In Sickness and in Health

O.M.G. I'm actually going to discuss writing and books on my blog today. I don't think I've done that in awhile because my life has been in such chaos lately, but yes, here I go.

Tonight I head up to the Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference (AWP), which happens to be in Seattle this year, as tomorrow I will be on a panel titled, In Sickness and in Health: Writing about Illness and Loss for Young Adults.

"Sick - lit" as it's been so charmingly nicknamed has been quite a hot topic in the last year and the subject of controversy. Some people think we as writers have a cavalier attitude toward the dark subjects such as death, suicide and self-harm, and we are doing teens a disservice by writing about these subjects during a time when they are more apt to go through them.

Yet others believe that teen should be reading about the issues that they are sure to relate to at their age, that reading isn't purely about escapism, it's also about thinking and feeling and having characters you can relate to.

What is your opinion on the subject?

I think you know where I stand as someone who has written about death and
self-harm. I also have an unpublished book about a school shooting. Life isn't always pretty and it doesn't always have a happy ending. Are we doing our teenagers a favor by shielding them from the hard things in life? Things they will have to face, whether it's them, one of their friends or family members.

Shit happens. You can't hide from it, so why not face it head on.

If you're attending AWP, my panel is from 1:30-2:45 at the Washington State Convention Center, Room LL5, Western New England MFA Annex, Lower Level.

Other panel members are Roberta Borger. She is the one who assembled the panel. She is pursuing my MFA in Creative Writing at Chatham University. Selene Castrovilla, Jolene Perry, and Katherine Ayres.

30 days of thanks: day 19

This is one of those days in which I'm finding it hard to be thankful. I've been sleeping like crap. My nose has been stuffed up for days and my mood has been up and down due to many factors in my life.

But, I've been determined to always find something to be thankful for, every day.

Hot wings may be at the top of my list today. Too shallow?

Okay, well, you may think this is shallow too, but I'm going for it anyway...

My Seattle Seahawks. Yep, I went there.

I've been a football fan since I was about 10. My dad has had season tickets since the very first year the Seahawks have been a team. I believe that was 1976. He would take to me at least one game a year.

As I got older, I got more into football and I didn't care if they won or lost, I love my Hawks. I started to go to more games. As many as I could. Whenever he had extra tickets I would say, "Me, me!!"

Eventually, my dad ended up giving his tickets to his law office and if the Hawks were good, I didn't really get to go, but if they had a bad season, me and my husband (this was when I was married of course) ended up going to at least 3 or 4 games a year.

When Hasselbeck came on board, they started getting good again, and the Kingdome came down and Qwest Field went up and we decided to buy our own season tickets.

We were there when the won the NFC Championship. That was exciting!!

Tickets got too expensive, so we gave them up. Then of course I got divorced. Now I'm back to only going to one game a year.

Now we have a good team again and it's been exciting to watch players like Russell Wilson, Richard Sherman and Marshawn Lynch on the field.  10-1!! I truly think we are Superbowl bound this year. If not, at least we had a great season.

Manic Monday

Yes, new ideas to keep me blogging.  So today is Manic Monday where I basically get to rant about all the wrong in the world.

I expected to be writing about holiday travel, since I came back home from a weekend at the ocean, but honestly, it wasn't that bad except for the two or three drivers, who drove right next to each other, at a pace I can only compare to watching grass grow.  They held up traffic for miles.  And I had to speed up, slow down, change lanes, jockey for position to get around them.  This took 1 1/2 hours.  Once I got past them the last half hour was smooth sailing.

And how about them Seahawks, huh?  Nothing like being the king of the losers.  We're going to be in the play offs and get our asses kicked by the wild card team.  That will be a sad, sad day in Seattle.

My girls and I tried to find a Christmas movie to watch on TV last night.  We found two and they were boring and lame.  What happened to the day when the Christmas movies were funny and fun and original and made of clay?  Now they're all heartwarming and cheesy.  We ended up putting Edward Scissorhands in the DVD player.  Yes it IS a Christmas movie.

Well, that's my first Manic Monday.  And I didn't think I had anything to write about.  Come back tomorrow for 2fer Tuesday. (anyone want to blog with me tomorrow?)




Catch you on the flip side,

Megan

Austin's Journey: The Space Needle

Following Austin's journey once again, this time to the Space Needle.  Funny, I've lived in this area pretty much my whole life, and never stepped foot in the Space Needle until researching for this book a year ago.  

He takes his best friend, who also happens to be his secret crush there, a place neither of them had ever been.  It takes 41 seconds to reach the top of the 605 foot tower built for the 1962 World's Fair.  Here are some panoramics I took while I was there. 

This was the line to get in.  It doesn't even show a quarter of it.

We come full circle.

  

I don't think you can even get the idea of how amazing this structure is from the pictures.  You have to come see it for yourself.

Ciao,

Megan

New Project

So, I'm kind of excited about this new project I'm working on.  Titled, Finding Nirvana, it's about a girl addicted to grunge and obsessed with Kurt Cobain, who goes on a journey of self discovery.  I think.  It's mostly still in my head.

But I'm excited to do some research on this.  On the way back from the ocean, I went through Aberdeen to find his childhood home (on the right).  There is a documentary on Netflix I'm going to watch, and an exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum.

Here's a little totally rough, brand new, unedited excerpt:

      My name is Lanie and I’m a grunge addict.  Yes I’m well aware that it’s 2010, and grunge was so 1990’s, but it wasn’t really a choice, it was a way of life.  At times I felt like I was born a decade too late.  I would have totally fit in with the Seattle grunge scene, but that was my mom’s life, not mine.  So deep into that scene, she chose to name me Layne Veddar Cobain Cornell Miller.  Ridiculous I know, but she couldn’t make up her mind between her favorite singers from Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and Soundgarden, respectively.  I decided when I started school that I would go by Lanie.  It sounded more, well, like a girl.

       When it comes to my dad, things get a bit more complicated.  You see, I don’t really know who he is, well, I kind of do.  He could be one of three guys, the first being Kenny James.  He’s a totally smart way cool dude who manages a couple local bands, the most “famous” if you can call it that being Toke.  The second might be BJ Dubois, the drummer for Drop Dead Lead, and no I don’t know if that’s his real name, or if he took the initials just to be funny or clever, which he’s neither, though he thinks he is.  He’s a bit socially retarded, but he’s nice, and not bad to look at.  The last contestant on “Who’s My Dad” is Doug “Spaz” Harris, singer of The Deceased .  If you knew Doug, you’d know exactly why they called him Spaz.  First of all he’s got Tourettes, so he tenses up and blurts out the most insane funniest shit at times, also,  on stage, he dances  like he’s having a seizure.

     These three are pretty much interchangeable to me, all white, all in their early thirties, all still living life as if they’re rock stars.  I can’t blame them really, I’ve got the bug myself and it’s hard to shake, plus I’ve never heard of a twelve step program for this kind of addiction.  When you look at those guys, there’s not one distinct feature you could point out and say, “oh, he’s GOT to be Lanie’s dad.”  I mean, my eyes are blue like Kenny’s, I have full lips, like BJ, and I’m tall and thin like Spaz.  I guess seventeen years ago my mother loved them all.  So there you have it. 

On a different note, I was invited to one of the Readergirlz Diva's book launch (Holly Cupala) and I'm so excited.  I've been wanting to meet some of these ladies since I started writing.  Only hitch, it's on my daughter's birthday.  Now, it's a teen book, and I can bring people, so I've talked to her about it and we're considering making a day of it in Seattle and getting a hotel room and stuff.  But I told her it's up to her. Still, it's exciting just to be invited. :)

That's all, let me know how you like the excerpt.

 Ciao,

 Megan

Friday Free For All

The hotness. We have had record breaking weather here in the Pacific Northwest this week. 102? I don't remember moving to Phoenix. And apparently 60% of households here do not have air conditioning. Including mine. Fans normally do the job, but not this week. It felt as if I were dripping, melting, leaving me nothing but a puddle of flesh on the kitchen floor.

Of course, my kids had a blast. I blew up a rubber raft we have, filled it with water, and put it beneath their slide. They loved it. They didn't even want to go to Grandma and Grandpa's air conditioned house and swim in their nice cold indoor pool. I am always amazed at the simplicity of children's enjoyment.

Me however, trying to catch up on messages, and revisions, and writing, and reading, and cleaning stayed in the sweat box that was my house toiling away. Of course, I did get my bathing suit on and dunk myself in the raft every so often for a break.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I would never do that based on how much I hate to be cold. I definitely prefer the heat. But come on! 102! I think I now know what hell feels like.

Cd of the week, AC/DC Highway to Hell

Show of the week, Rescue Me (I've actually never watched it, but it seemed fitting)

Movie of the week, Backdraft

Book of the Week, Days of Little Texas by R.A. Nelson. Just finished it. Hellfire and damnation. (you can catch my review of it on The Angsty Writer Book Review blog: http://angstywriter.blogspot.com/ )




Kisses
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Megan