News of the Writing World

It’s been a long week. Only five more days until school’s over…Just five more days to get though. And two of those are exam days. Ahh the end of the year.

I got my learner’s permit yesterday and the first drive home did not go all that well. I was driving an SUV for the first time (I’m used to small cars. Like the Impala) and I completely misjudged the speed and width of my driveway. According to my mom I was very close to going in the ditch. I suppose the important thing is I did not go in the ditch, but it scared me and now I’m not in a hurry to drive again all too soon.

Plus my mom has decided to turn my relaxation before exams weekend into a cleaning spree weekend. Which means not only will I not be relaxing, not be at my cousin’s watching Valkyrie, not be writing, and not be doing any of the other long list of things that I need to be doing, I shall be cleaning.

Enough about me, onto the news of the blogosphere.

Events:

The winners of the purple prose contest have been announced here. Remember, the entries are supposed to be horrible. It’s purple prose.

Querytracker has another, really fun contest. :D Write the worst query ever. I’ve already entered mine. It’s great. I mean horrible. It'

Posts:

Janet Reid has a double hitter today in her Queryshark blog where she critiques queries sent in. It’s amazingly helpful, but if you’re thinking about sending one in, read the archives first and make sure you aren’t just repeating someone else’s mistake. Query number one here and query number two here.

Rachelle Gardner’s take on pen names here. I've thought about getting a pen name, but if I'm ever published I think it would be great to experience the thrill of seeing my name on a book in the bookstore and telling anyone that would listen, "That's my book!"

Post on international writers publishing in the U.S. I found it rather interesting even though I’m already here is here.

Nathan’s post on taking a chance on a young agent here.

Rachelle Gardner’s post on become a literary agent here. Reminder that anyone can become a literary agent. Especially those scammers that want your money.

Nice post for a laugh and a smile here. Go on, you know we all need a laugh.

BookEnds has a very nice post on movies and books here. In which news, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Lightning Thief and Hunger Games are both being made into movies. I can’t wait!

And that's all for this week!