A Reading and Writing Roundup...with Walkers

Here's another eclectic post for you all....

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Is anyone planning on doing NaNo this November? I still haven't decided yet myself. But I am enjoying all the NaNo Prep Posts over at The Office of Letters and Light blog. I particularly liked No Plot? No Problem!: 3 Things to Keep in Mind While Brainstorming and No Plot? No Problem!: In Which a Planning Limit is Proposed (Gasp!)

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I am already a huge Joshilyn Jackson fan so the chance to get an autographed copy of her new novel, Someone Else's Love Story, would be great...and entirely possible! She's doing a Virtual Book Tour for all her fans who can't make it to her actual book tour. She'll sign and/or personalize copies of SELS through the local indie bookstore where she got her start. Oh, and did I mention there will be prizes? The more orders the store gets, the more prizes Ms. Jackson will add!

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This podcast on Author Entrepreneurs - Hugh Howey is one of the panelists - was very interesting and gave me some new things to think about regarding self-publishing. 

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Since I am both a writer and a huge fan of beachcombing, I loved this post - Writing and "Found Objects" and Beachcombing - by author Laini Taylor. Oh, and check out the amazing elephant at the end.

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Is it October yet? More specifically, is it Sunday, October 13th yet? Hey, give me a break - I haven't mentioned The Walking Dead for awhile now! I can't wait! I feel like a kid at Christmas - okay, a weird, Walker-filled Christmas but you know what I mean. 

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Planning on doing NaNo this year? Thinking about self-publishing, if you haven't already? Excited about the return of The Walking Dead or any other favorite TV shows? What are you looking forward to over the next few months?

Is the Summer Over Yet?

I am sooooo looking forward to the Fall, especially because of the books, movies and TV shows coming out then. Here's a quick sampling of what I'm looking forward to...

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Not only will Joshilyn Jackson's new novel, Someone Else's Love Story, be out in November 2013, BUT she also wrote an e-novella, My Own Miraculous (October 2013) which stars one of the characters from the new novel. It's like the appetizer before the meal, and I am pulling my chair right up to the table! (And, if I wasn't already a huge fan as a writer and a reader, these two posts about how she struggled to write the synopsis for the e-novella - "A Dirty Look Behind the Scenes" and "Why I Call You Best. Why You Are Beloved" - would've made me one for sure.)

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I have a feeling Stephen King's Dr. Sleep (September 2013) will keep me awake long into the night....

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If you're in the mood for a movie this Fall, check out the trailer for Catching Fire...

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But, to be totally honest, I am most looking forward to Season 4 of my favorite TV show, The Walking Dead. Argh, October is so far away!

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Are you looking forward to the Fall? Why? Excited about any - or all! - of these books, movies or TV shows? 

Book Notes and Writing News from Around the Web

Here are some notes and news I thought you all might be interested in....

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Khaled Hosseini's new novel, And the Mountains Echoed, comes out May 21st. I have no idea how he's going to top The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, but if anyone can do it, he can.

I absolutely loved Beth Hoffman's Saving CeeCee Honeycutt so I am counting the days until May 28th when her second novel, Looking for Me, comes out.

And June brings both the heat and the chills with two creepy novels  - Joyland by Stephen King and Always Watching by Chevy Stevens (whose novel, Still Missing, continues to haunt me years later!)

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Want a hilarious look at the writing and/or cleaning process? Check out Nathan Bransford's post, "How to Do Your Chores in 12 Easy Steps."       

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Two great posts on Writer UnBoxed - 

"Clawing Our Way Back to the Creative Center" by Robin LaFevers talks about having to disconnect from the real world in order to connect to her writing.

"The New Era of Self-Publishing" by Allison Winn Scotch is a great post about how she, a traditionally published author, is considering self publishing her next novel. The discussion that follows  in the comments of her post is civil and thoughtful.

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This actually has nothing to do with writing but since it's on author Joshilyn Jackson's blog, I'm counting it. Besides, it totally cracked me up - "The Third Piece of Unsolicited Advice Drops." 

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Looking forward to any - or all - of those novels? Going to check out any of the links? Is there anything you've come across lately that you'd like to share in the comments? 

In the Spirit of Sharing

When I feel down in the dumps, I usually wallow a bit then try to pick myself back up by reading or watching fun or positive things. So, in the spirit of sharing - the good stuff, not my moodiness - here are a few things that brought me a little further out of my funk.

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If I wasn't already a crazy fan-girl of Joshilyn Jackson's, this post would start me on the path. Every time I read it, I want to fist pump the air and holler, YES!

An Open Letter to the Fat Girl I Saw at Hot Yoga in New York City.

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These two videos just make me smile - for different reasons. I came across them through the DailyGood.org site.  They're only a few minutes each so if you need a smile today, check them out. Enjoy!

Recommended Reading: A GROWN-UP KIND OF PRETTY by Joshilyn Jackson

I am a huge Joshilyn Jackson fan. Her novel, Backseat Saints, starts out with this line: "It was an airport gypsy who told me that I had to kill my husband." I mean, come on! How can you not want to read that?

After that book, I went back and read all her others. Then...nothing. I had to wait until this month for her newest - and probably her best so far - A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty. Was it worth the the wait? Well, considering I pretty much cried my way through the last part of the book, and then ended up smiling through my tears, yeah, I would say so.

The strong, Southern women who people this book are raw and fierce, and they wear their love for each other like bold, brazen tattoos marching across each of their foreheads. We could all use someone like "Big" in our lives, and some of us probably know/knew a "Liza," and I bet a lot of us were a little bit like "Mosey," when we were young.  

Go ahead and click on the above link for a plot summary but I'm going to leave you with a few lines from Big:

"So, the question was, would I let these corpse-cold bastards come after my granddaughter without a fight, without every bit of fight I ever had?...Standing outside that glass wall, I believed I had come to the awful end of everything. My family has long been familiar with that territory...That's when I understood that what I did today was a message. Even if I lost, if Mosey was being driven away from the only home she remembered in a sleek official car, it would absolutely matter. She'd be alone, afraid, and with good reason: she had to know, know down to the bone, that I had fought like hell. That I would always stand with her and fight like hell. That the second after that sleek car pulled away, I'd be in my Malibu, seeing where she landed, sitting outside. Law or no law, she was mine."

Some Southern Sass - A Contest!

Okay, obviously I am not running this contest (says the NY/NJ Florida transplant) but I still had to tell you all about it. And I mean HAD TO. And not just because it gets me another entry into the contest either (although it does.)  I'm doing it because I love love love Joshilyn Jackson's books. I have read all but one and I'm only saving that one because, well, if I read it, then I'll have read them all and I won't have any left until the new one comes out! Ack!

So, even though it will give me more competition, I'm still telling you all to head on over there to read a 3Q with Joshilyn Jackson herself and to enter the contest. It closes Monday the 9th at midnight EST.

Head Over to FASTER THAN KUDZU as Fast as You Can

Not only does author Joshilyn Jackson write great books and not only is her blog, Faster Than Kudzu, a lot of fun, but she's also doing a giveaway! Head on over and check out the Q&A with Mark Childress about writing and about his novel, Georgia Bottoms. The interview is informative and entertaining, and the book sounds like a hoot! (Am I still allowed to say "hoot" if I'm not a true Southerner?)

The contest closes at midnight EST, Sunday February 27th.

What are you waiting for? Go! Hurry!

Why Can't All Writing Advice Be This Funny?

 
Would you like to read some writing advice that includes:

- a dose of Southern humor?

- this line -  "...possums with the bombs tucked into their marsupial pouches..."  

- references to actor Alan Rickman?

Yeah, me too.  To read some awesome writing advice that includes all three - and then some! - head on over to author Joshilyn Jackson's blog and read this post. 

(Just so you know, Joshilyn Jackson is one of my new favorite writers.  I have one of her older novels still on my shelf but I'm holding off reading it because once I do, I'll have nothing to hold me over until the new one.)

Scare Me. Please.

Author Joshilyn Jackson mentions in one of her posts how this was the "Year of Abduction Fiction" for her.  She lists her top three reads that all concerned long term abductions.  I'd have to say the same goes for me.  I enjoyed Laura Lippman's I'd Know You Anywhere.  I raved here about Chevy Steven's Still Missing.  And I was recently blown away by Emma Donoghue's amazing novel, Room. 

Great writers and writing aside, why do I enjoy these kinds of stories?  Why do I enjoy those end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it novels and movies?  Why do I enjoy creepy horror books and films?

Do I think they'll give me tips if I'm ever (God forbid!) in those situations?  Let's get real.  If a meteor crashes into earth or a band of zombies is eating its way through the United States, you'll find me curled up in a ball in some corner either weeping or wondering how I'd taste to the undead. 

Maybe it's because reading those books and watching those movies from my bed or the living room couch makes me feel safe.  It's easy to yell "Don't go in the woods!" at some stupid teenagers while I cower behind my husband's arm.   And I can always shut the book or turn off the TV.  Right?  Right?

Wrong.  Images from the books I mentioned above are going to stay with me for quite awhile.  That's the power that all well-done stories - scary and otherwise - have over us.  I don't know about you, but I, for one, am happy to let them.

Inspiration at the Beach

I just got home from the South Carolina Writers Workshop conference and let me just say, I am inspired.  Now, I learned a lot from the critique I received and from the workshops I attended, but it was two women - Rachelle Gardner and Joshilyn Jackson - in particular who re-lit the fire for fiction in my gut.

I've followed literary agent Rachelle Gardner's blog for awhile now, even linked over there a few times here at The Shellshank Redemption, so I was very excited to meet her and learn from her in person.  She didn't disappoint.  Her workshop, "First Lines, First Paragraphs, First Pages: How to Create a Terrific Opening," was excellent.  Those beginnings are what draw readers in, are what makes them want to read more.  She talked about how "voice" can't be taught, how it must be found.  It's the expression of "you" on the page and it takes courage to put it there.  Everything she said clicked, and I came away from the class excited about stories and their telling.

Joshilyn Jackson's newest book, Backseat Saints, was on my to-be-read list anyway, but when I saw she was going to be at the conference, I bumped it up.  I wish I had read it sooner, like the moment I left the store with it.  I wish I had read all of her books sooner.  I bought her first one at the conference, read it, loved it.  She is that good.  (If it sounds like I'm gushing, it's because I am.)  Her workshop, "Headspace & Heartspace: Writing is Not a Business, Publishing is Not an Art," reminded me why I write and how I can write better.  Write the book only I can write and write it to the best of my ability; write what matters to me and be true to it.  I don't have room here for all the great things she said (now, she should write a book on writing!), but one particular piece rang so true it stilled me inside - give up the idea that publishing a book is the goal.  The real goal is to be a novelist and any work done toward that goal is worth it and is not a waste of time.  Amen.  Just...amen.

Okay, I'm done gushing and being a groupie...for the moment.