C. Lee McKenzie's Blog, page 85

Creepy Cake N Bake RIP WIP

You gotta have bats and skeletons and tombstones and ghosts. A bowl helps too.
I have such steep competition that I almost threw up my skeletons and said, "Forget it!" But I can't quit without  a try, so here's my Creepy Cake N Bake entry,

R.I.P ✟ W.I.P.



Creepy Step 1: Gather all your gear.



Creepy Step 2: Put on your best witch hat and if you have creepy fingers, put those on too. Then take out Betty. She's perfected the German Chocolate Cake, so why try to outdo perfection, especially when it's late and you needs some cake . . . fast?



[image error] Creepy Step 3: Dump the contents into a mixing bowl, add two eggs,  2/3 C. of oil,  1 1/3 C. water and beat the heck out of the batter for a couple of minutes.





Creepy (and most risky) Step 5: Taste, using long green finger. Yum!



Creepy Step 6: Bake with small chunk of brimstone (about 350 hellish degrees) for 45 minutes. When cool, frost with devilishly creamy chocolate. Frosting must include Vampyre bats and Ghostly peeps melted slowly and painfully in cauldron (not pictured here.) And Viola!  R.I.P ✝ W.I.P is complete. Want to see the results? BEWARE. It's CREEPY!










Directed by J.M. McKenziePhotographed by T.A. McKenzieLighting & Sound by C.L. McKenzie

The Creepy Cake N Bake-a-Thon is ON! VOTE for your favorite entry by commenting below. You can comment on EVERY Cake N Bake post, one entry per post, for a chance to win a $20 gift certificate from Barnes and Noble or an official Creepy Cake N Bake doll! Please include your email in order to be entered to win.





Trophies will be awarded on Halloween for the top creeptastic creations. Winners will be chosen by our special Celebrity Judge, http://adamrex.com">Adam Rex, author of such deliciously creepy creations such as FAT VAMPIRE, FRANKENSTEIN TAKES THE CAKE, FRANKENSTEIN MAKES A SANDWICH, and PSSST!

HERE ARE THE OTHER CREEPY ENTRIES:

Mon Oct. 3 - Saundra Mitchell

Wed Oct 5 - Stacey Jay

Friday Oct 7 - Erin Dionne

Saturday Oct 8 - Sydney Salter

Mon Oct 10 - Brenna Yovanoff

Wed Oct 12 - Tara Hudson

Friday Oct 14 - Karen Healey

Saturday Oct 15 - Robin Bridges

Mon Oct 17 - Michelle Zink

Friday Oct 21 - Victoria Schwab 

Saturday Oct 22 - C.Lee McKenzie [ THIS IS ME! PLEASE COME BACK AND GIVE ME YOUR VOTE. I SO WANT, CRAVE, NEED TO WIN SOMETHING . . . ANYTHING. ]

Sunday Oct 23 - E. Kristin Anderson

Mon Oct 24 - Natalie Zaman

Wed Oct 26 - Stephanie Burgis

Friday Oct 28 - Dawn MetcalfSliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09

In The Throes of Thursday--Why Zombies?

[image error] Question: What's scarier than an a Zombie? Answer: Two Zombies.

Unfortunately, when there's one there's never only two; Zombies come in hoards and you don't have to go looking for them either. They'll find you. (Insert scary scream here.)





And people can't seem to get enough of those ghastly, grim vacant creatures. Why is that?

I guess it's because we love to be scared.



Vampires used to do that job, but then movies like Love at First Bite came out, and then someone wrote a book about a gentle, lovesick vampire that also happened to be hunk. How can anyone be scared by George Hamilton or Robert Pattinson? Vampires might as well be bunnies now--not the Monte Python type bunny.



As a writer, I used to wonder how many Zombie books would make too many, but now I know. There will never be too many. The reason is simple. The stories of flesh eating monsters aren't about the flesh eating monsters at all. They're all about the humans who have to deal with them and how that traumatic experience affects those who are alive.



Will timid Maxwell suddenly find his courage and race to rescue Sarah, the girl who makes fun of him, from certain death?



Will Jasper, the hunky star quarterback, run away terrified, leaving his girl friend as the killer hoard approaches?



Will the school's low-life be the one to devise the plan that saves the auditorium filled with trapped students?



Just look at the tension those questions produce.  I guess writing a book with Zombies is a great idea if you want to reveal the true nature of your characters by putting them into tense and testing situations. However, if you'd rather just write about bunnies, there's room for that too. Or think outside of the box and be the first to write a Bunny-Zombie sort of book. Oh wait! It may be too late. One's already been made into a movie.



Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09

Monday Miscellany-SemiPantsers

Last week during #YALitChat Wednesday the forever lasting question about the Pantser v Plotter came up. I wrote: "I'm a SemiPantser." And guess what? Several others on the chat said they were too. So that started me thinking (Oh, no. Not that!). But what makes a SemiPantser? My guess is a lot of different writing approaches that don't involve setting out a plot, character bios, etc. before starting a book.



In my mind, a Pantser jumps right in. They love the excitement of coming up with a new idea, meeting those characters, and then bringing them to life on the page. All of that sends them full steam ahead into the W.I.P. With this approach there's the danger of running out of that steam about half-way through. Maybe the story simply fades or the characters become inconsistent or flat. On the other hand, that impulse to create something new and fresh without "over thinking" it can propel a story through a first draft.



But what if you straddle the P v P writer life? What if you use some of those Plotter devices to support your Pantser instincts?



I guess I wanted to know, so I started a #semipantser group on Twitter and I created a semipantser circle on Google+ in hopes those of us who aren't in either camp 100% would share what they do. If you're one of us, hope your join and add your voice to this middle-of-the-road group.



The Creepy Cake N Bake has taken over this week.  Here's Michelle Zinc's entry and it so good. Rats! Double Rats! I wanted so much to win and with each entry my hope fades.



A NOT SO CREEPY, BUT DEFINITELY SWEET SPIDER
Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09

In the Throes of Thursday-Intuitions

I have this bridge and it's really cheap.
Anyone ever "just know" something, but not have "evidence" that what you're feeling is true?  We call that intuition. And how many of you follow those feelings even when you're confronted with facts that point in the opposite direction?



 So often I can look back at a situation and recall that I should have paid attention to what that tiny inner voice was telling me. "He's not telling the truth." "That's not the right thing to do." "Choose the red one."





A book titled Blink that I read several years ago was all about how paying attention to that voice was a good idea. It opens with an account of an archeologist seeing what was presented as an ancient and valuable statue. She "knew" something was off about it, yet all the paperwork and all the experts had declared it to be authentic. After a large sum of money exchanged hands--museum to dealer--that statue turned out to be a beautiful fake.



I just finished Provenance a non-fiction work that reads like an fast-paced novel. It's a story about a highly intelligent con man who, not only floods the market with forgeries of masterpieces, but also changes the provenance of that art.  (Provenance is the history of a piece of art that follows the work from the time it's first sold, so that it's journey is a map through the art world. The Provenance is supposed to determine the authenticity of the art and often the value.) His deception staggered museum curators and collectors around the world. There are still archived histories that have notes: "Be aware that these data may have been altered."



After reading these books, I wanted to create a character who had the intelligence, the guile, the utter disregard for others or for the truth. I thought a true miscreant would be a wonderful protagonist, someone with charm, but without one speck of care for anyone or anything. Then I wanted to put him into a story filled with dupes that readers would follow as they ignored those inner voices and believed my sociopath.





Maybe this book has already been written. If so, tell me about it before I craft my story. Or tell me about so I can read and enjoy it.Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09

Monday Miscellany-All Over the Map

The WRITE CAMPAIGN is going strong. Hope you'll stop by and see what the campaigners are up to.







Then there's the 2009 Debs and their crazy~fun Creepy Cake N Bake. Help us choose the CREEPIEST CAKE. Here's today's entry from Erin Dionne. Eyeballs, anyone?





 I'll add the permalinks as each author posts an entry. Be sure to stop by and say hi to them. They're outdoing each other in this contest.



Mon Oct. 3 - Saundra Mitchell

Wed Oct 5 - Stacey Jay

Friday Oct 7 - Erin Dionne

Saturday Oct 8 - Sydney Salter

Mon Oct 10 - Brenna Yovanoff

Wed Oct 12 - Tara Hudson

Friday Oct 14 - Karen Healey

Saturday Oct 15 - Robin Bridges

Mon Oct 17 - Michelle Zink

Wed Oct 19 - Julia Karr

Friday Oct 21 - Victoria Schwab

Saturday Oct 22 - C.Lee McKenzie [ THIS IS ME! PLEASE COME BACK AND GIVE ME YOUR VOTE. I SO WANT, CRAVE, NEED TO WIN SOMETHING . . . ANYTHING. ]

Sunday Oct 23 - E. Kristin Anderson

Mon Oct 24 - Natalie Zaman

Wed Oct 26 - Stephanie Burgis

Friday Oct 28 - Dawn MetcalfSliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09

Friday Special-Give us Hand if You Can

I'm blogging on Friday again, but this time it's to ask for writerly support for the WestSide Book authors. 

We're in a pickle.

WestSide is up for sale, but no one seems to know that, so all of our books are in limbo because no business is being conducted.

Can you put the word out? Can you purchase one of our books to enhance our visibility? Can you send chocolates? (We have plenty of pickles, so don't send any of those.)ORBuy Our Publisher & I'll Give You a Raccoon (This was Beth's idea, but I'll up the prize and make it TWO Racoons.)

I can't put Sliding on the Edge or The Princess of Las Pulgas out as eBooks. I can't do much of anything, but wait. The other authors are in the same situation.



Beth Fehlbaum took out an ad in Publisher's Marketplace for today to highlight what's going on. Hope you'll check out her post. Here's the list of all the WestSide authors.



*****

A Kid from Southie by John Shea and Michael Harmon-- nominated for a 2012 YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant YA Readers





A Closer Look by Karen DelleCava



 Between Us Baxters by Bethany Hegedus-a 2010 Bank Street Best Book for Children, starred; Top 40 Fiction Books for YA by the Pennsylvania Library Association



Change Of Heart by Shari Maurer- named to the Pennsylvania School Library Association Top 40 books of 2010



Cracking the Ice by Dave Hendrickson



Dear Big V by Ellen W. Leroe



Hope In Patience by Beth Fehlbaum- 2011 YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers; Top Choice Award from Flamingnet



Hunted by Cheryl Rainfield



I Am Nuchu by Brenda Stanley



Listen by Nancy Coffelt



One Wish by Leigh Brescia



Open Wounds by Joseph Lunievicz--Starred Review in Publisher's Weekly; Book of the month in October at Treasured Tales for Young Adults



Orphan! by John R. Weber--selected a Top 40 YA novel for 2010 by the Pennsylvania School Librarian's Association



Princess Of Las Pulgas by C. Lee McKenzie



Pull by B.A. Binns—nominated for a 2012 YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant YA Readers; 2010 National Readers Choice Award in the Young Adult category.



Running for My Life by Ann Gonzalez



Scars by Cheryl Rainfield- # 1, 2011 YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Readers, named to the 2011 ALA Rainbow List, a Governor General's Literary Award finalist (Canada); ALA Stonewall Book Award Nominee; SCBWI Crystal Kite Award finalist; Independent Literary Awards (LGBT) shortlisted; Elliot Rosewater Indiana High School Book Award Nominee.



Saved By The Music by Selene Castrovilla



Seattle Blues by Michael Wenberg-selected a 2010 Bank Street Best Book for Children 9-12; Top Choice Award from Flamingnet



Shattered by Kathi Baron



Sliding On The Edge by C. Lee McKenzie



Something Terrible Happened on Kenmore by Marci Stillerman



Star in the Middle by Carol Larese Millward--Best YA Books of 2010: A Literary Mixtape - GalleyCat



Stepping Up by Mark Fink—winner of the Nevada State Book Award



Stringz by Michael Wenberg- selected a Top 40 YA novel for 2010 by the Pennsylvania School Librarian's Association; Top Choice Award from Flamingnet



The Girl Next Door by Selene Castrovilla--selected a Top 40 YA novel for 2010 by the Pennsylvania School Librarian's Association; one of GalleyCat's Best YA Books of 2010



The Ring by Bobbie Pyron—Finalist, Utah State Book Award



The Summer I Got A Life by Mark Fink



Waiting to Score by J.E. MacLeod—A 2010 Bank Street Best Book for ChildrenSliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09

In the Throes of Thursday-Creepy Cake N Bake

1st Annual Creepy Cake N Bake is ON!

16 Authors



16 Creepy CreationsTwo disturbing, but perfect hand made trophies (for the 1st and 2nd place author winners)





Two not-so-disturbing and very lovely prizes for those who comment (Vote for your favorite entry by commenting. You can comment on EVERY Cake N Bake post, one entry per post, for a chance to win a $20 gift certificate from The Book Depository or an official Creepy Cake N Bake doll! Please include your email in order to be entered to win.)



A celebrity Judge-Adam Rex, author of FAT VAMPIRE and FRANKENSTEIN TAKES THE CAKE  . . . Not my cake, you don't!



Here's a list of participants for your future convenience. I'll post links to each author and their Creepfastic Cakes.



Mon Oct. 3 - Saundra Mitchell

Wed Oct 5 - Stacey Jay

Friday Oct 7 - Erin Dionne

Saturday Oct 8 - Sydney Salter

Mon Oct 10 - Brenna Yovanoff

Wed Oct 12 - Tara Hudson

Friday Oct 14 - Karen Healey

Saturday Oct 15 - Robin Bridges

Mon Oct 17 - Michelle Zink

Wed Oct 19 - Julia Karr

Friday Oct 21 - Victoria Schwab

Saturday Oct 22 - C.Lee McKenzie [ THIS IS ME! PLEASE COME BACK AND GIVE ME YOUR VOTE. I SO WANT, CRAVE, NEED TO WIN SOMETHING . . . ANYTHING. ]

Sunday Oct 23 - E. Kristin Anderson

Mon Oct 24 - Natalie Zaman

Wed Oct 26 - Stephanie Burgis

Friday Oct 28 - Dawn MetcalfSliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09

Creepy Cake N Bake

1st Annual Creepy Cake N Bake is ON!

16 Authors



16 Creepy CreationsTwo disturbing, but perfect hand made trophies (for the 1st and 2nd place author winners)





Two not-so-disturbing and very lovely prizes for those who comment (Vote for your favorite entry by commenting. You can comment on EVERY Cake N Bake post, one entry per post, for a chance to win a $20 gift certificate from The Book Depository or an official Creepy Cake N Bake doll! Please include your email in order to be entered to win.)



A celebrity Judge-Adam Rex, author of FAT VAMPIRE and FRANKENSTEIN TAKES THE CAKE  . . . Not my cake, you don't!



Here's a list of participants for your future convenience. I'll post links to each author and their Creefastic Cakes.



Mon Oct. 3 - Saundra Mitchell

Wed Oct 5 - Stacey Jay

Friday Oct 7 - Erin Dionne

Saturday Oct 8 - Sydney Salter

Mon Oct 10 - Brenna Yovanoff

Wed Oct 12 - Tara Hudson

Friday Oct 14 - Karen Healey

Saturday Oct 15 - Robin Bridges

Mon Oct 17 - Michelle Zink

Wed Oct 19 - Julia Karr

Friday Oct 21 - Victoria Schwab

Saturday Oct 22 - C.Lee McKenzie [ THIS IS ME! PLEASE COME BACK AND GIVE ME YOUR VOTE. I SO WANT, CRAVE, NEED TO WIN SOMETHING . . . ANYTHING. ]

Sunday Oct 23 - E. Kristin Anderson

Mon Oct 24 - Natalie Zaman

Wed Oct 26 - Stephanie Burgis

Friday Oct 28 - Dawn MetcalfSliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09

Monday Miscellany-The Title Page

A Chaucer Woodcut Title Page
Recently, I slipped off to a museum to walk through a small exhibit of ILLUSTRATED TITLE PAGES. I know, don't say it. My friends and family say enough about my passion for all things Book. I thought I'd share some of what I saw there with those of you who might find the beauty of another time worth a quick view.



This exhibit opened with books from the 16th century--a little before my time and by authors I didn't have the privilege of meeting. As I walked around the small room I traveled through four centuries, snapping photos with my iPhone. Now, if that doesn't make you think about your place in time, nothing will.







The title page had the job of enticing the reading into the work while acknowledging the author, artist, patron and publisher. Wow! I wish I had all that color on my title pages. Maybe no nudes. I write YA.





And then came Alice. I loved this beautiful illustration of the dreaming girl.



 Happy Monday, everyone and especially to the WRITE CAMPAIGN people.Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09

In the Throes of Thursday-Simultaneous Submissions

This topic has been boxed around a lot. However, it's an issue that I started dealing with from the first time I sent out work. I still hear it discussed by writers, at conferences and on blog posts. There are uncertainties and pitfall, so it's best that we find out all we can about this submitting process. After all we're trying to look and behave like professional writers.



Here are two of the best sites I've found about submission. In Writer Unboxed, Chuck Sambuchino lays out a submission plan that makes so much sense. Don't query 50 and risk the chance of having all of them turn you down. Test the waters with 6-8. Find out if your query is working. If it isn't, get help, then fix it, and then send out to another selected group of agents.



For some real nitty gritty Wowpaloozie stuff on all things Submissions take a look at Author!Author::Anne Mini's Blog. There's enough information about all things submission to give you the confidence to hit the query trail just right. Here's a small sample.

EXCLUSIVES AND MULTIPLE SUBMISSION
EXCLUSIVES TO AGENTS
INDUSTRY ETIQUETTE, IS IT OKAY TO SUBMIT TO SEVERAL AGENTS AT ONCE?
WHAT IF MORE THAN ONE AGENT ASKS TO SEE MY MANUSCRIPT? AND WHAT IF THE FIRST REQUEST IS FOR AN EXCLUSIVE? (Wowzer. Dilema, yes. But you can avoid this with some homework. See how.)
 Now on to do a bit of research, write my next bang up go get 'em query, and check in with my WriteCampaign groups.Sliding on the Edge, C. Lee McKenzie, WestSide Books, Spring '09