Southern Fried Chicas

I’m recovering from a case of food poisoning. My son and daughter and I had some bad broiled Tilapia last night that I bought from Shoppers Food Warehouse–NEVER AGAIN! Twenty minutes after we’d finished eating our stomach’s started burning. Then came the cramping. It was awful. I don’t know what the heck the bug was, but it was vicious.

Writing-wise, I got through two difficult chapters and now I’m on to the next ones. If I ever get these two books done it’ll be a miracle. Ever feel like you’re just treading water in the creative process and you don’t seem to be going anywhere? Well, that’s where I’m at this week.

Below are 12 subjects. Pick whatever tickles your fancy. Ignore the rest. Or introduce your own topic. I’m easy.

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1. PROMOTING YOUR BOOK

Do you do it gleefully or begrudgingly? Do you long for the days when you only had to think about writing a good story? Do you feel added pressure from your publisher to go above and beyond the call of duty? Do you believe the time you’ve spent promoting yourself could’ve been better spent writing your next novel? I ask this because of a recent post by the Mad Editor. Here’s a snippet:

Point one is that many writers are ill-equipped to do this work. Point two is that technology, no matter how useful, cannot replace the support and confidence of having a real flesh and blood team of people out there working on a writer’s behalf–I don’t care how many people follow you on Twitter, if they are not buying your book, it doesn’t help you. Point three is that I’m wondering, as writers are forced to serve themselves more and more without the clear support of the publishing houses who contract with them, when does all publishing start to become some form of self-publishing?

VERY interesting point. What say you?

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2. HEROES IN COLOR

A number of blogs have tackled the diversity issue (or lack thereof) in romantic fiction as of late. Yeah, Houston, we’ve got a serious problem there, one that most people are quite content to ignore.

Anyway, my CP Ros writes for Kimani and she’s penned a number of good books with African American heroes. Her most recent is Meet Me In Paris. So I’d like to hear from those of you who have actually read novels featuring HEROES of color (And I’m not talking about books with titles like The Apache War Bride either). I’m specifically referring to Hispanic, Black and Asian heroes, minorities who’ve been generally ignored and/or deemed “not ready for prime time” by the publishing industry. I also want to add CONTEMPORARY Native American heroes to this list too. Not the offensive “noble savage” stereotypes that have glutted the market in the past. I’m interested in real Native American heroes and not the airbrush fantasy types they’ve shoved down our throats for decades. I can only think of one Asian hero but he was only half Asian. It was Takashi O’Brien, Anne Stuart’s half Japanese/half white hero in Ice Blue. He was a typical Stuart bad boy type with a tortured past, but he still came off very unique and three-dimensional.

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3. OFFENSIVE COVER SILLINESS

And now on a completely different note……

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4. AND ANOTHER THING

I pulled this from the comment’s section over on DA. A reader wrote:

Mad props for Suz Brockmann here her world is always populated by the crazy quilt of all the different people that make up America. And she did it back when she was writing categories too. You take it for granted when you read her it;s just in contrast to other authors that you realize her world is so richly diverse.

Mad props indeed, but how many authors of color have tried to do this very same thing and have been met with brick walls, slammed doors, requests to lighten or darken their characters or been involved in lawsuits that end with both parties agreeing not to discuss the details publicly? Nothing against Suz, but she’s the exception, not the rule. A huge majority of minority authors don’t have and maybe never will have a green light to write a “crazy quilt of all the different people that make up America.” That’s just the way it is.

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5. WHEN TO SAY WHEN?

The Rejecter was recently asked:

How many rejections received would be the equivalent of a universal hell ?

Now that’s a good question. How many of these horrible letters have you received in the past before you cried “Uncle” and put that puppy under your bed for good? Does it vary per manuscript or do you have a set number? For me, it depends on how I’m feeling about the project. If I don’t have warm fuzzies going into it, then I’m liable to roll over with it. But if I’m still madly in love by the fifth rejection, then I’ll stick it out until I’ve exhausted all means.

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6. SWINE FLU VACCINE

I’ve been hearing some really scary and confusing stories about this thing. Side-effects ranging from mild headaches and fever to Guillain-Barre syndrome. Mine is a unique case because my son is a chronic asthmatic, so he’s in a high risk group. My husband is totally against my son getting this vaccine, and I’m not too keen on it either, but I’m still worried. I mean, I have to weigh which is worse. The flu itself, or the possible side effects of the vaccine. Rocks and hard places abound.

Have any of you gotten the shot or had the shot administered to your children or loved ones?

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7. PET PEEVES

1. People who drive 30 mph in the fast lane.
2. Promise-breakers. Here’s a suggestion. Don’t promise if you can’t deliver.
3. People who leave stuff out when they’re in the kitchen. Like Pop Tarts boxes, bags of cookies and loaves of bread, or a dirty paper plate when the trash can is RIGHT THERE.
4. People who leave a mere corner behind in the milk carton or orange juice container, or less than a spoonful in the cereal box.
5. Aggressive drivers

Name some of yours.

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8. NANO WRITERS

According to Galley Cat:

As thousands of writers take the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) challenge in November, one self-publishing outfit is offering writers who successfully complete the literary endurance test a free printed copy of their novel.

If you’re participating in Nano are you interested in something like this? Um …. I think not. I wouldn’t want my first drafts published! All that smelly prose would stink up the joint.

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9. BOOK TRAILER

Cute concept. Wish I’d thought of it. Interesting trailer.

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10. SURELY THEY JEST

The LA Times just reported this and I don’t know whether to laugh or scream:

In an effort to push consumers toward buying more movies, some major film studios are considering a new policy that would block DVDs from being offered for rental until several weeks after going on sale. Under the plan, new DVD releases would be available on a purchase-only basis for a few weeks, after which time companies such as Blockbuster Inc. and Netflix Inc. would be allowed to rent the DVDs to their customers. The move comes as the studios are grappling with sharply declining DVD revenue, which has long propped up the movie business.

Okay, first off, them delaying the rental time is NOT going to compel, coerce or force me to buy a movie I never intended to buy in the first place. I either want to add it to my collection or I don’t. Ninety-eight percent of the DVDs I watch are movies I’d NEVER buy. IOW, they’re in the “one-time” category which means I watch them once, and then forget them. These are the rentals I couldn’t care less about, so if they want to delay giving these films to the likes of Netflix, Redbox and Blockbuster, then so be it. I’ll just wait another couple weeks to see them. No big deal. To me they are just shooting themselves in the foot.

I thought they were being silly when they decided to withhold special features from certain rental DVDs in an effort to prompt consumers to buy instead. That didn’t work because again, if you’re not gonna buy a movie in the first place, why in hades would you waste $15 to $25 just to be able to watch some stupid special features you’re only gonna view once? And could probably find them somewhere on the internet anyway. Do these executive types even think? They obviously don’t understand consumers at all. Speaking of stupid executives, have you heard Hulu plans to start charging in 2010? Yeah, like I’d pay.

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11. BLAST FROM THE PAST

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12. FAIL! FAIL! FAIL!