I Did Think About A Little Video Something

For a while now I've been thinking about adding some kind of little video bit to my website. I wanted something witty, something that didn't take itself too seriously, something like Mark Peter Hughes has done. I thought it would be something unique and up-to-date to add to my website, but at the same time something that I could do once and be finished.

I never pursued this idea because I was afraid my computer guy would snap if I brought it up. And now Mark Peter Hughes has done it, so I can't do it without looking far less unique and cutting edge than I was hoping for. So that's kind of a load off my mind.

Trout Fishing...What Does It Mean?

I was cleaning my shower stall yesterday morning (I'll spare you the details other than to say it had been a while since I'd been in there with cleanser and a chisel) when I heard on NPR that Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan. Wow. That sure made the work go easier.

I'm not going to tell you that Trout Fishing in America is a great book for YAs. I will say that I read it when I was a YA. I'm not going to tell you I loved it. I will say, as I did a couple of years ago, that it gave me a "feeling of possibility."

In honor of Trout Fishing in America's rerelease, I have moved my personal--and very old--copy off the bookshelf and into the To Read basket. That means that at some point, you will be stuck reading about my experience rereading it.

Until then...

Oh, wait! Do you want to hear something weird? I went to church today, which happens about as often as I clean my shower stall. And what was the Scriptural reading? Fishers of men! (Luke 5: 1-11) Which, of course, led the minister to lead and finish with fishing stories.

Fishing stories...Trout Fishing in America...What does it all mean?

Ecolit Discussion Group

Among the 700 messages that I just downloaded was a response giving me permission to tell you all about Ecolit, a discussion group for sharing information about children's and YA books relating to environmental issues. Looking over last month's posts, it looks as if there are opportunities there for book discussions and finding materials such as science blogs.

Regarding That Time Problem I Was Just Mentioning

I've noticed that I haven't been receiving e-mails from any of my five listservs for a couple of weeks. That was okay. I didn't have time to deal with it recently, anyway. But this week, I began to get suspicious. And I've been getting odd e-mails from my Internet access provider regarding some kind of full mailbox. Couldn't imagine what those folks were talking about.

Then today I said to my computer guy, "Guy, do you suppose there's some connection between the e-mails I've been receiving from the Internet folks and the e-mails I haven't been receiving from all my listservs? Because I gotta wonder."

He looked into it, waved his hands over the computer keyboard, said a few incantations, and the next thing I knew, I had over 700 new e-mails downloading.

So now I'm more than 700 messages behind with the listservs and 363 posts behind with the blog reader.

Yeah, I'm gonna go sign up for Twitter! And Facebook, too!

Why I Might In The Future And, Once More, Why I'm Not Now

Yes, yes. I'm about to whine about marketing again.

By way of Jill Corcoran Books, I found Lisa Schroeder's blog post on Twitter From One Author's Point Of View. She gives compelling reasons to jump on the Twitter train and, maybe, when I find myself with a new book contract and a new book, I'll get on board.

But, as I'm sure I've said here before, the time issue is a big one for me. I've had problems for several years with distraction, which has often burned up my writing time. I'm just getting that under control now, but a big part of the reason I'm finally getting it under control is due to the fact that because of family commitments I'm now down to working only three days a week. Notice I didn't say I'm down to writing three days a week. I've got three days a week to write, deal with business correspondence, prepare for any appearances that come up, maintain the website, blog, keep up with listservs, and keep up with what's happening at other blogs.

Does anyone else notice how writing gets buried in that list?

While I accept that Twitter is the cutting edge marketing tool for writers right now, keep in mind that the same was true for websites thirteen or fourteen years ago. Then came weblogs. Listservs were talked up to writers as a way to meet the right people. What I'm getting at here is, Twitter isn't going to be the end. Once I add Twitter to the mix, I'll be maintaining a website, a blog, staying up with the blogosphere, keeping up with listservs, and Twittering. Then it will be time to get started on something else.

If you noticed the dates on the blog posts I linked to above, you saw that I'm close to a month behind in my reading of blogs in my agent/editor category.

I did get some good work done this morning. Now I am off to do some business and then some early work/research for a new project.

So That Was What Ailed Him

Last September, when I read Charles and Emma, I wondered why Charles Darwin was sick so often. In a Salon book review, he's said to have been a hypochondriac. He is one of the nine figures described in The Hypochondriacs: Nine Tormented Lives by Brian Dillon.

Chrestomanci, Chrestomanci! Come quickly!

A character calls Chrestomanci with the above words in Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones. I did pretty much the same thing last night.

I had just started reading an adult novel that began with a stampede of circus animals. Way to go! But chapter two suddenly took us to a nursing home where an elderly man is living. I was reading along, feeling just a bit stunned, because we've just been through that situation. But I figured the character is going to be recalling the story for us, and if I can just grit my teeth and control my post- traumatic stress syndrome, he'll move into his past very soon.

Indeed, he did. In chapter three he is a college student who learns that his parents have both been killed.

At that point, I thought, first, This cannot possibly be good for me, and second, Chrestomanci, where are you?

He was on the stack of books on the floor next to the bed. I'm at the climactic point in Charmed Life and will finish that tonight before trying a Terry Pratchett novel. But I will keep my comfort books nearby, just in case.

Roundups For The Littlies

The Reading Tub's Blog has started a monthly carnival of easy readers and short chapter books, which it is calling I Can Read. While at the January post, I learned that the Jean Little Library blog has a post on all the Cybil nominations for easy readers and beginning chapter books with links to reviews.

I became interested in chapter books while I was writing a couple of books for kids in the early grades. It seemed to me that a lot of the books written for younger kids are...well...not terrific. I read a dreadful early reader back in December, as a matter of fact. I was shocked...shocked, I tell you...by how bad it was. On top of that, these easier books don't seem to get a lot of attention from adults. Middle grade and YA are the hip and happening categories, probably because they're closer to what we like to read for ourselves.

The Hunt For Science Fiction

Charlotte's Library, which is a blog specifically about fantasy and science fiction for children and teenagers, does weekly roundups of blog reviews of middle grade fantasy and science fiction. You'll also find posts there on new scifi and fantasy releases.

You'll have to go through all these yourselves to work out which are science fiction, but you should at least be able to find some there.

Things Aren't Bad All Over

I met a couple of editors of engineering textbooks last week. I grabbed my chance to ask them if people were running scared in textbook publishing. Were editors dropping like flies? Were they becoming agents to try to stay employed?

Au contraire. They and, to their knowledge, other textbook publishers had had very good years. Met their goals and surpassed them, in fact.

I'm guessing that while the economy is bad, folks are heading to college and staying there, hoping to ride out financial hard times.

I also learned that textbook authors don't get advances, by the way. Just in case anyone is thinking of going that route.