NCTE San Antonio, financial melt down in publishing

Just back from San Antonio, and the exhilaration of NCTE, National Council of Teachers of English. I did a panel with some fantastic non-fiction children's writers: Marc Aronson, (very cool blog on School Library Journal) Tanya Bolden, and Tanya Stone. Great writers, highly opinionated. Fast-paced discussion about how we work, how to use our books in the classroom, all moderated by Teri Lesesne, who managed to keep us all on track!

Of course, the one thing I forgot to pack was my camera. So I don't have any pictures to show. But spirits were high as I rambled around the floor.

But I think everyone was wondering what NCTE would be like next year with the financial melt down that is going on. Want some info and ideas what you can do? Zip over to Editorial Ass today to check out her blog on what's happening in the publishing industry and how each of us can do one. small. random. act. of. kindness. to keep the kettle boiling. She's an amazing blogger, an editor who writes beautifully and with heart and lots of info. I always love her posts.

How is Writing a Book Like Falling In Love?

Every writer I know does completely unique work. But the weird part is... the process is so similar. In my on-line reading/writing/illustrating group, we've been having a good round of dark humor over the fickleness of the muse -- when this angelic creature doesn't hover over us, glitter and inspiration drifting down from her gently beating wings, we get pissed off. We get whiney, annoyed, demanding. We want to drag her out of the sky, sit her down (hard) and force her to dictate! her! inspiring! words! I'm betting we aren't the easiest people to live with when we're in muse-strangling mode.

Here's Libba Bray, with her totally unique take on the oh-so-painfully-similar process writers go through. It'll either give you shivers of recognition, or make you laugh so hard you snort coffee up your nose, like Editorial Ass. Or both.