The Anna Leonard post o' the day...

Normally I don't post reader reviews, good or bad (although I do read them and mull over them, since it's The Reader I eventually answer to, not the professional critic), but this one from Rae Lori just pleased me so very much on a Monday morning.... (see if you can guess why):

"I tell ya, if [Dreamcatcher] were in print format I would promptly buy a print version to go with my ebook. This is probably my favorite Bite and the best written so far. The story deals with a young woman named Emma who has been having strange dreams coupled with a debilitating disease that no doctors have been able to diagnose so far. Male nurse, Matt, is sent by her father to take care of her and as he helps her find her way back to health, things aren't as quite as they seem on the surface.

I really liked the world building in Dreamcatcher and the story felt like it was story fit for a short format rather than a novel that may have been chopped down a bit. The characters are well fleshed out and even the secondary character Emma's doctor friend (whose name escapes me for the moment, ack!) shined in the scene she was in. Ms. Leonard has a way with dialogue and scenery that really makes the story come alive with a great background to the characters to make them realistic.

If you like dark, sexy paranormals without the usual beasties, be sure to pick this baby up!"

The Well, and maintenance thereof

Oooh, look. She's being all Thoughtful an' shit! Better go get another mug of caffeine, this might be painful.


On hearing that I'm a writer people often ask me "oh, well, what do you read?" expecting to hear me kvell about the newest genre discovery, a popular bestseller, or some hidden literary gem. My usual answer: "whatever poked me in the brain this week."

And that ties into the other question writers get asked a lot: "Where do you get your ideas?"

The same place everyone else does: from stuff that pokes me in the brain.

An excerpt from my current reading: "From the standpoint of the bacterium this characteristic is a good news/bad news story; the starvation that turns X. cheopsis into a manic biter of anything that moves also results in a dramatic loss of life expectancy. Resourceful as ever, Y. pestis may have turned even this to its advantage."*

This isn't a passage anyone who knows me casually would expect me to be reading with great interest. Anyone who knows me well, however, will not be surprised. There is very little that doesn't fascinate me -- obscure bits of historical fact, or details about someone's job, or theories on the origin of the universe... I'm not looking to become an Expert -- I don't even like to spout off these facts at dinner parties, or to score a point in debate. You don't need to know that I know these things. I want to know because I never know what's going to bounce off another fact, and spin off a New Idea or a Better Understanding.

Some people call this the magpie mind, or the information sponge, but I like the visual of The Well. Facts and theories, ideas and suppositions, they're all water. Our brains are The Well. The story [the conversation] is a bucket. We dip and filter, pour and drink.

Wells aren't self-maintaining, though. A lot of people make that mistake -- "here's your formal education, your well is filled, go forth and spout off." These aren't fresh-water springs that miraculously refill. Go to the well too many times with your bucket, and it can run dry. Only allow one stream to feed the well, and the taste is always the same. It's in the best interest of the writer [conversationalist/thinking individual] to refill the well from as many sources as they can.**

Yes, I read for entertainment [a noble cause], and for specific information [sometimes, you need specifics]. But above and below it all, I read [and watch, and listen] to refill the well***.

And if I were to give one piece of advice, no matter if you're a writer, a reader or an articulate guppie, it would be that: refill your well on a regular [and irregular] basis. Because, dudes, too long drinking the same taste and you could die of boredom-of-brain long before your body gives up. And a greater hell I cannot imagine.





*[p. 178, Justinian's Flea by William Rosen]

**[so yes, when I ask you about your job, or your opinions or your experiences, I really am interested. Also: your opinions or voice or info may end up being used in a story somewhere. Full and fair warning.]

***[I may not like the taste of every source, and may filter it out after the fact, but that's what the bucket is for].

Ooops

Shares of United Airlines lost nearly all their value Monday morning when a false rumor swept financial markets that the struggling carrier had filed for bankruptcy protection.

United’s stock fell 76 percent to $3 before trading was halted at 11:08 a.m. Trading resumed at 12:30 p.m. and shares closed down $1.49, or 12.1 percent, to $10.92, on a volume of 54.6 million shares.

A United spokeswoman, Jean Medina, denied the bankruptcy rumor. The circumstances surrounding the rumor were still being sorted out Monday afternoon. In a statement, United said the rumor occurred when the Web site of The Sun-Sentinel, a Florida newspaper, posted a six-year-old article from The Chicago Tribune archives about United’s previous bankruptcy filing. The airline operated under bankruptcy protection from 2002 through 2006.

Anyone else get a chill at reading that? I mean, anyone who isn't a UA shareholder?

Nice to know some of the safeguards installed post-Great Crash are still working...

Meanwhile:

"LONDON (AP) — Three men were convicted Monday of conspiracy to murder in a terrorist bombing campaign, but the jury could not reach a verdict on allegations they plotted to use liquid explosives to down trans-Atlantic airliners.

The jury failed to reach any verdict at all for four defendants, and one man was acquitted in a case that caused travel chaos in 2006 at the height of the summer vacation season. Prosecutors said they were considering a retrial."

Since these were the bastids that made the "3oz liquid carry-on" restriction, thereby reducing my ability to bring home wine from various locations, I was hoping they'd get the book slammed down on them. *grumble*

EtA:

Holeeee fkcu.

"Speaking before voters in Colorado Springs, the Republican vice presidential nominee claimed that lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had 'gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers.'

Okay, I'll be the first to admit that Fannie and Freddie make my head hurt, not being a Financial Wonk, but, um, what part of "privately held" did she not understand? Lady, I don't expect you to be a Financial Wonk either. But you are clearly in need of some remedial financial vocabulary lessons.... (eta to the eta: yes, I know it's going to cost the taxpayers [us] to bail them out, and the squealing you hear are the shareholders getting sheared. But neither of those things = "too expensive to the taxpayers" as a reason for the companies to fail. The companies failed because too many of their holdings [the mortgages they bought from banks] were suddenly worthless or close to it [and first person to ask me to define 'tranches' is going to see a grown meerkat cry.])