How Do I Know What I Think Until I See What I Say?

1. I proctored a practice LSAT this weekend and once again, I was cold. Every time I do one of these I think to myself "wear a sweater so you don't get cold" and today, even though it was sunny out and I was warm, I put on a tank AND a really thick sweater (I was sweating in my house and couldn't even put on my coat, I was so warm) and still about halfway through I got cold. sigh. I think it's because I can't move around while students are taking the LSAT -- they don't appreciate that much. :) 2. It was Chinese New Year last weekend, thank god. My friends and I have decided that we are officially starting 2010 over again because the first month? Not so great. So Happy New Year, everyone!* 3. SciFi Channel** has been showing reruns of Joan of Arcadia recently. That was a good show. A little sappy sometimes, and the cop sections were a little...cheesy, but the high school stuff was almost as good as My So-Called Life and grittier than you would h...

I'm a devoted reader of The New Yorker . I started reading it when I was in graduate school and my adviser kept referencing things he'd read in it, so I had to read it to make sure I understood what the heck he was talking about. But I've been out of graduate school for a while now, and I still read The New Yorker for a couple of reasons. The first is that, in general, it's really well written. Some of the articles are better than others, of course, and I definitely have my favorite writers, but as a whole, the magazine has a calibre of writing that I don't find consistently anywhere else.* More than that, though, The New Yorker 's quality of writing leads me to read about things that I would otherwise never read about. Theater, which I typically don't like. Regions of the world that aren't covered in normal news, not even on NPR. Powerful business leaders. And architecture. Architecture. I don't have a lot of feeling about architecture one w...

1. Dear Luke Wilson - I know you're just getting paid to do the AT&T commercials, but can't you do something about the writing? Because instead of your normal charming self, you're coming across as sort of a sanctimonious jackass, which I don't think is what you (or AT&T) are going for. Perhaps you could suggest that AT&T watch the Domino's commercials where they take on Papa Johns for some helpful tips about how to critique a competitor while still seeming like a nice guy. Thanks! Jay. 2. I'm re-painting my living room (I get these weird urges from time to time) and I have to say that Behr paint smells like cookies. Really. If that's intentional (and how could it not be?) I have to say that it's ingenious . It makes me happy every time I open the can of paint. 3. Steph Bowe, over at Hey, Teenager of the Year , is having a "Post Your First Page" event. If you want to see the first page of the Next Book, it's over the...

A while ago, Jessica over at BookEnds LLC asked this question: Are you willing to write anything to build a publishing career or would you prefer to develop your own ideas and wait it out if necessary? It's an interesting question. I'm not in that position at the moment, but I don't know what I'd say if that opportunity presented itself. Would I write anything ? No. Probably not. But would I reject an idea because it came from a publisher or editor as opposed to springing from my own head like Athena sprang from Zeus's? No. I wouldn't. In short, it seems to me like it would depend on the idea and how strictly controlled the idea needed to be. I read an article in The New Yorker , for example, about how Alloy Publishing develops books .* I don't know if that process would work for me. It seems like there's a LOT of input from other people at a very early stage, and in my current process, that's not how I like to work. If I were a different k...

I know I've talked about critique groups before, but there's something so fraught in joining them and in staying in them that the topic keeps coming up in the blogs that I read. For example, here is a great entry from Becky Levine about what makes a group the right group for you. Right now, I have the good fortune to be in a group that is working well for me (and, I hope, for the others involved). Here are the things that work for me: 1. a set schedule. We meet once a month, on the same day every month. We only vary that rarely, when the date conflicts with a major holiday. If people can't be there because they're on vacation, or traveling, or sick, or what have you, that doesn't matter. The group goes on. With or without me or whoever else is missing. 2. a process. We send in our manuscripts by email, which means that we aren't constrained to what we have time to read in the meeting. Most of the people in the group are working on projects for mid...

1. I have too many pairs of shoes. I don't know why I didn't realize this before, but somehow it just occurred to me. Note to self: STOP BUYING SHOES. You already have some! 2. I think that by the time we've reached February, we have had quite enough winter already and it's time for it to be over. Some people may not agree with me (people who like skiing, for example), but they would be wrong. As a result, I'm just going to start pretending that it's no longer winter. It's spring, now. Just a very cold, snowy spring.* 3. I saw Precious this weekend, and...wow. Just...wow. There were a lot of problems on the story level with that movie, but Gabourey Sidibe and Mo'nique deserve the Oscars for that one, seriously. I've always liked Mo'nique--she's hilarious--but until now I didn't know she could act. And she can , man. And Gabourey? Talent oozing out of her pores! And if you've seen her in the movie and then seen her ...

A long time ago, in the Land of Enchantment, I was a graduate student in English. And as graduate students are wont to do, I got all worked up about sometime and went to complain to the dean of my college about whatever it was.* My dean was an awesome woman named Dr. Patrice, and, after hearing me out, she said this: Jay, you gotta decide which rock you're gonna die on. This isn't it. In other words, Dr. Patrice was saying, the thing that I was getting all het up about wasn't worth it. Sure, I could go on a rampage and make things happen and whatever, but ultimately it would be a lot of heat and light and energy for something small. I was reminded of this story recently, when Jessica Faust over at Bookends blog took some heat for saying that writers might have to censor themselves in their online personas, and in their work, in order to sell their projects. The most succinct statement of her position is this: Certainly I don’t support censorship. I think we should all ...