2011: A Year in Review

..." I see this as a place to journal, a place to jump up and down, a place to vomit, a place to celebrate, a place to collaborate, and maybe, a place to make my decisions final."

Here I am, almost a year later.  The quote above is from my very first blog post.  I would say, based on that quote, that I was very successful...except that the blog was supposed to be about my three goals for 2011...

Plan for 2011

1. Figure out what you are NOT going to do, make it happen, and move on.

2. Walk three times a week.

3. Schedule two recharge breaks a month.

Anyway.  Plan 1... I figured out a lot of things... Meaning, I quit a number of things.  Arts council...  gone!  Acting... retired, mostly.  Art model... not pursuing it.  Teaching... winding down.  Volunteer... still going, but will be finished in June.  Writing?

That is what I decided I AM going to do.  Write.  I love it, and I am good at it.  I spent the last of my mad money to attend a hardcore writing workshop (4 days, all day).  I wrote and submitted a play for a playwrighting competition.  I have worked hard for most of the year, and have revised "The General's Heir" into a much tighter and stronger novel.  I not only finished it (mostly), but have three new readers in the process now of giving me feedback.  There is small stuff to fix, but they are easy fixes.  Additionally, I wrote my query letter, and sent it out to six literary agents.  Two asked to see my work, and ultimately passed, two sent form rejections, one sent a personally worded rejection, and I am waiting to hear back from the sixth.  Finally, I have begun to work with David Hazard, an amazing writing coach, who believes I have talent, and is pushing me in directions I need to go.

Otherwise?  Still married and mothering.

Plan 2... well, I went back and forth on the walking.  I pushed myself to walk the dog far more frequently than I used to... but does that count as good walking?  On one hand, I think no.  But, on the other hand, I have been walking longer walks with her than we used to, and I read somewhere that even an extra five minutes a day adds up over the course of the year.  So, I am going to give that one a VERY qualified success.

Plan 3... Well.  Hmm.  Not so much.

Okay, so thank you, 2011.  Next time... my Plan for 2012.

A zombie interlude from a zombie pervert

This will be quick.  I need to get back to the writing.  I have just over 30 pages to read aloud, and then I... gulp... will be sending it out to five folks for peer review.  I have consulted with my writing guru, and we compiled a short list of questions to help guide the reading.  I am scared shitless, lemme tell ya...

...which is why I so valued the zombie interlude yesterday.

Here is some quick background.  I am not a stupid person.  I may be impulsive sometimes, and incapable of making decisions at other times, but I am not stupid.  I will admit to willful ignorance on some issues.  This stems from a complete hopelessness regarding the human race.  Really.  I actually had high hopes for H1N1.  When I try to keep up with current events, the weight of my hopelessness crushes me.  And I don't honestly believe there is much to be done about changing the world that would not involve wholesale slaughter.  And, since I kinda have this thing about personally causing violence...  You see my problem?

Hence, my unending fascination with the zombie apocalypse.  How cool would it be to actually have CAUSE to take a machete to, oh, I don't know, Zombie Newt Gingrich?  Or Zombie Sarah Palin?  (She might be kept in a cage just for personal amusement-- who else could possibly have an increase in intelligence upon becoming a zombie?)

This is my profile picture on Faceborg.  Pretty, no?

So here's the story.  Yesterday, I re-posted a FB status from a friend who supports the OWS movement.  It was about the right to assemble.  A couple of friends got into a friendly debate about local ordinances versus the Bill of Rights.  Good stuff, good reading.  None of it was much of a surprise to me, but I came too late to the discussion to participate.  So, rather than saying something mind-numbingly boring like:  "Great discussion guys!  Thanks for keeping it civil and informative.  I certainly hope that this free exchange of ideas will help mankind somehow.  I kinda doubt it, but thank you for keeping hope alive."

Instead, I said:  "You guys are hawt."

Those of you who know me are not surprised.

A private message soon arrived in my FB inbox, and a marvelous exchange of zombified double entendre followed:


FRIEND:  You're pretty hawt yourself, my zombie queen. I'd eat your brains out any day... Oh my. That came out awkwardly. Ah well :)
ME: ROFLMAO!!! You are too awesome!
FRIEND:  I have it from several authorities on the topic that my skills are indeed awesome...
ME:  Oh, really? How intriguing? Would those skills involve slaying zombies or being the zombie? 'Cause it could go either way...
FRIEND:  I like it both ways... Though slaying zombies is my favorite part. I like the way they quiver at the final stroke.
ME:  Damn. Yeah, I so cannot top that comment. 


Anyhow.  It was a great laugh.  I am still giggling.  I hope you are smiling rather than thinking I am some kind of zombie pervert.  'Cause I SO am not... not really.

A Weird Week, With Vampires

I think I hate winter weather- three snow days this week! It interrupts my writing. I must also hate company... it also interrupts my writing. Life interrupts my writing.

But, I am reading. I have checked out several books from the library. You may wonder, if I have the time to read, why can I not write? Well, I can pick up a book and put it down. I don't have the be in the mood to read. I don't have to have silence, or a computer, no boy jumping on me. You get the picture.

The Enchantment of Lily Dahl blew big time. I kept wondering why I kept reading. I kept hoping it would get better. I kept being irritated at the writing. "Oh, I mention a burp, and a tampon! Oh, I am a serious writer! Let me add an amateurish detail about someone's past! Oh, wow, I am writing." It did make me feel better about my own chances of getting published, lemme tell ya.

I Am Legend was a revelation. This is a good writer and a good storyteller. I love a good story. This book was a collection of short stories, and the title novella. (Will Smith movie, you might remember it.) I can totally see how Stephen King (a darn good storyteller) learned from this writer. Richard Matheson. I will be reading more of his work, and have A Stir of Echoes in my bag right now. I love finding new authors... (not like that Suri Hustvedt who wrote that POS I mentioned. Gees, that author pissed me off with crappy writing... I am ranting.)

Dead Until Dark is the first of the Sookie Stackhouse series-- the books that True Blood is based upon. Nice vampire world storytelling, and not bogged down in the sex (unlike Laurel K. Hamilton, the woman who brought us a 90 paged sex scene that kinda sorta had something to do with the plot? Gawd, really, 90 pages. Cuz, we need to know each and every... sorry, ranting again, and I have learned how to skim her novels anyway.) So, the writing is light, and funny without overdoing it, and the plot skips along without feeling like you are bouncing from Important Scene to Important Scene. I like her characters so far....

The Passage is what I am reading right now. Wow. More of a vampire sci-fi tale so far, but man, can you get caught up in this. He is like a slightly more literary King. By that I mean, he tells a good story, and gets you caught up in the characters and the plot, but he also has a kind of Serious Author feel to him. This books reminds me somewhat of The Stand. I just wish he had a good editor.

Which brings me to my next rant. I come across so many fucking typos in novels!! It makes me a little insane. Now, the translations I read: Carlos Ruis Zafon, Isabel Allende, Arturo Perez Reverte... nary a typo. It makes me crazy to see typos. Laurel K. Hamilton? Typos all over the place. She even changes the spelling of character names in her series! Makes me insane!

Okay. Wow. Quite a bit of ranting going on. Lots of insanity. Maybe I need to put down the vampire books. Cuz, I just realized that the three books I mention... all have vampires. Gonna go suck down an iron pill.

Oh, and I don't recommend The Enchantment of Lily Dahl. No vampires.