WD Editors Intensive

This past weekend I participated in a writing workshop at our offices here in Cincinnati. Writers from all over the country came to participate in workshops and panels hosted by editors from the staff of Writer’s Digest. Topics covered everything from writing techniques to strategies for getting published to using social networking to promote your writing.

I participated in a panel about “Why We Quit Reading.” Which was dedicated to discussing the common pitfalls that writers fall into when sending their work to editors. We covered reasons why as editors, we might stop reading a submission and reject it. Some of the most common reasons are when writers try to explain too much backstory through dialogue, shift point of view too often or use POV incorrectly, fail to set up a conflict and a plot soon enough, or when the pacing or the structure of the story causes confusion or boredom.

Writers discuss their work in one on one sessions with WD editors.
One days of the workshop was dedicated to one on one sessions between writers and editors. I had a chance to read several manuscripts and meet with writers to discuss their ideas and offer suggestions for improvement.

Overall, I read a lot of things with some real potential. All the writers who attended seemed to enjoy the event and find it helpful. I wish everyone who attended the best of luck with their projects and encourage everyone to check out our next Editor’s Intensive event which is scheduled for June (more info to come).

One of the advantages of working in the book division of a media company is that when I walk into the office bleary eyed, with dark circles and clutching my bottle of miracle Excedrin to my chest protectively, the fact that it’s not a hangover, but the result of staying up too late because I just had to ‘read one more chapter, just one more’ that turned into several more, garners empathy rather than disdain.

This got me thinking though, in the shower, about the terms we use for things like that. It’s not a hangover, not in the traditional sense, certainly. Is there a proper term for this result? I’m too tired to come up with anything really creative or coherent, and the two awake brain cells I have are working overtime on grammar and punctuation. (Give them a break, okay?) It’s not their fault I did this to myself. As Radiohead sang, “You do this to yourself, you do, and that’s why it really hurts.”

So how many of you are guilty of staying up too late to read, and finding yourself with the equivalent of a hangover the next day? Any remedies?

Oh, and the book that’s got me hooked? The Serpent’s Tale, by Ariana Franklin. I’m not done yet, so no spoilers, okay? But I’m really looking forward to finishing it.

So what are you reading?

January blitz

I keep hearing about the post-holiday blues, but it seems to me that so much is gearing up it’s impossible to be down in the dumps. Here at work the verification process and updates for the 2010 Market books are kicking into gear, my awesome sister is about to begin training for the Flying Pig Marathon, which she completed last year (a modified 26.2 race), and I now have a year’s worth of movies, books, and music to anticipate.

I’m not a runner, myself, but I did seriously consider signing up this year. My sister runs with Team for Life which gives their money toward Cystic Fibrosis, and one of her teammates and best friends has CF. It’s pretty amazing watching him beat the disease and knowing that there are people like him and my sister trying to help others, and that’s my goal this year: to make the world a happier, better place, even if it’s just in some small way (or a bunch of small ways).

Ultimately, though, the prospect of training for that left me feeling less than thrilled. I figure I’ll help out by giving money toward my sister’s run and walking and maybe even doing a bit of running with her while she trains. I’ll be there to cheer her on come race day, like I did last year. But that doesn’t mean I can’t walk in some 5k races! Maybe in October I’ll be ready to do the Run Like Hell, or maybe I’ll find some other way to use my talents for good, and not for evil.

In the meantime, I’ll resume my weekly skating on Wednesday nights with my friends. Talk about fun fitness! Give me roller skates any day. This year is going to be awesome, and I’m enjoying all the anticipation and activity as it kicks into high gear.

What are you all looking forward to this year?

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

My mom and I went to pick up her Christmas tree on Sunday. It seems like every year we end up in circumstances reminiscent of a Clark Griswold adventure, complete with maniacal gleam in our eyes, though while the rest of Clark’s family suffered along in varying degrees of tolerance, no one in my family is immune. It’s all fun and games until someone shoots their eye out.

Of course (touch wood) that hasn’t happened to any of us yet, though I did have a near miss when trying to get this year’s tree into the stand. The trunk is too thin and those screws in the bottom didn’t reach. I’m also still trying to get sap residue off my clothes and out of my hair.

This is by far, not the worst of our Christmas tree adventures. There was the year in which the tree was mysteriously top heavy and kept falling over no matter how many times or ways my father tried to adjust it, so finally, he settled for drilling screws through the stand into our hardwood floor. My mother recounts this tale with amusement now, but back then, she wasn’t quite so happy about it.

Our old house had the living room on the second floor, and usually, post-Christmas, the trees simply got thrown over the balcony rather than hauled downstairs and leaving a trail of fir needles throughout the house. Except, for whatever reason, one year my mom and I decided to simply shove the tree out the window. It went fantastically for the first half—and then we realized our mistake. A word of advice: never try to shove a tree out a window point first. The branches at the bottom fold down and get wider. And it’s harder than you think to pull it back in once the branches have folded around the frame.

My favorite memory is of the year that my sister, mother, and I went to get the tree in my mom’s tiny car. We figured the tree would simply fit in the trunk and then we’d tie the trunk lid off so it wouldn’t flap around. Only, that wouldn’t work (I don’t remember why). Did I mention my father’s insistence on all of us having matching parkas? Oh yes. We all wore them, too. They were in primary blocks of color; red, blue, yellow. So there we were, color-coordinated, pushing and pulling a tree into our car. It was a sight to behold.

We tried, this year, to anchor the tree in with rocks in the stand, to no avail. My sister, rather than get up to any shenanigans this year, went to the store and bought a different tree stand, which worked more effectively. And then, because it was late and a school night for my niece and nephew, we attacked that tree in a flurry of lights, candy canes, and ornaments, getting it decorated in less than fifteen minutes. I’ve heard of speed dating, but not speed decorating.

Not our most adventurous year, but our tree, in all of its sparkling, weighted-down glory, would make Clark (and probably Charlie Brown) proud.

Besides, the adventures aren’t over. Eventually, we’ll have to take it down.

Music

While many people I know seem to get stuck in a certain musical time period (generally the stuff they listened to in high school or college, but not always) I’m constantly looking for new music. If words are my first love, music comes a close second– and why not? After all, most of the music I listen to hooks me primarily because of the words.

Back during my high school and early college years, I was always whining that no good bands ever came near the ‘Nati. We would have to drive, which meant money for gas and permission from parents to go that far; Dayton wasn’t too bad, and maybe Columbus, Lexington, or Louisville, but much further? Not really so much of an option.

When I moved to England for a year, one of the things I kept thinking was, “I’ll get to see all those bands that never stop here! London is one of the best hubs for music!” Yes, I’m a bit of a British invasion kind of girl, but what bands did I see over there?

Not many. And of the ones I saw, two were Scottish, several were American, and only one British band (Muse, at Wembley). They were great shows, don’t get me wrong, and if you have a chance, you should definitely go see Muse live. Buy their albums, too. They’re amazing.

But did I see Franz Ferdinand? Nope. They weren’t playing while I was over there, at least not that I saw. Did I see Radiohead? Again, no.

After I came back here, I half-expected my live musical experience to dry up, but that hasn’t been so. Granted, I traveled 5 hours to Pittsburgh to see one of my favorite bands, Alkaline Trio, this summer because they haven’t come closer than that. And it was worth it (which, given that I’m not a huge fan of driving, and that my companion didn’t drive, says a lot), and it was a fun weekend trip. My first ever to Pittsburgh. For the record, we saw no zombies at the Monroeville Mall Barnes and Noble. Though I was sad, overall I have to say that’s a good thing (though sadly lacking in poetry).

I’m traveling again, to Louisville, next Friday, and taking a day off to visit my old friends and haunts down that way, whom I’ve neglected. This time, to see Taking Back Sunday. In fact, the next couple weeks are going to be fun, with this Friday being the make up show for Reverend Horton Heat at Southgate House in Newport, just over the river on the Kentucky side, and it’s one of my favorite venues, so it’ll be fun. More bands should play Southgate House; that or Mad Hatter, my other favorite venue.

In fact, as far as my seeing live music, it’s been a good year. Mindless Self Indulgence, My Chemical Romance in Columbus, and a bunch of bands I sadly, didn’t have the time or the money to see, like the Gaslight Anthem, who I’m sad I missed, and NOFX in March, when we were stuck in a blizzard. Heard the show was great, though. So bands, keep coming, please. We love seeing you all here.

But the best live experiences this year have been the local scene. Between hanging out with the guys from 500 Miles to Memphis or listening to their singer Ryan do a solo acoustic set, or Rosemary Device, Strongest Proof, and Mad Anthony at Mad Hatters (“we’re all mad, here”), the best noise is local noise. There are a lot of hidden gems, if you simply look for them, and in this day and age, not only is it cheaper to play closer to home for the bands, but it’s a fun night out without breaking the bank (average cover charge: $5, compared to say, $35 for tickets for national acts). Go check out your local bands and help them make a living (or at least supplement it) by doing what they love. At least check out their myspaces. Tell ’em Vanessa sent you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Enjoy the turkey today–and, since we all know tomorrow is Black Friday, don’t forget that books make very nice and cost efficient gifts for the young and old alike.

Here in the ATL, we’re preparing some sweet potato souffle for the Thanksgiving get together and feast. I’m all psyched up for my annual food, football and afternoon nap.

Hope you have a safe and happy Turkey Day!

(And here’s a cool piece I found on Black Friday from the UNC Press blog: http://uncpressblog.com/2008/11/26/what-you-can-do/.)

The Next Harry Potter

So in a post about Twilight (yes, I realize that the book—or movie—doesn’t need any more publicity, thank you), you might expect me to go on about the cultural phenomenon, the screaming teen girl bandwagon, the lack of literary merit, the excess of media attention.

I won’t. This book is one of the reasons I became an editor. Maybe I’m still an angst-filled teenage girl at heart, but I am fully entrenched in the world of Edward and Bella. Whenever I can escape into a world where characters feel like real people, where I care what is going to happen to them, no matter that they’re fictional, where real emotions meld with and ground fantastical storylines, I am happy. It’s one of the biggest luxuries in life, to be able to get so absorbed that you can leave the real world for a bit.

So I won’t knock it.

And I will admit that I found myself online last night, reading the twelve leaked chapters of Midnight Sun that Stephenie Meyer posted on her website.

I’m a little late to the party, but I’m a fangirl now, too.

Sign of the (changing) Times

I’m not ready to break out the carols yet, but it’s definitely starting to look a lot like that time of year. Sunday we woke up to snow flurries, which continued most of yesterday. Today is sunny, but there’s just the tiniest little bit of white stuff on the ground along the edges of the road. Pumpkin spice is getting replaced by peppermint and gingerbread, and the election signs have disappeared, replaced by a new sense of optimism and excitement for the next four years.

Because I’ve never been one to follow the normal order of things, I’ve found that despite the cold weather, I’ve been eager to go outside and walk a few laps around the building with some of my coworkers. The other day someone compared us to Charlie’s Angels, and I think about that now every time I bundle up to head out. I told them I wasn’t going today, but I think I might change my mind. Every time I’ve gone out for a fifteen minute walk, I’ve come back more focused and ready to work. It seems that getting away from the computer for a few minutes only makes me more dedicated to it when I get back in, probably because the computer doesn’t make my fingers and nose feel frozen.

It’s only been a week, but the results of these walks, two a day for fifteen minutes each, are already starting to show in a looser waistline on my jeans. With Thanksgiving less than two weeks away, I’m going to need to combat those extra calories somehow, and maybe I can drag the family out after dinner, if they can fend off the drowsy effects of the turkey (not something I need to worry about myself, since I don’t eat meat). Actually, we’re doing our Thanksgiving celebration here at work this week, so we’ll definitely be needing to walk after that.

Besides, Farrah Fawcett (or Lucy Liu, if we’re going for the newer version) wouldn’t let a little cold air keep her from fighting evil, and she’d probably even do it in some really great shoes. So after I consult Alice’s Material Girl blog for some fantastic winter fashion, I think I’ll head out for a couple laps with the other angels. Granted, the worst crime we’ll probably encounter around here might be comma abuse, but watch out, creepy punctuation criminals! Here we come!

This year I’ll even try to be grateful for the cold weather and remember to stop whining about how cold my toes get. There’s a lot to love about the cold, and this year I intend to embrace it: snowflakes, sweaters and hoodies, winter fashion, knee socks, cozy blankets, and, of course, a good book or ten. Maybe winter will become my favorite season after all.

From the Atlanta Office

Supplies needed for trip up to Ohio next week:

• Author contracts
• Librios spreadsheets
• Quarters for the Wall of Food vending machines
• Sweaters-sweaters-sweaters!!!
• Hat for my freshly shaved head
• Shoes and socks (not usually a requirement in the Atlanta office)
• Innovative ideas
• Invisibility cloak (in case I forget to bring the innovative ideas–or the shoes and socks)

“A Terrible Holiday Season”

Yes, more doom and gloom for a Monday morning. Maybe you saw this Wall Street Journal article last week?

The headline is “Barnes and Noble Braces for ‘Terrible’ Season.” The retailer’s largest shareholder, Len Riggio, is quoted as saying, “Never in all of the years I’ve been in business have I seen a worse outlook for the economy. And never in all my years as a bookseller have I seen a retail climate as poor as the one we are in. Nothing even close.”

So, after some layoffs here at headquarters last week, and articles like this, it’s hard not have a gloomy outlook on the dismal retail market. For the most part, our jobs depend on people buying things. It used to be exclusively books and magazines. Now it’s books, magazines, subscriptions, downloads, podcasts, classes, DVDs. But really, it’s information. People still need and want information, even during an economic downturn.

The question is, how much are they willing to forgo to get it? There is currently a debate on our company intranet site.  One side says that people will always buy books (content)—at least our content—because they need to fuel their passions even (and especially) during hard times. It probably helps that most of our content is targeted toward passionate collectors, artists, and other enthusiasts. The other side says that books, magazines, DVDs are a luxury, and they are the first to go when the budget is tightened.

What is your experience? Must you have your books and magazines, or are they the first victims of a shrinking disposable income?