RIASS stuff:
Review: Welcome to the Great Mysterious by Lorna Landvik'Rating: 
Writing, place and Anthony Doerr's Four Seasons in Rome'Rating:
Giveaway:'Safe Haven'by Nicholas Sparks'(US only)
My recent guest posts: on'height in romance novels; an interview about my writing over at'The Great Raven
My husband (nerdy software developer) and I are going to be up in Sydney over the 27th and 28th of February. If you'd like to catch up while we're there, drop me a line at readinasinglesitting AT gmail.com.
Other bookish stuff:
A fun post on weather in middle grade novels'For writers, weather is a super-effective tool that can be used to great effect. I once heard someone say that authors should strive to incorporate 'weather reports' into their writing, for what better way to create an atmosphere or tone or foreshadow forthcoming events?
Is a book tour all its cracked up to be? My new strategy, with this novel, is not to tell anybody about anything. 'I'm only going to promote events by postering my own bathroom, and maybe throwing an announcement up on, like, Friendster, or the Boats for Sale section of Craigslist, in the wrong city. 'Because even worse than doing events for four people is doing events for four people plus your two local friends.
Are you as well-read as the average American Year 10 student? I think I should get bonus points for having read'The Nose in Russian. And also seeing it as a play.
Typesetting nerd? Heres a fun (?) kerning game for you!
An ode to the editor'His crutch words are gone. His plot has been untangled. The characters are no longer just cardboard cut-outs slotted into gaps but rather living, breathing'entities, emotionally resonant and utterly believable.'His pile of word-slurry has been concretized. Into a marble bust. An aegis of the gods.'And when he looks up, the editor is gone. His satchel, too.'She's riding off. A wasteland MacGuyver. An apocalyptic A-Team.
An interview with Jane Yolen'As a picture book author, the writer and illustrator are always kept apart. They do not confer. As a graphic novelist I was thrown into the real maelstrom/compost heap of consultation/advisory working together.
Why online book discovery is broken (and how to fix it)'It's not as if book buyers aren't using online sites like Pinterest, Google and Goodreads ' they are, but as the slide below shows, those sites simply aren't converting to actual book purchases.
Storyboarding tips for picture book authors
Why traditionally publishing authors are turning indie'(Hint: marketing, guys. Thats what authors expect out of publishers these days. That, or'waaaay better royalty rates.)''Why do they get 80 percent of the income of my book if I have to do it all by myself anyhow?' says author Helka Kleisny. 'I'm just a number for them ['] Just one author. One book. So why do too much for just this one book? But for me, it's my book. It's my nights I have spent for this book. And I believe it's good. I know it's good.
Ann Patchett on writing as a job I dont know why this struck me as such a radical concept, but it did time spent working equals output of work. Amazing! I have long tried to fit my work in around all the other obligations in my life, and many days the work finds itself low on the list of things to do, way below laundry and replying to e-mail. Was it possible that by giving my art the same amount of time and attention that I gave to, say, meal preparation, my art might be more likely to flourish.
This is a beautiful picture book review site
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