What Arthur and I Have in Common

I'm so glad. Even Arthur Levine has a hard time keeping his blog up to date. I don't know why I say "even," now that I think about it. He's an editor, a very successful editor (maybe even a Publisher? He has his own imprint, that I do know), who has a lot more to do than I do.

But I'm glad, anyway. He started off a new blog two weeks ago and hasn't visited it since. We bloggers set out with the best intentions in the world to keep posting, keep on being interesting and thought-provoking (I think that's the aim), and soon discover that it's very hard to keep up that level of commitment.

Or maybe I need a concept here ... one along the lines of the woman who cooked every recipe in Julia Child's cookbook. Her name escapes me. Julie Something.

Sorry, Julie.

What I'd doing on this last day of the 3rd week in July is thinking about beats. Those snippets of action or thought that an author uses in order to break up long passages of dialogue. It's a theatrical expression, I believe. I have nothing more profound to say about them today other than the fact that Hilary McKay, an English writer who is one of my favorite children's book authors, handles beats extremely well. Anyone trying to write would be wise to read several of her books.

Take that! she thought to her non-audience. Then clicked "Publish Post" and disappeared.

Perfect Sentences all around

I love this sentence. It describes how a man's children respond when they hear him coming home:

The children would all rush off like water down the sink.

It's from an adult book called THE MAN WHO LOVED CHILDREN by Christine Stead. Here's another sentence I read years ago and still remember:

He stood up like a struck match.

That's from THE BOOK THIEF, by Markus Zuzak.

Perfect sentences are everywhere. I keep meaning to write down each and every one and, more often than not, forget.