AWP and moving forward

Had a great time at AWP this weekend. I wasn't there very long, just Friday to Saturday, but did much in that small amount of time.

Friday evening I met up with my fellow panel members Roberta Borger, Jolene Perry, Selene Castrovilla, and Katherine Ayres. What a group of wonderful, talented women. I felt small in comparison to their accomplishments. Roberta is an MFA student in Pennsylvania, and the one who put the panel together. I should also thank my friend Gae Polisner, who opted out of the panel and suggested me as her replacement.

After dinner, Selene and I spent some time together talking (we have quite a bit in common, we noted if we didn't live on opposite shores, we would probably be friends) then hit up the AWP Dance Party. We didn't dance, just watched as most the party goers were about 20 years younger than us.

The next morning I registered and hit the bookfair, checking out the books, reviews, and journals, then I noticed 3rd Place Books was there in the back. I went to check out their books and who was in their booth? Local author Lish McBride. We hadn't met in person, just by Twitter mostly, in fact when I ran into her, I hadn't looked at her name tag right away, and we were sitting there talking about writing and whatnot (she'd recognized my name from my AWP badge). When she told me her third books was coming out soon I asked her what she'd written and her books were sitting right there so she showed me. I wanted to do a palm-to-forehead so bad...DOH! I explained to her, via Twitter, the following day that it took me awhile to put 2x2 together because, well, I'm an idiot. Ugh.

Scurried on to my panel, which was a success. Good questions asked, time flew. Then I was bound for home.

Time to move forward...in so many ways. One of the problems I've been having, it culminates tomorrow. Another problem, I think it's coming to a head and I'm not sure how it's going to resolve. I'll have to wait and see. Either way, I'm ready to Creative Chaos Media. It's time to do a publicity blast on Dissected. finish the rebranding of my website, edit Girl in Motion and get it prepared to publish this fall (time is going so fast), and finish my latest novel, A Tattered Life.
do whatever I need to do to put it behind me. And it's really time to push my new business with the self publishing services. I've been working on the website again,

I realized I haven't finished a novel in over a year. I think Dissected was the last one I actually finished writing. I mean, I've edited novels, but I haven't written a new one in a really long time, so it's so important to complete A Tattered Life then move onto the next one.

Moving forward.

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.

Monkey Madness Monday: Writerly Stuffs

Grumpy Monday Gorilla

I've been diligently typing up these changes for Lori, the gal doing my formatting. Okay, diligently may not be the right word, but I'm doing it where I can fit it in. I've been working a lot at my day job and taking that work home, and have the BF now and something is wrong with my body that makes me want to sleep too much, which feels like one step above narcolepsy, and for which I'm making an appointment today, and I've been to music gigs and soccer tournaments for Things One and Two, but I have been typing them up and the beginning of the book has way more mistakes then they taper off, but I'm getting closer toward the middle, so there you have it...

I got to meet my 2k11 friend Bettina Restrepo last week. She was in Seattle for one night only on her way to a cruise to Alaska. I drove up to Seattle (about a 40 minute drive, but it was rush hour and I don't know Seattle, so I'm sure I was in the busiest part so tack on another 20 minutes). We had dinner in a little cafe called 5 Points, which looks kind schmoozy, but I'd give the food 5 stars. Then we walked around, stared up at the Space Needle, went into the Chihuly store (I had to inform her that the REAL Chihuly Glass Museum, which she wanted to call chilupa, and I couldn't blame her, was in Tacoma, and that our store had things you could buy for $20 as opposed to the $5000 items in the Seattle store). I'd also brought my copy of Illegal for her to sign, so that was very exciting.

Last week I also found out that Jenny Milchman, who I met through ABNA, is going to be in town next week, so I get to go to a book club and meet her. I immediately bought her book, Cover of Snow and will start reading it and pray to god I can finish it by next Thursday.  A normal person can, but a person like me who has not committed to reading a book since, um...let me think...December (don't judge me, I've been busy) is worried, but I'm going to read it as much as I can because I want to read it for Jenny's visit. So super excited about that.

Also found out that a panel I'm to be on was accepted to the Association of Writers and Writing Programs 2014 Conference in February. My friend Gae suggested me to this lovely graduate student who was putting it together. The panel is, In Sickness and In Heath: Writing About Illness and Loss for Young Adults. I'll be on the panel with writers Selene Castrovilla (The Girl Next Door), Jolene Perry (The Next Door Boys), Katherine Ayres (Macaroni Boy) and graduate student Roberta Borger.

So, good times and good news for last week...and getting close to getting that book finished. Still shooting for end of October release date on Dissected. That means I need to get my ass in gear. I have a few free days this week, going to make it happen.

Happy Monday.