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Literary Links

March 21, 2010 in bookstore, film, movie, publishing, Uncategorized by Kim | No comments

Here are some of the interesting articles I’ve found on the web and saved to share in one batch.  Enjoy!

Bookstores serve another, more subtle purpose: they tell us what our fellow human beings are currently interested in or concerned about. Bookstores are a billboard of our preoccupations. Consequently, I make it a point to read the bestsellers lists to identify the zeitgeist of our times. And it is often alarming to consider what people are spending their time reading about.

We all need to refresh our thinking from time-to-time:

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The Value of a First Draft

February 24, 2010 in publishing by Claire | 2 comments

Replacing the Boards

There’s an existentialist riddle that goes something like: “A man owns a boat for many years and every time a plank rots or breaks, he replaces it with a new one.  If he eventually replaces every single plank on the boat with a different one, does he still own the same boat he started out with or a different boat?”

I think of this riddle all the time when I’m rewriting (so much so that I may have mentioned it in an earlier post).

I’m a note-taker.  By which I mean that if an editor I respect (and so far I’ve respected all my fiction editors) asks me to change something in a manuscript, I’ll change it.  So far, this has worked for me, and why shouldn’t it?  Editors want to sell books as much as authors do.  Maybe even more so.  So I trust them to want to want to make the product better.

Usually this means tweaking a plot point or two, cutting the fat (there’s always fat when I write), even getting rid of a character or adding one in.

And sometimes it means starting at page one and rewriting almost everything until I get to the very last page, slashing and adding and changing and renewing.

I’m in the middle of that kind of rewrite at the moment and it’s not easy (it’s also why I didn’t post anything last week: Kim took pity on me, bless her heart).  It’s the kind of process that can keep you up at night with the excitement of new ideas and new problems to solve: it’s like a puzzle, trying to make the new pieces fit with the old ones (hammering in those planks).  (It’s also the kind of process that can make you break down in tears if you’re feeling a bit hormonal but that’s another story or at least the subject of a very different post).  It’s also the kind of process that allows you to humble your children when they start complaining about having to edit a two-page paper as per a teacher’s demands.   “Oh, please,” you can say, “I have to rewrite a three-hundred page manuscript!”  They may not learn to embrace editing but they do learn not to complain about it so much. Read the rest of this entry »

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Literary Links

February 4, 2010 in publishing, short story, young adult by Kim | 3 comments

A compilation of what I’ve found interesting:

Amazon is a bully. Another instance of “Amazon Fail” occurred last weekend when Amazon pulled all Macmillan books off of it’s shelves.  Customers could no longer buy the books in paper or via the Kindle, in fact in some instances purchased e-books were pulled from Kindles (wouldn’t that be a bummer if you were at a juicy part).  It was all about pricing.  Charlie’s Diary has a great review of what happened and the role Amazon thinks it plays in the publishing process vs. the role the publishers think it should play.

Of course, as we’ve been saying for 18 months, it’s vital to have independent bookstores who don’t cut off publishers over pricing or for any other incompetent or nefarious reason.  Independent booksellers provide a necessary alternative to the dominance of Amazon or other big box stores.

I love this quote from today’s Shelf Awareness:

“And special thanks and a show of support to the Macmillan companies in the face of bullying tactics by one of our largest competitors.”–Michael Tucker, head of Books Inc. and president of the American Booksellers Association, speaking yesterday at the opening of the Winter Institute in San Jose, Calif. His comment was interrupted by a standing ovation from the 500 independent booksellers in attendance.

If You Are the Mother of a Teen, Bookmark this Post Bilgungsroman posted a booklist of tough issues for teens.  From eating disorders to drugs to religion to sex, I couldn’t think of one that isn’t covered.  Every book is rated using a movie scale (G, PG, etc) and starred for quality.  The books seem to range for offering awareness of an issue to heavy duty reality situations.  This list is a gift.

This is what I’m getting Claire for her Birthday, but don’t tell her.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles The Millions asked its readers for recommendations on what to read/listen to for planes, trains, automobiles.  Here are mine:

  • Planes – I need a plot-driven, fast-paced novel that distracts me from thinking “I’m going to die, I’m going to die.”  A few of the recommendations on The Millions list were from nervous flyers, but I could tell from the choices that they are novice chickens.  I’ve made a plane let me off on the tarmac, in a foreign country – I’m serious when it comes to fear.  My choice:  Dan Brown, Diana Gabaldon, Stephanie Meyer, names you’ll rarely see me talking about, but one of those books and some wine and I’m good to go.
  • Trains – anything, who ever died on a train, unless you live in LA.  Uh oh, I live in LA.
  • Automobiles – I love listening to Garrison Keillor audio books/collections and David Sedaris audio books/collections.  We are also huge fans and customers of The Teaching Company courses, especially anything by Robert Greenberg.

Short Story Collections Having just finished reading Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It (I love the title, it may be a new life philosophy) by Maile Meloy, it’s hard to imagine another collection that will match it.  However, Book Fox lists the collections coming out this year that will try to give Maile a run for her money.

Never Wanting to Pass Up a Chance to Embarrass Claire She is speaking at the Pasadena Literary Festival on Saturday, there may be a few tickets left.  It will be a wonderful event, don’t let the rain stop you from attending.

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Green Books Campaign – 100 Bloggers for 100 Books PLUS a Giveaway!!

November 10, 2009 in book review, environment, giveaway, poetry, publishing by Kim | 8 comments

100bloggers

Designed by Susan Newman

GIVEAWAY OF AL GORE’S NEW BOOK AND FROM GREEN TO GOLD DESCRIBED IN THE LAST PARAGRAPH!

We’re joining Eco-Libris and 99 other book bloggers in reviewing 100 books that were published in an eco-friendly manner.  Eco-Libris organized this event (see our post about Eco-Libris and Kim’s interview on their blog) to highlight both the need for and availability of books printed on recycled paper or FSC-certified paper.  “Although there’s so much hype around e-books, books printed on paper dominate the book market, and we want them to be as environmentally sound as possible ,” explains Raz Godelnik, co-founder and CEO of Eco-Libris. “Very few books are currently printed responsibly and we hope this initiative will bring more exposure to “green” books. Through this campaign we want to encourage publishers to get greener and readers to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books.”

FC9781553800675We are so happy to join today’s blogging event.  Since I am trying to read more poetry, I decided to chose From Green to Gold by Harold Enrico as our review book.  This poetry collection is not only printed in a green manner, the poems themselves evoke an awareness of the beauty of nature and life.   I experienced a sense of melancholy and an awareness of the beauty of every moment as I read the poems.  

The theme of the time passing repeatedly occurs:  in the appropriately named “Time,” time is ”the mongrel bitch, limping along on three legs . . . She holds a bleeding forepaw tightly against her chest and whimpers from time to time.”   Even more poignant for me was “Marston-Bigot, Somerset” which describes the antics of WWII soldiers on New Years Eve at a temporary encampment juxtaposed with the animals (badger, mole) that will continually be present in an ongoing cycle of life.  

Several poems refer to aging, another aspect of time.  My favorite is ”Kontrapunkt” with the repeating lines “I crave another body.  This one will never do.”  References to autumn and winter as stand ins for aging Read the rest of this entry »

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Kindle Didn’t Start a Fire

October 16, 2009 in publishing by Kim | 6 comments

archives_coverart4I keep hearing that one of the top gifts for the holidays this year will be an e-reader.  Below, is an essay I wrote about receiving the Kindle two years ago for Christmas.  It originally appeared in the literary magazine SLAB (Sound and Literary Art Book) last spring.  Since I wrote the essay, my husband, my teenage son and my tweener daughter all tried reading from the Kindle and they all returned it to my drawer.  It just isn’t for us. 

That being said, I have had enough experiences in the last year (i.e. accompanying my daughter to an American Idol concert) where I thought ‘if I had an iPhone, I would be reading a book on it right now.’  The moment Verizon and Apple reach a deal (please, please soon), I’ll be buying an iPhone and guess what my first app will be?

My thoughts on the Kindle

Years ago, for Christmas, my husband gave me a stack of books he chose with a book store clerk after describing me to her.  I haven’t read them all, but every time I see one on the bookshelf, I feel loved.  For my birthday, a girlfriend gave me a book I wanted but hadn’t told her about, and I felt known. (FYI, this is Claire.)  For my 40th birthday I asked all of my friends to give me a book that was meaningful to them, as a way to learn about them.  Last Christmas, as my kids ran out to see what Santa delivered, my daughter called over her shoulder, “you have a stack of books Mommy!”  But Santa had brought those books for my mother, and when I realized that, I was disappointed.  Instead of books my husband bought me the Kindle, reasoning there was no reason to buy me any real books when I could download them. 

At that moment, I didn’t feel known. 

A month before Christmas, our copy of Newsweekarrived with Jeff Bezos on the cover announcing the Kindle, a small computer book reader.  As I looked at that cover I felt uneasy, and that night my husband read the article and handed it to me as he rolled over to sleep.  “You have to read this,” he said, “you’ll love it.”  I looked at the magazine curled up in the valley of the comforter between our two bodies and felt a rush of anxiety.  I Read the rest of this entry »

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