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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 |
T'other day I was gasbagging with John Scalzi as I do when the writing isn't going well and IM calls to me. We got to discussing as how we are frequently annoyed by reviews which dismiss a book because the reviewer did not like it but can give no reasons beyond saying that the book sucked. This is something that annoys many writers. We put in all that hard work agonising over every word and someone dismisses the book like this:
This book is bad. It sucked so much. Don't read it.
Or even more frequently,
This book had golden retrievers in it. I really hate dogs. Also the mother washed her son's mouth out with soap and the book ...
Posted by Justine at 13:12, September 15th, 2009 under Frippery, Whingeing, 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 |
Posted by Justine at 12:48, July 10th, 2009 under Whingeing, Writing process |
Posted by Justine at 11:43, July 7th, 2009 under Bloggery, Liar, Scott's books, Whingeing |
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 10:41, April 12th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Admin, Liar, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 16:56, February 16th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, Whingeing, Writing life, Writing process |
I know many of the readers of this blog also drive and I'm quite sure none of you are evil but perhaps you could help explain to me how some drivers develop a pathological hatred of law-abiding pedestrians once they are behind the wheel of their petrol-guzzlers?
Yesterday I was minding my own business crossing the road legally: I had the pedestrian green light about half way across it started to flash. A very angry taxi driver in an unoccupied cab started trying to push his way past me and the other pedestrians in a most threatening manner. Readers, I confess that I and another pedestrian made a USian hand gesture in his direction at which point he turned red and ...
Posted by Justine at 17:13, December 16th, 2008 under State of the World, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 17:11, December 15th, 2008 under Praising, Sydney/Australia, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, November 13th, 2008 under Ranting, Whingeing, Writing life |
Does it really need to come on at 4AM and not let up until 9AM?
Why does it have to sound like banshees being tortured by trolls? What's with the even LOUDER clanging? That's almost, but not quite, like the bell that tolls for thee? Or me in this case.
Am I ever going to get a good night's sleep again?
Stupid NYC with it's stupid steam heating. I don't ever remember it being this loud before. Is it because I have a book due on Friday?!
I'm so TIRED! Waaaaaahhhhh!!
I wish I had a horrible-noise dampening fairy.
/whinge
Yes, I am aware that steam heating is super energy efficient and good for the planet. So, no, I don't really hate it. But if ...
Posted by Justine at 8:21, November 12th, 2008 under New York City/USA, What's your fairy?, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 15:46, November 9th, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, Bloggery, Excuses, Fans & readers, Liar, Whingeing, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, October 28th, 2008 under Liar, Whingeing, Writing life, Zombies |
Riddle me this:
Why do I so often think that a dream sequence will solve my plot problems when as a reader I hate dream sequences?
Gah!
Yeah, I just deleted the dream sequence.
Posted by Justine at 12:23, October 26th, 2008 under Liar, Whingeing, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 14:08, October 3rd, 2008 under Book tour, Cons & Other Gatherings, How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA, Praising, Viewing, Whingeing |
My
imminent tour---I get on a plane to California in a matter of hours---has left me contemplating the one bad thing about book tours: junk food. Sometimes while going from school visit to book shop appearance there's little time for eating and the options available are limited to substances I would rather not eat. ((How do I know this? From accompanying Scott on his tour and from hearing tales of other people's tours.)) I does not like the junk food.
I have nothing against anyone else consuming it, but me, I does not want to. My lack of junk food love never used to be a problem back home. But here in the US many people are personally insulted by ...
Posted by Justine at 0:00, September 14th, 2008 under Book tour, Cons & Other Gatherings, Food, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Whingeing |
I was chatting with my trusted partener in time wasting friend,
Mr Scalzi, in a fairly desultory manner when we made the startling discovery that both of us hates signing books with a Sharpie. And yet that is what we most often are given when we do signings.
What gives?
Sharpies bleed all over the page and their line is way too thick. They're pretty much useless for signing books. Great for graffiting toilets and making posters but for book signing? Hopeless!
Why do we keep being given them to sign with? Anyone know? Care to venture a theory?
Are there writers who actually like signing with Sharpies?
For those wondering we both deal with the problem by bringing our own trusted signing pens. ...
Posted by Justine at 0:00, September 10th, 2008 under Book tour, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Whingeing |
Because I've spent the ENTIRE MORNING on hold with AT&T. And people wonder why I HATE the phone.
Posted by Justine at 11:57, September 5th, 2008 under State of the World, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 18:52, August 8th, 2008 under Liar, Travelling, Whingeing |
Just when you're approaching the end of one book and you really must give that book all your time and all your brain, another one comes along and starts insisting you write it instead.
This is WRONG and must stop. IMMEDIATELY.
Bugger off, stupid new book. GO AWAY!
Posted by Justine at 12:08, July 17th, 2008 under Liar, Ranting, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 12:57, July 16th, 2008 under Bloggery, Liar, Ranting, Whingeing, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 0:03, July 10th, 2008 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liar, Ranting, Whingeing, Writing goals & milestones |
Posted by Justine at 0:06, July 9th, 2008 under Book tour, Liar, Whingeing, Writing goals & milestones |
Posted by Justine at 0:04, July 8th, 2008 under Liar, Whingeing, Writing life |
This is going to be a bit mutual linky-linky. (("You're fabulous!" "No, you're fabulous!" While those watching gag.)) Maureen Johnson linked to
my quick little whinge about writing sometimes being hard before going into more detail about the sometime
not fun-ness of it. And now I am linking to her. Quoting her even:
When writing goes well, it feels magical . . . but there is no magic to it. Writing goes well because you have done some work. You have spent MANY MANY MANY HOURS sitting at your desk, written pages and pages and pages of useless crap, read piles of books, done a lot more wrong than you have right, questioned your sanity and talent . . ...
Posted by Justine at 13:24, July 7th, 2008 under Whingeing, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 15:24, July 3rd, 2008 under Liar, Whingeing, Writing life |
Posted by Justine at 7:53, June 24th, 2008 under State of the World, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 13:29, June 11th, 2008 under Liar, Whingeing, Writing life |
I know that you mozzies have an ecological niche to fill. I'm sure that if you were wiped out some fabulous bird species would become extinct. I even get that my blood is your food. I'm not thrilled when you bite my hands and feet, my arms, legs, back and belly, none of that is exactly fun, but for the love of Elvis---could you stop biting my ears?
My EARS?!
Is that really too much to ask?
Posted by Justine at 13:23, June 10th, 2008 under Whingeing |
I think the title says it all. Rather than me bore you with a description of same how about you lot cheer me up? Links to amusing sites, comics, whatever. Suggest fun reading, viewing, listening. Share an amusing anecdote. Make me think about something other than my not being in Sydney.
Yours in whingerland,
Justine
Posted by Justine at 11:42, May 23rd, 2008 under Sydney/Australia, Whingeing |
Several peoples have writ me saying, "See you at
WisCon!" Alas and alack they will not. Scott's niece Renee is graduating and we will be there to cheer her on. Go, Renee!
This is the second year in a row we have not been. I does not like it. WisCon is my favourite con in the whole world filled with all my favourite peoples. I love it so much that for a while there I organised the academic track and then the readings. I feel like I am a WisCon hometown girl. And here I am missing it again. Wah. Bad enough that I haven't been to
my real home in a year.
Hope everyone has fun without me. Even ...
Posted by Justine at 16:12, May 22nd, 2008 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Sydney/Australia, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 0:01, May 16th, 2008 under Ranting, Reading, Whingeing, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 5:57, March 21st, 2008 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Travelling, Whingeing |
Seriously, I'm not sure I want to watch tellie any more now that
The Wire's gone. What's the point?
Posted by Justine at 1:50, March 15th, 2008 under Viewing, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, January 16th, 2008 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Mangosteens, Whingeing, Writing life, Young Adult literature |
In the vociferous arguing about the ins and outs of who behaved worst over the second test etc etc there are people implying that criticising the Australian cricket team is unAustralian and whingey. ((Though what's more Australian than whingeing?!))
Please! I love my country, I love cricket, but when the men's team behave like dickheads they should be called on it.
People who play sport at a professional level are not exempt from the social contract. No one is. Writers (to pick a random example out of the air) shouldn't behave like dickheads either. Recently I was at an award ceremony where the speeches of the winners were generous and moving. All but one. This one person got up to accept their ...
Posted by Justine at 0:01, January 9th, 2008 under Cricket, Sport, State of the World, Sydney/Australia, Whingeing |
This vid exactly expresses my current feelings. Be warned that it involves intemperate language and violence:
Do not ask me how many times Microsoft Word has crashed on me today. Let's just say I better not run into Bill Gates anytime soon.
The first person who tells me I can switch stupid Mr Clippy off gets punched. He is switched off. But when Word crashes it magically gets switched on again. Have I mentioned that I HATE Microsoft Word?
Oh and the first person who tells me to switch to
Scrivener gets yelled at. I have switched, but I'm doing final rewrites, and have to keep my doc in smelly ...
Posted by Justine at 11:29, December 17th, 2007 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Ranting, Viewing, Whingeing |
So I finally got
Scott's new look blog up and running. What a hassle that was! I always think it will be just an hour or two. Hah! Try several days of hassles. Especially as there was a migration of his site to a new server. Why is it always so hard?
Anyways . . . It's up and I think it looks great. Go take a squiz and tell me what you think. Though if you have any complaints tell Scott, not me!
All praise to
Sadish Balasubramanian who designed the very nifty and flexible
SeaShore template.
I was planning a redesign here to go with the new book but the very thought of going through that again makes ...
Posted by Justine at 16:10, December 16th, 2007 under Admin, Bloggery, Scott's books, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 19:25, December 14th, 2007 under Admin, Bloggery, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Manga, New York City/USA, Sydney/Australia, Whingeing, Writing goals & milestones |
Posted by Justine at 0:03, December 4th, 2007 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Whingeing, Writing goals & milestones |
It's now minus six. Or twenty-one in that crazy Fahrenheit talk.
Help me!
Posted by Justine at 8:04, December 2nd, 2007 under New York City/USA, Whingeing |
I dies.
I think I'm going to have to learn Fahrenheit cause 31 sounds lovely to me while -1 makes me want to cry.
I have not been outside today. Partly due to the dread evil deadlines and partly because it's -1 out there! Bits of me could freeze and fall off!
How am I going to make it to the end of January?
Aaargghh!!!
Posted by Justine at 17:39, December 1st, 2007 under New York City/USA, Whingeing |
I so wish I was back home right now. I'd get to follow the cricket and the election. It would be warm. The sun wouldn't be setting just a few hours after it rose. No one would be asking me about my accent. People would know that Errol Flynn is Australian. I'm sick of being a foreignor. Back home I don't have to explain myself nearly so often. I can't tell you how tiring it gets.
If I was in Sydney right now I would go for a long walk. I'd hear
flying foxes in the trees. I'd smell all the night flowering plants. I'd watch the light sparkling on the harbour. I'd be HOME. And I'd go to Forbes ...
Posted by Justine at 7:41, November 16th, 2007 under New York City/USA, Praising, Sydney/Australia, Whingeing |
It has come to this. I have the final round of edits on the Fairy book. They are in manuscript form. However, there is no room on my desk to put the manuscript. The towering piles of crap cannot stand any further weight, not even one small piece of paper, definitely not 264 manuscript pages. I know because I tried and there was much toppling of crap to the floor. It is now dumped back on the desk.
The desk must be cleaned in order for me to work.
I am afraid of it. It is now more like an archaeological dig than mere cleaning. I fear what I might find: I did clean away all uneaten food, didn't I? I fear ...
Posted by Justine at 10:44, November 4th, 2007 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 1:11, October 29th, 2007 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Titles & names, Whingeing, Words & Language, Writing life |
A friend of mine, who doesn't blog or read blogs, asked me why I blog. "Don't you feel weird sharing your personal life with total strangers?"
Their question surprised me because I don't blog about my personal life. This isn't that kind of a blog. I explained that to my friend. They didn't believe me. "You talk about your writing, don't you? That's personal."
Um, no. Writing is my job.
"But what about when your writing's not going well? Aren't the bad times personal?"
First of all, I don't blog about when the writing's going really badly.
Second, when I blog about the harder aspects of writing I do so to let people know that the writing life is not as glamorous as ...
Posted by Justine at 6:16, September 27th, 2007 under Bloggery, Whingeing |
Posted by Justine at 11:33, September 20th, 2007 under Bloggery, Whingeing, Writing life |
The worst thing about DragonCon---other than the way too many people thing---is that it's on the exact same weekend as the WNBA conference finals. I missed seeing Phoenix sweep San Antonio (woo hoo! Amy---sorry, Rebecca) and will miss all the Indiana-Detroit games (please Indiana win tonight!)
Seeing all those insanely brilliant costumes is some compensation I suppose. Riding on the train with Holly, Theo, Cassandra, Maureen and Scott ditto. Sitting around in a hotel room with them telling ghost stories also not too foul.
Which reminds me what are your favourite urban legends? Feel free to leave a link in the comments if you don't feel like telling the whole thing. So far we've done the finger nails one, the hook, the ...
Posted by Justine at 8:47, September 3rd, 2007 under Basketball, Cons & Other Gatherings, New York City/USA, Praising, Whingeing |
