Day 2 of 2011

It's 9:40 on Sunday morning, I've crossed one item off my to-do list*, and feel like I'm already behind on the day.

Clearly, "slowing down" was not one of my resolutions. Nor was "cutting yourself more slack." Hrm.

ETA: managed to get a chunk of revision-scrawl done, and a few sundry items beside (and a hike to the Good Store for more coffee), so I guess it wasn't an utterly lazy Sunday. It feels like it, though.


Also: Finished 2010 reading a book by an author many people rave about, was surprisingly disappointed. Clever plot, but I found the characters too stupid to be amusing & there was no real meat to the story. Clever's not enough to hold me - I want characters who are more than devices to be moved about for Effect.

I won't be looking at the rest of this writer's backlist (it is all of A Style). So - next up on the TBR!






* technically 3 items, as I finished a freelance gig, uploaded it, and sent the invoice.

*ahem*

EtA: My point is not to pick on my uncle (although my wounded ego appreciates the support shown in comments, I'm quite used to him by now) but to highlight the Hugo nomination process starting...!


Last month my uncle (a long-time SF reader) rather dismissively said my Nebula nom wasn't "important" since the Hugo is the "reader voted" one.

I mention this only to remind everyone that Hugo Nomination Period is now open http://tinyurl.com/3557s7o (and yes, I have books eligible!)

*looks innocent*

A moment of silence, please.

Today, the great, multi-level B&N at Lincoln Center (Manhattan, NY) is closing. It has been in that location for fifteen years, a landmark in an area of landmarks, a gathering place for readers, writers, and out-of-towners looking for a place to kill some time before or after a show. It had an amazing selection of anything you might be looking for, well-trained and helpful staff, and just the right amount of non-book and non-music products to keep the browsers enticed.

I was in the store on Saturday, watching as employees cleared shelves and moved tables. The mood was busy, somber...and around them, people were buying books and magazines, music and sundries. This store was not closing because it did not perform, but because the landlord had - in the middle of a real estate downturn even in Manhattan -- raised the rents beyond what B&N could justify.

What's going in? A discount clothing store. The deal was inked so fast, it's impossible not to believe that it was agreed-upon even before B&N was offered their new lease.

I knew we're supposed to be all in an uproar about independents, not chains, but this -was- my local. It had an amazing selection of genre, SF and mysteries and romance and horror -- and gave it prominent floor space. They carried backlist as well as frontlist, and if they didn't have it they'd get it for you from one of the other stores.

I will miss it, greatly. I hope everyone who worked there is offered jobs at other stores in the city.