L.D. Rose's Blog, page 19

Writing Goals for 2015

I know I’m a little late to the game on this, but better late than never! I’ve been on my interventional radiology rotation and I’ve been averaging 14-hour days, so there you have it. At least I have vacation time coming up soon. :P

Honestly, I really love IR. We stop all kinds of bleeds (brain, lungs, GI, spleen, uterine, etc.) and save life and limb for many patients who are either too high risk to go to surgery or refuse to go to surgery (or, you know, we’re just a better option). I’ve done all kinds of arterial and venous accesses for angiography, chemotherapy and long term antibiotic treatment. We also drain fluid collections and place tubes/needles in pretty much anywhere you can think of. It can be pretty intense, but I’d love to do at least some percentage of IR when I grow up. ;)

Anywho, I’m veering way off course here…so, WRITING GOALS. Let’s do this.

1. Make my debut novel, Releasing the Demons, a successful summer release (via Soul Mate Publishing). There will be lots of flailing, bloodshed and tears, but that’s what we do for love, AMIRITE?

2. Finish the next book, Black Bullet, and submit it to my fabulous editor. I’m already over halfway done with the first draft and I’m hoping to have it finished before RTD is unleashed unto the world.

3. Start the third book in the series. I’m undecided as to which of my boys will be up for the third book. I’m thinking either a novella versus another book that is also nearly half written. Hmmm, decisions, decisions.

4. Blog more and host other fellow authors. I’ve already signed up to be a blogger at the SMP author blog site, so like it or not, you’ll be seeing me around a lot more often. ;) Also, I’m going to find other awesome writers for you to check out, SO THERE.

5. Keep my website and social media platforms up-to-date. I recently updated this sexy page with RTD’s book blurb and a playlists section. Also, you can contact me now. Not that you couldn’t before, but now it’s OFFICIAL.

6. And finally, JUST BE PLAIN AWESOME. ‘Cause who doesn’t want to be awesome?

I also have other personal goals, like exercise, eat right, study more, blah blah blah, I won’t bore you with those. But I’d love to hear your goals (if you have them) and feel free to share any blog posts you’ve written about them in the comments. What’s the one thing you want most out of 2015? *stands and raises fist* HOW FAR WILL YOU GO TO HAVE IT?

Ahem. *calmly sits back down and sips wine* Carry on, then.

Happy Holidays!

I’ve had a few days off this past week and I’ve been in the heat of writing as much as possible, but I wanted to wish everyone a very happy holiday and a safe and healthy new year.

This year was a little rough for me (on so many levels), but I’m looking forward to the next–I’ll finally be in the rhythm of residency, my debut novel RELEASING THE DEMONS will be published in the summer of 2015 by Soul Mate Publishing (!!!), I’ll be taking a trip to the Azores with my family in August, and hopefully much more.

I’m so thankful for the opportunities I’ve been given (in both my careers) and for the wonderful people in my life. I hope to meet many more wonderful people and learn more about every one of you.

So, on that note, I’m going back to work. ;) Sending you all my love and best wishes!

Own It

L.D. Rose:

Love this post!

Originally posted on Modesty Is For Suckers:

Way back in 2002, I went on my first-ever writers’ retreat. It was a posh thing on Bald Head Island, women only, thirty or older. Private chef. Full body massage. Golf carts! The experience changed my life, and brought me lifelong friends I cherish beyond words. I was the “star” of the week, bolstered and praised and made to feel like my day in the literary sun was right around the corner! It also happened to be the worst thing that happened to me as a fantasy writer.

Fantasy is a much-maligned genre. It rarely gets the respect it deserves. I cannot tell you how many people have said to me, “I just don’t get fantasy.” Truly, you can insert just about any genre fiction (especially those majorly populated by female writers) in there and the same could be said. I’m not going to go into that rant. For the purposes of this post, let’s…

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Why I love romantic horror.

Today’s been one of those days where I need a beer. So I figured I’d write a blog post while sipping on some Blue Moon.

I want to talk about genre. What’s your favorite (to read and/or write)? Why do you love it?

Me? I’m a huge fan of horror.

Horror is my first love, my high school sweetheart, my firstborn—the first story I ever wrote was about a haunting (of course, it helps that I grew up in a haunted house, but that’s a whole other blog post—likely next week’s. ;) ). I gobbled up horror books growing up (Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and anything/everything by R.L. Stine and Stephen King, just to name a few). So why horror?

Because it’s visceral.

There’s no other emotion more primal than fear. And I love to be entrenched in it, swimming amongst the bodies and cackling in delight.

*clears throat* Ahem.

But seriously, I NEED to be invested in the characters and emotion of a story—otherwise, I get bored. Plot is important too, of course, but I want to live through the people—I want to see, hear, taste, smell, and feel what they’re going through. Horror does this for me and more.

So does *drumroll*…

ROMANCE.

Romance made its debut for me later in life, around high school (so late), where my hormones started to ramp up and I wanted to write about luuuuurrrrrve. But I still adored horror, so I decided to mix them up, and voila, HORRIFIC ROMANCE.

Or maybe ROMANTIC HORROR?

Well, actually, it’s dark urban fantasy, but you know, I want my own genre, damn it!

I got into paranormal romance and urban fantasy in college and it was perfect for me—horror, romance, gritty worlds, mythological creatures, bad ass characters—what more could I ask for? So I read and wrote and read and wrote (many unfinished stories, of course) until I finally managed to write a book that shall NEVER BE NAMED (since I’ll use the name again for another book later, haha) because it was awful and over 250K words and COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS, but I learned sooooo much from it.

This book made me suffer and made me realize that sometimes you gotta say “fuck it” and start something new.

So I wrote the novel I currently have out on submission, Releasing The Demons, and I finally finished something I luuuuurrrrrved.

Is it horror? Yes, to an extent. Is it romance? Totally. Is it me? Absolutely.

As a physician by day, I’m constantly told how I should write medical suspense and how I’d make CASH MONEY like Tess Gerritsen and Robin Cook, because I know that “crazy shit” and I can “write”. Granted, these writers are fantastic (no seriously, read their books), but I’m so bombarded with medicine on a daily basis that I need to do something else altogether, to go back to my high school sweetheart and hormonal rage for awhile and write HORRIFIC ROMANCE, MAN.

‘Cause that’s what I luuuuurrrrrve to write about.

So I ask you, dear Reader, what’s your type? Tell me about your first. ;)

P2P: What It Is, and How It Damages Both Authors & Readers

L.D. Rose:

Great post on P2P.

Originally posted on Tez Says:

NOTE: In this article, “monetised fan fiction” does NOT refer to OFFICIALLY-LICENSED fan works. (eg. Star Trek has a spread of officially-licensed stories, as do Kindle Worlds – these are all fine.) In this article, “monetised fan fiction” refers to UNOFFICIAL monetised fan works.

(Meme from my Pinterest.)

I’m quite simple with my reading tastes: I just want to read original fiction that wasn’t fan fiction in a previous incarnation. If something used to be fan fiction – however heavily revised, expanded, and changed since then – it should be clearly labelled as such, so consumers aren’t led astray.

But it’s not just the reading public being cheated: Authors of the fiction that inspired the fan fiction are being robbed of a cut of the profits that should rightfully be theirs.

Welcome to the world of “pulled-to-publish” (P2P) fiction.

Fanlore.org says, “Filing off the serial numbers refers to…

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Revival of the Muse.

So…I want to know.

What inspires your writing?

I know, I know…LIFE, right? But what specifically drives your muse the most?

For me, it’s all about the music.

One of my co-residents recently introduced me to Spotify which is THE MOST AMAZING THING EVER AND YOU SHOULD ALL GO AND GET IT NOW (/plug). But seriously, SPOTIFY. I’ve created a playlist for every one of my novels or soon to be novels (and even for PUBLIC ENEMIES, my short story featured in Horrors of History). When I’m gearing up to get into the writing groove, I hit play on one of those babies and my muse goes NUTS.

But, you know what? I write in silence. I have so many voices in my head that music becomes distracting to my trance-like state. But when I’m away from the computer, my brain absorbs all of those notes and lyrics, and DAMN, a scene blasts through my mind like a hurricane and I write it down (or at least make notes about it) once it’s quiet again.

Art comes in at a close second for muse fuel and I’m a lurker at DeviantArt. I used to be a member (shhhh) when I did crappy art (SHHHH), but I keep my account active so I can continue to follow all the amazing artists I’ve discovered there.

Also, Tumblr–you are a giant inspirational timesuck. I don’t even want to sign up for Pinterest or I’ll never get shit done.

Of course, day-to-day experiences inject themselves into my writing, but I think they often do with many writers. For instance, in my current WIP, the heroine is based off a woman I met in the emergency room who’d been through a horror of all horrors. It left me feeling sick for quite some time and I had to somehow purge this experience from myself–what better way to do it than write about it?

So tell me, fellow reader, what inspires you? Drop a video, image, line of poetry, whatever your creative heart desires. I’d love to see it!

P.S. I’m going to leave you with this because we all need a little RDJ sometimes. And, you know, muse fuel. ;)

Hmm…

I suppose I should update this baby, huh? Especially after a year!

A very long and hectic year, but I hope to start blogging regularly again.

Stay tuned for a post and a mild revamp. ;)

The Haunted ICU

The Adventures of Medical Internship: Special Halloween Edition

 

THE HAUNTED ICU

 

For two weeks, I was the lone night float intern in the ICU. We had some crazy cases, as you can imagine, but what I want to write about are the stories the staff told me about how our ICU is haunted. Yes, you read that right—haunted!

Us interns and residents hang out in the quietest corner of the unit, studying/sleeping/goofing off/etc. I noticed the nurses and staff would stay away from our end of the unit and remain gathered on the opposite side (our ICU is split into two, separated by the entrance and all the break rooms, stock rooms, and bathrooms). So I came over to them one night and asked what the deal was. That’s when they spewed a barrage of ghost stories at me that they swear are true. I have yet to experience anything paranormal in this hospital (my house was haunted growing up, but that’s a whole other blog post), but here are some of the stories they told me…just in time for Halloween!

ROOM 910

Room 910 is like any other bed on the unit, roomy with huge glass doors and windows revealing a gorgeous view of the city. A cardiac monitor and various medical paraphernalia are hooked to the wall opposite a flat screen TV. A white board identifying who your caretakers are sits on the wall in front of you. Obviously, lots of people die in the ICU, and sometimes their deaths can be quite traumatic. Motor vehicle accidents (MVAs), exsanguination, codes, attempted murder; you name it, we’ve seen it. The young man in this post was in room 910. So you can imagine my reaction when the nurses told me this room was one of the creepiest in the joint.

From eyewitness accounts, an attractive middle-aged man in a suit haunts this room. As to what happened to him, no one knows, but people have caught glimpses of him standing there, beside the bed, staring out the window. His apparition isn’t “ghostly” in the sense the media portrays it; he looks like a real life person, just standing there, before he vanishes into thin air. He’s never actually looked anyone in the eye, always keeping his gaze locked on the landscape. I wonder how he died and if he had been so critical that he wasn’t able to look out the window before his death. Now, it seems, in the afterlife he can take in the view all he wants.

ROOM 902

Room 902 also has its own creepy history, and a respiratory therapist told me about her experience while she was treating a patient there. The patient was an elderly man who had been brain dead for quite some time, but his family refused to give up on him. The RT (let’s call her Tammy) had been in the room with the patient, going over her notes as she signed out to the next RT coming on shift. Tammy had been sitting down, wearing her glasses, and she had them attached to a cord around her neck. As she was chatting away with the next RT (let’s call her Jane), a cold wind swept over them (“it froze me to the bone”) and they both looked up, trying to figure out the source. The brain dead man was still laying there on his bed, his heart beating away as the ventilator breathed for him. Then Tammy felt an icy hand touch her shoulder as her glasses were suddenly lifted off her face, hovering in the air before her. Tammy saw Jane’s jaw drop, terrified as the glasses then fell around Tammy’s neck, held by their cord. Jane bolted as Tammy sat there, frozen, the hand still on her shoulder. Finally, the spirit let her go, and she got the hell out of there.

The elderly man ended up dying the next day. Whether the spirit was him or not, we’ll never know, but Tammy was convinced he was trying to say goodbye.

THE FOURTH FLOOR

The hospital is kind of strange in a sense that the main elevators never stop at the second or fourth floor; they’re not even options on the panel. The building is old and has been expanded into multiple parts, so I’m sure there are a few areas that are boarded off, private, or for offices only. The ICU is on the ninth floor, the very tippity-top, and there’s a morbid running joke that patients go to the ninth floor to die. Although that may be true, I’m starting to wonder what the fourth floor is all about.

Another respiratory therapist (let’s call him Tom) told me about his experience during the “witching hour” or around 3 in the morning. Tom had been grabbing some equipment with a colleague in an old part of the building on the third floor. The stockroom there had been filled with ventilators and cardiac monitors, and he and his colleague were loading a rack to bring the equipment up to the ICU. While they were chatting away, one of the cardiac monitors turned on—and it wasn’t plugged in. The monitor showed a regular pulse, beep-beep-beep, and Tom even remembered the reading—76 beats per minute at normal sinus rhythm. Both he and his colleague exchanged terrified glances, dropped their shit, and ran right out of there. They quickly got onto the elevator and he hit the button for the ninth floor with trembling hands. However, the elevator slowed down between the third and fifth floors. The doors opened to what he assumed was the fourth floor, boarded up and musty, the air stale and dead. Once again, both he and his friend exchanged horrified glances and a young girl’s laughter suddenly rang out as if she were standing right between them. They jumped, pressing their backs against the stainless steel walls (“I nearly pissed myself!”). The clack of shoes then cut through the air as the invisible little girl ran out of the elevator, stopping in front of it. Right before the doors closed, she flashed into view; a white child wearing a white dress, her hair long and blonde, smiling at them mischievously.

Let’s just say Tom has never used the elevators again and now makes good use of the stairs!

SOPHIA

And last, but not least, there’s Sophia, a dead nurse who stirs up trouble throughout the ICU.

In the past, the hospital had its own in-house nursing school, back when nurses wore the traditional white uniforms. Sophia had been one of these nurses and she’d ended up in the ICU with a severe infection, eventually dying at a young age (nowadays, we’re almost too good at keeping people alive). Her spirit decided to take up residence in the unit, disrupting the peace whenever she can. She pulls charts off shelves, dropping them on the floor, tosses needles, blood collection tubes, and even pens wherever she pleases. If you walk into her, she makes your blood run cold, like an icy draft blowing through your body. Her whispers can be heard at odd hours of the night, and sometimes you can hear her walking if you listen hard enough. She’s been there for years, wreaking havoc and making her presence known. Makes me wonder if she’s still waiting to graduate and is trying to help the other nurses in her own disturbing way!

These are just a few of the many stories the staff told me about our creepy little corner of the world. Funny thing is, not a single physician on the unit has experienced these paranormal encounters…isn’t that strange? I like to keep an open mind, and I’ve actively been trying to find these spirits. I hang out in room 902 and 910 when they’re empty, staring out their windows. I ride the elevator at every opportunity in the middle of the night. I wander around the unit, waiting for Sophia to throw something at me or whisper in my ear.

Nothing. Not one single thing.

I got to admit, I’m starting to wonder if they’re more scared of me!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Guest post!

Hey all!

I’m over at Deb Christiana’s blog talking about Horrors of History, writing, and a few other fun things! Stop in and say hello.

HORRORS OF HISTORY now available on Amazon and at Fey!

Hey everyone!

Just a quick drive-by post to say that Fey Publishing’s Horrors of History anthology, featuring my depression-era zombie story, PUBLIC ENEMIES, is now available on Amazon and at Fey Publishing’s website.

All of the stories are pretty amazeballs and are written by some very talented indie authors. I’m definitely honored to be a part of this collection! Check it out and drop a review to let us know what you think.

I’ll be guest blogging about PUBLIC ENEMIES at a fellow author’s website soon, so be on the lookout!

In other news, look out for an upcoming Halloween special edition post on the haunted ICU I’ve been working in…you’ll never look at hospitals the same way again.