Michelle Lowery Combs's Blog, page 4
March 14, 2014
Flagging & Fired
I’ve been quiet of late, my creative energy flagging as writing ideas evade me like two consecutive days of decent weather here in Alabama. The Polar Vortex that dared plague my home state as if it were Minnesota or a Dakota has finally moved on for good, but it’s wet here with temps in the 30’s and 40’s for several hours every day. I’m ready to get on with the business of complaining about how it’s too hot to move around outside down here. I need sunshine, people! I’m not getting sufficient vitamin D for my brain to come up with a grocery list much less the necessary 25,000 words or so left to complete the book I’m supposed to be writing!
There’s another reason for this hideous episode of writer’s block I’ve found myself up against. Brace yourselves. Little Sister has fired me from the job I loved so much!
After LS and my brother-in-law sold their business recently, LS decided that she could no longer afford to pay me copious amounts of money to fetch her lunch and pretend to pore over sales reports while secretly writing my blog and a novel or two. Talk about a creative buzzkill! (Please note that I am utilizing the literary device of satire here, Mr. or Mrs. Future Employer who may be Googling me as part of an interview process. I am happy to supply a reference from my sister the Boss, or my aunt the Administrative Director, or my cousin the Operations Manager, or my other cousin the Store Manager. They’ll all say I’m a fabulous, highly dependable and steadfast worker…or my momma the Consultant will whip them.)
[PhotoSource: www.marriedtothesea.com]
I’m finding it difficult to sit in a room all alone at my own home and come up with words to string together in entertaining ways. I’d much prefer to sit at my mahogany desk, looking at a patch of drywall just to the right of Little Sister’s head while brain storming as she talks to me in that voice all the adult characters in the Charlie Brown cartoon use. “Wha, wha-wha, wha, wha-wha-wha.”
LS may have put me on the road…with a few tears shed over another Honey Baked Ham Tavern Club sandwich she wouldn’t have spread out before her by her favorite big sister and a generous severance package…but ol’ girl forgot to take my key! Shazaam!
So, here I sit at my old desk flanked by a wall of windows, the thermostat set at a comfortable 68 degrees as my fingers dance over the keyboard, happy as a pig in the Alabama sunshine. I’m alone here, too, but every hour or so I call Little Sister and put her on speaker phone and it’s almost as if she’s back down the hall in her own office asking me, “When’s lunch?” After this post I plan on tackling a couple of chapters of Solomon’s Bell. I’m back, peeps. And the lease doesn’t expire until August!
There’s another reason for this hideous episode of writer’s block I’ve found myself up against. Brace yourselves. Little Sister has fired me from the job I loved so much!
After LS and my brother-in-law sold their business recently, LS decided that she could no longer afford to pay me copious amounts of money to fetch her lunch and pretend to pore over sales reports while secretly writing my blog and a novel or two. Talk about a creative buzzkill! (Please note that I am utilizing the literary device of satire here, Mr. or Mrs. Future Employer who may be Googling me as part of an interview process. I am happy to supply a reference from my sister the Boss, or my aunt the Administrative Director, or my cousin the Operations Manager, or my other cousin the Store Manager. They’ll all say I’m a fabulous, highly dependable and steadfast worker…or my momma the Consultant will whip them.)
[PhotoSource: www.marriedtothesea.com]
I’m finding it difficult to sit in a room all alone at my own home and come up with words to string together in entertaining ways. I’d much prefer to sit at my mahogany desk, looking at a patch of drywall just to the right of Little Sister’s head while brain storming as she talks to me in that voice all the adult characters in the Charlie Brown cartoon use. “Wha, wha-wha, wha, wha-wha-wha.”
LS may have put me on the road…with a few tears shed over another Honey Baked Ham Tavern Club sandwich she wouldn’t have spread out before her by her favorite big sister and a generous severance package…but ol’ girl forgot to take my key! Shazaam!
So, here I sit at my old desk flanked by a wall of windows, the thermostat set at a comfortable 68 degrees as my fingers dance over the keyboard, happy as a pig in the Alabama sunshine. I’m alone here, too, but every hour or so I call Little Sister and put her on speaker phone and it’s almost as if she’s back down the hall in her own office asking me, “When’s lunch?” After this post I plan on tackling a couple of chapters of Solomon’s Bell. I’m back, peeps. And the lease doesn’t expire until August!
February 12, 2014
B.H. Parker Interview and Giveaway
One of my favorite parts of most literary festivals and events is meeting fellow writers and being introduced to their work. I've discovered some great books this way: Teal Haviland's paranormal fantasy Inception, Sarah Ashley Jones' NA (New Adult) romance Promise Me This, and Chervis Isom's creative non-fiction The Newspaper Boy. The Birmingham Public Library's 2014 Local Author Expo on February 1 was no exception and allowed me the opportunity to discover Mark of the Corripian by YA fantasy author B.H. Parker.
On a world inhabited by humans and the native race called the Kairian, everyone is born with a super human power. After a human girl witnesses a murder, she is forced to leave her home to find protection. However, the young man sent to watch over her has an agenda of his own: he is searching for two years of his lost memories, and finding them may just mean forgoing the girl's safety. Amidst it all, an ancient prophecy foretelling a war between the human and Kairian is coming true, and the only one able to prevent the two races' destruction will bear the mark of the Corripian.
The cover of Mark of the Corripian drew me in immediately, the way a great cover should. As a huge fan of Veronica Roth's Divergent trilogy, in which a faction of Roth's dystopian society are marked with tattoos that both identify and set them apart, I wondered what would set Mark of the Corripian apart from the slew of dystopian series out there. While the book does contain some elements of the genre made popular by such works as Divergent, Lois Lowry's The Giver, and Ally Condie's Matched trilogy, the story takes place on a distant planet, making it heavier on science fiction and reminding me in ways of Homer Hickam's Crater series about teens sent to mine the moon. In short, Mark of the Corripian promises to present readers with everything that they love about my favorite genre with some unexpected surprises. It looks to be a refreshing departure from what can sometimes tend to feel like another hero/heroine's retelling of life after the great utopia begins to come undone. Parker also uses dual point-of-view for her narrative, and the story of Mark of the Corripian unfolds from both lead characters', Zenia's and Xavier's, perspectives.
Impressed with the book, and because I am a natural born snoop, I had to learn more about its author B. H. Parker. It thrills me to see the very young exhibit the kind of imagination, talent and determination necessary to see a novel through from conception to publication.
Without further adieu, I'd like to introduce you all to Miss B.H. Parker. For a chance to win a copy of her excellent debut novel Mark of the Corripian, be sure to leave a comment in the comments section. A winner will be chosen at random on February 28th and the book shipped thereafter.
1. What inspired you to become a writer?
I have enjoyed making up stories since I was very young. With all the uncertainties of this life, there’s just something remarkable about being able to create a story in which you decide how it ends. Also, I like solving problems, and a book to me is like a big puzzle. All the pieces are floating around in my head, and if I can just put them together in the right way, they complete some beautiful picture. At least, that’s what I’m going for.
2. What inspired your novel, Mark of the Corripian? What makes it special?
That’s a good question…especially considering the creation of Mark of the Corripian was somewhat an accident. I would have to say the inspiration came from a few of my close friends, since the story began as something I wrote to entertain them. I pulled together a little bit of everything and put it in this book because my friends all have different interests, and I needed to create something they all enjoyed. If it weren’t for them and their encouragement throughout the process, MotC would have never been more than a few chapters of my silly rambling.
I’d say that this novel is special because it has helped me to grow personally. I’ve always kept to myself and never really enjoyed social situations of any kind. Writing this story has allowed me to open up, and I’ve found a new way to express myself. These characters have become my best friends; they’re people I can relate to—and in some ways, their actions help me to sort out situations in my own life. It has been a long journey for me, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
3. Could you tell us a little about your main characters Zenia and Xavier? What was it like writing their story?
The story begins on Zenia’s 18th birthday. She has been raised in a totalitarian society where everything in her life was planned out for her from the beginning. She is used to being told what to do; however, since the death of her father, she’s begun to question the authorities. She’s always very aware of those around her, and is often the first to help if someone is in need. She can be seen as naïve at times, mostly because she always searches for the good in people instead of looking at the whole picture. She can be very hardheaded, as well—and when she’s determined to do something, she won’t let anyone stand in her way. Unfortunately, she doesn’t always consider the consequences to her actions, so she can get herself into some complicated situations fairly quickly. Thankfully for her, her Ability allows her to run at incredible speeds, which can come in handy when needing to escape from one of these tricky situations.
Xavier is a young man with a very complex past—one he doesn’t fully understand. Certain events from his life have shaped him into a very cynical and guarded person. He is detached from the world around him because he believes that is the safest way to live. Ironically, his Ability allows him to sense and manipulate other people’s emotions—a power which he only knows how to use to profit himself.
Their story has been an intriguing one. Many authors call their characters their “children,” but for me, Zenia is that best friend that I love but can’t stand because she always calls me out when I’m doing something stupid, and Xavier is that annoying, overprotective, but altogether awesome older brother. Overall, writing their story has been a very entertaining journey. Since it is my hobby, and not what I hope to make into my chief form of income in the future, writing is something I go to when I need to vent my feelings or just relax after a long day (the latter option can get a little rough because occasionally I forget that my body requires sleep, and I’ll write well into the night). The characters and I don’t always get along…sometimes writing their story becomes frustrating, but so far we’ve always worked through our problems!
4. You’ve done extensive world building in Mark of the Corripian. What was your process for such a complex task?
I’m very focused with details. I like to know where things come from, why they are the way they are, et cetera. Because my story is based on a different planet, I first needed to understand the planet’s physical appearance. After mapping out the world, I started on the history. I first established the different cultures of the people and their ways of life. That helped me to understand why one thing led to another in the formation of the current world. On Macathia, there are essentially four different societies, each with unique characteristics. I’ve made detailed histories of both Kairian (native race of Macathia) societies, and briefer histories of the human societies. Also, since everyone on the planet is born with an Ability, I have graphed out the different types of Abilities, their weaknesses, and strengths. Aside from that, I have created a new language of sorts for the Kairian people. Most of the words have Latin roots, but some of them I just made up.
5. Your book has an excellent cover—everything from the color to the depicted image draws a reader in. Can you tell us how involved you were in the process of cover selection/design?
The cover was a fun process for me! Aside from writing, I have an interest in art, so I had a very, very specific image in mind for the cover—and what I got on Mark of the Corripian pretty much sums it up. I worked with a graphic designer outside of my publishing company to come up with the cover. I designed the mark on the girl’s neck, and the color red plays an important role in this story. If things go according to my plans, each book will have a different color associated with it.
6. What would you say was the biggest lesson learned on your journey to publication?
I was really excited when I finished writing Mark of the Corripian, and my father wanted me to go ahead and try to publish it. I decided to go along with it, and I hadn’t even edited the manuscript yet. I know—that’s bad. But I didn’t have any idea at that point what went into publishing a book, and I was more interested in focusing on schoolwork (yeah, I’m a nerd) than researching all the things to do before trying to get published. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), my very raw manuscript was accepted by a publishing house. For me, this meant an extensive amount of editing over the next 8-10 months and a lot of stress. I cut nearly 40,000 words, most of which I would have edited through myself, had I taken the time after I’d finished writing. I even changed parts of the storyline because I hadn’t previously checked for any discrepancies throughout after finishing it. Now I know from experience that it is always a good idea to first edit, edit, edit, and always research before jumping into anything.
7. What advice would you give aspiring authors?
I’ve always heard authors give the advice to read. I don’t disagree with that, but I think it helps to broaden one’s horizons, so to speak. Watch movies. Play video games. Read comic books and manga. Read books or watch movies from other countries. I’ve learned so much from doing all these things, and I’ve even gotten some ideas that I’ve used in my stories. I’m a very visual person, and I often struggle with feeling like I’m a part of the books I read. Whenever I’m planning out a fight scene, instead of reading about it, I typically like to act it out or look up a movie/video in which the moves are demonstrated. While planning out the strategies for the oncoming war in my series, I’ve not only read about war, but also watched movies and played video games in which war was depicted.
Now, if you’re like me, and you begin stories that you lose interest in, or you decide they are stupid and you want to throw them out, DON’T. Always, always, always, keep everything you write. When I’m editing through my stories, if I decide a scene needs to be omitted, I don’t just hold down the backspace button. I cut the words and paste them in a separate file (mine is named “random story stuff”) because one of these days, I might want to use it. And even if I don’t, it’s always fun to go back and look at how far I’ve come from when I began writing—I still have my very first chapter of Mark of the Corripian, back when it was made up of Zenia’s journal entries. If I had stopped there—it was really rough, and at the time, definitely not the quality worthy of becoming a novel—Mark of the Corripian would not be where it is today.
8. Do you have any other books in the works? What are your future goals?
The Corripian Chronicles is a four-book series, plus a fifth book with different protagonists. I am currently 40,000 words into Book 2 (secret title), and this is my second round at writing it. I had previously written around 70,000 words when I decided that I didn’t like the way I had constructed it, so I scrapped it all and started over. I have the overall idea for book three and four, and I have written a few scenes from each. I’ve begun constructing and becoming familiar with the characters in book five, though I’m still working out the overall plot.
As for future goals, I want to completely finish this series before I start on any other works. I have one story in mind that I’m very excited to write, but it will require much research (a lot more than I’m used to). I will also be straying away from my preferred genre, so this will be quite an adventure for me.Aside from writing, I’m double majoring in Criminal Justice and Psychology, and I hope to work in corrections or some form of counseling.
9. Where do you like to write?
I like to write anywhere I can drown out the world (either in silence, or alone with my earphones in). I’ve tried writing outside, but I get too distracted by the beauty of the world and often end up just staring up at the sky and listening to the different sounds of nature. I typically like to be alone because I get so focused on my writing that I often become very emotional—whatever the mood of the scene is. There have been times when I’ve scowled at my computer screen, been on the verge of tears, or laughed out loud. In order to avoid curious stares from passersby, I stay away from people during this time.
10. What is your favorite genre to read? Favorite Authors?
I’m partial to science fiction/fantasy books, though I am very particular about what kinds I read. If there isn’t a certain something in them, I will often have trouble finishing them. I also really enjoy reading stories about Roman or Greek mythology and different kinds of fairy tales.
My all-time favorite author is C.S. Lewis.
11. Cats or dogs?
I used to love dogs, but then I got one…and he hates me. So cats it is!
12. Dinner or desert?
I have quite a sweet tooth…and I often prefer to eat my dessert before dinner.
13. What is the best thing that ever happened to you?
I’m going with the first thing that came to my mind: A couple weeks ago, I met a group of ten Korean students who are visiting my university for three weeks. Since then, I have grown close to many of them. I’m very fascinated by their culture and customs, and I’ve enjoyed learning some Korean words. We do many things together, and I will be so sad to see them go! This experience has definitely been a highlight of my year.
B.H. Parker has always been fascinated with superpowers, so she created a world in which everyone has them. She spends her time purchasing more pens and sticky notes than she can ever use and doodling or writing fictional stories when she should be finishing her homework. She is a native of Birmingham, Alabama, but currently attends Freed-Hardeman University in Tennessee and is double majoring in Criminal Justice and Psychology. You can find her on Wordpress, Facebook and Goodreads. Mark of the Corripian will be available through Tate Publishing, Amazon, and other online book retailers beginning February 25, 2014.
On a world inhabited by humans and the native race called the Kairian, everyone is born with a super human power. After a human girl witnesses a murder, she is forced to leave her home to find protection. However, the young man sent to watch over her has an agenda of his own: he is searching for two years of his lost memories, and finding them may just mean forgoing the girl's safety. Amidst it all, an ancient prophecy foretelling a war between the human and Kairian is coming true, and the only one able to prevent the two races' destruction will bear the mark of the Corripian.
The cover of Mark of the Corripian drew me in immediately, the way a great cover should. As a huge fan of Veronica Roth's Divergent trilogy, in which a faction of Roth's dystopian society are marked with tattoos that both identify and set them apart, I wondered what would set Mark of the Corripian apart from the slew of dystopian series out there. While the book does contain some elements of the genre made popular by such works as Divergent, Lois Lowry's The Giver, and Ally Condie's Matched trilogy, the story takes place on a distant planet, making it heavier on science fiction and reminding me in ways of Homer Hickam's Crater series about teens sent to mine the moon. In short, Mark of the Corripian promises to present readers with everything that they love about my favorite genre with some unexpected surprises. It looks to be a refreshing departure from what can sometimes tend to feel like another hero/heroine's retelling of life after the great utopia begins to come undone. Parker also uses dual point-of-view for her narrative, and the story of Mark of the Corripian unfolds from both lead characters', Zenia's and Xavier's, perspectives.
Impressed with the book, and because I am a natural born snoop, I had to learn more about its author B. H. Parker. It thrills me to see the very young exhibit the kind of imagination, talent and determination necessary to see a novel through from conception to publication.
Without further adieu, I'd like to introduce you all to Miss B.H. Parker. For a chance to win a copy of her excellent debut novel Mark of the Corripian, be sure to leave a comment in the comments section. A winner will be chosen at random on February 28th and the book shipped thereafter.
1. What inspired you to become a writer?
I have enjoyed making up stories since I was very young. With all the uncertainties of this life, there’s just something remarkable about being able to create a story in which you decide how it ends. Also, I like solving problems, and a book to me is like a big puzzle. All the pieces are floating around in my head, and if I can just put them together in the right way, they complete some beautiful picture. At least, that’s what I’m going for.
2. What inspired your novel, Mark of the Corripian? What makes it special?
That’s a good question…especially considering the creation of Mark of the Corripian was somewhat an accident. I would have to say the inspiration came from a few of my close friends, since the story began as something I wrote to entertain them. I pulled together a little bit of everything and put it in this book because my friends all have different interests, and I needed to create something they all enjoyed. If it weren’t for them and their encouragement throughout the process, MotC would have never been more than a few chapters of my silly rambling.
I’d say that this novel is special because it has helped me to grow personally. I’ve always kept to myself and never really enjoyed social situations of any kind. Writing this story has allowed me to open up, and I’ve found a new way to express myself. These characters have become my best friends; they’re people I can relate to—and in some ways, their actions help me to sort out situations in my own life. It has been a long journey for me, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
3. Could you tell us a little about your main characters Zenia and Xavier? What was it like writing their story?
The story begins on Zenia’s 18th birthday. She has been raised in a totalitarian society where everything in her life was planned out for her from the beginning. She is used to being told what to do; however, since the death of her father, she’s begun to question the authorities. She’s always very aware of those around her, and is often the first to help if someone is in need. She can be seen as naïve at times, mostly because she always searches for the good in people instead of looking at the whole picture. She can be very hardheaded, as well—and when she’s determined to do something, she won’t let anyone stand in her way. Unfortunately, she doesn’t always consider the consequences to her actions, so she can get herself into some complicated situations fairly quickly. Thankfully for her, her Ability allows her to run at incredible speeds, which can come in handy when needing to escape from one of these tricky situations.
Xavier is a young man with a very complex past—one he doesn’t fully understand. Certain events from his life have shaped him into a very cynical and guarded person. He is detached from the world around him because he believes that is the safest way to live. Ironically, his Ability allows him to sense and manipulate other people’s emotions—a power which he only knows how to use to profit himself.
Their story has been an intriguing one. Many authors call their characters their “children,” but for me, Zenia is that best friend that I love but can’t stand because she always calls me out when I’m doing something stupid, and Xavier is that annoying, overprotective, but altogether awesome older brother. Overall, writing their story has been a very entertaining journey. Since it is my hobby, and not what I hope to make into my chief form of income in the future, writing is something I go to when I need to vent my feelings or just relax after a long day (the latter option can get a little rough because occasionally I forget that my body requires sleep, and I’ll write well into the night). The characters and I don’t always get along…sometimes writing their story becomes frustrating, but so far we’ve always worked through our problems!
4. You’ve done extensive world building in Mark of the Corripian. What was your process for such a complex task?
I’m very focused with details. I like to know where things come from, why they are the way they are, et cetera. Because my story is based on a different planet, I first needed to understand the planet’s physical appearance. After mapping out the world, I started on the history. I first established the different cultures of the people and their ways of life. That helped me to understand why one thing led to another in the formation of the current world. On Macathia, there are essentially four different societies, each with unique characteristics. I’ve made detailed histories of both Kairian (native race of Macathia) societies, and briefer histories of the human societies. Also, since everyone on the planet is born with an Ability, I have graphed out the different types of Abilities, their weaknesses, and strengths. Aside from that, I have created a new language of sorts for the Kairian people. Most of the words have Latin roots, but some of them I just made up.
5. Your book has an excellent cover—everything from the color to the depicted image draws a reader in. Can you tell us how involved you were in the process of cover selection/design?
The cover was a fun process for me! Aside from writing, I have an interest in art, so I had a very, very specific image in mind for the cover—and what I got on Mark of the Corripian pretty much sums it up. I worked with a graphic designer outside of my publishing company to come up with the cover. I designed the mark on the girl’s neck, and the color red plays an important role in this story. If things go according to my plans, each book will have a different color associated with it.
6. What would you say was the biggest lesson learned on your journey to publication?
I was really excited when I finished writing Mark of the Corripian, and my father wanted me to go ahead and try to publish it. I decided to go along with it, and I hadn’t even edited the manuscript yet. I know—that’s bad. But I didn’t have any idea at that point what went into publishing a book, and I was more interested in focusing on schoolwork (yeah, I’m a nerd) than researching all the things to do before trying to get published. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), my very raw manuscript was accepted by a publishing house. For me, this meant an extensive amount of editing over the next 8-10 months and a lot of stress. I cut nearly 40,000 words, most of which I would have edited through myself, had I taken the time after I’d finished writing. I even changed parts of the storyline because I hadn’t previously checked for any discrepancies throughout after finishing it. Now I know from experience that it is always a good idea to first edit, edit, edit, and always research before jumping into anything.
7. What advice would you give aspiring authors?
I’ve always heard authors give the advice to read. I don’t disagree with that, but I think it helps to broaden one’s horizons, so to speak. Watch movies. Play video games. Read comic books and manga. Read books or watch movies from other countries. I’ve learned so much from doing all these things, and I’ve even gotten some ideas that I’ve used in my stories. I’m a very visual person, and I often struggle with feeling like I’m a part of the books I read. Whenever I’m planning out a fight scene, instead of reading about it, I typically like to act it out or look up a movie/video in which the moves are demonstrated. While planning out the strategies for the oncoming war in my series, I’ve not only read about war, but also watched movies and played video games in which war was depicted.
Now, if you’re like me, and you begin stories that you lose interest in, or you decide they are stupid and you want to throw them out, DON’T. Always, always, always, keep everything you write. When I’m editing through my stories, if I decide a scene needs to be omitted, I don’t just hold down the backspace button. I cut the words and paste them in a separate file (mine is named “random story stuff”) because one of these days, I might want to use it. And even if I don’t, it’s always fun to go back and look at how far I’ve come from when I began writing—I still have my very first chapter of Mark of the Corripian, back when it was made up of Zenia’s journal entries. If I had stopped there—it was really rough, and at the time, definitely not the quality worthy of becoming a novel—Mark of the Corripian would not be where it is today.
8. Do you have any other books in the works? What are your future goals?
The Corripian Chronicles is a four-book series, plus a fifth book with different protagonists. I am currently 40,000 words into Book 2 (secret title), and this is my second round at writing it. I had previously written around 70,000 words when I decided that I didn’t like the way I had constructed it, so I scrapped it all and started over. I have the overall idea for book three and four, and I have written a few scenes from each. I’ve begun constructing and becoming familiar with the characters in book five, though I’m still working out the overall plot.
As for future goals, I want to completely finish this series before I start on any other works. I have one story in mind that I’m very excited to write, but it will require much research (a lot more than I’m used to). I will also be straying away from my preferred genre, so this will be quite an adventure for me.Aside from writing, I’m double majoring in Criminal Justice and Psychology, and I hope to work in corrections or some form of counseling.
9. Where do you like to write?
I like to write anywhere I can drown out the world (either in silence, or alone with my earphones in). I’ve tried writing outside, but I get too distracted by the beauty of the world and often end up just staring up at the sky and listening to the different sounds of nature. I typically like to be alone because I get so focused on my writing that I often become very emotional—whatever the mood of the scene is. There have been times when I’ve scowled at my computer screen, been on the verge of tears, or laughed out loud. In order to avoid curious stares from passersby, I stay away from people during this time.
10. What is your favorite genre to read? Favorite Authors?
I’m partial to science fiction/fantasy books, though I am very particular about what kinds I read. If there isn’t a certain something in them, I will often have trouble finishing them. I also really enjoy reading stories about Roman or Greek mythology and different kinds of fairy tales.
My all-time favorite author is C.S. Lewis.
11. Cats or dogs?
I used to love dogs, but then I got one…and he hates me. So cats it is!
12. Dinner or desert?
I have quite a sweet tooth…and I often prefer to eat my dessert before dinner.
13. What is the best thing that ever happened to you?
I’m going with the first thing that came to my mind: A couple weeks ago, I met a group of ten Korean students who are visiting my university for three weeks. Since then, I have grown close to many of them. I’m very fascinated by their culture and customs, and I’ve enjoyed learning some Korean words. We do many things together, and I will be so sad to see them go! This experience has definitely been a highlight of my year.
B.H. Parker has always been fascinated with superpowers, so she created a world in which everyone has them. She spends her time purchasing more pens and sticky notes than she can ever use and doodling or writing fictional stories when she should be finishing her homework. She is a native of Birmingham, Alabama, but currently attends Freed-Hardeman University in Tennessee and is double majoring in Criminal Justice and Psychology. You can find her on Wordpress, Facebook and Goodreads. Mark of the Corripian will be available through Tate Publishing, Amazon, and other online book retailers beginning February 25, 2014.
December 26, 2013
Fire in the Tub: Throwback Thursday Edition!
Happy Thursday and Day After Christmas! I hope everyone has had a very merry holiday season including celebrations free of worry, stress, or loved ones slapped with a ham from across the dinner table--even if they really did deserve it.
The Lowery-Combs bunch had a great Christmas...despite our squirrel infestation--thanks to all of you who have sent in tips on dealing with that rascally bunch, btw--the loss of our beloved house cat Strawberry (I think the squirrels may have done it), and the hubs hospitalization until 2 p.m. Christmas Eve. We are a look-on-the-bright-side crew if nothing else! This year the bright side just happened to be that Momma got an iPad for Christmas! The perfect gadget for drowning out electrifying squirrel, a six-year-old's pleas for a new kitten, and a full grown man's swearing to have a heart attack--for real his time!--unless I rub his back, let him hold the television remote control, cook a pot roast without celery, hang his t-shirts from inside and not by stretching out the collar, etc, etc, etc.
In honor of the ebook and app Spending Spree Extravaganza I've undertaken today in celebration of my new toy...and hubby's not dropping dead just yet, I'm rerunning a post from last Christmas about my very 1st e-reader, the KindleFire HD: a devise I still highly recommend even though I'm now the owner of an iPad or what my friend Danny Self calls "a Kindle Killer".
This particular post wasn't one of my most viewed this past year, but I think it's some of my best work. Maybe visions of all that is me in my bathtub are too much for some people? Come to think of it, maybe this is what made the cat run away.
Enjoy!
Through the Wormhole: Confessions of a Bookworm: Fire in the Tub!: I believe the Book to be a sacred object—the heft of one held tightly in my hands or lying open in my lap is a tangible reminder of how a p...
The Lowery-Combs bunch had a great Christmas...despite our squirrel infestation--thanks to all of you who have sent in tips on dealing with that rascally bunch, btw--the loss of our beloved house cat Strawberry (I think the squirrels may have done it), and the hubs hospitalization until 2 p.m. Christmas Eve. We are a look-on-the-bright-side crew if nothing else! This year the bright side just happened to be that Momma got an iPad for Christmas! The perfect gadget for drowning out electrifying squirrel, a six-year-old's pleas for a new kitten, and a full grown man's swearing to have a heart attack--for real his time!--unless I rub his back, let him hold the television remote control, cook a pot roast without celery, hang his t-shirts from inside and not by stretching out the collar, etc, etc, etc.
In honor of the ebook and app Spending Spree Extravaganza I've undertaken today in celebration of my new toy...and hubby's not dropping dead just yet, I'm rerunning a post from last Christmas about my very 1st e-reader, the KindleFire HD: a devise I still highly recommend even though I'm now the owner of an iPad or what my friend Danny Self calls "a Kindle Killer".
This particular post wasn't one of my most viewed this past year, but I think it's some of my best work. Maybe visions of all that is me in my bathtub are too much for some people? Come to think of it, maybe this is what made the cat run away.
Enjoy!
Through the Wormhole: Confessions of a Bookworm: Fire in the Tub!: I believe the Book to be a sacred object—the heft of one held tightly in my hands or lying open in my lap is a tangible reminder of how a p...
December 20, 2013
Attack of the Christmas Squirrel!
Sweet baby Jesus, there are squirrels in my attic! I’m not speaking figuratively--this isn’t a confession about my sketchy mental health. You can count on one of those shortly, though, if someone isn’t able to get a herd of scampering, scurrying rodents out of my house toot-sweet. It's all that I want for Christmas!
These squirrels are making me nuts! I hear them in the ceiling, fascia and eaves of my new home morning and evening, tumbling about and seeming to multiply like a pack of gremlins with a bucket of KFC after midnight! So far we’ve tried clearing them out and repairing the holes they’ve gnawed in the house’s apparently scrumptious cedar siding, live trap cages, and repellants. Within days, however, new holes appear and the nightmares-of-electrical-fire-inducing vermin are back!
{photo copyright: Cafepress.com}
We’ve decided that the majestic oak trees in the yard will have to go. I’ll miss the shade next summer. In the meantime, I’ve been humming this little ditty and it’s helping to ease my regret.
On the first day of Christmas, my attic squirrels gave to me:A nest in my Xmas tree.
On the second day of Christmas, my attic squirrels gave to me:2 half-eaten acorns and a nest in my Xmas tree!
On the third day of Christmas, my attic squirrels gave to me:3 empty traps, 2 half-eaten acorns, and a nest in my Xmas
tree!
On the fourth day of Christmas, my attic squirrels gave to me:4 shredded insulators, 3 empty traps, 2 half-eaten acorns, and a nest in my Xmas tree!
On the fifth day of Christmas, my attic squirrels gave to me:5 babies born! 4 shredded insulators, 3 empty traps, 2 half-eaten acorns, and a nest in my Xmas tree!
On the sixth day of Christmas, my attic squirrels gave to me:6 live relocations, 5 babies born, 4 shredded insulators, 3 empty traps, 2 half-eaten acorns, and a nest in my Xmas tree!
On the seventh day of Christmas, my attic squirrels gave to me:7 packs of repellant, 6 live relocations, 5 babies born, 4 shredded insulators, 3 empty traps, 2 half-eaten acorns, and a nest in my Xmas tree!
On the eight day of Christmas, my attic squirrels gave to me:8 frightened party guests, 7 packs of repellant, 6 live relocations, 5 babies born, 4 shredded insulators, 3 empty traps, 2 half-eaten acorns, and a nest in my Xmas tree!
On the ninth day of Christmas, my attic squirrels gave to me:9 nightmares of house fires, 8 frightened party guests, 7 packs of repellant, 6 live relocations, 5 babies born, 4 shredded insulators, 3 empty traps, 2 half-eaten acorns, and a nest in my Xmas tree!
On the tenth day of Christmas, my attic squirrels gave to me:10 cedar siding holes! 9 nightmares of house fires, 8 frightened party guests, 7 packs of repellant, 6 live relocations, 5 babies born, 4 shredded insulators, 3 empty traps, 2 half-eaten acorns, and a nest in my Xmas tree!
On the eleventh day of Christmas, my attic squirrels gave to me:11 yards of mesh wire, 10 cedar siding holes, 9 nightmares of house fires, 8 frightened party guests, 7 packs of repellant, 6 live relocations, 5 babies born, 4 shredded insulators, 3 empty traps, 2 half-eaten acorns, and a nest in my Xmas tree!
On the twelfth day of Christmas, my attic squirrels gave to me:
12 tree branches trimmed, 11 yards of mesh wire, 10 cedar siding holes, 9 nightmares of house fires, 8 frightened party guests, 7 packs of repellant, 6 live relocations, 5 babies born, 4 shredded insulators, 3 empty traps, 2 half-eaten acorns, and a nest in my Xmas tree!
These squirrels are making me nuts! I hear them in the ceiling, fascia and eaves of my new home morning and evening, tumbling about and seeming to multiply like a pack of gremlins with a bucket of KFC after midnight! So far we’ve tried clearing them out and repairing the holes they’ve gnawed in the house’s apparently scrumptious cedar siding, live trap cages, and repellants. Within days, however, new holes appear and the nightmares-of-electrical-fire-inducing vermin are back!
{photo copyright: Cafepress.com}We’ve decided that the majestic oak trees in the yard will have to go. I’ll miss the shade next summer. In the meantime, I’ve been humming this little ditty and it’s helping to ease my regret.
On the first day of Christmas, my attic squirrels gave to me:A nest in my Xmas tree.
On the second day of Christmas, my attic squirrels gave to me:2 half-eaten acorns and a nest in my Xmas tree!
On the third day of Christmas, my attic squirrels gave to me:3 empty traps, 2 half-eaten acorns, and a nest in my Xmas
tree!
On the fourth day of Christmas, my attic squirrels gave to me:4 shredded insulators, 3 empty traps, 2 half-eaten acorns, and a nest in my Xmas tree!
On the fifth day of Christmas, my attic squirrels gave to me:5 babies born! 4 shredded insulators, 3 empty traps, 2 half-eaten acorns, and a nest in my Xmas tree!
On the sixth day of Christmas, my attic squirrels gave to me:6 live relocations, 5 babies born, 4 shredded insulators, 3 empty traps, 2 half-eaten acorns, and a nest in my Xmas tree!
On the seventh day of Christmas, my attic squirrels gave to me:7 packs of repellant, 6 live relocations, 5 babies born, 4 shredded insulators, 3 empty traps, 2 half-eaten acorns, and a nest in my Xmas tree!
On the eight day of Christmas, my attic squirrels gave to me:8 frightened party guests, 7 packs of repellant, 6 live relocations, 5 babies born, 4 shredded insulators, 3 empty traps, 2 half-eaten acorns, and a nest in my Xmas tree!
On the ninth day of Christmas, my attic squirrels gave to me:9 nightmares of house fires, 8 frightened party guests, 7 packs of repellant, 6 live relocations, 5 babies born, 4 shredded insulators, 3 empty traps, 2 half-eaten acorns, and a nest in my Xmas tree!
On the tenth day of Christmas, my attic squirrels gave to me:10 cedar siding holes! 9 nightmares of house fires, 8 frightened party guests, 7 packs of repellant, 6 live relocations, 5 babies born, 4 shredded insulators, 3 empty traps, 2 half-eaten acorns, and a nest in my Xmas tree!
On the eleventh day of Christmas, my attic squirrels gave to me:11 yards of mesh wire, 10 cedar siding holes, 9 nightmares of house fires, 8 frightened party guests, 7 packs of repellant, 6 live relocations, 5 babies born, 4 shredded insulators, 3 empty traps, 2 half-eaten acorns, and a nest in my Xmas tree!
On the twelfth day of Christmas, my attic squirrels gave to me:
12 tree branches trimmed, 11 yards of mesh wire, 10 cedar siding holes, 9 nightmares of house fires, 8 frightened party guests, 7 packs of repellant, 6 live relocations, 5 babies born, 4 shredded insulators, 3 empty traps, 2 half-eaten acorns, and a nest in my Xmas tree!
November 21, 2013
Principals vs Buttcracks
When you have five kids there are a few things you can bet your last prescription of birth control are going to happen at some point in their childhoods:
1. There will be at least a couple of months that you spend more money on pediatrician appointment and ER visit copays than you spend on your mortgage.
2. You will ruin several loads of clothes that get washed then dried with pens, markers, playdoh, silly putty, gum or all of the above simultaneously.
3. You will be turned in, at least once, for suspected child abuse while trying to shop with three or more of them at Wal-Mart.
4. You will be called by their elementary/high school principals with reports of infractions that range from inappropriate comments to attempted self electrocution, sometimes with dizzying regularity.
It’s #4 that I’m dedicating the rest of today’s post to, however, having just moments ago taken a call from my 11 year-old son’s elementary school principal, reporting that my youngest boy was, in fact, being disciplined for writing a confiscated note to another student that read, and I quote, “You suck, Joey, buttcracks!” *Joey* is my son Jackson’s best friend, a detail that emerged when Jackson was “interviewed” about the “incident”. From the principal’s report, it seems that Joey had asked Jackson to draw a picture of a motorcycle. Jackson complied, but instead of signing the piece, like a true artiste, he’d opted for a personalization that included his new favorite word at the moment: buttcrack.
(photo credit: cagle.com)-not Joey, also not a motorcycle
The buildup to the principal’s reading the note over the phone to me was intense. I even broke a sweat trying to imagine what kind of hateful vitriol the most sensitive of my children could have been spewing to land him in the principal’s office. When the fateful sentence was finally uttered, with complete seriousness and severity, the only thing I could think to say was, “You’ve never read any of mystuff, have you?” And so I was silent until I was able to swallow those words and my inappropriate laughter and come up with something more No Nonsense Parent like. It took a minute, y’all.
I assured the principal that while we were a colorful and expressive family, we didn’t encourage wantonly hurting someone’s feelings for sport and that I would be speaking to Jackson about his language at school. I hung up virtually quivering with delight that he hadn’t put pen to paper to record for his buddy some of the exchanges between himself and his fourteen and eighteen year-old brothers while playing xbox or assembling a ten foot basketball goal with thirty parts and no accompanying instructions, or any quotes from Tosh.o.
Parenting a small army is tough, especially when the capacity of your soldiers for foolishment seems limitless, but hang in there troops! Things could be worse in the trenches and vasectomies could be a whole lot more expensive.
*name changed to protect the innocent*
1. There will be at least a couple of months that you spend more money on pediatrician appointment and ER visit copays than you spend on your mortgage.
2. You will ruin several loads of clothes that get washed then dried with pens, markers, playdoh, silly putty, gum or all of the above simultaneously.
3. You will be turned in, at least once, for suspected child abuse while trying to shop with three or more of them at Wal-Mart.
4. You will be called by their elementary/high school principals with reports of infractions that range from inappropriate comments to attempted self electrocution, sometimes with dizzying regularity.
It’s #4 that I’m dedicating the rest of today’s post to, however, having just moments ago taken a call from my 11 year-old son’s elementary school principal, reporting that my youngest boy was, in fact, being disciplined for writing a confiscated note to another student that read, and I quote, “You suck, Joey, buttcracks!” *Joey* is my son Jackson’s best friend, a detail that emerged when Jackson was “interviewed” about the “incident”. From the principal’s report, it seems that Joey had asked Jackson to draw a picture of a motorcycle. Jackson complied, but instead of signing the piece, like a true artiste, he’d opted for a personalization that included his new favorite word at the moment: buttcrack.
(photo credit: cagle.com)-not Joey, also not a motorcycleThe buildup to the principal’s reading the note over the phone to me was intense. I even broke a sweat trying to imagine what kind of hateful vitriol the most sensitive of my children could have been spewing to land him in the principal’s office. When the fateful sentence was finally uttered, with complete seriousness and severity, the only thing I could think to say was, “You’ve never read any of mystuff, have you?” And so I was silent until I was able to swallow those words and my inappropriate laughter and come up with something more No Nonsense Parent like. It took a minute, y’all.
I assured the principal that while we were a colorful and expressive family, we didn’t encourage wantonly hurting someone’s feelings for sport and that I would be speaking to Jackson about his language at school. I hung up virtually quivering with delight that he hadn’t put pen to paper to record for his buddy some of the exchanges between himself and his fourteen and eighteen year-old brothers while playing xbox or assembling a ten foot basketball goal with thirty parts and no accompanying instructions, or any quotes from Tosh.o.
Parenting a small army is tough, especially when the capacity of your soldiers for foolishment seems limitless, but hang in there troops! Things could be worse in the trenches and vasectomies could be a whole lot more expensive.
*name changed to protect the innocent*
October 18, 2013
The Gig is Up: A 9th Century A**hole is Ruining My Life!
My kids’ math homework is killing me! Like seriously. I thought the worst parts of having five children were behind me when I got to stop paying for Huggies and daycare. What a laugh! I’d gladly pay $125.00 for a case of diapers and a few hours of daycare every week for the rest of my life if it meant I’d NEVER, EVER have to factor another damned quadratic equation!
I loathe math, and not just with your everyday burning hatred. I’m talking fantasizing-about-time-travel-for-the-sole-purpose-of-visiting-820 A.D. Persia-and-poisoning-the-asshole-who-started-this-whole-mess levels of hatred. He was Muslim mathematician Al Khwarizmi, for those of you who don’t know, and I’m pretty sure he was in league with the devil. What else can explain how he’s managed to torture millions of children and their parents for thousands of years after his earthly demise?
I was thrown into the fiery pits of hell…ur, algebra in junior high school. From eighth grade on, my school nights were plagued with nightmares about scientific notation and additive inverse properties. I failed two math courses in high school. Me—a student in the honors program who’d made only two C’s her entire academic career up to that point! Me—who made a 33 out of 36 on the English portion of her ACT! That demon Khwarizmi, with his evil exponent and variable trickery, reduced me to a failure and landed me in summer school for credit recovery the summer before my senior year. I’ve never forgiven him for it. I’m also still pissed that he cost me actual cash money, and a lot of it, for two more algebra classes in college!
Now, ol’ Khwarizmi has gotten his hooks into my sweet babies! All of them: from the 18 year-old senior to the 6 year-old first-grader! This has led to great wailing and gnashing of teeth in the Lowery-Combs’ household because every one of these chirren have inherited their Momma’s right-brain dominance. None of us is able to decipher the goobly-gark these poor kids are being forced to muddle through every night. For hours! There was a time when my angels were convinced their Momma knew everything there was to know in the entire universe, but the gig is up!
So far, my 1st and 5th graders haven’t brought home a worksheet we haven’t been able to eventually conquer, but they’ve seen me and their brothers and sister (and heard our rather loudly elevated voices) at the dining room table as we struggle over their math homework, and they’ve all decided that if I can’t correctly apply the dastardly order of operations 100% of the time, then surely I am also wrong about any evidence that points to the fact that they haven’t brushed their teeth in two days. There is dissension spreading through the ranks, people!
ALGEBRA HOMEWORK
I’d like to line up each of my kids’ math teachers , and mine while I’m at it, and karate chop them in the throat. (My faithful readers know how I love a good karate chop to the throat!) I’m no better at helping my kids learn algebra and calculus than my own parents were, and I can’t help but feel that some of our deficit, at least that part of it not inherent in our right-brain natures, is due to inadequate instruction.
Maybe it's a good thing that younger and younger students are learning algebraic concepts. Maybe by the time my first-grader is in high school, she’ll be able to tutor the rest of her family of idiots? Whatever the case, I can tell you this: the day she graduates I will never, and I mean NEVER, worry myself with another binomial coefficient or explicit function again! I am positive that I will be a kinder, gentler, smarter Momma for it, and probably live a whole lot longer.
I loathe math, and not just with your everyday burning hatred. I’m talking fantasizing-about-time-travel-for-the-sole-purpose-of-visiting-820 A.D. Persia-and-poisoning-the-asshole-who-started-this-whole-mess levels of hatred. He was Muslim mathematician Al Khwarizmi, for those of you who don’t know, and I’m pretty sure he was in league with the devil. What else can explain how he’s managed to torture millions of children and their parents for thousands of years after his earthly demise?
I was thrown into the fiery pits of hell…ur, algebra in junior high school. From eighth grade on, my school nights were plagued with nightmares about scientific notation and additive inverse properties. I failed two math courses in high school. Me—a student in the honors program who’d made only two C’s her entire academic career up to that point! Me—who made a 33 out of 36 on the English portion of her ACT! That demon Khwarizmi, with his evil exponent and variable trickery, reduced me to a failure and landed me in summer school for credit recovery the summer before my senior year. I’ve never forgiven him for it. I’m also still pissed that he cost me actual cash money, and a lot of it, for two more algebra classes in college!
Now, ol’ Khwarizmi has gotten his hooks into my sweet babies! All of them: from the 18 year-old senior to the 6 year-old first-grader! This has led to great wailing and gnashing of teeth in the Lowery-Combs’ household because every one of these chirren have inherited their Momma’s right-brain dominance. None of us is able to decipher the goobly-gark these poor kids are being forced to muddle through every night. For hours! There was a time when my angels were convinced their Momma knew everything there was to know in the entire universe, but the gig is up!
So far, my 1st and 5th graders haven’t brought home a worksheet we haven’t been able to eventually conquer, but they’ve seen me and their brothers and sister (and heard our rather loudly elevated voices) at the dining room table as we struggle over their math homework, and they’ve all decided that if I can’t correctly apply the dastardly order of operations 100% of the time, then surely I am also wrong about any evidence that points to the fact that they haven’t brushed their teeth in two days. There is dissension spreading through the ranks, people!
ALGEBRA HOMEWORK
I’d like to line up each of my kids’ math teachers , and mine while I’m at it, and karate chop them in the throat. (My faithful readers know how I love a good karate chop to the throat!) I’m no better at helping my kids learn algebra and calculus than my own parents were, and I can’t help but feel that some of our deficit, at least that part of it not inherent in our right-brain natures, is due to inadequate instruction.
Maybe it's a good thing that younger and younger students are learning algebraic concepts. Maybe by the time my first-grader is in high school, she’ll be able to tutor the rest of her family of idiots? Whatever the case, I can tell you this: the day she graduates I will never, and I mean NEVER, worry myself with another binomial coefficient or explicit function again! I am positive that I will be a kinder, gentler, smarter Momma for it, and probably live a whole lot longer.
September 25, 2013
Gay Penguins: Ain't Nobody Got Time For That!
“Nothing corrodes young minds quite so much as reading.” -Alexander Nazaryan, The Banned Books of Alabama, The Atlantic Wire
If you’ve been to your local library or logged onto any social networking site this week, you may have heard that it’s Banned Books Week, an event observed the last week of every September when readers are encouraged to celebrate the freedom to read. Ever the rebel, I had to revisit the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom’s 2013 List of Banned Books released in April to see if I’d missed out on anything I should not only be corrupting my own mind with but those of my children as well.
Number 1 on the list, perceived by idiots somewhere, supposedly in great numbers, to be the most dangerous book for undermining adult authority amongst young children: The Captain Underpants books by Dav Pilkey. The books have been praised because they’ve encouraged middle-grade boys to read when fewer and fewer titles lately have done so. “Not so fast!” cry some parents and educators, pointing to the bathroom humor and irreverent attitude of the title character. A boy with a superhero persona that runs around in his tighty whiteys pitted against a villainous middle school principal is a threat and must be silenced! Nevermind the lesson that authority should sometimes be questioned or the cautionary tale that all adults in powerful positions aren't always honorable.
Numbers 2 and 3 on the list, Sherman Alexie’s prize-winning The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why find themselves on the list for “racism/sexually explicit” and “drugs/sex/suicide” respectively. Heaven forbid we have young people reading subject matter that may actually be relevant to them. This will never do! We can’t have our youth turning to books in order to feel that they aren’t alone in facing the struggles of adolescence. Shouldn’t they be on Twitter or Instagram for that?!
No surprise was E. L. James’ multimillion selling erotic trilogy Fifty Shades, ranked at No. 4. This is one I hope the kiddos will wait a good long while before delving into. Last summer, we saw a sex toy shop billboard emblazoned with the words “Butt Plugs”, I kid you not, in three-foot lettering, on the way to Jacksonville, Florida to board a cruise for the Bahamas, and I spent a goodly amount of the drive squashing debates amongst the chirren about what, why, wherefore and how such a devise would ever be called for and utilized. It wasn’t pretty and quite frankly, neither is Fifty Shades of DooDoo as I’ve taken to calling it—and not just for its own butt plug references. (I found James’ writing to be poor and her rip-off of Twilight unimaginative, but that is a post for another day.)
Numbers 5 and 6, And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, can thank their audacity at trying to incorporate the reality of homosexuality into their narratives for landing on the list. These books are unfit for common consumption according to objectors. Damn gay penguins! Ain’t nobody got time for that! Society can’t have our youth learning tolerance and compassion. Look where that got us in the 1960’s!
Looking for Alaska by John Green ranks at Number 7 for offensive language and being sexually explicit/unsuited for age group. Bet some of these same parents don’t have a problem letting their kids watch Dance Moms and Toddlers & Tiaras,both of which are real threats to human decency.
Number 8, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Swartz, gave me pause. My mother and I regularly gather all the children in our family around large bon fires in the fall and try to scare the begeezus out of them—or at least make them wet their pants a trickle—with Swartz’s books and others like it. Their friends beg for invitations to these readings, and now I can’t help but be a tad worried one of the little beastie’s parents might turn me in to child protective services when Junior decides he won’t be bathing or sleeping alone until college. Hmmmmm.
Number 9, The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, is a 2005 memoir recounting Walls’ and her siblings’ unconventional, poverty-stricken upbringing at the hands of their deeply dysfunctional parents. This book should be every parent’s go-to reading assignment for the kid that complains that they don’t have enough Hollister or Abercrombie & Fitch. In a showdown a couple of weeks ago, one of my own teenage sons suggested that I was a bad parent because he didn’t have any clean t-shirts. He hurled another insult about reheated green beans or some such crap. This weekend he’ll have lots of free time to read The Glass Castle.
Rounding out 2013’s top ten most threatening collection of words is Toni Morrison’s Beloved. The main reasons given for objections to the work: sexually explicit/religious viewpoint/violence. There’s nothing that gets a book banners panties in a wad quite like stories that question long-held religious standards and beliefs. And violence is almost always unsuitable to these self-appointed guardians of good taste and morality—no matter how historically accurate. Beloved is a beautiful work that had a powerful impact on me and made me a fan of Toni Morrison forever. Before this book, I’d never fully appreciated the horrors of slavery, the lengths a mother might go to in order to protect her children from it, or what a haunted lifetime of regret could do to someone.
Every year, dozens of books are challenged and requested to be removed from school reading lists and public library shelves by “concerned” parents and citizens objecting to the opinions and/or the subject matter they contain. These challenges attempt to restrict or remove the access of others based on an individual or group’s point of view alone. Successful challenges result in a banning or removal of those materials. The American Library Association calls this “a threat to freedom of speech and choice.” I agree.
Now, hurry on out to your local library or book store and pick up one of these titles to corrupt the minds of a young person you love. They’ll emerge from their reading experience a richer and more enlightened person, though I can’t promise that they won’t also feel the urge to strip down to their undies and don a cape.
September 4, 2013
When One Isn't Enough: Writing Series Fiction
I realize that it’s been a little while since I’ve posted any new material to the blog. I hope you’ll forgive me; you see I’m very much otherwise engaged in the business of writing the second installment of the Genie Chroniclesseries—and, dear Lord, is it dominating every second of my free time! Just ask my kids, who’ll tell you all about what life is like living out of laundry baskets strategically scattered among precariously leaning towers of cardboard boxes at our new house.
Yes, it’s been three weeks and we’re still not unpacked, but I have a novel to write—an apparently much anticipated novel that I’m receiving emails and messages about daily— and there are pathways cleared to the showers, refrigerator, washer and dryer. (Remember that before any of you turn me into child protective services!)
For your reading pleasure, I’m hosting Through the Wormhole: Confessions of a Bookworm’s first EVER guest blogger, Amalia Dillin, author of the Fate of the Gods series from World Weaver Press. Amalia is certainly a far more professional writer than I, and her approach to writing series fiction is an enlightening one.
Please, make her welcome!
Fate of the Gods: Identity Crisis
Writing a series is an adventure. I was lucky, to an extent, in that I had already written all three books in my Fate of the Gods trilogy plus the Tempting Fate novella before World Weaver Press contracted me. In fact, I wrote Fate of the Gods all in one go. I went from book one directly into book two into book three without stopping, and I didn't finalize where one book ended and the other began until after I was done with the first two.
The downside to this approach was that it meant any revisions to book one and two would have ripple effects through the rest of the already-written series. But the benefit was that it kept me close to my characters, and tonally, it kept things on track. There wasn't a huge amount of growth in my style between books, and it all stayed pretty cohesive without a lot of work on my part.
Because that’s the trick with writing a series – keeping it cohesive and keeping the continuity of the events from book to book. But that only applied to the first three books. And Fate of the Gods provided another challenge: my TEMPTING FATE novella was wildly different.
I wrote TEMPTING FATE more than a year after finishing the others, and because it was told from Mia’s perspective instead of Eve’s, it was almost a different genre altogether – the main three novels are all solidly Adult Fantasy (subcategorized as mythological fantasy with a splash of alternate history), but TEMPTING FATE was completely contemporary, almost more of a paranormal romance, and not nearly so adult.
At my editor’s suggestion, I added a second point of view, in order to align the novella a little bit closer to the three original books in style. But Mia was always going to be Mia, with a much younger voice and a much more narrow view of the world. Mia’s scope is smaller, more concerned with escaping her family and breaking free of her sister’s influence – and those are themes, which combined with her age, are much more New Adultish in focus than the rest of the series.
I did my best to bridge the genres – bringing Adam’s perspective into the novella to balance Mia’s voice – and I can only hope that it will be enough to appeal to both audiences. Hopefully the readers on both sides will let me know!
Tempting Fate is an e-novella that takes place during the events of Forged by Fate , the first book in the Fate of the Godstrilogy. Learn more about the series by following the links, or check out www.amaliadillin.com!
Amalia Dillin
Amalia Dillin began as a biology major at the University of North Dakota before taking Latin and falling in love with old heroes and older gods. After that, she couldn’t stop writing about them, with the occasional break for more contemporary subjects. She lives in upstate New York with her husband, and dreams of the day when she will own goats — to pull her chariot through the sky, of course. You can find her online at amaliadillin.com, follow her on Twitter @AmaliaTd, or find her on Facebook.
Yes, it’s been three weeks and we’re still not unpacked, but I have a novel to write—an apparently much anticipated novel that I’m receiving emails and messages about daily— and there are pathways cleared to the showers, refrigerator, washer and dryer. (Remember that before any of you turn me into child protective services!)
For your reading pleasure, I’m hosting Through the Wormhole: Confessions of a Bookworm’s first EVER guest blogger, Amalia Dillin, author of the Fate of the Gods series from World Weaver Press. Amalia is certainly a far more professional writer than I, and her approach to writing series fiction is an enlightening one.
Please, make her welcome!
Fate of the Gods: Identity Crisis
Writing a series is an adventure. I was lucky, to an extent, in that I had already written all three books in my Fate of the Gods trilogy plus the Tempting Fate novella before World Weaver Press contracted me. In fact, I wrote Fate of the Gods all in one go. I went from book one directly into book two into book three without stopping, and I didn't finalize where one book ended and the other began until after I was done with the first two.
The downside to this approach was that it meant any revisions to book one and two would have ripple effects through the rest of the already-written series. But the benefit was that it kept me close to my characters, and tonally, it kept things on track. There wasn't a huge amount of growth in my style between books, and it all stayed pretty cohesive without a lot of work on my part.
Because that’s the trick with writing a series – keeping it cohesive and keeping the continuity of the events from book to book. But that only applied to the first three books. And Fate of the Gods provided another challenge: my TEMPTING FATE novella was wildly different.
I wrote TEMPTING FATE more than a year after finishing the others, and because it was told from Mia’s perspective instead of Eve’s, it was almost a different genre altogether – the main three novels are all solidly Adult Fantasy (subcategorized as mythological fantasy with a splash of alternate history), but TEMPTING FATE was completely contemporary, almost more of a paranormal romance, and not nearly so adult.
At my editor’s suggestion, I added a second point of view, in order to align the novella a little bit closer to the three original books in style. But Mia was always going to be Mia, with a much younger voice and a much more narrow view of the world. Mia’s scope is smaller, more concerned with escaping her family and breaking free of her sister’s influence – and those are themes, which combined with her age, are much more New Adultish in focus than the rest of the series.
I did my best to bridge the genres – bringing Adam’s perspective into the novella to balance Mia’s voice – and I can only hope that it will be enough to appeal to both audiences. Hopefully the readers on both sides will let me know!
Tempting Fate is an e-novella that takes place during the events of Forged by Fate , the first book in the Fate of the Godstrilogy. Learn more about the series by following the links, or check out www.amaliadillin.com!
Amalia DillinAmalia Dillin began as a biology major at the University of North Dakota before taking Latin and falling in love with old heroes and older gods. After that, she couldn’t stop writing about them, with the occasional break for more contemporary subjects. She lives in upstate New York with her husband, and dreams of the day when she will own goats — to pull her chariot through the sky, of course. You can find her online at amaliadillin.com, follow her on Twitter @AmaliaTd, or find her on Facebook.
August 27, 2013
The Hobbit Meets Heavy Metal...Who Among You Can Resist That?
In honor of the publication of their first novel, Cycle of Ages Saga: Finders Keepers, I’m happy to welcome Jeremy Hicks and Barry Hayes back to Confessions of a Bookworm to talk about inspiration, fantasy adventure at its finest and the novel Barry Hayes describes as “heavy metal meets The Hobbit”. The guys also flirt with other topics—including, firsts for the blog: The Kama Sutra and 50 Shades of Grey. Corset up and hold on to your battle axes, ladies!
Jeremy Hicks
Barry HayesCOBW: What inspired you to become a writer?
BH: I always loved reading, and at an early age I had a very active and wild imagination. My family was amazed at some of the stories I could come up with, and they always told me that I should write them down. So my inspiration came primarily from my family who encouraged me to spin my worlds into novels. I got into role playing games and that is when I got urged on by fellow gamers to put the games I ran into novel format. I think the combination of my overactive imagination and my introduction to RPGs were both contributors.
JH: For as long as I can remember, I too have had a natural love of stories. Whether it was watching them, reading them, telling them, or writing them. I embraced my love of writing as a child but grew to believe that it’d never be a realistic pursuit, mainly because of what naysayers told me. But after finding myself without a viable career due to the terrible economy, I had to make a change. And I chose to follow another dream, so I went from archaeology to writing. I’d rather fail at a dream than succeed in a nightmarish scenario where I am not happy with what I’m doing, who I’m doing it for, or where I’m doing it. You could say that I’m writing my own destiny, one story at a time.
COBW: Can you tell us a little about both the advantages and challenges of completing a novel as co-authors?
BH: Writing with another author, especially one as talented as Jeremy, made assembling the story easy. His background as an archaeologist helped to enhance the cultures and various races and societies of Faltyr. We helped one another become better writers by offering brutally honest critiques of each other’s work. Knowing him for over a decade helped ease my pain. The biggest challenges were agreeing on how certain scenes should work, how a character should look, what we should and shouldn’t put in or where we should put it, etc. We usually resolved this by presenting to one another the better defense for why something should be a certain way. We worked well as a team, and I am looking forward to working with him on more projects as our writing career progresses.
JH: Ideally, as a team, you have more resources, more manpower, and more ideas to pull from to create stories. However, it’s a major challenge to utilize those effectively and efficiently. It’s tough realizing that you cannot manage someone else’s time for them and must trust them to deliver on their end of the writing partnership. And with writing you have the added challenge of meshing ideas, styles of writing, and even approaches to characters and situations. If you treat it like a learning experience, then you have the advantage of educating each other based on the successes and failures of your team and crafting a better product together than you would have on your own.
COBW: Do you write as you go or do you have the book all planned out from page 1?
BH: I do both. It really depends on what I am writing. I sometimes put a lot of thought into a subject, will write an outline of the story, and construct characters, settings and history. Then there are times I turn on the creative faucet and attempt to catch the ideas as they spill out.
JH: With Cycle of Ages Saga: Finders Keepers, we planned pretty heavily. We created a world, characters, and an outline, and then wrote a screenplay version. We planned the novelization out later and then developed it rather rigidly from there. We went so far with it to have a novel subsection and chapter breakdown to manage our chapters, word counts, and character POVs.
COBW: What drew you to this genre?
BH: A friend gave me a copy of The Hobbit. I read it and was drawn to the realms of fantasy instantly. He told me it would give me a feel for the role playing game we were involved in at that moment.
JH: It started as a child. I had a genuine love of fantasy fiction like Alice in Wonderland and The Hobbit and horror fiction by anyone from Poe to Lovecraft to King. But my love of all things speculative fiction blossomed as I moved into playing RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons and realized that I could not just create my own stories but my own world as a setting for them.
COBW: Who is your favorite character in Finders Keepers? Why?
BH: Kaladimus Dor, the young wizard from Moor’Dru who, at the most inopportune of moments or when stressed, gets disastrous results with the magic he is weaving. He is as smart as he is naïve. He is as cowardly as he is brave. He is innocent as he is dangerous. I am anxious to watch him grow in character as the series progresses.
JH: Hmmm…now that’s a good question. There are so many good candidates. I’d have to say it is Yax’Kaqix (pronounced Yahsh-kah-keesh) as he was based on a character that I used to play ages ago fused with my love of magic and Mesoamerican culture. He’s an ancient elf war-mage full of angst, complexity, and a moral nebulousness that is found in a lot of people. His entire life is a gray area, other than his adherence to a rather rigid code of conduct when it comes to loyalty and the taking and breaking of oaths.
COBW: What’s been your most rewarding experience since being published?
BH: Being presented the chance to start a career doing something I really enjoy, writing.
JH: Honestly, having the thing done, so we can move onto the next project. Until the book was published, everything wasn’t really real, if that makes sense. The people around us were supportive for the most part, but I don’t think anyone really expected to see actual results from us until the book manifested itself before their very eyes. Now, we’re legitimate. Now we can write, pitch, or publish any project in our imagination and we’re seen as professionals, instead of daydreamers fronting as pros. At an average of 40 years of age, we’re finally real writers in the eyes of our families, friends, loved ones, and community, even though we’ve both considered ourselves writers since childhood.
COBW: What’s one piece of advice you would give aspiring authors?
BH: Edit. Edit. Edit. My mistake, you asked for one piece of advice. Edit.
JH: Go to school, get a good technical degree in a solid career field, and pay your bills on time. Spend your nights writing, editing, and then try to get published. Trying to get published is difficult enough. Trying to get published while fighting poverty and trying to keep the light bill paid in Roosterpoot, Alabama is damn difficult.
COBW: If you could jump into a book and live in that world, which would it be?
BH: Anything by H.P. Lovecraft. I love his world!
JH: The Kama Sutra…albeit a modern version with hot showers and flush toilets.
COBW: What’s the one book you wish you’d written?
BH: That would be Terry Pratchett’s Discworld.
JH: 50 Shades of Grey…with 95 million dollars, we could produce our own film version of The Cycle of Ages Saga: Finders Keepers. Although if we did, sex-starved housewives might expect Channing Tatum to play a wizard called Magic Wand so they could read about him in badly written, badly edited scenes of badly disguised Twilight fanfiction.
Many thanks to Barry and Jeremy for stopping by Through the Wormhole: Confessions of a Bookworm! Following is the COAS: Finders Keepers cover image and copy.
Kaladimus Dor, both dopey and dangerous, finds himself racing home across the sea aboard the mighty caravel, Nightsfall. He must return with the secretive contents of the chest in his possession to his home on the island of Moor’Dru. Unfortunately, his disastrous nature shipwrecks him and the survivors on an island full of ravenous inhabitants, both living and undead. Dor allies himself with members of the Finders Keepers mercenary guild and others to search for the Hallowed Vessel, their only means of escape from the nightmare.
You can find more on the duo of Hicks and Hayes, including ways to purchase their debut novel, at their website http://www.cycleofagessaga.com Their publisher, Dark Oak Press & Media, can be found at http://www.darkoakpress.com
July 16, 2013
Real Life Lessons
My fourteen-year-old daughter had been the owner of an iPhone 4s for a mere two months when the device tumbled from her jeans pocket and onto the concrete driveway where she’d been playing basketball. Stunned, she’d cradled the phone, its once sleek screen now fractured into hundreds of tiny shards of glass. “Mom,” she’d exclaimed, more than a little maniacally, “I can’t believe this is real life!”Today, I understand the sentiment. I cannot believe this is real life! Surely I’m dreaming that Heir to the Lamp, an adventure story I strung together for the entertainment of my family, can now be read, and hopefully enjoyed, by the masses. How can it be that I am finally the published author I imagined myself to be as a second-grader writing fanfiction for the Muppets?
“Yes,” I’d assured my grieving teenage daughter that fateful day last winter. “This is real life. This is the sort of thing that can happen when you play BASKETBALL WITH A PHONE MADE ALMOST ENTIRELY OF GLASS!”
Over the past few weeks I’ve spent a good deal of time reassuring myself. This is real life! Remember those years of writing, revising, submitting and resubmitting? Remember the critique group meetings and writers’ conferences attended in hopes of improving your craft? Remember the market research? Remember the contest awards? This is the sort of thing that can happen when you pursue a dream with intense effort. Especially when that effort is behind a story you love and believe in.
The Princess’s iPhone was repaired, and she paid for the repairs herself. She learned an expensive but valuable lesson about better protecting one’s most prized possession.
Heir to the Lamp has been published today by World Weaver Press, and with the publication I can say that I have learned valuable lessons as well: lessons about perfecting one’s most valuable possession until it’s ready to be shared with the world, lessons about never giving up on a dream no matter how long it takes for that dream to come to fruition, lessons about believing in one’s self and the possibilities of real life.
I hope you enjoy Heir to the Lamp!
Heir to the Lamp Press Release
