clearly, I am not observing the "strike" zone today....

[lagilman]

business first:

My first boss in publishing, Neil Nyren, speaks out at Murderati. Go check it out -- he's a seriously smart guy, and a damned good editor, too. I learned a hell of a lot from him. You can too. If nothing else, what the voice of an Old Time Editor sounds like.

an excerpt:

"Because, in fiction at least, we’re always buying the author, not a particular book. We’re trying to establish a career. Which is why it is absolutely not true that we’ve stopped planning for the long-term. The long-term is what we plan for most."
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and, for those of you jonesing for feline picspam...


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and deire gifted me with a portrait of P.B.!

Comments

[nick-kaufmann.livejournal.com]

Um, you added a rather awkward T to the end of "Murderati" above.

[lagilman]

Bugger, and I cut-and-pasted the link, too! Fixed, thanks.

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

That is *such* a happy cat. And what a cool portrait of PB! Hee! Yay!

[fakefrenchie.livejournal.com]

Great picture of Boomer. Shadow thinks he's kind of cute.

Wonderful portrait of PB. Not at all what I imagined, but excellent nonetheless. It's the hat!

Ummm,

[fakefrenchie.livejournal.com]

He sounds like he's saying something like what ML was saying and got blasted for:
"Blogs – I probably shouldn’t be saying this to you, JT, but sometimes I wonder if all the time and energy spent on writing a blog might not be better spent on…well, you know what I’m going to say."

Re: Ummm,

[lagilman]

I hope you're not saying that "sometimes I wonder if..." is the same as (accurately summing up Megan's rant) "writers should not be doing this and if you do you're killing your career." Because if you are, I respectfully say you're wrong.

Megan was blasted not for her opinion but for taking a One Size Fits All and Her Size is the One Size approach. Very few people disagree that blogs and journals (and talking on the phone, and cleaning the kitchen, and all the other cat-waxings available) don't eat up writing-time. But some people manage it and their careers just fine, and some don't, and it's up to the individual to decide what's right for them.

Nothing in what Neil said came across to me as more than a passing comment on his observations, not a rant as to what someone should do, as per him.

Re: Ummm,

[fakefrenchie.livejournal.com]

No, I wasn't saying that, but it reminded me of the subject.

Neil Nyren

[(Anonymous)]

Hey, thanks, Laura. And I just saw the rave review of your new book in PW -- congratulations! -- Neil

Re: Neil Nyren

[lagilman]

*waves hello in surprise, reads rest of message, falls over dead in shock.*

OMG wheee!