Extend a Week

A couple of things to discuss. Last night I watched one of those movies that truly inspired me to do 'more'. I watched the movie "Once" and it has this simply and beautiful message of going for your dreams. It was a very sweet story of romance and friendship and the music was unbelievable. I couldn't wait to get the cd. The songs are so beautiful, I am now trying to find everything they have done. I guess the two of them, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova have another cd together and he is the lead singer of a band called The Frames (I am trying to get my hands on some of theirs to check them out). I can't say enout about this movie other than to tell you to rent it and watch it.

As for extending the week - I remember one dream last night - and I remember it very vividly. I received an envelope in the mail and when I opened it, it included an acceptance letter for my Wishman story with recommendations for some adjustments. Two funny things about this: 1. I was thinking it was week 11, so that as of next week, had I not heard from them it was time to start resending. and 2. I did not interpret it to take it literally, but more as an encouragement to start getting it out there again.

I don't know if I have already shared this, but I went through this positive thinking seminar and read a bit of The Secret which talks about how we plan for and perceive things - instead of hoping for it, plan for when it happens. So I have done that and have kept that mindset throughout this submission. I have planned to hear from them in week 10 - which is not a great week, since I am being told that the majority of the writing markets do not accept submissions during the Dec./Jan. months. I just finished pulling out the calendar to count the 12 weeks so I can have the story ready to submit when it is up. This is the 10th week - so Houghton/Mifflin, you still have a few days to make my plans come true.

Christmas was a lot of fun - a long day, but a lot of fun. It seems Wii's and Zunes were the big gifts for the nieces and nephews. Worst gift this Christmas - um, yea, like I am going to post that, LOL!

10 MINUTES LEFT

I am cooking for the family's progressive dinner tomorrow and I realized that I hadn't posted yet this week. That is not living up to my self-imposed expectation of posting once a week. It was a busy week, as expected the week before Christmas. I had my mom, sister and her husband and my little nephew, Bobby over for dinner on Wednesday and they helped me to decorate one of my trees - the one that has the ornaments I have grown with and collected over the years. After it was done and they were gone, I sat to look at the tree. It was suddenly like, 'Ahhhh, it's Christmas.' This is the tree that will have to go up first in the future - it's the one that makes my home my home and my holiday spirit rise.

I have done well with having the spirit this year, seems like I am around a lot who aren't. I, of course, blame it on the weather - I think winter came to fast this year, comparatively. The past several years, the snow hasn't seemed to come and settle until after the new year and I think people being home more because of bad weather has started that cabin fever feeling early.

I am about to have myself a Grape Gorilla (my own name for the simple mix of grape vodka with white grape soda). While I continue with the decorating. I still seem to have a lot to do before people come over tomorrow - it's all good though. I am not stressing about it and have committed to only decorating until 2 and then going to bed.

So far, I have made brownies with M & M cookies mixed in, cheesecake (although I think I am going to make it for my gathering next week, but instead of the sugar in the crust mix, I am going to crush candy canes and then for the milk - I am going to use eggnog instead of milk (realize I am talking about the jell-0 easy mix cheesecake - oddly enough a family favorite. But I thought of that peppermint eggnog cheesecake after I had already mixed it up, or I would have done that tonight. I put the holiday mint kisses in a batch of the brownies too. If I get ambitious enough I will also be making lemon bars, but for now I think I am okay.

I believe I am hitting the twelfth week since submitting my story - and they said that if I hadn't heard from them by this time, they were not interested. So next week, I plan on starting to prepare to send it out again. Cool gift I got from my friend, Jason, the Gotham Screenwriting Book. I haven't gotten any real writing done lately - working and getting the house ready. Bad excuse.

Merry Christmas!

My Writer's Group Holiday Party

I was hoping to have a pic of the Writer's group I belong to - I forgot to pull out my camera, but as soon as some one shares it with me, I will post it. The party was really nice. FIRST of all - I did get my Amy's Christmas Gift (changed it from Present) revised and was all set to read it. There was some confusion and only one person got to read tonight, it's all good though - it was a fun story she read. I am not really happy with the flow of the end of the story, so I think it was just a further opportunity to get it updated. I made some homemade bread - a sweet pesto bread and then some of that tastefully simple spinach and herb dip. I picked up a couple of books for my 'writers gift'. I thought they were helpful but joking books - the cool thing is that several people appeared to think they were good books. I got to pick the first gift and got this cool book - I think it was a bunch of authors sharing about their first novel - but it got yanked right away. I ended up with a word a day calendar, which really is still pretty cool. The funniest gift tonight was a 2001 edition of the Writer's Market.

One of the coolest things about the evening - which most of the veterans groaned about was to look at goals. I was given a notecard to write on one side, my writing goals for 2008 and on the other side, the things I accomplished in 2007. It was nice looking at all I accomplished this last year.

Fantastic New Martini

Okay tonight's new martini for the evening is a hit - I call it Autumnfest.

1 part pumpkin spice liquer
1/2 part pear vodka
3 parts apple juice
1/2 part water

shake, pour, drink

Oh my, delicious.

Notes on Writing

Tomorrow is the Christmas party for my writing group. I am looking forward to it. I have learned a lot from this group. I know they would like it if I shared more, and I know I will reach that point eventually, but for now, I seem to be re-writing a lot while trying to write new things. I am in the process of coming up with a writing space and my plan for the new year is to have writing time on a daily basis. I really want to do that novel in a month next November. It is week 10, it was my goal that I would hear from the publisher that they were accepting my They Called Him the Wishman. There's only 3 days left this week guys, you better hurry and CALL!!! I am about finished with a short story that I started writing while at a boring seminar. I finished it on the writer's retreat, but had lost it, yea! for cleaning. I found it on Sunday and now need to do a re-write before I read it to the writer's group. I guess one of the fun things about tomorrow is that the readings which are presented are to have a holiday theme. If I can get Amy's Christmas re-written (based on what I have learned from this group) by tomorrow I will be reading it. The group was fun last week, it seemed like it took me awhile to really feel like I am fitting into this writing group - but I am there, I feel totally comfortable. One of the funniest nights was last night when we went out for coffee afterward. It was nice to hear a couple that are really wanting to hear more of my thriller. I need to get on that.

SADIE SAY GO!

BYE BYE SADIE

Here's ELVIS!

I just tried posting my first picture on my blog - I like it, I think I am going to try to do it more often. I haven't used this site again for a month - I am setting a goal of sharing on it at least once a week. I was going to share a pic of the dog I got rid of on Saturday. Sadie is now with a new family and hopefully will have a better life. I tried to make it work but the two of us were not a good match - I am either too old or to set in my ways, or maybe simply too selfish, but no bitch is going to piss on my carpet anytime she is angry with me or doesn't get her way. I might post a pic of her when I find it, but Elvis and I are much happier without her.

Tree Decorating Party

My friends David, Matt and Blake came over for dinner and to help me decorate one of my trees (it's too lonely doing it alone so I started the tradition of having people over - these guys helped last year, along with another friend, Mike - he was late this year). I made them a fantastic dinner of beer can chicken, twice baked garlic potatoes, pepperoni bread, salad and a wonderful dump cake. It was delicious (although I didn't get to eat it until 2 hours after everyone else ate - I had a horrible choking incident and it took a couple hours to clear up.) The tree looks beautiful - it has only been up two nights now and and both nights before I went to bed, I sat in front of it with my bedtime martini (pear vodka is still my vodka of choice) and make a Christmas wish and thought of something I am grateful for.

Censorship

It seems that I have not gotten into a good enough habit for blogging. I have about 6 posts that I have notes for wanting to write on and I have not completed any. This last month was just and overwhelmingly busy month for me and I look at my calendar and I see, okay, I am not just whining. I was busy. Then on top of it, I look at the mileage I had to use for work in October – my average mileage every month is 250 miles, for October 2007 it was about 650 miles. It will make for nice mileage check, but boy has my money been tight this month. Anyhow, onto the subject that has me really thinking this week.

Earlier this week my brother sent out the following email:

“The Golden Compass
-----
I have heard of this movie although I did not know what it was about.
Please check out the link. It is scary stuff.

You may already know about this, but I just learned about a kid’s movie coming out in December starring Nicole Kidman. It's called The Golden Compass, and while it will be a watered down version, it is based on a series of children's books about killing God (It is the anti-Narnia). Please follow this link, and then pass it on. From what I understand, the hope is to get a lot of kids to see the movie - which won't seem too bad - and then get the parents to buy the books for their kids for Christmas. The quotes from the author sum it all up. I'm going to tell everyone about this movie.
http://snopes.com/politics/religion/compass.asp”

So I did my checking it out and sure enough it is true – I love that Snopes site, and find it so helpful. But on top of it I contacted my friend the nun, Sr. Suzanne. Sister seems to always have a good idea of these kinds of things – she loves controversy and Sr. Suzanne and I are much alike in the fact that we tend to want to know why we are being told no. When we learned that they were making The Last Temptation of Christ into a movie, we read the book (I actually think that Sr. had read the book much earlier – she is the youngest of 7 and always seemed to know more about what we weren’t allowed to do than I did, the oldest of 9. I point this out because it is another point of interest for those who are curious about the oldest vs. youngest in thinking, learning and personalities). When we learned Hail Mary was coming out on video and Blockbuster was going to carry it, we couldn’t wait to watch it to see why the Catholic Church was forbidding us to. (I do realize we are very child-like in needing to do it anyway to understand rather than just hearing ‘because I said so.’) Now Hail Mary was a horrible ordeal for us, and I think besides the fact that we were both physically ill after watching it, we were emotionally traumatized by it as well as ashamed and wishing that we had simply gone with the because ‘I told you so’ that the Church was saying.

But the concepts are brilliant and we are allowed to question – we are allowed to wonder and as a writer I love the idea of stepping outside of what is expected and looking at the possibilities. In The Last Temptation of Christ – it very clearly identifies that it is a book of fiction and goes on the simple premise (I am sure I am making it much more simple that it is, but you will see my point) – here we have Jesus Christ on the cross, suffering for our sins and this book explores the idea that since He was Jesus Christ, the Son of God, couldn’t He have simply climbed down from the cross and said, ‘you know what, this isn’t going the way I thought it would – I’m not going to do it.’ He then goes on to marry Mary M. and have a family. I love that thought, that idea, the concept of the possibility. For me as a Christian – a Catholic, nonetheless, I was raised to believe that He could do anything, so what if He had made a different choice? I don’t believe there is anything wrong with looking at the 'what-ifs'. Hail Mary was supposedly a story with a premise of ‘What if there was a virgin birth in our times that welcomed the Son of God into our presence?’ Premise-wise it is brilliant and you know you have thought it. I have, during my own struggle to own my faith, I remember often asking myself – if Jesus Christ were a physical being right now, and approached me, would I have the strength to: 1. believe that He was the Son of God and 2. to drop everything and follow Him if I was invited. Now unfortunately, I don’t believe that this movie pulled it off – the basis that I believe we watched was a child/woman whom had ‘never had sex’ masturbating on her bed throughout the movie. There was none, and I do remember none, of the concept we had been led to believe was actually present in the movie. I often think that maybe now I need to re-watch, so I can further identify why I think that movie failed, why I hated that movie as much as I did, but I get the same ‘sick to my stomach’ feeling that I remember having when it was over. So I just can’t make myself do it.

Back to the email though – Sr. Suzanne basically said that ‘yes, it is true.’ She had read them all and while she enjoyed the first two, here’s what she had to say about the third: “It wasn't til the end of the third book that God is killed but angels continue. It is rather subtle in some points but then is an all out murder - God is referred to as Metatron (I think) or something like that. Anyway I liked the books but as an adult was able to separate that out.”

Now my sister-in-law asked me what I thought as she had planned on reading it with her daughter and taking her to see it. Here is how I responded to her (of course, I did adjust and correct some of the grammer.) 'I am huge (advocate)against censorship as a general rule, but as for parents censoring what their children read - I believe that is sometimes responsible parenting. I never try to tell a parent whether they should or shouldn't allow their children to see or read something (okay maybe that is not true when it comes to movies - sometimes I might just say - I wouldn't let your kids see that). This is one of those movies that I think it's your own parental judgment has to comes into play and it's definitely your decision. If you are asking me, would I be taking my child to it, from what I have learned in the last two days about it, no I wouldn't. While I am anti-censorship, I also don't like it when writer's sneak and manipulate and I feel that is what this writer is doing. As far as the movie goes - I don't know that just the movie could be that 'dangerous' but like one of the speculators on the snopes site said, the idea is to draw them in to want to read the books. If you decide not to take her to it or read it with her, I wouldn't make it a big deal, just kind of 'there's some messages I don't really like in it,' let's see this one instead (because you know we are often more drawn to that which we are told we can't have, lol).

For myself, if I were a parent the way I would look at it is there are so many options that are out there for books to read and movies to see, that I would go with one of those. You know this writer can't stand C.S. Lewis - and the new movie is coming out in the spring Prince Caspian - the fourth in the series. If you want to read some good books with her, those are books I would highly suggest. I recently loved the movie Stardust, and I loved it so much that I had to read the book (okay listen to the book on tape) and it is so different from the movie, but I loved them both, I can't wait until that movie comes out on dvd so I can watch it whenever I want.'

I have a couple of big issues with this book The Golden Compass and the other books in the series (and I admit that I have never met it). I don’t like the manipulation that is involved in how they are written, if it is true that this guy wrote these to specifically oppose and challenge children’s beliefs with regards to religion – there is something very disturbing to me about that. I also don’t like the whole publicity thing that this guy will get out of this – the movie will probably have a huge draw because of it. Because of people like me, who want to challenge and see if there is any truth to it and if they agree with the concern. I just don't like it when it is children who are being manipulated. Again though, this book brings up an interesting concept in my mind – what if God could be killed, but my own Catholic guilt, will probably never allow me to explore this question on my own – I am trying to lesson my years in purgatory, not add to them.

On top of this all – in the newsgroup that I belong to for my writing group, there was concern shared about a book that one of the school systems is having some of their children read and it spurred a very heated discussion of allowing children to develop their own thought and censorship and what is approved and what isn’t. The book is called; Godless by Pete Hautman and one person listed a page where the writer shares some thoughts on the book (Godless by Pete Hautman) and what it was trying to accomplish. I have to admit that he sold it, to me. I am very interested in reading this book and again love the concept – what if we were suddenly ‘Godless’?

I love the concept and the questions that we are allowed to ask. I believe that is why Wicked is such a success – how cool is it that someone enjoy the story of Dorothy and Oz but had the foresight to think, ‘you know there are at least two sides to every story – what if the witch wasn’t the wicked witch that she is presented as, what was her story?’

OOPS! NAUGHTY!

One of the main reasons for this blog is to do a little self-monitoring of my own writing and I just realized that I haven’t even addressed that yet. I think I have gotten side-tracked and am just enjoying the aspect of writing, whether it is a story or a blog. Oh well, I believe it is the mantra of the unpublished writer – there’s always tomorrow.

Watch THIS!

One of my favorites right now is Stardust and I cannot wait to own this movie on DVD. I am not sure why it grabbed me and pulled me in (though the leading actor is a hottie and who can complain about something with Michelle Pfeiffer – I love her and have forgiven her for Frankie and Johnny). I thoroughly enjoyed this movie so much that I rushed right out to get the book and read it. Another enjoyable book. It was interesting to see how much they changed from the book to the movie (and it was significant), but the changes made sense to me to make the movie book. Both are enjoyable and worth the time.

3:10 To Yuma. I have to admit, I am not always the biggest fan of westerns. I thought Unforgiven was okay, but not spectacular, I didn’t really like Dances with Wolves, Silverado, and many of the other great westerns of our days. Some of the old John Wayne ones, I have to admit I enjoy, but wonder if some of that has more to do with childhood nostalgia than taste (my friend Ed would probably shoot me for that one). But I enjoyed 3:10 To Yuma – it actually took me a little longer than I thought it should to become interested in it, but once I was interested, it grabbed me and had me sitting on the edge of my seat.

I am really looking forward to the new movie coming soon Across The Universe – it’s listed as ‘not playing in your area’ but doesn’t have a release date – but it really looks like my type of movie. August Rush is another that I am loving the previews for and looking forward to getting to see.

I was thrilled to get an old family favorite that was on HBO or Showtime a lot when we first got cable called O’Hara’s Wife. I recently obtained it from my Blockbuster Total Access and was tickled to get to see it again – the ending still makes me sob. I need to find the song that is played throughout it that starts out ‘somebody lied to me…’

I also watch a lot of television - but it just seems too early in the season to start listing the shows I am watching, it would probably be easier (but much less interesting) to list what I am not watching. Maybe another day.

LISTEN TO THIS!

My favorites that I can’t stop listening to right now (when I am not listening to a book) are the new Rascal Flatts – I was disappointed in their last cd – it only had one song that I absolutely loved, and I know there were some hits from it, but it wasn’t up to the standards set by their earlier cd’s. This one I believe makes up for it, my favorite song so far – No Reins, least favorite – Bob that Head.

Melissa Etheridge’s new cd is amazing, I am so excited she came out with something new – and talk about someone who rewards her fans for their long wait – there are 16 tracks on this cd. Favorite song on it Message to Myself – funniest song Threesome – her wife, Tammy’s blog talks about this song and how it came to be.

A friend gave me a copy of Celine Dion’s new cd – not the one that is coming out in November, but one that came out earlier this year and is in French. It’s not being released in the US – which is unfortunate. I think there are people like me who simply love her voice and even though I don’t understand a word of the cd (you would think I would have a better grasp with 2 years of friend over 25 years ago in high school, but I don’t). I love this cd and am thrilled to be hearing her voice again.

Queen Latifa's is nice - not into the rap stuff, so this is a pleasant surprise.

Reba's Duet's is fantastic. I love Reba - with her first song being that duet with Kelly Clarkson, I feared it would be a cd full of remakes, but it isn't. I haven't investigated, but my initial thought is that all song's but Kelly's are new ones. I love the cd - the duet she does with Justin Timberlake is wonderful, as are several others on the cd. Her duet with LeAnn Rimes is really nice too - LeAnn has one coming out soon that I am interested in also. The duet with Faith Hill is really nice too - a little sad, it's two women singing about being married to a police officer.

CD's I am looking for in the next month: Brooks and Dunn: Cowboy Town, Faith Hill: Hits, Matchbox Twenty: Exile on Mainstream, Josh Groban: Noel, LeAnn Rimes: Family, Sara Evans: Greatest Hits, Jennifer Lopez: Brave, Toby Keith: A Classic Christmas, Santana: Ultimate Santana, Carrie Underwood: Carnival Ride, and finally, Celine Dion's Taking Chances.

READ ALL ABOUT IT!

Okay, I have to admit, I am a firm believer in the importance of reading the book – I love holding the book, seeing the words on the page, noticing the type of paper that was used as well as the type of print that they used in the book. I don’t know it is Anne Rice (because we are like this – self high five-ing in the air, then jumping a little to bump chests while throwing our arms down to our sides and back a little so as they will not get in the way) who got me interested in this aspect, or if I was always interested in it. Now don’t start quizzing me, I don’t sit there and fact check to learn the type style and the paper used, I just know if I like it or not. For those of you who are not Anne Rice aficionados – she would often identify the paper she chose for the book and the type of print – she would often explain why she had felt it was appropriate.

Anyway – I do love the actual book, but lately I have become almost obsessed with audio books. I have used them in the past, but found the changing of the tape to be too annoying, lol. Especially when tapes went out of style. Then came cd’s and I still couldn’t really get into it, but now we are in the age of the MP3 player and I love my ZUNE!!! I have been loading audio books on it and I love it. I often still own the book I am reading, because I really do love that piece of the book, but during the work day and while I am driving I listen to the story (oddly enough these times do not tend to actually work out for me pulling out a book and picking up my reading, however, my ZUNE – oh yea!). Only the unabridged versions, so when I want to read it, I can find my place in the book.

Currently I am in the process of reading Stephen King and Peter Straub’s The Talisman. I was reading their book Black House – and while I believe the two books were written so they could be independent from each other, I was noticing some reference back to The Talisman, and I thought, I should go ahead and read it first. I tried reading it years ago when it first came out, but it didn’t grab me at the time, so I moved on. (Often when I am not passionate about reading a book, I pretty much give them the first 50 pages to pull me in, or I put it away for another day).

I am also reading Dean Koontz’s One Door Away From Heaven. I have recently become very focused on Mr. Koontz and his books – I have been a fan of his for a long time, but sometimes feel the endings become a little too ‘feel goody’ and I don’t always need that in a thriller. I believe until recently his book Lightening was my favorite of his – and now I am a huge fan of Odd Thomas. I hope when they put that onscreen (and I believe it is a story that was meant to be put onscreen) they do it justice (unlike many of Koontz’s made for television movies that have come out). Odd Thomas is one of those characters who grabbed me in right away – I thought I wasn’t going to like him (I have no idea why), but I grew to love him. The first two of the Odd Thomas series were my favorites and I shed some tears at the end (okay I sobbed like a little girl pushed off of the teeter-totter at school) of the first one, and the second one provoked tears, too. The third didn’t grab me as much, but I enjoyed the new direction we are being led (I hope – I pray there will be another Odd Thomas book).

And lastly (I tend to have several books going at the same time), Gregory Maguire’s new book, What the Dickens: The Story of a Rogue Tooth Fairy. I am fascinated by the way this man has been able to keep the fairy tale alive in new and inventive ways.

I love to read (and write), I just wish that I ran with a circle that read some of what I am reading - not a lot of people who are able to discuss it. I had fallen away from reading too many books - last year I realized that it probably had more to do with my eye-sight than I had thought (when you have to hold the book 2 feet away, put your glasses on the edge of your nose and look down at the book as it is angled just right - time for reading glasses or -shiver- bi-focals). I am finding more people that have read some of what I am reading - would love to find/start a reading group which is interested in the books I am reading (when I want to read them - lol - too much to ask, I am sure).

(downtown) Omaha LitFest

I attended it this past weekend and it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. I admit that I did not attend the first day as it was the announcement of the Omaha Reads book (and I admit 10 a.m. was too early for an extra day off). Then I planned on going down but had so much to do around the house and when I saw it was a day of poetry readings, I was honestly okay with missing out on it. It is exciting to note that the Omaha Reads book is one by Timothy Schaffert who is also the man who is in charge of the (downtown) Omaha LitFest. His book The Singing and Dancing Daughters of God was chose as the book Omaha is reading this year.

The second day I was up early (okay I didn’t make it there by 10 a.m. either, but I did get there in time to enjoy some of the first panel of the day. The panel thing was very interesting to me – I loved the topics and heard some very interesting and dynamic speakers. Some of the topics I enjoyed most were: Literary Failure and Literary Feuds: The Panel about Anxiety; Up from the Gutter: How to Cultivate a Cult Following; The Grimm Reality: The Panel about Re-inventing the Fairy Tale; and Sex in the Library: The Panel about Canoodling on the Page.

There were really some dynamic personalities up there:

The first on who really grabbed my attention was Sean Doolittle who writes what appears to be mystery detective series, I was drawn to purchase one of his books because I was really drawn to his personality. He wasn’t afraid to hold back, seemed like a very opinionated and just a fun guy. You know the kind of person you meet and think ‘I’d like someone like him in my circle of friends.’ Hopefully that’s not to stalker-like.

Another writer who grabbed my interests and oddly enough ended up on three of the panels that I sat in one was Dallas Hudgens, – who has one published book and another coming out soon. His book is one that I will eventually purchase and read. I heard a couple of short readings from him (the opening paragraph and the lovemaking scene – which I have to say was so descriptive, but subtle and for a straight scene – it really aroused this gay man.)What was facinating was I don't think he used any of the typical descriptions for making love and yet it was so arousing. He was rather amusing when he shared that he has written two books and many other credits, and 'only one love scene,' yet here he sat on the panel about 'canoodling on the page.'He totally provoked in me a challenge to write my own love scene without being so obvious.

Amy Guth appears to have a great cult following already and I could really see why - hers was one of the first blog’s that I rushed home to read and will definitely get a posted on this blog (as soon as I remember how to do that). Her books are appealing too, but I have to admit will not rush to be in my reading pile because they appear to be more along the lines of ‘chic-lit’ to me. I might totally offend her saying that, but…

Carolyn Turgeon has me totally enthralled with her new book that will be coming out in the future – it’s about Cinderella and the Fairy Godmother – who switches places with Cinderella as she falls in love with the prince and wants her happily everafter – I am so excited for this approach. This is one of the most creative aspects of writing that I believe to be out there right now – taking stories with know and doing a ‘other side of the story.’ Gregory McGuire does an exceptional job of this in Wicked and Tales of a Evil Step-sister.

Debra DiBlasi was very intriguing also – it happened that I sat a table away from her at JAZZ when I snuck away for lunch and while I had a feeling she was one of the writers who would appear on a panel – I didn’t have the courage to approach and ask. Her writings are very unique and experimental, but one of those that I know I will find myself having to check out.

Jami Attenberg was another author who grabbed my attention. I liked what she read and some of the things she had to say. Like I say, 'she grabbed my attention,' but I am not sure where I stand with her. There was one panel she sat on where it appeared she tried to come off as too much of an expert and it was her way or no way. She had an 'interesting' debate with another woman on the panel which was more than a little frustrating for me as an observer - because it came across as if she was dismissing the other womans thoughts and views on the subject matter and she took a 'stand' against something the woman said (which I think had to do with sex on the pages also depends some on the age of the reader - and that is stated rather loosely). I do think she has some interesting things to say though, and worth checking out. She has an amazing website that impressed the hell out of me.

Monica Drake was another author I found interesting. But some of that was the history she comes with and who she knows she is friends of Chuck Palahniuk who wrote The Fight Club and many other greats - she talked of his website, which if I remember right, just ended up winning the an award from Writer's Digest for self-promotion and the many other things it does. She spoke of his site - The Cult which you can take all sorts of writing lessons and such for really reasonable prices. She was thrilled when he asked her to teach a class on there at one time.

I can already not wait for next year. My only ‘concerns’ were that it would be nice to have the panels in rooms so the outside distractions would not affect the ability to hear as much. I would almost like to see more opportunities for the published to interact with the non-published. At this time I don’t see any ways that that could happen – but the panels were pretty much back to back and I am sure I would be in the same boat – but the published appeared to be drawn to each other and the few moments for interactions that there were, the awkwardness of approaching a group of the published to ask questions or share thoughts, seemed too awkward.

It was interesting when I was riding up the elevator with a couple of the authors – and one woman comment on what a ‘imposter?/phony’ she felt like when she sat on the panel. The other guy commented that that is not a feeling that goes away for awhile – he has been doing this for awhile and he stills feels that way when he’s expected to present as if he were an expert.

My thoughts and hopes – one day I will be there on a panel. I can’t wait.

Getting to Know Me...

I have done some blogging in the past and have one that is a little more risqué – sharing a little more about myself than I really want my family and co-workers knowing about. (If you are really interested – you can email me for it and I might share with a select few – it’s just been a while since I have posted on it - for a numerous amount of reason - so I hesitate to get you intrigued by it). Anyhow, I am starting this blog that focuses on the arts – both mine and what I am interested in.

I am trying to become more disciplined in my writing, so this blog for my writing website (http://www.writebrainit.net), will ideally aid in this. I hope to do a few things with this blog – share some of what has captured my interests at the moment and share how my own writing is progressing.

The website is on hold for awhile – at least until I figure out what I want to do with it and learn how to design it. I had a website – writebrainit.com with a couple of friends/co-workers in the past – where we showcased some of our writing and attempted to promote some other writers, contests and websites. The buddy that was the webmaster of the site let the domain expire and we have had hell getting it back, they are no longer interested in running the website together, but I thought of the name and loved it, so I am hoping to maintain it. However, I have just recently learned that the way contests and publishers are going – the majority of them are now considering that anything published online, is considered published. This frustrates me to no end because now much of what I have written in the past, is limited in the markets I can present it to. Oh well, it’s all about the learning isn’t it.

I have a lot that I have planned to write for the blog, but will probably spread it out a little as I don’t want to set up potential readers to expect daily blogs…but 'wouldn’t it be lover-ly.' (Name the movie).