Dawn Is Breaking

To feel up to date on happenings in the publishing industry, you really need to follow it like Perez Hilton does celebrity gossip. Okay, maybe not quite as voraciously but you need to pay attention to a few things at least. The problem is, there are so many sites and blogs out there vying for your attention that following more than a handful isn't viable.Personally I'm as finicky about sites as Goldilocks was about her porridge. The site can't...

The Spirit of the Age

We all know how trends work. There's a ramp up, a peak, and then a fall. Similarly, you can be early, on time, or late for these things. That's the game I've been playing with myself recently, trying to figure out what kind of stuff I've been early or late on.For example, I was relatively early on Ryan Gosling, right with the mainstream for TailSpin, and distressingly late on coconut water. You can be early/on time/late for just about anything...

Throwback Thursday: The Tripods

For this throwback series, I've reworked some classics for contemporary times. Well here's one that will require no work at all because it's pretty much exactly the direction YA is going anyway. Someone whip up some new covers and re-release already! Most of these throwback ideas practically write themselves but with this one, I think it literally already did. I mean, seriously, read the synopsis for The White Mountains:"Long ago, the Tripods --...

Five Stars

A sorta weekly feature of things I co-sign: (1) The Return of the Novella, the Original #Longread. Everyone loves a comeback story. Also, I'm all for lower word counts.(2) Ashley went to the San Diego stop for the YA or Bust Tour. And it was the best night ever! (Sadly I couldn't attend so I'm living vicariously.)(3) Why I'm Nervous About a Film Adaptation of The Fault In Our Stars. From the always thought provoking s.e. smith.(4) No Sympathy for the Creative Class. Wait, there's a pampered class of artists in the US? Where are these people?...

You Can Fly, You Can Fly

A few weeks ago I went to go watch a family friend in San Diego Junior Theater's Peter Pan. She's still in high school but does "professional music theater," which means she's balancing academics, practices and performances, along with the usual growing up stuff like hanging out with friends and having fun. I asked her what her daily schedule was like and then I promptly fainted from exhaustion just hearing about it.Disney is producing this pilot...

Stuff I've Been Consuming 4

BOOKS READ:I Hunt Killers, Barry LygaThe Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot DiazThe Big Nowhere, James EllroyOld Man's War, John ScalziThe Girl in the Flammable Skirt, Aimee BenderMOVIES WATCHED:Damsels in Distress, Whit StillmanLockout, Stephen St. LegerLove in the Buff, Ho-Cheung PangOnce Upon a Time in Anatolia, Nuri Bilge CeylanThe Raven, James McTeigue[fiftyfifty.me | Pinterest | Google Doc]A banner month as April contained virtually no...