Dear Rick,
I’ve proofread a couple of your scans. They were well done and fun to work on.
Was it you who did several books about your home state out west?
We’ve all gotten burnt by PQs slipping in before we completed books,, way more
than once. It is frustrating at the time, but the big picture kicks in and that
thrill of the hunt for a book Bookshare doesn’t have and getting it added to
the collection kicks in and we’re off and enthused again. Most of us have our
pet genres, authors, etc, and then many of us find ourselves stretching to
include unexpected books that pop up, come our way, drop into our laps.
I’m not going to be ultra careful about what I write since I’m inclined to be
positive, anyway. The list got so business like it became dreary, a veritable
ghost town, and no longer fun to read. We lost our sense of community and
mutual support. I’m using your reappearance to speak up in friendliness.
In my mind I always thought of the volunteer list as a kind of office water
cooler where volunteers gather to not only problem solve, but to share
enthusiasms, progress reports, accomplishments and motivation, and yes,
harmless gossip.
Evan and I are working on several series. A couple are the campy Dark Shadows
books by Marilyn Ross, a man in real life, and the much underrated Garth Ryland
mystery series about a tiny town’s newspaperman in ultra rural Wisconsin. As
usual we’ve also got holiday books, books about Ireland, Scotland and Wales,
books for boys since they are chosen less often, and assorted books I snag for
cheap when I can. Oh, about cheap, sometimes I dig deep to nail down a series.
The Dark Shadows mass markets from around 1970 are an example. They cost up to
$500. No I don’t dig that deep, but $25 when I must, and then not often.
Another project Larry Lumpkin is helping me with is Grace Livingston Hill, the
mother of Christian fiction, with over 100 books to her Credit. We’re in the
teens so we have far to go. I’m doing them in memory of my mother. She was a
Methodist who had to promise to raise my brother and I as Catholics. She never
talked about her religion but taught by example as she was a kind, generous
brave and funny person. I think the Grace Livingston Hill books were a kind of
worship for her. I never read a one of them until about 16 years after she
died. Then Larry mentioned a book with Betty in the title. It piqued my
interest because my mother’s name was Betty. And that’s how the Grace
Livingston Hill project got started. Chime in, anyone, if you’d like to help
with this
Amanda kindly sent us the number of books we added to the collection last year,
over 400. I’m going to track the exact number down and in a future post,
challenge us to top that number at least by one book in 2019. I’d so like to
counter that feeling that we’re fading. True, Bookshare’s collection is in the
stratosphere but try and cart over 400 books from here to there and you’ll be
reminded that it’s a substantial accomplishment. I’ll also tell you how many
books I proofread last year. My goal will be to top that number by one so any
more will be gravy. As always speed is never my intent. I still read every word
of almost every book. There was one exception. There was a book with two pages
describing a dog being put to sleep. I get tears just recalling the page that
led up to it. I admit I didn’t read those pages.
Well, here’s my submission to a kinder, more personal list. I know everyone
won’t love it. Nobody loves everything. It’s just that we’ve been formal for
years. I miss our more relaxed, open conversations. I hope we’ll meet at our
email water cooler a little more often and regain that sense of friendship and
shared goals.
Always with love,
Lissi
From: Rik James
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2019 7:46 PM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: old list member returns, testing
Hey,
Thanks for the welcome backs.
I have always been happy to learn from the brain trust here on the list.
And Evan, glad to know that it does happen, to be accidentally, unintentionally
unsubscribed. Glad I was not singled out, at least.
And Tracy, good tip on the pre-check prior to spending a lot of time scanning a
book.
I have been sort of feeling a bit burned a few times, to lose a hard effort in
a scan, to the PQ replacement, or rejection.
And sometimes, too, I have had the notion that the PQ has not been quite as
nice to read.
But boy, these PQ books sure pour in very quickly now days, that is definitely
on the up side of the arrangement.
The downside, on that, I may get so into reading I don’t do my scanning! (ha
ha.)
I am tending to choose older books for scanning projects, ones from smaller
publishers, but even then, I try and check on the “In Process” or the larger
collection.
I received that Wish List. (Thank you!)
I’ll get to looking it over here pretty soon.
I’m not as productive in quantity as some of you all.
But I do try and make my submissions as good of quality as I can.
Seems that I mostly have focused on history and music related for my major book
scanning / submitting subjects.
But I sure do love doing a good fiction book, and enjoy those, as they don’t
have many, if any, footnotes and appendixes, etc.
I’m working on a couple now. They are kind of the novelty variety. Trivia,
humor.
I will post to the list when submitting, if that is okay.
Thanks again.
Rik
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
On Behalf Of Tracy Carcione
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2019 11:56 AM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: old list member returns, testing
Hi Rick.
Welcome back! Before you start scanning, be sure to check your book hasn’t
been put in as a publisher quality, and isn’t likely to be any time soon.
It’s so annoying to spend a lot of time working on a book, only to have it
wiped out by a pq book, especially if the pq book isn’t as high-quality, which
sometimes happens. Proofreading is a lost art in publishing, I guess.
Tracy
From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Rik James
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2019 1:22 PM
To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [bksvol-discuss] old list member returns, testing
Greetings, Bookshare Volunteers,
With Amanda’s help I have just received my first post from Bks-Vol in nearly 18
months.
For some reason I can’t figure out, I stopped getting them.
And Amanda wisely suggested, that I re-subscribe, which I have done, and today
I have begun to receive posts from the group.
Hooray! I missed you all!
Some of you may remember me, I am mostly a book scanner & submitter.
I also recently sent an email to the volunteers@xxxxxxxxxxxx to request a fresh
Wish List.
I am looking to get going on a few projects. Those that are requested, in
addition to books I have been meaning to read.
I’ll look around for copies of Wish List titles at my library.
In the meantime, I hope you are all well.
Rik James
D28rik@xxxxxxx
(I put that email in there if someone has a fresh Wish List and wants to send
it to me directly.)
