Freaky Friday: Your Recap of the Week in Weird Writing-World News
George Washington: every library’s worst nightmare. Being 221 years late on returning two tomes, the president has racked up some $4,577 in fines. Everyone’s favorite authorial supergroup has a new…
George Washington: every library’s worst nightmare. Being 221 years late on returning two tomes, the president has racked up some $4,577 in fines.
Everyone’s favorite authorial supergroup has a new talent:Jennifer Weiner has joined The Rock Bottom Remainders. The group, “one of the world’s highest ratios of noise to talent,” has featured Mitch Albom, Dave Barry, Roy Blount Jr., Stephen King, Matt Groening, Amy Tan and others.
Apparently $200,000 for a part-time gig wasn’t enough for Danielle Steel’s former assistant: Kristy Watts, who was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison this week, embezzled nearly $800,000 from the author.
Damn those promiscuous vampires: Stephenie Meyer and others earned a place on an ALA list of “most frequently challenged books” (essentially meaning complaints were filed with libraries to have the books pulled from shelves). The author’s racy company includes the ttyl books by Lauren Myracle and Alice Walker’s The Color Purple (Alice Walker—seriously?).
A great, non-absurd list on absurdity: Absurd guru Michael Foley ranks his top 10 absurd classics.
Finally, a random fact pulled from an intriguing story about a New York Public Library Voltaire exhibit: The author originally released his classic Candide—featuring such character names as Baron Thunder-ten-tronckh—using the simple pseudonym “Dr. Ralph.”
Happy weekend!
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At the funeral, you fidget nervously as you wait in line to pay your respects. When you reach the casket, the face of the woman standing next to it changes.
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Also, the new Writer's Digest University—an excellent hub of writing
courses and workshops—has gone live. Check it out at writersdigestuniversity.com,
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Zachary Petit is a freelance journalist and editor, and a lifelong literary and design nerd. He's also a former senior managing editor of Writer’s Digest magazine. Follow him on Twitter @ZacharyPetit.
