Tu Publishing; Stuff and Things; and, Our Books Are Watching Us Jealously
Via Deborah: Stacy Whitman, freelance editor and Simmons Center for the Study of Children's Literature grad, is trying to start a new publishing company. Tu Publishing will be "a small, independent multicultural SFF press for children and YA." A small press devoted to multicultural fantasy/SF -- good idea! But -- it will only get off the ground if it gets enough funding. Care to help? There are benefits to pledging, and you'll only pay your pledge amount if the project actually launches. Go here for more info. You can give as little as $5, and you can do it using your Amazon account, if you have one. If Tu Publishing can raise $10,000 by December 14th, they'll start accepting manuscripts in January.******
I know that some of you will have fun trying to recognizing books without their dust jackets on the blog of Sarah Miller, author of the marvelous Miss Spitfire. (Who knew so many books had such cool undercover decorations?)
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To those who've been wondering: the Kindle edition of Fire is now available.
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Over the weekend, I found myself having a small freakout about my To Be Read pile. (Well, it used to be a pile; recently it's evolved into a series of shelves.) At first I thought it must be because the pile was full of books that I didn't actually want to read, pressuring me. "Read me, read me, even though I suck!" But then I went through all the books and realized that that wasn't it; they're all books I'm excited about; the problem is, very simply, volume. I counted them: 96. Now, everyone has different TBR methods, so I'm sure that's a perfectly normal number of unread books for some people to have sitting on their shelves, watching jealously with beady book-eyes as their humans wander around doing non-reading things like watch TV or water the plants... but for me, that's a LOT of unread books. These days, if I read one book a week, I'm doing fabulously well, and -- 96 books! HELP! That's enough books to last me until I'm 35!
*.....*
Hang on.
Guys? Suddenly I find myself seeing this from a different angle.
I have enough books to last me until I'm 35!
*is happy*
:o)
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To those embarking on National Novel Writing Month: Godspeed. Breathe. And DON'T FREAK OUT!
Comments
Second, let us know if you discover some really awesome books. I'm always trying to read BETTER.
Third, (forgive me for doing this, but) OMG!!! I didn't know that there was such a thing as National Novel Writing Month!! I'm going to consider doing this next year. If I started now, I would be cheating because I'm already currently writing something and I don't want to get distracted with anything else. But November 2010 will be my day to attempt something crazy! I love it!
P.S. It's so cool to me how creative minds are drawn to music. I enjoyed reading about your musical background in your response to my comment the other day. I'm a music/literary kind of person myself and even tried double majoring in college until I realized that I couldn't live on 3 hours of sleep per night and produce good work. I chose the music, but am having a lot of fun with the literary these days. :o)
How do you decide what to read next? That is usually a difficult task.
PS, have you been told lately that you are a book writing rockstar? thought I'd remind you just in case...
I envy your TBR pile(or shelves) mine is only like thirteen books long but it's enough to have me banging my head on a desk because there is so much to do. :P
-Ash (this is Awriter by the way, I just didn't log in, plus I'm at school and it wont let me log in ^_^)
Recently I finished Alvor by Laura Bingham. It was a great departure from what I usually read although had to struggle a bit to stay engaged because life was out pacing the book as far as crazy things going on.
I'm into Girl the the Arena now. I love the way it's written, though I don't actually understand the format.
It's first person, but there are no quotations. A sentence might go like this: -I'm going out, I say. -Did you here me? I'm going out. I don't wait for an answer.
If anyone knows what that format is called, please enlighten me. It's very, different. At times a bit hard to follow if you're reading quickly. Oh, and in case there's ever any question, that's not an actual line from the book, just one I made up for example.
But I digress. Yes, that is a lovely set of TBR shelves you have Kristin. A set to be proud of! And to savor.
And for your next Q&A - How did you get your agent? Were you denied a few times?
does that make you happy?
but homework is my killer. I HATE COLLEGE PREP SCHOOLS!!!!!!
I am debating about asking Ole St. Nick for a Kindle. Anyone have any opinions? I'm afraid it won't hold my interest long term. I'm great with new technology/gadgets for awhile but then...and, I love the smell of books, the weight, the texture. I don't know if this old dog can handle this new trick. What do y'all think?
Andrewsmom, I'd recommend at least holding/trying a Kindle, if you can, beforehand. I've used one very briefly and was impressed with the weight/feel of it, but, of course, it's nothing like turning real pages. I can't ever imagine using one at home, but I can totally imagine using it on airplanes so your suitcase isn't so heavy.
I'd love to hear from some people who swear by them. There are actual, non-robotic people who love them, right? :o)
--candelion
You should have seen me trying to articulate what I wanted to know to the search engine. Google constantly asked me 'Did you mean (insert random topic totally unrelated to anything involving written word)' and showed me things I never wanted to see. The cursor was no help at all. It just sat blinking at me like 'WTF Mate?'
Now I'll have to go home and look in the book (finished it last night, and it was good) and see where it came out. The story is set in America and I would never have guessed that it was first published elsewhere. I'll have to see if I can research the story's story!
P.S. - I bought Fire the day it came out and I LOVED it. Nicely done! Can't wait to read your next one. :)
FIRE ranks pretty high on my TBR list, and I think I'll buy it for my Kindle App on my Iphone.
I'm not a robot, and I really enjoy the kindle app on my phone, I can bust out a book and read, wherever I am. I like it especially for quick reads. It's frustrating when it takes me longer to buy/check out a book than it does to read it.
Oh and FYI, I just blogged about GRACELING, I loved it!
http://addictedtoheroines.blogspot.com/
The comments are super sweet, everyone, thank you. Maverin, thanks for the chuckle (and I'm so glad the music post helped!).
I'm always blogging about what books I'm reading, so just read back or stay tuned.... :D
...And then I rushed to my university's children's library section and found "Fire". My reaction is that I wish I hadn't finished it in two days because now it's over and it was absolutely a delight to read. Your books are definitely on my All-Time-Favorite-Books list. And trust me, there's a lot. I'm studying to become a children's librarian so I read long and often.
THANK YOU for your writing! It is so great to know there are people out there that love writing and have such an intense passion for it as much as I love reading!
Might I also add, I am devestated that I missed your Seattle tour stop. Blast me for not picking up your books only a week or two sooner! Hopefully I will get the chance to hear you speak on another tour at some point.
I am looking forward to attending your signing in Cambridge later this month.
-rosanna
ps. i absolutely love your books. graceling is on my to be re-read list, but my brother has stolen it from my room.
Reading Fire now and loving it. Kudos to you on writing well-written, interesting YA fantasy.
By the way, I bought a Kindle (even though I prefer real books). I travel a bit, and go to the park and such and my kindle is perfect for those activities. It's not a replacement for books, by any means, but it's definitely a good supplement to them and I swear by it.
While I hunger for fiction, I also read biographies, histories, and health/nutrition books. I rotate the types of books I read, so I'll jump from a Thriller to Historical Fiction to a Biography. Some books in the TBR stack stay unread for quite some time; I have to be in the right mood for certain books or subjects.
And sometimes I like to dwell in familiarity and devour the entire works by an author in order of publication: Louisa May Alcott, Nevil Shute, Chaim Potok, Noel Streatfeild, Terry Brooks, David Baldacci, Diana Gabaldon, Stephen White, T.A. Barron, Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series, Fiona McIntosh's The Quickening trilogy, Brandon Mull's Fablehaven books. These are part of my permanent library because I read them all again, and again.
When I come across an author new to me and find out not only do I love the book I've just read but there's more... what a joyous discovery! Graceling and Fire have been that for me; I await Bitterblue with great pleasure knowing I will be reacquainted with characters already dear to me. Meanwhile, back to the TBR stack...
It'll never completely replace books, but... when my doctor is running *so* late and I've just finished the book I was reading, I can start browsing for another one, or read another one I've already downloaded. Or I can read a well-written pep talk from an author I hadn't heard of before, and download a sample of her book to read right now, or when I get around to it, no waiting until I get to a bookstore. (I'm disabled now, browsing in bookstores isn't as easy as it used to be.)
Enjoy your 96 books, and enjoy getting to 35. As my Mom says, no matter how old you are, in ten years, you'll wish you were this young again, so enjoy it while you are. :)
--Lauren (a.k.a. LaughSingLive at www.NaNoWriMo.org)
These books could probably last me the rest of my life, not just to 35. Still, I think I'll buy a few more tomorrow....
I take consolation from the other obsessive bibliophiles at librarything.com. With company, it doesn't seem so bad.
Yes, I'd say toy are very lucky to have them waiting! But, how could you possibly choose who to read first? ;)