In Which I Get You Guys to Do All the Work

Monday night I typed those glorious words “The End” on the first draft of my WIP. Now, I’ll admit,  this is a true first draft, meaning that, as it stands now, my new opus blows like a tranny hooker  during Fleet Week. But I can already see ways to make  it better. I can even see ways that it might even achieve awesomeness, if I can pull it off.

For the moment, however, I’m taking Our Alex’s advice to put it aside for at least a week, after which  I’m going to print out her blog post on re-writing, tape it up above my desk, and get back to work. 

In the meantime I see that  it’s my Wednesday to blog here at Murderati. Only problem is, my brain is burned. All the bearings on the magnificent machine that is my mind are  smoking and squealing like the  brakes on an 18 wheeler headed down out of the Rockies. I’ve also been so buried in this book, not to mention life and the  day job, that once I surfaced, I felt like I’d been asleep for the last month or so. I’m having  a hard time even figuring out  what’s been happening, much less commenting on it. So  I’m asking our loyal readership to fill me in on what’s going on, discuss it, and, not to put too fine a point on it,  write this post for me.

Ready? Let’s begin:  

• Why are people mad at Jonathan Franzen this time? 
• Apparently, the Wylie Agency and Random House have  “struck a truce”.  I didn’t even know they were at war. Can someone fill me in on this? Who should I have been  pulling for? 
• So, this new Kindle. Why is it only 139 bucks? Is it because you can only download stuff if you’re in a WiFi hotspot? This wouldn’t really be a problem for me, even living in the sticks like I do, but is there some other feature that you give up for that price that I need to know about? In your opinion, is 139 dollars the tipping point that will make the Kindle 3 as ubiquitous as the Mp3 player? 
• A six year old got a multi-book contract? WTF? 

Lay some wisdom on me, cats n’ kittens.

Bonus question: Was the movie version of WINTER’S BONE freakin’ awesome, or what? I mean, if Jennifer Stewart and John Hawke don’t get Oscar nominations, there is something seriously wrong with the process, am I right?