40 WEEKS OF ME- WHAT WEEK AM I ON?

I skipped out last week. So this is week 10.

One thing you'll learn about me is I like to come up with fun projects. I’ll be all gung ho. Storm the castle! Then halfway through the project, all the fun dribbles out. I’m left with a project, not so much fun anymore.

 

Things like painting the kitchen cabinets, alphabetically organizing my eff'd up bookshelf. Writing about myself for forty freaking weeks = boring.

Yes, I said boring. I'm totally mind-blasted from talking about myself. I don't find myself that interesting. At least not to talk about for 40 weeks.

I wish I could've gone back in time to warn myself how this would be destined to go down in history as one of my more impulsive, not well thought out ideas.

I'm private for a reason, for goodness sakes.

Rant over.

Call me a cry baby if you want. I deserve it.

I’m not a quitter so I’ll still do these posts, but occasionally I’ll feel the need to vent.

I guess I should share why I’m so very cranky.

Last week, I got a streak of gray in my hair from the insanity. The day job, whew! I would’ve thought it was a full moon, but I think that’s this week. I went home every night totally exhausted. Then I had edits to work on. Lots and lots of edits.

My own edits.

My four critique partner’s full manuscript edits (I swear we’re all psychically linked).


My daughter’s thirteenth birthday party with eight wonderful teen girls (so much fun and that wasn’t sarcasm. I really enjoyed watching them do teenage-y things). 

In the grand scheme of my life priorities, blog posts are way on the list. I’m feeling a wee bit burnt out. So, here are some some pictures that make me feel refreshed.

 

Burney Falls

 

Yosemite National Park

 

 

 

 

SOUL EATER

Due to my being insanely busy with edits, Kiwi volunteered to write a guest post for me. She is far more knowledgable about manga and anime, so it's for the best that she handle these mini reviews. I still haven't finished InuYasha...so yeah.

Take it away, Kiwi.

Source

Soul Eater is a shonen manga from 2004. It is written and illustrated by Atsushi Ōkubo, and is still coming out today. An anime came out in 2008. It takes place at Death City, Nevada, and the plot is basically students at Shibusen (Death Weapons Meisters Academy) fight kishin eggs to protect the world. Some students can transform into weapons and are handled by meisters.


It’s a really cool show and its very funny as well.

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.