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Selene Castrovilla's Blog, page 10
October 24, 2014
My Daily #Meltdown: The Times They Are a-Changin!
Welcome to My Daily Meltdown, where I count down the days to my Nov. 6 launch with interesting (hopefully) anecdotes surrounding my creation of Melt.
I mentioned previously that I wrote Melt ten years ago. There are some cultural references in the book. A couple of them didn’t stand the test of time – so I had to change them.
The first was a reference to a boxing movie. When Dorothy gives Joey wraps, she reveals that she knows how to put them on him because she took a boxing lesson. Here’s how the rest of the scene went, starting with Joey’s response (the scene is in Dorothy’s voice):
“You took a boxing lesson? Why?”
“What’s the matter, afraid I’ll kick your ass?” We both laugh. Then I say, “I wanted … I wanted to know what it was like to punch things.”
“You like it?”
“Uh, no.”
He chuckles. He knew darn well I wouldn’t. “Why not?”
“Well, for starters, it felt very confining in those gloves, and they never seemed like they were on right. It was just about impossible to get a grip in them. And it hurt to punch! George said I was hitting with the wrong part of my hand, but I just couldn’t get it. Then there was that speed bag. Talk about humbling, I felt like a complete spazoid trying to hit it. George said I’d get better with practice, but there are some things you know you’re just not cut out for. And anyway, it was just too much work, all those moves—too much to concentrate on. Yeesh.”
“Too bad,” he says. I unravel one of the wraps, and direct him to reach his arm out straight, spread his fingers wide. I smooth the wrap around, around, loop it around in tiers, coating his hand and wrist so it’s taut but not tight. He says, “And there I was thinking I was dating the next Million Dollar Baby.”
“Sorry, Rocky.”
I was doing one final read after the copy editor had already gone over the manuscript, and I realized that teens today wouldn’t get the Million Dollar Baby reference. The movie was current when I wrote the manuscript – but no one watches it anymore (at least, not in the audience I’m writing for.) So if you read the book once it’s launched, Million Dollar Baby will be no more.
Rocky, on the other hand, endures the test of time.
I’ll reveal the other thing I had to change in tomorrow’s post.
Bye for now.
———
I invite you to join my street team and help spread the word! My fans are my secret weapon 
I will bestow great rewards for your efforts, because I appreciate you so very much!!!
You can see the prizes to be won on the Facebook group, but here’s one big incentive:
You can win exclusive access to read the sequel to MELT months before it’s available to the public!!
Here’s how you join Castrovilla’s Crusaders:
Step 1: Fill out sign up form: http://goo.gl/forms/xcs5OaHlVD
Step 2: Request to join the Castrovilla Crusaders Facebook Group: http://facebook.com/groups/CastrovillaCrusaders
Step 3: Review the list of potential tasks and point levels, and check out the amazing prizes (in files section of FB group)… then get started!
Step 4: Submit completed tasks to earn points to win prizes! Submission form: http://goo.gl/forms/bTQjGOP7oT
———–
Don’t forget to pre-order Melt on Amazon for $2.99 to get your $2 Dunkin’ Donuts gift card! Just contact me at SCastrovilla@yahoo.com with your receipt now through Nov. 5, and I’ll e-mail it to you! Have a cup o’ Joe in Dunkin’ Donuts while reading about Joe in Dunkin’ Donuts!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O4CWKQW
————-
Have you seen the amazing MELT book trailer created by a teen??? Here it is:
October 23, 2014
My Daily #Meltdown: The “Real” Joey!
Welcome to My Daily Meltdown, where I count down to release day with tidbits of background information on the creation of Melt.
Today I bring you the “real” Joey: the man who not only inspired my story – he is the heart of it.
In the back of my book there’s a question and answer section. Here’s one of the questions:
Q: What inspired this story?
A: I take boxing lessons, and got close with my trainer, Joe. He told more than once, “My dad used to beat my mom.” That was sad, but a little too vague to be inspiring. Then one day he looked me in the eyes and said, “My dad used to come home every day and shove a gun down my mom’s throat.” That was a specific image that stuck in my head. He also told me about becoming a teen alcoholic, and how violent he was while drunk. He was tagged a “bad” kid – but no one ever bothered to find out what was going on inside. Finally, he told me about the one girl who believed in him, and loved him. One night he said to me, “You’re gonna write my story. I just know it.” I went home, and opened The Wizard of Oz – which I’d instinctively purchased a few weeks prior. I didn’t know why – but I always listened to the guiding voice in my head. The page I turned to was the scene in which Dorothy and her friends return to the Emerald City. The Guardian of the Gate is shocked to see them, saying:
“But I thought you had gone to visit the Wicked Witch of the West.”
“We did visit her,” said the Scarecrow.
“And she let you go again?” asked the man, in wonder.
“She could not help it, for she is melted,” explained the Scarecrow.
She is melted. That line resounded with me. I wrote it three times a piece of junk mail. Then I wrote, “Melt.” And I knew that was the title of my book. I started writing Joe’s story – it just came pouring out – with quotes from The Wizard of Oz interspersed. The first section is called “No place like home,” and we witness the father abusing the mother in front of Joey and his brothers. In “Munchkinland,” the second part, Joey meets good-girl Dorothy in Dunkin’ Donuts. This unlikely couple heads down the metaphorical Yellow Brick Road looking for a way to beat the odds and be together. But what’s waiting for them ahead?
So, now you know the real backstory. (Perhaps I shared this before – I apologize if so. I am bleary!)
I still work out with Joe, though I did take a hiatus during which I curiously had no desire to box. Now, I’m back and loving hitting things. I don’t spar – I would probably get knocked out in one second – but it’s fun to pound at Joe’s pads. Uppercuts are my favorites.
Anyway, I took a picture of him the other day when we were done.
Remember, he is no longer a teenager!
Here he is:
(Drumroll)
#Meltdown
The “real” Joey!
PS: There was a “real” Dorothy – a “good girl” he loved – but I didn’t even know that until I’d started writing the story. It was like I knew without knowing.
Strange, how our universe works. And wonderful!
Bye for now.
—————–
If you live in the area, please come to my launch party on Nov. 6 at 7 pm – Joe will be there! (Also there will be cake and prizes!)
Long Island Writers House
24 Meadowood Ct
Huntington, NY 11743
Here’s the link:
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/book-laun...
————
I invite you to join my street team and help spread the word! My fans are my secret weapon I will bestow great rewards for your efforts, because I appreciate you so very much!!!
You can see the prizes to be won on the Facebook group, but here’s one big incentive:
You can win exclusive access to read the sequel to MELT months before it’s available to the public!!
Here’s how you join Castrovilla’s Crusaders:
Step 1: Fill out sign up form: http://goo.gl/forms/xcs5OaHlVD
Step 2: Request to join the Castrovilla Crusaders Facebook Group: http://facebook.com/groups/CastrovillaCrusaders
Step 3: Review the list of potential tasks and point levels, and check out the amazing prizes (in files section of FB group)… then get started!
Step 4: Submit completed tasks to earn points to win prizes! Submission form: http://goo.gl/forms/bTQjGOP7oT
————
Don’t forget to pre-order Melt on Amazon for $2.99 to get your $2 Dunkin’ Donuts gift card! Just contact me at SCastrovilla@yahoo.com with your receipt now through Nov. 5, and I’ll e-mail it to you! Have a cup o’ Joe in Dunkin’ Donuts while reading about Joe in Dunkin’ Donuts!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O4CWKQW
————-
Have you seen the amazing MELT book trailer created by a teen??? Here it is:
October 22, 2014
My Daily #Meltdown: The Puddle
Welcome to My Daily #Meltdown, where I count down the days to the release of Melt with insights about my process.
I was going to show you a picture of the “real” Joey – but for some reason my phone refuses to e-mail the picture. I can’t post from my phone because it’s just too small – and so, there will be no Joey tonight. I’ll work on it!!! (Technically inept – alas.)
So I’ll tell you about the puddle instead.
In the book, Joey hears a guy at an AA meeting talk about how falling into a puddle was the thing that led him to surrender – and to stop drinking:
“Then one day he was walking to the liquor store
in the snow.
There was this humongous puddle of
slush at the
edge
of the curb and he
stopped and
stared into it.
He saw his
sorry-
ass
reflection looking back and
suddenly
he thought of
surrender.
All this time he’d fought it and
look
where it got him.
All this time he thought it was
bad
that it meant
defeat
to surrender
that there’d be
nothing
left of him
that it’d be the end.
But just like that the word
appeared in his head like someone
whispered it to him and he
fell
into the
freezing
puddle he
splattered in
on his knees
he spoke to God he
surrendered.
And that’s when he found
hope he found
faith that’s when everything
changed
when he caved
when he gave up the
burden
of trying to control what he
couldn’t
control
anyway
he felt it
lift from his shoulders and it all
changed.”
In real life, this happened to Joey. It was he who was walking to the liquor store and saw himself in a puddle.
And the person he was telling this story to? That was me.
Joey says to the guy:
“Bro
I ain’t dropping in no puddle for
noone.”
I said this to him – but with proper grammar.
Then, he really said & did this to me:
“He looks at me dead-on his
eyes they’re plowing straight into
mine.
He says,
The puddle
it’s in your
mind.”
—————-
To clarify, I’m not an alcoholic. But I did need help that recovery – and surrender – provided.
—————
Bye for now.
I invite you to join my street team and help spread the word! My fans are my secret weapon I will bestow great rewards for your efforts, because I appreciate you so very much!!!
You can see the prizes to be won on the Facebook group, but here’s one big incentive:
You can win exclusive access to read the sequel to MELT months before it’s available to the public!!
Here’s how you join Castrovilla’s Crusaders:
Step 1: Fill out sign up form: http://goo.gl/forms/xcs5OaHlVD
Step 2: Request to join the Castrovilla Crusaders Facebook Group: http://facebook.com/groups/CastrovillaCrusaders
Step 3: Review the list of potential tasks and point levels, and check out the amazing prizes (in files section of FB group)… then get started!
Step 4: Submit completed tasks to earn points to win prizes! Submission form: http://goo.gl/forms/bTQjGOP7oT
Don’t forget to pre-order Melt on Amazon for $2.99 to get your $2 Dunkin’ Donuts gift card! Just contact me at SCastrovilla@yahoo.com with your receipt now through Nov. 5, and I’ll e-mail it to you! Have a cup o’ Joe in Dunkin’ Donuts while reading about Joe in Dunkin’ Donuts!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O4CWKQW
Have you seen the amazing MELT book trailer created by a teen??? Here it is:
October 21, 2014
My Daily Meltdown: The Comfort of Wraps
Welcome to My Daily Meltdown, where I count down to the Nov. 6 release of MELT with insights about how I came to create the book.
In MELT, Joey is always getting into fights, so Dorothy gets him boxing gloves and wraps. She wraps his hands:
“She’s like a nurse treating her patient she’s
bandaging my
wounds. That’s how it feels like she’s
blanketing my hand — my
motley mutilated
poor
excuse
for a hand.
She winds it she
winds
it she lays it
on me
over me she
covers me in
tender
layers.
Safe
I feel safe. Comforted. It’s like when I wore the cuffs
when I held my own hand.
It’s like wearing the cuffs without the
cold
steel without the
shackling.
Who knew who
knew who
knew
I could feel good
without
feeling
bad.
All those nights
I spent in my bed hands huddled under my belly clutching at my fingers trying to find something
some
way
to feel better caught in that trap in that hell under siege overrun by all that screaming thrashing
bashing
going down
downstairs
all those nights these wraps they would’ve been perfect.”
I was able to capture Joey’s secure feeling in his wraps because I felt that way when I first boxed. I loved the secure feeling I got in my wraps – and I would keep them on for hours after my lesson, writing in them, shopping it them, you name it. Sometimes people mistook them for bandages and asked me what had happened. I told them what they were, but usually pretended I was about to go to my boxing lesson – not that I’d left it hours ago.
Those wraps were so soothing, so comforting – they were like wearing comforters on my hands. They were like wearing mini-hugs. Strange that one wears them to punch things. But then, wraps are not the thing that hits. They are the protection that shields us. So I guess it’s not so stranger after all.
Bye for now.
I invite you to join my street team Castrovilla’s Crusaders and help spread the word! My fans are my secret weapon I will bestow great rewards for your efforts, because I appreciate you so very much!!!
You can see the prizes to be won on the Facebook group, but here’s one big incentive:
You can win exclusive access to read the sequel to MELT months before it’s available to the public!!
Here’s how you join Castrovilla’s Crusaders:
Step 1: Fill out sign up form: http://goo.gl/forms/xcs5OaHlVD
Step 2: Request to join the Castrovilla Crusaders Facebook Group: http://facebook.com/groups/CastrovillaCrusaders
Step 3: Review the list of potential tasks and point levels, and check out the amazing prizes (in files section of FB group)… then get started!
Step 4: Submit completed tasks to earn points to win prizes! Submission form: http://goo.gl/forms/bTQjGOP7oT
Don’t forget to pre-order Melt on Amazon for $2.99 to get your $2 Dunkin’ Donuts gift card! Just contact me at SCastrovilla@yahoo.com with your receipt now through Nov. 5, and I’ll e-mail it to you! Have a cup o’ Joe in Dunkin’ Donuts while reading about Joe in Dunkin’ Donuts!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O4CWKQW
Have you seen the amazing MELT book trailer created by a teen??? Here it is:
October 20, 2014
My Daily Meltdown: Hello, Yellow Brick Road!
Welcome to My Daily Meltdown, where I’m counting down to my Nov. 6 release of MELT with interesting facts about its creation.
Today I address the cover. I get so many comments about it. Where did my book designer get a picture of what looks like The Yellow Brick Road? And why does it look so eerie?
It looks like The Yellow Brick Road because it IS The Yellow Brick Road. At least, some theme park designer’s conception of it. And it’s eerie because at the time the photo was taken, the park was abandoned.
There was a theme park called Land of Oz which operated for ten years, from 1970-1980. Why did it close? Well, I can’t fathom how it remained open for so long. The Yellow Brick Road was cool (luckily for me!), but the rest was totally cheesy! Let’s just say the costumes weren’t on a par with Disneyland’s. They looked like the costumes you buy in a party store for Halloween (the most flimsy costumes – I might add.) You could see the people’s faces through the eyes! The Cowardly Lion’s costume was so shoddy that he looked emaciated and flea-ridden. I have no idea how anyone thought these costumes would be acceptable. Add yet, for ten years, they were. Go figure.
The second problem with the part was that on top of a North Carolina mountain – hard to reach and apparently cold much of the time! (Why not build a park in the Andes?) I watched a video of people visiting the abandoned park on YouTube, and they said it was spring – and yet there was snow on the ground. (I was going to post a video link or two, but they are also so very cheesy. The videographers all added in silly commentary, when winding down the eerie paths with no sound would be much more effective!)
I would’ve liked to see the park when it was abandoned – but now it has been restored to the point where they open it for one weekend in October. Plus, spring through fall they rent it out for private parties. You can also take a guided tour down The Yellow Brick Road, if you can gather 15 people. This might be fun – if it wasn’t so darn far and unappealingly desolate!
What sounds like the most fun is renting Dorothy’s House – which can be by the night or week. I may consider this in the summer – when hopefully there will be no snow! It could be a fun place to write. I wouldn’t consider doing a book signing there – I mean, who would make that trek? (Which is a shame – because how cool would it be to have a book signing on The Yellow Brick Road or at Dorothy’s house?)
But I digress.
My friend Pascale found a picture of the then-abandoned road on Google images.
Photo by Sarah Delk.
We were looking for photos to post with quotes from the book. But I knew we couldn’t use this photo because we didn’t hold the rights.
When the book designer started her work, I sent her the picture and suggested that she search for something similar. She said that she couldn’t find anything like it on stock image sites. I urged her to find who took the picture, contact them, and secure the rights.
That’s what she did.
The result: The cover of my dreams!
My awesome cover!
If you’d like to know about visiting Oz at what’s now known as Emerald Mountain, you can read about it here:
http://www.emeraldmtn.com/Ozpartys/ozpartys.html
Personally, I think The Yellow Brick Road is the coolest thing in the park by far, and I’m grateful that Sarah Delk ventured up the mountain and took that picture while the park was still abandoned – setting the perfect tone for my cover. That, my friends, is serendipity 
Bye for now.
Bonus trivia: Actress/singer Debbie Reynolds was hired to participate in the festivities on opening day in 1970 – along with her daughter Carrie Fisher (before Carrie was Princess Leia.)
I invite you to join my street team CASTROVILLA’S CRUSADERS and help spread the word! My fans are my secret weapon I will bestow great rewards for your efforts, because I appreciate you so very much!!!
You can see the prizes to be won on the Facebook group, but here’s one big incentive:
You may win exclusive access to read the sequel to MELT months before it’s available to the public!!
Here’s how you join Castrovilla’s Crusaders:
Step 1: Fill out sign up form: http://goo.gl/forms/xcs5OaHlVD
Step 2: Request to join the Castrovilla Crusaders Facebook Group: http://facebook.com/groups/CastrovillaCrusaders
Step 3: Review the list of potential tasks and point levels, and check out the amazing prizes (in files section of FB group)… then get started!
Step 4: Submit completed tasks to earn points to win prizes! Submission form: http://goo.gl/forms/bTQjGOP7oT
——
Don’t forget to pre-order Melt on Amazon for $2.99 to get your $2 Dunkin’ Donuts gift card! Just contact me at SCastrovilla@yahoo.com with your receipt now through Nov. 5, and I’ll e-mail it to you! Have a cup o’ Joe in Dunkin’ Donuts while reading about Joe in Dunkin’ Donuts!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O4CWKQW
——
Have you seen the amazing MELT book trailer created by a teen??? Here it is:
October 19, 2014
My Daily Meltdown: All My Ducks in a Row!
Welcome to My Daily Meltdown, where I count down the days to MELT’s Nov. 6 release with interesting insider facts about how and why I created it.
In the book, both Joey and Dorothy notice ducks swimming in the water (at different points), and their thoughts on the ducks mirror their states of mind. I used ducks because Highland Park is located by the water, but also because of the saying about putting all your ducks in a row – so in a way, when Joey and Dorothy look at them, they’re trying to figure if (in Joey’s case) and how (in Dorothy’s case) they can metaphorically get their ducks in a row.
I guess it’s obvious I love metaphors. But really, isn’t everything a metaphor?
Metaphors hinge on voice – and they bring voice out.
I live on the water, and write on my deck. I’ve spent a lot of time glancing at the ducks floating by as I worked out sentence structures and word choices in my head.
Trying to get my writing ducks in a row.
Bye for now.
I invite you to join my street team and help spread the word! My fans are my secret weapon I will bestow great rewards for your efforts, because I appreciate you so very much!!!
You can see the prizes to be won on the Facebook group, but here’s one big incentive:
You can win exclusive access to read the sequel to MELT months before it’s available to the public!!
Here’s how you join Castrovilla’s Crusaders:
Step 1: Fill out sign up form: http://goo.gl/forms/xcs5OaHlVD
Step 2: Request to join the Castrovilla Crusaders Facebook Group: http://facebook.com/groups/CastrovillaCrusaders
Step 3: Review the list of potential tasks and point levels, and check out the amazing prizes (in files section of FB group)… then get started!
Step 4: Submit completed tasks to earn points to win prizes! Submission form: http://goo.gl/forms/bTQjGOP7oT
Don’t forget to pre-order Melt on Amazon for $2.99 to get your $2 Dunkin’ Donuts gift card! Just contact me at SCastrovilla@yahoo.com with your receipt now through Nov. 5, and I’ll e-mail it to you! Have a cup o’ Joe in Dunkin’ Donuts while reading about Joe in Dunkin’ Donuts!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00O4CWKQW
Have you seen the amazing MELT book trailer created by a teen??? Here it is:
