Saturday, January 01, 2005

BEST OF BLANK: End-of-Year Ruminations & New Year Aspirations. [The Longest Post of the Year (So Far)]

9:00 PM

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

To defend writers, I definitely don't have too much time on my hands. Nora Roberts -- who writes six books a year (three single title length and three category length) -- spends the early mornings on her email and fans; Stephen King reads more than a hundred books a year; other writers spend time on email, blogs, and other ancillary aspects of writing because you simply can't write 24/7 for more than a couple days. That said, I write 3 100K books a year and once my younger kids are in school hope to increase that to 4.

Reading blogs (this and a couple others) helps keep us writers grounded. After all, we spend most of our time in our heads, which can be pretty scary when you write murder mysteries and suspense.

4:29 PM, January 03, 2005
Allison Brennan said...

Mad Max -- I'm sure you're a reader of PW, here's one snippet of their article where 10 young editors chat about the state of affairs, and PW asks:

"PW: Dana Gioia got a lot of ink for his study about how few books Americans read. It was so detailed and pessimistic, most of us didn't even read it all, which I guess kind of proves his point. Is there anything more we could do as an industry? Or is this just something we need to accept?"

The comments are interesting, and isn't this exactly the kind of forum/feedback/conversation you were looking for from industry folks?

5:26 PM, January 03, 2005
Libertarian Girl said...

Allison, I missed the PW article you refer to--can you email me the date of the issue so I can post a link to it (and read it myself)? Thanks.

1:26 AM, January 04, 2005
Allison Brennan said...

Sorry I was late getting this to you, I've been in computer hell (i.e. no email) for five days. I think you found it already ala your post today.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA490574.html?display=current

2:26 PM, January 05, 2005

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A VOCATION OF UNHAPPINESS [Courtesy Georges Simenon (1903-1985)]

"Writing is considered a profession, and I don't think it is a profession. I think that everyone who does not need to be a writer, who thinks he can do something else, ought to do something else. Writing is not a profession but a vocation of unhappiness. I don't think an artist can ever be happy."

PRACTICAL MARKETING [Courtesy Zornhau, 2005]

"They should put the 1st couple of pages up in subway adverts. Having read them several times, you'd feel compelled to try the book - if it was any good."

PLATE OF SHRIMP [Courtesy Alex Cox’s REPO MAN, circa 1984]

"A lot of people don't realize what's really going on. They view life as a bunch of unconnected incidences and things. They don't realize that there's this like lattice of coincidence that lays on top of everything. I'll give you an example, show you what I mean. Suppose you're thinking about a plate of shrimp. Suddenly somebody will say like "plate" or "shrimp" or "plate of shrimp" out of the blue, no explanation. No point in looking for one either. It's all part of a cosmic unconsciousness."