Hope Darby Writings

My adoration of J.K. Rowling continues . . .

From MSNBC.com’s “Wild About Harry” files:

An 800-word Harry Potter prequel is one of 13 card-sized works to be sold at a charity auction in the British capital.

 

Waterstone’s Booksellers Ltd. says the cream-colored A5 papers — each slightly bigger than a postcard — were distributed to 13 authors and illustrators, including the boy wizard’s creator J.K. Rowling, Nobel Prize winner Doris Lessing, novelist Margaret Atwood and playwright Tom Stoppard.

 

Rowling used both sides of her card to hand-write a prequel to her seven-book Harry Potter saga, while Lessing penned a story about the power of reading. Stoppard wrote a short mystery and Atwood was due to fill out her card remotely using a robotic arm controlled by computer linkup.

 

Other cards were completed by children’s author Michael Rosen, illustrator Axel Scheffler, graphic novelist Neil Gaiman, Lisa Appignanesi, Richard Ford, Lauren Child, Irvine Welsh, Sebastian Faulks and Nick Hornby, who plastered his card with a collage.

 

The cards will go on sale at the “What’s Your Story?” auction at Waterstone’s flagship store in central London on June 10. The proceeds are to go to English PEN, the writers’ association, and the British charity Dyslexia Action. Copies of the cards will be collated into a book to be made available at the bookstore and online in August.

 

Organizers refused to comment on the content of Rowling’s Harry Potter prequel, but Hogwarts fans hoping for another book to add to their collection may be disappointed by her signoff.

 

“From the prequel I am not working on — but that was fun!” Rowling wrote.

 

Rowling has previously said she had no plans to write another Potter novel, but in December she sold a handwritten, leather-bound book of fairy tales she described as drawing on the series’ themes, for nearly $4 million at auction. The money went to The Children’s Voice, a charity Rowling co-founded in 2005.

Scheduling interviews is absolutely nerve-wracking.

You can write down every single thing you want to say, but then that leaves you sounding like a recorded message. Not a good thing when you’re actually speaking to the person. You can wing it, and wind up with fifteen hundred “Uh”s and “Um”s peppered throughout your conversation.

Neither option conveys the impression that you are, in fact, a very good writer with a very legitimate reason for interviewing people.

I have no problem with the actual interview. I like to talk, I love to listen, and I’m pretty darn good at transcribing my own shorthand and taped recordings.

It’s just the scheduling that is so awkward for me! Weird. Annoying. Gnarf.

I swear, I think the Sandman deliberately picks on writers, artists, and other creatively odd types.

When I worked at a nuclear plant, rarely did I hear the roughnecks bemoaning their pitifully few hours of sleep. Nor did I hear very many CEOs mentioning their need to run to the drugstore on the way home, to pick up sleep-medicine. Sure, I heard them (and plenty of other folks in my different jobs) complain that they didn’t get enough sleep, or that they stayed up too late watching television the night before.

But to simply be incapable of falling asleep because the mind will not shut off seems a personality-specific dilemma.

So what’s the deal?

The Sandman has songs, stories, and even pictures dedicated to him, and none of them unflattering. You’d think, wouldn’t you, that the fellow would return the gestures by allowing us to get some sleep? I’d think.

Well, I’d think if my brain weren’t mush.

Which it is.

Because the Sandman ignored me last night, yet again.

*sigh*

I know, I said I was going to go eat.

I just had to post about this, and then I’m off, I promise.

One of the most nerve-wracking aspects of being a freelance writer is the sending of query letters and then waiting on the all-important acceptance or (more frequently) rejection letters. The best way to keep a level head, or so my mentor has always told me, is to utilize the cliché, “No news is good news.” I’ve often thought that to be a daft way to look at things, but hey . . . she’s the professional.

And darn her hide, but she’s been proven right once again.

Once upon a time, I sent a query letter to AFAA (Aerobics and Fitness Association of America) for an 1100-word article. Never heard a word. Fast-forward almost an entire year, and I receive a letter from them in the mail.

Apparently, they’ve undergone an editorial changeover, and the new fellow found my query letter in a stack on his freshly-acquired desk. Lo and behold, he has accepted my query and would love to have me write the article! Deadline of July 1st, and printed in the following edition. Love!

Now if that isn’t a point in favor of patience, I don’t know what is!

Or at least, I say hello

I think I may have finally gotten this thing off the ground. Which isn’t to say it’s perfect, nor is it completed, but it’s close enough for me to not feel completely embarrassed to throw open the gates.

If anyone notices a problem, please don’t hesitate to let me know. Oddly enough for a writer, I do accept criticism pretty darn well!

Short and sweet is this post, but I am starving and hearing Willy Wonka playing in the living room isn’t helping matters any. Though it is making me wait to create Golden Tickets for something. Not sure for what, but definitely for something

Ta!