A Few More Links

I’ve been too busy for a lot of my regular bookish activities–including writing reviews or updating Goodreads or anything like that–but I still wanted to tune in and say hello with a few interesting writing- and YA-related links that have crossed my virtual desk recently. Well, I suppose the desk is physical. But the information is virtual.

First, via my mom and the NCTE newsletter comes a PDF article from author Jennifer Buehler that includes a wealth of advice and resources from YA authors, including a few links that were new to me as well as a few familiar ones.

Next, did you know that Lee Wind of I’m Here. I’m Queer. What the Hell do I read? has a newsletter now? He does, and it’s great–you’ll find out what’s new on the blog, what speaker visits Lee has been doing lately, and you’ll even get an inspirational quote to round it all out. To sign up, just go to his blog and enter your e-mail address in the sign-up box at the top of the left-hand column. One recent post highlighted the Make It Safe Project, which “donates books about sexual orientation and gender expression to schools and youth homeless shelters that lack the resources to keep their teens safe.” In addition, they have tons of resources and support for school Gay-Straight Alliances. Kudos, and I hope their efforts are wildly successful! (via Little Willow @ Bildungsroman)

Can I just note how excited we are that our good friend Colleen of Chasing Ray has a Big Idea post up at John Scalzi’s Whatever blog? I’m in awe, especially since I thought about writing in to ask about doing a post but then after reading a bunch of amazing installments of Big Idea I completely chickened out. Colleen’s post adds to that amazingness and I hope it brings many more readers to her gripping book about Alaska flying, Map of My Dead Pilots.

Last but not least, a couple of links from Graphic Novel Reporter–these links really got me excited about my upcoming term as Round 2 Cybils judge for Graphic Novels:  first, a graphic novel holiday gift guide, with suggestions for all ages and tastes, and second, a list of favorite graphic novels of 2011 (which is going to make MY Christmas list much, much longer). I was happy to see a few of the great ones I read this year on the best-of-2011 list, like Anya’s Ghost.

Well, that’s it for today. I hope to get my butt in gear enough to do a review for this Thursday, but we’ll see!