Meet the Teacher and a Truth Award

It's Meet the Teacher day at the girls' school, which means... Monday's it!

Truth: I've never really liked the girls going back to school. I feel like they're taking those first little steps away from me, starting their own little lives. Then I feel like time is passing too fast, and my throat gets tight...

OK, more truth, I also like not having a schedule or using an alarm clock in the mornings.

This year, the sad truth is I'm a little glad school's starting back. I'll be able to go back in the writing cave and not feel guilty about it.

(But I never left the writing cave, you argue? No, I did. This summer my only writing was for work and on this here blog.)

My primary focus on the ole novelist career this summer was networking, joining crit groups, and revisions. All very important, just not writing.

Still, I met so many amazing writer friends. If you missed it Monday, one of those is Carolyn Abiad whose Burnt Amber blog is absolutely fascinating.

Her paranormal romance of the same name is set in Turkey and filled with all kinds of legends and locations. She chronicles and explains them all on her blog. (Click her name above to visit.)

Fun truth: I'm a sucker for all things exotic.

So a brief post today. WriteOnCon is still going strong, and if you're a writer, get over there and check out all the great information.

Sadly, I haven't been able to participate in the critique forums. My window was Wednesday, and the site was down half the day. And it's not right to post if you can't give feedback.

But there is so much good stuff there. And it's completely free.

Now for the Award:

This award was given to me by Cruella at Giraffability of Digressions. The Bold Face Liar Creative Writer award requires you to:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link to them. (THANK YOU, CC! And you can visit her beautiful giraffe-laden blog by clicking on her name above.)

2. Add the award to your blog.  (DONE!)

3. Tell six outrageous lies about yourself and one truth. (Another variant: Tell six truths and one outrageous lie.)

4. Nominate six creative liars–I mean writers–and post links to them.

5. Let your nominees know that they have been nominated.

OK! So to start, sigh... I know so many bold face liars, er, creative writers. But I'll tag some of my new blogging friends who weren't mentioned on Monday.

I happily pass this award to the following friends who have amazing and/or helpful blogs:

Holly, the Supermom who Writes
RaShelle, who needs a No. 2 Pencil, Stat!
K.M. Weiland over at Wordplay
Karen, who's Coming Down the Mountain
Ezmirelda, who has Dreamz

and my precious cousin Alison who recently started her blog: Pure Imagination! Run check it out and give her some love~

Now, you funny reader-friends time to guess the Truth amidst all these... creative statements. (Lie is such an ugly word.) Which of the following is TRUE:

1. I won a contest in elementary school for collecting the most postcards from different cities.

2. I graduated from a coffee cupping class in college.

3. My first job was at a snowball stand in front of a used car dealership.

4. My two front teeth are fake as the result of a bicycle accident in childhood.

5. My nickname is "Curls Magee."

6. I was going to major in Marine Biology in college, but ultimately switched to Journalism.

7. My first attempt at creative writing was a graphic novel titled Zombie Woman.

That's easy enough, right?

The TRUTH and a Book review on Monday! This time the one I was going to review when The Hunger Games swept in and derailed everything. Until then, have a great weekend, reader friends~

Origins & the Passage of Awards

First, why are cats so adorable? This is one of my faves (stolen from the Tart):

I've decided to be the cat at WriteOnCon. It's a mistake I'm sure since 1,400 people have registered, but I want to conceal my identity.

Only now I've just told it to you, so you know. But it's OK if my friends know it's me--I'm actually hoping that will generate friendly input.

No, I'm on the lam from the professionals there. You know, in case they're feeling overwhelmed and mistakenly think they don't like one of my samples...

I mean, I can only imagine these online conferences combined with their already bursting email inboxes make these guys want to go postal. So perhaps if they don't know it's me, once they cool off a bit, I can dupe them into looking at my stuff again.

It's a strategy. It might even be a good one...

I also got a partial request Friday (whoot!) that asked me to include a short bio. It's happened before but this time it got me thinking about when I knew I wanted to be a writer.

There was never that one moment where I said out loud, "This is what I will do." I just always did it, and by the time I was graduating high school I was filling in the blank for "What you want to be when you grow up?" with "Writer."

Hmm... I guess this means I've grown up! Wow. When did that happen?

So DL's doing his high drama blogfest. I'm not really doing a festival or tour, but I wonder when did YOU realize you wanted to be a writer?

Or going past that because I've got all sorts of professions reading this. When did you decide you wanted to be a doctor? A chef? A business owner?

What was the first thing you did (that you can remember) in your chosen profession? For me, it was Fury Woman.

Fury Woman was a "graphic novel" I penned (literally with a ballpoint) as an elementary school kid. She was a scientist who spilled acid on her face. The result was giant eyebrows and a huge mole.

Fury Woman was only ever depicted in profile in my drawings, and sadly I don't remember much of her story. But I do remember the drawings and all the ink I wasted making those eyebrows...

My next book was a romance novel. I wrote it, my BF Dara did the illustrations. (She's actually a professional artist/art teacher now and very accomplished.)

I remember us tossing around for a name. I liked the sound of Pride and Prejudice, so we grabbed the ole Thesaurus and came up with Dignity and Detriment.

I think Dara still has that spiral-bound noteook...

So that's my origin story. Now you share. Scarlett, I want to hear about your first baking experience, and writers, that first book. Engineers, what was your first building, and doctors, your first patient. Hopefully it wasn't the little girl down the street... Hello!

***

And now for the Awards show!

Blogging is tough. Agents tell us reclusive writers we have to "network," so we start these little sites and then it's just one more thing to keep up with... For a while.

Then you start meeting people. Then you start making friends, and before long, you're exchanging little gifts...

Well, it's my turn to hand out the gifts. And I put it off because, heck! This is hard. I'd give everyone who regularly reads and comments here an award--maybe I'll invent that one. Visit here, get an award.

But to get going on what I have. First, the Supportive Commenter award. This award can go to so many people. Here's a few of my most supportive commenters who also have blogs (NOTE: Names are links to their blogs):

Odessa
Angela
Nicole


(Non blogging supportive commenters include Pam, Jenni, Carey, Stacey, JRM, Becca, Charla, Suzie Q.--!...)


I figured out how to do this next award. It goes to some of my new superstar blogging buddies who are great supportive commenters, but who are up to their ears in bling already. I'm throwing you guys a curve-ball.

The Mayan "End of Days" award. The way this one works is you have to say what three things you'll do if the Mayans are right and the world is going to end on Dec. 21, 2012. I mean, before that.

It goes to:

Katie (CQG)
Candace (MiC)
Jen
Cruella
DL

And finally, my newbie bestie award. (Awww...) This one goes to new friends who have become close friends just through the process of blogging. Imagine.

It goes to:

Hart
Carolyn
Rayna
Scarlett




Now as Candy would say, come get your crap. And remember to keep passing the love! See you back here Thursday. Remember to look for Miss Kitty at WriteOnCon~

Book Review - Catching Fire & another Award

So if you're counting, yes, that's right. I went out and bought it, and then read it in three days. Do I need to grade it for you? A+ again! And August 27 can't get here fast enough...

If you're totally lost, I'm talking about Book 2 in the Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins.

On Monday I reviewed Book 1, The Hunger Games, which I'd been hearing about but hadn't been terribly motivated to pick up because I didn't think I'd like it.

I was wrong.

So tell you about Catching Fire? OK!

It's either the French or the Russian revolution (or both) that teaches the political lesson of "never let the poor get too poor." That's the overall tone of Catching Fire. The poor districts have lost so much, they're just looking for someone to challenge the Capitol.

That someone turned out to be main character Katniss Everdeen in her resolution of the Hunger Games that were the basis of the first book.

Uprisings are breaking out and during their "victory tour," Katniss and Peeta see how close everything is to collapse. And Katiness finds out how much trouble she's in for it.

I don't want to give away too much of the plot and spoil any of the excitement, so I'll just say I read the first 12 chapters in one sitting right after I got the book. It's that good.

Collins does a great job pulling the reader into the desperation of the district residents via Katniss, and I liked how in this book Katniss wasn't always having to rescue Peeta.

The post-traumatic stress both former tributes are struggling with is nicly portrayed and naturally Peeta's the only one Katniss can turn to for comfort, the only one who shares her nightmares.

CF is another emotional story, and Collins has a lot of fun manipulating the reader through the whole Peeta-Katniss-Gale love triangle. That's the difference from THG--the relationships take center stage much more than the games.

The mid-season Quarterly Quell (mini-games) in CF are even more treacherous with additional animals and physical elements for the tributes to face. But surprisingly, this book had far less graphic violence than THG.

Again, I started to get bored when they returned to the Capitol for training and presentation of the tributes to the Gamemakers. But this time it was just one chapter and we were out of there and into the arena. And back to flying.

CF is 100-percent bad-language and adult-situation free (Moms), and sensitive readers need be less wary of this installment.

These would make great book club books because they lend themselves to lengthy discussion. Collins smoothly pulls in current trends and makes them dark and sinister in her post-apocalyptic world. I mean, this is a world where kids fight to the death for the amusement of the general population. It would be unbelieveable if there weren't historical precedent. (Christians v. Lions anyone?)

Personally, I think it's cool that as writers we have the ability to touch on so many issues and themes and get people talking about them. That's an element of writing that drew me into journalism--shaking people up and getting them talking about what's happening. I'll be curious to see if these books become modern classics.

* * *

And now for the blog blinga-ding-ding:

One of my supercool fellow bloggers, Tami "Hart" Johnson a.k.a., "The Watery Tart," gave me the Mayan "End of Days" Award yesterday.

Let me just say, I would expect nothing less from the leading proponent of Naked World Domination.

Tami-Hart is also a soon to be published author (penname Alyse Carlson), and I cannot wait to read her untitled cozy mystery the second it's off the presses. (Review soon to follow here.)

So the way this award works, I have to say what I'd do if the Mayans are right and the world ends Dec. 21, 2012. I've always been a skeptic when it comes to end of the world predictions, but perhaps we'll discuss that later.

OK, so if the Mayans are right, and the world ends in a little over two years, what would I do between now and then...

#1-I know it's corny and predictable, but spend as much time with my family, friends, children, etc., as possible. (I know--do that now! And I do, but I'd do it MORE.)

#2-Take those trips to Europe I've been putting off "til I can afford it." To heck w/affording it! My passport's up to date--European friends, you're on alert~

#3-Pull the kids out of school, buy an RV and take all those trips to North American spots I'd like to see--the Grand Canyon (again, because seeing it at five doesn't count), Niagra Falls, Canada, Maine, Alaska, Hawaii... (uh... huh?) 

Now, I'm supposed to pass this, I guess. It's an odd award to pass... I also need to pass my Supportive Commenter award. I'm very remiss. And I just discovered that Jen over at Unedited gave me the "Newbie Bestie" award.

Awww! I'll need to be passing this one along as well.

Tell you what, that'll be Monday's post. In the meantime, have a great weekend, reader friends!

Lose yourself in a book~

Book review - The Hunger Games

So I was originally going to review a different book today, but I lost an afternoon Saturday finishing Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games, and I'm still recovering.

All I can say is Wow.

Here's the cover:

Let me preface this--I've been hearing so much about this book, I feel like the last person to read it. But just in case...

What's The Hunger Games, you ask?

Well, take Richard Connell's short story "The Most Dangerous Game," mix it with Reality Television, throw in a tinge of romance, target it to the young adult audience, and out comes the first book in Suzanne Collins's post-apocalyptic trilogy.

THG is set in a time where western civilization is gone, and all that's left is a Roman Empire-style nation called Panem with a main Capitol surrounded by 12 districts. (There were 13 until #13 was destroyed by the Capitol for rebellion.)

Residents of the Capitol are very rich, well-fed and bored. So every year they hold a big, nationally televised, death match called "The Hunger Games."

The games are also used to reinforce the Capitol's power over the districts because each district is required to send two "tributes" to the games who must fight to the death--only one tribute out of all 24 is allowed to win (i.e., live).

Tributes are chosen via lottery where all the kids aged 12-18 have their names put in a drawing. Your chance of getting picked increases each year because the number of times your name is entered doubles every year.

And if you're poor, your chances of getting picked are even further increased because you can trade putting your name in the hat an additional time for food.

That brings us to the main character, 16 year-old Katniss Everdeen and her little family.

Katniss lost her father in a mine explosion when she was eleven, and she's been the sole supporter of her mom and her little sister Primrose ("Prim") ever since. She's a hunter and she's smart, but she's also had to trade her name for food more than once, so the odds are against her.

Katniss has a hunting partner Gale, another impoverished fellow, who she's been hunting with since she was about 12. The two make a great team, and Collins hints at a romance between them. But they're very focused on their mission: finding food and taking care of their families. (Gale has three little brothers and no dad also.)

So here comes the lottery, and since she's 12, it's also Prim's first year to be in the draw. I won't spoil the drama for you, but ultimately Katniss is the female tribute for District 12. The male tribute is a baker's son named Peeta.

Peeta and Katniss have a history because after Katniss's father died, she almost starved to death until Peeta took a beating to give her two loaves of bread. They haven't really spoken since then--Peeta's from the privileged class--but neither of them have forgotten it.

Now's the part where I get honest.

All that takes place in the first chapter and a half. The next several chapters are focused on traveling to the Capitol, describing the Capitol, describing the food they eat, the clothes they wear, the interviews, the training... mer mer mer...

Then the games start and the first chapter of that part is spent on Katniss with no weapons, hiding and nearly dying of dehydration.

Now I know all that's "tension building," and I also know I'm risking having tomatoes thrown at me by saying this, but at that point in the book I was BORED.

I lamented to a friend that I was starting to think I was the only nerd who didn't get The Hunger Games. Seriously. I was like "When's something going to happen?"

And right then it did.

AND I've got to hand it to Collins. There's this Big Event during the games that's orchestrated by the Capitol because any time the games get "boring" the Gamemakers step in and make something happen.

Ouch! Did you see what she just did there? She made Me, the Reader, identify with the barbaric Capitol. My hat's off to her. Nicely done.

So back to the story, from there to the end, the book literally soars. That's how I lost a Saturday afternoon. You can't put it down.

Don't get me wrong, it's a tough read at times. Tears were on my cheeks more than once. Katniss is an excellent MC. She's a survivor and she's tough, but she's also relatable. And more than once she's put in the position of having to choose whether to protect or kill another tribute.

Her relationship with Peeta is also difficult. He's a sweet boy, and she owes him her life from when she nearly starved to death. But this is a death match, and she's determined to get back to her family.

The story takes some unexpected twists, and I don't want to spoil anything, but for those who've read the book, I understand there's a bit of a "Team" debate. I'm on Team Gale, and I liked how Collins maintained his presence throughout the story. It was subtle, but it was there.

To me, Katniss's life experience has been so harsh. Someone like Gale is really the only person she could take seriously. And yet how could she not form a bond with Peeta under such extreme circumstances?

But I want Katniss to have someone who can take care of her sometimes, too. Although if the need to be taken care of is suddenly removed, how does that change her relationship with her old hunting partner? It's an interesting dilemma.

In case you haven't already guessed, this book gets a big A+ from me. It is so well-executed and Collins covers all the bases. I can't think of a time while reading where I was like, "There's no way that could happen."

There is zero bad language (Moms) or "adult situations," and while it's violent, the nice thing about book violence is you can control it by how much you choose to envision.

The second book in the series Catching Fire is available in bookstores now, and later this month the last book Mockingjay is set to be released.

I do not have time, I have to work, I have things to take care of, I have responsibilities... and if I go off the radar, well... at least you know what I'm doing.

On Thursday, I'll post my previously scheduled review.

Maybe.