What do you think of my answers? Which ones are your favorite questions and what would be your answers?

- Nancy -

[Guest Post] Pen, Paper, Thought, Deep breath, and WRITE!

2012-05-02T20:52:00.000+08:00

I would like to welcome again M.C.V. Egan, author of The Bridge of Deaths, to Simple Clockwork for her monthly writing tips. M.C.V. Egan has been a dear and kind friend to me in April when I lost a close cousin. She never failed to say the right words to lift me up. So to M.C.V. Egan, thank you! And you very well know my gratitude extends more than this guest post. Readers and writers, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to throw them in the comment sections. Thanks!

* * *

This month I want to focus on just one element of writing to entice an audience, what many call the absolute and necessary key to a good story; be it long or short. That element is CONFLICT.

Any kind of conflict inner, outer, global…conflict is the key to keep the reader reading.
A perfect example of great conflict in a story is our very own Nancy Cudis’ short story, The Decision. I personally really enjoy Nancy’s short stories and this one in particular takes the reader from the very first line when Maria is crying into her food into that magical element CONFLICT.

She is torn between what she knows to be right and by what she wants from the forbidden relationship with Damian. Then Maria places the conflict on her friend Louisa who is stable and has a nice life; but when that signature eyebrow raises, the reader can imagine that Louisa is so conflicted and does not want to be judgmental, and yet her moral values dictate that she feels pulled into something that is wrong by mere knowledge.

The backdrop is the global moral conflict fidelity, or perhaps better said infidelity. Everyone has a conflicting and often disapproving opinion; and yet people often find themselves trapped in its web.

Applying Philippine culture, Nancy gives us the word kerida and thus the reader is placed in the moment and the culture that makes the word far starker than its English counterpart; mistress.

Adding to this entertaining short story’s conflict, the female reader is sure to feel towards the scoundrel Damian, who has no business enticing the vulnerable Maria and lying to his betrothed.

If your story has no conflict, make sure you add it. And as Nancy so aptly teaches us in The Decision, it can be as subtle as a raised eyebrow.

Do feel free to blow up a thing or two in your writing and make the conflicts as explosive as you desire but remember a story without conflict is not likely to be read.

M.C.V. Egan
April 30th, 2012

About the Author

M.C.V. Egan is the author of The Bridge of Deaths. She lives in South Florida with her husband and teenage son. She is fluent in four languages: English, Spanish, French, and Swedish. Be sure to drop by her wonderful site and check out her book, The Bridge of Deaths. It tells of a fictional account based on a true story that happened at the brink of World War II when an English plane crashed, sunk in Danish waters, and killed five persons. M.C.V. Egan has researched this story for almost two decades. The story has taken her to Denmark, England and to the unconventional world of past lives and psychics. Today, M. C. V. Egan and co-author Jolie DeMarco are working on a new book to be released in 2012.

Swing by her website to know more about M.C.V. Egan.

Check out the synopsis of The Bridge of Deaths.
Enjoy the video book trailer of The Bridge of Deaths at this link.
To order her wonderful book, please click here.
Check out her book at Amazon.com.

[Short Stories on Wednesdays] Bluestem Magazine--a good source of original short stories and other literary works

2012-05-02T19:44:00.000+08:00

Welcome to Short Stories on Wednesdays! What short stories (or flash fiction) have you read these past few days? Share them here.

Click on the image to learn how to join or participate in Short Stories on Wednesdays

For me, upon the recommendation of Mel U of The Reading Life, I went to look up on Bluestem Magazine, a new-to-me and bookmarked-for-me site where stories, poems, and photos can be read and appreciated for free.

I read four short stories but only appreciated two--The Spirits of Imaginary Animals by Simon Jacobs and Beast and the Bear by Ethel Rohan.

It was Rohan’s work that Mel recommended to me. When I read it, I was awed at the incredibility of it all. It tells of the physical, emotional, and sexual relationship between a human being and a bear who behaves almost like a human. It acutely reminded me of sensationalized local new reports about women giving birth to fish, pigs, snakes, and the like, or about women and male horses get on together sexually. It also reminded me of Beauty and the Beast, except that Beast never turned back into a human being in the end. It’s very bizarre and Rohan, in a few words, capsuled that incredibility admirably well.

You can read Beast and the Bear by Ethel Rohan here.

On the other hand, The Spirits of Imaginary Animals tells about a Totoro, a woodland spirit from an 80s anime and how, if I want to dig crazily or overanalyze, it influences a thief to wonder how his victim is doing and go back to the site where he robbed only to be identified by a woman behind the counter. He awaits his judgment. Like the story above, it’s a quick read.

You can read The Spirits of Imaginary Animals by Simon Jacobs here.

- Nancy -

Happy World Bloggers Day!

2012-05-02T09:19:00.002+08:00

While there is a Day for Courage, a Day for Museums, a Day for Monuments and Sites, a Day for Christ, a Day for Love, well, there’s also a Day for Bloggers (aptly called World Bloggers Day), which is now being celebrated three years in a row, every May 2--today!

Being as it is, what better way to celebrate this day than liking, tweeting, linking, and pinning online? Blogging communities from different places around the globe, including Cebu, Manila, Sydney, Nepal, and Dubai are doing just that. And what makes the event doubly exciting is that you, my blogger friends, are invited to join!

As a participant, here are some stuff you can do for a start:
- Like the Official Fan Page of the event: https://www.facebook.com/worldbloggersday
- Like the Official Fan Pag of the Cebu Bloggers Society Inc.: https://www.facebook.com/cebubloggers
- Make a blog post or record a video showing how you celebrate World Bloggers Day. After posting or uploading, share the link via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc.
- Tweet and spread the good news about World Bloggers Day using the hashtag #worldbloggersday

This year, the international event carries the theme “It’s more FUN in blogging and social media”, which is inspired by the country’s tourism brand: “It’s more FUN in the Philippines.” The Cebu Bloggers Society Inc. (CBSi) initiated the World Bloggers Day, which started in Cebu in 2010, gradually expanding to other countries, including Australia, Dubai, Lebanon, Singapore, Nepal, New Zealand, Myanmar, Pakistan, and South Africa in 2011. For this year, CBSi partnered with Cebu business hotel, Diamond Suites Cebu, and Tatt Awards where you can nominate your favorite blogs.

As for this year’s event theme, well, there are different takes on it. Come to think of it, veteran mainstream media practitioners may contradict it; new bloggers and new social media users may decide not to agree with it yet; and experienced bloggers may support it. The public should note, though, that the keyword in the theme is just “fun”, not “more fun”. I think the organizers are not trying to put a comparative degree between this and that. Rather, they aim to promote blogging then social media, which is quite obvious. After all, social media is not a mere support system to blogging; it’s a platform of significant importance in itself.

Click on the image for the credits.

Say, I just got back to blogging after a month-long grieving period over my late dear cousin. To respect other book bloggers, my followers, and author friends, I made a long post detailing my intent for a full comeback starting May 1. Then I shared the link to as many social media sites and blogging groups I belong to as possible. The opportunities to share and interact online are not merely limited to blogging; they are endless and thrilling. Sharing is not a one-way relationship; I get to learn a lot about books, blogging, and connecting from other book bloggers as well, fueling more my passion to read, write, and blog.

Click on the image for the credits.

And because blogging and social media form part of my passion; they have paved the way for me to connect and establish relationships with bloggers and authors; and they led me to making friends at a local blogging community, well, it sure is more FUN in blogging and social media!

Join us for the World Bloggers Day 2012. And, oh, Happy World Bloggers Day to you! Cheers!

- Nancy -

Coming back, catching up, missing you

2012-05-01T16:54:00.000+08:00

Friends, thank you for the lovely emails! They sure made me want to rush up and type in my thoughts and post them on my blog as fast as I could, if it were not for the needle and plaster wrapping my right hand. I was hospitalized with a thyroid problem for three days. And I just got home today.

Anyway, ever since my cousin died, I received wonderful emails and Facebook comments from M. V. C. Egan, author of The Bridge of Deaths and monthly guest of Simple Clockwork. She said, “I wish I had a magic wand with magic words, but the loss of a loved one is a very hard thing”. She also sent her monthly guest post with the hope that it will make me smile. Catalina, it sure did! Thank you!

Claudine Gueh Yanting, writer of My Clearest Me, advised: “Read, and read, and read, and never mind the rest for now”. And then there’s Mel of The Reading Life who echoed a similar message but on the blogging side, telling me, “I do advise you that a return to blogging would be good for your mind”. And I agree! Otherwise, I wouldn’t be doing this right now. I read and read these past few days and I realized it’s about time to blog again. I missed this and I miss my blogging friends!

So help me review what has happened to me this past month so I can tell you that I did not completely given up blogging, if even for a while:

April 9: My cousin, Coleen, died. She was a sweet little woman of 25 who would have made a wonderful pre-school teacher if she was just given the chance. I’m extremely grateful there was a five-day wake; it allowed us, including me, to acknowledge and accept that she is really gone and my mental powers could not bend this reality. This doesn’t exactly mean, though, that my sister and I will stop saying, “Let’s go to Coleen’s house for dinner.” Coleen will always be with us, even in spirit.

April 16: Did I tell you that I’ve climbed one plank up the ladder in my work in communications for an NGO? Well, it happened and I got busy turning over my previous tasks to the new one in charge of media relations while I juggling to review my new scope of work, which includes management of the company website, social media, and public relations. This is what I call one of those big bright side of things.

April 18: This is the International Day of Monuments and Sites. My company in partnership with another foundation and the local archdiocese mounted an exhibit on Spanish-era churches. It was during this exhibit that I learned about the thick coffee-table yet informative book titled “La Casa de Dios: The Legacy of Filipino-Hispanic Churches in the Philippines” by Fr. Rene B. Javellana, SJ. I am thoroughly fascinated by the church architecture printed in full spreads and full pages. I have only seen a handful of featured churches in the places I have traveled to. Just by exploring, one can already gain a lot of insights on Filipino culture, because for me, one cannot separate religion from Filipino identity.

The old Oslob Church located south of Cebu.

April 21: Ever since my parents gave my sister a Galaxy Tab as a graduation gift last March, I was secretly green, blue, and gray with envy. So when I realized I have saved enough money, I bought a white Galaxy Samsung Note GT-N700, which I am now using for business meetings. It’s handy, portable, and utterly wonderful. Since I own it and using it, what else can I say?

April 23: I went to a mall to pay some bills when I was attacked with the urge to buy a couple of books, which I did at the National Bookstore. I bought A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire and Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature: An Anthology of Winning Works (The 1980s Short Story). I still could not find the book I’ve long been wishing for, The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey. I can’t order it online because it’s expensive and way out of my book budget.

April 27: I came across The Koga Papers: Stories of WW II Cebu, Philippines by Col. Manuel F. Segura (Ret.) online and lost all hope of gaining a copy. When I assigned a student intern to take photos of the books being sold at Casa Gorordo Museum, wonder of wonders! I was surprised when I learned that the museum is selling The Koga Papers, the only place that sells the book in the Visayas. It’s close to home and the book is less than $5. I immediately bought it with the hope of reading it over the weekend. I read it alright, but I read it in a hospital.

Mel U, you should read this cute-size book! It’s about the Cebuanos vs. the Japanese during the second war. But with Segura’s book, I couldn’t dislike the Japanese soldiers. In fact, I admire their discipline but I admire the Cebuanos’ ingenuity, unity, and bravery more. Too bad Segura’s first book, Tabunan: The Untold Exploits of the Famed Cebu Guerillas in World War II, is now out of stock and no hopes of a reprint.

Here is how the foreword of The Koga Papers started:

Bataan has been known around the world for the gallant struggle of Filipino-American forces against a vastly superior and savage Japanese invading force during World War II. Leyte became famous as the island where the Americans first landed in their triumphal return to the Philippines. But the narrow island province of Cebu has now emerged out of World War II as the battleground where the resistance movement, officially known as the Cebu Area Command, killed more than any other guerilla organization anywhere else in the archipelago.

April 28-May 1: I was feeling unexpectedly tired last Friday. I spent all the morning and afternoon hours last Saturday in bed. When it freaked my dad out, he spent two hours drilling me out of bed and off to the family doctor who immediately advised me to get admitted in the hospital. And admitted I was. When two new doctors assigned to me dangle on my nose the possibility of surgery to get the mass on my throat brought about by my hyperthyroid, I said a quick prayer and crossed the fingers on my left hand that was free of needles but blue with injections. Now I’m fine. No surgery, thank God! Long-term medication sounds like a much brighter prospect.

Well, I’m back to blogging now, starting with this post, to be followed by M. C. V. Egans guest post. I thank all who expressed their thoughts and prayers for my cousin. Each one of you is appreciated.

So, here's to book blogging! Cheers!

- Nancy -

A tribute to my late cousin, a second sister

2012-04-14T05:41:00.000+08:00

I had a first-degree cousin, Coleen Joy, with whom I grew up with since I am only two years her senior. She cracked up all the right, though sometimes blunt, jokes at her other cousins younger and older than herself, including me and my sister. She will always be remembered for her generous smile and happy attitude that make up for her small, and oftentimes tired, figure.

She died last Monday due to severe and belatedly-treated attack. All of the family mourned a great loss—a loving daughter who worked and hardly complained, who was good with dealing children, a patient tutor, a caring girlfriend, a reliable niece, and a funny cousin.

I was there in the hospital when she died and I saw how five male nurses are trying their best to do CPR to revive her when she had three cardiac arrests within six hours. Coleen has a brave heart. She passed out at 10 in the evening when she failed to breathe after inhaling medicine. She was still alive within 10 minutes when the nurses and resident doctor failed to put properly a tube to put oxygen to her brain. She was rushed to another hospital where her family was crying in distress and grief. At 3:56 a.m. (on our clock), she died.

Coleen was only 25 years old.

I haven’t read any book or checked my blog (except Short Stories on Wednesdays) or visited my friends’ blogs since that fateful day. I even have hard time answering emails. I can’t concentrate, so I can only hope I haven’t hurt anyone. I turned to poems for comfort. I found the following poems for my cousin and, reading them, I smiled when I remember how joyful (just like her name) we were together, Coleen and her cousins.

Simplex Munditiis

By Ben Jonson

STILL to be neat, still to be drest,
As you were going to a feast;
Still to be powder'd, still perfumed:
Lady, it is to be presumed,
Though art's hid causes are not found,
All is not sweet, all is not sound.

Give me a look, give me a face

That makes simplicity a grace;

Robes loosely flowing, hair as free:

Such sweet neglect more taketh me

Than all th' adulteries of art;

They strike mine eyes, but not my heart.

On a certain Lady at Court

By Alexander Pope

I KNOW a thing that 's most uncommon;

(Envy, be silent and attend!)

I know a reasonable woman,

Handsome and witty, yet a friend.

Not warp'd by passion, awed by rumour;

Not grave through pride, nor gay through folly;

An equal mixture of good-humour

And sensible soft melancholy.

'Has she no faults then (Envy says), Sir?'

Yes, she has one, I must aver:

When all the world conspires to praise her,

The woman's deaf, and does not hear.

(L-R) My cousin Coleen Joy; my sister Glenn Sheilou; and my other cousin's daughter, Denise Mae

Song of Myself (excerpt)

By Walt Whitman

It is time to explain myself—Let us stand up.

What is known I strip away;

I launch all men and women forward with me into THE UNKNOWN.

The clock indicates the moment—but what does eternity indicate?

We have thus far exhausted trillions of winters and summers;

There are trillions ahead, and trillions ahead of them.

Births have brought us richness and variety,

And other births will bring us richness and variety.

I do not call one greater and one smaller;

That which fills its period and place is equal to any.

Were mankind murderous or jealous upon you, my brother, my sister?

I am sorry for you—they are not murderous or jealous upon me;

All has been gentle with me—I keep no account with lamentation;

(What have I to do with lamentation?)

I am an acme of things accomplish’d, and I an encloser of things to be.

My feet strike an apex of the apices of the stairs;

On every step bunches of ages, and larger bunches between the steps;

All below duly travel’d, and still I mount and mount.

Rise after rise bow the phantoms behind me;

Afar down I see the huge first Nothing—I know I was even there;

I waited unseen and always, and slept through the lethargic mist,

And took my time, and took no hurt from the fetid carbon.

Long I was hugg’d close—long and long.

Immense have been the preparations for me,

Faithful and friendly the arms that have help’d me.

Cycles ferried my cradle, rowing and rowing like cheerful boatmen;

For room to me stars kept aside in their own rings;

They sent influences to look after what was to hold me.

Before I was born out of my mother, generations guided me;

My embryo has never been torpid—nothing could overlay it.

For it the nebula cohered to an orb,

The long slow strata piled to rest it on,

Vast vegetables gave it sustenance,

Monstrous sauroids transported it in their mouths, and deposited it with care.

All forces have been steadily employ’d to complete and delight me;

Now on this spot I stand with my robust Soul.

Coleen, you will be forever missed. Thank you…for everything.

Me (right) and Coleen when I was nine years old.

To end, let me share with you some words for reflection by Walt Whitman for us left to move on:

Here or henceforward it is all the same to me, I accept Time absolutely.

It alone is without flaw, it alone rounds and completes all, That mystic baffling wonder alone completes all.

I accept Reality and dare not question it

- Nancy -

[Short Stories on Wednesday] Emptied, a short story by H. Katz

2012-04-12T01:21:00.001+08:00

Today is the second Wednesday of Short Stories on Wednesdays, which means that we will have a guest post. Our guest post is made by H. Katz. She shares with us her love for and talent in writing short stories. H. Katz initially coordinated with Risa of Breadcrumb Reads who is the original owner of Short Stories on Wednesdays for a guest post for this month. I am glad I got the opportunity to post her work and learn from her about the importance of clean writing. H. Katz’s short story below entitled “Emptied” could also pass as flash fiction. You could check out more of her creative juices at her blog, The Sill of the World, where she posts her Week in Seven Words, photos, extracts, links to her work, and write-ups on good short fiction and films she enjoyed.

* * *

Emptied

By H. Katz

When she was born Leah was given a bucket of water. Her parents later told her the story: on her arrival home from the hospital an angel with wine-colored wings and white metallic robes had flown into her nursery and left it at the foot of her crib.

Leah’s parents didn’t let her touch the bucket when she was growing up. The water, they said, was crystalline, and she was a careless child who would spill it all. The bucket remained in pride of place on their mantelpiece. She tried several times to get to it; she climbed on armchairs or asked a less strict relative to pass it to her. She was caught and punished each time. All she wanted to do was dabble her fingers in the water, sprinkle some of it on marigolds and dandelions the way she imagined other children did, but even as she grew older her parents didn’t relent. By the time she was a teenager they had tucked the bucket into a locked cabinet among crystal-ware and smooth gray photos of family ancestors.

She began to suspect that there wasn’t any water in the bucket at all. A wild beast had broken into the house and slurped it up or her parents had dumped it into the toilet. She rattled the cabinet sometimes, her teeth set in rage, and when the lock didn’t break she felt old and tired of life.

On the day she left home for good her parents handed over the bucket just as she was pulling out of the driveway. Leah waited until she was far from home before looking inside it. It was filled up most of the way. The surface of the water was furred with dust, and dust had mixed in deep with the water all the way to the bottom. She stared into the bucket for a while and could make nothing of her reflection except for a grainy semblance of a face.

She became indifferent to the bucket. If water splashed over the rim now and then, splotching the pavement, she didn’t care. It’s not that she thought the bucket was bottomless, with an unlimited reserve of water. She knew it would dry up one day. What Leah was living with was the wearying belief that it didn’t matter where the water landed or what she did with it. It looked stale and gray, and she thought it could nourish nothing. She heaved some into the ocean, flung some at the clouds, let a little pool beside her parents’ graves. Wherever she happened to be, and she didn’t settle anywhere for long, she dribbled it into oily puddles and forest streams, treating them as one and the same and putting very little into the soil. For years she carried the bucket in a loose grip, half-hoping someone would come along and kick it out of her hand. Other times she shoved it into a filing cabinet, where the water sloshed around cold and musty in the dark, spiders tickling the surface.

By the time the bucket was mostly empty, Leah was living in a lopsided house at the foot of a hill. One night she sat up staring at the bucket, and her indifference gave way to a frantic sense of purpose. She used the water on patches of soil by her veranda, on the brown grass by her mailbox, and on the roots of trees that clung, stunted and windblown, to the steep hillside. The water had a weird smell, and she didn’t know how to choose good soil, but she made do with what she had. A few spidery flowers sprung from the ground, and star-shaped grasses. Dandelions came up and dotted the grass in gray and yellow.

So little of the water was left at the end, just several droplets. Leah held the bucket and tilted it one way and another, watching the droplets as they slid around. The dry air skimmed them away, one by one, and vanished the streaks of moisture they left behind, until the bottom of the bucket was dry. In her final moments Leah saw only her face, cloudy and dark, reflected off the metallic surface.

* * *

So, what do you think of the story? H. Katz welcomes your comments. For my part, besides the story’s neat and fluid writing, reflecting the writer’s talent, I easily grasped the message the story is trying to tell me--which is to establish a positive outlook in life. I admire how H. Katz effectively this message in a concise manner.

Have you read short fiction by other bloggers? What are your recommendations?

Want to join Short Stories on Wednesdays? Click here for the details. Who knows, you could be our guest in Short Stories on Wednesdays in the succeeding months.

- Nancy -

[Guest Post] Editing and Revising by M. C. V. Egan

2012-04-10T06:08:00.001+08:00

When I started writing again short stories, M. C. V. Egan, writer of The Bridge of Deaths, is very supportive to the extent that she assisted me in the editing of my first work, The Decision, after so many years of dormant short story writing. Her tips below are very helpful; I will always keep them in mind. As they say, no work is final. Even after you published it, when you read it again, you wish this word for something else. Thank you again, M. C. V. Egan, for your guest post. We always look forward to it every month. Readers, don’t hesitate to post your thoughts in the comments section. Thanks!

* * *

Sometimes when we are struck by inspiration and so in awe of our work, we forget that one of the most important things is to put it aside, detach, and look it over at least few days later with a discerning eye. As a writer you need to have the courage to be your own worst critic. Always keep in mind that others will be happy to tear your work apart so you may as well do it first.

Editing, revising, and the dreaded re-write are the most important steps. In my first guest post here at Simple Clockwork, I haphazardly slapped together a little ghost story Over Dinner One Night in October 2008. I had the nerve to use it here and in another website where I had a guest post. I am sure all of you could find MANY more mistakes than the following three examples:

OLD

He took a hefty swig of the Pinot Noir as our food was being served. It was a private dinning room and we waited till the last plate was placed in front of us and we were asked if we needed anything else, so The Skeptic share his experience.

REVISED

He took a hefty swig of the Pinot Noir as our food was being served. It was a private dining room. We waited till the last plate was placed in front of us and were asked if we needed anything else. That was when The Skeptic shared his experience.

OLD

“No, I wasn’t and it get weirder, The next day when I went to check out, I was told that they could not find me in their records, and when I said I was on the fourth floor, they laughed and asked who had sent me from corporate?”

REVISED

“No, I wasn’t and it got weirder, The next day when I went to check out, I was told that they could not find me in their records, and when I said I was on the fourth floor, they laughed and asked who had sent me from corporate?”

OLD

“Was that long ago…”

REVISED

“Was it that long ago…?”

These things can make an enormous difference to a reader, and it can make you lose readers. Keep an eye out for your personal mistakes. All of us are prone to making the same mistakes, or overusing words. I personally seek out the word ‘well’ and just delete it or if need be change it. Well is my crutch and it takes away from so much of my writing.

Always remember that word will not notice a mistake if it is a proper word, even if it is not the proper word for what you are trying to express. Do you eat a dessert or a desert? Do you travel by camel in a dessert or a desert? Be aware that when your creative juices are flowing you may wellchoose the wrong word.

Be brave put your work aside and then judge it as would your worst critic. Rewrite and create magic with your words.

About the Author

Swing by her website to know more about M.C.V. Egan.

Check out the synopsis of The Bridge of Deaths.

Enjoy the video book trailer of The Bridge of Deaths at this link.

To order her wonderful book, please click here.

Check out her book at Amazon.com.

[Irish Short Story Week] Faith by William Trevor

2012-04-06T13:13:00.001+08:00

I already reviewed four short stories for the Irish Short Story Week:

1. The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde

2. The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde

3. The Purple Jar by Maria Edgeworth

4. The Orphans by Maria Edgeworth

When this event started in March 11, I said I just make three at the most. When Mel of The Reading Life extended the event to July 1, I told myself, for anyone who loves anything Irish, who couldn’t resist making another one? I’m exactly doing that today. Last night, while watching Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol at certain intervals, I read a short story by William Trevor, entitled Faith.

Mel’s post on Tevor’s short stories about priests prompted me to read one of his works over at The New Yorker. Sometimes, the people whom we encountered with moves me to read stories about those people. When I was a general assignments reporter, I had a couple of discouraging encounters with priests whose homilies and clerical affairs I cover.

Faith is a short story about siblings Hester and Bartholomew. Hester is eldest by a few years, a spinster. Bartholomew is a priest who nearly married. When Bartholomew is ordained, no church is assigned to him yet. Since they could no longer maintain the upkeep of the apartment they live in when their parents are still alive, they move into the parish in the neighborhood and assists in whatever way they could. When Hester discovers a deteriorating parish in the next town, she subtly dictates the flow of events by getting her brother to manage it. She was succeeds. A few years later, Hester realizes she was terribly sick. She dies on her bed, peacefully. That peace is much emphasized at the end.

A fragment of a doorway in the western gable of the Church of Ireland parish church (rebuilt 1815) is all that remains of Saint Colman’s Monastery in Templeshanbo (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2010) -Source:http://revpatrickcomerford.blogspot.com

Although I enjoyed the story, I honestly could not make most of it, especially Hester. What I could understand is that Hester is quite a complex character to understand. She is moody, caring, selfish, protective, uncaring of what others say, honest, and domineering, among others. I couldn’t say she’s a bad character nor would I say she’s a good character. One thing for sure is, she got faith--faith that her prayers will come true, that all that happens to her and her brother is God’s will. I wouldn’t judge her faith, if I were you. After all, it made her happy. Because of that, she died happy.

It may sound like Bartholomew is just a supporting act but he isn’t; that is, for me. He puts bone to Hester’s characters. Without him, I wouldn’t be able to dislike and like his sister.

William Trevor

When I read the writer’s bio, I realized why Bartholomew and Hester are equally important in Faith. From www.readireland.ie, Trevor’s works are describes as:

Trevor maintains that, unlike the characters in his stories, those in his novels 'cause everything to happen.' His early books are peopled by eccentrics who speak in a pedantically formal manner and engage in hilariously comic activities, which are recounted by a detached narrative voice. Instead of one central figure, the novels feature several protagonists of equal importance, drawn together by an institutional setting, which acts as a convergence point for their individual stories.

Here is a striking passage from his story, Faith, for further understanding about Hester:

Belief was part of Hester, taken for granted, a sturdy certainty that brought her confidence and allowed her to insist she must be taken as she was, allowed her to condemn as a dishonesty any concealment of personal traits. -page 3

When the time came, Hester knew that she would die that night.

Bartholomew was with her. There was no sentiment, she didn’t speak, and Bartholomew sensed that there suddenly was only pain. God’s will, he knew, was what she repeated to herself, as she had since she’d realized her illness was a visitation that would end only as it was ending now. The intensity of her faith, the sureness of her trust, was unaffected by the pain she suffered, and he prayed that she would close her eyes and die. Yet she did not, and Bartholomew telephoned to request that more morphine should be brought. -page 5

Read the entire story here, Faith by William Trevor.

- Nancy -

[Short Stories on Wednesdays] The Goddess by Joyce Carol Oates

2012-04-05T10:22:00.000+08:00

Welcome to Short Stories on Wednesdays! Everyone is encouraged to join Short Stories on Wednesdays, and you can hop right in at anytime! Click here to learn how to get started.

I’ve heard of Joyce Carol Oates before but I haven’t read her works until yesterday when I acquired an old print copy of her short story collection, “The Goddess and Other Women” for only $0.50 at a thrift bookstore. Incredible how some bookstores don’t know the value of good books.

Joyce Carol Oates

The first short story I read, like I always do in every short story collection, is the main story, The Goddess. I like how the story is fluidly written but the message did not resonate to me. I could not even put the title and the story together. Since it is the only story I could talk about for Short Stories on Wednesdays, I’ll try my best.

Claudia and Alfred stopped by a town they visited years ago. The town is near where Alfred will be doing business. It’s a business trip and surprisingly, Claudia is with her husband of 23 years. After arrival and check-in in a hotel where they were assisted by a colored porter, the couple visited boutiques and museums, the last of which is where they encountered some unsavory characters. Back at the hotel, they discovered they have been robbed. One important item missing is the briefcase containing original documents. Alfred immediately accused the colored porter. What follows next is a series of unpleasant experiences for the couple, most especially for Claudia.

There are instances in the story that show Claudia’s fear of her husband, such as the phone ringing but she couldn’t answer it immediately because she was vomiting in the bathroom and the time when she have to spray the bathroom so that her husband won’t suspect her vomiting. There was also the case of wanting to join her husband in the lobby where he was dealing with the police but fear that her husband wouldn’t tolerate having her there so she stayed in their room, restless.

I’m for women empowerment, so you could just understand why this story did not resonate to me. But it shouldn’t be that way for me. You see, The Goddess and Other Women was published in 1974, at a time when women are still discovering their rights an learning to fight for them. Several laws have been passed in this year in favor of women as well as some women’s groups were formed to support abused women.

The story of The Goddess is not totally lacking of women empowerment. I failed to mentioned the last part where Claudia discovered her power as a woman and how she could help her husband retrieve the briefcase. Because of this discovery, Claudia is not yet a goddess but, if she use her power well, she will be.

Since I have no complaints whatsoever on Oates’ writing, I’ll give this story four stars!

- Nancy -

Summer reading, starting with poetry

2012-04-04T23:30:00.000+08:00

April and May are summer months in the Philippines, which means a lot of summer heat, beach trips, and summer reading! I confessed that I have been busy with a huge company event last March, which deprived me of reading time. There’s not much to do in April (that is, I can only hope).

Starting Wednesday afternoon, I practically have 5.5 days of no work because of Holy Week, Thursday to Saturday of which are declared holidays. Then, Monday is another separate holiday celebrating Araw ng Kagitingin. Neat! Apart from catching up on my sleep, I plan to finish reading the following books, all children's classics:

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Arabian Nights by Andrew Lang (editor)

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’engle

The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald

The Island of Adventure by Enid Blyton

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Bobbsey Twins’ Mystery at School by Laura Lee Hope

It’s sort of a read-a-thon for myself, so I can catch up on the books I planned for March but missed because of the RAFI Triennial Awards.

I’ve signed up for the Classics Club at Jillian’s A Room of One’s Own, just the thing I need. I will make use of Short Stories on Wednesdays, which I now host every Wednesday, to feature the short stories I committed to the club. For April, since Mel of The Reading Life extended his Irish Short Story Week, I will do some Irish short stories as well for Short Stories on Wednesdays. It’s going to be an exciting summer!

I have a lot of reviews up for posting. But I read and that’s the most important thing. I finished Beauty by Robin McKinley, rereading several times already Love Finds You in Annapolis by Roseanne White, finished three Boxcar Children books in its series, and of course, several short stories.

I’ve been encouraged by friends and by the supportive blogging community to pursue writing short stories, which I will. I just finished writing “The Decision” with the help of M. C. V. Egan, and “The Rise and Fall of the Romulo Family”. I already have a couple of ideas lined. I hope to write one short story a month.

Now, thanks to The Parrish Lantern, I learned about April every year since 1996 being the National Poetry Month in the US.

The National Poetry Month is a month-long, national celebration of poetry established by the Academy of American Poets. The concept is to widen the attention of individuals and the media—to the art of poetry, to living poets, to our complex poetic heritage, and to poetry books and journals of wide aesthetic range and concern. You can find more information here.

Coincidentally, I bought a poetry collection last Saturday and started reading some of the poems inside. Poetry is not a personal strength; that doesn’t mean, though, that I wouldn’t try to appreciate it. So far, I have read and loved peoms by Amador Daguio and Walt Whitman. I may not be an American but I love poems by American poets like Walt Whitman and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, so why not hop in and join the celebration?

As a start, here is a beautiful poem by Walt Whitman I like, beautiful because of how the poet aptly uses grass as an analogy of life. Oh, I talked a lot about Walt Whitman in this post.

A child said, What is the grass?

By Walt Whitman

A child said, What is the grass? fetching it to me with full
hands;
How could I answer the child?. . . .I do not know what it
is any more than he.

I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of hopeful
green stuff woven.

Or I guess it is the handkerchief of the Lord,
A scented gift and remembrancer designedly dropped,
Bearing the owner's name someway in the corners, that we
may see and remark, and say Whose?

Or I guess the grass is itself a child. . . .the produced babe
of the vegetation.

Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic,
And it means, Sprouting alike in broad zones and narrow
zones,
Growing among black folks as among white,
Kanuck, Tuckahoe, Congressman, Cuff, I give them the
same, I receive them the same.

And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves.

Tenderly will I use you curling grass,
It may be you transpire from the breasts of young men,
It may be if I had known them I would have loved them;
It may be you are from old people and from women, and
from offspring taken soon out of their mother's laps,
And here you are the mother's laps.

This grass is very dark to be from the white heads of old
mothers,
Darker than the colorless beards of old men,
Dark to come from under the faint red roofs of mouths.

O I perceive after all so many uttering tongues!
And I perceive they do not come from the roofs of mouths
for nothing.

I wish I could translate the hints about the dead young men
and women,
And the hints about old men and mothers, and the offspring
taken soon out of their laps.

What do you think has become of the young and old men?
What do you think has become of the women and
children?

They are alive and well somewhere;
The smallest sprouts show there is really no death,
And if ever there was it led forward life, and does not wait
at the end to arrest it,
And ceased the moment life appeared.

All goes onward and outward. . . .and nothing collapses,
And to die is different from what any one supposed, and
luckier.

I just bought a print selected poetry collection by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and currently reading Evangeline. I will also be rereading The Song of Hiawatha, which strongly reminds me of Ilocano legend, Biad ni Lam-ang.

What are you planning to read this summer?

- Nancy -

[An Original Short Story] The Rise and Fall of the Romulo Family by Nancy R. Cudis

2012-04-01T12:34:00.000+08:00

January 5, 2000 was a joyous day for the Romulo Family because of two good news that happened to them. One was the wife of the second and youngest son was pregnant for the third time. The family, though, rejoiced more over the lottery win of the father--Php 10 million!

The number was so huge to grasp for them. They call it God’s blessing, an answer to the financial problems hounding them in the past three months--so many bills to pay, 11 (soon 12) mouths to feed, slowing furniture business, and tuition fees of three children in kindergarten and elementary level.

Mateo, the father of the family, and his wife, Linda, has two sons. The eldest is Matthew who was born five years after their marriage. He is married with two daughters and one son. The youngest is Romeo whose girlfriend and their two sons is living with them. Matthew has a good job, so he can well provide for his own family on his own. Romeo is another story. He has not finished college and has no job.

After Mateo withdrew the win, the family threw a big bash at home complete with two roasted pigs, one big cake, five different types of dishes, and flowing drinks. Almost all from the small neighborhood of Molave were invited. Everyone thought it was because of Daisy Romulo’s third pregnancy that caused it. Except for Mateo’s three brothers and their families who already knew of the reason behind the celebration, the event raised the eyebrows of two family neighbors who have been watching the Romulos like squawking vultures.

The win was supposed to be a family secret. But the way the Romulos were glowing with excitement after they purchased a 200-square meter lot where they built a new house in Narra, a 100-square meter boarding house in Bagtikan across a university, and shared plans of sending the children to expensive private schools, the neighborhood were not dumb to surmise it was a lottery luck. When they discovered they were correct, many individuals flocked the house night by night asking for financial assistance.

For Mateo’s brothers, they consider his move from Molave to Narra as fortunate. Still, that did not stop one or two persons from Molave to take a 45-minute trip to his new house to either deceive him with false goods or ask for money with the promise to pay it the following week. Good old Mateo, falling into their claims, would lend Php 1,000. The highest he shelled out was Php 8,000.

Five months after the lottery win, the Romulo Family soon dropped into an expensive routine--nobody is supervising the family furniture business anymore, they go out to the malls or to the beaches every weekends, and they continuously lend out money. One of Mateo’s younger brothers, Dodong, a wise businessman with a thriving beer and beverage distribution, was alarmed. He advised Mateo to get a franchise or start another business, an advice that received rebuff.

After three years, Mateo and Linda realized they have very little money left in their coffers, prompting them to follow up those who borrowed money from them only to find out the borrowers could no longer be found. Mateo went back to his furniture business. They sold the boarding house and their house. These were not enough, though. They transferred the children from private to public schools. Mateo and Linda went to live with Matthew and his wife who now have to work harder than before to provide for their children and now for their parents.

Romeo and his three children went to live with his wife’s family in Anilau where their new home was surrounded by residents of odd types--drug addicts, prostitutes, gamblers, gossips, and abusives. Romeo and his wife found odd jobs to put food on the table, leaving their children to grow up under unfortunate influences--Randy, the eldest, dropped out of Grade 2 without learning how to read and write and swore never to go back to school; Rowel, the second, learned cockfighting at five years old and hanged out with gamblers; and the youngest, Raven, a daughter, became a victim of physical abuse by her grandmother, her mother’s mother.

A year later, on January 5, 2004, the Romulo Family was suffering. They have never been able to pick up again. Linda had died a sad woman and Mateo was suffering of tuberculosis. Matthew went abroad to find a well-paying job after he borrowed Php 80,000 from his Uncle Dodong, leaving a lonely wife and children with no father figure to guide them. Romeo grew bitter, spending his free time surfing the Internet to find temporary escape rather than feeding and dressing his children and caring for his busy wife.

Here ends the story of the rise and fall of the Romulo Family. It would be interesting to know how they would end in a few years. I know for myself that I have learned to pick up and start anew. I thank my aunt, Anna, daughter of Uncle Dodong and first-degree cousin of my father, for rescuing me from my mother’s mother from abuse. I’m now living with her and her two children who treated me kindly as their sister. Ironically, I am glad to be separated from my family because early on, I realized I wouldn’t have a future in Anilau.

I wouldn’t go back, only move forward. I miss my poor brothers, though. Randy went back to school with much difficulty. Rowel stopped cockfighting because my Uncle Matthew instructed his wife to get Rowel out of bad influence and live with her before it’s too late. My father, from what I know, is now a sad man. My mother continues to work to the bone. The latest gossip I heard was she got herself a more wealthy man. That always got my mother and father fighting like mad dogs.

Now you know who I am. I am Raven, 12 years old, the third daughter of Romeo and the sixth grandchild of Mateo, and I promised myself I would never be my grandfather’s granddaughter and commit the same mistake again. So I will ask my Aunt Anna to keep me telling the Romulo Family’s tragic story. Like today.

- The End -

The Rise and Fall of the Romulo Family by Nancy R. Cudis

[Short Stories on Wednesdays] Sitting in the Moonlight and End of an Era--two short stories by Elmer Ordoñez

2012-03-29T00:00:00.000+08:00

Welcome to Short Stories on Wednesdays! Everyone is encouraged to join Short Stories on Wednesdays, and you can hop right in at anytime! Click here to learn how to get started. It’s all simple, really. If you’ve read short stories within the past week, share them in the comments section of my post. You are not required to make a blog post of your thoughts. If you have, don’t hesitate to share the link and we’ll hop on to your site to check it out!

Last week, I missed a post on Short Stories on Wednesdays, which I sincerely apologize. You may check here the stuff that held me up and prevented me to make that post. I’ll try my best to make it up to you.

So, for today’s Short Stories on Wednesdays, I’ve read two short stories by Filipino writer Elmer Ordoñez, entitled “Sitting in the Moonlight” and “End of an Era”. Of the two, I like the latter better; I’ll explain that bias in a bit. These two stories are found in Ordoñez’s seven-short story collection, “Sitting in the Moonlight and Other Stories”, which I bought from a local bookstore.

Let me start my thoughts on the stories by saying there are no winners in a war. So many lives and minds and innocence lost. Ordoñez has clearly illustrated that idea in these two short works that are both being starred by the same person, Elias, a young boy whose family are war victims during the Japanese occupation. He is not too young as not to be aware of the ravages of war around him.

Book Cover of Ordonez' short story collection

In Sitting in the Moonlight (11 pages), Ordoñez narrates Elias’ experiences of survival in a war against the Japanese, which puts his father in Fort Santiago and his brother in the battlefield. He is too young to join the war, so he helps his mother sell fruits in the public market and carry them for sale to the Japanese soldiers. What is poignant about the story is how he used to watch the parade with his father who would ensure that the family gets a good view of the event and now, as a vendor dressed in dirty clothes, he is shooed away by a policeman.

End of an Era (17 pages) is more poignant. It implies the death of a child’s innocence. It narrates Elias’ experience days before the Japanese occupation and during the Japanese occupation. What is symbolic in this story is the use of two letters from a former classmate, which represents Elias longing to get things back to how they used to be. When he realizes his longings is far from possible, he tore the letters apart.

More trucks and buses passed through Mayon, and now the soldiers look grim and the people were no longer cheering as much. He first saw it in his mother’s grief over the departure of Jimmy. Then he saw it in his father’s face.

That night Elias took out Daisy’s letters and went across the street into a field where he stood for a while under a starless sky. Then he tore the letters into small bits and flung them in the darkness.

On New Year he saw the enemy in camouflage coming up the street in bicycles.

Come to think of it, these stories are mere narration of events and still I got hooked. I know the story revolves around the Japanese-American war that in itself is already a conflict. But apart from that, that stories deviate from the strict structured form. I am no expert, but they actually provoked me into thinking as to what Ordoñez is actually trying to tell me rather than getting me conscious on its style or form. I think he is telling me that the wars is not about the adults; they affect children, too. And he is telling me just how the kids are affected. Some may try to be strong, some may cry, some may persevere, some may get vow vengeance. Sadly, through Ordoñez’s two short stories, I realized wars get kids to grow up so fast.

These stories prompted a passionate discussion with the boyfriend about the wars. Early this morning, I received a scholarly paper about the Koga Papers and WWII in the Pacific, which I am excited to talk about in a separate blog post.

So, how about you, what short stories have you read? Please share them in this post. Thanks!

- Nancy -

Ten days of absence

2012-03-24T14:58:00.002+08:00

I received a couple of messages from fellow bloggers asking me how I was doing. You see, I have stopped posting and commenting for the last ten days or so. Mind you, I miss blogging. But I have other equally important tasks at work that require my focus and concentration, which, at the end of the day, send me scurrying to bed with the hope of a good rest.

There were several special occasions that challenged my blogging schedule. For one, it was my father’s birthday last March 20 and we celebrated it at McDonald's!

Second, I helped in the preparations of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc. (RAFI) Triennial Awards, which every three years recognizes grassroots heroes in the Visayas and Mindanao regions of the Philippines who uplifted the quality of lives of the people in the communities they operate. It was held last March 22 at the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel Cebu.

I handled the public relations and media component of the event, requiring me to fly in and accommodate 13 reporters and bloggers from different key cities in the country to cover the big event. It was my first time to do so in my two years and two months at RAFI. A big challenge it was, I am extremely grateful to my colleagues Golda, Fatrick, and John at the Communications Team where I belong for helping me out in the preparations that took more than three weeks.

It was a very challenging experience but it was worth it and I was super proud of myself for not panicking. I talked with a PR guy I used to interview when I was a business reporter and I told him of my experiences. He happily greeted my, “Welcome to our world, Nancy!” I replied back, “Now I know how you (in the PR world) feel!” Here are some photos grabbed from fellow blogger Ruben Licera during the event:

The photo wall of the RAFI Triennial Awards at Marco Polo Plaza Cebu (Photo by Ruben Licera)

Cebu bloggers, leaders, and social media entrepreneurs (L-R): Ruben Licera, Nancy Cudis, Jaysee Pingkian, and Vernon Go

Cebu meets Davao! (L-R) Dulce Lada, president of Davao Bloggers, Cebu Bloggers Society Inc. (CBSi) BOT member Nancy Cudis, Davao Bloggers group secretary Karla Stefan Singson, CBSi Vice-President Ruben Licera, CBSi past president Vernon Go, and CBSi BOT member Jaysee Pingkian

The feedback I got from the regional media and bloggers were overwhelming. Alex Pal of Metropost in Dumaguete City, for one, said, “From our Cebu visit to my FB request, you have been consistently prompt and efficient! Thank you!” Here’s another one from travel and photo blogger, Bonzenti Panganiban:

“I am very much thankful with the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. for their professional, sincere and warm accommodation to both of us. Such a wonderful Cebuano Way in treating us, whose part of me is also a Cebuano. You can feel their true spirit of Professionalism. Kudos to that. Special thanks to Fatrick Tabada and Nancy Cudis, and the rest of their colleagues who really treated us with due respect. Many thanks to all. :-). Continue your legacy in helping the country, especially in Visayas and Mindanao, in helping grassroots heroes, to continue the spirit in serving the community. Double Salute to you guyz... Just remember this : Continue the Legacy of Virtue as against the Legacy of Wealth, because the Legacy of Virtue has infinite value.”

This is for you, Communications Team of RAFI!

On a personal note, I received a book from one of the bloggers we invited, Karla Stefan Singson from Davao. She gave me a hardbound copy of Burden by Tony Walters! Ain't that great! What completed my day, no matter how busy it was, was the package I received by mail--a paperback copy of The Bridge of Deaths by my dear friend, M. C. V. Egan! The boyfriend and I are dying to read it! Thank you very much to both of you!

The very next day, March 23, was my sister’s graduation. She graduated Bachelor of Science in Commerce major in Entrepreneurship at the University of San Carlos, one of the reputable and oldest schools in Cebu. My parents are mighty proud; they even hung up our graduation photos on the wall of our living room (yep, including mine taken seven years ago) and they wouldn’t want it any other way. For a job well done in the past four years (she helped put up a silver jewelry business!), my sister received a Galaxy Tab from our parents and a headphone from me and the boyfriend. We ate in Lamesa restaurant in SM City Northwing and had a great family dinner! Today, March 24, my family’s preparing for a post-graduation party for my sister. We are only two siblings and I’m glad my sister finally completed her studies so that my parents wouldn’t have to worry much.

That's me on the left and my sister, Glenn Sheilou, on the right. We look pretty neat as a pair, don't you think? We have the same eyes, eyebrows, and cheekbones!

Now, for me, would be great timing to pursue my master’s in media studies. I am, in fact, getting my documents ready for enrolment next Saturday. For now, I am preparing for a retro party tonight and a movie date with the boyfriend on Monday before I’ll go on a business trip on Tuesday in Manila. I’m catching up what my long hours of work these past weeks have deprived me of. Of course, I’ll go back to book blogging now that I’ve got plenty of time before the next big event in May! I will also go back to reading Irish short stories for the Irish Short Story Week while my reviews of Beauty by Robin McKinley will be up soon!

It has been a hectic three weeks. I even missed Short Stories on Wednesdays last March 21. But I’m going to make up for that. I usually watch an episode of Bewitched on Youtube before I go to sleep after a long day to have a good laugh. Thank you all for wishing me well. I’ll see you around from now on. Have a great day!

- Nancy -

I adore Puffin Classics book covers!

2012-03-18T15:23:00.001+08:00

I continued reading my physical copy of The Princess and the Goblin. Apart from the story, I admire the cover. I went to check other Puffin Classics books. The covers made me itch to buy them. Here are what I found:

So what do you think? Do you like it? Which one do you especially like?

- Nancy -

[Irish Short Story Week] The Orphans by Maria Edgeworth

2012-03-17T22:16:00.000+08:00

Encouraged after reading The Purple Jar by Maria Edgeworth, I went on to read another short story she wrote as part of her collection, The Parent’s Assistant, for the Irish Short Story Week organized by Mel U of The Reading Life. It’s quite long for a short story, about 20 pages or so on my Mobipocket Reader.

Upon finishing reading The Orphans, I thought again of my advice in my post on The Purple Jar: I think the story also requires the parental guidance. I’ll explain that to you in a bit.

The Orphans tells the story of four children whose widowed mother dies and have to manage themselves in order to survive. After paying of family debts upon their mother’s death and with no more money to pay for the cabin’s rent to their landlord’s agent, a heard-hearted man, they move into the ruins of the old castle of Rossmore. They help each other by working according to their capacities--12-year-old Mary, the eldest, goes on spinning like her deceased mother; Edmund, 9, goes on leading cart-horses and running errands for gentlemen; and Peggy, 6, and Nancy, 7, work at the paper-mills to sort rags and cut them into small pieces. They are good honest children (they quite remind me of The Boxcar Children); they settle into a contented life as they continue to work industriously. Towards the end, their honesty is greatly tested after they find a treasure in the ruins of their shelter.

You could say at their age, they are far too young to be exposed to a hard life. I mean, it’s child labor! But come to think of it, what other choice do they have? The story did not mention of government’s social welfare agencies or non-government organizations available to help them. There were only two women who belong to the upper class who help the children in their own capacity and respectability by providing them supplies and clothes, encouraging Mary to take on the shoe-making trade, indirectly taking in Edmund into the service of a vicarage, and ensuring that the children is not having a difficult life.

I’m just annoyed when some words are in big caps for double emphasis. For me, there is no need. Here’s an example:

Isabella and Caroline often visited them, and sometimes gave them clothes, and sometimes flax or cotton for their spinning and knitting; and these children did not EXPECT, that because the ladies did something for them, they should do everything. They did not grow idle or wasteful.

When I say that this story requires parental guidance, my reason for saying so is found in the last paragraph of the story, with some letters in big caps again:

"No," replied the postmaster's daughter; "this house is given to them AS A REWARD--that was the word in the letter; for I saw it. Edmund showed it to me, and will show it to anyone that wants to see. This house was given to them 'AS A REWARD FOR THEIR HONESTY.'"

The Orphans is some sort of a children’s story, but if children read this, I hope they will not think they need to do something good and expect a good reward in return. I think parents should explain that well.

It’s a good story overall. The Orphans is a signature of Edgeworth’s strong didactic writing. You can read the whole story HERE.

Have you read The Orphans by Maria Edgeworth? What do you think of it?

- Nancy -

Joining The Classics Club

2012-03-17T11:26:00.000+08:00

First off, I’m overwhelmed by the number--50 books! Second, I’m comforted with the timeline--five years! When Jillian of A Room of One’s Own created The Classics Club earlier this month, I was having doubts over my commitment to see this challenge through. I had joined four challenges earlier this year, a couple of them I have given up because I’ve lost fun of reading when pressured. They were books that were not really of interest to me but which I wanted to challenge myself, you understand?

Now, after more than a week of reflection and going over my books on my shelves (books I really wanted to read for a long time), I listed them down. They reached 15. When I was browsing over my private wishlist of classic books at Amazon, well, they are more than 50. So I selected which ones I really wanted to read. Not long, they reached 30. When I visited HKatz’s The Sill of The World’s post on her commitment to join The Classics Club, I told myself, “Heck, I could do it, too!” :-)

For my list, since I’m a sucker for short stories and novellas, I included some of them here. I will have 30 novels, 5 novellas, and 300 short stories (counted as 15 books).

My personal deadline (crossing fingers tightly) to finish my list of 50 books is 3/17/2017. I can manage to read 10 books a year at my own pace, rather than be required to post one book a month. Jillian asked what prize I will give myself after finishing this milestone in my reading life. I really don’t know, well, except, maybe more books? ;-)

Novels

Atwood, Margaret - The Handmaid’s Tale
Atwood, Margaret - Lady Oracle
Bowen, Elizabeth - Friends and Relations
Bronte, Charlotte - Villette
Carroll, Lewis - Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Dickens, Charles - The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
Dickens, Charles - Bleak House
Dostoevsky, Fyoder - The Idiot
Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby
Golding, William - Lord of the Flies
Haggard, H. Rider - She
Hemmingway, Ernest - For whom the Bell Tolls
Huxley, Aldous - Brave New World
Kafka, Franz - The Metamorphosis
Kipling, Rudyard - Captains Courageous
Knowles, John - A Separate Peace
Lang, Andrew (editor) - Arabian Nights
L’engle, Madeleine - A Wrinkle in Time
Lowry, Lois - The Giver
MacDonald, George - The Princess and the Goblin
Mitchell, Margaret - Gone with the Wind
Montgomery, L. M. - Anne of Green Gables
Montgomery, L. M. - Anne of Ingleside
Nesbit, E. - The Railway Children
Plath, Sylvia - The Bell Jar
Speare, Elizabeth George - The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Webster, Jean - Daddy-Long-Legs
Wells, H. G. - The Island of Dr. Moreau
Wharton, Edith - The Age of Innocence
Wilde, Oscar - The Picture of Dorian Gray

Novellas

Dickens, Charles - A Christmas Carol
James, Henry - The Turn of the Screw
James, Henry - The Beast in the Jungle
James, Henry - Washington Square
James, Henry - The Aspern Papers (re-read)

Short Stories

Aesop’s Fables (80 tales)
Alcott, Lousia May (15 stories)
Chekhov, Anton (15 stories)
Edgeworth, Maria (15 stories)
Henry, O. (20 stories)
Mansfield, Katherine (15 stories)
Poe, Edgar Allan Poe (15 stories)
Stowe, Harriet Beecher (15 stories)
Thackeray, William Makepeace (15 stories)
Turgenev, Ivan (15 stories)
Twain, Mark (15 stories)
Wharton, Edith (15 stories)
Wells, H. G. (15 stories)
Wilde, Oscar (20 stories)
Yeats, William Butler (15 stories)

- Nancy -

[In My Mailbox] Mixed--both old and new books!

2012-03-17T02:27:00.000+08:00

Every once in a while, I feel like putting up an In My Mailbox post not to brag the treasures I’ve found but to solicit thoughts and reviews from bloggers and readers who might have read these books already. In My Mailbox is hosted by The Story Siren. On the side, I hope God’ll forgive me for being such a "passionate" book hoarder.

So here are my book finds. Which ones have you read? And what do you think about it/them?

Apart from reading, I’ve been watching over Youtube episodes of classic TV series Bewitched, starring Elizabeth Montgomery as sweet Samantha, Dick York as clumsy Darren, and Agnes Moorehead as wonderful Endora. All the episodes I’ve watch so far (I’m on the 21 episode) are very entertaining; they help take away some of the stresses of a long day at work. Here’s the first episode. Enjoy!

- Nancy -

[Irish Short Story Week] The Purple Jar by Maria Edgeworth

2012-03-16T00:08:00.000+08:00

For my second entry for the Irish Short Story Week Year 2 created and hosted by Mel U of The Reading Life, I chose to read The Purple Jar by Maria Edgeworth. It is a very short read and insightful, though quite morally forceful. It is one of Edgeworth’s popular short stories.

The Purple Jar is considered as “a parable of desire and disappointment (that) retains an extraordinary hold on the public and literary imagination”. It tells the story of Rosamund, 7, who badly needs a new pair of shoes but she wants to buy a purple jar she saw by the show window. When her mother gives her the choice of spending her money on shoes or the purple jar, Rosamund chooses the latter, believing that the shoes will last until the next month when her mother will buy her a new pair. It turns out that the jar was not purple but filled with dark fluid, much to Rosamund’s disappointment. The experience has filled her with hope that the next time around, she would be much wiser in choosing.

I understand that The Purple Jar could be considered a children’s story, but I think children need parental guidance to explain well the implied moral of the story. The Purple Jar is one of those many children’s tales by Edgeworth that are practical advice in literary form, emphasizing on child learning from experience and reasoning.

As a whole, I like the story. I understand what the author is trying to tell me. Please check out the story HERE, both in podcast and text.

I hope to read more stories by Maria Edgeworth, one of the reputable intellectuals in Irish history who did not waver in her high standards as an educationist and writer on class, race, and gender for many years. She was described as “outspoken and small in stature, she was never short on grace and wit”.

There was one particular incident in her life that I admire; it was when Sir William Rowan Hamilton, president of the Royal Irish Academy, sought Edgeworth’s advice because he wanted to promote literature in Ireland. You know what she recommended, among many recommendations? That women be included in their evening parties.

Portrait of Maria Edgeworth by John Downman (1807)

What is also notable about Edgeworth, a pioneer of social realism and historical tales, was how her works influenced the younger writers at the time, including William Makepeace Thackery, Turgenev, and yes, Jane Austen.

Have you read The Purple Jar? What do you think about it? Post your comments here! Thanks!

- Nancy -

[Short Stories on Wednesdays # 3] A Knowing Look and Other Stories by Rebecca Emin + Guest Post + GIVEAWAY!

2012-03-14T01:00:00.000+08:00

Welcome to Short Stories on Wednesdays!

Please consider joining Short Stories on Wednesdays, which is originally hosted by Risa of Breadcrumb Reads. Everyone is encouraged to hop right in at anytime! Click HERE on how to get started.

Today, we have a guest. I featured Rebecca Emin and some of her short stories because she is originally scheduled for March for Short Stories on Wednesdays. And I’m happy to have her here at Simple Clockwork because I like her witty short stories.

Rebecca lives near Oxford in England with her family. She is a mother of three lovely children. Her first novel, New Beginnings, was in January 2012 while her second novel, When Dreams Come True, is recently finished. She likes writing shorts stories, which is evident when her efforts to contribute two stories to a collection, Shambelurking and Other Stories, was published and sold to raise funds for autistic children. This particular collection is an anthology of stories by many people. She is hoping to write more books for children and teen.

One of her short story collection is entitled “A Knowing Look and Other Stories”, four stories of which I’ve read and found endearing. I bought an ebook copy of her short stories on my Kindle and I like it. I will, in particular, talk about the four tales I’ve read so far in this collection of 18 short stories for today’s Short Stories on Wednesdays.

A Knowing Look tells a parallel tale of two mothers--one an elephant and the other a human. It is told in a first point of view of the human mother. The elephant mother loses a baby while the narrator loses her life. Both deceased were buried side by side “under a large Boscia tree”. This was well-written and I admire how the story started and flowed gracefully and ending well. It’s a touching story, too, about the relationships between animals and men, among men, and among animals.

A Step too Far tells a mother who loses a son to her husband who is not human. At least, that’s what I understood from the last statement of the story, “Josh has gone to live with his Father on Zoriagan”. Of the four stories, this one is my least favorite not because it was written poorly (the opposite, actually), but because it is way too short for me to understand the cause of the son’s disappearance. Besides, this one, if blown up, could make one good story for kids or teens, if told from the perspective of the brother, Sam. But I think this is what others would call flash fiction, something I have to learn more about and explore.

And the Wind Blows is a poignant love letter of a daughter/son (I couldn’t be too sure of the gender of the narrator) for her/his father who died of cancer. I like the symbolism of the wind in the last part of the story. This is a must-read for all because we ourselves are children of our parents.

My Island Tale is my favorite of the four tales I’ve read because the setting, an island, is close to my heart. I live in an archipelagic country, I reside in an island, and I am surrounded by hundreds of small and big islands. The story could have very well happened to one of my fishermen relatives midwest of my province. Cebu is perpetually hounded by tourists, you know, so this particular statement in the short story resonates with me: “They arrive, tense, searching, longing. Sometimes they find what they are looking for, but most of the time, they just have a short break from reality.” My Island Tale is a somewhat tragic love story between a man living on an island and a city girl who came to the island as a tourist.

I admire Rebecca’s ability to string simple words together and make it touching, overwhelming, and thought-provoking. Here’s a short guest post she made for Short Stories on Wednesdays:

As I mentioned in this post, I first studied short stories back in school when we read a book of short stories, including The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster. To be honest, I remember feeling a bit put out that we had to read short stories instead of a novel, but once we began to study them, I enjoyed the form greatly.

It was only in 2009, when I started writing seriously, that I started to think about short stories again. I also discovered flash fiction, which is something I hadn’t really heard of before this time. I had no idea how much I would grow to love both reading and writing flash fiction, which is possibly now my favourite form of all.

The short stories and flash fiction I have written since are hard to define. I don’t really stick with one genre for long so there is a great deal of variation between them, but I find I write my short stories when I am feeling under pressure or emotional, so a lot of them tend to be quite hard hitting contemporary stories.

I have had a number of my stories published in collections and via the Ether Books app but at one stage I wondered how I could gather my favourites into one place. This was how A Knowing Look and Other Stories came to be. Published in November 2011, it is a collection of my short stories and flash fiction, which is currently available from all the usual online retailers.

Oh, this post wouldn’t be complete without a giveaway, right? Rebecca is giving away a paperback copy of her A Knowing Look and Other Stories and it’s open INTERNATIONAL. The giveaway ends on Tuesday next week, March 20, so that we will announce the winners during the weekly Short Stories on Wednesdays.

To enter, just hit the comments section, share how you bond with your mother or father, and provide your name and email address.

Thanks!

- Nancy -

[Irish Short Story Week] The Happy Prince, and The Selfish Giant--two short stories by Oscar Wilde

2012-03-12T13:00:00.000+08:00

This is my first entry to the Irish Short Story Week (Year 2) created and hosted by Mel U of The Reading Life. I have selected to read a couple of short stories by Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), an Irish playwright, poet, and author. This is my first time to read anything by him, although I have heard of him several times back in school and while visiting other literary blogs.

Well, reading about his life, I thought, “Now here’s a man who could write without fear just as he could dress flamboyantly and without fear”. He is a great classicist. After Dublin, he studied in Oxford. Because of this, it is not surprising to know he became very much involved in the rising philosophy of aestheticism, which were advocated by one of his tutors, Walter Pater. As a disciple of this philosophy, he pursued beauty for beauty’s sake.

Then, Wilde became involved more involved with aestheticism; he was intimately involved with several men. His homosexuality caused quite a stir during his time, which eventually led to his downfall. And yet, during those distressing times, he was still able to write his emotions and his thoughts of the society clearly. In his “De Profundis”, he wrote, “Society, as we have constituted it, will have no place for me, has none to offer; but Nature, whose sweet rains fall on unjust and just alike, will have clefts in the rocks where I may hide, and secret valleys in whose silence I may weep undisturbed.”

His life story is very interesting, if you check out online resources; I would like to read the works of Vyvyan, Wilde’s daughter, who wrote his memoir “Son of Oscar Wilde” (1954) and published “Oscar Wilde: A Pictorial Biography” (1960).

I read two short stories that are also fables, The Happy Prince and The Selfish Giant, from Wilde’s “The Happy Prince and Other Stories”. These two stories somehow represent the collection of tales, which is about social conscience, love, and loyalty. They also deal with beauty, tragedy, agony, compassion, innocence, and platonic love.

In The Happy Prince, a golden statue is built for the prince. When a swallow rests on the statue’s feet, the bird and the talking statue begin to form a devoted friendship. The swallow serves as a messenger for the prince who wants to help his people by what he had--a ruby on the sword, two sapphire stones on his eyes, and the gold casting of the statue. The ending is sad, but at least, the two friends are still together. Read The Happy Prince HERE.

In The Selfish Giant, a giant arrives at is castle from a long visit only to find children playing on his garden. Angry, he walled the garden and warned the children never to come to his yard. With no children around, the trees, flowers, and birds are sad, and so they stop growing and coming. Only the snow and frost become persistent visitors of the garden. When the giant saw children creep into the garden to play, snow and frost went away. From then on, the giant kept the garden open for the children. The giant died a happy man. Read The Selfish Giant HERE.

My next post for the Irish Short Story Week would be some works by Elizabeth Bowen, Anne Enright, and Maria Edgeworth. I hope you could join the Irish Short Story Week, too!

- Nancy -

I think I just did a read-a-thon.

2012-03-11T23:30:00.000+08:00

Do you have some days when all you want to do all day is read and the time actually permits you to do so? That’s the feeling I get every Sundays. It’s the only day I could really concentrate on reading. Weekdays are tough. I work full-time and go home to sleep. That is why, as much as possible, I make my blog posts for the week on Sundays.

Today, I had a great time travelling through reading. I was overwhelmed with a desperation at the possibility that I wouldn’t be able to read next Sunday because of a huge work-related event that requires all my energy. So I read and read today. Here are what I have devoured so far:

Beauty by Robin McKinley (finished last week but read again some favorite parts)
The Boxcar Children # 1
The Boxcar Children # 2: Surprise Island
The Boxcar Children # 10: Schoolhouse Mystery
Tales from the Arabian Nights
  - Introduction
  - The Story of the Merchant and the Genius
  - The Story of the First Old Man and of the Hind
  - The Story of the Second Old Man and of the Two Black Dogs
  - The Story of the Fisherman
  - The Story of the Greek King and the Physician Douban
Short Stories
  - The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde (just made a scheduled blog post on it)
  - The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde (just made a scheduled blog post on it)
  - The Cherry Orchard by Maria Edgeworth
Valiant Bride by Jane Peart
Cebuano Poetry
  - Balitaw
  - Serenades

Oh, I’m not done yet. After I make this post, I will continue reading the following, in order:

The Mistress of Mellyn by Victoria Holt
The Princess and the Goblin by George McDonald
The Beast in the Jungle by Henry James

Sometimes, I wish everyday’s a Sunday. But life is not like the fairy tales I’ve read where happy endings put princesses in castles with lots of servants to attend to them. But we make the most of it, don’t we?

Before I end this post, let me tell you how happy I am when my guest post, “With the Surge of E-books, are Physical Books Dying?”, was posted on Agnes’s blog, Empress of Drac. Agnes is a great person I met through the activities of the Cebu Bloggers Society Inc. Both of us are members. Please do check out her blog HERE.

Thanks!

- Nancy -

[Guest Post] 5 Reasons Physical Books Are Better Than E-readers by Alexis Tate

2012-03-11T09:13:00.000+08:00

Photo Source: www.saidaonline.com

Lately, all of the hustle-and-bustle has been about e-readers. The Kindle Fire was released around Christmas time, Barnes & Noble recently released their e-reader, and of course, the iPad allows users to buy and read books through iTunes. Sure, they’re convenient, especially for those who own tablets, but are tablets and e-readers really better? Below you’ll find 5 reasons why physical books are better than digital ones.

Batteries. You know how annoying it is when you run out of battery on your phone or laptop right in the middle of something important or entertaining? That can happen right at the peak of a really great book if you’re reading on an e-reader. Physical books, on the other hand, never run out of battery.

Children & Learning. Many parents have quit story-time, instead opting for e-readers that have a “read out loud” feature. Temple University researchers found that this may obstruct children’s ability to learn because parents interact differently when they aren’t the ones reading to their children.

According to The New York Times parenting blog, The Motherlode, which covered the story, “Children sitting with a parent while an e-reader reads to them understand significantly less of what’s read than those hearing a parent read. Researchers… noted that parents reading books aloud regularly asked children questions about the book: ‘What do you think will happen next?’Parents sitting with the child while a device to read to them (like a LeapPad or some iPad apps) didn’t ask these questions, or relate images or incidents in the book to the child’s real life. Instead, their conversation was focused on how to use the device: ‘Careful! Push here. Hold it this way.’” In a time where technology is created to make our lives easier, occupying children with an electronic device that will read to them is tempting; however, this temptation could ultimately hinder children’s education.

Focus. Because tablets and many e-readers come internet-ready and gaming-capable, it is easy to be distracted from reading. Physical books have no such distractions.

Notes. Part of some people’s reading experience is making notes of their thoughts in book margins; such a thing isn’t possible with e-readers and tablets.

The Experience. Perhaps most important to the book community is that the entire reading experience is missed when e-readers are used to read books. You can’t feel the books paper, smell the smell of a book, view the book’s cover each time you open it to read, or easily navigate through the book to reference information; even holding an e-reader doesn’t feel like you’re holding a book. Because you can physically see how much of physical book is left, there’s a feeling of excitement and, at the same time sadness, when you reach the end of it; that same feeling, one inherent when reading a physical book, is missing when reading an e-book.

* * *

Alexis Tate is a writer offering us a guest post about the benefits physical books have over digital ones. Alexis writes on a variety of topics, but her passion lies in law. After realizing that lawyers represent themselves falsely to citizens in need of legal help, Alexis began writing educational articles to help citizens find a good car accident lawyer.