The Third Day of Bookmas
- By: Jessica Faust | Date: Dec 03 2010
Welcome to day three of our Bookmas Giveaway contest. For those who missed the rules, hop back over to the November 30 post and give a quick read.
And of course, before we start today’s contest, we need to announce yesterday’s winner.
Yesterday’s question was: What mystery series did Kim get hooked on at her first job, working at BookLand?
And the answer is Perry Mason mysteries by Erle Stanley Gardner.
Congratulations to Bonnie Ferguson. Please email your contact information to blog@bookends-inc.com and we’ll get your prize out immediately.
Now on to our contest . . .
My very first boss in publishing taught me so much. She gave me my first book to line edit (and I still use her explanation when teaching others how to line edit), she encouraged my first romance buy as an editor, and she guided me through the creation of a number of different book series when I was an editor at Berkley. Yep, the creation of a series. The one thing I loved the most about my boss was her creativity. As an editor, she not only sought out great authors to publish, but developed a number of fiction series on her own. She would come up with an idea, create a bible for the series, and she, and the rest of the editorial staff, would find authors to write to her vision.
I’ve always been an idea person, so it was so exciting to me to learn that not only would I be editing books, but I could actually help create ideas. Did you know that one of the ideas I developed as an editor more than 12 years ago is still being published today? Hmm, maybe that’s a topic for another Day of Bookmas.
Today’s question, however, is about my boss. She’s still working in publishing, but in a very different capacity. Today she’s a successful author who is coming up with fabulous ideas, but writing them herself. Who is this editor-turned-author and what 10-book YA series did she write that was later made into a television program (which she also worked on)?
The winner will receive three novels.
For clues, check out these authors . . .
Lorna Barrett
Bob Phibbs, The Retail Doctor
Sally MacKenzie
Paige Shelton
Amy Patricia Meade
Ellery Adams
Angie Fox
Gina Robinson
Erin Kellison
Bill Crider
Elizabeth Lynn Casey
Bella Andre
Elizabeth Amber
Krista Davis
Heather Webber
Avery Aames
Kim Lenox
Joyce and Jim Lavene
C. C. Hunter
Cricket McCrae
Anita Howard
Wendy Lyn Watson
Erika Chase
Elizabeth Joy Arnold
Jessica
I know! Frankenstein's Children!!! No, wait…Touch the Nun!!! Or was it…Longarm! Oh well, it doesn't matter because I'm sure legal put in the fine print about people who worked within a couple of feet of both you and this person being exempt from the contest.
Mike Z.
Mike:
not just a couple of feet. if I remember correctly (and I know I do) you actually had the old office of this person. seems to me there was some creative genius within those tiny, tiny four walls
One time I had a roach in that office the size of a Tom Clancy book. It's hard not to look back on that particular era without thinking of it as one long MASH episode: People who were really good at what they did who blew off steam by making really bad jokes and boozing hard and often. Green beer in the water cooler. The chain-smoking creative director who wore combat boots and wrote the most genius stuff with a raging hangover. The contracts dept head who kept his office stocked with high-end coffee, scotch, and cigarettes. The occasional beer keg in the middle of the hallway during office parties. Tragic that we all had to grow up…
Mike Z!!!!
Your Longarm copy always had a certain je ne sais quois that nobody else could ever quite capture.
Those were the days…
Total guess-
Vampire Diaries by L. J. Smith
I waited for the clues the last 2 days and by the time I figured them out some one else had already won. I figured a wild guess couldn't hurt. 🙂
Kudos to Paula Matter. I change my answer to hers. Roswell High by Melinda Metz.
I was thinking Pretty Little Liars by Sarah Shepard but there are only ten books in that series, but it is now a ABC Family series. I'm not familiar with Roswell High. Dangit – it just added to my ever growing to be read list. When they bury me, I'll be clutching that list and a pile of books I was still meaning to read.
What was the piece of advice that you still use about line editing??? Me want to know. ;o)
-Susan
Hi Kim!
The only bit of Longarm copy that I can still remember off the top of my head was the one where Longarm was REALLY in love this time. And the bad guys turned the poor girl into "sweet swiss cheese: Bang, bang, she's dead, off her feet and full of lead."
Not quite True Grit, but then what is?
Augh, too late again! That's what I get for living on the west coast. I absolutely loved the show Roswell when I was in high school, too.
An office that's like one long episode of M*A*S*H, only with books instead of bodies for patients? I love it! 🙂 When we were kids we used to pretend the screened porch on our parents house was the Swamp–and of course we all dressed up in my dad's old army uniforms for Halloween.
Roswell High by Melinda Metz
I'm going with the Roswell High series by Melinda Metz. 🙂
Ooooh the stories we could tell. Mike Z didn't even tough on some of the good ones.
My office now seems so boring.
Yes, you've got it. Congrats to Paula Matter who guessed the right answer so quickly. How did you do it?
Keep an eye out on Monday for Day #4 and look for a bit of a twist because a contest wouldn't be good without a twist.
Roswell high by Melinda Metz!!!
Melinda Metz who wrote Roswell High
Wow! That's the third one answered before 9:00am. Great job, winners!
Faye
Mike Z!! Loved your description of the war zone. I remember your first day, when we all went to see–what movie was it?