When Bad Things Happen to Good Stories

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We have a friend who shall remain nameless (no, it’s probably not you). She believes everything she’s told about writing. If someone doesn’t like something in her work, she’ll change it. No questions asked. She doesn’t trust her voice, her style, or her story. When she’s done with her novel, she will sound like her critique group. It won’t be her on the page. Which is a shame because when she does trust herself, she’s really good. But generally, a week later, sufficient second-guessing has happened and the good stuff has been revised. Critique partners are wonderful things. We couldn’t […]

Square Pegs, Tools and Craft

Working Our Fingers to the Bone

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So Jill calls and wants to know why we haven’t updated Booksquare since this morning. She’s been checking and checking…and our lame excuse (“work”) didn’t fly. She expects far too much from us — though she didn’t come right out and say it, we think we’re supposed to, uh, write like three chapters and send them to her very soon. We can read between her silences. Always curious, we read the article referenced below with great interest. Is the novel dying, we wondered, a bit worried as we have quite a few piled around and if they’re going to keel

Tools and Craft

Cool Literacy Idea

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As always, we are excited to present new ideas in literacy. Okay, perhaps it’s not so new — our friend Jean imported a similar (but not the same) concept from her work in Britain — but it’s a cool approach to involving kids in literature. After all, there’s nothing like a book report to suck the soul out of a novel. Now, we’re going to admit upfront: we’re not the good person everyone believes we are. We realize the following quote was meant to elicit sympathy. We get overt manipulation. But given that we often feel like we grew up

Square Pegs

Yes, You — The Funny One

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We are quite possibly the only writer in the greater Los Angeles area without the screenwriting gene (we were tested, and it’s definitely missing). But does that reduce temptation when something like Bravo’s Situation: Comedy comes up? Of course not. We can experience twisting jealousy and seething envy as well as the next person. Probably better because we have a lot of practice. If the screenwriting gene didn’t skip you (or if it did — hey, it’s comedy, who knows!), read the rules (which we can do), complete the application (we are the Queen of Completing Forms), and write the

Square Pegs

Agent Quickie

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We know our readers are literary agent junkies. And, yes, we mean that in the very best way. Gawker as part of its continuing interview series has posted a 5×5 interview with (assistant) literary agent, Ginger Clark of Writer’s House. She wants query letters to be proofread before they’re mailed. Talk about demanding. The key thing we learned wasn’t covered in the interview: while Writer’s House has a domain, they don’t have a website. As always, we ask, “what’s up with that?” The 5X5 Interview: Ginger Clark, Assistant Literary Agent Clark’s Listing on Publisher’s Marketplace

Agents

Bold Ideas, Bold Agency

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We have been thinking quite a bit about big literary agencies versus small. There is something to be said for an agent who makes the scene, literarily and otherwise. If you’re looking for that kind of excitement (and we must admit to a certain thrill), then Vigliano Associates may be your dream agency. MediaBistro gets the lowdown on David Vigliano, Andrea Somberg, and part-time agents, Michael Harriot and Elisa Petrini. Pitching an Agent: Vigliano Associates (note: AvantGuild members only)

Agents

Self-Promotion Has Always Been An Olympian Hurdle

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Since we’re inherently lazy, meaning we can’t be bothered to do any fact-checking, we are going to believe every word of Tony Perrottet’s essay on the Olympics and literature. He makes perfect sense to us. Especially because we can close our eyes and imagine a fiery, intense, sweaty poetry rumble. And we can imagine old school writers meeting up with the hot new stars: By the first century A.D., a pagan superstar named Apollonius of Tyana sent an advance guard to the Games to generate some buzz. Crowds thronged his readings, but Apollonius was disgusted at having to share the

Square Pegs, Tools and Craft

Happy Ending for Books

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A month or so ago, we mentioned that Half-Price Books had acquired a treasure warehouse full of rare books from Penguin. While we openly questioned Penguin’s business acumen at the time, we’re pleased that these rare books are being handled with care. If only our mother (yes, we’re still talking about the Ray Bradbury incident; it is important that she never live it down) had done the same. Half Price Books purchases rare Penguin archive from England; Books being sold on Abebooks.com

Publishers and Editors

In Which We Offer Our Unsolicited Opinion

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We believe the recent changes at Harlequin, both from a product and editorial perspective, will turn out to be very good for the company and its authors. The first step to solving a problem is admitting it exists — and the company has done that. The second step is changing the way everyone thinks. That will be harder, as an article from today’s New York Times makes clear. Thus we have generously taken the time and energy to offer our thoughts and opinions. We look at the points raised in the article, and we offer suggestions for the future. And

Publishers and Editors

The Scoop: AMB Literary Management

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Never let it be said that we don’t work hard for you. We get up early (relatively speaking), scan dozens of news items (give or take), and seek out the best information we can (time permitting; otherwise, we just punt). And we pay attention to what you want. Mostly. Since Amy Moore-Benson started her own literary agency, our readers have been seeking more information than our single paragraph announcement could provide. Knowing you wouldn’t be satisfied with that, we sought out Benson to learn more about her agency. She’ll probably think twice before announcing a major sale in Publisher’s Lunch

Agents
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