Busy Busy

Between P90x and proofing the re-release of Repo, I'm a busy little camper. Not complaining. Just don't have much time for blogging. But thought I'd do a fly-by. It's gorgeous and sunny outside. Nice to finally see the sun for a few days.

Must find time to watch Let the Right One In, a Swedish vampire movie, which a work friend brought in for me to watch. I saw Let Me In, the American version of the movie, a few weeks ago and like it a lot. I thought it was about a half hour too long, but it's well done and worth watching. The story is just as much a story of love and friendship as much as being a vampire story, and so has a lot to offer in terms of story line.

I'm a movie lover, and as the amazing Alexandra Sokoloff tries to drill home in her wonderful blog, movies are an excellent way for writers to learn structure, tricks and story. If you haven't checked out her blog and you're a writer, you need to, because you're robbing yourself of some fantastic advice.

Okay, back to work for me.

Stalked

If you have been stalked and are interested in sharing your story on camera, contact Daresha Kyi:

Hello,

Atlas Media Corp, is a leading nonfiction production company known for producing quality shows for popular cable channels, including Discovery Health’s top-rated medical show "Dr. G: Medical Examiner."

We are beginning production on our second season of STALKED, a documentary series for ID: Investigation Discovery about people who have been the victims of stalking. Each half hour episode focuses on one person’s story and is hosted by Dr. Michelle Ward, a psychologist who specializes in clinical neuroscience. Dr. Ward has been the victim of a stalker herself and now devotes her career to the study of criminal behavior. This groundbreaking series premiered this year during National Stalking Awareness Month and through it we hope to raise public awareness about this very important issue.

We are currently looking for brave men and women who have been stalked to help others by talking about their experiences on camera. Although it might be a challenge, please seriously consider doing an interview for the show because we believe a lot of good could come from sharing your story with others, perhaps even preventing them from having to go through what you have endured. Although we don't do "disguised" or silhouette interviews we take great precautions to ensure your safety by changing names, dates, and locations and/or omitting information you don't want shared such as the fact that you might have children.

Please feel free to contact me via phone or email at your earliest convenience to discuss this further. I would be happy to provide additional information or answer any questions you might have. I truly hope we can work together to bring awareness to this worthy cause. Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Daresha Kyi
daresha@gmail.com
323-401-8289

Covered

Isn't she gorgeous? This is the new cover for Repo Chick Blues, which will be re-released with Dare Empire Media Productions. I. LOVE. IT. This cover takes my breath away!

We're looking at a release of July 4rth! So I'll have lots to celebrate!

Woohoo!

Monday I got contract from Dare Empire Media Productions for Dirty Business! I'm SO EXCITED!!!! What's more, contracts with them for the re-releases of Repo Chick Blues (book 1) and Finding Chloe (book 2) are pending.

Very excellent!

Now I need to buckle down and finish Dead for Good so that I can get to work on book 4 of the Leah Ryan series.

Been kicking butt with P90X too. Last night was shoulders and Arms, and tonight is Plyometrics! Yeah! Bring it!

What's Your Motivation?

As writers we tend to pay attention to the way the people around us act and react in various circumstances. We are watchers. Observers. And then we record what we see by using our observations in our stories. We are natural researchers, for that reason.

Do you pay attention to your own motivations? Do you know why you react the way you do in the myriad of circumstances we find ourselves in each and every day? I've learned to pay attention to how I'm feeling at certain times, because I know I'm going to use those feelings and motivations in a book some time.

Are you a people pleaser? Are you a peacemaker? I'm a fixer. I tend to try to find solutions to situations that need fixing. I'm also a pleaser. I like to do things for people to make them happy. However, I'm a person who can easily walk away from somebody if they tick me off. I don't like to waste my time and energy on things that are pointless. While I'm not a confrontational person, I'm not afraid to be firm and call someone on bullshit behavior.

Are you a vengeful person? If somebody cancels having coffee with you are you likely to do the same to them next time around just to even the score, and teach them a lesson? Do you want to punish somebody who has hurt you, even if it's in some small, petty way? Are you a prideful person? Unwilling to admit you're wrong or that you've made a mistake, or that you were just being an asshole that day?

I'm not a vengeful person and I don't have patience for one who is. I'm freakishly easygoing so I'm not easily pissed off. However, I walk away from sulking and pouting. The silent treatment. These are all behaviors designed to regain control by manipulating the other party into feeling ostracised and to force them into stepping back into line. It's a horseshit maneuver that doesn't work on me.

But an honest apology and a confession as to why someone is being a jerk will disarm me. I'm a forgiving person, and I respect honesty.

When you're angry, do you barrel around guns blazing? Or is it a dangerous, slow burn? Silent fury? How do you react to one or the other?

I'm not afraid to admit I'm an asshole, because everyone makes mistakes. So if I'm acting like a tool and I know it, I'll be the first to apologize. Everyone acts like a tool sometimes. It's not a crime. It's worse when you can't admit it and you use a bunch of excuses to cover up the fact that you were really just being a tool. Which in turn makes you look like more of a tool. Am I right?

Your characters are going to act like tools too. What is it that triggers that behavior? How are they acting like a tool? Do they react with anger when they are hurt? Or do they turn inward, walk away and lick their wounds?

How do you react when you're attracted to someone? Do you want to spend more time with them or are you more likely to run away because you're shy? What makes you happy?

Every action results in an action of some sort. Pay attention. Why are you reacting in the way that you do? What are you triggers? What are you characters' triggers?

The Space Around Us

As writers, we perpetually ask "why?" We are insatiably curious, for better for for worse, and sometimes it gets us into trouble. But by Cripes we learn. We learn about ourselves and about other people. We learn about how we move through our space and around and through the space of others.

As I writer I'm more likely to allow someone to roam through my space than not, because I'm curious. I want to experience what it's like to have that person moving through the space I occupy, and how it effects how I continue to occupy the space around me.

This all sounds pretty mystical. But it isn't, really. You know when someone his near you. The feeling in the air changes. The space chages. You know you are sharing space with someone else. I'm a believer that the vibes we put out changes air and space as well. I'm a freakishly intuitive person and I can usually pick up on what someone is feeling pretty quick.

It's in the tone and timbre of their voice. It's in the softness or hardness and pace of their step. If someone is pissed off, I can usually feel it coming off them in ripples and even waves, and I don't even have to be looking at them to know it. I've been known to know what someone is thinking. It happens to me every day. Been like this since I can remember. It's more of a feeling though, than actually hearing words.

I attribute this uncanny intuition to my chaotic childhood. When things are unreliable, you learn to sharpen your intuition as a survival technique, and it has served me well in my life. I still sometimes make bad judgement calls, and it's not because I am not aware of what I'm doing. It's because I'm curious and because I don't always think the way others do.

I'm sensitive to how others feel, and sometimes it has a negative effect on the writing. It gets too much. But it's who I am and I've learned to deal, for the most part.

Some things and people can't be changed. You can try but it's not going to happen. These people I tend to maneuver around instead of moving through their space. People I've tried to help in some way, to no avail. People I've realized want to exploit some part of me for their own gain, while giving nothing back. People who don't really care who you are or where you're going. They are a waste of time and energy, and frankly, a waste of my oxygen, so I don't spend much time sharing it with them.

It takes time to realize that some things and people are a waste of your oxygen, because they will suck the air away from you and leave you gasping. They don't ever change, either, because they really don't care about you. They care about sucking the life force out of you and using it to feed the gaping black hole inside of them.

We've all experienced this. Friends or relatives who are always in some kind of crisis. Being in a relationship with a taker/narcisist who will use you and leave you a husk of your former self trying to claw back to who you are, if you're lucky enough to get out of it. People who are negative all the time.

As writers, it's valuable to have met people like this, and even to have experienced the soul bruising a relationship with them can result in. It's even more valuable when to know to move out of their space, and to stay far enough away that they won't be feeding from you any longer.

Know when to walk away. Know when to stop asking "why" and just accept a lost cause when you see it. Writing is hard enough without spending your energy gasping for breath.

"I Plan to Write a Book Some Day"

I've had people over the years ask me how I write a book from start to finish. Some of them are interested in writing a book some day. That's cool. I say do it. But when I respond with an answer about craft and the elements of a story, and everything that goes into writing a book, their eyes veil over. They don't want to hear it. They don't want to know about how much work actually goes into writing a book.

Look, I love writing. I'm obsessed with craft, thank God, or else I'd never be able to pull writing a book off. I study the hell out of writing. I am single-minded about how to get better. I pour over books and blogs from writers I respect and adore and absorb whatever I can about technique and skill. I devour everything I can about how to write well. About mechanics and character, structure and theme. Everything I can find that will make me a better writer.

It's taken me years. At least a decade to become a decent writer. I can't say that sitting down and winging it won't bring about a fantastic book, but the odds are pretty slim. If you really want to write a good book, you need to learn everything you can about writing.

Writing is skill. Not just an art. You can have talent pouring out of you but if you don't know how to employ technique and skill in your art, your talent will fall flat.

Why not do your art justice and take the time to learn what you need to learn in order to make your talent shine? A writer does him/herself a terrible disservice if they don't.