Have to run really quickly, so I am putting this up as food for thought: how many times does an author annoy a reader because a random detail is inaccurate? How would one find out how an owl sounds when it swoops? Food for thought for writers. (It also goes to show that you can’t please every reader, though–the author that doesn’t know how owls sound when they swoop might have been concentrating on the historical details or the worldbuilding or something else equally or more important.)

And don’t forget, there is a new episode up of Writing Excuses. I haven’t listened to it yet, but the last one had some good tips. This time they’re talking about blending the familiar and the original.

Found from Lisa Graff: a little peek into the editorial process. 

As I mentioned, I have been invited to speak at the BYU Writing for Young Readers conference. I’ve been thinking about what I’d like to talk about, because they need the title of my talk soon, and I’ve been inspired by my friend to tackle an age-old question: will writing to the market give you a better chance to get published?
I think this is a complicated question in children’s literature, because there are competing interests that must be considered.
But it’s an interesting topic to me, certainly.
What do you all think? If you were attending a conference to hear me talk, would this be of interest to you? Any suggestions on a snappier way of phrasing the title? (That particular phrasing was right off the top of my head–I know, it’s SO clever!)

I’ll just give you a little insight into a day in the life of an editor. As I’ve already mentioned, I’m pretty swamped right now. I’ve got more than my normal load of books coming in, so I’m doing my best to make sure that everything stays on the tight schedule we’ve got them on, and that each author has enough time to look over changes and have time for revisions, get manuscripts to the copyeditor on time, turned over to typesetting, etc.
But sometimes in that frenetic pace you need to take a break. I’m also drowning in paper here at Chez Stacy, and it was time to answer especially the most languishing of languishness in my submissions pile.
But what to do when my brain is slightly fried, and I don’t feel like you can concentrate on a whole novel? After all, the reason I needed a little break in the first place was because I was working on a novel under contract already. I need something a little shorter, a break in the pace.
So I went to the partials, rather than the requested manuscripts. Sample chapters are always going to be answered a little faster, because they can be taken in small chunks, and sending out five or six responses in a couple hours feels like I’ve accomplished something. The requested manuscripts need more time and contemplation, obviously–for one, they’re larger, and for another, they’re usually, percentage-wise, better written.
Another thing about slowness of response on submissions: Sometimes, it’s the just-on-the-cusp work that languishes the longest. Not always, but usually. Sometimes the best work will languish because the editor wants to find a place for it and doesn’t want to say yes until she gets approval, but can’t bear to say no because then she’d have to let it go. But usually, for me, at least, it’s the work that’s pretty good, but I’m on the fence about, that stays around the longest because those are the submissions I want to give encouragement to. It’s those writers that I know that perhaps this submission isn’t quite there, but with this and that tweaked perhaps their next work might make it. That kind of response takes thought and time, which of course is always in short supply when you’ve got several contracted books in various stages of the editorial process demanding your attention, with several other books in various stages of writing whose authors need questions answered or whose marketing information is coming due or for which the map orders or cover art or cover copy needs to be concepted/written.
That part about coordinating authors is actually a part of an editor’s work that’s specific to writing for a series, which might be of interest. In our shared worlds, like Dragonlance: The New Adventures, or worlds that bring in coauthors due to the release schedule (Tiffany Trent’s Hallowmere has five coauthors interspersed among the later books; each coauthor will be writing from a different girl’s perspective, which allows us to bring in different authorial voices at the same time as different character voices)–in these worlds, a chunk of my job involves coordinating between authors for continuity.
So in City of Fortune, Ree Soesbee features a character who shows up in a later book of the Trinistyr Trilogy, and authors Dan Willis and Ree Soesbee both needed to know where Rina the elf was at particular times so that we didn’t have her showing up in both places at once. That doesn’t happen as much with the Hallowmere series because books 4-9 are happening mostly simultaneously, but the authors do need to know how the magic works, whether this can happen here or they should do that, and part of my job is making sure that the series bible is up to date and making sure that authors writing about the same character at different times know the backstory they need to know, know
what the other author is doing, etc.
So that gives you a little better idea of one short day in the life of an editor, and the thinking that goes into getting through submissions one one short day. On another day, the thinking might be, “Wow, I have a whole leisurely day ahead of me to read an entire requested manuscript!” but generally requested manuscripts are read on our own time, late at night or on weekends. So if your manuscript has been requested, patience is indeed a virtue. It probably means that editor wants to make sure to give it the time it deserves.

Three friends of mine have started a podcast on writing. Brandon Sanderson, Howard Tayler, and Dan Wells  discuss brainstorming in their first episode of Writing Excuses. New episodes will be published every Monday.

Also, it’s 15 minutes long, “because you’re in a hurry, and we’re not that smart.” 🙂

As editor of the anthology, , reminded me, today is the day when everyone can get their hands on a copy of Magic in the Mirrorstone. Here’s part of the Kirkus review:
“Not only do the entries exhibit a lively variety of tones and lengths, but because the sex and even most of the violence has been left implicit, the tales can be offered or read to an unusually wide audience… First-rate fare for fantasy fans.”
Check it out!

If you haven’t guessed yet, January was a crazy month. February is shaping up to be a crazy month as I try to get ahead on my March workload, which will be the craziest of all. I kinda have more books to work on in March than pretty much ever. And it’s great, because they’re all really exciting books! But wow, sometimes it’s exhausting.

So what have I been doing recently? Well, I’ve got several books in the Hallowmere series in various stages of the editing process*, and I’m working on Bronze Dragon Codex, the followup to last month’s release of Red Dragon Codex. (Late night post=no links, sorry. Google is your friend.) I’ve got a couple other things in the works that I’ll be able to announce as soon as the ink is dry.

In the midst of all that, I try set aside time every week to respond to submissions, but as you can probably guess, that’s not at the top of my priority list this month. But I promise, I’m working on it! It’s definitely part of the plan.

Then at the end of March, I’ll be in Salt Lake City fo
r World Horror Convention to take pitch sessions, and then in June I’ll be at BYU for the Writing for Young Readers conference. Whew! But that’s waaay in the future. For now, I just have to go to bed so I can be clearer tomorrow than this sinus infection is letting me be right now. All I want for Christmas is my two frontal sinuses, please. Maxillary will do.

*Most recently, volume 5 of Hallowmere, Queen of the Masquerade, by Tiffany Trent and Amanda M. Jenkins. Tears! Tears for the beauty, I tell you! And before that, just finished off volume 4, Maiden of the Wolf by Tiffany Trent and Angelika Ranger (who is on LJ but again, late night, not clear, hopefully I’ll remember in the morning). Ilona! Countess Bathory! Humiliations galore! (Okay, so maybe not humiliations galore, but I’ve always wanted to use that.)

I just learned that my dad and my great-great-grandpa could about be twins. William Alexander Blair was a railroad agent, and the story goes (I have the details around here somewhere–I think in my interview of my grandpa) that he met his wife, Minnie Hested, at a railroad station in Irene, IL, where he worked.
It’s hard to tell in the more formal shots, like the one I showed you below in the first post below about Bess Whitman’s family, but as I’ve been scanning these negatives from Bess Blair’s collection, here’s where that family look comes from: the Blair side. Which makes it quite interesting that my dad’s name is Blair. 😀
From a couple shots of Grandpa Blair (William Alexander Blair) in about 1915:


And here’s a picture of my dad from about 10 years ago.

Let me see if I can find a better, more current picture…

And then, let’s compare side by side.


Notice William’s lack of a tie. Why, I think the last time my dad wore a tie was at my sister’s wedding in 1994. Love the mustache? Why, my dad loves his, too! (At this point, I think they’re the same mustache.) And those eyebrows! And that hairline! I couldn’t find a good shot to show it, but it’s my dad all over again. (Not to mention at least half his brothers, but I’m looking at Dad right now.) If William’s picture were in color, I bet his skin would be just as red and leathery as my dad’s, from years of working in the sun as a farmer.
Not to mention, I love that this photo of my great-great-grandpa:

…was taken by my great-grandma when she was just about 20.
I took this picture of my dad when I was about 20, learning to use my own camera and play in the darkroom.

There’s a story there. There are
so many stories there (don’t worry, I’m writing at least one of them.

I just got done watching the funniest Psych episode EVER–and that’s saying something, because it’s a dang funny show.  Shawn and Gus start out helping to solve a murder on the set of a Spanish telenovela and Shawn ends up actually acting on it. Even the opening credits are in Spanish. I love how everyone is secretly in love with the show. It’s hilarious. It makes me think of Ugly Betty (if you’re not watching that, either, you should).

Just thought I’d share. 🙂

Thought you all might like to know: I have just officially accepted an invitation to speak at the BYU Writing for Young Readers conference this June. Now I just have to figure out what I’ll be talking about!