White out? I haven't seen the white out...

New Blogs

There are a few blogs that I discovered that I think deserve a second look.

Two of the blogs do serve up a healthy dose of snark, so be warned. They are:

http://internspills.blogspot.com/
http://www.therejectionist.com/

Another blog, http://pimpmynovel.blogspot.com/is done by a man by the name of Eric who works in the Sales Department of a major publisher, his blog focuses on what happens after your book is acquired. The blog includes very useful information on the publishing biz. A look inside this mysterious world...

Casey McCormick has been blogging for a while but I only recently discovered her blog, http://www.caseylmccormick.blogspot.com/. On her blog, Literary Rambles, she includes a feature calledAgent Spotlights. The feature includes interviews the agent has given, buzz about the agent and feedback from writers about the agents.

So check them out!

Anon,

Nancy

I'm Not the Lorax...But I speak for the trees

One Friday about a month or so ago, I decided to take the day off of work to write. I was pounding away at my keyboard feverishly working on my manuscript when I heard a whomp, whomp, whomp sound. I didn't think much about it as my neighbors tend to be a bit noisy. Well when the noise continued I looked up from my computer and saw the tree in front of my window shaking side to side. I got up from my chair to get a closer look and saw my downstairs neighbor whacking at the tree with a machete. He gave the tree one more whack and then dragged the tree into his apartment.

Intrigued, I took a closer look at the stump he left behind. It was pretty small and wasn't very wide and didn't seem to be diseased in any way. I wondered what would possess my neighbor to cut down a perfectly good tree and why would he drag it into his apartment? Then I did something that I don't normally do. I ratted him out to the management staff of the apartment complex. I figured they owned the tree afterall- my neighbor was really just renting the darn thing, they should know happened to it.

The apartment manager thanked me for calling (like you would thank a stranger you suspect might be a bit of a loon) and said they would talk to my neighbor. I don't know if anything came of my complaint but none of the other trees surrounding our building have been harmed.

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not."
-The Lorax,
Dr. Seuss

Do Over!

I'm knee deep in revisions for my WIP. I originally started the manuscript back in November for National Novel Writing Month (NANOWRIMO) and managed to get about 15,000 words written for the month of November. I kept working on it after that and slowly but surely I finished my rough draft. I'm now going back through killing my darlings as they say. This is my third round of revisions and I'm finally seeing the possibilities of the manuscript.

There's a great website that I find myself referencing time and again- its http://www.cherylklein.com/. Cheryl Klein was the continuity editor for the last few Harry Potter books. Her site is a treasure trove of editing and revision techniques. She's posted the transcripts of speeches she's given at various writing conferences. Check it out!

Anon,

Nancy

The Devil, the Government and the Internet, oh my!

One of the tasks of my job is to answer emails that people send to the website I administer. Most of the emails are from perfectly sane people who have forgotten their logins or have a question. This week, however, I have seen a surprisingly large number of emails from some interesting people.

There was an email from the gentleman who stated in the first line that due to government restrictions we was not able to communicate on the internet and went on to explain the book project he wanted to pitch regarding the interworkings of the sub agencies within the US government. Every other line he mentioned that he shouldn't sharing this information.

Then there was the nine page email from the gentleman who had already picked out the leads for the book project and who used an astounding number of curse words as adjectives to explain his project. The project he was pitching also included an astounding number of drug references and included a famous rock star in the role as the devil.

Then there was the guy who wanted to know where he could find the super secret list of agents that had clout to find an unpublished writer (like himself), a six or seven figure deal for his book project.

So if these are the type of emails that this site gets, I can only imagine the types of emails that agents and editors receive. So what does this mean to the rest of us? If you can portray a certain amount of sanity and pitch a coherent project, you are most likely ahead of the game...

Anon,

Nancy

Time to break out the Middle Grade Novels!

Upcoming Trends in MG and YA
I found this post about trends on the www.VerlaKay.com website. I'm hoping it's okay to post here. It was originally on Facebook. Anyway, it looks like Middle Grade novels are still popular, especially ones geared toward boys and bring on the funny!

http://pl-pl.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=102337018326

Anon,

Nancy

Things Overheard at the Bookstore

We use an intercom system to make event announcements, to page a manager for a phone call and to announce that the store is closing for the night. Sometimes employees will use the intercom to ask for back up or assistance on an issue. Earlier in the week when an employee, we will call her employee A was unable to locate a book, she made this announcement to another employee, we will call her, employee B.

"Employee B (name redacted) please call information...(insert very long pause here), You know that Ball Blue Book of preserving, I cannot find it."

We count ourselves lucky that employee A did not transpose the first part of that title. I doubt that would be something anyone would want to preserve...

Anon,

Nancy