It’s no secret that the slushpile is a repository of all that’s bad about writing – a temporary resting place for the kind of material that furnishes agents and publishers with endless smug jokes at all those cocktail parties they go to. Except – it isn’t. Tonight, we hear from industry insider Joanna Swainson, making her first appearance on the show, whose job it is to read the slushpile. And she explodes a lot of myths!
Making a welcome return is writer and clinical psychologist Susan O’Doherty. Dr. Sue is the author of Getting Unstuck Without Coming Unglued: A Woman’s Guide to Unblocking Creativity and tonight, she’s looking at writers and alcohol – what’s the connection?
Donna Ballman is here tonight too, asking why episodic fiction used to be popular – but now appears to be a dying art form. And our other regular panelist, Dave Bartram, believes that social networking sites may be affecting our ability to make meaningful relationships – could our society be nearing a vital tipping point? Dave makes a strong case. All this – together with lashings of Harriet Harman, todger-gluing (you may not want to know, but you‘re going to know), how to embarrass your kids off the internet and a touching online tribute to John Hughes, the director who gave a voice to the ’80s generation.
Topics covered and links include:
- Episodic fiction is a dying art form
- Cell phone novel writing
- When novelists sober up
- Writers and alcohol
This week’s hypertitles for the hyper-extrusive Commissioning Meeting are:
“High Endeavours: Messages to Alaska”
Effendi Shoghi, 1897-1957“Hey Diddle Diddle and Baby Bunting”
By Randolph Caldecott, 1846-1886“The Head Voice and Other Problems”
By D. A. (David Alva) Clippinger, 1860-1938“History of the Comstock Patent Medicine Business and Dr. Morse’s Indian Root Pills”
By Robert B. Shaw
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DONNA
“High Endeavours: Messages to Alaska”
Effendi Shoghi, 1897-1957
JOANNA
“Hey Diddle Diddle and Baby Bunting”
By Randolph Caldecott, 1846-1886
DR SUE
“The Head Voice and Other Problems”
By D. A. (David Alva) Clippinger, 1860-1938
DAVE
“History of the Comstock Patent Medicine Business and Dr. Morse’s Indian Root Pills”
By Robert B. Shaw
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