This one time… at band camp…

Okay, I never actually went to band camp.
But I was in a band.
No, not that sort of band. A supercool 80’s rock band, circa 1987.
Of course, we had no musical training whatsoever, unless you count forcing my 7-year-old cousin to show me what she’d learned in piano lessons for the previous 2 years. One of [...]

Two Minutes of Your Time–

I decided that the original mock-up trailer I made was a bit too long.  So, I’ve edited to just under the 2:30-minute mark. 
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The Long Long Trailer– Fun with Mock-Up Novel Trailer for The Edge of Memory

So, everybody (and their brother) makes book trailers these days.  Or so it seems.
I’ve greatly enjoyed watching them, but had no plans of making one myself.  After all, I am seeking representation… not published yet.  And I wanted to use the song with the lyrics snippet that inspired me with the idea in the first [...]

In Deep Smit– 09/12/08

I am getting these Deep Smit posts out later and later. Work has just been beyond busy lately, as I’ve been working more than usual to accommodate some of my staff’s schedule requests. But the upside of that is that once I leave here tomorrow, I don’t have to work another overnight shift [...]

Back on the Chain Gang: What’s the Big Idea?

My turn again for the Blog Chain posting!
Today’s topic was started by the lovely Elana Johnson on Mindless Musings. The question before the group is “How do you get your ideas?”
I, for one, am big into “What if?”.
The inspiration for The Edge of Memory started out in a random way. [...]

Everything I Needed To Know About Publishing I Learned From Willy Wonka

Well, that title is a bit misleading… I’m new to writing and publishing and don’t know “everything I need to know” by a long stretch.
The inspiration for this blog post came when a quote from Willy Wonka popped into my head and seemed to fit my quest for publication.
“There’s a hundred billion people in this [...]

This is What Happens When I’m Not Busy With Editing…

Since I first started writing The Edge of Memory in October, I have spent virtually every minute I’m alone in the car working on it in my head. I commute 75 minutes each way. So that’s a lot of time.
But I think I’m really done now with editing, until/unless an agent or editor [...]

A Random Sort of Posting…

I do most of my creative thinking in my car when I’m commuting.  The rest of my life is just packed with too many distractions.
Lately, having plateaued on edits for The Edge of Memory, and patiently waiting for partials to be reviewed, I’ve been spending time thinking about my next novel, which will be more [...]

Every Car Has Its Life-Threatening Defect

So, virtually every car has some sort of glitch.  Our old minivan had a transmission that was prone to crapping out without warning.
And my luck dictates that if a glitch is possible, it is probable.
So, recently I was driving home from work in my dream car.  The weather was fabulous, and, inhibitions removed by lack [...]

John Denver and I Made Up Today…

Remember this?
Today, for the first time in a month, Sunshine on My Shoulders came up on my random mp3 disk.  But today was a gorgeous day.
So John and I are officially back together. 
Wearing my $5, non-prescription sunglasses in the springtime sunshine, letting my eyes caress the hollow of each individual leaf shimmying in the [...]

Brain the Size of a Planet and Still Dumb

Ms. Brain-the-Size-of-a-Planet was one of my ex-boyfriend’s nicknames for me (Douglas Adams fan, natch). There is ample subjective and objective evidence to suggest that I am a smart person. And yet…
I have a lovely mp3 mix that I listen to in my car. A playlist of ~200 songs that I listened [...]

Bite Me, John Denver.

John Denver is messing with me.
Or maybe the Universe is just laughing behind my back.
Let me preface this blog post by saying that I love my car. When my husband asked me what my dream car was last year, I told him an ‘06 Hyundai Sonata. He said, “you’re kidding.” And [...]

Musical Musings

Someone today mentioned great “Dance Movies”, one of which was West Side Story. This reminded me of an inspiration I had for a silly project back in medical school…
A parody of West Side Story, about rival insurance companies. The sweet young couple love each other dearly, but cannot wed as their preexisting conditions [...]

Heartstrings

Music is extremely important to me. All types of music.
I love the melody and the rhythm, but they are mostly a vehicle for me to mainline powerful lyrics.
So, I recently watched “Easter Parade”, being as the season was right for it. And, as always, Fred Astaire sang about how he was “Drum Crazy”.
I’m [...]

Going with the Flow

Today, as I drove to pick up California rolls for dinner, I was rocking out to Nirvana.
I remembered the first time I ever heard Smells Like Teen Spirit. I was in high school, cruising with my sister. She had already mainlined the song after taping it off the radio and knew all the [...]