Media Round-Up (Updated)

This article is an Onion-style parody, right? Observe:

My Book Deal Ruined My Life:

And even before the potential post-publication humiliation, there’s deadline pressure; crippling self-doubt; diets of Entenmann’s pastries and black coffee; self-made cubicles structured with piles of books, papers and unpaid bills; night-owl tendencies; failed relationships; unanswered phone calls; weight gain; poverty; and, of course, exhaustion.

So forget the American dream! Getting a book deal seems more like a nightmare.

Someone confirm for me that this is a joke. I was all agog at the extreme examples in the article — one writer complained about being forced to work on a book revealing his family secrets… a book he chose to propose, sell, sign a contract for, and receive money for. Maybe he didn’t realize how hard it would be on him, but in this case, the problem doesn’t seem to be the book deal, but the book itself. Another whined about how his advance was not enough to sustain him for the half decade or so it took for him to write his book. I recognize that some books take longer to write than others. But I find it hard to believe that he’s BICHOKing sixteen hours a day for four years. And once again, I ask, how is it the deal that’s a nightmare?

Folks: this job rocks. Even when it’s the worst writing day, it better than any other job that I can imagine. Unless you can make a career out of, I don’t know, visiting spas or riding amusement park rides or tasting new kinds of Godiva truffles… it’s about at good as it gets.

Best part was the comments and the way they tear into the subjects of the article.

Now, for some COOL writing articles, starting with one about Cecil Castellucci, one of the coolest cats I know. A screenwriter, singer/songwriter, young adult book writer, and now graphic novelist, Cecil was recently interviewed by CNN about her new book, The P.L.A.I.N. Janes:

Something of a high school rebel herself, Castellucci’s own artistic journey began with the creation of a nom de guerre, Cecil, a very tongue-in-cheek homage to Cecil B. DeMille. “My real name was kind of blah,” she recalls, “and so I would turn in school work like ‘A Book Report by Cecil B. DeMille.’ “

“The Plain Janes” is Castellucci’s first experience creating comic books, but it’s far from her first experience with the form. (“I have a really huge crush on Superman right now, so I’m obsessed with reading everything Superman,” she observes.)

And who isn’t, I ask you?

My pal Wendy Roberts has the cover to her new book, THE REMAINS OF THE DEAD. Check it out! I had the good fortune to read an advanced copy of this book, and it’s fabulous. It’s about a woman who works in a specialized field of crime scene clean up (dead bodies) who can also, by the by, talk to ghosts. Move over, Medium!

Finally, my hometown newspaper, The St. Petersburg Time, has started to cover this all-important epidemic of our time, the re-emergence of the long-forgotten unicorn:

Have you seen me?

Mythical? Come, now. Rare sightings of this magical beast, missing since the ’80s, give hope to believers everywhere.

Over the last few years, the unicorn has slowly and quietly crept back into popular culture. It has popped up on trendy retro-style T-shirts, often with sayings like “Unicorn Power!” and “Free Unicorn Rides.” It has appeared in television ads, flooding MySpace and gaining popularity on YouTube cult video clips. There’s a hip indie band called the Unicorns and countless Web sites devoted to unicorn awareness. It’s hard to say exactly why this sacred beast has made a comeback, but we’re hoping it’s here to stay. For those who missed the unicorn craze of the ’80s, here are the answers to some of your most burning unicorn questions.

And so it begins…

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