IRL Fairy Tale.

So, I promised you guys my news! And as promised, here it is:

MY PARENTS GOT ENGAGED!!!!

I know some of you may be scratching your heads and asking, "Katie, how old are you again?" Trust me when I say this has been a long time coming, and I couldn't be happier about it.



Le happy family: My older brother Matt, The happy couple, my mom Tracy and James, and me, with my terrible haircut.

James met my mother about 12 years ago now. When he met her, she was a young mother of two, married to my father, and working show homes as a new realtor. He described it to me as, "I knew she was married, but I just thought she was so cute." He would make excuses to come by her show home to talk to her. He had to come up with some pretty good excuses, as her show home was across the city from where he lived. At the time, my mother was in an unhappy relationship, and she felt she needed to get out. That summer, she brought my brother and I to her hometown in BC to think about what she wanted to do with her life. James and my mom fell out of contact.



After the summer, my mother came back to Calgary and filed a divorce with my father. At the same time, James was thinking of moving, and a friend gave him my mother's card. They got back in contact and over the years that followed they became good friends. I remember being about 9-10, and James would come over and play with me. He'd run around in the backyard or wrestle me to the ground or talk to me. They made a strange pair. James was a high school dropout who worked hardwood floors. He had about 9 piercings in his face, and was covered in tattoos. My mom was a single mother of two children living in suburbia.



5 1/2 years ago, James and my mom started dating. Want to know how I found out? I was in Junior High, sitting in the back seat of my mother's car. James at the time had a DUI (Did I mention he went to prison for 30 days for it? No? James is the bad boy all right.) and couldn't drive. My mother was dropping him off at his house. We pulled up, and before James got out, he leaned over and kissed my mom. My jaw dropped, and I squealed something along the lines of "WTF!" and they explained that they had started dating.




James soon moved into our little house in suburbia. My brother and I were more than accepting. We had known James for years and he'd always been more than respectful to both of us. Unfortunately, James moved in during a difficult time for our family. I was a teenager and my brother was dealing with his own issues. There were a lot of bad times. There were good times too. But through it all he was there. He was more of a dad than my real father. Within two years, he was my dad. He was the one who threatened the boys with a rusty shovel when they came over. He was the one who joked, "I have a shotgun and no one's gonna miss you." He was the one who sat with me when I cried, and came to celebrate my successes. More than that, he was always there for my mom. He respected her, he told her everything, and supported her. He never hesitated to show he loved her, which was way more than my own father ever did.



My mom had never really been lucky in love. Her husband had cheated on her, she didn't get the big wedding or a fancy proposal. In fact, she didn't get any proposal. My father turned to her and said, "Hey, your family's going to be in town next month. Why don't we surprise them with a wedding?" My mother was a lot like me in her younger days, and kept quiet and accepted that her husband would never appreciate her with flowers or surprises, never help her with her kids, and would go out and cheat on her. The divorce was probably the best thing she ever did.



For the last few years, James has been studying to get his high school degree so he can get a better job. The hardwood job was hard on his body, but also hard on his relationship. Working late into the evening left my mother lonely, and he wanted to come home to her. Everyone (note: me) said they should get married. James had never believed in marriage, and never wanted to be one of those "sheep" that lives in suburbia, with a white picket fence and mows his lawn every Saturday. It strikes me as such a YA happy ending. The bad boy and the good girl become friends, deal with their trials and fall in love.



The plan was to wait until after James graduated before they got married. But that would have been another three years. This weekend, while my mother was in California for a real estate conferences, James came to a conclusion. He didn't want to wait. He talked it over with me and my brother. I was ecstatic. He bought the ring, prepared his speech, and I helped him with the details. Like the candles and rose petals and the quotes and the pictures and all that. James's plan was to bring her into her room and just propose. *snort* Boys.



So when James brought my mom home from the airport, he led her up the stairs and brought her into their room. Me, my brother, his girlfriend, and my hetro life partner Kirstie were huddled in the dark living room in silence. ("They home! Quick, everybody play Skyrim!") He got down on one knee, and asked her to marry him.

She said yes!!

James and my mom are the perfect fairy tale. It just goes to show that sometimes true love is right in front of you. That real love is worth the wait.

The best part? I GET TO PLAN A WEDDING!!!

Privacy and Social Media

So I just read this and it got me thinking. Andy Boyle was recently in a Burger King in which he watched a fight between a married couple. He tweeted the play-by-play of the fight, including pictures of the couple, and even a video of the fight. And I don't know what to think of it.

On the one hand, there is an indignant part of my brain that wants to stamp my foot and exclaim, "THAT'S JUST NOT RIGHT." I want to get all huffy and say it's unfair to broadcast their problems across the internet without their consent. And yet, another part of me is completely indifferent to how THEY feel. After all, if they didn't want their fight to be public, they would have discussed their issues in the car or at home. There is no privacy in public anymore.

In the end, I'm so torn by what to feel that I can only feel saddened for the couple, if only for Andy Boyle's last two tweets. Because whether it was broadcast all over the world or kept absolutely private, their marriage is still ending, their love is lost, and these two people have to decide how they want their marriage to proceed.

But it's a perfect example of how our views of privacy are changing. What is "private", really, when we spend our time on social media sites, telling the world about ourselves? Updating our relationship status, something extremely private (especially when break-ups are concerned), or tweeting about our ups and lows? We pour ourselves into these pages, and because it's the internet, we almost feel anonymous. It's hard to fathom that every time we hit send, enter, or open our browser, we are utterly exposed to the world. Anyone with internet access can find what we've written, read it and know us, without ever meeting face-to-face.

And that can be scary. More so, it can be just as frightening when we realize that we have absolutely no CONTROL over what we post on the internet. The second you hit "send" it exists in the internet, even as some small piece of code, whether or not you choose to delete it. People can take what we've posted and spread it in seconds. Your picture could be half-way around the world, on eighteen different websites, and there is virtually no way to undo it. And that's not counting the content about us, that's not posted by us. Unflattering Facebook pictures, incriminating tweets, maybe even downright rude text messages. Our entire lives exist on the electronic devices we carry and the websites we visit.

We are the tech age. In cyberpunk terms, we've become one with the machines.

Which may not be a bad thing. However, if we continue along this trend, and the world grows even more reliant on the internet and our gadgets, our perception of privacy MUST change with it.

There's a great quote from a recent South Park episode that reflects what I mean here. The clip is here, but since it's highly likely that it will get taken down from youtube, I'll also transcribe a bit from it.

In this episode (called Bass to Mouth, btw) a site called Eavesdropper has appeared in South Park, and is posting up gossip about the kids at school.

KYLE: I'm not looking at that.

STAN: Come on, dude, it's pretty funny.

KYLE: It wouldn't be funny if that website posted something about you.

STAN: I wouldn't care.

CRAIG: (reading) Exclusive, Stan Marsh thinks Elise Thompson has a hot butt crack.

STAN: What?

CRAIG: (reading) In an email sent yesterday to Kenny McCormick, Stan Marsh wrote, "Dude, you should have been in PE today, Elise Thompson's butt crack was totally showing." He went on to call her butt crack "Nice" and that the whole experience was "pretty awesome."

STAN: Kenny! (Runs to Kenny's locker) Kenny, what the f**k?

KENNY: (muffled) What?

STAN: How did Eavesdropper get a hold of my email to you?

KENNY: (muffled) I don't know.

STAN: Do you just leave your emails open for everyone to read?

KENNY: (muffled) No.

STAN: That was a PRIVATE email from ME to YOU.

The scene goes on, but I think you get the picture. We have an assumed privacy that I think stems from the social convention of keeping secrets. If we confide in someone face-to-face, show them a picture, tell them about our day, it's expected that the person will not run around town telling everyone they know. Sometimes it's because it's private, sometimes it's just polite, and sometimes it's not our news to tell. And yet with social media sites, those social conventions of confidence are thrown out the window. Because with a click of a button, we tell EVERYONE, and it's become an easy way to stay completely connected and yet emotionally distant from everyone we know.

I wanted to bring up another aspect of how privacy and accessibility have clashed. Emails are considered a semi-private thing, right? Same with DM's, private messages, and the like. But what about queries?

I never thought of queries as something to be kept private. After all, on the AbsoluteWrite forums, people post their queries all the time to be critted. I still don't believe queries should be private for this simple reason: Your query is a business proposal. This is a matter of business, not personal life. Yes, your book is your baby and wah, wah, you're an artist. And you are. But the second you send your query, you're opening yourself to the world, and presenting yourself as finished, polished, and ready to be critiqued by a professional.

Do I have a problem with Sara Megibow's #10queriesin10tweets on Twitter? No. Because the moment those authors hit send, their work is no longer private. More so, Sara makes sure the queries cannot be identified, and does not ridicule, but uses the mistakes some writers have made to help others better their craft. If this is a violation of privacy, it's certainly a much kinder violation than Andy Boyle's public broadcast of a deteriorating marriage.

Our perceptions of privacy will change, inevitably. It probably won't be spoken of. Like most social codes, our ideas of privacy will shift and change without much conscious thought, until one day we look back and realize that what we're doing now would have seemed ridiculous 20 years ago. Perhaps in the future, in 20, 30 or even 50 years, we'll stop hiding behind this false anonymity the internet provides. Maybe our social contracts will shift so much that keeping secrets is nullified, and we speak the truth, no matter how blunt or mean or incriminating.

Maybe that won't be such a bad thing.

Peace,

-Katie

4 Ways To Get The Ideas Flowing

As writers we are often bombarded by ideas for books. Sometimes we have so many shiny WIP ideas we can't get a handle on the book we're writing. And that's great. But sometimes there aren't that many ideas. Sometimes there are NO ideas.

Sometimes it's writer's block. Sometimes there are family or emotional issues that keep you from coming up with anything. And sometimes you're just stuck.

Unfortunately, we can't wait around for inspiration. This doesn't just apply to writing, this applies to coming up with ideas, plotting, creating characters, all that jazz. Sometimes we have the luxury to wait around for another idea, but if you're a professional writer, people may be waiting for your next book. You may be under contract. The world won't wait for you to come up with an idea.

Here's a short list on ways to inspire inspiration. 4 easy ways to kick your butt in gear.

1) Compile a list of the things you want to write. Go through your favorite books and write a list of everything you've always WANTED to write. Have you toyed with the idea of a western romance? Have you had a character lingering in the back of your mind you wanted to try writing? Write it down. Once you have a list, try and match some together. Pair the sci-fi with Chinese culture and add an OCD main character whose petrified of space ships. How many aspects can you weave together? Can you create a story from that?

2) Write from prompts. Tried and true, but it works. You can find prompt generators online, or even just ask the people around you for objects, situations, and locations for story ideas. Go to three separate people, ask one for a location, as one for a profession, ask the last for an object. Taking those three ideas, can you weave a story out of that? For a different approach, you can take word prompts and write short blurbs to timed sessions. Let the words unravel without planning anything out. If the ideas come, run with it.

3) People Watch. This is my favorite, and the easiest. It's best done in public with strangers. Pick someone from the crowd and watch them. Study their clothes, their behavior, the way they talk or stand or walk. Then create a story for them. Create a name, create their family, create a backstory. Figure out why they're there, and be creative. Your character profiles can be mundane, or fantastical. That woman may be a spy from a British Academy waiting on orders from the US division. That man could be meeting with his wife to tell her the results of the chemo treatments. Create them as characters in your mind and build your story from there.

4) Bounce ideas. This one's difficult for me, but every time I do it, I'm always amazed and delighted at the results. Talking to other people, especially writers or heavy readers, is a great way to generate ideas. Even if the other person doesn't give you ideas, sometimes they ask questions that can get you thinking, and lead you to your own epiphany. This is definitely the most fun, as it works wonderfully. Whenever I'm stuck, just a few hours with my beta and there's nothing we can't solve.

Happy Writing,

Looking for a Beta!

Hello bloggers of the world! I come with great news. ZAP is done. Done done. Not done done done, but done done. Which essentially means, ladies and gents, that I'm looking for a beta reader.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE MY NEXT BETA READER?

If you've been hanging around my blog, you probably know that ZAP is a steampunk YA with dragons. My pitch is below:

The art of dragon Breeding is dying, but it's the only life Charlotte's ever known. After her mother's death, Charlotte takes over the family farm, but business is bad--really bad. When Cynthia Ross shows up, claiming to be her aunt, Charlotte thinks all her problems have been solved. Aunt Cyn wants to enter her into the Steel Talon Tournament, where the world's best Breeders pit their dragons against mechanical walkers for a chance for fame, money, and immortality. For Charlotte, winning means more than saving her family farm-- Aunt Cyn has promised to tell her about her mother's shady past, as well as where her father has been hiding for so many years.

As the competition heats up, Charlotte finds herself in a world of political mind games between Draconites-- dragon sympathizers and Breeders-- and the Cogs-- business men and technology enthusiasts. With the help of her sponsor Gaspar Laroche and his mysterious and tantalizing son Vern, Charlotte navigates deadly battlefields and even deadlier social events. When Breeders start dying, all clues point to betrayal by a fellow Breeder. Charlotte isn't sure who she can trust anymore. Certainly not the other Breeders. Certainly not the Cogs. And certainly not the infuriating Vern Laroche.

Sound interesting? Want to get your hands on this baby?

--> The wordcount if 114K. Yes, I know about half of you just winced. I understand it's on the long side, and I hope it won't deter too many of you.

--> My deadline for this is January 15th 2012. If you don't think you can make it by this time, just let me know, and we can figure things out.

--> Are you looking to trade manuscripts? Great, I'd be happy to look at your ms! Just know that my specialty is YA and I have the right to say no if I don't think I can handle the project (Which never happens.)

--> Whatever editing style you prefer is up to you. If, because it's longer, you would rather do an overview, that's fine. I prefer line edits, but whatever you're willing to contribute would be great.

--> Uhhhhh.... as you can probably tell, it has no title. ZAP is a WIP title that stuck. So if you have any title ideas while reading, PLEASE pitch them to me, as I haven't a clue what this beast should be called.

--> If something comes up and you have to back out, just let me know. That's no issue at all. I understand that life gets in the way sometimes, just don't leave me hanging.

Want to help me out? You will be rewarded with (internet) cake and icecream. Just shoot me an email at katiecarson at hotmail dot com.

Peace,

-Katie

Between-Book Blues

Every writer has faced it. That moment when you finish one book before beginning another. For some, the wait period is only a few hours before they begin on a new project. Sometimes it's months before they sit down and write another book.

For me? Well, I usually edit the book during the wait period, which kinda feels like writing, if you squint and turn your head to the side. But after that? It's usually about 1 & 1/2 to 2 months of planning for my next book. In which I write... nothing.

Frightening, really. And it does disrupt my life. When I'm working on a project, I'm constantly thinking about it, tweaking it, working on it in my free time. When I'm between projects, suddenly there is a big, gaping hole where most of my life used to fit.

I spend a lot of time out of the house during these months. I spend a lot of time on twitter, facebook and my email, waiting for SOMETHING to happen to capture my attention for the next few minutes.

Being between projects drives me nuts, and after a few months, if I don't start on something, I usually look something like this:



Some people write short stories. (WHAT? Write something SHORTER than 100K?) Some people read. (Can't complain there.) Some people spend time with family. (What family?) Some even have different projects that they juggle. (You lot are never really BETWEEN projects, are you?)

So I wanna know: how do you handle the between-book blues?

Me? I just go bat-crap crazy.

10 Things Hollywood Has Taught Me

Based only on movies produced by Hollywood, what have I learned about life? Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, but I'm only speaking in general terms for fun.


1) Beautiful People Always Find Love.
--> From Jennifer Aniston to Angelina Jolie, all the beautiful people eventually find love. Usually through quirky or comedic circumstances, or through heartfelt emotional situations, or even high-tension, dangerous situations, the beautiful people prevail. They find love, and it's real, true love that will last an eternity. Or, at the very least, they're a really good lay.

2)The Less-Than Beautiful People Find Love. Probably.
---> You don't have to be beautiful to find love! You just may not have the quirky or romantic situations as some of the beautiful people. Sometimes you're a side character, introduced to The One by a major character. Sometimes you're rejected by the main girl and find love elsewhere. But that doesn't mean you won't find someone who's smokin'! Seth Rogen stole Katherine Hegal's heart in Knocked Up, after all. But even if it's a possibility, you also have a good chance of winding up alone.

3) Anything Is Possible.
---> From explosions to dramatic romantic displays, anything is possible in the world. The laws of physics bend to create the biggest explosions, and the most dramatic displays. And everyone knows the exact right thing to say at the right moment, in whatever way, to pull out the perfect response from you. Also, if shit goes down, you'll probably end up smack in the middle of it.

4) 99% Of The World Is White.
---> Everyone is white, and no one questions it! Even the black people are white! Even the Mexicans speak really good English! The best shit happens in America, too. If there are people from other countries/other nationalities/speak other languages, they tend to be side characters, people who are a part of our lives, like a friend or coworker. They tend to tag along with our plans, except for the odd time they stand up for themselves. At least, usually.

5) Everybody deals with crap.
---> It doesn't matter what nationality, what age, how much you make, whether you're beautiful, single, married, gay, we all have crap to deal with. We all have bad days. No one can escape the general shittiness of the world sometimes, even if sometimes we wonder if beautiful people EVER have issues EVER. But Hollywood has taught us they do. We all do. Except for maybe that blonde barista who keeps screwing up my orders. She seems too bloody perfect.

6) High school is segmented.
---> Popularity is important. The beautiful people are jocks and cheerleaders. Everyone loves them, and hates them. Nerds are bullied and mocked. Everyone has their place, bullying is usually rampant, and everyone knows each other in their grade. Any other high school is experience is just plain odd.

7) EVERYONE is NEATER than me.
---> EVERYONE is neater than me. Houses look quite comfortable. Furniture matches. It's always clean, and if not, someone's usually complaining about it or cleaning it. Most people keep their rooms, offices, and cars clean. If they don't, someone mentions it, or makes an effort to clean it up. There is quite frequently a transformation where the messy person learns to clean up their crap.

8) Everyone is straight.
---> The world is filled with straight people! If the beautiful girl spies a beautiful boy, there is an assumption of his sexuality as straight. It's called into question if he is not attracted to girls, is feminine or sensitive, or is too interested in his appearance. Gay people exist, but they are not usually seen and are separate from the straight world. Going into a gay bar or a gay-friendly section of town is foreign and uncomfortable.

9) You WILL triumph.
---> You are the hero of your own story, and the world CAN'T deny you. If you go for the girl, for the job, to save the world, you WILL WIN. Even if you face shit along the way, if you overcome it, you cannot possibly lose. How could you? Everyone gets a happy ending eventually.

10) If it's good, there will be sequels.
---> If anything is good in life, if anything is worth it to you, if it is so wonderful you never let it go, there will be ripoffs, sequels, and all around crappy people trying to make you feel bad. If you find success in this world, there will be those who try to drag you down to their level. The more success you find, the more sequels there will be, the more people will try and bring you down. But if it's really worth it, then we rise above the crappy sequels, and love the original film despite what anyone says.

Peace,

-Katie

Book Review: Witch Eyes

Braden’s witch eyes give him an enormous power. A mere look causes a kaleidoscopic explosion of emotions, memories, darkness, and magic. But this rare gift is also his biggest curse.

Compelled to learn about his shadowed past and the family he never knew, Braden is drawn to the city of Belle Dam, where he is soon caught between two feuding witch dynasties. Sworn rivals Catherine Lansing and Jason Thorpe will use anything—lies, manipulation, illusion, and even murder—to seize control of Braden’s powers. To stop an ancient evil from destroying the town, Braden must master his gift, even through the shocking discovery that Jason is his father. While his feelings for an enigmatic boy named Trey grow deeper, Braden realizes a terrible truth: Trey is Catherine Lansing’s son . . . and Braden may be destined to kill him.

Witch Eyes by Scott Tracey is up for review today.

I read this book a few weeks ago, but I've been reluctant to put up a review because I wasn't quite sure how to put my thoughts together. Witch Eyes was a quick read, with simple straightforward storytelling and great characters.

Braden, our main character, actually surprised me quite a bit over the course of this book. I was immediately drawn to him because of his voice and attitude. I liked Braden because he felt real to me. Braden wqasn't perfect-- there were times where I felt he was a little passive, which really irritates me in a character. But Braden pulled through, becoming a character I could really like and root for.

Trey was also a great character, and a fabulous love interest. He shows up just at the edges of Braden's