Michelle Lowery Combs's Blog, page 6

National Award, Now What?

Wow!  What a summer it’s been!  I was a presenter in the Jacksonville Public Library’s summer reading program, won a national writing award, was published in two literary journals and made my local newspaper twice—the second time, the front page no less.  I’ve been a busy girl and honored by the accolades.  What I haven’t been much of these past few weeks is a writer.
I felt the funk that I’ve found myself mired in of late coming on the very morning after being presented with my first national award since the Presidential Physical Fitness certificate I received in gym class in 1991.  Taking first place for First Chapter of a Novel in the Alabama Writers’ Conclave annual writing contest was thrilling, but I awoke the next morning at the Huntsville Marriott in the super comfy bed that I’m pretty sure is stuffed with honest-to-goodness clouds from Heaven to an unexpected visitor:  depression.  I’d anticipated feeling energized to finish Daddy’s Girl—for which I won the award—and motivated to continue my quest to find a publisher for The Genie Chronicles.  I never imagined that I’d close my laptop for over six weeks while I concerned myself only with what the underside of my writing desk looks like.
             I spent most of my free time this summer lying slug-like and despondent on my bedroom floor pretending to be exercising in case any of my children happened to wander in looking for their next serving of chicken nuggets.  Couldn’t have them thinking I was drunk and passed out in my yoga pants or anything, naturally.A killer case of writer’s block exacerbated my foul mood.  Or maybe it was the depression that drained me of my creativity faster than a pack of vampires in a blood bank.  I wish that I could say that I’m over it.  That I’m as happy as a lark once more and writing more than ever, but it just ain’t so.  I’m making strides, though.  Employing the strategy of “Fake it ‘til You Make It”, I’ve started attending the writers’ meetings I avoided all summer, absorbing the energy of other literary minds and participating in the writing prompts.   My creative juices are flowing again, albeit slowly.  I’m at least back to having conversations with my characters in the shower again…and I’ve returned to the blog.  Hooray!What helps you get on your feet emotionally and back to the things you love?  Any tips for working through writer’s block?  I’d love to hear from you.My *ahem* NATIONAL AWARD WINNING story Daddy’s Girl can be found online at www.alalit.com as well as in Jacksonville State University’s 2011-2012 edition of Something Else. Here I am with Alalit Editor Marian Lewis at the AWC Conference in July.
You can also read my feature in the Jacksonville News at www.jaxnews.com.  Happy writing!

Letter to My Sixteen-Year-Old Self

Never look back unless you are planning to go that way.”  -Henry David Thoreau
I’d have to say that one of the greatest emotions I’ve struggled with as an adult is that of regret.  It is with conscious effort that I do not play “What if…” games in my head, so it was with trepidation that I undertook “Letter to My Sixteen-Year-Old Self”, the latest writing prompt posed by a member of the Jacksonville Aspiring Writers' Group.In the end I decided that even if such a thing were possible, there isn’t much I’d change about my life.  Every choice that I’ve made about college, marriage, children, and careers has led me to the place I find myself today.There are days that the balance in my checking account makes me wish for an alternate reality.  In hindsight I know that finishing my degree before starting a family and not entering into the first mortgage (and a bad investment) that I did would have made all the difference in my financial situation today, but when I play out my life decisions since the age of 16 any other way I end up missing the most valuable components:  my kids.In my letter below, I don’t warn myself about the pitfalls of hasty marriages or what it’s like to be a real life Little Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe.  I do try to cover a multitude of truly regrettable choices with a few words of caution, however, and attempt to do a little something about that bank balance.  I hope you get a good laugh from it.What would you tell your sixteen-year-old self?
June 19, 2012Dear Michelle,                It’s me girl….er, I mean you…from the future!  Waaaaay in the future.We’re 34 at this very moment.  Now, I know you think that’s pretty much Over the Hill, but rest assured I’m not writing you from a retirement home.  After you hear what I have to say, I can guarantee you that our best years are yet to come.  You see, I’ve got great news!You spend an inordinate amount of time worrying about what the future holds in store for you, Shell Bell.  I hope to lay all that worry to rest. It’s important that you understand all that I tell you here, and even more important that you follow my every instruction.Let me start by saying that life for you is good in 2012.  You have a good job, great family, and interesting hobbies.  You’ve accomplished a lot for someone so young.  (Yes, I said it.  To be a thirty-something is not the end of the world, girl!)  You’ve made a difference in many young lives in one way or another.   There are things you’d still like to accomplish, heights you aspire to, and you’re fortunate to be supported, healthy, and entirely capable of accomplishing those goals.The following tidbits are going to make that a sight easier, though—not to mention improve the prospects of all those little people you care so much about.I’m enclosing the song lyrics to a half dozen songs that I need you to re-type on that clunky word processor you’re using for essays and such.  Get them copyrighted stat.  You watch ER, so I know you know what STAT means.  Get on with securing these copyrights like George Clooney’s very life depends on it!There’s a lady from the future who’s gonna belt out these little ditties wearing nothing but a dress made entirely of meat and be paid a bazillion dollars for it.  Go ahead and get you one of those numbers, too.  Any lean cut, thinly sliced meat product will do.  You’re gonna be working on a budget until we settle out of court after bringing a copyright infringement suit against her.  Don’t worry about Meat Girl’s prospects.  She’s highly creative and will write other songs and possibly design a clothing line made entirely of vegetable leaves.  Everyone will walk away a millionaire!On a similar note, I’m also including the outline of a kids’ book called the Hunger Games.  No, it’s nothing like how you and Stacey used to pass the time after arriving home from school to only a few sticks of carrots and a jar of mustard.  It’s a story about a group of kids who compete in a sort of Olympic Games of Death and people of the future are crazy about it.  Use the outline to write your own version, and we’ll clean up with another intellectual property suit!This brings me to my third and final play for setting us up for life!  And I’m talking mansions around the world complete with gorgeous pool boys with rock hard abs and all the plastic surgery you and your female family members could ever desire.  The Mega Millions Lotto!Last Spring’s Mega Millions jackpot was over $367 million dollars.  I have enclosed the winning numbers!True, you’re gonna have to wait until almost half-way through your thirties to be absolutely filthy stinking rich, but that’s just enough time to get rid of the two pesky husbands you DO NOT want to share all this mullah with.In closing, I’d like to offer you a few tips of advice that will see you through until we’ve happily set up house on easy street.1.       Never do anything you’d be ashamed for Mamaw to know about.  Trust me on this.  You cannot go wrong here.  And remember that news of anything questionable you do engage in that Mammaw happens to find out about will spread like wildfire across five states before you can even correct her on what the charges really were.2.       Find a physical activity that provides you with enough exercise to stay in shape.  Baby’s like fat.  Pool boys, even highly evolved futuristic ones, do not.3.       Smile through the tough times.  Life isn’t going to be all roses and sunshine, but your trials and tribulations will serve to build your character and provide you with all the antidotal stories we’re gonna need when we cry on every couch from Barbara Walters’ to Oprahs’ while they interview the richest woman in the world.Take care.  See you soon.Love,Michelle

Thanks A Million, Photoshop!

          After interviewing author Susan Abel Sullivan in March, I was asked by her publisher World Weaver Press to write a guest post for their website.  It was a thrilling yet horrifying endeavor.  Musing for a few paragraphs about what I'm reading or writing and the challenges of trying to accomplish either of those things in the daily whirlwind of chaos I reside in is one thing.  Writing for a publisher on a specified topic with a real honest-to-goodness deadline seemed like quite another.  I had the added anxiety of trying to incorporate the quirkiness and humor that flows effortlessly when writing about my own life into a commentary on science fiction and fantasy for the literary masses.  It's virtually impossible for me to be clever and funny on cue, people.  Everyone around me breathed a sigh of relief when I submitted the post to WWP, so tired were they of my yammering and exhausting pleas of, "Here, I know you have your own life and responsibilities, but read this and tell me what you think...and, I need you to get on that in the next 45 minutes."

          I'm posting a link to the guest post here.  I'd like to thank World Weaver Press for the opportunity and their great job with layout and graphics, my aunt GDR and Zac Morris for letting me bounce ideas for the piece off them, and Lea Isbell and Jeremy Hicks for their feedback, as well.  I'd also like to thank my seester Stacey Hardy and Danny Self for their fabulous photography and Photoshop work.  Never underestimate the value of great test readers, fellow writers' club members, a sister with a camera and a guy that can erase at least two of your chins and a bazillion laugh lines.  And, yes, that is correct, you just read a Thank You speech for an online article.




         
          Here's some of Stacey's better shots.  That twinkle in my eye is a burning desire to kill her for her less-than-professional commands of "Teeth, teeth!" and "Lazy eye, lazy eye!" when she prompted me to smile bigger and open my eyes wider.  I ended up submitting the very first picture (at top) out of the fifty-something that she took because of the way my hair kinked and frizzed in every subsequent picture after the outdoor shots.  I'd vowed not to take an author photo whilst still a fatty--but, oh well.  Maybe Stacey will be up for a re-shoot after I've lost more weight.

          I've been told that nonfiction is where I shine.  While that certainly feels good, I can't help hoping that it will one day open doors for my fiction, too.

          Here's the link.  http://worldweaverpress.com/news-and-blog/

Fried Zombie? Check.

          I have a thing for zombies…okay, so it’s more like an obsession.  Just ask my kids, who are mortally embarrassed by the bobblehead undead perched atop the dashboard of my mini-van.          The kids decided I’d officially crossed the line last November when I forced them to perform as zombies that I systematically slaughtered during a “how-to” speech for an oral communications class.  My speech, “How to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse”, was born out of desperation when the sole criterion for the speech was announced:  “It must be captivating to your audience,” my instructor said.  Captivating?  What did I have to offer in the way of captivating to a room full of classmates between the ages of 17-20?  Parenting tips?  No.  Scrapbooking?  Definitely not.  How-to Divorce Guide, maybe?  Yeah, right.          My boys were game and actually helped me bloody their faces and clothes with make-up; however, Princess #1 needed more persuasion.  Namely, a two hour guilt trip about the many school projects I’ve painstakingly crafted with/for her over the years and my agreement to the stipulation that she be able to whack her brothers in the knees with a prop shovel to simulate how a crawling zombie is slower than a staggering one.  Her little sister, Princess #2, begged to be included.  “Please let me go.  I’d make a good baby zombie, Mommy,” she said.  I was afraid that as a four year-old she wasn’t ready for the gruesome business of zombie killin’, though…even the pretend kind.          The speech was a success and people still stop me from time-to-time on campus to ask if I’m still preparing for a zombie plague.  Truth is, now that I’ve stock-piled my food, water, weapons and ammo, I’ve decided that the best strategy for preparedness is to become as informed as possible about the walking dead.  For this reason, I’m watching and reading pretty much everything I come across about zombies.  Some of it is good:  AMC’s series Walking Dead is my fave, but the show is on hiatus until February, and this has left a giant hole the size of a half-eaten brain in my Zombie Emergency Preparedness Checklist.          It was with hope of filling that void that I purchased Susan Abel Sullivan’s new independently published ebook Fried Zombie Dee-light! Ghoulish, Ghostly Tales, billed as a “fun collection about ghouls, ghosts, zombies and an advice column featuring dead letters from the lovelorn” on barnesandnoble.com.     
          The cover is by writer and video game artist Abby Goldsmith, who happens to also be a friend of Susan’s.  It’s precious and has led me to reserve a place on my dash should Abby and Susan ever branch-out into bobblehead zombie design.           I enjoyed Susan’s first collection, Cursed:  Wickedly Fun Stories from World Weaver Press.   Fried Zombie Dee-light! is even better.  I’ve decided that what appeals to me most about Susan’s writing are her characters.  I finished Wanted:  Certified Zombie Instructor wishing that I had come up with Mr. PanZee, the heavy metal fairy that comes off as a cross between Dog the Bounty Hunter and Tinkerbell, myself.  I think that’s one of the ultimate compliments one writer can offer another, by the way.  Honestly, where does she come up with this stuff?!          Aside from being highly entertained by Susan Abel Sullivan’s latest offering, I also picked up a few tips.  After reading Zombie Hunting With My Mother, I’ve decided to add a chainsaw to my weapons cache and a case or two of beer to my provisions when my Southern nature insists that it’s time to deep fry some of the hoard.          There is more to the collection than zombies, however, including an advice column that has left me sure I’ll never be able to read Dear Abby without mentally interjecting some of Susan’s zaniness and an imaginative monologue from your average Ghoul Next Door.          Fried Zombie Dee-light!  Ghoulish, Ghostly Tales is currently available on Smashwords, Barnes and Noble Nook and Amazon Kindle.    

A Welcomed Curse, Author Interview: Susan Abel Sullivan

A few weeks ago I heard about a local author with a soon-to-be-released anthology.  “My fitness instructor has a book coming out,” my aunt informed me. Sighing in response, I added the Mystery Instructor and the creature living in Snooki of Jersey Shore’s womb to a mental list of those that would certainly be achieving publication before me.The green-eyed monster inside me sneered.  “Some kind of diet and exercise book?”“Speculative fiction…werewolves, witches, magic.  It sounds right up your alley.  Her name is Susan Abel Sullivan.  She’s on Facebook and Twitter.  You should check her out.”I did just that and, being fascinated by perfectly normal-looking and functioning people with whole worlds of magic and fantasy creatures bouncing around inside their brains, I was intrigued.  These are My People and I seek them out whenever I learn of them.I am proud to say that I was one of the first to purchase Susan’s book Cursed:  Wickedly Fun Stories, the debut release from World Weaver Press, when it launched March 5th.  Cursed is an anthology of the best speculative fiction short stories that I’ve read.  Some are deliciously creepy, and all are so much fun that I’ve already reread them a couple of times.  With a long reading list and writing deadlines of my own, it’s unusual for me to revisit a book so soon simply for the sake of savoring it before jumping into the next title on my list, but Cursed, with its cast of memorable characters, is special.  My personal favorites are Getting the Curse and Kudzu, for their clever points-of-view that so effortlessly propel the reader through each story. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Susan Abel Sullivan a few days ago to talk about Cursed, writing, and the genre of spec fic in general.        Michelle:  I’d like to start by clarifying for readers of the blog the genre of speculative fiction.  What is spec fic?Susan Abel Sullivan:  Speculative fiction is the new term for fantasy.  It encompasses all fantastical fiction and magical realism.  In terms of my writing, it’s a mash-up of cross genres like Southern Gothic, Southern chick lit, urban fantasy, paranormal romance and science fiction.Michelle:  There are many fun and memorable characters in Cursed.  I’ve read that you consider characters to be one of your writing strengths.  How do you come up with them?Susan Abel Sullivan:  I approach it almost like method acting.  In community theatre, I didn’t really know a character that I was playing until I was in costume and on set.  It wasn’t until I felt like I was in a real setting that I got to know the character.  I notice interesting people and like to pull from their history…the way they speak and things like that…but until I get into [a story], I don’t always know what’s going to happen.Michelle:  I gather from other interviews I’ve read that you weren’t exactly a typical little girl growing up in Pensacola, Florida…that, like your character Bernie Lludd in The Accidental Poet, you loved Stephen King and constructed monster models?Susan Abel Sullivan:  I was an artistic, highly imaginative child and liked to retreat to the kind of world that I wanted to live in.  Barbie and Ken just didn’t hold a candle to movie monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein and the wolf man.  I started reading Anne Rice and Stephen King in middle school.  On the outside I was an all-American girl-next-door, but on the inside I could have been a member of The Addam’s Family.Michelle:  Besides Anne Rice and Stephen King, whom you’ve mentioned, what other writers inspire you?Susan Abel Sullivan:  Carrie Vaughn is one of my favorites.  She’s a fellow Odyssey Grad.  I’m also a fan of Janet Evonovich for her fun, zany humor.Michelle: I’ve heard that you are married, involved in theatre and have a passion for dance and fitness.  How do you balance these other aspects of your life with writing?Susan Abel Sullivan: It is about finding a balance.(laughs)   Sometimes my head is still in a story when it’s time to transition [to something else].  Most writers don’t have the luxury to just write, though.Michelle:  Do you have a favorite place, time of day or process that you follow when it is time to write?  Do you preplan or outline?Susan Abel Sullivan:  I have an office where I like to write.  I start with checking my email, Facebook, other social media…in case there are any responses from agents or publishers I’ve submitted material to, but I don’t have any special routine.  My process is more intuitive.  I cannot outline to save my life…I discover things as I go.  I have the same process with all the arts.Michelle:  I particularly enjoy the opening lines from Getting the Curse and Kudzu.  What, in your opinion, makes for a great beginning to a story?Susan Abel Sullivan:  A great beginning needs to interest the reader, but a first-line grab can be too much like a gimmick.  I’m a fan of the slow train that builds up momentum.Michelle:  What is your process for revising and editing?Susan Abel Sullivan:  I see them as two different processes, with revising being more re-visioning.  I have a hand-picked group of Od-Fellows [Odyssey Writing Workshop Alumni] and readers that I go to for opinions about what works and what doesn’t in a story.   I like to know where they laughed out loud or where the story doesn’t work for them.  There are others that I turn to for elements of craft, dialogue work and plot issues.  I had a college professor to line edit some of my earlier work and that helped tighten my style.Michelle:  And what exactly is the Odyssey Writing Workshop?Susan Abel Sullivan:  It’s a six-week residential writing boot camp in New Hampshire held annually for those hoping to become professional writers.  Coaches work with attendees every week and give them the tools to write better.  It’s all about training and technique.  The class sizes have ranged from as small as 12 to as large as 20, but a size of about 16 seems to be what works best.  After completion of the workshop, many grads stay in contact…serve as critique groups for one another, network…it’s kind of like being in a fraternity or sorority.Michelle:  What’s next for you?  What future projects can readers look forward to?Susan Abel Sullivan:   I’m anticipating an April release for Fried Zombie Dee-light!:  Ghoulish, Ghostly Tales, a YA ebook similar in length to Cursed with four short stories, a couple of poems and a flash fiction piece.  The first novel in my adult urban fantasy series, The Real Haunted Housewives of Allister, Alabama has received some interest, as well.I promised to keep Susan for only a half-hour for the interview.  Two hours and fifteen minutes later we checked the time and I apologized for holding her hostage, picturing Olympic-sized swimming pools teeming with aqua-Zumba students bobbing in boredom as they waited on their instructor/werewolve whisperer, and all the disappointed interviewers that would have to wait another day for their chance to pick the very interesting noggin of Mrs. Susan Abel Sullivan.“Writers usually don’t talk much, unless you get them talking about writing,” Susan said with a laugh as we said our good-byes.  I left the little coffee shop where we met greatly impressed with Susan, appreciative of the time she took out of her busy schedule for the fledgling blog of an aspiring author, and incredibly encouraged to keep writing.  Susan may not know it, but she left the shop with a fan for life!Since the interview, Susan has posted images of the cover art for Fried Zombie Dee-light! on Twitter and Facebook and received the exciting news that World Weaver Press will also be publishing The Haunted Housewives of Allister, AL.  Both titles are on my reading list!  I wish her a world of success.Cursed:  Wickedly Fun Stories is available for Kindle through http://www.amazon.com, for Nook at http://barnesandnoble.com/  and for most devices and computers at http://www.smashwords.com .  For more on Susan Abel Sullivan visit http://susanabelsullivan.weebly.com/ or https://twitter.com/#!/susan_abel.  For more on World Weaver Press and any of their forthcoming titles please visit http://worldweaverpress.com.