Time for another weekly update.
Hey, I learned how to do this and can now get my feet into footlocks in both sides.
Someday I will manage to climb all the way to the top. First, apparently, I’m going to be doing more tricep push-ups. I can’t believe these are words that came out of my fingers, but they must be true. If you want to fly, you have to train and feel the pain.
Or something.
Definitely this morning’s class was a reminder I’m not supposed to sit at my desk for 10 or 11 hour blocks straight, because that way lies writer elbow flare-up.
Related: I finished up copyedits on Girl in the Shadows, and whew, the crushing relief that I’m actually really proud of this book and I so hope you guys like it too. This is going to be a big year for Cirque American things. I should be able to show you the gorgeous perfect cover very very soon. Maybe even sometime this week. We’ll see! And then there’s still more news after that.
Speaking of news (you see I’m all segue-ways today), I’ve officially launched the redesign process for Blackwood and The Woken Gods. So new shiny, preferred editions will be coming your way soon. Please to not continue pirating them like crazy in the meantime (I know none of you would ever, just grumble-mentioning).
Tomorrow morning — weather cooperating — I’m headed out to visit the secret lair of Subterranean Press and then it’s on to ConFusion for the weekend. (If you want to feel like you’re there, follow us on twitter where lots of live-tweeting will be happening.) I’m also doing a few programming things and here they are:
- Saturday 10:00 AM Relating to Young Adult
A lot of time is spent discussing how Young Adult and Adult interface, losing sight, perhaps, of the more important link between Middle Grade and Young Adult. What expectations are Middle Grade readers bringing into Young Adult? How do those expectations reflect the fiction they find as they move up a reading level? Can Middle Grade explain the glut of dystopias in Young Adult? Jenny Thurman, Courtney Allison Moulton, Merrie Haskell (M), Susan Dennard, Gwenda Bond - Saturday 4:00 PM Autograph Session 1
- Sunday 12:00 PM The Business of Rejection
Writing is a business built around rejection. Almost every writer in the industry has experienced it at some point, and many experience it constantly. Come learn how working writers deal with rejection, move past it, and embrace it for what it is. Amy Sundberg, Kameron Hurley, Greg van Eekhout, Dave Robison (M), Gwenda Bond
I’ll bring a handful of Lois swag with me, so grab me if you want some.
*
Thing the last…
Dear Supergirl the Show:
This comes from a place of love.
Melissa Benoist is a delight, the rest of your cast is great, and I’m still very much enjoying the show overall. The writers have pulled off some delicious surprises and, more than that, you’ve gotten the feeling right. Buuuuut let’s stop with the rampant nonsense of insulting Lois Lane — with no one defending her — every time her name comes up. By continuing to do this, you tacitly acknowledge her prominence and importance as a character, only to then kick sand in her face and on her legacy.
This is made worse by the fact that she has no presence on the show to counteract these swipes. Clark gets to text his cousin; there’s no reason Lois wouldn’t have sent her a gift or a note too (if not directly, then via James or Clark). There’s also no reason James wouldn’t or shouldn’t come to her defense. They have a long history of mutual respect and friendship in the comics. And there’s no reason to go with the least interesting incarnation of the Lane sisters’ relationship, where they snipe at or about each other without the sense of underlying caring to go with it. Honestly, much as I adore Cat Grant and find her funny and a constant surprise who is one of my favorite things on the show, if her grudge against Lois was more based in a feeling of legitimate professional competition — with respect underneath the personal aspects — I’d find it much more interesting. But I could deal with that. It was Lucy’s joining the dismissive bashing of her sister last night that has me writing this now.
Make the characters more complicated in this regard, please. Fix this lapse in your otherwise burgeoning feminist show cred.
The Superman mythos has, at its best, always featured strong women and been welcoming to women readers and viewers. Lois Lane is an icon for a reason. It may seem she’s untouchable and everyone knows she’s fabulous and so such swipes don’t matter: but they do. Lois Lane is still routinely slammed (including in my mentions from time to time — my superpower is muting faster than a speeding bullet) by people who are threatened by the character’s existence and importance, even after 78 years. The Lois we love doesn’t match these comments. She isn’t an obnoxious glory hound who cares more about herself than the story. So why can’t the Supergirl show just find a simple way to acknowledge Lois Lane is a kick-ass reporter and a hero in her own right, and move on from this pattern? It can. Please do. I promise there will still be plenty of conflict left over.
And it will make a lot of us tremendously happy.
Love,
Your humble viewer