Winner: JD!

I'm posting this before April Fool's Day because no one can trust anything that happens on April Fool's Day. Ever.

Thanks to Research Randomizer - JD has won the the $20 amazon.com gift certificate (check your email!) and the bound galley of Prophecy of the Sisters.

This is particularly convenient because we're friends and I will see JD on Thursday and can just hand over the prize...and eventually steal it back from her when she isn't looking. So convenient it almost seems rigged...but it's not...and I'm posting this the day before April Fools to show you I'm extra serious.

Tune in next month for another contest. Maybe by then I'll have gotten my grubby hands on another advanced reader's copy! Rumor is - the much anticipated Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, sequel to The Hunger Games, may (fingers crossed fingers crossed fingers crossed) find its way to my mailbox, but you'll have to pry that baby from my cold, dead fingers.

Win It: Prophecy Of The Sisters bound galley and a $20 Amazon.Com gift card

My friend Lizette sent me an awesome stack o' books and the surprise put me in such a good mood that I decided to add a bound galley of Michelle Zink's debut novel, Prophecy Of The Sisters to this month's contest prize along with $20 amazon.com gift certificate.

I'm stoked because since rediscovering YA I've enjoyed plenty of post-apoc, historical, and edgy stories, but I haven't brushed up against the haunting tone of this gothic family tale set to drop August 1, 2009 from Little Brown Books.

There are two ways to get entries:
1. Comment
2. Link to the contest from your site (lemme know if you do)

For fun, when you comment, feel free to tell me what one piece of advice you'd give someone from the 14th century. My personal favorites from this sound byte:

- Boil your water.
- There's no such thing as witches - everybody floats.
- Don't throw away the middle of the donut - you can sell it.

Contest closes midnight PST on the 31st. Winner announced the next day.

* Please note the bound galley does not have the final image on its cover.

Have It: A Sisterhood

If you know me, then you know this: I'm a girl's girl. I like estrogen time. Hanging with my sisters. Being around ladies.

I apparently have a habit of erasing men from my memories. Not on purpose. But I'll think back to an event and what a great time I had and then someone will say, "Wasn't it funny when John..." and I'll think...John? Who is John? Was a John there? Were any guys there??? Do I even know a John?

Now, I do have my share of guy friends, but let's face it - they come as part of the package to their super awesome significant others. Pete belongs to Ayse. Bill belongs to Kim. If you're a lone male, your chances of getting into my social circle are approximately...zero. And that's coming from someone with a background in statistics.

I get that guys are nice and have feelings and can be super swell but when it comes down to the limited time that I have to spend with friends, I get a better cost-benefit ratio from being with my girlfriends.

Every now and then, I'll meet someone who prefers being friends with boys. They say things like, "Girls are just so much drama." Or "Boys are easier." I don't get these people. Or maybe I've just been fortunate to meet some of the greatest gals on earth.

So when my friend Sophie Littlefield gave me a shoutout for the blogging sisterhood (and also because I'm no naysayer), I figured it would be the perfect time to pass the torch to my favorite blogging females. If you ladies want to perpetuate the sisterhood, cool. If not, no biggie. That's the beauty of girlfriends. I love you guys either way.

Mel - my fellow book hussy chronicles her life with her husband (three years strong come Wednesday!), her adorable daughter Sophie, and her loving Cuban family in sunny, gorgeous Florida.

JD - whenever I've spent too long lazing around in my pajamas or have gone one day too many without brushing my hair or washing my face (which is like...every day), I turn to JD to find that occasionally stylish and cute side of myself.

Stephanie - my redheaded amiga is capable of cringe-worthy honesty bordering on brave - I wish I could get half as open as she is in her writing

Learn From It: Reality TV

I don't watch slacker reality - the kind where gorgeous bodies sit around in hot tubs.

I prefer do-er reality. The kind where you get judged. By experts. Sew a dress from toothpicks. Cook a meal for 500 people with groceries from $50 in food stamps. Sing a song that blows me away.

These shows dismiss contestants who execute on point but are missing that extra something and use the following lines to justify kicking out losers:

"You don't have a point of view."
"You haven't shown me what you stand for."
"You didn't make it your own."
"I can't tell who you are as an artist/designer/chef."

Point taken. Guilty as charged. My agent, her two interns, and my two recent editorial rejections have all said the same thing - more or less - the ending to my manuscript stinks. I couldn't figure out why until I turned to reality television.

I wrote a ghost story. While I primarily consider it an afterlife adventure, the characters grapple with faith, belief, and what happens after you die.

I ended on a noncommittal tone. I didn't want to offend anybody's beliefs, hold myself to one religious interpretation, or come off preachy. I wanted the ending to be universal. Which made it unrelatable and is probably why it left one editor feeling, and I quote, empty and another wishing I had more to say at the end.

Ouch, right?

But true. I need to grow up and commit to a resolution that represents my beliefs and themes as a writer. I can't get tied up in who I'll offend and whether readers will love it/disagree/hate it. In fact, an ending that spurns opinions is better than the ambivalent mess I have now which leaves readers not knowing what to think or what I have to say.

So I'm kicking back, slipping on the big girl pants, and revising this week. Wish me luck.

Try It: Day Without Naysay

"I'm training to climb Everest."
"That amazing! But so extreme - shouldn't you start smaller?"

"I'm going on a diet."
"Haven't you already tried diets? Maybe you should try other lifestyle changes."

"I just quit my job to travel the world."
"Wow, so cool! Aren't you worried about money?"

Naysay Naysay Naysay.

Our brains work overdrive to suss out potential problems and possible solutions. Well intentioned. But annoying. Especially when unsolicited. In all likelihood, our friends have deliberated the issues. Even if they haven't, who says doing so leads to happier outcomes?

More importantly, even mild naysaying unintentionally sets an internal standard of closing yourself off to possibilities because they may be difficult, uncomfortable, or unpopular.

Try this for one day - treat everyone's anecdotes, decisions, and suggestions with positivity. Including your own. Even if the suggestion feels wrong or doesn't feel like "you," short of it being illegal, don't naysay right away.

Telling people what you will/won't do or what you like/dislike helps others learn about your preferences, but for one day, put aside your initial reaction to see if your mind changes.

Guess what...internal naysaying counts, too. Cut it out.

Wannabe published writers are awesome at suppressing the naysay.

What? There are only a dozen publishing slots in my genre available to the gajillion writers vying for publication? Pblblblblbt. Bring it.

You'd be surprised at how often you react with warning advice or gentle reprimand, but whenever I actively curb the tendency, the people around me become more forthcoming with sharing their goals and dreams and in turn, become more positive about pursuing them. Which is always the first step to success.

Watch It: The Lost Boys

My husband wanted to upgrade our seven year old television to a flat panel HDTV. This required a TiVo upgrade. Then a DVD player upgrade. The second upgrade turned out to "require" a Playstation 3 which has a Blu-Ray disk player. See how sneaky the husband is?

TV = TV + Playstation 3

Anyhoo, since I figured I should get something out of this scam, too, I perused the Blu-Ray panel at the local entertainment store and viola - I stumbled across The Lost Boys. The vampire-comedy probably accounts for 25% of my third grade movie watching. No exaggeration. I watched it once a week, minimum - in betamax. Even though a decade has passed since my last viewing, I can still recite the lines from beginning to end with the characters.

Before Twilight and before Buffy the Vampire Slayer, there was The Lost Boys. Well, and Dracula and a whole cast of others but I digress. You can credit The Lost Boys for the term "vamp out" which has gone to be used in popular culture.

Combine creepy vampire mythology + Whedonesque one-liners + 80's wunderkids The Coreys + Santa Cruz Boardwalk (local shoutout!) + sexy soundtrack = The Lost Boys.

If you're new to the movie, if you've gone your whole live without ever knowing The Frog Brothers, if you haven't seen Kiefer in 80's glam, then here you go. You're welcome.

BTW - in rewatching the movie I found it completely inappropriate for a third grader given the implied sex and graphic violence. But apparently I got by just fine.

Eat It: Torikawa

Do you love fried chicken but find yourself thinking:

1. This would be better if it the taste wasn't diluted from all this stupid chicken meat,
2. The sensation of snapping animal sinew is gross, or
3. Is that blood??

Well do I have the solution for you! Torikawa. Deep fried chicken skin. One of the many goodies found in Japanese Izakaya* cuisine.

Izakaya joints serve up two things: alcohol and accompanying snacks. Only the Japanese don't screw around with peanuts. They fry things. And put them on sticks. Genius. You get to have carnival food while avoiding kids on the verge of puking from mixing junk food with centrifugal force.

Nowadays you don't need to fly to Tokyo and barhop to get Izakaya goodness. Izakaya restaurants are popping up in metropolitan areas, and unlike the Japanese variety, each one sells multiple types of Izakaya under one roof instead of forcing you to barhop for variety.

Really awesome torikawa has the crispy snap of potato chips, the salty goodness of...well...salt, and the fatty mouth feel of fried chicken. I'd show you a picture, but when I get a plate of this on the table I don't waste time with a camera. I eat it. Mmmmm.

* Don't confuse Izakaya torikawa with regular old torikawa which is similar to pork rinds and can be found in stores. Unless your torikawa comes at you dripping with oil, it ain't done right.

Watch It : Pre-Summer Movies

The Oscars are over, people. Let's indulge in the stuff we really want to watch. Plenty of big movies are coming our way before the standard blockbuster summer releases.

Wrestlers as Actors

Race to Witch Mountain - I lurved the original two movies from the 1970's. If you ripped apart your lunchbox hoping to find a map to your mother ship then you're with me on this one. Throwing in my boyfriend, The Rock, is genius.

12 Rounds - Hunky John Cena plays a detective whose girlfriend is kidnapped. Not to be confused with the 2006 film The Marine where hunky John Cena plays a marine whose wife is kidnapped.


Bromances

I Love You, Man - Paul Rudd needs a best man and Jason Segel is just the guy. I'm not too thrilled with the movie's premise that Rudd needs to choose between his bro and his woman but Rudd is hot enough that I'm going to get over it.

Fast and Furious - Paul Walker (I typed Rudd the first time through...that's how much I love him) and Vin Deisel back together again!!! Bonus: director Justin Lin (writer/director of Asian cult film Better Luck Tomorrow)

Screen Young Adult (YA)

17 Again - I had you at Zac Efron, right?

Hannah Montana The Movie - I had you at Ha...

Adventureland - I had you at "starring TWILIGHT'S Kristen Stewart!"

Dance Flick - I had myself at dance


Adrenalin Junkies

I don't want to choose between Hugh Jackman/Ryan Reynolds (X-Men Origins: Wolverine), Christian Bale/Sam Worthington (Terminator Salvation), Jason Statham (Crank: High Voltage) or Chris Pine/Eric Bana (Star Trek) so I'm not going to. You'll find me in midnight showings for all of the above.

Wrap Up

As excited as I am for the above movies, something is startlingly clear: the lack of women! Women leads, women directors, woman writers. Yowza. There may be some women producers behind the curtain but I don't want to dig deep to find them. I want our chromosomes out in the open.

Maybe that's why I love the Young Adult genre - female representation is so much stronger. What happens when we turn 18? Why do we disappear?

Read It: Death With Interruptions

"The following day, no one died."

How can you turn down a book that starts like this?

Jose Saramago has a Nobel, and therefore should need no introduction. What I love is his willingness to spruce up literary themes with fantasy elements (or magical realism*) which makes it easier to stomach his aversion to periods and quotation marks.

If you can sludge through page long sentences, Jose immerses you in a country that must deal with a lack of death, but a continuation of age, sickness and injury.

The first half of the novel explores a realistic aftermath of failed enterprises (coroners are relegated to burying pets, health care companies struggle with a growing not-quite-dead population and insurance companies experience actuarial breakdowns), opportunistic capitalism (an underground organization which helps families get rid of their eternal burdens), and the personal and religious responses to immortality. Its impossible not to wonder where you'd land on the reactionary spectrum.

The second half of the novel introduces death herself and the results of her experiment which include an opportunity for her to fall in love with a mortal man. Of the two segments, this was my least favorite since as a pure romance, it fails to deliver true character development and reads more like a fairy tale.

For someone looking to spruce up their bookshelf with seemingly heavy material that actually reads like light beach fare, this is for you!

* Debate exists as to the difference between fantasy and magical realism. Some believe they are identical but hoity-toity literature uses the latter label while giving genre fiction the former. I prefer the distinction that in stories with familiar (vs imagined worlds), you can differentiate the two as to whether the elements are ordered and logical (fantasy) vs chaotic and unexplained (magical realism).

Watch It Vs Read It: The Watchmen

I just got back from a midnight showing of The Watchmen (complete with audience fist-fight!)

I'm not going to belabor The Watchmen's much deserved critical and fan praise. The story is awesome. It shows up on best-of lists all over the place. If you haven't experienced it, you should.

The question you may be asking is - do I drop $ and time on the graphic novel or the movie?

The graphic novel. Hands Down. But if you're a graphic novel newbie and decide to go movie, don't feel guilty because it trumps the written word in several ways:

1. The soundtrack. I don't know what the movie budget was, but half of it must have been music rights. Hendrix' All Along The Watchtower. S&G's The Sound of Silence. Even 99 Luftbaloons. It would difficult to recreate the effect at home.

2. Patrick Wilson as Nite Owl/Dan Dreiberg. He adds an aw-shucks-gee-willakers tone to the character that I picked up on while reading but which Wilson played for way more comic relief and character likeability than I got out of my literary experience.

3. Cleaner storylines. We're talking multiple characters, multiple story arcs, multiple times, an alternate past-day universe, and a secondary comic if you read the graphic novel. Sure, purists love that stuff but if this is your first graphic novel then juggling all those lines could detract from the experience. The movie lightens the load by taking out the secondary comic Tales of the Black Freighter and simplifying backstory.

4. Time. The movie runs a long three hours but it will take you much longer to get through the graphic novel - guaranteed.

5. It's alive. For the same reason it's cool to watch Harry Potter even if you could never love the movie as much as the books - you get to *see* it.

I've also got some shots of the cast/crew panel at Wondercon-2009.
Presenting Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson, Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Jackie Earle Haley and director Zack Snyder.

The Entire Panel

She seems a tad overdressed...

JD Morgan ponders

Try It: Vegan Raw Diet (but just for a week - I'm not insane)

As I've mentioned before, I commit first and regret later but still show up to do whatever I said I'd do. This is what happened when I agreed to a one week vegan raw cleanse with my friends.

I'm not blameless. I'm the one who said, "Hey, you know what would be fun..." when I tried to merge two friends' individual cleansing habits into a group event.

I'm not going to sugar coat how kick-butt workouts and nothing but raw food went down for me. Some people are really into self deprivation. I'm not one of those people. Do you know people who say things like, "Well, if I run a mile today then I can have ice cream"? Those people are lame.

The workouts were ridonculously difficult - as in the sheer burning pain of unused muscles being forced into action actually woke me up in the night. The first couple of workouts also combined my most hated workout elements: the outdoors, stairs/altitude gain, and peer pressure.

The program was time consuming. Wake up. Drink tea. Workout. Shower with detox body brushing and oil applications. Get to work. Eat breakfast. Focus. Eat lunch. Finish Work. Head to dinner with lifestyle speakers. Go home. Collapse from exhaustion. I got no actual writing done during this week and my Tivo cried neglect.

Then, by Wednesday night...something weird happened. Maybe Therese, our cleanse leader, slipped a little something into our dinner because by Thursday I was high on the vegan raw cleanse kool aid.

The boxing workout was awesome and I was energized. I drank beet juice for crying out loud and it was better than a chocolate milkshake. I wouldn't lie about that - it would be blasphemy. I was sleeping through the night (in contrast to my lifelong 4 hour per night insomniac habit) and waking up early without an alarm clock. This high lasted deep into our last meal on Saturday when I finally understood how a group of strangers thrown together in trying circumstances (Real World, Road Rules, Survivor, any reality tv show) want to cling to each other as life long friends.

You'd think that I would stick to a program that made me feel so awesome. But no - it's two weeks later and I've had a jaunt to McDonalds...but I'm making up for it with a quinoa/artichoke dinner...ok, with fried fish sticks. Baby steps, people. Baby steps.

*Addendum: How To Do Your Own Cleanse
1. Work out for an hour first thing - make sure you're gasping for breath
2. After cooling down, try a body brush
3. Shower then moisturize with natural oils
4. Breakfast: eat fruit
5. Lunch: soaked quinoa with mint, pinenuts, tomatoes, etc
6. Dinner: shredded veggies marinated in thai sauce or similar
7. Bonus points for detoxifying tea or herbs
8. Make one day an all juice fast

Contest Winner! (aka: Karma Totally Works)

Thank you to everyone who entered my last line contest - there were some spectacular ones which, of course, only increases my anxiety of my own manuscript's last lines but I'll deal with that later.

I was also been inspired to pick up World War Z by Max Brooks based on its last line and hello - it's a zombie story! Double score.

As I wrote, I had been entering contest after contest on authors' sites and hadn't won a single one - until this week!!! Yes, yes, I finally won a contest, so I consider this karma experiment successful and will likely repeat it regularly - stay tuned!

Now - onto the winner - who was chosen at random -

NORA MACFARLANE!!!

Nora - could you email me at martha@marthaflynn.com so we can arrange for your $20 amazon.com gift certificate?