Society, it seems to me, is very hung up on the idea of labels.  Our identities are made up of conglomerations of all of these words: woman, man, straight, gay, black, white, attractive, ugly, skinny, fat.  The fact is that a person is more than the sum of his or her adjectives.  There are wide swaths of personality, elements of spirit and of soul, that can't be neatly summed up into a word or two.  There are no glib descriptions that can pinpoint the "selfness" of another person.

Labels are often self-applied.  We call ourselves by the words that we hope to make fit, and if we can convince ourselves that our labels are correct, then perhaps we can convince someone else, too.  Isn't that the mindset behind affirmations?  "If you believe it, you can be it."  Pop psychology babble is condensed into a feel-good phrase that can be spouted with little effort and less thought.

Labels are dangerous and powerful things.  It's a pity when people use them to hurt one another.  Words can be beautiful, but they can also be hideous.  They can be comforting and soft, or they can be harmful.  Words can bring music into a silent room, or they can turn the sweetest song into a tortured scream.  Words contain all of the good and evil intentions that can be loaded into them, and they apply this intention with sweeping brushes, painting the landscape and everyone in it with the opinions of others.

At what point do we step outside of the labels that other people have given us and start living a life that transcends the boundaries of assigned words?  At what point do we stop caring about the words that other people paste onto us, and begin caring only for the unspeakable and unpronounceable profound truths that really  make up the core of who we are?

I don't know.  I only know that at some point in every person's life, there comes a time when you look into a mirror and say, "I am not a conglomeration of words.  I am a soul in a body and I am here for a very short time."  The time we have is too short to be consumed with concerns about what words other people want to use for us.  We don't have to listen, we don't have to believe, and we don't have to accept.  

I am a writer, but I am more than my words.  I am more than anyone's words could ever express.  And so are you.  That's the beautiful thing about humanity.  No matter how many stories are written, no matter how many movies are filmed, the basic truth about the human soul is that it is indescribable.  As Yoda says in The Empire Strikes Back, "Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter."  

Words, again, and from a source most people given to opinions and labeling will dismiss as trivial, but these words come closer to the truth than almost any others. We are luminous beings.  Our souls are made to shine.

Shine your lights, Crickets.  Don't let anyone else's words put you in the dark.

The wheel of the year is turning.

Once again into the summer 

creeps a hint of autumn's chill,

the promise of red and gold

I was taking a quick stroll of the interwebs during a break from writing and found this picture.  I wanted to post it here, because it's a perfect image of what I described in Nightchild and Sacrifice, when the Kris vampires' eyes turn silver when they're "vamping out".  This is a screen cap that someone took of Rufus Sewell in the movie Dark City.  When I saw this, I was very happy, because I could finally point to an image  and say, "There! That's what they look like!"

Also worth posting because Mr. Sewell is a beautiful man.    Just sayin'.  ;)

Behold the creepifying plot bunny!  http://www.aliencrossing.com/black-eyed-kids/

I need a new author photo, one that's less than a hundred years old.  First, though, I need a new face.

Ugh.  Why can't I be invisible?

I'm still here, Crickets.  You may have thought you'd lost me in the silence, but believe me, the inside of my cranium is anything but still.  The racket from the accumulated voices of dozens of characters talking at once has been the mental equivalent of a jack hammer in the middle of the night - startlingly loud and unbearably distracting.

Welcome to summer, my friends, and to the ongoing heap of things in Real!Life that need to be done.  I'll be flitting to a new hiding hole in early July, and will hopefully set up an actual office where actual writing can happen once the boxes and detritus of the move have been cleared away.   With any luck, my cast of thousands will have agreed among themselves and will have formed an orderly line so that I can write their stories one at a time.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!!

Hoo, that was a good one!  ::wipes eyes::  ANYway....

I wonder if other authors have to contend with this sort of thing.  Am I the only novelist who perpetually lives one banana peel away from pure schizophrenia?  Is this actually some form of borderline personality disorder? It's hard to say.  I do know that my "people" seem extremely real, which has different effects depending on which person we're discussing.  Tobyn is amusing and aggravating and entertaining and frustrating all at once, and it's a miracle that nobody has killed him yet, in the permanently-dead sense.  Saul is comforting and reasonable and a soothing presence in my head.  Marvin was... well, let's just say that I'm glad I finished that story and got him evicted ("Head Hunter" in my Collected Stories, for those playing along at home).  Rick is far more complicated than I expected him to be, and Tsung Li still watches too many movies.  

I'm not crazy, honestly.  It just seems that way sometimes.

For those of you who've read my books or have otherwise become acquainted with my main character, Tobyn Reyes: I've found something, a little blast from the past, that I wanted to share.

Back in the day, when I was living on the campus of Michigan State University in beautiful (haunted) Mayo Hall, I was looking at a magazine and saw this picture of Adam Ant:

For whatever reason, my brain said, "Hmm. He looks like he could be a vampire." (I don't see now why I'd think that, but I did.) I started poking in my cranium, sort of rummaging through the toy box of misplaced people, and found Tobyn. 

On a different page of that same magazine, I saw a picture of Alannah Myles (not this picture, but a different one):

My brain said, "Hmm. They could be twins." Seconds later, Araminah Reyes was born.

As they say, the rest is history...

Fan fiction

So, I've been thinking about this item from the LJ home page:  http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/68332629.html.

As a published author, I thought I should get my thoughts in order on the subject of fan fiction in the unlikely event that someone might want to write some based on my books.

I would be annoyed if other people started making money using my worlds/characters/various types of copyrighted intellectual property.  Dude, I can't even make money with my writing - you think I'm going to be happy if Fanny Fan makes a buck on my work?  No.

That being said, I would be flattered if my work became a subject for fan fiction.  Tobyn from the Clans books would be a perfect fan fic target, if only because he's such a slutty attention whore.

I started in fandom.  One of the first things I tried to write way back in 1978 when I was just a kid was a (truly execrable) Star Wars story (sorry, Darth George), and I was known to turn my hand to some fan fic back in my college days.  It would be the height of hypocrisy if I turned around now and demanded that no fan fic about my characters could be made anyone who had the inclination to do so.

I never made a dime on my fan fic, though.  That, I think, is the dividing line.

(I do think that it's sad to see talented writers not working on their own worlds and characters, but that's a conversation for another day.)

Success!

The Light at the End of the World has been published! It's currently on Amazon.com in both printed and Kindle forms, and it's selling surprisingly well. It may be that with all of the building hysteria over the Mayan calendar and 12/21/12, something with "end of the world" in the title is a natural fit with the cultural zeitgeist. It may be a fluke. Whatever the reason, I'll take it! I am very pleased by the apparent level of sales. Someone is actually reading my work! That's catnip for writers.

I just hope that those unnamed readers are enjoying the book.

I've started working on Catherine's Wheel again, and I'm about four chapters in. It's got a fairly complicated plot, but that makes it fun. Hopefully I'll be able to put it down in words the way it is in my head. I'm always concerned that what I have in my head will always be a hundred times better than what comes out through the keyboard. It's like my visual arts - I can envision the most amazing paintings, but when I'm done, the finished work always has more in common with grade school renderings than with Rembrandt.

Welcome

By the way, hello, Alisa and Kelly Valentine!  You've joined up with the rest of the Crickets who chirp quietly when I post blog entries here.  Welcome!

Ready for sale

Issues abound with getting The Light at the End of the World onto Amazon, but it's available right now for purchase through CreateSpace (ironically enough, a contributing partner with Amazon...ah, bidness...)

The book is here: https://www.createspace.com/3757871

If you read it, I'd love to hear what you think.

Good news, Crickets!

The Light at the End of the World is ready for prime time!  Well, almost, anyway.  It'll be available on Amazon.com as a print-on-demand book via CreateSpace within a week.  It will also be released in the Kindle format.

I'm so glad the editing and such is done, and my Editor/Web Mistress-cum-Goddess has done such a great job with everything that I'm truly humbled by the effort and the talent she's shared.  I hope that you enjoy this latest offering if the book finds its way to your various Cricketdoms.

Wind to thy wings, my friends.  Onward we go.

The Light at the End of the World

The final editing pass is complete on the newest book, The Light at the End of the World.  I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, and I have high hopes for it.  It will be "going live" through my website, Amazon.com and Lulu.com, with print-on-demand services available via CreateSpace.com.

I hope that you enjoy it, Crickets, if you happen to read it.  I usually don't care for my work after I've finished it (writers - we're more insecure than actors, if you can believe that) but this one I still like, and I've read it now four times.  Four!  At this point with all of my other work, I was ready to turn the books and stories (and poems) into kindling.  This one I want to send out into the world with a Bionic Woman lunch box and a kiss on the forehead.

I hope you read it.  I hope you like it.  If you like it, I hope you tell your friends.

Now on to the next one...

Oh, dear.

I have been threatened.

My loving sister/webmistress/editor and all-around good egg just threatened me with a spear-shaking if I don't get to work on Catherine's Wheel.


I am nothing if not obedient.  ;)  Whatzit was sort of stalling, anyway. ;)

Forward, march!

Today I registered the ISBN number for The Light at the End of the World, a/k/a LEW. We're one step closer to releasing this one into the wild. 

As soon as it's live on my site, Lulu, Amazon and wherever else we can get it hosted, like Smashwords and iTunes (yes, iTunes sells books now, too), I'll let everybody know. 

Meanwhile, I've decided to submit all of my titles to CreateSpace so that people can print hard copies on demand. I just need to get my act together and add spines and backs to the covers (calling Spirit_Dust!). Hopefully, before summer you can hold in your hands actual printed book-looking copies of the mess that I write. 


:)


Also, I noticed that there are now 6 Crickets in the room.  Welcome!  

eBook pricing

I've recently (and belatedly) started using my Twitter account to interact with other writers and publishing industry types, and in the course of these interactions, I've seen that the majority of ebooks at Amazon.com (where my ebooks live) are priced at $2.99.  Many, as indicated in this piece in the Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/20/ebooks-cheap-price_n_1160383.html?ref=books), are being offered for only $0.99 as an attempt to inspire more sales through impulse buying.  I've had my ebooks set at a selling price of $10.00 since they first came out.  There have been some sales, but I can't help but wonder if maybe I'm pricing myself out of  business.

It's so difficult to try to operate as an independent author, especially when you're self-publishing.  It's more commonplace these days, so the earlier stigma attached to self publishing is waning (excuse me while I offer a moment of thanks to all good deities).  It's also devilishly hard to drum up any sort of buzz when there is absolutely zero marketing machinery supporting the work.

I'm doing a lot of reading and a lot of research that, quite honestly, I should have done long before now.  At least I'm looking, though, so tardy or not, maybe I can still get points for the effort.  I don't have any answers, and I'm just as lost as I was when I took my first step in this direction.

I will never get rich as an author.  I'm fine with that.  I just would really like to have someone read my words.  As I say in my intro message on my website, a writer is no good without readers.  I'm happy that some people have chosen to take a chance on my books, and I only hope that they've found that the product was worth the investment.

I'm learning.  I'm writing.  I'm still breathing, which means that there's still hope for positive changes and growth.  I'm hoping that as 2012 goes on, I'll gain a little wisdom along the way.

I guess I'm just ruminating.  I really should get to work on that 300-word pitch I need to finish.  (God, but I hate writing pitches.  Anybody out there want to pitch LEW for me?  I'll pay in cookies.)

Happy New Year

Well, Crickets, we made it through another one.  2011 had its share of ups and downs, triumphs and heartaches, and all of the usual good and bad of life.  I hope that each of you have come through to find yourselves in a better state than you were in on 12/31/10.

Happy New Year to all the world. May peace, goodwill and sanity reign supreme for once in 2012.