Marissa Turner

Day Three of rain at Fort Stewart, I feel like I should start building an ark.  I’m loving the rain, it makes everything smell fresh and clean.  I don’t love the rain for the humidity and bug eggs hatching. 

The gray and gloomy clouds have perked me up.  Winter weather, and stormy weather, make me happy.  I laugh more, smile more, and just love it, where as the intense heat of summer, with the bright sunlight and cloudless skies have me running indoors and refusing to leave my bedroom.

Thunder Butt the Wonder Dog, however, doesn’t like the rain.  She doesn’t like the heat either.  She doesn’t like winter.  She’s a fall sort of dog, so she’s really cranky living in Georgia like we do.

She can suck it up and deal, as my writing has gotten a swift kick in the proverbial ass since it started raining.  Which is great, since I’ve had an idea for short story cooking away on the back burner, but I just couldn’t find the drive to sit down and write it out.  Professional writers have my undying respect in that they sit down and make their word count, whether they’re in the mood for it or not.  Hopefully, some day in the not too distant future, I too will be having to sit down and make word count

I’m looking for silver linings here people, I’m taking them any way I can get them.

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Got a new book yesterday.  It’s just over 300 pages. 

It took a good chunk of a year to get written, edited, polished up, cover art made, a final approval, and then published and put in my grubby little hands.

And I read the whole thing in less than 24 hours.

I’m not sure if that makes the author feel good or not.  I know how I’d feel about it (sleep dep makes you stronger, read it again!).

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It’s Friday, which means my brain is mush and I’ve got nothing really ‘entertaining’ to give you today.  I’ve got too much that needs done, and it’s all sitting on my head like an anvil, I’m just waiting for it to squish me.

So, here’s some links.

Apparently, anyone can get published these days.  Except me and a handful of starving authors I know.  If you’ve written a kick-ass fantasy novel, and you’re getting rejected left and right, maybe you should write about models, I bet the agents/pubs will be beating down your door.  (It makes me happy to know that I’m not the only one going ‘WTF?!’ about the magical models.)

His Schwartz is as big a Schwartz as any man could want.  I have no idea what this book is about, but I will tell you this: I won’t read it.  I’m not knocking the author, or the agent, and while I’m sure the cover artist thought they were doing a great job… it didn’t exactly work.  They say that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, and I’m doing exactly that, but I can’t help myself.

Not only does alpaca make oh-so-touchable yarn, but it’s helping in the Gulf too!  This makes me feel all tingly inside, and gives me hope.  I’m more likely to believe everyone is an asshole, but it’s nice to be shown that I’m not always right in that opinion.

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It’s like “the lady doth protest too much”, but with a man! I’ve always believed that protesting too strongly over something, usually meant you were guilty of it.  (I also think that accusing others of doing something you deem ‘wrong’ and ‘evil’ means you’re suffering guilt from doing it yourself) After getting caught with his pants down, George says he was only spending time with the escort to try and save his soul. 

I didn’t know soul saving came with nude massages- I got jipped the last time someone tried to save my soul!

Authors who were rejected who are now household names: from Anne Frank to Margaret Mitchell (Gone with the Wind), all of them were rejected due to being ‘unsellable’.  I wonder if those who rejected them kicked themselves later?

And, for those who like happy little things to hang on the wall, I give you Curly Girl Design. 

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This song is all kinds of awesome.

Rachel Vincent asked on her blog today about the things we, as readers, are able to forgive in a character, if we hold adult and YA characters to different standards.  And what we’re willing to forgive in people.

I’m very cut and dried… and not cut at all.  I can forgive justifiable murder, both in reality and fiction.  I cannot forgive cheating.  I can accept lying to someone for their own good.  I cannot forgive someone lying to me, even if was to make me feel better.  I can’t condone a man hitting a woman.  If I hit a man, I fully expect for him to hit me back because I threw the first punch. 

I expect characters in a YA book to act like they’re in a YA book.  I expect adults to be adults, and not brainless props for appearance sake.

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I’ve been a bit down lately. Not depressed, as I’m over it now, but the whole holiday weekend thing, when I’ve no close family around, is a bit of a pain in the ass. Ninety percent of everything is set up for family or couples. Well, right now, it’s just me and the dog, and last time I checked, they don’t allow dogs in movie theatres, stores, or restaurants.

So, I was pissy. Upset, lonely, and cranky over the whole mess. I’m better now.

So much better that I’m writing. Granted, part of that writing meant I slaughtered 1800 words in my current manuscript, but still, it’s writing. And the remaining words are good. I think they’re good anyway.

And I’ve been going a little nuts with the whole reading thing.  Shelly Laurenston (her Magnus Pack books), Melissa Marr (her free short STOPPING TIME), Carrie Vaughn (VOICES OF DRAGONS), Maggie Stiefvater (SHIVER), and Patricia Briggs (SILVER BORNE) just to name a few. My brain is very happy to be stuffed with books- my body is not happy that all this reading is keeping me up late. Like not going to bed until after 0400 up late. I’m working on getting better.

Now, for writing and studying. I had put off taking my national certification until June, but I’m thinking of pushing that time frame up for next month. Which means I actually have to do the studying instead of skimming the book and hoping I retain what I just read.

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I have a Nook.  I love my Nook, I love it more than some people love their own children.  However, I understand that the Nook doesn’t always give me what I want.  That is not the fault of the Nook- nor is it the fault of the author.  Publishers are the ones who pick when a book is released, and also when an e-book is released (if at all).  It is not because the author is a horrible person.

The new book from Patricia Briggs came out this week, and while I freely admit I love (love, love, LOVE) her books, I do not have a copy of it right now.  I was hoping to get it on the Nook, but an e-book version of Silver Borne isn’t out yet.  No problem, I’ll either way, or break down and buy a hardback version of it.

I seem to be alone in my patience though- I was looking on Barnes & Nobel, and saw that people were leaving bad reviews on her book (and other books I looked up) because an electronic version wasn’t available. 

This is like shooting the Western Union boy when he delievered a telegram you didn’t want.  It won’t get you an e-book faster, and it only drags down the authors ratings on that site (which many of them follow) all because you had a hissy fit. 

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KatieBabs on book covers and being a prude.

I couldn’t have said it better myself, so I’m not going to. 

And I thought BIG SPANKABLE ASSES was a pornographic movie title, not a book.  Learn something new every day.

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No joke, the variety station I listen to (who plays Willy Nelson on up through Justin Timberlake and all the genres inbetween) was leaking Bieber fanatic freak outs all over the inside of my car when I went to the store.  It was bad for my image.  And, to prove that I really have no clue about the latest fads, I have no freaking clue who this guy is.  Should I know who he is?  Or am I one of the lucky few to have missed out on him?

Moving on.

I was reading a J.D. Robb book over the weekend (yes, I know, shocking that I’d read something without vampires or werewolves or magic, isn’t it?), Loyalty in Death, and there was a section that stopped me cold.  Someone was blowing up buildings, which tends to piss off the cop types, and the ever-ready Lt. Eve Dallas had a list of possible targets.  Well, she’s telling EOD (or the cop version of it if they have another name) to go check out said targets, and sends a unit to the Twin Towers to look for a bomb. 

Now, I know the book was written prior to 9/11 and before any of us could fathom that those Towers wouldn’t stand long after we were gone, but it still shocked me to read those words in a book.  Not as bad as the shock of actually seeing the Towers at the end of Fringe’s first season, but shock all the same. 

Would they go back in time, these authors, and change the manuscript so the Towers aren’t mentioned?

On a happier note, Rapunzel is coming in tonight, and while I’ve got all the big chores done, I still need to dust.  And wipe down the table.  And maybe get some writing done

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Few books having me going “oooh, aaah” when I read a review.  Usually it’s “huh, interesting” and then I get it. 

But, this one here had me calling my local library to see if they had it in yet. 

They don’t, sadly.

“After all, I find it a bit disorienting when the author doesn’t use words like ‘shit’ or ‘bastard’, but has no problem with exploding bodies…”  This had me giggling into my coffee this morning- I have to agree.  Not with the disorienting part, but how you expect to see some words in a story with explosions, violence, and mayhem. 

But, I’m the woman who has no problem saying the word “cunt” (and using it when it’s called for) but I cannot stand it when people throw the word “retard” around.  I’ve lectured children and adults when they say something is “retarded”.  I’ve stopped reading authors because of their casual use of the word.

But I’ve got no issues calling someone a “cunt-faced bitch” to their face. 

I’ve got standards, they’re just not what you would expect.

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