Well, I’m back in Key West from visiting my mom just in time for…the writers strike! I know, it sucks. But hey, you think you’ve got it bad? If it goes on for very long, I’m going to have nothing to watch, AND all the film deals based on my books aren’t going to get written….
…AND I’m a screenwriters guild member, so I’m on strike (just for script writing, not book writing) right now!
Not like I had any script-writing deals in the works or anything, but you know. It’s the principle of the thing.
I can tell by a lot of the message boards I’ve seen lately (not my own) that some people are confused by what the strike is all about, so let me quote CNN: The writers want more money from the sale of DVDs and a share of revenue generated by the sale of TV shows and films over the Internet. The studios say the demands are unreasonable and will hamper attempts to experiment with new media.
But it’s hard to feel a lot of sympathy for the studios when I see how much their films are grossing and then I see (firsthand) how little many of the writers who wrote them are being compensated on the back end for those films’ success.
It’s true some screenwriters get paid a lot of money. But the vast majority get paid very little. Those residuals (mentioned in the CNN quote above) are really important to the ones getting paid very little. That’s why all the screenwriters (even the “rich” ones) are on strike right now.
So, yeah, it sucks for us, film and TV viewers. But it sucks more if you’re a screenwriter, and now you’re not earning ANY money, because you’re on strike. Let’s hope the strike ends soon!
November is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, when amateur and professional writing writers from around the globe struggle to come up with a first draft to a novel in just thirty days!
Of course, for many of us, every month is NaNoWriMo, so while I’ll be joining all the NaNoWriMo participants, this won’t be an unusual occurrence for me. I have a book due. What else is new? Please feel free to join me (in fact, feel free to join me every month).
I have been getting a TON of mail about The Mediator lately, from people begging me to write more books in this series. I’m sorry, but this series is finished! And honestly, you really don’t want me to write more books in this series. Because if I were to write more books in this series, Bad Things would have to happen, and I really don’t want to do Bad Things to those characters, whom I left pretty happily ever after in the last book.
Also, about the facelift the Mediator was supposed to get—the Powers That Be decided that series was selling just fine with the covers that were on it, so it’s not getting new covers after all. Sorry! I’m pretty bummed because I really liked the new covers. But oh, well.
If you’re looking for something to read, check out Big Boned, the third book in my Heather Wells series, due in stores in a mere fifteen days! I may even be writing a fourth installment to this series, if I can find the time between all the other series I’ve got going at the moment, plus, you know, life and everything.
Another one of the reasons I won’t be writing more books in either the Mediator or the 1-800-Where-R-You series (besides the fact that those characters’ stories are told and that they are living happily ever after now) is because I have moved on to new series. I’ve put off describing AIRHEAD, the first book in my YA new series which will be out in June 2008, because it’s so hard to sum up what it’s about. People keep asking, and I just can’t say without giving away a pretty important plot point which gives the series its little thriller or mystery twist. The heroine’s primary goal is to solve the mystery (and hopefully also get the guy along the way). Well, and also master walking in four-inch heels. But who doesn’t need to learn to do that?
I just can’t tell you what the plot-point is without giving away the mystery! You might think you’ve figured it out for yourself when you see the cover and blurb, which I’m sure they’ll be posting somewhere soon (I’ve actually had the cover for awhile, but I’m not showing it to you yet. I love it, but it’s months till the book comes out. I have lots of other books to promote between now and then).
In the meantime, here’s a photo (note—this is an outtake from the cover shoot, NOT the cover) of the main character, Emerson Watts. I think you’ll like Em at least as much as you like Suze and Jess. Maybe more. I know I do.
She looks scared because she knows she’s being followed by the evil people from the book. Oh my God, the cover is so awesome! I can’t wait till I can show it to you!
OK, I have to go write now, or I’ll never have a first draft by the end of November. I have another book due Jan 1 so I’ll be doing NaDecWriMo, too. Again, feel free to join me. The more, the merrier!
More later.
Much love,
Meg
