Jen Naumann's Blog, page 7

I'm Back (and as Crazy as Ever)!

*Cue AC/DC's Back in Black*

It's been an insane couple of weeks. We spent a week at our lake home celebrating the 4th of July and our 15th wedding anniversary, plus I've been getting ready to host my class reunion this week as well as working on my next book with my editor (Mind Benders—title in progress), writing the first draft of the sequel to The Day Zombies Ruined My Perfectly Boring Life, and getting slammed with ideas for the NEXT book in line. Plus I'm getting ready to design a new book cover.

This is quite literally how I feel at the moment:
Do self-employed people in general put too much pressure on themselves to finish multiple things at once? Or is that an author thing? Maybe it's just an ADD thing. Regardless, it appears to be a "me" thing. Times like these I get frustrated, especially when I can't find time to read as much as I'd like, or watch my favorite TV series.
Hope all my US friends enjoyed the holiday. I love the hell out of this country and the 4th is my favorite holiday. I even have a tattoo of red, white and blue stars on my foot to prove it (plus to commemorate our anniversary).
Obviously I'm not here to say anything profund, but really just apologizing for the blogging silence. If I'm not committed anytime soon, I'll try to post sooner next time.

Zombie Discrimination

I FINALLY GOT TO SEE WORLD WAR Z!I don't think I've been this excited about a movie release in years. I'm not even sure what I could compare it to. Zombies + Brad Pitt = are you freaking kidding me? Thankfully, the movie delivered just what it promised, and was amazing.
I just want to take a minute to address the zombie discrimination I've been witnessing. Many of the die-hard zombie fans have been against this movie from the start, as they say zombies are "supposed to be" painfully slow moving. While I consider myself a ginormous fan of all undead things animated, I was very open to the idea of them being raging fast. Anyone who has read The Day Zombies Ruined My Perfectly Boring Life knows I'm not a purist. We've been given these amazing minds that are capable of creating different things. Why not use them?
Then again, I've always been a fan of non-traditional ideas when dealing with fantasy—zombies who can actually heal themselves with love, angels who don't have wings and can just move really fast, vampires who can walk in the daylight with a special ring, vampires who sparkle in the sunlight—okay wait, that one was taking it a bit too far even for me. But I think if we're dealing with creatures that don't actually exist, it's okay to go beyond the usual stereotypes. Plus the idea of zombies coming at you in a dead run makes the idea all the more frightening.
I'm not going to delve into the scientific reasons on why I think this could actually happen as (a) I find science painfully boring, and (b) science and I really don't get along so I couldn't do it even if I tried, but check out this article on Cracked.com to see why they think raging zombies are possible.

The only issue I had with the crazy-fast zombies in World War Z was the crazy-fast camera work that went along with them. While I get that the idea is to get you right in there so you're able to physically experience the anxiety of having a deadly human in your face, there were times I couldn't see anything. At all. And I think that's when the cinematic experience goes too far (think Cloverfield). Maybe one or two of these scenes would've done the trick without losing site of the leading man, and requiring a heaping dose of Dramamine.
Don't get me wrong—I'm not arguing that my side is right, and the purist are wrong. As I've said many times before, I'm glad there are people with different preferences, and think this world would be an extremely boring place if we were all the same. Bottom line, World War Z was extremely satisfying for this non-traditional, walking corpse fan.  Check out my full review of the movie on Two Chicks Blogging.

Why 'The Purge' is Disturbing on So Many Levels

Last week I got the chance to see the creeptastic thriller/horror flick, The Purge. And I can't understand why the reviews coming out for it are so bad. While it's a bit unconventional as far as horror movies go, it was original, and definitely did its job of freaking me out. There were major twists, and the ending was unexpected. The acting was top notch, especially from Rhys Wakefield who played the creepy AF stranger (pictured left).

The concept of a future in which crime (including murder) in the US is legal, however, was so disturbing that I left the movie thinking I hope like hell we're not that stupid as a nation to actually do something like this one day. The thought behind this purge is that it will allow people to rid themselves of hatred and violence, therefore creating a lower crime rate. I've also seen theories that suggest this purge also rids itself of the lower class, as they're too poor to afford a proper security system.
One of the most unsettling things about this flick was the way in which nearly everyone seemed okay with this purge, and even embraced it. The parents explain to their children why it's good for our country the way you would expect them to be explaining where babies came from. The daughter and her boyfriend see the neighbor sharpening a machete and say, "Looks like he's preparing for the the purge." The bitchy neighbor lady stops by with cookies, and says she won't be having a purge party this year as it becomes too much of a hassle. There are broadcasts on the TV in which a woman's voice pleasantly reminds the viewers why the purge is good.

As you can expect, this movie is filled with violence. At one point it reminded me of Helter Skelter and the Charles Manson family. There's a disconcerting scene in which the dad has the mom help to torture a person, and another troubling scene in which you see a parent pushed to their limit when their children are threatened. The family's morals are stretched to the limit, and even broken. This was literally me throughout the entire film:
Yet despite all of this, I enjoyed it. Really, it was just an adult's version of The Hunger Games. Does liking it make me crazy, or just extremely twisted? Has society pushed us so far that it takes extremely disturbing ideas to entertain us? I know this isn't true of everyone, as many people I've talked to said they will not be seeing this movie. But there are still a lot of us out there who really enjoy that kind of thing. And once again, it leaves me concerned for the future generations. What will come next?

Check out my full review of The Purge on Two Chicks and a Blog.

The Indie Bookshelf: Cheating Death by Jen Naumann

The Indie Bookshelf: Cheating Death by Jen Naumann: 4 Star Review by Laura Wilson

Celebrate the Small Things - June 7th

Happy Friday! Once again I'm going to list off the things I had to celebrate this week per the fabulous VikLit's Celebrate the Small Things blog hop. If you'd like to remind yourself of all the things life has to offer, sign up for the hop below.

Today I'm celebrating a very BIG thing, and that is my son's 11th birthday! Hard to believe that much time has passed already. Before I know it he's going to be taller than me with a deep voice and a gaggle of girls knocking on our door.
Career-wise, I'm celebrating the fact that I'm halfway done with the edits of the re-write on my first novel What I've Done! I have an amazing editor with the best ideas, and together we're making this story even better than before. Stay tuned for an updated release date.

I'm also celebrating the fact that I added nearly 10,000 words to my zombie sequel this week after signing up for JuNoWriMo. I knew it would be the motivation I needed to get past a major case of writer's block as the very first time I signed up for NaNoWriMo, I finished the first draft of What I've Done.

Hopefully by this time next week I'll be celebrating the fact that summer has finally arrived, my friends and family are all healthy, and we're done planting crops for the season. Keep your fingers crossed.

Fighting the Summer Blues

"What's this?" you ask. "But Jen, it's June! You should be enjoying the sunshine and time at the lake!"

Yeah, I'm well aware of that. I'm also sitting in a dark, rather depressing room at 2:30 on a Tuesday afternoon watching the rain pour down my windows. I don't ever remember it being so cold this late into the year (today's high is a whopping 60, although when I ran this morning it felt more like 40 with the wind chill).

This year we've only gone on one motorcycle (two days ago), and it chilled me to the bone so badly that I shivered under a pile of blankets for hours afterward. My husband has not been able to finish planting his corn, and he hasn't even started on beans (it's normal to be completely finished by the end of May). We don't have our boats out of storage, and most of our neighbors don't even have their docks out. I have yet to sit around a campfire and roast marshmallows with my kids. It's a travesty.

Welcome to Minnesota.
I'm looking for something to inspire me, something to lift my spirits. Normally I can count on riding the jet ski or the Harley to get inspiration, but both those options are out. The pile of books I have to read for my summer challenge are not beckoning to me, and the characters in my work in progress have lost their usual witty banter.

I don't think I've ever had to deal with a summertime depression before. Watching the feed from locals on my Facebook page, I don't think I'm the only one. If you have a suggestion on a favorite movie, book, YouTube video, or any other indoor activity that either inspires you or brings a smile to your face, feel free to share. Please.

Meanwhile, I'm going to go prod the characters in my zombie sequel, and see if I can get them to maybe give me a smile, or crack at least one joke.

It. Is. Time. To. PARTY.

Happy Friday!!! This is not just any Friday, but the last Friday or any day my kids have school for the year!
even Hank is excitedMan, it feels good! This year has been one helluva ride, and I'm so relieved it's over. I have serious plans to sit back, relax, write and read a sh*t-ton of books over the next three months (check out my 2013 summer reading challenge on the left sidebar). As part of the fabulous VikLit's Celebrate the Small Things blog hop, I'm going to quickly list the things that had me do jumping jacks (in addition to the kids being done with school thing):

1. The re-write of What I've Done is still going amazingly well, and my editor just helped me add a new scene that brought a giant, gale-force wind of fresh air to the story.

2. I found an amazing designer to give my blog a facelift, and our vision of the new look is going to blow you away. Just. Wait.

3. Someone close to me is dealing with some health issues, and I'm just going to say that I'm so grateful to have her in my life, as well as all my family, friends, and fans! Three middle-aged people in our small community tragically/suddenly died in the past week and it has, once again, opened my eyes to the importance of life and just how precious it is.

4. I chaperoned my 13-year-old's class trip to the Minnesota Zoo on Wednesday. It has been many years since I didn't have a toddler in tow while visiting there, and I have a new appreciation of how much fun it can actually be. I thought for sure the 7th grade girls would become bored, but I literally had to drag them away from petting the sharks and stingrays.

I'm sure there were other things to celebrate, but my ADD is kicking into high gear and I need to close this post up as I started it a couple of hours ago. So I hope this Friday gives you lots of reasons to celebrate, and I hope you're gearing up for an epic summer!

Celebrate the Small Things

Happy Friday and long weekend to everyone! As part of VikLit's Celebrate the Small Things blog hop, I'm going to give a quick rundown of the reasons why I'm partying like it's 1999 (okay bad reference because I was extremely pregnant with my firstborn that New Year's Eve and didn't party at all).

1. The re-write of my first novel What I've Done is going so well it has me doing several fist pumps in the air per hour. My original editor was able to help me and I think we make an awesome team. It couldn't be going any better. I'm also working on an updated trailer, so stay tuned!

2. Today I get to go to our lake home for the first time this year! I miss my friends out there so badly and cannot wait to sit by the fire and drink a beer...or two (who am I kidding, I'm bringing a whole case). Plus my favorite band is going to be playing at the local bar there, which means I will get to dust off my dance moves after a long winter...
3. My cold is going away and I've been able to continue running. I feel amazing after a good run and have to restrain myself from doing it every single day. I probably owe all my running friends an apology for telling them they're psycho in the past...

4. School is almost over for the kids and I'm slowly regaining my own life back. Hopefully this will equate to more writing time so I can kick out the sequel to my zombie novel!

5. Some of my best writing friends and I got to hang out in another Google chat session. I got to beta read an awesome story for a friend. I am writing one of my editor's books and love it. Life in the writing world is awesome. This week, anyway.

Wishing you all a fantastic (and safe) holiday weekend!

Celebrate the Small Things Blog Hop

This is going to be short and sweet as I'm on my way to an all-day rock festival in Iowa with my daughter and son-in-law. Today I'm celebrating all my amazing friends and family who helped me through a tough week and celebrating the fact that I get to see two of my favorite bands live (Bush and Alice in Chains) as well as some other awesome bands (Halestorm, Papa Roach, Volbeat, Device). I'm also celebrating the fact that I'm running regularly and the weather is finally beautiful.

Hope all of you have lots to celebrate and have a great weekend!

Jake's Last Ride

Living on a farm for twenty years, I've had to say goodbye to many outside dogs. Today's experience was the hardest.

When I was little and lived in town we always had a dog in the house. Our family grew extremely attached to them as if they were a family member. Whenever one died it was so painful that we would have to buy a new one within a week just to cope and be able to function again.

After I met my husband and lived in the country for the first time, however, I was beginning to wonder if I should distance myself from the outside dogs since they seemed to have a rather short life-span on our gravel road. Most of them (rescued from abusive homes) were so incredibly sweet and trusting that they stole my heart. I couldn't help but love them anyway.

We  finally managed to keep a dog without it getting run over for eight years in a row, and today we had to to put him down.

Jake was five when he came to live with us. A city boy himself, he was quick to adjust to life on the farm as well as life with our children who were two and four. He had quirks that included, but were not limited to, barking a little too aggressively at strangers, digging in the garbage, spewing his toxic urine on my new landscaping, leaving dead sacrifices in the front yard, doing his business right on the driveway, and running too far ahead when out on a walk to find some kind of mischief.

But don't get me wrong, Jake was a good boy. When you told him that, I swear to you, he smiled. And when we pulled into the driveway after being gone for a time, he would do a victory lap around the house.

Little by little, there were recent changes in Jake's behavior. He had a hard time climbing steps. He slept all the time. He growled at my girlfriends when he used to only growl at strange men. And then he bit my granddaughter. I was gone when it happened and my husband had his back turned for only a moment. Thankfully, the bite wasn't anything too serious and only left small scratches on her face. And thankfully my animal-loving granddaughter seemed
quite unfazed by the incident and was playing with other family's dogs right after it happened. It could have been so much worse. When I got home and was told what happened, I literally thought I was going to throw up. I still get sick to my stomach thinking of what could've happened.

Although we still think it was some kind of confusion and maybe even misunderstanding on Jake's part, we knew it was time to say goodbye before it happened again. Telling my now 10-year-old son with a heart the size of Texas was the most difficult part of this journey. I knew he would be upset. I knew he would be mad and I knew he would cry. What I wasn't expecting, however, was a major surge of maturity on his part when he told me, "I want to be the one to bury Jake. By myself."

[Insert knife to heart here]

So on Jake's last night with us, we gave him his last bone and took his last pictures. And this morning my faithful running partner was at my side one last time.

While I knew seeing a dog euthanized for the first time in my life would be difficult, it was his last ride that I was dreading. Did I mention Jake was terrified of car rides and usually got sick? That was probably one of his biggest failures—what kind of farm dog doesn't want to ride in a pickup with his owner? It killed me that in his last moments he cried and drooled and danced around in the car seat for the 40 minute ride to the vet's. Still, I knew it was the right thing to do, and thirteen years isn't too bad for a dog—especially a dog living next to our cursed gravel road.

As he was given his lethal injection and I told him a thousand times that he was a good boy, the vet said, "He has a great smile." And he did. There was comfort seeing my old buddy leave this world that way.

I'm not a fan of country music, but I do like that song that says, "If I die before I wake, feed Jake." Now whenever I'm held down against my will and forced to listen to country, that song will remind me of the dog who smiled when you told him he was a good boy. Because for the most part, he really was.


RIP, Jake.