Oh my god, YES

I'd be a delighted patron of any movie theatre that tossed people out for talking or texting.

My favorite part: "I've texted in all the other theatres in Austin and no one cared"...yea knucklehead, no one tossed you out maybe, but every single person in the theatre was silently hoping you'd be struck by popcorn poisoning and never be able to set foot in a theatre again without breaking into hives!

so, you think "all" YA is too dark?

You're not looking around enough.

I found this today just by chance.

And it looks like a great book.

THE CAT WHO WAS VERY VERY SAD

Lilian Jackson Braun who wrote the delightful, whimsical "CAT WHO" mystery novels has died.

She had a long life, was loved by many, and will be missed by all of us who know who Koko and Yum-Yum are.  And what pasties aren't.

Her obituary is here.

Stuff it

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal about YA books has generated a firestorm of response on Twitter.  Here's the article.


And here's my reply:

Stuff it.

I'm not apologizing for reading, representing and selling YA books. Not the ones with violence. Not the ones with sex. Not the ones you scoff at that have "images not of joy or beauty but of damage, brutality and losses of the most horrendous kinds."

Yea, stuff it.

Cause in the world I live in, kids are people too, and reading this kind of "crap" is how they learn to be people in the real world.

Cause YA is about kids learning that bad stuff can happen to good people. If something bad happens to you, it's not cause you ARE bad.

Cause YA is about kids learning to be brave.

Cause YA is about kids learning to affect their own lives, not just be affected.

Cause YA is about kids failing, and not giving up.

Cause YA is about being able to read about fearsome frightening things, and come out on the other side unscathed.

So yea, stuff it.

And while we're here, let me point out that anyone who can't find a "suitable" book among 78 on a general trade booksellers shelf (let alone a staffer who hasn't read a single one!) is probably in the wrong section.

There's nothing wrong with Charlotte's Web or Stuart Little, books I love with all my heart, but they are shelved most likely someplace else. (And let's all remember that Charlotte's Web that great American classic starts with Fern's dad heading out to the pig shed with an ax.)

News articles like this aren't news. They're opinion pieces. Verily, the world of publishing is going to hell in a handbag. 


Well, here's my opinion, in case you missed it: Stuff it.

"Hello, I have come to kill you"

This blog post about Megladon did a couple things.

First, it made me laugh so hard I had to put down my coffee lest I destroy yet another keyboard.  Given he's writing about fierce predators, laughing that hard is a sign the guy can really write.

Second, because the guy can really write, I immediately hunted down the "about the author" button.  Further investigation revealed that of course he'd already been snapped up by Farley Chase of the Waxman Agency, but if he hadn't I was ready to lob an offer over his gunwales.

What this means for you:  good blog writing gets attention.  The kind of attention you as a writer want.  Notice there's nothing in that blog post about query stats or his book. You have to, in fact, HUNT to find the book.

Yup, that's EXACTLY the kind of writing I'm looking for, and there's a drooling, slavering pack of agents right behind me looking for the same thing.

"What do you look for in a writer," you may ask

Good writing is of course the first answer to that.

But there is a lot of good writing out there.  How do you assess whether a writer will be a good fit or has what it takes to survive in this crazy Publication World.

Well, you pay attention to the little things they tell you.

I've been in touch with a prospective author for about three years now, off and on. Recently she sent me her full manuscript.  We've had back and forth emails about it, and today very casually she mentions this:

My laptop died two months ago, so 50% of what you are hopefully reading was written on my iPhone. 

Yea, that. That's dedication. That's perseverance. THAT'S what I look for.

COUNTY LINE "(not) just another thriller!"

Snarl

Here is a list of things I can say with certainty I don't care about:

1. Whether Rep. Anthony Weiner was hacked/bamboozled/justplainstupid about the crotch shot.  You've seen one pair of boxer briefs you've seen them all.

2. Sarah Palin's Excellent Adventure.  I don't care if she's avoiding reporters or giving Fox an exclusive.  I know her opinion on everything: Not-Obama's. I don't want to hear about the 2012 election until ...surprise surprise...2012.

Doesn't the news media have something more interesting to talk about: like the absence of air conditioning my office?  Or even better: I just got finished copies of Bill Cameron's COUNTY LINE and it's so GORGEOUS it cured my snarl.

Showing (not telling!) how to pitch!

This is absolutely the best example I've seen of How To Pitch if you meet an agent at a conference.