Sara Reports

Wherein I Formally Move Everything to My Other Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Sara J. Henry) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:59:00 +0000

Dear followers: It's pretty obvious I've abandoned this blog. I got very busy with my book deal and other things, and realized I can't (and didn't need to) maintain two blogs. I'd originally started this one for book reviews, but soon realized I don't like doing book reviews - far too many books I was receiving for review I simply didn't like, and I don't like saying non-complimentary things about other people's work. And there always was some crossover between blogs anyway, as my other blog is about writing as well.

So now everything is at Sara in Vermont, and I hope you'll join me over there. I'm moving most of these posts over there, and will eventually shut this one down. Thanks!

Quinn Cummings Out-Konraths JA Konrath

noreply@blogger.com (Sara J. Henry) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 13:05:00 +0000

Author Quinn Cummings, whose book NOTES FROM THE UNDERWIRE was released July 7, has taken book blog touring to a new extreme - four in one day yesterday:

Cat Connor's blog I See You, down in New Zealand: "The Giant Eyeball Talks to Quinn Cummings"
Sharon Kendrew's Reality Covered in Chocolate: "Quinn Cummings, Guest Blogger Here Today"
Emily Barton's Telecommuter Talk: "An Interview with Quinn Cummings"
Dawn Maria's Method to the Madness: "Notes from the Underwire"

With four in a day, I think she's on track to out-Konrath author J.A. Konrath, who did perhaps the world's most ambitious book blog tour back in March. He did one blog a day for the entire month, and some days multiple blogs: over 100 for the month, he reports. But I don't know that even he hit four in one day!

Note: And today she has hit Deb's Punctuality Rules: "Tour Stop with Quinn Cummings." And is presumably taking a break so she can go to her real live book event at Vroman's this afternoon.

Quinn Cumming's NOTES FROM THE UNDERWIRE Released Today

noreply@blogger.com (Sara J. Henry) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 10:52:00 +0000

I stumbled across Quinn Cumming's blog earlier this year, and fell in love with her wry and funny writing. This is the first of her guest blog appearances to promote her new book, NOTES FROM THE UNDERWIRE. Read her blog; buy her book. Order it for friends for gifts. Because writing that's this clever, this self-effacing, this devastatingly honest and funny (and sometimes heart-wrenching) should be rewarded. And yes, once upon a time Quinn was a child star and while she occasionally refers to peripheral side effects of having-been-famous-and-still-getting-recognized, that's not what this book is about.

Q: Why is a woman apparently riding a runaway roller coaster car on the cover of your book without benefit of blouse?
Quinn: She is because my editor Brenda Copeland is very clever. When the title was in play, she remembered a long series of ads from the Maidenform bra company, with the tag line "I dreamed I (watched the ballet, ran for Senate, performed a nose job) in my Maidenform." No, I have no idea what it meant, and can only assume they made sense in their time; I think those ladies on Mad Men would just have read the ads and smiled knowingly. Anyway, Brenda scoured the ads and found the one she felt had the right combination of poor decision-making and potential harm (you will notice the car is off the tracks) and surreal good cheer; those traits say "Quinn Cummings" to me. Note: See possible alternate cover images in post on my other blog (which also repeats this post!).

Q: How did your book get its title? (And what does it mean?)
Quinn: It means it was the title I came up with that made the marketing department happy. There were a few months there where if I was staring off into space it was safe to assume I was trying to come up with a title that made the marketing department think "Funny!" and "Wildly successful!" We finally came back around to the subtitle of the blog, which I thought up years ago while sitting at a stoplight. It's kind of "Notes from Underground," only girly. I quickly Googled it and, magically, it didn't come up. It was offered to the marketing department and, thankfully, they gave their big marketing-department collective nod of approval, and we were in the title business. Their only request was that the phrase be in the book, so I spent a taxing but ultimately pleasing week or so trying to crowbar it into the book. It's there, and I like to think it's not blatantly after-the-fact.

Q: What came first, your book or your blog, and how did both get started?
Quinn: The blog began because I was writing to multiple friends at once, filling them in on the details of my life and I noticed I was cutting-and-pasting freely. It was starting to feel as if I were regifting my emails. So as not to feel regifty, I decided to write a single blog, tell my friends about it and let them get caught up with us as they were inclined. Two months later, a friend suggested it to Newsweek "Blog of the Week" column and they included it. I wrote and I wrote and I wrote. Sometimes, in a moment of hallucination, I imagined getting a column in a newspaper out of this, which is adorable because even in 2006/7, papers were already starting to look really unwell. And then I was in a story in

USA

Today and an editor at Hyperion saw the story and found the blog and an absurdly short amount of time later I was being offered a book deal. For the person reading this with the MFA and the file full of polite turndowns from agents and editors, I know. I'd hate me, too.

Q: How many times a month do people say "I loved you in Goodbye Girl" or "I loved you in Family?"
Quinn: Maybe three or four times, depending on whether the movie has played someplace. Unless I'm completely distracted, I thank the person and I mean it. There are very few jobs in this world where what you do can make people happy. I can't remove a brain tumor from your granny, so I'm very grateful I worked with talented people who allowed me to entertain you.

Q: What from your acting days helped prepare you for life as an author and blogger?
Quinn: A year ago, I would have said "Nothing." In fact, I would have said that writing and acting are polar opposites, because acting only happens once someone hires you and writing can happen any time you sit yourself down and write. Acting requires an audience; writing would like one. But when it comes to marketing the book, I'm very much back on familiar territory. I'm now a public commodity by virtue of having written a book based on parts of my life, just as I was a public commodity when I came into people's living rooms once a week. Still not my favorite part of the life, but I think I'll handle it better for having gone through it before.

Q: What's the oddest comment you've ever gotten about your writing?
Quinn:I had someone once write in to say that I was the "Stupidest guy writing on the Internet." I have to admit it hurt that my charade with the giving birth and with the having of ovaries was so transparent.

Q: The nicest comment?
Quinn: Every single time I've written about something really weird and personal (accidentally repeatedly insulting a little person, being a documentary-hag, having a kitten living in my bathroom), people have written in to assure me that a) They had laughed very hard at me and b) I wasn't alone. I mean, no one said, "Why, I too have accidentally insulted a little person," but they were eager to tell me they did stupid things in public all the time and accidentally insulting a little person is just a sad eventuality for them. I've always been pretty comfortable with my weirdness, but I never thought I was anything but a couple of bubbles off plumb. It's cheering when someone else knows about the cane toad documentary.

Q: Do you have a writing schedule or do you write when the mood hits? Do you compose at a computer or by hand on scraps of paper?
Quinn: Ideally, I put up a new blog every Tuesday. I used to put one up every other day but at that schedule I was cannibalizing my life too much; I'm pretty certain that if you start thinking of your loved ones as "material," you're writing too often. Usually I wait around patiently and then with increasing concern as the week progresses, hoping I do something stupid. Some weeks, I come up with a phrase or an idea that has to sit and ripen in my head, eventually drawing other sentences as compost draws earthworms. There's a notebook next to my bed to jot down starter-sentences, because twice I've been certain I would remember it always and I completely forgot it an hour later. Man, those would have been great blogs.

Q: How do your family members react to entries about them, and do they get "review privileges"?
Quinn: Consort, because I am very lucky, is a marvelous editor of my work. He's the first person to see the blogs and if you like them, I can tell you now, it's because of him. He wrestles my grammar into submission and takes a pruning shears to my adverbs, because no one has ever loved an adverb as much as I do. So he knows when he's the star of the show and he has the epic grace to not only find those funny but to forward the ones about him to his friends. The kid is rarely the star of the show any more, because I never want her to do anything and then turn to me and say, "That would make a great blog!" The dog is happy to be invited anywhere and the cat, without having any idea about the Internet, already assumed she was world famous.

Q: Are you getting a new pair of pants to wear for book events?
Quinn: Strange you should mention that. I've got a reading July 11 in Los Angeles at Vroman's books, and until you asked me that question, it hadn't dawned on me that I had to wear clothes. One of the side effects of blogging and writing is that your work-wardrobe requirements are fairly forgiving; I have two pairs of pajama bottoms I still wear that have been around since the kid was an infant. I can promise you this; whatever I wear that night or to any other event thereafter, know that I am mildly irritated and disappointed with how I'm not taller. Dressing for events makes me fussy.

Q: Plans for a second book?
Quinn: Yes. Goodness, no. Possibly. Probably. I'd tell you about it, but then I'd have to write it.

Q: Why do you often (but not always) put a period at the end of a blog post title?
Quinn: Oh, bless your heart for thinking this was some runic way of communicating with the audience. The answer is sadder; I went to school in the 1970s, when they started teaching self-esteem and stopped teaching grammar. When Consort doesn't check my blog before it goes out, it sometimes has a period, especially if the title feels like a full sentence to me. Can't help it; a full sentence looks naked without a period. If you ever feel like seeing a grown man start to mist up, ask Consort about what I do with semi-colons, colons, and commas.

In her acting days Quinn Cummings was best known for her Academy Award-nominated performance in Neil Simon's 1977 movie The Goodbye Girl at age 9 and her two years on the TV drama Family. She left acting by 1991, and now markets her child-carrier sling, The Hiphugger, writes, rescues animals, and helps rear a young daughter. Her book, NOTES FROM THE UNDERWIRE: Adventures from My Awkward and Lovely Life, goes on sale today. Her publisher says: "In ... Quinn’s smart and hilarious debut, she tackles the domestic and the delightfully absurd, proving that all too-often they’re one and the same. From fighting off a catnip-addled cat to mortal conflict with a sewing machine, Quinn provides insight into her often chaotic, seldom-perfect universe—a universe made even less perfect when the goofy smile of past celebrity shows its occasional fang."

Coming Soon: A Q&A Interview with Quinn Cummings

noreply@blogger.com (Sara J. Henry) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:36:00 +0000

On July 7, author Quinn Cumming will guest blog here to kick off the launch of her book, NOTES FROM THE UNDERWIRE:

Quinn Cummings, former child star, mother, and modern woman, just wants to be a good person. In Notes from the Underwire, her smart and delightful debut, Quinn tackles the domestic and the delightfully absurd, proving them often to be the same. From fighting off her prowling cat, to her failure at crafts, she provides insight into an often chaotic, seldom perfect universe.

Here's a teaser from the interview:

What's the oddest comment you've ever gotten about your writing?
I had someone once write in to say that I was the "Stupidest guy writing on the Internet." I have to admit it hurt that my charade with the giving birth and with the having of ovaries was so transparent.

Folks in the LA area can attend Quinn's book event at 4 pm July 11 at Vroman's Bookstore.

Your Personal Guide to Twittering

noreply@blogger.com (Sara J. Henry) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:44:00 +0000

1. Just because you can Twitter, doesn't mean you should.

2. When you're writing a DM (direct message) to your honey or someone you want to flirt with - be sure it is a DM and not a message sent out to everyone. 'Cause you really don't want to tell the world that you think someone's profile picture is cute. Even if it is.

3. If you want people to follow you (interesting ones, not the ones who will follow anyone), put something in your bio or have some interesting tweets. I'll follow almost any writer - we need to stick together. If I know nothing about you (or if your primarily interest in life is selling a product), I won't.

4. If your name is Horny Kitty or your Twitter home page has giant photos of scantily clad women (or men, for that matter) or their body parts, I'm gonna block you.

5. Do not automatically follow everyone who is following you. Be selective. Block ones you feel odd about. And do not DM someone to thank them for following you. This is creepy and sycophantic.

6. If you tweet multiple messages morning, noon, and night and are not amazingly funny or perspicacious, unless you are Sarah Weinman, I'm going to unfollow you. (If your rapidly consecutive tweets fill an entire column of TweetDeck, that's too much.) If your tweets are snide or rude or bigoted, I'm gonna unfollow you.

7. If you would like your tweets to be retweeted (repeated), leave space for extra characters. The retweet will add RT and your Twitter name (RT @sarajhenry) to the message - and the person reposting it might like to add a note at the beginning.

8. Realize anyone you follow who follows you (a requirement for Direct Messages) can glean your email address from the email DM announcement.

9. If you don't read fast and process information fast, don't Twitter, or at least don't follow more than a handful of friends.

10. If you want to promote your book, include your website URL or maybe the name of your book in the tweet. Just saying. (Here is a tweet from one of my favorite authors: "Print "Lost Enzo" flyer. Post it somewhere cool and take a photo. Best placement wins a very cool baseball cap. Limited edition!" Uh ... does it mention the name of his book? No. Does it tell you where to get the flyer to print? No. Do we know how to enter this contest? No.)

11. If you clutter your tweet with hashtags and several URLS and Lots of Capital Letters, it's too hard to read. We won't.

12. Twittering can be fun, a way to meet other people in your profession, a great networking or promotion opportunity. Use it judiciously. Play nice.

Some Fantastic Web Sites for Writers

noreply@blogger.com (Sara J. Henry) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:38:00 +0000

These are writers' web sites a bit off the beaten path that I've stumbled across recently.

The Anonymati - also called the "evil first page clinic" - you send in your first pages for critique. Anonymously, of course.

Call My Agent! - an Australian literary agent who critiques query letters. I love this gal. Funny, concise, and a grammar nerd to boot.

Hey! Teenager of the Year - a talented, funny, vivacious writer dissects first pages of YA novels. Did I mention she's 15? Yet another Aussie, I think.

The Intern - an insider look at book publishing. Anonymous, of course. Poignant and screamingly funny all at once.

I See You - a visit into the life of crime writer Cat Connor as she juggles writing and book promotion with rearing seven children in Upper Hutt, New Zealand. Think a wise-cracking but more sardonic Erma Bombeck who spends her spare time figuring out how to make realistic fake blood for a book promotion video and the precise manifestations of chlorine gas poisoning, while cooking for a dinner party and tending to her youngest kids, who are fighting off the flu and upchucking in Mum and Dad's bed. (Her KILLERBYTE is available for Kindle.)

Contest: You Can Still Win DUST OF 100 DOGS

noreply@blogger.com (Sara J. Henry) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 11:33:00 +0000

The prize: A signed copy of DUST OF 100 DOGS by A.S. King (a superb book that you'll end up raving to all your friends about, trust me)
The deadline: One minute before midnight, tonight.
The task: Write a story of 100 words or less about dinner with a dinner guest, using the sentence "This was something we never expected" and mentioning something to eat.
How to enter: Post story as a comment in the D100D blog.
The odds: Right now, very good, as there are only four entries.
To entice you further, a book blurb:

In 1664, Emer Morrisey was on the cusp of escaping pirate life with her one true love and unfathomable riches when she was slain and cursed with the dust of 100 dogs. Three hundred years later, after 100 lives as a dog, she returned to a human body with her memories intact. Now she's a contemporary American teenager, and all she needs is a shovel and a ride to Jamaica.

How can you resist? Enter the contest - or just go buy the book! Or buy several, because all your friends are going to want to read it. No, I don't get a commission. I just love this book.

For All Writers: This Blog is Hilarious

noreply@blogger.com (Sara J. Henry) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:29:00 +0000

If you are a writer or want to be a writer or are thinking about being involved in publishing - ah, heck, maybe if you just like to read books - go read the blog called The Intern. Would that we were all clever enough to keep our blogs anonymous so we could say what we're really thinking.

I found this via Editorial Anonymous, another fun-to-read blog (but not so sidesplittingly funny).

Some of the Best Writing I've Seen

noreply@blogger.com (Sara J. Henry) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 15:51:00 +0000

On the edge of the covered bridge near the Vermont town where I live, right where you'll see it when you're waiting your turn to cross, is a very small sign, with accompanying phone number:

LOST: FAT GREY CAT - SIX TOES

This is a masterpiece of succinctness - all the pertinent facts, in short words, easy to remember. And if I find a fat grey cat with six toes, I'll know who to call.

A Personal Announcement

noreply@blogger.com (Sara J. Henry) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:59:00 +0000

I'm deviating from reporting on other people's books and contests and conferences to announce that I am delighted to have just signed with literary agent Barney Karpfinger.

Buy This Book: KILLERBYTE by Cat Connor

noreply@blogger.com (Sara J. Henry) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:53:00 +0000

My web pal Cat Connor over in New Zealand is obsessing over the sales rankings of her recently released book, KILLERBYTE. How she manages to do this between rearing seven children, finishing the next book in this series, and working on a Kiwi-centric novel escapes me. But she does.

If you like fast-paced thrillers with a quirky heroine, this is for you. Buy a copy, and ease her misery. She's kindly supplied an excerpt:

You’re gonna die-you bitch!
I looked at the words sitting alone on the expanse of white. A ridiculous thought occurred to me. The words were innocent. They had no volition. Just photons squirted out by a display system.

“Uh huh,” I said to myself. It was a shame this moron couldn’t see my eyes rolling. Woo hoo, someone else wants me dead. I held the cursor poised over his idiotic nickname, Addictedtolove, waiting. Sunday nights bring out the miscreants, the later it is, the worse the behavior. It was almost Monday.

I'm serious. You are gonna die.
I’m sure you are, bye-bye. Then hit the twenty-four-hour ban and watched him disappear. The chat room went quiet; to enjoy the moment I clicked off Real Player and with it the latest Grange album I’d been listening to. The room plunged into deep silence. I stretched my legs out under my desk and tapped away at the keyboard. What’s that now, Stormy? Twelve death threats? I looked up to see her answer on the screen.
Yup, she replied.
I’d set a new record, the most death threats received in one night, excellent.
I typed, Well, that’s me for the night then, best check my doors and windows.
Stormy replied, LOL. Talk tomorrow.

I shut down the computer, not tired, but not interested in sitting at my desk all night either. The house creaked and grumbled like an old man settling into a rocking chair.
I prowled around the house, both upstairs and down, checking every window, door and deadbolt. It wasn’t fear that motivated me. It was boredom. Funny really, boredom wasn’t something I tended to suffer from. Perhaps I was wrong about the boredom. Maybe it was me being just a little sick of my own company. It sure as hell wasn’t empty threats from chat room weirdos. I mean, what were they really going to do? Turn up on my doorstep and shoot me? I think not.

Ready to read more? You can buy KILLERBYTE on Amazon for the Kindle, or as an e-book you can read on your computer via Mobipocket.

You can also follow Cat on Twitter or read her blog, I See You.

Contest: Free Custom-Designed Business Cards

noreply@blogger.com (Sara J. Henry) — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:03:00 +0000

Ah, this is an easy one. Just go to YA author KM Walton's blog entry about the contest and post a comment. Then mention the contest on your blog, and link to her younger sister's site, Uniquely Noted (she's the clever designer person).

Oh, wait - it's supposed to be a witty post. That lets me out. Here's what KM says:

HOW YOU WIN: In your post, or facebook feed, or myspace feed, or twitter feed, write something Funny, Creative, Silly or Outrageous (keep it clean though) that will get people to check out my blog and/or Uniquely Noted.com.

Deadline: June 1, midnight. Probably EST.

FREE Registration to Backspace Writers Conference This Friday-Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (Sara J. Henry) — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:05:00 +0000

Yep, you read that right. Turns out that just too much is popping here for me to make it to the conference, so I'm giving away my ticket to the Backspace Writers Conference this coming Friday and Saturday, May 29-30, in NYC. Yep, this is a $355 value, but apparently they don't give refunds (if they change their minds, this post will promptly disappear!).

So my loss = your gain. This conference includes some cool seminars and guest speakers, a fancy reception, and lots and lots of agents. Roaming about freely, ripe to be accosted by writers seeing representation.

If you don't have friends to crash with in New York, bypass the group rate and go right to the Radisson Martinique page where you can find rooms for less than $200.

Precedence goes to my friends and readers! Email me if you want to go.

Note: Yep, I'm repeating this post on both my blogs - my bad. But not much time to find someone.

Star Trek and the Magic of Movies

noreply@blogger.com (Sara J. Henry) — Sun, 10 May 2009 16:48:00 +0000

I loved the opening of Star Trek - as predictable as it was, I cried.

During much of the rest of it, I fidgeted while my admittedly far too analytical brain said things like Did Chekov have an accent that thick? and Ah, he's too tall to be Bones. The soundtrack seemed cheesy, the sequences ponderous. I squirmed through what seemed like too many, too long fight scenes. I had trouble seeing Simon Pegg as Scotty; it was odd to see Spock struggling with emotions. And I gave up on trying to follow the plot and what that red matter stuff was.

But then somehow by the end, I was caught up in it.

And I walked out of the movie with my head spinning as if I'd been in another world, and drove home more than halfway imagining my car as a hovercraft and envisioning myself fighting off enemies with a laser gun (set to stun, of course).

I've sometimes realized after a movie Gee, that was pretty bad but I've never before realized a movie was better than I thought it was.

Somehow, it was movie magic, and I didn't even see it coming.

Which probably qualifies as movie-making brilliance.

Review: Walking Out of "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past"

noreply@blogger.com (Sara J. Henry) — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:11:00 +0000

I knew Ghosts of Girlfriends Past wouldn't be a great movie - but I wanted something light, something entertaining. I can watch Jennifer Garner in even bad movies, and we know Matthew McConaughey has perfected the playboy cad with flashing smile.

This should have worked. The cast is talented; the premise fun, if blatantly recycled. And we always love to see cads reform and true love win.

Instead it was just ... sleazy. Sleazy and creepy. Charlie Sheen carries off sleazy-but-charming in Two and a Half Men, maybe because he plays the role with a sly self-deprecation. Neil Patrick Harris takes humorous sleaziness to high art in How I Met Your Mother.

But this I couldn't handle. I walked out, at the point the Matthew character is 14 and has been taken to a bar by his womanizing sleazy guardian uncle, Michael Douglas.

And went to Hannah Montana: The Movie instead. And enjoyed its hoe-down brand of schmaltz, and if I had to look away during a few slapstick scenes, it was far less cringe-worthy than Ghosts.

FYI, the last movie I walked out of was Radio (too schmaltzy for me), and went to see Bad Santa instead. Which I thoroughly enjoyed despite its raunchiness.

Author's Guide to Facebook, Lesson 1

noreply@blogger.com (Sara J. Henry) — Sun, 03 May 2009 01:29:00 +0000

What a famous author should not do after accepting a Friend request (from someone in the same business, at that) : Have your assistant post for you.

Hi Susan,
Mary is glad to have you as a friend! Keep on reading!
Regards,
Fred, Assistant to Mary Authorperson

Names have been changed.

Note: Not me!

Contest: 100-word Story to Win Signed DUST OF 100 DOGS

noreply@blogger.com (Sara J. Henry) — Sat, 02 May 2009 14:52:00 +0000

Author A.S. King has a new contest: Write a story of 100 words or less, beginning Janet didn't like him and ending As the creature lifted into the dark sky, she could see it dangling from his talons.

Which by my count means you have 80 words or less to play with.

Prizes: They run three deep, including two copies of DUST OF 100 DOGS and something called a VOG (don't ask).
Deadline extended to: Monday May 4, 11:59pm EDT

Contest: Free Signed Books from Jackson Pearce

noreply@blogger.com (Sara J. Henry) — Fri, 01 May 2009 02:02:00 +0000

Simply because I love her videos, here's a shameless promotion for Jackson Pearce, who is giving away prizes to her YouTube subscribers.

Backspace Writers Conference May 29-30

noreply@blogger.com (Sara J. Henry) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:12:00 +0000

Registrations are still open for the 2009 Backspace Writers Conference May 29-30 at the Radisson Martinique in New York City. The conference program includes:

“Buy This Book!” workshop (2 hours) - Jeff Kleinman
"Two Minutes, Two Pages" workshops
"The Agent-Author Relationship" - Jason Pinter, Joe Veltre, Karen Dionne, Jeff Kleinman
"First Contact: Query Letters That Work" Agents Panel - Jenny Bent, Jennifer DeChiara, Stephany Evans, Elisabeth Weed
"Non-Fiction That Makes Editors Take Note" Editors Panel - Neil S. Nyren, Mark Tavani, Natalee Rosenstein
Keynote Address: "The Rejection Letter That Got Me Published and Other Crazy Stuff That Can Happen on the Way to Becoming a Writer" - John Searles
"Writing The Authentic Young Adult Voice" - Adrianne Kress, Megan Kelley Hall, Tish Cohen
"ER for Writers - The Most Common Mistakes Writers Make, and How to Avoid Them" workshop - Jerry Gross
“Déjà Vu All Over Again - Writing the Series Character; Keeping It Fresh” - Jason Pinter, TBA
Publicity Panel - Susan Schwartzman, Sheila O'Shea, Jocelyn Kelley, Megan Kelly Hall
"What Literary Agents Want, or Why It's So Hard to Find Representation" Agents Panel - Matthew Mahoney, Alexandra Machinist, Colleen Lindsay, Alex Glass
“Writing Your Life Into Fiction : The Pleasures and Perils” - Caroline Leavitt, Leora Skolkin-Smith
"Everything You Need to Know About Structure You Can Learn from Screenwriting" - Richard Krevolin
"Getting Your Book Reviewed: What We Look For, How We Do It" - Caroline Leavitt, Clea Simon, Sarah Weinman
"Yes, No, Maybe - When An Agent Asks for Revisions" Agents Panel - Michelle Brower, Emmanuelle Alspaugh
"Bringing to Life A World Not Your Own" - Stephanie Cowell, Judith Lindbergh
"Rejecting Rejection" Panel Discussion - Jerry Gross, TBA
"Writing The Fight Scene" workshop - Jonathan Maberry
"The Ticking Clock: Tension That Won't Let Go" - David Morrell, Jonathan Maberry, S.G. Browne
“Prof. K.'s Five Step Storytelling Process (A Journey into the heart of developing a great story)” - Richard Krevolin
Keynote address: "Why Do You Want To Be a Writer? How to Find Your Voice and Subject Matter" - David Morrell

Registration for the Agent-Author Day May 28 is closed, but there is a waiting list.

Conference location: The Radisson Martinique, NYC. Special conference rate available.
Registration: Online. $40 discount for Backspace members - this is a no-brainer, because membership costs only $30. So you save 10 bucks plus get a year's membership to Backspace Writers online group.
More info: Go here or email Karen Dionne or Christopher Graham, or call Chris at 732-267-6449

Jackson Pearce reviews MODELS DON'T EAT CHOCOLATE COOKIES

noreply@blogger.com (Sara J. Henry) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:38:00 +0000

Hint: The reviewer does - eat chocolate cookies, that is. (She has other videos, too.)

Contest: Hint Fiction, 25 Words or Less

noreply@blogger.com (Sara J. Henry) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 11:14:00 +0000

Assignment: Write a story in 25 words or less, not including title
To enter: Go to Robert Swartwood's website - you can enter twice
Prizes: Various, including Amazon gift certificate and books
Deadline: April 30, midnight

Jackson Pearce Vlogs AS King's DUST OF 100 DOGS

noreply@blogger.com (Sara J. Henry) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 23:07:00 +0000

Jackson, I cannot believe you dressed your cat up as a pirate. Love the cutlass.

Public at large: Go buy this book now, if you haven't already. Buy several copies and give them to your friends. No, I don't get a commission. I just love the book.

Review: FACE OF BETRAYAL by Lis Wiehl with April Henry

noreply@blogger.com (Sara J. Henry) — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 15:36:00 +0000

In FACE OF BETRAYAL the authors manage to weave in messages of faith, abusive boyfriends, abusive wives, drug-addicted and hanger-on siblings, women juggling career and family issues, friendship, intervention, infertility, pregnancy, abortion, teenage pages, and Senators and inappropriate relationship with said teenage pages. Plus, in one of the more interesting bits, a man living in the woods without running water with his 10-year-old daughter on a $400 monthly income to save her from foster care, and doing a darn good job of it.

It focuses on the three grown-up Nancy Drews whose lives it's based around: the federal prosecutor, the television reporter, the FBI special agent. The three are likable enough, although we get no particular insights into them, and the mystery vaguely intriguing, although it does lose momentum about midway through. It's a light read, if a bit heavy-handed with its messages. And while some readers find this book strongly suspenseful, I'm wagering they're ones who don't read many suspense novels.

Note: This book was received through the Thomas Nelson book blogger reviewer program.

Review: Nashville Film Festival Movies

noreply@blogger.com (Sara J. Henry) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 10:44:00 +0000

A quick overview of some of the films at the just-finished Nashville Film Festival.

TWO FAVORITE MOVIES
500 Days of Summer
William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet

THIRD FAVORITE MOVIE
Kisses

SURPRISINGLY GOOD AND MOVING DOCUMENTARIES
Invisible Girlfriend
Empress Hotel
Pressure Cooker
Prodigal Sons

VERY GOOD BUT A BIT SLOW (and a great cast)
Gospel Hill
Weather Girl

BRILLIANT/FUNNY IN PARTS BUT TOO QUIRKY/SLAPSTICK IN OTHERS
Poundcake
How to Be

OKAY BUT NOT AS GOOD AS I EXPECTED
Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison

PRETTY GOOD (and the best baby actor I've seen)
Prince of Broadway

SEEMED GOOD IF PERHAPS A TRIFLED HACKNEYED (but for various reasons did not see endings)
Noble Things (can't watch things with dying fathers)
The Narrows (had to go to something else)

STARTS OKAY BUT GETS BLECHY (but a good Tom Arnold performance)
April Showers

MOVIE I WOULDN'T WISH ON MY WORSE ENEMY
Adam Resurrected

BORING (DIDN'T MAKE IT THROUGH)
Shakespeare and Victor Hugo's Intimacies
The Ceremony
Sita Sings the Blues

Review: Giancarlo Esposito's "Gospel Hill"

noreply@blogger.com (Sara J. Henry) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 10:43:00 +0000

Near the end of Gospel Hill is a very short scene involving the retired town sheriff and an angry young man - a bit of nearly perfect movie-making that turns the Southern class/racial/generational issues genre on its head and pulls the movie together in a way I'm still savoring.

Parts of the movie did remind me of a long and sluggish episode of the TV version of In the Heat of the Night - but the slow pacing was deliberate, and largely essential.

Warning: This clips gives up much of the movie, so I'd advise just watching a few minutes.

At times this movie seems a Southern Peyton Place: the son of X is sleeping with the wife of Y, and Z, the other son of X is dating the Yankee girl A, who is working with B, who is married to C, whose father was killed when X was the sheriff, and Y and A are fighting over a proposed business development.

But with few exceptions, the filmmakers have nailed the portrayal of a sleepy Southern town and avoided cliches. Every white character is not a bigot; every black character is not angry and disadvantaged.

Tom Herrod does the best job of playing a conflicted and biased white man I've seen since, well, Rod Steiger in In the Heat of the Night (the movie version). Angela Bassett is feisty, Giancarlo Esposito (who also directed) is conflicted, Danny Glover is crippled by grief. Adam Baldwin is a wily character flipping stereotypes, and Taylor Kitsch is, well, charming.

Where the movie fails is the Julia Stiles character, who has the burden of trying to carry off the worst white Yankee girl dialogue imaginable. No one, absolutely no one, on a first or second date with a cute guy would say So tell me why your father was never able to solve the murder of that black man. Ditto her stilted dialogue with her fellow teacher's husband. A flighty nitwit might say those things, but a flighty nitwit wouldn't have researched civil rights history.

And the Danny Glover character simply would not wear brand-new overalls to work on his truck. He'd wear his old ones, and keep the new ones for nice.

Any Southerner could tell you that.