Harry Potter has come to the blogosphere...

Nathan Bransford has declared the week: Harry Potter Week. Check it out here.

Having What it Takes

One writer suggests that the two qualities a writer needs are determination and denial. You can read more about it here. Happy NANOWRIMO!

the picture is from this awesome site.

Halloween Approaches

Bailey here, I've commandeered the blog again like I did last year at this time.. I just want to remind everyone to be especially kind to the hyper-pigmented cats out there. As I have said before, we are not the devil's minions and we don't bring bad luck just by crossing some human's path. Frankly, for some of you bookstore people out there, this is a concept I can get behind, but I digress. Halloween tends to make normal humans act strange this time of year--you dress weird and you go around begging for candy. What's up with that? Anyway, please be kind to us cats--especially us hyper-pigmented ones.

-Bailey out.

A Week of Banned Books and Bullying

I had intended to write a post about the recent tragedy at Rutgers University but there have been some great posts from people who have done a much better job of articulating the issue and the necessary response than I could ever do, so I'm going to link to them instead. If you haven't seen the Ellen DeGeneres video, please watch it. It's quite powerful. In the news this week.

Life = Risk

This is amazing. Listen with the sound on though to get the full effect. Thanks Diana for posting this first!

Censorship, Seriously?

Author Ellen Hopkins was uninvited to the TeenLit Festival in Humble, TX.

a middle school librarian, concerned about her students hearing Hopkins' presentation, voiced her worries to parents, who went to Humble Independent School District Superintendent Guy Sconzo. He then told organizers to remove Hopkins from the event.

Other authors pulled out the event when they heard about the situation with Hopkins. Kids hear and see worse things on the news and on reality television. I can't believe stuff like this still happens...

You can read the full article here: http://www.slj.com/slj/home/886402-312/ellen_hopkins_uninvited_to_lit.html.csp

Anon,

Nancy

Things Overheard at Work

1.   Poland, is that in Asia?

2.   If he said he'd hit you upside the head--then that's a threat!

3.   I am not giving you that editor's home phone number!

4.   No sir, I don't think you should call all the agents you want to
      query to see if you're compatible. Finding an agent is not like
      dating (in this instance).

5.   Sir, if you don't have a computer then you really shouldn't
      sign up for an online subscription--perhaps you should
      purchase the book. 

How's your week going?

Anon,

Nancy