I rarely talk about other authors and other books but I have been a bit confused lately. Stephanie Meyers has written 4 books that are pretty much a national phenomenon. I mean this series is like Harry Potter was for J.K. Rowling; almost a movement within the community.
So here is what I don;t understand; why do so many authors "hate" this series? Is it jealousy, envy, or is it underlying things that some people don;t like to talk about?
I am beginning to think it is both. Are there controversial topics in the Twilight series? Yep. I would say so. But are the issues stronger than the fans, nope. Not by a long shot.
What drives Edward? Has the commercial aspect gone to far? I was in the bookstore the other day and I stopped to look at the merchandise and a young girl said loud enough and directed toward me and my friend, "I am so sick of Twilight." Of course she was young so I didn't entertain her attempt at verbal sparring and she picked up the pace and went on with her little crew of girlfriends. I thought, see you at the premiere, brat. LOL So is it now a trend to hate on Twilight because everyone else loves it? I don;t know.
I was not a big fan, but I don;t have real issue with it either. I read the series and made notes on technique, and other things. I am an author after all and from where I sit in the land of small press, I don;t have the right to hate on anyone. I hope someday to have people hating on me for being a "sell-out" If selling out means NYT Best Selling author and household name-well please, sign me up. If it means brand endorsement, okay. I use a lot of branding in my books. Only if it is good stuff in my opinion, otherwise I make up a fake name.
I am confused about the anger and the frustration by so many authors.
I have author friends and they have real debates and reasons for not liking the books and such. Then there is another community who just hate. Hate for apparently no real reson. They have no argument other than, "I am sick of it."
I guess it is a possibility for all of us who put or work out there to be judged by the public. It just seems strange to me. By the way, if anyone wants to get crazy over my books and make t0shirts, socks, whatever- I am so looking forward to the day!
So here's to you Twilight author, movie stars, and fans. Rarely do people get to bond across generations, nations, gender, social and economic status, so if that thing that we are bonding over is a book or movie-good for the creators and the actors and the fans! We should all be so lucky.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Friday, November 06, 2009
NaNoWriMo
It is National November Writing Month- I think.
How did Novemebr get here so fast?!
I am excited about it on one hand and toatally unprepared for it on the toher. Personally I am thrilled November is here. As an author, I am action packed with work right now so unless I aim for a short story I am likely not to get a book written in a month :(
Speaking of books, has anyone seen the new Nook? Any feedback on that?
I want one. Do you?
It is getting chilly here on the coast and I am wishing it were still warm. I can;t say too much though becasue I am sure it is colder in other places.
I hope when 2010 gets here I am able to be more consistent at blogging since I will be working from home.
What do you like in a blog?
What do you not like?
Cara
How did Novemebr get here so fast?!
I am excited about it on one hand and toatally unprepared for it on the toher. Personally I am thrilled November is here. As an author, I am action packed with work right now so unless I aim for a short story I am likely not to get a book written in a month :(
Speaking of books, has anyone seen the new Nook? Any feedback on that?
I want one. Do you?
It is getting chilly here on the coast and I am wishing it were still warm. I can;t say too much though becasue I am sure it is colder in other places.
I hope when 2010 gets here I am able to be more consistent at blogging since I will be working from home.
What do you like in a blog?
What do you not like?
Cara
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Halloween fun, one down, one to go...
Okay so I feel like a crazy person right now. I have so many book ideas in my head I am having trouble outlining and finding time to get them all down and out.
First up is the Halloween duo (super short, super hot) that I hope to get released by then! LOL!
Then i need to finish my TBW pile To Be Written. I have a lot of things started, and some fleshed out but not complete yet. It sucks!
I will say that next year I am looking forward to possibly working from home and having more time to dedicate to my writing!
What are you all reading out there?
Anything good?
Are you hoping for more of something in the future? If so what would you like to see.
Especially, what would you like to see me writing?
Cara
First up is the Halloween duo (super short, super hot) that I hope to get released by then! LOL!
Then i need to finish my TBW pile To Be Written. I have a lot of things started, and some fleshed out but not complete yet. It sucks!
I will say that next year I am looking forward to possibly working from home and having more time to dedicate to my writing!
What are you all reading out there?
Anything good?
Are you hoping for more of something in the future? If so what would you like to see.
Especially, what would you like to see me writing?
Cara
Monday, September 07, 2009
Work In Progress
I am nearing the end of my project to send to a NY publisher. I was not completely finished when I sent the query and unfortunately what I thought would take me a couple of days to finish and a couple of months to hear if they wanted to look at has happened in the opposite order!
Once I get this manuscript out to NY I can finish up my Veronica Grimm story and get it in for editing. I am really excited about it, the book has been a long time planning and finally having time to dedicate to writing it has also been a great gift.
Except time is something I am struggling with. If you read my non-fiction blog, In Darkness and Light, you know that life is really trying to keep my attention scattered to the winds right now. But I am going to keep my anchor in writing. I will!
~Cara
Once I get this manuscript out to NY I can finish up my Veronica Grimm story and get it in for editing. I am really excited about it, the book has been a long time planning and finally having time to dedicate to writing it has also been a great gift.
Except time is something I am struggling with. If you read my non-fiction blog, In Darkness and Light, you know that life is really trying to keep my attention scattered to the winds right now. But I am going to keep my anchor in writing. I will!
~Cara
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
In Darkness and Light
If you check out my profile you will see the blog "In Darkness and Light" it is my non-fiction side of things. It is where I have been posting lately to maintain sanity.
Not sure how it is working out- let me know what you think!
Cara
Not sure how it is working out- let me know what you think!
Cara
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Feeling Crazy
I know that blogging is supposed to be about fun things and exciting things and promotion but seriously, I don't have the energy to make a new blog.
I wonder if anyone has ever wanted to go somewhere and scream- I mean scream at the top of your lungs, till your throat burns from it, until all of the anger, frustration, disappointment, sadness, and confusion just leaves. The problem is this:
1. I have never screamed like that in my life so I am not sure how.
2. can't scream in my house because: a. my cat Han Solo has a heart condition. 2. I would not want my dogs to think ,if I ever needed to scream, that everything was okay. They need to know that a scream is worthy of an attack or go get help or something.
3. I can't go to the woods to scream because the woods nearby have a. deer, snakes, and ticks with lime disease. b. I would likely be shot by a hunter or worse someone would call the police and I would go to the mental hospital. (Yes, I see the local mental house as worse than being shot with a deer rifle).
4. I would love to scream like that in my car but where? Wouldn't it freak out the people near me- or would I miss the light? I don't want to be unsafe.
So that is the scream release issue. Can't quite exorcise the demons that way so what? What now? How exactly do I process everything? I don't want to complain because I know there are people out there who do not have Internet access right now, much less the opportunity to blog and bitch about their life. I feel that I am being ungrateful for what I have if I complain or I don't want to keep doing something I have the chance to do. Like school. I bounce back and forth on this PhD program almost daily.
On the one hand it is a good opportunity to get this education out of the way now, so many people I have met said they wish they did it when they were my age because they don't want to do it now. I am a year and 2 classes into this program and I don;t hate it, I hate that it takes time out of my day that I could be doing other things I personally feel are more important to my sanity. Like writing.
I know it sounds crazy but when I do not get to sit and write for me, to escape reality a while and create happy little endings I start to go a bit nuts. I start to look at everything and everyone around me and I begin to let the everyday overrun my life and the next thing I know, the one thing that is me- to the fiber of my soul- me is missing. I write. I write, that is what I do. I don;t want to write a paper on statistics, I want to create two characters, put them through hell and then marry them off. I don't want to spend hours posting to a forum. I want to spend hours promoting my books and connecting with my readers.
I am nobody as an author and therefore every single person who reads my work matters to me. If I lose connectivity with those readers, then how will I get more readers? How will I become a New York Times Best Selling Author if I don't have time to write anything else?
I know it may sound crazy but why can't I have the NYT rating? I just need to get a book into a major publishing house and then promote the hell out of it. I so wish I could dedicate my full time effort and energy to writing.
In addition to writing there is the sadness that my husband is deployed. I miss him terribly when he is away. I can;t sleep without him next to me, I can't cook so I am eating garbage ( Microwave meals, fast food, or restaurant food) unless my neighbor or friends feed me. I feel guilty every time I eat out because it is money I could put toward other things right now. I can;t deny that the scale is not moving but I am not doing anything to make the numbers drop. I can;t eat junk and expect to lose weight even if I have started exercising.
See, whiny. Ugh, how pathetic am I? I feel like I am at a crossroads in my life and I so do not like the options. On one hand I have the PhD program, school, a better chance at job stability. On the other I have the hope of writing a book that will sell to a publisher big enough to allow me to write full time and teach part time. I would not want to give up my classroom completely. I just don't want to teach, be a full time student, and occasional author. I want to be a full time author, and maybe even full time teaching but at least part time, and then occasional student.
For those of you reading this, I am sorry for bitching. I have no real right to but I think we all do this sometimes. I just blogged it because, well, I needed to blog and I needed to get some things out of my head.
Cara
I wonder if anyone has ever wanted to go somewhere and scream- I mean scream at the top of your lungs, till your throat burns from it, until all of the anger, frustration, disappointment, sadness, and confusion just leaves. The problem is this:
1. I have never screamed like that in my life so I am not sure how.
2. can't scream in my house because: a. my cat Han Solo has a heart condition. 2. I would not want my dogs to think ,if I ever needed to scream, that everything was okay. They need to know that a scream is worthy of an attack or go get help or something.
3. I can't go to the woods to scream because the woods nearby have a. deer, snakes, and ticks with lime disease. b. I would likely be shot by a hunter or worse someone would call the police and I would go to the mental hospital. (Yes, I see the local mental house as worse than being shot with a deer rifle).
4. I would love to scream like that in my car but where? Wouldn't it freak out the people near me- or would I miss the light? I don't want to be unsafe.
So that is the scream release issue. Can't quite exorcise the demons that way so what? What now? How exactly do I process everything? I don't want to complain because I know there are people out there who do not have Internet access right now, much less the opportunity to blog and bitch about their life. I feel that I am being ungrateful for what I have if I complain or I don't want to keep doing something I have the chance to do. Like school. I bounce back and forth on this PhD program almost daily.
On the one hand it is a good opportunity to get this education out of the way now, so many people I have met said they wish they did it when they were my age because they don't want to do it now. I am a year and 2 classes into this program and I don;t hate it, I hate that it takes time out of my day that I could be doing other things I personally feel are more important to my sanity. Like writing.
I know it sounds crazy but when I do not get to sit and write for me, to escape reality a while and create happy little endings I start to go a bit nuts. I start to look at everything and everyone around me and I begin to let the everyday overrun my life and the next thing I know, the one thing that is me- to the fiber of my soul- me is missing. I write. I write, that is what I do. I don;t want to write a paper on statistics, I want to create two characters, put them through hell and then marry them off. I don't want to spend hours posting to a forum. I want to spend hours promoting my books and connecting with my readers.
I am nobody as an author and therefore every single person who reads my work matters to me. If I lose connectivity with those readers, then how will I get more readers? How will I become a New York Times Best Selling Author if I don't have time to write anything else?
I know it may sound crazy but why can't I have the NYT rating? I just need to get a book into a major publishing house and then promote the hell out of it. I so wish I could dedicate my full time effort and energy to writing.
In addition to writing there is the sadness that my husband is deployed. I miss him terribly when he is away. I can;t sleep without him next to me, I can't cook so I am eating garbage ( Microwave meals, fast food, or restaurant food) unless my neighbor or friends feed me. I feel guilty every time I eat out because it is money I could put toward other things right now. I can;t deny that the scale is not moving but I am not doing anything to make the numbers drop. I can;t eat junk and expect to lose weight even if I have started exercising.
See, whiny. Ugh, how pathetic am I? I feel like I am at a crossroads in my life and I so do not like the options. On one hand I have the PhD program, school, a better chance at job stability. On the other I have the hope of writing a book that will sell to a publisher big enough to allow me to write full time and teach part time. I would not want to give up my classroom completely. I just don't want to teach, be a full time student, and occasional author. I want to be a full time author, and maybe even full time teaching but at least part time, and then occasional student.
For those of you reading this, I am sorry for bitching. I have no real right to but I think we all do this sometimes. I just blogged it because, well, I needed to blog and I needed to get some things out of my head.
Cara
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