Camp Visits, Lizzy on Sale, and Art, Oh My!

Hi folks!

So some update-y things to share. First and foremost I’m so excited for my first Lizzy Speare and the Cursed Tomb reading/author visit which is coming up this summer at Surprise Lake Camp!

Yup, I’m that excited.

So when the lovely folks at SLC invited me to come up and hang out and read some of Lizzy to the campers I jumped at the chance and figured the least I could do was give them a discount which I then figured, hey, everyone deserves a bit of a sale.

So, the print copy of Lizzy Speare and the Cursed Tomb is officially ON SALE for 10.99 (though right now Amazon’s got it for less than $10! Yipee!)

You can BUY IT HERE.

So if there’s a kid in your life who likes adventure and mythology and plays and bad guys getting hit in the face with tomatoes, you know what to do. (i.e. click above, silly mortals!)

So aside from reading from Lizzy we’re going to do some crafts and have some giveaways and  I’ll sign some books and we’ll all hang out and hopefully everything will go according to plan. I will admit being a wee bit nervous about it. If I don’t return, assume I’ve been devoured by book -loving eleven year olds. There are worse ways to go.

What else?

I just recently learned about Bloomsbury Spark, the new imprint of Bloomsbury that is digital only. I think this is a pretty cool opportunity for new writers (and un-agented writers) to get their work in the hands of an esteemed publisher. They’re accepting submissions (25 to 60K words) in all genres of teen, YA and New Adult.

So writer friends, get writing. Clicky clicky here for more about Bloomsbury.

I chose to toss my hat in and took a break from revising Palimpsest to expand a short story I wrote a year ago about a teenage boy dealing with life after his girlfriend goes missing. Thus far it’s been a lot of fun – er, as fun as a depressing topic like that is. I’ve always liked the initial spark  of creation so the beginning of writing has always been my favorite part. Revising? Not so much. But right now it’s just fun to alternate between what I”m chipping down and what I’m building up.

Also, on top of that I’ve increased my 5 am writing mornings to 6 days a week. Last week was the first one and it was great (10K words in one week!) but I fear exhaustion will overtake me and I”ll be found drooling on my laptop muttering about how to get my hands on one of those Time Turners from Hogwarts.

If I don’t emerge from my writing closet, send unsweetened tea and a kitty.

And finally, ART stuff.

I want to preface this by saying that I am a fan of Amanda Palmer because I love her music and as I came to “know” her via twitter and her blog, I came to agree with many of her sentiments, especially about how losing our CAPACITY TO EMPATHIZE STRIPS US OF OUR HUMANITY

I think it’s something that doesn’t get enough air time hence the capitalizing.

Amanda Palmer recently did a talk at Grub Street’s 2013 “The Muse and the Marketplace. It’s worth a watch. The transcript is here.

Also, before I go on, Eve Bridburg who created Grub Street has really insightful things to say about it here.

So art. Capital A art.

I think the parts of this that really hit home, for me, personally are the aspects about connecting and about the garret. How do you get people into your garret?

How do you put yourself out there?

How do you share?

Granted this is after you’ve mustered up the courage to write something and mustered up the determination to actually do it every single day and then mustered up the courage to not give up and then finally you pulled something out of your hat.

Something from nothing.

Something from you.

And then you hold it up and say “Hey! Everybody look what I did!” and you find yourself surrounded by people who say “Hey! Everybody look what I did!” or “No, look what I did!” and then there you are, in the marketplace that Ms. Palmer talks about, huddling your poor baby to your chest hoping for the best.

So what do you do? To be honest, I don’t know. I know that the best thing you can possibly do is work until your fingers bleed and be honest and be you and work as hard as you can, and then work harder than that and make some sacrifices and some mistakes and then some brilliant mistakes.

Like they say in that baseball movie “If you build it, they will come.”

The best thing about publishing Lizzy was sharing it with other people, especially kids.

Making those connections.

“You ever notice that THIS looks like THIS.”

It’s an amazing, weird, fascinating time for artists. Jump in, kids. The water’s fine.

And super finally, today is a year since my girl’s been gone and B, I miss you like mad. Life in the Bunker just ain’t been the same.