As we’re approaching the midpoint of NaNoWriMo 2010, naturally the blogosphere is crowded with it. And for much the same reason, I’m pushed for time! Noteworthy elements only, then.
Mainly this week’s news is about the NaNo backlash. Matt actually emailed me when Cheryl Ossola joined the ranks of the disaffected, but it seems to have started with an article by Laura Miller, who is a senior writer at Salon.com. My immediate response? Any web editor worth their salt would kill to have a senior writer like Laura. Someone who can set all the nerds a-twittering. That said, it was the blog entry Ann Aguirre posted on Writer Unboxed that gave everyone a space to make their feelings known. Things got so heated in the feedback comments that blog co-founder Kathleen Bolton was compelled to upload a kitten. (We’ve all had bad days at work, right?)
I find myself liking Lynn Viehl more every time I read her blog. Not only is she not too scarily far ahead of me in her NaNo wordcount–because she’s had health and family issues, too–but her response to the backlash kerfuffle was to walk away from the computer and bake a pie. When I do that, I feel as pathetic as a cold smelly failed star; when Lynn does it, I feel a whole lot better about everything. It’s that long list of publishing credits she has that does it, I think. That, and the heap of juicy fiction-aiding freeware she shared with the world earlier this week.
Anna Staniszewski was one of many who claimed that Week Two is the hardest NaNo week, but I liked her post because she explained so accurately why that is. There was no disputing Mary Jo Campbell’s analysis either.
Outside NaNo, I don’t have a lot of writerly links this week. Janice Hardy gave us a conflict post that Matt deemed “useful”; Alison Janssen reminded us that no character is an island; Natalie Whipple offered sound advice for new writers. The inevitable Scott G F Bailey finished his Hamlet novel and posted an interesting piece about the modifications it’s been through over the last three years (NaNo-ers, beware! Here be dragons!)
Back to Janice Hardy, who has been blog-touring in recent weeks and is now ready to share her thoughts regarding the experience. She offered good info for anyone thinking of using their social network as a marketing tool.
Next up, a rant from Lynne Patrick–probably the first person to mention the Net Book Agreement since I started helping out Matt on this blog. I’m with her, by the way; I worked in a few independent bookshops, back when we still had them in every town in the UK. The loss of the NBA really did change publishing immensely, and not for the better. In similar vein, the Guardian Books Blog highlighted concerns about the dismantling of the Public Lending Right, a tiny but useful quango which ensures that libraries pay authors when their books are read.
Eh, if I’m going to be old and curmudgeonly tonight I might as well link to Charlie Stross’ piece about cars too. We’re almost ready to ditch ours because we finally live in an area where the public transport’s good enough to manage without–for most journeys. There are still a few of our regular journeys that, like Charlie’s, are simply too awkward to contemplate without a car, and too short to justify hiring one. Still, I’m not sure his robo-cars are quite as good an answer as a better bus service..
I’ve somehow managed to get this far without even mentioning the other literary scandal on the intertubes this week. Not sure I want to, either; I’ll let The Kill Zone‘s John Gilstrap do it for me.
And finally–Write to Done are asking for nominations for the top ten writing blogs of 2010. Submissions by December 1st please!
