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 Alice's CWIM blog
Our own editor of CWIM talks about all things children's writing
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 Thursday, July 12, 2007
I have a confession (or two) to make
Posted by Lauren

As I'm preparing this month's e-newsletter, I can't help but notice that every other newsfeed item is about the last installment of Harry Potter. So, I have a confession to make:

I have not read any of the Harry Potter books. (I have also not seen the movies, except for "The Prisoner of Azkaban," which was shown on one of my flights to San Francisco or L.A. (Can't remember which.) Anyway, it was better than my other options: "Barbershop" or "Garfield.")

Also, I did not read The Da Vinci Code. Or see the movie.

Yes, I know I'm now in the hideous minority and it's my job to know about these things. But I figure everyone else read these books, so I should spend my time reading and supporting lesser-known works, like um, anything else.

I did go back and finally read Nabokov's Lolita, however. (No way was I going to get that one on a syllabus in 16 years of Catholic schooling.) Although I think it could have used a little editing [ahem, natch], that was one book I was actually embarrased to admit I missed.

What about you? What's one classic or contemporary novel you're loathe to admit you haven't read?



7/12/2007 10:31:45 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #  Comments [10]
 Wednesday, July 11, 2007
How do you follow THAT?
Posted by Lauren

Yesterday afternoon, I was talking with my friend Katie Darby (a recent graduate of the University of Evansville and our summer intern here at Writer's Digest Books) about Marisha Pessl's 2006 Mercantile Prize-winning debut Special Topics in Calamity Physics (Viking). It's an amazing 500+ page novel that combines nearly every genre (literary, historical, mystery, romance, coming of age, adventure ...) and contains illustrations and interdisciplinary in-text citations. It is both comedy and tragedy--sprawling and personal. Katie and I gushed about how much research Marisha must have done and how she must have put everything she'd ever known into this first book.

And then the inevitable question came: I wonder what she'll do next?

Being the empathetic souls we are (and writers ourselves), the mood surrounding the question changed from excited anticipation to anxiety. Oh, man. How's she gonna do it? What can she possibly do now? How does a writer follow up a first masterpiece? She must be under SO MUCH PRESSURE.

I've heard from writer and editor friends alike that these days, publishing a successful second book is actually much tougher than publishing a first because the sex appeal of the "fresh new voice" is gone. Plus, you've got the performance of the first book to live up to (or overcome).

Every year in the Premier Voices column in NSSWM, I hear from a round of debut novelists about their experiences. Any second-time (or third-time?) novelists out there want to tell us what it's really like?



7/11/2007 11:18:37 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #  Comments [0]
 Friday, July 06, 2007
Blogtastic!
Posted by Lauren

Well, the 2008 edition of Novel & Short Story Writer's Market has just gone to press, I launched an e-newsletter last month, and now we have a blog. I have to admit that I'm equal parts excited, nervous, and overwhelmed. This is an annual editor's dream come true: to be able to communicate with her readers in real time ... (Could it finally be happening?)

So that's exactly what I want this blog to be. A chance for me to let you know what's going on in the world of fiction, what remarkable things I've pulled out of the avalanche that is my inbox, what updates need to be made to your market listings between editions of the print book, and what fabulous things I'm reading that I'm too excited to keep to myself (Brock Clarke's An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England and Brian K. Vaughn's Runaways series the last two weeks).

And, of course, I want you to talk back. What questions do you have for me about the fiction market, the writing life, and the book biz? What have you discovered as you've researched the markets and submitted your work? What terrific books have you read? Post comments here or e-mail me and we'll get this party started.

PS Having a blog of my own really makes me miss Miss Snark. I know it's only a quarter to 11, but I raise a gin and tonic to her.



7/6/2007 10:47:41 AM (Eastern Daylight Time, UTC-04:00)  #  Comments [0]

 
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