Square Pegs

Yes, we really do need to get a life — it just doesn’t appear likely in the near future. We were fascinated by this tale of in-fighting in English PEN. All the usual literary intrigue — editing, censorship, fighting fair — is represented. If the charges weren’t so serious, we’d find this imbroglio tailor-made for a cushy chair and tub of popcorn. Writers’ organisation riven by dispute on free expression English PEN

How do you describe something you’ve never experienced? Well, of course you can make things up. But there’s always some “expert” out there willing to explain how you’ve gotten the details all wrong (even those details of societies that died thousands of years before our hypothetical critic was born). So authors sometimes do hands-on research for the sake of veracity. Sometimes for curiosity. Sometimes because they want to live the story. Robert Kurson, author of Shadow Divers had various reasons for approaching his research the way he did. His fans will be relieved that nobody would allow him to dive

There are generally accepted models for the dissemination of academic information and research. We believe the technical term is “publish or perish.” Leave it up to those crazy scientists to challenge the status quo. As with all things, there is a cost involved with this process (though, as the article hints, less so for the publisher than all others involved). The science community is questioning the paradigm (expensive subscriptions to print journals) for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the public’s inability to review research they’ve paid for. We believe the buying and selling of information

We are, by nature, pacifistic. It’s that lazy thing we suffer from. So it’s surprising and painful to discover we’re feeling oozy, icky hatred. Not the hot, passionate kind. This is more the type that will spread and fester. Yes, thanks to a helpful friend, we have finally read an author interview that pisses us off in an ugly way. And we have hours to go before we can drink. A few choice quotes as a preview: They say everyone has at least one book inside them. But is it true? Could we all turn our hands to writing best

Since our mother doesn’t read our blog, we’re comfortable discussing her freely. Today, we’d like to talk about the time she was feverishly working in the library, processing discards. You know, those books that must be cleared from the shelves so new books can take their place (elementary school libraries are notable for their lack of space, and, as noted, physical buildings don’t expand). She, by her own account, was in the zone. Yes, we wish she wouldn’t be in places like that, but what can you do? You can’t watch them all the time. Discard, discard, discard. What is

People are flying into town at various times over the weekend, and we’re going to be playing chauffeur (cute hat, snappy attitude, excellent sense of direction) and host (see previous, minus sense of direction). Something tells us we’ll also be required to make scintillating conversation. Webster’s isn’t clear on the definition of host-with-the-most, but we suspect it precludes spending long hours at our computer. So things may be light for the next few days. We feel your distress…heck, we’re INTJ. This is torture for us. We have a bunch of editor and publisher news that we’ll try to sneak in

The tough get weird. We were warned not to read this article. Then we figured, what the heck, we have a full bottle of wine at the ready. So we did. We wish we could express shock. Instead, we feel the author’s pain; we also wonder how far we’d go in the same situation. We’ve talked about this, from various angles, quite a bit lately. We still believe there’s a place for what The Literary Reader calls the “better ones”, and we think authors need to think outside tradition. TLR explores alternatives for publishing. And we think he’s right. If

No. Really, you do. Eventually. Being a starving artist is only glamorous when you’re young. The Elegant Variation seems intrigued by the subject matter (by the way, starting to save for your old age at 50 is a bad idea; trust us); we’re more shocked that after the failed experiment involving Nathaniel West and F. Scott Fitzgerald, another generation of literary writers could be lured to Hollywood. While the article offers practical advice (we’ve linked to other stories from this series because we like cautionary tales), we liked this quote especially: He spent the next two decades living well on

Of course you are. You love good times. And what could be better than a weekend in Pasadena? Right, a weekend in Pasadena with other writers. And editors. And agents. Imagine, industry professionals locked in a hotel with you. Imagine the possibility. The Third Annual Southern California Writer’s Conference will be held in Pasadena, October 1 – 3, 2004. Details on the website. Southern California Writer’s Conference