Hello friends,
It’s a sunny, 75-degree fall day in Northern California. We Californians, unlike most of our American compatriots, yesterday elected a Democratic governor*, and have reelected a Democratic Senator. The San Francisco Giants have won the World Series for the first time, well – ever, really, but since 1954 if you’re one of those people who looks at the entire history of a team and not its geographical location, but that’s neither here nor there. And you wanted to see some writing-related link goodness, didn’t you? Perhaps, like me, you’re avoiding reading the political news. Well, here you are:
Just in time for NaNoWriMo: How to Write a Novel, from San Francisco-based literary agent Nathan Bransford.
Some ebooks now priced higher than hardcovers. The times, they are a-changin’.
How to promote your book A great series from Booktour.com. You know, if you have a book.
Lorrie Moore on MFA programs, writing from a male perspective (“I like being a guy for about 25 pages.”), and getting her start — from The Rumpus.
In addition to being a successful novelist, nonfiction writer, publisher and philanthropist/champion of kids’ writing programs, Dave Eggers is a pretty talented artist. His sketches/interviews from the World Series. (The Bay Citizen)
The Sorry State of the Rejection Letter. (via The Millions)
Are you a nonfiction writer? Does your work happen to fall into the normally unpublishable 90-pages-or-less category? Amazon wants you.
Finally: A sure sign that you’ve made it? You have your own font, a la Zadie Smith.
*Fun fact: The Republican candidate for governor of California, Meg Whitman, spent more on her campaign than the entire 2010 budget of the National Endowment for the Arts, approximately $163 million. Another fun fact: Her campaign was focused on cutting government spending.
Love the link to Dave Eggers’ drawings!
We re-elected our Democratic governor too! Cheers to us coastal liberals.
another fact: Meg W didn’t just lose; she was soundly trounced. I don’t think she even got 30% of the vote. So ha!
After my last comment about MFA programs, I’m afraid to read what Lorrie Moore has to say. Thanks for all the links, by the way. I want to check out the Booktour series, too.
And I went to the Giants victory parade – it was crazy! I didn’t go intentionally so much as get swept up in it getting off BART on my way to work, but it was fun.