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December 18th, 2009
officialgaiman
| 06:57 pm - Xmas Roundup With Some Good Links and a photo of an author in it
http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/12/xmas-roundup-with-some-good-links-and.html posted by Neil
How the hell did it get to be December the 18th? Ohhh. All the links I meant to post. Arghh.
For a start, I want to repost this little true thing I wrote, from last year's Independent: it's about being an eight year old Jewish kid who really wanted a Christmas tree...http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/neil-gaiman-hanukkah-with-bells-on-1203307.htmlI wanted to tell you that you can still get the signed prints of "Before You Read This" I did with Todd Klein -- it's a poem I wrote that Todd lettered -- at Todd's website (along with Todd's other unique signed prints -- collaborations with Alex Ross, Alan Moore and J.H. Williams). http://kleinletters.com/Blog/?p=6525. (If you're hesitating, order: they're really cheap, and the second printing will be gone soon.) Also, for signed things and rare stuff, you can Do Good while last minute shopping by heading over to the CBLDF shop website. Here's the page with stuff related to me on it.) I just got my author's copies of "A Hundred Words To Talk of Death", the poem I wrote that Jim Lee illustrated and Todd Klein lettered. (Someone wrote to me on Twitter pointing out that it is two syllables short, and unable to figure out why. I will leave that as a problem for you to solve.) It's beautiful -- the same size and quality as the print of "The Day The Saucers Came". It's glorious. (Thinks: I can take a photo to show people.)
I didn't used to think of Jim Lee as a glorious and subtle pencil artist, but he really is, and this is wonderful. (You can order them from here, and read about Kitty's adventures in shipping them out over at http://kittysneverwear.blogspot.com/, with bonus pictures right now of my Very Late Guy Fawkes Part of last month.)  Here is a photo of an author who needs a shave holding a print of "One Hundred Words" poem.
Kitty herself is heading off on tour with Lady Gaga early next year, and Maddy is going to see them in Chicago (where, about eight years ago, I first met Kitty, on the road with Tori) ( Who will be interviewed tonight on ABC -- Tori that is, not Kitty or Maddy).
Amanda and I have been having something that isn't quite an argument about Lady Gaga for a few weeks. We have really rubbish arguments, because they normally resolve into the discovery that we weren't arguing at all, just saying the same thing from two different points of view. Amanda posted a ukulele video-song-blog she'd written late last night from her Boston flat when she was probably meant to be practising her New Year's Eve Tchaikovsky, and I discovered that our latest argument wasn't an argument and we were talking about the same things again. It's art. You make it.
I don't think I will ever write songs and post them on YouTube instead of blogging. I'm in awe of someone who can. It's a good song, too, not just a funny and wise end-of-an-argument, even if she has to stop and scroll down at the last verse. Also, she said "aluminium".
And finally, in keeping with the not-exactly-Christmassy-but-sort-of theme of this blog...
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December 17th, 2009
officialgaiman
| 04:43 am - Late night mystery post...
http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/12/late-night-mystery-post.html posted by Neil
Hullo everyone. I took a week off from Blogging, then didn't have a second during the whirlwind of the last few days.
As a result of which I have dozens of open tabs and dozens of letters to the FAQ line that I've marked as things I should answer. I'm not going to try and do them all now (Maddy told me that I'm taking her to school at 6:30 am, as she's got her first period of Driver's Ed). But there are a few things I should say before I sleep...
The first one is to congratulate Henry Selick and all the Coraline team (and Laika, and Focus) on the wonderful way they are being recognised by Awards. Yesterday, for example, we learned that Coraline is nominated for a Golden Globe award.
There's a great website at http://awards.filminfocus.com/#/coraline/awards which is a bit out of date right now. My favourite of the recent awards is that the Alliance of Women Journalists gave Coraline their Best Animated Character award, although the biggest honour is Coraline being on the American Film Institute's list of the ten most important films released in 2009.
I went to Atlanta. It was foggy and thunderstormy and I signed for 1,050 people. (Here's the Atlanta paper blog on the event. And Little Shop of Stories said Thank You so very nicely.)
I went to Winnipeg. It was cold outside and I signed for 869 people. Here's the Winnipeg Newspaper article. Just behind me, in the grey shirt, is the wonderful Elyse Marshall, publicist from HarperChildren's, who looked after me on the Graveyard Book Tour and who can now run a huge signing in her sleep, which is great, because it means I don't have to worry about any details or disasters. I just do my job and sign and meet everyone.
(How bad can it get? Well, there was the time Terry Pratchett and I were signing in, er, I think it was Leeds, when the people who worked at the shop saw all the people who had turned up for the signing and got scared enough that they locked themselves in the staff room at the back, leaving Terry and me to climb onto tables and shout at people until they formed some kind of a line. The staff didn't come out again until the people had all gone.)
Strangest moment in Winnipeg was getting back to the hotel room at 1:30 am to notice that, beside my bed, a framed photo of my children had mysteriously appeared. I assumed that this was a cool thing the hotel had done. Elyse, on the other hand, was convinced it was the action of a crazed stalker, and insisted I deadbolt and security chain my hotel room, and was enormously relieved, a few hours later, when she knocked on my door and I removed the chain and was obviously still alive.
Before we left the hotel I took the photo out of the frame and left a thank-you note in its place.
Flew back to Minneapolis. I stopped off at DreamHaven on the way back from the airport this afternoon, and signed more stock for Greg (http://neilgaiman.net/). Theoretically enough to see him through Xmas.
Several people wrote asking me to express my outrage at HarperCollins joining several other publishers in delaying the release of books on the Kindle or e-book format to some months after the hardback comes out, as detailed at http://www.engadget.com/2009/12/11/harpercollins-now-also-thumbing-nose-at-e-book-industry-with-dig/ but after I read the article I couldn't manage any outrage at all, no more than I could manage for people who demand that paperback books come out at the same time as hardbacks. It seemed a legitimate way to publish, anyway.
And, for those of you who want to learn exactly how an author should not respond to an Amazon One-Star review, we present an author named Candace Sams, who begins by pretending she's not the author, just someone defending a good book, then, when outed as the author, claims she's part of a noble group standing up against an evil one-star reviewer, and then informs everyone on the Amazon Comments thread that she's reported them all to the FBI. The Amazon Thread is here. Teresa Nielsen Hayden comments on it at Making Light, here. (Via Cleolinda's twitter.)
And yes, it's a horrible car crash, and I post it here not because it's funny in an Oh God Make It Stop kind of way, but because, if any of you are ever tempted to respond to bad reviews or internet trolls etc, it's a salutary reminder of why some things are better written in anger and deleted in the morning. (Also, if you're an American Games company, don't sue a British blogger in the Australian courts for a bad review.)
Oops. I have started blogging. I will stop now, and sleep for a little while.
...
Before I go: Sky has a website for the Ten Minute Tales series, which includes Statuesque, my film starring Bill Nighy (which goes out in the UK on Christmas Day) : http://sky1.sky.com/10-minute-tales. I wish I could have been at the screening in London on Sunday, more so when I saw my old friend Paterson Joseph stars in one of the films.
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December 16th, 2009
December 14th, 2009
December 13th, 2009
postsecret
| 11:27 am - Sunday Secrets
http://postsecret.blogspot.com/2009/12/sunday-secrets_13.html
A wedding band came inside this envelope.
PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people
mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard.
-----Email Message-----
She was pretty, she used to climb trees. She made jewelry for her family for Christmas. She was the single mother of a son she loved. She tried her hardest, but just like the rest of us, she made mistakes. And we forgave her for them, just like we forgive you.
-----Email Message-----
I'm a Firefighter/First Responder, and I google their names because I couldn't save them.
-----Email Message-----
I work in the ICU and Google almost all of my patients. I found out one patient adored her granddaughters more than anything, so I made sure that her granddaughters were allowed in before anyone else.
-----Email Message-----
I baked Christmas cookies with my friend the other day and I'm really scared he's going to think that I sent this in.
-----Email Message-----
I stood right where this picture was taken on the only hill in Paris this weekend and that's when I decided that I wasn't going to just accept who I've become, but instead work to make myself a better person--the one I always wanted to be, but never quite had the courage to achieve.
-----Email Message-----
The Basilica of the Sacred Heart has been the destination for my future
pilgrimage ever since my dad played the John Denver song "A Country Girl
in Paris". I know for certain that something amazing is waiting for me up
upon Montmartre, and I hope - more than anything - that what I find there
is self-acceptance. "For even in her sorrow, there's something in her
eyes.."
-----Email Message-----
I like my dreams because in them, I can walk again. Everytime.
-----Email Message-----
My boyfriend makes me use a wheelchair. He says it's the only way he's attracted to me. I wish I could fly away.
 See More Secrets. Follow PostSecret on Twitter.
PostSecret Events for 2010 are being arranged now. Enter your email below for a full schedule of dates, schools and performance centers.
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December 11th, 2009
December 9th, 2009
December 7th, 2009
December 6th, 2009
officialgaiman
| 11:19 pm - What I plan to do this week
http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/12/what-i-plan-to-do-this-week.html posted by Neil
Write. Walk the dog. (Seen here being walked by me half an hour ago. I was not wearing special protective warm clothing. It was remarkable.) Not go onto the internet except occasionally to email people things they are waiting for. Sleep.
 
Posted via email from Neil's posterous
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postsecret
| 12:01 am - Sunday Secrets
http://postsecret.blogspot.com/2009/12/sunday-secrets.html
You may find the brave voices captured in this short five minute film haunting, shocking and humorous. In some of their faces you'll see joy, anguish and grace as they trust you with their confession.
PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death and God
</p>
Order Your Copy Today
PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people
mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a postcard.
-----Email Message-----
When I went to my first gynecologist appointment at age 18, it was with a female. Since she was part of a family practice, she had also recently examined my mom, and when she tried to make girl talk, she told me, "Wow! Deep vaginas must run in the family".
Then, she sang "come out, come out wherever you are" to my cervix. I'm 26 now, and I have only been to male gynecologists since then. Whew.
-----Email Message-----
I always figured the male gynecologist paid more attention in school (it's the vagina.. come on..).
-----Email Message-----
About 3 hours ago I wanted to do just that, skip Christmas for once, but my best friend just talked to me, and I do not think she knows the impact she just had on my perspective...
-----Email Message-----
I am going home for Christmas. I'm scared my family will realize I'm addicted to cocaine again.
Even if you don't post this secret Frank, please post a trusted drug help hotline on your site. It's so hard for us to go home at this time, because even if we want to get better, we often just can't do it in time. We just remember what we used to be like, and how Christmas used to be.
Christmas is the hardest time to be an addict.
-----Email Message-----
1-800-662-HELP, which provides referrals to substance abuse treatment 24/7/365. It's run by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Good luck - the holidays can be tough, but they are also a time of forgiveness.
-----Email Message-----
As someone who loves an addict, all my family wants for Christmas is for our addict to come home, and let us help. It would be the best Christmas gift ever. We are waiting with open arms for you.
See More Secrets. Follow PostSecret on Twitter.
-----Email Message-----
Whenever I am wearing clothing and shopping in the store I got it from, I secretly hope they will give me a discount.
-----Email Message-----
Dear Frank,
Last year I mailed you two postcards, "Next year, I want to get my tree with you" and "I will not wear mistletoe to work," both referring to the same crush.
I was bowled over just now to see that someone had wondered how my first secret turned out.
This year, I will celebrate the holiday with someone wonderful . . . but he's not the guy I wrote those secrets about. Even if I hadn't fallen in love this year, this Christmas would find me fairly indifferent to the person I mentioned in that postcard.
Time work wonders.
-----Email Message-----
But if you left it up to me
Everyday would be
A holiday from real
Oh, it's a picture of perfection
Ah, and the postcards gonna read. . .
PostSecret on NPR's Interfaith Voices and Here and Now
Thanks to everyone who courageously shared their secret on the website, in the film or for the new book.
PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death and God
</p>
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![[Shortly thereafter, at a nearby bakery] ::CRASH:: ::RUMBLE:: ::VRRRRRR:: '... I don't know, officer. It just scooped up an entire rack of scones and drove away!'](http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/asshole.png "[Shortly thereafter, at a nearby bakery] ::CRASH:: ::RUMBLE:: ::VRRRRRR:: '... I don't know, officer. It just scooped up an entire rack of scones and drove away!'")
