Erika Mitchell's Blog, page 25

Blood Money: The Movie

My book was reviewed by a book review site yesterday. The reviewer had many kind words to say about my tale of accounting for terrorism (ha! Get it? See what I did there?) but the thing that tickled me most was that she said she could easily picture my book as a movie.

I have to admit, that sounds like it would be pretty cool. Seeing as how Hollywood seems to keep remaking old movies over and over again, I have to wonder whether I should just start throwing copies of my book over the gates of movie studios. It seems like they’re fairly desperate for new ideas.

I could do one of those author cameos in movie adaptations, you’d see me reading a copy of one of my own books in the corner behind the main characters. If they made a movie out of Blood Money, I could be sitting at the bar at The Mitre. That’d be pretty cool.

Sort of related but not really: Last week, someone messaged me on Facebook, asking me whether I’d consider casting her for the role of Anastasia in the Fifty Shades of Grey movie. I can’t help but wonder what she thought would happen. Is she naive enough to think messaging the (wrong) author on Facebook would land her the lead role in a movie?

Hey, what do I know? Maybe that IS how actresses get cast in movies. You could fill my knowledge of how movies are made in a snack-sized Ziploc baggie.

Turn Those Satellites Back Around, NSA

I feel like it’s been widely assumed and joked about that the government is watching over your shoulder whenever you post anything to the Internet. Maybe it’s a result of my post-9/11 upbringing, but I’m always cautious to avoid using words like, “bomb” in conjunction with words like, “government” or “president” in emails just in case my account gets flagged by a concerned algorithm.

(Great, now my blog has probably just gotten flagged. Terrific)

You may have noticed that I no longer blog about my children and have made private most of the posts I wrote about my son’s infancy. I did this to protect his privacy, realizing that there may come a day in the future when he won’t want total strangers knowing so much about him.

Now that I’ve read the shocking expose in The Washington Post about how the government has been  mining data from the servers of nine huge Internet companies, I’m tempted to recuse myself from the Internet as well.

Even if you don’t care about politics, you should read this and it should probably concern you. Why? Well, for one, the National Security Agency is supposed to exclusively monitor foreign intelligence. It’s the law. When the NSA was founded, that was the stricture put in place to prevent the government from turning those satellites around to monitor domestic chatter. This is important because once a government feels free to spy on its citizens, that’s a short, unhappy sleigh ride to other, worse things.

I don’t think any of us want to live in a country where dissension is illegal and we’re too afraid to disagree with what our government is doing for fear of reprisal.

Another reason this should probably concern you is that the government is implying that you are a criminal. Or about to be one. We’ve gone from a nation of “Innocent until proven guilty” to “Assumed guilty and never proven innocent.” By mining data indiscriminately from all U.S. Internet users (or, for now, the people who use any of the nine companies the government has teamed up with), the government is assuming that every single person is doing something the government needs to know about.

What else could the government possibly need to know about other than criminal dealings?

The last thing that concerns me that should probably concern you is, I’m pretty sure PRISM (the government program that’s spying on you) was never in any of the user agreements I signed when I opened my Facebook and Google accounts. That said, I have no choice but to wonder what else they’ve volunteered me for that I would object to if I knew.

This has all given me significant cause to consider deleting my Facebook and Google accounts. This is no small step for an author who relies on these Internet tools to spread the word about her books.

Still, I would rather sell fewer books than implicitly consent to the government acting illegally in surveilling me against my will. I mean, shoot. Between Google Earth, the government, and cell phone cameras, there’s really no way to have any privacy any more unless you build a house away from civilization and then never leave it.

Not even North Korea could keep Google out, and that’s saying something.

Great Life

Wes and I took our kids to the beach today and it was glorious. The sun was shining, there were ducklings waddling about, I sat on a blanket next to the baby while my son reveled in the wonder that is sunshine on your face and sand beneath your feet.

As I sat there, grande Americano and camera in hand, I thought to myself, “This really couldn’t get any more perfect.” Right then, a fire truck pulled into the parking lot beside the beach (my son LOVES fire trucks, so this was pretty much Heaven for him).

It amazes me the simple blessings of life in a free land. That I can take my kids to the beach without worrying about their safety. That I can afford to sip an espresso and drive my car to reach a waterfront so beautiful it sets my very soul at ease. That my loved ones are healthy, and full of the same joie de vivre I seem possessed with as well.

I’m grateful for so many things, but today, I’m most thankful for a day at the beach. A day where everyone was healthy and happy, where the sun was shining and the ducklings were quacking, where my husband and I could heave big sighs as we relaxed and enjoyed our family.

My goodness, what a great life.

28

I have been alive 28 whole years. It is an astounding privilege to say that, because I know that life is tenuous and there is no guarantee of old age for me or anybody. I think about that every time I get to celebrate a birthday, how grateful I am to see another May 25 tick by on the calendar.

I spent my birthday surrounded by my favorite things: Great food and fun people. I’ve decided that 28 is going to be an adventurous year. My comfort zone is getting a little too comfortable, if you know what I mean.

Maybe I’ll write another book. It’s possible I’ll finally make good on my repeated desire to learn how to pick locks. This may even be the year I master cooking chicken (not likely, but I’ll give it a go).

Either way, I’m going to lose weight and get healthy again (bum knee bedarned), finish working on my friend Ben‘s book, and send my little guy off to school. I’m going to laugh as often as I’m able, love as richly as I can, and see if I can’t make it to 29 astounded by what life has thrown my way.

Yeah. That sounds pretty good. Y’all are welcome to laugh, love, and be astounded right along with me if you like. I enjoy good company :)

Dwell in Possibility review

Dwell in Possibility just posted a review of Blood Money and it’s maybe the most gratifying review I’ve ever read in my life. All the things she loved about the book are the things I enjoyed most about writing it!

Here’s my favorite excerpt (it was tough to pick just one excerpt. I really just wanted to copy/paste the whole darn thing):

Mitchell never stoops to justifying criminal actions, but she does remind the reader that people who commit horrific crimes are still people. I suppose it’s a case of “there but for the grace of God…,” and in my opinion it’s a good reminder. (After all, dehumanizing people is never the correct response to violent crime from those people.)

Head on over to read the whole review for yourself. It’s humbling and exhilarating and I love it so much I want to wallpaper my house with it!

(This review was part of a book tour organized by TLC Book Tours, an outstanding organization every author should use.)

Tiffany’s Bookshelf Review

Tiffany’s Bookshelf reviewed my book, Blood Money, as part of a book tour organized by TLC Book Tours. I’m thrilled to say that Tiffany LOVED it!

My favorite quote from her review:

“Typically, books involving espionage and terrorism are just not my thing, but this book really captured me from the start.  I think these types of books hit a little close to home, and make readers think about all the hidden terrorist cells around the world; it is a little scary.  But this book is well written.  I particularly enjoyed the character of Azzam.  I liked that the “good guy” is a Muslim born in Iraq.  It makes the reader really think about how there are good people as well as bad people in all religions and ethnicities.”

Her whole review is great, and well worth a read!

A Tale of Two Obesities

After I had my son, my weight hovered in the mid 220′s despite a year of breastfeeding. Perplexed and convinced I was doing the whole “Breastfeeding Makes You Lose Weight!” thing wrong, I hied myself to the gym shortly after he was weaned and lost forty pounds in about six months.

Yay me!

How did I do it? Personal training (Thanks, Fitness Together!) and eating less. I counted my calories using a nifty phone app, exercised more in six months than in the preceding 27 years of my life, and listened to my personal trainers. If they told me to do something, you could consider something done.

Then, alas, I broke a bone in my foot, wore a boot for two months, got pregnant, had a complicated pregnancy (that it was complicated because the boot threw my spine and hips out of alignment I wouldn’t find out until too late), had a c-section, and then tragically tore the meniscus in my knee when I tried to go back to the gym four months after my daughter was born.

Sad me.

Now that my daughter is weaned, I’m ready to try to make lightning strike again. The good folks at Fitness Together (in Issaquah, if you’re interested) are taking me on again to teach me how to exercise with my bum knee, I’ve got a new calorie counting app on my phone, and I’m ready to recognize myself again.

You know that feeling where you think you look okay in the mirror but then you see yourself in a picture and you’re aghast? I’m tired of that feeling.

This time, there are Zumba classes at the personal training studio. I’ve never done Zumba but it sounds like a blast! Get ready Issaquah, it’s about to get a whole lot flailier in your city on Monday nights…

Wish me luck, won’t you? Losing baby weight is hard work. It’s a thousand decisions not to dive into a bag of chocolate chips whenever your kids are driving you crazy and throwing out the remains of their luscious  grilled cheese sandwiches rather than eating them. It’s repealing the lies you’ve told yourself, such as, “I was good at lunch today so I can have a big dinner AND dessert” or “I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that chocolate chip pancakes will make me live longer.”

As of this morning I’m 235 pounds and can’t really climb a staircase without feeling winded. Here’s hoping that by next Christmas I’ll be out of the 200′s and able to keep up whenever my son decides to sprint across the park.

3v1

I was chatting with a writing buddy the other day about the merits of third person versus first person storytelling points of view. For those not in the know, first person storytelling is considered amateurish by the writing elite, while third person is far preferred.

For those writers (like me) who cut their writing teeth via blogging, this poses a problem. Basically, we’re told that our natural writing style, in which we are proficient and comfortable, will all but scream THIS PERSON DOESN’T KNOW WHAT THEY’RE DOING to anyone who reads it.

Having written books in both third person and first person, and read successful NYT bestselling books in both styles, I’ve decided it doesn’t really matter. Maybe some people will always think first person is lame, but whatever. Someone will always find something wrong with your writing, and that’s a bummer for them because they’re dismissing so many wonderful books out of hand just because they use “I” instead of “he” or “she.”

I think it really depends on the story you’re telling. When I wrote Blood Money, I told it in third person because I was writing it from multiple perspectives and my main character, Azzam, was always a bit of a mystery to me. He’s a closed book, so to speak, and I felt like writing him from the outside looking in was the most natural way to write him.

My most recent draft, Bai Tide, however, is written from first person because I’m in Bai’s head. I know him really well, so I felt comfortable letting him run the whole show.

I guess this all goes to show you that adverbs, first person point of view, prologues, epilogues, and starting books with dialogue (these are all considered No No’s for the most part) be darned. You either tell the story you have to tell, in the way that seems most natural to you, or you falter with awkwardness because you’re trying to write like a cat walking on its hind legs.

That’s not to say that you can’t ever try to grow as a writer and try new things. That would be terrible advice. What I’m trying to say is, write what makes you happy. Fix it later if you must. Trust that if the story and storytelling are strong enough, your readers will enjoy just about anything you can think up.

Even, yes, first person.

The Sweet Taste of Denial

Wes and I have been watching Friday Night Lights (the show) lately. To be honest, I was dragged kicking and screaming to it. Can you blame me? It’s a show about a high school football-obsessed small town in Texas. The premise alone makes me want to roll my eyes.

Then, it won me over. Bit by bit, the characters wriggled into my brain and now I’m really enjoying myself.

One fly in the ointment though: I am now terrified of the inevitable teenage daughter years.

Oh my gosh. OH MY GOSH. The sass, the rolled eyes, the defiance. Just thinking about it makes me want to wrap myself in a soft blanket and hide from my own child.

For now, though, she’s sweet and cuddly and smells like baby, so I’ll dwell in intentional denial and pretend she’ll never be mean to me when she grows up.

While we’re at it, I’ll pretend Aidan will never date a girl who doesn’t like me, I won’t ever get wrinkles, and someone will announce a new diet any day now that’ll allow me to lose vast sums of weight subsisting on chocolate and wine alone.

Mmmmmm, denial tastes goooooood.

Crickets Don’t Bother Me

So, I’m not gonna lie: The Meet the Author event wasn’t exactly a runaway success. It wasn’t even a little success. It was a crickets-chirping-in-an-empty-room dud.

Surprisingly, I was okay with it. I mean, you know, it would have been great if people had shown up, but I figured no one would. I mean, no one knows who I am. My book just came out a few months ago and few people have read it. It is entirely realistic that no one will come to meet me yet.

There was one person who came to the event, though; a good friend of mine I took out for drinks afterward. She does wildlife photography and is well familiar with the travails of the obscure artist.

Anyway, we sat in the sunshine and enjoyed some wine and it ended up being a lovely evening. Just goes to show you that a good friend can turn almost anything into something positive.