storytelling

Leona Nevler died this weekend, quite suddenly. She was my editor at Putnam, the person who acquired Tied to the Tracks.

In spite of many long phone conversations, the only time I actually spent with Leona was this past summer when I was in Manhattan, when she took me to lunch. Leona reminded me of a particular type of grand older woman of my mother's generation, very elegant, very polite, with a million stories to tell. She made me comfortable, she made me laugh, and she made me envy her kids, who she talked about with obvious love and affection.

She was eighty, and still working pretty much full time. When I met her I had to ask about the one thing I knew about her work history -- that she had acquired Peyton Place for Julian Messner in 1956, a process that involved not only taking Grace Metalious out to lunch numerous times but also having her over for a whole day to listen to her problems and, where she could, sneak in some talk about the book. Leona didn't actually edit Peyton Place, but she was instrumental in its acquisition.

While she was telling this story I was thinking about the life she had led. Imagine her as a young woman pursuing a career in Manhattan of the mid fifties, through the sixties and seventies and eighties and nineties right up to last week, in December of 2005. Women like Leona really did pave the path for the rest of us.

The publisher called my agent today to give her this news, and she called me. I suppose it wasn't exactly a huge surprise, given Leona's age, but I am very sad. Because I liked her tremendously, and because she loved Tied to the Tracks. It was the last book she acquired, and I'm honored.

I'll be talking to my new editor this week. I have every faith that things will work out well, but I will miss Leona.

Posted by at 10:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

There are some gorgeous covers out there in novel land. Look at the one for Jenny Crusie's forthcoming novel, Don't Look Down, coauthored with Bob Mayer. Gorgeous. Colors, composition, it tells you something about the story... except it may give you the idea that Bob gets et by a gator. Which apparently is not true.

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Now look at this novel from a couple years ago. I bought it for the cover. Haven't read it yet, but I will eventually, after I'm done contemplating the artwork. I love the use of the old newspaper style, the illustration bursting through the two-dimensional to give you a sense of a fully three dimensional story.

I have to go take some graphic arts classes. I really do. In my spare time.

Posted by at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I could not begin to count the ways. But I can give you a list of the things that I adore the most. Not the workhorse applications, you understand. The flash and sizzle. These are not in order of how much I love them, because that would depend on the day and project at hand.

1. Ecto, a desktop blogging client that renders everything Movable Type easy.

2. iTunes, because within this small computer on my lap I have organized 2,000+ songs (by title, artist, band, album, genre, etc etc), thirty plus full length unabridged novels, and various episodes of Lost which I have downloaded just so I can watch it whenever I please.

3. Tinderbox, which is first of all, very expensive but it's the only graphical note taking tool that has ever worked for me. Also, the icon is fuuugly but the innards of the thing do what I need, so really, I have to just get over the icon thing.

4. Bookpedia, my newest obsession. It has an interface like iTunes, I can scan in books in a second using a ten dollar CueCat, and by dog I swear all my books will be catalogued and organized by the new year. (Note: I only allow myself to open Bookpedia if I have written a certain amount of pages in a day. In case you were worried.)

5. StickyBrain grabs whatever I need it to grab and holds onto it. My brain isn't sticky enough. No age comments, please.

6. Widgets. There are hundreds of them. Some are useful, others are fun. Together they make up the Dashboard. You've got to see it to appreciate it. Like having a secretary right there.

7. I have a bit of a love/hate thing going on with Project Timer. It works like a charm. Which means I have to, as well.

8. Airport, which lives someplace inside this machine and makes it possible for me to check email, look things up on the web, and generally go round the world anywhere in the house without physically plugging into the ether. I am Wireless.

9. the desktop, which is easy to keep empty -- not a single icon. a clean slate. Made possible by the incredibly efficient Finder window.

10. Exposé and the splendid F11 key. In the middle of a project with a dozen windows on the desktop, sorting through them all is a pain. Never fear, F11 minimizes them all to the point where they are still legible, and then spreads them out on the desktop. Click what you want, and it comes up on top. I adore this feature.

Posted by at 8:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)