It's ALIVE...

The thing about characters is that they take on a life of their own. My secondary characters start becoming more and more powerful and pretty soon I am enjoying writing their stories almost more than my hero and heroine's. I have in fact kicked a character off the island--literally; it was my pirate book--because she was taking over the novel. Right now I have created five characters who are so much fun to write, I look forward to my time in front of the screen. But more than that, they talk to me. I see them. I hear their accents, I listen to their speeches, I feel their emotions. With my hero and heroine I sometimes struggle through their story because I have to make it so much richer and deeper, since the story is theirs, but I can just do my secondary characters (if you know what I mean).

Which goes to show just how shallow and superficial I am.
--Gabi

Books I am reading now:
There Goes the Bride by Lori Wilde
The Marriage Bargain by Dianne Perkins
Almost Dead by Lisa Jackson

Platitudes

I hate platitudes. Don't get me wrong. I love quotes from famous authors or individuals. I enjoy learning from their wisdom. Quotes can help elevate my mood or inspire me. But don't give me platitudes. Like: Every day is a new beginning. Or: If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Platitudes are empty, useless, trite phrases that make my skin crawl. You'll find them on plaques at craft shows. I hate cutsie things.

So why the rant? Lately it seems I've been surrounded by platitudes. I won't live my life by them, so stop throwing them at me. Give me credit for a brain and creativity. I come up with my own rules.
--Gabi

Books I'm reading now:
Beware a Scots Revenge by Sabrina Jeffries
There Goes the Bride by Lori Wilde
And still Harry Pottering along.

Brainstorming...

...an appropriate title for this blog, since not only did I brainstorm this evening, it is now also storming. Yes, it's monsoon season in New Mexico, and we have the most gorgeous thunderstorms in the summer.

But back to brainstorming. I've forgotten how much fun it was just to sit with a friend and throw ideas out to each other. I've done it before with my husband. I was having trouble with the plot of my third novel, so I asked him to brainstorm with me. We picked up the ping pong paddles and just hit the ball back and forth while we spoke. Here is a truth: often if you do something physical (even if it is puny like hitting a ping pong ball back and forth) it can free your creativity. Within a few minutes, I had cleared up the plotting problem and was able to finish the novel very soon after (No, not that day but within a couple of weeks.).

I sometimes let my students build with building blocks without telling them the purpose of the building. For the most part they laugh and think it is a childish exercise. After all, they haven't played with blocks since they were babies. But after letting them build for about fifteen minutes, I then ask them to write for fifteen minutes. They are always surprised at how easily the writing comes after playing with blocks.

Just goes to show you: Don't be afraid to play.

Anyway, I brainstormed the rest of my wip (work-in-progress, remember?) with a critique partner, so now I know where the rest of the novel is going. She helped me find the major plot point I needed to get to the end. And I have several ideas for the other two books in the series. Did I tell you my wip is the first in a three book series?

--Gabi, enjoying the thunder, lightning, and rain

Books I'm reading now:
The Spy Wore Silk by Andrea Pickens
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling
Taming Him (anthology) from Ellora's Cave

Forces at Work...

Really weird things happen when I write. I tend not to plot; I just have an idea and I sit and write what the characters show me in my head. This means, of course, when I'm done with the first draft, I often have to go back and fix the beginning so it works with the rest of the novel. But strange things happen in the course of writing. I get these ideas that just fit and make a beautiful layer in the text. I don't know how I do it. I call this Magic.

So I was writing this morning and the Magic struck. I had to take a brief break to post here (and to take passport forms to the Post Office and get the dog chipped), but the Magic is waiting for me at my keyboard. I love the Magic. And it seems to be striking often in my WIP (work-in-progress, doncha know).
--Gabi

Books I'm reading now:
Mommy for a Minute by Judy Christenberry
The Leopard Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt
The Italian Prince's Pregnant Bride by Sandra Marton (Gotta love the title)
And yes, I have finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for the second time. And I so love JK Rowling for her Dateline interview last night where she answered some of the questions I had.

It's Just A Number...

Age that is. It's just a number. So on Saturday I did something I haven't done since High School. I pulled an all nighter. By 7:00AM, I had finished HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, so I went to bed. I couldn't fall asleep for another half an hour, then I woke up at 10:30 AM. I admit taking another nap in the afternoon, but I went to bed at 11:00 that evening and woke up just fine--OK, a little later--on Sunday morning. My point is I was having fun and I didn't want it to stop. One would think that someone of MY AGE would know better, but I realized I had nothing else planned, I wasn't hurting anyone, so why not stay up all night and have fun? Age has nothing to do with it. Now if only my knees would have that same philosophy.... --Gabi Books I'm reading now: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (finished and now I'm reading it for the second time--first time through fast for the plot, second time through to cherish the writing) Harry Potter and the Prisoner and Azkaban (still reading it aloud to the youngest child) All Night Long by Jayne Anne Krentz And I'm writing...

Harry Potter, Harry Potter

It's Friday. You know what that means. Tonight I start to read the last book. I'm so excited. Saw the last film. It was OK, but it just didn't have the richness of the book. Of course few movies do, and the film was good, but you just can't compare the two.
To all those spoil sports out there who "leaked" the DEATHLY HALLOWS" ahead of time, you are pathetic. It won't spoil anything for the rest of us who love the fun, and the attempt to spoil the fun, the anticipation, is just, well, pathetic. I pity you for not being able to enjoy as the rest of us do. You're not being an individual, someone who doesn't follow the "rules", you're just being obnoxious.

So, I'll be reading for the next day. Leave me alone.

--Gabi

Books I'm reading now (Just because Harry Potter 7 is coming out tonight doesn't mean that I'm not reading other things up until the release):
Finished Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (It is definitely a GUY'S book)
The Secret Passion of Simon Blackwell by Samantha James
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling
And starting tonight; Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

I'm ba-ack

The conference is over and I've returned to a house that is messy/dirty, and a work area that is cluttered. Usually I can overlook the clutter, but I'm feeling trapped by all the stuff. Just before I left, I saw an Oprah program on decluttering one's life and I tossed out several pieces of clothing that I really don't know why I still had. So now onto the writing space.

The RWA conference did do one thing for me. I've returned inspired to write. But it's not the usually uplifting sort of inspiration. It's an angry, pissed off sort of feeling. As if I want to prove all the nay-sayers wrong. So I'm isolating myself this week (as much as one can isolate oneself when one has a family) and writing. Because in the end, it's about the work, and if one piece doesn't work, you have to have another ready to go in its place.

--Gabi

Books I'm reading:
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (I didn't take this on the trip with me)
The Unfortunate Miss Fortunes by Jennifer Crusie, Eileen Dreyer, and Anne Stuart
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (and you KNOW what's happening on Friday at midnight)

And I'm off again...

This time to Dallas. The Romance Writers of America's National Conference is next week. Don't get me wrong. I love my family, but five days of being just a writer is fabulous. Even if I have to dress up more than I usually do. Editors and agents to impress, you know.
--Gabi

What I'm reading now:
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (this is such a GUY book)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (see my previous posts)
and I'm writing a lot!

The Road Traveled

Notice I didn't write "less traveled." I just returned from a two week trip which put between 4K and 5K miles on my car. College tours. For the twins. And I learned a few things. Like road trips are overrated. I would rather arrive at a place and explore it for a week. Have a chance to unpack for a while, settle into the hotel room (as much as one can settle into a hotel room), and look at the details of a place. We saw lots of new places and interesting things, but we rushed past Civil War battle sites and an important Revolutionary War battle site because we didn't have the time to stop and look. Now I know the goal of this trip was to visit nine different campuses, so we had to keep to a schedule, but part of me regrets not having time in each place we stopped at. I didn't get to see the bats in Austin, spend an evening listening to music in the French Quarter, visit Margaret Mitchell's house in Atlanta, tour the cute village of Chapel Hill, spend more time at the Smithsonian (although the Museum of American History is closed right now), go antiquing in the Shenandoah Valley, or hear country music in Nashville. But I did get to see alligators on a swamp tour, eat some jambalaya, oysters, and dirty rice, and see my favorite painting in the whole world, Frederich Church's El Rio de Luz at the National Gallery. I even got to see the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution at the National Archives.

Of course, if the girls get into the colleges they want, I'll have the chance to visit those spots again.
--Gabi

Books I'm reading read (or have read recently):
The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever by Julia Quinn (which I left on the road for someone to discover)
Cover of Night by Linda Howard (with which I did the same)
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (I didn't know they could make paperbacks that size)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling (still reading it to the youngest kid)
The Trouble with Valentine's Day by Rachel Gibson
Tongue in Chic by Christina Dodd
Master of Dragons by Angela Knight
Atlantis Rising by Alyssa Day

A Thank You

The May 14 issue of Time Magazine held a pleasant surprise. It is the annual 100 most influential people in the world issue. As I'm flipping through the pages, there, listed under arts and entertainment (right under a picture of Leonardo DiCaprio), was Nora Roberts. The brief blurb praised her for her writing (yes, really : "She can make romance seem fresh and hopeful every time"), recognized her as the beloved author she is, and didn't put down the genre at all. When I saw the piece, my first thought was "My God, we've made it." OK, perhaps a bit overblown, but somehow it seems that a huge step toward romance not being considered the embarassing step-daughter of literature was taken by this inclusion. So I salute Nora for all the work she has done for the rest of us (although I would hazard the guess that she wasn't thinking of us but just writing the stories inside herself--the rest was just an unintentional call to greatness) and for all the terrific stories she has given us over the years. I know she will probably never read this, but I wanted to acknowledge her.
--Gabi

Books I'm reading now:
The Trouble with Valentine's Day byRachel Gibson
Born in Death by J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azakaban (slow going this time with the kiddo)
Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore
And I gotta go to the store because I'm finally on vacation for the summer

Hope and its many springs...

I'm feeling good about the writing right now, although I'm up to my neck in Huckleberry Finn tests and Tom Sawyer exams. It's a funny thing about hope. He/she/it (the monster) carries you from the highest peaks of euphoria to the depths of despair, and the journey can happen in the course of a few minutes.

So, yes, I have a few manuscripts out there, a few agent queries floating around right now, and for whatever reason I'm hopeful about them. I'm sure tomorrow I'll go back to thinking my work is dreck (OK, never that, just that it's not good ENOUGH) and wait for the rejections to continue to roll on through, but today, the sun is shining and I have hope.
Did you know that the Greeks didn't consider Pandora releasing Hope from the box a good thing? It was one of the evils of the world.

--Gabi

What I'm reading now:
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier (Can you believe I missed this one and have never read it? And I've only seen parts of the movie and I love Hitchcock.)
The Mask of the Black Tulip by Lauren Willig (another fun romp following the Pink Carnation--and you know what, there wasn't a lot of sex in it, if at all--how about that in a world where erotica seems to be the only way to break into romance these days?)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark twain (But it ends this week--then my seventh graders are starting something new--A Midsummer Night's Dream)
Great Tales and Poems by Edgar Allan Poe (Guess what my eighth graders are doing?)

A writer friend whom I see every year at a non-conference for writers in Red River, NM, just published a new book about New Mexico at the beginning of the last century. This is the real Wild West, folks. I've interviewed her and the results are here.

Q. My guest today is Velda Brotherton, and we're glad she could join us. Welcome, Velda. You have a new book coming out. Fly With The Mourning Dove. Could you tell us something about it?
A. Thank you for having me. My book tells the story of the life of a young girl who, at the age of6, accompanies her parents to a homestead in the high desert of New Mexico in 1920. Usingjournal entries by her mother and actual stories related by Edna, I've recreated her growing up years among some of the first Anglo settlers in New Mexico. Edna's father's bout withTuberculosis hangs over the family like the shadow of death, and several times separates herfrom her parents. She is sent to live first in a boarding house situated along the road from Taos Junction to Santa Fe, then to a convent where she feels caged, and finally to her grandparents inNorth Dakota. At the age of nine she returns home to stay, and so begins her love of the highdesert that will endure for a lifetime. She still owns a ranch there as well as one in Colorado.
Q. You're not from New Mexico. How did you get interested in writing this book?
A. My Dad was a storyteller, and as I grew up, he told about how my grandpa's brother was aMontana cowboy who came home from WW I to homestead in New Mexico. The stories were so gripping I never forgot them, and many years later when I went to Albuquerque to a writer'sconference, I contacted my mother's cousin, who was raised on that homestead, and went to visither. I stayed with her a week while she drove me all over her beloved high desert and showed me things I would never have seen as a tourist. She also told me stories that added to those my Dadhad told. My husband and I returned year after year to visit this tiny dynamo of a woman, untilwe too became enthralled with her land and the life she'd led. It was a book waiting to be written.
Q. So tell about some of her adventures.
A. Oh, Edna was quite an unusual girl for her time and so was her mother Cassie. While her husband, Edna's father, was away at war, Cassie went to nursing school. Her father had refused to let her do so when she lived at home, and she was determined no man would ever tell her howto live her life again. And though she and her husband Finas were close, she was the dominant partner in the marriage. After they moved to the homestead, which she was against from the outset, she continued to practice her nursing through the years. Edna must have inherited some ofher mother's stubbornness, for when her parents sent her to live in a convent while her fatherwent to Fort Bayard to be treated for TB, she caused quite a ruckus among the nuns. Then later on, when she was grown, she attended a party where she refused to dance with Tony Lujan, avery high ranked Tewa Indian who was married to the notorious Mable Dodge. She also was mixed up in some political wrangling, which was common in New Mexico at that time. Her mother and father had some very strong opinions of Long John Dunn, a famous and controversial figure among Anglo settlers in New Mexico.
Q. Sounds like a wonderful book. What made you decide to write her story as creative nonfiction, rather than historical fiction?
A. The more stories Edna related, and by now she was writing them down and sending them to me, the more I realized that the only way I could tell her story and be true to how she had lived, was to write it as nonfiction. But I didn't want to record a bunch of dry facts, so I began to study the art of creative nonfiction. I found the best information online posted by Lee Gutkind, who is considered the godfather of creative nonfiction. It turned out I had already written a creative nonfiction book, I just didn't realize it. My first book, Wandering In The Shadows of Time, which was published in 1994, fit the rules of this genre perfectly. When I wrote it, all I knew was that I had to tell the story of the people I interviewed in a special way, by inserting myself into the stories and taking the reader along with me as I did so.
Q. Is that book still available?
A. Yes, at Amazon.com or it can be ordered from any bookstore.
Q. Okay, that's great. Now back to Edna's story. Wouldn't you have been able to expand more on her story if you'd written it as historical fiction?
A. Yes, but then it wouldn't really have been her story. She talked to me about writing her storyfor a couple of years before I began to get serious about it, and I knew how she felt about it being told like it really happened. Funny, once when she was reading one of my historical fiction romances, she read them all but skipped the "sexy parts ”, she told me she hoped that when I decided to write her story it wouldn't be a romance because there was too much fiction and not enough truth in the books. And she's right. No matter how hard we try, historical fiction, from necessity, stretches a lot of the truth all out of proportion.
Q. So, even when you wrote dialogue and internalization, you were telling the truth?
A. I must have been, because when I sent her the last draft of the book, she sent it back with apost-it stuck to the title page. It said, very succinctly, "I'm satisfied." You have to know Edna to realize what a compliment this was. At that point all she cared about was the book being published before she died, and would I make sure her children and grandchildren all got a copy?
Q. How old is she?
A. She's a very young 92, coming up on a birthday in July. She took her last horseback ride over the sagebrush flats at the age of 85 and only stopped hiking in the desert in her late 80s. She stopped driving at 90, but is still ready to go anytime visitors will take her. Often she wants to go down to Tusas, the ranch in New Mexico where she spent so much of her life. We're always happy to take her and spend some tranquil time living in her past. She would live there, except it's so remote and there's no electricity or running water, so her family won't permit it. After having written the book, I feel as if I grew up with her, and I never read the ending without crying, though I've read it over and over. Not because it's sad, but because her life has been sobeautiful, so complete and so satisfying. Would that mine can be the same.
Q. How do we get a copy of Fly With The Mourning Dove?
A. It's available online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, or you can order it from PublishAmerica or any bookstore in the country. If you want to read an excerpt from the book, check out my website.
Q. Thank you so much for joining me. Would you share your websites and any other presence onthe web?
A. Thank you for having me. I enjoyed it.http://www.authorsden.com/veldabrothertonveldabrotherton.blogspot.com
www.historylady.gather.com

--Gabi

What I'm reading now:
The Secret History of the Pink Carnation by Lauren Willig (what fun)
Mr. Darcy takes a Wife by Linda Berdoll
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Yup, still teaching it)
The Adventures of Hucklberry Finn (Yup, still teaching this one, too--and you try to say Huck Finn to a group of eighth graders and not worry about mixing intial letters--Ack!)

Life, what a concept...

Since last I wrote, I won one writing contest, and have finaled in another. So I guess it's not the writing that's keeping me from being published again. It's the production. My advice to would be writers--don't get a day job. Ahh, but it's a vicious cycle, because one does need money to live, so one works but then one can't devote the time one would want to the craft.

Never mind. The writing is coming along. Only it's in the form of a professional development dossier so that I can earn more money as a teacher next year. So far, forty pages of the driest jargon one could read. And worse, the powers that be force me to use incorrect style. The dossier is neither formal nor informal. It all grates on this language arts and literature teacher/ novelist.

Selling my soul for my daughters' college education,
--Gabi

Books I'm reading now:
six books I'm judging for the RITA, which shall remain unnamed because I do not wish to sully the reputation of this great contest
FairyDust and the Quest for the Egg by Gail Carson Levine (reading it aloud for my youngest daughter)
The Landlord's Black-Eyed Daughter by Mary Ellen Dennis, a galley I'm reading to give a quote for
The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (Yup, I'm teaching it again)
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Hey, I've got a seventh grade class this year too)

Times Flies...

although I can't say I've been having fun. I've had parents who won't believe their children aren't working (must be my fault), health issues, and stress like crazy. On the bright side, I see smoother days ahead (although every time I've said that something else has happened). I'm writing sporadically, which is killing me, and I have no good stories to share about my life right now either. So this is a much belated post and I really don't have anything to say.
--Gabi

Books I'm reading now:
The Texan's Reward by Jodi Thomas (one of my favorite people in the world)
Parallel Heat by Dierdre Knight
Immortal Highlander by Karen Marie Moning
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling (yes, we've finished book one; now it's on to book two)
The Vampire who Loved Me by Teresa Medieros

An interesting experience...

I've been mentioned in a blog. Not about writing mind you, but about teaching. The interesting aspect of the mention is that the author (and yes, she is a romance author) has me saying things that she took totally out of context. I don't know whether to be angry or to just shake my head in pity. She claims I said my eighth grade students are "too stupid" to learn assonance, when what I said was most eighth graders don't know what assonance is (Now be honest, do you?). If I thought my eighth graders were "too stupid" to learn it, why would I bother teaching it? (By the way, there is a difference between knowing the definition of assonance and recognizing assonance-- I teach the latter) This woman has never been in my classroom, never talked to any of my students, nor did she ask me to elaborate.


We were talking about testing and NCLB, which I find a wonderful idea, but totally flawed in its execution. It's like communism--a fabulous idea, but it doesn't work on human beings. In New Mexico at my school, the testing takes four days of lost teaching time, which is longer than any other academic test out there, including the LCATs, the MCATs or any of the boards. We are expecting students to care about a test that in no way affects them (not gradewise, not placementwise) and then basing how we view our schools based on the results of these tests. In addition, the test makes no allowances for students. If education is truly individual why does every student take the same test? I don't worry about my students' performance on these tests because they're the top of the school, but I am the parent of a special needs child who is not and most likely never will be at grade level for her academics and yet she is required to take the test for her age, not her abilities. Her greatest goal is to succeed, and yet the test makes it impossible for her to do so. She comes home depressed and convinced she is stupid.

But back to this author...She is extremely bright, and truly gifted in the academic sense. She doesn't understand (perhaps understand is the wrong word; believe might be better) that most people don't think (I mean literally the act of thinking, not a belief system) the way she does. So she twisted my words and has labeled me one of those bad teachers who just babysits her students and doesn't want to be held accountable for what I do in the classroom.
Hmmm. I wonder what my students would think after they stopped laughing.
--Gabi

What I'm reading now:
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Hey, it takes time when you're reading it aloud)
I need to find a new book to start.

One week down, thirty-five to go

I have just completed my first full week of teaching, and I must say I'm exhausted. The kids are interesting, as usual, and I am looking forward to getting to know them better. So far, pretty smooth.
I have a new policy this year. My weekends are for writing, which means I will resent doing the shopping, laundry, cleaning, etc, that usually takes my time on the weekends, but I'm looking forward to devoting two days a week to the craft I love.
And so with no further ado, I'm off to my fantasy world and the stories that I need to finish. They are calling to me.
--Gabi
Books I am reading now;
Edith Hamilton's Mythology (Do I really have to tell you why I am reading this?)
Sari Robbins's More Than a Scandal
The ARC of Linda Francis Lee's The Devil in the Junior League
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (which I am reading aloud to my youngest who is loving it.)

Off to Atlanta...

...with high hopes and big dreams. (In case you didn't know, Romance writerss of America is holding their annual conference there this week.) The worst thing about being a writer is that you can imagine all sorts of scenarios that will never happen, but you hope they will. Like meeting that editor who expresses interest in your book. Like meeting the perfect agent. Like receiving acclaim for books past and books future.
I don't know why I put myself through it. Except I won't let the dream die.
--Gabi

Books I'm reading:
The Princess Bride by William Goldman(fabulous, simple fabulous)

It's 3 AM...

and I'm awake, waiting for the husband to return from London. An international flight, a missed connection...need I say more? Ray Bradbury called this time the hour of monsters. It's when you're awake at three a.m. that your dreams are all nightmares, your troubles are insurmountable, your self-esteem is non-existent. Something about the middle of the night magnifies every thought into an overwhelming issue you will never survive. In the morning you laugh at yourself because nothing you thought about at three a.m. is nearly as bad as you believed then.
But now it's three a.m., and the monsters attack. What if I'll never sell another book? What if my students are horrible this year? What if I'm ruining my kids' lives? What if my kids are lying to me? What if the house never stops leaking and collapses? What if ...
And now he garage door has opened and my husband has arrived home from the airport and one monster has been vanquished.
--Gabi
What I'm reading now:
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azir Nafisi
On the Way to the Wedding by Julia Quinn
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

The Dearth of Good Romance Movies

I just read an article about Hollywood making fewer and fewer romance movies. Nobody is writing original screenplay, and the romance stories they do film don't make a lot a money...except for a few like Sleepless in Seattle or Titanic (which people call a romance so I won't argue that definition here) or While You Were Sleeping. The article goes on to quote Nicholas Sparks, that lone voice in the romance field (heavy sarcasm), and his reason for the dearth of romance in films is because the stories are too hard to write and too few people do it well. I will agree with him here, but let me go on to post my own theories. The reason romances don't do well for the most part at the box office is because they don't film good stories. Why don't they turn to those authors who know how to pen great romances? Why hasn't Susan Elizabeth Phillips's Ain't She Sweet been turned into a movie? Why haven't Jenny Crusie's works hit the silver screen? Why isn't Linda Howard's Mr. Perfect a film? Hollywood overlooks a major source for stories by overlooking the genre. You can't tell me that a romance wouldn't be successful if they would just pick the right property. And Romance (the genre) has loads of ideas to pick from.
And is it a coincidence that "dearth" and "Darth" only differ by one letter? Hmmmmm...
--Gabi
Books I'm reading now:
Threshold by Sara Douglass
Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen
Size Twelve is not Fat by Meg Cabot

Some interesting writer links...

Did you ever want to know the inner workings of a publishing professional's devious brain? Did you ever want to know what they really think about so many of us writers? Combine the answers to these two questions and you've found my newest obsessions--Evil Editor and Miss Snark. (Perhaps obsession is a harsh word, since I am looking for a new agent and a receptive editor for my work and you never know who might be "listening" in.) Evil Editor is an actual NY editor who doesn't pull punches and often has me laughing til I snort with his inner thoughts about queries. Miss Snark is an actual NY agent who does the same. I love reading these blogs and have honestly learned a lot from both of them (and had my daily doses of schadenfreude--look it up). You can find these two at the following links:
Evil Editor
Miss Snark

Another great site I'm hooked on is Kristin Nelson's blog, Pub Rants. An agent in Denver, Miss Nelson offers much information about the biz, although I don't get my daily dose of schadenfreude from her. (Again, look it up.)
Pub Rants

These sites have links to other interesting sites too. So if you want a chuckle or two and some great information about publishing, visit these sites. I know I do.
--Gabi

Books I'm reading now:
Bump in the Night--Anthology
Quirky Kids--a text I have to read for a class I'm taking--way to ruin a summer by having required texts to read.
The Explosive Child--see note above

But I'm Writing !!!