Three Things on the Fourth

So am I the only one who puts off engaging with social media or posting to my blog until I’ve done a certain amount of writing and then I don’t write much, or what I consider enough, and end up not doing EITHER fun thing? (except for tumblr. I always find a spare ten minutes for the awesome pics on tumblr.)

Happy Independence Day, USians! Any special plans? It’s a dark rainy day here, and my daughter has a mild tummy bug, so it looks like I’ll be able to watch a lot of the WOLVERINE AND THE X-MEN marathon on Nicktoons today. Because nothing says the Fourth of July like watching the adventures of a cranky, violent Canadian. I also plan to make strawberry shortcake with real whipped cream. (none of that Cool Huh-wip for us) Mmm, I’m getting hungry for it as I type.

Speaking of this holiday weekend, it has taken on a new significance for me. A significance that will probably fade over the years, but it was two years ago this weekend that I found out my marriage was not what I thought. And the next detail I’m going to write feels like an abrupt change of subject, but I realize that it isn’t. It’s very me. The second Transformers movie opened that same weekend, and that was hugely helpful. Because nothing helps relieve deep emotional shock like watching giant robots blow things up. Ha! I case you haven’t noticed, I might be a bit odd. I haven’t seen the third film yet. But I will. Oh yes. I can’t wait to see the giant worm-like ones eating skyscrapers. But happily, there’s no enormous leaden bag of stress strapped to me this year.

Sometimes it’s good to get out

I have a tendency to let trying things, like our recent flooded basement, swamp me. (Ha! Look what I did there. I should probably change it to a different verb. But now I’ve typed all this, so nah.)

The unpleasant shock, the hard work, the ETC. can all get to me and fill my day and my head until I’m overwhelmed and not enjoying anything. And not just small household disasters — I know I’ve been living in a vice of stress as I work through my disappointment and hurt from the divorce. Also, as I struggle to meet my agent’s revision expectations for my middle grade novel. I just . . . go under. Like a cartoon character with a dark rainy cloud over my head wherever I go.

But that’s not the real me. I like to have fun. I like to read amazing stories and go to awesome movies and play intense games and eat numbingly delicious food. Yet I can let stress put me in such an unhappy rut.

Which I can be shaken out of just by doing something a little different. And I’m writing this post to help remind myself the NEXT time I’m under that cloud.

Today my son and I went to the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati.

A building so visually interesting the art inside it must feel intimidated. It was a short trip, on a gorgeous summer afternoon, and it shook me awake. Helped me remember how much there is to enjoy. Reminded me that when I write, joy should be in there somewhere.

Here’s a pic I took on our way, of the famous fountain in Cincy. Well, famous if you ever watched WKRP in Cincinnati, heh.

Updatily

Oooo, you can certainly tell I’ve worked in the field of search engine optimization with a subject line like that. This post will undoubtedly go VIRAL.

And then teh internets can learn the thrilling news that the yet-another-thing that’s prevented me from being around here much is the fact that our basement flooded. GAH! This house has weathered (ha! Get it?) many violent downpours and we’ve had a little moisture in the basement as a result on occasion. But never inches of water pouring in from all sides. Since half our basement is finished and was filled with things like couches and rugs and many many small toys, there’s been a *%$#-ton of work for me. And my oh-so-willing children.

ACK-sherly, there is a silver lining, or more of an orange one. I had to get me a wet-dry vac! It is now my new second-favorite household tool (the first will always be the drill, mmmm, RRRRRRR, I love to drill holes in things.)

As Elf would say, “it’s very sucky!” You should see how much water it can suck out of carpet in just a few minutes. I can’t wait to use it on dry stuff. Why do we even have regular vacuums? Mine seems lame to me now.

I’ve been run over by Summer Break

This happens to me EVERY YEAR. And I’m pretty sure, every year I’ve been around one of my blogs, I’ve posted about it. I think I’ve even used that very subject line before. But somehow, I never see it coming. I was in a blogging GROOVE. Well, for me. Lately. I was here! I was posting! I was working on a new MG manuscript! (No, I haven’t heard back from my agent, iffen you were wondering.) I was on fire! I had things to say and posts to post, like about the mysterious photo I last added. Or more comics and other things I’ve been reading. TV shows, like Doctor Who which I am really getting into and now I think I begin to see, yes, the attraction, the devotion. (But I still think the Daleks are lame)

Le sigh.

Le weeping.

Le cracking open a cold frosty beer.

They won’t break me! I will survive. And I will be back. Even if I can’t drive a Mack Truck through LJ.

Beep BEEP.

Last Minute Wordless Wednesday

And we’ll have fun fun fun

Even though when you’re an adult summertime means just as much work work work as usual, I still associate it with FUN and get all oh-boy-it’s-summer! So in the spirit of fun, here are some fun things for you, my fun people:

The Fifteen Most Popular Autocorrects from Damn You, Autocorrect. Some of these made me laugh so hard, I cried. (not safe to have a child read over your shoulder. Unless you are an even more permissive parent than I.)

Time Lapse Video of the Milky Way This is so gorgeous I almost stopped breathing while watching it. The best photography of the night sky I’ve ever seen.

And speaking of gorgeous, here’s a graphic novel recommendation for all you children’s literature peoples. Esp. if you have a daughter between the ages of 6 and 10. The Courageous Princess by Rod Espinosa. I can’t believe I’ve never seen a reference to this wonderful, charming, exciting book in kidlit circles. Especially considering how much children love illustrated stories and how few comics and graphic novels have awesome female main characters for young girls to relate to.

Lastly, if you were avoiding the newest Sherlock Holmes TV series from the BBC, in spite of the buzzing online buzz it’s gotten, because you thought “oh, Sherlock Holmes. I love you, but I know you already. In many incarnations,” you need to go add SHERLOCK to your Netflix instant queue right now. I did after reading spectralbovine‘s recent review (which I’m not linking to because I spy some spoilers in the comments thread now.) And I LOVE IT. I’ve always loved this character and this is one of the wittiest, most fun, exciting versions I’ve seen. I didn’t know it was a modern-day updating of the stories! Moar fun! And even though I love Jude Law’s Watson in the recent movie, the Watson of this series is the Best. Watson. EVAR.

There will be pie

Happy Memorial Day, LJ! I still think it’s weird that a holiday meant to honor fallen soldiers has turned into a outdoorsy, grillout, party-time, official kickoff of summertime day. But I like it!

Speaking of summer, whoa! We went from a Friday so cold and rainy that I was wearing sweats to blast furnace heat. But I like that too.

Random post gets random:

–I am filling in a gap in my geekiness by watching Doctor Who this weekend. Which I don’t think I’ve ever seen a full episode of. I started with Season Five, not sure why. Enjoying it very much so far, although I don’t yet see why it inspires such intense devoted fannishness. I like the creepy angels A LOT, but the Daleks seem a bit lame.

–I caught an episode of Batman The Brave and The Bold the other day (another thing I’d never seen before) in which Batman defeated the villain by singing. The Batman. Singing. I haven’t quite recovered from this.

–Since I’m being random about entertainment, if you like robots (and if you don’t, I’m keeping a close infrared eye on you), tonight on the Science channel, Grant Imahara is hosting Killer Robots; RoboGames 2011

I hope you’re all enjoying a great day. Soon I will be eating way too many hot dogs, and then . . . . THIS:

Five Reasons to Fear Fushigi

Or, “Five Reasons Why Fushigi is the new Happy Fun Ball”

Do you remember the SNL Sketch, Happy Fun Ball?

Also, do you know what a Fushigi is? It’s a “magic gravity ball” My son got one recently and now we all live in fear.

Here are five quotes from the instructions for Fushigi. I am not making these up:

Do not work with your FUSHIGI over tile, stone, or hard wood floors as if FUSHIGI is dropped damage to the floor surface is sure to happen.

WARNING: When storing FUSHIGI, NEVER leave on any window sill, in any vehicle, or subject FUSHIGI to any form of sunlight.

Do not attempt to pass FUSHIGI to another person via any airborne maneuver. Injury may be sustained. Tandem FUSHIGI maneuvers are not suggested as this may result in injury to one or both artists.

WARNING: NEVER use your FUSHIGI outdoors, NEVER hold FUSHIGI anywhere near your face. Additionally, be sure to not hold FUSHIGI against any part of your skin or body.

Never attempt any maneuver where the FUSHIGI Magic Gravity Ball is suspended over your head for any period of time. Serious injury may occur by maneuvering your FUSHIGI anywhere near your head so please never attempt any illusion, manipulation, or suspension anywhere near the head area.

I’m pretty sure they should add, “Do not taunt FUSHIGI.”

Wordless Wednesday–My New Geeky, I mean GeekiEST T-shirt

Dot’s Cranky Post on Writers and Networking and Social Media

I’ve always hated the idea of networking. It smacks of manipulation – using people to further your own ends, not valuing each person for themselves. I know, I know, others have explained to me that it’s not as ulterior motive laden as that. That networking is really just getting to know other people, make genuine connections with them, and then, further down life’s road, those relationships might incidentally help boost your career.

Which sounds good and I think some people engage in it that way, but I’ve met tons of writers who pretend to be doing that, when really their main focus is on self-promotion. So the word “networking” still makes my skin crawl.

And I think social media like Twitter has intensified all this promo, building a brand-y platform, networking stuff. But then! A lot of the writers who want to use these types of connection for promoting their work aren’t even doing it right! At least, in my peculiar, cranky opinion.

Social media works when it feels personal. When you feel like you’re getting to know the person on the other end, or that they are taking an interest, however fleeting, in you. If other writers, or readers, show an interest in you, reach out to connect in some fashion, and you ignore them, that is social media FAIL. Or, to use an example from the offline world, I attended a bookish event and was introduced to a debut novelist by my friend who is also a writer. The debut novelist, after the briefest of acknowledgements that I existed proceeded to talk to my friend non-stop for thirty minutes. It was like a switch had been thrown that made me invisible. I’m not an especially thin-skinned person, but this behaviour did NOT endear me to that writer or make me want to ever read his or her book, or ever talk about it, on my blog, on Twitter, to anyone anywhere. Whereas if he or she had shown the slightest interest in who I am, just normal cocktail party conversation type interest, I probably would have picked up his or her book at some point and taken a look. And then if I loved it, I’d have mentioned that to many people.

Here’s an example from Twitter of a biz that’s doing social media right. When my local comics shop doesn’t have something in stock, I usually order it from Things From Another World because their inventory is fab. I also shop their awesome nick and dent sales. Occasionally, I’ll post a pic of some of the fabulous books I’ve bought from them on Twitter. The Twitter wrangler at TFAW is always quick to reply when I do that, which gives me a friendly, warm feeling for the company. Even though I know it’s a business promoting themselves to make money, the fact that they reply to everyone who mentions them, helps build a personal connection. Whereas ignoring people not only doesn’t build it, it shuts down potential further connections.

Ahoy! It’s time for more witty Jack!

(gif made by felmingham-depp on tumblr)

I know the reviews are NOT good. Sigh. But I still can’t wait to see the new Pirates movie. Probably tonight! This character delights me. And a great character can carry a lame story, whereas even the greatest story will sink under the weight of leaden characters. . . . *thinks* Hmm, can you even have a great story without great characters?

In other fun news, from a story that’s both great and with great characters, look what my son made for me,

For those not fully Star Wars geeky — it’s the Millenium Falcon! Made of paper! It also has a propeller attachment and a small motor inside to make it actually fly.

I hope you all have lots of fun in store this weekend!

Protect Your Creativity

Shields up! Build high, strong walls; shelter your creative sparks from whatever winds or torrents would quench them.

This post is inspired partly by the fact that recently when writing, I unplugged more and more. Not only from the internet, also from TV and other shiny distractions (but mostly from the internet, my Great Downfall, or, as Homer Simpson would say, “teacher, mother . . .secret lover”.) I’ve tried to do that in the past, but usually would only last thirty minutes or so before jumping online “just to check” whatever, and then voom! An hour rips by.

But I’m not writing about potential lost time. As I disconnected for longer writing spells (and the word spell is so apt—you need to fall under your own spell if you hope to entrance a reader) I sank deeper into . . . I’ve been saying “my story” but that doesn’t seem exactly right. More like I sank deeper into all the things that make me want to tell them. All the roots and source springs of my stories.

Reconnecting with my creative sparks drove home how easy it can be to lose touch with them, have them obscured, not only by distractions or fear, but SO MANY other things. There’s a lot of raging noise in life. And lately, I think I see other writers get so caught up in the pressures of promotion, marketing, staying in the publishing biz loop, that I wonder if they are losing touch with their deep-down creative springs.

Last night on kidlitchat on Twitter, the topic was social media and online tools and at one point there was some discussion of how to make your blog more “effective” and how to consider its audience, and how to get a blog post to “go viral.” I used to nod along and feel like I understood where such talk was coming from, in terms of authors needing to do as much marketing on their own as possible. But now I wonder . . . . What gives your work its edge is you. Your particular, unique spark. Which I think can get obscured by turning outward, to thoughts of your blog’s audience, how to be effective, etc.

I’ve read the stories of how Walt Whitman was a big-time self-promoter, and I’m sure it helped spread the word of his poetry. But I bet he kept it separate in his mind, away from all the things it took for him to write. It seems to me that marketing and creativity are, as Buffy would say, “unmixy things.”

Friday Things, Mostly About Free Comic Book Day . . .

Free Comic Book Day was a blast! Illustrator Tony Moore was at one of our local shops (Up, Up, and Away.) He’s one of the artists for The Walking Dead, and my son is a fan of both that comic and the TV show. So much so that he has the Walking Dead t-shirt designed by Tony Moore, from threadless Which Mr. Moore very kindly autographed for him.

Also, in addition to some characters from Star Wars, Spidey was there. My daughter was thrilled to get a pic with him, AND his autograph.

And now I’m off to see what YOU’VE been up to this week . . .

Free Comic Book Day Tomorrow!

You should totally go! FREE comics!

When I was a child, I didn’t read very many comics because I am ridonkulously motion-sensitive and reading them made me feel queasy. (In part because when I was younger I read everything at top speed.) Plus, I have to process the art in comics separately from the text. My left brain shuts down when I look at art. So now I read the text on a panel or whole page, then pause and take in all the art, then go to the next.

I’ve been reading a few comics now and then for years. Mostly choosing titles from the suggestions of friends, or those of writers I admired in other storytelling places (Joss Whedon, Neil Gaiman.) But even so, the selection of titles is overwhelming. Like it would be if you’d only read a handful of novels off and on over the years and plunged into a huge bookstore to get better acquainted with them. So many genres! So many writers! So the past couple of months I’ve been reading only comics in my fiction-reading time, and wow! There’s a lot of compelling storytelling out there and some jaw-dropping art.

Speaking of the latter, I know I already told you about NONPLAYER, by Nate Simpson, but I’m mentioning it again, because, SO gorgeous:

The first issue is coming out with a second printing on May 11.

If you like horror, esp. YA horror, you should try Joe Hill’s LOCKE & KEY.

I think it’s one of the titles being given away tomorrow. He has his father’s gift for gripping page-turnability. (His dad is Stephen King)

Actually, that’s one of the things I think a lot of comics writers could give lessons to novel writers about –keeping it compelling. Another thing I like about them is how wild they can be. Comics writers will try *anything.* It’s really fun. It doesn’t always work, but it’s still fun to see that kind of out-there, going-for-it creativity.

A few more recommendations:

My 12 year old son loves the new D&D comic by John Rogers (who is also a screenwriter and the showrunner for TNT’s LEVERAGE), art by Andrea Di Vito. Both my son and my 8 year old daughter (and me) love the first issue of SUPER DINOSAUR by Robert Kirkman (who is also the creator of the Walking Dead comic), art by Jason Howard. I think they’re also giving away a Super Dinosaur issue tomorrow. If you like detective stories with a kind of icky side to them — I’m thinking CSI-ish, but I’ve never seen that show — CHEW is a very fun, intriguing, and original story. It’s by Jon Layman with art by Rob Guillory. (thanks! spectralbovine for the rec). Oh, and speaking of spectralbovine, he also told me about MORNING GLORIES, by Nick Spencer with entrancing art by Joe Eisma. I don’t actually read much horror when it comes to novels, but this is another horror comic I find utterly gripping.

I could gush about more titles, but will stop there. For NOW.

My new favorite bumper sticker