What you get when I can't write...
A survey, a bird call, some notes about Notes, and a chance to sit back and relax
Before we begin…
How are you observing Earth Day this year? Or, if you are still thinking about something you read this week, tell us about it, share a link or a line from it that still resonates. And if you have read Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, please tell us how you found it and what ideas or lines continue to resonate with you.
Welcome! You’ve reached Spark. Learn more here or just read on. If you received this from a friend, please join us by subscribing. It’s free! All you have to do is press the button below. If you have already subscribed, welcome back! If you see something you like, please hit that heart so others can find us more easily.
An invitation to take a break along with me
An apology. The newsletter planned for this week – all around Earth Day and the beautiful book by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass – has been rescheduled because even after six hours of trying, the piece I was writing just isn’t coming together. My brain is fried. I admit defeat and ask for your patience and understanding.
I’m looking forward to discussing this book and all it is making me think about next week. This week, I offer this fast fun survey about audio books for a future issue followed by a few links, and a heartfelt wish to enjoy whatever gifts this day has in store for you.
The survey: audio books or printed books?
In an upcoming newsletter I’d love to explore the audio book experience. How is reading a book different from listening to it? What is lost, what is gained? Does it depend on the book? And more… take the survey and please let me know any thoughts you have in the comments and if I can reach out to you to ask for more information.
Shriek of the Week: because birds are great
And British birds are especially great. Every week I check in to listen to a bird serenade me while I read what Charlie from Birdsong Academy has written about it.
ICYMI
I’ll be back next week in full form. Until then, if you would still like a little Spark in your Saturday, here are links a few issues that folks liked a lot, both old and new:
If you knew the future, would you do anything differently? Ted Chiang and The Story of You in Remembering The Future.
The Books that Made Her: What books and authors influenced you the most? A guest post by
The Do-Over Fantasy: what would you do over if you could?
Let’s talk on Notes (if you want)
I’ve been posting a bit on Substack Notes, and would love for you to join me there if you are looking for a way to keep the conversation going between newsletters. I’ve been using it mainly to share things I’ve really loved reading and to learn about new writers. So far it has been a fun, easy and far less troublesome experience than Twitter and there is more engagement than on Instagram.
Notes is a new space on Substack for us to share links, short posts, quotes, photos, and more. I plan to use it for things that don’t fit in the newsletter, like work-in-progress or quick questions.
How to join
Head to substack.com/notes or find the “Notes” tab in the Substack app. As a subscriber to Spark, you’ll automatically see my notes. Feel free to like, reply, or share them around!
You can also share notes of your own. I hope this becomes a space where every reader of Spark can share thoughts, ideas, and interesting quotes from the things we're reading on Substack and beyond.
If you encounter any issues, you can always refer to the Notes FAQ for assistance. Looking forward to seeing you there!
Our community continues to grow
Welcome to each and every new person who has joined us. It’s thrilling to find so many new folks on board each day. If you would like to check out past issues, here’s a quick link to the archives. Be sure to check out our Resources for Readers and Writers too. And help us spread the word by sharing Spark with your friends. Oh, you can find most of the books discussed here on the Spark Community Recommendations Page of bookshop.org where each sale supports local bookstores and generates a commission that I receive.
That’s it for this week. Let me know you are and what you’re reading. If there’s an idea, book, or question you’d like to see in an upcoming issue of Spark, let us know! Use the comment button below or just hit reply to this email and send your message directly.
And remember, If you like what you see or it resonates with you, please take a minute to click the heart ❤️ below - it helps more folks to find us!
I’ll be back next week.
Gratefully yours,
Betsy
P.S. And now, more than ever, your moment of Zen…in the back alleys of San Diego lurks…this
Found this on the back fence walking up a dirt alley frequented mostly by dogs, cats, and the odd skunk or raccoon. Well, why not?
Calling for Your Contribution to “Moment of Zen”
What is YOUR moment of Zen? Send me your photos, a video, a drawing, a song, a poem, or anything with a visual that moved you, thrilled you, calmed you. Or just cracked you up. This feature is wide open for your own personal interpretation.
Come on, go through your photos, your memories or just keep your eyes and ears to the ground and then share. Send your photos/links, etc. to me by replying to this email or simply by sending to: elizabethmarro@substack.com. The main guidelines are probably already obvious: don’t hurt anyone -- don’t send anything that violates the privacy of someone you love or even someone you hate, don’t send anything divisive, or aimed at disparaging others. Our Zen moments are to help us connect, to bond, to learn, to wonder, to share -- to escape the world for a little bit and return refreshed.
I can’t wait to see what you send!
I love audiobooks! I'd say they account for 90% of the books I read in a year. Depending on the year, that's somewhere between 50 and 60 books. I started doing audio in junior high when I became a member of Recording for the Blind. I have some vision and learning issues that made it very difficult for me to read all of my assignments in school. It's a long story, one I should probably write about someday. But the gist of it is that I used to get all my books in junior high and high school on audio. But unlike the audiobooks of today, those books came on 4-track cassettes and could only be played on a clunky recorder that was about the size and weight of four modern laptops stacked on top of each other. The narrators were dry. Really dry. I think the philosophy was to read, not perform. I stayed with those audiobooks in college and law school, but I used them only for pleasure reading. By that time, I was able to keep up with my school reading, but by the end of the day my eyes were done, even if I wanted to pick up a novel for fun. These days, most of my pleasure reading is on audiobooks because my eyes still kind of fail me after a long day of writing and looking at a screen. But what I love about modern audiobooks is that they're less like an afterthought or something that was done for a handful of people who needed to access material via audio. They're becoming an art in their right, which makes them A LOT more enjoyable to listen to than the audiobooks I used in school. Anyway, I'm a huge fan of what they've become, but I'm also indebted to the format because if I hadn't had audiobooks I don't think I would've made it through school, and honestly, I don't think I'd be writing either. If you want to ask about any of this, I'm happy to talk more about audio!
I’ve never tried audiobooks. I have wireless headphones and I listen to podcasts all the time while cleaning or cooking (music, almost never).
I know a lot of folks listen to audiobooks while driving or walking, but I drive as little as possible, never for longer than an hour, and half the time I’ve got kids in the back seat. I do my best thinking while walking, so I never wear headphones then. So I think it’s about the length of time/level of attention I can give during any given listen.