Today we’re linking to the Red Room—specifically to an interview Andy Ross, past-owner of Cody’s Bookstore in Berkeley, did with Alan Rinzler, Executive Director of the San Francisco Jossey-Bass imprint of Wiley and Sons and an independent editor. Andy has a previous interview with Alan, too. I had lunch with… Read more“Linking to the Red Room”
Tag: Writing Advice
Querying with a little help from Writer’s Digest
Chuck Sambuchino of Writer’s Digest runs a regular feature in which he interviews literary agents. This week it’s children’s literature agent Erin Murphy of Erin Murphy Literary Agency. He also runs a Successful Queries feature showing actual, real-life queries that actually, in real life, worked. And, finally, Chuck got 20… Read more“Querying with a little help from <em>Writer’s Digest</em>”
Pulp Rag: Unmasking the world
I’m Europe, baby. I sent you Dutch Elm Disease, German Measles, and Russian Roulette. You sent me World Wind Vacation Tour #225. Now we’re even. —Suzanne Pleschette movie from 1969, If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium Hey! If it’s Tuesday, this must be Pulp Rag day! You know what… Read more“<em>Pulp Rag:</em> Unmasking the world”
Talking brass tacks with the editor
Is it possible to look forward to rejection letters? Because that means I’d be finished writing my WIP. And also finished writing query letters. And yet right now I feel light years away from either. So, despite probably what is a general consensus, I will someday look forward to rejection… Read more“Talking brass tacks with the editor”
Guest essay for NaNoWriMo
As the clock strikes midnight on Halloween, 2009, Penultimate kicks off NaNoWriMo with a guest essay. By me. At a few minutes after midnight, it will be my wedding anniversary. Yes, exactly a few minutes. Coincidentally, today my husband discovered the most extraordinary interactive site in the world—a comparative illustration… Read more“Guest essay for NaNoWriMo”
Linking to the P&W Jofie Ferrari-Adler interviews
Today we’re linking to one of my favorite sites ever: the Poets & Writers collection of Jofie Ferrari-Adler interviews. Have you ever read the Paris Review interviews? My friend Sasha Troyan (award-winning author of Angels in the Morning and The Forgotten Island) got me into those years ago. Wonderful stuff—interviews… Read more“Linking to the <em>P&W</em> Jofie Ferrari-Adler interviews”
Pulp Rag: Making your life work
They probably pitched it as one thing, and then they went with something else because, hey, nobody’s watching. —Craig Bartlett, on the phone I did something freaky yesterday: I called up someone I hadn’t talked to in thirty years. It was my old friend, Craig, who used to stay up… Read more“<em>Pulp Rag:</em> Making your life work”
Rejecting rejection
We were supposed to talk about rejection again yesterday. But I knew you didn’t want to. Who wants to talk about rejection? Right before Halloween? So instead I called up Craig Bartlett, Creator/Executive Producer of Nickelodeon’s Hey, Arnold!, author of the Hey, Arnold! children’s books, and now Creator/Executive Producer of… Read more“Rejecting rejection”
Pulp Rag: Marking the milestones of a life
A couple of weeks ago I finally read Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt. It turns out Angela didn’t have any ashes. Sadly, McCourt died earlier this summer. It was in the news. Only thirteen years earlier, Angela’s Ashes had rocketed out of nowhere as a memoir without a particularly focused… Read more“<em>Pulp Rag:</em> Marking the milestones of a life”
Blowing your mind in October
You’ll notice that today we’re blowing our minds with a certain amount of advice on screenwriting. Yes, screenwriting is a close enough cousin to fiction that the serious fiction writer can take enormous assistance from screenwriting advice, without the extra hassle of having to deal with Hollywood. Alexandra Sokoloff uses… Read more“Blowing your mind in October”