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WOW. And make sure you stick around for her interview after the performance. What a woman.

Someone sent me a link yesterday in my email and I opened it but didn't take the time to watch the video because I was tired or busy--doesn't matter. What does matter is that while my life would have been enriched last night, it wasn't until this afternoon that I felt the rush of excitement and empathy during the watching of this video. All I could think was: Never judge a book by its cover or a person by their appearance. OMG! What a gem the world has finally uncovered. Continue reading →

Check it out! They’re like Riley and her dog Jack from DOGGIRL! Don’t you love how happy they make the judges and everyone in the audience? Technorati Tags: britain's got talent, dog acts, dog performing, dog training, dogs, gin and kate, teen fiction, Teen Novels, Young Adult Fiction, Young Adult Novels

People Magazine takes a look at Susan Boyle this week, in a cover story that focuses on her struggles with newfound fame.

Publishers Weekly reports on the new Susan Boyle biography, Dreams Can Come True, which is set for release on February 9: "Overlook has acquired the first biography of British reality TV singing sensation Susan Boyle, Dreams Can Come True. Written by Alice Montgomery, the book, which is slated for February 9 and will be simultaneously published in England by Penguin UK, will trace Boyle's arc from a reclusive Scottish spinster to her headline-grabbing appearance singing "I Dreamed A Dream"on the English reality show, Britain's Got Talent. Boyle's debut album, also called "I Dreamed A Dream," has sold more than 5 million copies, making it the biggest-selling female debut album of all time. The acquisition looks to be something of a coup for Overlook, which is going to press for an initial 100,000 copies. Overlook publisher Peter Mayer acquired the book last month at auction."

Because I do not know where my head will be tomorrow (if, indeed, it will be found) and because I am taking a small break from the sort of work overwhelm that leaves me gasping (sometimes crying), I want to post this thought right now, before I lose it, or lose me—whichever happens first.

When my agent, Amy Rennert, today sent me an email with the subject line "this will bring a smile," I thought, Oh dear, what might this be? I opened the email to find a YouTube URL. Nothing more than that.

Well, of course you already know which YouTube clip I'm referring to. The one I and nearly a million of others have already watched as of this writing. Yes, Susan Boyle. Yes, the British singer, 47 years old, in silver shoes and lolling hair, who had the nerve to declare her dream on Britain's Got Talent and then to sing—magnificently—a song so bittersweet that even Simon Cowell was moved to sincerity. She had been jeered at. Disbelieved. The young among the many had rolled their eyes and sneered. A laughing stock, that's what she was, until she began to sing. And then those who had despised her envied her, perhaps a little, for the thing that she had kept within. For the honesty that she brought to a song about being young once, having a dream.

It was her moment. Her standing O. Her redemption. It was her voice, uncaged. What do we write toward, what do we live toward? The chance at that, just once.