Jo Knowles's Blog, page 42

I hate the C word

Pete Hautman talks about the recent censorship battle in Humble, Texas:

http://petehautman.blogspot.com/2010/08/nasty-thing-in-corner.html

My favorite line:

"The political and philosophical problem of censorship, in all its forms, harms all of us, and each of us has a responsibility to fight it."

Yes.

Having gone through the battle myself, I feel the rage of injustice. It's not so much the removal of the book for me (or in this case, the AUTHOR!), so much as it is HOW the book/author is removed. T...

Glad that's done

For the past several days, I've been carefully reading the final pages of PEARL.



It is very hard to concentrate when you have an eleven year old constantly checking on your progress with, "Can we do something yet? When can we? Are you almost done? How much longer? Now? How many minutes? I want to BEEEEE with you."

So, I gave him a new book and we all worked together.



I just hit "send" and the changes are waiting in my editor's in-box. Looking at the manuscript for the, oh, what feels like MILLI...

Show and Tell and Some Practical Advice (not really)

Last night, final pages for PEARL arrived. It's so cool to see what the pages are going to look like after seeing them in manuscript form for so many years long.

It's like looking at your baby for the first time. What will she look like? Will she look like me? In other words, will the book still feel like it's mine? Will it reflect my heart? I was so nervous as I opened the envelop. But when I pulled out the pages and flipped ahead to the title page, the one word that came to mind was, YES.


(E...

How Writing Friends Are Like The AAA-Guy

This past weekend, I spent my time in Florida at a Club Med resort with several other writers and three agents. This was my seventh year attending this retreat, hosted and organized by my agent, Barry Goldblatt.

Every year, I meet new people. New writers and experienced writers. People from all over. And every year, I am amazed at the kindness and warmth these writers provide.

We talk about our families and our work. We share ups and downs. Triumphs and challenges. New ideas. Tricks. Advice f...

What I've learned so far

I'm hanging out at the Baltimore airport waiting for my connecting flight to West Palm Beach, FL. I haven't even reached my destination and already I have learned lots of things!

1. Even though you REALLY want to set the guy behind you straight on his misinformed and highly offensive political views, it is best to stay quiet in case you have to sit next to him on the plane.

2. When you don't want to talk to your seatmate, look busy.

3. If you're trying to look busy, you may as well ACTUALLY get ...

I'm leaving, on a jet plane (la la la)

But, barring flight delays (please no), I know when I'll be back again (Sunday). :-)

Trying to pack in the sweltering heat knowing you are traveling toward even more sweltering heat COULD be a downer. But since I know I'll be hanging out with wonderful, inspiring people all weekend, I don't mind a bit. Plus: There are pools!

I'm taking my manuscript with me and hoping to really dive into my revisions. I've read through my editor's notes and have done a lot of brainstorming. But no actual writin...

Construction vs. Revision

My son finished camps for the summer just when my edits arrived. Luckily, he just had a birthday and received things that require assembly. So, we've been working together constructing (him) and reconstructing (me). Here's what my dining room table looks like:



Yesterday, my parents came over with a new basketball hoop (the kind with its own stand). The catch is that it was still in the box. It took all five of us three hours to get the thing put together because the instructions were so compli...

TGIF-5!

1. All of my edits for SEE YOU AT HARRY'S have arrived.

I know I'm a dork, but I am really excited to get to work. There's just one change I don't want to make, but I know in the end I'll realize it's essential. For now though, I have the "But but but but..." feeling. Sometimes it's hard to let go.

2. The boy really is eleven.

Last night we went to my in-laws for dinner to celebrate and my mother-in-law had taken out the baby albums for us to ooh and aah over. E kept commenting on how YOUNG Pe...

Eleven

I can't believe he is eleven today.

Wasn't this just yesterday?



And yet, he still has those moments of quiet looking.



But today, it's all about the mini golf. ;-)

A gift from Mette

If you are an aspiring author, please go read this. Hope!

Thank you, Mette!