Meg Rosoff's Blog, page 15
July 11, 2011
My Postillion Has Been Struck By Lightning.
You may (or may not) remember that the phrase, 'My postillion has been struck by lightning' first appeared in a late 19th century Hungarian phrase book, causing a contemporary social observer to note that 'this must be the sort of thing that only happens in Hungary; and, when it happens, this is the sort of [...]
July 7, 2011
Ping!
I must have taken a pysychology course or two at university, because hundreds of classic experiments are filed away in my head under T for Things-I-Surprise-Myself-By-Remembering-Despite-Having-to-Look-Up-My-Own-Phone-Number. One of the experiments involved rats and cocaine. The rats would press a lever and receive a tiny drop of cocaine. Crazed with happiness, they would then continue to [...]
July 5, 2011
Too Dead To Care.
It's list time again. This week it's for everyone thinking that publishing a book will solve your financial, career and self-esteem issues and cause your nearest and dearest to treat you with respect and awe. The reality is… Getting published will not write your second novel for you. Or entice laundry fairies to come live in [...]
July 4, 2011
Experimenting on your children.
Years ago, before I even contemplated having children, I noticed that parents seemed to divide up into two groups. Group One parents were responsible and cautious. They put plastic covers on all the plugs, did criminal record checks on the nannies and researched primary schools exhaustively. They talked a lot about having the best for [...]
June 28, 2011
Coincidence? Maybe.
One of the great mysteries of the universe is the birthday phenomenon. You know, the one that says that if you're in a group of twenty-three people, there's a 50% chance that two of you will have the same birthday. OK, that's interesting. But what's more interesting is how likely you are to discover that two [...]
June 27, 2011
How to write a brilliant anything
I was looking for the quote about letting the audience add up two plus two themselves (it turns out not to be Wilder, but Ernst Lubitsch), and I found this fantastic list. Although it's written for screenwriters, if there's anything on it that doesn't apply to writing novels, I'll eat my hat. Yes, the famous [...]
June 25, 2011
What sticks in your head?
Lately I've been comparing human brains to colanders, which, if you know me at all, you'll find extremely apt. I forget almost everything. But not everything. Some things I remember almost forever. Like Alice Thomas Ellis on Desert Island Disks (Or was it Woman's Hour? Or In The Psychiatrist's Chair?) in about 1990, talking about [...]
June 20, 2011
How I Live Now film news
The thing I kept saying was, "We'll be shooting this summer." And then a minute or two ago I looked around and realized it WAS summer. Isn't time sneaky? So it turns out we won't be shooting this summer. Spring 2012 is the new estimate. In the meantime, casting is continuing apace and Edmond is [...]
June 18, 2011
Too much success?
Are you inundated with fan mail? Surrounded by paparazzi every time you leave the house? Unable to walk down the street without being asked for your autograph? Does your face stare back at you from billboards all over town? Nope. Me neither. Which is a shame. Because if my life were like that, this is what [...]
June 17, 2011
Everyone's a critic.
I can't help it. I find some of the reviews by the kids who are reading the Carnegie Medal shortlist hilarious. But only when I'm feeling strong. When I'm feeling as if my whole life is a pathetic waste of time and effort and I'll never write another word worth reading, those kids make me [...]
