That's What (S)he said: Weekly Round-Up

Hi everyone! Here's the latest "interesting things I found around the interwebs" post:

I'll start with this fascinating article from ScienceBlog, "We Actually 'Become' Happy Vampires or Contented Wizards When Reading a Book," about how our need for social connection causes us to identify with the characters we read about in books.

In The Hunger Games casting news, we found out that Woody Harrelson will play Haymitch Abernathy, mentor to Katniss and Peeta. I don't think anyone pictured him as Haymitch, (I was thinking of someone more like Phillip Seymour Hoffman or Nick Nolte), but I bet Harrelson will play the role so well we won't be able to picture Haymitch any other way after that.

Are mermaids the next vampires? Sounds like they are, from all the upcoming mermaid novels I keep hearing about and from this article in USA Today. I think the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie will contribute to mermaids' popularity too. Have you seen the creepy mermaids in the new trailer?

Glee fans, check out E.M. Kokie's post, "Don't throw yourself around like you don't matter," about the Brittany/Santana storyline and why it hasn't the attention Kurt's journey has.

I love hearing about how other authors like to write. We all do it differently, but the goal is the same--write an awesome book that readers don't want to put down. I write a lot like what Roni Loren describes in her post "My Ten Steps to Novel Completion." I tend to edit as I go, but I'm trying to write first drafts now without editing so much. The revising works out better after I've written the novel and know the story and characters better. Characters always come to me before the plot too. Still have no plot for the next novel I want to write, although I have the characters, maybe a setting, and some random stuff that happens.

Because of Blogger's recent meltdown, the Help Write Now folks have extended the bidding time for their Day 7 items, which includes the second package donated by the Apocalypsies and a critique and phone call from SuperAgent Joanna Volpe. Bidding for these listings will end Monday night.

From Blurb is a Verb, here's author Emily St. John Mandel's Five Questions Never to Ask at a Bookstore Signing. Are you guilty of any of these offenses?

Speaking of bookstore signings, Will Write For Cake buddy Christina Mandelski's debut YA novel, THE SWEETEST THING was released this week, and she had her first book signing yesterday! So happy for her but sad for me since I had to miss it. (College graduation of niece and nephew took me out of town.) Thankfully Vonna Carter was there and put up a blog post about the event right away, with pictures. No word on if anyone asked her the forbidden questions.

Have a fabulous week!

Edit Letter Fun: Are You a Butcher Or a Coddler?

I've been spending a lot of time in the revision cave lately, but have crawled out for a while in an attempt to blog more often. Plus it's dark and there are spiders in there.

Last week I went to Austin with critique buddies Christina Mandelski and M.G. King for the Texas Library Association Conference, which was all kinds of awesome. It's so much fun to see what books are coming out later this year, and I caught up with some writing friends I don't get to see often enough.

During a conversation with one of those writer friends, I discovered that we were both working on editor-requested revisions, but her attitude was...what's the word? Healthier? Sane? Not completely twisted?

Here's a dramatization of the conversation. (We weren't dressed as bunnies, but bears in bunny costumes make adorable stand-ins.)

I hope I'm not quite as bad as Lavender Bunny, but I do feel a little stabbing pain in the heart when I hit "delete" over a scene that might not be working.

That's normal, right? (Right?) We spend a lot of time with these words, so it hurts to toss them out. They look so sad out there, all alone in the rain, faces pressed against the window...

But, we have to be practical too, and think about what's good for the story. Maybe it's a nice scene, but it's not moving the story along or it's taking the reader out of the action. Editors are good at spotting those things that we overlook because we're too close to the story and the cuddly words.

So which writer are you--the butcher who sees the cutting as part of the job, or the coddler who wants to cling to your words?

And those of you who've been through it before, share any tips you have for getting through the edits! Don't forget to put on your bunny costume first. It's the best way to deliver difficult news.