Monday Hangovers

• There's nothing like a good screed from a grammarian. Thank you for clarifying so many things that are so frequently cited and are SO WRONG, sir.
• An article attempting to demystify book advances in the NYT, and then moonrat demystifies it with a dose of truth.
• Fabulous, fabulous Larry Doyle review of the latest Pinkwater book: There will be no stores open at midnight for the latest Pinkwater, no nerd swarms, girl gaggles or nerd-girl swaggles, cloaked as wizards or vampirettes, whining at the doors, demanding completion. There will be no subsequent blockbusting tent-pole movie starring the newest hotness. There will presumably be no Newbery, again, this year. The latest Pinkwater is nothing special, only the usual wonderful.
• Nicola with a truly great writing process post. Don't miss: Trust me, if you listen to your body, you'll know when it's wrong. I get all kinds of physical signals of stress, ranging from a vague restlessness to finding it hard to breathe. The instant you begin to feel that, draw a line through the ms. Delete everything after that line. (Put it in a separate folder, if you must--but I'm telling you, you'll never use it. May as well just throw it away.)
• The Battle of the (Kids') Books has begun, with Octavian Nothing II advancing in battle one and The Trouble Begins at Eight taking battle two. My brackets are looking good so far.
• #amazonfail, of course, is the big news. A while back, I became an IndieBound affiliate and started using all IndieBound links in posts, but bemoaned the inability to leave Amazon and still keep using Typepad's supereasy Typelists for the site's sidebars. I am not a code monkey. So I'm thrilled to hear that IndieBound widgets are on the way. (And for the record, I never buy books with the Amazon gift certificates I've earned through the program--instead using it to get a Lush fix or buy the cat a new litterbox.) I'd way rather steer people to their indie bookstore, however.
  
• Some #amazonfail links: Publishers Weekly, Booksquare, Ed, Carolyn tearing it up at Jacket Copy, and Nicola (whose fabulous, brilliant books are affected! woe!). I don't disagree with those saying that final judgment shouldn't be rendered until the full verdict is in (on this particular matter, anyway), BUT the burden of proof is on Amazon. And until they step up to the plate, I'm awfully swayed by the fact that this certainly DOESN'T look like an accidental glitch. Bright side: I'm glad to know so many of you fine people who are refusing to let this get swept under the rug. LOVE.