kate rothwell

I'm sitting, waiting for a bell cart**, reading one of the approximately 1000 books from the conference (Linda and Lori collected many, many books) and I keep seeing examples of What Not To Do. This is an author whose stuff I love. And now I'm doing the dissection thing again. I forgot about that part of thinking Craft all the damn time. I want to go back to being a reader and only apply this nit-picking to my own work. After years of being a way too critical reader, I'd reached that happy balance. In other news, the lobby still smells like spray paint. Last night the artists lined up on Times Square just outside the hotel with the easels or tables and started drawing the passersby for $5 a pop. Maybe thirty people, mostly Asian, drawing astonishingly fast, good portraits. Then there were other guys who used krylon spray paint cans (sounds outer space) and paint scrapers as blockers as they painted outer space scenes. The spray paint wafts around the place like nobody's...

and to spend all my paycheck in one spot, and to avoid cleaning, I want to buy books. Carpe Jugulum (managed to miss this one) Once Upon a Christmas (I lent out my copy and it's gone. Besides this cover is less mortifying) The Yiddish Policeman's Union (Cavalier and Klay was great. Oh, errrm and so was that Kavalier and Clay) ....and that potato society book. HEY, I found an abandoned gift card so I can spend another ten bucks. Any suggestions?

Another post at Samhain. The Powers that Be just scheduled me in two days in a row. No problem for me. I can always blather. Today it's changing book buying habits. I was going to talk about each of the authors I listed, and explain why I love 'em, but that would take hours and hours and hours and . . . I think I'll go to sleep instead.

K. G. McAbee is one of those writers I found by accident. For some reason when I stumble across a writer's work on my own (like Bonnie Dee, and A.M. Riley and Elaine Corvidae**), I turn into a bigger fan girl than when someone sends or recommends great stories. The serendipity is thrilling and that makes me more possessive, I guess. Those are the writers I will google every now and then just because I might have missed something. Don't want to miss anything. Yessiree, It's the found-on-my-own factor that makes me more possessive because it holds true for the bigger names too. My Layton, Farr and MacAvoy. My precioussess. I will find you all when you publish. I will track you down. [crazed cackling goes here] So I found McAbee a few years ago and promptly did a glom. I think I even wrote a fan-letter--I think a real letter, not an email--and she wrote back. That's how long ago it was. Then I waited for her new book(s). And waited. And googled. Nothing. Anyway. I gave u...

here's the AOL list of ten books to read before you die: 10) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams 9) Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger 8) Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand 7) Angels & Demons by Dan Brown 6) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee 5) The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown 4) The Stand by Stephen King 3) Harry Potter (the series) by JK Rowling 2) Lord of the Rings (the series) by JRR Tolkien 1) Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell Dan Brown? ...and twice???? Why, why, WHY these books? I don't like their list, but I can't seem to compose my own. For one thing, the"before you die" gets me, like a kid that recites the "if I should die before I wake" prayer and gets stuck on that bit instead of the message of "god bless me." But really, if I'm dying , I think I'd reach for a certain type of book. When other people in my life commence dying, I go for escapism and romance. I can't imagine that when I get my sentenc...

I finished my 8 RITA books at long last. All 8 were put out by big name publishers. I'm not going to talk about the books because that wouldn't be kosher. But let me just say that to rinse out the flavor between some of those stale, predictable stories and their stale, flat characters, I picked up my computer to read me some Carrie Lofty, Sam Winston, Bonnie Dee and Bettie Sharpe. If I had more print books to go through, I'd probably line up AM Riley, Shiloh Walker....just in case. Okay maybe I should actually draw up a list of my faves some day but that's not the point. Back on track: Get it yet? To make myself read what promised to be a bland print book, I'd promise myself an ebook at the other side. The point at last: I am turning into an ebook snob. Never mind the fact that only a few of those print books were dreary and the others were just fine. The truth is only one was great as the ebooks I read over the same period and none took risks or stuck in my brain...

You stop reading a book less than a chapter in when the author uses the words "tup" and "aye" several times on the same page . Maybe the next contest should be whiny nitpicks? (Sign #2: You Give Up on a Book when a main character looks in the mirror so the author could jam in physical description. Whilst in heroine's POV there are words like "lovely, silken mane" "deep hazel orbs" etc. Maybe that one doesn't go under the heading of "You're Too Picky") But no, it might be more fun to do a Early Signs That Indicate You Might Love a Book contest. (Sign #1: the author makes sly, tiny reference to a movie that lasted two weeks in the theaters and that you loved) Go ahead and enter my other, real contest but seriously, can you think of anything that you know will be an instant turn off or turn on for you as a reader? work, work, work. Early Signs That Indicate You Might Hate a Blog -- sign #1: blogger makes obvious attempts t...