The Winter Blog Blast Tour schedule for Wednesday but first, in case you are wondering just why we are doing this project, go read Sherman Alexie's interview at Finding Wonderland. It's everything I hoped to achieve in the WBBT - smart questions, thoughtful answers, insightful conversation. That's why we are here and that's why the lit blogosphere is a good place to be.

Lisa Ann Sandell at Interactive Reader: "As Tennyson's curse was the incentive for me to go out there and imagine a better, more plausible, and fuller life for Elaine, I had no wish to curse her myself. And, as for the nature of the curse, I really don't know — it's a great question. I can guess that the weaving Elaine is the embodiment of artists everywhere, practicing her craft in loneliness, doomed always to observe the world but never to be in or of it. That makes a lot of sense to me…especially as a writer who practices her craft in solitude."

Christopher Barzak at Chasing Ray: "What happens when a murder or kidnapping isn't solved, though? The reality is we have to live with it, and carry it around with us. I wanted to write a novel in which that was the case, the thing the reader has to deal with, rather than giving that very satisfying feeling we've grown used to in fiction about murders that we can know everything, can discover everything necessary to bring a perpetrator to light and justice. That's a sort of comfort fantasy of detective fiction, and One for Sorrow isn't a police procedural."

Julie Halpern at The Ya Ya Yas: "I consider Prozac Nation and Girl Interrupted to be 'pity me' depression books. I’m definitely “pity me” about some things, but depression is not one of them. "

Micol Ostow at Shaken & Stirred: "It's a hybrid graphic novel, meaning that it's a traditional novel with graphic panels and spot art interspersed throughout. My brother David is handling the illustrations (and all of the musical references, since that's much more his thing than mine. If it were up to me, the playlists would be largely composed of Madonna remixes)."

Rick Yancey at Hip Writer Mama: "Like I told my son recently while hunting for shark’s teeth: The secret is not to find the tooth, but allow the tooth to find you."

Jane Yolen at Fuse Number 8: "Well--she gets on high horse and puts on teacher hat--scifi is said by people who don't like the genre or who's idea of the genre is Star Trek and, as Margaret Atwood so witheringly called it, "Squids in Space." We say sf or science fiction or fabulations or other things. As a genre it's very broad and deep and only some it has squids and space in proximity. (Though I do love the Pastafarians who worship the squid god.) It's a genre that can easily encompass Philip Pullman, Ursula Le Guin, Michael Swanwick, and Jo Walton and Bruce Coville-all favorites of mine."

Shannon Hale at Bookshelves of Doom: "I swear my husband has a fear of bad milk. He freaks out if I accidentally leave it out on the counter for an hour. What’s the worst that could happen? Unintentional buttermilk? Please, catastrophic annihilation of all human life is much more dreadful. And likely."

Maureen Johnson at Bildungsroman: "For example, for permanent upgrades on Virgin Atlantic, I might consider publicly extolling the acting skills of David Hasselhoff. "The Hoff's got it," I would say, sipping a fruity drink while reclining on my flat bed seat. 'He's the new Brando. And yes, I will have that manicure.'"

David Lubar at Writing & Ruminating: "I think titles for novels are hugely important. A perfect title is clear, interesting, and layered with depth. It shouldn’t be puzzling when spoken. It should also not bring up eighty similar hits when you search for it online. After Hidden Talents came out, I discovered that was the title for a Judith Krantz novel. When I was waiting for Dunk to come out, I was terrified that Walter Dean Myers would come out with a book with that title first."

Sherman Alexie at Finding Wonderland: "My strongest tribes are book nerds and basketball players, and those tribes are as racially, culturally, economically, and spiritually diverse. And, like Arnold, I also belong to a hundred other tribes, based on the things I love to read, watch, do. Ever since 9/11, I have worked hard to be very public about my multi-tribal identity. I think fundamentalism is the mistaken belief that one belongs to only one tribe; I am the opposite of that."