Author Liesel K. Hill's Musings on Fantasia...
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
How to Measure Success in Writing
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| Photo Credit: healthymindheartbody.com |
For some people, finishing a manuscript is a huge milestone. Others don't consider themselves victorious until they've landed on best-seller lists or sold X number of copies. Still others don't call themselves champions until they have X number of books written and distributed.
So what's the answer? At what time can we each be considered successful writers? At which milestone do we cross the threshold that separates 'trying' from 'succeeding'?
The answer is all of them, or perhaps none.
Because writing is so subjective, the only way to gauge success as a writer is by our own, individual goals.
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| Photo Credit: dannybrown.me |
If your goal is to write 10 books over 5 years, go for it! Even if you don't quite make your goal, if it takes longer than you hoped or you do well but only get 8 instead of 10 in your time frame, as long as you are progressively moving toward your goals, guess what? You are a successful writer.
If your goal is simply to write a children's book, or upload a few short stories to Amazon to sell, when you do it, guess what? You're a successful writer.
Remember that as you move forward and wade through rules, rejections, and other disappointments. As long as you don't give up, you're already a successful writer with each milestone you reach. And you have no where to go but forward. :D
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| Photo Credit: rhythmofsuccess.com |
(I think he had a little bit of success, don't you?) :D
Random Movie Quotes (RMQ)
Don't know what this is? Click here.
| Photo Credit: film.com |
I LOVE this line! It's so funny precisely because it sounds so awkward. Chris Hemsworth said it in Thor, playing the film's title character. After my siblings and I saw this film, we started saying this every time we were hungry. It's so funny to see the reaction of people who don't know the film reference. :D
Alex Cavanaugh got this quote! Great job, Alex! :D
Alex Cavanaugh got this quote! Great job, Alex! :D
Today's RMQ:
"Last week we were all strangers, but we're all here, now...but if we can't live together, we're gonna die alone."
One point for show (it's a famous, recurring line/theme from a TV show), one for actor, one for character's name. Any guesses?
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Anna Dressed in Blood Book Review and RMQ
| Photo Credit: goodreads.com |
Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
Just your average boy-meets-girl, girl-kills-people story...
Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.
So did his father before him, until his gruesome murder by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father’s mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.
When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn’t expect anything outside of the ordinary: move, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he’s never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, but now stained red and dripping blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.
And she, for whatever reason, spares his life. (From Goodreads)
My Thoughts:
I LOVED Anna Dressed in Blood! Cas is a teenaged ghost hunter that moves around the country killing homicidal ghosts. His mom goes with him and is pretty understanding for a parent, but that's probably because she was married to a ghost hunter for so many years. Of course, this case is special. It gets ugly really fast and will change Cas, for better or worse.
If you're at all in the CW series, Supernatural, you'll enjoy this. The premise is very similar. Cas is a teenaged version of a Hunter. The major differences are that 1) he's still in high school and 2) he hunts ghosts almost exclusively, rather than an array of paranormal creatures.
This is told in the first person, but the narrator is a guy rather than a girl, which is different. I really liked him, though. He's a very convincing teenager. The voice is realistic and very likable.
Content Warning: I was a bit surprised at how gory this was. The gore didn't turn me off to the book at all, but because it's a YA novel, I just didn't expect there to be so much. As the narrator is an (often angry) high school kid, there is also some language in it. (He drops F-bombs here and there, along with some other cuss words.)
Other than that, I loved the novel. Cas's sense of humor was hysterical and it was fun to be in his head. The story was engrossing, suspenseful, and at times downright creepy. I will definitely be picking up the sequel. This would be a great Halloween read, and a great read for anyone into ghost stories or the paranormal. I definitely recommend it! :D
Random Movie Quotes (RMQ)
Don't know what this is? Click here.
Today's RMQ is:
"This mortal form grows weak! I require sustenance!"
One point for film, one for actor, one for character. Any guesses?
Monday, October 8, 2012
Banned Books--Why Dystopians More than Others?
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| Photo Credit: theskinnyonmyjeans.wordpress.com |
Why is that?
Perhaps it seems like an obvious question, but I really wanted to geek out and over-analyze it. I do that sometimes. :D
The first thought I had was that dystopian novels tend to be political. They almost always have an agenda. This is undoubtedly one of the reasons people are threatened by them, but it doesn't entirely hold up because the same thing could be said of any literary science fiction piece.
My final semester in college a took a class called Literary Science Fiction. We read mostly short stories with a few novellas thrown in. The biggest thing I remember about this class was that the stories were extremely political--not overtly, but in the issues they dealt with and what they were trying to say about these issues. As the reader, you either agreed with the politics or you didn't. Because we live in a bipartisan world, chances are the agreement stats for such stories are going to be pretty evenly divided. As someone who doesn't often agree with the politics of many in my field, I liked very few of the stories. The ones I liked, I actually loved. The ones I didn't like made me spit in disgust.
Yet, this reaction rarely happens to me with dystopias. Why? I think it's because dystopias are more real, more visceral They may be a walking political statement, but they don't feel like they are. It feels more like escapism, like being caught in a live-free-or-die-fighting sort of world and we can't help but care and become invested.
It's not that dystopians don't make a political statement--they definitely do--but it's what they're saying that makes the difference. Rather than a blatant bipartisan plug, they deal with universal human rights violations. These are issues that everyone, no matter what their politics, can get behind. So why are they banned? Doesn't make sense, right?
Well, aside from the fact that banning ANY book doesn't make sense, there is more. Almost without exception, dystopians focus on a strong protagonist that must overcome a repressive regime, fight for the unalienable rights of humanity, and take on the dystopian world. This is another reason dystopians are so compelling. These are characters that grab our hearts, spike our adrenaline, and yank a visceral emotional reaction out of us.
This is also, in my opinion, why so many people are so threatened by these stories. They teach us to take our lives and our fate into our own hands, to challenge the powers that be, and take action against the injustices of the world. Those closed-minded, power-tripping people that don't want an intelligent, actionable public to take up arms against them take issue with these stories. After all, one person standing up for what's right can become many. Many becomes multitudes. Multitudes become armies. Armies incite revolution.
You gotta love dystopians. :D
Look for Persistence of Vision, Winter 2012
In a world where collective hives are enslaving the population and individuals have been hunted to the verge of extinction, Maggie Harper, and independent 21st Century woman, must find the strength to preserve the freedom of the future, but without the aid of her memories.
After experiencing a traumatic time loss, Maggie is plagued by a barrage of images she can't explain. When she's attacked by a creep with a spider's web tattoo, she is saved by Marcus, a man she's never met, but somehow remembers. He tells her that both he and her creepy attacker are from a future in which individuals are being murdered by collectives, and Marcus is part of the rebellion. The collectives have acquired time travel and they plan to enslave the human race throughout all of history. The flashes Maggie has been seeing are echoes of lost memories, and the information buried deep within them is instrumental in defeating the collective hives.
In order to preserve the individuality of mankind, Maggie must try to re-discover stolen memories, re-kindle friendships she has no recollection of, and wade through her feelings for the mysterious Marcus, all while dodging the tattooed assassins the collectives keep sending her way.
If Maggie can't fill the holes in her memory and find the answers to stop the collectives, the world both in her time and in all ages past and future will be doomed to enslavement in the grey, mediocre collectives. As the danger swirls around her and the collectives close in, Maggie realizes she must make a choice: stand out or fade away...
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Follow Friday--Blog Purpose! :D
*ANNOUNCEMENT: JFP'S CREATIVE FRIGHTING CONTEST IS IN FULL SWING! GO TO THIS WEBSITE, READ SOME AWESOME SHORT STORIES, AND VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE! I HAVE ONE IN THE RUNNING! IF YOU LIKE THEM, PLEASE SPREAD THE NEWS! THERE ARE PRIZES FOR RANDOM VOTERS! THANKS!
Welcome to Follow Friday!
Gain new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogger Feature & Follow! If this is your first time here, welcome! You are about to make some new friends and gain new followers -- but you have to know -- the point of this hop is to follow other bloggers also. I follow you, you follow me.
The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee's View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it'll allow us to show off more new blogs!
How does this work? First you leave your name here on this post, (using the linky tools -- keep scrolling!) then you create a post on your own blog that links back to this post (easiest way is to just grab the code under the #FF picture and put it in your post) and then you visit as many blogs as you can and tell them "hi" in their comments (on the post that has the #FF image). You follow them, they follow you. Win. Win. Just make sure to follow back if someone follows you!
Q: What do you hope to accomplish with your blog? Is it to one day become an author yourself, just for fun, maybe get some online attention, or maybe something very different?
A: I actually already am an author. If you shift your eyes to the left, you'll see the cover of my debut novel, a futuristic dystopian fantasy, that will be out at the end of the year. I started a blog four months ago so I could establish an online presence to help me connect with my readers and help spread the word about my book. I hope that my blog will always be an archive of information about writing (my passion) and reading (close second) and that it will be a way for me to connect with my readers and for them to feel like they can connect with me.
How about you? What's YOUR blog's purpose?
Thoughts for Thursday (T4T) -- 7
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| Image credit: devor / 123RF Stock Photo |
WELCOME TO THOUGHTS FOR THURSDAY!
Thoughts for Thursday is a new meme hosted by Musings on Fantasia and LKHill. In this meme, we share thoughts or quotes that we know or have recently come across. Each week there is a specific subject or theme. These can be quotes from books, quotes by famous people, (quotes by YOU, perhaps ;D). Anything from anywhere is game, though we do ask that you keep your quote to a few sentences at most. Don't quote, for example, entire passages of a book or essay. These can be funny quips, cool sayings, hair-raising antidotes, movie lines, any kind of quote you can think of!
Readers may respond by either commenting on the quote I put forward or contributing a quote of their own. I'll include a linky list, or you can just respond in the comments.
Just have fun, collect awesome sayings by awesome people, and try to be inspired!
Readers may respond by either commenting on the quote I put forward or contributing a quote of their own. I'll include a linky list, or you can just respond in the comments.
Just have fun, collect awesome sayings by awesome people, and try to be inspired!
This week's theme is comedy.
“Comedy is the art of making people laugh without making them puke.” --Steve Martin
“Satire is tragedy plus time. You give it enough time, the public, the reviewers will allow you to satirize it. Which is rather ridiculous, when you think about it.” ― Lenny Bruce, The Essential Lenny Bruce
Comedy is tragedy plus time.--Carol Burnett
"In a comedy it helps enhance things that were already there.--Ivan Reitman
What do you think? Which is your favorite? Do you have a quote to contribute?
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
The One Element that Will Make EVERYONE Read Your Story
Today I'm doing a guest post over at Moonlight Reader Book Reviews entitled The One Element that will Make Everyone Read Your Story. Will you all click on over there and leave your comments there? Make sure and tell Pam how awesome her blog is--'cause it really is! :D Thanks a million!
*Announcement: JFP's Creative Frighting Contest is in full swing! Go to this website, read some awesome short stories, and vote for your favorite! I have one in the running! If you like them, please spread the news! There are prizes for random voters! Thanks!
Monday, October 1, 2012
**Special Announcement**, Teaser Tuesday + Random Movie Quotes! (RMQ) -- Rules and Points
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| Photo Credit: jollyfishpress.com |
*Announcement: JFP's Creative Frighting Contest is in full swing! Go to this website, read some awesome short stories, and vote for your favorite! I have one in the running! If you like them, please spread the news! There are prizes for random voters! Thanks!
Teaser Tuesday--Anna Dressed in Blood
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!
"I've seen most of what there is to be afraid of in this world, and to tell you the truth, the worst of them are the ones that make you afraid in the light. The things that your eyes see plainly and can't forget are worse than huddled black figures left to the imagination. Imagination has poor memory; it slinks away and goes blurry. Eyes remember for much longer." (Pg. 276)
Photo Credit: goodreads.com
"I smile quietly. She is with me all the time. I feel stupid now, for not seeing it sooner. But hey, at least we'll have this strange story to tell, love and death and blood and daddy-issues. And holy crap, I am a psychiatrist's wet dream." (Pg. 288)
So, what are you currently reading?
Random Movie Quotes (RMQ)!!!
After a couple of months of doing this meme, I'm finally getting it nailed down.
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| Photo Credit: thelostclassics.com |
Let me explain. No, is too much. Let me sum up. (*wink, wink*)
My entire family LOVES both TV and the movies. We all have Random-Movie-Quote-Terets. As in, we blurt out movie/tv show lines in random conversation. This is totally normal at my house. Others who witness it are all kinds of stupefied. And it's not always obvious quotes, mind you. Some of them are ridiculously obscure. Of course, WE all know what we're talking about, but no one else does.
From now on, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I'm going to end my blog posts with a random movie quote. All my readers get to guess where it came from. You get 1 point for being the first to guess which movie the line is from, another if you can identify the character that said it and another for the actor. (I.e. If one person gets the movie but not the character or actor, someone else can pick up the second point for that, but not for the name of the film once it's been guessed.) And of course I'll announce the winner or winners the following day!
This post will keep track of winners and points. If you accrue 50 points, you will book paraphernalia. If you get 100 points, you'll win a free book. For 200 points, you'll get a package. After that, your point accrual will start over. (In between prizes, you won't start over.)
So, keep up the great guessing and check back to this post (I'll link it to RMQ posts) to see how many points you have! Have fun and good luck! :D
As points stand right now...(updated 10/02/12)
Alex J Cavanaugh...8 points
Jeff Hargett...2 points
The Housework Can Wait...2 points
Dee @ Dee's Book Blog...3 points
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