I got back from my wonderful trip to the Hudson River Valley and Connecticut to find one of my favorite blogs, MISS SNARK, ended.
Miss Snark, a New York City literary agent, has been blogging for a couple of years, dispensing valuable information, extraordinary assistance and incredible wit and wisdom to the clueless. Her snarkisms have entered our vocabulary: Dear Dog! Rabbitania, the clue gun, nitwits, not to mention the delights of her poodle, Killer Yap, and Grandmother Snark's wisdom. Miss Snark's infatuation with George Clooney and gin in pails gave us hours of speculation and amusement.
The archives will stay up for a while and be an invaluable resource tool for all writers. Be sure to check them out. But Miss Snark's daily dose of urbane wit and stiletto-heeled advice will be sorely missed.
I have wondered idly who this funny and intelligent woman might be – the mystery of anonymity on the internet can be intriguing. It would be both wonderful and terrifying to have Miss Snark as your agent: wonderful because she only takes on projects she thinks she can sell and terrifying because her standards are high and her advice acerbic.
I know the net can burn you out. I am glad Miss Snark is taking a well-deserved rest. I just hope she comes back once in a while to jolt us out of our clueless states. I raise my glass to you, Miss Snark: thanks so much for all you have given.
But don't weep, writers. We still have EVIL EDITOR. He too is an anonymous literary professional who dispenses wit, wisdom and genuine laugh-out-loud funny. He invites writers to submit their query letters to be skewered, shredded and put back together. He also invites us all – his evil minions – to write "continuations" to other writers' first paragraphs, make delicious fun of their titles with his "Guess the Plot" and participate in writing exercises and contests designed to make you laugh until you cry. He has even produced books of these efforts, perfect stocking-stuffers for those writers on your list. (I confess to being a contributor.)
THREE BEAUTIFUL THINGS
Coming home. I had a great vacation, but what can beat coming home? The pets were so happy to see us.
That dinner at the CIA. (The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. Yes, I have eaten in the cafeteria at the *other* CIA, but that's a different thing altogether.) I had roast chicken with wild mushrooms at the American Bounty restaurant. My waiter, Paul, was nervous, but did well – his instructors were watching!
5 comments:
I was not as into Evil Editor as I was Miss Snark. I enjoy his query rewrites and I think they are generally helpful, but I don't enjoy the 1st 100 word rewrites. I usually skip right over them.
I will miss Miss Snark because she combined her snarkiness with a sort of thorny gentleness. I do understand why she thinks that she ran out of things to say. Most of the letters that she posted recently were of the "I think this is already addressed in the archives, but" variety.
And apart from all the things you mentioned, Kate, she posted every day!
Kept our minds focused and in gear.
Hi Kate!
You were just in my old stomping grounds, and it was a beautiful weekend up here in the Northeast.
I hope the Snarky One has the opportunity to see some of the nice things about her that people have been posting on their blogs.
Welcome home, Pal!!!
Do tell about the 'different thing altogether'.
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