Slice of the Blog Pie

A Walk on the Contemp Side

2012-01-27T16:50:00.001-05:00

Funny thing about me and books: though I write YA contemporary*, I don’t find a lot that jazzes me in that category. In fact, I spent many years actively not reading contemporaries. Oftentimes reading is a means of escape, so why the hell do I want to read something that is based in reality?

But, Alicia, you write contemporary fiction.

Yeah, I know. This might be why I’m so picky about my contemporary. Fortunately, I’ve read some terrific books in the genre over the last year. A few of them DESTROYED ME, but that’s a testament to how powerful the writing and subject matter was.

Out of my top five, 13 REASONS WHY is my favorite. It’s not a light-hearted book and the story seriously left me a sobbing wreck, but it was so well written. I absolutely loved this book.

Do you read contemporary fiction? What’s your favorite?

* The other genre is urban fantasy.

Face Off-- Part Two

2012-01-26T15:37:00.003-05:00

Zombie Thursdays is a weekly feature with guest blogger, Miranda. You can read more about her here.

Hello, Lurkdom! Sorry for missing last Thursday. Like most people who work "retail" jobs, I have found that my hours have been cut as we enter the post "black" sales season. January and February are very slow and retailers don't need as many people working as many hours. To compensate, I have been working and taking any shift I can get, including giving up my days off. So, last Thursday I picked up a last minute, nine hour shift. Oy!

Today's post isn't particularly about zombies, but it is somewhat zombie related and something I've talked about in the past. The television show Face Off is back on the air for season two! While I was pretty disappointed with season one's finale and the winner the judges chose, I decided to give the second season a shot. Last night was the third episode of the second season, and I highly encourage you to tune in.

Although they haven't specifically done a zombie challenge (but don't worry, they completely will this season... they're already recycling last year's challenge-- for example, next week they are bringing back the "create a horror movie monster" challenge!), now is a good time for you to tune in. A couple of the smaller "Foundation Challenges," challenges in which the contestants aren't eliminated, but win things like immunity, have featured zombies. The contestants are allowed to do whatever they want in these challenges, and of course many of them have already chosen to do some sort of zombie character. Last night, a team of three had to do a makeup relay race of sorts and decided to make a zombie. Their zombie was kind of... odd. I did not really approve. Unfortunately, I cannot find a finished photo, but did find one mid-creation.

Anyway, I highly recommend tuning in to the Syfy network on Wednesday nights and check out the show! Just like last year, to me it is obvious that the producers have a huge hand in who stays and who goes to create more drama and tension on the show. That being said, though, I still really enjoy the things they create, and I think you will too!

For those of you who do watch, who are your favorites and least favorites? Have you agreed with the "judges'" decisions?

What One Life to Live Taught Me About Endings

2012-01-24T08:23:00.000-05:00

Back in November (when I confessed how I loved the reality show Dirty Soap), I shared with you all my love of the daytime soap, One Life to Live. OLTL has been off air for over a week, but I finally brought myself to watch the finale on Sunday night. I watched it with mixed feelings: anticipation over how they were going to tie up a show with a 43 year legacy, sadness over the loss of one of my favorite shows, and annoyance that I’ll have to now watch General Hospital*.

One thing I thought I could learn from watching the OLTL finale was how to effectively create an ending. Maybe the writers would show me a few tricks to know where my final scene is.

What I didn’t anticipate in the final minutes was to see someone who we all believed to be dead. And by all, I even mean the supposed killer thought the victim was dead. My shriek of “WHAT!?” may or may not have startled The Stripey One awake**

While a cliffhanger is a possible way to end a story, I consider it sort of cheating. The reader doesn’t get the satisfaction of learning the whole story. When this type of shit happens in books that I’ve devoted hours (sometimes YEARS***) to, I throw the book. For a story to be satisfying, there needs to be completion. A lot of times the cliffhanger ending brings up several new questions which ultimately belong in a new story.

So how do you know when you have a solid ending? If you plot, you have a framework and an ending in mine. If you don’t, you relying more on luck. This is what I’m struggling with on my revisions for Falling to Normal. None of my endings are satisfying, which means that I’m ending in the wrong place.

The only way to fix something like this is trial and error. And some trucker language. Maybe wine. Lots of it. One thing is definite, I’m not going to have someone come back from the dead in the last minutes.

Tell me, Lurkdom: how do you create the best ending possible?

* Only because a few of my favorite characters from OLTL are moving over in February. That will be interesting.

** It’s my belief that I’ll learn more about that particular bombshell in February when the OLTL characters move over, but until then I’ll scowl whenever I think of it.

*** I’m looking at you, Stephen King.

Susan Dennard and the Revision Process

2012-01-20T08:36:00.000-05:00

Today The Pie welcomes Susan Dennard, author of the 2012 debut Something Strange and Deadly. This week, the WOA girls have promoted this fantastic debut and giving you a chance to read it before you can buy it. Read on to learn more about Susan’s revision process.

My revising process is...well, the word "intense" comes to mind.

As I've talked about before, I'm not a particularly good writer. I ramble, backtrack, infodump, and pretty much do everything one shouldn't do to tell a good story.

But you know what? I'm a darn good re-writer and an even better reviser.

The key to my process is having a plan and staying organized. I never dive into revisions without a clear idea of what I need to do next--of what my story needs next in order to reach that goal of book-awesomeness. ;)

You'll notice as I go through the steps of my revising process that I link to various pages. These are the lessons from my "Sooz's Guide to Revisions". I get much more in-depth with each of these steps in that guide, and there are even worksheets for people to follow (in case you wanna give my method a try ;)).

So step 1 is figuring out what the heck I wrote.
To do this, I first print out the entire manuscript, and then I read that entire manuscript in one sitting. As I read, I take copious notes of all the issues (and I also scribble down any solutions that come to mind).

I'm all about the color-coding (as you can see here), and I'm DEFINITELY all about the "Deal With Big Issues First". What's the point in line-editing or tweaking a scene if you decide later on to cut that scene?

Step 2 is getting about getting organized.

I break up the entire book by scene, and I write out index cards that summarize each scene. As I make these scene cards, I try to spot areas where the conflict is non-existent or else there is too much happening in one scene.

Once I've got my cards ready, I move to step 3: figuring out what the "perfect" book is.
I know that The Book I Wrote ≠ The Book I Wanted to Write. And it's also quite possible that The Story I Wanted To Tell Originally ≠ The Story I Want To Tell Now.

That's okay. You've got to be organic in your writing/revising. You have to be able to accept that maybe the way you intended a character or plot point isn't actually what the story needs.
So for this step, I sit down and map out the EXACT book I want now--a.k.a. "the Perfect Book". If my story was finished and on shelves, what would I want it to be like?

Step 4 is turning that Perfect Book into a Plan of Attack.
What do I need to change in order to have the Perfect Book? A more 3D villain? A bigger, more intense climax? A new subplot between the heroine and the hero?

I analyze each change by it's category--plot, character, setting, and "other". Then I go through and leave little color-coded post-its on each of my scene cards. This allows me to go through my scenes one-by-one and handle each problem one-by-one. It also allows me to always know what I've done and what still needs to be done.
The hardest and longest step is step 5: writing in all the necessary changes.
With that manuscript I printed in step 1, I go back through and make changes to my story (you can see what I mean here). As I address each issue, I yank the corresponding post-it off my scene card. :) Again, I always know what problems I've fixed and what I still need to address.
Some scenes require more work than others, and some scenes are so unsalvageable, they require a COMPLETE rewrite.

The key here is to stay focused and not let yourself get overwhelmed. Take one scene card at a time, and don't worry about what comes next.

The final step is to type in those written changes and line edit. This is pretty straightforward--you type in all the handwritten changes, and you line edit as you go. (Or you can try to line edit as you go. I often find I need to print the whole thing out again to do a truly decent job of line editing.)
When you're finished, you SHOULD (in theory) have a solidly revised novel. Now, I say "in theory" because it doesn't always happen in such a straightforward manner. I usually writer 2/3 to 3/4 of the book before I start revisions. After I revise that first chunk, I then go back and write the end (or else I revise the whole chunk again if it's total scheiβe).

At the end of the day, we all have different methods for revising--different means to the same end: a good book. What works for me may not work for you, and vice versa. All the same, I hope I've managed to give a few helpful pointers--or at least some entertaining insight into my slightly OCD revisions process. ;)

Happy revising!

Susan is a reader, writer, lover of animals, and eater of cookies. She used to be a marine biologist, but now she writes novels. And not novels about fish either, but novels about kick-butt heroines and swoon-worthy rogues (she really likes swoon-worthy rogues). She lives in Germany with her French husband and Irish setter, and you can learn more about her crazy thoughts and crippling cookie-addiction on twitter, facebook, or Goodreads. Her debut, Something Strange and Deadly, will be available from HarperCollins in July of 2012, and you will never believe how happy this makes her!

To enter for a chance to take part in Something Strange and Deadly’s ARC tour, sign up here.

Tuesday Haiku

2012-01-17T10:30:00.000-05:00

After a harrowing week of revisions, my brain is ultimate mush. Thank goodness for weeks where the blog writes itself. Like today with yet another bad haiku*.

Water tortures me

Threatening to cleanse my soul

Alack! Bare me not

* I need to start a new library of these, by the way. I have only two left. It's tragic, really.

Head’s Up: Susan Dennard Blog Tour Week

2012-01-16T19:16:00.001-05:00

One great thing about the YA community is that everyone is super supportive. We cheer each other on through Twitter and our blogs. We share our successes and disappointments over email and IM.

When we finally get published, we like to spread the word. That’s what’s happening this week. Debut YA author Susan Dennard is travelling the blogosphere this week to support her novel Something Strange and Deadly, which will be published in July.

But it’s January. Isn’t this a little early?

Not if we have an ARC to give away! All this week, you can enter for a chance to be part of an ARC tour. For more information, check out Holly Dodson’s blog as she is the hostess extraordinaire.

To learn more about Susan and her debut, be sure to check out the blog tour this week. You can find the schedule below.

Monday: CONTEST on Holly Dodson’s blog Super Mom Writes
Tuesday: a book review with Erinn on Something Else to Distract Me
Wednesday: an interview with ME about what happens after you’ve sold a book on The Insect Collector
Thursday: a guest post about my writing process on Pam and Quita’s Y(A)? Cuz We Write
Friday: a guest post about my revising process on Slice of the Blog Pie

Nomad in the Apartment

2012-01-13T12:29:00.001-05:00

On a previous Friday Fives, I shared my favorite writing locations. These still hold true, but sometimes I need a change of scenery within a location, especially when I’m at the apartment. I have different places to work when I’m working on different things.

1. My desk has been a good place as of late. I work here when my focus is really awesome and I’m not under some self-imposed time crunch. Since the desk is right next to the living room, this means Hubby is usually nearby. So if I need his input this is awesome.

2. The kitchen table works out well when I’m revising and creating charts of large sheets of paper. Or working with shrunken manuscripts. Or spreading out a lot. Basically I use this area when I need a large workspace.

3. The couch is generally reserved for emails, blogging, and readthrus; that don’t require a whole lot of attention. If I’m here, it means I’m also watching TV. If I’m doing this, it’s okay to interrupt my process (most of the time).

4. My bed. The bed ends up being the place where I do all of my first drafts. It’s comfy and far enough away from the living room that I don’t get distracted by Hubby. The cats usually come up and cuddle too, which is an added bonus. I will also do a lot of blogging from here, like right now.

5. The front porch. This only works in the summer and when it’s not cluttered, but my enclosed front porch is a great place to work.

Let It Snow! Undead Style

2012-01-12T14:23:00.003-05:00

Zombie Thursdays is a weekly feature with guest blogger, Miranda. You can read more about her here.

It's Thursday again, so that means it is time for zombies! I've been checking out the responses to the Pie survey, and it seems as if people want to hear about some zombie science, but also just some zombie musings in general. So today, I will briefly chat about something that came to mind for me, and please feel free to chime in on the comments section.

I live in Chicago and usually by this time of the year we've gotten a bunch of snow already. Today is January 12th and Chicago is getting its first real snow of the year. January 12th. That's insane! To make matters more depressing, yesterday the temperature topped off near 50 degrees. Oh, Mother Nature. I guess I really can't complain too much because we've gotten a free pass so far. It's really only snowed once this season, and nothing actually stuck to the ground.

Cars buried on Lakeshore Drive during the 2011 blizzard

This cold winter weather had me thinking... what would happen to zombies in cold weather? The answer is both simple and complicated. And I'm not a doctor or scientist, so go with me on this and be gentle.

So, I would assume the number one cause of death in cold weather instances would be hypothermia. We can all agree with that, right? Good. So what exactly is hypothermia and why do people eventually die from it (or complications caused by it)? A straight quote off of Wikipedia states, "Hypothermia is a condition in which core temperature drops below the required temperature for normal metabolism and body functions which is defined as 35.0 °C (95.0 °F)." Great, sounds simple.

But here's the tricky part... if hypothermia is defined as a drop in core body temperature, is it even possible for zombies to technically get hypothermia? A zombie, while although animated, is dead. They don't maintain a body temperature. Also, I personally believe that a zombie loses most basic functions. The virus reanimates the brain, or sends out basic electrical pulses that allow for movement and muscle function. The heart is a muscle, so it pumps, but other organs will not be functional in the same way. Digestive tracks wouldn't really work, livers, pancreas, skin... these things would rot away. They're not needed. Hypothermia breaks down a body's homeostasis, but homeostasis wouldn't be at work in a zombie anyway!

But this doesn't mean that extreme cold wouldn't take its toll on the undead. I feel extreme cold would affect the tissue present in a zombie, skin, muscles, etc. Since the heart is doing a basic pumping of blood, a zombie would be susceptible to extreme frostbite and eventually their blood would completely freeze. They would be completely immobile and not a threat at all.

So now my biggest musing is-- would a full worldwide zombie apocalypse ever be possible? My answer would have to be a huge no. There are too many areas of the world where the weather just wouldn't allow a horde to take over. Just like Napoleon invading Russia. Bad idea. Of course there would be affected areas, but I just don't think it would be enough to destroy the whole world. How many zombie movies have you seen that actually take place in cold weather? The only one I can really think of is Dead Snow (which is a great film, but in retrospect even more completely unrealistic than before). The only thing society would have to worry about would be zombies that would eventually thaw out in climates that have winters and summers. Viruses typically won't be destroyed, they will just lay dormant, so in warmer weather, there is risk of re-re-animation.

In cold weather, humans and the military would have a huge advantage over the dead. I find it would make the end of the world at the decaying hands of zombies impossible. What are your thoughts?

The Name Game

2012-01-11T11:13:00.000-05:00

Every Wednesday, YA Highway asks their readership a simple question to answer on your blog. Once you answer, you link your blog in the comments for other readers to hop on board. This is Road Trip Wednesday.

Today's topic: If you couldn't use your own name, what would your pseudonym or penname be?

Well.

I've been with my name for several undisclosed years. I've finally accepted that I don't have a glamorous first name and that I do have a last name that trips up telemarketers*. Not to mention my middle name of Marie must be the most common middle name in my graduating class**.

There has to be a good reason why I'm going to write under an assumed name. I can only think of two that would be acceptable: I undertake erotica writing or I'm under the witness protection plan. In the bizarre case of either of these things happening, I guess I should be prepared...

...By using formulas found on the internet!

Soap Opera Name: Marie Waverley
Porn Name: Norbert Paul
Hillbilly Name: Dolly Walker
Glamrock Name: Charmaine Satellites
Elven Name: Avarhiriel
Hobbit Name: Marigold Underhill from Bywater
Dwarven Name: Thráin Skyanvil
Orkish Name: Púshrót the Ripper
Star Wars Name: Aligre Ruwat***

So when the need arises, I think I'll write under my Orkish name. It makes me rather badass, yes?

* Combine that with the added married name and not only do I own monopoloy in vowels, but I can sense a telemarketer miles and miles away.
** Coincidentally, it's also the first name of all of my dad's sisters. Yeah, you read that right--ALL OF THEM.
*** There is a honorary name as well, but that was too hard for my brain to handle today. Figure out yours here.
_____
Last.fm hit of the day: Flying by Anathema

Something to Resolve

2012-01-10T13:20:00.000-05:00

If you’ve lurked here long enough, you would know that I’m not big on the resolution thing. You’d also know that I kinda sorta suck at the goal thing. This happens because I usually aim too high* and then get discouraged and kick the whole process out the door. (There’s a reason why the New Year’s resolution to stop resolving is so popular.)

There is something to be said about setting goals and stuff at the start of the new year. It is a fresh start of sorts. And after The Year of Epic Suck, yours truly has decided to give resolutions one more try.

My resolution for 2012** is broad and simple, yet complex. I resolve to stay on top of things.

Without the routine of a 9 to 5 gig right now, this is crucial. It is so easy to fall into the trap of sleeping until four and do nothing but watch reality TV. Not that I’m really doing that, but it is easy to forgo certain things that should happen like finalizing my summary statement on my resume or actually clean out the basement.

So like The White One, I have to be diligent. I must prioritize and get things done when I say I’m going to get them done.

I know this isn’t going to be easy. It’s way to broad for it to be, but this goal is needed and I’m hoping to see improvement in my life overall.

* Like expecting to drop several pants sizes in 6 months, despite my love of ice cream and my laziness. As you can guess, this didn’t happen. At all.

** The Year of the Final Apocalypse

____________

Last.fm hit of the day: Haulin’ Ass by Bourbon Crow

Log Lines & First 250 Word Critiques

2012-01-08T20:00:00.000-05:00

This week I'm hosting critiques for nonwinning adult entrants from Miss Snark's First Victim's Baker's Dozen contest. We have two entries for this.

If your post is one of the two, please comment on the other. If you're a regular Lurker of The Pie, please delurk and share constructive feedback. Thank you to our two volunteers.

Entry #97

2012-01-08T19:59:00.000-05:00

Genre: Fantasy

Log Line:
Half-human Tel has one chance to outwit her world’s brutal colonists, if she can overcome her dishonorable past, the deadly secret sleeping in her blood, and a handsome star-elemental weaving his own mysterious plots.

First 250 Words:
I was ten years old before I learned my absent, nameless father had given me anything more than dark red eyes and fur.

Marikha’s insufferable twins dared me up the most dangerous trail we knew. After convincing them to join me, or be shamed, I realized my mistake. With the twins behind me, I couldn’t turn back.

On a ledge fifty feet below, teal trees caught the sunlight. The rest of the canyon sank into afternoon shadows. But the wind was cool and clean up here, not the stuffy air in our safe den. If we followed the forbidden trail to a ridgeline only a few dozen feet higher, we might glimpse the blue-green grasslands to the south. Northward, the cliffs rose to the uplifted plateau of the Red Hills, wrapped in autumn storms.

Fuzzy white seed-puffs drifted between red sandstone and lavender-blue sky. One puff got too close to my nose. I sneezed.

“Tel’s sick,”said one twin.

“Tel’s always sick,” said the other.

I was small enough to turn on the trail, taunting the bigger twins with sneeze after sneeze, only some of them real. One twin lunged forward to nip me. I hopped back, drew a deep breath to yell a happy insult.

A seed-puff lodged in my throat. My eyes watered. As I felt a coughing fit approach, I wedged my body against the cliff wall. Amid my sneezing and hacking, one of my weak forepaws skidded off the edge. I lost my balance, and dropped headfirst.

Entry #92

2012-01-08T19:58:00.000-05:00

Title: DISAPPEARED
Genre: Unspecified

Log Line:
Julie’s best friend Fay disappears soon after their arrival on vacation in Morocco. While awaiting – impatiently – action from the authorities, a bewildered Julie snoops enough to guess Fay’s destination and impetuously rushes after her. Julie’s channeling of her inner Kinsey Millhone deserts her, however, after she gets lost and has to ditch their disabled rental car on a remote desert track. But it’s not until Julie locates Fay – in prison on the Algerian border – that her problems really snowball: Fay’s meddling into Moroccan political secrets means that, unless she can arrange Fay’s escape, both women are about to disappear permanently.

First 250 Words:
A whirlwind with frizzy braids broadsided me. Her momentum carried her past me, sliding along on the slippery tile floor. She landed with an arm tangled in my suitcase strap, purple jumper askew, plump legs in striped tights waving. I toppled next to her. My palm slapped onto the tile and planted there for balance.

A little boy braked to a screeching stop by the girl’s side. The children had been playing tag around the immense pillars that dotted the baggage claim area. As I reached to help her up, the girl’s eyes and mouth opened to matching Os. She looked wildly around before bursting into tears. The boy watched impassively for a second, then his lower lip trembled and he, too, began to wail. Their cries added to the waves of sound. After the quiet hum of the pressurized airplane, the bedlam was crushing.

Without a glance at me, a veiled woman captured each runaway by an arm and, speaking sharply, hustled them away to a distant corner.

My backpack had upended when I fell, spilling my spare lipstick and a bulky jacket belonging to my friend Fay. She had left it with me when she vanished into the crowd, trying to find out when the rest of our luggage would arrive. I imagined my expression looked much like the one on the little girl who had tripped over me – scared to be suddenly alone, searching for a familiar face. Where in the world had Fay gone?

Cuteness in Zombies

2012-01-05T15:37:00.003-05:00

Zombie Thursdays is a weekly feature with guest blogger, Miranda. You can read more about her here.

Happy New Year, Lurkdom! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and a fun and safe New Year. I know I did! It was really nice to rest and recharge and try to think of ways I can improve my life in 2012.

2011 was not a great year for me either. And while I never have "Resolutions" for the new year, this year I have come up with a few things that I think I can try to follow to make my life mentally and physically better. One improvement is to be better at blogging each Thursday! If you haven't already filled out our survey, please take a moment to go to the previous entry and answer a few questions about what you would like to see and read about here on The Pie. All comments and suggestions are welcome!

One thing my boyfriend likes to make fun of me for is my definition of the word 'cute.' I use cute in a lot of ways, but in particular, we'll watch a movie and at the end I'll say, "I liked that! It was really cute!" But the types of movies I say are cute are movies like Tucker and Dale vs. Evil and recently the movie Attack the Block. These movies usually contain a lot of blood and a lot of death, among other things. But I don't know, I think they're cute!

So who says zombies can't be cute too? I think they can, and many artists prove that they can be cute! While at a friend's house last night, we were talking about the kinds of toys we used to play with as little girls. We're both self-proclaimed tomboys, preferring Legos and action figures to Barbie or American Girl dolls. But one toy we both agreed we loved were My Little Ponies. Weren't they so cool? And I had them all. Talk of the ponies led to her showing me a website where artists have made custom MLP to look like celebrities or other pop culture figures!

And of course, there had to be a Zombie My Little Pony! Since my posts on Zombie Hello Kitty seemed so popular, I know there is an audience for other things that fall under my odd definition of "cute." Below are two photos from an artist named Nicole who goes by the screen/etsy name "Fugsly." She specializes in some cool customized ponies from superheroes to comic characters, and of course zombies! Her blog is pretty cool, although it hasn't been updated since 2009, and she gives some step by step instructions on how to deconstruct the little guys so that you could make your own special MLP.

If you follow the link to this blog, you will find other examples by some more artists who do cool things with this popular kid's toy. So check it out! Which custom My Little Ponies are your favorites?

Retreat, Retreat!

2012-01-04T09:13:00.000-05:00

Every Wednesday, YA Highway asks their readership a simple question to answer on your blog. Once you answer, you link your blog in the comments for other readers to hop on board. This is Road Trip Wednesday.

Today's topic: Describe your dream writing retreat. Where would you go? Who and what would you bring?

Ah, writer's retreat. The ability to spend every waking moment on your craft without feeling like an utter asshole.The thrill of talking books and nuance and subplots without people's eyes glazing over or waiting for the opportune moment to switch topics to the Red Sox.

To get trashed watching THE ROOM with your friends.

I had such a blast at the last writing retreat, I'm definitely down with another one. As to who I'd retreat with, that's a no brainer: the WOA ladies. We all bonded and it was fuzzy and great. That's why we're talking about this year's retreat.

So if time, money, and location weren't an issue, I'd love to have Weekend of Awesome 2012 to take place somewhere with gorgeous scenery so that way we can being more writerly by staring out of the window and musing. Like this:

Credit

I'm pretty sure Pam, Quita, Erinn, Katharine, and Holly would agree that we should rent this house now. And once the lottery magically lands in my lap, we will.

In terms of what I'd bring, that would be at least 2 books to read, my story bible, my laptop, and my manuscript. Plus all that other necessary stuff like clothes and money. So, Family, if you're reading and wondering what you can get Alicia for her birthday, lottery tickets*.

What about you? What would you take on a retreat?

* Or gift cards to Barnes and Noble. Or Dunkin Donuts. When in doubt, these are best.

New Year's Kick Off

2012-01-03T09:46:00.000-05:00

We're a few days into the new year and, so far, it's looking slightly nicer than 2011. I'm still working out my goals for the new year, so that post will come later. Today is all about the blog's outlook for 2012. We'd love to hear your feedback on what we should do here. Please fill out the survey below and tell us what to can, what to continue, what to develop. A blog is only as strong as it's lurkers (and maybe it's bloggers).

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Dear Blog, Part VII

2011-12-28T10:23:00.000-05:00

Dear Blog,

I'm sorry I've neglected you in recent months. You should know that this isn't intentional on my part, but more of lack of motivation paired with not being chained to a desk 40 hours a week. I promise that I will work out a schedule that will suit both of our needs while entertaining The Lurkdom.

Please know I've enjoyed our time together and that you've taught me a lot in the last few years. Since we've renewed our partnership with vigor, I will not abandon you now. Of course, revisions have also pushed you to the backburner and I'm sorry for that. In the spirit of total disclosure, you should know that you are here to enhance my writing career, not become it.

Much love,
Alicia

PS: While I'm slaving over revisions, you can be mesmerized by The White One's sweater.

Best Read Books in 2011

2011-12-23T17:56:00.000-05:00

Back in January, I made it my goal to read a book a week. By the summer I blew that goal out of the water. With so many books read over the year, it's hard to pick just five. I did it though, Lurkdom, just for you*.

What were the best books you've read this year?

* Though, as with everything here at The Pie, opinions are subjected to change at the whim of Yours Truly.

On Unemployment... and Writing

2011-12-20T09:30:00.000-05:00

Six weeks ago, I was laid off from the day job. The same day job that should've only lasted three weeks in 2007. This fact hasn't softened the blow and I've been staving off a major bout of emo-ness for weeks. This totally explains why I still haven't cleaned the basement.

Unless you've been laid off or are very close (read: married or related) to someone who has been laid off, you might not realize what a slap in the face the situation is. You've been rejected. The company that you've worked for has essentially left you for someone else. Yeah, I know there's circumstances like budget cuts or reorganizations, but it doesn't matter at this point. You feel worthless.

It's very easy to fall in to the trap of doing nothing while on unemployment. At first, it's like you've taken a few days off from the day job. You sleep in, stay up late, wear a crazy amount of lounge pants. Then, a month has gone by. The dishes pile up and you're working on your final pair of socks--for the third day in a row. Sure, you've looked for work because if you don't you don't get paid, but the job search yields no results. Probably because your heart isn't in it.

Because of the depression.

The local unemployment office has a workshop called, "Coping with Job Loss" that is so popular I have to wait until next month to attend. I'm hoping it will give me some great tips on getting past this hump. To be honest, it's a miracle I'm as cheerful as I am right now.

One good thing about not having a day job is that this gives me a lot more time to write, revise, and read. It's because of this I was able to complete NaNoWriMo in two weeks. My current goal is to complete requested revisions before it becomes 2012. I'm also trying to take charge of my health by exercising regularly and eating better. With no true schedule, this is a challenge but one I'm willing to meet head on.

To those who have been or are unemployed, how have you handled the time?

______
Last.fm hit of the day: Numb by Portishead

The Flippant Girl's Guide to Surviving the Holidays

2011-12-19T09:30:00.000-05:00

Credit

Whereas Thanksgiving is a one-day-a-year phenomena, December through early January is riddled with holidays and holiday parties. If you're not careful, you can sucked into three events in a night. This many parties and dinners will seriously expand your waist. (Trust me, I'm a professional.)

Of course, you can be in the opposite boat and not have even have a plan of Chinese and a movie. You might feel that this is worse than being overbooked. Don't worry, we can debate the misconception of that later. Today's all about holiday survival.

1. Drink in abundance. There's a reason why Santa is so jolly and it's not because he's full of good cheer. Embrace the nog, snuggle with schnapps, spike your cocoa. Make a drinking game out of every festivity you attend*. Is someone wearing an ugly sweater? Take a shot. Is there a couple snogging under mistletoe? Chug until said snog is complete.

2. Confuse holidays. Light sparklers and play John Philip Sousa marches. Dress up like a bumblebee. Later on you can always blame the sheer amount of booze you've drank since December 1.

3. Wear pajamas everywhere you go. Hey, you might as well be comfortable if you're going to be stuck at a party and if you're on your way to pick up your large pizza for one, you definitely want something with an elastic waist. Oh, and pick up some ice cream while you're at it.

4. Be surly. Not only did some crazy shit happen because Scrooge was such a miser, sometimes being a raging ass can be fun. Think of it as intensive therapy to yell "screw you" to that stranger who rings a bell and says "happy holidays."

5. Document EVERYTHING. If you're a writer, you can call this research. Write notes down on every family interaction you have to succumb to for the holidays. Study office relationships as your colleagues get drunker and less inhibited. Photograph anything that looks questionable as you prowl around on New Year's Eve... Then use anything you can as leverage.

Hope everyone in The Lurkdom is enjoying this holiday season. If not, please employ one of the suggested methods above.

* As long as you drink responsibly. We at The Pie do not encourage drinking and driving.
_________
Last.fm hit of the day: In the Middle of the Night by Within Temptation

Zombie Holiday Gift Guide 2011

2011-12-15T18:47:00.002-05:00

Zombie Thursdays is a weekly feature with guest blogger, Miranda. You can read more about her here.

There's only a week and a half left to get your Christmas shopping done! I've barely started, but hopefully I'll think of some good gifts to buy in the next week. How are you all in the Lurkdom doing on your shopping?

Are you behind on your shopping? Fear not! If you have any zombie lovers in your life, then I have the perfect gift guide for you!

Zombie Hunting Permit

This is a great stocking stuffer! Made by some lovely people on CafePress, this (faux) hunting license gives authority to your little zombie killers to go out and take down some undead walkers. The permit is actually printed on a 3x5 vinyl sticker, so it is perfect for applying on your car, notebook, or anywhere else you might want this little guy. The permit costs $5.

Munchkin Zombies

Munchkin is the perfect card set for the gamer in your life. It is so much fun on its own that the only way it could possibly be better is if they were to make a zombie version... and they did! In the normal Munchkin set, players chose from a variety of characters and battle monsters, steal treasure, and backstab your friends. In the zombie version, players take control of the undead and the 'monsters' you battle are living people! Munchkin can seem a bit complicated at first, but after a round or two of gameplay, the rules start to make sense and hours of fun will be had. Some of the artwork and jokes can be for a slightly older crowd, so I would rate any Munchkin set as a PG-13 (maybe PG).

2012 Zombie Calendar

Everyone needs a calendar to ring in the New Year, and what a better way than to celebrate each month with the living dead? There are a lot of zombie calendars out there for sale, but I particularly like this one because the artwork is done by a man named William Stout who was the production designer on the cult classic zombie film, Return of the Living Dead. Each month has a themed zombie such as Undead Father Time for January or the Zombie Easter Bunny. The calendar also offers fun facts and history about zombies.

Think Geek Zombie Collection

Not only is the Think Geek website a great resource for any 'nerd' or gamer in your life, but they also have an amazing array of zombie products. A search for "zombies" brings up a lot of great stuff. This year some of my favorites are the Brain Mold Ice Cube Trays (perfect for a zombie themed party), the book So Now You're a Zombie: a Handbook for the Newly Undead (reminiscent of the handbook in Beetlejuice), and zombie wrapping paper (so you can appropriately wrap all your zombie gifts)! Check it out and see all 88 zombie products!

What gifts are you excited to get this year? What have been some of your favorite zombie or horror themed presents? Share in the comments!

Yay! Fictional Christmas

2011-12-14T17:44:00.000-05:00

Credit

I'm entirely engrossed in my requested revisions for Falling to Normal, which means I'm focused on Cheyenne and the gang.

Coincidentally, Christmas happens during Falling to Normal's timeline. Of course there are things Cheyenne would love to get for Christmas, as long as realism isn't an issue.

The ability to reverse time
For her past to remain that--the past
Her first kiss.

That's it. Don't forget to go to YA Highway and see what everyone else is saying.

Like Contests?

2011-12-14T10:52:00.003-05:00

Of course you do. So do I.

Because of this mutual bond, you should head over to YA Highway and enter their contest*.

* And if you win, my birthday's coming up and I love presents.

Things That Amuse Me: Tacky Christmas

2011-12-13T09:30:00.000-05:00

It's a known fact among my group of friends that I don't really rock the Christmas spirit. If there's not a sense of tacky, chances are I'm not into it. I mean, there is a reason why I own a six-foot royal purple tinsel tree.

So imagine my utter happiness when Bestie Danielle told me about the chicken nativity scene.

Credit

That's right. There's a chicken Jesus and a chicken Mary. It can't get more better than that. Well, it can and you can see more here.

Confess, Lurkdom! What's your favorite Tacky Christmas item?

____
Last.fm hit of the day: Graveyard Love Song by Miguel and The Living Dead

NaNoWriMo: Why I Participate

2011-12-12T09:30:00.000-05:00

Oh god, y'all are thinking, not another NaNoWriMo post. It's December for chrissakes. I know and I'm sorry, but we'll all get through this together.

Every year, NaNoWriMo gets a lot of flack, saying that it enables people who fashion themselves as writers when they're really not. I disagree, but that's a subject for a different day. Today is all about why I always go back to NaNoWriMo*.

It's so easy to get stuck on the revision/editing wheel that anyone can get so sucked into it that you can go two years without writing anything new. NaNoWriMo guarantees me that at least once a year I'll create a new novel-length work, which is important since I want to have a writing career.

With this in mind, I use NaNoWriMo to experiment. Whether it's planning techniques or story structure, I make sure that I try something new each year. This is how I learned I was a plotter and that plotcards are what works best. If it wasn't for this, I would never have wrote a novel in present tense.

Just like experimenting takes me out of my writerly comfort zone, so does the deadline that looms over my head each November. There's no fudging it, if I want the winner goodies, I need to complete 50,000 words by November 30th. I can't afford to spend hours stuck in a Wikipedia hole if I want to get my novel done. Since I'm in this for the long haul, meeting deadlines and honing my focus are important things to learn.

For those in the Lurkdom that do NaNo, what drives you to participate in NaNoWriMo?

* And I do. Since my first one in 2009, I've participated and won each year. I even did one session of Camp NaNoWriMo this year.

_____
Last.fm hit of the day: Blessing by London After Midnight

How to Cook Brrrraaaaains

2011-12-08T21:52:00.003-05:00

Zombie Thursdays is a weekly feature with guest blogger, Miranda. You can read more about her here.

How is everyone surviving the holiday season? So far, I'm not fairing so well. See, I work in retail. I work in one of the most profitable retail stores in the world, and it's kicking my ass. I apologize so much for slacking on my writing duties. If I haven't been working, I've been visiting family for Thanksgiving, having family visit me, and also trying to work on days when I'm not supposed to work because I'm super poor. I hardly know what day of the week it is anymore. So again, I'm sorry for be absent. As Alicia is fond of saying, "Life Happened." I love that phrase. She should copyright it. Well, life has been happening to me.

But I have something really fun for you all! How many of you know what Epic Meal Time is? Let's pretend you don't know anything about it and I will give you a quick run down. Epic Meal Time is an online cooking series, with a twist. The guys on the show are all really legitimate chefs, but the meals are all geared toward a more male oriented (and meat eating audience). Every episode, they basically make everything out of bacon and Jack Daniels. I'm not kidding. But if I actually ate meat, some of the stuff they cook looks delicious!

In the video posted below, the guys all put on some awesome special effects zombie makeup and the main ingredient in this episode is brains! Real brains (I'm assuming cow). If seeing brains kind of disturbs you, you may not want to watch. But the show is hilarious and I recommend checking out all their episodes!

Enjoy Epic Meal Time and good luck with your holiday cooking endeavors!

I Would Sell My Soul for Twilight Money

2011-12-07T14:03:00.001-05:00

Every Wednesday, YA Highway asks their readership a simple question to answer on your blog. Once you answer, you link your blog in the comments for other readers to hop on board. This is Road Trip Wednesday.

Today's topic: How far would you go to get published?

More than once I told Bestie Danielle that I would sell my soul for some Twilight money. This should give you an idea of my lack of scruples.

On a more serious note, even though I'm attached to my story lines and characters like The White One and plastic, I'm not stupid. I do realize that the publishing industry contains a bit of give and take. So I'd like to present my list of how far I'd go.

Revision. I have no problems revising. There are people out there much smarter than me that want to make my book better. I've been known to take pretty much any suggestion and try it out*. There are just certain things that won't happen in this though. If you want me to revise so there's a more lyrical quality to the writing, good luck with that. Lyrical I'm not.

Pursue a hobby in cardio torture, AKA running. If you really want me to take up running in order for me to get published, I'll do it. Be prepared for phone calls after the fact though.

Change my characters. Should their hair color change? Okay. Should they suddenly change sexes? Erm, probably not.

The "Sparkle" Factor. This is where I'll stop compromising. Nothing alive or undead should sparkle. Ever**.

Now that I've shared my thoughts on what I'm willing to do or not, I should go take care of some revisions.

* Unfortunately, this has also included suggestions from Nemesis, he of the infamous "love juices."
** The exception to this is when someone is where sequins, which should only be used for costumed purposes only.

More About The White One

2011-12-04T21:30:00.001-05:00

Making himself comfy at VESCONE.

It's been officially a month since kitty drama has began and I'm happy to say that it's now over. Without getting into the realm of TMI, The White One couldn't keep food down.

After several rounds with the vet and the nice people at VESCONE, everyone was confused. He acted fine, just couldn't keep food down. They confirmed that cats don't have eating disorders and it was determined that he needed surgery to find out what was wrong*.

Now would be the time to mention that I thought myself to be the type of person who would never opt for surgery on a cat. Turns out that was me being delusional because there was no doubt in my mind that we were having the cat operated on.

The White One, of course, had other plans.

Trying to hide from surgery**.

So they operated on him and found nothing in his GI tract. They biopsied him and thankfully that came back fine as well. The verdict was he swallowed something too big and by the time the surgery happened, he got rid of it.

The White One had to wear a cone while he healed from his stitches. For ten days, Hubby and I watched the cat walk like a drunken sailor. It was sad because the cat had stitches, but funny because he never got the hang of the cone.

Tomorrow will mark two weeks since the surgery and he'll finally be allowed out of the living room to destroy the rest of the house. Things will finally be back to normal.

So to everyone in the Lurkdom who has expressed concern over The White One, thank you.

______
Last.fm hit of the day: Weak and Powerless by A Perfect Circle

* The worst case scenario in this regard is cancer.
** You should know that he hid himself. Neither Hubby nor I had any hand in this.

Where's Alicia?

2011-11-25T11:49:00.001-05:00

My apologies for the radio silence this week. I'm taking a temporary blog writing and reading hiatus until mid-next week. The White One had surgery Monday, which equals a lot of stress at Chez Gregoire. I encourage you to poke around the archives while Hubs and I get our life back on track.

Hopefully the hiatus will jump start my brain and I'll be able to give you all in The Lurkdom some fantastic posts full of (deep) thoughts.

The Flippant Girl’s Guide to Thanksgiving

2011-11-22T08:55:00.001-05:00

Disclaimer: Just like the previous Flippant Girl’s Guide, this one is also written days in advance, during the NaNoBoston 24 hour write in.

Thanksgiving (and holidays in general) can be a stressful day filled with cooking disasters and logistical nightmares*. Some people would prefer pajamas and cribbage all day and yours truly is no exception. What people like us need is a no-frills, pain-free way to celebrate Thanksgiving that doesn’t have you contemplating suicide for the day.

Lucky for you, I’ve thought about this. A lot.

If you’re anti-dinner planning and entertaining, you will love the dinner and a movie option. Take your Thanksgiving guests to your closest all-you-can-eat buffet. For about ten bucks per person, you can eat all the turkey and fixings you want without the prep or clean up. Then instead of working off your turkey coma by watching hours of football, go watch a movie. This year I’m voting for The Muppets, though if you’re in a heckling mood, may I suggest the greatest comedy of the year?
Now what if you really, really, really want to host Thanksgiving but you’re really strapped financially? You should commit a hit and run with a turkey. They’re pretty big and stupid. Think about the family fun waiting for you when you need to clean your own bird!
Thanksgiving isn’t Thanksgiving without giving, well, thanks. Instead of going around the table and each guest listing what they’re thankful for, this year everyone should share what they’re thankful for in a rap.

Do you do something special for Thanksgiving?

* At least when you’re me and one family is about four hours round trip away from the other one.

Moral Choices with Zombies

2011-11-17T14:04:00.006-05:00

Zombie Thursdays is a weekly feature with guest blogger, Miranda. You can read more about her here.

Happy Thursday to you all! Currently I'm on break at work, and have been pondering a zombie topic all day since catching up on the last episode of The Walking Dead. I'm not going to go into any specifics, but consider this post to have possibly Level One spoilers for the show, especially the current season. Again, I won't give any character names, but if you don't even want to know any situations going on, it might be best to stop reading.

I'm really interested in hearing what you all think... sort of an "open dialogue" per se about different moral situations and what you would do or what you feel would be best for a group of survivors.

I've talked in the past about how you might handle killing a family member or friend who had made the full transition into a zombie. I personally think it would be difficult, but completely necessary. At that point, I know my conscience would flinch, but in the end, I would value my own life above a zombie's, even my zombie mom.

But what if you weren't sure of someone's fate... This is the question that has been brought up in recent Walking Dead episodes. A member of their party goes missing, and of course the search begins. But as hours of searching turn into days with only small hints of the person's possible survival, the desire to continue searching wanes in part of the group. Some argue it is foolish to keep looking, for a couple of reasons-- 1. the person is most likely dead (or bitten) anyway 2. even if the individual is found, that's just another mouth to feed, another person to look after and take care of.

One character argues that the unofficial group leader needs to make the "tough decisions" and choose to give up on the search and move on. The leader argues that the tough choice is to keep looking while the easy decision is to just give up.

What do you think? I'm torn. On one hand, of course your first choice is to protect and save those close to you, the people you care about. Even if the person isn't a relative, in a survival situation, the group becomes your family, all you have left. In that respect, I would keep looking, provided the group's immediate safety wasn't being risked by doing so. On the flip side though, survival is important. If the group has an opportunity to pull up their "roots" and move on to perhaps a safer spot, but thereby abandoning one, that might be the best option for everyone else.

The needs of the few (or one) versus the many....

What would you do? (To be fair to others, try to not refer to the specific character examples being used in the show right now. General answers/situations only. We don't want to give anything away to people who are behind. Thanks!)

Turkey in the Blog

2011-11-16T11:06:00.001-05:00

Instead of blogging, I'm busy completing my WIP. While I do that, please enjoy a photo of Yours Truly being attacked by turkeys.

Image courtesy of Bestie Danielle

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Are you prepared?

In Which Cats Stare at Each Other

2011-11-15T07:30:00.000-05:00

It's Tuesday, Lurkdom! Last night I completely made 50,000 words on my WIP and I'm hoping that by Wednesday, I'll be 100% done. To celebrate this milestone and to further my sleep dep*, I decided to play with Windows Live Movie Maker. What better way to try a new piece of software than to use your cats as guinea pigs.

Cats, while they don't "amuse" me per se, they do fascinate me. Their colorings and patterns, the way the pounce bottle caps, their communication. Their stares**.

Disclaimer: I am not cinematographically inclined. What this means to you: there are no smooth transitions.

As you can see, the cats provide me with tons of entertainment. Both videos were taken when I should have been doing something else. The combined video? Again when I should have been doing something else.

Tell me, what do you find yourself doing when you should be doing something else?

* This will explain any ramble-like qualities of this post. Seriously.
** Not really. In fact, The Stripey One creeps me out with her staring a lot.

______
Last.fm hit of the day: The Chain by Fleetwood Mac

Pitch Writing Tips from the Pros

2011-11-14T09:59:00.001-05:00

Last Thursday, my local Indie, Porter Square Books, hosted The Book Doctors and the touring PItchapalooza. The gist of a Pitchapalooza is you get one minute to pitch your book to The Book Doctors and then they will give you feedback. Awesome, right? You also have to buy their book, The Essential Guide to Getting Your Book Published for a chance to pitch,* and you weren’t guaranteed actual pitch time, but regardless you did walk away with a free 20-minute phone consultation with them.

While not everyone will have a chance to attend one of these, I thought it would be helpful to share some of the tips I heard on crafting your pitch.
Take your time crafting it. It took The Book Doctors six months to craft their one-minute pitch for their book.
At the end of the pitch, there should be a feeling of “what happens next.”
Comp titles. If it’s not clear where on the shelves your book belongs, you have to include some comps, but you don’t need to pull just from other books in your genre. You can pull from movies, TV, or books in a different genre, as long as it makes sense.
Show, show, show. If you’re writing a humorous story, show the humor, don’t just say it’s funny. Show in the pitch your writing chops and the voice of the book as well.
Include some description for your main character (no more than 4 words) so we know who they really are and fall in love with them.
The goal is to tell a story in a minute, so it is important to include an almost complete story arc: beginning, middle, climax, and cliffhanger.
If you are dealing with a tired trend like werewolves, vampires, and dystopian societies, it is super important that you show your spin on it so we know what makes your story stand out among the rest.

What are some important tips you've learned from pitching?

* At least that is how it worked at Porter Square Books.
_______
Last.fm hit of the day: Endless Sacrifice by Dream Theater

Mandatory Writing Things

2011-11-11T11:00:00.001-05:00

Today's post is super-late and I'm sorry about that. Lots of exciting things have been happening to Yours Truly as of late and since I don't want to jinx anything, that's as much as I can write.

The materials I need when I sit down to write vary depending on project, so this topic is challenging. Since it's November and I completed my NaNo novel this week, I'll talk about what I needed for drafting Scenes From Last Night.

Zero distractions. With both Hubby unemployed, he's always home so I decided I wouldn't be. Thankfully my dad hooked me up with a temporary office where I holed myself up for eight hours a day over the last two weeks.
Caffeine. I'd be lying if this doesn't show up as needed for every project, but when my brain goes "mumble mumble," the caffeine is super important. The caffeine of choice is usually Dunkin Donuts iced coffee.
Music. Another item that shows up all the time, I constantly listen to music while I write. It helps filter out the lawn mower, cat fights, Hubby yelling at Call of Duty...
Snacks. Since I've been writing as a full time gig for the last few weeks, I eat while I work. I've had the most unhealthy diet ever this month, but hey I *did* finish my WIP*.
Writing Mascot. Usually seen in the form of The Stripey or White One, this NaNo has found me with a tiny magic worm that looks like Slimy from Sesame Street. See?

What about you? Do your necessities change per project?

* I may be gloating just a bit.

The Flippant Girl's Guide to Completing Your WIP

2011-11-11T08:45:00.000-05:00

I write today's Friday Fives prompt several days in advance from the discomfort of the veterinary emergency room where The White One has caused me and Hubby too much stress in a small amount of time*.

With all this kitty (not to mention Alicia) drama, I am painfully behind my NaNoWriMo word count and each setback like this one is enough for me to tear out all my hair. Right now I just want to get it done and retire into an afghan-making frenzy**. If only there were a way to get this done in an efficiently painless way.

There is.

1. Drink in abundance Ernie Hemingway style. With tons of alcohol floating in your system, your internal editor will be too drunk to tell you that your prose sucks or your storyline is flat. To hell with your liver, you must keep your editor inebriated at all times.

2. Write gibberish whenever there is a section in your WIP where you don't know how to write what you need. For example, if I wanted to include more on this section, it would probably read like:

something like this where I know I want to include something, but really not sure what. This is a pretty important section on how to expand on your filler because without the filler you wouldn't know about certain aspects of your character's inner life or overall backstory.

3. Switch stories AND points of view mid-novel. This will not only throw your writer brain into a mild panic, but during revision you can legitimately ask, "What drunk asshole wrote this?"

4. Have someone write it for you. You came up with the idea, why not have someone else do the heavy lifting? As long as you tell them characters, plots and subplots, and resolution, let them run wild. Then you can go somewhere and catch up on all that TV in the DVR...

5. Make your WIP a scrapbook. If you can merge cute photographs and stamps and such, it will be more colorful and very tactile. You can start your own trend.

* Not to worry, The White One's issue isn't life threatening or anything, if it was I wouldn't be blogging from the ER waiting room. At the risk of TMI, he is having a major bout of constipation that could have been easily rectified if the vet just listened to me on Sunday when I had originally said, "Can't we just unclog him?"
** I have my reasons for this.
_______
Last.fm hit of the day: Thinking of You by A Perfect Circle

Pandemics and Zombies

2011-11-10T14:34:00.005-05:00

Zombie Thursdays is a weekly feature with guest blogger, Miranda. You can read more about her here.

Hello, zombie fans! During Halloween week, there were a lot of great shows on television that would never be played throughout the year otherwise. It's cool that channels like the History Channel and Discovery will air shows about zombies and witches, etc. during October, but kind of sad that they won't air anything like that the other eleven months out of the year.

I happened to watch one really cool show about zombies! Even though the show had a lot of repetition and not a ton of new information, it did bring up some very interesting points. One of the main things I took away was a comparison to other viral plagues that have crippled the planet throughout history.

I had never thought of zombies in this way. While perhaps a zombie apocalypse may not happen in the foreseeable future, there is the potential for a viral outbreak to occur that could completely destroy society the way we know. For example, the bubonic plague was one such outbreak. The Black Death, believed to be caused by a bubonic plague outbreak, killed and destroyed over 75 million people in Europe, a third of the population. An outbreak of that type dramatically changed society. Can you imagine a third of your city or the country being wiped out? What if instead of just dying, the infected actually "woke up" and began attacking the uninfected?

Can you also imagine what the streets would look like? During the Middle Ages, because of the numbers of corpses, traditional burials were thrown by the wayside. Many bodies were left piled in fields, burned, or thrown into huge pits. Sounds familiar to some scenes in zombie films and television shows.

Another fitting example was the H1N1 flu pandemic that lasted from 1918 to 1920. During this outbreak, roughly 100 million people were killed and 27% of the world's population were infected with the virus. What was so devastating about this outbreak is that instead of infecting and killing the usual demographics (very old or very young people, or those with weakened immune systems), it also killed young and seemingly healthy individuals. Just like a "zombie" outbreak, the virus did not discriminate on who it attacked or killed; everyone was vulnerable.

It is extremely possible, and probably extremely likely, that history will repeat itself in some way in regards to another viral pandemic. Will it be the flu? Will it be bubonic plague? Or will it be zombies? Either way, life as we know it would change dramatically. Even with our modern scientific breakthroughs, we cannot guarantee that we would be able to catch or treat ourselves before it's too late.

Makes you think twice about not getting that flu shot this year!

If I Was a Literary Super Heroine…

2011-11-09T08:39:00.000-05:00

Every Wednesday, YA Highway asks their readership a simple question to answer on your blog. Once you answer, you link your blog in the comments for other readers to hop on board. This is Road Trip Wednesday.

Today's topic: What are your writing/publishing superpowers (drafting? plotting? writing queries?) – and what’s your kryptonite?

Today’s answer is going to be wicked fast because it’s been a loooong week for yours truly and I have this mammoth word count I need to play catch up on.

If I was a literary super heroine, like Wonder Woman, I would totally rock a fantastic no-gym-necessary body and spandex would love me. There would be comic books with variant covers and movie options showering upon my creative genius.

If I was a literary super heroine, I would have my own batch of super friends (you) and we would have our own version of the JLA and call it Young Adult Literati Legacy, or YALL for short.

If I was a super heroine, my super strength would be dialogue. With it, I would own Hollywood.

If I was a super heroine, my arch enemy would be Nemesis II. This is because there is already a comic book character named Nemesis.

If I was a super heroine, my weakness (besides chocolate) would be the selling of my own work. The queries, pitches, and loglines would obliterate me into a pile of ash.

_______

Last.fm hit of the day: Of Masques and Martyrs by I Am Ghost

Your Novel's Soundtrack

2011-11-08T09:00:00.000-05:00

Soundtracks. We know about them. All movies and TV shows have. Yours truly owns a stupid amount of them. I have playlists for the gym, editing, and for various projects. I'm sure you have these as well.

As I was getting ready for NaNoWriMo this year, I worked on coming up with a soundtrack for SFLN. Which is harder than you would think when you're doing it consciously. How do you manage to go beyond your "go-to" music to get the feel right for your story?

It's a good question. Below I've listed a few tips that will help you go past the norm and beef up that soundtrack.

Broaden your musical horizons. This should go without saying. If you listen to music beyond what's in your iPod, you might hear something that will blow your mind. Last.fm is a good place to start as you can listen to music based off of genre, similar artist, or other Last.fm users.
Go by song title. Sounds lame, but sometimes a song title will give you some insight about what the song is about, which will make it easy for you to determine if it will work for your WIP without necessarily listening to it.
Make sure there's music representative of each character and emotion. This sort of goes with number 1, but it does bear repeating: diversity is key. If you have kissing scenes, hardcore techno isn't going to work, just like Kenny G isn't going to work if you're writing about war.

Lurkdom, tell me your tips for creating a soundtrack.

_______

Last.fm hit of the day: Spooky by Daniel Ash

Guilty Pleasure Alert: Dirty Soap

2011-11-07T08:00:00.000-05:00

Those in the Lurkdom that know me IRL know I have a love of daytime television. Bestie Danielle likes to make fun of me because of this. I'm devoted to One Life to Live so much I went into a mini depression when it was announced that it's coming to an end. I could write several blog posts about soap operas and how they apply to writing. Don't worry, that's not what today is about.

Nor is about my other love, reality television. I'm not talking about the trashy reality TV, like Jersey Shore, but something a little "classier" where the focus is more on actual life and not just hookups.

Source: images.search.yahoo.com via Amira on Pinterest

In September, E aired Dirty Soap, which is reality television about soap opera stars. Best reality show ever? Hells yes.

Dirty Soap focuses on the lives of eight people involved in soaps. Each star is at a different stage of their professional and personal careers. There's rivalry, family drama, and baby drama. Not to mention there's tons of talk about soaps. That there are entire conversations that discuss what's happening with their fictional selves is pretty awesome.

What I love best about the show is the personal edge to the show. It's easy to forget that people involved in TV and movies deal with the same crap we do. Including this into the show makes it less contrived.

Confess! What show are you reluctant to share your love for?
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Last.fm hit of the day: In the Presence of My Enemies by Machine Head

What Would They Do?

2011-11-04T11:18:00.001-04:00

Happy Friday, Lurkdom! Today marks the first weekend of NaNoWriMo, which means I have no excuse not to rock my word count. While I'm doing that, instead of pondering WWJD, I should think about authors I love and what they would do if stuck with a difficult plot.

Or a bout of "I can't take it anymore" itis*.

Stephen King. Not that I write horror or even long-ass descriptions, but I admire Stephen King for his tenacity and belief in a project. This is something I have talked about before on The Pie, but it definitely bears repeating. SK had such faith in Roland's story that no matter how many times he put it down, he would pick it up the pen again and continue on.

Whenever I begin to doubt my own pet project, I think about The Dark Tower.

Personal SK Pick: The Dark Tower series

(Hm... This is more difficult than I originally thought. Maybe it's because a lot of the writers that inspire me aren't actually visible in my writing?)

Madeleine L'Engle. She has written some of my favorite stories. It was in A Ring of Endless Light that I got some of the best writing advice as well: to be a better writer, you must read.

Personal L'Engle Pick: A Ring of Endless Light (no contest there)

Thomas Hardy. I know, you didn't expect that. To be honest, I wasn't planning on including him. It's not like I'm a huge fan of the classics or talk about them a lot, but something about the way Hardy tells a story is a great. The way he is able to incorporate the tragedy of life in his work is amazing**.

Besides, check out that mustache.

Personal Hardy Pick: Return of the Native

(And it looks like there will only be four today. This writing on a time frame is H-A-R-D.)

Anne Rice. She was my first foray into vampire fiction, way before we learned that vamps can sparkle. With Lestat, she created an anti-hero that won over tons of hearts and have fueled many a late night debate with Bestie Danielle.

Personal Rice Picks: The Vampire Lestat and Memnoch the Devil

I can only think of four. Which authors inspire you?

* Yeah, writing has been slow-going.
** That could be the inner goth talking.
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Last.fm hit of the day: Kick in the Eye by Bauhaus

Grab that Whistle

2011-11-02T08:53:00.000-04:00

Every Wednesday, YA Highway asks their readership a simple question to answer on your blog. Once you answer, you link your blog in the comments for other readers to hop on board. This is Road Trip Wednesday.

Today's topic: Per Sarah's August post (http://bit.ly/qi9Ed1), what kind of writing coach do you need? What kind are you?

I think about this from time-to-time because who doesn't want somebody cheering you on while you work and making sure you don't quit?

Despite my self-esteem issues and my total bouts of "I suck," I don't want you to kiss my ass. That's not going to make me a stronger writer. I want someone who will tell me what's wrong when they crit me, but also let me know what's working. If I'm stuck, I want someone who is there to help me brainstorm my way through the problem. Basically, I want a Danielle*.

As for myself, if I was a writing coach, I'm not sure what kind I am. My mood dictates a lot about my coaching style. If I'm in a bad mood, I find more things wrong when I crit. I think I'm pretty good to talk things through with and I'm always willing to cheer you on. In terms of my coaching personality, I think my writing buddies are better equipped to answer that about me.

And since not all in the Lurkdom write, let's expand this out to any kind of coach. If you were going to be a coach for anything (including basket weaving), what kind would you be?

Now I'm off to caffeinate and beat my word count.

* If you're new (welcome), you won't know what a Danielle is. She's one of the besties and always has my writing back. She spends hours helping me refine queries and synopses. She has read way too many versions of the same story.
______
Spotify hit of the day: Viva La Vida by Coldplay

Writers and Social Media Fatigue

2011-11-01T11:02:00.000-04:00

Over the last few weeks, I've been finding it difficult to keep up with Twitter, Facebook, email, and even blogging. No matter how hard I try, I end up missing something and then feel guilty. Let's not even get into the fact that with my phone, I'm plugged in to social networking 24/7. After over seven years, I've finally got social media fatigue.

What Is Social Media Fatigue?
According to Technopedia, social media fatigue is when people grow overwhelmed with the time and energy spent maintaining and initiating all of these connections. (Yes, this can include people you know IRL that you only now communicate with through Facebook.)

Writers are more prone to suffer this than the average bear. We constantly hear that we need to build our platform, interact with our writing community, and make ourselves visible. (That's on top of constantly honing our craft, reading, researching, and the million other things that make writers awesome.) Many of us are online late into the night participating in Twitter chats or visiting the hundreds of blogs in their Google Reader.

It's amazing we get anything done.

What Can Be Done About SMF?
The easiest (and hardest) answer is manage your time. If you're an avid blog writer and reader, you should figure out how many days a week you will blog and when your blogging will get done. Then you should determine how you're going to read and comment on all those blogs you subscribe to.

Another solution is to unplug for a few days at a time. When I had a day job, I sat in front of a computer all day, so when the weekend would come, I would limit my computer and social media time. While this strategy might not work for you, it does something that we all need--it gives you scheduled time off.

Remember, you're not alone in this. As Hubby just pointed out, everyone suffers from SMF.

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Last.fm hit of the day: Going to California (Rosetta Stone Mix) by Gene Loves Jezebel

Preparing for NaNoWriMo: Schedule Your Writing

2011-10-31T08:04:00.000-04:00

The suggested word count to beat NaNoWriMo is 1,667 words per day, every day. November is a short month. If you're in the US, it's even shorter because of things like Thanksgiving and Black Friday. With several days out of commission, you need to be super-focused when it comes to writing and front load your word count.

I understand my methods won't work for everyone in The Lurkdom. I'm lucky in having way too much free time, no children, and a husband that's totally on board with me hiding away with a computer and doing nothing else.

During the first week of NaNoWriMo, I like to exceed the daily word count goals. Since you're in the honeymoon phase of writing anyway, this shouldn't be difficult. Instead of a daily goal of 1,667 words, round it up to 2,000. Even that small of a bump, gives you five free days. The first few days of NaNoWriMo, I aim to double my daily word count so that way I have more days to play with in case there's a day where my word count is nonexistent.

Once your daily word count is determined, set your writing hours and treat this time as you would a day job. Take your computer (or notebook if that's how you roll) and sequester yourself until you meet your word count. If you have a day job, you can get additional words in during lunch and breaks. Last year, I would show up to work two hours early and write out a scene or two.

That's it. As yours truly has all the time in the world this month, I'm going to challenge myself to complete my draft in two weeks.

Are you doing NaNoWriMo? How are you going to schedule your writing time?

Also, I was interviewed at The Kelworth Files. You can check it out here.

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Last.fm hit of the day: Better Off Dead by Anathema

Create a Story Bible in 6 Easy Steps

2011-10-28T13:09:00.000-04:00

You should know what you're writing about by now if you're doing NaNoWriMo. If you don't, then I know what you're doing this weekend and may I suggest you read my posts on plotcards and character/setting deets?

Another tool that I can't live without while prewriting is the story bible. Most writers have a version of this whether it's a bunch of scrawled notes or a highly detailed folder with charts and Word documents. A story bible is a one-stop shop for all of your story related items: plot, characters, settings, notes, pictures, and whatever else applies.

Creating a story bible isn't a lot of work. Mine is modeled after an article I read on XtremeLife a few years ago. (The original link is dead, but you can access an archived version here.) At heart, I'm a paper and pen girl and that's how my story bibles come out. For this NaNo, I used my very awesome Circa notebook, which made it much easier for me to move sections around. If you follow the instructions below, you'll be on your way to an easy-peasy bible too.

1. Divide your notebook into five sections and label them CHARACTERS, SETTINGS, PLOT, RESEARCH, and UNANSWERED QUESTIONS.

Section tabs

2. Fill out your CHARACTER section using the quick bios you already created. Make sure you leave some additional pages to backfill information at a later date.

Character notes in the prewriting stage

3. Fill out your SETTINGS section with pictures and setting notes. Depending on how hardcore your set pieces are, these pages might fill up fast. For mine, I like to include little drawings that highlight location and other things that are in my brain, but would take too much time to locate online.

Note the art skills.

4. Fill out your PLOT section. The first thing I do is include a rough logline detailing my story's premise. After that, I take my plotcards and transfer them scene-by-scene into here. I make sure I include a scene title, where and when the scene takes place, who is in the scene, and a more detailed description of the scene. This should be the longest section in your bible*.

Detailed breakdown by scene.

5. If you have to do research, do it and put all relevant information in your RESEARCH section. Even the most mundane story has research elements. This is the nifty place for it to go, even if it isn't until the revision stage.

6. While you are drafting, if there is something you don't know like "what is the highest a midget can jump?" you would jot the question down here.

That's it. The finished product is easy to carry around and, if you're the type to compulsively check your notes, you can use this without flipping between multiple programs.

What method do you use for keeping all of your project notes together?

* After research most likely.
______
Last.fm hit of the day: Walk Like a Zombie by HorrorPops

Zombie Pumpkins

2011-10-27T15:20:00.006-04:00

Zombie Thursdays is a weekly feature with guest blogger, Miranda. You can read more about her here.

Four more days until Halloween! I'm excited, what about you guys? I've definitely been enjoying the horror movies on television and specials about things that go bump in the night. In particular, I watched a pretty cool two hour special about zombies on the History Channel, of all stations. It brought up some really interesting points and comparisons of a zombie plague to some other epidemics we've experienced in the history of human civilization. But more on that topic next week!

These photos were literally just shared with me, and in the tradition and spirit of Halloween coming up on Monday, they were too good not to share!

At the New York Botanical Gardens, right now on display until the 30th, you can view the record holding world's largest pumpkin. But not only that, it has been carved and transformed into a zombie nightmare! Artist Ray Villafane has turned the pumpkin into a scene of zombies bursting from out of the ground, hungry and ready to kill.

I've seen some awesomely carved pumpkins and jack-o-lantern art, but this example is highly impressive. I can't even imagine what it would take to carve something like this.

Have you carved your pumpkins yet? If so, take a picture and share your link with us! I will most likely be carving mine on Saturday night and will share with you all. Happy Haunting!!

October Reviews: Silence & Will Grayson, Will Grayson

2011-10-26T10:08:00.001-04:00

Every Wednesday, YA Highway asks their readership a simple question to answer on your blog. Once you answer, you link your blog in the comments for other readers to hop on board. This is Road Trip Wednesday.

Today's topic: What was the best book you in October?

Funny thing about today's topic: what I considered the best book I read this month was not the one I rated the highest. Allow me to explain...

Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick got the highest rating and there's a two-fold reasoning for this. One, I love paranormal and urban fantasy, so they generally rate higher* than other things. Two, it was leaps and bounds better than Crescendo, which had a shitty cover and a cop out cliffhanger that made me throw the book.

So while the highest rated, not the best of the month. That honor goes to Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

Blurb from Goodreads:

One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two teens—both named Will Grayson—are about to cross paths. As their worlds collide and intertwine, the Will Graysons find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, building toward romantic turns-of-heart and the epic production of history’s most fabulous high school musical.

What I liked about it: Everyone I know who has read this book talks about Tiny Cooper and how awesome he is. It's true. Tiny is gay-tastic to the point where he wrote a musical about himself called Tiny Dancer: The Tiny Cooper Story**. Character-wise, Will Grayson #2 was my favorite. He was snarky, honest, and had this awesome dark edge to his humor.

What you should know: This book has gotten *tons* of love with the awards to prove it. John Green and David Levithan show how dual first person POVs should work. The writing styles of these two mesh so well that I couldn't tell who wrote which characters (Will Grayson's withstanding as that was obvious).

Since I'm in direct contrast with everyone else and Tiny, sway me to like Tiny more than Will Grayson #2 below.

* There are always exceptions to this rule, especially since I love well-written contemporary as well.
** Which is hysterical because the first thing you learn about Tiny is that he's anything but. His girth and personality are enormous.
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Last.fm hit of the day: The Sounds of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel

Preparing for NaNoWriMo: Character and Some Setting Detail

2011-10-25T10:44:00.000-04:00

One week from today will be NaNoWriMo and I completed my preparation last night. My plotcards are written and organized. My characters and settings are in decent shape. By decent I mean enough has been determined to crank out a first draft.

That's the key with character and setting: you have to have enough to make it work.

Character Detail
For years, I subscribed to the character sheet* level of detail where I had to know everything about their schooling from preschool on up, their allergies, favorite pair of earrings, etc. Filling out these multi-page sheets would take up a lot of my time. My first idea for NaNo this year got derailed by these character sheets too.

The problem was that with the focus on creating all of this information about my character so they'd be more three dimensional, I was losing out on these things occurring organically through my writing. Talk about a light bulb moment.

When you pare your character development to the bare minimum, your inner pantser throws a party**. The creativity isn't forced and you can focus more on figuring out your character for the story you're going to tell. It's also less time consuming.

So for the sake of NaNoWriMo, here's an abbreviated list of character details you should know. Every project is different, but as I said before, this my blog so you get my opinions.

Name (and, if applicable, nickname). If you did your plotcards first, you should already know your character's name. I like to know their given and their surnames because it helps make them more life-like.
Age. This doesn't need to be exact and depending on your genre, the age is sort of implied. My current NaNo is YA, so my characters are all in their teens.
Physical appearance and fashion style. You should know if your character is tall, hefty, or wears headgear. You should also know if they have an affinity for sweatpants. You shouldn't have more than a couple of lines dedicated to this.
Brief narrative involving their personality andquirks.
Narrative explaining how they’re going to changethrough the story. This will also include explaining anything else that you think needs to be addressed during the story.

My character sheets are written up in a 8.5x5.5 notebook and they don't take up more than one page front and back. For your initial draft, yours shouldn't either.

Setting Detail

I've mentioned before that for years my settings were pretty much done up like a soap opera set. I'm getting better, but it's still hard to break that habit.

The beauty of plotting out settings is you get to do a lot of looking around on Pinterest. The best thing to do is snag a picture and then make notes about how it's going to be used, what's missing from the picture that should be there, and note anything that is different.

Rudimentary maps are also useful. If you're writing a space opera, your map might have more detail than if your entire story takes place in a playground, but you still need to know where things are located.

Again, I stress these sheets are for planning only. If you keep it simplistic, there is more room for your creativity to take over during the drafting process. As long as you remain open-minded, you'll find that characters, subplots, and locales will write themselves the further you go.

Do you have any tips on planning out your characters and setting? Share below!

* When I used the term "character sheets" to Hubby the other day, he asked me what color hair would they have if I rolled a 6.

** Whether it's a raging kegger or a dinner party remains to be seen.

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Last.fm hit of the day: Love at First Fright by Murderdolls

Stop! Haiku Time!

2011-10-24T12:29:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Monday, Lurkdom. The day job is busy and the interns are chatty. It's also a week from Halloween.

Zombies delight me

Enlightening my grave thoughts

Towards death I go

Stay tuned this week for some more NaNoWriMo tips and other things.

______

Last.fm hit of the day: The Virus of Life by Slipknot

Best Ages! With Pictures!

2011-10-21T13:29:00.000-04:00

Today's prompt from Paper Hangover is hard as hell. The 5 best ages of my life? I'm lucky if I can pick one because that's how I roll.

Yours truly can't remember much from my single digit days, though I think I had a decent year 5*, and we'll totally overlook the middle school years because that well and truly sucked. That leaves age 14 to present**, which I'll group into different chunks. This will include more than 5 ages, but I had too much fun collaging.

Because it's Friday, I'm going to rate the best ages based off of the fun-o-meter, instead of lessons learned.

Ages 16-18
Even with the crap that sucked: the huge blowout with Bestie Danielle, the drama of liking the same boy as Bestie Michelle, and not knowing how to deal with hormones, I had a lot of great memories from this time period. I traveled without my family three times: Florida, DC, and NYC. I did a lot of stupid stuff and didn't get caught. I had fantastic hair***.

I had three major friends during that time period: Michelle, Danielle, and Amelia. Each friendship brought something different to the table and I grew a lot from being friends with all of them. (It's because of Amelia, the blowout with Danielle ended, which I'm eternally grateful.)

Also, this included my senior year, which was the best part of high school ever. It was either because I stopped caring or everyone really got over the clique and snobbiness thing. I was my most outgoing then, which totally helped making it a memorable year. First kiss boy and I were even back on speaking terms by this point. (Though you will notice he is missing from my collage.)

Ages 19-23ish

College, also known as the time of many exciting things and photographs****. Though I lived at home during college, I still managed to do a lot. I met Bestie Steph right away, my Aerosmith fandom kicked into high gear.

I continued my outgoing streak and auditioned for a play. The next five years I thought myself a thespian and focused more on Shakespeare than my writing. Once I realized that acting wasn't my thing, I moved towards the technical end of theater, which was better. I was single towards the end of this stage and crushed on way too many guys that I had no chance with and spent a lot of time in divey bars getting the stink eye from girls. The besties also found their future husbands during this time, which while awful for Single Alicia, was still awesome because those two guys are great and I love them both.

Age 25 Onward

25 has been the best year ever for me. I met Hubby, started writing again--for real, and finally moved out of Chez Gregoire. Without seeing my mother every waking moment, this is the time I realized that she's hip.

I also had the best birthday party ever with a lot of my out-of-state friends coming in. (If you look closely, you'll see Miranda.)

This is also when a lot of family and friends were getting married. For some reason, this meant we had to act more ridiculous than we did in college or high school. So the second half of my 20s included weddings and a lot of ridiculous poses plus double the amount of concerts I saw in high school and college. (I became a bit of a music nut around 26.)

So this is my five best ages, which I guess is technically is about 6*****. What has been the best age for you so far?

* This might have everything to do with it being my final birthday party. Yeah, you heard that right.
** Which is 29 on repeat.
*** After the awful DIY perm of middle school, it was a miracle I had good hair left.
**** Many of which are incriminating and will never be seen on The Pie.
***** Disclaimer: you should know by now Math and I are not friends.
______
Last.fm hit of the day: Gravity Eyelids by Porcupine Tree

Zombies! They're Bacccckkk!

2011-10-20T12:10:00.003-04:00

Zombie Thursdays is a weekly feature with guest blogger, Miranda. You can read more about her here.

Zombie Thursday is back! And with a vengeance! I have a few zombie related topics to discuss after my absence, so I hope you will forgive me and that Alicia won't kill me (mostly because I don't want to come back as undead)!

First off, let me apologize for my disappearing act. October is normally my favorite month and the best month ever. This October has been particularly trying for me. Beginning on the 1st, I got sick. Again. Horrible cold, coughing, slight fever, all the icky stuff. For the first time ever, I even called out of work. And unfortunately now, I do not have health insurance, so no doctor. I'm still sick and coughing everyday, almost three weeks later.

Another major thing going on this month was my flying trapeze class! Despite being ill, I still managed to get to class (well, I missed one and had to make it up from being sick). And last Saturday, I performed in my very first trapeze act/show and had an awesome time! Needless to say, I was very stressed and nervous about performing well, which sucked up a lot of my energy in addition to the sickness.

But here I am! So let's get to it!

First zombie related topic, The Walking Dead premier! I won't go into major details because I don't want to give spoilers, but who saw it? I very recently got rid of Comcast and switched back to Dish Network, so I was able to record all of season one and then the premier of season two and did a marathon viewing. I've been hearing a lot of complaints about the season two opener. It was boring, it wasn't the same as the book, etc etc. Well, as far as book consistency, of course not. What book to movie is ever exact? As far as the pacing, I found myself thinking the same thing about this episode as I did about the very first episode on Halloween last year. Yes, the pacing was a bit slow (especially for a ninety minute episode). But I understand why they do this. It is set up. The last episode was back in December and it ended full of action! They needed to reintroduce the characters, remind us what happened and go from there. The show is not a movie. They can't have hordes of zombies attacking every ten minutes-- that would get boring!

On the note of Frank Darabont being fired from the show... only time (or the season) will tell exactly what affect that will have on the series. He was still listed in the opening credits as an Executive Producer, probably because he hadn't been fired yet. So, the first few episodes (or this whole season?) should have his imprint on them. Maybe we won't see the flaws until season three when he is officially gone. Thoughts?

Next up! Something that my dad actually sent me. Not many people really know my dad, but he usually doesn't "get" the zombie stuff and often makes fun of me for doing things like wearing black or reading certain things. But I got an email from him last night (and please keep in mind, I don't think my dad has ever sent me an email. EVER.) and it was an article from msnbc talking about how an architecture firm is hosting a contest to see who can design the most efficient zombie proof house/compound to protect the living from the dead. Zombie lovers were called to design the ultimate anti-zombie fortress for ultimate survival!

There are some pretty cool entries posted and the winner will be decided by votes! Your votes! You can check out all the entries over at the Zombie Safe House voting page. So far, it seems the favorite to win is a complex that is designed to be up in the air with zombie driven turbines down below. I am fond of a birdhouse design... I don't think it would ever work out, but I enjoy the idea!

Go check them out and vote for your favorite! Voting ends on Halloween.

And finally, even though I have been away, I've been representing the zombies with greatness. My trapeze show was Halloween theme, and guess what I flew as? You got it!

Why I Write

2011-10-19T09:24:00.001-04:00

Every Wednesday, YA Highway asks their readership a simple question to answer on your blog. Once you answer, you link your blog in the comments for other readers to hop on board. This is Road Trip Wednesday.

Today's topic: What's your numero-uno reason for writing?

This is such a great question and oddly one that no one in my life has asked me. I guess it's a good thing some of them lurk here. *waves to The Lurkdom*

I write for the prestige, of course. That and the money because we all know that writing is a get rich quick scheme and I know that I need to find a hot pool boy for the house I'm going to be moving into. Don't worry, you're all invited.

Best. House. Ever. Source: homeaway.com via Alicia on Pinterest

And while this house is awesomely fantastic*, it's not the reason why I write.

I write because there's nothing else I would rather do. I love it and if I go a certain amount of days without it, you better steer clear. Writing makes me happy and complete. If this was my day job, I'd be the happiest employee in the world.

Don't forget to stop by YA Highway to see what others are saying.

* Not to mention has the funniest house description ever.
______
Last.fm hit of the day: From Dust to the Beyond by God Is An Astronaut

Review: Fill in the Blank Plotting

2011-10-18T08:30:00.000-04:00

I promised to review Fill-in-the-Blank Plotting more than once, but never got around to it for some reason. My apologies for that.

Fill-in-the-Blank Plotting by Linda George is the easiest book on writing ever. She explains how to combine The Hero's Journey and the Three Act Structure into a tighter, more cohesive plot. If you're not familiar with either of these plot structures, it's time for a quick breakdown.

The Hero's Journey was made famous by Joseph Campbell. The Hero's Journey is universal with myth and folklore. There are 12 big steps within the journey. The story of Hercules, for example, follows the Hero's Journey. Wikipedia gives a good explanation of all the steps if you want to learn more now.

The Three Act Structure is what most of us know when we talk about plot structure. It's what we learn when we're in school. Within the Three Act Structure, there are key items that have to happen: inciting incident, climax, turning points.

If you're unsure about the different parts of either structure, she includes examples using Treasure Island throughout. These examples help in informing what is supposed to happen at each point in your own story. The book is short enough that you can read it before you dive into a plotting session.

You should know that this type of plotting is rigid and I wouldn't recommend it to someone who plots loosely. If you like the freedom of the loose plot, then Fill-in-the-Blank Plotting would work better for you during revision.

If you've used Fill-in-the-Blank Plotting, share your experiences below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

________
Last.fm hit of the day: Darkfall by God Is an Astronaut

Preparing for NaNoWriMo: Plotcards

2011-10-17T09:00:00.000-04:00

It's that time of year, not of foliage or way-too-soon Christmas decorations, but of words and words and words. That's right. It's NaNoWriMo time. If you're new on the block, this weird word stands for National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days.

Sounds crazy, right? To quote the Cheshire Cat, "We're all mad here."

In order to successfully complete NaNoWriMo, you need an attack plan. There are many ways to achieve this, but since this is my blog real estate, I'm going to share with you what works for me.

Plotcards involve index cards and ideas for scenes. If you're a pantser, this is the closest plot method to what you're used to. I first learned about how to use them through Holly Lisle,* but have modified the process since.

Going into the plotcards, you will need to know who your characters are. They don't need to be fleshed out yet, but you should know the basics: name, sex, story role (protagonist, antagonist, billy goat, et cetera).

Take a pack of index cards and write on each one a scene you would like to write. If you're writing something with multiple points of view, you should know which character the scene is attributed to as well. The more detail you have here, the better.

Okay: A monkey jumps through the window.
Better: Sandra's pet monkey crashes through Joel's living room window in a rage.

Once you come up with about 50-60 scene ideas, it's time to examine them for duds. Discard anything that looks like a duplicate or doesn't seem like a strong scene. Then, take your remaining cards and organizing them into an order. Some of these cards will have been created in a logical order, but there will be others where you will have to find a home.

What's nice about the index cards is that you can shuffle them around anywhere and however often as you need until you have a plot to your liking. It won't be solid and there is still enough wiggle room to create enough of the story that you're not stressing out.

Have you tried this technique before? What has been your experience with it?

* Who has a wonderful, robust site on a variety of craft topics. If you haven't been to it, go there. Now.
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Last.fm hit of the day: Sleep of No Dreaming by Porcupine Tree

Read It Again, Sam

2011-10-14T09:51:00.000-04:00

The day job is breathing down my neck, so I can't get truly dive into today's Friday Fives topic. However, I put together five of the books I couldn't get enough of as Single Digit Alicia.

Just looking at these is totally making me want to go read them. Right. Now.

What were some of your favorites as a kid?

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Last.fm hit of the day: Stand up by The Prodigy

I Am the Tortoise

2011-10-12T13:48:00.001-04:00

Every Wednesday, YA Highway asks their readership a simple question to answer on your blog. Once you answer, you link your blog in the comments for other readers to hop on board. This is Road Trip Wednesday.

This is YA Highway's 100th RTW prompt. How awesome this that!?

Today's topic: What has your writing road trip looked like so far? Excitement? Traffic Jams and detours? Where are you going next?

Writing has always been an integral part of me, but I've always been too chicken to do anything "more" with it. Sure, I have taken classes, but it wasn't until eight years ago that I drummed up enough courage to put my work out for someone other than for Bestie Danielle to see. I wanted to be a published writer--I should have shown my work much sooner.

Sharing something that is such a big part of you is difficult, as I'm sure many of you could attest. The writing workshop I took was my firststep into the indimidating world of workshopping*. After my first critique, I went home in tears. The story was awful. People were confused. I had no plot. My writing was horrible. Basically, I sucked and should take up macrame instead.**

The workshop was a setback, but a much needed one. I did learn something important: I loved writing enough to continue to persue my goal.

Since the Disastrous Workshop Semester of 2003, my writing road trip has continued to be slow-going. I'm driving a beater that's worse than The Ghettomobile*** and I hate highways****. So while I have three novels written, I only have one query-ready. The other two are in different stages of revision. The majority of the time I'm okay with my progress--I've never been the swiftest person--but, at times, I do get frustrated with myself for taking so long*****.

This is why I have friends. In recent years, I've met some of the most amazing, inspiring, and fantastic people in the kidlit community. Without these friendships, my journey would be lonelier and more boring. I love my writer friends.

As to where I'm heading, I decided to go back to school and am currently researching which MFA programs would be the best fit for me. The future holds possibilities and that's what I'm excited about.

* And when you first start, it is intimidating, scary, and panic-inducing. These people know so much more than you. They've taken workshops with big name authors and at important Ivy League institutions.
** While no said these things to me, this is what I had internalized. (Since today is Honesty Day in Alicia's brain, I might as well admit I got through these emotions every time I get a critique or beta feedback back.)
*** My first car.
**** True fact: If I can get there by back roads, I will, extra driving time be damned.
***** In my fantasy world, everyone wants my novel because I'm incredibly briliant. So brilliant, in fact, the first agent I queried became my agent in a day and my book sold at auction for an unheard of sum of cash. I've been published for six years and have my own private island with a smoking hot pool boy. As you can see my fantasy and reality don't mesh at all, you can return to the main text.
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Last.fm hit of the day: Blue by The Verve

Where I Will Write

2011-10-11T12:13:00.001-04:00

Thanks to all in The Lurkdom who said happy anniversary to Hubby and I. We had a great day filled with waffles, fish, hipsters, and Marty McFly. Even with that, the long weekend wasn't long enough and we're now in another race to Friday. Work is kicking my ass this week with meetings on top of meetings, so today will be short and visual.

When I talked about the Great Book Reorg of 2011, several of you commented on my writing area. I didn't have the heart to tell you then that the "home office" area looked like a bomb zone. There was no room for the office chair, laptop, or myself.

Since then, Hubby has been uber-industrious*. He's tidied up our office space, streamlined our DVDs, and created more space in our living room**! This is awesome because NaNoWriMo is hot on my heels and I need more spaces to commute and write.

Here's the revised desk area. I've done some extra tinkering around the area which means I've deep-sixed the monitor and gave myself more space on the desk portion. I'm hoping we can do a bit more with it before November 1st.

All the books on the left are writing-related and the books to the right are the ones we have yet to read. I'm open suggestions to reading faster.

Hubby also moved all of the totes so now we can access the couch that's in there. Or, the cat can access the couch that's in there. Because she doesn't have enough places to lounge and show off her superior sleeping skills. Any seat with a cushion she automatically claims as her own, so of course the couch is NOTHING DIFFERENT.

(When Hubby took these pictures to show me, he didn't realize that The Stripey One had photobombed the shot.)

I have to admit, I'm loving Industrious Hubby and I'm loving the new organization of our workspace. I fully attend to use it to my advantage over the winter months, even if I have to drape a tapestry over the entryway to block out the lure of the television.

Lurkdom, where do you do most of your work? Or, if you're like me, where do you plan to do future work?

* Which is a more awesome use of his time then tempting me with homemade cupcakes. (Note: this happened several times in May.)
** This is partially due to the fact our gigantic picture tube died a sad death a week and half ago.

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Last.fm hit of the day: Haxprocess by Opeth

Where Can I Find Some Inspiration??

2011-10-07T08:09:00.000-04:00

Today marks 4 years that Hubby and I nixed that "living in sin" thing. We had the world's shortest wedding ceremony and for one day understood how celebrities feel with the paparazzi. We also had cake.

So with all of this in mind, I'm blogging ahead of time for once. By the time you read this, we will be stuffed with waffles and watching penguins swim as our anniversary date.

Onto business.

There's been a lot of talk about inspiration on The Pie as of late*. I've covered images and WIPs, people who've inspired me, and pictures that have inspired my writing as a whole. Now we add a fourth.

First, some background: this week I decided to scrap my original NaNo plan because I was too trapped in my head. This meant coming up with a new story. No pressure, right? No. None at all. Thank goodness there are some techniques for getting inspiration when you most need it.

Snuggle with the cat. The White One's pliancy makes it too easy to curl up with him and think. A lot of times this results in sporadic napping.
Have conversations. One of my conversations this week included Marcel Marceau**. This gave me another ridiculous scene that would work with my new NaNo project.
Read. A lot of times if I'm stuck, I'll go read. For some reason, nonfiction jangles free the block and ideas pour out of brain. This is the main reason why I installed Evernote on my phone.
Free writing. The ratio of intelligent thought to the word cheese*** is 1:400, but when it works, it really works.
Pull it from the ether. A lot of my ideas (not the current SNI) just show up. The assassin project? Just showed up. Phoenix Rising? Showed up. That random story about the squirrel photographer? Sort of showed up. (You all know about my squirrel problem.)

How do you get inspiration when you need it?

* When you're a chronic pessimist, 3 posts in 5 months seems like a lot.
** Ha, you thought I'd help you on this one. Look him up.
*** Truth: Every free writing session I've done starts out with the word "cheese" written at least 5 times.
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Last.fm hit of the day: Something to Believe In by Poison

About Co-Starring with a Co-Star*

2011-10-05T12:25:00.002-04:00

Every Wednesday, YA Highway asks their readership a simple question to answer on your blog. Once you answer, you link your blog in the comments for other readers to hop on board. This is Road Trip Wednesday.

Today's topic: What supporting character from a YA book would you most like to see star in their own novel?

Blame it on the day job, but I couldn't get my head wrapped around it. Thank god Bestie Danielle i~~s chained to her desk as much as me~~ has a desk job like me.

With Danielle on board, it was a matter of figuring out what we would like to see.

With the truth behind Edward's sparkle denied from my editorial department, it was back to the drawing boards. It's worth mentioning that we were still confused on whether the topic was for the character to star in a novel as a spinoff or as a retelling.

Because it's both, we've decided to talk about both. This would be a fantastic time to mention that these conversations are the norm for the two of us. Except we don't have conversation bubbles.(Though as you can see we talk and type all lower case and horrible punctuation.)

With that amazing conversation, I bet you want to know about our spinoffs. It's really hard to escape all the intelluctualism that Danielle and I rock.

Happy with our choices, we were about to move on to some other important topic like lunch. Then this happened.

Lurkdom, it's your turn! What secondary character would you like to see as the star? Also what crazy conversations do you have with your friends?

A big thanks to Bestie Danielle for helping out with today's topic.

* If you came here thinking this was going to be all cinema and TV, I'm sorry. You should still stick around. We have awesome things.
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Last.fm hit of the day: Santa Monica by Everclear

On Anxiety Disorders and the Query Process

2011-10-04T12:29:00.001-04:00

For those not in the know, anxiety is a blanket term that covers everything from phobias to generalized anxiety, so a lot of people suffer from it. Not nearly enough get treated for it*. Anyone who suffers from general anxiety knows that functioning on certain days is difficult enough, but if you get a panic attack?

You might as well pack it in for the day and take a nap.

It's known that stress triggers anxiety, and what is more stressful than querying**? You're waiting to hear if your manuscript is good enough for Agent A, Agent B, and Agent C. You're creative life is on the line. All your friends have gotten requests and deals and everything and--

You get the picture. Just writing that scenario made my heart spasm. Everything you do is under the srutiny of you. Is it good enough? Are you good enough? No one is going to take you on. Everyone is going to hate it. Your crit group was just being nice. If you get an email back, the heart spams start anew: is this good news or bad? What happens if they want to see more? That's the thing about us chronically anxious people--we're worriers.

So how can you handle the query procress without going into full-blown panic mode? I can't speak for everyone, but I can talk from personal experience.

Have a cheerleader. As a chronic worrier and pessimist, having someone who sees things the other way is hugely important. So important, in fact, I have two.
Do some cardio. Aerobic exercise helps reduce anxiety because of the endorphins your brain produces during exercise. Just like the runner's high makes you happy, it kills the stress.
Meditate and have a mantra. Tell yourself "this too shall pass" and go someplace quiet. The less distraction in an area is best to clear out your mind. Sit quietly and breathe it all in. Relaxation is crucial.

These are just a few ways to handle querying on anxiety. What tricks do you have to keep the anxiety at bay?

* Like yours truly who pretty much dislikes all types of doctors.
** I know, there are lots of things more stressful, like unemployment, ailing family members, etc, but bear with me. I'm trying to make a point.
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Last.fm Hit of the Day: Seesaw Sway by Peter Murphy