Archives
Posted by Justine at 12:06, June 30th, 2009 under Bloggery, Publishing business, Ranting |
Posted by Justine at 14:54, June 29th, 2009 under Publishing business, Ranting |
One of the hardest things for me in the US of A is getting a glass of water (or any other not hot beverage) without ice. The default, even in the very depths of winter, is a glass that's at least half ice, half water.
They even put ice in orange juice! In bubbly water! It's INSANE!
I do not get it. Why so much ice? Why do USians want to have their teeth painfully assaulted with sub-arctic temperature liquids?
Is that truly what they want?
I will never understand it.
Posted by Justine at 13:28, June 28th, 2009 under Frippery, New York City/USA, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 2:22, June 27th, 2009 under Liar, Vainglory |
Lately I've read quite a few books people have been raving about and been really disappointed. So it was a relief to read two books that I loved, Sarah Rees Brennan's Demon's Lexicon and Coe Booth's Kendra. Today I'll be talking about DL, next week I'll talk about the fabulously brilliant Kendra.
Demon's Lexicon is told from the point of view of a sociopath. Nick does not get other people. He doesn't understand what they're thinking, why they do the things they do, or why they talk so much. He's a classic case of a character who's fabulous in a book but I would run a mile if I ran into him in real life. He has no qualms killing! This ...
Posted by Justine at 15:02, June 26th, 2009 under Reading, Young Adult literature |
Most politicians and journalists would rather spend time arguing about total trivialities than important stuff. No, I do not care about
ute-gate. Not any of it. Could you please get back to governing and how about actually doing something about climate change?
In the Heights is every bit as wonderful and entertaining as people have been saying. Especially when seen with Robin Wasserman. Musicals make me so happy!
Never go anywhere with Maureen Johnson where cockroaches may show up. She
told a story about dining with me and Scott and our good friend Alaya Johnson. The way she tells it is very operatic and entertaining but not exactly how I remember it. A cockroach landed on Scott's ...
Posted by Justine at 11:13, June 25th, 2009 under Frippery |
Posted by Justine at 13:14, June 24th, 2009 under State of the World, Young Adult literature |
The
discussion in the fanfic post got me thinking about the differences between writing to make a living, as I do, and writing solely for fun.
Many people in that thread talked about how writing fanfic was a learning experience that prepared them for becoming a professional writer. And there's no doubt that that's how fanfic has worked for many pros. However, the vast majority of writers of fanfic not only don't become pros, they have no desire to do so. They write fanfic for a variety of reasons: fun, community, because writing is something they can't not do and so on---they don't do it as some kind of apprenticeship for becoming a "real" writer.
I know professional writers who ...
Posted by Justine at 0:00, June 23rd, 2009 under Publishing business, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 8:27, June 22nd, 2009 under Reading |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, June 21st, 2009 under Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 16:39, June 20th, 2009 under New York City/USA, Praising, Research |
Liar just sold to
Salani in Italy. They're the publishers of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter books. Cool, huh? For those keeping count Liar has now sold in six countries. This is massively more sales than any of my other books have made prior to publication. I am dizzy. (I posted recently on
how foreign rights works for those who want to know why I am so excited.)
In other news: today I met someone who looks so much like Tom in the Magic or Madness trilogy I almost gasped. He's a red head and taller and older (20 rather than 15) than Tom, but other than that identical. I had to stop myself from calling him "Tom." This ...
Posted by Justine at 13:20, June 19th, 2009 under Liar, Magic or Madness trilogy |
Posted by Justine at 13:14, June 18th, 2009 under Book challenges, Young Adult literature |
Because my next book is Liar there has been much talk of lying on this blog lately. But for all that talk I haven't yet touched on people who are forced to lie about who they are in order to survive. Libba Bray
posted beautifully and movingly about her gay dad and the ways he was forced to lie:
My dad came of age in the 1940’s in the Deep South. Being gay was more than just not okay then; it was downright dangerous. When my father was involved with a man while stationed in Korea and it was discovered, he was given a dishonorable discharge from the Army, which in effect nullified his service to the country and haunted ...
Posted by Justine at 8:31, June 17th, 2009 under Liar, State of the World |
Posted by Justine at 11:25, June 16th, 2009 under Reading, State of the World, Words & Language, Writing process |
More than a year ago Cylin Busby’s most excellent anthology
First Kiss (Then Tell): A Collection of True Lip-Locked Moments came out. And it was very good. Still is! I am now posting my story from that antho.,
"Pashin' or the Worst Kiss Ever," in its entirety to give you a taste of First Kiss and encourage you to
buy it or borrow it from the library and experience all that goodness.
I'm extremely proud of this story. Not so much for its literary prowess but because of the responses it has evoked from its readers, which include nausea and gagging:
I didn’t love every story in this collection; some were just, “eh,” and some were good ...
Posted by Justine at 0:00, June 15th, 2009 under First Kiss |
Posted by Justine at 14:45, June 14th, 2009 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Ideas, Liar, Vainglory, Writing life, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 0:59, June 13th, 2009 under Viewing |
Sometimes I think the best course of action for me is to simply not read anything in the New York Times
about books by women. I just wind up
cranky.
Today's piece by Janet Maslin on this summer's books by women was astonishing. On the one hand there's this:
The “Commencement” characters are savvy about, among other things, feminism and publishing. “When a woman writes a book that has anything to do with feelings or relationships, it’s either called chick lit or women’s fiction, right?” one of them asks. “But look at Updike, or Irving. Imagine if they’d been women. Just imagine. Someone would have slapped a pink cover onto ‘Rabbit at Rest,’ and poof, there goes the ...
Posted by Justine at 12:53, June 12th, 2009 under New York City/USA, Ranting, Reading |
In the land of twitter
Danah Boyd passed on a question from
alicetiara:
When you tweet, who do u think of reading it? Followers, followed, public, best friends, etc? Who do you tweet *to*?
I am very curious about the responses.
It made me wonder, too, about blogging. Recently there was a slight and
fairly dumb article in the New York Times about the astounding fact that most people who start blogging don't continue. Scalzi excoriated it
most entertaingly. Cause the interesting question isn't why do people abandon blogs but why do people continue to blog?
I could tell you that I keep on blogging day after day after day because my publisher likes me to have an ...
Posted by Justine at 15:05, June 11th, 2009 under Bloggery |
Posted by Justine at 8:27, June 10th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, New York City/USA, Praising, State of the World, Sydney/Australia |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, June 9th, 2009 under Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, June 8th, 2009 under Publishing business, Reading |
Posted by Justine at 0:10, June 7th, 2009 under Liar, Publishing business, Vainglory |
Posted by Justine at 10:00, June 6th, 2009 under Admin, Bloggery |
Update with warning: Do not post spam here about your boy-friendly book. I am
deleting all such comments.
One of the most gratifying aspects of meeting people who've read How To Ditch Your Fairy since it came out last September (in the USA) is the number of boys who've turned out to be fans of the book. I will admit that given the title and the cover I was expecting an almost non-existent boy readership. I've been told a million times that boys won't touch a pink book and that HTDYF is irredeemably pink. So I've been dead chuffed by the boy fans.
While on tour for the book last year many parents asked me if they thought my book would ...
Posted by Justine at 8:11, June 5th, 2009 under Book tour, Cons & Other Gatherings, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Reading |
Posted by Justine at 11:53, June 4th, 2009 under Admin, Bloggery |
Posted by Justine at 0:20, June 3rd, 2009 under Frippery |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, June 2nd, 2009 under State of the World |
Posted by Justine at 1:07, June 1st, 2009 under Basketball, Publishing business, Sport, State of the World |
