I’ve been quiet lately because I’ve been catching up. Between all the traveling in July and getting yet another sinus infection these last couple weeks, it feels like my overstuffed head can’t wrap around all I need to catch up on. But several things have been checked off the list in the last few weeks, and now I’m on to the last thing on my list that needs catching up.
As posted about, yesterday had a nice little lunch with two Dragonlance: The New Adventures authors and my coworker Nina. All the interesting tidbits can be found on Egg Fu’s latest post. Other than interesting conversation about celebrities and Dragonlance, I was mainly honed in on the yummy bacon cheeseburger that I can never resist, but is always too huge to finish. No cheesecake this trip–it was enough to try to finish the burger!

It’s not publishing related, but I couldn’t resist posting this:
I turned the oven on 450 to preheat for my supper. Suddenly, smoke is coming out of the oven vent.
Huh? What could be burning in an empty oven?
I open it up, and there’s a dozen oatmeal cookies. Oatmeal cookies I made about five days ago. I must have completely forgotten them in there! I turned off the oven later that night, wondering why I forgot to turn it off after the last batch.
Sad. Those were good cookies, too, before the scorching

Yesterday was about the quietest birthday I think I’ve had in a while. Worked all day, went out for Thai with a friend, and then went with some other friends to learn about researching family history (which I love–I’ve been doing it for many years now).
Bright spot of the day: my neighbor, who took care of my cats when I was out of town last month, brought me potted flowers, balloons, and a card. That was so nice of her! And of course, immediately the balloons became cat toys–chasing the balloon strings as they floated away from them–and the flowers were of secondary interest this morning. I think they were hungry and for some reason the bright flowers attracted them. So I brought the flowerpot to work, and it looks so lovely on my sunny windowsill.

As I think I’ve said before, Harold Underdown’s site The Purple Crayon is a great resource for new and experience writers alike. He’s got everything under one roof, so to speak–both in articles to teach you and in links to lead you where you’re trying to go.
I just discovered Wendy McClure’s Let the Mail Prevail!: A Guide to Etiquette, Status Calls, and More, and I want to recommend it especially to beginning writers might feel inclined to call or email before doing their research or instead of using mail.
I don’t mind if people want to ask me a quick question via email–I’m glad to answer. A quick question is the key point here.
For example, a couple people have emailed me several times a day with continued questions that would be answered if they’d read the submission guidelines I pointed them to in the first reply. And then, a sign to me of someone who isn’t as professional as they should be, one continued to ask questions about specifics that I w
anted, as if I were commissioning her work–how many pages or words would I want the book to be, how many illustrations would such a book have, etc. I finally wrote back, trying not to be terse, that if this person would just submit, we could consider their work and then we’d decide.
The main reason for my annoyance? This happened while I was in the middle of frantically trying to finish up a book. Like Wendy McClure says in the sidebar:

Are editors just hopeless Luddites? Not at all: they use e-mail and fax and overnight mail to stay in touch with authors and illustrators during the more frantic book production phase. Which is all the more reason for submitters to avoid these methods: why risk having your story or query pop up in front of an editor in the midst of his deadline emergency?

Email about slush pile questions when there are actual contracted books I’m stressing out over is a bad idea. (The only exceptions to this are authors who I already work with or who have already been published, who aren’t technically in the slush pile anyway–they’ve already established their credentials. I’m speaking here of people who have no track record with me or another publisher–and these tend to be the ones that act impolitely and unprofessionally anyway.) Such questions are important, don’t get me wrong, but not as important as the book in front of me, w
hich is why sometimes I don’t read submissions as quickly as I intend or would like. Much as I’d love to give the slush pile all the time in the world, I have books that have deadlines I have to meet.
Which segues to phone calls. One time I received a voice mail from a prospective author. He was no longer with his agent, so he was checking in to see if he could send me something directly. No, I don’t mind–our submission guidelines say we take unsolicited/unagented submissions, which he would have known if he’d read them. But his contact information left in the voicemail didn’t work. Well, I didn’t try the phone number because I didn’t want to have a conversation like Wendy McClure’s example (A Big Don’t: Selling Your Manuscript Over the Phone) which has happened to me once before. So I emailed him with the basics and his email was bounced back. If you’re going to give me your email address, be sure it’s correct!
I’m not a strict no-emails kind of editor, as some editors that I know are (probably because I don’t get as much email as them). But when a prospective author communicates with me, I expect professional behavior. These people do their homework ahead of time and are only asking me the stop-gap questions. Google me. Google my imprint. You’ll find interviews, the submissions guidelines,
this LJ. If you don’t know children’s literature, do some research before asking me detailed questions about what I want. Odds are that if you know what’s already out there, you’ll have a better idea of what to submit, especially when coupled with information about what we’re currently looking for.

I’m watching this really badly made and acted science fiction movie made in 1930 called Just Imagine. It goes forward 50 years to 1980 in New York, where everyone has a number instead of a name, and in proto-Jetson style, everyone drives airplanes instead of cars (and yes, the noise in the sky is unbearable!). At least the planes are cool–they use hover-fans to lift off and land, rather than wheels and a runway.
What’s really funny about this movie is that it’s just SO bad. It’s a 1930 movie with a little snazzier set and a really–REALLY–bad story. See, in this 1980, the government tells you who you marry. “It’s a great social experiment, like the Volstead Act!” quoth one minor character, one of those “modern women” that men still hate (I suppose they weren’t too far off on that prediction). One of the girls works for a doctor (in a ridiculously spare “uniform”) that brings back a guy who was hit by lightening in 1930, who works as the “give me the good old days” foil (he says that several times).
This is no social commentary, that’s certain. Everyone is still very white, and men fill the (male) doctor’s theater in watching them bring the man from 1930 back to life. “So women are still causing trouble. You’d think in 50 years they’d find a good substitute for them!” says the drunk 1930s guy–drunk on Prohibited booze, now in the form of a pill. Everyone still talks as if they were in 1930–well, as if they were in a 1930 movie, with the fake British refined accent. Even the fashions are 1930 with a slight twist–all the men still wear suits, just that one breast goes all the way across instead of buttoning in front; all the women in dresses, just slightly more scantily clad. Oh, and the music is still the warbling orchestral-accompanied singing of a 1930 movie.
What can you expect of a movie but for it to reflect it’s time, I suppose, but I expected more out of a post-Time Machine world. I mean, Wells wrote that a good 35 years before this movie.
I find it hilarious, however, that the father’s name is MP3. And the bright spot is the best friend (played by Frank Albertson), who is the only actor in the movie who acts a little more naturalistically, like a more modern actor (and with a good American accent). He actually looks uncannily like Andrew McCarthy.
And THEN, a mysterious figure shows up, telling the leading man he can solve his problem. Ack, I can’t watch this anymore. But the review on the main IMDB page says they apparently go to Mars, too, in a scene cheesier than silent movies years before. Ah, the mysterious man is an inventor, Z4, who has invented a PLANE who will let someone investigate the great mystery that is the planet Mars–thus solving the main character’s problem: the government ruled against him marrying his sweetheart because he wasn’t distinguished enough compared to his rival.
And apparently the guy from 1930, El Brendel, does a great “hat sequence,” which I suppose is coming up in a moment. I can’t believe I’m still watching this.
ETA: Oh, I guess the dad’s name is actually MT3. Kinda spoils the fun.

Just finished the final edit of the first book of the first series I ever acquired. Yay! Now it’s with the author for her final go-round, then it’s off to the copyeditor, and then it’s off to the proofreader, and then, typesetting!
And then sometime late in the fall, we’ll have ARCs to see (Advance Reader Copies). Though I’ve seen the process with other books in the department, I’ve never had one of my own books go through the ARC process, nor have I asked for blurbs, etc., so this is all very exciting for me. Of course, I have a feeling it’ll be exciting at the 5th, 10th, and 100th books, too, because it’s just fun to see the finished/nearly finished product. I felt much the same way when I got ‘s latest book, which had a cover redesign for the series beginning with his book. See his post about getting his own copy, too.
Which reminds me that I still haven’t gone and picked up a copy of my friend Brandon Sanderson’sMistborn. I read it in manuscript form nearly two years ago now, and loved it then. I’m sure things have changed in it since I read it (it was being edited as I read), so I should read it again, but in addition to that, it’s just fun to see the finished book. The cover, the paper, the endpapers, the overall design–those are just as important to me in a book I’ve seen through early stages as the contents were when I first read it. I’ve heard good things about Mistborn’s cover (apparently, there’s some foil on it that you can’t see in the sample shots of the cover), so I need to go check it out. And then, of course, buy the book!
For you who haven’t read Mistborn yet, though, let me just say that the insides are well worth the pretty outside. Brandon’s an up-and-coming new author who really shows his growth with this followup to his debut novel, Elantris (also a great read, which I highly recommend). I won’t summarize or do a full review right now, because I need to run out the door, but check out the books. If you’re looking for new, original high fantasy, they’ll be perfect for you.

Got bumped off my early morning flight and didn’t get out of San Diego till 3pm. At least I had time to return to the hotel and find my laptop cord, which I’d forgotten (yikes!). And even had time for a walk along the bay and to sit at the pool for an hour reading (or rather, trying to read and falling asleep).
Slept like a baby the whole flight. It was wonderful, and I’m glad I had the time.
Returned to a 95-degree or more apartment. I really wish they made apartments with air conditioning around here. I’d buy a window one, but my windows slide left-right. Gotta figure out how to get a cheap window air conditioner to stay in, or pay more than I have for one built for such windows.
Returning to normal life tomorrow, so if anyone has emailed me or is expecting responses, hopefully I’ll be getting back to everyone this week.

I just realized I used the word “happily” quite a few times in my last post. And I haven’t even read or watched something JA-related in weeks.

Whatever day it’s been, I do know for sure that I only have to stand on these poor, aching feet from 9:45 to 5 tomorrow, a blissfully short day compared to 9 to 7 today. Busy, busy, busy, lots of fans really loving the games, good signings with a couple authors in the booth, got to see Matt Forbeck again, the author of Mirrorstone’s Knights of the Silver Dragon series. We took him and a few others out to dinner last night and I can happily report that he’s a really great guy who really loves fantasy and telling stories.
Also, today, spent a lovely lunch with and at a really beautiful Thai place a couple blocks from the convention center. (After, of course, the obligatory cell calls including such phrases as “where are you?” and “I’m wearing such and such.” And of course the “Don’t go upstairs.” “Go upstairs? Really? Okay, I’ll go upstairs.” “No, don’t go up the stairs!” Reception in that hall, especially in that crowd, just was just terrible.)
It was nice just to sit down for a while! Bu
t the highlight was getting to pick their brains and to just get to know them a little better. Cecil Castellucci (aka ribinder) has a new book out called Queen of Cool that I’ve been meaning to pick up since it came out, because her characters are geek girls. I highly recommend her first book, Boy Proof, about a girl who is obsessed with a science fiction movie. And Holly Black (blackholly) is the author of Tithe, Valiant, and the Spiderwick series, as well as the forthcoming Ironside. Both authors are smart, funny, and experts in the YA field.
Waiting for room service to arrive now. I realized, happily, that I didn’t have any dinners or parties to go to, so I’m sitting here watching Behind Enemy Lines (I think that’s the name of it…) and getting kind of hungry, putting my feet up, and just relaxing for the first night in days. I’m ready to go home now, thank you. I miss my kitties, too.
This just in:
There are fireworks going off over the marina outside my window! How cool! If I had a tripod, I’d take a picture, but everyone pretty much knows what fireworks look like anyway.

This morning, I had a dream that the events manager–the person in charge of running shows–was the person also in charge of acquisitions for books, etc. So she and I were going on a walk in my dream, and I was basically chasing her trying to convince her to acquire a certain kind of fish sandwich. She kept balking because someone else had already gotten her to acquire her fish sandwich. Somehow in the midst of this argument, we both got roped into a table on the side of the street that was getting people to apply for a local community college which was Harvard in disguise–and I found this out because a woman asked me if she applied now (summer), did it mean she would be admitted to Harvard in the winter?
Somehow a motor boat and my managing editor were involved, too, but I can’t remember why at this point.