A Bit of Explanation, Plus Links

This is what I’m going to look like in a month.

I’m just popping in momentarily to let you know that I will be relatively quiet for the next month. I’m busily working away at a revision of my next YA novel, Underneath, which is due out next year (probably summer). My revision is due on Oct. 1, so as my writing–and some inconveniently-timed freelance work, and the Cybils blog–take up the bulk of my time, I’ll be blogging a little bit less. You’ll probably only see me on Thursdays, and I’m giving myself a bit of a Toon Thursday break as well, since those posts take a lot more time than others.

Some food for thought while you mourn my absence (har):

• Buying a book review?? Say it ain’t so. But it is. And apparently it’s more common than you’d think. I can’t even imagine ever considering it–I’d rather have an honest bad review from someone who actually read and thought about my book than pay for meaningless paeans-for-hire. And the problem is, the idea of all these purchased reviews floating around out there–in my opinion–makes legitimate writing and reviewing feel meaningless. BOO, I say.
• Via the SCBWI’s Expression Online newsletter, Salon.com’s Laura Miller says the reason women dominate YA lit is the same reason men avoid it: “The answer, I believe, is prestige. YA is a prestige-free zone, or at
  least it has been for most of the decades of its existence as a
  self-identified genre.” She goes on to say, “YA fiction has blossomed outside the literary world’s prestige economy” and explains why that can be a good thing. WELL worth a read, and an important entry to the discussion on the place of YA lit in the literary world.