Making a Comeback...

Hello again, dear friends.

After much thought and lots of encouragement from family and friends, I am returning to blogging after a much-needed hiatus. I'm feeling refreshed and clear-headed once again. But I'd love to hear what direction you'd like to see the Publishing Curve go in.

Anything you'd like to hear more/less about? Any new ideas or story leads? I'd love to hear from you...so please leave your comments below.

I'm currently developing my new editorial schedule and will make my official return in the coming weeks. Please stay tuned just a bit longer!

P.S. I've missed you all a great deal! :)

The (belated) Friday Wrap-Up 1/9/09

Last week feels like a blur. Coming back to work after 2 weeks away is not an easy thing to do. But I ended up diving into work head first and didn't have time for much else. So I may be a little late, but here's the Friday Wrap-Up...better late than never!

Enjoy!

• Fiction Reading Increases for Adults
• Who Needs Publishers?
• Every non-fiction book needs an index: Here’s why
• An Autopsy of the Book Business
• My Glamorous Publishing Life
• An Editor Responds

A Bookish Jewelry Find

Over my 2-week vacation, I went to one of my favorite local independent bookstores, Anderson's Bookshop. I've frequented Anderson's since I was a little girl in grade school. One of the things that I love about the shop is that they always have interesting book-related items.

I was quite excited during this trip to find Banned Book Bracelets by jewelry artist Carolyn Forsman. Her Conversation Piece Jewelry site is full of unique pieces. One of the bracelets has young adult book covers, like Blubber and Captain Underpants. The other has classic book covers, such as To Kill a Mockingbird, The Color Purple, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I opted for the latter of the two. There's also a necklace, which you can see here. The Banned Book jewelry was created for the American Library Association's Freedom to Read Foundation.

I absolutely love my bracelet and have worn it several times already. Check them out! They'd be a perfect gift for yourself or anyone who loves books!

I'm Back From My Winter Hibernation

I had grand plans to blog over my 2 week vacation; but obviously that didn't happen.

Instead I stayed as far away from my computer as possible. I only checked e-mail sporadically and boy, did it feel good! I'm back feeling refreshed and more clear-headed than before.

I'll write more this week about my vacation...but for the time-being, it's back to digging out from under my work e-mails!

Hope your holidays were lovely!

The Friday Wrap-Up 12/19/08

What a horrible winter weather day in Chicago! The snow/ice combo hit us hard. But amazingly, I made it to work on time. The streets were bad driving to the train station; but at least the train wasn't delayed. I had to come in today for a few reasons:

1. It's my last day of work before I'm off for 2 weeks and I had a bunch of things to wrap up before I leave for vacation.
2. It's our company holiday party today. Can't miss that!
3. Um, did I already mention that I have a bunch of stuff to finish before I'm on vacation?!

Anyhow, I'll be away from work until the 5th of January. My sister is visiting from Virginia (if she can get a flight into Chicago today) and I'll be spending lots of quality time with her and other family members. So, my blogging may be a bit sparser than usual (hard to believe, right?!) I'll definitely be doing the Friday Wrap-Ups, though. So, please be sure to watch for them.

And in case I don't talk to y'all before Wednesday, have a very happy holiday!

• 9 Tips for Brand New Freelancers
• RETURNING EDITORIAL POWER TO EDITORS
• Plot Twist: The Newbery May Dampen Kids' Reading
• New York wants to tax ebooks, other digital content
• Of Wine and Bullhorns - Social Media for Authors and Publishers
• Book Publishing’s Month of the Long Knives
• Random Thoughts for 2009
• Book Marketing 101: What Works and What Doesn’t

Happy Birthday, Jane Austen!

Today marks Jane Austen's 233rd birthday. Thanks to Lori Cates Hand of the Publishing Careers blog for reminding me!

Since Ms. Austen is one of my all-time favorite writers, I plan to celebrate by watching Pride and Prejudice (the Keira Knightley film version) tonight while wrapping Christmas gifts.

Will you do anything fun to celebrate?

The Friday Wrap Up 12/12/08

This week has gone by in what feels like a blur. Between work and getting ready for the holidays, I haven't had much time for writing. I finally did catch up on my blog reading today, though. And I think there's some good stuff here. Enjoy!

• Michael Dirda on the 10 Commandments of Book Giving
• Designing the perfect book cover: turf battles over art, fonts & money
• Are We Raising Readers?
• Molly Flatt: Do you have a seasonal reading pattern?
• Carrie Dunn: The great literary Facebook status game
• Best-Ever Suggestions for Books as Gifts