Square Pegs

We’ve had Garner, we’ve met Other Electricities. . .what book will you be charging on your credit card today? LitBlog Co-Op

For those who find nothing more satisfying than looking up words (and then looking up more words), the Oxford English Dictionary (or as we call it chez Booksquare, Our Beloved OED) is offering free look-ups. Oh sure, there’s a catch, there’s always a catch. We are waiting for the fine OED folks to contact us for our suggestions on reducing catches and making the world overflow with love. Anyway, in association with a British programme (we remained by baffled by the British insistence on spelling things wrong) called Balderdash and Piffle, you can look up words corresponding to the letter

The books have been read, debated, considered, and — most importantly — voted upon. The LitBlog C0-Op has made its Winter 2006 selection. Other nominees will be revealed throughout the week, and the Co-Op has a full calendar of book-related events planned to keep you warm this season. Yeah, we’re making you hit the LitBlog site to get the scoop. But only because Dan Wickett is making his debut with the group, and, well, you know how we feel about Dan. The LitBlog Co-Op

A not-so-secret BS secret is that we have serious weakness for geeky guys. The dopier, dweebier, nerdier, the better. That’s not to imply that Edrants or his “friend”, Bat Segundo, are nerds, but, heck, they interviewed Chris Elliott. Yeah, that Chris Elliott. Subjects Discussed: Lack of sleep from both parties, the lure of money, the Chris Elliott persona vs. the real Chris Elliott, Jack the Ripper, parodies, Alan Moore’s From Hell, research, trying to read while acting, on being declared an idiot, Get a Life, on whether the Chris Elliott persona gets tiresome, Carrot Top, cross-dressing, atmospheres with disparate historical

The powers behind BS are cheap and easy (mostly easy), and when a friend says, “Hey, I’m teaching some online courses at Writer’s Digest, can you give me a shout-out?”, we say, “Uh, sure, what’s in it for us?” Nothing as it turns out, but that’s never stopped our fingers from posting, posting, posting. Longtime Friend-of-Booksquare* Cindy Wathen is teaching a series of courses of interest to non-fiction writers. Though recent news has been sketchy on this concept, it’s mostly about not Making Stuff Up. Cindy will be guiding you through “Writing the Nonfiction Book Proposal,” “Fundamentals of Nonfiction”, and

We are not going to name names, but we know some publishers, music labels, and studios who engage in a little game. The rules are simple: Locate a review of your latest masterpiece. Run around the house/office, trying to find your sharpest scissors. Sit down in a comfortable chair and read the review. Do not read for context as it is an unnecessary use of brain cells. Carefully — this is why the scissors must be sharp — cut out words and phrases that reflect you and/or your work in glowing terms. Put said words and phrases into something that

Word on the street is Random House will be offering refunds to those who bought James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces under false pretenses. There is a catch (there’s always a catch): this refund is available to those who purchased from the publisher directly. Makes us wonder about those numbers… Frey’s writing career seems to be bumping along just fine, though it’s still early in the scandal. In other publishing news, Angelina Jolie is preg…wait, oops, wrong headline. Let’s start again. In other publishing news, Oprah Winfrey has broken her (day or two long) silence on the issue and come

So much for our resolution to hit the ground running in the new year. If only we’d kept the thought to “hit the ground”. You live, you learn. We’d like to thank everyone who reads Booksquare. Especially those of you make it part of your everyday routine. Writers always wonder who is reading their work and how they feel about it. It is humbling to realize that people we’ve never met or seen read our (sometimes nonsensical) words regularly. Thank you. It is our belief that 2005 will be remembered in the annals of publishing history (we are taking it

The special thing about sloth is that it can be enjoyed anywhere mai tais are made. But when one finds the perfect spot, it makes sloth all that much better. And well-done sloth leads to a happy person. Or so logic tells us. We are returned, rested, and ready. Mostly rested. This being a holiday week, we will ease slowly into our blogging routine (rise, make coffee, read, rant, write, repeat [except for numbers one and two]). Which makes us feel guilty for making the absolutely amazing David Thayer and Susan Gable work so hard. We thank them for their

I read somewhere that the holidays were encroaching. That was probably The Wall Street Journal. Encroaching on what? When confronted with conundrums I turn to the Earl. He’s an aspiring writer whose literary career is wobbly at best. For instance, he lost his cool and was dragged across the floor of a train station clinging to a literary agent’s expensive trousers. When the agent tried to shake him loose the Earl offered his manuscript in exchange for letting go. Needless to say that ploy was a total failure. In all the excitement the Earl had forgotten to enclose a SASE.