MORE BASE!

Thanks to everyone who voted and commented on my BASE jumping poll. I've decided it can go in the query. If agents don't know what it is, and are curious, they can google it.

One of my MCs BASE jumps daily as a way to deal with his emotional pain. For him, adrenaline rushes help ease his heartache. Well, okay, and he might have a little bit of a death wish too but whatevs.

For those who didn't know, BASE stands for Building Antenna, Span, Earth. Meaning, poeople wear winged flight suits and a parachute and leap from inanimate wicked-tall objects like mountains, bridges, skyscrapers etc. No, I haven't done it. Although, call me crazy, I'd love to try it because I've been skydiving a few times and absolutely love it.

Here's one of my fav BASE jumping videos in case you want to see what it's all about. It's shot in breathtaking Norway and it gives me excited (and envious) chills every time I watch. Enjoy!

BASE JUMPING ANYONE?

WITHOUT GOOGLING IT, (or reading any comments--they may be a spoiler) PLEASE answer my poll question:

Do you know what BASE Jumping is?

I'm writing my query and trying to figure out if I say one of my characters was BASE Jumping, will agents know what that means? Or will it cause a HUH moment?

Thank you in advance for your feedback!

THE SHOT HEARD AROUND THE LITERARY WORLD

I'm sure you've heard the big news, but in case you haven't...best selling author, Barry Eisler, turned down a 500k book deal yesterday so that he could self-publish.
Yes, you read that right.

*sigh*

I can see the negatives and positives from both sides of the debate: Traditional publishing vs. Self-pub. And I'm not saying Barry's decision is wrong or right. I believe every author has to make the decision that is best for them, and that decision is based on many factors.

Me personally, I'm old-fashioned. I'm always saying I wish I was born several decades earlier so I could live in slower-paced times when people spent more quality time with other people instead of dedicating the majority of their waking hours to technology. But that's a whole other rant. Back to my original thought...

I want my first novel to be published the old-fashioned way. I want a real book in my hands. I want to ooh and ahh (or hide all traces of disappointment from my face) at the pretty (or not-so-pretty) cover the publishing house and its designer and marketing team collaborated on. I want to see my book on a shelf in a bookstore so my mom can use her ninja skills to strategically move it to the MUST READ section. I want to picture my book, a hundred years from now, tattered, stained and packed away in a moving box full of other books and when the owner opens the lid, he/she inhales that first waft of old paper smell and thinks, "Ahh memories. I love the smell of my favorite books and--even though I have a computer chip embedded in my wrist that allows me to read any book at anytime instantly on a virtual reality screen embedded in my eyeballs--I will never ever throw these away because nothing will EVER replace the feel of a REAL book."

Yup, I'm a traditionalist at heart.

BUT, I'm also very adaptable. I want my agent to get me a good deal on E rights. I want my stories available at the touch of a button to Kindle, Nook, Sony (and any and all other EReader) lovers. I'm not stupid. I know the percentage an author can make on Ebooks vs. printed. Once I have some kind of following I might take the Ebook route for some of my stories.

But here's my main thing, call me sentimental, but I don't want to live in a world where publishing houses are obsolete. My heart aches and breaks when I picture a world without agents, editors, assistants, foreign rights managers, and all those other people who participate in creating and producing REAL books. That's a lot of passionate literary people no longer being able to do what they love because technology has eliminated the need for them. I hate that. The very thought of it bemoans my soul.

What will come next? Computers that create and write novels without the help or imagination of a real human being? Great, then authors won't even be needed. I know it's an extreme thought, but look how fast and drastically our world is changing--and not all of those changes are for the better (in my humble opinion).

*sigh*

If you want to read Jane Friedman's post, about Barry turning down the book deal, including a downloadable conversation between Barry and JA Konrath about the topic, click here.

IN LOVING MEMORY

“Wednesday morning at 7:00, with a view of snow flakes falling into the garden, and soft piano music playing, I bid farewell to my love. My best friend.” ~Neil Wolfson (Husband of Lisa Kay Wolfson aka LK Madigan)

It has been a week since the world lost a beloved wife, mother, and YA author, LK Madigan. My heart ached when I heard the news of her death. I didn’t know her personally, but hearing that the world lost another talented writer really hit home.

I first discovered LK when researching agents to query. While choosing which agent to query from the Andrea Brown Agency, I saw that Jennifer Laughran had a client who was about to release The Mermaid’s Mirror. I smiled, and felt an invisible and immediate connection to LK. Maybe it was a kindred mermaid souls thing, or maybe it was just how sweet and genuine LK seemed on her website and blog, but I was an instant fan.

Another kindred mermaid soul and beautiful writer, Tricia O’Brien, first told me about LK’s gut-wrenching diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. My heart hurt for her back then, and I cried when Tricia said she had passed away. Life is so unfair sometimes.

As a writer, I can’t help but think how many stories she will never be able to share with the world because her time ended too soon. Then I read this on her website, and tears rolled down my cheeks all over again:

“FLASH BURNOUT was published in October 2009. My second young adult novel, a fantasy titled THE MERMAID’S MIRROR, just came out this fall. I hope to write and publish many more books in the future … I have more story ideas than time to write them all."

Not enough time indeed. It’s so tragically unfair.

So many lives are lost much too soon because of many types of cancer. I pray--as do many--that one day a cure for this devastating disease will be discovered.

In the meantime, don’t take life for granted.

Tell the people you love how much they mean to you, because you don’t know how much time you have left with them. And follow your dreams diligently, because you don’t know how much time you have left to make them come true.

Here’s to LK: to her talent, her beauty, her bravery, her successes, and her loved ones. May she be blissfully exploring a place so beautiful that no writer could ever adequately describe it with mortal words.

~In Loving Memory~

You can read Neil’s recent message to readers of LK’s blog here:

You can read how brave and strong LK (Lisa) was in this post: