And the word phony is bobbing around in my mind lately because of the passing of J.D Salinger. Whose THE CATCHER IN THE RYE was given to me by my big brother when I was only eleven years old. “Read this book! You have to read this, Dorth!”
I couldn’t really dig into it at the [...]
Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category
Feeling like a phony
Posted in Agents, Writing on February 20, 2010 | 5 Comments »
Sold a short story for middle graders
Posted in Writing on November 20, 2009 | 4 Comments »
First, let me say the dust is beginning to clear in my family life, things are stabilizing and getting much better. So I’m able to rev my writing life back up.
Now that NO ONE is reading this blog due to my absence, heh.
But in addition to my SCBWI article being published while I was offline, [...]
In fantasy, it’s all about what the bad guy wants
Posted in Writing on June 16, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Writers are often told to ask themselves what does their main character want. What does he or she want in a big overarching, through-the-whole-manuscript way, and also what does he or she want in this chapter, in this scene, in this moment. And to keep in mind the concomitant questions of what then gets in [...]
Listening to your inner Jerome Robbins
Posted in Art, Writing on May 26, 2009 | 2 Comments »
Last week I saw two things which on the surface didn’t seem connected, but turned out to be entwined. First, I attended a local high school’s Spring Chorus concert. The performances from the various choirs were good, but when the number of singers was small — the soloists, duets, quartets, etc. — various weaknesses were [...]
Do I dare to write a post?
Posted in Bloginating, Writing on May 18, 2009 | 4 Comments »
I shall wear white flannel trousers and . . . um, walk upon some toast?
See what happens when you slip out of the blogosphere for such a long time? You come back mangling T. S. Eliot.
I stopped posting to this blog for a number of reasons. For one, I stopped writing fiction for a while. [...]
What about luck?
Posted in Publishing, Writing on May 15, 2008 | 16 Comments »
A few weeks ago, or more, I lose track of time so easily these days, I read a thought-provoking comments thread on a writer’s blog. The writer’s initial post was about . . . .
Ack! time is apparently not the only thing I lose track of easily these days.
All righty then, I’ve forgotten the [...]
Dudes!
Posted in Pop culture, Writing on May 12, 2008 | 11 Comments »
Hi! Hiya. How’s tricks? Whassup?
My mom’s visit messed up my online rhythms. Disrupted them, such as they were. And then I felt like I had to have something substantial to say when I came back because I’d been away so long.
*waves to her list of ten*
In other random news–
RED RING OF DEATH! Our X-box 360 [...]
Musing about characters with edges
Posted in Writing on March 16, 2008 | 8 Comments »
I’ve been pondering that truism about how mean, or nasty, or slippery, or just-plain-difficult characters grab hold of a reader’s attention better or are more interesting. More entertaining? Or a good-hearted character with some giant flaw is more compelling than a good-hearted characters full stop. I know in my own YA ms, the character most [...]
Do children’s books protect children from tough themes?
Posted in Quotes, Writing on March 13, 2008 | 5 Comments »
For this post, I wish I was still on LiveJournal, because it has such a conversational layout.
In last Sunday’s NY Times Book Review, Scott Turow wrote (when reviewing the novel The Blue Star by Tony Earley):
It’s such a deceptively simple strategy– to take the unembellished storytelling style of children’s literature and to bend it to [...]
Grrrraarrgh
Posted in Publishing, Writing, tagged Ranty McRant on March 11, 2008 | 4 Comments »
Warning– pointless ranting ahead.
The other day, I read another editor or agent saying . . . this, this thing many of them say, about how they have to loveloveLOVE your manuscript so MUCH before they can even consider taking it on
Because . . .
There are so FEW spots open on publishers’ lists for debut novelists. [...]
Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You
Posted in Books, Writing on March 4, 2008 | 7 Comments »
By Peter Cameron.
Why haven’t I heard more about this book?
It is made of teh awesome. I must be reading the wrong blogs or not enough book review type blogs, because I hadn’t seen any mention of it until I saw it on some list—ack, I’ve forgotten which one. Not the Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers, [...]
Donald Maass’s opinion of writers blogging
Posted in Agents, Publishing, Writing, tagged Bloginating on February 28, 2008 | 18 Comments »
Have you already seen this post? I got the link from reading The Swivet. (Both of those blogs are new to me and they are both fascinating.)
So if you haven’t read it yet, go ahead, I’ll wait. *pours another cup of coffee on this 8 degree morning*
So whaddya think? Wasn’t that interesting? It made me [...]
More Anthony Lane love
Posted in Pop culture, Quotes, Writing, tagged Adam Gopnik, Anthony Lane, Star Wars on February 25, 2008 | 6 Comments »
I’ve mentioned before how I heart Anthony Lane (one of the film critics at the New Yorker.) And here’s another reason why. From last week’s issue:
“Star Wars” fans will remember Hayden Christensen as the young Anakin Skywalker, or, to be accurate, as a kind of handsome void where Anakin was supposed to be.
HA!
And while [...]
Rearranging
Posted in Publishing, Writing on February 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
We’ve ordered a new couch for our family room, because our old one looks like this
Also this:
And getting a new couch set off a chain reaction of rearranging furniture, and cleaning areas that haven’t seen light for a while, that spilled out of the family room into the living room and even dining room somehow. [...]
What am I doing here?
Posted in Writing, tagged Bloginating on January 30, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Well, not in the philosophical or theological sense, or as one of my children asked me the other day, “But what did God make us FOR? And why did he make strep throat sickness? And flies, mom, what are flies for?”
No, I’m just wondering what to make of this blog. As usual, I want to [...]
