getting serious and fun in Rolling Stone

In the library yesterday, I happened to pick up the January 22 issue of Rolling Stone which had two great (and very different) articles.

First, Paul Krugman wrote a well-thought out he is a Nobel prize winner, after all) open letter to President Obama. Interesting stuff in there about the current economic crisis. I found it very helpful. I just hope that Obama does the right thing.

The second is not for those few of you who love and admire George Bush. But for the rest of us, Matt Taibbi has a scathing satirical "exit interview" with the former president. I laughed pretty hard.

Signs of the Times--another book store closes

I just read that Pages for All Ages in Savoy, Illinois, has closed. They were an independent bookstore that started out in Champaign, IL, and we used to go there back in the 90s when we lived in Champaign. They really ran a vibrant store, with lots of readings and community activities. They will definitely be missed. I'd always hoped to do a reading there for one of my books. Bummer.

Public Libraries

There are about 16,000 public libraries in the U.S. (that's counting branches; there are about 9,000 administrative library entities).

I was curious about that because the fear seems to be that with current media and economic trends, book sales will fall, while public library usage is up. I use the library constantly and we probably have 4-10 books out at any given time. I'd thought to myself, "Oh, hey, my book doesn't have to be a huge bestseller through stores and Amazon, if it just gets bought by enough public libraries." But alas, even if every library bought a copy of my novel, it still wouldn't earn me enough to pay for, oh, let's say a whole year of my daughter's college tuition. Though it would still be a very good amount of sales for any literary novel, don't get me wrong and I'd be plenty grateful. (And for those libraries who don't already own a copy of Tornado Siren... no time like the present.)

Hm.

great agent article in Poets & Writers

I just read this terrific article/interview in Poets & Writers (Jan/Feb 09) with five hot young literary agents. Now that I'm submitting my new novel, I'm on the lookout for all kinds of info about agents. These guys had me laughing out loud and just amazed by their energy and knowledge. Check it out.

tweet tweet (I'm on twitter)

Part of me is pretty sure that if I actually get hooked into following more than a handful of twitter feeds, this could end up being a pretty huge time suck. But I'm very curious to see what the fuss is all about. So far, I'm following all of about 3 people, and it doesn't take any time time, and has actually been interesting.

I'd originally thought that the 140 character limit on tweets might feel a little short, but to be honest, it's been plenty. Economy is a good lesson for writers, anyway.

So, if you want to follow my twitter feed, I'm @patrickgabridge. Let me know.


(I'm sure people have already explored this, but this does seem like a medium for an interesting monologue series.)

update: novel progress--finished

I finally finished my new novel today. I've been working on it for a couple years now, and at one point ended up tearing it all down and rebuilding it from the ground up. But the new version feels good, and I've run it past a couple readers and my writers' group and gotten useful feedback. I've been proofing and tweaking and changing the last final bits, pretty intensely, for the past couple weeks (trying out push away all other projects).

Today it's done and tomorrow I'll start sending out queries to agents. I think I've got a decent query letter (several friends have helped me refine it a lot), but we'll see soon enough.

Next on my list is a bunch of reading, plus I'm hoping to rewrite the first act of my new play in February. Once that's done, it's on to the next novel (I have two projects that I'm itching to do).

I'm not sure how I'll celebrate. Beer and chocolate, I think (small amounts of both). Now, if I actually land a publisher, then it'll really be time to celebrate.

Great advice for playwrights from Adam

Adam Szymkowicz has got some great advice for playwrights on his blog. Check it out. Wish I'd seen a list like that 20 years ago (though I think I ended up doing most of what he lists, but maybe not quite so intentionally).