Oh, Erika, yay for love letters!

Deb, your synopsis sounds delightfully creepy.

I know. I think he wants me to write my memoirs or something...I think I'm way too young.And not interesting enough, since I never actively tried to commit suicide(only lusted in my heart, so to speak) my mother is the fun kind of crazy, and my dad and I never made out.Shit, we don't even speak, mostly.

Writing teacher is a drama king, but he did tell me that he hasn't felt like reading anything since the semester ended, and he read mine, which, great to hear.

That reminds me of a lit teacher I had in college who I showed a short story to. He liked the twist ending and recommended I read "Monstrous Regiment of Women" (I think is the title). We were discussing story in class later, and I made a comment about the plot structure, and he said, "Well, Connie does have a keen grasp of plot, and ..." I was happily boggled.

Of course, my Advanced Comp prof would often put little remarks like "I can tell you're being lazy here" or "Not up to your usual standard" on my papers. Damn, I miss college.

I don't, for the most part, but writing class was fun.

Because I couldn't resist the plug, and lists are likely to make me show off:

"You going to Further Confusion this weekend?"

"Sure, it's a perfectly cromulent way to spend four days. Where else can you help a sleepy anthropomorphic cheetah with a pantaloon fetish with her luggage and then ask her out to coffee afterwards, only to find out that she's really a he? Watch costumed critters pose for photos with the hotel staff in cheerily compromising positions? Or recoil in utter, abject horror as your yummy room-service spaghetti undergoes some strange overnight carbohydrate transubstantiation because your room-mate forgot to plug in the hotel fridge?"

"Fair point. I think I'll stay home this year."

OK. I am dying with a sort of despairing laughter over. Despairing because it's so damned familiar, but also funny as hell:

[link]

Popping to to toss out this link for the writery amongst us. Neil Gaiman had an editor post her real world advice about getting an agent and getting published. Seems sound and useful and there are links and also links-to-avoid.

TNH is an editor, Hec, but well-regarded in her part of the field.

Thanks, Mr. Sweden. Duly corrected.

I really liked her observations on fanfic and pro-writing in the Squick and Squee piece, though I expect that's been widely disseminated.

HEE! From a discussion on today's Washington Post:

Mike Peters: I know this one cartoonist and when people ask him where do you get your ideas he says "I have an idea box, and everyday I just go to the idea box and I reach in and I pull out a piece of paper, I read it, and then I do a cartoon." And I said to him, are these just old ideas that you just haven't used yet? And he said, "No, they are bills that I haven't paid yet."