Liz DeJesus's Blog, page 13
October 30, 2013
October 28, 2013
Shattered Frost
Queen of Hearts by `diablo2003 on deviantART
This is what I have in my head as far as the Queen of Hearts goes. Only she's a bit overweight. Not as curvaceous. But still very pretty. :)
queen of hearts. by *Senju-HiMe on deviantART
Queen of Hearts by ~Aichan3 on deviantART
25482 / 50000 words. 51% done!
October 27, 2013
Spooktacular Sale!!!
October 24, 2013
Fairy Tale Friday
Now this is one of those stories that I read in passing growing up and didn't pay any attention to it until I was much older. I watched Faerie Tale Theater a few years ago and was reminded of that story once more. Although they change things up (as everyone likes to do), so their version is much more different than the version I read in The Brother's Grimm book. In Faerie Tale Theater they have the 'Youth' go to a lake and deal with a water spirit that lives there (I think, I have to double check) and then he spends the night in a haunted castle. In the end the only way he finally learns what fear is because his sweetheart is ill and he's frightened for her.
This is what I found on wikipedia:
A father had two sons. The younger, when asked by his father what he would like to learn to support himself, said he would like to learn to shudder. A sexton told the father that he could teach the boy. After teaching him to ring the church bell, he sent him one midnight to ring it and came after him, dressed as a ghost. The boy demanded an explanation. When the sexton didn't answer, the boy, unafraid, pushed him down the stairs, breaking his leg.
His horrified father turned him out of house, so the boy set out to learn how to shudder. He complained whenever he could, "If only I could shudder!" One man advised him to stay the night beneath the gallows, where seven hanged men were still hanging. He did so, and set a fire for the night. When the hanged bodies shook in the wind, he thought they must be cold. He cut them down and, while doing so their clothing caught on fire. The boy, annoyed at their carelessness, hung them back up in the gallows.
After the incident at the gallows, he began traveling with a waggoner. When one night they arrived at an inn, the inn-keeper told him that, if he wanted to know how to shudder, he should visit the haunted castle nearby. If he could manage to stay there for three nights in a row, he could learn how to shudder, as well as win the king's daughter and all of the rich treasures of the castle. Many men had tried, but none had succeeded.
The boy accepted the challenge and went to the king. The king agreed, and told him that he may bring with him three non-living things into the castle. He asked for a fire, a lathe, and a cutting board with a knife.
The first night, as the boy sat in his room, two voices from the corner of the room moaned into the night, complaining about the cold. The boy, unafraid, claimed that the owners of the voices were stupid not to warm themselves with the fire. Suddenly, two black cats jumped out of the corner and, seeing the calm boy, proposed a card game. The boy tricked the cats and trapped them with the cutting board and knife. Black cats and dogs emerged from every patch of darkness in the room, and the boy fought and killed each of them with his knife. Then, from the darkness, a bed appeared. He lay down on it, preparing for sleep, but it began walking all over the castle. Still unafraid, the boy urged it to go faster. The bed turned upside down on him, but the boy, unfazed, just tossed the bed aside and slept next to the fire until morning.
As the boy settled in for his second night in the castle, half of a man fell down the chimney. The boy, again unafraid, shouted up the chimney that the other half was needed. The other half, hearing the boy, fell from the chimney and reunited with the rest. More men followed with human skulls and dead men's legs with which to play nine-pins. The amused boy sharpened the skulls into better balls with his lathe and joined the men until midnight, when they vanished into thin air.
On his third and final night in the castle, the boy heard a strange noise. Six men entered his room, carrying a coffin. The boy, unafraid but distraught, believed the body to be his own dead cousin. As he tried to warm the body, it reanimated, and, confused, threatened to strangle him. The boy, angry at his ingratitude, closed the coffin on top of the man again. An old man heard the noise and came to see the boy. He visited with the boy, bragging that he could knock an anvil straight to the ground. The old man brought him to the basement and, while showing the boy his trick, the boy split the anvil and trapped the old man's beard in it, and then proceeded to beat the man with an iron rod. The man, desperate for mercy, showed the boy all of the treasures in the castle.
When morning finally arrived the next day, the king told the boy that he could win his lovely daughter. The boy agreed, though upset that he had still not learned how to shudder.
After being married, the boy's continuing complaints annoyed his wife to no end. Reaching her wits' end, she sent for a bucketfull of stream water, complete with gudgeons. She tossed the freezing water onto her husband as he slept. As he awoke, shuddering, he exclaimed that while he had finally learned to shudder, he still did not know what true fear was.
Fairy Tale meets MANGA by =nao--ren on deviantART
The Youth by ~SimplyZippy on deviantART
The story of the youth who went forth... by *delira on deviantART
October 23, 2013
Tools of the Trade
Me? I love a good old fashioned pen and notebook. I love feeling the scratch of the pen against the paper. Getting ink on my fingers. It makes me feel like a writer. I love getting my hands 'dirty'. But like any author I think about worse case scenarios: What if my notebook gets lost? What if there's a fire? Then what? I'd lose all of my notes, scenes, countless words and scenes would vanish.
Here are some of the things that I've been doing lately that might help you.
USB Flash drives: I have a few dozen of these little guys running around my house. All of them have stories, old and new. I'm currently carrying my latest WIP's in a flash drive that I carry in my purse.
Email: I also email stuff to myself all the time. It's a great back up. This little trick has saved my butt more times than I can count.
Notebooks: I love, LOVE my moleskine notebooks. I carry them with me everywhere. Although, I have to be careful where I keep them now that I have a 2 year old that likes to chew everything. Seriously, he's literally eaten parts of my manuscripts. Nothing is sacred.
Print: I'll print out my entire manuscript and shelve it with my books. Of course it's not fun when your adorable two year old decides it's time to pull every single book off the shelves and your manuscripts tumble on to the floor. Sigh. But at least they're in one piece. :D
Livescribe: Okay...anyone that knows me personally knows that I love technology and all sorts of gadgets. LOVE THEM. So of course, I geeked out when I found this pen.
At first I thought that it was going to take my notes and transcribe them for me (which would save my hands from an early carpul tunnel syndrome) but alas it doesn't do that. But it will record your notes and put them in evernote.com It will also record your notes, which is pretty cool. Anyway I really like this pen. It takes a little bit of getting used to but every day I click 'sync' I know that my notes are in a safe place.
What are some of the things you do to save your work? What are some of the things you worry about when it comes to preserving your work?
October 22, 2013
Zombie Ever After
Zombie Sleeping Beauty by ~SailorGabby4 on deviantART
Zombie Aurora by ~SamsSister on deviantART
18080 / 50000 words. 36% done!
October 20, 2013
FAQ's Book signing edition!!
1. How long have you been writing?
My whole entire life. Pretty sure I was doing it in utero.
2. Where do you get your ideas?
From Schenectady. It's a company that mails me a packet of ideas once a week...LOL yeah, no. I get ideas from the most random places. Clouds, dreams, songs, music videos, lyrics, poems, you name it.
3. Will you read my book during your downtime?
Sorry. I'm flattered but...no.4. Why?
Because even though I'm sitting at a table waving at customers 'Hi' and 'Bye' I still need to try and engage with a potential reader that could be interested in my book. Also a book signing is my version of going to work. Sounds crazy, but getting dressed up and getting ready to smile at the world is how I actually get paid for my books (at least the ones I sell). I need to be able to chat with people or at least say 'hello' and ask them if they would like a free bookmark. So yeah, no such thing as downtime.
5. Can I email you my novel?
Once again....no.
6. Why?
Because I don't have time. I'm a busy stay at home mom with LOTS of responsibilities. I have two rambunctious little boys, one that needs to be driven to school every day and another that has lots of appointments twice a week (speech and occupational therapy and a visit with an Early Childhood Educator), then three days a week I take care of my 92 year old grandmother for 3 hours, and I also take care of my nephews 3 days a week after school. Add to that diapers that need to be changed multiple times a day, breakfast, lunch, dinners that need to be cooked, errands that need to be run and other miscellaneous responsibilities that leaves me very little time for me, myself and I. I get exactly 1 hour of absolute quiet of writing time every day.
7. What CAN you do?
I can give you links and suggest great books to read that have helped me immensely. If you're a local author I can direct you to a local writing group that might be able to help you with your writing and give you excellent critiquing of your work.
8. Did you know that your last name DeJesus means 'Of Jesus'?
Yes, I did. I'm Puerto Rican. I know some things about my native language.
9. Are you here legally? <-- yes, I've been asked this question a few times.
Yes. Puerto Rico is a common wealth of the United States of America. Everyone that's born in Puerto Rico is automatically a citizen of the U.S. We have iPhones, malls and Wal-marts there as well.
10. Are your books in Spanish?
Nope.
11. Why?
Because I write in English.
12. Why? <--- seriously people do ask me these questions.
Because I like writing in English.
13. Why don't you have more Latino characters?
In my books Nina and The Jackets there are a lot of Latino characters.
14. Will you have Latino characters in your next book?
I don't know. It's not something I ever plan on purpose. I'm a good kind of schizophrenic (woohoo! spelled it correctly on my first try!) I have very entertaining voices that chatter inside my head nonstop. I write the stories as they tell it to me. I have fun with it. I'm not trying to prove or disprove anything. I'm not trying to change the world or prove a point. I think other writers are much better at that type of stuff than I will ever be. I write because it brings me immense joy. Mostly because I want to entertain people with a fun story and make them forget about life for a while. And...it's just plain fun for me.
15. Are you gonna be here all weekend?
Nope. Just sitting here for a few hours. Take advantage and buy my book! Signed by me...the author.
16. Oh, you're the author?
:D I sure am. (Although sometimes I'm tempted to say that I'm just keeping the books company, but I don't think people would think that's funny. I'm usually on my best behavior at these events). ;)
October 19, 2013
Zombie Ever After ~ Meet Bella
This song is PERFECT for Bella & Teddy. This encompasses their relationship perfectly.
October 18, 2013
Fairy Tale Friday
This is what I found on wikipedia:
"Jack and the Beanstalk" is a British fairy tale. The earliest known appearance in print is Benjamin Tabart's moralised version of 1807. "Felix Summerly" (Henry Cole) popularized it in The Home Treasury (1842), and Joseph Jacobs rewrote it in English Fairy Tales (1890).Jacobs' version is most commonly reprinted today and it is believed to be closer to the oral versions than Tabart's because it lacks the moralizing. (FYI this is the version I remember reading as a child).
Jack is a young lad living with his widowed mother and a milk cow who is their only source of income. When the cow stops giving milk, Jack's mother has him take her to market for sale. On the way, he meets an old man who offers "magic beans" in exchange for the cow, and Jack makes the trade. When he arrives home without any money, his mother becomes furious, throws the beans to the ground, and sends Jack to bed without supper.
A gigantic beanstalk grows overnight, which Jack climbs to a land high in the sky. There he comes to a house (or in some cases, a castle) that is the home of a giant. He asks at door for food and the giant's wife takes him in. When the giant returns, he senses that a human is nearby:
Fee-fi-fo-fum!
I smell the blood of an Englishman,
Be he alive, or be he dead,
I'll have his bones to grind my bread.
Jack is hidden by the giant's wife and he overhears the giant counting money. When the giant sleeps, he steals a bag of gold coins and makes his escape down the beanstalk.
Jack returns up the beanstalk twice more. Each time he is helped by the wife, learns of another treasure, and steals it when the giant sleeps: first a hen that lays golden eggs, then a harp that plays by itself. He is almost caught with the harp, however. The giant follows him down the beanstalk and Jack calls to his mother for an axe. Jack chops down the beanstalk, killing the giant, and they live happily ever after with their riches.
Jack and the Beanstalk by ~yusef-abonamah on deviantART
