I'm sure all of you are getting sick of seeing my image since I've gone picture nutty in the last few days. The bad news is I have more to post in the coming days. This one is of me just before last night's game between The Houston Astros and Oakland A's. Sorry for the poor quality but all I had was my cell phone. The ball in my hand was a homerun hit during the A's batting practice. Wish I knew who smacked it to the four hundred plus feet out to my seat in deep right field but the players were all wearing generic green practice jerseys. My four year old has already laid claim to the ball.
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Okay, both AlternateFish and WordVixen have tagged me with the Thinking Blogger award, which means I in turn have to nominate five blogs that regularly make me think. Now this poses a problem for me because most of the blogs I read are funny and while they are though provoking I read them more for the humor, and to keep up with friends than to learn. The ones I do read for out and pout knowledge are from professionals in the publishing world and I'm really not comfortable tagging agents and editors on the off chance that they would be irritated in some way.
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So here goes my list of blogs that I read often to think and learn about the publishing business. I'm breaking the rules because I'm not going to notify these people I have nominated them but maybe a few of you will go check them out and read if you weren't already.
1) Literary Agent Kristin Nelson's Pubrants - Her once a day posts are always enlightening and she represents a lot of projects that share a similar audience to my novels.
2) BookEnds Literary Agency Blog - The recently revamped blog has a new look but is just as educational as ever. Jessica Faust, Jacky Sach, and Kim Lionetti all contribute although Jessica is bar far the most prolific. I have met Jessica in person and found her to be both an entertaining speaker and a nice person to simply sit down and chat with.
3) Literary Agent Nathan Bransford - His blogs often spawn great discussion in the comment section and often times I learn as much there as in the actual blog. Nathan is really good about chiming in with extra comments in response to those made by others.
4) Lori Perkins Agent In The Middle - This is a great blog to learn about the daily life of an agent. Doesn't take long to learn that being an agent isn't all long lunches and four day work weeks like us writers want to assume.
5) Writer Unboxed - This is a relatively new discovery by me and I have yet to go all the way through the archives, but there is a ton of interviews, advice and all around good info here.
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I'm trying to catch up on a few things, including my recent reads which I'm way behind on so here is the list. The Tin Box by Holly Kennedy, Physik by Angie Sage, Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie, and Until I find You by John Irving. Librarything.com has been down due to some technical problems but as soon as they are back up I'll post links.
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Now let me leave y'all with three questions.
1) What is the one novel that you are embarrassed to admit you've never read when a discussion breaks out?
2) What novel have you read that is usually considered one of the must read classic, but for whatever reason you consider it to be ho-hum?
3) And finally, what is your guilty pleasure? Give me an author or novel that a true literary snob would sneer at but you love to read anyway.
I'll give you mine in the comments sections later tongiht, or first thing tomorrow.
5 comments:
Alrighty...I will be the first one to go. Of course, I always am and it seems that this gets me in more trouble than not. Oh and btw I second your blog top five. I visit all of these regularly and learn a ton from them!
1)John Adams by McCullough. Actually any of his books. Sure Ive skimmed them like any good student of lit, but truth be told, I have never ever ever read one.
2) Anna Karenina. Actually I have used it as a great medicinal alternative for nights when I can't sleep. Works great. Take it from me I am a nurse.
**AS if this gives me any real authority, but I like to say it because it sounds good. ITs like saying read this book, its great...Trust me I play a writer in my other life.
3) I am not really sure...I tend to read literary types, but I would have to say that I really really enjoy Macmillans How Stella Got Her Groove Back and the whole series. Actually I liked them so much I have seen the movies etc... And every once in a while when I just want to sit and read something I don't have to think about at all I pull it out.
There...Are you happy now?
Yours,
Me
BTW...I did eat more than three bites of steak. I ate almost a third of it thank you very much.
1) Never read - Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
2) Disappointed in - The Corrections, I tried several times to read this novel but never got past the first hundred pages. Since I didn't finish I'll give you a bonus novel. Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield was a whiny spoiled rich kid that I had no sympathy for.
3) I iked despite the press -Bridges of Madison County and The Horse Whisperer- I've heard lots of people trash these novels. Some of my Romance writing friends were offended because Bridges broke the rules of the genre, which is one of the reasons I like it. The Horse Whisperer author Nicholas Evans is one of my favorites. I think there are a lot of similarities between his style and mine, Now if I can just find a way to cash a couple of checks like his.
Anna Karenina?! That was the book that made my 15-year-old self realize I couldn't write. I love Tolstoy. To each his own, I guess.
1) To Kill a Mockingbird. Um...yeah. It's not going anywhere, I'll get to it eventually.
2. Moby Dick. You know those chapters in the middle, where Melville talks about whaling? I recall liking it up til that point, maybe I'll try rereading it and skimming the middle.
3. Guilty pleasure: YA fantasy, especially the works of Patricia C. Wrede. My mother's been hoping I'll grow out of this phase for the past ten years or so.
I love YA Fantasy. In fact I seldom read anything else. Its a good thing to get to go off into another world. Nothing better than reading a book with a map and a glossery in the back.
What's unreadable?
Anything by Salman Rushdie.
Personally, I think Aytollah Khomeinie put a death threat fataw on Rushdie after becoming frustrated with his endless stories with no beginning or end. They just go on and on and on. And then on and on. In the circumstances, the ayatollah probably thought it was the only real answer to the situation.
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