SHARING OUR VOICES- CATERINA TORRES

I would like to welcome a special guest to Sharing Our Voices. Her source of inspiration is apocalyptic in nature...or, I guess in opposition to nature would be a better description since the natural order does not apply in this case. Please say hello to Caterina Torres.
 

First I just want to say thanks for letting me guest post on your blog. It’s so great to share my experiences as a writer with others, especially what inspires me to write what I write about. What do I write about? Oh, you didn’t hear?

ZOMBIES!

 

I’m sure you’re probably expecting some sort of deep, heartfelt reason behind what pushes me to write. But honestly, I write because I want to. Plain and simple. I love imagining a life outside my own; something that’s different from the daily grind of working 9-5, cooking dinner, cleaning the house, being a wife, etc. And I want to evoke an emotion from my readers. I want them to be so engrossed in the story, they forget about their own lives.

I didn’t experience something life changing. I don’t live in poverty. I have a great husband, a roof over my head, food in my stomach, and loving family and friends. I hope this post doesn’t come off as rude, but I got bored with regular life and thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool if the apocalypse hit and zombies took over?” Truly, it would be a horrendous and scary experience, but the thought also excites me. No rules, no laws, no reason to go to work anymore. People’s true selves would come out as we band together to survive.

So I guess what inspired me to write my first book, Zombie Whisperer, was because real life wasn’t exciting enough. I kept coming to work, expecting something different, but getting the same old, same old: People sitting at their desks, typing away, ignoring everyone else, and waiting until it’s time to go home so they can repeat the entire thing the next day.

And if you really think about it, we’re already zombies in this world. We go through the same motions day in and day out until…what? My books help me escape that reality so I can create my own and share it with others.

Ciao-Cat
 

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She can speak to the dead. Only problem is, they’re still walking around.

After enduring a week-long flu, Jane Smith wakes to find out a terrorist organization has spread a deadly virus over the nation, changing anyone who’s infected into the walking dead. With no choice but to flee her home, Jane teams up with her boyfriend, Josh Williams, as they venture to find something better than the desolate land that was once called the home of the brave and the land of the free.

Driving across the country, Jane encounters some of the newly turned and finds she can hear their thoughts inside her head. Before she can understand her link to the undead, Jane and Josh are captured by the terrorists responsible for the virus because of one special reason: they know she can communicate with the infected and they want her to be a part of their fight to take down the rest of the world.

Afraid for their lives, Jane must decide if she should join the terrorists or use her new found powers to stop them.

Blog/Website, Facebook, Twitter, and Zombie Whisperer.

 

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SHARING OUR VOICES- JOYCE R. ALTON aka

Clippership, super mod for the AQC Speculative Fiction Group, and a woman who I, and many others, consider a friend has graciously agreed to post about her inspiration for today's SOV.

 

The blog is yours, Joyce. 

 

Once upon a time a little girl went out for recess. Her classmates streamed past her, split up, and rushed to their favorite corners of the school yard. The girl hung back, uncertain. It was the middle of the school year and the start of her third school. Big kids dominated the fields and courts, starting up large games of soccer and basketball. The small kids infested the playground equipment like a swarm. There were groups playing double-dutch or hopscotch along the school walls. The teacher patrolling the scene looked cross and tired. The little girl skittered down the steps and out into the chaos.

Wandering around for several minutes, it wasn't until a strong breeze tossed up the ends of her hair that she smiled. The tight ache in her chest eased a bit. She broke into a run, rushing for the back fields, arms held out against the wind. Schools might come and go but the winds were everywhere. She knew them. She named them. They followed her to the fourth school she attended that year. They stayed with her through the last three years of elementary school, whenever she didn't have human companionship.

To this day, she still knows their names and directions.

From about the age of ten on, she lost the ability to sleep well. Bedtime came. She lay in bed, tossing about, wishing her thoughts would turn off. Then one night, she learned to override the random thoughts. She began to create story adventures. Daring, silly, sentimental, horrifying, fantastical stories! The emotional lift eventually knocked her out each night. But the adventures didn't end there. Her subconscious mind wanted to play too, often picking up where her conscious mind left off. On some nights her conscious and subconscious went back and forth, weaving together a complex tale.

In the morning, the girl woke up, grabbed a notebook, and wrote the best of these adventures down.

In junior high, she learned how to disappear. Her school was overcrowded, with dark brick hallways, dark windows, and teachers teetering on the brink of nervous breakdowns. She avoided attention. Long stretches of time passed between friendly faces. In English class, the girl read A Tale of Two Cities and adopted the brooding Sydney Carton as her next friend. He walked by her between classes, stood behind her during lunch, and with his unique voice challenged her to do better with her class work. She didn't worry as much about the boys gleeking in the hallways after that, or the clusters of girls who moved in a pack, pushing everyone out of their way. When the girl didn't need him, Sydney lived inside one of her necklaces with his wife, the little seamstress.

The girl still has that necklace.
 

Her family liked to go on long drives for vacations. Eight people squeezed into the station wagon or van, the kids empty-handed usually. Her mom always brought music to listen to. They passed mesas, rolling plains, through hilly forests, along the edges of reservoirs, rivers, and canyons. Sometimes the sky filled with flat, gray clouds. Sometimes it was a brilliant blue dome, the clouds formed into shapes with an obvious 3-D effect. The girl leaned on the car window, picturing armies on horseback rushing through the sagebrush, griffins played hide-and-seek in the clouds, tall castles rising from the edges of the plateaus and mountains.

Long drives remain one of her favorite things to do.

In quieter moments, she sat at her desk, turned on some music, and drew. Her people and creatures came out cartoonish--although she did pretty well with fashion design. Then one day, she took a piece of poster board and drew a map of where her stories happened. Ah hah! She loved to study maps. Creating maps of fictional worlds came naturally. It relaxed her.

Today, she can paper the walls of her office with her largest maps.

It doesn't take much to inspire this girl: a phrase, part of a picture, someone's expression, reading of real-life sacrifices and bravery, a song, a color, or a dream. Moving from place to place, meeting many different people, experiencing acceptance and loneliness, and especially discovering herself have shaped her eccentric perspective. She learns from everything. And hopefully, she has something to share to inspire others.

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40 WEEKS OF ME- Week 8, #GUTGAA 1st Round Judge

As many of you are aware, I participated in GEARING UP TO GET AN AGENT as a first round judge this week. I admit this is something that would typically be outside my comfort zone, but in the spirit of breaking free of my shell, I jumped in feet first. Notice I didn't say I dived in?

I didn't know what to expect. So I dipped my toes in the water before fully immersing myself in the GUTGAA experience. I've met some really amazing people. Deana Barnhart, I don't know how you managed to organize this opportunity. Thank you for being such an inspiration. You are truly one of a kind.

I also want to give a shout to my fellow judges and blog hosts for donating their time. To the contestants, thank you for having the courage to participate. I wish you all the best of luck as you query widely and confidently knowing that your query rocks! And if it doesn't quite yet, well, keep revising. 

You can never have too many books. Yeah, right.

Some of you may be wondering how I made my choices. Let me tell you...so hard. Since I was voting for Adult, I had a variety of genres: Dystopian, Women's Fiction, Steam Punk, Paranormal Romance, Mainstream, Mystery, Fantasy, Thriller, Memoir, Historical and Science Fiction.

Luckily, I read all these genres. Don't believe me? Check out my overflowing, needs to be organized bookshelf.

Initially, I read through the 43 entries without looking at any comments. I don't like to be influenced by other people's opinions. I documented my initial impression. Was the query tight/polished? Did it hold my attention? Did I finish reading and want more or was I confused? Then I moved to the first 150, and asked the same questions.

I labeled each entry with a rating of 1-5. By the end, I had 1 (F'ing Awesome 5+++), 6 (5's) and 11 (4's). These were all books I would buy if I read the blurb in the bookstore and had a fat gift card with enough money to indulge myself.

Since I have never bought 18 books at one time (five at the most, maybe one a week if I'm feeling splurgey) I went with my rating system. All the 5's were automatic entries. Then I had to choose three 4's. Since they they were all equal in awesomeness in my eyes, I went with genre as the deciding factor.

I had 4's and 5's in every genre, except two which were 3's. So I made sure my last three picks did not come from genres already represented by my 5's, because I wanted to make sure as many of the genres I enjoy reading would be represented next week. Only 6 of my first pick choices will be going forward, but all of the winning entries fell within my 4's and 5's. I have faith all of these books will be on my overflowing bookshelf someday so I can finally read them And I want to read them so bad, drool.

Well, there you go. Apple's convoluted query picking system. 

Since this is a 40 Weeks post, I still have to share something personal about myself. Given all the contestants were brave enough to share their query babies, I thought I would share one of mine. You've seen the query letter for JUJU'S CHILD which landed my agent. But, nobody except the agents I had the temerity to query saw and rejected my very first horrible query letter (602 words).

Look, laugh, learn what NOT to do.

12/24/09

 

Dear Agent,

 

I am seeking representation for my paranormal romance novel, Psychic Journey.  I have 103,000 words completed from an estimated 120-150,000.    

 

Consulting Archeologist Jurnee Fontaine is a woman dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge to the sublimation of her interpersonal relationships.  She values logic and the crispness of the science inherent to her work.  Because Jurnee tends to avoid engaging in displays of emotional weakness, she finds she is routinely confounded by her fairy loving, tarot card reading mother, who constantly encourages her to cultivate her innate psychic ability. 

 

 

Jurnee’s stance on the matter is that foreknowledge never provided her with the ability to alter the future she saw in her visions and trying just left her with a blinding headache, and another aching hole in her heart. 

 

Despite her efforts to focus her attention on her current contract to excavate the site of a ranch built by Steven Durant, in the hills outside of Folsom, CA. in 1868, Jurnee develops an illogical obsession over the suspicious circumstances surrounding the deaths of Durant’s wife and young son.  But it is with the discovery of Willa Durant’s diary and subsequent frenetic drive home from the dig site that Jurnee’s life takes an unexpected turn from the norm.   

 

It begins with torrential rain, a bedraggled woman with her daughter standing in the middle of the road, and Jurnee so distracted she fails to see them.  Instead of running them over, Jurnee swerves her truck into an embankment.  The woman’s heartbreaking story of fleeing her abusive husband, added to the guilt of almost pulverizing them, causes Jurnee to take on the responsibility of protecting this woman and child from the danger she senses threatening them. 

 

This triggers a series of uncharacteristic actions by the normally level-headed Jurnee.   She breaks up with her fiancé, falls in lust with a dead man, and is accidently transported by… gasp, magic into the past.  She wakes in the year 1878, tied to the bed of sexy Stephen Durant, who incidentally thinks she’s stark raving mad and hates her with a passion, to discover to her horror that her consciousness has switched bodies with that of his doomed wife, walking Barbie doll, Willa Durant. 

 

Now Jurnee, who despises all things mystical; must figure out a way to survive an unexpected pregnancy by thwarting the bruja trying to steal Willa’s husband, Stephen by murdering her, keep from falling in love with the same husband and return to her own time, all the while, hoping that Willa doesn’t ruin her own life in the future.

 

I have a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Anthropology, specializing in Native American Studies from California State University, Sacramento.  I realized my dream of working for a consulting archeologist after college. 

 

The site I helped excavate was the inspiration for this novel.  I also discovered that due to seasonal allergies, I would not be the next female Indiana Jones. The stories I write are in the genres that I enjoy reading such as, paranormal romance, fantasy and tend to have a supernatural element.  

 

 

My favorite authors are Charlaine Harris, Laurell K. Hamilton, Rachel Caine, Kim Harrison, David Eddings, Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen King, and so many others that my bookshelves are overflowing. 

 

 

Thank you for your consideration of this proposal.  I look forward to hearing from you. 

 

TO THE BEAUTIFUL YOU

I couldn’t decide which show I wanted to feature today. There are so many dramas playing right now. I’m watching four, ARANG AND THE MAGISTRATE, FAITH (aka The Great Doctor), NICE GUY(which recently started airing), and my favorite, TO THE BEAUTIFUL YOU.

Why is this series my favorite, you ask?

The comedy.

This series is so funny. I literally watch this show, trying not to laugh too loud. It produces gut clutching, tear running, snort-inducing laughter in me. How can I pass up something that makes me feel so happy?

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Now, don’t get mad at me for my favoritism. The other shows are also amazing, which is why I’m watching them. I don't invest in television shows which I don't find engaging. I usually know by the end of the first episode whether or not I'll continue with a series. And the only series I feature on this blog are ones I feel comfortable recommending because I enjoyed them.

Of course, not every opinion will fall in line with my own. You may hate these shows for the very reasons I like them. We're individuals. We make our own decisions. To quote my 10-year-old son, "How boring would the world be if we all thought the same way?" 

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Okay, back to why I love this series. Out of the three, I find this to be the funniest. I think Faith is the most mesmerizing (I love the costumes, setting, music, Lee Min Ho in armor…whew, I’ll review this series next week, I promise). But, it’s not as funny. And apparently, funny is what I need in my life right now.

I’m craving the sweet innocence of first love as expressed by these teenage characters. The acute contact embarrassment of watching the love interests flounder in the throes of raging horomones and identity crises without graphic sexual innuendo. 

So adorable. It's a series I can watch with my daughter without feeling like I have to yell, "Cover your eyes" every third scene. Totally refreshing.

Uh, what is the story about?
Geesh, I got so excited I forgot to give you a synopsis so you know what I’m gushing about. 

Source

Goo Jae Hee (Choi Seol Ri, Sulli), a Korean girl who lives in the United States, watches a track and field competition on TV. She is moved by one of the high jump competitors, Kang Tae Joo (Minho). He helps her through emotionally tough times, and she sets him on a pedestal.

Source

When he is injured, Jae Hee decides she has to help him. So she cuts her hair, forges transcripts, and moves to Korea where she poses as a boy at the all-boys Genie High School, where Kang Tae Joon is enrolled.

So, it's not exactly an unfamiliar plot arc. It’s been done to death in K-dramas like You Are Beautiful and Sungkyunkwan Scandal, but it proves that sometimes originality is based not on the overreaching arc but the small details.

 

SHARING OUR VOICES- PAULETTE MAHURIN

UPDATE: The Persecution of Mildred Dunlap is free today through Monday, October 22nd. In the author's words:

Please feel free to share with anyone you want to for in spreading the word
it raises awareness of the need for tolerance in our
world and also creates a valuable ripple effect to help
get animals out of cages and into their forever homes.

 

It’s been a while since the last, SHARING OUR VOICES post. I missed them, and I hope you did, too.  Today, I would like to introduce you to Paulette Mahurin, an amazing woman who has a strong sense of justice. She is in many ways what SOV is all about, an inspiration. 

Why? For many reasons, which you'll see in a few. But namely because all profit earned by her novel, The Persecution of Mildred Dunlap, is being donated to the  Santa Paula Animal Rescue Center (SPARC), the only no-kill animal shelter in Ventura County. 

Paulette Mahurin and Dr. Charlotte Laws

Thank you, Angie Sandro, for inviting me to speak at your beautiful blog site. I’m really grateful for this opportunity. You asked me to go to your site and look at some of the past posts in Sharing our Voices (SOV) and when I did I saw that someone else had written about what I was thinking of writing, write from what I know, my experience.

So, never mind that idea. I’m laughing now because really it seems to defeat the purpose to think of an idea that is inspirational, when for me inspiration comes from a place that doesn’t involved thinking at all. That turned my light bulb on. So, what is it, inspiration, that stirs a stimulation to a high level of feeling or doing? The answer for me is intuition, that inner sense of knowing without rational guidance.

I once wrote that intuition is God speaking to me. This was never truer than when I worked in the second busiest emergency room (ER) in Los Angeles County, with the highest census of child abuse. I’m a Nurse Practitioner, and working in an ER means I operate just like any of the other doctors, independently handling patients, without taking on the serious trauma cases.

I saw things I had never experienced before yet somehow knew what needed to be done, that inner sense that said don’t send this kid home, no matter what the on-duty doctor thought. I learned to hone my intuitive skill and not over think or deny. It served me well and to this day I am grateful beyond description, I never lost a patient in the ER.

While I was writing, The Persecution of Mildred Dunlap, this inner sense kicked in. At first I ignored it, wanting to show off and write about all the research I had done. I spent hours on one subject and didn’t want to reduce it to a sentence. I wanted the recognition for all the hard work I’d put in, to feel proud. The problem was it didn’t serve the story, didn’t forward the action of the character’s dialogue or narrative. It robbed the story of flow, and I struggled with this.

I had spent days researching the Donner Party debacle, and wanted to use it in the story to show why people migrated south; avoiding the cold life defeating winters the  Donner’s got caught in, resulting in cannibalism—to settle in the Walker Lake area. I included a few pages about this, only to have my editor blast me that the story had switched from that of bigotry and persecution, a chaotic small town’s inhumanity to its fellow citizens, to that of a didactic history lesson.

Boy did I learn my lesson. Now what? What the hell do I cut? The flickering intuitive light that I all but smothered, started to glimmer. This time I paid attention to it, and stepped out of the way of the story, parked my not so intelligent ego, and let the story flow. I ended up with a few sentences. As a result of this type of editing the book is only 202 pages, lol!

Once I got in the groove of letting the story write itself, it was easy to feel the real inspiration that was motivating me to write this story; the injustice of Oscar Wilde’s imprisonment. All he did was become attracted to another man, love the other man, and make love to him. He could no more help that than a leaf can change its color, or a dog not wag when its owner comes home, the attraction of life forces, whether a man for a man, a leaf for carbon dioxide, a dog for a bone, are inexplicable elements of the mystery of life.

To blame someone for this is like blaming a flame for burning flesh, the rain from falling, and the miracle of all the senses created from beyond comprehension from simply doing what they do. This, my inspiration, made me write, kept me up through the exhaustion I live with (I have Lyme’s Disease), and motivated me, it still does to put this story to paper and spread the word: in the name of tolerance.

Synopsis: The year 1895 was filled with memorable historical events: the Dreyfus Affair divided France; Booker T. Washington gave his Atlanta address; Richard Olney, United States Secretary of State, expanded the effects of the Monroe Doctrine in settling a boundary dispute between the United Kingdom and Venezuela; and Oscar Wilde was tried and convicted for gross indecency under Britain’s recently passed law that made sex between males a criminal offense.

When news of Wilde’s conviction went out over telegraphs worldwide, it threw a small Nevada town into chaos. This is the story of what happened when the lives of its citizens were impacted by the news of Oscar Wilde’s imprisonment. It is a chronicle of hatred and prejudice with all its unintended and devastating consequences, and how love and friendship bring strength and healing.

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