Independence Day

AKA Hello World, Take 2

Welcome to Writer Shelves, a little rest stop on the Information Highway filled with words and art. Regular posts appear every Tuesday and Thursday and cover topics related to writing and the promotion of writing. You can read more details about that on the About page.

When I first emailed with Design by Reese my thoughts about this website, I described it as “a small place, like an overstuffed chair in the corner, but with a lot of space down the hallways like the best fantasy library that goes on forever. The shelves are filled with books on writing and publishing, to Japanese anime, art books, stuffed animals and trophies so worn you can’t read the engraving on the rusted brass plaque.”

The URL is an evolution of my original concept which was WritersHelve.com. A helve is the handle of a tool or weapon; depending what you put on the end of it, you’ve got a hammer or an axe. Therefore the website would contain basic information that people could use as they wished to create their own tools.

When I registered the domain, I realized no one but me would parse it between the “s” and “h”, and thus WriterShelves.com was born. And it still works, because I enjoy the metaphor of shelves, both physical and mental.

What do people put on their shelves and why? It’s a place of storage, of display and visibility, of filed and forgotten. Writers often talk of their “brag shelves” – the place they keep copies of their published works. And anyone, writer or not, can understand a shelf, whether there are books or only dust bunnies sitting on it.

So these shelves are now open to the world, and will be filled and piled and filed and stacked as the days go on. I hope you enjoy your visit.

my freedom

And as today is a celebration of the United Stats of America, I wish to thank all those who serve here and abroad, now and then. I would not have such freedom without you, and I am truly grateful.

Citizen G’Kar: No dictator, no invader can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There is no greater power in the universe than the need for freedom. Against that power tyrants and dictators cannot stand.
- Babylon 5, Season 2, “The Long, Twilight Struggle”

Jul 4, 2009

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Categories: website notes