Wrap Up: Cuppa Edition

Oooh tea... You make me soooo happy...

I am thrilled and delighted to say that I am back to full power after a disappointing week feeling exactly like the word "bleh." Now I feel like the word "woooo!!!" and it's very, very nice.

It's especially nice because this weekend we're playing host to seven of the husband's college friends (the sleeping arrangements should be...interesting), and the only time we actually get to see Chicago is when people come and make us be tourists (to wit: museum trips and a comedy show on the agenda), so I was not planning on spending the weekend in bed, slave to Nyquil (that stuff is dangerous, I swear).

But before I run off to clean our apartment/attempt to cook for eight 27-year-olds, here are the blog posts I found especially interesting this week:

Rachelle Gardner did a great three-part series on what publishing can learn from Kodak's bankruptcy. Part one asks, "Do you know what business you're in?" while part two covers knowing your customer and part three wonders if publishing is ready for change.

Via Mary Kole, the Big Sur conference going on March 2-4 is still open for registration. It'll be in Monteray, California and has a great roster of speakers (and ooh California in the winter. sigh.). She also put together a great list of ten questions to ask an agent when you're offered representation.

Nathan Bransford discusses Game of Thrones (which I've still yet to read/watch) and the development of character, specifically an author being able to kill off characters at whim. And, as a current writer for CNET, he also put together a selection of quotes and essays from writers who appear to be technophobes

Literary Rambles' Tip Tuesday this week talks about how Wikipedia can be used as a random idea generator

YA Confidential, which last week had an open call for questions for teen readers, posted the answers this week. It's great to see what teens think about trends, characters, and reading.

QueryTracker looks at how to query an unlikeable character and how to make an agent or editor care enough to want to read more

Via The Quivering Pen, the lovely, beautiful, funny Oscar-nominated animated short, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. Take a few minutes and watch--it so beautifully captures the magic and love of reading.

Via Galleycat, the Authors Guild posted an essay on their blog accusing Amazon of predatory pricing and ultimately hurting the publishing industry for their own gains. Regardless of what you feel on the matter, I felt this was a thoughtful, well-supported criticism of Amazon's practices.

On Finding Wonderland, Ashley Hope Perez, author of The Knife and the Butterfly, discusses what it means to be "edgy," why writers choose to write books that deal with tough topics and why readers are drawn to them.

And finally, from Rachelle Gardener: even Dickens had to deal with demanding editors...


Have a great weekend, everyone!