The Confabulator Cafe

Tag: gifts

  • Winter is Here

    Ned-Stark-Game-of-Thrones
    Fortunately I don’t have to make the same kinds of hard decisions as Ned Stark, but Winter and the holidays don’t have to be grim.

    There are quite a few words that can describe the beginning of Winter and the year-end holidays: dread, lonely, cold, snowy, warm, happy. I’ve run through the gamut in my time on Earth, and in general I find this time of year to be pretty nice.

    That’s the most honest thing I can say about it. I like Thanksgiving and Christmas because there are good meals that go along with seeing family. (I like my family.) It’s not really about presents, or at least it hasn’t been for fifteen or twenty years. I like stuff, don’t get me wrong, stuff is good. It’s just that I’m in a position now where I can get almost any stuff I want when I want it. I don’t have to wait for the holiday or my birthday or Father’s Day.

    I’m fortunate that the business I work in is closed during the holiday season, too. That means I get an extended vacation of a week or sometimes a little more every year beyond any time I take off in spring or summer. Again it’s time to spend with my family and do things like read or go to a movie.

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  • Books, Mostly.

    I don’t know that writers are all that harder (or easier) to shop for than real people. When you’re buying someone a gift, you either want to give them something they didn’t know they wanted (like the year we got my brother Storm Front) or you want to give them something they told you that they wanted.

    That said, a great go-to is a book. I don’t know a writer who doesn’t get a little giddy about a new book, be it an e-book or a new hardback. It can be a bit of fiction or a reference book. You can never have too many books, and there are so many different kinds.

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  • The Task of Gifting

    Christmas means fighting evil.
    What a cool gift to someone like me who likes both Doctor Who and Calvnin & Hobbes.

    I’m a writer.

    I like things. I like stuff. I have a lot of stuff already.

    I like things that pertain to writing and the tangential things associated with writing.

    What should you get the writer in your life for a birthday, holiday, or special occasion?

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  • Gifts for Writers

    What about a $35,000 fountain pen? No?

    I will be the first to admit that I am not hugely excited by receiving gifts. Unless a gift is very useful or has a particular deep meaning for me, your basic gift shop tchotchke is just another goddamn thing I have to keep, use, display, maintain, clean, store, and eventually find a way to get rid of.

    For a writer, though, what better gift to give than an experience? What could be more useful, more versatile, than experience? The standard advice is, after all, “write what you know,” so gift them with direct, experiential knowledge.

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  • The Do’s and Don’ts of Shopping for Writers

    Doctor Who journal
    Riversong’s Journal, from Doctor Who. The perfect gift for a writer who is also a fan of the television series.

    Despite what you may think, writers are some of the easiest people to shop for. Want to know why? Because we usually want books, whether they are in hard copy or electronic format.

    Last year, my wife purchased me a Kindle Touch from Amazon. I don’t need the latest Kindle Paperwhite. But you can always buy me a few books off my wishlist.

    First, let me say that owning an e-reader does not preclude wanting hardcover books. It just makes me more selective about what books I want in hardcover. Some books — coffee-table books, for example — are always going to be in hardcover. I am also very fond of my Easton Press collection of science fiction novels.

    But what do you get for a writer besides books, most of which are likely to be read and forgotten in a month’s time. How can you make an impact all year long with the proverbial “gift that keeps on giving”?

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  • Presents for Your Writer

    All a writer really needs is paper and some sort of writing instrument. If a story wants to come out, and all a writer has at hand is a stubby red crayon and a napkin, it’s gonna happen.

    So, let’s assume the writer in your life already has the basic tools of choice covered–paper and a pen, a typewriter, or a computer with whatever word processing software is most preferred.

    What can you offer as a gift to make the writing experience better, easier, or more comfortable?

    1. Liquid fuel

    You know your writer best. What do they like to drink? Coffee’s usually a good bet. Running out of caffeine in the middle of an intense scene is catastrophic. You could gift them with a pound of their favorite beans or even sign them up for a monthly coffee delivery. Some prefer tea, so you could gift them with a special blend, a whimsical steeper, or a beautiful new teapot. I know a few writers who prefer something more potent for after-hours writing. I’m sure a really nice bottle of their favorite would be much appreciated.

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  • If you can’t gift me happiness, give me tequila instead

    In the past, my Christmas wishlists were miles long and filled with one item after another that I wanted. This year, it was a fairly short list. Maybe I’m getting older. Maybe I’m realizing that material things just weigh me down. Maybe I realize that I’m moving in a year and a half and I don’t want to have to pack all of that stuff up and haul it to yet another apartment.

    Books are always a great present. But books are heavy. Allow me to reference you back to my aforementioned comment about moving again in a year and a half. I love books. Lately though, I’ve barely made time to read the mountains of books that I already own, much less discover new series. I’ve fallen in love with my library. I can check out books, read them, and return them when I’m done. And sometimes I’ll love a series enough to want to own it.

    That’s becoming more of a rarity, though. (more…)

  • Poor Gift Advice and Other Tangents

    I am a terrible gift giver. I like to believe that I’m good at thinking about other people, but as I wrestled with this post, I was faced with the possibility that I might, in fact, be a very selfish bastard.

    When it comes to buying something for other people, I often have no idea what to get.

    I love connecting with individuals and genuinely care about the lives of others, but I can’t think of a single adult, outside of those related by blood or marriage, for whom I am buying a gift this season. I can’t decide whether or not this says anything about me as a person, but I thought I’d put it out there before I get to the advice-dispensing portion of this post.

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  • Gifts for Writers

    “The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shock-proof, shit detector. This is the writer’s radar and all great writers have had it.” ~ Ernest Hemingway, Paris Review interview

    Book of Answers by Hollow Book Co.
    Book of Answers, from Hollow Book Co.

    We’re counting down to the holidays, so we thought it would be a good idea to ask our writers for gift ideas. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are history, but we have some suggestions if you’re still struggling to find the perfect gift for the writer in your life.

    The writers in our Cafe were so busy writing last month that many of them didn’t have a chance to put together a wish list, so we’ve asked them to take some time this week to put together some of their favorite gift ideas.

    We hope you’ll find some great ideas. If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments below.

    Until Next Week,

    The Cafe Management