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One of the most insidious myths about writing is that of the Tormented Genius. ((Which is a myth that applies to all creativity but I'll focus on writing cause that's what I know best.)) I blame the Romantics: Byron, Wordsworth, Shelley, that lot. Who were all:
[i]f you have not suffered, if you have not had your soul embiggened by your torment and anguish and substance abuse---preferably opium, but, hey, alcohol will totally do in a pinch---then you cannot write a single soulful sentence! If you are neurotypical ((They totally would too have used that word. Also I'm not sure I've met anyone who is neurotypical.)) and have managed to live past forty? Totally not a proper writer! ((Not an actual ...
Posted by Justine at 15:44, February 11th, 2013 under Liar, Ranting, State of the World, Writing life |
A few days ago I tweeted this:
I am sick of people who've never read a romance or a YA novel casually dismissing the entire genres. Do some research, you tedious people.
It was in response to yet another casual dismissal of YA in the middle of a discussion about something else entirely. So often does this happen, particularly in regard to romance, that I scarcely even register it anymore.
I'm happy for people to hate whatever they want to hate. Go, for it. I mean, yes, I think it's kind of silly to dismiss an entire genre. All genres have good and bad and mediocre examples. Yes, including, Ye Mighty Literachure. I could give you a long list of literary ...
Posted by Justine at 11:09, January 17th, 2013 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Ranting, Whingeing, Writing life |
Yesterday the prime minister of Australia, Julia Gillard, gave a stirring, passionate and inspiring speech about misogyny and sexism in the Australian parliament and in particular the misogyny and sexism of the leader of the opposition, Tony Abbott:
Posted by Justine at 13:56, October 10th, 2012 under Feminism, Praising, Ranting, State of the World, Sydney/Australia |
Every time there's a discussion of what to do about men harassing women someone jumps up to proclaim: "Women never call it harassment if a good-looking man cracks on to them. You're only a creeper if the woman doesn't find you attractive." I have addressed the second half of this argument at length
here.
However, I did not address what I think of as the Brad Pitt defence. I.e. "If I was Brad Pitt you wouldn't call this harassment!"
This argument drives me nuts. Here's why.
Newsflash: Not everyone thinks Brad Pitt is hot.
I don't. The idea that there's a universally agreed standard of good looking is crap. Sure, many women seem to think George Clooney is gorgeous. But I have ...
Posted by Justine at 8:43, October 2nd, 2012 under Feminism, Ranting |
This comment from Rachel on
my post of the other day:
This is a big issue in the Urban Fantasy genre too. I’ve started more than one series where the MC, despite being thirty-something with a job and developed asskicking abilities, has zero friends and no previous relationships. (Teacher of asskicking? No, conveniently dead just like other parental figures? What about cowor- no there too? Not even other independent psychic investigators? Okay, then. Friends? Okay, okay. Just asking.)
Rachel put her finger on something that drives me nuts in many movies/tv shows/books etc. The mighty arse-kicking protag who is the master of many martial arts but no longer studies any of them. They've had their training montage and now ...
Posted by Justine at 8:00, September 24th, 2012 under Ranting, Sport, Viewing, Whingeing, Writing process |
Pretty much everyone I know is having babies. Or has them. Or is about to have more. Anyways there are babies everywhere in my life right now and I am often buying presents for people with babies. This has turned out to be a problem.
I don't know if you have noticed but the clothes available for babies and littlies are AWFUL. As one friend said, "If I see another onesie with yellow ducks or blue boats I will scream!" And they're almost always pastel. I HATE PASTELS. Or white. Or grey. Grey? What are they? Little prisoners in a dystopia? (Maybe. Don't answer that.) Then there's the whole girl clothes are mostly pink and boy clothes mostly blue thing. SERIOUSLY? ...
Posted by Justine at 8:04, September 21st, 2012 under Fashion, Ranting, State of the World |
Yesterday's post
Roxanna mentioned her dislike of YA protags who don't like other girls. Oh, yes. What she said, indeed.
The women I have met who proclaim their dislike of women are, well, um, not my kind of people. So every time a protag proclaims that? I’m done with that book. ((Unless people I really really really trust tell me it’s worth persevering. Maybe the book turns out to be a critique of that stance.))
Here's why. I have no time for anyone, who on the basis of a poor experience with a very small sample size, declares that all women are dreadful. Ditto if they say it about all men, all black people, all Japanese people. All any kind of ...
Posted by Justine at 6:20, September 19th, 2012 under Fashion, Feminism, Ranting, Reading, Writing goals & milestones |
All my favourite fiction, whether novels or television, features strong relationships. I've started to think that for me the hallmark of good writing is, in fact, the strength of the relationships. So many books/movies/tv fail for me because the protag either doesn't have any relationships or because those relationships are constructed out of cardboard.
And, no, I'm not solely talking about the lerve and the shipping. I'm talking all relationships: with mother, father, siblings, uncles, aunts, children, nieces, nephews, cousins, colleagues, neighbours, teachers, coaches, and most especially, friends.
One of the things that attracted me to YA as a genre is that so much of it is about friendship and family relationships. It's why every time I read a YA book that ...
Posted by Justine at 8:17, September 18th, 2012 under Ranting, Reading, Viewing, Writing process, Young Adult literature |
Recently I argued that the
best way to deal with a cranky author coming after you for writing a less-than-glowing review about their work was to delete the review but say why you had done so. My argument was that obscurity is the worst thing that can happen to an author. No reviews = no attention = no sales = no career. Bye, bye author.
Kat Kennedy (and others) responded in the comments (and on Twitter) to say that while she could understand responding that way she personally would not do it for three reasons: 1) She was proud of her reviews. 2) Some authors badgered reviewers into taking down their negative reviews. Why should they be given what ...
Posted by Justine at 8:01, August 24th, 2012 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Fans & readers, Ranting, Writing life |
We've all seen A Star is Born, right?
Aspiring actress meets established alcoholic actor whose career is on the downward turn. He helps her get her break. They fall in love and get married. She gets more famous as he gets drunker and less famous. She tries to help him unalcoholify. ((Yes, that's a real word. Oh, hush.)) He fears that he is holding her back and goes for swim in the Pacific Ocean. A very long swim.
Moral: there can only be one! No marriage can support two actors or two writers or two artists or two anything that can lead to fame. THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE FAMOUS ONE IN A RELATIONSHIP! Otherwise there will be long non-returning swims ...
Posted by Justine at 7:31, August 22nd, 2012 under Ironical (This is Writ), Ranting, Viewing, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life |
Me and Scott took the day off last week to go to the movies. I cannot remember the last time we did that. Sat down in an actual cinema with actual other people and watched a movie. It was a great audience. We mocked the Australian-Mining-Will-Save-the-Environment ad together. Then we laughed and cried and cheered our way through
The Sapphires.
The Sapphires restored my faith in movies. I was on the verge of sticking to TV and never bothering with movies again. The Sapphires pulled me back from that brink. I walked out of that cinema elated and happy and almost a week later the feeing hasn't worn off yet.
For those not in Australia, The Sapphires is a ...
Posted by Justine at 16:27, August 13th, 2012 under Praising, Ranting, Sydney/Australia, Viewing |
A friend of mine, a librarian and blogger and reviewer, has had a handful of authors attack her because she wrote what they considered to be bad reviews of their books. ((Mostly, of course, these were not bad reviews but more like three-star, has-some-good-points-has-some-bad-points kind of reviews.)) She did not enjoy it.
This is not an isolated incident. Reviewers have had authors dummy spit ((USians: look it up! You are online. You can find out the meaning of any unfamiliar word or phrase in heartbeat. Embrace this gorgeous future we live in.)) at them, sic their fans on them, and generally make them wonder why they're bothering to write reviews.
What can bloggers do when wrathful authors and their hordes descend up ...
Posted by Justine at 8:20, August 13th, 2012 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Praising, Ranting, Writing life |
When I talk with women friends about sexual harassment it turns out that we've all experienced it at some point. But almost none of us have ever reported it. I have never been raped but I have friends who have been. None of them reported it.
The women who do report their rapes often say that it was like being raped all over. They were made to feel like they were the criminal, interrogated about what they wore, how they behaved, how they "provoked" the attack. Somehow the assault must have been their fault. Many say that if they could have a do over they would not report it.
Many of us no longer go to certain places---night clubs, friend's places, science ...
Posted by Justine at 8:13, August 6th, 2012 under Feminism, Praising, Ranting, State of the World |
I'm not going to link to where I saw this particular bizarre notion. Mostly because it's not something that's found in one place. I've come across the same sentiment in various locations offline and on- over the last ten or so years. So it's kind of irrelevant who said it most recently.
But here's gist of the argument:
YA writers only do it for the money. They don't care about the effect their [insert negative adjective] work has on children only about making money.
I'm fascinated that this argument gets made at all ever. I don't know a single writer who became a writer to make money. Everyone I know is a writer because they can't not be a writer. It's a compulsion. ...
Posted by Justine at 8:25, July 27th, 2012 under Ranting, Writing life, Young Adult literature |
But I would sell my soul for any one of my books to be turned into a Hollywood TV show.
US TV is in a golden age. How many shows are there on right now that I enjoy? Let me see: Legend of Korra, Scandal, Breaking Bad, Boardwalk Empire, Revenge, Louis, Bunheads, Justified, Nurse Jackie, Community and I'm sure there are others I'm not thinking of. Do I think they are all perfect? As diverse as I would like them to be? Not hardly. But they are a million times better than any recent Hollywood movie. Frankly, even formulaic TV like Drop Dead Diva ((My secret vice or it would be if I kept it secret. What? I love Margaret ...
Posted by Justine at 8:57, July 24th, 2012 under New York City/USA, Praising, Ranting, Scott's books, Viewing |
This is a discussion that comes up every so often. Is it better to do what you can to make yourself a brand name author, i.e. write books that are very similar, say like Georgette Heyer's Regency romances, or that are all set in the same world, like say, the Left Behind books, or have the same characters, like pretty much every popular crime series ever from Sherlock Holmes on. Or are you better off writing what you want to write from urban fantasy trilogies, to realist crime, to fantastical comedies, to historicals to whatever.
The argument is that you are much more likely to build an audience and keep them if your audience knows what they're in for when ...
Posted by Justine at 8:02, July 23rd, 2012 under Publishing business, Ranting, Young Adult literature |
Because
Nalo Hopkinson wants me to. What Nalo wants Nalo gets.
In principle I don't believe any particular item of clothing is per se hideous. On the whole I don't like one-sleeved dresses but there's always a gorgeous example that makes me rethink that stance. I even saw a pair of formal shorts that did not make me want to gouge my eyes out. I have seen the occasional pregnant dress on a non-pregnant person that was not a complete sartorial disaster.
[caption id="attachment_10343" align="alignright" width="157"]
Bubble skirt from büdi resurrected. Some of their other dresses are lovely.[/caption]I admit that before Nalo asked I had not given the bubble skirt much thought. ...
Posted by Justine at 0:11, July 18th, 2012 under Fashion, Ranting, Sydney novel |
Last month I got into a discussion on twitter---inspired by this
Jennifer Crusie post---about the extent to which an editor can rewrite their authors. Crusie thinks NOT AT ALL and I completely agree and said so, which led to a back and forth with a good editor friend of mine,
Juliet Ulman, who said she rewrites her authors. I happen to know many authors who've been edited by Juliet and love her editorial style ((I had my editor submit my one adult novel to Juliet because I'd heard such good things. It didn't work out but I mention this because I want to make it clear how much I esteem Juliet's editorial acumen.)) and it became clear to ...
Posted by Justine at 0:22, July 10th, 2012 under Publishing business, Ranting, Team Human, Writing life, Writing process |
Recently on Twitter I mentioned having read the first chapter of A Very Bad Book. As usual people asked that I name it. As usual I did not.
I don't name books I hate, or authors I think are talentless, ((Unless they're dead. YOU SUCK HENRY MILLER! Every single thing you ever wrote was the crappiest, most self-indulgent, most misogynist filth ever written. Moby Dick is the most boring pile of poo ever published! Though I am fond of Melville's short stories. If only he had stuck to that length.)) for lots of reasons. The main one I give is that as an author it's hard to do so without looking jealous if your target is more successful than you are, ...
Posted by Justine at 6:40, July 3rd, 2012 under Excuses, Ranting, Reading, Words & Language, Writing life |
This post was requested by
@WanderinDreamr. My apologies for its crapness.
So, it turns out I really don't have a lot to say about Australian slang. Or rather I don't have anything to say that wouldn't bore you. I did start writing this post and it rapidly turned into an old person cranky rant about how US slang is overtaking Australian slang. For example:
Why do Oz teenagers not know that "rooting for your team" is not something Aussies do because typically it's not an activity that helps other people. I mean not unless they're taking part, which, well, let's not go there. Aussies "barrack" for their team. Except that I keep hearing Aussies under twenty-five using "root" in the ...
Posted by Justine at 9:12, July 2nd, 2012 under New York City/USA, Ranting, Sydney/Australia, Whingeing, Words & Language |
Since a few of you expressed mild interest in the speech I gave at
Sirens in October last year I thought I would share it with you. The theme was monsters and my speech involved me showing many monstrous images. Yes, that's my disclaimer, I wrote this to be spoken to a real life audience with funny pictures and the funny may not work so well without the kind and appreciative live audience. Or something. *cough*
Here it is:
Monsters I Have Loved
Ideas = Brain Monkeys According to Maureen Johnson
Like every other writer ever I get asked “where do you get your ideas” a lot. Today I thought instead of answering that question in the ...
Posted by Justine at 7:02, May 31st, 2012 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Fans & readers, Feminism, Ideas, Ironical (This is Writ), Listening, New York City/USA, Praising, Ranting, Reading, State of the World, Sydney/Australia, Travelling, Viewing, Writing life, Writing process |
Cassandra Clare has written an important piece called
Rape Myths, Rape Culture and the Damage Done. If you haven't read it already you really should. Be warned: she discusses much which is deeply upsetting.
What I want to briefly comment on here is the notion that to write about rape or war or any other terrible thing is to automatically condone it. Cassie writes:
[T]he most important point to be made here is that to depict something is not to condone it. This is a mistake that is made all the time by people who you would think would know better. Megan Cox Gurdon in the Wall Street Journal,
for instance, excoriated YA books for being too dark, zoning in ...
Posted by Justine at 13:27, May 22nd, 2012 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Feminism, Praising, Ranting, Writing life, Young Adult literature |
To my friends, acquaintances & family: you do not have to read my books! Truly. My being a writer is not meant to oppress you in any way! Read what you want or don't want. Forget I write books at all! Be free!
Okay, scratch that, family, you do have to! But everyone else is in the clear.
Reading an entire book is a big time commitment. And the older you get the more painfully aware you become that you are not going to be able to read all the books you want to before you die. It's a very long time since I finished a book I wasn't enjoying. If it's not grabbing me within a page or two then we ...
Posted by Justine at 12:40, May 10th, 2012 under Excuses, Frippery, Ranting, Whingeing, Writing life |
Every time I mention
my RSI people suggest that I use voice recognition software. I do use it. And though I hate it I know that it has transformed gazillions of people's lives. There are people who literally could not write without it. For them VRS is a wonderful transformative thing. Bless, voice recognition software!
I am well aware that what VRS is trying to do is unbelievably complicated. Recognising spoken language and reproducing it as written language is crazy hard. ((Very few humans are one hundred per cent accurate at the task. Even court reporters make occasional mistakes.)) The way we make sense of what someone says is not just about recognising sounds. We humans (and other sentient beings) ...
Posted by Justine at 8:42, February 17th, 2012 under RSI, Ranting, Whingeing, Words & Language, Writing life, Writing process |
I hates it.
Before I typed a lot faster. This thing slows me down and drives me crazy.
This software does not learn. Instead it tries to school me. I have had to change the way I speak so it can understand me. Slower, with more precise diction, like I am impersonating a robot. I do not feel like myself when I use it.
I never intended to use it for novel writing only for e-mail and blogging and twitter and the like. But even there this software destroys my natural voice. Who spells e-mail with a hyphen! It does not recognise any of the slang, abbreviations, or made up words that I use and, of course, homonyms are a mighty pain. ...
Posted by Justine at 3:40, August 12th, 2011 under Admin, Ranting, Whingeing, Writing process |
My wireless keyboard is not talking to my computer. It is a beautiful keyboard. I love it more than any other I have ever owned. (A Logitech diNovo Edge if you is curious.) Before I left it was in perfect harmony with my laptop. Upon my return, despite being fully charged, despite multipe restarts, despite being placed so close to the computer they are as one, my laptop will not have a bar of it. This is unhappymaking.
I have had many wireless mouses and keyboards over the years. None of them has been functional for more than a few months at a time. But my diNovo Edge worked for six months straight. But now after a few months of being ...
Posted by Justine at 5:02, April 11th, 2010 under Admin, Ranting |
I have been asked for my take on last week's question about
teenagers and reading. To be honest, it's difficult to know where to start because there are so many assumptions embedded in those questions. I'll start by unpacking them.
1. There seems to be an implicit assumption that all teenagers are the same.
2. There's also an assumption in all these discussions about YA that it is primarily read by teenagers.
3. Another assumption is that a) only reading fiction counts and b) reading is better for you than any other pastime.
4. Then there's the assumption that there is such a thing as good writing and bad writing and we all agree on what those are.
Teenagers
Let me take numbers ...
Posted by Justine at 21:45, March 29th, 2010 under Ranting, Reading, Young Adult literature |
Why do so many people read any statement, no matter how innocuous, as being about them? For example, I have mentioned my dislike of chocolate and people have gotten cranky. As if my chocolate hatred will somehow deprive them of it. Huh?
Every time I talk about my love of fashion someone says, "I just want comfortable clothes! Give me jeans and t-shirts!" Which always strikes me as deeply bizarre because a) no one has said a word against jeans and t-shirts, b) t-shirts and jeans are items of fashion, c) having a desire for a ballgown does not mean that person doesn't also wear jeans and t-shirts. (For the record I am wearing jeans and a New York Liberty ...
Posted by Justine at 21:41, March 23rd, 2010 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Fashion, Ranting, State of the World, Writing process |
There's a lot of shockingly bad advice about how to get published online. Much of it comes from unpublished people who know nothing about the publishing industry and are bitter about their own inability to get published. ((Before you yell at me for this statement you should know that I spent twenty years trying to break into mainstream publishing. I know how it feels. Also very few of those unpublished writers are bitter about it and decide that the big publishers are evil. Most suck it up and keep trying.)) But some of it is from actual published writers with careers, who have a bug up their arse about the evil of agents, or small presses, or big presses, or ...
Posted by Justine at 16:44, March 14th, 2010 under New York City/USA, Publishing business, Ranting, Writing goals & milestones, Young Adult literature |
Due to
boring circumstances beyond my control, I will not be online much for awhile. Fortunately I’ve been able to line up a number of stellar guests to fill in for me. Most are writers, but I also thought it would be fun to get some publishing types to explain what it is they do, teach you some more about the industry, and answer your questions, as well as one or two bloggers.
Melina Marchetta is probably Australia's most popular YA writer and with good reason her books are deeply awesome. I just finished her latest, The Piper's Son and I think it's her best book to date. I was up reading it till 3AM and then I couldn't sleep ...
Posted by Justine at 17:30, March 10th, 2010 under Guest post, Ranting, Reading |
Due to boring circumstances beyond my control, I will not be online much in February. Fortunately I’ve been able to line up a number of stellar guests to fill in for me. Most are writers, but I also thought it would be fun to get some publishing types to explain what it is they do, teach you some more about the industry, and answer your questions, as well as one or two bloggers.
Today's guest blogger is
Baby Power Dyke whose blog I discovered last year and instantly fell in love with. She's rude, smart and funny. We have shared crushes on Rachel Maddow and Melissa Harris-Lacewell. So, clearly, she has excellent tase. She is my kind of a gal. ...
Posted by Justine at 0:00, February 25th, 2010 under Guest post, New York City/USA, Praising, Ranting, State of the World |
Due to boring circumstances beyond my control, I will not be online much in February. Fortunately I’ve been able to line up a number of stellar guests to fill in for me. Most are writers, but I also thought it would be fun to get some publishing types to explain what it is they do, teach you some more about the industry, and answer your questions, as well as one or two bloggers.
Doret Canton loves sport as much as I do. In fact, I
interviewed her about that very subject right here on this blog and she said many smart and sensible things. (Except about American Football not being boring.) The reviews on
her blog are amongst my ...
Posted by Justine at 0:01, February 15th, 2010 under Guest post, Ranting, Reading, Viewing, Young Adult literature |
Due to boring circumstances beyond my control, I will not be online much for the next week or so. Fortunately I've been able to line up a number of stellar guests to fill in for me. Most are writers, but I also thought it would be fun to get some publishing types to explain what it is they do, teach you some more about the industry, and answer your questions, as well as one or two bloggers.
Today we have Sarah Rees Brennan, who is quite mad, which is often quite an advantage for the writing of fine fiction, as you will discover if you read any of SRB's books. She was last here for
an interview where she revealed ...
Posted by Justine at 6:04, February 5th, 2010 under Feminism, Guest post, Ranting, Viewing |
My previous post on conducting interviews was largely addressed to inexperienced interviewers. Some of the comments on that post have me wondering what the point of conducting an interview is. For those who simply want to interview their favourite author and find out everything they always wanted to know then that's your point right there. But I get the impression from quite a few of these interviews that they exist because the blogger feels that that's what you should do on a blog about books. As you can imagine that does not usually make for a good interview.
I also wonder if people run interviews on their blog because they think it will increase traffic. ((Part of why I suspect ...
Posted by Justine at 19:44, January 13th, 2010 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Ranting |
As mentioned in
my previous post, I just finished Joan Schenkar's The Talented Miss Highsmith. I loved it so I was curious to take a squizz at what reviewers had made of it and came across
this one by Jonathan Lethem. Oh. Dear.
It is exactly the kind of
review that annoys me the most. The I-don't-like-this-kind-of-book-but-I'm-reviewing-it-anyway review. Editors seem to think it dreadfully clever to get the reviewer who hates feminism to review the feminist tome, the hater of romance to review Jennifer Crusie's latest, and those who are full of contempt for teenagers and books to review YA. It will generate conflict and controversy! Goodie!
No, it will generate annoyance and boredom. I know what people who ...
Posted by Justine at 0:02, January 7th, 2010 under Ranting, Reading |
Sarah Rees Brennan pointed me to
this article about Gone with the Wind by Elizabeth Meryment. It annoyed me. So prepare yourself for a rant. Basically Meryment argues that all criticism of
Gone with the Wind (book and film) over the last few decades has been dreadfully unfair, especially from feminists, and why can't we all just enjoy such a women-centric book with its array of fabulous strong female characters. Now, I happen to agree that Gone with the Wind features many wonderful strong women. However, that being true does not contradict any of the criticisms made of both book and film.
Why do people find it so hard to love something and accept that it's flawed?
Gone with ...
Posted by Justine at 12:50, December 1st, 2009 under Ranting, Reading, State of the World, Viewing |
I've been thinking a lot about the Roman Polanski case. I've read everything I can about it over the last few weeks including the original trial transcripts, which left me feeling sick to the stomach. But many people have already said what I feel about the case, including the most excellent
Lauren McLaughlin and
Jay Smooth.
What I'm really wondering is how all those Hollywood luminaries could have signed that petition. Do they really want the world at large to think they have no problem with the rape of a thirteen year old girl?
Did they sign because all their mates did and not know what they were signing? Perhaps, they thought, it's another save the whales or end ...
Posted by Justine at 18:01, October 12th, 2009 under Ranting, State of the World |
Disclaimer: I am writing about YA publishing in the USA. Although I'm Australian I know much more about the publishing industry in the US than I do about Australia. Or anywhere else for that matter.
I know that the title of this post is going to lead to some comments insisting that it's not true that white writers have any advantages and that many white people are just as oppressed as people of colour. I don't want to have that conversation. So I'm going to oppress the white people who make those comments by deleting them. I don't do it with any malice. I do it because I want to have a conversation about white privilege in publishing. We can have ...
Posted by Justine at 13:13, October 1st, 2009 under Publishing business, Ranting, State of the World, Whingeing, Writing life, Writing process |
Lately, I have heard several published white writers express their trepidation about the idea of writing non-white characters. Some of them have mentioned that they feel they'll get in trouble if they continue to write only white characters, but that they also feel they'll get into trouble if they write characters who aren't white cause they'll bugger it up.
Damned if you do, they say, damned if you don't.
To which I can only say, and I mean this nicely, "Please!"
What exactly are you risking? Who exactly is damning you? Which of your previously published novels have attracted no criticisms and no damnation? Cause that's amazing. You wrote a book no one critcised? Awesome. Please teach me that trick!
Every single book I've ...
Posted by Justine at 16:46, September 26th, 2009 under New York City/USA, Ranting, State of the World, Whingeing, Writing life, Writing process |
Why do so many people have an obsession with how old people are when they make art?
Hmmm. I think that sentence demands a bit more context. I keep seeing comments like, "OMG, Buffy is amazing and Joss Whedon was only in his early 30s when he first created it." Or Arthur Rimbaud was one of the most influential French poets ever and he quit writing when he was 19!"
There must be something wrong with me cause I think, "So what?"
Either the art is good or it isn't. Who cares how old the person was who created it? Doesn't make it any better.
Not to mention that there's an argument that the only reason people are still talking about ...
Posted by Justine at 15:23, September 25th, 2009 under Ranting, State of the World, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life |
Maybe I'm being unfair, but Dwight Garner's
New York TImes review of LeBron James' & Buzz Bissinger's Shooting Stars gave off the distinct reek of Eau de Condescension (via
Mitali Perkins):
“Shooting Stars,” a new collaboration between LeBron James, probably the greatest basketball player alive, and Buzz Bissinger, the author of “Friday Night Lights,” is a different kind of book. It avoids speaking about James’s professional career with the Cleveland Cavaliers (he was the National Basketball Association’s most valuable player last season) almost entirely. And since James skipped college, well, ixnay on that too.
"Ixnay"? Seriously?
“Shooting Stars” reads like a better-than-average young-adult novel, “Stand by Me” with breakaway dunks and long, arching three-pointers. I suspect it will find its best ...
Posted by Justine at 12:23, September 9th, 2009 under Ranting, Reading, Whingeing, Young Adult literature |
Because I have been talking about my love of Avatar quite a bit lately people have been asking me if I'm excited about the forthcoming live action version.
I am not.
One of the many things I adore about Avatar is how incredibly rich and complex the world of Avatar is. This is largely because it was based on various Asian cultures. None of the characters in Avatar are white.
Here's what the show's creators have to say about it in an
interview from 2005:
1. How did you come up with the Avatar?
We came up for the concept for "Avatar" 3 years ago. Nickelodeon wanted to make a "legends & lore" type of show with a kid hero. That’s a genre we ...
Posted by Justine at 14:54, July 20th, 2009 under Ranting, Viewing |
Yesterday Maureen Johnson posted most excellently on the topic of
judging yourself by numbers. She paraphrased a graduation speech by Bill Murray:
“Look, people thought I was going to be a huge failure, but then I got kind of lucky and made it. And I had and have lots of amazing friends, and we’ve seen each other’s careers go up and down. Take my advice: don’t go comparing yourself to other people. You will go insane. It’s pointless. Your fortunes may rise and fall, depending on all kinds of things you have no control over. Keep your friends. Never compare all the outward markers of success. Do what you love, because that’s all you really get and that’s all that ...
Posted by Justine at 11:01, July 17th, 2009 under Publishing business, Ranting, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 12:02, July 9th, 2009 under Ranting, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 12:06, June 30th, 2009 under Bloggery/Internetty Stuff, Publishing business, Ranting |
Posted by Justine at 14:54, June 29th, 2009 under Publishing business, Ranting |
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 |
Posted by Justine at 12:50, May 20th, 2009 under Publishing business, Ranting, Writing life, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 10:45, May 17th, 2009 under Ranting, Words & Language, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 14:21, May 7th, 2009 under Ranting, State of the World |
