Uncreated Conscience

I would just like to make the announcement that I have been hired at St. Martin’s Press as an editorial assistant! I can’t divulge the details quite yet, but once the dust settles, I will be part of a new enterprise with regards to finding books for post-adolescents and young “adults” (like myself). This position [...]

This past week has felt like The Pixies’ song “Where Is My Mind?” Where has been my mind lately? Not anywhere I need it. Today I am covering for two different agents’ assistants (thankfully not at once although actually simultaneously) and I am so scattered. I blame the fact that the coffee machine is broken. [...]

Yesterday I read a manuscript by a writer who may, in fact, be more obsessed with piss and shit than even James Joyce. And I love that pretentious emo dead Irish bastard. (Me and about three other people: my friend Kristine, my houseguest Russ–who is now famous on the internet, and Lou Reed Girlfriend.) In [...]

In a few short weeks my internship at Ye Olde Literary Agency will come to an end and then I shall be put to the task of finding entry-level positions in the sinking industry that is publishing. Oh god. Why, oh why, did I choose to make this lateral career move right as the industry [...]

According to Abner, I am on the wrong career path; instead of publishing, I ought to be in the espionage business. Here is a girl, he says, who is fluent in three languages and conversant in a handful of others, jumps out of perfectly good airplanes and scuba dives for fun, knows martial arts, fencing, [...]

You know, the longer I live on the East Coast, the more I’m convinced the gorgeous spring day where it is warm and clear and full of sunshine is a complete myth. It has rained nearly everyday without fail since April decided to show up. While I’m grateful it isn’t ass-cold anymore, the new sogginess [...]

I read a manuscript yesterday that was so searingly bad I swear it singed off my eyebrows. I can only suspend my disbelief so far. And it was all going along so swimmingly in the first 100 pages or so and them bam! it jumped the shark. Well, it wasn’t that it jumped the shark [...]

Hopefully today will be slightly less slushful at work so I can concentrate on these editorial letters I have to write. One is a direct request from the author; I wrote a reader’s report for El Jefe a few weeks ago and he liked it so much he took me out to lunch and then [...]

I’m a bit burned out; I have two editorial letters to write, a manuscript to read and write a report for, and another for one of my newest critique partners. Unfortunately I think I am completely “read out” at the moment. I went through about 100 queries today for El Jefe and my brain isn’t [...]

You know, when I was younger, I used to think that being a housewife would be one of the worst occupations ever. Cleaning? Cooking? Doing chores? Ew! But the older I get, the more joy I take in small domestic tasks like decorating my apartment and keeping it clean. Playing Wifey for Bear this past [...]