The fact of the matter is that most publishing houses no longer have the resources to promote every book they release.  It’s unfortunate, but in this climate we have to be grateful just being published.

This means that the brunt of the marketing will fall onto my shoulders.  I don’t begrudge my future publisher this; I take on the mantle willingly!  Besides, I’ve got a slight ace in the hole… my degree in Marketing.

Not that that’s going to help me IMMENSELY.  I mean, the world is filled with a many and varied people.  But hopefully it’ll give me an edge.

There are plenty of options for the marketing savvy.  You have to have persistence, a little cash (for some things, unfortunately), and a lot of imagination.  Not only can your book get lost in the bookstore with all the new releases coming out each year, but your voice can get drowned out in a sea of other writers in the same boat as you are, all trying to find those readers who’ll get them on the bestseller lists and on to their next book.

That’s where the imagination comes in.

The internet is the newest frontier in marketing.  It’s called Viral Marketing.  Websites, blogs, Facebook/Twitter pages.  Everyone’s got one or all of these.  I do.  And you’d be stupid not to.  Facebook is one of the most visited sites on the internet, and Twitter is growing rapidly (MySpace is SO 2000).  In fact, my website blog, my FB page, and Twitter account are all linked.  Whenever I post a Tweet, it updates my FB status.  And the moment I hit SUBMIT on this Journal entry, it’ll be sent to both my Twitter AND FB accounts.  This way, people can follow me in a number of ways, whichever way they’re most comfortable with.  Twitter, FB, RSS feeds, and by email.  I’m everywhere I can possibly be to get to more potential readers.

Right now it’s mostly friends, other writers, and family members who follow me, but I know one day I’ll have readers, and I’m building up my archives of content for when they come.

Make friends with other writers, both bestsellers and beginners.  The more connections you make, the better you’ll be.  Share your friends and your resources with one another.  When one of you sells a book, do guest posts on the other’s blog.  If you help your friends, they’ll help you in return.  We’re all in this together!

Find ways to keep your readers involved.  Hold contests (everyone likes freebies!  Especially if they’re books!), answer questions, let them know you appreciate them.  You can’t just post to your blog and not respond.  They’ll keep coming back because they’ll feel involved, and you need to keep your name fresh in their mind over the year(s) it takes you to get out your next book.

But you have to think out of the box as well.  Now, I’m not going to give out all of my ideas (sorry!), but you have to do things in ways that no one else has thought of yet, or at least in ways that haven’t been oversaturated yet.  People remember interesting and new.

Finally, I’m going to say… THINK FREE.

Talk to your publishers about giving out free e-versions of your book.  I’ve downloaded a number of these and, the ones I like (I usually only read a chapter or two), I buy.  I’m not about to sit and read 80-100k word books on my computer, but it’s enough to get me hooked.  AND, I can send it to my friends to try and get THEM hooked.  Some people will be satisfied reading an entire book on their computer, but the majority that like it will buy it, and they’ll be more willing to spend money on it when they remember you tried to give it to them for free in the first place.

So, if you haven’t started thinking about your marketing plan, maybe it’s about time you did.  It wouldn’t hurt to have some ideas in mind when you sit down with your future publisher.  And it’s never too early to start recruiting readers.

And I’ll try to follow my own advice and keep the fresh content coming!

Until next…

What have I been up to since May?  Well, as you saw, I finished my first novel, Love, Simon.  I’m happy with where it is and have recently been sending out queries to agents.  I know it’s a long and treacherous road to finding representation, but I have faith that when the right agent reads something of mine at the right time, magic will happen.  So, enough about Simon for now.

I started writing my second novel, which is as different from my first as it’s possible to be.  I didn’t start out to do that.  Yes, I wanted to write something DIFFERENT for a change, but it hadn’t been my intention to start this particular book.  There were (and still are) a few projects that I really wanted to start, but when it came down to putting fingers to keyboard, this is what I started writing.  It’s a story that has been percolating in my brain for the last five or so years, and I initially envisioned it as a screenplay… but who am I kidding?  When am I going to find the time to learn how to write a screenplay?  I think it’ll work magnificently as a movie, but someone else will have to adapt what I’m writing now.  It’s kind of an urban fantasy thriller, but with a literary twist (though hopefully the fantasy part will blend in so seamlessly it’ll read more like a literary thriller).  Here’s the logline:

What if Jesus was never meant to be our Savior, but a warning?  What if, 2000 years later, God fathered a daughter?

And that’s as much as you’re going to get until the book is published, whenever that may be!  If you’re clever, you might be able to find an Easter Egg about it somewhere else on this site, but that’s all I’m saying right now!

I’m really enjoying the process of creating a new world.  And, like I said in the past, I am no longer limiting myself to work on ONLY ONE project at a time.  I have ideas for two YA series—one an urban fantasy and the other more commercial—as well as my next literary novel (which I’m going to give a little time before I start… I need a little BREAK).  So, I’ll keep everyone updated to my progress.

In the meantime, I’ve also finished a new short story entitled “The Mommy Tree.” It’s currently making the rounds of my first readers, but early response has been positive.  I’m planning on submitting it to a contest at the end of the month that I have no chance in hell of winning, but I’m not one to be intimidated by overwhelming odds—would I have chosen to be a writer if I was?  Keep your fingers crossed for me just in case!

Work is still the same—work.  I’m making strides and creating waves, in my usual fashion.  Even the CEO of the company knows me by name.  That’s just how I handle business.

I went to see the musical WICKED this past weekend in NYC.  I read the book about a year or so ago and wasn’t overly impressed with it.  I’d been expecting a fairytale told from a different POV, when all I got was a big political statement that I found BORING.  I read to the end because I was curious, but it’s not something I’d recommend.  And it’s already been made clear to me that I’m one of the only people in the world NOT to love this book, I understand this.  It’s just hard for me to get into something when my expectations aren’t met.  But the musical was INCREDIBLE, for lack of more clever verbiage.  I was skeptical, because of my experience with the book, but they were able to draw the real story out of the novel and make the musical based on that.  The overall plot is the same, but it had a more humanized quality to it—more literary, if you will.  And the music was witty and sad all at the same time.  I wish I could have recorded that performance to watch over and over again.  I bought the original cast recording, but it pales in comparison to the experience of seeing it live and feeling the entire theater shake from the power of their voices.  Definitely worth a see if you’ve got the time and money.

Over the summer I was able to watch a number of movies.  I’ll list them below and give a short reaction to each (since there are quite a few, I won’t bore you with longer opinions):

After Wolverine, I saw—

Angels & Demons – Still the best of the Dan Brown novels, I was pleased with the adaptation.  I read the book a number of years ago, so the plot wasn’t very fresh in my head (my mom, on the other hand, reread it for the showing and was disappointed by the changes made).  And I’m so glad they didn’t have Langdon jump out of the helicopter at the end, which was the most unbelievable part of the whole book.  Though, I have to admit, I did miss Silas from Code… But that might just be misplaced longing for my love of Paul Bettany.  *shrug*

Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian – The first movie was cute, and I really only went to see this because a friend wanted to.  But I was pleasantly surprised at how funny the movie was.  Amy Adams is always refreshing, and my favorite part was with the singing Cherubs (voiced by The Jonas Brothers, I would find out later).  Obviously, this was just a screwball flick, but worth your time if you’re looking for a laugh.

Up – I LOVE Pixar.  I have never been disappointed with one of their movies, and this one fits in the same mold.  It was witty, but also extremely heartfelt.  Their animation only gets more incredible with each movie, and hopefully they’re only just hitting their stride.

My Sister’s Keeper – I had heard of this book, but never picked it up.  But from the first trailer that premiered for this movie, I wanted to see it.  Why would this young girl no longer want to help save her sister’s life?  There had to be something more… and there was.  My only complaint is for Cameron Diaz, someone I’m never much impressed with.  You can take any role she’s ever played, exchange her out with another actress, and it wouldn’t make a difference.  Not like Kate Winslet, where I can’t picture anyone else but her playing each of her roles.  I also happened to miss the emotional climax of the movie.  TMI, but I should have gone to the bathroom BEFORE the movie started, and I didn’t think anyone would appreciate me peeing in the theater.  Oops.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – OMFG was this movie HILARIOUS.  I loved the first Transformers for its amazing wit and breakneck action, and this was no different.  Besides the fact that the theater put it on the smallest screen in the building, I was absorbed from the first minutes of film.  Shia LaBeouf is extremely funny and a perfect fit for this role, and even though the story gets a little convoluted in places, it was definitely first-class entertainment.  The guy in me drooled the entire film!

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a Harry Potter freak.  I’ve been to two midnight premieres (including this one), went to the midnight releases of the last THREE books, and reread the books once a year.  So, it should come as no surprise that I LOVED this movie.  Yes, hardcore fans, the plot and structure were rearranged to fit the 2 ½ hour movie format, but that’s been the case for all five previous movies as well, so get over it!  One of the things I loved most about the movie was the humor.  I still laugh every time I think about Ron climbing into bed with Harry to swoon over Ramilda Vane, whom he recently fell in love with due to an expired love potion.  The special effects were flawless (save for the Inferi at the end, but that’s just me).  All the kids have really come into their own.  And we were introduced to some great new talent in the form of both Young Tom Riddles, who both gave very chilling performances.  I’ll be first in line when this movie comes out on DVD, and I’ll be sure to be at the midnight premiere of DH Part 1 next November!

The Ugly Truth – Predictable, but enjoyable.  Some of the best lines were in the trailer, but it wasn’t really lacking in the funny.  I’ve liked Katherine Heigl since her Roswell days, so this was a no-brainer to see.  Of course (and I hope I’m not ruining anything for you here), the guy gets the girl in the end, so it was satisfying.  And Katherine playing off of Gerard Butler was great fun as well.

Julie and Julia – As I said above, Amy Adams is always refreshing.  And seeing her try to cook her way through Julia Child’s cookbook was enjoyable, to say the least.  And it’s amazing how Meryl Streep can so fully embody whatever character she plays.  I fell in love with her in The Devil Wears Prada, and she really shone as Julie Child in this one.  I’ll have to check out some of her earlier work!

The Informant! – Ever since the Bourne movies came out, I have really come to appreciate the raw talent that is Matt Damon.  In this quirky comedy, he plays a professional turned informant when he disagrees with the way his company does business.  He’s bumbling, almost moronic, and ends up getting himself in some real trouble in the end.  Odd, but worth the watch.  You won’t know where the movie is going until the last frame!

Couples Retreat – I’m not a big Vince Vaughn fan.  To be honest, I think he plays the same character in ever movie he’s in (which I believe is just a caricature of himself), and it’s getting old.  This movie is no different in that respect, but he isn’t the only main character, so he sort of gets blended in with the rest of the cast.  That being said, I really enjoyed this movie.  It was funny and unpredictable at times (though I think the ending was a little too easily wrapped up).

Where the Wild Things Are – This is another book I never got around to reading.  Funny, considering I went to B&N after watching the movie and was able to read through the book in about 2 minutes flat (I think there’s, what, 20 words total in the book?).  Based on that, you can imagine how much of a creative leap the filmmakers had to make in order to draw the story out for two hours. The movie, if you haven’t seen it already, is very dark and depressing.  Max “runs away” from home (and into his imagination) because he is lonely and believes everyone thinks he’s bad.  But, like the old saying, life isn’t always greener.  He stumbles upon the Wild Things, who are a bunch of lonely, depressed creatures themselves.  They make Max their king in hopes that he will cure their loneliness and bring them closer together.  But nothing Max does seems to help, and eventually he discovers that he misses the very people he was trying to escape.  Exceedingly beautiful and poignant film, even if it is a little sad.  Great performance by young actor Max Records. 

Movies I wanted to see but missed and will have to catch on DVD: Star Trek, Terminator Salvation, The Hangover, The Proposal, Year One, Public Enemies, Bruno, (500) Days of Summer, Funny People, District 9 (!), The Time Traveler’s Wife, Inglourious Basterds, Gamer, and Surrogates.

Movies either out now or coming out that I want to see: Law Abiding Citizen, Amelia, Astro Boy, 2012, The Blind Side, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, The Road, The Princess and the Frog, The Lovely Bones (!!!), Avatar, and Sherlock Holmes.

I’ll have to talk about books, TV shows and music in another post!

What has everyone else been up to all summer?  I know a little if I follow you on Twitter or Facebook, but like I said, I haven’t been keeping up with my blogroll.

I’m much better at updating Twitter (and consequently Facebook, since my Tweets are my Status Updated on FB).  So, if you haven’t already, please follow me on TWITTER!

Until next…

WATCHED

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

I never read the comics when I was younger, but I did watch the cartoon, so there was definitely a certain level of anticipation on my part when the first of the X-Men franchise was originally slated for release.  Though I’ve deemed the X-Men films as the movies where good actors go to get a break from acting, they’ve served their entertainment purposes and I’ve liked all three of them.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine is supposed to be about the—er—origins of, well, Wolverine, if the title wasn’t obvious enough.  It starts off when he’s a kid and he finds out he’s half-brothers with Victor Creed (aka Sabretooth), goes through a choppy montage of clips with the two of them fighting in every war imaginable in recent history, to the point where they’re both recruited to become part of William Stryker’s personal SWAT team of mutants.  That’s all in the first five minutes.  To say that this film is roughly edited and moves at too quick of a pace is an understatement.  I had a connection with Wolverine because I’ve already been through three other movies with him, but it didn’t leave me enough time to bond with the other characters.

One of my favorites has always been Gambit, but the eight minutes of screen time he had wasn’t nearly enough for me (though they were probably the BEST eight minutes of the movie!).  The whole storyline was a bit contrived and I left feeling disappointed.  It was entertaining, don’t get me wrong, with some decent action and a look at a bunch of new mutants we hadn’t been privy to in the earlier films in the franchise (and some of them, like Gambit and Deadpool, already have Origins spin-offs of their own in the works), which was cool.  But the acting in this installment was particularly bad, even on Hugh Jackman’s part, which pains me to say.

And there’s also the fact that they CHANGED Wolverine’s origins for this movie!  Like I said previously, I didn’t read the comics, but even I know that Logan didn’t have his claws UNTIL the metal was added to his bones… they were a sort of perk of the operation.  In the movie, young Jimmy (I don’t know WHY he’s called Jimmy in the beginning and throughout the film by Sabretooth and is now Logan, but whatever) gets mad and the claws come out of his hands as bone, and he goes through all the wars and most of his life with the bone claws (which I actually found kind of disgusting for some reason) that turn into metal during the operation.  And since when does Sabretooth have long life like Wolverine?  He also seemed to have healing powers of some sort, because he never seemed to be hurt, no matter how he was shot, stabbed, cut or impaled.  Anyone know anything about X-Men that can let me know about this?

Basically, it’s a pretty mindless movie with some decent action and cool special effects.  Hopefully the Wolverine 2 movie that is already being planned will be a little better in the story and acting departments, because this one was definitely lacking in both.  Go to see it in theatres if you like (mostly because the SFX will look better), but it’s not really necessary.

Score: Not great, but didn’t want to throw myself on Wolverine’s claws… 6/10.

READ

Neil Gaiman’s Journal

Neil’s name has popped up over the past few years, but I never picked up one of his books.  Most recently (if you call two years ago recently), I saw the movie Stardust, which is based off of one of his novels, and I really liked it!  Now, I still haven’t read any of his books, but I subscribe to his Journal on his official website and I also just followed him on Twitter.

There are some authors that I love to read but who can be fairly boring people.  There are others that I don’t particularly like their books but I LOVE to read them talk (meaning, anything BUT their fiction, ie. blog posts, interviews, etc…).  Stephen King is one of the latter.  I HAVE eighteen of his books and I’ve read exactly four of them.  They’re okay, but don’t have me itching to pick up the next one (then why do I have eighteen of them?  I have mentioned my compulsive book buying before, haven’t I?), but his On Writing book is incredible, I read every Entertainment Weekly column he writes, and every time I see an interview or anything with him I have to read it.  He’s just an incredibly interesting and intelligent person whose brain I love to get a glimpse into.

This is my problem with Neil.  Not a problem, per-se, but definitely a predicament.  I love reading him talk so much that I’m afraid to pick up one of his books!  Take his latest Journal entry for instance (read it here… trust me, you’ll enjoy it!).  A very well thought out response to a question that plagues most published authors, but also an answer to an email from a fan!  As a heavy reader myself, I like to see instances where authors take the time to communicate with their fans, and Neil does that on a daily basis through email, his Journal, and on Twitter.  It’s very frustrating when some of your favorite authors don’t even have a WEBSITE, let alone a blog or Twitter account or Facebook page.  A great amount of interaction isn’t necessary (they do have to have time to actually write the books we so love!), but a little would be nice, and a bit more is always appreciated.

Are we too connected?  Only time will tell, but I enjoy the communication and is something I plan to do myself when I finally get published.  I mean, how else would I have known that Christopher Rice finished his fifth book last week if I weren’t friends with him on Facebook?  I know he has no clue who I am, but it’s nice to have that little connection.

But back to Neil.  I have been enjoying his Journal entries for months now and think it’s finally time to venture into his world of fiction.  Are there any fans out there who could recommend a first read?

And if you haven’t checked out his Journal, definitely take some time to do so!

Until next…

P.S. Follow me on Twitter if you haven’t already!

In the past four days I have written over 12,000 words, completed the third part of my book, and I am now working on finishing some things for part two.  When I finish that later on today, I will start going through the book chapter by chapter and updating old passages for my current voice.

Once this is completed, my book will be finished, and then it is up to three of my closest friends to tell me how it reads.  After eight years of working on it, it will be the first time anyone is going to get to read it in its entirety.

If they like it, or after I’ve made any suggested changes, then it’s time to send it out to agents, some of whom have actually asked to see it upon completion.

I’m reading through this post as I’m writing it, and I know it sounds so matter-of-fact, but I’m honestly having a hard time believing what I’m typing.  I’ve been working on this project for so long… it’s hard to think that it soon might be over.

Oh, I could edit this thing for the rest of my life, thinking of new and different things to write or have them do, but after eight years and falling in at about 145,000 words (which I think is just perfect for a literary novel), it’s time to let it go.

*deep breaths*

And now, I plunge into the deep end.

Until next…

I’ve finished writing new chapters for the second part of my book, and I’ve now started on Part 3.  It’s going to be a relatively short PART, about 10,000 words, not including the Epilogue, which is already written.  Hopefully, I can get it done in the next week.  Then I need to go back to Part 2 and rearrange/edit/splice what’s there and write some new scenes.  All-in-all, not much more work until it’s finished.  I’ve even given myself a deadline of March 31st (which I hope to stick to… this time), and have scheduled a week of vacation at the end of the month so that it can be done.  Anyone have any goats we can sacrifice… or better yet, any virgins?

The baby is being kicked out of the nest after this last edit.  When I’m done with it (by the end of the month!), I plan on sending it to three of my friends (you already know who you are), so that I can get an even analysis of the book.  From that, I’ll make spot edits/changes, and then it’s off to literary agent purgatory to await judgment.  Hopefully my book will be able to ascend, rather than going the h-e-double-hockey-sticks route, if you catch my drift.

I know I keep saying it’s time, but ya’ll, it’s time! Other characters for other projects are whispering sweet nothings in my ears, tempting me away.  And I am SO temptable at this point.  At least if they were real people I might be getting laid right now.  But that’s the whole point, isn’t it?  If I move on to these other stories, I’ll feel like I’m cheating on the current one.  This one will be scorned, bitter and abandoned, and the one I cheated on it with will be the dirty, resentful mistress, because of course I wouldn’t have TOLD either of them what I was doing, but they always find out about one another at some point!  See my dilemma?

For my next set of novels, I’ve already decided to go into them as open relationships (sorry to continue with the sex analogy here, it just seemed to work so I’m running with it).  I know my writing pace, so know I can work on multiple projects at once and finish two to three per year (if my life goes according to plan and I’m able to write full-time).  I can do one a year for each of my YA novels, possibly another random commercial novel, and a literary novel every two years.  This is something I KNOW I can do, if only I have the time.

You’ve probably noticed that I have a lot of confidence in my writing and my writing ability.  I don’t know where it comes from, but it’s there, so I go with it.  Now, the thing is, I have ZERO confidence that what I’m writing will sell, or that it’ll make me any money.  We have had it ingrained in us how hard it is to make it in this business.  Talent plays a big part (I’m not saying I’m talented, I just have confidence… I could be confident in crap, I don’t know, but I think every writer has confidence in their writing, or else they wouldn’t be doing it!  Hear that, D?), but it’s also luck and timing and an amalgamation of other factors that all need to align at the same time as the planets do (meaning, rarely).  I also know they say most writers never sell their first books.  Well, that’s not really an option for me.  I’ve spent FAR too much time on this book to never get it published… Even if I sell the rest of the books I write and make millions doing so, I’ll always be pushing this book, too.

That was a whole bunch of rambling, wasn’t it?  Well, have you ever paid attention to what I call my blog on here?

Hopefully I’m doing you proud, Simon, and you’ll be satisfied enough to leave in peace.  I love you, but eight years is a long time.  We’ll still be friends, okay?  And I’ll probably see you again in a few years, if I actually go ahead and decide to write the book from the POV of another character like I’ve been thinking about.  DAMN IT!  Shouldn’t have said that!

Until next…

(Oh, if you subscribe to my Journal through either an RSS feed or through Email, let me know if you’re having trouble getting it when I publish… The site I use to send out the updates was recently acquired by Google, and I haven’t gone into it since then.  Please let me know!)

Okay, I’ve been a little hush-hush about this in the last couple of blog posts, but I guess it’s okay to talk about now.  I have a confession to make: I’ve been writing.  Yes, I KNOW.  I don’t know what brought it on, so didn’t want to say anything in case it decided to go away again.  But I’ve actually written more in the last month than I have in the last YEAR.  Literally.  I’ve gotten a few more new chapters written, and rewrote a section of another chapter I’d been dreading working on (and it was actually REALLY easy to do, to my surprise!).  All-in-all, about 18,000 or so words.

I love my book, I really do, but I need to move on.  I’ve been working on it in one form or another since I was in 10th grade.  That’s over EIGHT years, folks.  Eight years is a long time to have the same voices in your head, to live with the same people day in and day out.  That’s why I’m hoping I can finish this one within the coming month and move on to some other projects.  I’ve already mentioned that I won’t allow myself to work on any other (novel length) projects until this one is done, because I’ll never finish it if I do, and that’s still very much the rule.  Though, IF I’m able to keep up this pace, finishing it within the coming month shouldn’t be a problem.  I HOPE.  I PRAY.  Please, God, just let me finish.  I don’t ask you for much, and all the jokes you like to play on me should warrant me some favors.  At least one.  I’m calling it in.

I’ve already decided on my next two projects, which are actually two beginnings to two young adult series’.  The first is a fantasy series, and the other is an absolute bitch-fest.  Did I talk about this in my last post?  I’m not going back to read it, so I hope not.  Ah well, you’re not getting any more information than that, so I guess you can hear it as many times as I want and it doesn’t matter, does it?!

Oh, did anyone happen to see a certain show this past Sunday, one featuring a flawless, bald, gold man who just so happens to be missing his genitals?  THE OSCARS.  So… KATE WON! I’M SO EFFING HAPPY FOR HER!! SHE SO DESERVES IT!!!  I made a vow a while ago that, by the time I’m established in the world of Hollywood, if Kate hadn’t won an Oscar, I’d write a movie that would get her said deserved Oscar.  Well, someone has spared me the trouble.  Not that I would have minded writing it for her, but I don’t know how long it’ll be until I’m there, and I couldn’t bear seeing her Oscarless any longer!  I love you, Kate!  Can I have your babies?!

I’ve seen the movie TAKEN, starring Liam Neeson, twice now.  It’s the one about an ex-CIA agent whose daughter gets kidnapped in Paris and sold into sex trafficking.  The trailers for the movie looked amazing, so I was really excited about it.  Honestly, the first time I saw it I was a little disappointed.  Don’t get me wrong, it was a really good movie, but I was hoping for/expecting something a little DEEPER, considering who the star was.  But it was exactly the kind of movie you’d expect it to be.  The second time I saw it I left those hopes at the door and just enjoyed the movie for what it was, and that time walked out much more satisfied!  I’d definitely recommend it to anyone looking for something with a few well-placed shocks and Liam Neeson kicking ass along the way!

Now, I need to pose a question to all of my writer friends out there, and I would really appreciate an answer from all who have the time!  A little backstory first, though…

I hate editing.  Editing in the general sense of the word, anyway.  When I write, I edit as I go, fleshing out sentences and paragraphs and pages, reworking dialogue until it has a natural sounding flow, making sure words aren’t repeated too often or too close together.  In starting a new day of work, I always reread what I’ve already written in that chapter, checking my flow and rhythm, wording, and so on.  By the time I’m done with my “first draft,” I’d say it’s akin to most other writer’s third or fourth drafts.  Depending on the length, it may have been “edited” twenty-thirty times already.  That being said, I hate having to go back over work I’ve already written and deemed finished, because I’m a picker.  I could pick and pick at words and sentences until the earth dies, and I could pick some more after, too.  I feel like I’ve already done the work and shouldn’t trouble going over it again.  It’s finished.  Most of my short stories—oh, who am I kidding?  ALL of my short stories are technically “first drafts.”

My question is, do you actually ENJOY editing/revising?  I’ve heard both arguments, but am curious to what you think.  Some say revising brings out the TRUE story, while others say you’re just moving around words and beating the dead horse more dead.  You know what I mean.  What’s your opinion on editing/revising?

Until next…

Well, something’s been happening in the last few years: another phenomenon was born.  I’ve been mostly ignoring it, somewhat because I was already so involved with the characters of too many series’ (Harry Potter, The Sword of Truth, the Inheritance Cycle, etc…), but mainly because the author is being hailed as “The New JK Rowling”, which is simply heresy as far as I’m concerned.

The author in question?  Stephenie Meyer.  The books she wrote?  The Twilight Saga.

I said I would never read these books.  I didn’t want to jump on the bandwagon, and I felt like I would be cheating on Jo and Harry if I did.  Seriously, I felt that strongly about it.  But, as the title of this post states, I finally caved in, having asked for and received all four novels in the Twilight series for Christmas.

Let’s just say that I started reading the books about two weeks ago, and I’m already on book four.  I have REALLY been enjoying them.  They’re absolutely nothing like Harry Potter, obviously, but they’re just as easy a read.  I’ve never been a HUGE fan of the vampire stuff, but there’s something about this new mythology that Stephenie has created that is, for lack of a better word, fascinating.  I don’t want to give anything away, so I’m just going to say that she takes all of our ideas about vampires and their culture and completely turns it on its ear.  She has new answers for everything, including but not limited to why they don’t go out in the sun, and it’s all proof of a really clever and talented writer.

The thing I like most about the books, and it’s something I imagine most of the readers really respond to, is the love between the story’s main characters, Bella Swan and Edward Cullen.  The forbidden love between vampire and human, “the lion falling in love with the lamb” as Stephenie so eloquently puts it, is both beautiful, heartbreaking, and completely hot.  Can’t believe I’m swooning over a YA fantasy novel!  If you’ve read the books, you’ll know what I mean.

The stories are full of passion, love, fierce rivalry, betrayal, and suspense.  I’m kind of disappointed that I didn’t start reading the books while the movie was still in theaters, because you all know I think every movie should be viewed in a theater environment, but it’s something I’ll definitely check out on DVD when it comes out.  I’m only at the beginning of the fourth book, but I’m sure it’s going to be a doozy, at least from what I’ve heard.

Now, for the second part: I’m not saying that I’ve broken through whatever barrier has been keeping me from writing, but I completed the chapter I began back in October and have also written a completely new chapter in the last week alone.  This part is going to be very short, because I don’t want to jinx whatever is going on, and I don’t want to put any false hope behind my sudden writing spurt.  However, I will say that it felt nice to finish something again, and then to write something completely new in such a short amount of time.  For instance, yesterday alone I wrote over 2200 words, which was the completion of the new chapter.  I haven’t been giving myself the time to write so much, which is part of the reason why it’s been going so slow.  I just need to prioritize, then everything will be okay.

Thanks again to everyone who commented on my last post, or wrote to me personally.  It’s not easy admitting one’s faults, but the support you have all shown me has truly helped.  Hopefully you won’t have to read anymore of the woe-is-me posts for a very long time, if ever again, but I hold no promises.  Sometimes it just helps to get it all off your chest.

For those of my writer friends who also have blogs, don’t take it personally that I haven’t commented on your sites in so long.  It’s hard to explain, but when things become stressful, even seeing a buildup of RSS reeds can feel like overwhelming pressure.  So, I have gone through and cleared all of the backlogs, and plan on coming back to them anew.  I’ll be back at your next new post and hopefully I won’t disappear like that again, stress permitting.  I love you guys!

Now, to end this post on a lighter note, I’ve also recently discovered David Sedaris.  For those of you who know me, you’ll know that David has exactly my sense of humor.  I’ve listen to two of his CDs, one a live recording of him at Carnegie Hall, and the other the audio version of his book Holidays On Ice, both of which were completely hilarious.  Below, you’ll find a clip of him on David Letterman, reading one of his most humorous essays.  Enjoy!

Until next…

It’s December 24th, almost 2009, and I’ve been thinking about the past year a lot lately.  What have I accomplished?  Personally, I feel like nothing… but that’s not really true, is it?  I mean, I did manage to graduate college with respectable marks.  Not summa cum laude or anything, but with a B average (slightly over a 3.0), which is nothing to shake a stick at.  It was always hard for me to commit fully to classes in which the subject or the professor were less than desirable, so all of the really good grades I got were equaled out by some, erm, really bad ones.  Ah well, hakuna matata.

I also went to two writers conferences: ThrillerFest in NYC in July, and the Maui Writers Conference and Retreat in Honolulu in August/September.  In Maui, I even managed to get some really great compliments from a huge bestselling author about my work.  Again, not too shabby.

Other than that?  The year’s basically been a dud.  Yeah, I graduated, but then I was unemployed for a few months, got a job that I was forced to quit after 5 weeks, unemployed for a few MORE months (racking up some nice credit card bills in the process… eating is EXPENSIVE, ya’ll!), and then finally landed my current, low paying job in October.  I owe almost everybody under the sun some money, and it doesn’t look like it is going to get better anytime soon.

On top of all of that, I’ve hardly written anything this year.  I wrote one short story back in March, two chapters of my novel since I’ve been back from Hawaii, and I’ve recently started a new short story.  That’s pretty much it.  I haven’t had the urge to write and, despite my proclamation of a few months ago to say fuck-all to inspiration, you still need a little.  It feels like I’ve got some form of writer’s mono.  Like, I know that there’s this thing I want to do, need to do, but I just can’t seem to get myself to do it.  Oh yes, it does come in spurts, which is why I’ve managed to write what I have, but they usually don’t last for very long.

I’m being oddly frank here, internet.  But I figure, why lie?  Why paint a rosy picture on what I have been feeling?  Surely some of you have felt the same at some point or another.  I feel pressured to write for some reason, like I SHOULD be doing it, and that thought is very paralyzing.  I’ve tended to do relaxing things as of late, to keep my mind off of bills and writing… which means avoiding the blog, other writers’ blogs, email, and often the internet/computer altogether.  Honestly, if I didn’t use iTunes on a nightly basis, I probably wouldn’t have used my computer these past couple of months.

It would be all well and good to make some kind of New Year’s resolution, to stand up, pump my fist in the air, and say I WILL WRITE THIS YEAR!  I WILL FINISH MY NOVEL AND SUBMIT IT TO AGENTS!  I WILL NOT LET MY DEPRESSION GET THE BETTER OF MY WRITING!  (It’s not really depression… glumness?  Is that a word?  It is now.) But what good would it do?  I can’t lie to myself, so why make the resolution if I can’t make myself do it?

At this point, all I can really hope is that my finances level out, that I can start paying back all of the money I owe to creditors and my friends/family, and that some of the stresses of my life lift so that I may once again concentrate on my love, my writing.

The passion is still there, the love I so fondly speak about… I can feel it in me.  I keep getting ideas for novels and series’ and movies and stories.  My mind is always working through plot holes and other points, creating dialogue and scenes and conflict.  But how to get it out?

That, my friends, is the question of the year.

I hope everyone has a brilliant Christmas and that the New Year brings joy and success for us all.

Until next…