Posted on January 16, 2017 by betsylerner
Big front page article about how much reading means to President Obama. As if it didn’t already hurt enough that this beautiful man was leaving office. This man who loves Shakespeare, and Emerson and Toni Morrison. He invited five writers to the White House: Colson Whitehead, Barbara Kingsolver, Dave Eggers, Zadie Smith and Junot Diaz. I have to admit I was a little disappointed in the list and not just because it didn’t include me. I feel like the list could have been a little more provocative, different genres, or just weird.
What five writers would you invite to the White House?
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Posted on January 16, 2017 by betsylerner
it’s very hard for me to fall in love with books anymore. sadly, i just read them from a writer’s perspective–check for structure, tone, voice. i hate it but i do it. –rea
Thank you, Rea, for this topic. Reading for “pleasure” is almost impossible for most writers. You are either learning, studying, dissecting, or competing. You are either impressed, depressed, inspired or humbled. Who is the person staring out from the back flap, who did she fuck to get those quotes? What I want is a book that has its own language, that makes me sit up straight, that insists I pay attention. I want similes that are sublime. I want STRUCTURE, not and then and then and then. I want to be either hyper aware of the narrator or completely unaware. I honestly think that writers should only read classics. It’s like playing tennis with the pro.
How do you read?
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Posted on January 13, 2017 by betsylerner
The whole thing about being an agent is discovering a writer or project that excites you so much all you want to do is tell people about it. It’s like New Year’s eve in When Harry Met Sally when Billy Crystal realizes he loves Meg Ryan that he runs through the streets of New York to find Meg Ryan at a party to say “I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”If my heart doesn’t quicken, if I can’t envision how I would pitch, I generally step aside. It may not be the most scientific method, but it’s reliable. I sometimes feel like the fully dressed guy on the beach with the metal detector.
What was the last book you were massively excited about?
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Posted on January 12, 2017 by betsylerner
I’m jacked up on Benadryl tonight. What about you?
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Posted on January 7, 2017 by betsylerner
Spent the day writing, she said feeling saintly, superior, and suddenly sad. It’s truly a drug this writing business. Editing is a contact high. It’s when the words and sentences are your own, when you find a simile that makes sense on three dimensions. I know this blog is generally a clusterfuck of complaining because for every victory there are 10,000 failures. If I think I wrote well today, I’ll see the delusion tomorrow, and yet and yet. We need the eggs. This year I want to wear glitter and sit up straight. I want to wear it or throw it out.
Can you describe your best writing day?
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Posted on January 5, 2017 by betsylerner
Today, a little better. Work is the only tonic/balm/antidote to negativity. And I did good work today with a writer on the cusp of finishing a book. Loose threads were sewn up, extraneous details dropped, transitions sharpened, part titles materialized out of thick air. People, we have to write. We have to fight. We have to fuck all. When you call a sentence into being it is as real as a moth hanging on a stalk in a forgotten forest.
Why do you write?
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Posted on January 4, 2017 by betsylerner
It’s the new year and I’m feeling really negative.
How about you?
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Posted on December 24, 2016 by betsylerner
The holidays are really good for writers. They bring out our sense of alienation, isolation, aloneness. They bring up ancient family wounds, sibling envy, parental neglect, abuse and suffocation. Social obligations and anxiety sky rocket. Melancholy sets in, or worse. Yes, this is our season!
Happy holidays. I love you guys. See you in the New Year. xo, Betsy
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Posted on December 18, 2016 by betsylerner
So it looks like The Bridge Ladies haven’t made any TOP TEN lists. Godfuckingdamnit. Please don’t tell me it’s all subjective. Please don’t tell me it doesn’t matter. Please don’t say that these lists are all complete and total crap. I love lists. I love rankings. When I was a third grader in Hebrew school, the teacher put little gold, silver, and blue stars next to our names for accomplishing certain tasks. The were glue-y on the back and I coveted them. One day, I was in the local stationery store and found a box of the same stars. I forewent my Archie’s and bought the box. The following Sunday, before anyone arrived, I pasted five or six gold stars next to my name.
What are your top ten books of 2016?
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Posted on December 17, 2016 by betsylerner
I’ve always wondered what people really mean by character development. As far as I’m concerned, a character must be whole from the first sentence. What am I not getting? I don’t really want to see anyone “grow.” I’m not interested in any “reveals.” I could give a shit if a character changes. Editor are obsessed with this notion. I want characters who wear hats, or fuck bunnies, or write letters, or throw curveballs, or hand over the money from the till. I want nothing. I want fear. I love chipped teeth and belt buckles in the shape of buckles. Serving tea, a windsor knot, a college rejection, the back seat of Monte Carlo. I don’t want my characters to learn any lessons, let alone that life is worth it or filled with joy.
What is character development anyway?
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Betsy Lerner 