Tools and Craft

We’ve been following stories about the Sony Librie for quite some time. As early adopters of ebook technology (the defunct Rocket ebook, specifically), we firmly believe these devices will help with some of life’s more pressing problems: inability to move through the house due to endless piles of books, justifying said piles to the husband, justifying the extra suitcase for vacactions because one should never leave town without sufficient reading supplies, and, because we don’t keep every book that crosses our palm (sacrilege in some circles, but it really is a very small house), reducing the anguish that inevitably accompanies

A while back, we pointed to discussion on Making Light about a professor who offered dubious advice about, um, exaggerating credentials. Discussion ensued, and we believe the professor was in the loop at some point; yes, we recall his explanation of his comments (rather than linking, linking, linking, we’ll let you follow the story from John Scalzi’s Whatever). Long story short, the professor finally got around to reading what was said, got hot under the collar, and decided the issue could only be resolved in a time-honored American way. Yeah, he threatened to sue. So, for your reading pleasure, we

First the name dropping, Leslie Schwartz, our former instructor, has announced that her new book Angels Crest is a BookSense 76 pick for July. This is incredibly cool news because as she told us about her journey with this book, we learned a lot about the power of believing in yourself. She’s also doing a series of signings in the Los Angeles area (link to more information helpfully provided by us). And (we just love it when we actually have a halfway decent segueway), Leslie also emphasized the importance of preparing for reading your work in public (her advice to

The most interesting aspect of this New York Times article on online research is, paradoxically, missing from the headline and the lead (is this what they call sexing up the news?). Of course college kids use Google to do research. It opens up lots of free time to download music. Seiously, why the “Gee Whiz” headline when the real story is that libraries are looking at ways to open up their vast trove of digital resources? You know, the stuff they’ve spent the last decade or so putting online but leaving inaccessible to most of the world (this is not

When authors try to buck up recently rejected authors, they often drag out the chestnut about Stephen King and his (approximately) zillion rejections before he sold Carrie. We think the knowledge that a multi-millionaire suffered as we do is supposed to help. Then comes the discussion of “good” rejections versus “bad” rejections. How we can use them to grow. That sort of thing. There is even a theory (which we’ve subscribed to in the past as a form of self defense) that rejections from agents don’t count. Yes, in retrospect, it doesn’t make sense, but when you’re nursing a recent

Perhaps because we felt ours was a little off yesterday, we thought we’d share a few articles on the concept of pacing. First, you put one foot in front of…wait, don’t listen to us. Remember, we were having problems. It’s much better to learn the art from ones who actually have a clue (come back to us when you’re in search of snappy dialogue or manuscript formatting tips). Agent Natasha Kern discusses what she likes to see in a submission. Another blog explores the questions of outlining (our opinion: sometimes good, sometimes bad, do what works for you). Carol Clarke