Just Droppin' In...

I wanted to make sure to put in an appearance...I was out of town all weekend endur--I mean, enjoying family fun time, which evidently makes me ill, since I now have a head cold. That's my excuse, and I'm stickin' to it. If I still feel bad tomorrow, I might have to put off this week's Toon Thursday, which makes me sad. But sometimes it has to be done.

I'm hopelessly behind on blogs, too, but I've got a few links for y'all. One is that the 2008 Children's Choice Book Award winners were announced--YA-wise, the major (though unsurprising) bit of news there was that J.K. Rowling won the Author of the Year Award. Did I mention I wasn't surprised? Yeah.

Next, a few Narnia-inspired news bits. On Cynsations, Cynthia Leitich Smith interviews Herbie Brennan on his latest editorial project, Through the Wardrobe: Your Favorite Authors on C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia. He contributed an essay, along with Ned Vizzini, Sarah Beth Durst, Brent Hartinger, Elizabeth Wein, and many others. It sounds like a fascinating project if you're a Narnia fan. Secondly, though there are a few spoilers, you won't want to miss Fuse #8's Caspian vs. Caspian--Betsy's take on comparing the book to the movie is quite amusing. If you haven't clicked that link yet, let me just say this: Susan + Caspian + tongue action.

On the writing front, though I'm working on finishing a first draft, I'm also going back to revise my last "finished" draft with an eye to characterization, since those are the types of comments I received (when I received any) from agents. In addition to good old-fashioned brainstorming--writing down any and every idea, no matter how ridiculous--I'm also going to do some writing exercises from a book I like called What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter. It's just one of those books I randomly picked up ages ago, but it's helpful for sparking ideas. Anybody out there have writing-related books whose advice they swear by?