For a lot of reasons, we hope this is the real thing. If not, we hope the author is having a great time. And, no, not a clue why we feel this way. We were delayed in Burbank (???) for two hours due to fog. The brain may be recharging more than a few neurons. formerlyROSIE
What is it called when you read someone else’s email? Eavesreading? Well, we eavesread a lot. Such is the hazard of putting words where we can see them (also, if you don’t want us looking, close your curtains). Last night, we were reading the husband’s blogs over his shoulder and this article caught our eye. Sure, we’re Veen fans (mostly from a different perspective), but that wasn’t what caught our eye. Let’s just say the eye is drawn to red. Two in the morning, Montréal
We love useless information. As should be obvious. We love the OED. As should also be obvious. When the two intersect, life is good. The March 2005 newsletter is now available (surely you knew there was an OED newsletter?), and we couldn’t help but read the article on antedatings. And what did we learn? Oh, just a little factoid about the word “paperback.” Much older than you’d imagine. 1843, give or take. Sure changes everything, doesn’t it? Interesting antedatings
The delightful thing about major authors with major releases is that they do the press rounds like crazy. After a while, it sort of feels like you’re reading the same story in a different font. It’s as if there are only so many column inches available for author profiles. Which is why the Internet should set the author interview free, but, sadly, we don’t get our wishes fulfilled as often as we want. Oh sure, the whole story thing is great, but, if you’ve ever been to an author question-and-answer session, you know what the people want: the writing. It’s
You only want to work on the stuff you’re not supposed to be working on. That’s how it always is. I’ll always be working on five things at once, usually with those documents open at the same time because if I get stuck somewhere I’ll jump over to something else. That’s how my head has always worked. I don’t know if it’s ’cause I watched too much TV as a kid or what. It really could be that. The believer: Dave Eggers talks about production by procrastination, how understanding book-selling can empower a writer, and what it’s like to be
Back when the story was hot, hot, hot, the world was rife with speculation about the fate of Miramax Books. What would happen to this fine publisher? Would it move in with step-parent Disney or stay with the Weinsteins? Even then, we knew the truth: you don’t lose assets without good reason. Disney didn’t get to be Disney by allowing high profile divisions to slip away. Sure, high profile producers get the boot, but, let’s face it, in Hollywood, you can always find another high profile producer (note: this type of thinking is dangerous and usually ends up in tears.
So they’re sitting around the publishing office, worried. Young(ish) Swift has written his masterpiece, but the market is crowded. Books are everywhere. If you have a pen and a decent imagination (and can afford reams of paper to crumple into balls and toss), you’re writing and publishing. The classics, and our publisher knows he has one on his hands, are being lost in the mix. Swift’s book doesn’t stand a chance. Or does it? Robert McCrum wonders if rationality has been lost in the desire to label everything an “instant” classic (this is, after all, the world that has already
We do not make light of the events of 9/11. Nobody will forget what happened, and it is inevitable that all aspects of that day will inform the arts. And yet, for novelists, it comes down to “where have you been all these years?” We would argue that 9/11 informs most fiction written since that day. Certainly many novels have addressed the issue. Now that the literary end of the fiction spectrum is appearing in print, the first response suggests novelists were on the sidelines. After three years of near silence about the attacks of Sept. 11, the literary world
Our Department of Writing, Business (everyone around here is scrambling to clear desks) alerted us to this article about authors suffering the rite of passage known as book tours. As we read through the story (verbatim accounts of human suffering and other things), it strikes us that not only must you master the synopsis and elevator pitch, but there will come a point where you are required to pull out a clever, possibly pithy, book tour anecdote. Reason number seven while we will hire someone (probably Jill as she was once a cheerleader and can spell) to pretend to be
Back in the olden days, you had to work to figure out who represented your favorite author. So, so passe. So last century. So hard. Who has time for such nonsense — after all, why else were databases invented*? Still, the fine folks at Publisher’s Marketplace love to innovate, and now you can do all the detailed research you want without hitting the bookstore. Not that we’re discouraging visiting bookstores. * – The thought that databases were created to increase productivity has been proven false; the rise of the database directly correlates with the increase of people spending hours scouring
