Evening all!
Hope you all had a good day!
Mine was very productive, thank you for asking! I had to get up extremely early to drop the car back at work – and after last night at the pub it was difficult! – but, since I was up early, I got a lot done. I went to the bank, dropped in and saw a friend at her work, had my eye brows waxed. Then went to school, and got out extremely early, so I went shopping again before I went and tutored my boy.
Rather hilarious, he thinks I’m a complete dosche, last week I had the company car, and it took me 5 minutes – no kidding – to reverse out of his driveway. And he was in the doorway watching me, laughing. Oh the embarrassment!
Apart from that, we worked on this assignment he had for Dougy, this YA novel from Aussie author James Moloney. I read it back when I was his age – year eight – and vaguely remembered it.
While I shopped, I picked up this awesome new YA book:It looks really good and I’ve read seventeen pages so far. It reminds me of The Shifting Fog and I loved that!
There’s so much happening in the publishing/YA world at the moment! EEEEEEKKKKK It’s so exciting!
Hoorah!
Sorry. Just a tad over excited, and I need to calm down.
*breathe breathe*
Okay, think I’m better now.
Before I launch into a very comphresenive post, I’d like to give two shout-outs: Firstly to the lovely Leila Ragg, who emailed me after Monday’s post about my bank accounts. Thankfully it seems to be all settling down: one of my cards have arrived and I’m just waiting on my replacement credit card. Then to set up Internet and Phone banking again, and link all the accounts. I’ve spent the last week calling places (ie work) to change my details, and am waiting to change my accounts on eBay and The Book Dep when I use them next. Such a massive pain in the you-know-what, but it’s finally getting sorted. Hoorah!
And also to Jessica, who is a new reader from MWF and said that she spent all today reading my August posts, rather than working. That’s what I like to hear! Thanks for reading and hope your enjoying Literary Life!
Stick around for tomorrow, where I’ll post my interview with Kirsty Murray. I know it’s been a while since I promised it, and Kirsty apologised, saying she’s been very busy. But yay that it’s coming! So stay tuned!
Following on from my last post (well, not my last post, but I mentioned it on my blog!) Rachelle Gardner did a follow-up on advances. Skip over there and check it out!
Rachel Hills is calling out for people wanting a mentorship! Ideally, she wants a person based in Sydney, so that, combined with the fact I HAVE NO TIME, I am not going to apply, but you can! Check out the position description and email her!
Kiersten over at Kiersten Writes interviews her agent, Michelle Wolfson. I advise everyone to read it! Fantastic interview!
Pimp My Novel: A day in the life in a publishing house!
Hilarious take on why people buy books from the INTERN. What category are you?!
Justine Larbalestier today on her blog says that there’s obviously some problems with reviewing YA books… Do people actually know what YA is?! I guess not. All YA fans: CHECK IT OUT!
Allison Winn Scotch discusses self publishing – to self publish or not?! What does everyone think about self publishing? I’m of two minds. I know there’s stigma attached to it… Actually, I’m trying to think of reasons why I am for self publishing but I can’t think of any. I remember this one time at the bookstore, an old woman and her husband tried to come sell us the wife’s self published book about her life as a nurse. My boss declined. They walked out, defeated. So I guess, if you don’t have that long to live and want to write your life story, self publish all the way!
Otherwise, I think I’d wait until my book got picked up.
Have you heard? James Patterson signed on for 17 books with Hachette. So 17 books, 3.5 years… That’s like 4.8 books per year!
Over on Nathan Bransford’s blog, he’s running a poll over whether we should censor books like we do movies – ie give them ratings. At the time of this post being published, there were 38% to 61% in favour of NOT putting ratings on books, for a total votes of 715.
Lili Wilkinson tackles a similar problem on her blog. At the moment she’s in the United Kingdom with her mother (author Carole Wilkinson) and has been blogging about it, but today she wrote:
“A couple of the parents (Megan: at an event she was at) were asking me whether I thought their daughters were old enough to read my books”
You can read her answer on the post, but it addresses the same issues as Nathan.
What do I think?
As you all should know, I had my reading material censored as I was a child (see this rather hilarious post here about it). I didn’t feel my father should tell me what to read, so, as a highly rebellious twelve year old, I read the offending books at school.
There are always going to be censorship problems, and parents getting outraged over content in YA books. I don’t think that putting ratings on a book is going to make any difference, parents who want to complain will still complain.
If you really look closely, some books already have ratings. The Cherub series have a tiny “Not for People Under Twelve” on the back of them.
Okay everyone! This has been a huge post, several hours in the making!
I have to head off to bed cuz I’m getting up six tomorrow! *Gulp!*
I’ll have full news about tomorrow later! Tomorrow, possibly! 
Anyways, have a great night!
I got a shout out! How absolutely cool, that has made my day