Holiday Roundtable

If you’ve been inside a store lately—just about any kind of store—you know Christmas is coming (along with several other holidays that don’t get as much attention). This weekend, millions of shoppers will hit the stores for “Black Friday,” so named because many stores go into the black on the day after Thanksgiving, as customers start the holiday shopping spree. To get into the spirit, Spectacle blog members answered questions about their own holiday wish lists, focusing on books, writing tools, and of course a bit of speculative creativity. We’ll post the answers over the next four days. Join us for some holiday fun!

What is on your holiday wish list as an author or a reader?

I’ve heard a lot of buzz about the new PC version of Scrivener–I wouldn’t mind giving that program a try. It’s supposed to be great for organizing plot notes and moving scenes around. I also wouldn’t mind getting a program for writing crossword puzzles–I love puzzles.—Parker Peevyhouse

As a reader: Zero books, so I might have some chance of catching up on the TBR pile in 2011! I wouldn’t turn down a copy of MOCKINGJAY, though, since I’m the last person in the kidlit world yet to read it. Also an iPad, since wish lists are intended for dreaming.

As an author: To make the e-book of my third Farwalker book available before the holidays, or at least year-end. But I’m not sure how much Santa can help me with that.—Joni Sensel, author of THE FARWALKER’S QUEST and other middle-grade and YA fantasies.

Please send writing tools! Word 2010 is on my wish list. My old version of Word decided it no longer wanted to run on my computer—it was a promotional version of Word 2007 that I got at a developers’ conference, and seems to have had a built-in self-destruct mechanism. The newest LibreOffice looks nice but it keeps choking on my files. I’ve also had an issue with magically disappearing text in the new Windows beta of Scrivener.

For my reading wish list, all I require is an extra 26 hours in the day so I can fit more reading into my schedule. I already have a backlog of amazing books on my shelf!—Greg R. Fishbone, author the Galaxy Games series that should have you covered for the 2011, 2012, and 2013 holiday seasons.

I gave my daughter a list of books I’d like downloaded to audio CDs since I love to listen to books in the car. I asked her for books which will appeal to my parents, too, since we share our audio books. So I asked for either:

* HUNCHBACK ASSIGNMENTS by Arthur Slade—loved this book and would enjoy it again on audio.

* SKIN HUNGER by Kathleen Duey—wonderful fantasy with a complex world that I read in book form and would like to listen to it before reading the second in the series.

* SEPTIMUS HEAP #3 by Angie Sage—was able to get first 2 in audio but not any others.

* TRUE MEANING OF SMEKDAY—My dad, who is a UFO buff, will enjoy this action, bizarre, fun book.—Linda Joy Singleton, who writes about magical things I wish existed.

What’s on your holiday wish list?

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