Monday, April 27, 2009

The Week In (P)review


I've gotten into the dangerous habit on Monday mornings of looking ahead to the week and anticipating what wonderful things might happen. Of course, there is a chance by Friday, that nothing wonderful will have happened, but so far my luck is holding out quite nicely.

This morning I had no problems guessing what wonderful things would happen during the week, since a couple of them are already scheduled. On Wednesday, I'm going to the New Jersey Library Association Book Award Luncheon, where Life As We Knew It will receive the 2009 Garden State Teen Book Award (Grades 6-8), which I will proudly display on the Wall Of Ego. Then on Thursday, I'll go to New Haven to speak at the Connecticut Library Association Conference.

Both these events will be more fun than taking my mother to the dentist tomorrow to get her two cavities filled. Although even that will be more fun for me than for her.

But this week started off very nicely on its own. For those of you who enjoy reading interviews with me (a select group consisting of my mother, to whom reading an interview with me is preferable to getting her cavities filled), there is a brand new one at Inkweaver Review.

And this morning, while doing my now once every two weeks or so Googling, I discovered that LAWKI is nominated for the Green Mountain Book Award in Vermont. That makes it 27 individual state awards it's been nominated for.

Speaking of awards, I received one yesterday as the Friends Of The Middletown Thrall Library Volunteer Of The Year. As it happens, I couldn't attend the luncheon, so Marci accepted for me. She said I got a certificate, so maybe the Wall Of Ego will have yet another thing to show off. And speaking of Marci, she came over on Saturday to meet Scooter. She agreed that he was very cute, but she says his beard makes him look like Maynard G. Krebs.

At some point in the not too distant future, the new editor will send me This World We Live In, with all kinds of notes and suggestions for rewrites (or as Maynard G. Krebs would put it- WORK!). But until she does, I can spend the week looking forward to all the good things that are going to happen, and watching Scooter chase his tail.

Now that's something Maynard G. Krebs couldn't do!


ETA: While I was answering comments from NathanKP and Glen, Scooter was proving very distracting!

12 comments:

NathanKP said...

I'm glad that my interview with you was a "nice start to the week."

I enjoyed it myself.

Thanks for linking to me.

Nathan - Inkweaver Review

Anonymous said...

Perhaps Maynard couldn't, but I once saw Gilligan do it.

Glen

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Hi NathanKP-

It was a pleasure to be interviewed by you. I'm very impressed with Inkweaver Review and all the work that goes into maintaining a site like that. I don't read nearly as much as I should, and even when I do finish a book, I don't discuss it coherently!

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Hi Glen-

There aren't that many of us left who can make Maynard/Gilligan jokes.

Then again, perhaps that's a good thing!

Anonymous said...

On 1 of yourblogs that LAWKI was nomenated for an award in Nebraska. I live there.

I'm more of a dog person, but your cat looks cute!!

Will LAWKI become a movie?

-Jill

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Hi Jill-

I like dogs, but cats are much more convenient, and kittens are seriously adorable.

As of the moment, there are no plans to make Life As We Knew It into a movie, but I haven't given up hope it might happen someday!

Judi said...

Speaking of Scooters, do you know this site, Susan?

http://365catladies.blogspot.com/

Reckon you and Scotter would be great subjects

Anonymous said...

I'm still hoping for a graphic novel version.

Glen

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Good morning Judi-

What a great site. I'm perpetually astounded at all the different places that exist online. Although the truth of the matter is, I waste so much time at the computer, I'm better off staying in a state of ignorance.

I really need to read more books and play less Free Cell!

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Good morning to Glen-

I agree. I think LAWKI and d&g would make great graphic novels.

Browsing through my early blog entries (when I had a printer I knew how to scan with) might show why I'm not the person to be trusted with the job!

NathanKP said...

"I'm very impressed with Inkweaver Review and all the work that goes into maintaining a site like that."

It is quite a bit of work, but for me it is definitely worth it, not only because I love reading, but also because running such a site puts me in fairly regular contact with professional authors and even publishers trying to advertise their author's books.

This is an especially valuable thing for me as I am working on my own novel right now. (The manuscript is currently at 27000 words out of the target 100000).

Ultimately, Inkweaver Review will prove to be the conduit through which I am able to make my own entry into the world of writing, not only reviewing.

I know how hard it is to get published as a first time writer, especially in a down economy, so I'll probably have to use every writing and reviewing connection Inkweaver Review can bring me to get my own works published.

"I'm still hoping for a graphic novel version."

I would second that motion. It would make an interesting graphic novel. Personally I like print novels better, but sometimes I like to read a graphic novel just to enjoy the artist's take on the book world, even if it is very different from my own mental image of the story.

It's fascinating to think that the author of a book, and each reader may have different mental images of the book landscape or story.

One of my favorite quotes is:

"Think of this - that the writer wrote alone, and the reader read alone, and they were alone with each other." A.S. Byatt

There is imaginative connection between author and reader, as the author tries to impart their mental image to the reader's mind, but in the end the reader reinterprets the story in their own imagination.

Its such a fascinating thing to think about.

But I think that's enough....

I didn't mean to write a whole book here in your comments. :)

Nathan

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Hi NathanKP and thank you for your comment-

It's funny. I don't like reading descriptions, and as a result, I pretty much never write one. One of the great advantages for me with LAWKI (and to a lesser extent with d&g) was that the narrative voices were so aware of how things and people looked, there was no need for them to describe them. Why should Miranda tell anyone what Matt looked like, or Alex think about Julie's appearance.

I'm a firm believer in working towards your strengths and tapdancing around your weaknesses. Since I'm not good at describing things (partly because I have no visual memory, partly because I don't have a fabulous vocabulary, and partly because I just don't care), I let the readers decide for themselves what the characters and places look like.

Why should I do all the work!