Anyone who’s seen me in the last week or so might have noticed that I appear to have a frog lodged permanently in my throat. I am rather croaky and prone to small coughing fits. Just for once it’s not allergies. I’ve been reading my book. Out loud. All of it. Daft as it sounds, I now do this with …
One More Reason to Love/Visit Get Lost Bookshop…
First of all – full disclosure and all that – Amy Stephenson, the owner of Get Lost Bookshop on 9th Street in Columbia, is a friend of mine. She would have to be. Against my advice, she bought my second novel, Before Your Very Eyes, from the UK amazon site. Then, even more recklessly, she actually read it. Amy tells me …
Why Didn’t I Think of That?
This is such a cool idea: http://corpuslibris.blogspot.com
Family Business
Obviously I’m still excited about my news, but I don’t want to steal anyone’s thunder here. Apparently I’m not the only person in my family doing the book thing. It seems that while we thought she was in her room playing with her dolls, Catherine was hard at work on something quite different. She may only be five, but her …
Announcement.
This is the post I have dreamed about writing every day for the past five years. I am pleased and proud (and staggered) to report that I have sold the worldwide rights to THE SONGS OF OUR FATHERS to Amy Einhorn, publisher of Amy Einhorn Books, an imprint of Penguin/Putnam. Amy has always been our number one choice of publisher …
Advice for Writers from Margaret Atwood
I’m friends with Margaret Atwood. Oh yes I am. To prove it, here’s a photograph of her. Well, OK. I follow her on Twitter. (These days I think that counts.) Anyway, while I was noodling about on the web last night, I found the following very funny (but also accurate) piece she wrote for the Guardian a while back. They …
Required Reading (Unfortunately)
I wrote here about how much I dislike doing research for my books. It’s still true, but I have had to knuckle down and change my ways. Here’s a list of books I’ve read recently, all in the name of research for my next novel: Birdmen, Batmen, and Skyflyers Please Kill Me – the Uncensored Oral History of Punk Amusement …
Keeping a Straight Face
Stop me if you’ve heard this story before. It’s about an Englishman – a successful corporate attorney, who works in a big law firm in one of the most exciting, vibrant cities on earth. He’s married to a glamorous American wife. Suddenly, against his will, he finds himself transported to a small town in the middle of rural America, where …
David Foster Wallace
I’ve just finished reading a book by David Lipsky called Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself. That is, David Lipsky is the guy with his name on the cover and his photo on the jacket, but in fact 80% of the words in between the covers belong to the late, lamented David Foster Wallace. I’m still in two …
Amateur! (And proud of it.)
Funny time, this. The revised book is out and about, with various editors at houses both in New York and London. I am discovering new reserves of patience. This, oddly, isn’t as difficult as I would have imagined. I wouldn’t say I’ve suddenly gone all Zen (stop laughing at the back), but after this many years of effort, a few …