This week in writing: mother’s day recovery edition

I hope everyone’s recovered from their mother’s day festivities, whether they were good, bad, or otherwise. Mother’s day is, I think, a minefield at times for a zillion different reasons. So if you’re still basking in the glow of your day, yay you! If not, this roundup’ll get it off your mind.

At the end of the week, Harlequin was bought by HarperCollins/NewsCorp. More mergers may rightfully give authors the shivers, but it was the media coverage of this merger that gave this writer the hives. Hilarious!

Mystery Writers of America announced this year’s Edgar award winners.

Did you know that in some places Amazon delivers on Sunday? I discovered this last weekend when an overnight bag I bought (after taking a trip to Florida over spring break with woefully insufficient luggage) was on my porch after we got home from church. Whaaa? Evidently this started last November. News to me!

Also news to me is the fact that South Carolina politicians are taking funding from universities that teach books by LGBTQ authors. What. The. H?

In better news, Jerry Pinkney was recently awarded the Toast to the Children Literacy Award for his vast contributions to kid lit.

Pinkney (l) receives the award from Tom Colicchio of Top Chef (r).

In case you missed it last week, Neil Gaiman is going to be doing a reading/show at Carnegie Hall. If that isn’t literary hotness, I don’t know what is.

If you’re feeling discouraged about your work, this blog post by Kate Messner is sure to help. Her remedy: write more. She has good reasons why.

This Tedx talk on story as a superpower energized me last week when I was emotionally drained working on a new story. What you do is important, folks. Believe it.

Another thing that was tremendously helpful was Lee Harper’s Facebook post last week about a picture book story he’d been working on for years. I have been struggling with two PB manuscripts and it’s always helpful to know that the words–even for those successful in this genre–don’t just flip off the page in perfect order. (I don’t have a link for that post, but check out his website at the link above. The wooly mammoth, folks. SO MAMMOTHY!!!)

That’s all I’ve got. Have a great week!