A Little This, A Little That

A few articles I've enjoyed in the past few days...

• You know children's book authors often get dissed by those who haven't cracked a children's book in twenty years? Author Daphne Grab describes the audience response when, at a recent event, a former teacher asked if she planned to “progress” to writing adult books. It's wonderful.
• Little Willow at Bildungsroman asks a number of contemporary YA authors what inspires their writing. Their responses make for a fun and interesting read.
• Cory Doctorow describes his approach to disciplined writing in the "Age of Distraction". As with any writing advice, your own mileage may vary. Composing in a bare-bones text editor would drive me crazy, but I'm with him on disabling all word processing spelling, grammar, etc., tools. Thanks, MS Word, but I'll write in fragments if I please! (Via Megan Amoss)
• Peter at Collecting Children's Books shares the dark and tragic tale of Charles and Mary Lamb, brother and sister children's authors from the 19th century.
  

  In 1796, Mary "worn down to a state of extreme nervous misery by attention to needlework by day and to her mother at night" attacked the family maid, her father, and murdered her mother with a table knife. (Some accounts say it was a fork.)

  Truly gothic. It makes me thankful for my relatively drama-free life.