WROTE BUT NEVER POSTED, 3rd EDITION

This post was originally titled THE HUNGER GAMES & LEARNING YOUR CRAFT

I'm not a big LinkedIn person but I do occasionally update my profile. It was while doing so recently that I saw that I'd been working in publishing for EIGHTEEN YEARS. First I thought that just couldn't be true. Then I realized that I started working at Random House the year before my eldest was born.  Here are some other things I realized.

• It took me forever to get my act together to try to become a published writer. (To be clear, the delays caused by my four kids were totally worth it.)
• Having the opportunity to work on the "other" (non-author) side of the business does not give you a leg-up in becoming a best-seller but certainly arms you with a healthy understanding of your odds.

I loved The Hunger Games, am terribly excited to see the movie and hope that I love it. The recent flop that was John Carter kind of proves that even the hulk-muscled arm of Disney can't MAKE a movie property a success.  Still, I have a good feeling about THG.

TODAY...

In an ode to nostalgia, herewith a link to a pre-Common-Core writing guide I wrote for Random House:  http://www.seussville.com/activities/HOORAY_TeachersGuide.pdf. It is for a Seuss/Prelutsky title, so it's in verse. Foreshadowing? Coincidence? Karma?

Also, in this earlier post, I was already showing a predilection for capitalization and parentheticals.
Finally, I can report that I did like, thought didn't love, THG, and that  I am currently looking forward to seeing THE HEAT (yes, I am a Sandy B. fan), DIVERGENT and WORLD WAR Z (who knew back when I was only 18 years into publishing that zombies would become the new vampires?).