WHAT'S ON YOUR DESK?

DAVID LONG

Two stuffed monkeys; half-empty bottle of Tums Ultra; postcard advertising Laurie Anderson's The End of the Moon; small cast-iron fire engine toy (once red) c. 1912; magazine subscription cards, bank receipts, bookmarks and other scraps of paper containing notes to self re: work-in-progress (e.g. hand-holding comp. to dancing; **Perhaps father has asked her over in wake of rel. ending??), many now cryptic; china dish containing three antique pocket watches (none working); two miniature sitting Buddhas; one larger wooden laughing Buddha; mug reading POMFRET SCHOOL; datebook with half-sheets of printer paper containing various to-do lists; ten yellow tablets; woven straw pen holder with ballpoint pens (used only as last resort), pencils, Sharpies for emphatic cross-ing off of items on to-do lists, yellow and pink highlighters, scissors, bamboo back scratcher, and no pens of choice (Uni-ball Vision, fine); quote from Robert Strauss: 

It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired. 

two-inch stack of postcards announcing The Daughters of Simon Lamoreaux, David Long, May 2000; section of fiberboard shelving held up by three decora-tive concrete blocks, between which are: The Art of the Novel and Testaments Betrayed by Milan Kundera, The Passionate, Accurate Story by Carol Bly, Nine Gates by Jane Hirschfield, If You Mean to Write by Brenda Euland, The Writ-ing Life by Annie Dillard, The Triggering Town by Richard Hugo, The Blank Canvas by Anna Held Audette, The Weekend Novelist (A Dynamic 52-Week Program to Help You Produce a Novel . . . One Weekend at a Time) by Robert J. Ray and Bret Norris, among others; folded towel with gray cat hair; electric pencil sharpener; overlapping coffee rings on desk surface (hollow-core door atop two steel filing cabinets); refrigerator magnet: photo of chimp in sun-glasses with speech balloon reading I've got my own dress code, thanks.; Lexar JumpDrive containing backup of novel-in-progress; note from wife reading I love Dave!; 550 ml bottle Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout (unopened) commemorating 2003 trip to Scotland (Hawthornden International Retreat for Writers); stack of novels in reading queue: The Death of Sweet Mister by Daniel Woodrell, Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky, among others; heavy recumbent lion bookends holding Estonia books for work-in-progress (The Singing Revolution by Clare Thomson, Border State by Tônu Õnnepalu, The Christening by Denise Neuhaus, Things in the Night by Mati Unt, Treading Air by Jaan Kross, others); pump dispenser, Vaseline Intensive Care hand lotion; Tupperware container holding 20 lbs. of small stones representing 20 lbs. of body weight to be lost by author; empty Tupperware container representing lbs. lost to date; Hohner blues harmonica (C); business card, David Quammen; ticket stubb, Senator Barack Obama (Benaroya Hall, Seattle, October 2006); pill bottle (Ambien, empty); three-ring binders containing book reviews, etc.; manilla folders in upright magazine holders; Compact Atlas of the World; passport; mockup of cover art for paperback of The Inhabited World (2007); sheet of peel-off stickers (chimps with captions, e.g. Hey, Sugarlips!); magnifying glass; printout, "Tips on Pronouncing Estonian"; eleven-inch stack of loose papers and folders (??); Roget's International Thesaurus; catalog, Archival Quality Materials (University Products); small cellophane packets containing extra shirt buttons; current reading, The Woodlanders, Thomas Hardy (1887), Treason's Harbor, Patrick O'Brian (1983), Appointment in Samarra by John O'Hara (1934); black notebook containing month-by-month reading list since 1979; paperback copy, The New York Times T.G.I.F. Crosswords: 75 End-of-the-Week Brain Busters, edited by Will Shortz; Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris (2006); May-June issue of American Atheist: A Journal of Atheist News and Thought; hardcover of favorite 2006 novel, The Road (Cormac McCarthy); CD, Eat Stone and Go On [the recorded poetry of Richard Hugo]; large brass key reputed to be from Civil War prison; stuffed moose with sign, I love Big Bay; photocopy of poem "Western Wind" (Anonymous, 16th C.): 

O Western Wind, when wilt thou blow
That the small rain down can rain?
Christ, that my love were in my arms,
And I in my bed again!

china laughing Buddha being climbed on by five little boys; CD of younger son's band, Racetrack (go ahead and say it); antique (heavily tarnished) silver and horsehair shaving brush; DVD, Storm, directed by Tobin Addington (from a short story, "Perfection" by David Long); Barsotti cartoon clipped from New Yorker, younger businessman telling older businessman, "But what you call a track record I call ancient history."; BEK cartoon clipped from New Yorker, mother asking young son, "What should we attach shame to today?"; postcard, "Jeune Homme Nu" by Flandrin; beat-up first edition (minus dustjacket), Old Mr. Flood by Joseph Mitchell (1948); limited edition, MDCI by Mark Twain (1876) . . . and other things.

David is the author of Blue Spruce, The Falling Boy, and The Daughters of Simon Lamoreaux. His new novel, The Inhabited World was published in July 2006, and voted one of the top 100 Notable Books by 
The New York Times.

The Prize Winner of 
Defiance, Ohio
(2005)

Starring:
Julianne Moore
Woody Harrelson


An American mom in the 50s enters jingle writing contests to support her ten children. Based on a true story.

SAY WHAT? Commonly Misused Words

Illustrative - clarifying by use of examples or serving to demonstrate.
     He created a slew of illustrative designs unlike any other.

Illustrious - widely known or conferring glory.
    Those with an eye to the future flutter round the illustrious present.

A MOMENT IN THE HISTORY OF WRITING

In the winter of 1843, Sir Henry Cole, founder of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, found himself in a pickle. He had an enormous amount of Christmas greetings to write, and neither a typewriter nor a computer in sight. What’s a 19th century man to do? The easiest solution would’ve been to forget all about the bloody list. Who would miss a Merry Christmas from “Ol King Cole”? But no, Sir Henry couldn't ignore the chance, at that time of year, to remind his friends of the destitute. 

So he commissioned English painter John Callcott Horsley to design the very first Christmas card. It depicted the feeding and clothing of the poor with a center panel that showed a happy family embracing one another, enjoying the festivities. It caused quite a stir at the time because one of the small children could be seen sipping wine. A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You stretched across the top. 

Legend has it Sir Henry didn't send any cards the following year, but others did. Within ten years, Christmas cards were all the rage in England. Some were decorated with fringe, silk and satin. Some were shaped liked fans, crescents, bells, birds, candles and even plum puddings. Others folded like maps or fit together as puzzles. Pop-ups revealed tiny mangers or skaters with flying scarves gliding around a mirrored pond. 

Of the thousand original cards printed during that time, only twelve are known to still exist. Two of those can be found in the Hallmark Historical Collection in Kansas City, Missouri. 

OUR CURRENT CONTEST

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