Monster's Ink

I can understand how, if one turns her head to the side and squints, she might see my novel as "fantasy," but...I just had to send this email as a reply to Emlyn at Novel Publicity:

Yes, one question; where are you getting the zombie aspect? My book has nothing to do with zombies. I guess one could joke about Gentiola being a sort of zombie, but really, she's just talented. The survivors are totally healthy people who live in a post-apocalyptic world due to extreme loss of population density, but there are no zombies in my book.

OTOH, this is sort of funny. On the other, I'm a little concerned that she read my synopsis and decided: "Zombies! Oh boy!"

Okay: she confesses to having just skimmed after the first page. So, I still pass the test. I guess that's sort of what I get for not coming up with a name for my humanity-destroying disease aside from "The Plague." Bad Monster! Bad!

On Facebook just now...

Friend who has read my book: *posts picture of her husband playing with adorable baby daughter*
Me: "I love how {baby} looks so happy in all the pictures you post!"
Friend's Husband, with whom I don't think I've ever communicated before: "Alyson, WHY YOU {references something that happens in Charlinder's Walk, and which I will NOT spoil here}?"
Me: *not quite sure what he's on about for first 5 seconds or so*
Me: *oh now I know what happened*
Me: "{Husband's name}, why would you bring up something horrible like that WHEN YOUR BABY DAUGHTER IS CUTE IN A PICTURE?!"
Husband: {whines about tragedy in book}
Me: "{does the mea culpa}"

Now: Cackling inside like evil sadist.

The trailer does not spoil the event, either:

Well, look at that! Christine at GHI says my application is all done and good, and the apartment should be ready for move-in as early as August 8th, the 12th at the latest. I really need to get some boxes and start packing.

I like it when my cousins-once-removed come to visit (and by "visit" I mean it's their house and they need to work on it), but man, they do not make it easy for me to get work done.

The TV is unplugged and banished to the space under a worktable in the vacant master bedroom. (I'm in a weird living sitch at the mo'.) In its place is my lapdesk with a printout of my editor's notes. The King's Speech arrived from Netflix last night and it remains unwatched. I went to bed drunk and preoccupied after 11:30, woke up around 4:30 and didn't get back to sleep until after 6, when I was supposed to wake up at 7. As a result of this alcohol-related sleep deprivation, I spent much of the subway ride to work feeling queasy. Today is going to involve a lot of coffee, as in, possibly more than usual.

That's right, everyone; I've got some revising to do!

What the heck is up with LJ today?

Well, I have finally finished writing the synopses (2nd draft, hopefully this one doesn't suck) in all formats. I have a 1-line, a 1-paragraph, a 1-page, and an expanded version. Now I need to figure out how to write a decent cover letter, but when I do, the synopsis portion is ready.

I don't want to think about how long that took. But now that the synopsis-writing is finished, I'm allowed to buy myself some more booze. :p

My mother bought me a "novel-writing kit" created by the founder of NaNoWriMo and left it in my room this morning. The title is "No Plot? No Problem!"

I find the title obnoxious. I've already completed two novels and have a third in progress. Plots are not in short supply. I have plots coming out the butt.

Once I calmed down a little and looked inside, though: actually, it might be helpful. It's a neat idea, anyway. One of the items is a little booklet of "Onerosity" coupons, in which you promise a chore/obligation/valuable item to someone if you fail to meet your word count goal by a given date. I've been doing that for years now, first with my fanfic and later with my pro fiction. At first I just told a friend she was licensed to kick my ass if I didn't finish a fic (though since we were mostly interacting online, I don't know what she could have done to me as punishment). Later on, while working on Novel 1, I promised not to read the last HP book (or at least not to go online and comment on it) until I reached a certain point in the story. If that hadn't scared me into writing up a storm, I don't know what would have done.

I should have started long ago, but I am finally starting the word-processing on Book 3. There is....quite a great deal of longhand to type at this point. But the good news is that I'm actually quite pleased with what I've scribbled up so far! I don't think it would sound stilted and unnatural if I read it aloud. Go me!

Yesterday I attended the Open Mic at The Writer's Center in Bethesda and read an excerpt from my first novel, Charlinder's Walk. Here I have posted it at my blog: "You're not gonna make it to the Bering Strait!"