♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦
Topic #121
When writing is your profession or hobby, chances are you’ve received all sorts
of bookish gifts from friends (or purchased them for yourself)! Whether
it’s a book light that you love, a framed print of your favorite literary quote,
or a pair of Hobbit-inspired socks, what gifts have struck you as especially the best?
Welcome back to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop! If you’re new to the series, the authors included are grateful for your reads and appreciate, even more so, when you share our writings with your friends. If you’re new to the series, welcome aboard. The authors engage and impress weekly. Be prepared to become a regular reader.
A lucrative contract with a publishing house that is not taking me to the cleaners, and will not close? Other than that, What is there?
A lot.
If you’re looking for recommendations on what to get your favorite writer, I can assure you that just about anything that eases their monthly expenses or assists in getting the writing job done will be received with the greatest of thanks. Why?
Being a writer is a labor of love for almost all authors, and it just doesn’t pay (except for those few stars at the very top that have managed to make it pay). Thus, your author has a long list of things they need and bills they have got to pay. Ends are likely not meeting as well as they’d like. In many cases, getting gifts for their home, whether that’s linens or kitchen gadgets, will ease their burden a little. Figure that there are things that they go without because they just don’t have the funds to get them, but could really use the items just the same. Often a kitchen gadget is a time saver, and helps use produce in frugal manners, but it’s cost is a stretch (especially when so many things are needed). When was the last time your author got some new sheets or towels? They go without, so they can afford the fees for running the website, paying the editor, and so on. Don’t even get me started on when the computer tanks and you have to replace that! The rent has got to be made regardless. (Best Buy gift cards can be collected to help lower the burden of tech need costs on your authors).
Maybe that doesn’t feel quite like what you want to get them, even though that would be the most beneficial to them. Perhaps you’re thinking of a keepsake (another thing to dust or move around their desk as it gets in the way of the piles, but hey it’s there to remind them of you)? Or, perhaps, you know they have a hobby and maybe you’d like to get them something pertaining to that hobby. Well, if your author is an artist, art supplies would be grand, but be mindful that many artists have their preferences for brands, and it might be difficult to figure out exactly what supplies to get them. Thus you end up back at the gift card you’re trying not to buy, because you’re convinced they’re impersonal.
Let me be very straight forward for a moment. Just because an author’s career is books, doesn’t mean that books should be the theme of all their gifts. My grandmother was inundated with owls after mentioning that she liked them. I distinctly remember her saying that she was going to flip if she got another owl gift after years of this going on. Although owls remind me of my gran, because of this, it is with irony (and wondering if that macaroni and dried green peas owl I put on a board for her was really actually liked or not). Just remember, gifts are being given to someone, so what you give isn’t about the giver and what they need or want, but is instead about the recipient.
My advice is to really pay attention, if you can, to the author in question. It doesn’t take much to figure out of what they’re in need. Giving a gift that is both useful and gives added respite is a truly winning gift. As far as I am concerned, those are the best gifts to give or get. And, they will think of you with fondness each time they use the item.
Let’s hop on over to see what the other authors have to suggest as gifts.
An InLinkz Link-up
My mother had the same problem with chickens. (not the real ones.) She isn’t sure how it started, but she got one as a gift, everyone noticed, and pretty soon they were the go-to gift for her!
She has my empathy! 🙂 I like to collect owl jewelry lately. I think it’s to remember my gran. I hope no one catches on!