Monthly Archives: September 2009

BEST POST EVER! What Does An Agent Do?!

Afternoon everyone!

If anyone's wondering, bring-best-friend-to-work-day went extremely well. Well, apart from the fact that I was up so early.

I stumbled out of bed and down the hall, opened the door, let her in, and ran back to my room where I jumped back into bed. She sat next to me and watched TV. Haha

When we got there, it was all fun and games *cough* but the good thing was, she was asked if she wanted to come back tomorrow, so atleast that says she did well!

This has to be quick cuz I have a friend coming over!

I must say, I am very impressed with Nathan Bransford's blog today. He has a fantastic blog on what the hell agents actually do!

Exclamation Marks & Links

Evening all!

This is going to be short and sweet, with a combination of OHMIGAWD moments and snippets of news!

I have to get up extremely early tomorrow cuz it's "take-your-best-friend-to-work-today" for me tomorrow! Hahaha just kidding, although she is coming to work with me! And because of that, she's being dropped at mine when her mother goes into town for her work, so we can go to my work together, and that is happening a good hour before I usually get up! Grrr!

And you know what? I've used so many exclamation marks today! See! The sheer amount of them! ARGH I hate over-use! Just like this!

Hahahah!

Okay, down to the serious stuff. I read today on Smart Bitches, Trashy Books that Barnes and Nobel bookstores are emailing authors who don't have B&N's ...

Steph Bowe: Interview

I'm sure many - if not all - of you would have heard about Steph Bowe, aka Steph from Hey, Teenager, and co-Book Chat person.

About two weeks ago, Steph emailed me with a very hard question: could she possibly get my advice, please, as she's got two agents vying for her work and she can't decide.

Ahhhhhhh!

And thus begins Steph's I'm-sure-will-be-Awesome book career!

For those weeks we emailed back and forth, several times per day, until I had the final email where she said she'd make up her mind.

Can I be the first to say CONGRATS STEPH!!!

Steph is a fantastic person, and a brilliant blogger, and I can't wait to see her books in print.

As all you literary nerds will appreciate, it's very difficult to get one agent, ...

The Photo Edition

Afternoon all!

Today's edition of Literary Life is The Photo Edition!

First photo: My sister! No, not the Gucci-obsessed sister, the other one!

This morning, my sister, my dad and I went to breakfast, and wandered up and down the strip of shops. We walked past a bookshop, and I dragged them in - kicking and screaming.

As we walked around, my sister complaining and me pointing out to dad all the authors that I knew (Simmone Howell, Kirsty Murray, Michael Pryor etc), my sister suddenly shouted out to us.

As we ran over, she held up the book that's she's holding above: 1000 Paintings of Genius.

Sorry, I'm actually laughing as I type this as it's so hilarious!

Basically, her nick-name is Genius. I call her that all the time. ...

Links! Plus the BEST BLOG POST EVER! (Not mine, silly kids!)

So basically this is, hands down, the best blog post I've seen in a very long time.

It must have taken FOREVER to write.

And then, reading the comments, some...well I'll reserve my judgement. But she wrote,
"Am I missing something here? Why do you have to go through all that? Yes, you have to write the blurb, but I've never heard an author has any control over the appearance of the back cover blurb. Heck, they rarely have any say about the front cover. So, why would anyone take the time to do all this? I simply write it in word and use bold if needed."

I think that is awful! AS IF!

As I was reading the post, I was nodding and thinking, "wow, what a great idea" and thinking that next time ...

White Oleander, Glee and Randomness!

Much like Little Children before it, I think I'm getting into the habit of re-reading and then re-watching all my depressing books, which since, have all been conveniently turned into awesome movies.

White Oleander is one of my favourite novels and I read it on the train today and so far, I'm four chapters in.

In one word: intoxicating.

The language is so beautiful, the word choices amazing.

The plot is thick, full of life and extraordinary circumstances.

Left is Michelle Pfeiffer, as Ingrid, in the movie, holding the white oleander flowers.

She was brilliant in it, a perfect choice. Similarly, Alison Lohman as Astrid was flawless too.


AHHH! I started this post hours ago. But didn't finish it, and went and saw (500) Days of Summer. I don't know if ...

Nick + Norah = Baddd! Plus Links!



Evening all!
My friend Amy and I watched the above movie last night, which is based on the book by the same name by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan.
Now, I can't comment on the book because I haven't read it. But.
WORST. MOVIE. EVER! (Thanks, Comic Book Guy!)
It took forever to go no-where, the ex-girlfriend looked twelve (much to my shock she is twenty-five!), the main chick - played by Kat Dennings - was a terrible friend who ditched her best friend on a number of occassions, it was so unrealistic, the main guy's (Michael Cera) friends were telling Kat how awesome and lovely she was after knowing her for about fifteen minutes, randomly and suddenly, after one night, Michael and Kat had this deep and meaningful connection: I could go on.
The point is: ...

Spelling

Afternoon everyone!

First day of school holidays! I was up very early, rang work, wrote a massive do to list/errands to run and ended up doing none of them. All hail lazy days!

I've just started to write a new story, and in doing so, needed to know, on average, how fast a human can run one kilometer.

I found this website, which had the following response to the comment:

@ BCarlyle : The question was EVERAGE HUMAN BEING.When You run marathon,You are not everage.

Basically, this forum is discussing how fast an average person can run. BCarlyle was putting his opinion forward, by saying he was training for a marathon and could run this fast, etc.

What I find most hilarious about that comment is the "Everage" as posed to "Average".

Dan Brown: 20 Bad Sentences

As you may or may not know, I don't like Dan Brown at all.

That being said, I've discovered this hilarious article from The Telegraph in the UK about the twenty worst sentences in Brown's book.

LOVE IT!

My favourite mistakes are:

1. The Da Vinci Code: Title. The Da Vinci Code.

Leonardo’s surname was not Da Vinci. He was from Vinci, or of Vinci. As many critics have pointed out, calling it The Da Vinci Code is like saying Mr Of Arabia or asking What Would Of Nazareth Do?

9. The Da Vinci Code, chapter 32:
The vehicle was easily the smallest car Langdon had ever seen. "SmartCar," she said. "A hundred kilometers to the liter."

Pro tip: when fleeing from the police, take a moment to boast about your getaway ...

GLEEKS AHOY!

GLEEK!

That's me and PROUD OF IT!

Hoorah!

Today was exciting for several reasons, and most of all that the cast of Glee appeared at High Point Shopping Centre today and I saw them!

Let me paint the scene for you before launching into the photos.

There was a talent search on before the cast, so there were stacks of people around for that. We heard some awful singing and some average singing before the winners were announced.

While the judges (including the Video Hits kids!) were totalling their scores, Sam Clark from Neighbours came out and sung. I love Neighbours and needless to say got quite excited. (Side note about Sam: while standing in the line for Glee, the girl behind me loudly told the person next to her - and in ...