All-American Editing

Currently reading - Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni P. L. Kelner

I've been editing a manuscript for the last couple of weeks (which is part of the reason I'm still reading the Harris and Kelner anthology).  Some people complain about editing.  It's the slow, tedious part of the job.  It delivers sucker punches to your ego.  It's the ugly trench work of the literary world.

To me, editing displays one of three things (sometimes all on the same page):

1)  God, I am so dumb.  I know how to spell 'the.'

2)  What the hell was I drinking when I wrote this?

3)  Wow, not half bad.

Last night, I reviewed the chapter where the heroine's brother dies in her arms.  Nearly two years after I wrote the original scene, it still makes me cry.

And the hope goes on. . .

Tweet Tweet

Currently reading - Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni P. L. Kelner

I broke down and opened a Twitter account.  I'd like to think of it as networking.  Something necessary to keep up with industry news, what agents want, new trends editors are looking for, etc.

Oh, let's face it.  I wanna be one of the cool kids.

The Ten Commandments

Currently reading - Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni P. L. Kelner

If you haven't read this and you're a writer, I strongly urge you to check out Steve Laube's Ten Commandments for Working with Your Agent.  (Link courtesy of Jay Lake.)

Star Trek vs. Frasier

Currently reading - Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni P. L. Kelner

Can't remember when this skit was performed, but it wasn't the first time the casts mixed it up.

Old Spice, Lovecraft-style

This video by Dung Beetle Comics is definitely worth the Diet Pepsi out the nose feeling.

TV Reports

Currently reading - Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni P. L. Kelner

I actually managed to catch two new shows this week.

If I were grading, I'd have to give $h*! My Dad says a C+.  William Shatner and new kid, Jonathan Sadowski, have some good chemistry, but the writing switched between Jason Halpern's biting wit exhibited in his Twitter feed and book and some really lame canned sitcom jokes.  The dichotomy sucked the life out of the first episode.  Over-hyped?  Probably, but I'm willing to give it another chance.

The real surprise was the new version of Hawaii Five-O.  The cast and crew have turned the original paen to Jack Lord into a pretty good cop/buddy program.  The byplay between Alex O'Loughlin ("Moonlight") as Steve McGarrett and Scott Caan ("Ocean's 11") as Danny Williams was freaking hysterical.  The catch phrase, "Book 'em, Danno," turns into sly mockery over the inability of Williams's daughter to say 'Daddy' as a toddler.

Of course, the absolute topper was James Marsters ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Angel") playing the terrorist who murders McGarret's father.  Oh, it would have been so much better if McGarret hadn't killed him at the end of the premiere episode.  Marsters so could have pulled off a new version of arch nemesis Wo Fat.  I have to give the new show A- for not thinking ahead.

Finally! A New TV Show I'm Looking Forward To. . .

Since Dirt was cancelled two years ago, there hasn't been a new show on TV that's attracted my attention.

Until now.

Justin Halpern's hilarious Twitter feed, Shit My Dad Says, has been adapted to the small screen. The show, renamed $h*! My Dad Says, premieres tonight on CBS at 7:30 PM CDT. Heck, I even asked for tonight off from work so I can watch it.

Anybody else got a new show they're dying to watch?

Preferences, Pot and Human Nature

Currently reading - Christie Craig's draft of Don't Mess With Texas

If you haven't followed the ping-pong match debate between Eric at Pimp Your Novel and superagent Janet Reid about revealing your agents preferences publicly, I suggest you go look at their blogs now. I'll wait.

. . .

The debate seems simple, doesn't it? Eric says exhibiting such preferences shouldn't matter. Janet says such a public proclamation may be held against a writer.

The problem is they're both right. Eric points out stating what you like about Agent A is no different than stating what you'll do if you win the lottery. Janet acknowledges the ugly side of human nature, that while we'd like to think we're objective, we never truly are.

And before anyone starting jumping up and down screaming that the agents have all the power, let me point out I've seen the reverse as well. I know (or know of) a couple of writers who were rejected by an agent or an editor, only to be not-so-subtly approached by that same agent/editor once the writer had proven themselves. And yes, in some cases, the writer held a grudge. In others, the writer said, "Screw the past. It's business."

Both truth and opinion are scary, double-edged swords. I try not to put anything in my blog that I'd refuse to say in any other public setting. (You also have to realize I had no problem giving a friend a purple vibrator in the middle of Panera's.) Readers know when you're being straight with them and when you're not.

So in the spirit of truth, I'm being totally honest about what I'm currently reading. It's not a slam on Charlaine and Toni that I've put their anthology aside for the next couple of days. It's the reality of publishing that Christie has a deadline hanging over her hat and needs a read-through before turning a manuscript in to her editor.

Besides I have to read the manuscript since Christie started off her research on this book by asking me what the penalities were for elderly people trying to score pot in Texas.

Yo, Contest Winner?

Currently reading - Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner

YO, TESS!! Please contact me! You won a coupon for a free e-book from fabulous author Susan Helene Gottfried.

And I can't contact you when you've got your Blogger profile blocked, sweetie!

Speak And Speaking Out

Currently reading - Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni P. L. Kelner

By now, most of you have heard about the latest YA controversy, this one involving Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak. For those who have not read this book, it's the story of a teen girl who was raped and her struggle whether or not to report the incident.

Wesley Scroggins, an associate professor at Missouri State University, wrote an opinion editorial that was published September 18th in the Springfield, Illinois, News-Leader. He called Speak pornography and a how-to guide for sex.

I thought long and hard about what I wanted to say on this subject. My problem--I still feel like puking every time I think about Scroggins op-ed piece.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines pornography as "the depiction of erotic behavior (as in pictures or writing) intended to cause sexual excitement."

How can the rape of a girl be considered sexually exciting? Or worse, that Scroggins finds such brutality exciting?

Men like Scroggins want women like Halse Anderson to shut up because it makes it that much easier for them to find and control their victims.

Not speaking out against rape is as wrong as the rape itself.