2011 was a wicked good year for me, even with all the road blocks. I designed three sites and two book covers; I managed to pick up new clients and new friends; I began the process of moving into a new room, a bigger deal for me than it probably should be; I spent a weekend in New Orleans; I was able to paint my nails for the first time after years of torturous biting and peeling; I finished NaNoWriMo at 50,265 words, my first win in three years; I saw my estranged family over the holidays and didn’t have the urge to kill myself; I had two stories accepted and one rewrite request. There was really only one low point that I can recall – the loss of my closest friend.

Some resolutions for the new year: Switch hosts and revamp the site; self-publish my first novella; write everyday; finish at least 50 books; get my shit organized; write about my brief trip to NOLA, which I promised to do last summer; update more often; travel – somewhere, anywhere; inspired by The Nerdist Way – I’ll blog more about this later – complete my Character Tome and charactercizes; work more; eat better; and change up my hair with some cockamamy color.

I hope you’re all well and happy and extracting some joy out of this frigid winter weather. Brrrr. Don’t forget about me!

Late at night, walking down the road past houses that we’re looking to buy (one I like is in Tupelo next door to Molly, but it’s downtown – near Wendy’s – I think of getting a loan and buying it myself as it’s only $65,000). I wind up on a stretch of rural road alongside the woods which are rising with swamp water. A large crowd is walking behind me, but I keep losing sight of them and have to wait for them to catch up. I’m singing a song under my breath from a children’s movie and twice I step on the DVD in the flooded road (it has a blue baby monster on the cover). Some girls from school in the crowd catch up to me and are having a conversation, oblivious that I’m there. Everyone’s muddy and scratched up. For the duration of the walk, a light shines in my immediate front for about five feet like a headlight or flashlight, though I don’t carry one, and whenever I look over my shoulder for the group they are always surrounded by fading light.

- December 23, 2009

© Rachel Sapp

Good question.

High school sucked. I hated, hated it to the point of missing weeks at a time because of panic attacks. I started writing poetry to cope. Bad, sad poetry. I still like some of it, actually, and reading it back was such a kick that I decided to string some of it together as an ebook. This really wasn’t anything more than an excuse to learn something new (I thought formatting would be a breeze, but it took more than an hour and three uploads until I was happy with it) but if you or someone you know enjoys this kind of thing, you can download it for the e-reader of your choice here. Bonus: It’s free.

Ten years ago, Mekenzie Larsen was an awkward freshman struggling to make friends. Writing was not only an escape but a way to vent. Here is a short collection of poems written between 2001-2002 that best showcases the author’s feelings during that first year of high school as well as her budding love for angst, the color red, and mermaids.

Allergies have really been kicking my ass, so I haven’t gotten around to writing that New Orleans post (I know, I know), but I did manage to update my portfolio and get a little reading done. Which brings me to the reason for this post: Pre-order The Tower of the Forgotten, the final book in the Penemue trilogy by Sara M. Harvey, before August 15th for just $10, and grab the other two while you’re there. Here, take another 35% off your order. You’re welcome.

Now, who has a good remedy for Skeeter Syndrome? *scratch scratch slap*

• New Orleans! I spent two days there with my dad last month. Hit up the French Quarter, fell in love, then overheated and almost passed out at Jazz Fest. Big crowds and pot haze don’t agree with me. But the next morning I felt much better and now I’m dying to go back. A more detailed post about our trip is forthcoming.
• Hawk Cam. Really, who isn’t watching this?
• The Single Most Ridiculous Movie Premise Ever Made via Cracked.
• The Book of Mormon soundtrack gets more amazing the more I listen to it.
• For fans of Sailor Moon, particularly the horrid English dub, the abridged series is a riot.
• I’m the proud owner of a shiny new Kindle. I can never part with my beloved books but this really is the next best thing. E-book recs, anyone?
• Go the F**k to Sleep, a bedtime story for exhausted parents. I’m tempted to buy a copy.
• The Shakespearean Insulter is fast becoming my go-to source for random exclamations of disgust and disapproval.
• Interested in self-publishing? You should check out this blog by Lindsay Buroker.
• Requires Only That You Hate – specfic geekrage!
• Looking for something new to read? Try What Should I Read Next? and BookLamp. A shame the latter seems stuck in beta.
• 10 things we want to see in the Dark Tower adaptation. With one exception (leave the ending as is), I disagree with everything on this list.
• MYTHPUNK! It’s exactly what it sounds like. Here, have a few more links.
• Read this: The Rumpelstiltskin Retellings: A Series of Poetic Blogs by Keyan Bowes, Choose Your Own Adventure by Kat Howard, The King of Cats, the Queen of Wolves by Mike Allen, Nicole Kornher-Stace, and Sonya Taaffe, & Fox Fire and Gold Coins (Disney smut with Flynn Rider and human!Robin Hood? Count me in!).
• Etsy finds: Corina Dross (beautiful “protective playing cards”), Dame Darcy, Latherati Soup Foundry (scents based on books), BellaLili.

We have another sister who’s gone away to get tattooed, or scarification¹. Scarred? Scarified? We visit a nice part of some city and somehow I wind up at the wrong house, a large river home on stilts with an open deck. I don’t realize it’s the wrong one until I’ve gone in the back door up on deck and can’t find my room. I sneak back out without anyone seeing me, but I imagine what I would have to do if someone came in. For whatever reason, Momma refers to points on the house as honey (bottom left), salvia (top), and aswell² (bottom right). We ask the next night if we’re going anywhere else before sis gets home (we have like 8 hours) and Momma can’t think of anything. She remembers a building next to Sally’s³ that’s being renovated and that people are saying used to be/is going to be an Aquafina store. She suggests we check it out. I mention Sale⁴ is having a talent show and Momma says we don’t want to go, that it’s terrible. At one point, I’m scratching the inside of my left ear and Momma (some other lady?) tells me that’s not attractive. I reply that it’s my eczema flaring up.

- June 1, 2010

¹ BMEzine Wiki entry
² Google insisted I meant “as well.” In this instance, let’s assume aswell is some newfangled plant used for either its sweetening or hallucinogenic properties. It’s possible I misheard it.
³ Sally Beauty Supply
⁴ Sale Elementary School