And the blogroll lengthens

New agent & publishing-related blogs for your infotainment:

Dystel & Goderich Literary Management, a self-proclaimed "opinionated bunch". They've posted good stuff so far, so it's worth perusing.

The Rejector, an assistant agent. The peon speaks. For the love of all that's holy, listen to her gripes so you'll understand how important assistants are to YOU and your publishing career.

Agent007 on Publishing. "A book editor becomes an agent and tells it like it is." If you want verifications of that statement, read this...

A Newbie's Guide to Publishing by J.A. Konrath. An author gives you the honest truth about marketing.

NaNoWriMo

Music I'm listening to: Riding on the Metro—Berlin.

For those of you who haven't heard of National Novel Writing Month (and there are fewer of you each year, since NaNo's growing), heads up! Here's your chance to bash out 50,000 words in a month and prove (especially to yourself) that you CAN write a lot and do it fast. You'll never be the same again. NaNo is fun, scary, and a lot of work—and when you hit 50K, it's all worthwhile. Do yourself a favor and check it out.

I signed up and succeeded in 2005, but won't be joining in this year. I'm completing and polishing a manuscript I've already been working on for several months. (With NaNo, you're supposed to begin a brand new work.) But I'll be cheering all of you on as I go through my own deadline hell. :)

If you sign up for NaNo, Chris Baty's No Plot? No Problem!: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days is a useful companion book.

BTW, Karen Wiesner's First Draft In 30 Days: A Novel Writer's System for Building a Complete and Cohesive Manuscript is also a handy guide for jump-starting your novel—BUT the "first draft" of her title is really an extended outline, and probably wouldn't count by NaNo rules. That's your own business, though.

Either way, get ready for a productive November.

Are you ready?

Ah, the joys of writing

Music I'm listening to: Anuraag, an Internet station that plays Indian classical music. This is perfect background music for my current WIP.

Sometimes writing feels just like this. (I laughed so hard while watching it, I actually cried.)

Just a little crowing

Music I'm listening to: Hmm, it's TV, actually. The Colbert Report.

Sitting back to watch TV is my reward for a day of fabulous writing. The pages I've written may or may not be fabulous, but the fact that there were *20* of them today makes me dance.

All of which shows, just in case you were wondering, that I do follow my own advice. :-D

Being Edited: A Little Death

Music I'm listening to: Alphaville's Forever Young. This is a candidate for the Best Damn Song Ever. Holy frijoles, does it bring back memories of early high school, and even college... Those of you who want to know how old I am, have fun correlating that.

I've been pacing myself on this blog because of a major project in my life: a new manuscript I'm gunning to complete before Thanksgiving. My fave critique partner has been helping me hone the first fifty pages. All I can say to her is: thank you, you blessed saint, for putting up with me when I whine about your editing suggestions.

J. A. Konrath's post describes just how I feel.