sunday post

Sunday Post

Hey chickadees,

Here's a round up of stuff from the past couple of weeks. I clearly had a shitty night, though huge thanks to Dina, Jaime, Judy, and my mum for being there and caring last night/today. And to anyone else who doesn't give a rat's ass or thinks I'm whining, well, you know, whatever. I'm tired.

Onto some linkage:


My stuff:

* I wrote about setting limits.

* I announced Bloodlines news and a new cover.

* Adrienne Jones visited as a guest author and talked about making things believable when writing spec fic.

* I did arty stuff at the blog called Safe along with a WIP excerpt. Enjoy 'cause I'm not sure anything else will see the light of day.

* I wrote about Changed, the final River book that will never exist.

Other People's Stuff (literature edition):

* Adrea Cremer wrote about sexist double standards in books, most notably romance.

* Colleen Lindsay's feline friend, Buddy-Cat, needed help with his vet bill. Donations have covered it already but I'm linking because it's wonderful to see the literary community reach out and help someone's fourlegged companion.

* via Heather Petty: Hot Guys Reading Books. This is the only blog we need ever for the rest of time.

* A Pirate by Any Other Name over at The Fictionistas.

* Who Profits From Piracy? from Plagiarism Today. Granted, it's about a filmmaker and not a novelist, but it's something we writers have to deal with as well, hence it in my literary category today.

* Sarah-Jane Lehoux ponders writer's block.

* Lili Saintcrow on not being a speshul snowflake in public.

* Jessica Valenti on what activism work is worth. Again, sticking it under the literature heading 'cause I think it applies to the arts, too. Like somehow we have a great calling and owe it to the world to do stuff free. Well, fuck that.

Other Stuff (non literary):

* A woman in Iran is facing execution (originally by stoning, now likely hanging). Visit this site to see the petition and latest news. The whole situation is just so ugly and makes my stomach hurt.

* What it says about us as a culture when a baby is murdered for acting too much like a girl.

* Tiffany Maxwell's excellent post on abuse in intimate partner relationships, You're So ___.

* For some humour, If Movie Titles Were Honest over at Cracked.

And finally, 'cause we all need it...big cats on catnip.

Sunday Post

Well, I’m settling back into work and am nearly caught up. Redid the schedule (kept it mostly the same, but cleaned everything up), am double checking all edit statuses, and other really boring sounding stuff. I have a whack of email to answer all over the place, and I might tackle that tonight before writing time.

The swirling black hole of depression has been creeping up, mostly because—I believe—I feel so disconnected sometimes. I know three people in town, one of whom is my mother, and it’s kinda hard to get out and “do” stuff outside of the apartment when I don’t actually have any hobbies or things I want to do. I don’t even really dig shopping. Woe is me. But then this time, I didn’t really bother with the CBT...I think sometimes it’s good to be kinda depressed. To leap into the abyss and float for awhile. It’s useful. And I know I have resources available to me to pull myself out again—like CBT and strawberry daiquiris—so it’s a little less scary and feels just a little less permanent.

I will have some book related news to share with you perhaps in a few weeks. Or perhaps not. BUT I’m doing some other writing which is awesome, even if the words suck and there aren’t many of them. Baby steps, bunnies. Baby steps.

Also, today is my grandpa’s birthday. He’s 96 and lives on his own still. I think that’s pretty awesome.

I’ll share a whack of links with you now. Enjoy!

* A collection of the most recent Mundania Press releases.

* Stacia Kane on the mythical death of publishing.

* A writing contest in honour of Louise Cooper.

* Speaking of, the AD was finishing up work on Louise’s book Sacrament of Night so I added it to the coming soon page. And then we both got teary eyed.

* Elaine Corvidae posted the final chapter of her serial Fire in the Void.

* J A Saare on showing humility as writers.

* Sarah-Jane Lehoux in the newspaper! Go SJ! BTW, Ms. Lehoux is visiting the blog tomorrow and there will be interview questions, cat pictures, and ZOMG PRIZES! So drop by tomorrow for more.

* Horror author Owl Goingback isn’t allowed on Facebook without showing proof of his identity because they think his real name (First Nations) is fake. I think Facebook fucking sucks. Here’s the group.

* Of course there have been lots of awesome Lili Saintcrow posts in my absence. I’m still catching up. Most recently, on how we need our alone time as writers. I always worry, though, that I have TOO much alone time and I’m too disconnected. But the people in my head are just so much preferable to real ones...

* via Lili, a post on sick systems (part one, part two, and part three that really spoke to me. The author’s blog might be hard to read because the articles were so popular, she exceeded her bandwidth for images. BUT...highly worth the read.

* Hey, they finally figured out animal cruelty has a correlation with other forms of violence. Trigger warning on the article. I’m just glad this is getting more attention. Finally.

Want some awesome videos? Of course you do.
The Muppets: Stand By Me

Buffy: Woman on a Mission

I know I promised new bunny pics, but I don’t have ‘em. Here’s one, though...he was very interested in the cam. http://twitpic.com/20s39u

I’ll be back tomorrow. Drop a comment, if you so feel inclined, about anything awesome you say/read/said this week!

And it's off to email for me...

Sunday Post

Well, it's been a busy month. I wasn't around for a chunk of it--physically, as in I wasn't home and away from my PC, and mentally/emotionally as in I retreated from everything.

Yesterday I watched Amelie. It would likely surprise no one that it's one of my favourite movies, however it probably would surprise people to know that of all the movie characters that ever were, I probably identify with her the most. Not that I do good deeds for people (eww, no--I'm evil), but her inability to relate to others and build relationships. My social circles consist of people who are friends with each other, and then there's me, off to the side, stuck in her own head and not really a part of things.

Which is probably why I'm okay with uprooting my life and moving in a few months to a place where waitresses stare at me funny when I request a meal that doesn't include meat. I'm going to be a distant hermit no matter where I go.

And you know, I don't really have a point in saying this; it was just on my mind and I've been silent for weeks, so I thought I'd ponder it 'aloud' on the blog. I feel Amelie-ish a lot of the time. Only with less awesome hair and sans the cute, quirky guy to borderline stalk.

Stuff I Did This Week:

* I let everyone know I am not dead yet.

* Did some arty stuff called Wild.

* Facebook has changed their "Become a Fan of" button to "Like." So while initially I kind of ignored my FB page and never really invited anyone (as the number of invites I get to things often drives me batty) because I didn't want to force them to be a "fan" of me...now I'm kinda insulted that more of my friends' list doesn't "like" me. Is it because I'm distant and Amelie-ish? http://www.facebook.com/pages/Skyla-Dawn-Cameron/9912704791

Stuff I Sorta Contributed To:

* Friend J.A. Saare dealt with piracy again--she was quite disheartened when her latest release was uploaded to a pirate site. So of course I jumped on board to play Veronica Mars and help her find this person. 3 hours on the phone later... Well, here's the saga: Part One: Wherein She First Discovered the Piracy, Part Two: Portrait of an E-Pirate, and Part Three: Update.

This story did have a somewhat happy ending, which has gone to show that it IS possible for authors to reach the people illegally uploading their work and, in some cases, nip this problem in the bud. (Of course, a few months ago Jaime also spoke to one Sarah Sandford from Australia--specifically, from the Wangaratta area, I believe--who had requested illegal copies of her work...Sarah assured Jaime she wouldn't do it again, and then just last week tried to steal one of my books. She had no excuses or apologies for ME when I asked about it.)

Stuff I Tangentially Contributed To:

* Well, I acquired and edited the book, so...that's where my contribution begins and ends in this case. But I love the book so much that I want you to purchase it and love it too, so behold Sarah-Jane's fabulous trailer for Thief!

Stuff I In No Way Contributed To But Dig:

* Lili Saintcrow talks about how she's not the enemy in ebook pricing (and how neither is her publisher). Besides the fact that her post is AWESOME and very right, something interesting comes up in the comments that I think about a lot.

Sometimes it seems, as writers, that we can't say anything without readers perceiving us as insulting them. What I don't think people understand is that...you haven't seen an author's inbox. Most people wouldn't BELIEVE some of the stuff "fans" say to writers. I'm a nobody, and I get everything from backhanded compliments to hatemail. Saying "Please don't complain to me about something out of my control" isn't being disrespectful to readers; it's a request for respect and a showing of transparency about the business.

(Tangent: I'm also sympathetic because in my job I *constantly* get yelled at for Shit Out of My Control. And then I explain how and why it's out of my control and *still* get yelled at.)

* In a similar vein, Jaime pondered how to respond to negative reader letters. (My opinion? If it's angry/insulting/provoking, I don't answer it. Sometimes I try, but if an email ticks me off, it gets starred for a later reply and then I tend to forget about it. Moral of the story: expressing your displeasure with a book is fine, but try to be nice if you're writing to an author personally. We are actually people.)

* 50 Things You Can Control Right Now.

* The Writing Style of Twilight. All I can say about this is...TRAITOR TEARS!

* And on the subject of Twilight, Translating the Eclipse Trailer.

* I attended Boobquake.

* via ICAHK, UK Gov't "too busy" to stop a woman from being deported to her death.

* April 20th was Random Act of Kindness Day for friend Rissa Watkins to honour the baby she never had.

* Jim Hines on Authors Behaving Badly. If you missed the whole Rejection Queen saga, Fandom Wank has the detes. Get some popcorn.

And here's a random Amelie fan vid that I found and LOVED. Yes, I watch fanvids and am a total nerd.

link in case the embedding doesn't work

And that pretty much sums up the past few weeks in April. Did you guys read/do/watch anything totally awesome? Leave a link!

Sunday Post

I haven't been jogging since December; I'm asthmatic and can't breathe well in the cold, and I jog at night so I'm paranoid about hitting ice. But I've started up again...and determined that I'm horribly out of shape. If zombies were to invade tomorrow, I wouldn't be able to run from them. This is a sad thing indeed.

And onto the weekly gathering of links to stuff.

* I posted some artsy stuff and wrote about why people should be politer to the minion and people like her.

* I just read this article about "controversial" foods and it should have been called "and yet more reasons why Skyla is happy to be a vegetarian".

* via Elaine Corvidae, it's funny 'cause it's true.

* Lili's wonderful post on not giving up when facing rejection.

* Author Sarah-Jane Lehoux is having a fan art contest to promote her upcoming fantasy novel release. Check it out. (You can also find out what Thief character you are right here.

* A lovely collection of "offensive" zombie Jesus images. I don't see what they're offensive--there's no shame in rising from the dead.

* My favourite thing to be a fan of on Facebook: Intelligent, classy, well-educated women who say "F*ck" a lot.

And some videos...

I think I need to do another Wonderfalls marathon. Here's some Jaye and Eric goodness.

Ninja Cat

That's all my brain can manage today.

Sunday Post

Here's this week's wrap up, kids...wherein I go through my Twitter and Facebook feeds to see what the hell I linked to that was nifty.

* A letter to those writers who, upon rejection, say "You will regret this!" And this is totally true. Even if a book goes on to be a best seller, that doesn't mean the agent (or editor) who rejected it will regret their decision. If you're going to be spending hundreds of hours of your time to represent a book (or thousands of dollars, if you're a publisher), you must love it. Rejecting a book doesn't necessarily mean the book is bad or won't sell elsewhere--it often means that the people just didn't love it enough. But your goal as a writer is to find people who will love your work, and if you put the time and effort into honing your craft--and do your research--eventually you'll find someone who loves it.

* A positive review of River posted at Blogcritics.

* Ten Things Read in Jennifer Love Hewitt's Book That Are Not Hallucinations. Quite possibly the greatest book review ever.

* Alien vs Pooh. (And for the record, there's some Predator in there too.)

* Maternal death and c-sections are on the rise in the US. Which is very scary. And related, an older article I only recently read: a Canadian study suggests home births with midwives are as safe as hospital births.

* No link, but we hired my minion to be official company minion at Mundania Press. Well, okay, so she's the "Executive Assistant." But I still call her the minion. She'll be taking care of all correspondence. I trained her for a few hours Friday, got her email set up, boss made the announcement...and everyone promptly welcomed her by sending a few dozen questions within hours. Poor, poor minion.

* I have a confession to make: I have a weakness for hidden object games. I can't help myself--every so often, I must play them. But I don't like a plain HOG, I like ones with mini-games and logic. Which is why I really enjoyed Natalie Brooks: Mystery at Hillcrest High. Now, this isn't high art. It's a silly game. But it was fun, so I'm rec'ing it.

* A wonderful song: "In Which Buffy Slays Edward".

We've all been having a vampire issue
This one can cause some damage even if he doesn't bite you
But it appears that Bella, once again, needs to be rescued
'Cause Edward Cullen
Gives me the wiggins
So Buffy, can you please just slay him?

Made of WIN.

Sunday Post

So I'm keeping this as a "Sunday Post" even though it's going up on Monday...I wrote most of it yesterday, so it still counts. Yeah.

Skyla News:

* Inbox got up to like 340 again. Cue nervous breakdown. Then the minion came (what--you don't have a minion?) and she took on some of my inbox while I took on the longer, more complicated answers.

Now look!

This makes me ever so happy.

* Also, I put up the shelf (that fell and could have killed me in my sleep) again all by myself. I'm still sleeping on the other side of the bed AWAY from it, though.

* Saturday, I saw New Moon. I'm trying to think of a worse movie, but I can't. Even Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter was better (because it had a) bad kung fu, b) a Mexican wrestler, and c) vampires that killed people rather than sparkled, which all makes it better). The LOLCat version was totally apt and if you read it, you don't need to see that dreadful film ever.

* I got a lovely review for Wolfe from Bitten by Books - Five Tombstones. "Well written with very defined characters, the series is very compelling and captivating, so much so that I find myself somewhat curious about Ms. Cameron’s background and if she’s hiding any secrets about herself." read more

Yes, I'm secretly a werewolf. ;-)

No, you know what it is? Why I could get in River's head so easily? Because even if I'm not secretly a wolf-turned-human, I've always felt like an outsider looking at humanity. River is just that to the extreme.

Some other linkage:

* Michelle on getting good at eating.

* Lili on having a room of one's own, and the will to write. I was an only child, so I did become accustomed to writing in a space by myself, but throughout school as a teen, I did learn to write anywhere. I wrote on my old laptop while I was babysitting, I wrote in class during lessons (probably why I failed nearly everything). The room of my own had to be in my head--it was the only place others couldn't tread. So I would stick on headphones, go into that little room, and write regardless of the distractions around me.

* Kate Harding on Women's Fiction.

* A Happy Meal hasn't decomposed...in a year. Ewwww. This is why I don't eat that kind of crap.

* "Nowhere in the bible did Jesus have a sword fight." (Some more fun from David Thorne.)

* xkcd on "Porn for Women".

* Oh yeah (going through my Twitter feed): I made Jill Kismet fan art last week.

* The Future of Publishing

Finally...I was at a friend's place working on Wednesday and I found (and scanned) an old photo of me 'cause, like, that's just the thing to do--post embarrassing old photos. So here's thirteen year old Skyla...clearly it's the mid-90's. I mean, THE HAT.

Sunday Post

Hey folks. I was on holidays last week--a real, actual vacation away from home. I brought all kinds of work with me to do and only ended up doing a bit of it AND went like two days without checking my email. I'm sure that had people pulling their hair out waiting for me to reply, and I grant you I have a week's worth of work to catch up on, but...this is an important step for me, a workaholic.

Of course, I've been in hermit mode since I got back. I've found new and exciting things to do this weekend, including colour coordinating everything hanging in my closet. And my landlord is bringing a new fridge tomorrow, so I had to hide the meth lab. (KIDDING. If my landlord is reading this, hi, nice to see you, I swear I don't have a meth lab. Just pot plants. And I'm also kidding about that. Probably.)

We went to see Shutter Island, and although I was accidentally spoiled ahead of time for the twist, I thought it was a really well done film and quite enjoyed it. Then we saw Alice in Wonderland, and I adored it--as far as movies-that-aren't-intended-to-be-feminist-but-have-some-great-feminist-messages go, it was a great example.

Since I wasn't online for a week, I'm kinda short on things to link to today because my mum is on dial-up and so I don't bother trying to do much on her computer. But here are a couple of things:

* Lili Saintcrow on not knowing if your writing is good enough to submit. Because I work in slush so I see a whole lot of stuff that I can clearly see wasn't good enough for the author to submit (that's like 80% of what we see), but those writers thought their work was ready. How do you gain the objectivity to tell and keep yourself from being the writing equivalent of the tone-deaf people on American Idol? Well, if you keep working and writing, eventually you'll probably get some objectivity, but you'll likely always have those moments of "OMG, this book sucks." Welcome to being a writer! It never gets easier. Here, have a beer.

* A high school cancels prom over one of the students wanting to bring her girlfriend. You know, I was going to write a long rant here, but I`d likely be preaching the to the choir 'cause I know such awesome people. But FYI: a huge portion of our (meaning N.America, 'cause this happened in the US) population really fucking sucks sometimes.

* A great piece by Jenny the Bloggess over at Good Mom/Bad Mom on being worthy.

* An article from February, but a fantastic philosophy that it sold me on hiring Michelle myself: Eat food. Stuff you like. As much as you want.

* I'm on Formspring. Go ahead and ask me anything anonymously. I'll probably answer.

I can't think of any entertaining videos this week, 'cause again, I didn't see any...so if you have some to share, Tweet me or throw 'em in the comments!

Sunday Post...On Tuesday

There's a pause button on life, right? Something I can press to just let me get caught up? How about "restart level"? That would be handy.

I think I play too many video games.

Last weekend was the slush pile survivor workshop, which I ran with a fellow editor. It was lots of fun and we got great feedback. Of course, that also meant we were busy prepping from mid last week straight until the day of the workshop. Then I got a headache Saturday night, which continued until yesterday (at which point I realized it was coffee withdrawal, and promptly pumped caffeine into my veins), so I spent Sunday in bed reading.

I had 330 emails to deal with Monday morning.

A bunch of them, as I scroll through, are from the same people asking the same questions because I haven't answered yet. I'm totally stuck with how to address this kind of thing. Am I supposed to have an auto-responder saying "I swear I got your email--just give me a few days to get you an answer"? Am I supposed to email everyone I know every time there's life stuff going on/illness/etc to say "If you send me something, I won't get back to you until next week"? Should I add a block to my blog that has a current Skyla update?

I have no answers, beyond "get a secretary" but that's not an option at this point. But stupid February was all sneaky again and ended without me finishing the stuff I had to get done for February. I don't even have the latest CotA chapter ready to go, so that'll likely have to wait until the end of the week. Ugh.

Now. Round up of links.

Publishing/Writing Stuff:

* Adrienne Jones talks about the inspiration behind her novel The Hoax. Mundania is re-releasing it shortly, revised and with a snazzy new cover. I'll tell you when it's available so that you can buy it because Adrienne is awesome.

* Mundania is closed to submissions still. Normally we re-open in March, but there's just too much going on right now and it wouldn't be fair to hold subs for a few months before we have time to evaluate them. This time, we're waiting until June. And yet I'm still getting subs and questions from people about it. Writers, it should go without saying, but: when the info on the submissions page of a publisher's site contradicts sub info from another website, go with what the submissions page says.

* This is not the way to get Random House's attention. At least not GOOD attention.

* Elaine Corvidae's comic Riven Sol is available in print (at least the first chapter). You can also read online free, of course.

* J.A. Saare would like to talk to you about piracy. And so would I. We all know my feelings on the subject, so I'm going to say something else this time.

Many authors feel differently than me and Jaime, and a host of others. Now, although I think writers should have a united front on this, I don't feel it's my place to tell others how to feel about their work being stolen.

Do you get that? It's not my place to tell others how to feel.

Some don't see piracy as a big deal. Maybe they don't have to rely on their writing income for bills (my royalties this month can cover groceries so I'm THRILLED) and they're happy just to be read. Maybe they see no problem with the work being shared around freely and they feel that a reader gained is a reader gained, even if it happens illegally.

Okay. Great. That's valid and fine for them. But that's the beauty of intellectual property rights: the creator can choose how and when the work is reproduced. The creator can say, "Sure--pirate away!" So while I won't tell others how *they* should feel about their work being freely shared, by the same token I'd prefer if they didn't tell Jaime and me how to feel either. You know what? If someone obtains my work via illegal mass downloads, I don't see the simple "oh well, I gained a reader--who cares if they didn't pay for my product?" view. Writing is part of my job. I'm well within my legal--and moral--rights to expect payment for the entertainment I provide. So if someone refuses to obtain my work legally, I don't *want* them as a reader. I don't want them as a fan. I'd rather not be read than have my work pirated. And I have every right to feel that way and express my opinion--without others trying to silence me--as the owner of the intellectual property rights of my work. So for those who would like to tell me and Jaime how to feel about piracy, you can go fuck yourself with a fucking loaf of bread.

Next.

* Ana Winson's new website is live. Ana has been my cover artist for Bloodlines, the award-winning Wolfe, and the re-release of River. Go visit!

Feminist stuff:

* A Nicaragua woman--and mother of a ten year old--is being denied cancer treatment because she's pregnant. And every time I think about it, I get angry and upset, so just go read there and here to learn more.

Random:

* Depression kills. Suicide is not people being "selfish" and every time someone repeats that myth, it further distances people at risk from those they care about. Suicide is what happens when pain exceeds the resources for coping with pain. If you're worried about someone you know being suicidal, give them more resources to cope with pain, or help lessen their pain. Don't tell them they're being "selfish."

* A Twilight fan thinks The Wolfman ripped off Twilight. Yeah, I don't have anything else to say about that.

* The instant "Noooooo!" button for dire situations. You know you want to press it.

* The Count...Censored.

* My Little Pony Musicals. (I couldn't turn it off although it terrified me.)

Sunday Post

I had another week from hell. And it *really* sucks to not be able to explain why--I'm such a loudmouth and it's killing me to only be able to bitch privately. Le sigh.

I gave my mum the book I just wrote (YA paranormal called Abandoned) to read 'cause I was really proud of it (a month later and I DON'T want to burn it). She just finished it and said it made her cry at the end. This is good because my mother never cries with books and occasionally jokes that she has no feelings. So yeah, that's probably the best thing a writer can hear--we love to make people cry. Er, yes, we're a little twisted. So?

I'm spending Valentine's Day with Alistair from Dragon Age. He hasn't bought me chocolate or anything, but I'm sure I can get him to put out one of these days... I've also decided that the only reliable men exist in fiction, so if you have a y chromosome, tread very carefully around me right now...

Here are a few links for you today:

* You want to follow Ann Aguirre on Twitter. She'll give out some Hell Fire ARCs (WANT!) when she hits 2K followers, but more importantly, she's a lovely person who saved my sanity with Dragon Age.

* Slush Pile Survival Workshop - A fellow editor and I are giving this workshop locally in two weeks and it's going to be loads of fun. There are still spots available, so if you're in the Durham Region, sign up!

* Kevin Smith was kicked off of an airplane for being too fat. Kate Harding has more over at Shapely Prose.

* Bitch Magazine posted their explanation of why it's not anti-feminist to use "douche bag" as an insult. And I love it--that's what I've been saying for ages.

* Speaking of douche bags, this NOT just in: John Mayer is one.

* A 12 yr old Saudi girl seeks divorce from her 80 yr old husband. I wish her luck.

* Clients from Hell - Designers post snippets of discussions with some horrible clients. It's funny 'cause it's true.

* Last year on the blog, I wrote about former TV crushes as an excuse to post pictures of hawt men. Once again, fictional boys FTW!

* I'm blonde again. It's easier to keep up than the red. This time it's dark blonde with light streaks (I have no pictures of the light streaks, though). Of course, I'm using a black and white pic 'cause all my fave evil ladies on Twitter have classy b/w pictures.

(look at that--I think I'm classy)

Beaker from The Muppets sings a ballad. Or tries. Beaker is my favourite.

And via friend Heather Petty...more Beaker!

Happy V-Day!

Sunday Post

I gotta get blogging more. I'm just really lazy and typically post links on Twitter to whatever I'm interested in, rather than do a proper blog post. But anyways, I'm going to try to do a round up post on Sundays of nifty, random stuff.

In Skyla News, I was on limited office hours this week due to really bad wrist pain, which flares up if I don't take enough breaks for several weeks. So...ouch. And in writing news, I've been suffering a whiny case of, "Writing is hard--waaaaah!" so I've pretty much kept to myself. I don't understand why staring blankly at the screen doesn't make words appear...

First up, publishing/writing stuff.

* A great piece on writers' expectations and publishing. I love this piece. It addresses the obsession with instant success stories (which I've talked a bit about before) and the whiny "Why do crappy books get published?" thing that everyone says. And it was summed up best by the awesome Julie Butcher: "So if we're hard-heads, we win?" Yep.

* Over at Deadline Dames, Jeaniene Frost talks about piracy. We all know my thoughts on the subject *cough* so I'll just say WORD to everything there.

* Lili's Friday writing post about the fear that characters will stop talking to you if you're happier and don't share their pain. And it's a fantastic post because I've had that fear for years. I'm viewing shitty life experiences now as "taking one for the team"--they've allowed me to go to a very dark place and transform those feelings and experiences into something cathartic for others. In short, I feel like my best books are the ones I write for fellow damaged people. So if I actively work on being happier and healthier, can I still write effectively for the damaged? I don't know. But it's worth a shot.

* I wrote on the MP blog about my author checklist. This is something I've heard a LOT of editors talk about--what type of writers do they want to work with...and who do they REALLY not want around? I came up with nine qualities I've encountered that make me twitchy. I also encourage writers to come up with their checklist for publishers. I think we all have to be clear about what our expectations are for one another to make the best match possible, because really, that's how a book is going to be successful--when both parties are on the same page. I expect someone's going to get bent out of shape over it but, you know, someone's gotta say these things.

* My friend J.A. Saare has a new book out. Go read, buy, and DON'T pirate it or she and I will kick your scummy pirate ass. ;-)

Feministy things.

* A sixteen year old girl was buried alive by her family for talking to boys. I can't even begin to tell you how much this upset me--I think I spent the better part of an hour on Friday just sitting here crying. If you're interested in learning more about honour killings and those fighting against the practice, visit the fine folks at the International Campaign Against Honour Killings. They're good people.

* Follow The Pixel Project on Twitter. Every night they tweet helplines from all over the world to DV shelters. Retweet the numbers and you could save a life.

Video stuff.

This is an oldie, but it's been this weekend's theme song. Defying Gravity, Firefly/Serenity style

And Gone with the Wind with Vampires.

Randomness.

* There's a fan group on Facebook for Mike "Other Asian" Chang on Glee! This makes me happy because he's really adorable. I think he needs a storyline of his own. Or at least a few more lines.

* Finally...here's Selleck Waterfalls Sandwich. Which wins the internet.