Extreme Makeover: Blog Edition

Since the wonderful Blogger (or, as my friend Matt MacNish called it, "Frogger,") went into meltdown Thursday and Friday, consequently revealing the extent of my blogging addiction, I decided to get revenge by totally making over my blog.

I feel like a proud Papa.

What do you think of the makeover? Are there still things I could do to make it even more beautiful? If so, please give me the benefit of your wisdom.

Give me Beauty, all the time

Story → Language → Story

In lieu of this month's craft book (I'm reading a good one for June, I promise, and it's even got the word "Damn" in the title), here are a couple of thoughts on my personal reading through the ages.

As a child: Story all the way. My faves were Enid Blyton (for those readers scratching their heads: remember, I'm British), Agatha Christie, Georges Simenon, and Ursula Le Guin's Wizard of Earthsea.

Then I took a detour, studying English Literature for five long years. The more difficult the text, the more opaque the language, the more I wanted to be seen toting it through the library. (Under the covers I read Jane Austen, Dickens, and Thomas Hardy--still on the syllabus, but definitely not cutting edge.)

Now: I'm back to story. Give me a tale well-told, and I'm yours for keeps. I write middle grade, so that's mainly what I read. But the adult authors who keep me up at night are people like Lee Child and Stephen King.

I got to thinking about this when I just couldn't get into a novel which had won all sorts of plaudits and critical acclaim. But, after several pages, full of dazzling language and minutely observed description, I was still waiting for a story to show. I gave up.

Either my attention span is shrinking as brain cells atrophy, or I'm becoming more discriminating in my old age.

What about you? What does your reading history look like?

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

As part of Marvelous Middle Grade Monday, we're having a middle grade party over at my new blog, Middle Grade Mafioso. Don Corleone and I tag-teamed to write a review of Gary D. Schmidt's 2008 Newbery Honor novel, The Wednesday Wars. If you want to see whether the Don congratulates or crushes me, head on over and take a gander.

Friday Fabulosities--"If you can quit, then quit. If you can't quit, you're a writer."

R.A. Salvatore, bestselling author of the Drizzt, the Crimson Shadow, and the Dark Elf trilogy, has this to say in Andrew McAleer's 101 Habits of Highly Successful Novelists:

"There's way too much pain in this business for anyone who doesn't have to write. I always tell beginning writers, "If you can quit, then quit. If you can't quit, you're a writer." I'm not being facetious. The idea that writing is a way to get something else, be it fame or fortune, is ludicrous. The odds are astounding, and I'd wager they're even more astounding against someone who doesn't love the power of the word."

What, if anything, would make you quit writing? Have you ever quit writing? If so, what happened?

Here's What I'd Like To Do With That Comment Of Yours

No, I haven't been receiving nasty comments. Far from it. (Unless those anonymous comments that look like they're written in Czech are full of nasty Czech slanders and calumnies.)

I have been receiving wonderful comments, from a whole host of interesting people. I love all your comments and would like to answer them.

(There are some amazing bloggers out there. Matt MacNish is my all-time comment-responder hero, as he always seems to get back to you.)

And trust me, that means a lot.

Because it takes time to read a blog post. It takes time to comment on it. And it's gratifying knowing that your comment isn't stuck in the blog equivalent of the O'Hare taxiway in a snowstorm. It's being read, it's furthering the conversation.

Blogs are all about conversation. (And short paragraphs, if today's composition is anything to go by.)

So it pains me (just a little) when someone leaves a comment and I can't just email them right back. Because their e-mail address reads noreply-comment@blogger.com

Sometimes I click on their profile to see if they have an e-mail address. Sometimes they do, but then Microsoft starts bugging me to open Outlook, and all my e-mail goes through Yahoo. So I end up not replying. (Well, sometimes I say something in my blog comments, but who knows if a commenter ever returns to check once they've left a comment. I mean, there are only 24 hours in a day and a lot of blogs to cover.)

So, if you'd like to hear back from me, feel free to leave your e-mail address in the comments. I promise I won't spam you. (But if you're worried about spam, e-mail me your e-mail address to gilmartin_michael@yahoo.com. I'd love to personally thank you for dropping by.

What Books Would YOU Buy?

What's going on? Wednesdays are usually sacrosant for "Craft Book." So why is this noble blog rabbiting on about consumerism and the lure of filthy lucre?

Simple.

1) I have been so busy reading The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt (see my post on my new baby blog, Middle Grade Mafioso for details) that my craft book for this month has gone by the wayside.

2) I've come into a bit of Amazon money, $50 to be precise. Add this to the $20 I found stuffed in a birthday card from last year, and I am poised to storm the Amazon citadel and go hot-diggety wild in the book lounge.

PARADISE

Question: If you were me, and had 70 smackeroos to spend on books, books, books what would you buy? (Yes, I know Amazon has toys, games, kindles, soy flour etc. to sell, but books are my addiction.)

Whistle While You Work

My previous post, about the racket in coffee shops and whether one could in fact work to the tune of rattling tea cups and the whoosh of the espresso machine, brought forth a number of interesting comments. It seems that we are split between those who need a semblance of quiet and those who can write while yelling "Rock On!"

Which got me to thinking about the sort of music people might rock on to ("on to which people might rock?")

I am a musical dullard and very mainstream. And I do not usually write to a soundtrack. I did once spend a weekend writing while obsessed by Keane's Hopes and Fears CD, and I'm not sure what that says about me.

This is the tune I listened to ad infinitum. I overheard a recent version on Glee, which my wife watches on her laptop while I read [code word for "fall asleep."] It briefly brought me out of my slumber, so I could anoint the show as my new favorite. However, the video is very strange and is apparently an homage to E.T.

If you write while listening to music, what's YOUR playlist?