It's not just because of the The First Five Pages, although that's a really helpful book and I recommend it to you all. And not just because he's written a book on one of my first loves, punctuation. No, there's more! I just heard him interviewed by Barbara de Marco Barrett on her show and podcast, Writers on Writing (link to interview here - scroll down to June 26). I've heard many, many agents and authors speak at this point and I'm not sure I've heard anyone as articulate, well thought out, and genuinely helpful. It's well worth a listen!
And, if that weren't enough, he's written a 100 page e-book that you can download for free as a PDF on how to write a query letter. Link here. It breaks it down into such a clear structure, that even though this is my worst, WORST bit of the writing process, even I feel like I can do it now.
I will caution you, that if any of you were part of the Devotion of Snarklings, you'll note a few places where his advice differs from the Great Miss Snark. In all cases, I of course defer to the Snark Files. I fear her stillettoed wrath even now... ;)
This is my detective, detecting. She's a little too smiley, but it was the best I could do. ;)
The Emmy nominations have been made. This year, I can't really rant about Lauren Graham getting passed over, yet again, because I wasn't really feeling Gilmore this season (till the last few). But I will just say for old times sake that she's been robbed, year after year!
However, the nominations still leave much to be desired. The most obvious miss is Matthew Fox. Did none of the voters see Through the Looking Glass?
But, rather than rehash everything here, I'll link you to my favorite Lost blog, where Brian goes through each category and basically says exactly what I'm thinking - like why is Grey's Anatomy all over the nominations when this was arguably their least successful season?
Here's the link: Lost and Gone Forever
I also share his love for Top Chef!! Although I'm not sure I see Chef Tom as quite the champion of the contestants that he does. Tom always has that humorous gleam in his eye, like he's just waiting for everything to fall apart. He's definately not (the beloved) Tim Gunn, but I do love Tom in his own right. ;)
Up to approximately 54K words of 80K! YAY! Also, I'm nearing the point where I've written diverging endings. Three to be exact. I'm going to have to choose one, and go, or - the more likely choice - write a fourth.
I'm having committment issues with how to end this thing! Hopefully it just makes for a more surprising ending, having written the three more obvious ones.
You know it's Harry's Eve when you see girls in plaid skirts and capes walking up and down the street. ;)
We've stopped by our local Harry Potter party and done all the crafts and had our picture taken. The munchkins aren't old enough to hang out till the clock strikes twelve, so we'll have to wait till tomorrow to start reading, but that's ok. I know I'm going to strrrrrretch this one out, so I don't have to say good bye. I do admire Rowling for setting a limit and keeping the series solid, but it doesn't mean I'm at all excited about getting to the last book. I remember I started reading the series when I was pregnant with my first baby, and I'll finish while pregnant with my last. It's fitting!
I hope you all enjoy Book Seven and Movie Four this weekend!!
Ever since, I've signed my name with an oversized, flourishing R.
I wanted to name my daughter Rebecca. I was entranced by the character, by Manderley, by the entire book. I tried to remind myself that Rebecca wasn't the heroine, if anything she was the antagonist. But I never quite believed it.
And now that I've finished reading Rebecca's Tale, by Sally Beauman, Rebecca de Winter has received her vindication! Beauman wrote her Rebecca in a way that held surprises on every page, but was also every bit the Rebecca I knew lurked beneath the surface of du Maurier's pages. It was an amazing feat. My only complaint was that it was too long for me to stay up and finish in one night - but also that it was over entirely too soon. So I suppose there was no winning, there.This is the sort of literary mystery I hope to master one day!
Edited word count is at 49,451/80,000. I'm getting there!!!
I've been stuck on one chapter for 2 weeks and am finally moving on. It's not perfect, but I've got to keep going and will look at it again once I get to the end. This revising thing is a whole lot harder than I thought it would be. Once again, I renew my committment to actually *planning* the next book.
Also, I can't type a post without saying that it's ridiculously hot here. OK, you desert dwellers may not think 96 is that hot, but here in the temperate NW we eschew things like air conditioning and our fans always break around September when we shove them into some storage area - which is usually the last time we saw our sunglasses, too.
Again with the schedule
I have to admit that I'm having trouble with the balancing act this summer. I used to work, and have plenty of time during lunch and breaks to blog, peak at my chapters, etc. Now, I'm not only home, but pregnant, and it's summer, and finding those moments is harder and harder!
Time to reinvent a schedule, I think, now that I'm beginning to feel like part of the human race again. ;)
Marta Acosta is hosting a Book Trailer contest (details here). I have to admit, as much as I love techie stuff, I'm really out of the You Tube loop. I'm not much of an online video guru. So I'm curious, have any of you watched a book trailer? Do you have a favorite? Will you do a book trailer for your book? Let me know!!
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