Southern California Writers' Conference

Si, si!  I will be attending the Southern California Writers' Conference!  I'm so excited.  It's going to be held February 17th-20th (Presidents' Day weekend) at Crowne Plaza San Diego.  The registration was my early Christmas present, so I'm bouncing off the walls like a nutter....

More conference info here: http://www.writersconference.com/sd/

A Princess of Mars

Today I finished A Princess of Mars, the first book in the John Carter of Mars series.  For a book written in 1917, it's way ahead of its time.  John Carter, our hero, finds himself on Mars and immediately proceeds to start kicking ass.  He kicks ass left and right throughout the entire book, and when he's done kicking ass, he kicks a little more.  And ends up with the girl -- of course.

The story moved along pretty evenly, but then I realized I only had about fourteen pages left.  I said to myself, "There's no way in hell this is going to be wrapped up that quickly."  I started to worry.  But then sure enough, a whole bunch of shit happens in the last few pages.  Definitely a great action-packed read, and I highly recommend it.  It's written in that flowery Progressive Era language, which takes some getting used to, but I love how 'proper' it is.  It was a nice change from the norm.

I gotta say, I really can't wait to see the movie.  Willem Dafoe (whom I love) is playing one of my favorite characters in the book, Tars Tarkas.  Don't let me down, Disney!

Warm Bodies

                                     

I recently read the book Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion.  I don't really remember how I came across it, but I do remember discovering a hideously Twilight-esque unofficial movie promo picture (and thank God that it's unofficial).  After learning the impending movie was based on a book, I promptly looked up the book, read the premise, and laughed my ass off.

I mean, the idea was just so ridiculous.  A zombie romance.  However, I was intrigued.  Not only because of the unlikely plot, but also because it was written by a man.  A zombie romance written by a man.  What a novel idea!

The general consensus online was that it was bound to be the next Twilight, only with more necrophilia.  People were screaming obscenities about the movie, however...I could not find one negative review anywhere -- ANYWHERE -- about the book.  Everywhere I looked, this novel had outstanding reviews.

So I bought it.

Actually, I bought it six times. One version on iBooks, a Kindle version for my mom, and then four paperbacks because I loved the damn thing so much that I had to share it with my spouse and friends.

While cheesy at times (it's a love story, after all), it was immensely entertaining and well-written.  I love the author's metaphors and analogies.  His writing is very tangible and believable, and he has quickly become one of my favorites.

I've been reading that the movie will involve extensive voice-over work, which makes sense.  The book is written in the first-person present tense, and the internal workings of the main character's mind is much more elaborate than what we'd end up seeing from the outside.  I really can't wait for the movie, but it's not due out 'til August 2012.  In the meantime, I plan to watch a few of the director's other movies to get a feel for his style.

Well, here I am.

Greetings, gentle reader.  Inexplicably, amid the vast abyss of the Intarwebs, you’ve stumbled across my page.  Perhaps you’ll stick around awhile.

Let me first introduce myself as “C”, and for the moment I am neither male, nor female.  I am simply…C.  I will remain luxuriantly anonymous and dancing naked in the cyberstreets until I’ve met my goals.  Speaking of which, my goals are thus:

-       Gracefully exit the military around the year 2021(ish).

-       Become a published author relatively near that same timeframe

-       Earn a reasonable living off my creative works.

-       Maintain or exceed my current lifestyle.

It’s not that I’m against the military or anything.  I have no regrets about joining; it’s been good to me.  But I don’t want to do it for the rest of my life.  I’ll be satisfied with my twenty-year stint.

I’ve already started working on a story, one I’m convinced will make me an extravagant millionaire, so that I may get to live comfortably while my spouse continues slaving away in the workplace.

…Okay, maybe that’s a little unrealistic.

I’d like to have my book ready to go, complete and prepared for submission to agent at least 1.5 or 2 years before my departure from the military.  I’ve done some calculations, and according to my research, I’ll need to write about seventeen words a day for the next eight years if I want to achieve the 50,000-word novel mark.  Seems doable, considering I write a lot more than seventeen words each time I sit down to add a little here and there.  But then again, I don’t do it every day.  I should probably consider making that regular routine.

But yes, my story.  It will be science-fiction in nature, taking place across a long span of time.  I’ve been using a lot of details based on my own personal interests and professional experiences, so there’s definitely some military stuff going on.  I’m also a bit of a science nut, but it’s more of a hobby.

The main character’s name is James.  I haven’t decided yet if I like it, or if I’ll change it.  For the moment the name is serving as a placeholder.

I won’t give away too much just now, but I’m considering dropping hints along my journey.  That’s why I’ve created this blog, so I can share in the learning process and document my frantic scramble to attain my dream.  As you can see, I’m not in too big of a hurry.  I’d like to take my time and learn everything there is to know, start to finish, about the process.  And perhaps, once I’ve become outrageously famous, I can also use this blog in an official capacity to entertain and inform fans.

So, feel free to tag along for the ride.  Maybe we can learn a thing or two together :)