Over in LBC-land, Yannick Murphy, author of Here They Come has taken the stage. Her first post delves into the process of writing and pruning a book — the choices an author must make for the story. And the regret an author feels when favorite moments must give way to the narrative flow. She describes the goal she wanted to achieve before her editor entered the picture (darn editors!) and acknowledges the good and the bittersweet of making changes:
One wonders, however briefly, if publishers have a monster board that not only details the upcoming year’s production schedule by title, but also by subject matter. And then one wonders if those same publishers have their competition, title/subject, matter on the same monster board. Movie studios do it, so one would hope publishing houses do it. You do have to wonder sometimes because, as the New York Times points out, there’s a lot of competition for reading dollars in this market. And a slew of titles on the same topic can be either good or…confusing. Do you buy this book
Forget all that nonsense about the world ending, we were indulging in a melodramatic moment. All is right again, and we have been given a heads’ up of the best kind — coming to a bookstore near you this summer (meaning camp out now!) will be a definitive biography of one Nelle Harper Lee (we told you were were obsessed this week!). The nice people at Kirkus have a write-up of the book and a short interview with the author. No, not that author, Charles Shields, the author of the biography, Mockingbird. Really, where is your mind?. We feel like
We had one of those “All Harper Lee, All The Time”* weekends. First up, of course, was a screening of Capote, where we learned that Lee was a driving force behind In Cold Blood. Though the husband notes sometimes movies Make Facts Up. We don’t care, we believe. Now we learn that the book that put us on the straight and narrow (what does that mean?) will finally be available to those who Don’t Read. You know who you are. “We are proud to be the original publisher of this American treasure and are thrilled to add ‘To Kill a
We rarely focus on freelance opportunities because, well, the entire BS team is lazy. It takes a lot of sleep to keep a media empire running. Of course, we don’t want to hold you back. Hmm. No, no, that’s the truth. We do want you to go forth and succeed. There are many opportunities for writers out there, but today we found one that is so perfectly suited to those who write (how about that? A writing opportunity tailor made for writers. What will they think of next). It’s turns out that Poets & Writers is chock full of freelance
We have decided, upon much reflection, that having “a life” is overrated. Thus we have given ourselves over to full-time work. Also, it turns out that when the husband has an idea while in a fit of delirium, it can be good. Though, thinking back to various conversations, what he considers to be a good idea might also be construed as a way to keep us “busy.” As in not annoying him. And busy we have been. Now we are going to sleep for a week while others show what they know. Today, the RomanceWiki launches (officially). It is, as
You were warned. You knew that you had to buy and read Elizabeth Crane’s All This Heavenly Glory. You’ve had, what is it?, two weeks. It’s a fast read — which is discussed in great detail over at the Co-Op. Fast can be a function of style, you know. We know that you met the challenge and are ready to go. This is the time to talk about structure, sentences that defy the rules of gravity, voice as character, character defined by third person and first person point-of-view, Click-Clacks, servant girls, and the seventies, eighties, and nineties. Not necessarily in
Augusten Burroughs’ next book, uh, Possible Side Effects will come complete with a prominently displayed* warning sticker: “Author’s note: Some of the events described happened as related, others were expanded and changed. Some of the individuals portrayed are composites of more than one person and many names and identifying characteristics have been changed as well.” * – We made that up; we have no idea how big or how prominent the thing might be. Page Six says it’s a half page in the galleys. Our wildest imagination cannot absorb such a thing happening in real life; then again, we never
Ander Monson is blogging up a storm about Other Electricities over at the Co-Op. In addition to talking about his vision of his book, he’s addressing the comments and questions raised in earlier discussions of the book. It’s pretty cool stuff, especially his thoughts on the unusual structure of the book and how the various ephemera fit into the overall picture. Tomorrow (or today, depending on your time zone), there will be more fun as Sarah Gorham (publisher of Sarabande Books) and Kirby Gann (whom you might remember from last quarter’s discussions) talk about the publishing and editing of this
As discussed last week (you do remember last week, right? It was the one with the holiday), the LitBlog Co-Op has planned a wide range of interesting and fun activities for each of this quarter’s nominated titles. Discussions, podcasts, editors, publishers, and even authors will be posting to the Co-Op site about their books. This week, the fun starts with Anders Monson’s Other Electricities, the book that made the California contingent feel really sorry for people who live near cold stuff. Our collective thin, tanned skin shivered as we read about cold, colder, and so damn cold it’s amazing humans
