West of Mars -- the Meet and Greet

If you turned all these blog awards into medals and pinned them on me, I'm short enough to be all covered up by them. Possibly head to toe by this point.

Guess you guys agree that the medals are better looking than I am (You think I forgot to put my picture on The Demo Tapes?) 'cause I've got a heap more to acknowledge.

Maybe a mountain is more like it.

Let's start with the always awesome Alice Audrey. Don't let Chelle get a look at this award; we all know how she is with typos.

The award is the Kreativ Blogger award and misspelled or not, this still makes me smile. I'm doing my best to be creative and make this blog into something so totally unique, you can't stop talking about it. Seems my efforts are paying off.

I've missed my old friend Marcia at MeeAugraphie. And crumb, but I can't find the post that gave me something or other. But go visit Marcia. She's amazing.

Another new friend is Daisy Bookworm. Again, I found her through EntreCard. I've been finding more than just increased hits and rankings via EntreCard. I've found a whole slew of cool folk. Daisy's a great example of the quality blogger I wouldn't have found otherwise. She's given me the I Love Your Blog Award.

(Trevor's telling me to remind you to use protection when you love my blog... I think he doesn't want any more baby blogs running around. Win a Book takes up enough of my time as it is!)

Now.

Here is an award that came out of left field. Given who it came from, I'm truly, truly honored. I mean, there are published authors I've made friends with (Hello, Amy! Wylie! Shelley! Lisa! Christine!), and there are published authors who I really respect (Hello Lauren! Megan! Anya! Ann!) but am too intimidated by to have a friendship with them (yet), but LA Day falls somewhere between them. Not quite a friend yet not scary in her success, either. But highly, highly respected.

She also loves my blog. It's mutual, believe me. I want a sidebar full of book titles like LA Day has. I wouldn't mind the naked men on the book covers, either, but they'd have to all be Mitchell or Daniel. We love Trevor, but it ain't for that bod of his...

***
It began with Ann. Ann of Fractured Fiction, who I must have broken somehow because she hasn't been blogging regularly since we met at the Romantic Times Convention last year. Ann, can I fix you, please? I miss your posts!

Anyway, Ann gave me the Lemonade Stand. She gave it to Wylie, who also gave it to me.

So now I have two lemonade stands!

Is this because of Trevor's ability to make figurative lemonade out of anything? I don't know. All I know is that I'm immensely flattered.

Wylie gave it to Thomma Lyn, who turned around and gave it to ...

Me.

I swear, one of the best things about these awards is seeing the company you guys put me in. Sometimes, I get down and depressed. Most of you are publishing books and I'm not! Yet you don't care. You hold me up with the some of the best of the best of the blogging writers.

Ultimately, these are silly little awards, given to make each other feel good. I like that idea and that attitude; it's so nice to see this sort of kindness in a world that's often snarky and mean.

Yet it's that comment I just made, that you guys hold me with the best of the best, that tells you why this means so much to me. You don't care about things like who publishes my books, or if I get an advance against royalties, or that people who self-publish, as I've done with The Demo Tapes, clearly aren't good enough to be published by the better publishers out there.

You care about this world I've created. You help inspire it and you help push me to new heights, creatively and in terms of my writing ability.

So... let me share some of the people who make MY day better and brighter:

Gautami deserves an award and lots of notice for resurrecting the Monday Poetry Train. Come jump aboard with us.

I've mentioned my friend L^2 before, but have you seen her CafePress store? Don't be surprised if you see one of her notecards tucked inside any copy of The Demo Tapes that you buy from me. L is one of the coolest people out there. If you haven't seen her blog yet, you are missing out. This is one talented photographer.

I've made a new friend, Koe, at The Half-Life of Linoleum. What a great blog name, huh?

I was digging this blog, but when she created this post, that sealed the deal. She threw up an unfinished poem and then added to it throughout the day/week until it became what I've just linked to. But Koe added ... the comments from the comment trail. She told me she'd like to do it again. I hope she does. Stick her in your reader and keep commenting!

There are neat book bloggers out there, and you writers ought to take note (there are lots more neat book bloggers over at Win a Book! Why aren't you making friends???). One of my absolute favorites is Dawn, at She is Too Fond of Books. And then there's Anna, whose Diary of an Eccentric is one of my favorite blog names to joke about. Come read Win a Book to see why. And, of course, Serena, of Savvy Verse and Wit.

I've had the distinct pleasure of chatting with these three ladies lately, and they are as wonderful as their blogs are. I'm so glad to have you guys in my circle. Even if you hate my own fiction, I'll still be a fan of you three. Just... not quite as rabidly so.

Have I mentioned J. Kaye lately? Breeni?

My world lately has changed shape, and in a good way. A lot of that is directly due to Breeni, who has decided to throw her considerable passion and efficiency into promoting The Demo Tapes. Beyond me, though, Breeni is every bit as passionate about books as I am -- as any of us are, really -- and is one of the biggest champions for not caring WHO publishes a book. For Breeni, it's about the quality between the covers.

May we all learn to be so publisher-blind.

I can't leave here without one last award. My favorite, and the one you ALL should be giving me. The rock star award!!! What a better award to hand out to a woman who writes about rock stars and the people who orbit them.

It came from April, at My Life as a Mother and Single Parent. We've only just met, me and April, but from the first time I saw one of her blogs (she has a few), I really dug her attitude. This woman has a zest for life that rivals Trevor's. I hope we're in for a long friendship.

She loved my post about the loss of Pittsburgh legend PittGirl. I worked pretty hard on that post, trying to make it as perfect as I could. Thanks to April, I succeeded, although I'm curious what PittGirl herself thinks of it... In the constant flow of my dreams is one where PittGirl reads my post and decides to come back... as a fictional character.

On I dream.

Come join me.

Labels: Awards, Susan Speaks

Usually, if I'm cranky, I channel my fictional character, Trevor. Heck, the other day, one of my online friends was having a hard time with her mother, and Trevor wrote her this gorgeous balm for her wounded soul. It was great therapy for me. And, I hope, for her. The Tour Manager dug it, too.

What you don't know about me is that in real life, I'm cranky. I'm bitchy. I'm self-centered (as all good writers are supposed to be … or so goes the cliche). I'm frazzled, overwhelmed, and drowning in this life I've created. In fact, other than my friend Bridget, I'd be surprised if most of the people (if not all) who I see in my daily, offline life have nice things to say about me. Hell, there are people I've only known online who think I'm nothing but the worst kind of bitch.

So maybe this forthcoming rant won't surprise you guys. You're smart people and you know that no one can be as perpetually cheery as I try to be on these pages.



Here's what set me off. One of the local writers I know told me over a year ago about this local, anonymous blogger named PittGirl. "She's hysterical," Annette told me.

It took me about two seconds to see the truth of that. And the deeper content swirling under the surface.

Because she was anonymous, PittGirl felt free to rant about the city. The city's government. The rich and beautiful. PittGirl wasn't afraid to talk about how bad the Pirates are. Every week, she posted the funniest pictures of the Steelers and gave them the best captions, dialogue that had me howling until the cats got scared. I didn't always agree with her, but she always made me think about whatever she was talking about. I'd be out with the Tour Manager and suddenly, I'd say, "Oh, did I tell you what PittGirl said today? Man, it was brilliant."

And did I mention the pictures of shirtless Penguins? Oh, my. That woman provided better eye candy than the numerous romance authors who post Man Meat Mondays.



Yesterday, PittGirl closed up shop. Apparently, someone found out her true identity. The floodgates had been opened, and PittGirl had a choice to make.

She chose real life.



I hate this. I can't tell you how much I hate this. Even earlier this week (or was it last week?), PittGirl had posted a reminder that if her identity was discovered, she faced being fired from her day job. And yet some dunderhead had to go and pry anyway.

For what? For some bit of useless knowledge?

Look.

It doesn't matter who is behind the person who became PittGirl. Maybe it was David Conrad, one of her self-united husbands. Maybe it was Ken Rice, a local TV anchor and someone who was long rumored to be PittGirl. Those two men (interesting that I can think of only men when PittGirl was pretty obviously a woman) are who they are… David Conrad and Ken Rice. An actor and a TV newsman.

Likewise, PittGirl was PittGirl.

I mean, heck. When did Marcia Brady stop being Marcia Brady and start being Maureen McCormick? For me, she hasn't. If I find the Bradys on TV, I'm not looking at Maureen McCormick. I'm looking at Marcia Brady. I don't need to know any more about her. She's Marcia. She's got a mom, two sisters, three brothers, a step-father, and a housekeeper who's having a thing with the butcher. End of story. What more do I need to know?



Part of the strength of a good character is that they do not exist in real life. They are larger than life because if they were real, they'd be too large to be contained. Could someone real have the freedom to skewer some of the city's most powerful people the way PittGirl did when details of a society divorce became known?

Hell, no. If she tried, she'd be sued for defamation of character.

And that's exactly why anonymous characters like PittGirl -- and Miss Snark for us writers, and Fake Steve Jobs for you tech heads -- are so important. They use their smokescreen to say the things we are thinking. Or maybe the things we ought to be thinking. Miss Snark could shoot idiots with a clue gun. She wasn't real. Readers knew that they were not in jeopardy of walking down a street and feeling a hard thunk!, only to find they'd been the unwitting recipient of a clue. No matter how badly that clue is needed, it simply isn't going to happen. The clue gun exists in a fictional world.

If someone -- like, say, literary agent Janet Reid, whose prickly online persona is often held as proof that she was Miss Snark -- were to offer to shoot you with something like a clue gun, someone else would feel threatened. Hell, I know how creeped out I was for months after someone said to me, "I have a knife in my pocket and I'm not afraid to use it." That was his opening salvo, too. He went on from there. He claimed he was joking.

Tell that to my nightmares, buddy.



I've heard it said that we Pittsburghers take people at face value. Maybe that's why I'm having such a hard time believing that someone out there (especially someone apparently in Pittsburgh) would want to dig deeper. What's wrong with face value? What's wrong with fantasy and mystique?

Why did PittGirl have to become a real person? She was perfect as she was, hating pigeons and giving Steelers such horrid nicknames that you couldn't help but laugh. (Baby Cici Donna? Skippy Skeeve?)

I'm a writer. I miss Miss Snark but that was an end I saw coming. She'd simply run out of things to teach us.

But PittGirl… in a city like this one, a city that's constantly evolving and changing, that's trying so desperately to move forward (*ahem*), we needed her. We needed her as she was: a fictional woman who could point out the good and the bad that fills our Golden Triangle. Through her, I felt a pride in Pittsburgh that I haven't felt in a long time, and I adore this place. Her love of the city came through in every post, and I'd be surprised if mine wasn't the only outlook she altered.

Pittsburgh is poorer for her loss. She made this often grey landscape brighter.

I hope the dunderhead who needed to know so desperately who she was can look at him- or herself in the mirror today. Because, dunderhead, you ruined a very very good thing for an awful lot of us.

Maybe you're the one we should be calling Skippy Skeeve.

Labels: Miss Snark, PittGirl, Susan Speaks

So you went and voted today. I'm pretty certain you waited in line longer than I did: the kids and I pretty much walked right on up.

Now, though, you've juiced up those voting fingers (hey, we've got the touch screens here now. Fancy living, West of Mars) and ... what are you going to do?

Well, vote for me!

It's all Breeni's fault. She was nominated for a Weblog award and turned around and nominated me.

There are really good people in the same category. I see a number of blogs I know from my Win a Book blog, and of course, there's Breeni. To be honest, I'll be glad if I don't finish dead last, but ... every now and then, it's fun to think about being first.

Check it out. Nominate someone, even if it's not me. You've got this voting thing down pat now, right? Exercise your choice and your rights some more!

Labels: Susan Speaks

I'm so sick of Blogger refusing to acknowledge that I'm not a spammer (I've filled out their "take another look and convince yourself I'm right" form six times now. SIX.) that I've escaped and gone to visit other spots on the Web.

First off is a visit to my good friend Breeni. She decided to do a bunch of Halloween-themed books and like the usual non-traditional thinker that I am, I stumbled onto something pretty horrific. Go check it out.

And secondly is an interview I did with J. Kaye at her Book Blog. It started to be about my Win a Book blog, but I mentioned something that I probably should have shared with you guys first. And that's that I've got a neat little book coming your way. Go read all about Win a Book (and add it to your reader!) -- and my neat little book. After all, you guys asked for it.

There will, of course, be more about it soon. A LOT more. Breeni's so excited about it, she's decided to be my publicist. I hope you guys share her excitement.

So that's the news. I'll resume my mantle of Queen of the Not Spam Blog soon; Trevor needs to have his say about Banned Book Week, don't you think?

(oh, and do I have some cool shit to share!)

Labels: Breeni Books, J.Kaye's Book Blog, Susan Speaks

Really. Once you get on my bad side, there's not a lot of hope for you.

Which is why I had to point out that the Pittsburgh Hilton is having a bit of trouble paying their workers.

This Hilton, I've learned, is actually a franchise hotel. Its owners claim to be digging themselves out of the financial hole they got themselves into. But the hotel still bears the Hilton name and a franchise or not, it's still the Hilton company who looks bad. 'Cause you can't tell me that the other three Hilton-named hotels I've had crappy experiences in were franchises, too. If so, then the Hiltons really ought to consider who they're letting buy in. I meant it when I said I was done staying at anything bearing the Hilton name.

I know that every single person at the Romantic Times Convention here in Pittsburgh with me are joining me in an impassioned eye roll, snicker, and even, perhaps, a shudder of horror at the memories of that place.

Labels: Susan Speaks

As Lisa noticed, no Poetry Train from me. I was sort of hoping I wouldn't get to this point until next week, but here I am.

Here's the deal. Like most writers at certain points, it's time to step aside and deal with...

1. a short story I'm working on for submission. Yes, me, who was begged in graduate school to stop writing short stories because I'm so bad at them. It's time to see if I've learned a thing or two, writing outtakes.

2. A project I've had in the wings for a long time now. After talking to some really cool people about it, I think I'm going to go ahead.

3. Straightening out the agent thing. This is one of those things that's surprised me with how it's played out. In April, I approached an agent with a proposal for Trevor's Song. She was enthusiastic but wanted to discuss it further. She said the next day. I figured the next week, and I cleared my calendar.

Needless to say, I'm still waiting, and it's been three and a half months. Phone calls aren't being returned. Nor is e-mail. I'm thinking so much for that proposal and it's time to do what Trevor would.

4. Some other projects I've been wanting to get to.

5. Finishing up the novel-in-progress. Man, I've been drafting it forever. It's taken WAY too long, but not because of the blog.

and then there's the personal stuff.

1. I am absolutely ADDICTED to the Tour de France. Addicted, I tell you.

2. I knew it was only a matter of time before this happened, but the conditions in my gym have deteriorated to the point where I had a full-blown asthma attack while doing a program that shouldn't have had me breathing hard. It's my first attack in five years. I've been making noises for two months now to the Tour Manager that this was inevitable. I've skipped working out some days to avoid reaching this point. It can't be avoided any longer. Time to switch, most likely to the mondo snooty, cliquish, expensive place that's sadly the only option.

3. It's that time of year again! I am taking #1 to Cub Scout Camp again this year! If the idea of me in a snooty, cliquish, expensive health club isn't enough to make you snort your Frosted Flakes out your nose, this ought to be. Me in a metal-frame tent with an oil cloth over it, a platform supporting it, and two cots (with mattresses) inside. Not to mention the latrine at campsite.

Now, stop laughing. I absolutely adore it.

4. After camp comes vacation. We'll be staying in a very lovely looking B&B, and then moving to a cabin in a National Park. Yep, a return to the idea of going from the snooty to the rustic. I'm still loving it.

I'll be here, off and on. Make sure you've got me in your reader, but stop back anyway 'cause my blog stats could use the love. The better my blog stats, the better my bragging rights about you guys to people who'll come through in their ambition to get Trevor into print. Think of it that way.

See ya at some point I have yet to figure out...

Labels: Susan Speaks

I ducked out of the Romantic Times Convention yesterday around 3 and got home a little bit before 4. Those of you who know me or who I freshly met (and I have seen many Google searches for West of Mars already. Whee!) know that I'm a local chick and by the time yesterday afternoon came, when I'd checked out of my hotel SUITE (remind me to tell that story), I was glad. I was itchy to get home.

Anyway, here are some more impressions and things I learned. I want to promise that there will be more of these in the days ahead, but there probably won't be. The only thing I can promise is that there are yet more winds of change afoot...

1. I'm a proud Pittsburgher, but I was amazed and horrified at the condition of the Pittsburgh Hilton. Others can tell you more about it, but let's just say that many, many of us were glad we'd been evicted and sent to the Omni William Penn, even if it was a bit of an inconvenience.

This was my third bad experience in a row at a Hilton hotel. I'm done with you, Hilton Hotels. My money now goes elsewhere, even if I wind up spending more. From what I've seen (including the promised refund that I'm still waiting on, two years later), the problems exist across the board.

I wonder what the Board of Health would say about the servers who stuck their bare thumbs in the pour spout of the water pitchers when they put them on our table.

Yes, friends, I've called the Board of Health for things like that before. Piss me off far enough and I'll make a point of pushing back.


2. The Mystery Chix and a Rooster are amazing, amazing people. Don't ask me which is my favorite; I can't pick. Check out their websites. Tell them I sent you. Read their books. Rave about them with me.

I have lots of promo bookmarks and business cards from this gang. If you'd like some, drop me an e-mail and I'll mail them out to you.

3. Many of the authors whose blogs appear in my Google Reader are way cool. Rachel Vincent. Shiloh Walker. Megan Hart. Lauren Dane. Anya Bast. Ann Aguirre. Aline de Chevigny. Jennifer Estep. None, however, made me squeal the way I did when Colleen Gleason and I ran into each other (inches from literally) and made the connection. That's just to say how awesome Colleen is.

I loved how excited she got when I told her I'd seen Rises the Night for sale in my local GROCERY. Yes, folks, I found a copy there and had to show it to my family, all of whom gave me blank stares. Many of the surrounding shoppers were initially curious but my strange and sudden inability to form words upon discovery of the book might have prevented a few sales I otherwise should have pimped for my bud Colleen.

4. I met Judi Fennell in the shuttle back to the Omni and hooked her up with the woman running the SOS mixer/thingie. I hope she had a great time!

4. Of all these cool people, none were cooler than Ann. Let me tell you, I'd have been lost without Ann. She's the ultimate fan girl, in the perfect sense, because she is a librarian who is also the library's buyer. It was a LOT of fun to walk up to editors and hear her ask for their list so she can buy their books.

Even better was meeting her cast of characters, her friends. Particularly that moment during the Faery Ball when MaryJanice Davidson came and plunked down on the couch beside me. Why? 'cause she knew Ann, who was on my other side.

Best of all was at the Vampire Ball, when I pretty much dumped Ann in favor of a new bud (who also dumped a friend in order to bond with me). Ann understood, and then some. I still feel bad about it 'cause Ann's too cool to do that to. But once the whole story behind that comes out, you'll agree with Ann.

So to make up for it, I played Tour Manager for HER at the huge book signing. While I'm a bit too incapacitated to carry the LOAD of books she'd brought from home to be signed, I did carry her new purchases for her, help the authors spell her name right, and generally have fun.

No, I did NOT tell a single one of those authors to please spell her name S-U-S-A-N. But there were a few times there that I was tempted.

Be sure to become one of Ann's fan girls. She deserves it.

Labels: Aline, Ann Aguirre, Colleen Gleason, Jennifer Estep, Susan Speaks

Yep, as I've said before, the winds, they are a-changin' over here. Most are good, but a few sort of suck. Read on and you can decide which is which. Maybe you can help change those sucky ones.

1. I've up and joined Facebook. Come friend me and teach me more about the joint. Be sure to join the West of Mars Groupie group, too, and show the world how into the band you are. (Not me. Just the band.)

2. I came up with this fantastic idea for the ShapeShifter logo that I can put on t-shirts and stuff. Problem is, my cats draw better than I do and when I tried to get the image out of my brain and onto the paper... well, I'm ashamed of how it looked. Not merely embarrassed. Ashamed.

3. I found a cool (free) font for the band to use. Is a free font, no matter how cool, good enough for our band?

4. So I decided that I'll give up to three t-shirts featuring this new logo to anyone who can pull it out of my brain and improve on it. One catch: You have to sign over the rights to me so I own it. But to make up for it, I promise to give you credit on the website and here on the blog.

5. I'm headed downtown for the big Romantic Times convention tomorrow. What's a commercial, mainstream fiction writer like myself doing at a romance convention? Learning, I hope. And hanging with the cool people I've met here. Hopefully both.

I smell more breezes on the horizon... stay tuned...

Labels: Susan Speaks

Whoa. I knew it was around here, but I didn't think I'd be so crass as to miss it.

But I did.

And you know what? The world didn't end. My blog didn't implode. My muse is busy trying to juggle the Sunday Scribblings prompt with the Writer's Island prompt with my own vision and the next work-in-progress... Not a bad job for a muse, really.

Have you figured it out yet?

My blog turned two yesterday. That's two years of Trevor, Mitchell, Eric, Daniel, Kerri, Val, and Pam. Two years of Chelle and Kermit Ladd. Roadie Poet, Walter, Deadly Metal Hatchet, and Springer.

And me. That's the amazing part. That you guys continue to be interested in me even though I'm as boring as they come. I have cats. I ride my bike and go to the gym. I'm raising two kids and trying to appreciate the Tour Manager instead of kill him. And I create fiction, which I think is way more interesting than I am.

In two years, this joint has grown. Not as much as I want it to, but that's coming. There's change on the horizon, gang. The winds are picking up; can you feel them?

Stay tuned. I have it on the best authority that there's good stuff about to happen in the third year of this Meet and Greet joint. You'll be glad you got here so early, I promise. This is the time to suck your friends in 'cause once things get rolling, there may be no looking back.

There will be links back, of course. There's too much good stuff, stuff I'm really freaking proud of, buried here on this blog. But there's also stuff -- like this post -- that'll be lost in the rush.

One thing that won't be lost but also won't be expressed nearly enough is my appreciation for you guys. Every time I check my stat counter and see more than two hits, I'm thankful. Every time you leave a comment, I'm thrilled -- even on days like last Thursday, when it was all I could do to keep up with them.

It just gets better from here. Thanks for riding along so far -- and I hope you're here for the long haul.

Labels: blogging, Susan Speaks

I have to tell you guys that when the airplane door slammed shut in Bozeman and the plane was pushed back from the jetway, I almost screamed NO and jumped off the plane and called one of the amazing tour guides to come get me 'cause I wasn't going anywhere ever again...

Believe me, it was tempting.

Pictures of the trip will follow soon, most likely as Thursday Thirteens. The Tour Manager and I took about 500, give or take the deleted ones (ahh, the pleasure of digital photography), and including my 140-some on our final day in the park.

My fiction and rock and roll take up a big part of my soul. I've made that abundantly clear on this blog. The other part of my soul is Yellowstone National Park. Really. I would have stayed, if I'd had the option to.

Happy New Year to all of you. May all of our dreams come true in 2008, and may I have news for you of a publication of Trevor's Song by the end of the year, if not earlier. Keep on visiting and spreading the word about our fun here; the bigger the buzz, the more you inspire me.

Labels: Susan Speaks

*sigh*

This is the sign of burnout. Right here, folks.

I owe two more Blogging Tips Memes, but to be honest with you, I lost heart. I had the drafts saved; all I needed to do was post them.

But then I was blog surfing and came onto some strangers' blogs and what did I see? Memes. And not the fun kind, like the Schmoozing award (we'll get to that one in a second). The kind that didn't give me ANY inkling into what the blog was about. And I thought, I don't want this to be what people see when they visit me.

Thus, I nuked the drafts of Blogging Tips #3 and 4. Really, I have no words of wisdom other than to say have fun with what you do. And if you can't glean that from my posts or from the fun comment trails, nothing I can spell out will help.

Thus, on to the FUN.

Both PJ at the Urban Recluse and Thomma Lyn have graced me with The Power of Schmooze Award.

This one means as much as the Rockin' Wench Awards you guys handed me. I'm gonna get all sappy here and make poor Trevor throw up in his motorcycle boots, but so be it. I'm pleased you guys have let me be part of your lives, and I'm even more pleased when you demand I step in front of my fictional characters and speak to you as myself. Most of all, it gives me hope that when Trevor's Song finally hits the shelves, you'll all buy multiple copies. Yes, I promise now to make it VERY easy for you to get autographed copies, all the while helping out some local-to-me independent bookstores.

...and in the week since I wrote this post, more awards have come my way. I'll get to those later in the week or next week. Stay tuned. By all means, keep the honors coming! It's not just good for my ego in the face of rejection letters for a hard-to-place debut novel. It makes Trevor and the rest of the band happy.

Now, onward. There's more fictional fun ahead for you; my blog queue is stuffed to overflowing. There are more changes afoot... keep your eyeballs peeled.

And in the meantime, my friends, rock on.

Labels: Awards, meme, Susan Speaks

Wow. I can't believe it's here, but it is. Tomorrow, I take one half of the Opening Act off to Cub Scout camp. Four nights in a tent. In a sleeping bag. On a cot. And me with my orthopedically-challenged body. Yep, this is going to be interesting.

(Will I get any sleep, or will I be too uncomfortable? Will my back seize up like it did last Friday when we went to see Harry Potter? Can I handle the physical demands of hiking, archery, rock throwing (yes! Rock throwing!), and BB Guns?) <--- note that I've already refused to do any of the water activities; insidious stuff, water is, supporting my body beyond the point of no return but making me feel like it's all okay. Until it's not.

Rather than let this place go dark, especially since there's a reading contest going on (scroll up) and since I've just introduced Deadly Metal Hatchet to you (scroll down), I'm handing things over to the Tour Manager.

Now, have no fear. I'll be penning all the posts -- or at least typing them. The Tour Manager will post them (at hopefully the right times!) and moderate comments. I suspect he'll leave return visits and stewardship of my feed reader until I get back, however. (I'm betting on 1200+ posts in the reader when I get home. Yeowtch.)

Think of me. Send good vibes to my battered-by-pregnancy (almost five years ago) body. Visit often, so the Tour Manager has lots of comments to moderate. Enter the Summer's Hidden Treasures contest lots of times, so that when I get back and sit down to do the update, I've got tons to update. And have fun with the Hatchet, too. There are two more posts in this series, but I haven't ruled out return visits. Tell me if you want them.

A few other notes... Thomma Lyn, that dear, blessed me with the Schmooze Award. I'll be passing it along, so look for that. I've been having a hard time deciding who to pass this along to, as so many of us have already received it!

Missy, over at The Incurable Disease of Writing, is running a really cool sounding writing contest. Prize is a $10 Amazon gift card -- you can buy yourself a nice Hidden Treasure with THAT, folks!

And lastly, some bummer news. I've decided to end my monthly stop-ins over at Working Stiffs. There are a lot of reasons for this, and it's something I've contemplated for awhile now, and that's all I'll say about it. Suffice it to say that I need to concentrate on this place, so if you haven't noticed the subtle changes that have slowly been creeping in, that's okay. You may or may not notice some of what's planned for my return from Cub Scout Camp, but it should make this place easier for newbies to feel at home and should make you groupies have a more vested relationship with me and our fictional friends.

Yes, I'll be bringing a notebook. Heck, you should see the sorts of outtakes and such that my trip to Niagara Falls two weeks ago inspired.

Now, to not have to act like a Momma Bear and defend the older half of the Opening Act against a real one...

Be good to The Tour Manager while I'm gone!

Labels: contest, road trip, Susan Speaks, travel, Working Stiffs

This week's Booking Through Thursday asks what we think of as the Great American Novel (or, if you're not American or thinking about American novels, to replace American with the country/region of your choice).

I'm sure that this wasn't the intended answer, but after yesterday's Thursday Thirteen, in which I saw a record number of hits here at the Meet and Greet, and in which I saw my name pop up over and over on your lists, I'm sort of feeling my oats and thinking that, in all our minds at least, Trevor's Song fits that bill.

Even though none of you have read it. Yet.

After all, you guys have awarded me with three Thinking Blogger awards (from Milan, Amy, and Robin) and now two Rockin' Wench Blogger awards (Rhian and Red). You come back day after day, week after week, to check in on the adventures of Trevor, the rest of the band, and the fringe characters like Pam and Chelle -- and the new Roadie Poet, who'll be back soon.

I'm honored. I'm flattered. I'm watching my dreams come true, and you guys are helping to fuel that.

I've got a few surprises related to all this, but you'll have to wait until later this weekend from them (Yes, I'm still recovering from the Fourth. YOU try sleeping in the middle of the Science Center's exhibits and tell me how well YOU fare).

Let me just say, for now, thank you. Keep on helping me spread the word and build up Trevor's fan base; the more of you there are on board with me, the better. You guys inspire me and motivate me.

And when it comes to writing a great novel, isn't all about inspiration and motivation?

Labels: Booking Through Thursday, gratitude, Rockin' Wench Award, Susan Speaks, Thinking Blogger Award, Trevor's Song

While Trevor's off, trying to write a poem for Monday's Poetry Train, I thought I'd sneak back in here to ask you guys two questions:

1. Do you WANT Trevor to write a poem for Monday's Poetry Train? Or would you rather hear more from our roadie poet?

2. For this week's Thursday Thirteen, we've been asked to list our favorite Thirteens. I figured I'd ask you guys for some input. You can say something like, "When the band has conversations," Or "when you tie in the Thirteen to some fiction" or "when you tell us things, like the series about what's in everyone's kitchens, and when are you going to finish those, anyway?"

Be specific, vague, whatever.

I'd better run before Trevor catches me here. Last I saw him, though, the lit candle was the only light in the room and the floor was covered in crumpled-up notebook paper (notebook stolen from Mitchell, of course). He's taking this poetry thing to a pretty cliched level. Be careful what you ask for.

Labels: Susan Speaks

Hey, guys. It's my turn to be a Working Stiff. Go on over and please try to not laugh too hard...

Leave comments here or there; whatever makes you happier. (I do respond faster here, though)

And thanks for the virtual hugs and kind words. I may or may not talk about it later on, but I might have found a solution to at least one of the two problems that sprang up on Tuesday. We shall see if The Tour Manager and I can pull it off.

Labels: blogging, Susan Speaks, Working Stiffs

I'm a pretty polarizing woman. It seems you either love me or hate me (or: you get me or you're scared of me). I'm a strong woman, and I'm proud of that.

I would need you guys to tell me how much of that shines through in my fiction and the rest of this blog. But that's not the point today. I don't need the strokes I seem to be asking for.

Rather, I want you guys to read this.

Think about what it means to be a strong woman. Think about people you know who are threatened by us strong women, and think about the ways in which we can do MORE for ourselves and our fellow sisters.

Since this is Memorial Day in the States, maybe take a minute and think about the women brave enough to die in combat, too. A lot of my friends have told me I'm brave, but I'm nothing compared to the men and women who enlist and defend this country.

Labels: Susan Speaks

Recipe for Susan's now-famous Dark Chocolate Brownies
(in easy-to-follow steps)

1. Go to bank.

2. Ask for three five-dollar bills. They must be brand new. The serial numbers must not be sequential.

3. Trade the bank teller something of equal worth for those three five-dollar bills. You're not the thief in this scenario!

4. Go home.

5. Get notebook.

6. Get pen.

7. Choose previously blank sheet of paper.

8. Write: Dear Susan. Please send me a batch of dark chocolate brownies.

9. Sign your name to the note.

10. Include an address for me to mail brownies to.

11. Rip sheet of paper out of notebook.

12. Fold sheet of paper neatly into thirds.

13. Carefully place the three brand new, non-sequentially numbered five dollar bills into the middle of the note. Do not fold the five dollar bills. If you must, repeat steps 6 through 13 on a standard size sheet of notebook paper.

14. Place packet into #10 envelope.

15. Seal envelope.

16. Address to Susan Helene Gottfried at West of Mars.

17. Place Forever Stamp in upper right-hand corner.

18. Deliver to postal worker, dependable mailbox, or best friend who is headed to the post office.

19. Mail.

20. Sit back and wait. Brownies will arrive within a week, unless postal workers between here and there open box and partake.


Failure to adhere to any of these directions will cause your brownies to mysteriously vanish into the gut of one Tour Manager, who will then have to bike many miles to be thin again. Please, if you're not going to follow the directions (okay, you can ask for my real address), just make a cash donation here instead.


Okay, now that you're laughing, go to the Bloggers Choice Awards and vote for me. I'm too lazy to cut and paste the code yet again. Must be post-brownie syndrome.

Labels: brownies, Montour Trail, Susan Speaks

I read a very nice blog via my feedreader. It posts all sorts of cool (and not so cool) jobs for freelance writers. And while I'm not a freelance writer, it's still neat to read and see what's out there. You never know where the road we're on will wind up, I figure. Besides, even if it's not something I need personally, you never know when a character or two might.

The list of job postings that went up on Sunday sorta horrified me, which is why you're not getting a direct link. The typos. Oy, the typos! I've been reading this blog long enough to have an idea that they didn't come from Denise, who runs the site. But come on now, folks... why would any self-respecting writer want to work for you if you can't tell the difference between you're and your. Heroin and heroine. Breath and breathe.

If you've been following the exploits of Chelle LaFleur, you've seen her harp on this sort of thing in the past. Namely when I messed up as I wrote a piece for her, and all you groupies caught it for me. (thank you for that, too)

So it seemed natural to let Chelle loose on the subject again. And while I'd have ranted more about how important it is for potential employers (and literary agents) to represent themselves more... well, Chelle may be fictional, but she's her own woman.

If you need to catch up on her exploits, search my tags for Chelle. And anyone who can tell me how to make an index -- or who wants to do it for me, just for the link love and bragging rights -- please, speak up.

Oh, and check to make sure your feed's turned on, will ya? I'm talking RSS or Atom, not Feedburner. I'm a Google Reader sort of girl. (why does that make me feel all flirty and like I should be kicking up my heels and batting my eyelashes?)

Talk at you soon...

Labels: Chelle LaFleur, Susan Speaks, writing process

So here's the post I had prepared for today:

I've been thinking about the WIP I've been spending the most time with. Meant as a follow-up to Trevor's Song, I've been writing away and having a lot of fun with it. These are really fun characters, as most of you guys know.

But I always get to a point in my WIPs where I get worried that I've fallen off the track, so I go back and read and give a light edit to what I've already done.

As you can probably figure, it's that time again. As I think back over the first chapter, where I am now in the story is so far afield, I need to stop and see where and how I can fix things. I have some ideas; it's time to see if I can make some of them happen.

This isn't an easy WIP for me. I'm writing about strong emotions I have very little first-hand experience with. I'm writing about situations that I'd never in a million years let myself fall into.

But this is why it's fiction. It's good to push myself like this. After all, writing is a craft.

Time to craft the WIP a bit.

Before I go, though, let me hear from you regulars: do you want more of Daniel and Mitchell? Eric? What about the girls? Kerri and Val? And Mitchell's sister, Amy? Of what I've shown you in this blog before, who intrigues you the most? Who do you want to read about?

But then, two things happened:
First was that I FINALLY hit 10,000 hits. So thanks to all of you who've helped make that happen. Pretty cool to see on the old stat counter!

And I sat down and wrote down each chapter number, point-of-view character, and major themes. Floated some ideas at the Tour Manager. And had one that, for now, stuck.

If you never take chances, you never learn and grow as a person -- or as a writer. And besides, I'm not on deadline yet. This is the perfect time for experimentation.

I still want to hear which characters you want to spend more time with, though. If you're not a regular, read over the character descriptions I've linked to each character's name. Tell me who intrigues you -- and why.

Thanks!

Labels: Susan Speaks, writing process

I've got a ton of stuff to share with you, but the apparent demise -- and, as of Friday night (that's now), the apparent rescue -- of Thursday Thirteen has inspired Trevor to speak up.

I'm busy making sure I'm channelling my favorite bass player properly, so I hope to post it tomorrow (that'd be Saturday).

Warning: Trevor's cranky, the band's drunk, and this upcoming outtake is rated PG-13 for language and references to sexual activity. Not to mention people who are drunk and stoned. But what else do you expect when a rock band made up of guys in their early twenties throws a party?

One last note: Apologies to those of you trying to access the website today or get mail to me. We switched DSL providers and ... they screwed up. If you haven't heard back from me, please try again.

Labels: Susan Speaks, Thursday Thirteen, writing process