This weekend I'm off to Philadelphia for ALA Midwinter. I'm on the Publisher's Liaison Committee for YALSA, so I get to see the inner workings of the committees this year and to go to some booksignings in the Random House booth for Magic in the Mirrorstone, the anthology of fantasy short stories we're releasing in February. It's edited by Steve Berman and features 15 wonderful stories by 15 amazing authors, like Holly Black, Gregory Frost, Tiffany Trent, Cecil Castellucci, Cassandra Clare, Jim C. Hines, and on and on. If you like short stories, check it out. Hey, even if you don't like short stories, there's plenty to love--Cecil Castellucci's first foray into fantasy, a "lost story" of Hallowmere, unicorns, frogs, a voodoo princess... and more, of course. (Twoo wuv, mawage...)

And of course, if you're going to BE at Midwinter, make sure to come looking for a signed copy of Magic in the Mirrorstone. Gregory Frost and Holly Black are having independent signings, and several others, including Ann Zeddes, Lawrence Schoen, and anthology editor Steve Berman (the reason the whole thing exists!) will be around signing stock, so you might just be able to get a copy with several authors' John Hancocks!

Mirrorstone does not have a booth at Midwinter this year, so go looking for copies at the Random House booth, #1231.

Here's the schedule:

11:00AM—12:00PM – Gregory Frost (Shadowbridge & Magic in the Mirrorstone) signs copies of his book in the RH Booth #1231

11:00AM—12:00PM – Holly Black (Magic in the Mirrorstone) signs copies of her book in the RH Booth # 1231

raisinfish

In my writing group, we use the 3-2-1 system for giving critiques. We start off our critiques talking about good things. Then, when we're ready to jump into criticism, we start with level 3 comments--meaning comments that are such large problems that you would put the piece down and not pick it back up (if you were a reader), or you would reject it (if you were an editor). When we've gotten through those, we move on to level 2 comments, or things that bothered you, but weren't deal-breakers. Then we move onto level 1--the small things that probably don't matter that much, the copyediting stuff, the little itches you want to talk about but probably don't make a difference in the sale of the piece.