Oh, Livejournal, how I have missed thee!

But given all the apologies for absenteeism I've been reading on my friends' pages, it seems I'm not the only one who's been taking an inadvertent blogging break. The silver lining, I suppose, is that we must all be busy working. Right? Working?

In addition to maintaining production of the newspaper I edit, ( Read more... )

What's not to love about free books--right?? (Speaking of which--SO excited about ALA Annual Conference!! ARCs, here I come!)

Well, here's the thing. My fabulous library (which has a delightful used bookstore RIGHT INSIDE IT. If it had a coffee bar, I'd never go home) hosts some shelves outside where there are books for (practically) free. (I think ( Read more... )

Easy enough to say--not always so easy to keep at the forefront of your mind.

I remember when my editors have written me "Dear Journalist" notes--"I'm sorry to tell you that the June issue will be our last. It's been great working with you," blah blah blah--that hit me like a kick in the gut. Problem with me is, news like that always hits me that ( Read more... )

When I worked at B. Dalton Bookseller (hail, thou glorious fallen monument to literacy!), one of the first things I learned about was the Anonymous books. Partly that was because Fiction (excluding mysteries, Westerns, romance, sci fi and fantasy, which had their own individual sections) was organized by author's surname, and Anonymous is way up at ( Read more... )

Writing is more in demand than ever... and sometimes I think that good writing is less appreciated than ever. And at the heart of comedy is pain, right? No wonder this cartoon made me laugh so hard.


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When I first started editing The Publication--eight years and two editors after I started writing for it--I noticed that people were a little... hesitant around me. (These would be the other high-level professionals at the organization that The Publication represents--high-level professionals whose work is often featured in The Publication.)

As they ( Read more... )

I am so far removed from the reality show bandwagon that I can't even hear the accordions--but I've been tiptoeing closer to the less vile offerings (even though one of the pros on "Dancing with the Stars" makes me think he needs a misogyny intervention). The past few months I've been checking out "The Voice," and have been surprised how not ( Read more... )

Change--blech! There's almost always too much or not enough. Right now it's looking like there's not enough--directly on the heels of Way Too Much--and that means I'm starting to get that itch. That make-it-happen-make-it-happen-NOW itch. And THAT means I'm darting into corners and down corridors and generally spreading myself too thin as I attempt ( Read more... )

After I've been out in the garden on a stupid-sweltering SoCal Saturday, gasping behind the lawn mower or uncreaking my back after weeding too long, a cold drink and a muscle-soothing shower are so refreshing that I almost (almost) want to head back outside.

That's exactly how I feel about my writing, with a Schmooze and a conference behind me, ( Read more... )

The best way to start a weekend of brainstorming, revision, still more brainstorming, and further revision?

An Edward Gorey reference on the comics page:
http://www.gocomics.com/frazz/2012/04/21

When I was a kid, the reason I originally decided to read some of the books that became my all-time favorites (The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, The Haunted ( Read more... )