We walked into this writing thing with our eyes wide open (while maintaining a healthy grip on the the fantasy life because that’s what keeps us sane), so reading about the financial realities of one author didn’t depress us. Much. This money conversation has been swirling on several of our lists for the past week — it seems the universe wants us to remember that working at McDonald’s might be more lucrative. We especially focused on this quote: “I am careful with money because I never know how much I will be earning in six months’ time. When I spend […]

We think the work of a translator is beyond tough. Sure, authors are slagged for, well, writing words that someone doesn’t like. Translators get it for, well, misinterpreting the author’s original meaning. We’ve had teachers who swear by one translation or another, convincing us that language truly is in the eye of the beholder. Or something like that. Therefore we applaud the largely thankless job of Gregory Rabassa. And we’re so happy it’s not ours. A Translator’s Long Journey, Page by Page The U.S. Conduit for Latin American Fiction

Okay, so maybe JK Rowling doesn’t need our marketing advice. Maybe she’s the one author in a million who got lucky and earned billions without the necessary slog of self-promotion. Okay, fine, she did. But just as we believe all agents need websites (before they announce their intentions to the world) and all publishers need usuable websites (we’re not holding our breath), we believe that all authors should, at a minimum, have some sort of Internet presence (we have plenty of thoughts on this subject as well). You know, just a little something for the fans. After all, which would

Our former instructor, Leslie Schwartz, is going on tour, and we think you should know about it. We’ve had the privilege of hearing a bit of her current novel Angels Crest, and, of course, spending time with her as she nurtured our fragile soul. We wish Leslie the best with her new book. Leslie Schwartz Book Tour

We think getting books into peoples’ hands is a great idea. In fact, we thrust printed matter on guests whenever we can. Mostly they’re too polite to hand it back to us, and we believe our favorite books are eventually read (we do this so often we actaully purchase loaner copies of books we believe our friends should read and love). Libararies bring books to the masses, and now libraries in Ohio are offering ebooks. The story below makes sense to us up to the point where the books are returned. We admit our brain shies away from the overly

There is a rumor that Las Vegas doesn’t want the Romance Writers of America annual conference because women don’t drink enough. Right, as if imbibing alcohol isn’t a time-honored writer’s tradition. While Jonathon Ames doesn’t discuss RWA’s particular situation, he does reveal a few things about the subject of drinking in an interview with Maud Newton. He also discusses Raymond Chandler (we would like to mention that Los Angeles gets a bad rap here — it’s still a pretty great city, and we can eat outdoors all year long!). Interview with Jonathan Ames

We covered the, um, poorly advised writing advice of Todd Pierce. John Scalzi, likely a fairer minded soul than us, actually contacted Mr. Pierce. And received a response. At least the whole issue is somewhat clearer, though we suspect people only hear the first thing. Bottom line: don’t lie in your queries. You’ll get caught. Thank you. Todd Pierce Responds

We’ve written about how authors are using the Internet to change how they work. It was only a matter of time before the online community reintroduced an ancient concept. Robert McCrumb of the Guardian discusses innovation in literature (the last frontier!) and dates what we consider a modern phenomenon back to Homer. The author, not the Simpson. In the second article, Kate Mosse shows us how this interactive thing is done with her novel-in-progress. Interactive writing? Don’t sneer. It goes back to Homer Labyrinth