Zetta Elliott's Blog, page 107

what's in a wish?

Really thoughtful reviews always make my day!  I love it when readers want *more* from the novel, and I wish the AmazonEncore edition made it clear that there's a sequel in the works.  Calico Reaction has posted this evaluation (and a longer review here):

Must Have: Despite my brain hopping around demanding certain answers, I understand that my desire for knowledge shouldn't handicap this book in any way, because really, it all depends on the reader, and I can't make a blanket formula that'll...

move on

Mercury is retrograde.  I read my horoscope yesterday and apparently there are great things ahead, but for now I'm stuck in a funk.  I did write a new chapter earlier this week, and hope to finish another before the week ends, but for now I'm just cranky and fed up with this 95-degree weather.  When does autumn begin?  I want rainy days and gray skies and fallen leaves crunching beneath my heel.  I want sweaters and scarves and days spent immersed in a good book…I've got orientation this...

confession

I don't like reading about rich people.  There—I said it.  I've withheld a few reviews lately because I'm aware of this bias and feel it could potentially distort my assessment of books and films that focus on the trials and tribulations of the rich.  Boo hoo; the tiniest violin in the world is playing for you, wealthy white woman who shops all day for designer clothes, throws lavish dinner parties, and somehow winds up bored with her life.  I love Tilda Swinton, but I *knew* I Am Love was...

racebending

There's a lot of discouraging crap in the news these days—namely Glenn Beck's ridiculous rally to "restore honor" in government and "take back the Civil Rights Movement."  Because I guess it's been "hijacked" by black people, right?  And our "racist" black president who hates white folks.  For analysis, check out Jon Stewart's breakdown of "Professor Beck" and his step by step directions on how to be a patriotic, God-fearing, independent thinker…

Many thanks to Tarie for pointing out some...

tune in on Saturday!

NBC Nightly News Date Change

Author Renée Watson & illustrator Shadra Strickland are back from New Orleans!  The segment on A PLACE WHERE HURRICANES HAPPEN has changed and will now air on SATURDAY, August 28th on NBC Nightly News.  Check your local listing for time and channel.

can you read this?

Plays are meant to be staged, but what happens when you turn them into a book?  I started this discussion on Facebook, but thought I'd post an excerpt here so you can see what I'm talking about.  This excerpt from my play Mother Load is done in standard play format–is it readable?

Characters would be described briefly at the very start of the play—from that point on, you'd have to remember who's who:

List of Characters

Cleo:  black woman playwright about to turn 60; she is gregarious, magnetic, ...

Her Circle

Thanks to the women over at Her Circle Ezine for giving me a chance to contribute to their Writer's Life column.  Check out "Framing the Past," my meditation on the challenges of representing the trauma of the Middle Passage…

Love YA Lit

There's a great new YA site in the blogosphere—check out Em and Nora over at Love YA Lit.  Emily and I met at the Hudson Book Festival this past spring, and she was kind enough to interview me in advance of her review of Wish, which will go up next week…

This is an interesting blog that focuses on the history and experiences of black people in Europe.  This particular post only includes images of black men (Ignatius Sancho, below), but I've already got a novel in mind about African-descended w...

time travel: science vs. symbolism

I never took physics in high school, so the scientific possibility of time travel doesn't really interest me.  I recently wrote a guest post in which I tried to explain just why shifting time matters to a writer like me:

…the time-travel device enables me to recreate the jarring experience of dislocation that my ancestors endured.  Torn from their families and cultures, stripped of their languages and religions, and thrust into a violent, unjust, and confusing country, these survivors quite...

support prison libraries

Prisoners' Reading

Encouragement Project

" providing reading and educational materials to prisoners

through gifts to prison libraries"

P LEASE DO NOT GIVE US BOOKS THAT YOU WOULD NOT GIVE TO A FRIEND.  WE CAN ONLY USE BOOKS  THAT ARE CURRENT AND IN VERY GOOD CONDITION.  Our goal is to make reading appealing to incarcerated men and women who might not otherwise pick up a book.  We cannot use "old books."  In general, we request that you not give us books printed...