| Number 418 | September 5, 2008 |
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This Week: Nygaard Notes Turns 10 Years Old! And Nygaard Notes Takes a Hiatus
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Greetings, Nygaard Notes is TEN YEARS OLD today. Issue Number One was published on September 5th 1998. In the last issue I promised that I would make a "special and very exciting announcement" today. Here it is: I'M TAKING A HIATUS FOR A FEW MONTHS IN ORDER TO PUT TOGETHER A BOOK. How do you like that? So Nygaard Notes Number 418 will be the last issue you'll see for a while. It will tell you all about the hiatus and the book project, and will also include a little nostalgia about the early days of Nygaard Notes. It's a highly-unusual issue; I've never been so self-centered in these pages before! I never intended for Nygaard Notes to happen. The whole thing started when I was approached to write a column for a planned weekly "alternative" newspaper back in the late 1990s. Since I had never written on a weekly deadline before, I thought I would test myself by writing some essays and sending them out to some friends (including the would-be editors of the proposed publication). As it turned out, the newspaper project folded before being born, and then a funny thing happened. When I wrote to my list telling them that the writing experiment was over, quite a number of people said, "Don't stop! We enjoy your writing. Keep it coming." There were only a few dozen readers at the time. Now there are over 1,100. And hundreds of them have made financial contributions to keep it coming. So I'm still at it. I have now published over ONE MILLION words in these pages, believe it or not. Some of those words have been quotations from others, of course, but mostly the whole million (plus the extra 13,219) were written by me. So that's what I've been doing for the past ten years. Now it's time for a book. Read on to learn how to support the building of this book, and what will happen with your pledges during the hiatus, and so forth. In solidarity, Nygaard |
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"I'M TAKING A HIATUS FOR A FEW MONTHS IN ORDER TO PUT TOGETHER A BOOK." Jeff Nygaard, Nygaard Notes Number 418 |
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The date today, as I write this, is September 5, 2008. This date marks the 10-year birthday of Nygaard Notes, and I have thought long and hard about what I might do in order to mark the occasion. Here's what I came up with: I'm going to take some time off and write a book. So this is the last "regular" issue of Nygaard Notes you will receive for the next 2-4 months. The partially-formed plan, as of this moment, has three parts: PART ONE is the part that I hope to complete during the 2-to-4-month hiatus that begins today. That part involves going through ten years of Nygaard Notes, picking out the pieces that seem to have stood the test of time, and editing them into book-worthy form. PART TWO is the part where I attempt to find a publisher. PART THREE is the triumphant world tour in support of the mammoth best-seller. During the Hiatus I won't be publishing Nygaard Notes for a while, but I won't disappear. I'll still be resident here at Nygaard Notes World Headquarters in Minneapolis, MN USA, and will be available to do the other things I always do. So please contact me with whatever issues or questions you may have, as you have done over 2,000 times over the past 10 years. I'll still be a community resource, and am willing to help you with your activism, your research, or whatever you think I can help with. Just ask. During the hiatus I may send out some updates on the book, if people seem to want them, or maybe some selected pieces from the archives that seem to bear repeating. Who knows? If you have ideas on this, let me know. All I know is that MOST of my time for the next 2-4 months is going to be spent trying to put together a book. I'm Not Going to Do This By Myself, Y'know I hope to make this a community project as much as possible, just as Nygaard Notes has been a community project. For instance, I've gotten over 2,000 letters and emails from readers over the years (I've saved all of them) and this process will begin with me sifting through those to see which articles and essays received the most positive responses when they were published. Readers often write to me and say, "You should get this piece published more broadly – it deserves a larger audience." (Some of them have been published more broadly.) Now those "people's choices" will be at the top of the list for inclusion in the book. So, in this sense, the Nygaard Notes book is already a community project. In addition, this book-building process will not be a solitary "writer in his garret" type of thing. Instead I hope to call on many of YOU for ideas, support, and guidance in the process. I hope to have some public readings, feedback sessions, and private meetings to critique and expand the scope of the book. I hope also to send out copies of certain pieces to anyone who would like to read and comment on them. I have no experience with any of this, so any ideas are welcome. Starting today! For example, do you have any good ideas for a title? Or maybe it's too early for that. (See? I told you I have no experience at this!) I took my first vacation from Nygaard Notes just four months into the project, when I went to Nicaragua for five weeks. At the time, I told people that I would be in pretty remote areas, "So I expect that NN will be on vacation that whole time. We'll see. I hope you all can live without it." Well, everyone seemed to be able to live without it. Still, many people did miss it, and I expect some to miss it over the next couple/few months, too. My apologies! I will do my best to make this hiatus productive, and hopefully we'll see a book before too long. With your help, I hope to make it a good one. |
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Hundreds of you have made Pledges of financial support for Nygaard Notes. What will happen with your Pledge money while Nygaard Notes is on hiatus? As I have explained in these pages previously, here's how Pledges work here at Nygaard Notes: When I receive your Pledge I divide it into 12 parts, and "pay" myself one-twelfth of that amount each month. (Minus 10 percent for office expenses, postage, Internet service, and so forth.) This monthly "wage" allows me to work at my other jobs less and devote more time to the Notes. It's amazing! So, during this 2-4 month hiatus from regular publication, I suggest that you Pledgers have two options. OPTION ONE: Nothing will change, and I will continue to use your Pledge money to support the work of building the book. That is, if your current Pledge is good through April 2009, it will still be good through 2009, even though your Pledge year will include fewer issues than normal. This is what will happen unless you tell me that you would prefer Option Two. OPTION TWO: You notify me that you would like to put your pledge on "hold" during the hiatus. This would mean that the 2-4 months during which Nygaard Notes is not published will not count against your Pledge year. In that case, if your Pledge is good through April 2009, and the hiatus lasts for three months, then your Pledge year would be extended for an extra three months, through July 2009. WHAT YOU NEED TO DO: If you choose Option One, you need to do nothing. If you prefer Option Two, all you need to do is to contact me—email or regular mail—and tell me so. I'll do the necessary bookkeeping. If you wish to make an additional contribution to help with the book project, please feel free to do so. As with regular Pledges, every additional dollar means that much less time I will need to spend at my other jobs. I hope this all makes sense. Whichever option you choose is wonderful. And YOU are wonderful. Thanks for the support! |
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I'm sure you can think of your own ways to support this project, but here are some I came up with. You could: SHARE YOUR BOOK KNOWLEDGE: Maybe you have written a book, or edited a book, and have some good ideas about how to do it—or NOT do it. Please send them along! I have some dim idea that putting together a book is quite different than writing for a newsletter. But, how? OFFER YOUR HELP PLAYING THE PUBLISHING GAME: You may know something about finding a publisher. You may know a publisher, or have some other "in" in the publishing business. You may be willing to write a testimonial, or a reference, or whatever it is that people send along to get publishers to look at their manuscripts. I don't know... Maybe YOU know how it works. I invite you to pass along your experience, wisdom, knowledge, opinions, warnings, and so forth. SIT DOWN WITH ME: Maybe you would be interested in coming to a public reading/criticism session. Let me know and I'll notify you if and when they happen. Maybe you would like to get together for coffee or something and tell me in more depth about the stuff you know. I plan to make time for such meetings during the publishing hiatus. Get in touch. TELL ME YOUR FAVORITES: Many of you have already told me which Nygaard Notes pieces you think should be more widely-read. If you haven't yet, or if you can think of some Nygaard Notes pieces that stick in your mind for any reason, please tell me which ones. I expect to have a hard time picking the "best" pieces, so all feedback will be helpful in this difficult process. FILL IN THE OTHER GAPS: I'm so ignorant that I don't even know what I don't know about this book-building process. So maybe you can tell me what I should be thinking about. OFFER MORAL SUPPORT: If you think this book thing is a good idea, please drop me a note and tell me so. Many of you already have, but I still have my doubts. Does the world need another book? Another form of moral support might be to tell me why I should NOT do this. After all, I don't want to waste my time. |
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The Early Days #1: The First Editor's Note In the very first editor's note, published on September 5th, 1998, I actually said this: "I plan to send out not very many notes..." Ha! Little did I know... I think the whole editor's note is sufficiently entertaining that I will just reprint the whole thing here [comments from me, made today, 10 years later, appear in italics, in brackets]: Nygaard Notes #1, September 5, 1998: Hi, everyone, I have put your name on my electronic mailing list, either because you are an activist who might make use of some of the information I plan to send out, or because I think you are just the kind of person who might be interested in some of the things I am. [My first butchered, and rather Freudian, sentence!] I plan to send out not very many notes, but the ones I plan to send
will be of several types: 1. News and publications of my little project
‘The Social Security Project of Minnesota' (see attachment); 2.
News of rallies, demos, pickets, and so forth. Many of you will already
know Now, if this kind of thing is a nuisance to you, just let me know, and I'll take you off the list. [This first mailing went to, I believe, about 20 people. We're up to about 1,100 now, and still growing.] Otherwise, just delete the boring ones and scope out the interesting ones. If you have any urge to let me know what you think of the Project or the writing, PLEASE feel free. I love getting email, so send me stuff to forward, if you want. Also, of course, if you know of others who might appreciate this sort of thing, forward their address to me. In solidarity, The Early Days #2: My First Response to the Mass Media Nygaard Notes #2, on September 15, 1998, began with these words: "Here is the text of a disgusting commentary which appeared in the Star Tribune last week, followed by a response that I am submitting today for publication in the Strib." The "disgusting commentary" was a piece called "Regulatory Overkill Disabling Businesses," and it was a horrific and distorted attack on the (then) eight-year-old Americans With Disabilities Act, one of the major civil-rights laws of the past quarter-century (and, for people with disabilities, THE major civil-rights law of all time). When I tell you the name of the author of this hatchet job, many Nygaard Notes readers in Minnesota will laugh: Katherine Kersten. For those who don't reside in Minnesota, Katherine Kersten is now a regular columnist in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, our local paper. At that time, she was an occasional columnist whose work appeared on the editorial page. You can go to the Nygaard Notes website and read the commentary, and my response, if you like. What I did not say at the time was that the Star Tribune told me over the phone that they would publish my rebuttal to Ms. Kersten, but they never did. In fact, they never even called me to tell me they had reneged on their commitment to publish. I never heard from them again. The Early Days #3: The Torrent Not Unleashed In the editor's note for Nygaard Notes #3, September 21, 1998, I made this amusing comment: "I briefly considered sending out a Nygaard Notes whenever something
interesting occurred to me. My friends will understand me when I say
that the torrent thus unleashed could overwhelm us all. So, you can
expect to get a Notes just about once per week. Unless something urgent In fact, Nygaard Notes was a weekly publication for the next six-and-a-half years, until February 18, 2005. Since then it has come out about every 10 days, on average. The Early Days #4: Two Songs! In Nygaard Notes #14, December 7, 1998, I published "Two drug war songs for everyone!" They were "They Fenced Me In" (sung to the tune of "Don't Fence Me In") and "Downtown" (sung to the tune of "Downtown") Again, you can go to the website and see the lyrics. I thought they were rather funny—and poignant—and hardly self-serving, since I do not and have never used illegal drugs. Still, this issue brought about my first subscription cancellation. I guess he thought I was promoting illegal drug use. An occupational hazard when doing satire, I suppose. The Early Days #5: Protest Bombing of Iraq Nygaard Notes #15, December 16, 1998 had my first feature on Iraq, entitled "Protest Bombing of Iraq." I have no idea how many articles on this theme I have published since then, but it's shocking to think of how much death we have visited upon the Iraqi people. And it's still going on. The Early Days #6: My First Series On December 29th, 1998 I ran Part 1 of the series called "Star Tribune coverage of Iraq bombing 1998." This was the first time that I realized that some subjects were too important to try to shrink down to fit into a single issue. Thus ended 1998, and the rest is history. Ongoing history, I might add. The fun continues, but that's all for now. I'm writing a whole book, after all. |
