In Which I Read A Book Set Locally

So if you're paying attention you can see I'm reading a new book. I finished the Laini Taylor book, which was quite good (and it had excellent illustrations!).

Lips Touch Three Times was a book I won from the wonderful Stephanie Perkins, which is awesome because I probably wouldn't have read it otherwise. Although I do have a goal of reading more YA.

Now I'm onto Alan DeNiro's Total Oblivion, More or Less. Mr. DeNiro is the husband of one of Twin's coworkers, and we hit up his release party/book signing a few weeks ago. Total Oblivion is set locally in St. Paul (for the beginning of the book anyway), which is both awesome and not so awesome.

Why you ask? Well I will tell you, since otherwise this would be a pretty crappy blog.

When I read a book that's set in a real place, and not just any real place like St Louis or somewhere, but a real place I'm familiar with, (IE, St Paul) I get excited. Maybe they'll write about somewhere I've been! I think in giddy preparation. Kind of like when you see someone you know on TV. I know them, you think, and therefore it offers your own existence a brief bit of importance. Or something.

So I start to read the book and one of two things are bound to happen - they write about somewhere I've been, or they don't. Both of these are bad (for me, anyway) for their own reasons.

The second one is obvious in that I'm sad if the book is set locally but I'm unfamiliar with the area. My original excitement was misplaced.

But the first option, well that's disappointing in a whole new way. If the book is set somewhere I HAVE been, then I spend so much time trying to align the description of the setting with the way I know and understand the place that it takes me out of the book and traps me firmly in my own mind.

If the book is set in a real place, but one I haven't been to, I can just make up the setting in my mind. This is something I find I can't do if I've actually been to the real location.

But all of this is just me, of course. I also have problems with historical fiction or other books where real people are intertwined in a fictional story (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay come to mind). I can't stand not knowing where the fiction starts and where it ends.

So with all of this said, this is one of the reasons all my fiction takes place in fabricated locations and cities. Of course, I write fantasy so that makes sense, but just a heads up - you'll probably never find fiction from me that's set down the street at a restaurant you frequent.

A Few Days Into 2010 And No Zombie Apocalypse Yet

Which is good, because I don't have a shotgun handy, though we do have a crowbar.
However if there's anything I've learned from Left 4 Dead 2 it's that the best melee weapons in a zombie apocalypse are katanas, machetes or fire axes.

Take that Zomb!

Anyway, with the new year comes new resolutions. I never take them too seriously and I can't remember the last time I actually stuck to one or accomplished what I set out to do for the year, though I'm sure there's been a few. But this year is different - I can feel it deep in my zombie hating bones.

2010 Resolutions:

1. Start a Blog
2. Finish novel
3. Eat healthier
4. Lose weight
5. Submit a query

1. - This has been accomplished, as you can see. I'm already ahead of the game for, like, the first time ever. Boosh!

2. - I make this resolution every year. But this year is different because in all other years I was working on another project. The current WIP, Foxfire, is pretty shiny and new, since I started it for NaNo. As it is, I'm still excited about it and pretty close to the fun end stuff.

3. - No brainer. This is something Myself, Twin and my brother (who lives in the basement) do on and off throughout the year before something causes us to fall off the wagon (typically laziness, or some sort of vacation or holiday and the aforementioned love of food)

4. - See #3. For some reason winter is the best season for me to lose weight. I don't know why I'm so backwards.

5. - This one, of course, relies on the success of #2. Also it depends on the speed of my beta readers and how much editing Foxfire needs. Though I don't expect it to need much, thanks, in part, to a sloppily constructed outline that kept me on task for NaNo. On the plus side, I've already written a query for Foxfire due to a writing group exercise. It may need one more tweak, but as it stands I'm very pleased with it. Let's hope the agents will be as well.

So, anyone have any resolutions (serious ones, or not) they want to share?

Some Fun Contests

There's still time to get in on these fun contests for the new year - so pop on over to check them out!

Karen's Contest over at I'm Always Write blog
And Sharon's Contest over at Book Dreaming blog

A New Year, A New Blog

Well here we are at the beginning of 2010 and I suppose there are a lot of new little blogs popping up. Just like this one! But this one is important. You know why? Because I said so.

Mine will have stuff about writing. Mostly (I hope anyway). There will be sentences ending in prepositions, sentence fragments, random Letter capitalization and other rule breakage. Mostly because it’s a blog and who’s counting, right? But also mostly because I’m lazy.

There will also probably be talk about foodstuff. Because I like food.

And my frenchie Yvie has already expressed interest in being an occasional guest blogger because I love dogs, but more importantly I love MY dogs and do whatever they want me to do.

And yes there may be some other guest bloggers, as well as an occasional contest and tons of nerdy and geeky references (because these are all things I like on other blogs).

So here we go, once more into the breach. I will try my hardest to update a few times a week.

I've done my research and noted that first blog posts are always short and sweet so I think this about covers it. I would just like to throw a few shout-outs to some people/blogs:

The first is my writing buddy Teebore who is one of the main contributors of the Gentlemen Of Leisure Blog. This is an awesome blog that centers around TV and comics. Fun times!

Second is Kristy Sweetland over at Stark Raving Zen blog – for all of your Zen needs (complete with awesome photography and awesome dogs), who was nice enough to urge me via facebook to get a blog up and running.

The third is Sharon Mayhew over at Random Thoughts blog who was also nice enough to send a complete stranger (moi) an email stating that she thought their bio was funny and that said stranger should start a blog.

And last is my Twin sister (who I plan on referring to as “Twin”, at least until she finally caves and makes herself a profile) for being the queen of harping on me to do things that keep her entertained (like writing, or starting a blog). She will be a frequent mention on the blog since I live with her (and therefore, cannot escape the harping).

Happy New Year!