Reader Lifestyle Archives

Literary Submissions Guide – 2019 Edition

04/19/201902/24/2023
by Hannah Huff

SUBMITTING TO CREATIVE WRITING PUBLICATIONS IN THE DIGITAL ERA

What does it take to become a published literary writer in 2019? To start with, impeccable creative writing, along with money and time, followed by a diet of tears and gnawed-off fingernail crescents, and topped-off by a certain morbid fascination with how many literary submissions you have to send out before somebody recognizes your artistic talent.

Hence the three-month hiatus between posts on the Notes of Oak Literary Blog — writing submissions are consumptive, deflating, expensive, and yet, still worth it when even one acceptance letter finally flutters in. But even more than all those things, trying to get published nowadays involves navigating a changing terrain of submission routes and resources. Relying on my knowledge that has resulted in a whopping four publications thus far, let’s tour this rocky realm of getting published in the digital era.

Reader Lifestyle

Here’s the Scoop on Live Poetry Readings

12/15/201802/24/2023
by Hannah Huff

HOW TO FIND AND EXPERIENCE LIVE POETRY EVENTS NEAR YOU LIKE A TRUE MEMBER OF THE LITERATI

So you want to listen to a live poetry reading? Enamored with the printed word, you’ve recently been badgered by the thought that verse might be even better if you hear the words reverberated straight out of the horse’s mouth (and poets do tend to be quite horse-faced).

You dream of sitting rapturously as Frank O’Hara reads “Having a Coke with You” or Gertrude Stein mesmerizes the room with “OBJECTS” from Tender Buttons. Motivated, you realize that you have no idea what a poetry reading is like, let alone how to find one. Do they take place in secret rooms hidden behind bookcase doors? Do cedar incense and absinthe vapors wraith across the stage and infuse the poet with cosmic wisdom? Do the events conclude with a naked dance at sunrise? Who knows?

I do! You’ve come to the right place to figure out how to get to the right places to get some good stanzas in your earholes.

Reader Lifestyle

The Best Study Music Playlist for Deep Thinkers

11/17/201802/24/2023
by Hannah Huff

A 20-SONG SELECTION OF THE CHOICEST INSTRUMENTAL SONGS FOR READING, WRITING, AND BROODING

If you’re tired of hearing your own heavy breathing while you read, write, and think, you can tune in to the melancholy drone of society’s machines wafting through your window, or you can put on some music. But not just any music — you need songs that sprawl, that are small, that chill, that transport, that center. You need The Best Study Music Playlist for Deep Thinkers (click the link for the uninterrupted playlist, and continue reading for a piece-by-piece synopsis). This 20-track instrumental goldmine has been carefully curated by a full-time reader, writer, and brooder (that’s me!) to ensure that its segmented sonic ambience doesn’t intrude upon your deep thoughts, but instead intensifies your cerebral wanderings.

Reader Lifestyle

Visit These 10 SoCal Literary Landmarks

10/09/201802/24/2023
by Hannah Huff

THE BEST SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA DESTINATIONS FOR CHEAP BOOKS, VIBRANT POETRY, AND LITERARY INSPIRATION

Southern California — land of murky mauve smog twilight, wildlife neighbors prowling and howling at their loss, the time-altering flows of heavy traffic and tight parking, sea foam cleaned beaches, palpitating concert halls, brick and amber-sheen-wood buildings clashing with glass monoliths, walls transfigured by colorful calligraphy, creativity pickled for preservation amid suburban dearths, bustle and lethargy sitting kitty-corner, and art floating particulate amid the brume of all of this — is chock-full of bookish things to do, if you know where to go. In a region this sprawling, you’re not likely to simply stumble upon these places, so whether you’re just visiting, or reside on this U.S. west coast wedge, use this list of SoCal literary landmarks as a map to the literature that thrives beside the Pacific.

Reader Lifestyle

The 10 Best Reading Nooks to Enjoy Print Books

09/26/201802/24/2023
by Hannah Huff

BECAUSE WE ASSOCIATE WHAT WE READ WITH WHERE WE READ IT

A tangible book is more poetic than a digital one because the inescapable clamor of technology lurks behind every e-book’s text. The experience of reading Virginia Woolf’s words on a page will always eclipse reading them on a screen due to the static simplicity of ink on paper. Digital content’s kineticism is a distraction, a white noise that drowns out poetry’s subtler frequencies. With devices, there is always recourse to another entertainment option, but with real books, there is simply the text and the view in front of you. Reading a real, real good book is a poetic experience in and of itself that can be accentuated by the purlieu, so here are the 10 best reading nooks to nestle in and enjoy your printed book.

Reader Lifestyle

9 Common Book Reader Types and 1 Rare Bookworm

09/18/201802/24/2023
by Hannah Huff

STRIVE TO BE #10 ON THIS LIST OF READER PERSONALITY TYPES

Readers animate texts. They transform books from objects to energy through the leaps, connections, moods, associations, and more evoked by static print on the page. Every writer has a reader in mind when they compose, even if that reader is just herself or society’s indifference. While each reader is unique, most people can be categorized as one of the following 9 common book reader types, and a select few can be considered the rare bookworm at the end of this list.