Annie Cardi's Blog, page 47

Remember, Honor, Share

Today in the US marks Memorial Day, during which we remember and pay tribute to men and women who died in the armed forces. Amber Lough, one of my favorite 2014 debut authors and a former First Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, has a beautiful post up about what it means to remember and honor those lost in service.

For me, Amber’s post is also a reminder of how important it is to share stories. Some veterans might find it hard to talk about their experiences; some might not be around to share those experiences themselves. But I appreciate when people like Amber can talk a little about what she and others experienced and how it changed them. I’m so glad Amber is sharing stories now, both from her own life (as in her blog post) and from her imagination (as in her awesome novel).

Make sure to check out Amber’s post. Sending love to all feeling loss on Memorial Day.

Friday Fifteen

So glad it’s Friday! Let’s start the long weekend with some fifteen-word (or less!) book reviews.

1. Beauty by Robin McKinley

My favorite Beauty and the Beast novel. Love that Beauty is close to her sisters.

2. The Crucible by Arthur Miller

Excellent look at society terrorized by hate, hysteria. Would ove to see a good production.

3. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton

Burton’s illustrations are fantastic, and I love a good inanimate object story.

4. Dawn’s Wicked Stepsister (The Baby-Sitters Club #31) by Ann M. Martin

Not everything’s ideal when your mom marries your BFF’s dad? Who could have foreseen this?

5. Poems on the Underground ed. by Gerard Benson, Judith Chernaik, Cicecy Herbert

Collection of classic and contemporary poetry featured on the Tube. Such a cool project!

My Reading Rules

At BookRiot, Jeanette Solomon talks about her “reading rules”–her own personal reading code, including when to stop reading (at the end of a chapter) and how to use bookmarks. This, of course, got me thinking about my own reading rules. So in no particular order:

1. It’s okay to read multiple books at the same time. Sometimes your nightly reading is a giant tome and you need a smaller volume to carry on the train. Sometimes you need to balance out Moby-Dick with some fluffy YA romance.

2. Thou shalt not dogear. Bookmarks (or receipts or plane tickets) were invented for a reason.

3. Rereading is encouraged. You don’t just have chocolate cake once in your life and move on because there are other desserts, right?

4. If you give a book as a gift, hope that it’s something the receiver will enjoy but don’t be weird and pressure-y about it. Sometimes a gift-book just isn’t your style. Also, readers already have a lot on their reading lists without book impositions; sometimes they mean to get to your book but want to read others first.

5. If you have given a book a good chance and, halfway through, still don’t like or care about it, you can stop reading it. (But beware: you can’t really claim to have read it unless you’ve finished it.)

6. If someone lends you a book, you need to do your best to return it. If you lend someone else a book, assume it’s gone forever and then be pleasantly surprised when the lender returns it to you.

7. Don’t shame someone’s favorite books. You may not love Twilight or The Da Vinci Code, but some people do and it doesn’t put them on par with puppy-kickers.

8. Say it with me: books are not coasters.

9. Don’t peak ahead at the ending. If you have to look ahead to see how many pages are left, try to avoid glancing at any actual text.

10. Marginalia must be stopped. I want to read the book, not your notes.

For more book rule goodness sure to check out the original BookRiot post and Leila’s list at bookshelves of doom, as well as the comments in each post. (I know, it’s like the one time it’s okay to read the comments.)

Are you pro-bookmark/dogearing/marginalia? Share your reading rules in the comments!

(images: Mo Riza; Madelinetosh; Brendan Murphy)

Gif vs. Jif: Keep Your Peanut Butter Out of My Moving Images

Apparently, the creator of the gif says that the term is pronounced like the peanut butter brand, Jif. I can’t see how this can be true because, as Salvador Rodriguez points out in his article: “But why “jif” and not “gif?” I mean, its a “graphical” interface format, not a “jraphical” one, right?”

My question: can you create a word and get its pronunciation wrong?

Yes. Because I’m on team gif. When I hear someone pronounce it jif, this is me:

Sorry, Wilhite. I will always appreciate what you did for the internet and how I express my emotions, but I can’t stand with you on this one.

PS–I’m going to pretend this post is related to writing because it’s about language. That counts, right? Whatever, more gifs!

Links Galore

Links help us through Tuesday:

Forget book-shaming.
Even though last week I had to stop hating Amy, I can still get on board with loathing some of these characters who are not technically villains but are still hate-worthy.
How booksellers plan their inventory, aka returns are my new nightmare.
Sad to lose Bernard Waber; I remember being seven, reading Ira Sleeps Over and thinking “Yes, that’s just what it’s like.”
How to survive BEA. (Hint: comfy shoes are key!)
And if you’re in tired of the BEA events, SLJ has some suggestions for more general New York fun.
I want to see a yarn bomb!
Virginia Woolf sounds pretty much like I thought she would, which makes me unreasonably happy.
Thoughtful response to Maureen Johnson’s call for cover flips.
Guys. You can bid for first editions of novels with personal annotations from their authors. Like JK Rowling. GUYS.

Don’t Mention the Mess and Other Polite Ways of Dealing with Authors

In case you were wondering how to interact with an authoress, this etiquette book from 1839 has some helpful suggestions, including accepting the state of an authoress’s writing desk:

At least I’m not the only authoress with an untidy desk. Make sure to click through for more helpful suggestions.

(via Paul Collins, H/T The Paris Review)

Friday Fifteen

Finally Friday! And a beautiful Friday here, so let’s kick the weekend off with some good ol’ fifteen-word book reviews:

1. Bee Season by Myla Goldberg

Enjoyed the first half, didn’t connect with the second–didn’t feel like the same characters.

2. Emily’s Runaway Imagination by Beverly Cleary

Made me realize there were a few Salems in the US. Some outdated racial awkwardness.

3. The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

A romantic comedy with stunningly complex characters. Portia can be cruel, Shylock can be sympathetic.

4. We Are in a Book by Mo Willems

Metafiction for the preschool set, as only Willems can do.

5. Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen

Robin Hood with a kickass lady thief? Teen Annie would have been all over this!

Em Dashes, Fact Checks, and Timelines: Fun with Copyedits

I love getting mail with this letterhead.

One step closer to publication–copyedits!

Copyedits are different than the editorial letters you may get from your editor. These all deal with the nitty-gritty of your manuscript–consistent spelling, where the commas should be, if your character is supposed to be going to the moon on a Tuesday or Wednesday, etc. Basically, copyeditors are like Nancy Drews for the book world.

This week I received my copy-edited manuscript from Candlewick and, thankfully, it was a pretty painless process. This is probably helped by the fact that I a) have worked in publishing, so I’m familiar with the process/terms and b) I’m a huge grammar nerd at heart. I feel like copyediting is basically a game in which you have to find all the secret, hidden mistakes. Get all the points with correct grammar!

A few things my copyeditor caught:

The manuscript!

When I switched the spelling of one minor character’s last name and then switched it back.
Missing words in quotes by Amelia Earhart (which is probably why I shouldn’t try to type while holding a book open).
That if Halloween is on a Sunday, Christmas shouldn’t fall on a Tuesday.
Missing commas (a comma fan like I am was only too happy to put them in).
When I try to use words that almost sound like the one I actually meant to use.

I’m so happy that someone went through my manuscript and was able to pick out all these little errors that would have looked so horrific in print. And I’m even more psyched that this means we’ve taken another big step in the editorial process!

Links Galore

A few fun links for today:

An excellent post on why we shouldn’t hate Amy March. (I know. I didn’t believe it could be possible to not hate Amy.)
Fellow classic lit fan Stephanie rereads The Great Gatsby and notes how awesome the prose is.
I’m kind of relieved that even awesomely-titled novels once had horrible original titles. Titles ain’t easy!
Journals weren’t always so private.
Are you up for the 48 Hour Book Challenge? I’ve never done it before and am tempted.

The Invisible Thread: the Anniversary of Mrs. Dallwoay

Buy the flowers yourself, like Clarissa!

Today in literary history, Virginia Woolf’s classic Mrs. Dalloway was published in 1925. It’s one of my favorite books–the plot is simple, but the writing is so gorgeous. I love how Woolf imbues the everyday with so much meaning. And it makes me feel a deep connection with other people. For example, one part that sticks with me is when Lady Bruton imagines her connection with Richard Dalloway and Hugh Whitbread after they leave her home:

“And they went further and further from her, being attached to her by a thin thread (since they had lunched with her) which would stretch and stretch, get thinner and thinner as they walked across London; as if one’s friends were attached to one’s body, after lunching with them, by a thin thread, which (as she dozed there) became hazy with the sound of bells, striking the hour or ringing to service, as a single spider’s thread is blotted with rain-drops, and, burdened, sags down.”

I love that image so much and I totally feel that when I part from friends. Even though the thread may sag, I love the fact that it’s there at all. We’re deeply and invisibly connected with the people we love.

Buy yourself some flowers today and celebrate Mrs. Dalloway!