Phenomenal!

OMFG!

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 03:18:50 GMT

I'm fangirly squeeing about something I haven't even seen yet!

Must...fight...the urge...to...fanfic...

Friday Writers Coffee Break

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 13:59:52 GMT

It's up on my community with friend Sharon Ashwood at Capes and Coffins. This week's topic: How has writing affected your reading?
http://community.livejournal.com/capes_coffins/7030.html

And You Can Quote Me...Er, Her

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 15:36:11 GMT

Julie Kenner provided a quote for Phenomenal Girl 5! I'm not sure if it's in time to get on the cover or not, but here it is!

"Phenomenal Girl 5 kept me up late turning pages. Kudos to debut author A.J. Menden for creating a fully realized superhero world with a well-rounded cast of characters complimented by a sharp-witted narrator that you can’t help but want to spend time with."

Also, Dorchester's announced a make-your-own cover contest, where you can dress up as your favorite characters and take a photo to send in for prizes. Anyone out there want to re-enact a Phenomenal Girl 5 cover, well, that would just be all kinds of awesome! More info is here: http://www.dorchesterpub.com/Dorch/SpecialFeatures.cfm?ID=2488

First Person POV Mindset

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:37:29 GMT

I've been posting word count lately only to the f-list because I figured everyone else doesn't want to be bored by it, but too bad. You're going to be bored by it today because it's relevant! LOL. Here is where I am on book 2.

72,900 / 85,000
(85.8%)

Now, here's why I'm boring you with it. I recently did the line edits for PG5. I had to stop in the middle of this - with a different main character - and go back to Lainey. First of all, I was happy how easily I snapped back into "Lainey mode." I guess she's never far away in my brain. And then, when I went back to book 2, I was glad to see that Lainey and Mindy sound different. They're going to sound somewhat similar, they're both coming out of me after all, but I know sometimes in first person POV different characters can sound exactly the same. But they are definitely two different people speaking, and I was glad to see that.

Now when I finish and go through the this-is-crap phase, I may feel differently. But for now, I'm glad it's still working!

Friday Writers Coffee Break

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:49:42 GMT

The Friday Writers Coffee Break is up at its new home over on capes_coffins. Please follow the link to discuss.

http://community.livejournal.com/capes_coffins/5106.html

Topic O' The Week: Health Habits

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:49:09 GMT

This is the topic of the week over at fangs_fur_fey: What do you try to do to stay healthy? Does it affect your writing? What else would you like to start doing to stay healthy?

I just got a Wii Fit this month, and it is fabulous! I do exercise with it every day - good for stress relief and good for toning your body. I also try to eat healthy. Some days are better than others.

What else I want to change is to try to stop mentally stressing out about everything. It interferes with writing and isn't exactly healthy.

Writers Coffee Break Now At Its New Home

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 13:09:47 GMT

Hey all, I talked to Sharon about moving our discussion over to capes_coffins so that we can both come up with topics for it and keep an eye on it. I'll post a link on here so you all can still find it and participate. If you want to be reminded through your friends page, you can watch the community by clicking the little friend button. Don't click join this community because it won't let you, please click watch!

This week's topic is about writing superstitions - what do you need to do/items you need to get inspiration?

http://community.livejournal.com/capes_coffins/3613.html

Computer Issues

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:55:16 GMT

I'm having computer issues, I don't know what's going on and I can't 100 percent track down the source. So until that time, my Internet time is going to be severely limited. So if you don't see me around, that's why. I'm sure I'll talk to you all soon!

Topic O' The Week: Trunk Novels

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 15:02:28 GMT

This week's topic over at FFF is something I'm interested in seeing - trunk novels. How many authors are or have going to go back and try to rework them or attempt publication with them?

I have 5 trunk novels, three of which are an actual series, and I was just wondering about that the other day, if I could ever stand a chance to resurrect them or breathe new life into them, or if I should just consider them learning experiences and never look back. There are elements of all of them I like, and elements of them I dislike. All would need, oh, about 20,000 more words, so nothing's going to go straight back into the hopper without a major overhaul. And therein lies the issue - other than two ideas for more EHJ books I have perculating, I have so many other ideas for other series and types of books cooking in my brain that I'd like to get to work on, I don't know if I want to go back. Perhaps the elements I like will be cannibalized into other books. Right now, I'm thinking I will cross that bridge with my agent when I get to it.

Friday Writers Coffee Break

Fri, 30 May 2008 14:51:13 GMT

Hey all! I'm still getting over my crud - why am I always sick on Fridays? - and getting ready to go see the Sex and the City movie tonight!

Today's question comes from merb101 who recently stumbled across another post dealing with this issue: Should books have ratings or content warnings, much like movies and television shows do?

I honestly don't know how I feel about this. Movies, television shows, CDs, pretty much everything else has a ratings system or a content warning. Books seem like they're probably going to go there eventually. Thinking about it now, I'm kinda surprised they don't all ready since everything else does. But if everyone jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you too?

Comic books used to have the comics code, back when we had the "Comic books are the devil!" scare. I'm not 100 percent sure on how it worked, but I believe the comic book companies had to police themselves to follow a set of guidelines set by an organization. And if they fit the "code" then they were appropriate for all ages. Marvel Comics were the first major company to break with them, and set up their own system - A for anyone, T for teens, T+ for teens and up, and Max for adults-only. So it's like G, PG, PG-13, and R. DC tries to make most of their books available for anyone, and they have a seperate brand, Vertigo, for adult titles. That's how the comics industry does it.

On one hand, I can understand the reason why people might want to have a ratings system in place for books. Just because a book is YA doesn't mean that it every 13-18 year-old is mature enough to read the content in there. In some YA, there's strong language and drug use and sex, in others, nothing like that at all.

And for adults, some romance books have detailed sex scenes, others not at all. And it's hard to tell by the covers - I've read books recently that have half-naked people on the front and absolutely no sex scenes whatsoever inside. I've also read books that have, oh say, sissors on the cover, and have sex scenes every other chapter. So you might want content ratings in this case.

But the censorship-sucks person in me cringes at this. First of all, by whose definition are you going to rate these books? What one person finds inappropriate doesn't bother the next person. And what happens if, say, booksellers decide they're not going to stock books with a content rating of R? There's just so many ways this could turn ugly.

So I can understand why people might want this or think it necessary, but I'm not wanting it personally.

I'm interested in seeing what everyone says about this. It could be the makings of a great debate. Just remember, everyone, to play nice.

Almost forgot, please do check out fellow OWGer Sharon Ashwood and my other home away from home, capes_coffins.

Friday Writers Coffee Break

Fri, 23 May 2008 15:01:31 GMT

Hello, everybody! I don't think we've covered this topic before and it's a universal one: Are you a plotter or a pantser? Or somewhere in between? Plotters are the writers that come up with outlines, character sheets, etc. Pantsers fly by the seat of their pants, hence the name, and usually have a basic idea for a story and just goes with the flow of it. So what are you?

I think I am somewhere in between. I used to be a pantser - I would have a vague, couple paragraphs long story idea, couple up with character names, and just roll with it. I wouldn't have an idea of what would happen next until I sat down to write it. This can be good, creatively as you don't feel locked down to one idea - I have to do it this way, my outline says so! And it can also be bad and open yourself up to writer's block. Trust me. I would hit the wall and not have any idea what came next. Stories would just kind of fall apart and go away. Not to say I didn't finish what I wrote, on the contrary, I wrote more than several books this way. It was a bit of a white-knuckle, scary ride, though. As Dr. Phil would say, it wasn't working for me.

I started doing a modified plot synopsis I believe, back when I wrote PG5. I would write out a page or so of plot, and then fill it in as I wrote and things changed. There were many spaces of "something needs to happen here," which has becoming an ongoing joke between me and my husband, but there was also a guideline for me of where it was going. I knew that in this chapter, Lainey would meet Robert. I wouldn't know every single detail of what happened in their first meeting, but I had a rough guideline and that was enough.

I tried to do the plotter course when I first did NaNoWriMo with my writing group. Another shout-out to the OWG! I'm the biggest pimp there is for them, LOL. We had an informal workshop on plotting, and we got started. I made it through that book, but I soon discovered I cannot 100 percent be a plotter. I cannot do character sheets with their family history, backgrounds and motivations, notecards that track and rate intensity levels, subplots, etc. all before I write. Every book I tried to write like that sunk again.

I guess I am more organic in that sense, I have to be free to let it flow. I will go back and check all of those things in editing, but in the rough draft, it's going to go where it's going to go in a sense. The characters will let me know what their motivation is the more I get in their heads.

So now, in my somewhere in between-ness, I use my OneNote program to write down my modified plot synopsis. Every day, before I sit down to write again, I review my notes to see what is coming up and what I am writing today. When I'm done, I go back and jot down any new ideas or tweaks for future chapters. This is what is working for me. It may not work for you, but I'm not struggling with coming up with an idea and I don't feel married to the outline or stifled by it. On the contrary, I was about seven chapters in when I decided to mix everything coming up in my WIP, and did so.

So, are you a plotter, a panster, or somewhere in the middle, like me? How do you sit down to plot (or not) your next story?

Oh, and BTW, if you aren't sick of my ramblings, join me and my fellow writing group member, Sharon Ashwood, over at our joint-blog, capes_coffins for our weekly ramblings, excerpts, and more! It's a community so be sure to click watch or the little friend button.

Now Available for Pre-Order on Amazon

Thu, 22 May 2008 13:40:52 GMT

I know, I'm probably the only one who cares about stuff like this, but everytime something else happens, it makes it more "real," you know? Anyway, Phenomenal Girl 5 is now available for pre-order on Amazon right here:

http://www.amazon.com/Phenomenal-Girl-SHOMI-J-Menden/dp/0505527863/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211462662&sr=8-1

Excitement abounds!

Oh, any suggestions for topics for Friday Writers Coffee Break tomorrow?

PG5 is on the Radar!

Wed, 21 May 2008 21:51:14 GMT

Hey everybody! A few things to tell you.

First of all, Phenomenal Girl 5 is now appearing in the Ingram catalog. For those of you who don't know, Ingram is one of the major book distributors here in the U.S. My mom is a bookseller, which is how I found out. According to it, my publication date is October 2008 (guessing Oct. 28 based on other Shomis release dates?) Here is the one sentence blurb:

An up-and-coming superhero finds love with the man assigned to train her and a plot that will push the couple to the extent of their powers.

Cool, huh? Excellent job, whoever wrote that! Editor? Publicist? I like it, whoever did it.

Secondly, for those of you who didn't know, I have a website now! Check it out at www.ajmenden.com

Finally, after kicking around the idea for a while, my writing group friend, Sharon Ashwood, and I decided to create a blog for the both of us, as a kind-of cross promotional thang. She writes urban fantasy'paranormal romance too. Content's going to be whatever we want to talk about each week, be it a new movie or book (or comic books), or having a few other authors over to chat. We'll see where the wind takes us. So check it out if you want, just be sure you click the "friend" or "watch" button and not the "join this group" button. capes_coffins

Topic O' The Week: Speed Writing

Tue, 20 May 2008 14:24:22 GMT

Over on FFF, the topic of the week is about speed writing, how fast you write and if you think it has an effect on the quality of your work.

Back when I had the schedule to write from midnight to 4 in the morning every day, I could kick out a 65,000 word book in a little over a month. I think I wrote PG5 in a month and a half or so. Now that I'm trying to adjust to my new schedule and right now only working on the weekends, things are moving much slower. I'm really going to carve out more time to write, because I miss it.

But pre-contracted deadlines, I also wrote in fits and starts. I could write every day and do 10,000 plus words a week, then I might not write for a week or more. And the time between books REALLY lagged. At the very least, I feel like I'm becoming more disciplined with my writing.

I don't know that I notice a difference in quality. I think with every book, I get better, but that's just a learning and growing thing, not a quality thing. I've noticed when I did NaNoWriMo, the quality wasn't as good, but that may have been the story itself and not the write-50,000-in-a-month thing.

The Villian Meme

Tue, 20 May 2008 13:52:11 GMT

Check it, people! I'm the Joker!

Take the Villain quiz.

Friday Writers Coffee Break

Fri, 16 May 2008 14:02:51 GMT

Oh, it's time, people! Sorry, I'm still giddy from seeing NKOTB on the Today Show. What? My best friend and I LOVED them when we were in middle school. Yes, I'm aware that middle school was a lot of years ago. LOL. See pictorial evidence of my squeeage over the boys on yoiebear's LJ later. Maybe I'll nick the pic from her.

Now, onto topic. This week's topic is from rlane33, who asks about the dirty little secret of the book-buying world. How often do you buy books? Or do you borrow them from the library or from friends? And does that bother writers?

How often do I buy books? Um...yeah. I went out and bought fellow Shomi writer Michele Lang's Netherwood two weeks ago. And that's been the first book I've purchased (that was not a comic or graphic novel) in a long time. I've never been one to buy a lot of books, but you have to know a bit more about me to understand why. My mom and grandmother have owned a bookstore since I was little, so a lot of time was spent there reading. I learned at an early age not to break the spine on books, that's sacriledge!, and what I didn't read there, my mom ordered for me. So I never physically went to bookstores and bought books. When I got older, what I couldn't get from her, I did get from the library. Mostly because I don't have space for all of the books I read now, let alone if I bought everything I read. When I would go on vacation, I would usually visit a bookstore at some point during the trip to buy something to read. Now I don't buy a lot because of work. But if it's an author I really like, I usually do buy their books just to support them.

Does it bother me that people might just check my book out of the library? No. They're still reading it, and that's cool.

So what's everyone else do? How often do you buy books? Or do you borrow from friends/library? And what do you think as a writer?

Now I'm off to sing some NKOTB.

Now Available for Preorder in Canada!

Fri, 16 May 2008 01:04:10 GMT

Sorry to the rest of us, LOL

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Phenomenal-Girl-5-A-J-Menden/9780505527868-item.html?pticket=nhivphyxwihzbtextwesq0y0O8tARYXnj%2frsF0LCwTwG7ZUdslc%3d

Tekgrrl Soundtrack

Tue, 13 May 2008 18:45:34 GMT

Since rlane33 asked, here is what I have so far.

Tekgrrl Soundtrack
Afraid - Nelly Furtado
I Want to Hold Your Hand - T.V. Carpio
Mr. Brightside - The Killers
Let it Be - Carol Woods
Watch Your Back - Benny Cassette
Promiscious - Nelly Furtado
Army of Me - Powerman 5000
Hole in the Earth - The Deftones
No More Heroes - Violent Femmes
Technical Difficulties - Julien-K
Negative Creep - Nirvana
Wonderwall - Oasis
Backburner - The Killers
Funeral of a Good Girl - Bif Naked
That's the Way (My Love Is) - Smashing Pumpkins
Bad Habit - Joss Stone
If I Fell - Evan Rachel Wood
Proper Nice - Joss Stone
Helter Skelter - Dana Fuchs
End of the World - Armor For Sleep
Combat - The Deftones
Rivere - The Deftones
Doomsday Clock - Smashing Pumpkins
Worlds Collide - Powerman 5000
Counting Bodies Like Sheep to the Rhythm of the War Drums - A Perfect Circle

Writers Coffee Break Friday

Fri, 09 May 2008 13:27:59 GMT

Today's topic comes from initialdescent: "How do you deal with multiple POVs in a novel? For example, if you use one point of view per chapter, how long do you have to return to a particular POV? How many chapters can you go before returning to a major character? How many chapters can you go before returning to a minor character? What factors can affect the length of time between necessary appearances? I'm writing a novel with multiple POVs, and I want to avoid giving people the experience I had when I read the Lord of the Rings trilogy the first time. (I kept wanting to know what was going on with the other characters, to the point of skimming through chapters or skipping ahead to see what was happening with the other parties.)"

I've only ever written from two people's POV, usually the heroine and her love interest, and now am writing 1st person POV again, so I don't know how much help I'll be, but here goes. It all depends on what's needed for the story. A lot of help I am, right? I think, and by all means, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, that multiple POV novels are more plot-driven than character-driven. So I would say you're probably going to want to look at how each POV switch will advance the plot, and if you need to see Character X steal the diamond before Character Y fights the ogre and then Character Z meets both of them at the bar, then do it. If we need to stick with Character Y for a while, and then check in on Character X, then we do. You don't want us to forget about what the other characters are doing, but I don't think there's any hard and fast rules about when to switch in a multiple POV book, except for head hopping. You want to try to keep it in one person's POV through the chapter or the scene.

So writers, how would you address this issue? Readers, how often do you want to 'check in' with the other characters? And while we're talking about POV, what's your favorite POV to write in or read and why?

I've become more accustomed to 1st person POV, since I'm writing it, and I've noticed a lot of urban fantasy/paranormal are 1st. Don't know why.

Word Count Unmade and Topic of the Week

Mon, 05 May 2008 16:27:01 GMT

I didn't make word count this week, understandable, but I'm still going to have to work to catch up.

Topic of the Week from fff: Do you print out your manuscript to edit and do you change fonts?

I used to have to print it out, but I've gotten to the point of being able to do it all on screen. I think it's from my job of having to edit on screen and the fact that I haven't had a working printer in years, LOL. I've had to depend on the kindness of my parents whenever I needed a hard copy for agents. I think the last time I managed to get my printer to work was when I printed out PG5 as a requested full for my publisher. It died shortly after again. You learn how to edit on screen with no printer. Necessity is the mother of invention and all of that.

However, when I do critiques for someone else, I have to print it out to read it. Don't quite know why that is.

I use whatever font, size and color comes up in Word. I never change it.

Website Promotion and Topic O' Week

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:36:36 GMT

Why look whose book is up on the Shomi website! http://www.shomifiction.com/

Now for topic of the week from fff: What is the one thing you wished you knew before you got published or a mistake you made?

I wish I had remembered that if you change a character's name, to make sure it is changed in the query/cover letter! Luckily, no one noticed it or at least, no one mentioned it to me.

A big thing that I wish I knew beforehand and need to remember now is that the publishing industry moves slow generally, so I need to chill out. I'm not exactly a patient person and that's something I need to work on.

Friday Writers Coffee Break

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:33:58 GMT

I suddenly feel like Joel McCale - It's Friday Writers Coffee Break Time! LOL. It's Friday, I'm at work and looking at a picture of roadkill. Don't ask.

So a OWG friend of mine asked if I would do a FWCB about perserverance in writing, because let's face it, when you're trying to get published, you have so many no's that it really gets you down. And if you didn't on your journey, well, you were one of the lucky ones. I think motivation plays a big part in this too, so here's my rambling answer on my own perserverance and motivation on my writing journey. And that really sounds like a motivational speech, doesn't it? Yikes.

I've probably said it before somewhere on here, but it took me four years of seriously working toward getting published to get here. I've been writing short stories ever since I could write and even tried to take a fling at getting those previous works published, but usually as a whim and not as a goal. When I went to Kelley Armstrong's board in 2003, I had just completed a YA book that I thought was publishable (still has potential) and made some sort of post on the writer's discussion board and I do believe it was Ian that invited me to join the OWG. I did and made my first post and soon learned I had a lot of work to do.

But I can't gush about everyone on there enough. They really help me learn and grow as a writer and are a great support system. I would highly recommend anyone who's looking for a writing critique group to try them out or just to seek out a crit group on their own. I've heard bad stories about crit groups, but I've never experienced them.

It took more than 150 rejections on the way to finally get an offer from both editor and agent. At first, the query letter rejections hurt, but I got to the point where those didn't bother me. They didn't see my writing (other than letters) so, oh, well. Then I got requests for partials, but no requests for fulls. Those hurt like a kick in the stomach. They saw the writing then, and that meant they didn't like it. Eventually I got to requests for fulls and subsequent rejections. If a rejection to a partial hurts, then a rejection to a full is a full-on kick in a more private region. That's something you don't just stand up and brush yourself off from. You're going to be down on the ground for a bit, crying.

But that's where I think perserverance and motivation enter. Spend a day or two down on the ground, crying. Then get up. Sounds so easy, but it's not. I can't count the number of times where I was ready to give up or asking myself, Why do I keep doing this? I'm wasting time that could be spent with my family (mother guilt.) I had two of my biggest supporters, my husband, and my friend and fellow OWGer Morgan Ashbury, that were always willing to give me a pep talk or offer a shoulder to cry on. Or push me when I needed a push. Perserverance comes into play here, but what's my motivation? My goal is/was to get published, but that's not exactly motivation, at least not to me.

Plain truth of my motivation: I am a happier person when I'm writing. My husband sees it, my friends see it. If the books did nothing but sit in my computer and get sent to my friends to read, that would be okay because I had fun.

So that's my own little story of perserverance and motivation. So does anyone else want to chime in? What's your motivation? How do you keep yourself going? Or are you in need of a kick in the pants or a shoulder to cry on right now? I'm willing to do either!

Introducing...the Cover!

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:17:51 GMT

Here is the cover of Phenomenal Girl Five by artist Judy York. Isn't it pretty?

See Tez Miller's LOLcover here:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2007/2432051307_1217db784b.jpg?v=0

Fangirl Squee!

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 23:17:03 GMT

It is official now. Casting has been announced from 20th Century Fox and I will have to take a day off May 1, 2009, because I HAVE to see this movie and I won't be able to function after because I will be in a lust haze.

Hugh Jackman = Wolverine
Liev Schrieber = Sabertooth
Ryan Reynolds = Deadpool

I couldn't be happier that Deadpool is even going to be IN a movie, but make Ryan Frickin Reynolds Deadpool and I fall into the pit of squee.

Oh, will I. Am. is going to have a part, as is Dominic Monoghan. And a guy from Friday Night Lights is Gambit. Gambit's in the movie too!!!

Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself.

http://marvel.com/news/moviestories.2667

Fantastic!!!

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 00:46:44 GMT

Doctor Who is on! Right now, people! Why are you on here when you could be watching? LOL.

I actually couldn't wait and already have seen this episode on YouTube around when it originally aired in Britain. I'm rewatching it while trying to convince my oldest that my talents in life lie in the written word, NOT in artistic ability and that she can draw stick figures better than I can. Which is accurate.

This is a really good episode though. And I wierdly like Astrid. The Doctor's line, "You're flying, Astrid," made me cry when I originally watched it. And just now typing it, remembered that they were on the Titanic and that's kind of a rip-off from the movie. It will still make me cry, though. I also like the country and western alien couple and the short red alien guy.

Can't wait to see the previews for next week! Eee!!! Doctor Frickin' Who, people!