Breaking Dawn

Yeah. I've got it. But you'll have to pry it from my cold dead hands....

Just a Little Update: Fangs, Fur, and Fey

So in a feeble attempt to put the world on pause, I made a last minute decision to attend the Fangs, Fur and Fey Mini-Conference that is being held in tandem with Conestoga. The con is in Tulsa, Oklahoma and I know you are all scratching your head asking why. Why! Why! Why!

I'll tell you why...

I like Oklahoma. I have great friends there women who inspire me and encourage me. I have an opportunity to attend a lifechurch.tv campus instead of watching it online. Then their is networking galore! There are at least four key authors, fantastic women who are somewhat new to the scene that I really admire and would love to get the chance to chat with them. I have a ton of question for them about breaking into the industry and building a fan base. Plus, it would be nice to build some more connections with serious writers that don't have avoidance issues. This will be a real test for me...because I tend to sit back and take it all in. This time I am going to have to get my hands dirty.

I do have my pitch pretty much down.

Woohoo.

M.

Is it spring yet?

Hi Everyone. It's been a while since I have posted anything. Just over a month to be exact. Is that a coincidence--I think not. I hate February. It's crappy and gray and cold and lonely. When I haven't been traveling I've been holed up in my apartment reading 2 or 3 books a week. Normally I wouldn't have the time for this, but with the writer's strike there is nothing on TV...well there is not much to do in Ohio on the weekends.

So, you would think I made significant progress on my writing, since I didn't leave mi casa. Wrong again. My progress consisted of printing out two chapters (that I actually had forgotten I had written!) and tweaking a left over scene from draft zero. What is draft zero? Well when I finished the first draft of my novel the beginning and ending didn't align. I had to rewrite several chapters to get everything in sync. Ultimately, what happened was that I ended up with two different beginnings that I had to merge cohesively together to fit the rest of the book. I don't think I like this phase. It's not as creative as the writing part, or the plotting part. It's not as business focused like the marketing and publicity. It's just the painstaking revision part.

So I am in a bookstore, that is pretending to be a campus books store but is really a Barnes and Noble ( I can tell by the branding). I'm in Philly. Last Week it was San Fran. Two weeks before, NY. How can I hate February in Ohio when I spent most of it in other states? I don't know--I just do. The only thing the travel did was make me forget it was February, so that for a few moments, I thought I was just plain old loosing my mind. I couldn't figure out why I was being such a loner. Was it some weird depression? Did I have an anxiety issue? Nope. Just that time of year.

Now that it is March, I don't know if I am going to abandon my reading who-ha. I've still got a ton of books to get through. But I am excited to get back on the writing. I have a pitch set up with an editor in the Fall. I'd like to be ready by then. World Con is coming to Columbus in 2010. I'd like to have a book out by then to sign LOL.

Well see.

Cassie Edwards a Ferret Stealing Thief?

Please, please, please take a look at the following two articles. The first is a NY times article on the latest plagiarism scandal. The second is a first-hand account from one of the victims.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/94543/page/1

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/12/books/12roma.html?ref=arts

I think the whole thing is absolutely stupid. I'm not saying plagiarism doesn't exist, or that it is not unethical. I just think this...is stupid and now we are wasting good time and money thinking about it, talking about it, writing about it and investigating it.

I mean, really? I can't believe people have the time to Google sections of dialogue from a novel. Even more annoying, I feel like plagiarism is the new hot thing. Everyone is quick to cry wolf. Call me when something more important than ferrets is at stake. Really, Paul, you're admitting you wrote this crap? Cassie...you thought it was so good you had to reuse it? And Nora! Heaven forbid this country worry about a recession, health care and basic human needs when we have a case of intellectual ferret theft on the loose. Come on people get real. This said from an actual writer. PS-I'd also like you to know that I am going to Google everything in this post to make certain I did not have the audacity to commit plagiarism while restating common fact and/or opinion.

Strange Cable Service

I'm not sure if this is normal, but every single cable man that has come to my house has tried to hit on me. It has also happened twice at other people's homes. I don't get it. Do they hit on every woman they see? Do they think they can grunt and point and the poor helpless, technology challenged woman will not be able to resist them? Do they actually get dates out of their service calls?

For the record, I usually know more about fixing my cable than they do.