NaNoWriMo 2012 is now in session! Go write until your fingers fall off!!
Okay, maybe don’t make your fingers fall off. But do have fun and write!
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The big news this week: Penguin and Random House have confirmed their merger. Wow. Mergers aren’t unusual in publishing. Most of the big houses are made up of branches that used to be small publishing companies.
But I’m saddened by the potential loss of jobs this may mean. Often in mergers, when the two businesses are consolidated, jobs are eliminated because they’re unnecessary. Two people who had the same job in each company may be reduced to just one person.
Here’s an article on what the merger could mean for authors and readers. I do hope anyone who loses their job can find another one quickly!
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I’m not sure that I agree that the novella is better than the novel, but I do have an appreciation for novellas now that I didn’t have before. I had read novellas in the past without thinking about them being novellas rather than short stories (we read The Metamorphosis and other works that would be considered novella-length in school), but I first started really noticing novellas last year when I saw some from favorite authors available on Amazon. They were part of series that I had loved, so I read them and loved them. And I’ve since published my own novella (Overtime) and will have another one coming out in early 2013 (as part of the Swans Landing series), so I do enjoy both writing and reading them. I’m also reading more short stories these days than I have in a long time. I love that the shorter forms are getting an equal chance out there again. If you haven’t read any novellas lately, go check some out!
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I’ve been through a lot of hurricanes in eastern North Carolina, so I know what they can do and how long it can take to clean things up. My area went through a “500 year flood” in 1999 after Hurricane Floyd (called that because it was record flood levels that don’t come more than once every 500 years) and even Hurricane Irene last year left lots of damage even though it was just a category one. So my heart goes out to the people affect by Hurricane Sandy. If you want to help, the Red Cross is always a great place to donate to.