…old college buddy. Thinking of you today. Happy, happy birthday, wherever you are.
Posted by: Karmela | February 2, 2010
To Isabel Garcia…
Posted in Writing Life | Tags: Miscellaneous
Posted by: Karmela | December 18, 2009
A Tribute to 2009
Oh 2009, you came and went so fast. I can’t believe it’s the end of the year. The freaking DECADE. When tribute bands decide to cover you, what will they call you? There’s the 80s, then the 90s, then…the zero-zeros? Someone come up with a name quick.
And what songs will this Zero-Zero tribute band cover? All I say is they better include these party pleasers:
- Black Eyed Peas — “Let’s Get It Started”
- Nelly — “Hot In Herre”
- Prince — “Black Sweat”
- A. R. Rahman, Sukhvinder Singh, Tanvi Shah & Mahalaxmi Iyer — “Jai Ho”
- LL Cool J — “Headsprung”
- Gnarls Barkley — “Crazy”
- Jay-Z — “99 Problems”
- Usher — “Yeah”
- Outkast — “Sorry Ms. Jackson”
- The White Stripes — “Seven Nation Army”
- Amy Winehouse — “Rehab”
- Eminem — “Lose Yourself”
- 50 Cent — “In Da Club”
- Missy Elliott — “Get Ur Freak On”
- Kelly Clarkson — “Since U Been Gone”
- Kanye West — “Jesus Walks”
- Justin Timberlake — “SexyBack”
- Rihanna — “Umbrella”
- Missy Elliott — “Work It”
- Coldplay — “Living La Vida”
- Kanye West — “Gold Digger”
- Kelis — “Milkshake”
- Britney Spears — “Toxic”
- The Killers — “Mr. Brightside”
- Beyoncé — “Single Ladies”
- Christina Aguilera — “Beautiful”
- Alicia Keys — “Fallin’”
- Madonna — “Music”
- Kings of Leon — “California Waiting”
- Pink — “Get The Party Started”
- Snoop Dogg — “Drop It Like It’s Hot”
- Mary J. Blige — “Family Affair”
- Lady Gaga — “Poker Face”
- Gorillaz — “Feel Good Inc.”
- Ne-Yo — “Closer”
- Paramour — “Ignorance”
- Mariah Carey — “We Belong Together”
- N.E.R.D. — “Lapdance”
- John Legend — “Let’s Get Lifted”
- Twista (feat. Jamie Foxx & Kanye West) — “Slow Jamz“
- R. Kelly — “Ignition”
- Soundmaster T — “Too Much Booty”
- Pittbull — “Calle Ocho (I Know You Want Me)”
Yeah, I’m partial to rap, hip hop and R&B. But I included some rock and pop songs in the mix. A tall order? If I can find a band that can cover both Eminem AND Mariah, I’ll be first in line at the ticket booth.
Posted in Random Musings | Tags: 2009, Music
Posted by: Karmela | November 25, 2009
New Book Review Site
I’ve started a book review site here devoted to all things spy. Come join me.
Posted in Book Review | Tags: Blog, Spyfiction
Posted by: Karmela | November 18, 2009
Am I Done Writing?
I’m having a serious identity crisis lately. No, not about me as a person, but me as a writer. Sage friend Michelle Rowen asked me recently if I’m going to the next RWA convention in Nashville. My IGR (“initial gut reaction”) was, yes! It’ll be good to see old friends again. But the a second later I was like, wait a sec. What business do you have going to a romance writers’ convention? You don’t read romances!
Yep, I’m also having an identity crisis as a reader. I haven’t picked up a book with a romance as the central theme in ages. And while I usually go through cycles, I’m thinking this no-romance reading this might be permanent. To be clear, I enjoy a romantic story, but only as a subplot to a story that involves saving the world. Think The Matrix or Bourne Identity.
So this is the kind of story I want to write too. But I don’t know what the problem is. A lack of time, certainly. And a general overwhelming number of activities that sap my energy/mental capacity.
I have no updates other than to conclude my stream-of-consciousness writing with this: I still want to write. But not right now. Wish I could dance more. And go skiing. That’s what I really want to do.
Posted in Writing Life | Tags: Musings
Posted by: Karmela | October 23, 2009
The Urge. The Itch.
Oh no. I’m itching to write again. Dammit, why? I thought I was cured. I thought the day job had sucked all the life out of me. I thought I was past this illness called “writing.” Why oh why am I suddenly getting the itch to write again? Same story (TPATS) but with a different (nay, better?) beginning.
It’s all Michelle’s fault. Her and that Nanowrimo thing. And my own stupid little exercise of calculating the amount of actual pages (6.7) to complete the 50K requirement. Turns out I’m not a disciplined writer at all — I write when I feel like it, then abandon my stories when I think they’re no good. Sheesh. And to think I’d hoped to one day quit the day job and write full-time. ***smacks head*** What was I thinking?
Well, maybe I wasn’t THINKING. Maybe I was feeling. Feeling this stupid feeling that I. Must. Write. And now this feeling the urge. The itch. Crap. Maybe the old gray matter is still functioning after all. Maybe not all the creativity has been crushed out of my soul.
The Plan: Tentatively do some prewriting. Then come Nano time…well, we’ll see.
Posted in Writing Life | Tags: Nanowrimo, Writing Update
Posted by: Karmela | October 22, 2009
TV and More TV
Can’t seem to stop watching TV lately. It’s a product of the day job squeezing my brains like a cheerleader squeezing water from a wet sponge during a fundraising car wash. Where did that imagery come from? Obviously from GLEE, my second favorite show on TV. So campy and happy. And 90s-centric. I can’t get over all the groovin to songs from my college years. “You said neato, check your libido,” and “I wanna sex you up!” SYTYCD has finally culled its Top 20 dancers (early faves: Russell the Krumper and that cute black girl with the short hair and big eyes. Oh, and Bianca the Tapper), and both Supernatural and Mad Men and ramping up the tension.
And people say nothing’s on TV. Tomorrow: Project Runway.
Posted in TV | Tags: Glee, Mad Men, Project Runway, Supernatural, SYTYCD
Posted by: Karmela | October 21, 2009
What does it take to crush Karmela’s spirit?
In a word: myjob. Okay, technically two words, but it’s what’s making me want to slit my wrists. November is looming and I can’t believe it. Haven’t blogged here since August. To sum up:
- Work is crushing my soul.
- I need a new job.
- I still can’t get my Tweets to sync with my Facebook updates; AND…
- I’m not writing.
Michelle reminded all her blog readers today that Nanowrimo is approaching. I’ve never done Nanowrimo before, possibly because I never believed that type of writing produced anything positive. For me, I always thought it would be a huge waste of time because I would have to take 99.99% of the material and throw it out. So what’s the point, right?
Since I haven’t been writing anyway, maybe I’ll go ahead and do it this year. The goal, as I understand it, is not impossible: 50K words in 30 days. Roughly 6.67 pages a day, seven days a week. The rule is simple: vomit out the words. No editing, no rewriting, no going back over your work, not even to proofread. But to be successful, according to Michelle (aka Obi Wan), one must have a story that’s fully plotted and fleshed out. In other words, prewrite the hell out of it. Develop the characters plot out the plot.
Still mulling it through. Work is killing me. I need to concentrate in looking for a new job. And I need to tend to the children too. Perhaps I shall take a mental health day tomorrow.
Posted in Writing Life
Posted by: Karmela | September 9, 2009
Sorry, we’re just not compatible.
Dammit. I actually carved out time tonight to write, and what happens? Compatibility problems. I had accidentally “upsaved” TPATS as a .docx, and now I can’t open it in my stupid laptop. I tried installing conversion software from Microsoft, but they want me to use Internet Explorer to download the program. Typical of totalitarian Microsoft.
So I’m stuck. Crapola. Til tomorrow. I need to print out TPATS anyway. Been awhile since I’ve worked on it.
Posted in Writing Life | Tags: MS Word, TPATS
Posted by: Karmela | August 24, 2009
Support Group
WANTED: Members for a special support group. Must be a woman with elementary-aged children with full-time job outside the house. Most importantly, she must be an aspiring novelist but is struggling to write amidst demands of said children and full-time job. Children must be under ten years old and be whiny, full of energy and fighting all the time. Full-time job must have hateful commute (more than twenty minutes long each way, but shorter is fine too), require the presence of a solid eight hours straight in the workplace, and must be either physically or mentally taxing, preferably both. Meetings will take place via Yahoo Group after children are asleep but before household chores are done. Support group may also double as critique group, but only if absolutely no expectations of page counts are placed upon members. Copious amounts of alcoholic imbibement encouraged.
You guys know of anyone who fits the bill? Send em to me, please.
Posted in Writing Life | Tags: Support Group
Posted by: Karmela | August 19, 2009
Ode to ebooks
For many writers, seeing their books grace the shelves of the local Barnes & Noble is like a crack high. I must admit that after having experienced this phenomenon myself (at my local Border’s), the rush is right up there with wedding/birth-of-first-child/first-apartment euphoria. Which is why there are still tons of writers out there resistant to the idea of epublishing.
As a reader, I’ve been a longtime advocate of ebooks. There’s just no better way to tote books around. I can bring 18 books with me, mark them up, read them in low light (in the case of eBookwise), and buy books and magazines at whim (in the case of the Kindle).
But authors for the most part hate ebooks. You can’t autograph it, you can’t hold it in your hand, you can’t go to your local bookstore and gaze admiringly at your work. And the majority of readers don’t like them too. eBook haters I’ve talked to say they just prefer the tactile experience of turning a page and marking them up. Plus the industry hasn’t helped the case of the ebook much with their inability to come up with a uniform standard, their weird pricing strategy (Really? eBooks priced the same as print books?) and their awkward ebook readers.
Fortunately for the ebook, time marches on and so do the inevitable advances in technology. Thanks to the release of more sophisticated readers that also fulfill a book buyer’s instant gratification demands (i.e., the Kindle), and to new epublishers like Quartet Press who have merged business savvy with good editorial, ebooks will and continue to move forward. I’m predicting that when my kids go to college, instead of lugging around heavy textbooks, they’ll all be equipped with ereaders which will simply and instantaneously download all their textbooks and supplemental handouts into their electronic devices, whatever they may be.
Why am I waxing rhapsodic about ebooks again? Because after an unsuccessful first foray into the epublishing world as a writer, I am seriously thinking about dipping my toe in those ewaters again. Exciting things are happening in the epubbed world, and thanks to advances in technology, the advent of massively cool ebook readers (not to mention the persistant rumor that Apple will be releasing an iPodish ebook reader), the entrance into the industry by business savvy folks, and the embrace of the format by traditional publishers, things are different (i.e., better) now than when I entered the biz back in 2005. Yikes! 2005! Four long years ago.
Posted in Random Musings | Tags: ebooks, ebookwise, Kindle, Quartet Press
