1910 vs. 2010

Happy New Year! 100 years ago, the talk on New Year's Day 1910 was likely, "Will Halley's Comet be the death of us this year?" Earth was to sail through the tail of the comet on May 18/19, 1910, and no one *really* knew what their fate might be. SELLING HOPE, which comes out this fall from Feiwel & Friends, is set against that backdrop. It sounds like an overreaction now, sure, but was 1910 really all that different from 2010?

1910: afraid that Earth traveling through the tail of Halley's Comet will bring about the end of the world

2010: afraid that the Mayan calendar ending in 2012 will bring about the end of the world

1910: vaudeville actors tap into this fear by writing skits and songs about the comet

2010: Hollywood taps into this fear with movies like 2012

1910: yellow journalists fan a spark of fear into infernos

2010: !!! (see any local newscast or paper to see if this changed)

There are more similarities, I'm certain, but I'm off to build a bomb shelter...

And now, the fun stuff: what are your writing resolutions this year? One of mine: to challenge myself by writing in a new genre. Care to share yours?

Happy 2010, all!