A New Year’s present

By Laurie King / December 29, 2005 /

Those of you who get the newsletter already know this, but there’e2’80’99s now an excerpt from THE ART OF DETECTION THE ART OF DETECTIONon the web site, along with the cover art for the book and for the new short story, ‘e2’80’9cCat’e2’80’99s Paw’e2’80’9d. I’e2’80’99ll be posting more on THE ART OF DETECTION later in the…

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Seasonal greetings

By Laurie King / December 23, 2005 /

Two bits of news to tuck under your Christmas tree or Hanukkah bush. One, following the example of JK Rowling, sometime after Christmas I’e2’80’99m going to post the first chapter of THE ART OF DETECTION on the web site. If you get the newsletter, you’e2’80’99ll know when. And second, as of the first of the…

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Touching on TOUCHSTONE

By Laurie King / December 17, 2005 /

The problem with writing a book around characters is that eventually, they have to have something to do. TOUCHSTONE’s protagonist is very clear to me, and has been for the eighteen months that I’ve been thinking about the book. I know his character, his history, his setting, but the events in which I shall immerse…

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Pinter’e2’80’99s Nobel (2)

By Laurie King / December 12, 2005 /

The more authority a person has, the greater the impact of his or her passing by. Young singers tossed into huge fame take a while to realize the consequences of their every act; Bill Gates took a long time before he woke up to his money and began to commit some of it to good…

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Pinter’s Nobel

By Laurie King / December 11, 2005 /

The following is an excerpt from Harold Pinter’e2’80’99s acceptance speech at the Nobel Prizes, as an illustration of how one can make use of fame: I was present at a meeting at the US embassy in London in the late 1980s. The United States Congress was about to decide whether to give more money to…

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Fame

By Laurie King / December 9, 2005 /

There is an interesting discussion about fame in the writing world going on over at the new blog site, Contemporary Nomad (and thanks to the ever-excellent Sarah Weinman at Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind for bringing the site to my attention.) I’e2’80’99m comfortable with my own mild level of fame. I get recognized at conventions,…

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Chickpeas and Beekeepers

By Laurie King / December 8, 2005 /

Okay, so I’e2’80’99m 53 years old and just the other day realized why garbanzo beans are also known as ‘e2’80’9cchickpeas.’e2’80’9d I was picking over some French lentils and found this larger pale object nestled among the dark green dots, and suddenly noticed that it is precisely the shape of a neatly tucked-together chicken ready for…

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Never mind…

By Laurie King / December 6, 2005 /

Thank you Chris, and Mr or Ms Bookworm, for remindimg me that I’d asked for feedback concerning the comment. I thought Chris’s remarks referred to my post, not my comment on the comment on the post, which now has a post of its own to comment on…. I really shouldn’t do this before I have…

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Web etiquette

By Laurie King / December 6, 2005 /

I’e2’80’99ve only been doing this blogging thing since February, and without a doubt there are niceties of behavior of which I am not aware. However, can I ask for feedback on the following comment: Chris said (concerning my post last week about ARCs) ‘e2’80’9cNot keen on the ‘e2’80’98advert.’e2’80’99 It’e2’80’99s presumptious. Not the done thing to…

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The ARC

By Laurie King / December 3, 2005 /

I’e2’80’99ve been thinking about ARCs lately, after my publisher very generously upped their order of the things for my own purposes. And then Sarah has been talking about the subject over at the great communal blog Galleycat, too(the Dec 2 posting), prompting this post of mine. ARC, for those not conversant with the ins and…

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