Monday, May 05, 2008
Reporting In On Project Relaxation
So, yeah. I'm not so sure how relaxing things have been. I've been trying to get all the stuff I've been ignoring for practically a year done and off the To-Do list. Today, I tackled a major one -- which is getting together the paperwork for submitting an extension course proposal to my alma mater. I'll refine it tomorrow and make a call to find out what I can email and what has to be snail-mailed.
Other than that, I've finally started in on the TBR pile. So far:
Mine to Possess By
Nalini Singh. I've been meaning to read her forever, and at last I could. And am glad I did. Fun read!
The Short Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao By
Junot Diaz (Still working on this one, but it's great!) Only, I've set it aside for:
Indian Killer By Sherman Alexie
I'm becoming a
Sherman Alexie fangirl. His YA
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian was so freaking good -- rush out and buy or borrow this book, people -- I went out the next week and bought two of his adult titles. Wow. Just wow. He's amazing.
I should be ashamed about setting aside Diaz, but you know what? It's my TBR and I can read in whatever order I want and I can be reading as many books as I want at the same time, too.
Today, I notebooked some of the next historical and I think I nailed the basic idea. Things began very badly. All confusing and none of the parts were fitting together. But then I realized I needed to change the location and ta dah! everybody was very happy.
OK, off to bed because I want to read some before it's too late.
Labels: Authors, brainstorming, plotting, reading
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Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Crawling Through the Desert
Yesterday at last I had something of a breakthrough for figuring out how to tackle Scandal. At least now I know which chapter to write and where it goes. And, I have ideas for other chapters. Whew! Part of the problem is I need to switch up my notebooking. Before I changed my exercise routine, I did that while I biked in the morning. But now I don't bike as often so I'm not focused when I sit down to write. Yesterday, I notebooked before I started writing, and after a paragraph or so I knew what to write. Today, I'll finish that up and then get clear on the chapters to follow. That's a big relief.
Last night I finished re-reading
Mary Balogh's A Summer to Remember. This was my very first Balogh book. I'd gotten it from a book club when I failed to timely decline. I decided to keep the books. I disliked the cover, thought the title was stupid and hadn't ever heard of the author so I let the book sit around forever (months!!) until at last I was desperate to read something. As you might imagine, Oh My Gosh! The writing was just first-rate, the characters complex and full and the story was so utterly romantic that I was a fan-girl long before the end of chapter one. It was wonderful to read this story again. I've since read just about everything she's ever written.
Sigh.
Back to work on Scandal.
Labels: Authors, Scandal, writing, writing scenes
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Monday, August 06, 2007
An interesting observation
After I heard that author Ronda Thompson had passed away, I got to thinking about what I might do to keep her spirit alive for me and others. That's a dumb way of putting it, but that's all I have right now. I decided I would watch Publisher's Marketplace for news of debut authors and send them an email just saying, hey congratulations or something like that. My silly idea would be to share the excitement and maybe even start a dialogue with a new author about what to expect or whatever.
Well, gosh. Color me surprised. The first 5 "debut" authors announced in PM weren't really debut authors. Google made it pretty clear that all of them had previous novels to their credit, a couple under other names. Fiction titles, people! If you've published a novel before, even if it's under a different name, sorry, but no novel after that one is your debut. I found three who didn't appear to have previous publication of novels. They also didn't have websites. I could have emailed their agents, but gee, what a waste of the agent's time. I don't want agents or agent's assistants hating me for any reason. So, really, WTF? These are all authors with agents, why the heck didn't their agents tell them to get a website long before the sale? And if they were told, why the heck didn't they do it? Today, at last, a real debut author with a website. He's experienced in non-fiction, hence the website. He's a clueful writer.
This whole experience made me decide Ronda had the right idea anyway. Read new authors and let them know if you liked their book. Simple. Easy. And it really makes a difference, as many of us out there can attest. Plus romance authors have at least one clue and a website on which to talk about it. Anybody can do this. Doesn't matter if you're published or not. Authors really truly love to hear that someone connected with their work. I know Ronda made people feel good, and she made friends, too. Good for everyone. Read new authors and if you liked their book, write and tell them so.
Anyway, I have to stop procrastinating and get some work done. I miss Ronda and I wish I could email her and get another amusing reply from her.
Labels: Authors, Ronda Thompson, Scandal
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Wednesday, June 13, 2007
This N That
Galley Cat on one of my favorite authors
Chinua Achebe.
Things Fall Apart was my intro into African literature. Mind opening.
Interesting blog post about
imprints from a publisher who always has interesting insights into the business.
Even more interesting blog post about
imprints. I TOTALLY agree with this. Readers just don't care about imprints. File this under the publishers should be doing market research...
Physicists blog about
Being in Love. Read it. You'll be surprised.
Saving myself 15 years of bad luck. Maybe. I was
cough cough mumble on mySpace cough working hard when I came across this, which unlike most horoscopes, seems to describe me exactly. Please read the foregoing and following, with no sense of being serious at all, okay?
TAURUS: The Freak in bed
Aggressive. Freak in bed. Rare to find! Loves being in long relationships Likes to give a good fight for what they want. Extremely outgoing. Sexy as ...u no!..... Loves to help people in times of need. Outstanding kisser. Very funny. Awesome personality. Stubborn. Sexual as ......... Most caring person you will ever meet! One of a kind. Not one to fuck with. Are the most sexiest people on earth! 15 years of bad luck if you do not repost.
In writing news, Magellan's Witch is going okay I think. I got to chapter 10 this time before I had to massively rewrite and that only took a day. Last night I got through a lot.
And now, I really do have to go work hard.
Labels: Authors, Magellan's Witch, marketing, publishing
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Sunday, February 18, 2007
Rant Alert! Reviews
Boy oh boy. I've been seeing a lot remarks lately about reviews. On loops, in blogs, on websites. Since I'm an author I have a fairly author-centric view of the issue. Here's a few of my views:
Any review that trashes a book because of the heroine's name is not a review that should be taken seriously. Such a review is not about the book, it's about the reviewer showing off her nasty chops. Hey, go for it, show off all you want, but readers and authors, don't confuse that with a review that has something to do with literary merit or the enjoyability of the read.
A review is not feedback for the author to take to heart for the next time around. A review is a response to a completed work of fiction. By the time the book is in the reviewer's hands it's too damn late for feedback. And any reviewer who thinks he's providing the author a free critique is too self-involved for polite words.
Authors do NOT have complete control over who reviews her book. Publishers send out ARCS without consulting the author. Please, don't assume that every reviewer got the book from the author.
Not all books are good. Some books are just plain bad. I have myself read books I thought were bad. The same is true of reviews. Not every review is based on a thorough reading of the book. That, my friends, is glaringly obvious. I have read reviews (of my own books and others) in which the characters names are misspelled, and sometimes not misspelled but just plain wrong. Some reviews are based on such a cursory read of the book that the reviewer has failed to grasp (or just didn't read?) key events in the story. Some reviewers confuse their books and review events that happened in some other book. And, I have also read reviews that have been written by someone lacking any knowledge or awareness of the rules of grammar or punctuation.
Authors are a highly neurotic group. They agonize over everything. And their books go out into a world where some readers are guaranteed not to like their book.
And, authors don't get to rebut reviews. Don't be all-surprised and annoyed if authors do a little moaning about reviews.
For myself, I try not to read reviews anymore. Good or bad, they upset me and/or distract me from the work in progress. The absolute worst thing any author can do is write to please reviewers. That way lies a really bad book.
Labels: Authors, Book Reviews, Rants
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