'suela, straightforward cover letters, no frills. They're far more interested in what you're attaching, and if it's properly presented, than they are in the hi-there bit.

deb, you could always do what my authors do with me: completely ignore my notes and send the proofs back with notes of their own!

I never do that. Everything gets answered.

Guess what? There are six pages - crucial pages - missing from the MS they sent me. Pages 139-145, missing.

Betting that's my editor's fuckup. But right now, I'm in fullblown MS exacerbation, nonfunctional legs and jaw. There's a deadline of 7 April on this damned thing. I don't need this.

I'm competent. I may bitch like a raging river, but I'm ALWAYS competent. Why in hell can't they be?

Any writers want to try out for The Rolling Stone and a reality show? [link]

Any writers want to try out for The Rolling Stone and a reality show?

Oh. my. GOD.

runs screaming

Dude, my sister worked for and with Jann Wenner, back when the dreaded t.rex (whether I'm referring to the band or the big lizard, I'll leave up to your own instinct) roamed the earth. Very scary thought.

Any writers want to try out for The Rolling Stone and a reality show?

Sure. I'll be the guy on Thompson's acid who thinks he is Russell Crowe. Wait! Cameron Crowe.

One of those Crowe guys.

Sure. I'll be the guy on Thompson's acid who thinks he is Russell Crowe. Wait! Cameron Crowe.

One of those Crowe guys.

loves Gus

My husband's reaction to that link:

"What, you WANT to move to NY to work for Jan Wenner, interviewing people like Mudvayne, for $6.75/hour? Better you should ping him directly to see about a real gig as a free-lance contributor. Get him to give you a press pass and an entre; you'll write features and op-eds for him. For real $$.

Skip the MTV crap and go straight to the source. Hell, Alice (that's the abovementioned sister) could probably hook you up...

No thank you, darling. I'll just stay here on the island and eat my own flesh.

I talked to a rock star once. Jimmi-His-Own-Self-Hendrix.

I got the impression that he was bright, in an utterly incoherent sort of way.

I got the impression that he was bright, in an utterly incoherent sort of way.

Well, since he once told a reporter he (Hendrix) was from Mars, I'm not sure "bright" is the word. "Alien" might do it. But yes, the man was not dumb, that's for sure.

And I still wouldn't want to interview him for Jann Wenner.

It's just sad, Rolling Stone resorting to a Trumpish reality show as a surrogate for actually finding and nurturing real live gonzo journalists.

And I don't even *like* real live gonzo journalists much.

Doing galleys tonight.

People ... doing galleys is like reading your own stuff.

You are pretty sure the author is an idiot, 'cuz you happen to know them.

Because you like the idiot, you don't want to say a bunch of negative stuff. You have to, though, or your friend will look like an ... idiot.

Frack it. Print the sucker.

HA! Gus, I just spent two days dealing with the first pass copy edits on the current Haunted Ballads novel, "Cruel Sister".

From which there is a six-page section missing.

And a 7 April deadline.

And a copy editor who writes on frickin' post-it notes.

See, here is the thing ... you can not drop six pages and impose deadlines and have copy-editors who use "repositional notes" to make remarks.

These are rules. Respect them.