Most of the writers I know work every day, in obscurity and close to poverty, trying to say one thing well and true. Day in, day out, they labor to find their voice, to learn their trade, to understand nuance and pace. And then, facing a sea of rejections, they hear about something like Barbara Bush’s dog getting a book deal.
It's a great article, and not only because he works in a Chris Farley SNL quote ("La-di-frickin’-da!" Farley says. "We got ourselves a writer here!"). It also ends by pointing out that our upcoming president has written quite a good book, which is perhaps a hopeful note.
Although I failed utterly at MotherReader's Comment Challenge, my attention was drawn to the fabulous resource for kidlit blogs located on Anastasia Suen's page, and perhaps I'll make a New Year's resolution to try to explore more kidlit blogs, and, yes, comment on them. I can always dream, anyway.
PSSST!! A certain blogger's book entitled A La Carte is being recommended this month by the Postergirlz--woo hoo!!! Also makes a great gift!
3 comments:
We love A La Carte!
(May I have a side of rice?)
When I interviewed Elisha Cooper a while back, for the ask-yourself-a-question question, he said:
"'Should celebrities write children’s books?'
Sure, but if they write the words, it would be good if they also illustrated the book to make clear that they have no talent. In fact, I’d like to take this random opportunity to throw-down and say that if you’re an actor or a celebrity, stay the hell out of our business. It’s a free country, fine. But here’s the deal: you can write children's books as long as we can star in movies."
I thought those were fighting words and that perhaps BACA would love that. I also talked with an illustrator recently who said, would you take your kid to a celebrity pediatrician? I thought this was good food-for-thought. She also said she wishes the celebs all thought that actually CARING for (needy) children was the hot vocation, instead of writing bad books for them. To which I believe I yelled, AMEN!
Hey, I'm okay with a celebrity writing a book as long as that celebrity writes under a pen name, and no one, not even the agent or the editor, knows who the celebrity truly is. If that celebrity can write a good enough book to make it through the slush on its own merits, go for it. Anything else is akin to cutting in the lunch line when there are limited numbers of sandwiches.
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