WRITINGOn chapter two of the new mg and writing some fun pbs for the Picture Book Marathon.
READING
I finished Charlaine Harris's Dead as a Doornail (book five of the dark and humorous Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood series) and started Head Games by Keri Mikulski. I saw her book at Borders, jumped up and down, and bought it! Her book is about a basketball player with a crush (like me in high school!!). Hurray for sporty girls and for books about sporty girls!
BLOGGING
The McVeigh Agency discontinued its blog this month. I was happy to be one of the blog's first followers and met Mark after he generously offered Skype book chats to some of his new followers. Though I'll miss his blog posts, I understand the time constraints of keeping up a blog along with everything else. You can visit The McVeigh Agency website here.
Here are Mark's parting words on his last blog post:
Anyone who has tried to follow this blog has likely been disappointed with my lack of posts over the last few months. Looking at what I have posted, the only things I ever really got excited about were when something good happened to a client and when someone tried to ban a book.
Since Twitter is far more effective for spreading good news, of which there has been quite a lot lately, and writing only about things that make me angry seems self-indulgent at best, I'm going to shut this blog down in a few days. There's too much work to be done at the agency as it grows (and much is left undone for too long) to turn out an intelligent post even once a week. There are so many blogs that offer great information about publishing, writing, books of note, and the people who make them that adding my own perspective to the mix seems inevitably redundant and a poor waste of my time.
Besides that, it occurred to me that from the start I had overlooked one very fundamental fact about myself. While I don't lack for opinions, I've never really liked sharing them with many people. Silence is an under-rated virtue in this social media age. The most interesting people, to me, have always been those who were highly circumspect in their availability.
Consider this anecdote from the sole authorized biography of one of the most famous, and famously silent, people of the 20th century, a woman who worked as an editor for many years. As a young bride, her rich, handsome, doomed husband asked her teasingly--challenged her, really--at table: "A penny for your thoughts?"
Before all their guests, she replied, "If I told you, then they wouldn't be mine any more, would they?" I tend to agree. I'll keep mine to myself.
Of course, the point of the story shifts 180 degrees when you learn one final fact about the book from which it is taken.
The subject, editing her life before it was halfway done, didn't think much of the author's first draft. So she wrote the biography (and likely invented the story) herself, myth making. An unreliable narrator: my favorite kind. I empathize.
Thank you to all who read this blog, thanks to all who've been so supportive in so many ways, and here's to continued good things--publicly acknowledged or not--for all of us, friends, clients, readers, creators, and myth makers as we head into 2011.
Thanks for your mindful, sincere words, Mark! You can follow Mark and The McVeigh Agency on Twitter @mcveighagency .
OTHER BLOG NEWS
Congrats to Hilary Wagner (author of Nightshade City) on her recent sale of City of Goblins to Holiday House through her agent, Marietta Zacker! City of Goblins is a middle grade adventure fantasy proposed to be released in the spring of 2012.
I found this fun post on the Verla Kay's blueboards. Ever secretly wonder about the Snooki book but didn't want to read it? Check out Lynne Kelly's hilarious wrap up here. Make sure you tell her that K-Woww sent ya.
Read and reflect on such literary gems as "But now, like a chronic STD, Gia was back!"
BLOG CONTESTS
Lola at Sharp Pen/Dull Sword is having a LOLApalooza! Win great prizes and do nice things for your fellow writers. Kindness is contagious!
Donna Earnhardt is having an awesome Picture Book contest! You can win Anastasia Suen's Picture Writing book and a critique! Contest ends tomorrow. Enter HERE!
Have a fabulous day!
