Current t-shirt - plain white under a cashmere sweater.
Current music - NPR. (Ok, it's not music, but Nina Tottenburg is hot.)
Day and Rene are coming today. Day's my friend in DC who is (self-described) a sleazy lobbyist. Actually, she's disability coordinator for the American Psychological Association.
Day comes with a guide dog, Vinnie, the wonder-idiot. The last guide-dog was smarter. Vinnie's a bit of an ADHD child. My apartment is kinda tiny, so this should be interesting.
Also four people mit dog in an apartment, and then we all form a caravan to go down and see Carmen at the Met.
BTW, David Thewlis, who plays Remus Lupin in the Harry Potter films has a book out. Damn him, but he can write. No, let me remedy that. Fuck him. I read twelve pages looked up and said "this guy could win the Booker."
It's called "The Late Hector Kipling."
Love and British character actors,
The Red Pooka!
Friday, October 26, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Thoughts on Book Publicists
Some get it, some don't. I'm going to try to make this into an article and publish it somewhere.
How to handle reviewers. I'm sorry, but dealing with us is a bit like herding cats, or at least greased pigs.
But here are the dos and don'ts
Do
1) Get us the galley/xerox/PDF as fast as possible. It's more important that we have something in hand than that we have something pretty.
2) Put the pub date at the top of all publicity materials. Preferably in large print. Actually, we'd like it in flashing neon, if you've got it.
3) Tell us if the pub date slips.
4) Let us know the book's genre in the first two sentences.
5) Be respectful of our contracts, many of which have strict ethics guidelines about contact with the publisher, disclosing information to the publisher, meeting authors, and accepting gifts.
6) Send books to PO Boxes. Many of us don't have doormen and do part (or full) time work apart from our writing. So we have PO Boxes. (If this is a problem or a huge expense, let us know: there may be some wiggle room.)
7) Have faith in us. Most of us do this because we like telling people about good books they should be reading. That's what gives us our buzz.
Don't
1) Ask us if or when a review will run. Often we don't know, and often our contracts stipulate that we aren't supposed to discuss the inner workings of the places where we review. Sometimes we mention it, sometimes we don't. Please leave it to our discretion and don't inquire.
2) Introduce us to the author. We aren't supposed to know the people whose books we review.
3) Send us gifts or freebees that aren't books. Many contracts stipulate that we can't accept gifts.
4) If you ask us out to lunch, and we refuse or ask to split the bill, don't be offended. Some of our contracts say we can't accept meals.
5) Omit the pub date.
6) Require that we fax review copy request on letterhead. Freelancers often don't have access to letterhead.
Love and rules,
The Red Pooka!
How to handle reviewers. I'm sorry, but dealing with us is a bit like herding cats, or at least greased pigs.
But here are the dos and don'ts
Do
1) Get us the galley/xerox/PDF as fast as possible. It's more important that we have something in hand than that we have something pretty.
2) Put the pub date at the top of all publicity materials. Preferably in large print. Actually, we'd like it in flashing neon, if you've got it.
3) Tell us if the pub date slips.
4) Let us know the book's genre in the first two sentences.
5) Be respectful of our contracts, many of which have strict ethics guidelines about contact with the publisher, disclosing information to the publisher, meeting authors, and accepting gifts.
6) Send books to PO Boxes. Many of us don't have doormen and do part (or full) time work apart from our writing. So we have PO Boxes. (If this is a problem or a huge expense, let us know: there may be some wiggle room.)
7) Have faith in us. Most of us do this because we like telling people about good books they should be reading. That's what gives us our buzz.
Don't
1) Ask us if or when a review will run. Often we don't know, and often our contracts stipulate that we aren't supposed to discuss the inner workings of the places where we review. Sometimes we mention it, sometimes we don't. Please leave it to our discretion and don't inquire.
2) Introduce us to the author. We aren't supposed to know the people whose books we review.
3) Send us gifts or freebees that aren't books. Many contracts stipulate that we can't accept gifts.
4) If you ask us out to lunch, and we refuse or ask to split the bill, don't be offended. Some of our contracts say we can't accept meals.
5) Omit the pub date.
6) Require that we fax review copy request on letterhead. Freelancers often don't have access to letterhead.
Love and rules,
The Red Pooka!
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Small hells of journalism
Current t-shirt: Infiniit character with funky wings and tennis shoes.
Current music: Bruce Springstein, "Devils & Dust."
By which I mean transcribing. Love interviewing, hate transcribing. And I hate the thought of having someone else transcribe. Even if I could afford it, it's like paying someone else to do your stinky underwear. Convenient, but hardly honorable.
Spent the day transcribing tapes of two interviews with Booz Allen Hamilton employees. They're involved with Urban Enterprise Initiative. The name sounds like some ponzi scheme or con-game, but it's actually a noble venture. Booz Allen people are volunteering their expertise with business to small businesses in Harlem - good ma & pop places that might not otherwise be able to survive the new 'hip' 125th St. area.
[Ever notice how, once the '90s went away, so did all those little ironic tic-marks?]
Anyway, they speak in business-speak, but they're fighting the good fight.
***
Another small hell of journalism - I made the common mistake of writing two pieces without a contract in hand. I was expecting one amount, and so may get another. I wrote my boss, let's call her Margaret the Martian, a letter saying what I thought the two pieces were worth and the price for the book review section I'm already putting together (which she has okayed).
Ms. Martian hasn't gotten back to me. Neither has her rather sweet henchman.
By the way, never write for someone before googling them. Ever. Found out Ms. Martian has a slightly shady past. I wish it were something cool, like drug trafficking, or moon-lighting as a striptease. That I can respect. But plagiarism? Ick.
Love and my burned ass,
The Red Pooka!
Current music: Bruce Springstein, "Devils & Dust."
By which I mean transcribing. Love interviewing, hate transcribing. And I hate the thought of having someone else transcribe. Even if I could afford it, it's like paying someone else to do your stinky underwear. Convenient, but hardly honorable.
Spent the day transcribing tapes of two interviews with Booz Allen Hamilton employees. They're involved with Urban Enterprise Initiative. The name sounds like some ponzi scheme or con-game, but it's actually a noble venture. Booz Allen people are volunteering their expertise with business to small businesses in Harlem - good ma & pop places that might not otherwise be able to survive the new 'hip' 125th St. area.
[Ever notice how, once the '90s went away, so did all those little ironic tic-marks?]
Anyway, they speak in business-speak, but they're fighting the good fight.
***
Another small hell of journalism - I made the common mistake of writing two pieces without a contract in hand. I was expecting one amount, and so may get another. I wrote my boss, let's call her Margaret the Martian, a letter saying what I thought the two pieces were worth and the price for the book review section I'm already putting together (which she has okayed).
Ms. Martian hasn't gotten back to me. Neither has her rather sweet henchman.
By the way, never write for someone before googling them. Ever. Found out Ms. Martian has a slightly shady past. I wish it were something cool, like drug trafficking, or moon-lighting as a striptease. That I can respect. But plagiarism? Ick.
Love and my burned ass,
The Red Pooka!
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Tea with Wasserman
Current t-shirt: button-down, I'm afraid (went out today).
Current music: Haven't turned it on, yet, but am considering Gillian Welsh.
Had tea today with Steve Wasserman, formerly Book Review editor of the LATimes. Surely old curmudgeon and really refreshing. He's from the old school, where book reviewing means a literary discussion, ala Edmund Wilson, or at least Susan Sontag.
He's doing a new book review section for TruthDigg.com, and of course, I pitched myself. Trying to be helpful, I also suggested an acquaintance of mine, LS, who write for the NYT Book Review. He paused, and said no.
Inside, I jumped. LS publishes regularly for the NYTBR and for a lot of other places, as well.
Wasserman, whom I believe used to wear all white, but does so no longer, said that he found her completely competent, but that the day after reading one of her reviews, he could remember a damned thing she said.
Inside, I went hmm.
I asked him if, after reading something I'd read, he'd ever been able to remember it the next day. Wasserman is nothing if not honest. He paused, thought, and said no.
Inside, I withered a bit. Then went hmm again.
I told him how, in book reviewing, there was subtle pressure not to ever trash anything, or to have edgy conversations. That it felt as though it was no longer the done thing. I mentioned that I'd tried it within memory with the San Francisco Chronicle, over Karen Armstrongs "A Short History of Myth," which was full of a lot of the pro-Goddess bullshit that archaeologists and historians began to give up mid-century, and had gotten my hand slapped. (I'd also tried it dissing Shalom Auslander's first book, which I compared to writing the Torah on toilet paper, then using it, but didn't mention it. In both cases, I'd been taken to task for having unkind opinions.)
Therefore, I tended not to diss things or get edgy. I like my paycheck, you see.
This made him go hmm. Then he said he was angry. I agreed, but what can one do?
So I am going to try to write reviews that Wasserman can remember the next day. Be a bit more edgy. Take some risks. Life is too short to spend it with a mouth full of other people's words.
Love and Hard Tack,
The Red Pooka!
Current music: Haven't turned it on, yet, but am considering Gillian Welsh.
Had tea today with Steve Wasserman, formerly Book Review editor of the LATimes. Surely old curmudgeon and really refreshing. He's from the old school, where book reviewing means a literary discussion, ala Edmund Wilson, or at least Susan Sontag.
He's doing a new book review section for TruthDigg.com, and of course, I pitched myself. Trying to be helpful, I also suggested an acquaintance of mine, LS, who write for the NYT Book Review. He paused, and said no.
Inside, I jumped. LS publishes regularly for the NYTBR and for a lot of other places, as well.
Wasserman, whom I believe used to wear all white, but does so no longer, said that he found her completely competent, but that the day after reading one of her reviews, he could remember a damned thing she said.
Inside, I went hmm.
I asked him if, after reading something I'd read, he'd ever been able to remember it the next day. Wasserman is nothing if not honest. He paused, thought, and said no.
Inside, I withered a bit. Then went hmm again.
I told him how, in book reviewing, there was subtle pressure not to ever trash anything, or to have edgy conversations. That it felt as though it was no longer the done thing. I mentioned that I'd tried it within memory with the San Francisco Chronicle, over Karen Armstrongs "A Short History of Myth," which was full of a lot of the pro-Goddess bullshit that archaeologists and historians began to give up mid-century, and had gotten my hand slapped. (I'd also tried it dissing Shalom Auslander's first book, which I compared to writing the Torah on toilet paper, then using it, but didn't mention it. In both cases, I'd been taken to task for having unkind opinions.)
Therefore, I tended not to diss things or get edgy. I like my paycheck, you see.
This made him go hmm. Then he said he was angry. I agreed, but what can one do?
So I am going to try to write reviews that Wasserman can remember the next day. Be a bit more edgy. Take some risks. Life is too short to spend it with a mouth full of other people's words.
Love and Hard Tack,
The Red Pooka!
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
At home, writing.
Working on another piece. Is this life for me now? Get up, go to the desk... Golly, I even look forward to commutes when I have them.
Down side: I've forgotten how to get ready to go out the door. No more 20 min from bed to subway. Like, an hour now. If I'm lucky.
Yesterday was Chinese herbs. Today is Booz Allen doing philanthropy. Then a book review section to put together. I'm mixing manga with Jacques Couteau, want to see if they get along.
Then a review about a book about a Viking woman who turned up in the Eddas (or is it the Sagas) and in archaeololgy. I used to love the Eddas when I was a child. They're all rhythmic and wierd-namey.
Or maybe I'll switch the Viking woman with the book review section. Set Gudrid to sorting out the mer-man and the big-eyed Japanese girls.
There's gotta be more to life than this.
Oh well. Wandrin' the Bridge of Sighs in my mind.
Love and lack of exercise,
The Red Pooka!
Down side: I've forgotten how to get ready to go out the door. No more 20 min from bed to subway. Like, an hour now. If I'm lucky.
Yesterday was Chinese herbs. Today is Booz Allen doing philanthropy. Then a book review section to put together. I'm mixing manga with Jacques Couteau, want to see if they get along.
Then a review about a book about a Viking woman who turned up in the Eddas (or is it the Sagas) and in archaeololgy. I used to love the Eddas when I was a child. They're all rhythmic and wierd-namey.
Or maybe I'll switch the Viking woman with the book review section. Set Gudrid to sorting out the mer-man and the big-eyed Japanese girls.
There's gotta be more to life than this.
Oh well. Wandrin' the Bridge of Sighs in my mind.
Love and lack of exercise,
The Red Pooka!
Monday, October 1, 2007
Panelling the walls...
The panel went well. My power is in my voice - I can purr with it. Sound reasonable. Simply have to remember to. Like my magic weapon, or something.
But the panelists were all good at what they do and reasonable. Young, too, so they didn't need wrangling so much as being made to feel safe. Some tremendous talent, though. Yali Lin - I fear she's so good and such a speed demon, publishers may work her to death. Nikki Cook is frighteningly smart, and Miss Lasko-Gross gets to the gravy of how fucked up with psychology was the 20th century.
No one I knew made it, but the house was full. I'm not a big name, but the series is getting a bit of notoriety. Maybe I'll be a name eventually. Maybe I'll get that column with the LAT.
Maybe I'll change my name to Hepzibah. My mom almost named me Hepzibah. Hepzibah the pooka.
Love and good woodworking,
The Red Pooka!
But the panelists were all good at what they do and reasonable. Young, too, so they didn't need wrangling so much as being made to feel safe. Some tremendous talent, though. Yali Lin - I fear she's so good and such a speed demon, publishers may work her to death. Nikki Cook is frighteningly smart, and Miss Lasko-Gross gets to the gravy of how fucked up with psychology was the 20th century.
No one I knew made it, but the house was full. I'm not a big name, but the series is getting a bit of notoriety. Maybe I'll be a name eventually. Maybe I'll get that column with the LAT.
Maybe I'll change my name to Hepzibah. My mom almost named me Hepzibah. Hepzibah the pooka.
Love and good woodworking,
The Red Pooka!
Out of the blue
Current t-shirt: Tie-dyed flower on purple (vintage)
Current music: Sunset Rubdown (because Spesner Krug is a god)
Check out Daytrotter for a taste: http://www.daytrotter.com/article/98/sunset-rubdown-feature-band-june-12
Tonight I host a panel on young women in comics. The gist is that women are set to take over comics, and will probably do a better job than men. And oddly, having women take over is taking a marginalized form and bringing it mainstream. How's that for lit-crit turnaround?
Anyway, here's the low-down:
MoCCA Monday, October 1st - New Voices in Comics: A Friends of Lulu Panel
There are more girls and women reading, writing, drawing, and enjoying comics today than ever before. Comics creators Hilary Florido, Miss Lasko-Gross, Yali Lin, and Danica Novgorodoff discuss their backgrounds, starting out in the comics industry, and how the graphic novel revolution the publishing industry has undergone affected their work and their opportunities. Moderated by Laurel Maury of Publisher's Weekly.
Starts at 6:30. I have to get there at 6:00.
Odd being asked to do something. To have people return my phone calls. I'm just a girl from Maryland, and not a terrifically successful one. I was invited to do this thing out of the blue.
Love and primary colors,
The Red Pooka!
Current music: Sunset Rubdown (because Spesner Krug is a god)
Check out Daytrotter for a taste: http://www.daytrotter.com/article/98/sunset-rubdown-feature-band-june-12
Tonight I host a panel on young women in comics. The gist is that women are set to take over comics, and will probably do a better job than men. And oddly, having women take over is taking a marginalized form and bringing it mainstream. How's that for lit-crit turnaround?
Anyway, here's the low-down:
MoCCA Monday, October 1st - New Voices in Comics: A Friends of Lulu Panel
There are more girls and women reading, writing, drawing, and enjoying comics today than ever before. Comics creators Hilary Florido, Miss Lasko-Gross, Yali Lin, and Danica Novgorodoff discuss their backgrounds, starting out in the comics industry, and how the graphic novel revolution the publishing industry has undergone affected their work and their opportunities. Moderated by Laurel Maury of Publisher's Weekly.
Starts at 6:30. I have to get there at 6:00.
Odd being asked to do something. To have people return my phone calls. I'm just a girl from Maryland, and not a terrifically successful one. I was invited to do this thing out of the blue.
Love and primary colors,
The Red Pooka!
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