Blogger: Rachel Kent
Location: Books & Such main office; Santa Rosa, Calif.
Friday pick: The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
Here is the link to the movie page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1482459/
The Lorax is a children’s book written by Dr. Seuss back in the 1970′s. It’s basically the story of a greedy character “The Once-ler” who comes to a forest and uses up all of the trees damaging the environment almost beyond repair. The Lorax is a creature that speaks for the trees and the creatures of the forest and warns the Once-ler of the damage he is doing. The book has been quite controversial as a children’s story because of its strong environmentalist message.
I think this book will do well as a movie at this time because:
1) The Green Movement has made even young children aware of the environment.
2) Animation is at a wonderful place now so Dr. Suess’s strange world can come to life in an amazing way.
3) The movie could be deep enough that parents would feel like there’s a message in it even for them.
I’ll probably wait until the movie comes out on DVD before I see it, but if I had kids I might take them. I’m not sure . The little Lorax sure looks cute!
Can you think of other reasons why this book was picked to be a movie? Did you like this story when you read it? Would you take your child to see the movie? Why or why not?
Thanks so much for your wonderful comments this week. Have a great weekend!
By Rachel Kent on Jan 20, 2012 in Blog, Children's books, Writing Life | 3 Comments
Blogger: Rachel Kent
Location: Books & Such main office, Santa Rosa, Calif.
Today’s pick: Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Here’s the link to the movie page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1731141/
Ender’s Game, from my understanding, is a book that many filmmakers have wanted to option, but author Orson Scott Card wouldn’t sell the rights until just recently. I bet the advance in film technology has made it easier to make that decision. The book is about a young boy in a futuristic country. He is a third child when only two children are allowed per family. His family is granted permission to have a third child because his two other siblings are geniuses and the government is looking for the right child for a special task. Ender is also a genius and is taken from his home to a competitive school where he is trained for something special. In the interest of not spoiling the book, I don’t want to say too much more. Since the book came out in 1986, Ender’s Game is an early dystopian-esque sci-fi book. It is supposedly for a young audience, but I know it has wide appeal like Harry Potter. (more…)
By Rachel Kent on Jan 19, 2012 in Blog, Teen books, Writing Craft | 7 Comments
Blogger: Rachel Kent
Location: Books & Such main office, Santa Rosa, Calif.
Next up: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
I’m sure many of you have seen the trailer for The Hobbit (part 1), but for those who’ve missed it, here’s the link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0903624/
While I loved The Lord of the Rings movies, I had trouble with the books. I read half of The Fellowship of the Ring and quit. The story is fantastic, but such extreme world-building was too much for me. I probably should give the books another chance now that I’m much older, but the movies still feel like enough for me, especially since I already have a negative impression of the books.
I know they are wonderful classics, and they deserve to be loved–I’m just not at the place where I can love them yet.
The Hobbit, however, was another story.
Literally. (more…)
By Rachel Kent on Jan 18, 2012 in Blog, Marketing & Publicity, Writing Craft | 14 Comments
Blogger: Rachel Kent
Location: The Lodge @ Sonoma in Sonoma, Calif. for day 2 of the Books & Such Agent Summit
Today’s book: Austenland by Shannon Hale
I am extremely excited about Austenland‘s upcoming film release, and a sequel is in the works too! Sadly the film trailer hasn’t released yet, but if you want more info on the film, here’s the link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1985019/ (more…)
By Rachel Kent on Jan 17, 2012 in Blog, Fiction, Reading, Writing Craft | 15 Comments
Blogger: Rachel Kent
Location: The Lodge @ Sonoma in Sonoma, Calif. for the Books & Such Agents’ Planning Summit
I’d like to spend this week talking about books that soon will be movies. We can discuss what we think has given them the appeal they needed to make it to film. I’ll share my opinion, and I hope to hear yours. I’m going to try to avoid putting any major spoilers in the posts, but if you are picky about reading the book before finding out anything about the storyline, please read the book and come back to the blog posts. 
Hopefully this conversation will help you to pick popular, relevant topics for your writing.
First up: The Hunger Games (more…)
By Rachel Kent on Jan 16, 2012 in Blog, Fiction, Teen books, Writing Craft | 13 Comments
Blogger: Wendy Lawton
Location: Back in the Central California Books & Such Office
I’m back home, fondly remembering my time away and savoring my return home. That’s your final word for this week– savor.
I thought a lot about that word over Christmas. I love Christmas– the decorations, the food, the family, the music, the smells. Everything. I’ve learned to savor Christmas. Confession: Our tree goes up the day after Thanksgiving and does not come down until epiphany. This year we took down the outside lights so no one would know we were still fully decorated inside and still enjoying the sparkle and warmth. We savor the whole season.
But then I savor spring as well. And I love fall. I savor time with my grown kids and with my almost two-year-old grandson. I savor food (too much) and movies and books. (Books!) I savor time with friends and long evenings with only my husband. You are probably nodding your heads, right? (more…)
By Wendy Lawton on Jan 13, 2012 in Blog, Life, Writing Craft | 10 Comments
Blogger: Wendy Lawton
Location: Round Top, Texas
This last fall my husband and I went to a prayer retreat that had one purpose– to help us learn to listen. I was shocked to discover how powerful listening is. I’ve been trying to put it into practice as a spiritual discipline.
As writers, listening is doubly important. We are called to listen to the world around around us. How can we honestly write if we are not listeners? Novelists know this. Lauraine Snelling, the bestselling writer of both historical and contemporary fiction was just telling me about something that happened to her as she was driving through the desert a couple of weeks ago. She heard a voice saying one poignant line. Lauraine says she nearly had to pull the car to the side of the road. She could picture the scene from that one line. She started crying and knew she had to know the rest of the story. It will be the centerpiece of her next book.
(Those of you who do not write fiction are probably creeped out by that– voices and all. It’s not a serious illness. Trust me, for novelists, it’s quite normal.)
Lauraine is a listener.
Over the last three days I encouraged you to dream, to risk and to ask. All proactive words. Now it’s time to listen. It’s an important word to work into your goals for the year. The more you listen, the more you’ll have to write.
So help us with this word. Have any of you discovered new ways to listen? Have you experienced the power that comes with listening? Share with us what you’ve learned.
By Wendy Lawton on Jan 12, 2012 in Blog, Fiction, Life, Writing Life | 16 Comments
Blogger: Wendy Lawton
Location: Round Top, Texas
Yesterday at our meeting here in Texas I gave the morning meditation. It was titled, “So What Do You Want?” Earlier this year I read the account in Mark 10:51 of Jesus leaving Jericho, followed by a large crowd. A blind beggar, Bartimaeus, called out loudly, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.” The crowd tried to shush him– it was embarassing– but he persisted. Jesus told them to bring the man to him. I can just picture the scene: Jesus, the miracle worker, looking at this blind man standing before him. You’d think with the crowd pushing in and the whole entourage trying to get on the road Jesus would just reach out and heal the man but instead he did a curious thing. He said, “What do you want?”
Duh!
Why do you suppose it was important for this man to put his request into words? (more…)
By Wendy Lawton on Jan 11, 2012 in Blog, Life, Writing Life | 11 Comments
Blogger: Wendy Lawton
Location: Round Top, Texas
Every year the agents at Books & Such spend some serious time setting professional goals. We have to commit to paper what we want to accomplish including specific financial and performance goals. Last year was a record year for me. I surpassed my sales goal in early September and ended up going almost 60% over my goal. It led me to thinking about risk. As I was chewing on what to do for 2012, here’s what I wrote, in part, to my fellow agents:
I’ve been back and forth about my Books & Such goals because I sold so much this year and so many of my clients are already contracted. So does that mean I should be realistic for 2012 and set a lower goal? As I’ve been thinking about taking risks I’m realizing it’s not what we do that counts, it’s about how big we think our God is. He plainly asks us, “What do you want?” (Mark 10:51) He wants us to put it in words! I took baby steps in doing this for 2011 but it increased my faith in leaps and bounds. A skeptic might say that by asking for something specific we just work all that much harder to get it. He might say it wasn’t really God, it was just hard, focused work. That may be part of it, but my prayer journal and some amazing “coincidences” disprove that theory.
So, about taking risks– I think I need to ask for big enough results that I can clearly see it’s all God and very little me. Sometimes this is scary. What if we ask, believing, and it doesn’t happen? Will it diminish my faith? Will it diminish God? That even sounds silly, doesn’t it. If he says no, for whatever reason, we’ll dig into that and figure out what he’s teaching us. Either way, our faith will grow.
I’ve decided I need to be bold on behalf of my clients (and because I’m becoming addicted to seeing God move mountains as a result of prayer). He can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine! (Ephesians 3:20) Immeasurably more. (more…)
By Wendy Lawton on Jan 10, 2012 in Blog, Life, Writing Life | 10 Comments
Blogger: Wendy Lawton
Location: Round Top, Texas
Elizabeth Barrett Browning said: “God’s gifts put man’s best dreams to shame.” At the beginning of a new year, our job is to dream.
Hopefully by now, you’ve spent time analyzing the past year. Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living. I believe that. So once you’ve looked over 2011– seeing what goals were met, which were left for the coming year and which ones no longer matter– you’re ready to embrace another year. Wouldn’t it be awful if there were no new beginnings? If every day just lined up in a row? No Mondays. No Januarys. No first day in a new birth year. No opening day of school. No first game of a new football season.
Happily, that’s not the case. We are a people of new beginnings. My friend and client, Debbie Macomber, just celebrated the launch of her newest book, One Perfect Word. More than twenty years ago, Debbie and a group of her friends decided to pick one word for each year. Over the years that practice has shaped her life. When she took time to intentionally focus on just one word for a whole year it not only changed her life but it changed the lives of those around her. Debbie says in the book, “In this information age words swirl around us every day. Tens of thousands of words—maybe a hundred thousand words on a crazy, busy day. We read newspapers, we check out blogs, we may follow Facebook and even Twitter. We respond to e-mail and we listen to real people talking . . . and talking . . . and talking. We drive with the radio on. We try to squeeze in time to read books and magazines. We may turn on the television at night. Words come at us incessantly.” She suggests we all go on a word diet and instead of trying to take in millions of words we concentrate on one word. One perfect word. (more…)
By Wendy Lawton on Jan 9, 2012 in Blog, Life, Writing Life | 15 Comments
