Fangirling

I MET MAGGIE STIEFVATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In real life and everything.

(Waterstones, Finchley Road, London. 24th March 2013)


She is sooo lovely and I was a blathering fangirl, I think my daughter was embarrassed on my behalf.

(In case anyone is interested she is hosting another Critique Partner Love Connection right now, here.  I've blogged about the value of CPs here.)


Am off to squee to myself while no one else is around.

Agent Hunter

Agent Hunter is a new, easily navigated website which if you are an aspiring author in the UK could be one of the best uses of £12 this year, allowing you to search for agents and publishers to target for your submissions. And we aren't just talking about name, contact details and a client list. Not at all. There’s a short bio, followed by entries for likes & dislikes and whether they are actually keen to see submissions or whether their list is closed. I can set filters so that I only see those who represent YA writing, have a small list, are looking to extend it, accept e-mail subs and wear green hats on a Tuesday. (OK, I might have made that last one up.) Equally, the site tells me if they tweet, if they blog, whether they attend conferences and crucially, links straight into their agency website. So much time to be saved and that is always a winner in my book.

 Obviously I love that the listings are constantly updated. We know that like any other industry, publishing is a game of musical chairs, and this is an instant where a digital tool like this is superior to say the bound Writer and Artist's Yearbook. When I'm in the middle of a submissions cycle I want to have the most current info to hand.

The site only launched this month, so new profiles are being added all the time, as well as updates being made to the existing. It is growing, but there is easily plenty there to be getting on with already.  Personally I'd like the Publishers List to show Children's divisions of the larger publishing houses and imprints separately and I've fed this back, so fingers crossed.  Additionally I think it would be useful to have a Watch list/ Basket function where in addition to saving searches, you can add agents to your basket as you do your research, giving you a pinpointed target list to print out and attack at the end.

I don't know whether there are plans to extend the site to cover Magazines and Journals and other areas, (though that would be ace) but for now it is certainly a site that I'm pleased exists.  Breaking it down, it’s just 1 of the Queen's pounds a month, which IMHO is great value, for instant links and up-to-date info at my fingertips. That has to worth sacrificing some of your weekly sweets for, surely?

Take a look, they'll even do you a free 7 day trial, so you’ve nothing to lose.

Procrastinating writer? Read this.

Sorry, no, not this.

THIS

Enough said.

Forms of Love

Another moment in my love affair with story form!! I just finished David Levithan's The Lovers Dictionary, a quick little story, but one that keeps lingering in my head.

As it says on the tin, it is a dictionary, with alphabetically ordered words as headers followed by short moments that describe a relationship in the context of the word - or in opposition in some cases, underlining the point being made. As a reader you savour the associations between single words and ordinary moments in life as they come together as a definition.

It isn’t long, but that just proves that a few words can go far. (Top skills, Mr Levithan!) It isn’t a linear story either, but it gives you a rounded view of the relationship they have. I say “they”, as this is another quirk of the story; there is no indication of the gender/s of either "you" or "I".  

Apparently Levithan wrote the first draft of this as a Valentine to his friends. I don't know if that qualifies it as a card as well form-wise, but I enjoyed it for that too.

Winter Gut Reactions

I know that really I should have done the Winter Round-up before the Spring TBR pile got unveiled, but I was just too excited to wait and my scheduling skills...well they got snarled up. Hey ho.

 So here, just into Spring, are my thoughts on some of the books I read through the winter. (As last time, I just want to make clear that I am not a reviewer. I’m just sharing my instant reactions.)

To recap the pile looked like this;

Plus there were sneaky extras;

None of the Regular Rules- Erin Downing

Fallen Too Far – Abbi Glines

Will Grayson, Will Grayson, - John Green & David Levithan

The Heroes of Olympus- The Mark of Athena – Rick Riordan

The “Star of the List” was a tie this time, between Skin Deep and The Curiosities. Skin Deep is great teen writing with ace voices and chemistry and very British. As a UK writer I like seeing that voices don’t get smoothed out so that they are more suitable for multiple markets. The Curiosities- a collection of short YA stories, with author’s notes – was a delight in so many ways. I know I’ll return to it time and time again.

Some name checks then;

Maggie Stiefvater – Two of her books were in this pile and just having a Stiefvater book in my grubby mitts makes me happy. Raven Boys was the start of a new series and reminded me why I hate reading series, as the waiting is excruciating. I should just hold off until they are all out and binge instead. My only criticism is that she was a bit tight on the old kissing in Raven Boys. She normally prides herself on there being kissing...

John Green and David Leviathan – As I gushed here, I have a writer’s crush on these two, hence they have an outrageous amount of books in the Spring pile. And I’m not making any apologies for that. They write teens so well, they write teen boys so well, they write gay teen boys so well. Fab.

Daniel Handler – If I am honest -and it does happen occasionally -I’m not really a fan of Handler’s writing.  This book was fine, although it didn’t knock my socks off, but, I loved the concept of writing a book-long rant, and also the book being an inventory of a relationship’s detritus. Yes, that’ll be my form fetish kicking in.

Laura Jarratt – This book was well worth the wait, and made me excited about my own writing, because it targets the same age group, environment and language.

Simmone Howell - Having loved Graffiti Moon, by fellow Aussie Cath Cowley, I was pleased to discover Howell’s great ear for girls voices, relationships and the dynamics of those relationships. Like Cowley she mixes other art into her writing, in this case film, to Cowley’s Urban art. I didn’t think the ending quite delivered, but I enjoyed it enough to have another of her books in the Spring pile.

Kevin Brooks – I do love a Kevin Brooks book. The man does tension like nobody’s business.

Kody Keplinger – She wrote this book while still at school. Wish I’d started that early.

And then the other gut reactions;

·         One of these books elicited the succinct review of “Meh”

·         One of these writers has read Fifty Shades of Grey since the last book I read of theirs.

·         One of these books I nearly flung across the room when I realised it was yet another cliff-hanger ending. I’d thought it was the finale.

·         One of these books I had to give up and skip to the ending as I just couldn’t engage with the voice. (Ooh, what an Agent thing to say!)

·         Two of these books I cannot for the life of me remember what were about...

More gut reactions to follow in June.. 

*cue fanfare* My Spring TBR List

Spring has sprung, which means another TBR list is unveiled.

  Here it is; Ta-Dah!!! 

In no particular order they are;

The Fault in Our Stars – John Green

Every Day – David Levithan

The Lover’s Dictionary – David Levithan

Boy Meets Boy – David Levithan

Let It Snow – John Green, Maureen Johnson, Lauren Myracle

Attachments – Rainbow Rowell

The Brides of Rollrock Island – Margo Langan

The Red Pyramid – Rick Riordan

The Crowfield Curse – Pat Walsh

Everything Beautiful – Simmone Howell

A Most Improper Magick – Stephanie Burgiss

Blood Red Road – Moira Young

The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window and Disappeared-  Jonas Jonasson

Not in the pic, but still to come

Shut Out – Kody Keplinger

Bitterblue – Kristin Cashore

Ad♥rkable – Sarra Manning

I haven’t listed any e books at this point, because I’m assuming that some will sly their way into my iPad of their own accord, like they normally do.

No doubt I’ll keep you posted as I go.

What are you reading this Spring?