The Oregon had an article in last Sunday's edition about YA author Blake Nelson. His latest book, Paranoid Park, is being turned into a movie by another local boy, Gus Van Sant. "Nelson's mother taught Van Sant in her American history class at Catlin Gabel, and more than 30 years later Van Sant filmed scenes from Nelson's novel at the Burnside skate park, Madison High School and the train tracks in Linnton."

[Full disclosure: how come my parents didn't know anyone famous? Well, my dad was Ann Curry's boss on her first job, but all that ever came out of that is that I spent a day with her at Portland's KGW many years ago trying to decide if I wanted to be in TV, too. A single day was all it took for me to come to my senses. TV people work hard, and since it's considered a glamour job, for very little money]

Another snippet: "He got laid off, collected unemployment and studied writing with Oregon author Craig Lesley. [Full disclosure number 2: I met Craig before I was ever published. He remembered my name and treated me as if were already a real author. That was worth its weight in gold.] His first novel, "Girl," began as a poem that he read at a cafe, one chapter per week. People asked about the characters, and he would write more. Back in New York, the manuscript for "Girl" was rejected 40 times. Undaunted, Nelson sent it to the editor of Sassy, which he thought was "the coolest magazine in America." The editor ran an excerpt, and teenage girls wrote and asked where they could buy the book. Nelson took it to the only editor who was remotely interested, Judith Regan, who bought the novel and reportedly put a picture of herself on the cover."





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Barbara Seranella
Born April 30, 1956
Died January 21, 2007

I just learned that my good friend Barbara Seranella, 50, a bestselling mystery author, died peacefully yeserday at the Cleveland Clinic with her husband Ron and her brother Dr. Larry Shore at her side. She was waiting for a third liver transplant. We were emailing back and forth just ten days ago.

I knew she was really, really sick, and it didn't look good, but if you thought that was the end of the story, you didn't know Barbara. She was the most stubborn person I know. And the most generous. She helped me out when I was nobody and she had no reason to. We toured together. I've stayed at her house. I loved her.

Rest in peace, Barbara.





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I got this email today from something called Authors4Charity.com. How many grammatical and spelling errors and other just plain oddities can you count? And notice how quickly it seems to move on to how the author can make a profit? But first, you have to pay $55 to join. Pretty sure that money is just going into these self-published authors' pockets. My comments in brackets.

"Good Morning,
"We want to take this opportunity and invite you join us at Authors4Charity. We are an organization of authors from around the country conducting book signings and donating a portion of what we receive to charity. We’re expanding our old organization to include many new things for authors to choose from, made it better and will do extensive promotions in the next few months.

"Members have found this organization has increased their own profits by allowing them to conduct book signings in locations where they may not be able otherwise. Additionally, readers seem more apt to purchase when they know a portion with go to charity

"We support our members through personal contact, newsletters, web site and suggested contacts. Often
our members ban together to conduct joint book signings at local locations. Many book signings are at Malls, bookstores, coffee shops and grocery stores, to name a few. [Malls with a capital M yet!] Members have access to a listing of locations agreeing to conduct such book signings. Even if you belong to another writers group, Authors4Charity is different in that we place more emphasis on book signings, promotions and other areas than most other groups. [Whew! That's a relief. Wouldn't want you to be placing the emphasis on charity!] So you can belong to more than one.

"AFC has a list of approved charities from which the author can select – or can submit their own favorite charity for approval by AFC. How much each author gives to charity is at the discretion of individual authors. Authors have different financial arrangements and constraints. Some have only an eight percent margin with which to work, others may have as much as thirty percent.

"Some of the benefits of joining us is [Some...is - love that subject-verb agreement] that you will receive discounts from businesses across the US, plus we’re working on updating our Authors4Charity Pamphlet which includes: ·The AFC Bookstore Database, The A4C talk radio shows database Lists 1500 shows (members
save $199.00., The A4C Speakers Database allows members, who would like to be speakers, to be listed
so that organizations may receive contact information, Discounts on A4C Seminars & Workshop, listing of media contacts, newspapers, magazines and libraries, and a listing of places for book signings for our members. [This reads like it was translated into Serbian and then back again.] This pamphlet will be updated as we get new things to include.

"Authors4Charity will also have it’s own publishing and Promotions company later on this year for it’s
members. [Another Odd capitalization. Plus it proves Dave Barry's spelling rule - an apostrophe means an "S" is coming.] With the publishing company, authors who use print on demand can buy books at cost using our own publisher. The promotions company will offer discounts to all it’s members as well.

Please, take a few moments to visit our website to learn more about our organization and join us today.
www.authors4charity.com

Sincerely,
Marie Jones and William Creed





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