BEA Swag!

These are ARCs (advanced reader copies) I picked up at BEA. Also, my toes, which I included in the photo because they bear my favorite nail polish: a luminescent, pearly silver. Since I don’t have a novel coming out this year (The Celestial Globe will be published in March 2010), I went purely as a spectator, and had a great deal of fun scouting out free books, standing in line (truly! Some of the best conversations happen with strangers who stand in line with you), and seeing friends. You can guess which ARC I was reading when I took the photograph.

Yes, Catching Fire (the bent cover gives it away). Before I finished it, someone mentioned to me that there was a moment when she feared that the book wouldn’t turn out to be good, but she was relieved and satisfied in the end. She didn’t want to say which moment that was, since I had only just started reading. But I knew exactly what she meant when I got there. And I, too, thought, “Really? That’s where this book is going to go? Is that a good idea?” But it was. Catching Fire was a solidly entertaining read, and also written in a clean style perfectly suited for our pragmatic, powerful, no frills narrator. 

Sorry if I sound very vague. I just don’t want to give away any spoilers.

And I’m going to be vague again! And unspoilery again!

The book I read before BEA was Kristin Cashore’s Fire, which made me sooo happy. I mean, except for the sleep deprivation part. Now that little Eliot is sleeping through the night, I really shouldn’t stay awake reading, but I couldn’t help myself. Fire presents such a rich world, with fascinating characters (even the minor ones have a great deal of depth) and a romance that unfolds very subtly and tenderly.

Now reading: Laini Taylor’s Lips Touch.

And also: Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird. It’s kind of shocking that I haven’t yet read this classic text on writing (especially because I teach creative writing!). One particularly true thing I’ve come across so far in Bird by Bird is the command to write every day: “Do it as you would do scales on the piano. Do it by prearrangement with yourself. Do it as a debt of honor.” I particularly like that last sentence, because it begs the question: Who or what are you honoring when you write? The obvious answer is, of course, yourself, but there are others, too, and it seems that the way in which you answer the question is exactly what determines the kind of book that is being written.

Any writers out there? What do you think is most important when writing? What do you honor?

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