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There's a draft in here
No. There are a thousand drafts in here

I wish I had a digital camera
to show the infinite piles of paper
strewn on the floor and desks and shelves
surrounding me
like soldiers guarding the gate

Are they locking me out
or locking me in?

Is it just me or are computer printers the devil?

I don't know what to toss out. I don't know what to keep. I don't know why I compulsively print out and save everything I think is worth committing to paper.

I'm sorry, Trees. I really am.

Tanka on a Monday morning because I'm in the mood to try to flesh out what's going on here, and since photos are not available...

Regeneration

Old words never die
They come in handy, they heal
You borrow, you steal
But they are still yours to type
Born again words, my saviour

I know it's Saturday, but, hey, I'm working away at edits (and I didn't blog much this week), so I thought I'd pop a post up.

One of the many things I adore about my clients is that, even though they have an agent, they are always keeping an eye out for industry news. Thought I'd share a couple links with you.

First, here's a link to an editor's blog post talking about what happens to your manuscript once they've received it. --

http://editorialanonymous.blogspot.com/2008/03/heroic-journey-of-requested-manuscript.html


Second, here's a story on Harpercollin's newest imprint--

ALESSANDRA BALZER AND DONNA BRAY TO LAUNCH NEW IMPRINT AT HARPERCOLLINS CHILDREN'S BOOKSNew York, NY (April 9, 2008) - HarperCollins Publishers announced today that it has appointed Alessandra Balzer and Donna Bray to the newly created position of Co-Publishers of the new imprint Balzer & Bray. They will join HarperCollins on May 5, 2008, reporting to Kate Morgan Jackson, Senior Vice President and Associate Publisher of HarperCollins Children's Books.

"We are so pleased and proud that Alessandra and Donna are coming to HarperCollins, " said Kate Jackson. "Between them there is nothing they can't do. They have published award-winning and bestselling books for children of all ages, from babies through young adults. They are a dynamic and savvy team who knows what their readers want, and we welcome them with great excitement."

"After working together for twelve years, Donna and I are thrilled to start this new venture," said Balzer. Bray said, "We are particularly excited to launch this imprint at HarperCollins, which has such a prestigious publishing history."

Alessandra Balzer began her career at HarperCollins Children's Books, and was most recently an Executive Editor at Hyperion Books for Children. Alessandra is the editor of bestselling author and artist Mo Willems, who has won three Caldecott Honors, for Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale, and Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity. Alessandra edited SOLD by Patricia McCormick, a National Book Award Finalist and John, Paul, George, & Ben by Lane Smith, a New York Times best seller. She also works with Eoin Colfer, author of the internationally best-selling Artemis Fowl series, and Jonathan Stroud, who wrote the New York Times bestselling Bartimaeus Trilogy. Donna Bray started her career at Henry Holt and Company, and was most recently the Editorial Director of Hyperion Books for Children.

Among the books that Donna has edited are the Newbery Medal title Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi; National Book Award Finalist The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich; the New York Times bestsellers Clementine, by Sara Pennypacker and Marla Frazee; I'd Tell You I Love You But I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter; We Are the Ship by Kadir Nelson; and Grace for President by Kelly DiPucchio and LeUyen Pham. Donna also launched the blockbuster Baby Einstein book publishing program at Hyperion.

Stay literate;)

Douglas Adams said it best: "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."

When I first started writing, I never ever heard that whoosh. In fact I think it took me about 15 years to graduate to stretching out that promised delivery date, but I'm glad to say I've now got the technique down pat.

The most important tip is to wake up at 3 am worrying about it so you are too tired to work in the morning.

The second is one I haven't ever experimented with before: set a deadline to coincide with publicity for a film, and sprinkle media interviews liberally through your writing time. The only problem with this one is that you can't complain about it, because a) most interviews are fun, and b) it's normally very difficult for children's writers to get any publicity, so it's best to enjoy it while it lasts!

However, there comes a time when the excuses all run out... a draft of my new story is now with my publisher.

Hooray!

Do those old classics need to be as long as they were when first published? Maybe not, if we agree with British publisher Orion and a new series of "compact editions" of some nineteenth century classics, including "Moby Dick," "Anna Karenina," "Vanity Fair," and "The Mill on the Floss." Adam Gopnik of the New Yorker (22Oct07) reports they were neatly cut in half, so that they can be taken in quickly and all the more admired. He notes wryly, however, that the names of the abridgers were curiously withheld; perhaps they were alarmed at the magnitude of what they had done. Gopnik says that "Melville's story is intact and immediate; it's just that the long bits about the technical details of whaling are gone, as are most of the mock-Shakespearean interludes, the philosophical meanderings, and the metaphysical huffing and puffing." Wasn't all that half the magic of "Moby Dick"?

Gopnik imagines the soothing letter that Melville might have received from his editor accompanying the suggested cuts, had he been alive to receive it. "Herman: Just a few small trims along the way; myself I find the whaling stuff fascinating, but I fear your reader wants to move along with the story—and frankly the tensile strength of the narrative is being undercut right now by a lot of stray material that takes us way off line."

The Orion publisher's editing job is perhaps what a modern critic or professional editor might say about the original book if it arrived over the transom today—"too much digression and sticky stuff and extraneous learning. If he'd cut that out, it would be a better story." A small shudder is in order. Gopnik reflects on how "masterpieces are inherently a little loony…" but how that often contributes to their originality. He reflects, "What makes writing matter is not a story, cleanly told, but a voice, however odd or ordinary, and a point of view, however strange or sentimental." Although we're often told in the revising process for our fiction, tighten, cut, cut, out with the darlings, kill the adverbs and adjectives, it might be well to remain aware not to lose all loony ambiance and originality.